Category Archives: Tasty Tuesday

Because you have to feed them too

How Often Should I Weigh Myself?

I used to be the person that weighed myself every single morning. The problem with that practice is that sometimes what you did or ate yesterday does not show up on the scales for a couple days.

This used to be a problem because if I had eaten something I thought was going to cause me to gain and I didn’t gain any weight the next morning, it made me think that I was wrong and I could eat that thing without fear of gaining weight. The opposite was also true. If I thought I’d done amazingly and that I surely had lost some weight and then either stayed the same or gained, I’d get sad.

Now with either of these feelings, it was entirely possible for me to eat either out of sadness/depression or happiness that I could get away with eating whatever it was but usually I’d end up gaining some weight in the end.

My life became too much about the number on the scales. So, I went a long while without stepping on them at all. This too was a problem because I was just in denial of gains and losses. And ultimately I gained more weight. :(

I finally realized that I needed to have some weight accountability and the only way for me to do that is to step on the scales periodically.

So I decided that knowing how much I weigh at the start of the weekend might be a good way to keep me on the straight and narrow, not indulging too much, over the weekend. So I weigh on Friday morning.

But one time is not really enough for me. So I decided I needed to weigh at least one other time in the week. By weighing on Tuesday morning, it gives me Monday to crack down a bit and hopefully correct any splurges from the weekend.

This method of weighing twice in the week keeps me from being obsessed with the scales and more focused on what I’m eating. It also helps me to get a real indication of my weight and not just get frustrated with little ups and downs.

I hope this post helps you consider your relationship with the scales. ;) And if yours is an unhealthy one like mine was, that this has given you some ideas of how to make some changes.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

THM FP or E Berry Cobbler

Some time ago we were looking for a light dessert. We found this berry cobbler from A Home with Purpose. We don’t like raspberries, so we use a mixture of strawberries and blueberries. :)

It’s a pretty simple recipe and my lovely daughter Tiffany is pretty amazing because she not only made the dessert last night but also took the pictures for me to use. :) Such a jewel!

Start by measuring out a total of 3 cups of berries and putting them in an 8x8ish pan. Then sprinkle them with sweetener. Tiffany can’t do THM Super Sweet very well, so we use about 3 tablespoons of THM Gentle Sweet. But taste your berries and add sweetener as needed. Our strawberries were pretty tart and could’ve used a bit more sweetener. ;)

Then mix the topping ingredients in a bowl.

We use the ground oats because Tiffany cannot tolerate the flax in the THM baking blend well. Sometimes we go with the greek yogurt and other times we use the applesauce. This time it was applesauce. :)

Combine and spread evenly over the berries and bake.

We follow her directions of baking uncovered for 20 minutes and covering it with foil for 10 minutes.

As you can see, it is really an easy recipe. It is also very yummy. :)

This serves 4, so there are no leftovers. :D

I hope you’ll hop on over to her website and make this one for yourself. Oh, it is gluten free, dairy free, and of course, sugar free. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Instant Pot Taco Rice

Several months ago I was looking for recipes using my Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi. I came across this recipe from My Table of Three.

It is a very simple recipe and quite yummy. :) Also this meal feeds our family of 4 adults dinner, twice. So I make it in full and then freeze the other half. Then on the night we eat the leftovers, I thaw it and steam it.

We serve it with salad and a very small drizzle of oil (about 1/2 a teaspoon) or some canned green beans.

It’s really a simple process, add all the ingredients to the pot and pressure cook on high for 22 minutes with a quick pressure release.

Combine and cook.

Meanwhile, I put about two pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast in the food processor to grind it up and cook up.

Cook quickly in skillet, seasoned slightly.

When it is cooked and the rice is done, add it to the remainder of the dish and stir to combine.We serve with some fat free greek yogurt (and some fat free cheddar cheese, which is our own personal choice item).

Head on over to MyTableofThree for the full recipe and her notes on the recipe.

Things Aren’t Made the Way They Used To Be Made

Years and years ago, I got this waffle iron from a garage sale for about $3-$5. It was like one my parents had when I was living at home. The grates flip from a waffle grid to a pancake griddle and lays open flat too.

It can cook four waffles. Opened up I cook eight pancakes. It also does sandwiches and can be used to fry eggs or such.

Well the lid handle came off a while ago and we managed to get it back on. Then the knob broke off and I kept putting it back on but it has become more and more difficult. A few weeks ago we couldn’t even find the knob.

Then one of the side handle/legs came off. Evidently the screws are stripped because I tried putting it back on but was unsuccessful.

It was then that I gave in and bought a new one at the whomping price of fifty-nine dollars. :o A few days later it arrived. It was so lightweight. I’m afraid we’re going to break it or dent it. The old one was heavy but this one! Ugh!

It seems to be a bit smaller than the old one and the actual squares of the waffle grid also seem to be a bit smaller.

I did make waffles with it last weekend and it worked fine but I’m still tempted to just box it back up and send it back. It just feels so flimsy. They sure don’t make things the way they used to make them. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

What to Cook When I Don’t Want to Cook

I love having a menu. It helps me make dinners we enjoy without getting flustered at dinner time. ;) But some nights I don’t feel like making the scheduled meal. In which case, I check any other meals we have yet to make on the menu and see if I feel like making any of those. Sometimes I just don’t feel like fixing those either.

I keep pasta, rice, and veggies on hand. I also keep frozen burgers and other meats on hand as well. Ground meats cook from frozen in a covered skillet over medium-high heat easily and rather quickly.

The key is to use a lid and scrape off the meat that thaws to allow the inner part to cook more quickly. Also be sure to flip the frozen meat over and scrape the thawed/cooked meat off that side as well.

Yes, this takes a little bit of work but sometimes the meal (think tacos or spaghetti) is one of our favorites and worth it. :) But seriously, it is an easy process that I have done many times and don’t mind doing.

However some nights I don’t even feel like doing that, so I pull out some burgers and add a salad. :D We eat the burgers either plain with or in the salad (a.k.a. lettuce) or in a low carb tortilla.

One of our frequent I-Don’t-Feel-Like-Cooking meals is a pasta meal. I’ve posted some of them on here (simply do a search for pasta in the search bar above). However it is quite simple:

  • Cook the pasta
  • Cook some veggies
  • Heat the chosen meat (it can be as simple as lunch meat ;) )
  • Add seasonings
  • Add any broth, nut milk, and such desired
  • If I use a good bit of broth or nut milk, I thicken it slightly with either glucomannan or xanthan gum

I also keep canned meat (either tuna, chicken, or salmon) on hand for even quicker meals. ;) Rice or zoodles can be substituted for the pasta.

It puts a dinner on the table that I want to eat without much fuss.

I hope this helps you get dinner on your table when you don’t feel like it.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Salmon Filet: My Favorite Way

My favorite way to have salmon is cooked with maple syrup and soy sauce. But on the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle plan, maple syrup is not conducive to weight loss. So I used the maple syrup that we make for use on pancakes (from the THM Cookbook). You can use soy sauce but I used coconut aminos because it has a bit of sweetness to it.

I know these pictures aren’t the best of the finished dish but it was still good and very good for me. :)

I got this 4 ounce salmon filet at Dollar Tree for a buck . . . not bad.

I recommend thawing it first, as it cooks more evenly and quicker too.

Put the filet into a small skillet and add one tablespoon each of soy sauce or coconut aminos and sugar-free maple syrup.

Cook over medium – medium high heat for about 5-8 minutes. :)

Mine was still frozen so I put a lid on it.

But when I took off the lid there was too much moisture in the pan and it took a while for the liquid to boil down. :(

But it turned out okay in the end. ;)

Salmon Filet: My Favorite Way

Ingredients

  • 4 oz. salmon filet
  • 1 tablespoon coconut aminos or soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar-free maple syrup

Instructions

  1. Place fish in pan
  2. Add coconut aminos and syrup
  3. Cook for about 10 minutes. It's done when you can flake it with a fork and it is cooked through.
https://lifeofjoy.me/salmon-filet-my-favorite-way/

London Fog

Tiffany tried this tea at Starbucks and decided she wanted it at home (and at a fraction of the cost).  I’ve posted her Fruit Loops Tea which really does taste like fruity cereal, and her Creamalicious Latte. This is another tea she likes to make. She used to enjoy drinking coffee but cannot tolerate its caffeine any longer and misses the warm comfort of a lovely latte. So she created these teas.

So here is how to make it.

Boil a cup of water.

Fill mug 3/4 full with milk of choice; she uses either almond milk or cashew milk.

Heat the milk on medium heat.

Place Earl Grey tea bag in mug, fill 1/4 full with boiled water and add sweetener as desired. Tiffany uses two spoonfuls of xylitol, two doonks of stevia for my hubby, and 3 doonks and two xylitols for Sean. So, use whatever sweetener and how much you like.

 

Steep for a few minutes. Tiffany likes her tea pretty mild; so feel free to steep your tea a bit longer if you prefer a stronger tea. Remove tea bag.

As soon as the milk is warmed (not boiled), add the warmed milk to the tea, stir and drink.

London Fog

Ingredients

  • Earl Grey tea bag
  • milk (we use almond or cashew milk)
  • sweetener of choice (xylitol, stevia, etc.)
  • water
  • dash or two of vanilla

Instructions

  1. Boil water
  2. Pour milk into chosen mug until 3/4 full, pour into saucepan and warm.
  3. Add a dash of vanilla if your milk is plain.
  4. Place tea bag and sweetener in mug.
  5. Fill mug 1/4 full with boiled water
  6. Steep tea, then remove tea bag.
  7. Add warmed milk, vanilla, and stir.
  8. ENJOY the creamy goodness!
https://lifeofjoy.me/london-fog/

Hope you enjoy this tea as much as Tiffany does. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Egg, Sausage, and Veggies

I wish I had a cutesy name for this dish but I don’t. You may recall me sharing Eggs and Zucchini before and it is still a favorite, but sometimes I want a little more pizazz from my breakfast, so here is what I came up with.

I finely diced a medium zucchini and put it into a frying pan with a little bit of oil.

Zucchini Hash ~ Lifeofjoy.me(It wasn’t quite this much but this picture gives you an idea, since I failed to take step by step pictures the other day. ;) )

I added some finely diced onion and diced mushrooms too. Seasoned with salt and pepper.

When it was nearly as done as I like them, I added about 2 ounces of bulk pork sausage, pinched off in smallish bits.

Then cooked it until it was nicely browned. :)

I scooted it all to the side and added a little more oil (or butter) to the pan and fried one egg.

When the veggies and sausage were done I put them on a plate, added a bit of nutritional yeast, and then topped it all with my fried egg (over easy).

Since I had the sausage, I only had one egg because I’m in that stage of my life when I need to be cautious about how much protein I should be eating to lose weight.

Egg, Sausage, and Veggies

Ingredients

  • medium zucchini
  • slice of onion
  • 2-3 mushroom
  • about 2 ounces sausage
  • egg
  • butter or oil

Instructions

  1. Dice the veggies and add to a skillet with about a teaspoon or so of oil or butter.
  2. Season with salt and pepper, as desired.
  3. Add sausage to the veggies.
  4. When nearly done, clear way to fry the egg.
  5. Serve with the cooked egg on top of the cooked veggies and sausage.
  6. Sprinkle with nutritional yeast, if desired.
https://lifeofjoy.me/egg-sausage-and-veggies/

I hope you enjoy this yummy way to eat some veggies for breakfast.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Pizza Roll (Stromboli)

It is crazy hot here in Oklahoma, which is natural for July but makes the house very hot if I cook as usual. So I’ve been trying to use the Ninja Foodi more and I have to say, I’m loving it!

I found a recipe a few weeks ago that baked bread in it. Yep, bake is one of the settings. :) We love pizza but it is just too hot to heat the oven up to 425º to make it. So I thought maybe I can make a bread with pizza flavors in it and then we can just bake it in the Ninja Foodi.

So Saturday morning I started the sourdough pizza dough. :) We love sourdough pizza dough. After it had risen the requisite 5-6 hours, it was time to form it and let it raise the remaining 1-2 hours before baking.

Unfortunately I had a pretty bad headache and had to lay down. However, Tiffany and Michael rose to the challenge and proceeded to finish off dinner. Now I was planning to make more of a loaf of bread but Tiffany didn’t understand that and instead made more of a stromboli.

They started by patting the dough out. It was supposed to be in a long rectangle but the picture they took seems to look more like a large circle.

Then a thin bit of pizza sauce.

Then it was topped with some low fat toppings. We used some turkey pepperoni and a couple of strips of turkey bacon.

Normally we would have added 2 ounces of low fat mozzarella cheese but we didn’t have any, so Tiffany added a few crumbles of colby-jack cheese (which may have been a little too much fat but it just made it a light crossover, if so).

Then we add some fat free cheese. It’s our personal choice. ;) And rolled it up.

Clearly, it fit into the foodi nicely and it could handle another half batch of dough when we need it. ;)

We baked it on 400º for about 20 minutes. I’ll need to look into how to keep it from getting quite so dark though.

We sliced it . . . it was a bit crusty. ;) But oh so good! We served it with more pizza sauce, for the drier bites.

Over all, it was a good first attempt. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Ordering at a Restaurant, Making Substitutions

When we were in Edmond visiting with my son and his family, we ate at a wonderful new breakfast restaurant, Neighborhood Jam. My husband and daughter have food allergies and sensitivities that mean that they cannot eat certain foods. Between that and diets I have been on throughout the years, we have learned that most restaurants are very happy to make substitutions if you simply ask.

Low Carb Substitutions

When eating low carb, I ask to substitute something for the potato. I’ve learned that I love broccoli loaded like a loaded baked potato and most restaurants are happy to make the substitution. Of course, substitutions are not always free but I’m glad to get things I can eat and stay on my eating plan.

Occasionally Eat Off Plan (without guilt)

Other times, like when we went to Neighborhood Jam, I considered it a vacation and I chose to eat some items that were not “on plan” for me.  The key is to enjoy it and not feel guilty–the body handles food differently with guilt than pleasure. ;)

I got The Heap, which is hash browns (yep that part was not on plan ;) ) with meat of choice–I chose pulled pork–, pico, some kind of cheese, and two eggs. I got the eggs over easy and on the side because I was splitting it with Tiffany and she cannot eat eggs.

Tiffany got the Okie Benny which is a biscuit made from scratch, served with shaved ham, cheddar and sausage gravy. It comes with two poached eggs but as I already stated, Tiffany is sensitive to egg yolks right now, so she substituted sausage patties for the eggs.

Michael got the Three Egg Omelet. They were out of turkey bacon so he got the chicken sausage but said that he didn’t like the chicken sausage. The rest of the meal, omelet with veggies, hash browns, biscuit, were all very good. He said he would eat there again. :)

Sean got the Bison Power Bowl. :) He liked it too. I didn’t pay attention to what Brian, Lauren, and Liam got but they tasted mine and liked it. :)

Sometimes it is acceptable to eat off plan foods but if I eat out more frequently, I definitely try to stay with on plan foods making substitutions as needed. :) Don’t be shy to ask to make substitutions in order to eat foods that are best for you.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº