Welcome home guys!The ship returned to Galveston several hours late. Mama Hen was worried.

I tried  Mission Brand Carb Balance Whole Wheat Fajita Size Tortillas on Sunday. I thought that they were cool. I like toasty tortillas and they toast up real good!

 

I love it when my sis comes to visit. She lives in League City, just outside of Houston. She'll be arriving this evening.  We plan to go eat some Tex-Mex, drink some Tequila, and listen to the Mariachis.  Sounds good doesn't it.

 

I have big cooking plans this weekend. Let's see how much I get done.

Amanda and Jerry are leaving today. They are goin' cruisin' down to Cozumel, Mexico.  I know that they are going to have the most wonderful time. I  checked the Galveston webcam (http://www.galveston.com/webcams/)  and saw the ship waiting for them. This is a little ritual I go through everytime I go cruisin. Have to check the ship on the webcam.  I actually saw the ship depart at 4:35 this afternoon. I was waving to them over the computer.  The weather for Saturday in Cozumel is ---scattered showers, high 85, low 73.  Not bad, not bad at all.

I have to report that I ate a South Beach Living Caprese Style Chicken with broccoli  (White meat chicken strips in a marinara sauce with ricotta and mozzarella, served with broccoli) frozen meal for lunch. The net carb count is 7, calories 260.  It was tasty and with strawberries for dessert, I was very satisfied.  I would eat this frozen meal again.

Will report on another frozen meal very soon.

 

It could be  worse.

Blood test results-

Glucose-103 (slight elevation)

Cholesterol 206 (slight elevation)

Triglycerides 97

HDL-59

LDL 128

All numbers are better than 3 months ago-Dr. said to keep doing what I'm doing-that menopause might be playing a role in this puzzle.

 

This is what Jimmy Moore (from Livin' La Vida Lo Carb) stated recently..." Dr. Mary C. Vernon has said that a rise in HDL above 50 and a reduction in triglycerides below 100 is a sure-fire way of knowing if someone is truly following a low-carb diet or not."  According to my numbers,  that's me.

 

I'm concerned with the glucose number, since I do not eat any sugar and watch my carbs. This number did drop from 110 to 103.

I did some late night cooking. I started about 9:45, after my shows were over and I watched another show  DVR'd. I offered to make my daughter  some BACON EGG BITES to take to work. She's in love with them!! I promised my Hubby some more Empanadas. He's in Love with them. I made myself another crustless mixed fruit pie. I'm in love with it. 

 I was a little too tired this mornin'--the strong coffee wasn't enough.

 

Here's the empanada filling-for 12 small empanadas

(did not use the whole can of pumpkin)

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 teaspoon splenda quik pack= to 1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons splenda brown sugar

liberal sprinkling of cinnamon

mix all together.

Yum....

Going to my Dr. tomorrow for a follow up appointment.  Had to get my blood work repeated-some cholesterol issues. I'm hoping that things are better. I guess we'll see.

Had a crummy day at work  today and tomorrow will be no better. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes.

My Spring Break mixed berry pie was really good!! Had the last piece for breakfast this morning.

Gotta go watch my shows......................

I survived Easter......I had to be very careful with my choices-the only low carb  food at the Easter BBQ we attended was the meat.  I ate a boat load of brisket, sausage, beef fajita, and ribs---with some ranch style beans.  I drank diet pepsi. I did not eat chips, rice, potato salad, bread, candy or cake. I did have a couple of small spoonfuls of key lime pie and then felt very guilty. I was craving a sf chocolate bar. I know that my sisters-in-law think I'm a bit crazy for not forgetting about low-carbing for the day.  I feel that I made the right choice.  I'm pretty proud of my new size 12 (yes, that's right--Jan. 07-size 18) yellow pants my hubby bought me for Easter.It's a good day---for a Monday.

Wishing all a Happy Easter.

 

We had "dirty rain" yesterday. The sky deposited mud on my car!

 

I'm making another batch of empanadas and egg bites!!

I am in reality show heaven--I'm watching American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Big Brother, and Survivor!!

I made these egg bites. I saw the recipe at Michelle's blog  at   http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/.  These are made with bacon. My next batch will be with ham. She has several versions that look very appetizing.

They are really good and perfect to take for breakfast on the run.  My commute to work is 30-40 minutes in the morning and I actually enjoy eating on the way.  I always have a big mug of coffee and I listen to Martha Stewart channel on Sirius Radio.

EMPANADAS

Dough: 3 ounces   Cream Cheese 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 cup carbalose flour Mix together the butter and cream cheese. Stir in flour to combine well and form into a ball. Place into a ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight. Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling out. Roll out into 3-4 inch circles. I used my tortilla press. Fill one side of circle with empanada filling. Moisten edges lightly with water. Fold dough over filling and press edges together to seal. I sprayed the top of each empanada with butter spray. Sprinkled cinnamon and granular splenda on top of butter spray.  Bake at 375F degrees 15-20 minutes. Filling-1 15 ounce can pure pumpkin           1 tablespoon splenda brown sugar           liquid splenda to taste-3 drops           1 teaspoon cinnamon mix filling ingredients thoroughly-(I had half left over after filling empanada)   I plan to make other fillings---fruit and meat. To be continued.......

Another discovery I made last night--MARBLE SLAB NOW HAS SUGAR FREE FROZEN YOGURT!!! It still has 17 carbs per 1/2 cup serving, but much better than 44 carbs for the regular ice cream.

 

My veggie patch............visions of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, dancing in my head.

 

I had a moment last night. My laptop computer decided to play dead. No matter what I did, it would not come back to life.....I went to bed with a frown on my face..I had been in the middle of a Texas Hold 'em game on Full Tilt Poker. This morning it decided to wake up and I'm very hopeful that it will behave from now on.

I can't believe that it's Spring Break!

 

I refreshed my memory when I read  about the lowest carb and healthiest veggies at:   http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/20167/good-veggies/ 

this is very worth reading.

 

 

I wanted to share a picture of my microwave breakfast muffin-This one is strawberry-

like my hubby says, they're not much to look at, but they are good!

Today I added Monin O'free  blackberry syrup.YUM!

 

Tomorrow is Friday!!!