OOOOk-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain!

Howdy everyone! Getting in the spirit of things 'cause I'm headed to Oklahoma tomorrow!  I won a weekend at the guest house on Ree Drummond's (aka The Pioneer Woman) Oklahoma cattle ranch. There were three random winners and we all get to bring a guest.  I'm taking my mom Harriet. I wrote about that in a blog post May 19, 2011. I had no followers then, so no real excitement expressed by anyone.  Besides all my BFC blogs, I also like to follow the Pioneer Womans's blog. She's funny, has some good recipes (most which I can't eat...carbs and sugar prevail in these recipes!) and gives an interesting glimpses into life on a ranch. She has three books out, and a cooking series coming soon and I heard somewhere they are making a movie based on her book, "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". Her website is http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ if you want to check it out. I think she will be posting phots of the weekend.  This just goes to show you how a little blog can explode into something big over a few years!



So this is going to be a cooking weekend. Cookbook author Pam Anderson is coming. I like Pam's cookbooks, and my favorite one is called 'The Perfect Recipie for Losing Weight'. It's not an instructional weight loss program, but a book with some good insights as to how Pam lost over 40 lbs and some great recipes that she came up with. She was the former editor of Cook's Illustrated, and as a food and recipe inventor/tester, she often has to test several recipes a day.  She gained alot of weight over the years and figured she couldn't keep going like that and keep doing the job she loved. So she came up with a plan that worked for her, and she can still have foods that she loved, but lose weight. She also took up running, which she credits in large part to her transformation. So Pam will be there, along with one of her daughters. They have a food blog called ''Three Many Cooks". Her recipes are great too. I am looking forward to meeting her and Maggie, her daughter.



In true Philly spirit we are taking Phillies and Eagles sports stuff and Tastykakes as gifts for everyone. Many of you don't know what Tastykakes are, and it's probably better that you don't! They are delicious individually wrapped snack cakes ( peanut butter kandy kakes are my favorite) and are unique to this area. Once you try them you are hooked and many of my relatives who live in different parts of the country always beg us to bring or send some. So I have been looking at them on my kitchen table, remembering my youth when they were packed in my lunch, or summers as a child when a frozen Peanut butter kandy kake was always the best treat. Strangely enough, looking at them and the memories were enough. I wasn't really craving them. That's the most amazing thing about the BFC, cutting way back on teh sugar really does stop that roller coaster crazy sugar surges in your body and the cravings really do go away.
This is my first attempt at adding photos to my blog. I think I did okay, but need some more practice!

So I'm off to a weekend where I feel that food is going to be largely out of my control. I'm going to try and do my best and just look at it as a challenge to try and eat the BFC way. There will only be 9 of us, so it won't be easy when sitting around the table to pass things up, but I am going to try my best to stick to the plan. Just stick to the plan and no one will get hurt!!!! I'll take lots of photos and try to post them when I get back.

I want to thank you all for the great comments you made yesterday. I learned something from each one of them. If I'm to be honest, I think I do overdo the cheese and nuts, and I'm probably a little to liberal with the mayo, butter and sour cream. Going to try and be more conscious of this going forward. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Until next time!