Chicken Breast and Mushed Potatoes

Alright so this really isn't a fancy recipe. Basically it's chicken breast and inside I put turkey breast and swiss cheese and just whipped up some mashed potatoes to go with it. If you don't like swiss use another cheese. I personally didn't mind it but i wished I would have used Mozzarella instead. No need to put up the recipes for these since they are really basic but if you want the ingredients that I added to the potatoes just let me know.

Moussaka is GREAT!!

Last night Adrian and I made dinner and yes we decided to make a lighter version of the classic Greek dish...Moussaka. It was a lot of work and took a lot of time but so worth the effort in the end...yummy!!

Here is the recipe hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

You will need:
1 large eggplant about 1 1/2 pounds
cooking spray
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 pound of lean ground lamb
1/2 pound of lean ground turkey
1 cup onion. finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 pound (about 4-5 large mushrooms, coarsely chopped)
1/4 cup red wine
1- 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Custard Topping:
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

Directions:
1. preheat oven to 400f
2. Cut the ends off the eggplant and slice horizontally into 1/4 inch-thick slices. Line a colander with eggplant slices, sprinkle with salt, and let drain for 30 minutes
3. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and cook lamb and turkey over medium heat, stirring vigorously to separate. Brown for about 5 minutes then drain of fat
4. Add onions, garlic, and mushrooms and cook over medium heat about 3 minutes. Add wine, tomato sauce, and seasonings, stir and cook for 2 more minutes
5. To make custard: while eggplant is draining, whisk together milk, egg substitute, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese in a medium saucepan. Stirring constantly, simmer over low flame for 5-7 minutes until slightly thickened and reduce by one-third. Remove from heat and set aside
6. To assemble: lightly coat a baking pan with cooking spray.
7. Rinse eggplant and pat dry. Layer 1/2 eggplant on bottom and top with 1/2 lamb/turkey mixture. Layer rest of eggplant and top with remaining meat. Pour custard topping over the top and sprinkle it with 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese.
8. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden

Makes 4 servings
Suggested serving is 1 cup
Recipe from "Eating Well after Weight Loss Surgery"

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did and if you make it with someone it's more fun for sure!

Sunday Nite....Mussels AnyOne?!

Well tonight I tried two new recipes...for dinner I made Mussel Bisque and then for dessert I made flan which is still really soft so tomorrow I will post pictures. Here is the recipe for everyone to enjoy:

You will need: Cooking Spray- canola flavor 3 cloves garlic; minced 2 large shallots, minced 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon or 1/2 tablespoon dried (i omitted this because it has a black liqurious taste which I don't like) 3/4 cup dry white wine 2 Pounds (about 40) mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded 1- 8 ounce bottle clam juice 3/4 cup fat free sour cream salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. In a large stockpot, heat cooking spray over medium flame. Add garlic and shallots and cook for 2 minutes, stirring until soft and translucent 2. Add tarragon and cook for 30 seconds more. Remove shallot/garlic mixture from pot and put it aside. 3. Add wine to pot, bring to a boil, add mussels, and steam, covered for 5 minutes until mussels open 4. With a slotted spoon, remove mussels and let cool slightly 5. Add clam juice and reserved shallot/garlic mixture back into liguid in pot and simmer, covered for 10 minutes 6. Remove cooled mussels from shell and place all mussel meat, soup and sour cream into a food processor. Puree until smooth, add salt and pepper to taste Makes 4 Servings Suggested serving is 1 cup

Charlie the Great

Here are some newer pictures of Charlie looking so handsome. Don't let the sweet pictures de-seieve you he can be a total monster but I love him!! Charlie loves to lay around and just relax and enjoy the fact that he has nothing to do and never will...well except for Wednesday nights when he goes to his puppy manners 1 class. He is so great at the classes and does everything so well he really makes me super proud to be his mama!! Charlie loves to wear the nice clothes that his Tia and I buy him. Everyone at his puppy school likes to call him Spider-Charlie.

CHEF JULIA

Well I finally decided to start learning how to cook. I got my mom to take me to the store and I picked up enough stuff to try out a few new recipes that come from this great book for Weight lost Surgery patients. Last night i made No-Noodle Zuchinni Lasagna and my family loved it! I on the other hand still need to get use to the taste of SPINACH it has never been my favorite but all in all the taste was pretty good. Kayla called me the new chef of the family. She said I can be the healthy chef anyways here are a couple of pictures of my creation.

Here is the recipe for all to enjoy:
No-Noodle Zucchini Lasagna

You will need:
1/2 pound (1 large) Zucchini, sliced vertically into 6-8 1/8- inch slices
1/2 teaspoon salt
olive oil cooking spray or canola works
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 pound lean ground turkey breast
1/2 cup skim milk
1- 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drainned, and squeezed dry...(I used fresh spinach)
1/2 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, grated

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400f
2. Lay zucchini slices on a double thickness of paper towels, sprinkle with salt, cover with more paper towels, and let stand for 15 minutes
3. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Lay zucchini slices in 1 layer and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
4. Coat bottom of medium skillet with cooking spray and cook over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Brown onion and garlic for 2 minutes add mushrooms and brown for 2 minutes
5. Add ground turkey and brown, stirring to break up, for 3 minutes, remove from heat
6. In a medium saucepan, bring milk to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in spainach, ricotta cheese, parsley, nutmeg, oregano, and 2 tablespoons of parmesan
7. Spoon 1/2 of spinach mixture in the bottom of an 8 inch square baking pan or casserole dish, then layer on half the mushroom/turkey mixture and lay 3or 4 slices of zucchini on top. Repeat layers, ending with a zuchini layer. Sprinkle with mozzarella and the remaing 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese and bake for 40 minutes.

Makes 4 servings
suggested serving is 1 cup

Recipe from "Eating Well after Weight Loss Surgery

BiTtEr SwEeT

Today I went for my first post op appointment with my surgeon and I got good and bad news.

Bad News:
1. the hole between my stomach and intestine is too tight so in 4 weeks I'm going to need a small procedure to make the opening bigger
2. If I continue to feel discomfort I will have to be admitted into the hospital until I have my procedure

GOOD NEWS:
I have now officially lost 27 pounds and I'm really happy!

I also learned today that they were right when they said not to test the pouch...I tested it and threw up you can bet I won't be doing that again!!!

TWO WEEKS!!

Well after two very short weeks I'm proud to report that I have lost 21 pounds. This surgery is really amazing, I can't believe the changes. Everything is so fast and I love it!! I mean it is still hard and requires lots of time and will power but I thank god for the tool that he has given me to be able to conquer my eating problem. Thanks to all of you that are keeping up with my blog and that have been so supportive.

To everyone at Centro Romero that signed my card thank you so much it truly brought tears to my eyes to know that I'm remembered and that such great people care about me.

Los quiero mucho.

Feeling GREAT

Well great news for those of you that read my blog...I've now lost 17 pounds!!! All gone and never to return. I'm so happy and just full of motivation to continue. I can see it in myself the small changes taking place and it's so exciting. I can't wait until I can say "these were my fat jeans" lol

CHARLIE

He loves toys especially the ones that squeak and that he can rip apart!

Charlie's first snow storm above and below are some of his first pictures when he first came home.

Today's blog post is dedicated to my beautiful puppy CHARLIE!!!! Hope you enjoy the pictures of the little monster that I love no matter what he does.

POST-OP

It's now officially one week since my surgery and I'm doing very well. There was a little scare at the hospital when I couldn't hold my food down, but they did a really cool test and it turned out that my stomach was just really tight and swollen.
On Thursday evening I finally got to come home and it was nice to see my family again, since only Patty was able to visit me during my 4 day stay.
Can you believe I've already lost 13 pounds and over 8 inches all around my body...the best lost is in my hips!! I'm happy with my surgery although at some moments i have thought to myself that maybe it was really drastic.
I guess that having to second guess yourself is just natural but honestly I think this was for the best and well just seeing how little i need to eat to feel full and to feel that i'm just not hungry and know when to stop before getting too full it's all just so new and amazing. Today my sister's boyfriend David told me that I do look like i've lost weight and i felt GREAT!!
Well all that is left to say tonight is that i truly thank god for helping me through the surgery and for giving such a loving and supportive family that spent almost 12 hours in the hospital with me on my surgery day. Almost 3 hours not knowing how things were going and what the outcome would be. To my friends that checked in on me while in the hospital and for those that said a little prayer for me.

THANK YOU!!

Surgery is Tomorrow

WOW I can't believe two weeks have passed and surgery is tomorrow morning. I'm so scared but I want to continue to make everyone in my family think that I'm ok. I don't know that I can stay strong much longer i'm so scared. I just don't want anything bad to happen. There are so many things that are still left to be done and so many thing I still want to see. Now I wonder if I'm making the right choice, what if something goes wrong and I never wake up. Why didn't i drink all the shakes, why did I cheat and eat when I wasn't suppose to? Will those things make a difference? I don't know what to do. I want this surgery more then I have ever wanted anything in my life but I'm so scared to fail. I'm scared of the pain and of how different my life will be. I'm scared of everything. Right now I regret all the things I didn't do because I was scared. I regret not telling people how I really feel about them and I regret not being able to see my dad. I'm angry that he won't be there. I'm angry that I put myself in this situation to begin with. I'm angry and scared and just a total mess right now. I don't know what else to say. Tomorrow at this time things will be so different. I'm nervous about loosing myself and what I know I'm right now how different will I become?