I am really looking forward to attending Nino Salvaggio’s Pantry Essentials Presentation Event tonight with my sister! We’re going to have a blast.. some much needed sister/food/wine tasting time together. I’ll report back later.

We will be featuring cooking tips, wine tasting and much more! Nino’s Wine Sommelier, Jennifer Laurie, and Director of Culinary Development, Pete Loren, will be on hand to answer questions and share their expertise!

As you may have noticed, I posted twice about starting the HCG Diet a couple months back and then didn’t post about it after that. I ended up getting Strep Throat on day 3 and realized that eating so little and taking those drops that are made up of who really knows what was not the smartest decision I have made. Perhaps if I was 20-something years old and didn’t really need to eat in order to keep my blood sugar at a reasonable level, I might be able to pull it off. But this late thirty-something (creeping up on 40) woman cannot do such things to her body anymore.

I remember back in my twenties, when I didn’t even need to lose weight, I used to take those Yellow Jacket pills they sold at gas stations that were filled with the now illegal Ephedra. I wouldn’t eat breakfast and I would have a couple bites of something at lunch and that was it for the day. I became sickly skinny.. 115 pounds at 5′ 10″ tall. I look back at pictures from that time in my life and think, “ewwww.. what was I thinking?!?” Sunken cheeks and dark circles under the eyes is not a good look for anyone.

Now at the ripe old age of 39 and four kids later, I’m still 5′ 10″ (not so old yet that I’ve started to shrink) and weigh 180 pounds. It doesn’t look horrible on me, but it doesn’t look great either. I keep putting off exercising because I think, “it could be worse,” but I feel disgusted with myself for procrastinating. In all honesty, I think it sucks that I have to worry about my weight after spending most of my life (even after three of my four kids) in a size 6 with no effort at all. I could eat all day long, whatever I wanted, and not have to worry about gaining an ounce. I miss those days.

To sum it all up.. most diets suck. The best thing I could possibly do (I know this, but still.. procrastinating is so simple) is eat healthier most of the time and exercise 5-6 days a week. I know it wouldn’t take long to get the weight off and start feeling better about myself, but it’s hard to do and crappy to deal with the first few weeks of feeling weak and out of breath while doing it. Somebody please kick me in my big-ish behind and get me moving!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the wonderful mama’s out there! I hope everyone has had as fabulous a day as I have!

I lost my blogging mojo a couple of months back, but I’m trying to find it again. I guess I’m a little lost on what I want this blog to be, therefore, I find myself with nothing to write. There are so many people with food blogs these days and I don’t really know where I fit into the mix. I’ll figure it out sooner or later, I’m sure.

I know Mother’s Day is “supposed” to be about relaxing and having your spouse cook for you and whatnot, but today I had the urge to cook. My mother-in-law came over for brunch. At first I had contemplated making Eggs Benedict, but I’ve only made it one other time and didn’t want it to be a stressful ordeal, so I decided to make Huevos Rancheros. I did my take on Melissa d’Arabians recipe. I made them the same way – using flour tortillas brushed with melted butter and seasoned with salt, then molded into a muffin pan. I added a spoonful of a black bean and garlic salsa mixture and then cracked an egg on top. I put them in the oven until the egg set and then added some mexican shredded cheese and put them back in the oven for a few more minutes. I had a little buffet of toppings including homemade bacon bits, low fat sour cream, and some chopped fresh cilantro. The turned out really good and it was a simple, low stress thing to make for everyone.

Today, as I suspected, was not so easy. I didn’t stress about it or get myself worked up, yet it was still very hard to get from one tiny meal to the next. I had an apple about 9:30 this morning, because you can give up your fruit from lunch and eat it for breakfast.

I had 100 grams of lean steak, a cup of chopped cucumber, and one piece of Melba toast for lunch at noon. It filled me up, but the full feeling doesn’t last quite as long as when you eat a chicken quesadilla meal from Taco Bell. Oh well… that’s the price I have chosen to pay to get my pre-4th baby body back. Obviously I am not expected to exercise during this crazy low calorie diet. By 3:00 this afternoon I could have easily passed out at my desk. It doesn’t help that my 3 year old daughter got up at 4:30 this morning with absolutely no intention of going back to sleep.

One hour ago I had my final meal of the day. For dinner my husband made steamed tilapia with fresh dill and lemon wedges, which I was allowed to eat 100 grams of, a cup of steamed broccoli, and a piece of Melba toast. I am also able to have 1 fruit, but I think I will wait an hour when the hunger begins to haunt me again. I’ll call it a poor excuse for dessert. I’m sure I will be asleep by nine tonight so I don’t destroy my kitchen looking for something yummy to eat. I think the worst part about this whole thing is the lack of coffee. I can drink black coffee as often as I want, but I’m not a black coffee kind of girl. I managed to take three sips in an attempt to vanquish the caffeine headache that stalked me all day.

We had to weigh ourselves this morning. I weighed 188.8 and my husband weighed 263. We have to weigh ourselves every morning. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough. I need to see some results to make this worth the torture! We both have a goal of 30 pounds lost by the end of this anti-joy ride.

My husband and I are starting the HCG diet. Today is day two of Phase 1 (the “loading” phase). Phase 1 consists of two days of eating as much as you can while taking the HCG drops or injections (we’re using the drops). You would think such a task would be simple.. eating whatever you want, as much as you want. It’s not. The drops, which are homeopathic, curb your appetite making it very difficult to scarf down burgers and tacos, ice cream and cheesecake. The problem with this, according to my research, is that the more you eat during these loading days, the more successful you are in phase 2. I guess we shall see. My dinner has been sitting on the counter for about an hour now. I can’t bring myself to eat it.. and I have only eaten twice today – breakfast consisting of lowfat Greek yogurt. I’m sure tomorrow, day one of Phase 2 when the diet becomes very restrictive, I will be starving and wish I had eaten a dozen donuts and sucked down three Iced Cappuccinos while I had the opportunity. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as the pounds melt away…

I’ve been an extremely lazy blogger lately. I guess that’s the good thing about blogging, right? It’s my blog to update as I wish, with no deadlines to deal with.

Anyway..

My husband had to unexpectedly leave town on Thursday evening to help out our brother-in-law. He’s been staying in hotels and eating out for the last four days so he is really looking forward to a good, home-cooked meal. I have decided to make it a special one to welcome him home. I’ve put together a fairly easy, yet elegant menu for this evening; Asparagus soup, Cornish Game Hens, Mushroom Risotto, and then finish the meal off with his favorite dessert, Bananas Foster. We’ve missed him a lot and can’t wait to have him back home with us this evening!

Until then I’m off to cuddle with my youngest daughter, who has a fever and isn’t feeling the best, and watch Dora the Explorer – her favorite show.