DF or HS Zaatar & Lemon Savory Chicken

Wow. This recipe turned out AMAZING. My house smells so good now, you have no idea…

First you have to get your zaatar spice mix made and that requires sumac, which is not easy to find in stores so you may need to go on amazon.

Zaatar Spice Mix:
3 tbs Cumin seeds
3 tbs Coriander seeds
3 tbs Sesame seeds
3 tbs Ground thyme
3 tbs Sumac
1 tbs salt

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds first.

Then grind them up!

Mix it with the other spices and voila! Zaatar!

Now we get cooking!

Open up a Savory Chicken entree and separate out the chicken. I cut the chicken into smaller pieces to stretch it out more. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of zaatar and mix it in a bowl.

If you are HS, then you can grill some onions (a quarter to a third of an onion, julienned) on the pan first and then add the chicken. If you are DF, then just heat up the chicken on the pan by itself.

Then set that aside in your serving dish.

Now we will fancy up the rice. Add one teaspoon of minced garlic to the pan and saute for a few minutes. Then add the rice with 1/4 tsp of zaatar. Heat the rice for a few minutes and then add 1 tablespoon of nonfat sour cream and 1 teaspoon of fresh mint.

Stir it through and let it cook. Then add it to the serving dish with your chicken (and onions). Finish with a final squeeze of lemon juice.

This was so amazing. I hope you enjoy! What a difference the spices make!

 

HS Rotini Chicken Alfredo++ & Bonus Recipes!

First of all let me explain something, I was freaking out about going back to work and not having my kitchen with my all the time to be able to cook my food. I planned out my menu for this week and got a whiteboard to hang in the kitchen. I ended up also adding what I was going to wear each day and what I had to prep each evening.

Today was my first day back at work after a great summer. I teach 5th grade and today the teachers came back to prepare for the first day of school for the students on Thursday. I woke up at 4:30 AM to get my exercise in before work. My coworkers were amazed at how different I looked and how much weight I have lost. There was so much, “OMG, you look great!!” It was nice to hear and to feel like all my hard work was being noticed by them. It was a super busy day and by the time I got home my eyes weren’t quite focusing anymore and I had a headache to top it all off.

I checked the HMR app to see what I should focus on eating to get in my minimums. I had two shakes (two puddings for a bedtime snack), 2 F/V (one is definitely going to be fries!) and one entree left. I figured I should eat the entree and a F/V to get that out of the way as 4:45 wasn’t too early for dinner and I was hungry and tired.

Then the daily decision of which entree to make… I have all my HMR food on two bookshelves in the living room so I went in there and paced back and forth. I have two stacks of the Rotini Chicken Alfredo because I used to absolutely LOVE that one and would eat it every day, twice a day. But lately, it hasn’t been that appetizing. So I figured maybe I’d try to make something special out of it today to help figure out how to eat them all.

I thought about Italian recipes and sauces. My favorite is margherita (on gnocchi if you are curious). I had tomatoes, onion, oregano and parsley. Perfect! I diced up one Roma tomato, a slice of a large onion and added a few dashes of oregano and parsley. I also added a bit of the Kernel Seasons Garlic Parmesan for some of that extra cheese flavor. Mixed it in with a microwaved entree and voila!

It tasted like margherita pasta or pizza but without the basil (didn’t have any at home). Definitely need to add some fresh basil next time. This turned out amazing. So simple and quick to prep but made a huge difference flavor-wise for this entree I was so sick of.

I can’t believe that I made this entree a viable option again!

Bonus Recipes

Toasted Chickpeas:

– One can of chickpeas, drained and dried
– garlic powder
– black pepper
– lemon juice

Air fry at 380 degrees for about 16 minutes, shaking halfway through. I let this cool and stored it in tupperwares in the fridge. I microwaved it at work for a snack and it turned out great!

Double Entree Chili Fries:

2 HMR Turkey Chili entrees
1 serving of potato (I use Honey Gold baby because I think they’re cute – silly, I know, but why not!?)
2 medium tomatoes
1/4 cup of onions
1 tbs of cilantro
2 tbs of nonfat sour cream
lime juice and salt to taste

Make fries either in the oven (425 for 25 min on a silicone mat) or air fryer (16 minutes at 380 for toasted or 16 minutes at 350 for golden, shaking halfway through).

Dice tomatoes and onions and mix with cilantro, lime juice and salt to make a salsa fresca.

Microwave the chili and mix in the NF sour cream.

Layer your chili potatoes with fries on the bottom, then chili and then salsa fresca.

This is only for when you are VERY hungry or need to splurge in the box so you don’t go out of the box. It is quite a lot of food.

Note: If your clinic allows avocado, this would be amazing with avocado… So please, add it and eat it and think of poor me that can’t eat avocados until Phase 2…

Remember to keep that one of the best ways to stay in the box is to mix things up and keep trying something new!

DF Lentil Stew

I wanted something simple for lunch today. I also had some new entrees that I had never tried before. So I took the Lentil Stew entree and added 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. I added a little green onion on top for garnish too.

I added the minced garlic first and mixed it in. Then I microwaved the whole thing. It may be better to roast the garlic on a pan if you have the time to bring out the flavor more.

After it was hot, I added the lime juice and green onions.

I am loving this jar of pre-minced garlic. It makes it so much easier and faster. Plus, the flavor is much stronger than just garlic powder. However, I think it would be even better if I roasted it a bit on a pan first. But I was hungry and didn’t feel like taking the time or getting a pan dirty.

Yesterday I ate SO much. I had Pancakes (1.5 shakes) and an 800 chocolate shake (1 shake) for breakfast. Then I had 3 toasted ravioli for lunch (3 entrees) and another 3 toasted ravioli (3 entrees) for dinner. Then I had a 70 pudding for evening snack to round out my three shake minimum. Luckily, I also walked for an hour so that cut my total calories down a bit. I weigh 246 pounds now, so I can have about 80 MRs in a week, which is 11.5 in a day. So it was still okay but it felt like a lot of food. I was just stressed and hungry and felt like eating more, so I did. Today I am trying to be more careful. I had one 800 shake for breakfast and just one entree (with condiments) for lunch. I will likely make the toasted ravioli for dinner because it is just SO yummy. I already went for a walk and I will try to walk again later too.

My wedding is in 6 weeks and I am on track to get below the morbidly obese mark by then. I hope I look okay in the pictures. I have been on this diet for 20 weeks and have lost about 76 pounds, 3.8 pounds a week on average. Last week I only lost 2.8 pounds though. I think my increase in calories from the yummy toasted ravioli is getting to me.  If you haven’t tried that toasted ravioli, OMG, it is SO amazing. A salsa and nonfat sour cream sauce is delicious with it too. Or maybe I just weigh less so I’m losing less. It’s hard to tell…

This is me yesterday getting ready to go for a long walk. I apologize for the messy office behind me. 😉 Notice that I got a Fitbit! It has been SOOOO much fun. It is really motivating and helpful to have all these goals. It syncs with Lose It so it keeps track of what I’m eating and the exercise and sleep and water and everything. It’s pretty great.

Hope everyone is meeting their goals and having fun staying in the box!

DF Indian Savory Chicken

I was feeling like biryani so I looked up a recipe and copied the spices into the Savory Chicken entree.

I added ground coriander, ginger, cumin seeds, garlic, turmeric, garam masala and some cilantro. The amounts of the spices are definitely to taste. I really like garlic so I added about 4 teaspoons. I was worried about the cumin seeds adding a weird crunch since I wasn’t cooking it, so I only added a few of those. It may be worth it to roast the spices before adding them to the entree. That would bring out the flavor. But I was hungry, so I just mixed it all in.

I used two savory chicken entrees but not sure that’s really necessary. I was just feeling hungry since it was a late lunch for me.

It didn’t taste much like biryani from a restaurant but then again I also didn’t add butter or lamb or anything like that, so who knows. I like it with extra cashews too that I obviously can’t do now either. But I tried and it was sort of Indian-y in flavor. The Savory Chicken entree is a good one for infusing different flavors so I wanted to try it out.

Perhaps next time I’ll try the miso paste, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and green onions. An Asian inspired dish might be fun. If you like a set of flavors for this entree let me know in the comments. I am always on the look out for new flavor combinations to keep things interesting and stay motivated to stay in the box!

PS I have lost 73 pounds so far since mid January 2018.

PPS I also just got a Fitbit, so if you want to be Fitbit friends PLEASE let me know. I am in the HMR Users group but it seems very inactive.

Tough Weekend

My weekend was full of fun events that unfortunately revolved around food. I was totally freaked out about how I was going to deal with this – not only staying in the box but also getting in my PA with all these extra events.

It all started on Thursday… My future in-laws came to town and my parents were having a dinner to welcome them. My presence was of course required. I wore my new size 18 capris and a lavender shirt to give me strength. I made time to walk at work during my prep period. I figure that my health comes first and I can grade essays later. I came to my parents’ house prepared though. I brought a little tupperware with 1 tbs of salsa, 1 tbs of nonfat sour cream, some cilantro and green onions. I added all of this to the chili. Amazing. I had this while everyone else ate deliciousness that I won’t even describe here. Then I made toasted ravioli. A double entree dinner was necessary. I got through the first dinner in the box, no problems.

Friday was an even bigger problem. We were going out to a Mediterranean restaurant that I love. But we called ahead and they said they did have a microwave in the break room for staff to use and they would heat up my entree. When we got there though there was a different manager and there was some fast talking to get them to agree. I had a muffin while everyone was eating appetizers. They heated up my five bean casserole and I added 1 tbs salsa and 1 1bs nonfat sour cream. Everyone was still eating yummy food so I got a second entree heated up. This time the beef strogonof. I added some horseradish to this one. Then I had a few Snack’mmms pickles for dessert. Success at another day staying in the box. Zero PA day though.

Saturday was going to be the toughest. It was my bridal shower and we were ordering sushi and teriyaki chicken with rice for the meal. Plus, I saw that my mom had guacamole for the chips. The one thing I am really craving is avocado so I was super freaked out about having California rolls around that I couldn’t eat. I started telling myself that store bought guacamole is terrible and too smooth and I can make it better so why bother eating it and it was probably gross and I definitely didn’t want it. This actually worked and I had no cravings whatsoever for the guacamole. I planned ahead and brought TWO ravioli entrees and toasted them. The food was set out on the table and I immediately turned away and started toasted my ravioli. By the time I was done and had my plate of food all the California rolls were gone. Amazing.

Then when everyone else had ice cream cake, I had a double vanilla pudding for dessert. Although, I did pose to cut the cake with my fiance – see picture above. Luckily, I got in an hour walk with my future in-laws and fiance during the day. So still got some PA in and stayed in the box.

Sunday I was going to use our new Instant Pot to make chicken pho for everyone – 6 people. I cooked and almost went out of the box because I was going to try a small piece of chicken and some noodles that had gotten stuck on my fingers. But I caught myself in time and gave it to my brother. Close call… Everyone loved the soup and said it was great. It certainly smelled good but I did not taste any of it. I had another chili with salsa, sour cream and green onions. Then I had a bread stick with “ranch”. We went for a walk – one hour PA!! – and then went out for dinner to my favorite Italian restaurant. I brought the penne with meatballs and the Garlic Parmesan seasoning with a muffin to eat for appetizer. They had their bread and oil/vinegar and I had my muffin. The restaurant smelled like garlic and bread and it made my entree taste amazing. Success. In the box and did some PA.

Now that the weekend is over, I am wondering why I was so nervous. I did just fine and I wasn’t really tempted much at all. I got to socialize with all my friends and family and I still ate my food and got in some PA. I even got to cook a meal for everyone using our new Instant Pot. I have about 500 calories left to hit 2000 for this week but I still have Monday and Tuesday to do it in. So I think I will be fine. I won’t hit my 3500 that I like to do, but at least I’ll still get 2000.

HMR DF Toasted Ravioli

I had heard of this possibility for a while and I finally tried it out myself tonight.

HMR Cheese & Basil Ravioli entree
Garlic powder
Oregano (dried)
Basil (dried)
Garlic Parmesan Kernel Seasons

It takes some prep but it is so delicious!

First, separate the ravioli from the sauce. Pat the ravioli dry with a paper towel to make sure you get most, if not all, the sauce off. Place the sauce in a small bowl.

Spray an aluminum foil covered tray. Lay out the raviolis on the tray.

Spray the tops of the ravioli lightly. Then sprinkle garlic powder and a little of the Garlic Parmesan on top.

Broil for 6-8 minutes on high, until the tops start to brown and the ravioli puffs up a bit.

While they are in the oven, add oregano, basil, garlic powder and a little Garlic Parmesan to taste to the sauce just to give it a bit more kick. If you have a mini-hand blender or something, it may be fun to blend the sauce so its easier and thicker to dip. I don’t have one, so I just left it as is.

Watch your ravioli carefully because it can go from not quite done to burnt pretty fast. At 6 minutes take them out and flip them over. Add garlic powder and a Garlic Parmesan seasoning to the other side. Put it back in the oven for another 6 minutes to toast both sides. Keep an eye on it because you don’t want to burn it. In my oven, on high broil, it took six minutes on both sides and it was crispy and delicious.

These turned out amazing. Although I did have extra sauce at the end, so maybe use this as a more is better and not as an alternative way to eat the whole entree. I am not sure how much nutrition/calories are in the sauce but just in case, I did not count it for one of my entrees of the day. Enjoy!

HMR DF Beef Strogonof Variation

Yesterday was my dance recital. I was at the theater the whole day, from 9:30 AM to 11 PM. We had rehearsals and two shows. It was intense. I brought muffins, bread sticks with ranch and some entrees. I was prepared to eat the entrees cold but luckily there was a microwave. I ended up eating 3 shakes and 1 entree there and then had my last entree to relax when I got home. It was quite a day. I said no to sandwiches and guacamole chips as well as cookies. Go me!

Today was much calmer but still busy with errands. I had some time to take a break from things and grab a bite to eat and I wanted to play around with the Ranch Kernel Seasons flavor.

I ended up getting the Beef Strogonof entree and adding 2 tablespoons of nonfat sour cream. Then I added a teaspoon of the Ranch Kernel Seasons flavor. Just for fun, I added some fresh cilantro. I really love cilantro so I figured it wouln’t hurt.

It ended up being really good. The ranch flavor was subtle but the addition of the cilantro really changed the beef strogonof to something totally different than usual. I am starting to get a bit bored with the entrees so anything that changes the flavor is great. Ranch cilantro definitely works.

I wonder what else I could add ranch-cilantro to… Seems a good flavor combination. Gotta think on that…

 

New Habits

A little before and after for you all today: This is about a month before I started HMR. Note the blood test bandage, so I had just gotten my initial test for beginning HMR classes a month later. Probably around 320 pounds here.

Today I was craving food all day. But not my usual junk. Surprisingly, I was just craving different food and vegetables and more variety. It wasn’t that I particularly wanted a burger or a burrito or pizza. I just wanted a nice salad or crunchy baby carrots.

(Ooooh maybe artichoke with the Kernel Seasons ranch/NF sour cream as a dipping sauce.)

But I guess I have formed the new habit of healthy eating and have lost my desire for junk. Only took 13 weeks, so that’s not too bad.

I ended up doing a double entree for dinner. First, I made the lasagna with salsa and cilantro. Quite tasty. Then I made the beef strogonof with a bit of NF sour cream and a little reduced sugar ketchup. This may seem like an odd combination but my grandmother’s strogonof recipe is based in ketchup and sour cream so this brings make that flavor for me. Then I had a few 0 calorie dill pickles for a crunchy dessert.

(Now please watch out with this one. The Snack’mmms dill pickles are allowed at my clinic for DF but this seems odd to me because it is a vegetable. I suppose it counts as relish and that is a condiment? Not sure how it works but I love it because it is something crunchy to eat. Watch out also for the sodium in these. More sodium will make you retain water and thus weigh more so be careful how often you eat this.)

So, now I am craving vegetables. I am really excited about cooking vegetables and adding to the entrees once I get to HS – which should be about next February. I am definitely ready to get out of DF and transition to HS and Phase 2 but I still have at least 100 pounds to go. I’ve lost about 60 now. So I guess I’m sticking with DF until most of the weight has been lost.

My weigh in is tomorrow and so far this week I have over 4400 PA calories. However, I do also have some very MIB days where I ate more than usual – still in the box but more than usual. Guess we’ll see what the scale says tomorrow.

Here I am now: This was last weekend and I weigh about 263 pounds. About 100 pounds to go!

HMR DF Ravioli++

HMR Cheese and Basil Ravioli entree
1/2 tsp Garlic & Parmesan Kernel Seasons (4 calories)
2 big leaves of basil

I love adding a bit more flavor to the HMR entrees. It just makes meals that much more fun and enjoyable.

I love adding the Garlic and Parmesan seasoning to the Ravioli entree. Today I tried adding some fresh basil. WOW! What a difference. It really brought out the basil flavor in the dish. It made it seem like a real Italian meal you could find at a restaurant, although with a smaller portion.

I am finding that adding fresh herbs instead of dried ones makes a HUGE difference. So far I have only tried cilantro and basil but this could be the start of something amazing. A great way to stay in the box and get a real kick of flavor.

HMR DF Mac & Cheese Chili

HMR Turkey Chili with Beans Entree
HMR Rotini Chicken Alfredo
2 tablespoons salsa
fresh cilantro to taste

Comfort food time! This recipe makes a double entree out of the chili and alfredo entrees.

I microwaved each one separately for one minute each, as instructed. Then I mix them both in a bowl. I added two tablespoons of salsa (10 extra calories) and some fresh cilantro.

The cilantro adds a lot of freshness to this dish and the salsa spices it up. The mixture of chili and alfredo sauce really makes it a home style comfort food, almost a casserole (maybe crumble up some bread sticks on top and bake? oooh next time!).

Definitely a win for a meal after you’ve had a rough day and need that double entree to help you stay in the box.