Sausage and Quinoa with Italian Herbs

I was in a wanting pasta mood yesterday.  But in trying to be good diet wise, I decided that wasn't the greatest idea.    I have moved onto Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet which does reintroduce many things back into my diet - HELLO FRUIT!!!  Basically, Phase 2 is all about moderation.

I haven't quite gotten out of my breakfast rut yet - it's eggs, turkey sausage and turkey bacon for the most part.  Greek yogurt is one of my snacks, but it's honestly always been an afternoon snack for me.  And I grabbed Asian pears to got with some cottage cheese for my morning snack this week since fruit is no longer a no-no.

I'm still working on making my way through my chunky lentil soup since I ended up with 8 portions of that, so I had some of that for lunch today.

Dinner, is the Sausage and Quinoa with Italian Herbs that make up the title of this post.

Ingredients:
- 12-oz Jimmy Dean Premium Pork Regular Sausage
- 1.5 cups Ancient Harvest Inca Red quinoa
- 24-oz Pacific Organic Vegetable Broth
-  onion
- head garlic
- fresh basil
- dried basil
- dried oregano
- dried fennel seeds
- margarine (I prefer butter but margarine is SBD friendly and butter is not)
- salt
- pepper

Dice up the onion, garlic and fresh basil.  Add in the salt, pepper, and dried basil, oregano and fennel seeds to taste.  Melt your margarine in a pot and add in the above.  Cook until the onion and garlic are tender and everything is fragrant.

While I was cooking the onion and garlic, I also had the sausage browing in another pan.

Once the sausage was browned, I added it to the pot with the onion, garlic and herbs.  I also added in the vegetable broth and quinoa, stirring to combine everything.  I then followed the directions on the package to cook the quinoa.  Basically bringing everything to a boil, putting the lid on the pot, reducing the heat, and simmering until the quinoa was fully cooked.

The end result was an Italian tasty dinner that I don't have to feel guilty about!!

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Progress to Date: 7.6-pounds lost, BMI = 28.9 (30.5 when I started)

Chunky Lentil Soup

- 2 cups lentils
- 2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes in tomato sauce
- 2 red onion onions, diced
- diced garlic cloves
- diced ginger root
- fresh basil leaves
- dried basil
- salt
- pepper
- 4 cups water

I sautéed the diced onion, garlic, salt pepper, and diced basil in the pot until the onions were soft.

I then added the rest of the ingredients to the pot, brought everything to a boil, and then turned it down to a simmer. I cooked it until everything was tender, adding water as necessary. The final result was think and chunky.

I also put the hand blender in and ran it for about. I didn't completely puree everything, so it's still decently chunky.

Lifestyle changes

We had our "Biometric Screening" at work a few weeks ago.  I was expecting the results to be less than ideal, specifically in the areas of cholesterol and BMI/body fat percentage.  I was right on both of those counts, but the one curveball that was throw in was my fasting glucose: 133.  That number earned me a special counseling session with the staff where they had me sign a waiver that stated that they strongly advised me to see my doctor ASAP and that I won't sue them if my health gets even worse.

*SIGH*

My bad habits have officially caught up with me and unless I change, I am looking at type II diabetes and being put on medication, etc.

I did see my primary care doctor the week after the biometric screening.  They ran a test on my a1c in the office.  It came back at 5.4 meaning non-diabetic.  She did add a caveot to that though - if my blood sugars just now starting spiking, the a1c wouldn't reflect that quite yet.  Which is why she wants to see me back in 3 months for repeat bloodwork.

For interested parties, a comparison of my bloodwork numbers from the test done at work and the work run at whatever lab, along with what they consider to be normal/acceptable, etc.:

I received counseling on diet, exercise, etc.  My doctor has told me that I have 3 months to loose 12 pounds, do what I can to get my blood work in better shape, etc.  She has said that even if no one else is going to hold me accountable, that she will.  If I don't meet these goals, she will put me on diabetes related medication(s).

To help me reach these goals, she recommends 40 minutes of vigorous exercise 4 times a week.  And and omega3 supplement.  She also said that the South Beach diet largely encompasses the dietary and nutrition goals that she outlined for me and recommended a couple of their books.  She said that at a high level, the ratio of my net carbs (grams of carbs - grams of fiber) to grams of protein needs to be less than or equal to 2.  That I am allowed a maximum of two servings of fruit a day (since fruit generally has more sugar than veggies).  She recommends tart apples and oranges, making sure to include all of the pithy crap that I so tediously pick off on the rare occasion that I do eat one.  Bananas, grapes and pineapple are TOTALLY off limits.  Starchy veggies (corn, potatoes, peas, etc.) and any product made with them need to be avoided as well.

I have been keeping track of how well I hit the carbs to protein ratio, and looked back a bit since I have actually been keeping a food diary for a while:

So, at this point, I've completed my first full week of Phase 1 of the South Beach diet.  I work on making my way through the bad stuff in my fridge before starting, mostly because I didn't see the point in wasting perfectly good food.

In a nutshell, Phase 1 SUCKS!!  No sweeteners.  No fruits.  No grains.  What is allowed during Phase 1 - lean protein, high fiber vegetables, low fat dairy and health fats.  I downloaded the South Beach Diet iPhone app so that I will always have the list of what foods I can and cannot eat with me.  This link gives a good summary outline of everything and you can click on things for more details for each phase, etc.  The good news though is that Phase 1 lasts for 2 weeks.  Phase 2 then allows you to reindroduce a lot of food in moderation and lasts until you reach your goal weight.  Phase 3 allows you to eat anything, keeping moderation in mind, and you stay there to maintain your goal weight.

Also, I've never been a breakfast person.  At all.  But I am not a three meal a day and two snacks kinda girl.  For example, today's menu:

- Breakfast: Diet Dr Pepper (would usually be green tea but I wasn't at my house last night so simplicity won out), 2 eggs scrambled and 2 Jennie-O breakfast sausage links

- Snack: one serving of Daisy 2% small curd cottage cheese

- Lunch: salad consisting of diced red onion, cucumber, raddish, red cabbage, 1/2 cup chickpeas, 1.6-oz fat free feta cheese, 3 slices of Jennie-O turkey bacon, crumbled

- Snack: 1 6oz cup Fage Total 0 Greek yogurt and some sugar free Smucker's preserves

- Dinner: shredded beef with McCormick 30% less sodium taco seasoning, Old El Paso vegetarian refried beans, 2% milkfat shredded mexican cheeses, and some red onion

- Desert: sugar free gelatin mixed with sugar free Cool Whip


 I have already lost 5 pounds.  I can thank my sinus and ear infections for the jump start...  Using this calculator, or just going with the 30.5 that was measured during the biometric screening at work, I fell into the obese category starting out.  With my five pounds lost, my current BMI is 29.4 which puts me into the overweight category.  It's a little milestone, but I will take it!!

I am not sure what my doctor feels is healthy goal weight since right now the current goal is to be down 12 pounds by the end of December.  Using the formula for BMI and using the upper end of normal (24.9) and using my height of 62.5-inches, the corresponding weight is 138.6-pounds.  Which is 25-pounds away.  The low end of normal for me is 102.8-pounds (60.8-pounds away).

Right now I am focusing on the 12-pounds for the end of the December.  And I figure that my doctor and I will go from there.

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Progress to Date: 5-pounds lost, BMI = 29.4

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
makes approximately 30 cupcakes

Ingredients

- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 16 tablespoons butter (2 sticks), cubed & softened at room temperature
- 2 cups organic cane sugar
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk, at room temperative
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.


In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder salt. Mix together and set aside.

Add the butter to the bowl of an stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the bowl of the mixer with the butter, reserving the pod for another use, such as:

The pods can be rinsed, dried and placed in granulated or confectioners sugar to produce what is called vanilla sugar. The dried bean is cut in half and buried in 1 - 2 cups sugar, covered, and left for a week or two to allow the vanilla to permeate through the sugar.

This vanilla sugar can be used in place of regular sugar and adds a wonderful vanilla flavor to desserts.  One tablespoon vanilla sugar has the flavoring power of approximately 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Beat the butter and vanilla bean mixture on medium-high speed until light and creamy in color, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. 

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.  Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.
Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full (you will likely have batter left over after filling 24 wells.)  Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Replace paper liners and bake remaining batter if desired.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Yield: approximately 30 cupcakes