Day 3 - Cruise Phase (PV)

Morning Weigh In: 186 Lbs
Another Gain of 0.2

With all the cheese I had yesterday I kinda expected this. I'll be on track today. Tomorrow the scales go down!

Breakfast:
- 2 Hard Boiled Eggs
- 1 Tbl Labaneh (It's an Arabic spread, in between cream cheese and yogurt)

Lunch:
- Chicken Lettuce Wraps - those were really good. I enjoyed eating them
(Roasted Chicken w/ a little mayo, slices of cucumber and tomato's wrapped in iceberg lettuce) - add a little hot sauce to it, umm, yummy.
- Diet Pepsi

Snack:
- 3 fat free laughing cow cheese
- 1 slices of black Forrest Ham

Dinner:
- Cheese & Black Forrest Ham Pizza (Find the recipe here).
- Diet Pepsi

My thoughts on the Pizza recipe:

My Black Forrest Ham Pizza - Pretty Good ha? :)

This recipe was great. It tasted really good. I followed the exact Cauliflower Dough recipe and then added some tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, Irish cheese and black Forrest Ham. Was delicious. BUT i wasn't able to get to a hard crust following the directions mentioned. I'm thinking that maybe I need to keep it longer in the oven to get the crust before adding the toppings. Will give it another try soon and see if i can get the dough to be hard.

Overall a good day. Tried to eat regularly on time which definitely helps with the hunger. I have to drink more water. For some reason i keep forgetting! As the weather gets warmer I'm sure I'll start drinking more.

Survived the weekend! - Cruise Phase (PP)

Morning Weigh in  : 188.6 lbs  (Weight Gain)

Yes, i'm back up to the 188's .. ugh ... but it could've been worse. Today is a new day and i know it'll be a better day!

Here's what i had:

Breakfast:

- Cup of coffee

- 1 non fat fruit yogurt

Exercise:

- 1 hr cycling

- 20 minutes cardio / elleptical machine

Lunch:

- 2 eggs (sunny side up)

- 2 slices of ham

Snack:

- 1 fat free cheese stick

- 3 small slices of Oatbran Flaxmeal Bread w/ a little fat free whipped cream cheese (Thank you Charlotte for this amazing recipe! Find the recipe here.

Dinner:

- Grilled Skirt Steak

- 4 sticks of Asparagaus

- Baked Baby Bell Pepper

- Glass of Wine

I know it's supposed to be a PP day, but i ended up have vegetables for dinner. Overall it was a good day i think. Felt very energetic and ready for the day after my work out in the morning. Tomorrow i hit the gym again. Hopefully, i can manage a couple of hours. We'll see.

While surfing the net today i cam accross a very interesting way to make rice from califlour. Very simple and very easy. I still didn't try it, but i will SOON. Here's the link

http://video.about.com/lowcarbdiets/Low-Carb-Cauliflower-Rice.htm

if you give it a try, please let me know your feedback :)

Day 4- Attack

Morning Weigh In : 190 Lbs

Daily Weight Loss: ZERO

Total Weight Loss: 3.8 Lbs

Breakfast:

- Cup of coffee with non fat creamer
- 2 hard boiled eggs w/ a pinch of pepper

Lunch:
- Can of Tuna (in water) mixed it with 2 TBL of fat free cottage cheese (it was surprisingly good! Never thought it would taste good).

Snack:
- Coffee with non fat creamer
- 1 cheese stick

Dinner:
- Chicken Soup - Recipe here

Snack:
- 2 tubs of non fat/ sugar free caramel yogurt
 

I got on the scales this morning, saw that i didn't lose anything, then started moving a little, shifting my weight, thinking maybe a little loss here or there, but nope, it was 190 Lbs! hehe , silly, ha? Although i was a little disappointed, but it was ok. I'm even more determained to do better today. I am trying to think if i ate something i shouldn't have and i'm thiking it could be either too much dairy? or that the store bought roasted chicken had some kind of grease or something. Again, it's okay. And i'll be doing much much better today! Tomorrow, i WILL reach my first mini goal!

On another note, my day was pretty good. I didn't feel hungry for the most part of the day. I wasn't able to go to the gym today, which was a bummer.

I'm very happy to see that more people are going Dukan. It's great that people are trying to change their lives. And it's great that we're able to share our experiences, our ups and downs, our recipes, our happy days, our bad days and everything!

Let's GO Dukaneers!

Julie

Day 1 - Attack

Starting Weight: 193.8 Lbs

Breakfast:
- Coffee with Non Fat Creamer
- Oat Bran

Exercise: 1 hour Cycling/Spinning Class

Snack:
- 2 non fat cheese stick
- 1 slice of ham

Lunch:
- 5 mini hot dogs
- 3 chicken wings
- 3 small chicken balls

Snack:
- Non Fat Vanilla Yogurt
- Cup of coffee with non fat creamer

Dinner:
- 4 mini skewers of Kiftah (Find Recipe Here)
- 1 Hard Boiled Eggs
- 2 Tsp Fat Free Sour Cream

Snack:
- 1 non fat cheese stick
- Fat Free/ No sugar  Hot Chocolate (Not quite sure if i can have this, but it is fat free and no sugar is added and i felt the need to have something sweet and this was the best option i had on hand). 

Overall, it's been a good day. The food that i had was enough and i felt full most of the day. I went to the gym this morning for a cycling class and i felt great afterwards. What also helped with my food cravings today was the fact that i was quite busy & had a lot of errands outside the house! When that happens, i forget about food and don't feel hungry! Great idea, ha? :)  but it is exhausting! In addition to all those errands i have 2 little boys to take care of (J is three and Z is one).

I created a blog for my favorite Dukan Recipes! And I'll be linking what i eat here to that blog for the recipes. Some of these recipes are food that i know which are Dukan Friendly, other recipes are from various blogger friends who are on Dukan. Thought I'd put them in one place.

Please feel free to share any recipe. Just email me and I'll add it to the blog with a link to your blog/site.

Thank you all for stopping by. Have a great Dukan Day/Night!!

Update: When i wrote this post it was around 7 p.m.  and i thought i was done with the eating part. I was wrong! I snacked, and here's what i had:

Late Snack:
- One Crab Stick
- I slice cheese
- 1 slice ham

Julie

Turkey Meat Balls

This is my first attempt at making Turkey Meat Balls. It's very simple and basic but it turned out really well. I just thought of what i wanted to put in it as i mixed and cooked everything. That's why sorry for not having exact measrements & quantities!

Good for PV days
Makes 8 Medium Size Turkey Meat Balls

For the Turkey Meat Balls:

• 1 1/4  Lbs Minced Turkey
• 1/2 onion (chopped).
• 1 whole egg
• Italian Seasoning (to taste) - i used around 2 Tbsp
• Salt & Pepper (to taste)

Preheat oven to 375 F . I mixed everything very well and then shaped them into medium size balls. Placed them on a baking sheet that i sprayed with olive oil. In the oven they go for about 20 minutes on bake. Then for about 5 minutes on Broil to give them some color.  (Time depends on the oven, so keep checking them).

For the Sauce: i used one can of stewed tomatoes. Put them in a pot, on high until they're boiling then reduce it to low and let it simmer for a few minutes (until it reduces). I then put them in the food processor to make a smoother texture and back in the pot for a 2 more minutes simmering on low.  Add some salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

When everything is ready, top the turkey meat balls with some sauce and you can add some grated non fat mozzarella cheese!

Here's a picture of how everything turned out

Bon Appetite!

Cottage Pie Recipe for PV days

I got the Cottage Pie Recipe from My Dukan Diary Blog. Lauren comes up with the most wonderful recipes and ideas! I can't wait to try it myself! Thank you Lauren!

Makes 4 large Serves
Suitable for Cruise PV Phase

Filling Ingredients:
Olive Oil Spray
500g Beef Mince
1/2 Onion finely diced
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp Corn Flour
1 tsp Chicken Stock Powder dissolved in 1 1/2 cups Hot Water
2 Tomatoes, Diced
150g tub Tomato Paste
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

Topping Ingredients:
1 head of Cauliflower
1 clove Garlic
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
1-2 tbsp Extra Light Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Lightly spray a frying pan with Olive Oil Spray and wipe away excess with paper towel. Brown Beef Mince until crumbly.
3. Remove mince from frying pan, getting rid of any excess fat.
4. In the same pan, fry the garlic and onion. When soft, return beef to pan.
5. Sprinkle over Corn Flour and cook, stirring, for a few minutes.
6. Add to the pan the Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Stock & Water, Black Pepper. Stir to combine.
7. Allow to simmer on a low heat for at least 10 minutes or until thickened.

MEANWHILE:
1. Cut the Cauliflower into florets and rinse. Cook Cauliflower in a saucepan of water for approximately 20 minutes or until you can insert a knife into a floret without resistance.
2. While the Cauliflower is cooking, very finely chop the garlic.
3. Drain the water from the pan and return the Cauliflower over a very low heat for a few moments, stirring, to evaporate some extra water.
4. Turn off the heat and begin to mash the Cauliflower. Add the other ingredients, Extra Light Cream Cheese (however much you want), Pepper and Garlic.
5. When you have reached a point where you don’t think you can mash it anymore, you can leave it at this point. I prefer to have it perfectly smooth, so I had a go at it with my barmix (hand blender).

TO ASSEMBLE:
1. Place the filling mixture into one large baking dish, or small ramekins (it would at least fill 8 ramekins)
2. Top with the Cauliflower Puree.
3. Bake in the oven until top slightly browns and dish is hot.

You can add mushrooms to the recipe or any other veggies

Vanilla Moist Muffins

Here's a picture of my first batch

Vanilla Moist Cake Muffin Recipe

Since it's my Birthday today and we're getting cake, so the kids can enjoy it, i thought i'd make the Vanilla Cake Muffin as a birthday cake for ME! :) They're in the oven right now and i'm really hoping it works! There is one ingredient that i'm not sure of. Not sure if i got the right one (Wheat Bran). I only found one kind, which was some kind of instant thing, but i'm giving it a try. Everybody seems to like this recipe. Wish me luck!!

Update:
The muffins were AWESOME! Loved them. Although they didn't puff up well, because i opened the oven too soon, but nevertheless, they tasted really good and i topped them with the cream cheese icing. Delicioius! A big thank you to my Dukan Friends for the recipes :)

Kiftah Recipe (PP Days)

Kiftah is a Middle Eastern recipe. It's really good and tasty.

I don't have an exact recipe, because i eye ball everything when i do this. But here's an estimate and hopefully it will work out for you.

2 LB ground beef (usually it's made from Lamb, but beef is a lighter version and it works well)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp allspice

Mix everything together very well using your hands. (as if it's a dough). Then take small chuncks of it and turn them into a patty. (you can do it any size you want). Then it'll be ready to cook. We usually grill it. But it can also be placed in the oven, or gently sauteed (with a little bit of olive oil). Cook it until it's done.
Another way to make it is to make it to shape it like a "hot dog" and put it on skewers for grilling.

Also, a dipping sauce can be made. Fat free plain yoghurt, mix some minced garlic in it and a little pinch of cumin/ or dijon mustard. For (PV) days you can add thinly chopped cucumber to the yoghurt mix (like Tazziki sauce).

I usually make a lot and put them in the freezer for later use.

Hope you enjoy this recipe, i sure do! :) Bon Apetite!