Costco Mini Peppers

I made a big tray of roasted mini peppers from Costco tonight with the intention of adding them to my salad. I also made a big pot of Mrs. Renfro chicken for the rest of the family.  Anne invited a friend to join us and by the time we sat at the table, I lost my resolve to diet and just ate a chicken burrito too. I went to bed and read Day 2 of "The Beck Diet Solution". Day 2 says  I need to pick 2 diets. I need one to start with and a back up plan if that one  doesn't work. More on this tomorrow.

Cold Shrimp Soup

Tonight I made a new meal that I am really excited about. I was introduced to it at work on Friday. Dena was in the kitchen patiently dicing little pieces of radishes. She was making a cold shrimp soup that she said was not only delicious, but contains no fats. I'll share the recipe:

1 bunch radish

1 bunch scallions

1 bunch cilantro

 1 hot house cucumber

1 avocado

1 bottle of Clamato

 2 small low sodium V8 juice

Garlic powder

Lime juice

3/4 lb shrimp

Small package of crab meat

 Finely dice vegetables and seafood. (I omitted the crab) Add juice. You can add hot sauce if you wish, which I did. I also added a little bit of salsa. It was surprisingly filling. I had a couple of cups for dinner and I was very content. There is enough to keep in the refrigerator for a quick snack tomorrow.

Only there is one problem. After I ate  the soup and wrote this post, I read the ingredient list on the Clamato. Besides a lot of words that I can't pronounce, high fructose corn syrup was listed as the third ingredient. I should have just finished off the cheesecake. No seriously, it was still only 60 calories per cup. Next time I will use tomato juice and add a little clam juice to it.

Caesar Salad

I did something today that I really don't recommend, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  I was very frugal with my caloric intake all day, and for dinner I splurged on homemade Caesar salad. I even included freshly made garlic croutons. Do I feel like I was cheating? Not at all. It may not have been the healthiest choice I could have made, but it was actually pretty low in calories. I didn't have anything else with it, and lettuce takes a while to chew so I didn't feel deprived  eating only salad.

The Life of Pi

All of the "kids" are home for the weekend. Most of the leftovers are gone. Everyone is running in different directions. I'm tired of going to the grocery store. We are all pretty much  doing our own thing. Rather than focusing on food, Tony and I decided to go to the movies. We went to see "The Life of Pi". Wow! What a beautiful movie. We are still on holiday mode, so although I'm not being terribly strict with my diet, I am also not overindulging. I chose to watch Pi, not eat pie!

Dinner?

I ate a deservedly unexciting meal tonight. Like I said earlier; since I overindulged yesterday, I decided to make up for it tonight with a very low calorie meal. I kept to my plan and ate left over turkey and vegetables. I came very close to eating my homemade cheesecake but I stopped myself. Today I was proud of Patti's extremely barren plate.

The Day After

I’ve been grateful for a lot of things lately, but I have to be honest. Today I am just thankful that this holiday is over! How crazy is it for a person who is trying to lose weight, celebrate a holiday that is centered on food? I remember back to my old weight watcher days. The leader would give helpful hints that would lead up to Thanksgiving.  “Just remember to concentrate on the love of family and friends, and not think so much about the food.”  Or, “Load up on a lot of raw vegetables and then just eat the white meat of the turkey.”  Right! Just pass on the cheese platter or the fresh homemade Italian bread that Uncle Chris brought?  We’ve been preparing food since Monday night. Was I really supposed to eat celery and be content to watch my size 0 sister in law eat Brie? The food seemed exceptionally good this year.  (Have I been depriving myself too much lately?) I followed a recipe for brining and roasting a turkey. The instructions were so explicit, it was hard to err. We ended up with a turkey that had dark crispy skin with moist delicious meat.  It produced perfect gravy with flavors of sage, thyme and rosemary. I wasn’t about to pass on the opportunity to put it on everything, especially the mashed potatoes! So, I ate yesterday. I ate with abandon! I am not going to bemoan a day of eating when I have really been so good. Today is a new day. I have plenty of leftovers for the family. I also have plenty of raw vegetables left over. Tonight I will eat raw vegetables and the white meat from the turkey. And I will concentrate on the love of my family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to  all of my readers! I am so grateful that I always have something to eat on Patti's Plate. There are many in this world that are not as fortunate. Have a great day. And as a really good friend of mine told me,  "Remember to set the scale back 10 pounds tonight!"