Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Blast

1 tablespoon Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Smart Balance peanut butter
1 cup low-sugar vanilla soymilk
2 packets of Splenda or any other artificial sweetener

Put everything in a blender. Blend on a low setting for about a minute. Enjoy!


There's a breakfast drink in one of the South Beach cookbooks I have called 'Almond Energy Blast'. I was sooo excited to make it last week, since we finally have a blender again. Of course, Peapod didn't deliver either the tofu or almonds (because nothing ever goes my way). After pouting for a couple of minutes, I decided to put peanut butter in instead (Smart Balance supposedly has Omega-3s in there, but you can use any low-sugar variety of peanut butter). I put in some unsweetened cocoa powder as well, just coz it seems right to have chocolate with peanut butter. The result was delicious, and I've been somewhat addicted to it this week. I finished an entire carton of soymilk this week which NEVER happens. It basically tastes like drinking a peanut butter cup.

The 'Energy Blast' in the name is true as well. I had one 30 minutes before a workout, and it really helped me get through it. Usually I'm dying and thinking of quitting halfway through that particular workout. Powered by the drink, I made it 75% of the way before I felt the usual fatigue.

** I just want to add my opinion on soymilk. For anyone who judges it because the word 'soy' is in there, I think you should try it at least once. The healthier milk alternatives, which are usually 1%, 2% or nonfat, actually taste like water to me. Soymilk is soo much creamier.

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Posted in: breakfast recipes,low-carb,low-carb recipes,south beach

Low-Carb Italian Meatloaf

2 lbs ground turkey
1/2 cup pesto (I used the bottled kind)
1/2 cup of crushed almonds
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
2/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 egg
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready a shallow 11-by-7-inch baking dish (if you don't have this, use whatever you have and just form the meatloaf so that it fits). In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix gently and thoroughly with your hands. Form the mixture into a rough loaf in the baking dish.
2. Bake until the loaf is firm, the top is richly brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 degrees F (it was about an hour when I did it, but you'd have to keep checking the first time). Let the loaf stand in the pan for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

I recently had a very bad craving for meatloaf, and found a basic recipe for Italian Meatloaf in a cookbook my soon-to-be-mother-in-law gave me (Simple Suppers by Williams-Sonoma). Unfortunately I am on South Beach Phase 1. Also, I had a lot of ground turkey, and no ground beef and pork (which was called for in the original recipe). So I thought of using the ground turkey obviously, and thought about what could replace breadcrumbs. I put in the parmesan to add a dry ingredient that might help hold the entire thing, but it didn't seem enough. So I put in some crushed almonds as well. It worked out perfectly and was absolutely delicious. I ended up eating this for an entire weekend, which never happens because I hate eating the same thing for consecutive meals. Don't be concerned if the mixture seems a little too wet, as long as it can be formed. It will dry up a bit after it's cooked.

Enjoy!

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Posted in: low-carb,low-carb recipes,meat recipes,recipes,south beach,turkey recipes

Why I'm Not 400 Pounds

I love food. There is rarely an hour that passes in my life when I'm not craving food or thinking about food. If I didn't care about what society thinks, or about living a full, happy and healthy life, I would probably weigh about 400 pounds. Fortunately (or unfortunately, however way you see it), I do care about these things. So I turn to diet and exercise whenever I realize I've gone overboard with my food addiction.

I've been on several diets in my lifetime. Some of these include:

1. The 6 o' clock diet - Eating whatever you want before 6:00 pm and not eating anything after 6:00 pm.
2. South Beach - Too complex for me to summarize here
   
3. No-carb diet - This is basically the version of South Beach Phase 1 in which I delude myself that I can eat all the bacon and butter that I want.
4. Nutrisystem - Pre-packaged, non-frozen, absolutely disgusting food
5. Calorie counting
   
6. Jenny Craig - A calorie-counting program supported by a consultant and pre-packaged food

Most of these have worked for me when I actually had the will-power to enforce them. Out of all these, the two that have really been successful are South Beach Phase 1 and Jenny Craig. I went on Jenny a couple of months ago in order to whip myself into shape for my upcoming wedding. The food was definitely decent (much, much better than Nutrisystem), and having to answer to a consultant every week was definitely helpful. I also loved not having to cook and do dishes all the time. However, I found that it was quite expensive, and also got to be pretty boring after awhile. It also wasn't helping me lose weight fast enough, since I went on several trips this summer and ruined my chance of losing weight slowly by vacation binge-eating. So I've switched back to South Beach Phase 1, which I've gone on about 3 times before. It's not working as fast as I'd hoped it would, but it still will be easier for me to pick dishes when I go out to dinner several times with my family and friends during the weeks leading to the wedding. Expect many posts regarding low-carb food from me this summer.

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Posted in: jenny craig,low-carb,nutrisystem,south beach