More Nonsense from Me

Hi all . . . I feel like I should name you, the readers. Stephen King calls his readers "Constant Reader," but 1. I don't particularly like plagiarism so much, and 2. I highly doubt any of you are constant readers. I could call you "FaFaARs" for family and friends and assorted readers, but then again, I wonder who would be assorted. Unless some of you have passed this on to others. Which I highly doubt but in no way discourage . . . guess that's something to ponder.

Weight this morning was 150.6. Crazy. I've lost the five extra pounds in 2 weeks, which is pretty impressive. I haven't cut out the sugar alcohols completely (I'm still a bar whore; especially the Caramel Chocolate Cookie Dough) but I have cut back and am being more conscious of my choices. For example, I love cereal. If I have 1/2 cup of All Bran Extra Fiber cereal in 1 cup of unsweetened Vanilla Soymilk with liquid Splenda mixed in, that's 8 total net carbs (and something like 17g of fiber, which is 69% of the daily requirements . . . makes me quite regular! LOL). Since I try to stay around 20 carbs a day, I know that breakfast took a big chunk out of my daily allowance, but it's so filling that it works for me. For lunch, I'll probably have a huge salad with Bacon Ranch dressing, or some chicken or tuna or egg salad, all of which have 3-4 carbs at the most. And then since Jake's eating more strictly on the induction part of Atkins in an effort to re-lose some weight, we have a pretty low carb dinner, like Horseradish Chicken (recipe below) or some double cheeseburgers from McD's, minus the bun (and I can eat 4. That even impresses Jake).

Jake and I got into a long discussion about cravings and he told me that if I really stick more to the Atkins way of eating (i.e.: cut out the sugar alcohols found in bars and other “Frankenfoods”), my cravings will diminish. While I haven’t totally cut out the bars, I have been eating more cleanly, and what do you know? My cravings have diminished.

On a non-weight note (and I have a feeling many of you are getting tired of hearing my weight-related ramblings), I am awash in Yankees and Phillies tickets for the first time in my life. Jake and I got an 11-game package for the Yankees and a 6-game package for the Phillies. I’m a rabid Yankees fan, and Jake’s a fan of both the Phils and Yanks. (He’s even admitted that I’m probably a bigger fan than he is) I also randomly won a lottery for a chance to purchase “premium” tickets for the Yankees. As you may know, this is the last season in Yankee Stadium, and I am so sad about that. Yankee Stadium is truly a monument to the game; the place where giants like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Lou Gehrig, etc played has an air of legendary moments every time you go there. I tried to get tickets to the last series ever played in the stadium, but could not. I got tickets for the last Yanks/Red Sox game ever to be played in the stadium (in the regular season . . . they may battle again in the ALCS if they both have good years). For those of you who are interested, here’s a breakdown of the big games we’re going to:
Red Sox v. Yanks: 4
Mets v. Phils: 5

We’ll also probably sell 3-4 Yankees games and 1-2 Phillies games online on StubHub to compensate for the cost of the packages. But we’re not getting rid of any of the big rivalries, like the Mets/Phils or Yanks/Boston. I may think Hank Steinbrenner is a bit of a douche, but I love this quote he gave this week: “Red Sox Nation? What a bunch of shit that is. Go anywhere in America and you won't see Red Sox hats and jackets, you'll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We're going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order." RESTORE THE UNIVERSE TO ORDER. How freakin’ funny is that? Ahh, I’m so happy baseball is almost back. In fact, I’m watching the Phils play the Yanks in Spring Training right now. “Fartsworth” gave up a HR, as per usual. He’s another douche.

Lily’s doing pretty well. She’s sneezing less and is more active, so she’s recovering from her spaying and her URI. She’s still on lockdown in the bedroom, but she seems to be handling it ok. The only thing that is a big deal is giving her medication. It’s a two-person job and we also have to use the comforter to subdue her. And it’s just some liquid she has to take. Jeez. When Nina got hurt, I had to give her PILLS and she took it like a champ. I think Lily just likes to be a pain in the you-know-where.

Jake decided we needed more animals in the house and went out and bought 2 goldfish and 2 snails. They’re in the bedroom with Lily, and she attempted to break into the aquarium the first day, and now she pretty much ignores them. Guess she has a short attention span. The fish are named “The Boss” and “Rosalita,” since we got them at a PetSmart on Rt. 9 in Manalapan. The snails are named “Snaily” and “Snaily 2,” respectively. The whole fish-getting process was an ordeal. Jake is so picky and we got there like 15 minutes before the store was closing. The teenage girl who was helping us must have thought he was on an illegal substance or two. He was so disappointed when he found out that the tank he’d gotten at Target was rather small and would only hold 1 fish, or 2 medium fish. We finally picked out 2 fish and the rocks (which had to coordinate with the fish, mind you), and got a small “Roman Ruins” for the tank. The manager actually came up to us and was like we’re closing and you’re the last two people here so you need to get out. Pretty funny. The fish survived the first night (surprisingly) and are still alive (or as far as I know, we’re at Jake’s parents’ doing laundry today). The snails have proved to be much cooler, however. I thought snails were supposed to be slow creatures, but ours zoom around the tank surprisingly fast. I even caught them “doing the deed” (I think). WTF are we going to do if we have baby snails? LOL

I think I’ve rambled enough for right now, but you never know, I might re-post later on. Time to go fold some laundry.

Horseradish Chicken (the real recipe, I tend to not measure so much, but I don't think a hunk of butter and a few spoonfuls of this or that would be helpful to anyone)
Even if you have apprehensions about trying this due to the horseradish, you should try it anyway. The long cooking process makes the horseradish so mellow, kind of like roasted garlic.
(Serves 4)

4 pounds of chicken (I tend to use split breasts)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
3/4 cup chicken broth/stock
1 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
2-3 tbsp prepared horseradish
4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup cream

1. Brown the chicken, skin on, over medium heat with the butter and oil. When the chicken is evenly browned all over, removed to slow cooker.

2. Combine the chicken broth, bouillon, and horseradish, and pour over the chicken. Slap the lid on that bad boy and let it cook on Low Heat for about 6 hours.

3. When the allotted cooking time is up, remove the chicken from the slow cooker. I tend to take the skin off and shred the chicken. Just be careful you don’t overlook bones (Jake eats this dish cautiously out of fear of choking to death on a chicken bone. I, on the other hand, have never gotten a bone in my food).

4. Whisk the cream cheese and cream into the liquid in the slow cooker until smooth. Taste and add S&P if needed. You might want to add more horseradish for more of a kick (I usually do). Dump the chicken back in, and stir to coat.

This has 1 net carb per serving and it’s really filling. I tend to make it with some French green beans (Haricots Verts) that I buy from Trader Joe’s in the frozen section, nuked with butter and S&P.