Salads, and a correction

I realized that when I was marking my calendar for the 17DD, I accidentally put 7 days for some of the cycles, instead of 10. I also decided to do the first cycle for 10 days, just like the rest of the cycles, instead of just 7 days (I know, I'm all over the place!). It just made sense to make it all 10. After making the corrections, I will be done with the 17DD March 25! That feels like it's just around the corner!

Monday's are going to be my weigh in days. So next Monday I will see where I'm at with the scale (I would have weighed in this morning, but I made the decision to do Monday weigh-ins this evening:)

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I've still managed to eat out almost everyday, while being on the 17DD. I just always get a salad, and be sure to ask them to leave out foods that I'm not allowed. Here's some salads I've had over the past few days:

Greek salad from Jim-n-NicksChicken Cesar salad from Spicy PickleBuild your own salad from Qudoba. This one kinda looks gross, but I put lots of veggies in it, and it was delish!Chicken and fruit salad from chick-fil-a
Keep in mind that there are a lot of salads, that are high in fat and sugars. Most of the salads I see on menus don't go along with the 17 DD. I usually have to custom order mine. If you're doing the 17 DD,
follow these 3 steps when ordering a salad:
1. Choose a light dressing, and always ask for it on the side.
2. Make sure you only have ingredients in your salad that go along with the guidelines of whichever cycle you're on.
3. Even though it's a salad, and it's filled with healthy greens, stop eating when you're just about full, to avoid over stuffing yourself. Too much of a good thing, is a bad thing :)

I found this neat link on Pinterest that gives a big list of healthy salad dressings. I can't wait to try some of these on some of my salads! Here's the link!
PS. Do you ever want to give a gift to someone who's on a diet, and have no idea what to give? "Chocolates? NO." "Homemade cookies? NO." "Cupcakes? NO." "I give up!" A nice big jar of healthy homemade salad dressing is a great idea!!

Do you have a favorite restaurant salad?

I Need Me Some Iron!

Last week I had a good old doctors appointment. At my previous appointment I had mentioned to my doc, that I was pretty tired all the time. If you hung out with me in person, you would see that I yawn like every 5 minutes. Any who, so he did some blood work, and called me back in, to have a chat with him. He said that your "iron levels can range from anywhere between 20 and 250, and mine are at like, 22." I don't know if he was using those numbers as an example, or if that's really what it is, but he told be I was borderline anemic. Figures. Now I have lupus, PCOS, low thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, blood clotting, and "borderline anemia".
Sweet.

Since I'm pretty tired of being tired (hehe) all the time, I'm excited to take action, and get those iron levels up! My doctor told me to take an iron supplement, and to eat more
iron rich foods:

• Clams (eww)
• Pork Liver (eww)
  
• Oysters (eww)
  
• Chicken Liver (eww)
• Mussles (eww)
• Beef Liver (eww)
• Beef (not a big fan)
  
• Shrimp (eh)
  
• Sardines (eww)
• Turkey (finally something I can eat!)
  
• Cooked beans
  
• Lentils
  
• Spinach (so that's why Popeye eats it!;)
  
• Almonds
  
• Dark green leafy vegetables
  
• Dried fruit
  
• Iron-enriched cereals (eh)
  
• Chickpeas
  
• Soybeans
  
• Artichokes
  
• Broccoli (dang!)

In an effort to eat all my iron ;) I'm trying to incorporate more of these foods into my diet. Except the ones that have "eww" next to them. Those foods go against my deliciously healthy beliefs (not that there's anything wrong with them. They just don't get along with my taste buds, and that's a must for me;).

My friend told me about a yummy recipe she got from the Cancer Project, that I had to try! It seemed like an iron rich recipe, so tonight I gave it a go!

Easy 3 Bean Salad:It was delish! Plus it was very quick and easy to make!
And you know how I love that ;)

Aside from being deliciously healthy, it's really quite pretty, wouldn't you say?

Here's what you need:

• light Italian salad dressing
• 1-2 10 ounce bags of spinach
  
• 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked kidney beans
• 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans
• 1 15-ounce can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed, or 1 1/2 cups cooked peas
• 1 10-ounce package frozen lima beans, thawed. or 1 1/2 cups cooked lima beans, or 1 1/2 cups cooked green soybeans (shelled edamame)
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed, or chilled cooked fresh corn.
  
• 1 large diced red bell pepper
  
• 1/2 medium diced red onion
  
• salt and pepper to taste

This is what you do:

• In a bowl, mix kidney beans and next 7 ingredients.
• Serve 1 cup of bean mixture onto individual beds of spinach.
• Drizzle Italian dressing over top.

Here's what I'm thinking:

• Serving size: 10
• Calories per serving: 210

Love it!

***

Today's weigh in had me at 167. That's a 0 pound loss this week. Of course my body is going to play games with me, and stop 1 pound short of me losing 40 pounds! Just to drive me crazy of course. Hopefully next week I can say that I'm 40 pounds lighter!

Tis The Season For Strawberries!

This past week, our local grocery store, had Strawberries on sale, for 10 for 10!

It was such a beautiful sign, that Winter is finally over!

I headed over to the strawberry stand, and picked out 10 beautiful cartons of strawberries!

Hmmm. What to do with 10 cartons of strawberries?

First, my husband and I and ate almost an entire carton of strawberries, all by themselves! Gosh, they are so good!
After our little strawberry feast, I froze 3 of them, to make yummy strawberry smoothies later! Can't wait for that goodness!

The next day, I met up with two of my friends, Betsy and Jill, so Jill could teach us how to make strawberry freezer jam! I was blown away at how easy it was!To make one batch, you need 45 strawberries, which for me, was 3 cartons.

First, you put about 15 strawberries at a time into a blender, and pulse until it's a chunky/smooth consistency. Then you pour all your blended strawberries into a bowl. In another bowl, mix sugar, and fruit pectin together. Then just add that to your strawberries, mix for 3 minutes (stirring constantly), pour into 4 containers, and then put them into the freezer! You can keep them in the freezer for up to a year, and it lasts in the fridge for up to 3 weeks!(When you buy the pectin, it has the directions on the back. I bought Ball no cook freezer jam fruit pectin, and these were the instructions they had on the back (in a little more detail of course;) If you buy another kind of pectin, the instructions may be different)

It's easier then it sounds...and it sounds pretty easy!
It's so easy, a cave man can do it! ;)

And seriously, it's the BEST strawberry jam, I've ever had! It tastes so....fresh! Having an english muffin with jam on it, has become a must every morning with my breakfast!It's also very economical!
I used 3 strawberry cartons, which were $1 each, and then I just had to buy the fruit pectin which was $1.50. So for 4 jars of strawberry jam, I spent $4.50!! Dude!

So, if strawberries go on sale where you live, you simply have to make some strawberry freezer jam! K?

The next thing I made with my strawberries, was a strawberry and spinach salad! :I got 1 bag of spinach, about 1/2 a cup of cubed mozzarella, a handful of sliced almonds, and 1 carton of sliced strawberries.

I got the idea to make strawberry dressing from another blog I read.
In a blender, I put in 5 large strawberries cut in half, fresh lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon,
drizzled agave nectar, added a dash of salt, and blended it all together, until it was nice and smooth!

I poured it over my salad, mixed everything together, and dug in! It was so light and fresh, and absolutely yummy!

Strawberries + mozzarella= HEAVEN!!
I had 2 cartons left.
So what did I do?
I dipped em in chocolate of course!I chopped up some semi-sweet chocolate, put it in a bowl, and put it in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time, until it was melted.

I was a little worried about using semi-sweet, since dark chocolate is the only kind of chocolate I don't like. I discovered that dark chocolate with strawberries is the exception! I also only dipped half the strawberry in chocolate to save on calories, but it also made it so the dark chocolate didn't overpower the strawberry.

I put them in the fridge, so I could have a perfect chocolaty, and deliciously healthy, quick snack, whenever I wanted!!

If you have some strawberries and chocolate left over, you should make Ellie Krieger's strawberry and chocolate stuffed french toast! Can you say, yum?!

I heart strawberries...

***

Today was weigh in day!

Today, I'm at 178!!

I already knew I had hit the 178 mark on Friday, when I weighed in for Tammy's weight loss challenge, so I wasn't that surprised this morning. BUT, I'm very excited to be 178!! I made it past my 180 mark (woo hoo), and I lost 2 pounds this week! Yay me!

My Favorite Chicken Salad

Once, when I was 16, I went on an all salad diet. Yeah. Pretty crazy.
I left that experience, heavier then when I started (Although I was still only 125lbs! What the heck was my deal?), and with a new found hatred for salads!
It wasn't until I was about 19yrs old, that I could even consider eating a salad!

That was the time when I discovered this salad. It's in the "Rosdale Diet" book, although I've made the recipe my own. His actually has more calories then my version!

This is a seriously yummy salad! I usually reach for this salad when I need a little help to keep me from running to the nearest Krispy Creme! It's yummy, mouthwatering, and a very satisfying salad! It solves my craving for the "No No" food, when I'm having my weak moments. It's also very filling. I sometimes (key word sometimes) can't even finish it! When I eat this salad I think to myself, "I can totally do this!"

You Will Need:

~About 2 handfuls of mixed greens (really, you can add whatever you like. They're greens!)
~1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (I usually add a little shy of a tablespoon)
~1-2 squeezes of a lemon
~About a 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
~Half a garlic clove chopped. (I sometimes skip the garlic when I don't feel like messing with it)
~A pinch of sugar or splenda
~3-4 black olives sliced
~1 tablespoon sliced almonds
~1 boneless skinless chicken breast (I usually only use half, and save the other half to use in a salad the next day. Or give it to my husband for his salad;)

Directions:

Dressing:
Mix the EVOO, dijon mustard, lemon juice, garlic, and sugar together. (I usually mix it in a 1/4 cup measuring cup, because it's a small amount and tends to get lost in a big bowl :)

1. Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a deep skillet. Reduce to simmer, and add the thawed chicken breast.
2. Simmer for 10-15 min. Check to see if chicken is completely cooked by cutting into the middle of the breast. Meat should be white, and juices should run clear.
3. In a bowl, combine: mixed greens, olives, and almonds.
4. Pour half the dressing into the bowl, and toss well.
5. Slice chicken diagonally into 1/2 inch slices, and arrange on top of salad.
6. Drizzle remaining dressing on top
7. DIG IN!!

Here's What I'm Thinking:

Calories:
Around 350 to 400, depending on if you use half a chicken breast or not.
Yes, it's a bit of a splurge, but it's satisfying, tasty, healthy, and has the good kind of fat in it.