Gazelles On Crack

Today was the last day in a long string of not working so much. Starting tomorrow, life as I know it may suck. So - although I promise to post my food, there may not be much commentary for the rest of the month.

Breakfast: I tried Kath’s whipped banana oatmeal, but accidentally didn’t follow the directions perfectly, and made 1/2 cup of oatmeal instead of 1/3. I added 1 TB peanut butter & 1 TB pumpkin butter & 10 pecan halves. I was stuffed after breakfast.  I also had coffee with soy creamer.

Lunch: Was at about 2 or so. I had 2 small pieces of lasagna (about 1 serving) and 1/2 of a banana (left from breakfast).

Dinner: 2 beers (stressful evening), about 2 oz of roasted chicken (recipe below), 1 medium baked potato, and 1 small salad. On the potato & salad I had 1 oz shredded cheddar & 1 diced tomato (also salt & pepper).

Dessert: 1 tiny square of dark chocolate. So satisfying! Of course, I didn’t leave it at that. I had one small shortbread cookie & two (incredibly) tiny sugar cookies. I can’t believe there are still cookies in this house!

Water: 64 oz.

Exercise: None. I took one of my 4 allowed/month days off to rest my weary legs, knees & ankles.

Fruit/Veggie count. My nutrition/health coach told me this morning that 1 banana is actually 2 fruit servings! So yesterday, with my 2 bananas, I was crazy! Today, I had 1 banana (2 fruits) & 1 cup of salad and 1 tomato (2 veggies, right?) - so four total servings. I don’t think a potato counts as a veggie, since it’s so starchy, right?

Weigh-in Day: 149.2 (+1.2/-3.4). I am a bit on the bloated/PMS side, and combined with the excess amounts of drinking I did New Year’s Eve & last Friday, I’m not surprised to see a bit of a gain. However, I know from previous weight loss journeys that I tend to pattern between gaining between 1 & 1.5 lbs and then losing 2-3 lbs, so although I see a gain every 2-3 weeks, I am actually averaging a loss. I’m not worried, as long as I’m staying under 150. And next week, I feel confident that I’ll see a loss.

And now for Amy’s Awesome (and Easy) Roasted Chicken

1. Take a whole chicken.
2. Remove giblets & neck (and save for later; you’ll want these).
3. Rinse chicken thoroughly.
4. Loosen skin at top of breast. Stuff 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (one for each breast) between skin & meat.
5. Peel & lightly crush 5-6 cloves of garlic. Put garlic in chicken cavity.
6. Rub salt in cavity & between skin & meat.
7. Place chicken in crockpot, breast side up (I’m going to get some awesome google searches from this recipe).
8. Put crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. The meat is done with the skin is brown & starting to crisp. The meat should fall off the bone as you lift the bird out.

And now, for the bonus - awesome homemade chicken broth.

1. Put all the bones, skin, cartiledge, etc. back in the crockpot with the bird drippings, garlic cloves & rosemary sprigs.
2. Add any vegetable pieces you have lying about (I have a bowl in the freezer that I throw leftover but not yucky veggie pieces in - such as carrot tops (not Carrot top), celery leaves, green onion stems, broccoli stems, etc. in for broth making).
3. Add a roughly chopped onion (doesn’t need to be chopped very fine).
4. Add a couple bay leaves.
5. Any other seasonings you fancy (sometimes I feel fancier than others).
6. Add water - I usually fill by 6 qt crockpot a between 1/2 & 3/4 full.
7. Cook on low overnight.
8. In the morning, drain the solids off & cool the liquid - you can freeze the liquid & now you have homemade chicken broth! Yum!

If anyone has any other roast chicken or chicken broth tips or hints, please let me know. I can usually get enough chicken off a small bird for dinner one night, plus 3 other meals (we’re having chicken enchilada casserole later this week, and chicken pizza, and chicken on salads & sandwiches). I also seldom have to buy broth - I usually have between 6-10 cups of broth in my freezer at all times.