Back in town!

Hello all. I'm back from my whirlwind trip to Oklahoma. In case you didn't read my previous blog post, I also follow Ree Drummond's blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (www. thepioneerwoman.com). It is not a dieting blog, and most of the recipes don't fit on the BFC, but it's a great blog. Very popular too. I read it was rated on of the top 25 blogs by Time magazine. Anyway, I entered a contest on her blog and won a weekend on her ranch in Oklahoma. We were allowed to bring a guest, so I brought along my  mom. There were three winners and their guests, and cookbook author Pam Anderson and her daughter. Pam has a new book out  and the weekend was to learn some great recipes for stress free entertaining.

I was alittle worried because of the small group, and what I would eat, but I don't think it turned out too bad. I'll see how bad the damage is on Wednesday when I weigh in. We stayed at the lodge which is a guest house on the ranch. It's beautiful and was redone a few years ago. All of it was chronicled on her blog. When we arrived we were greeted with mason jar glasses of some sweet wine, fruit concoction. I sipped it, so I didn't appear rude, but boy was it sweet and syrupy tasting. My low sugar diet often makes things taste too sweet to me.Then came the homemade pizza.  I had two small squares as it was a rectangle shape. Lucklily it was also topped with arugula, chicken, fresh mozzarella and/or proscuitto, and with all the talking I really didn't have time to go back and get anymore. We were exhausted so we headed to bed. Great....eat dough and then go to sleep!!!

So morning comes, and so do the fresh homemade cinnamon rolls. These are a popular Pioneer Woman recipe and Ree made them at her house and had her daughter deliver them to us at the Lodge.They were tiny, and I had two. Again, they tasted  sweet and sugary., but were very good, warm and gooey. I didn't need anymore. When everyone woke up, her chef helper arrived and put out hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, fruit, cereal, juices. It was great because the cheese stick and hard boiled egg were just what I needed.

The morning progressed and Pam did her cooking presentation and made us lunch. It was a wonderful salad with deviled eggs, some roasted fingerling potatoes and salmon with a wonderful fresh herb, caper topping. So fresh and healthy tasting. Lemon cookies were the dessert, and they were tiny little balls dusted with confectionary sugar. I had just one, as they passed around.Very good and just enough of a little sweet after the great lunch. Then the masseuse and manicurist came and stayed until 8 that night. We all had massages, pedicures, manicures. Of course I had my mani/pedi done right before I left, so I didn't need another, but but the massage was great. They were doing gel or regular manis, so it was a real treat for the other ladies. Rees dog Charlie ( she wrote a children's book about him) just hung out with us all day!

We all made dinner together which were recipes from Pam's new cookbook. The menu was beef carnitas with onions peppers, and a cabbage, radish slaw. The appetizer was a delish shrimp, avocado dip. I think it fit in fine with the BFC. I don't eat meat, so I had a carnita with the veggies, and sour cream in a small flour tortilla. Pam made a delicious flan for dessert and she was passing it around. I had a small

piece. It was such a delightful texture and taste. Some flans can be almost too slimey, but this was perfection.

All in all it was a fun weekend and really except for the desserts, there were no sugary or processed foods, no breads or junk food. The ingredients were fresh and seasonal and delicious. I so enjoyed all the wonderful women I spent the weekend with. I hope our paths cross again sometime!

Hope you like the photos. I'll post more on facebook! Bye for now!