Repost from Hapa Couple – Chicken with Olives

Hapa Couple is one of my favorite sites and she had this recipe on their blog today. Please visit their site for more amazing Dukan meal ideas AND the gorgeous pictures that they take of their recipes!
This recipe is NOT Attack or Cruise friendly… but definitely ideal for Consolidation or Stabilization.
To MAKE this Cruise friendly you can make this zucchini “pasta”… Which I have made and it is YUMMY!!! And substitute the white wine for low-sodium chicken broth… going to TOTALLY make this on the weekend!!!

Dukan Chicken with Olives

Chicken with Olives
We loved this recipe. It reminded us of a southwestern inspired pasta. (BTW, we love Flamidwyfe’s blog and noticed she like a lot of other food bloggers post pics of their dishes during various cooking stages…so when possible, we will try to do the same!)

It was another busy weekend, but we were able to try two new recipes from two of our new food blog finds! Our uncle is coming to town and he’s staying with us so we spent a good part of Sunday prepping his room and doing some spring cleaning.

We chose these recipes because a storm system which brought chilly weather, amazing lightning displays, a lot of rain (as in some areas were flooded and received over 30 inches of rain within a matter of a few days) and even marble sized hail…we wanted something warm and “comfort foodish”.

This first recipe by the Pioneer Woman went well with whole wheat linguine but would also go well with brown rice, quinoa or by itself! We definitely had to Dukan this recipe as the Pioneer Woman cooks with a butter, etc.

Onions, bell peppers and garlic cooking
RECIPE:
Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 15 minutes (or more if you’re removing a lot of fat from your chicken)
Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours (most of the time is baking time)

1-2 T. olive oil or non-stick spray
6 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, fat removed (if you’re feeding big eaters, 8 pieces would be better)
1 medium red onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced (recipe calls for large pieces, but the male half doesn’t like them in large pieces)
1 – 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, juices squeezed out and minced (recipe says chopped, but again, the male half won’t eat tomatoes like that)
1 c. dry white wine (or low sodium chicken broth)
kosher salt and pepper
1/4 c. non-fat half and half with up to 1 T. cornstarch mixed in (depending on how thick you like your sauce – we used 1 t. since we didn’t want it too thick)
1 c. whole green olives (stuffed)
12 oz. cooked whole wheat linguine, cooked al dente

Tossing chicken with pasta
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. We don’t own an oven proof skillet, so we made ours in our non-stick pan, then transfered the food to a square pan for baking. Heat 1 T. oil in pan over medium high heat. Add chicken and brown on both sides. Transfer chicken to your baking pan. Add more olive oil to the pan if needed, reduce heat to medium and add bell peppers, onions and garlic. Cook for a couple minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for a minute or two. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour in wine and stir. Pour sauce over chicken, cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Remove pan from oven, remove foil, add olives and half-and-half mix. Shake pan gently to mix, cover and bake for another 15 minutes. In the meantime, cook your pasta. We tossed the chicken sauce with the pasta before serving.

This could be adjusted to fit into Cruise if you use the chicken broth and no pasta.

Enjoy…we sure did!

Dukan – Day 208

Wednesday was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: Stay the same
Total weight loss: 76.1 lb/34.61 kg

Hmmmmm, tap foot… I guess no gain is better than nothing, LOL. Two nights dining out might be the reason and the fact I still haven’t, well you know 🙂

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and 3 slices of ham
Dinner: Steak fajita w/onions and pepper and a TBS of guacamole & beef soup with carrots and zucchini in clear broth

Water: 2.3 liters
Additional fluids: 2 cups of coffee
Exercise:
Morning- 1 mile/1.5 km walk to work
Evening- 2.1 mile/3.2 km to dinner at Panchos
After dinner- 1.2 mile/1.7 km walk home
And then- 2.31 mile/3.7 km run in the neighborhood

I think I’m getting enough exercise 😀

I floated a napkin across the top to try to sop up some of the fat... it was still yummy!

Dukan – Day 207 – Scales up!

Tuesday was a PV day.

Daily weight GAIN: 0.9 lb/0.40 kg
Total weight LOSS: 76.1 lb/34.61 kg

Well, after 4 days of a half pound weight loss each day, I’m up nearly a pound today. Not worried, it happens, but I did begin to question my own caloric intake and went to fatsecret.com and put in my food intake for Monday and it was quite low (less than 900 Kcal)… so I think I need to take my own advise and eat a little bit more!

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, coffee, 500mL water
Lunch: 2 tea eggs, 700mL water
Snack: 1 tea egg, 500mL water
Dinner: Chinese restaurant… steamed fish w/ garlic and ginger, broccoli and a salad, that had yummy sesame oil dressing on it (and probably shouldn’t have had!) And a Coke Zero, my first in weeks!

No yogurt or bran in on Tuesday, although I probably could have used it, given I haven’t had a good poo in a few days 🙂 Not feeling constipated, at all, but a little “full” feeling.

Had a great walk/run, 3.21 miles, average 14:33 pace per mile, found out that I’m probably running a little too fast and need to learn to pace myself… as this may be the reason I’m getting winded so easily… will try that tonight.

I got a lot done at work today, created a comprehensive audit of the entire hospital system that will be done twice monthly and still waiting on 2 little babies to come earthside… Here babies, babies!!!

Ciao!

Doing It Your Way

Every day, even here in China, I have at least one person tell me I’ve lost enough weight. Why is it that people can’t just let you be in regard to weight loss? I still have 12 pounds to be at Dr. Dukan’s very generous “True Weight” for me of 165 and 22 pounds to be at the 155 I set for myself.

My other favorite is people who tell me I shouldn’t be running… I’m going to tear up my knees… I got news for ya peeps… I’ve had 2 surgeries on the left and one on the right… I’ve got 2 screws in the upper part of my right tibia… I saw the orthopedist in January while I was home and he said my knees looked better than before! And encouraged me to keep running… he even said HE COULDN’T BELIEVE he was saying that… So I’m going to keep running, because it makes me feel good! 🙂

I feel so lucky to have the support from my family, friends and fellow bloggers. But there are a few people out there that have private messaged me (you know who you are…LOL) to tell me that enough’s enough. What the hell?

Do you have people in your life that try to derail you from accomplishing goals? Do you find that these are typically people that don’t achieve their goals and therefore aren’t happy to see others in their lives succeed?

Onward I go! Ciao!

Dukan – Day 206 – Getting there

Monday was a PP day.

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total weight loss: 77 lb/35.01 kg

Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs, cup of coffee, 500mL water
Lunch: 2 Tea Eggs, 3 slices of deli ham (make sure you check the carb count on the back!) 700mL water
Snack: 1 Tea Egg, 500mL water
Early Dinner: 4 oz. steak (cubed) stir-fried with 1/2 onion and 5 smashed garlic and Italian seasonings, 500mL water, cup of tea
Late Snack: 2 eggs, scrambled with a teeny bit of onion, a splash of FF milk, & 2 Tbs. flax seed meal, 200mL water and a cup of Kava tea.

**Just want to note again… I usually only eat the yolk from my first Tea Egg in the morning, the rest of the time I toss it and only eat the whites. I did eat the yolk of my late snack eggs.

My legs are kind of achy from the mountain hike yesterday, so I did a 2.5 mile walk instead of a run.

It was a good day, the sun shone through the pollution all day long, everyone’s mood seemed better 😀

Dukan – Day 205 Tea Egg and weight update

Sunday was a PV day 🙂

Daily weight loss: 0.8 lb/0.40 kg (2 days being reported)
Total weight loss: 76.6 lb/34.81 kg

It was brought to my attention that I haven’t mentioned my meals in a few days… LOL So for my friends is Abu Dhabi… I had 2 tea eggs for breakfast and 2 tea eggs for lunch (with ham slices) on both Saturday and Sunday. I was traveling Saturday with the hospital to a town about 2 hours south of Hangzhou and didn’t get the time to do a proper update and Sunday… well read yesterday’s blog… lol. I left my house at 830 a.m. and got back after 900 p.m…. long day filled with lots of adventure! Good luck to you guys on your Dukan adventure! Having each other for support is awesome!

So there is my tea egg and weight update… next blog… tomorrow (my Tuesday morning) and everyone else’s Monday evening! 🙂

Ciao!

Quote of the day: How lucky is a girl to have friends that care? ~ Me

Sensational Sunday

Wow what a Sunday I had! And the sun even peeked out for a few hours through the smog!

I started out early with Kitty meeting me downstairs and the driver taking us out of the city to a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) doctor. Something I’ve found funny and ironic is that China is the birthplace of acupuncture, but damned if I could find one! I personally know 4 acupuncture physicians in South Florida, none of whom are Chinese, and it would be far easier to get it there, than here!

Well, it was worth the early wake up call on my day off and the drive there! In the course of 90-minutes he gave me massage, acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractic, cranio-sacral AND reflexology treatments all done on a massage table waterbed! The bed was HEATED and had the cut out for your face. I have never been so comfortable face down on a massage table. Worth it and a great way to start my day!

After the treatment, Kitty and I met Vivien at the bus stop and I rode the PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION system here in Hangzhou for the first time. And it wasn’t bad and it’s CHEAP. Vivien and I hopped off the bus to get a cafe latte…

Riding Public Transportation


Yummy Cafe Latte at 35mm Coffee Shop

Then off to the end of Gudun Road to pick up the trail! There is a gate next to a gas station that leads to as set of stairs that go up, up, up, up the mountains and then the trail takes you across the top of the ridge… we decided to walk for an hour and turn around and walk back… it is up and down for most of the walk and the views, while not so great in photos because of the smog, was spectacular. Steps taken going up, prior to leveling off 3754! Total walk that we did was 2.67 miles in just under 2 hours. It was awesome and I can’t wait to do it again!

After our nice hike I had a lovely dinner with one of my favorite families and play time with my buddy Soren… 2-year old wonder child! I then walked the 3.5 miles/5.6 kms home at a pretty brisk pace 46:17.

I took 2 days off from running and miss it. I think mountain hiking made up for it 🙂

Nice Sunday… I hope your weekend was as nice 🙂

Ciao!

Pics of the walk:

Have to have a shoe pic!




The views were stunning through the smog... LOL



ViviMokaLaka


Reflections

This post was written on Saturday and apparently didn’t publish… So here goes!

Went with the marketing team to Yiwu today. This town is a hub of manufacturing of clothes here in China and was a 2 hour bus trip southwest of Hangzhou. Lots of Arabs here and that means one awesome thing… ARAB FOOD!!!! I had mixed grill for lunch with a teeny bit of hummus… Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Good!

Time for reflecting… I would LOVE it if you would respond to the question with a comment. I think it’s possible to comment anonymously if you’d prefer 🙂

This is from the site Thoughtquestions.com The picture is mine from visit home Christmas 2010.

20120310-220732.jpg

MY ANSWER: TRANSFORMING

My son-in-law Chris was out talking to the neighbor. Nick’s ex Ashlee is marrying a different man, and I’m bursting with happiness for her. Jennifer continues her journey of recovery, Tiffany is going to be a surrogate mother and I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up… But my body is sure transforming!

Tell me about YOUR family… One word is just fine, but if you’d like… elaborate 🙂

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 202 – Lime Shrimp Recipe

Cleaning up my blog and found a few posts that never went through… This one from February with a yummy recipe!!
Update post by the afternoon 🙂
Sandi

Thursday was a PV day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total Weight Loss: 75.7 lb/34.41 kg

I only had to work half a day on Thursday because of International Women’s Day… which was kind of cool. I got to take the morning off and worked the afternoon. I got a promotion at work, which is kind of cool. I have been asking to do the work I will now be doing since I got there in September.

Walked home from work and straight to the gym across the lane from my building. I can see the people working out from my bedroom balcony, but didn’t want to start there too soon in my weight loss. Besides, I’ve been doing my own stuff, C25K, the swiss ball, wii yoga and the exercise bands. I tried to do C25K on the treadmill, but that ain’t happening. I felt confined and not in a good pace. So I did the machines and worked on my pecs, the back of my legs and my triceps.

Then home to make dinner. I thought I had chicken to make the Lime Chicken and Shrimp, but I didn’t, so I just made it with shrimp… Yum!

1 Tbs olive oil
As much shrimp as you want
1/2 onion, I chop mine in biggish pieces
A handful of fresh mushrooms
1 lime, cut in quarters
1 small chili pepper, diced small
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
A dollop of Fat Free Greek yogurt

I threw all of the ingredients, except the lime and yogurt, in a hot pan with the olive oil, stir fry 1 minute and then squeeze the juice of all 4 quarters of the lime on the cooking food. Throw the lime rinds in to the mix and stir fry all of it another 3 minutes. Remove from heat and plate. Take the rinds and squeeze the rest of the juice out of them… mmmmmmm, and then put a dollop of yogurt on top… YUMMY!

Lime & Chili Shrimp Stir Fry

Lime & Chili Shrimp Plated

After dinner, went out for a 35 minute run… in, you guessed it, the cold friggin’ rain… LOL

Ciao!