So...whats for dinner?

Yesterday was Orange Chicken, Beef & Broccoli and Lo Mein from Panda Express - eaten around noon. The contractor went to guy lunch for his crew and asked if i wanted something too. While it was quite good, there was obviously a huge load of sodium since I unbelievably thirsty the rest of the day.

Today was cottage cheese & tomatoes, accompanied by a flour tortilla topped w/Monterrey Jack, heated and rolled.

I found a recipe for 10 minutes enchiladas made with a block of cream cheese. A friend tried them last night and saic quite good.

1950’s church casseroles, lol, that’s funny

tonight was pork roast with scalloped potatoes, broccoli, spinach and yellow squash.

I used a recipe for the Chicken and Dumplings that was in a cookbook calling for Bisquick and boneless chicken

Saltmarsh - welcome to the table. Glad to have you.

Brunch was 6 Triscuits with what was left of some garlic Boursin cheese. Looks like dinner might be salmon risotto since I feel the need for some protein. Otherwise - Sunflower Crunch salad.

Ex husband coming tomorrow because all the fluorescent lights in the garage just magically quit Saturday. Salvation Army coming - but my contractor & my lawn guy have wanted most of the bulky furniture pieces. I don't have the energy to unpack boxes or closets to prepare more stuff to go so I'll make another PU appointment in 3 weeks.

Brunch yesterday was shakshuka, which I hadn't made in a while--Bob had it with 3 eggs/3 bacons/2 toasts to my one of each. Took it out to the deck, until a gust of wind blew over my champagne flute and sent my napkin into the neighbor's yard. Oh, well. (At least it was a plastic flute). For dinner, we went to Shaw's Crab House ("keto-heaven" and quite socially-distanced, masked whenever not shoving food or drink into our mouths). App. was a pair of individual seafood "towers" (we each had 2 Pacific oysters & jumbo shrimp, plus a stone crab claw. We shared a shrimp/crab Louis salad and then a grilled Ora king salmon filet over cauliflower filets with a dollop of cauliflower mash. Brunch today was leftover shakshuka sauce with an egg, olives & feta, with a piece of low-carb toast. Bob brought home a slab of ribs (sauce on the side) from a BBQ joint near his office. They came with a corn cobbette, baked beans, and creamy (likely too-sweet) cole slaw--so for my sides I had instead pan-seared asparagus and the heel of an heirloom tomato with homegrown basil.

I have gained so much weight (stepped on the scale and my heart sank) that though my size 10/M/Chico's "1" clothes still fit fine, I would be lying if I didn't admit my size 12 Levis were feeling comfier going on than the 10s. I have a weigh-in tomorrow and am dreading it. Seriously considering counseling from a shrink (mine retired 2 yrs ago), or some kind of group for accountability between my every-3-month weigh-ins. (I'd have those weight-control appts. oftener, but Medicare won't pay for more than 4/yr). I'm still much thinner than when I started, but the same weight as when lockdown started in Mar. 2020--not good. I'm "good" all day--and then (Jekyll/Hyde?) at night I want chocolate and the texture of starchy real carbs. The fake stuff doesn't satisfy me--and the next person who says that to satisfy my "crunchy" cravings I should snack on celery & carrot sticks are gonna have those stuffed where the sun don't shine. I don't like what I'm supposed to eat (other than some proteins), and I'm not supposed to eat the things that satisfy me. And no matter what I weigh, my blood glucose has refused to budge. I might have to rethink letrozole--especially since I'm starting to get acne too. I've been on it almost 5-1/2 years. The letrozole raised my LDL, but the statin I take for that is elevating my glucose. If I go on metformin, it'll jack up my LDL again. Vicious cycle.

Sandy, I totally empathize. In a perfect world, we could eat whatever appeals to us with no weight gain.

Minus, your posts exhaust me. I will be so happy for you when you reclaim your much-improved house.

Last night was navy beans and brown rice with a large tossed salad.

It's supposed to be hot today reaching 91 degrees by 4-5PM. Fortunately, our 25 mph winds have stopped so our fire danger is less than it was yesterday. I think tonight will be a tuna salad with a crisp white wine.

Keeping it easy tonight with French bread pizza and salad.

One of DH’s brothers and SIL came for lunch today. As it was Tuesday we had make your own taco salad. Filling choices were beef taco meat, grilled chicken, back beans and grilled corn, avocado, pico, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, green onions and salsa. Another option was a cilantro lime dressing. it was very good and quite filling. As a house warming gift they brought me a very large gorgeous deep pink geranium it will look lovely on my front porch

DH offered to make breakfast for dinner waffles and bacon. I’m all for it since I’ve been cutting up veggies and taco fillings for hours and am tired of the kitchen.

My weigh-in wasn't as traumatic as I'd feared--my total gain since Nov. was 9 lbs. (and I do hide it well). I did apply for therapy/counseling for stress-mgmt. and cancer-related anxieties (I'm on the verge of getting the results of my three genetic-mutation panel tests--including updated expanded BRCA--and I'm starting to freak out). I have been ordered back into the gym (still masked of course) because the NP explained that while diet alone works for weight loss, maintenance is impossible w/o increasing exercise to offset the declining metabolism caused by having fewer pounds to haul around. I have a really, really painful toe callus on my L middle toe, making walking (especially when wearing socks) torture. My podiatrists have both retired (as did my shrink, which was part of the cause of my anxiety intensifying). I'm considering having surgery for it if that's even possible. Otherwise, I'm gonna be going through lots of topical lidocaine.

Dinner tonight was a tuna poke salad bowl (rice-less) from the grocery, with mini-cukes (think unpickled gherkins) and a low-carb quesadilla a bit later. Have to try and avoid even the sugar-free sweets, because they're triggers for me. Think I will do keto-bread French toast or maybe a Benedict for brunch tomorrow. Have to take Heidi to the vet's tech for her "mani-pedi" (Happy's is Thurs.). Not looking forward to trying to get either of them into their carriers. And will need to do it all over again in a couple of weeks for their actual checkups (the vet herself is fully booked till then). I'm dreading learning that one or both (the're 16 and almost 14) might need to start sub-cu hydration: our previous kitty Matthew had it from age 16 to past 19; but Gordy, with whom he'd bonded and trusted, was still living with us back then. I may have to hire a sitter to come in every other day to help with that.

Dinner last night was taco salad! Never let it be said that I'm not impressionable.

Our dogs have been shedding their winter coats and we were finally able to get them in to a groomer. For the past week, vacuuming was a twice a day event and each time I think we collect enough dog hair to make another dog. :-) The dogs both like to walk on damp floors, so while they are out, we are moving all the furniture to be able to vacuum and mop all of the floor space in the house. It is amazing how much dog hair collects under the couches, tables and chairs.

I think if we left the dog hair build up, our air conditioning bills would go down because of the foot thick layer of dog hair acting as insulation.

As part of the effort to empty the freezer, I'm braising a pork loin in a dutch oven with the hopes of getting pulled BBQ pork for sandwiches. It's one of the rare--probably once a month or so--we're eating meat.

The house smells great.

We're waiting for the floors to dry and move everything back. One more room to go and we'll be finished. Hopefully the dogs' shedding will slow down....if not, we'll deal with it as they are worth it. :-)

While I was shredding the pork, the dogs were a most attentive audience. And, they were quite happy with the bones. :-)

Last name's main dish was a "mystery dish." DH asked, "Does this have a name?" I enhanced the leftover navy beans cooked with andouille by adding tomato, celery, carrot and cooked noodles. I seasoned with chili powder and cumin. We added sour cream and grated bag Mexican cheese to our servings. Tasted good. Side was our romaine salad.

Brunch this morning was the last of the lobster salad I'd made Wed. night. Bob came home tonight early enough to eat dinner, but too late to make a decent reservation. So I reheated a pan of BBQ brisket from Mariano's in-house smoker; starters were golden whitefish caviar (on sale at Whole Paycheck for 7 bucks for 2 oz.--cheaper than the ersatz shelf-stable "Romanoff" dyed red & black lumpfish roe that grocery stores used to carry), and an heirloom tomato insalata caprese. Along with the brisket, I nuked some green beans (and leftover brown basmati rice for Bob). For the caviar, Bob had crackers and I had slices of cucumber. And after he got his haircut this morning at the 900 N. Michigan Ave. mall, he stopped in at Teuscher to buy me some very dark chocolate--dark enough not to trigger sweet cravings (2 pcs. each of solid 77%, 85% & 99% cocoa solids). Was surprised to find the 99% had just enough sweetness to not taste like Baker's Unsweetened.