Week 5: lost 2 more pounds! Finally- after being stuck at 9-10 pounds for 2-3 weeks, I am down 2 more pounds for a total of 12 pounds!! I love it! I am smaller than I was before the wedding, which is weird, because I worked out sooooo hard before the wedding. For months and months. And nothing was working- no matter what I ate, no matter how hard I worked out- nothing worked. And now, it’s almost effortless. I am not working out even a fraction of what I was, and I am eating way more delicious, interesting meals. I see no downsides! Kinda makes me wish I had tried the SD then, but what can you do? And Chris, of course, is underweight now. Turd. It is beyond effortless for him to lose weight- and it’s not fair. He doesn’t even work out at all!! I’m glad he’s eating better, though. We both needed to!
Since I was post-call today, I came home and made some lunch- Shredded Pork Nachos, with homemade corn tortilla chips! These chips are brined before they are baked, which imparts an incredible flavor, surprisingly!
Homemade (Baked) Corn Tortilla Chips
1 1/2 c. water
2 Tbsp. Veggie Oil
1/4 c. lime or lemon juice
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. salt
4 – 10 corn tortillas, cut (like a pie) into 6 wedges per tortilla
First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then set up the brine. In a small saucepan, bring water, oil, juice, cayenne, and salt to a boil. While it’s coming to a boil, set up your baking pan. Take a large cookie sheet and place a wire rack on top of it, and spray the whole thing with cooking spray. Then, dip each tortilla wedge into the brine (once it starts boiling) for about 5 – 15 seconds, or until the tortilla wedge begins to puff slightly. Take it out of the brine & place the wedge on the rack. Repeat with all the wedges. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until brown & crispy!
*Note- keep a close eye on these- in the space of one minute, they will go from almost-done to perfectly golden browned, to burned!
On to dinner- dinner was fabulous! I made some Buckwheat Crepes that were out of this world! Word to the wise: make sure you’ve got the right equipment- it makes it so much easier. You’ve got to have a Teflon non-stick pan so the crepes don’t stick. I don’t have one of those, so I scrapped mine off the bottom of the pan- still delicious, just not pretty. The crepe batter is thinner than pancake batter, but it cooks up light and fluffy with some nutty undertones (because of the Buckwheat). We filled them with two different fillings- a spinach-ricotta-garlic filling & a shredded chicken, peppers, and onions filling! It takes a little while to make, so you can even make it the night before if that’s easier!
Buckwheat Crepe Batter
3/4 c. milk
1 egg
1 Tbsp. Greek yogurt
1 pinch salt
1 pinch sugar
1/4 c. buckwheat flour
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
Whisk the milk & egg together until foamy. Add the yogurt, salt, sugar, and flours & whisk until smooth. Let the batter rest in the fridge, covered, for at least 3 hours to overnight.
About an hour before you want to make the crepes, pull it out of the fridge & let it come to room temp. It may have separated, so stir it up a little. Spray a skillet with cooking spray; heat the skillet to low-med heat. Measure 2 Tbsp. batter into hot skillet, and roll the batter around in the pan until it is very thin (you could even take the back of a wooden spoon to spread it thin). Cook for 1-2 minutes; slide it out of the pan & place filling in the crepe; roll! Enjoy!
*These reheat well in the microwave or oven, too. I’m sure some bananas and nutella or peanut butter would not be a bad thing, either, if you wanted a sweeter filling! 😉
So here’s to starting our 6th week of the SD. It’s sort of erroneous to call it a diet anymore, since neither one of us thinks we are on a diet. It’s just life- and it’s good. Better than it’s ever been, in fact!