Ate More, Moved Less

Last night I ordered onion rings with my fried chicken at the Popeye's Fried Chicken on Gilmer Road in Longview, Texas. The price was $2.69 for the only size of rings on the menu. When I got my order at the drive-thru window, I noticed the large box and was thinking this was going to be a delicious (unhealthy) supper. Sweety wanted a burger, so I stopped at the Whataburger up the street, and while waiting for it to be cooked, I opened up the box of rings, and much to my dismay this is what I found:





Well, I actually ate one so what you see is nine, count 'em, NINE, remaining rings. Does this seem reasonable? That means that an order of ten rings at $2.69 (plus 8.25% sales tax) works out to almost 29 cents per ring.

I actually went back to Popeye's and the young lady who handed me the rings was smoking on the sidewalk. I pulled up and she came over and I asked her if this was all the rings one gets for $2.69. She said, "Yes, sir. Ten. Sorry."

I agree, that's pretty sorry.

In some sort of wierd fairness, I must admit each 29 cent ring was very tasty, but needed salt.

Sweety and I tried a new restaurant in Tyler last night, Clear Springs Cafe. It is part of a chain (sorry, but some chains are great). They have locations in San Antonio, New Braunfels, Midland, and Nacogdoches.

We thought it was pretty good and the prices were reasonable. Sweety had garlic shrimp served on a bed of rice (the rice was the only thing not particularly tasty), with cole slaw (as the waiter said, "tastes kinda' like KFC") and green beans. I had "award winning" chicken fried steak (better than average, and only $7.95 for more than I could eat), baked potato (sorry, South Beach Diet), and good pinto beans. We also shared a run-of-the-mill garden salad.

The highlight of the meal for me was the homemade onion rings. I have searched the world over for the best OR's, and these are right at the top. Had to add some salt, but they were served very hot and there were a bunch of them for $3.95. Again, more than the two of us cared to eat.

We also enjoyed the domino tables in the waiting area. Even though we don't know how to play dominoes, we made up our own game and Sweety sneaked by me, 3 games to 2. When a lady and little girl sat down with us we reverted to my favorite childhood use of dominoes; stand them on end in a row then push the first one and watch them fall. This made the 25-minute wait fly by. They also suspended inverted minnow buckets from the ceiling as light fixtures over the booths. Very crafty.

They have several very tasty sounding seafood items on the menu. We will have to go back and check out some other stuff like the cajun gumbo or jalapeno crawfish chowder. Yummy.

My golf buddy had extra tomatoes because his wife grew too many. I haven't had too many so I took some of theirs so I could make tomato soup.

This recipe was in the Dallas Morning News Wednesday when these extra tomatoes came my way, so after golf, I made this soup. It is delicious.

This recipe calls for SIX POUNDS of fresh tomatoes. I only had 3 pounds so I made a half recipe.


2 T olive oil
2 medium onions, diced (about 2 cups)
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
6 lbs fresh, ripe tomatoes
1 t salt
1 t sugar (I used Splenda)
3 sprigs fresh thyme (I used 1 teaspoon dried)
1 bay leaf
1/4 C fresh chopped basil

Heat the oil in a large pot. Cook the onions and garlic until onions are golden. Stir in all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to a vigorous simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes are breaking up. Remove from heat and allow to cool (about 20 minutes). Puree in a blender in batches. Strain, if desired (I didn't). Add black and cayene pepper to taste. Reheat and serve.

I also added 2 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream to my half recipe and thought it was great.

Thanks to Pat for growing the extra 'maters.

Have you seen the movie "Cars"? The tow truck, voiced by Larry the Cable Guy, is named 'Mater, southern short for tomato.

Cars is a wonderful movie, Larry the Cable Guy is wonderful as 'Mater, and our 'maters are coming in by the basketful, and they are equally as wonderful. How did this happen? I can't grow up, much less grow tomatoes.

But here they are in all their tasty beauty. Big ones, little ones, even Italian ones.



What to do with this bounteous harvest? There are only so many tomatoes one can eat raw with pepper and salt.

As always, look online for recipes, in cookbooks for recipes, and magazines for recipes.

Here are two which we love. The first is Sweety's favorite and it comes from The Food Network and is a Southwestern influenced dish:

Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salad

Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
User Rating: 5 stars

2 cups cooked corn, fresh or frozen (I use corn on the cob, grilled on the gas grill. And just one ear of corn. I want this to be more tomatoey.)
1 avocado, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pint (2 cups) cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup finely diced red onion

Dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 bablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine the corn, avocado, tomatoes and onion in a large glass bowl. Mix together the dressing ingredients in another bowl, pour over the salad, and gently toss to mix.


My favorite new recipe for tomatoes comes from the current issue (July, 2006) of Southern Living, page 104. This is an Italian flavor. Although the recipe calls for serving the tomatoes over lettuce, it is great in a bowl all by itself.

Italian Tomato Salad

2 1/2 lbs. of ripe tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup cider or balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt (this seems like a lot of salt, so you may want to cut back a little.)
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 garlic clove, minced (I use a garlic press)
Mixed salad greens

Stir together the first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes. Serve over or toss with salad greens.

Very tasty!

It has been over two months since I blogged here, but I continue to check the Site Meter to see how many "hits" this blog receives and what people are looking for when they visit.

Paula Deen is a very popular search item. What I don't understand is why anyone would search blogs for her recipes? All of her recipes are available at www.foodnetwork.com. In the last week I had three hits by three different people looking for Paula Deen's broccoli slaw recipe.

Well, I just searched for broccoli slaw on the Food Network site and there are none by Paula Deen. What's the deal?

Paula needs to come up with a broccoli slaw recipe, I guess.

Well Sweety went to the nutritionist at UT Southwestern Medical School in Big D Monday. The object was to learn about a low protein diet as protein interferes with one of her Parkinson's meds. I was afraid that her diet and my South Beach Diet would be a real problem, because SBD is pretty protein intensive to help stave off hunger.

I think, though, that I can change portion sizes and both of us still can eat the same stuff. She will just get more veggies, less protein and some bread while I get no bread but more protein.

We made her some Chex Party Mix snacks without the nuts for her to snack on. I will get the nuts to snack on.

I'm looking for low protein recipes, if anybody has any.

Have got to write again, but haven't had much to write about lately. Still can't take Bubba for regular long walk, so we take several short ones every day.

Yesterday we (that would be Sweety and I, not Bubba and I) built a garden path and today I washed the Z.

The only interesting food thing lately was a shrimp spread that I made from Paula Deen's shrimp salad. I had about a cup and a half leftover from Friday, so I put it in the food processor and ground it up for a spread for Saturday's get together with Sue, Doug, Eve, and Steve. Sweety suggested I put some cream cheese in it for additional body. It was an excellent suggestion and the spread came out just right. Very tasty.

Breakfast was two eggs over medium, two sausage patties, and decaf coffee w/Splenda and ff half-and-half. Lunch was tuna salad on romaine with tomato and avacodo. Don't have supper planned yet, but it will involve some leftover grilled chicken.

Decaf coffee with ff half-n-half, scrambled egg, turkey bacon, oatmeal waffle w/sugar free Mrs. Butterworth's, lettuce and tomato salad with balsamic vinegrette, pizza margherita, diet rootbeer, a few olives for snack, scotch and soda, grilled steak, leftover broccoli w/queso, baked sweet potato.

All sooooo good and sooooo good for you.

Worked with the Bubba twice in the street, even did a little jogging. Scared the Bubster to death when I went faster than he had ever seen.

A friend emailed a recipe for a tomato dish from the Roseville B&B in Marshall, Texas. Here is the recipe:

1 can 10-count Biscuits
1 cup Mayonaise (I used light mayo)
1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack/Colby Cheese
2 Tomatoes
McCormick Salad Supreme
Butter Flavored Pam
Parmesan Cheese
Dried Basil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

On a cookie sheet lined with foil, spray Pam. Space the biscuits evenly and flatten each. Spray biscuits with Pam. Sprinkle dried basil over the biscuits.

Peel the tomatoes and slice each one into five slices (about 1/4 inch thick). Put a tomato slice on each biscuit. Sprinkle each slice liberally with Salad Supreme.

Mix the mayo and Jack/Colby cheese together. Top each tomato/biscuit with the mixture, about a tablespoon on each. Sprinkle Pamesan over each stack.

Bake approximately 10-12 minutes until biscuits are cooked through and cheese is melted.

This looked great, but on the South Beach Diet, the biscuits are a no-no. So for lunch today, I sauteed some boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I beat flat with a rolling pin. I salted and peppered one side of each breast, and put Emiril's Essence on the other side and cooked them in olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Then I built the stack as shown in the recipe. I put the skillet with the stacks in the oven and cooked them for 10 minutes to melt the cheese. Boy, were they good. Had leftover green beans as a side.

I can see doing the same with portabella mushrooms to make a great side dish.

Weight today was still around 218, but we ate very well so I'm hoping to lose a little this week. I went walking on the golf course without Bubba because he is in training.

Supper was leftover chicken jambalaya from the SBD Quick and Easy Cookbook. Steamed broccoli with queso was the side. Sweety made a poached egg, turkey bacon and ww toast sandwich for breakfast.

It was a very good day on the Beach.

I haven't blogged much lately because not much exciting has been going on in the eating life. And Bubba is starving in a kennel in the suburbs of Dallas where he is supposed to be learning to be a protection companion. Therefore, walking is not nearly as interesting for me, but I go everday.

Today, however, I made a new recipe for waffles from the South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook.





These waffles are made with SBD friendly ingredients, i.e. whole wheat flour and oatmeal. The book recommends topping them with sugar free jam. We use sugar free Mrs. Butterworth's syrup.

The waffles are very light and crispy. Maybe the best waffle I've ever eaten, healthy or not.

I'll not bore you with the recipe, but the SBD Quick and Easy Cookbook does contain really good recipes that are amazingly quick and easy. If you like to eat, I think you should get one.

Haven't blogged this last week because I have not been particlarly good (eatingwise). But the good thing about the South Beach Diet is that it is easy to get back on track and not feel guilty.

We do have a complicating factor now, though. Sweety was told by her doctor that she needs a low protein diet. This is not too good for a SBD household. So now she gets bread and potatoes and salad while I get chicken and steak and salad. I can say that I really don't miss potatoes or bread anymore and I never was hooked on dessert. I do like regular, sugary cold drinks, but I've been off of them for 18 months and don't really miss them too much.

Got to get back to American Idol. Simon told Kelly Pickler she is a minx and now she thinks she's a highly valued member of the rodent family.

Watching Dancing with the Stars while finishing supper of grilled sirloin with sauteed veggies with whole wheat couscous. Stars is good but supper was better.

After a breakfast of French toast with sf syrup and turkey bacon, Bubba and I had a nice walk in the brisk morning air. Lunch was chef salad. So, all in all, it was a great eating day.

This afternoon I hooked up the low-voltage lighting in the new flower beds. Looks real nice. Just need some plants and mulch.

Go, Jerry!

We really need the rain that is falling this morning, but exercise is difficult. Maybe it will stop this afternoon so Bubba and I can take a walk. This is the new patio with puddles. Bubba's paws are not nearly as muddy these days.

We had a great omelet for breakfast today- ham, green onion. red bell pepper, and cheese. Also ww toast with sf jelly.

For lunch I took Sweety's left-over grilled chicken pasta with steamed veggies from Copeland's in Shreveport, added some green beans and the rest of the red bell pepper from breakfast, and another grilled chicken breast along with some butter, lemon juice from one lemon, heated it in a large skillet, and devoured it. Very tasty. Got rid of a bunch of left-overs too.

Yesterday, breakfast was the usual. Lunch and supper were the same because we had our real estate agent over for lunch of shrimp salad, pasta salad (whole wheat, of course), and baby spinach salad with sf poppy seed dressing. Sweety made cheese crackers as well as most of the salads. Very tasty. We had enough left over to have D and S over for supper as well. Finished with ff, sf cheesecake pudding.

Played golf yesterday morning. Got in 18 holes and was home b4 11:30.

Bubba hasn't gotten a walk since Thursday, so we'll go now, if the deluge is over. Not complaining about the rain, just saying.

Going to E and S's tonight for chicken enchiladas. We're taking guacamole and chips. Shut up.

Blogging from our new laptop while watching Dancing with the Stars.

Had the boiled shrimp tonight with creamy coleslaw (made with Splenda and low-fat mayo). Very filling and delicious. Had lunch with Pawpaw at Buckners. Started with a very good salad of romaine with a sweet Vidalia Onion dressing. Entree was citrus (orange) baked chicken breast with squash caserole (too cold) and half a small, baked sweet potato. Dessert was sugar free cherry pie. I ate the filling but left the crust. Breakfast was scrambled eggs with bacon and a whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese.

Took the Bubster for a walk this morning then played nine holes of pretty bad golf. I'll be glad when the grass starts to grow. This afternoon we went shopping at Academy for some foam for Sweety's bathroom project but wound up with a very heavy hammock stand. After wrestling that big, heavy box around, I set up the table saw to cut a board for the BR project. Cleaned up the garage then spent the next two hours working in the backyard on running low voltage lighting around the flower bed and on drilling drain holes in the edging around the flagstone patio so that there are no puddles. Then I changed clothes and went to the grocery store to get some ingredients for the lunch we are having with our real estate agent tomorrow. We are not buying or selling anything, just being friendly. Then I cooked supper and helped Sweety with a pasta salad for tomorrow. Finally got to eat. Boiled some eggs, finished making the shrimp salad for tomorrow, and cleaned up the kitchen. Got to sit down and watch Idol.

This has been a long day.

Breakfast was egg, bacon and cheese sandwiches on whole wheat toast with sugar-free jelly, decaf coffee with Splenda, fat-free half-and-half and a splash of sugar-free caramel syrup. The coffee was really tasty because it hardly had any coffee flavor at all! :)

Lunch was leftover pizza margherita and bag salad with balsamic vinegrette.

Supper will be boiled shrimp with creamy coleslaw made with Splenda and lowfat mayo. I will make a double batch of shrimp so we can have shrimp salad for lunch Friday.

Bubba and I had a good walk this morning. We were the only creatures stirring except there were a thousand noisy black birds on the ground on the seventh fairway. As we approached, maybe 100 feet away, they took off in a swirling swarm. I don't know what (or IF) Bubba thought, but I felt a great sense of connection with Mom Nature. Very cool experience right here in the city.

UPDATE: Had to go to Shreveport to pick up a new computer so supper was Ricochet Catfish at Copelands. Just ate the catfish and some onion rings. Unfortunately desert was included in the fix prix dinner, so had a few bites of brownie ala mode. Shut up.

Breakfast was usual. Lunch was pizza margherita with bag salad. Snacked on cashews and scotch. All good. But supper was really good. Reheated some grilled chicken breast that I glazed with Blackberry Chipotle sauce. Accompanied that with leftover sauteed veggies and a salad of thin sliced tomato with avocado drizzled with olive oil vinegrette.

Due to the lousy, drizzly, foggy weather, I didn't get to play golf. Bubba and I did get our walk in this morning. Cleaned up the tiller I borrowed from Eddie. I intended to take it back this afternoon, but weather was too nasty to want to drive across town. That's all the exercise except grocery shopping.

Had some chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Love the SBD. Ready for the fog to go away!

I made those SBD eggplant rolls for lunch yesterday, and they were mighty tasty. The whole wheat couscous was especially good. (Note to H: The word "especially" looks wierd. Kind of like I'm trying to write with a Spanish accent. Like, I work at the eschool. Is it a good word? I can't seem to get the Blogspot spellcheck to work, so I can't check it. Does your spellcheck work OK?)

Sweety did not care for the eggplant, especially (there it is again) the eskin. (Oops, Spanish accent again.) I had to leave it on as it was the only thing holding the eggplant eslice together. The roasted tomato esauce on top was good, but I added some Italian eseasoning to it. There is feta cheese in the couscous as well as that esprinkled on top. (OK, it's irritating now.)

Had sauteed tilapia with left-over green beans and mock mashed potatoes for supper. Very tasty.

Also got up the courage to check my weight and still hanging at 218. Not bad.

Ate a lot of breakfast this morning, then took Bubster for a walk. Bridges on the golf course were very slick with ice. Schools were opening late today due to road conditions. Bubster had kicked into sled-dog mode and I sort of skated over the downhill side of the last bridge. This is how Winter Olympic events get started.

Having SBD greek salad for lunch and grilled chicken with sauteed veggies for supper. My day is planned.

UPDATE: Going to Casa Ole for Tex-mex tonight. Got a coupon for $5 off that expires at the end of the month.

Very cold here in East Texas. No frozen precip, but would be plenty if we weren't in the middle a a severe drought. Took the Bubster on our walk yesterday and now I think I have a code in my head. Or allergies. Probably the latter.

Eating has been pretty OK. Feeling a little chunky today (therefore have not weighed), so after Sweety made a coffee cake to go with breakfast of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and decaf coffee with fat-free half-and-half (no one's told me how they do that), Splenda and sugar-free vanilla syrup, I think today we will go vegetarian at lunch and fish for supper. Southbeachdiet.com has a recipe for eggplant that looked very tasty and different that I will try for lunch. It is "Eggplant-Couscous Rolls with Roasted Tomato Sauce." The eggplant and tomatoes are roasted in the oven. Strips of eggplant are stuffed with couscous, rolled up, and topped with a sauce made from the roasted tomatoes.

We had supper at D and S's last night. Eve brought spinach salad with a delicious homemade lemon-olive oil dressing, we brought green beans with shallots and vermouth and SBD mock mashed potatoes (made with cauliflower), and Sue made a delicious stuffed, baked chicken breast dish. We had brunch at Buckner's with Pawpaw yesterday. I had eggs, bacon (real pork!), sausage patties (more real pork!), and last but not least, a biscuit (no whole wheat flour in sight) with gravy. OMG! How good (and BAD) was that.

Friday at school I did very well. The Student Council was apparently sucking up to the faculty and provided movie theater style"snacks" in the teachers' lounge. Nothing but bad carbs as far as the eye could see. Buckets of candy, pretzels, popcorn and a giant cake with about inch thick icing. I had no trouble eating my leftover half of a Jucy's cheeseburger, apple and diet rootbeer, and leaving all the "goodies" on the tables. I believe this is a conspiracy to fatten up the faculty for the slaughter. I'm not going there.

Got to go shopping for eggplant and fish. And Benadryl.

Well, not enough play.

Been too busy to blog much this week. Have stuck to the SBD pretty well. Exception was Tuesday, Valentines Day, took Sweety to the new Asian restaurant, formerly a rib and fish place that didn't make a year in business. Turns out the new place is run by a former oriental guy who ran a Chinese buffet in town. It went out of business, so this must be his new place. Pretty much same old stuff with some bad Tex-mex food added to the buffet.

Wednesday did better with usual breakfast and very little for lunch because I was on the golf course. Had a chunck of cheese, part of a bad apple, and a little popcorn and a Diet A&W rootbeer. Supper was roasted chicken (from Albertson's), sauteed veggies, and salad.

Today was usual breakfast of eggs, oatmeal/walnut muffin, turkey bacon and coffee w/Splenda and fat free half-and-half. Lunch was grilled chicken ceasar salad w/ rootbeer and an apple. Had to gulp it down as I was subbing at HHS. Subbing tomorrow also.

Got the flower beds tilled (twice) and edging installed. With the subbing and gardening, I'm worn out. Bubster didn't get walked yesterday or today. Think we'll go now for the walk. I tricked him yesterday by taking him across the street to the fire hydrant where he peed and then came right back home. He seemed not to notice the subtrafuge.

Hope I can talk Sweety into eating out. I'm too pooped to cook.

UPDATE: Went to Jucy's for a cheeseburger and Burger King for fries for Sweety and onion rangs for me. Ate half the burger. Will have the other half for lunch at school tomorrow.

My herb seeds have sprouted: cilantro, basil, and oregano. I'm going to pot them and use them for cooking and to give to friends who like to cook.

Got plenty of excercise today. Walked the Bubster on the golf course in the am then dug in the flower beds in the backyard. Sweety spread peatmoss over the top and tomorrow I will borrow a tiller and mix it all up.

Made some delicious oat muffins from the SBD Cookbook. We had a muffin and scrambled eggs and turkey bacon with coffee for breakfast. Lunch was similar to son-in-law's "Refrigerator Sauce". Took all the leftovers in the fridge, mixed them together, poured some chicken stock over it and added a chopped, leftover grilled chicken breast to make a noodley soup sort of thing. Very tasty. Now I must figure out what's for supper.

Maybe, sprouts!

UPDATE: remembered the leftovers from Ralph & Kakoo's that Sweety brought home. Stuffed bell peppers. I know what you're thinking. But these are not your daddy's stuffed bell peppers. No, these are stuffed with crab and crawfish. OH MY GOODNESS. Added some steamed veggies and a salad. No sprouts.

Went to BC with our usual crew to visit Bass Pro Shop and see the new Louisiana Boardwalk and to eat supper. Thought we might find an interesting place on the Boardwalk, but no such luck. The only places that were open were Hooters (Sweety won't go and therefore won't let me go) and San Francisco Bakery. The latter is a pizza place and not very upscale. So we went to Ralph and Kakoo's where the food was great. I had salad, grilled chicken with a dark sauce containing crawfish and sausage, steamed veggies, and onion rings. Excellent onion rings. The rest was very good also, but I loved them rangs.

Earlier today we had homemade breakfast tacos for breakfast and grilled chicken salad for lunch.

On the way home we stopped at Walgreen's for arch supports for Sweety and found sugar free Reese's Pieces and sugar free York Peppermint Patties. Yum.

Didn't get to walk with the Bubster this morning because I had an allergy attack while making breakfast, took 2 benadryl, and slept till noon. Will walk extra manana.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, whole wheat toast with no sugar added apricot jelly. Had lunch with Pawpaw at Buckner. It was cheese burger (no bun), blackeye peas, turnip greens, cream of broccoli soup, and sugar free blueberry pie.

I went crazy at supper and made a grilled chicken pasta with broccoli and cherry tomatoes served over spinach fetuccini. Not so carb friendly, but it was very tasty.

Weight today was 218, the lowest since we left for Alaska last May. Go me.

I have been too busy this week to post daily. Retirement can be so hectic! I worked at the Jr. High Monday and Tuesday and at the High School yesterday. Played golf Wednesday. Today I ate a great breakfast of poached eggs with cheese sauce on toast points with 2 strips of turkey bacon and a cup of skim milk. Took Bubba for a wizzle in the drizzle.

I ate pretty well this week with the exception of pizza margherita last night. Also had a glass of Smoking Loon cabernet sauvignon. We had some at J&P's in Lubbock, and liked it very much. I am not much of a wine drinker and especially reds. But this is very tasty. And has a cool label!

We had boiled shrimp Monday night. Perfect for a low carb meal. When I cook shrimp, we cook two pounds. We eat one pound for supper and then make shrimp salad out of the other pound. I use Paula Dean's shrimp salad sandwich recipe from the Food Network. I just leave off the bread part.

Here is the recipe:

1 lb. boiled shrimp, peeled and deveined (I finely chopped half and coursely chopped the other half)
3 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup low fat (not fat free!) mayonnaise
dash onion powder (or any form of onion flavor)
dash celery salt
dash seasoning salt (this is a very important ingredient, I think)
black pepper to taste

Just mix all the ingredients and enjoy. Very tasty.

Out of eggs, so got to go shopping.

UPDATE:

Had leftover cabbage soup for lunch. Threw in a few whole wheat saltines. Had Blue Bunny Lite 85 raspberry yogurt for snack and wine, cheese, and pork rinds for appetizer before grilled chicken and steak with baked sweet potato and salad for supper. Stuffed. Hope I didn't overdo it.

Went to Lubbock to go to the old Spade ISD where we spent the formative years in our education profession. We spent Friday and Saturday night with our college friends, Judy and Paul. They are really very nice people and still a joy to hang with. We tried to stick to the South Beach plan, and were very succesful-no potatoes, very little bread or sugar, no beer, just white wine. Got in a good walk Saturday when we walked from J&P's house to the United spirit arena for the Red Raider stomping of Missouri.

Sunday, however was a different story for me. Exercise was ok due to walk from plane to car in parking lot. Wifey still did well, but we were supposed to have hotdog roast during the Super Bowl. One of the couples had colds, so we canceled until next weekend. Therefore, I ate WAY too much junk Sunday afternoon and evening. Beer, boneless chicken wings in batter (some of which had sugar in the sauce), and a bowl of onion soup.

Got back on track today with scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and one piece of whole wheat toast with no-sugar-added jelly. Lunch was bag salad with chopped chicken strips and lite ceasar dressing. Supper was delicious boiled shrimp and broccoli slaw (intended for yesterday's canceled party). Got my exercise by teaching 7th grade math to the advanced students. Very nice kids.

I certainly hope the weight is going the right way after yesterday. Breakfast was SBD cereal with fresh strawberries and 1% milk. Snack was homemade beef jerky. Lunch at Buckner's with Pawpaw was Salisbury steak, creamed corn, turnip greens, tomato soup, tossed salad, and sugar free chocolate tart. I only ate part of the graham cracker crust of the tart and about half the corn, so maybe that wasn't too bad.

Had a late afternoon snack of a banana.

Last night, however, we went to the Hallsville Jr. High one-act-play dinner theater. Salad was good, but what does one serve a whole bunch of people and costs very little? Spaghetti. That's right, the same stuff marathon runners eat for "carb loading" before a race. And I enjoyed every bite. At least they had some green beans on the plate. I did skip the chocolate cake and the bread. Kind of like the diet Coke and candy bar snack.

No blogging for a couple of days. Off to Spade, TX. The real home of the Longhorns.

BTW, breakfast today was delicious. Two poached eggs on one piece of toasted whole wheat bread topped with 2% cheese melted with a couple of tablespoons of fat-free half-and-half. (What's up with that? How do they make it fat-free?) Two strips of turkey bacon and decaf coffee with fat-free half-and-half and Splenda. Very tasty.

Had a very good breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and two strips of turkey bacon and sugarfree cappuccino. I did not have toast because I wanted to save the bread (low carb Orowheat) for a sandwich at lunch. Did not have time to walk Bubba before golf because I got a haircut. Did make some tuna for a sandwich to eat on the course for lunch with an apple and a diet A&W rootbeer. Had a piece of string cheese for snack.

Golf was vacuumlike-it sucked. Bummer.

Got home and the new flagstone patio was complete and I didn't have to lift a finger (or a flagstone). Very good. One of wifey's former students did the work and it looks very nice. Covers about half the yard. He also tilled up the edges of the yard for flower beds. There were no flower beds in the whole yard.

Probably will have pizza margherita with salad for supper tonight. Yum! Yes it will have pizza crust. Shut up.

Going to Lubbock Friday to see one of the last basketball games at the school were I began teaching in 1968, Spade ISD. The school is being consolidated and this is its last year of operation. Wifey painted the longhorn in the mid-court circle on the gym floor back in the day. I wonder if it is still there? It was a good little school. I hate to see it go. Bummer.

After Bubba and I took our walk this morning, had a great day at the golf course. Don showed up with a partially eaten box of South Beach Diet cereal which he didn't like. (He is borderline diabetic and switched to SBD for weight and blood sugar control.) Don said either Eddie or I could have it. Since we both do SBD, we dedided to play golf for it, winner take all (that was left in the box). Eddie is a 17 handicapper and I am a 13, so I gave Eddie 4 strokes. By the end of the front nine, I had made up the four strokes and was up by four more. This was more than Eddie could take, so he went to the driving range to practice and I won by forfeit. Woohoo! Shot a score of 86 and won a box of cereal!

Had 2 homemade breakfast tacos (using whole wheat tortillas) with turkey bacon and milk for breakfast. Had an apple, two turkey roll-ups, a half bag of popcorn and a diet A&W rootbeer on the course for lunch. Had a grapefruit for snack. Supper will be grilled chicken, mock mashed potatoes, some kind of green vegtable, and a salad.

Must check the SBD website for future meals as we are running low on food.

P F Chang's Mongolian Beef

Ribeye or flank steak is cut across the grain into bite-sized pieces (about the size of a Splenda :-) packet, dusted with cornstarch, stir fried at very high temperature, then coated in the delicious sweet soy-garlic sauce. This can also be done with chicken or shrimp or pork.

For spicey, add some red pepper flakes to the sauce.

Sauce
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I'll use Splenda)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1 cup vegetable oil (we used canola. peanut would be ok, too)
1 pound flank (or ribeye) steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions sliced into 4-inch pieces

Instructions

1. Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a mediun saucepan over med/low heat. Don't let the oil get too hot or you will get major spatter when you add other liquids. Add ginger and garlic (and pepper flakes, if desired) to the pan and quickly add the soy and water before the garlic burns. Add the sugar and dissolve in the sauce, then bring liquid to a boil for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.

2. Slice the meat into bite-size pieces, tilting your knife at an angle to the cutting board to create wider (but not thicker) slices.

3. Dust the meat very lightly with cornstarch and let it sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch has a chance to adhere.

4. Heat one cup of oil over medium heat until it shimmers. This is just about the smoking point. After the smoking point comes the FIRE. Don't go there. Watch for shimmering oil. Saute meat for 2 minutes, moving it around with a wooden utensil. Remove the meat from the oil with a slotted spoon or spider and drain on paper towels. Pour out the used oil. Put the pan back on the heat, replace the meat in the pan and reheat for a minute. Add the sauce, stirring for a minute. Add the green onions and continue cooking for a minute. Remove the meat and onions with tongs and leave the remaining sauce in the pan.

Serves 2.

Since I seem to have more time to comtemplate things these days, I'm going to follow my beautiful kid's example and write about what I eat. And how I move. This will help me undo too many years of pizza and beer.

I actually started in August, 2004. I weighed about 262 lbs. When I got married in 1967, I weighed about 197. That would be a good goal, I think. My brother lost a bunch of weight using the South Beach Diet, so I investigated and thought it sounded doable. Not just for the losing of weight, but as a remainder-of-the-lifetime diet.

I checked out the SBD website, bought the book, bought the cookbook, and by May 5th, 2005, I was down to 215. We then took a motorhome trip to Alaska, and while I ate well on the trip, for some reason I started to slip back into old habits- pizza, burgers, fries, even desserts (which I really don't like too much anyway). So all the bread and potatoes and sugar piled up and now I way 221 (after the strict two week getting-rid-of-cravings period) and one week of Phase 2 including fruits and whole grain breads.

I continue to take Bubba for a brisk twenty minute walk daily plus 18 holes of golf (riding in a cart) about 3 or 4 times a week. S's daughter, A (a pharmaceutical rep), gave me a pedometer to keep up with my number of steps during the day. A says 10,000 steps is a good day of walking. Just playing golf (even riding) gets over 8,000 steps. So that part seems OK.

My sweety tempts me to go towards sweets, and when I do eat them, I think it is more to be polite than craving sugar. I will have to be not so polite.

I went to a cooking class Saturday where we learned recipes from P F Chang. The instructor was a former chef in the Dallas restaurant. Not a great teacher, but a good time was had by all. I was stuffed by the time we ate all of the food we cooked in class. We had Lettuce Wraps, Orange Chicken, Mongolian Beef, and Chicken Fried Rice. It was delicious, and very spicey. I wish I had not eaten so much white rice, but I did. As H says, shut up.

Yesterday, we went to Oxford Street for S's birthday. I had steak, grilled veggies, and lots of salad from the salad bar. Very tasty. Also traded a piece of steak for a piece of sweety's stuffed flounder. Not as good as the Tilapia Vera Cruz I had last time. Had a small piece of birthday cake (still slightly frozen). Definitely not worth the carbs. But I didn't eat the whole thing and made an interesting sculpture from the cake and three skewers left over from the grilled veggies. Looked like an alien invader thingy from War of the Worlds.

Had South Beach Diet cereal for breakfast, celery stuffed with Laughing Cow Light cheese for snack, and made some Country Cabbage Soup for lunch. Supper will be grilled sirloin steak with baked sweet potato and salad. Yum.