Group LLC Holiday Challenge!

tammietifanie

Happy Friday everyone!!!!!!! I have one busy weekend a head of me which im looking forward too since i have been so down all week..
How has everyone been?? I see we have some new people WELCOME!

profjan6

Hi Everyone, Still hanging in there with the low carb thing. I would love to know what to do with cauliflower! Any ideas? Apparently, you can make it taste like mashed potatoes? I'm not buying that one! Always looking for new things. I've been keeping up with my exercising, and doing pretty well with the foods I choose. It is slow going, but I guess that isn't a bad thing.
After a terrible week, I am still in tears all the time about my dog. We are a real mess around here.
I hope you are all well and will enjoy a great weekend.

saverys_gal

YUMMY mashed cauliflower!!!! It doesn't taste quite like mashed potatoes but it's pretty damn good!!

1 cup cauliflower (frozen or fresh)
1 tablespoon cream cheese
literally, just a dash of cream or milk
salt, pepper, garlic, cilantro to taste

Steam the cauliflower well, VERY well!! Mash it down as much as you can with a fork, stir in your dash of milk and cream cheese and season with whatever you like. Put in a small oven safe bowl and pop in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes or until slightly golden brown on top. So tasty! :drinker:

VJ150

I agree with Saverys, Cauli-tatoes are absolutely delicious. I make them a little different though. They are listed in the food database.

1 large fresh cauliflower
1 package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste

Place cream cheese and butter in medium bowl.
Steam cauliflower very well. Drain. Add cauliflower to cream cheese and butter. Mix well. (I use a hand mixer).
Season to taste. This usually makes 6-8 one cup servings.
For garlic flavor, I add garlic pepper.

I have also used cauliflower as a substitute for shrimp fried rice. I will have to look for that recipe. I can only remember to grate the cauliflower and cook it in a wok.

tatiana_13

The cauliflower ideas sound lovely. The perfect way to use up the try out the vegetables I can have next week. I've never been a friend of cauliflower---but that's mostly because I usually get it offered to me RAW on a salad! Cooked with butter and cheese...now that sounds delicious!

Tammie, thanks for the welcome. And profjan, my thoughts are with you about your dog.

I'm having a happy friday. Although I did have to turn down: fast food stir fry. won ton soup. candy. AND apple pie. All at work. In one day. Because induction sort of zaps the cravings, I wasn't physically hard to say no. But socially, its hard to be the person who always says no. They're starting to call me the health nut...and they don't mean that in a good way. I guess its going to be like this from now until January. With all the celebrating going on, I think when one person declines, it makes everyone else feel like you're trying to be "better" than everyone else....otherwise, I can't imagine why they'd care. If it were me who was really enjoying something and a few people said no thank you, I'd be thinking...you don't want it? *Yoink* MORE FOR ME! But...I guess that's how I got in this position in the first place

Anyway. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Looking forward to doing more cooking. And looking forward to my official weigh-in tomorrow, before the hormones have their way.

profjan6

thanks tatiana, saverys, vj....those recipes sound good. i'll definitely give it a try. the baking part seems to be a good idea! i'm not a huge cream cheese fan, but i'll use a little bit.
thanks!!

mom216

Saverys_gal - Thank you I will look for the stevia extract. I have tried splenda, sweet & low, etc - I am willing to try just about anything once.

And thank you all for the great cauliflower recipes. I bought cauliflower to roast. Very simple - and IMHO - tasty.

Set the oven to 400
liberally spray a baking sheet with Pam original
Cut cauliflower into small pieces - (as much or as little as you like) discard the tough core - I usually cut it into small pieces
toss the cauliflower with olive oil (again no measuring - just enough to coat the cauliflower)
place the cauliflower on the baking sheet
season with salt & pepper (or whatever spices you like)
roast in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. The cauliflower will be tender and the tops will have a golden color.

Edited to add: Savery's_Gal - Great news on the JOB - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

saverys_gal

Happy Saturday ladies! :flowerforyou:

I FINALLY slept! This is the first day in almost a month that I feel like my old self! I'm so glad to have the stress of job hunting over with!
Thanks Mom216!!

Glad to see everyone sharing cauliflower recipes! It's such an unappreciated veggie! Mom216 - I might try your recipe, but with frozen cauliflower instead.

Also, on the Stevia - I really hate Truvia and as Grokette will warn if she comes around, it's not pure! She recommend Sweet Leaf Stevia to me, which I was ok with, but it still had a bit of a funny after taste. So I picked up and am still using Whole Foods 365 Stevia Extract - it's fantastic! Great taste, reasonable price and I haven't noticed that I've switched over from Splenda. And as far as I can tell it's all natural, nothing in it.

So TOM finally visited last night! About time too, considering I've been PMSing since early last week!

profjan6

thanks for the roasted cauliflower recipe mom! that sounds good, as well. you have all given me some good tips and i'm going to try them this week. i love to try new recipes, so bring 'em on!!

CALIECAT

as long as I was posting my menu here everyday I stayed on the plan. So monday morning I will be back posting my menu. I have done badly this past 2 weeks. I will be on the Dr Dukan diet. Got to e change my menu up so I wont get bored. well heck i may start tomorrow.See ya'll Marie

elmct57

this seems like a fabulous and supportive group of people and i would love to add on, need some support for maintaining my loss thru the holidays--and you have some of the best low carb recipes & tips i've seen!

saverys_gal

Glad to see you back Marie!! *hugs* I've been off track the past couple of weeks myself, so I'm planning to get back on the wagon come Monday. Let's do this together!!!

Welcome elmct57! :flowerforyou: We're happy to have you! We try and support each other as best we can and with the holidays coming up, it's going to be tough on us all!

CALIECAT

Yes indeedy. we all need to gear up for the holidays.............. elmct57 .............
and welcome to our gang.

Thanks Savery gal. We can do it My menu for today.:

Breakfast 1/2 c greek yogurt oat brand muffin

Lunch: the same

Supper: grilled chicken

Bedtime snacks 1/ c yogurt with squirt of lemon juice and splenda


Lets have a good day. everybody.

ColetteDuchnowski

Hi all...just checking in. School has been hectic...well at least the homework has been...lol I read all the threads on cauliflower. I make it a bit different. I don't use the cream cheese, I use sour cream instead. You don't need a lot. I also add a bit of sharp cheddar to the mix and bake it in the oven till its nice and hot and bubbly. I also have been making scalloped turnips....yummmmmy. I take 4 small to medium turnips, peel and slice, 1 onion sliced thin, Italian seasoning, sea salt, and pepper to taste, butter, 1 cup of lightly scalded whipping cream (just enough to see the bubbles form on the sides) and some shredded cheese. I use sharp cheddar. You layer it all in a buttered baking dish and pour the cream over all, then dot with butter. Save some of the cheese to put on top. I also added some cut up chicken to the one I made last night. You bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour or until the turnips are soft and the cheese is browned. Great main dish casserole. You can also add other meat and other veggies to it. Really tastes good when you have a craving for scalloped potatoes.

VJ150

Hello Everyone and Happy Football Sunday!!

Welcome elmct57!! Glad to have you join our group!! :flowerforyou:

Marie - happy to have you back. You were missed. I have been off track this past week also - every since that cake for boss's day. I guess I won't celebrate him again LOL

cc - thanks for the scallop turnips. I will have to try them.

Yesterday we celebrated my sister's 50th birthday with a surprise party. The menu was great. I was able to eat everything on it except for the pasta. I didn't eat any pasta, but I had a small piece of the cake. It was a half sheet double layered homemade german chocolate cake. Today - I'm back on track. I have two weeks before my cruise so I have to be very mindful of what I put in my mouth. There will be an enormous amout of food including high carb foods so I will have to be extremely careful.

Well - back to my football game. Will check back in later.

VJ150

WHERE IS EVERYONE?!?!?

mom216

Hi VJ!!! Wow a cruise - I wanna go! Congrats on doing a great job at the birthday party! IMHO - being around family and a celebration makes it really hard to eat healthy!

For me there is nothing new and exciting. I'm eating low carb (could always do better) and watching the weight VERY slowly come off. I see very small physical changes, and my jeans are a little looser.

Tatianna - thank you for all your thoughtful support! It is very comforting! I hope you are doing well!

saverys_gal

Hi ladies! Hope everyone's Monday has gone well so far! My workday is just now winding down with an hour and a half left to go!

Great job on the birthday party VJ! What a great success! I think I would just pick and choose my battles on the cruise!

Mom216: if your jeans are a little looser, you're doing something right!! :drinker:

I'm recommitting today to my normal and healthy way of life. My body and ME are all out of sync from the past month of stress and not eating right and not exercising consistently. So now the stress is gone (YAY!) and today I've done pretty good with my eating and I'm planning to get in some exercise when I get home. I don't want to do anything too intense with TOM visiting since I'll get lightheaded, so maybe a walk with Leslie Sansone!!

I'm hoping that tomorrow the scale shows that some of my 7lb bloat is gone!!:ohwell:

VJ150

Hi everyone. Today has been pretty good. Just came back from my lunch walk and I think I got back just in time to miss the rain. It has gotten cloudy outside.

Mom216 - I guess we will loose the weight at a slower pace than others. I can see changes as well and everyone tells me I am loosing and my clothes are looser. So I am trying to ignore what that scale is saying and continue to eat low carb. I know one day soon I will go back to loosing 2-3 pounds a week. Hell at this point, I'll even be happy with one pound a week. LOL

Saverys - I will be careful with the choosing on the cruise. I am soooo excited and soooo ready to go!! :happy:

Well lunch is over. Gotta go.

tatiana_13

HI everyone. Its been a long day! I work close to home. Didn't have a chance to make and pack a lunch, so I thought, I'll run home and have something quick from my fridge. Got 3/4 of the way home and realized I didn't have my keys. So, it was coffee for lunch....there is NOTHING quick AND healthy around my job, and I had wasted most of my lunch hour walking back and forth. I WAS HUNGRY. Which made it harder to turn down the office birthday cake. But I managed it. But I hate it when you do go to the trouble to make a plan and through some dumb mistake, you sort of ruin your plan.

Anyway. Am leaving work in about 5 minutes. TO EAT. Hope you all had a better Monday than me!