Thank You

Thank you all for the kind comments and emails- they really helped. I'm still struggling but I've been doing much better than I was before. I need to get that motivation back!

I have been trying to make some new things in the hopes that the variety will inspire me. So far, breakfast has been pretty awesome! Here's a new recipe that I created and it was so good that I had it for breakfast 2 days in a row!

Pancake Mix (Breakfast):



Strawberry Ricotta Layer Cake:

1 pkg Nutrisystem Pancake Mix
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup LF ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups strawberries, sliced
2 tbsp Splenda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, mix together the Pancake Mix, milk, vanilla, and 1 tbsp of the Splenda. Spray a casserole dish with Pam Butter spray and put the strawberries in the bowl. Mix the ricotta cheese with the remaining Splenda and spoon it on top of the strawberries. Pour the pancake batter on top. Top with one hulled strawberry and bake for ~25 minutes or until cake is brown on top.

I liked mine hot out of the oven since I like my strawberries hot and syrupy, but I bet this would be good cool as well. In fact, I liked it so much that I decided to try it with Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix, too!



The chocolate was SO good with the ricotta and strawberries- I'd make it again tomorrow but I am out of ricotta cheese! If you don't have any of the Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix (it's discontinued), simply add 20 calories' worth of mini chocolate chips and count it as a free food. Count this as a complete breakfast; just make sure that the stats on your ricotta cheese fit as a dairy/protein serving of 100 calories or less, 3g fat or less, and 7g protein or more. I've seen a lot of variation in different brands of ricotta and some fit while others don't.

Disclosure: This post was written by me and was not edited by anyone. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own and have not been influenced in any way. Nutrisystem Canada is providing their food and program to me free of charge for my weekly updates. I was not compensated for writing this post.

Lazy Weekend Breakfast

Some foods just seem to go together so well... one of my favourite combinations is bananas and chocolate. I was looking at a bunch of bananas in my kitchen and trying to decide what to have for breakfast and thought that I wanted pancakes. Then inspiration struck and this yummy creation resulted.

Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix (Breakfast):



1 pkg Nutrisystem Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix
1/3 cup milk
1/2 banana, sliced into thin coins

Spray your griddle or frying pan with PAM butter spray and let it preheat while you make the batter. Mix together the milk and pancake mix, and add the banana coins when the batter is smooth. Spoon it into the pan and cook until the bottom side is browning, then flip and cook until pancakes are done. Enjoy with sugarfree maple syrup if desired.

I know this is a discontinued item, but if you aren't fortunate enough to have some stashed away, just add 20 calories' worth of mini chocolate chips to plain Pancake Mix and you're all set. Also keep in mind that when this item was reformulated, the new Pancake Mixes only call for 1/4 cup milk while the old ones call for 1/3 cup. Always follow the directions on the package you are using.

I really enjoyed this recipe- very quick and easy but delicious. I made 7 small pancakes out of the batter and it looked like so much food! Very filling.

Disclosure: This post was written by me and was not edited by anyone. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own and have not been influenced in any way. Nutrisystem Canada is providing their food and program to me free of charge for my weekly updates. I was not compensated for writing this post.

Pumpkin Week!

I'm still a little pressed for time so I haven't really had much time to cook, but it felt a little silly to do Pumpkin Week in January so I'm doing the best I can. It might be a little shorter than usual, though.

Pumpkin is a very versatile food on the Nutrisystem program. 1/2 cup counts as a veggie serving and 1 cup counts as a fruit, per the dieticians. This makes it easy to incorporate it into the plan.

You've already seen my Crustless Pumpkin Pie, which can be used as a dairy/protein serving, and here are two more recipes that I've tried.

Pancake Mix (Breakfast):

Pumpkin Roll:

1 pkg Nutrisystem Pancake Mix
1/4 cup Egg Beaters
1/3 cup Splenda
1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Icing:

2 tbsp Philadelphia Ultra Low Fat Cream Cheese
1 tsp margarine
1/4 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all the roll ingredients together and spread the batter thinly on a sheet of wax paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Top with a sheet of wax paper and roll up the cake and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Mix icing until smooth, and spread it on top of the cake and reroll (minus that second sheet of wax paper!). Chill for an hour. **Makes 2 servings**

Sorry, no photo because my camera messed up. Honestly, it wasn't all that photogenic anyway because it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I thought the batter would spread itself out in the oven, but it didn't, so I got more of a pumpkin cake than anything else. It wouldn't roll. I just cut it in half and put the icing in between like a sandwich to try and get the roll effect. Unfortunately, I found that I didn't like the icing at all, so I wound up scraping it off and just eating the cake. The cake was really delicious though! This counts as a dessert entree (or breakfast)- as prepared with icing, it has 130 calories, 23g of carbs, 3g of fat, and 10g of protein. Next time, I'd just frost it with plain cream cheese though and not mix anything into it. If you want to eat just the cake, eat the whole thing and count it as a breakfast or dessert entree + 1/2 veggie or free food.


Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix (Breakfast):



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Pancakes:

1 pkg Nutrisystem Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix (or plain mix plus 1tsp chocolate chips)
1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/4 oz macadamia nuts, crushed
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix all the ingredients together and cook either as pancakes or pancake puffs (my preference!). Enjoy with sugar free maple syrup, if desired.

I got this recipe from Kompukat on the Nutrisystem boards and it is delicious! Even the name makes it sound decadent. Definitely try this one when you need a pumpkin fix. It counts as your entree, fat serving, and either 1/2 veggie or a free food. I made ten puffs (this batch got a little deformed, sorry!).

Over the Hump!

Yes! After weeks of waiting, I made it (convincingly) over the 60lb marker! I can't wait to get my new Nutribear. I lost 1.4lbs this week. While my losses over the past two weeks have slowed down a little, I think it's all part of the journey and it will encourage me to exercise more. I am pretty much at the halfway point which is pretty darn exciting! In not quite seven months I have lost more than sixty pounds and made it halfway to my goal weight!

Of course, I don't expect the second half to come off as quickly as the first... the closer you get to goal, the slower the weight comes off. But it's not a race and as long as I keep plugging away, I will get there in the end!

There are 5 weeks until my son's birthday and I was hoping to make it to 70lbs lost by then. I think it will be close but I am going to try! Hopefully all the exercise I am doing will make a difference and get me back up to 2lbs a week. I am still averaging more than that but it's definitely starting to slow down.

Oh, and I tried my hand at the Cheese Blintzes again this morning and it worked! Unfortunately no picture since my camera was dead but definitely give these a try on a lazy weekend morning! I just added an extra 1/4 cup water to the mix. The pancakes take longer to cook since the batter is so thin but they are easy to fold around the cheese mixture. I actually forgot about the cream cheese this time and the ricotta by itself was still delicious. My husband took one look at my breakfast and asked me to make one for him (but with real chocolate chips!).

On Blogging

I've been looking for other weight loss bloggers to link to and it made me sad to say that I am having a hard time finding any active ones. I found several Nutrisystem blogs, but most of them have been abandoned- many of them after making a post or two saying they were slipping and were regaining the weight they'd lost. It's a little depressing to see so many people strive and fail.

I don't want Stomach Rumblings to become another dead blog to represent my failure! I would love to keep this blog going to inspire other people that this CAN be done if you want it enough. I plan to keep experimenting and posting new recipes even when I finish losing weight and go into maintenance. I believe that, as in all things in life, if you want something enough then you find a way to make it happen. You can keep making excuses, but that's all they are- just excuses. Do you make excuses to avoid doing things you really want to do? I doubt it.

So, chin up- if it's important to you to lose weight, you can do it! Nutrisystem makes it so easy. If you just want to eat the meals right out of the box, you can; you don't have to cook with them the way I do.

Believe me- if I can do this, you can. I had the worst eating habits- lots of refined carbs and fat, lots of sugar and empty calories, and very little nutritious food at all. The only difference between me and the people who fail at weight loss is that I've made this one of my top priorities. I am finding ways to stick to my program, not ways to justify "cheating". And that's why I believe I will be successful at losing the weight. Stick with me- let's see if I can do it! Hopefully at this time next year my ticker will be complete!


I also have some new recipes to share- enjoy!

Nacho Crisps (Dessert):


When I first tried the Nacho Crisps, I thought they were just okay but they have really grown on me! I topped them with diced green onions and tomatoes and melted cheese on top (you can do a little for a free food or a full dairy serving, whatever works in your day) and added sour cream and salsa. Delicious and satisfying!


Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix (Breakfast):


Here I was trying to create a version of my mother's favourite breakfast from her childhood- cheese blintzes. I think the recipe needs some work (I'm going to add a little water to the batter next time to make two thinner crepes since the pancake was a little thick and didn't fold well, and I am going to work on the filling as well) but it was pretty darn good!

Chocolate Chip Strawberry Blintzes

1 pkg NS Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
5 tbsp Splenda
1 serving strawberries, sliced thinly
4 tbsp ricotta cheese
1 tbsp Philadelphia Ultra Low Fat Cream Cheese
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Spray a large pan with PAM and heat. Mix together pancake mix, milk, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 2 tbsp Splenda. Pour into large pan and swish it around so that it fills the entire bottom of the pan; cook like a regular pancake. In a separate pan, pour a little water and 2 tbsp of Splenda, add strawberries and simmer until they are a chunky sauce- set aside. In a small dish, blend together ricotta, cream cheese, lemon juice, remaining Splenda and vanilla. Spoon cheese mixture inside the crepe and fold. If your crepe folds well, fry it in a pan sprayed with PAM until crispy then top with strawberries and bake for ten minutes. If it needs toothpicks like mine, just put it straight into the oven. Top with a little Torani caramel syrup and whipped cream if desired.

For a recipe that didn't come out quite the way I intended, it was still yummy! You could use plain or blueberry pancake mix as well, I just wanted the chocolate/strawberry taste but you could drizzle with Walden Farms chocolate syrup instead.

Sometimes I still wonder how we're on a weight loss plan and still get to eat such delicious things. It doesn't seem quite fair, does it? :)

Cherry Overload!

Well, I had to get through that can of sugarfree cherry pie filling I opened, right? So cherry everything it is until then! I am really enjoying my experimentations with it though- so far everything's been really yummy!

This recipe is very similar to the Blueberry Ricotta Danish I posted about before, using the Blueberry Pancake Mix, but modified so you can enjoy chocolate with your cherries. The inspiration is from the NS boards.

Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix (Breakfast):


Chocolate Chip Cherry Cheesecake Bun

1 pkg Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix
1 oz fat free cream cheese, softened
1 tbsp + 2tsp Splenda
1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 c buttermilk
2-3 tbsp SF cherry pie filling

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a single serve casserole dish with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese, 1 tsp of the dry pancake mix, 2 tsp Splenda and 1/4 tsp vanilla. In another small bowl, stir together the pancake mix, buttermilk, and remaining Splenda and vanilla. Pour the batter into the casserole dish. Drop the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter, then top with pie filling. Bake until done (about 20-25 minutes) Let cool before eating.

I liked this but preferred the danish with ricotta cheese as opposed to cream cheese. I found that it kept the bun moist and light while this was a little drier. I would consider making some kind of sauce (perhaps thickening a Da Vinci or Torani vanilla or chocolate syrup?) and drizzling it on top.


This dessert isn't quite the real thing, but it's close enough that you can definitely close your eyes and pretend. It's also in a big enough serving that I actually felt like a glutton for eating it all, but low calorie enough that you can enjoy every bite guilt free.

Flex Meals (Dessert):

The guidelines for a flex dessert are:

Dessert

1 Dairy Serving
1 Low Glycemic Carbohydrate Serving

NY Style Cheesecake


1 large graham cracker, crushed into crumbs
2 oz fat free cream cheese
2 tbsp light ricotta cheese
1 tbsp vanilla Greek yogurt
2 1/2 tbsp Splenda
1 1/2 tbsp Egg Beaters
1/2 tsp lemon juice or vanilla extract

2-3 tbsp of fruit or sugarfree pie filling
1-2 tbsp fat free whipped cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix together cheeses, yogurt, Splenda, juice/extract and Egg Beaters and stir until well blended. Spray your baking dish with cooking spray (I used a mini silicone loaf pan). Add in the graham cracker crumbs and shake around to coat bottom of dish. Pour cheesecake filling into dish and put the dish into a larger oven safe dish and add water about half way up the side of the mini pan in the larger dish to create a water bath. Bake the cheesecake for 40 minutes, then turn off toaster oven or oven and let it sit in the oven for 10 minutes. I put mine in the fridge to let it set while I had dinner, and then topped with the cherry filling and whipped cream.

I honestly thought when I looked at the recipe on the NS boards that this was going to taste like crap. I mean, I couldn't even imagine that this would produce something even similar to that rich, cheesecake flavour that I love. I fully expected to be pitching it and choosing a different dessert!

Boy, was I ever pleasantly surprised. The texture is perfect and the flavour is very close. Does it have that heavy taste? No, it's not quite as dense, but as long as you aren't eating it right after eating a piece of the good stuff (and who does that?), I think you'll find this a delicious substitute!

A new bear!

I was hoping to earn a new bear this week, although the results were a little in doubt since last week I only lost 1.6lbs. Well, I blew it away; FOUR pounds! I had to weigh myself twice to make sure! I haven't lost four pounds since my first week on Nutrisystem! I have been doing more walking with the baby since the weather's been nice, and this is definitely encouragement to keep it up. I am really excited. And only eight pounds to my next bear!

I tried some more new things this week. I also noticed when I was going over my tags that some of the things I eat on a regular basis were never reviewed- silly me! I am going to make an effort to check that everything I like is here, and hopefully I'll start getting pictures in of the things I don't really care for as well. Not because they're bad- they're just not to my taste. I've never been a cold cereal person, for example. But that's the nice thing about Nutrisystem- there's something for everyone. And lots of chocolate- everyone loves chocolate!


Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix (Breakfast):


Mmm... why on earth did they discontinue this?? You can still frequently find it on eBay. Yes, it may be expired, but it's a mix, so I'm not too worried. It tastes just fine to me! The pancakes were delicious with sugarfree syrup. This is going to become one of my favourite breakfasts. *runs off to scour eBay for more mix*

And here they are as donuts, following the recipe in my previous post. Of course, two got eaten before I thought to take a photo! Also delicious, but more along the lines of chocolate chip cupcakes than donuts as they were less dense. Maybe a bit less liquid is needed in this version.


Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar (Dessert):


I was really hoping for something similar to the lunch Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, which is delicious! When I opened the wrapper, it already looked different since it wasn't covered with chocolate. By itself, it was OK, but compared to the lunch bar it was just meh. Probably not something I'll order again since there are so many desserts I do like.

Greek Yogurt (Dairy/Protein Ideas):


Mmm. I read about this all the time on the NS boards but it seems that while Greek yogurt is plentiful in the US, it's pretty hard to find here in Ontario. I did finally manage to locate a Sobey's that carries the Liberte 0% brand, and I decided to give it a try. On the NS boards, people recommend stirring in a spoonful or so of Jello fat free sugar free pudding mix, so I tried it with vanilla and then put it over fresh strawberries and crumbled graham crackers for a carb serving. It was delicious! Very rich and creamy, as well as insanely high in protein so it was filling. It's not cheesecake, but it's close enough to make me happy for the time being. Speaking of which- I have ordered Jello cheesecake pudding mix to try with this!