Breakfast Egg & Meat Cups

5-7 strips center cut bacon or turkey bacon, or 1/4 lb turkey sausage
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 small head broccoli, finely chopped
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
10 eggs, lightly beaten
dash of milk
pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar and mozzarella or whatever you prefer)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray 2 6-cup muffin tins (or silicone trays) with cooking spray.
In 10" saute' pan, brown meat. Remove to paper towels to cool slightly and drain.
In same pan, using a little of the reserved fat, saute' veggies until soft and onions are translucent.
Remove veggies to Small Batter Bowl, and stir in cooked meat. Divide mixture evenly among 12 muffin cups.
Beat eggs, adding a little bit of milk to lighten them up. Add pepper to tasted, can add salt if using turkey sausage (bacon will be salty enough). Pour eggs over filling, fill each cup 2/3 full. Top each cup with one tomato slice, if using. Sprinkle cheese over each cup.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until eggs are set. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. If freezing, freeze individually on a cookie sheet, then put into a resealable bag to store.

Beef With Broccoli

3/4 lb. boneless tender beef steak (may substitute chicken)
2 tbsp. cornstarch, divided
4 tbsp. soy sauce, divided
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. minced or grated fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. fresh broccoli, trimmed
3 tbsp. light oil (vegetable or canola), divided
1/2 onion, 1/4 chunked 1/4 finely diced
3-4 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/8" slices

Cut beef across grain into thin slices. Combine 1 tablespoon each cornstarch and soy sauce with sugar, ginger and garlic. Stir in beef. Let stand 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove flowerets from broccoli; if large, cut in half lengthwise. Cut stalks crosswise into 1/8" slices. Combine remaining cornstarch and soy sauce with 1 cup water; set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in wok or large skillet over high heat. Add meat and stir fry 1 minute; remove. Heat remaining oil in same wok. Add broccoli, onion and carrot; stir fry 4 minutes, or until vegetables are tender-crisp. Stir in meat and soy sauce mixture; bring to boil. Cook and stir until sauce thickens. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Adapted from Paula Deen's recipe, I made this tonight and it was delish! I wanted to lighten it up just a little bit. I used Dove Dark Chocolate (83% cacao). Makes enough to serve 8-10 people.

Ingredients

• 1 (1-pound) loaf French or Italian bread, cubed
• 3 1/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur
• 1 cup packed Splenda light brown sugar blend
  
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Pampered Chef Korjinte cinnamon
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3-4 ounces dark chocolate, grated
• Whipped cream (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and place the bread in the dish. In Large Batter Bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, and liqueur. Combine the brown sugar and cocoa powder in Small Batter Bowl. Add the sugar mixture to the milk mixture and mix well. In the empty Small Batter Bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add the vanilla and almond extract, and cinnamon to the beaten eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the milk mixture and mix well.

Grate chocolate with Garlic Slicer directly over bread. Pour the custard mixture over the cubed bread in the pan. Let stand, stirring occasionally for approximately 20 minutes or until bread absorbs most of the milk mixture. Bake for 1 hour or until set. Check pudding by inserting a knife through the middle and it should come out clean.

Serve warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled with whipped cream if desired.

Garlic Chicken Veggie Pizza

2 cups cooked boneless skinless chicken breast
2 T butter or margarine
2 T EVOO
1/4 small red onion, finely diced
4-5 cloves garlic, pressed
1 t dried basil
2 t Pampered Chef Italian Seasoning
1 (10 oz) tube refrigerated pizza crust
2 roma tomatoes, diced or sliced (whatever you prefer)
1 broccoli crown, chopped
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (or according to package directions).
In a small saute pan, heat butter and EVOO. Saute garlic and onion until soft, stir in basil, then stir in chicken. Set aside.
Spread pizza dough out on Large Bar Pan. Spread seasoned chicken over crust. Dot ricotta and half the mozzarella over chicken. Sprinkle with 1 tsp. Italian Seasoning.
Top with tomatoes and broccoli. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese, then sprinkle the other 1 tsp Italian Seasoning over everything.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Pork tenderloin in the DCB

2 lbs pork tenderloin
6 slices bacon
1/4 c. lite soy sauce
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. onion powder (or 1/4 small onion shredded)
1 clove garlic, minced
fresh ground pepper

Trim silver skin off tenderloin pieces. Wrap bacon around tenderloins. Place them in the Deep Covered Baker. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour the mixture over the tenderloins.

Cover and cook on High in the microwave 6-8 minutes, turn tenderloins over, and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes or until Quick Read Thermometer reads 150. Let rest for 10 minutes (temp will rise to 160). Thinly slice and serve.

Delicious, moist and good - a little on the salty side, but fine by me!

Day 5 on SBD 140lbs

I'm going to try to list foods I've eaten every day so maybe at some point if this "diet" works, I can go back and see that I didn't really cut calories out, just cut sugars out. On the flip side, if it doesn't work, I can come back and see why.

Yesterday's Foods:
3 slices turkey bacon
1 whole egg, 2 egg whites
Leftover sauteed red peppers and zucchini

1 cup coffee with 1 pkt splenda and 1/4 cup 1/2% milk

1 pkt Crystal Light in 24oz water bottle

1 cup cooked spaghetti squash
Homemade spag sauce with ground beef and added zucchini

1 cheese stick

1 sugar free pudding cup

4 oz roasted chicken breast
1 cup roasted broccoli
1 ripe tomato cut up

1 espresso custard cup

1 sugar free pudding cup

I think that's it.

Overall mood for the day: okay, but really tired.

Sort of Clean

But not by my hand - today, the kitchen is clean, the rest of the house is a disaster. The only reason the kitchen is clean is because R cleaned it last night after dinner.

Day 4

Yesterday's foods:
2 turkey/cheese/vegetable cups

hmmm... don't remember mid-day!

1 cup spaghetti squash
1 cup sauce (meat, tomatoes, zucchini)
1 oz parmesan cheese

1 bell pepper with 1/4 cup hummus

Day 2 on SBD 144lbs

This is tough. I have a house full of carbs and sugar. R and V both love 'em.

Breads, mac & cheese, chocolate, granola bars, rice... I could go on and on.

One of the first suggestions in the SBD book is to rid your house of all that stuff. That's so impractical, though, since R would have a COW if I all of a sudden took bread out of the house (he lives on pb&j).

So this "diet" is also a test of wills. Great.

Day 1 on SBD 145lbs

According to my doctor (and every chart I've ever seen), I'm borderline overweight. I'm 5'3" and "normal" weight range is 110-140. I weigh 145 according to my scale, and 149 according to the doc's. Of course.

So he tries telling me all the tips/tricks to eating healthy, and mentions South Beach Diet. I stop him before he gets going too far. I know. Not only have I read the book, it's in my kitchen. you don't need to explain it to me. I could tell you the principles backward and forward. I could tell you it works for me, because I've tried it.

The problem, however, is more with the fact that I can't seem to stick with anything I start.

I've got a deadline now, though. We're going on vacation October 24. So I have three weeks to shed a few pounds.