Friday Day 5 Week 2 Induction, Jan 23, 2009

"To Thine Own Self be True, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."
Inspiration for Friday of Week 2 Induction: Back on the wagon!
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Random Thoughts:

Birthday's over, but the moussakas remains (yum - it's breakfast again because I LOST WEIGHT yesterday to today!!! so I guess it is not too many of the group 2 veggies that I can't overeat. After today, sadly, it will be all gone.

Hmmmm - need to come up with another winner dish to eat all week for next week. I also should see how much it cost in ingredients (can't really factor in oven use or my time, as a restaurant would have to) so I can price it. I had gotten the beef on sale for $1.98 (a real deal around here where they want to charge over $3 for fatty ground beef)

PERSONAL HAZARD (S)- Re-affirming myself to action - making sure I work out today even while I know I have to work on other things...balancing my work/exercise schedule so I make time for myself, even if only 15 min at a time!

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Assignment:

Progress so far:

Doctor Appt: Did it. The follow-up checkup is already scheduled for March.

READ THE BOOK: Did what I needed, still referring to as I "work the system."

ONGOING ASSIGNMENT: Induction continues: Food, Water, Exercise!! Plan the menus, work the plan. 30 minutes of zumba daily

NEW ASSIGNMENT: . Make sure I get in my strength exercises as well. Need a new exercise I haven't done in 60 days - a challenge from one of my eDiets Support Groups - what can I do? Any suggestions?????? (HELP! I have til Sunday to do this!!!)


Vitals:
BP -
Weight: 183.0
Cholesterol: Numbers from 30 May 08 (Doctor's office):
Total: 250
Trig: 56
HDL: 93
LDL: 146
Vitals that day: Wt: 171 BP: 126/82 Pulse: 72

Exercise:

Stretching 15 min
Cardio 45 min
Strength 15 min

Water: 96 oz

Food:
Breakfast: 1 portions (of 8 in a casserole) of Moussakas (greek eggplant casserole), 3 mugs of coffee w/ S/L and milk
Lunch: another portion of Moussakas
Dinner: leftover chicken a' la king (no veggies since I already ate those in the moussakas
Snack: 1 cups of romaine, 1 cup of celery, some Coke Zero, 4 slices of Lebanon bologne
Dessert: my "breakfast crepe omelet" of eggbeaters with splenda, cinnamon and onion powder - plus I had two pre-cooked sausage links - all before going to bed
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NOTES:

Wt: going down again - YAY!!! - this is great news - going down more after not exercising and then having the yummy crablegs PLUS having the moussakas for breakfast and lunch....maybe it's worth eating the yucky lettuce and the almost-intolerable celery sticks???
BP: not taking regularly anymore - will begin to look at it monthly
Ketones: a few more days before I check

How to Clean Celery Properly for your Holiday Guests (and Yourself)

The ladies over at eDiets, my fellow Atkins ("Strictly Atkins") ladies, gave me the idea for this post. Turns out, in a discussion about eating more fruits and vegetables, that a couple of them had never peeled celery before.

I mentioned that because I am appalled when I go to a party and see that the celery has not been peeled. Does the host actually like green organic dental floss in their teeth after each meal? (Does this bug anyone besides me?)

Celery strings are thicker and tougher on the toughest stalks of the celery bunch . In addition, I learned that the tenderer stalks are the tastier ones and the tough ones should be pulled off the stalk and discarded or used for soup.

So now I'm going to tell you how to clean a bunch of celery so you can discover this wonderful vegetable which requires more calories to eat it than it actually provides! How cool is that!?!!

Celery is also a good thing to give to kids with cream cheese, peanut butter, or "bugs-on-a-log" -- raisins embedded in peanut butter.

I recommend using a paring knife. I knew someone who actually uses a vegetable peeler to do this, but it takes off more of the celery and is more difficult to do (the strings catch in it) yet that method may be quicker, until you learn how to do it with a paring knife.

A paring knife is that little bitty knife - about a 4" knife blade - that is sold anywhere kitchen stuff is sold. They come cheaply, but try not to get one that is so cheap it bends. Your fingers will thank you.

• So, first remove the outside stalks from the celery bunch and wash the dirt off them. Set them aside for soup or discard (it's kinda fun to watch them spin when inserted whole, and in a standing position, down the garbage disposal, but the strings can cause problems for the garbage disposal -- I've heard-- so try not to have too much fun).

• Then, cut off the bottom hunk of celery (where it all comes together at the root). You can use that for soup too, if you like, or toss it. Clean it a bit better if you keep it because there are more crevices there for dirt to hide in.
• Now all your stalks should be "free" and independent of each other. One option is to cut the ends off (just scant) to clear the ending of dried, dirty stalk. Another is to cut it off just below the "joint" and use the top parts for soup (some will be longer than others).

• The center stalks of the celery are the tenderest, but some of them get to be very leafy. These look pretty in Bloody Mary's but I haven't found a liking for the leafy stalks otherwise, so if you do, enjoy. (My xh, who taught me all this stuff (and came from a fresh foods family), loved that part and ate it. Not me.)
• So, now we have the parts of the celery we might actually want to eat. Let's clean them up and get rid of those nasty strings.

• I use water and my hands to remove dirt - these parts are not that going to be as dirty as the other, so this is easy to do.

• Then I remove strings. The strings can be found easily with your fingernails but they (the strings not the nails) will break off a lot if you do it that way. The fingernails will also get gunky, so now is a good time to get out your paring knife.

• Putting your thumb on the back of the celery, you place the blade in the end of the celery (think how a vegetable peeler's blade needs to get underneath the peel) and cut in gently until you can pull back the celery flesh, squeezing it with your thumb against the blade. Your other finger is holding the blade firmly against whichever strings your blade located. Normally, you will find a lot of strings the first time, then look for stray strings later.

• Pull firmly but gently all the way down the stalk and the strings will be the only part of the celery being removed, not the flesh. Once you've gotten this to work, you'll see how easy it is. Go back and pull the other strings out.

You will find the toughest parts/stalks have the thickest strings. The tenderer pieces sometimes have next-to-nothing in the way of strings. Taste them to see which ones suit you best and now you know which celery you like the most.

The de-stringed celery may look a little odd to you, particularly if you mangle it a bit the first few - or dozens - of times you do it.

I recommend cleaning (de-stringing) the whole bunch of celery, then putting it back in a bag in the fridge so whenever someone wants one - straight-up or with PB or cream cheese (Atkins-friendly for Induction with CC or plain) - it's ready to go.

Put the other saved celery in a different baggy so you can just toss it in whenever you make a homemade soup like Chicken Noodle (which Mo made) or Chicken Soup. (Hmmm maybe we should go ahead and make chicken soup the same day and freeze it.)

Do you have any vegetables that you just don't like? Let me know and I'll publish some recipes or hints of ways that can maybe help you like it a little bit better, or maybe even learn to love it.