New to the board but 2nd time at Atkins

[Justabittoloose]

Ooo have you tried Pizza Expess's house dressing? It's definately available in Morrison's and probably in other supermarkets. It's something like only 4g of carb per 100g! Contents are eggs, oil, white wine vinegar, mustard...it tastes really creamy. I though great I can eat a salad happily if we ever go to Pizza Express but the salad they do is not to my taste, I prefer really leafy salads like chard and raw spinach. It's so difficult to find salad like this in a restaurant. It's trendy to serve stalky leaves.

[*Wendy*]

Emma eats well for the folks at daycare ... it always amazes me how my Justine behaves when I'm not around - her teachers, etc. at school just love her!

I'm going to try your advice about using the simple ingredients that she loves (it's shocking - but she LOVES her veggies - one of the only kids I've heard of that will gobble up broccoli before her french fries, etc.). But if I put cheese sauce over them - she won't touch it!! Someone told me that if I involve her in the preparation it can make a difference ... I'm working on that.

I laughed OUT LOUD reading about your friend's baby that chose a sock - kids are so nuts!! I love it!

Longboat Key is very close to me - I'm not sure if it's in Bradenton or Sarasota County, but both of them are immediately south of Pinellas County where I live and work - only about an hour's drive. We are on the west coast/Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida, and I know some folks at work that take their long weekends and vacations in Longboat. (Personally, I don't even remember what a vacation is!!)

Hey, I'm with you on the Coke Zero - it is fantastic!! I found one lunch place that serves it "on tap"/fountain style and it is wonderful. Recently too the market where I shop added that to their fountain so we always get one of them & I share it with my daughter as we shop. I buy it in cans for at home, but there is nothing nicer than when it's freshly mixed from the fountain. Maybe I'm weird, but when I used to drink beers I preferred the tap beer to bottle/can too - it's just fresher & cleaner.

I'm sorry to hear that it's hard to get ingredients over there - have you tried Netrition.com? I don't know if they ship overseas, but I've found it's a great source for all kinds of lo-carb ingredients & treats. I'm lucky in that we also have a lo-carb grocery type store nearby where I can pick things up too.

Covered dish dinners: this is where everyone brings a home-cooked dish (main course or side item) or if you don't cook or don't have time then you bring pop, bread, store-bought cookies, etc. You never know what you are going to get, but somehow it all works out. They set it up on a buffet table and you graze along filling your plate. Sometimes it's called "potluck" too.

When you get a chance, please browse the site and go to the Journals forum and then START ONE! Once you do, you'll find lots of vistors and more advice, support, etc. I don't know how many members cruise the "Introduce yourself" thread (I do!), but I'm thinking that more tend to hang out in the journals thread.

Wendy

[Justabittoloose]

I wish Emma would eat broccoli. The only way she'll eat it is mixed with other veggies and tomato and cheese. Our girls are quite different there!

I remember swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, the cranes on the beach, the white sand. It was so hot outside but you needed a cardigan when you went into the air-conditioned mall! I remember discovering frozen yogurt, Dr Pepper and Hardees! Then we went to Orlando and did Disney - what a contrast, from the beauty and tranquility of the West coast to the brash busy city. Those were the times, not a care in the world, how I long for a vacation!!! When you have kids going away is not a vacation it's more of a chore because you have no home comforts and we still have to look after the kids!

Covered dish dinners sound very dangerous for Atkins, do you often eat with several people or is that lunch at work? I remember all you can eat buffets that we used to go to when we were in the states - my Dad loved them!

I wish we could get Coke Zero on tap over here - I'm sure it will come, it just takes a while for things in America to come across to old blighty! I'll check out the website, thsnks, but I'm always cautious about ordering online.

I am not really into the journal thing. I like reading all the threads and joining something that sparks my interest. I've been browsing and posting and I'm looking forward to swapping ideas, perhaps I'll do the journal later.

[*Wendy*]

Reading your post totally reminds me of how it felt to be on vacation ... the white sands, etc.

Believe me ... having a tot in hand is no more work once you get there ... every resort is totally in-tune with it and they will give you a refrigerator in your room for milk, etc. That was my biggest hurdle!

I hope you reconsider about the journal ... I have half a mind to create one on your behalf!! BECAUSE ... what YOU write may spark an interest in someone else, you know? We all feed off each other that way!!

No matter, you'll find that sort of support exists once you sniff around the site long enough!

Covered dish - it is VERY dangerous if you are feeling vulnerable ... thank goodness it happens just at holidays and special occasions! Unfortunately for me it seems to be the status quo for many weeks on end now!!

But I've been up to it ... haven't messed up too bad!

Please write back & let us know how you are doing!

Wendy

[Justabittoloose]

That's the other thing I remember about visiting America. People can't do enough for you. Staying in hotels in England is very different, they aren't as flexible and often don't have as many facilities.

I did look at the journal section, but I'm working full time for the family business and I'm too eager to skive at the best of times. I might try it, see how I go.

I made an Atkins freindly cheesecake, an unbaked one! I forgot to bring the recipe home so I ended up putting too much sweetner in it! The base worked out well though. I melted butter and added ground almonds (I realised that almond flour was just powdered almonds and was available in the supermarkets!) and chopped nuts. Now I just need to perfect the quantity of sweetner!

I checked out the website you recommended, it's great for low carb alternatives for the things I've had to give up, like low carb torillas - I like that idea. Looks like they might export as well!

[*Wendy*]

Please share the cheesecake recipe once you bring it home! I love cheesecake, especially with hot fudge/chocolate sauce on it (which they sell on that site - I think it's Walden Farms brand - zero carbs!).

Not sure what skive means ... not a word I'm familiar with! Is it to goof off? I'm VERY familiar with that!

[Justabittoloose]

I will work out the recipe once I have perfected it and post it. I sort of made it up as I went along. I melted about 2/3 oz of butter and then mixed in the ground almonds until I had a thin paste then added the chopped mixed nuts to give the mixture more structure, also used a pinch of cinnamon. I read that to make good unbaked cheesecake you need twice as much mascarpone cheese as double cream so I beat that in another bowl to a smmoth paste then added far too much Splenda about 1 cup I think I should have used approx 3 tablespoons - should have really added it a bit at a time, Doh!

I didn't spot the cheesecake on that site, will go back to look again straight away, I love cheesecake. Even if you go for a one full of carbs it's less sinfull than normal cake!!

Yes, skiving is avoiding work! Ah the language barrier, when I was about 13 visiting my cousin in Illinois, we were drawing and I asked her for a rubber to correct my mistake. Her and her friends fell about laughing, how was I to know I should have asked for an eraser and that my word meant something entirely different!

[*Wendy*]

I had my laptop off line for a few days - sorry for the delay!

What you wrote is so funny! I remember when I went to Australia the last time I was telling one of my brother's friends casually about someone poking fun at me, and the locals fell off their chairs - evidently to give someone a "poke" means something VERY different over there!

I can't hardly wait for your recipe! By the way, what I was referring to on that site was the chocolate sauce, not the cheesecake itself! Boy, if zero carb cheesecake existed I want to be the first investor!!!

I skivved all day today - (did I phrase that correctly?) ... I took a vacation day and got ALL of my Christmas shopping done and managed to have lunch too with one of the other moms at my daughter's school. The morning started with a special holiday assembly at her school followed by a brunch ... at which I nibbled cheese and some kind of meat/cheese rollups that some LOVELY mom had fixed up. After that I told my daughter I had to go to work & then me and the other mom hit the stores! Later we had lunch & then hit one more store and believe me, my trunk ('boot'?) couldn't have held even one more bag by the time I was done. I bought a few treasures that will say "TO: Wendy FROM: Santa" on the gifts!

[Justabittoloose]

Hi Wendy

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I wrote a really long reply and then lost the message as this site said I wasn't logged on. Been away from work for 2 weeks over Christmas and just got back this week.

Poking has that same double antendre over here!!

I hope you enjoyed the festive season and were good on the Atkins diet. I decided that I was going to allow myself to enjoy some naughty things. I didn't go crazy though. Suprisingly I didn't put on any weight, must have been all the running round after the little one. Hope your little girl enjoyed the Christmas break and all that goes with it. Emma was a little darling on Christmas Day and the day was perfect. 2 weeks later and I'm glad she's back at nursery.

Here's to a new year of Atkins dieting, cheers!