[Tweety]

Sarah, I make stir fry probably at least twice a week. Just add some Asian sauce or curry, with vegetables and some tofu, tempeh or seitan and dinner is ready.

I was good these days off and went to the gym twice and yoga once on my three day stretch. No junk food.

Work is always the test because people bring in junk, families give us junk and in the heat of the battle I heat is under stress. I have to stop that.

[sddlnscp]

Yummy! Well, so much for my brilliant idea of something different for dinner though

I am a stress eater too, but I have not been doing bad the past couple of days either - managing to avoid the junk - so yeay! Last night we had a roast with potatoes, carrots, cottage cheese and a salad. Very good!

[wonka]

Liking the dinner ideas of fajitas and curry...may have to try one of those tonights!

Thanks for the chips advice...I am a Baked Lay's fan...who knew they had so many other varieties of baked chips too? Poking around that site, I found more info on the new chips formula too if anyone is interested: http://www.fritolay.com/fl/flstore/c...dID_476855.htm

[jenn_rn_nj]

tweety: how about vegetarian chili? i have a recipe but it's "in my head" so i don't really have measurements for anything. i just play with it until it's to my liking - here are some approximations.

hodgeson mill bulgar wheat with soy (~ 1/2 cup)
1 can of mexican flavored stewed tomatoes (i use del monte)
1 small can tomato paste (i use contadina)
2 cans kidney beans (or 1, i just like beans the most)
about 2/3 box of swanson's veggie broth (found with beef/chicken broth)
1 onion diced
few celery stalks diced
1 green pepper diced
desert pepper company habinero (sp?) sauce
ancho chili powder
(and for non-vegetarians, use ground beef or turkey or even chicken - saute with the veggies before adding other stuff)

you could probably even use tofu in place of the meat, but i believe the combination of bulgar with soy and kidney beans provides a complete protein. another altenative is to use brown rice instead of the bulgar wheat.

i saute the onion, green pepper and celery in a small amount of olive oil just until the onions are transluscent. then i add all the other ingredients and let it simmer until the bulgar wheat is nice and soft. i add spices to my liking for flavor. i will continue to simmer the mixture until i boil off enough of the juices (i like a thick chili) but of course you could add more or less of the broth and make it thicker or more soupy.

i have one of those mandolin things (i think that's what they are called) so it makes the chopping/dicing very fast and easy. i can put this together in about 20 minutes and then leave it on low for about 40 mostly unattended to do other things (schoolwork, usually). i find it to be very filling and since it makes well in bulk it's great for the school year - i like meals with lots of mileage.

another favorite of mine is tabouli - i make a huge container and that is another frequent part of my packed dinner/lunch. i use the bulgar wheat with soy for that, too.

[sddlnscp]

Oh my goodness, that sounds soooo good! Hmm - I might have to give that a try!

How is everybody doing? I am feeling pretty good this morning. We had to go to town yesterday (out here - that means drive 50 miles to get to Wal-Mart - hahaha) and our stupid a/c broke down. It was 91 degrees and I was so proud of myself because I resisted the temptation of stopping for ice cream and got a diet soda instead. I know it's not that great for me, but so much better than the huge banana split I was drooling over. Yeay! Made me feel good!

[Tweety]

Good morning. I always forget to check in this thread.

Wonka, I'm not a big fan of those baked chips. But I do like baked Doritoes from time to time. Thanks for the link.

Rn, that recipe sounds good. I have some bulgar wheat on hand, but not the type with soy. I eat enough soy without having it added to my wheat. LOL. I make a good vegetarian chili, but never thought to add bulgar to it. hmmm.............

Sarah, sounds like you're doing well. Keep up the good work.

They have this machine at the gym that weighs you, takes your bp and measures your body fat. My body fat is 21% which says is good. My weight was 174.2 which is what I weighed at the end of my diet in January so it's good to find out that I'm maintaining.

[sddlnscp]

That is really great when you can maintain. It always seems like that is so hard to do! I don't have near as hard a time losing weight as I do maintaining it.

[Tweety]

Thanks Sarah. I've really only seriously dieted a couple of times and getting to the point where I commit to taking it off is the hard part. Putting it back on is the easy part. It doesn't come back on fast, but slowly over a long period of time. Hopefully, after this last diet I've learned something.

[sddlnscp]

I know just what you mean. You don't notice it just a pound or so at a time, but it does sneak up on you. I am having to be careful because I had slowly regained 5 lbs., so I am trying really hard to be good again! Lost a couple so far, but want to get a good thumb on it to keep it from getting out of hand.

[Tweety]

Good luck with that Sarah. The good thing is you recognize it and nip it in the bud rather than giving up.

I'm being good, off to yoga class here in a few.