Happy Thanksgiving
It was a bit difficult to get into the spirit of the holiday when it was 86 degrees in L.A. today. I need the cold weather to feel festive and having to drive to lunch with the air conditioning blasting wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
This morning I contributed even more heat to our extremely warm condo by slaving over a hot stove/oven to bring my two contributions to lunch:
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese and Roasted Potatoes
The Mac and Cheese isn’t difficult but it is time consuming. Delicious though if you are in the mood to eat something with 3/4 a stick of butter. This is not healthy by any means but it gets rave reviews. Not by Ali and Maya though who prefer Annie’s version of course. Actually, they’d prefer Kraft’s version if I allowed it in the house. I don’t.
Recipe
6 tablespoons of flour
6 tablespoons of butter
4 cups of uncooked macaroni
4 1/2 cups of lowfat milk (or any kind)
16 oz of shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
breadcrumbs for sprinkling on top
1. Cook the macaroni as directed on the package.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan, slowly add the flour and whisk until mixed.
3. Slowly add the milk to the flour/butter mixture, stirring constantly. Turn up the heat to medium-high so the mixture starts to boil.
4. Slowly add the shredded cheddar cheese and melt into the sauce, stirring constantly.
5. Add salt and pepper.
6. Pour the sauce over the cooked macaroni. I used a 9″ X 13″ dish.
7. Top with breadcrumbs.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
I just hope the weather cools down tomorrow because the heat just makes me impatient and irritated. Another day of unseasonably hot temperatures and things could get ugly tomorrow. Let’s hope the weather cooperates.
I need carbs.
Today went better than expected. I find that on this plan I don’t think about food as much because I already know what I have to eat. It’s good because then I am more productive in non-food arenas but bad because I can’t think about food! Anyway, I don’t feel too hungry – surprisingly – and my stomach is feeling so much better. It didn’t hurt even once today. But I’m not going to lie…I would love to have some carbs. I usually can’t feel full until I eat something crunchy. There is nothing crunchy in the Fat Flush Plan. Thus, I don’t feel full even if I’m not necessarily hungry. I know that makes no sense at all.
The fact that I missed carbs wasn’t helped at all by the fact that I made Maya and Ali this for dinner:
Trader Joe’s pizza dough, organic pasta sauce, spinach, and shredded mozarella. I can’t even describe how good this smells. Initially I’d planned to make pizza because I figured Maya could help me and it would keep us busy for a bit but instead she chose to play Wii with Ali. So the pizza making idea was apparently for no reason at all other than to make me wish I was eating pizza.
I have no idea what I’m going to eat tomorrow at Thanksgiving lunch. I am supposed to make macaroni and cheese (from scratch) and roasted potatoes. Unfortunately I won’t be able to eat any of those though. Frankly, it’s just another day for me as I am basically confined to the vegetable sides. As a vegetarian/picky eater I won’t eat most of the traditional foods anyway. But the silver lining is that it’s a chance for me to really think about what Thanksgiving is about…giving thanks for family and friends, health and happiness. And I wouldn’t trade all that for all the carbs in the world.
I am about 99% sure anyway.
Fat Flush – Take 1
After debating it back and forth in my head, I decided to start the Fat Flush Plan today. Ali thought it would be better to start after Thanksgiving but since I don’t eat turkey or pie I figured it didn’t really matter. Might as well get it out-of-the-way, right? I am not a person who procrastinates by any means. Actually I can’t stand it when something is hanging over my head.
So this morning I started the day off with a smoothie – flaxseed oil, blueberries, protein powder, and water. Sounds decent right? It wasn’t. I think the flaxseed oil just gives it a weird taste. But I drank it anyway. It was surprisingly filling, but not in a good way.
So on to lunch, I had a 2 egg omelette, zucchini, a tomato and you guessed it, more flaxseed! The omelette was quite good and the flax tastes much better in a savory form. But I was still hungry afterwards. I went to Ali for support and he said, “Remember how you said you’d do anything to make your stomach stop hurting?” He’s right. I so needed to hear that.
I decided to go out and stay busy…did a couple of errands and then took Maya to the park.
As the culprit of all my health problems played in the sandbox with her friends, I studied all the park moms and wondered if any of them had ever done the Fat Flush. Not likely. I then caught up with the park gossip and after an hour and fifteen minutes pried Maya away from her new BFF.
We are headed over to out neighbor’s for dinner in a bit. Initially I was anxious about what I was going to eat because I wasn’t sure it would be okayed by the plan but I figured I needed to roll with things. I’m not usually a person who rolls with things but I am going to give it a try. (Just so you know, I don’t forsee this whole rolling thing going well but I am still going to give it a try).
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
