Ima cooking!!

[kpoll19]

I finally got my husband to agree to try Atkins with me while I am jumping back on. The problem? A few actually. #1 He does not eat anything green except iceberg lettuce. Ok I lie, I can get celery, green peppers and occaisionally cucumbers in him. But that's it! #2 - he does not eat during the day and his job is such that he is climbing towers all day long, basically getting a good workout so he can eat ice cream, sweets and carbs at night without gaining any weight. That is going to be hard to overcome because if I could do that without gaining, guess what? I'd do it!

So, I am creating a weekly menu (which I never plan that far in advance normally) for both of us. I figure it will be easier to get back on track with prepared food already available. And, since school is out, I am home so I am a cooking today!!

In the crockpot already:
Chili ~ 3 pounds of ground beef, taco seasoning from Linda's Low Carb site, tomatoe puree (big can) and 2 - 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies, one chopped up onion and some diced jalepenos. I will taste test later to see if need to "kick it up" a notch.

Today I am also making/preparing:
Sausage stuffed mushrooms
Sausage quiche in muffin tins so he can grab and go in the morning
hard boiled eggs
Crab deviled eggs
celery cleaned and cut
bacon bits for salads
Flax bread
cheese crackers

For dinners this week (I am hoping I don't need to cook every day! Can you say l-e-f-t-o-v-e-r-s??)

Salsa chicken
Chicken Salad
Italian Casserole

and for tomorrow and the BIG EAGLES GAME (Fly Eagles Fly!) I am making Buffalo Chicken Dip with celery and some actual wings from Wings to Go.

I am desperately trying to show him that he can eat on this WOL. It is hard because he does not like so many veggies. I am going to sneak some cauliflower in on the italian casserole and see if he notices I personally do not like cauliflower either but I like it in the baked dishes that taste like potatoes. He is not that daring!

Wish me luck. Any other Manly suggestions welcome.

Have a great day.
Kelly

[Sweet_Sadie]

Woooo, you are motivated and energetic! I'm sure you'll have good luck with such a well planned menu and hopefully some of your enthusiasm will rub off on me!

I actually knew a lady named Ima once - ha ha ha!

[kpoll19]

Hi Sadie. Thanks. And, I forgot to mention, my 9 year old daughter, who is also a carb addict (surprise, surprise) came and told me last night that she is going to work on getting healthy with mommy. I had been asking her to be my exercise partner and to help mommy stay away from sweets by not asking me to buy them and such (trying to work around this with her in a tactful way, she is a little chubby and I want to take care of this now!). She comes to me and says, "Mommy, I have been procrastinating (hehe), I want to work with you and help you cook healthy food and b e your exercise buddy." How cute??!

[Tracie515]

WHat time is dinner? HAHA Sounds good!

[julirama723]

Kpoll--first off, sounds like a FABULOUS menu! How could anyone turn that down???

That is really great that your daughter wants to join! It's very nice to have family support.

Hmm, as for getting your husband to eat more veggies...this is something I did with my boyfriend. He WOULD NOT eat any "fancy" lettuces like spinach or baby greens or arugula or endive or raddichio or ANYTHING. He would only eat iceberg. I started mixing iceberg with spinach, or iceberg with baby greens, just a little at a time. Now, he ONLY eats the "fancy" lettuce! I also made sure to put extra stuff on the salads, like bacon pieces, nice cheese, tomatoes, bell peppers. He had the misconception that salads had to be bland and boring.

There's also a recipe on here for...well shoot, sorry to sound inappropriate, but it's always been called a cauliflower boob. Here's the recipe (and if I don't have this right, feel free to correct me.) Take a head of cauliflower, cut off the leafy sections and most of the steam, but leave the head intact. Cook in a dish with a bit of water in the bottom in the microwave until soft and tender. Drain water and return to dish. Cover with a mixture of mustard and mayo (no directions on how much to use--do this to your preference. I also used dijon mustard rather than plain) then cover with the cheese of your choice, and crumbled bacon. Bake in the oven at 350 until golden brown. I just made this last night and it's REALLY awesome! You also don't have to use the whole head--I used two large flowerets and cut back on the ingredients.

[kpoll19]

Ooh Julie, I am gonna try that myself. As for him, he does not care what I put on cauliflower, he will not try it. So now, my friends, the challenge is to get him to eat it without letting him know he's eating it!! I am up for the challenge! It just can't look like cauliflower, ha ha!!

[julirama723]

While we're on the subject of cauliflower...Have you tried mashed fauxtatoes? You cook cauliflower until tender, then "mash" them in a food processor until desired texture is reached. Add butter, salt, pepper like you would to potatoes. You can also use turnips for this. Just make sure the cauliflower is DRY DRY DRY before you process it, or it will turn to mush. This happened the first time I made it and it was not pretty.

You can also add cheese, bacon, chives, etc. to make them like "twice baked" potatoes.

[kpoll19]

Oh yeah. I have done that once for myself ~ I guess it was not dry enough because I did not like how it turned out. Worth trying again.

[Elizellen]

I make my 'fauxtatoes' with half and half cauliflower and celeriac (celery root) plus some cream cheese and all my family love it. Sometimes I put spoonfuls on a baking sheet with a dab of oil on top to make individual crispy on the outside bites of yummyness!