Cheeseburger bombs — & Thanksgiving Dinner Prep

I tried a new recipe from the WW app last weekend: Cheeseburger Bombs.

Messy but delicious!

My verdict: They’re really tasty, but a pain in the butt to make.

The recipe calls for dividing a batch of 2-ingredient dough into six equal pieces … but that leaves very small pieces to stuff.

I think next time I’ll cut the dough into quarters but stuff with the same 2T cheese, 1 T cooked beef & 1 tsp each mustard and dill relish. That should give me more dough to work with, making it easier to make each “bomb.”

Anyway, last week was a good week on the scale — I managed to lose 2.2 pounds. Could the struggle bus be pulling away from the station without me?

I certainly hope so. IF I can keep it up, I might FINALLY get out of the 250s in the next few weeks.

That, of course, is a BIG if, because this is a holiday week—and a holiday that centers on food, no less.

Thanks to COVID risk, we aren’t going to Doug’s parents’ house (even though we live in basically the same town). Not only do we want to avoid putting his folks at risk, my work has asked that anyone who fails to follow CDC recommendations to not celebrate outside your home quarantine and work from home for 14 days after celebrating …

And I DO NOT want to work from home for two weeks after Thanksgiving dinner. Some people might think WFH is their jam, but I’ve discovered I’m TERRIBLE at it. I can’t focus and feel like I’m getting absolutely nothing accomplished.

No thank you. I’ll work from home if forced to, but I’m not going to do so voluntarily.

This means I’m in charge of our Thanksgiving dinner for two. We’re having roasted turkey breast, Stove Top, mashed potatoes, jarred gravy, green bean casserole and a lower-Point version of Peas and Crayons’ Speedy Stovetop Cranberry Sauce. (I use artificial sweetener instead of the large amount of honey her recipe calls for.)

Cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie cupcakes about to be chillin’ in the fridge for tomorrow.

Doug’s mom is dropping off some of their pumpkin pie and the traditional fruit cup today.

I also made a batch of Pound Dropper’s Crustless Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes. I’m about to enjoy one for an afternoon snack, because I got 18 of the suckers out of the recipe. I misread the directions & filled each muffin cup 1/3 full instead of filling each one with 1/3 cup of batter as instructed.

Oops. I’m sure it’ll still be delicious … and still only 1 WW Point per cupcake (all in the flour).

Still here and feeling great

For once, my absence doesn’t mean I’ve fallen off the wagon. On the contrary, I feel fantastic.

When I weighed in on Monday, I’d dropped 9.2 pounds. I feel lighter and less lumbersome, I’m sleeping better and I’m pretty sure my stomach is shrinking — or at least losing some of its carb-induced bloat.

When I went to the movies — two days in a row — I didn’t even consider getting popcorn. The first night, I sneaked in some almonds to snack on if I got hungry, but the movie (“Rogue One” for the second time) and the company were so good that I didn’t dig in. On Monday, when I took myself to see “Hidden Figures,” I took an Atkins breakfast bar with me and ate it about halfway through, as a late-afternoon snack.

But overall, I’m needing fewer snacks. I’m barely hungry at all. Today, I had these gorgeous Hot Cocoa Pancakes from Kerri O at FitViews at around 10:30 a.m..

I’m getting better about making these pretty. Topped with homemade whipped cream, coconut butter and pecans. Yum!

Then I ate a couple of cheese sticks (o.4 carbs each) that were supposed to be part of my lunch. The rest of my lunch, two deviled eggs, is still sitting in my lunch cooler, uneaten.

The other day, I made batch of Lynn’s Low-Carb Biscuits. I added 4 oz. cooked, crumbled sausage and 1/2 cup chopped green beans to the dough.

Low-carb Biscuits from Low Carb Traveler.

They turned out a-mazing! And at only 2.9 Net Carbs apiece, I ate two for dinner tonight. Yum!

Anyway, the hourlong dinner break I didn’t want to take is nearly over. Just wanted to drop in with a quick update so you didn’t think I’d fallen off the face of the earth … or dived face-first into a coconut cream pie.

I’m still here, doing great. Why is it that when I’m not doing low-carb, I forget how freakin’ easy it is for me to stick to this way of eating?

My “one word” for 2017

Over at FitViews about a month ago, Kerri wrote a post about her one word for 2017. (Spoiler alert: hers is CONSISTENT.) Today, I listened to an episode of Elise Gets Crafty on the same topic. She interviewed Ali Edwards about the practice of choosing a guiding word for the year. (Some of theirs included OPEN, WHOLE and BRAVE.)

Needless to say, these posts have gotten me thinking. I’ve been doing a lot of that these last few days as I consider how I want to get healthier in the coming months. (Because what I’ve been doing is not working. AT ALL. Guess that’s what happens when you do a whole lot of nothing.)

I’ve been brainstorming ideas for my one word for 2017.

Some ideas: connect, health, love, understanding, gratitude, consistent, joy (my word in 2014), change (2015’s word), strong, healthy, happy, determined, dedicated, open (to new experiences and ideas), act (Elise Joy’s 2017 word), involved …

Some of them can be grouped together, like connect, involved and act; or determined, dedicated and consistent; or gratitude, joy and love.

But the one little word that calls to me most of all is ADVENTURE.

After the slog that was 2016, I’m ready to seek adventures.

Eating well can be an adventure. So can exploring faith, getting healthier via walks and yoga classes, doing more craft projects (especially quilting) and, of course, journeying farther down the road to bestselling authordom.

If I plan correctly, I might even be able to take a couple of road trips.

That’s the goal, anyway: I want 2017 to be a year of adventure.

I want to learn to knit and do calligraphy. I want to write new stories and do oh so many things I’ve never done before. I want to embrace life, in all its messy imperfection.

And when I drop a few pounds along the way, that’ll be icing on the low-carb, sugar-free mug cake.