Wow.  2010!  Seems just like yesterday we were partying like it was 1999!  It was 1999 that I realized I was overweight.  Mind you, I had been gaining weight ever since I stopped playing field hockey.  Turns out you can’t eat anything you want without working out 3 hours a day!  But the funny thing is I never really noticed my weight gain.  Even though every so often I had to start buying bigger size pants, and then only being able to buy clothes at Lane Bryant still didn’t send the message to my brain that I was overweight.

You know what did it?  One day I was getting into my car and my stomach touched the steering wheel, and no one drove my car but me!  My sister and and I lived in a two flat, so we decided to do Weight Watchers.  The key was that we hardly ever missed a meeting, and within a year, I went from 210 pounds to 137!  I felt great!  It was 2000, Hannah was 8 years old and I decided it was time to share my life with someone – and in May 2000 I met the love of my life!  But I seriously believe that because I loved myself, I was able to let someone love me!

So fast forward to 2010, and I’ve gained back 30 of those pounds I’ve lost.  The picture you see of me on the top right hand corner?  That’s me three years ago at 140 pounds.   And while my doctor wants me to weigh between 110 and 130 (damn for being short!), I’ve settled on 135.

So how am I going to get from 165 to 135?

  1. Add more strength training.
  2. Do 30-day shred every day – its only 20 minutes but it really works!
  3. Drink less wine.
  4. Drink more water.
  5. Take it one day at a time.
  6. Draw strength and inspiration from all of you!
  7. Maybe keep the deep fat fryer in the basement and not on the counter! 😀

Speaking of deep fat fryer – our shrimp fest was delicious last night!  But I did have a healthy breakfast and lunch to start out!

One of the books my sister gave me was The Eat-Clean Diet Book.  They had a recipe for a power oatmeal pancake, but I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand, so I mixed up my own version.

Biz’s Protein Oatmeal Pancake (makes one big pancake)

  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup low-fat cottage cheese
  • 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. canola oil
  • 1/8 cup flax seed
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

At first I didn’t think it was going to set, because it was kind of watery, but a slow cook in the frying pan worked.  This was delicious and filling!  I ate this at 9:00 and didn’t eat my lunch until 2:00!  I had two pieces of bacon and 1/4 cup sugar free syrup.

Lunch was an interesting soup I made.  It started out as a curry potato soup, and while it tasted delicious, it kind of looked like ass.  So I added a can of tomato puree, and it ended up being a spicy curry tomato potato soup!

Biz’s Spicy Curry Tomato Potato Soup

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 medium turnip (I peeled it – I had to ask Tony because I’ve never had a turnip before!)
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin
  • 1 teaspoon yellow mustard seed
  • 1 tablespoon curry
  • 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 2 pounds peeled and chopped red potatoes
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 can chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 28 ounce can tomato puree
  • 1/2 head of cauliflower
  • 2 tsp. salt

Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat and melt butter.  Add the yellow pepper, turnip, cumin, mustard seed, garlic and curry and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for one hour on low heat, until all the vegetables are tender, then remove from heat and using a stick blender, blend until smooth.  I REALLY LIKE THIS SOUP!  It’s got just the right amount of spice with the curry/crushed red pepper blend!

For lunch I had 2 cups of the soup and then I made a grilled cheese on an Arnold thin.

Over the weekend I am going to put this soup recipe into MasterCook for the nutrition – I imagine its going to be low because the only fat is the butter!

So we started off our New Years Eve dinner with a toast!  I really good Sauvignon Blanc – it was called Kim Crawford and it was a 2008 Marlborogh Sauvignon Blanc – I loved it because it had citrus notes and just a hint of grapefruit at the end!

Then I started our shrimp cocktail.  WHAT?  You haven’t tried my recipe for the best shrimp cocktail ever? It comes out perfect ever time!  Once the water reaches 165 degrees, you are done!

Tastespotting was the inspiration for our next two dishes – shrimp toast and shrimps in a blanket!

The shrimp marinated in olive oil, parsley and minced garlic for an hour.  Then I just wrapped them in wonton wrappers and deep fried them – they were done in less than two minutes.  I put Chinese mustard on mine – nice and spicy!

For the shrimp toast, it was the same combination above, but I put it in the food processor to mince the shrimp.  You slice white bread into triangles, and bake at 300 degrees until slightly toasted.  Next you just spread the shrimp on the bread and deep fry.  The recipe said to fry at 300 degrees so that the shrimp gets cooked before the bread gets overdone, but we thought we could have fried it at a higher temperature – still delicious though – and even better when Tony suggested putting the spread on both sides!

I dipped mine into schezwan sauce 😀

Then later on Tony brought me cheese filled wontons with sriacha sauce!

Closer to 11:00 I made a cracker and cheese plate, along with the shrimp cocktail – forgot to take a picture though!  We made it to midnight, had a glass of Asti and then called it a night.   A great way to end the new year! 😀

Do you make resolutions?  What are they?

Tony and I are off to run some errands, then I am headed to my Mom’s house to make party pizza Friday with my brother Charlie who’s back in town.  They leave tomorrow to go back home! 🙁

See you tomorrow! 😀