My Cruise Control: November 2012

Hello all! Wow, I didn't realize it has been so long since my last post. I'm sorry for the long lapse. We've had a hard time here on the east coast. Thankfully our shore house didn't sustain much damage. Further north along the coast, there are still people in shelters. Some have lost their homes and everything in them. We see alot more coverage of it here on the nightly news. My son who lives in Manhattan was without power for over a week. In New York, half of Manhattan was without power. It was crippling, as the stores, shops, subway, and trains could not run.

I have some photos below, and I am thankful, except for the refridgerator in our garage, and some other garage items, we didn't lose much. At our home in PA we lost several large trees, but again, thankfully, nothing more. Some of my family in PA were without power for almost a week. We only lost it for a few hours, so I became the house to shower at and come to for a hot meal.

The water line on our shore house garage door. We had about 9 - 12 inches of water.

At our house in PA, some trees feel on our cars, but luckily no damage.

Lots of cleanup and debris everywhere at the shore.

The beach entrance at the end of our block.

The beach lost alot of sand, and there are piles all over the streets.

This is not our house, but a nearby house that has one floor. Those one story homes got alot of water on the first floor. Our house is three stories and a garage, so we only had water in the garage.

Lots of trucks to move the sand off the streets and back to the beach.

I feel very lucky that we didn't have any real damage. Please continue to pray for all of those in shelters and without homes further north. It is really bad there.

I have been reading all the blogs. I'm jumping on the bandwagon with Beth, who confessed to being up 6 lbs. Well, my friends, here's my confession. I was up 12 lbs at a recent weigh in. I don't even know how it happened. Well, yes I do. I started getting sloppy in my eating. I wasn't watching the carbs or counting them. I ate too much pasta in Italy, as well as indulging in some gelato a few times while I was there. I also found myself with some more time on my hands with the hurricane sitution and everything closing down for a few days, so I started baking. I always wanted to try some of the great things that you all make. Those sinful cinnamon cakes, and chocolate chip cookies, and breads were delicious, and low carb and low sugar. The problem was, I just couldn't portion control them. They were too much of a good thing for me. They were so good.

So I may have shocked you, and I shocked myself, because I swore that I would never let any gain get too out of control. I have managed to get off 3 lbs in the past two weeks, and I'm going right back to the basics again to get the rest off. This is a set back in reaching my goal, but it is what it is. No sense beating yourself up about the past. All you have is today and the future and I'm going to make that count.

I also decided to give up snacking until I get back to where I was. Even those BFC approved healthy snacks started adding up. I don't count calories but I am really trying to log my daily eating on my fitness pal. They show the calories, and I do think for me personally, I can't eat as much as I want, even if I stay within the 15 sugar/3 carb per day rule. I just can't do that. I am tricky and I can still figure out a way to get around those numbers and eat too much.

Speaking of calories, have you seen Jorge's facebook page recently? This is what he says:

"I have a new free diet I can send you in 2 weeks. It's based on counting carb calories and not sugar grams or carb servings. Click "like" if you would like this NEW calorie diet?"

I just can't figure this guy out. Now he is going to promote counting carb calories? I think he will lose credibility if he keeps changing what he believes in. I think his original BFC plan was a good one. I do try to limit my wheat, but I really keep that 15 sugars, 6 carb serving rule in the back of my head as my guiding compass for eating. I think counting sugars and carbs are the key to managing your weight in the long run.

Speaking of that, I want to leave you with one of my new favorite recipes....Cauliflower rice. I know many of you have been making it for awhile, but I saw a few recipes where it is made on the stove. My recipe is a combination of a few I saw, and sorry, but I don't remember what blogs I saw them on, but this is my adaptation of those.

Cauliflower Rice

1 large head cauliflower cut into small florets
1 onion diced
2 or more stalks of celery diced
3-4 cups of baby chopped spinach
2-4 TBS of Olive oil
1-2 TBS of butter
Seasoning ( I used Lawry's and garlic powder)
salt and pepper

Melt butter and olive oil in large skillet. Add the celery and onion and saute until they are soft. Add spinach and stir until wilted.
Working in batches, add cauliflower to food processor and pulse until consistency of rice.
Add cauliflower to skillet and stir with onions an celery.
Stir for abot 10-15 minutes, adding more butter, oil or even water ( your choice) to prevent from sticking.

You can also top with some parmesan cheese if you like. Another suggestion is to add some chopped up rotisserie chicken, some parm cheese and crushed red pepper flakes for a "bowl" meal.

This morning, I heated some up in a bowl, topped with 2 Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage patties and 2 poached eggs. Sort of like corned beef hash, without the beef or potatoes
Cauliflower Rice

Delicious!

Lastly, I have to share a little glimpse of the start of my Christmas decorating. I'm one of those that start right after Halloween. It takes me a few weeks to get my house and all my trees decorated. We get our trees the day after Thanksgiving and put them up. So I like to be all decorated by then.