The Good, the Bad, and the Fatty - A Diet Update

My diet had been going GREAT. I was down about 6 lbs in two weeks. Then I got cocky. I was overly confident, and I decided to splurge – and then splurge again – and then again. This morning, I paid the price. I got on the scale and I was back at my starting weight. Boo. I am so depressed. But, I am going to keep on trucking, today is a new day and I will be back on track.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of my cooking successes and failures from the last week. This has become one of my favorite things about my diet. I am trying new things in the kitchen, and am loving sharing my culinary masterpieces with the world! Or my mom, who I suspect is the only person reading this.

Let's start with The Good!

Grilled Vegetables, Portabella Mushroom with Whole Wheat Pasta

Scott picked out the vegetables. He got:

Asparagus
Red Pepper
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Orange Pepper
Red Pepper

He chopped them up and put a light coat of olive oil on them. The threw them on the grill




I made whole wheat pasta, coated it with some olive oil, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Then we added some chopped black olives. I had a leftover grilled chicken breast in the fridge, so I chopped that up and threw it in there too.

The final meal:



Wha La! I can't believe this is diet friendly. It was delicious.

Next – The Bad

Okay, I had the best intentions here. I went to the store and picked up some catfish. Then I saw this crumb coating stuff and quickly skimmed the back, there was baking instructions so I figured, this will be good and healthy. But, I was had, the baking instructions called for an entire stick of butter!! So, I decided to just fry the catfish, it would be faster – three minutes a side according to the box. So I throw some oil in a pan coat the catfish with what basically turned out to be overpriced bread crumbs and threw it in the pan.



Well, I guess I needed to be schooled in frying fish, because apparently it is very important to let that oil get good and hot before adding the fish, because I sat there for a good twenty minute. And that fish was not becoming flaky, not at all. It was however becoming quite rubbery.

Scott came in from mowing the lawn and informed me of the importance of using hot oil, we trashed the two filets that were in the pan, took a third that I had bought extra and fried it up using the hot oil.. Three minutes a side, imagine that.

We ended up splitting the one filet. And while it was cooked properly, the bread crumb crusting was bland and the catfish had zero flavor.

Now, I took a photo, and was all…hmmm this looks good, maybe I'll post it and just let everyone think I am a domestic goddess, but no, this was a major flop. In every way.




I should add that - this salad was delicious. I have discovered a low fat blue cheese crumble that is so yummy. I've been making salads almost nightly.

And finally – The Fatty

As a part of my weekend splurge fest, we made Sausage and Peppers. This is a household favorite of ours. Now, I tried to make this meal diet friendly, really I did. I went to the store and had Jennie O Turkey Italian Sausage in my cart. But I just couldn't do it, sausage is not meant to be made from turkeys, it's just not. Plus, I thought that this might send Scott over the edge. He's been so supportive of my healthy eating kick. I mean the guy ate a turkey burger last week. So, I went back to the meat section and grabbed the Johnsonville's. I looked at the label.

Johnsoville:
22 grams of fat, 270 Calories

Jenny O Turkey Sausage:
10 grams of fat, 160 Calories

That's a BIG difference.

Then, I see the store brand Italians, I grab a package and check out the label, WOW, only 180 calories and 11 grams of fat! Amazing, these must be made from special lower fat pigs. DEAL! I take em to the register and am feeling pretty good about myself.

But, I'd been had. Serving Size - 2 ounces. WTF! 2 ounces. That's not even half a sausage! I can't believe I fell for the oldest trick in the nutritional information book. Oh, well. I tried.

We fry up the onions and green peppers in a frying pan with some olive oil, and boil the sausages for about 20 minutes. Then throw it all together in a baking dish with pizza sauce (not marinara – this is an important distinguishment according to Scott) and some giardiniera. Bake for 2 hours.



I did cut a few calories by going without the bun, but then I added a few back on by having a couple slices of buttered French bread.



I should also add to my account of the fatty the TWO pizzas we order over the weekend. Yes, Friday night dinner was Pizza. And Sunday late night – more pizza. Ugh, no wonder I gained 6 lbs over the weekend!