South Beach--Day 3

I have been pondering different ways to make this diet a bit more doable while in school. I knew that if I had most of the food pre-made and portioned in the fridge I wouldn't have to worry about making time to cook each day.

I have discovered that one of my favorite go-to items is my cast iron skillet and my cast iron griddle/grill pan. They are fabulous. I can whip out 10 pancakes at a time (that's phase 2...11 more days) or I can grill up 8 chicken breasts for dinners and salads. They're fabulous.

I'm finding that some of my favorite snacks right now are bell peppers and cucumbers. Unfortunately, both are out of season, so they're a bit more expensive than I would prefer.

I love when my mother reminds me of a recipe that I love and I discover I can eat it now.

This one is called Fiesta Veggies

just dice the following:
zucchini
red onion
assorted bell peppers
and corn (but not for SB)

preheat a skillet (love that cast iron) and add a little olive oil or butter. Cook the veggies until tender and then season with either seasoned salt or salt & pepper.

They're delicious. I like to use them as an omelet starter, but they're also good just as a side dish or a snack.

For this diet I also knew that I would be relying on lots of salads to help fill in the gaps between meals. So, to help with the perfect salad portion, we went to Portillo's and bought a bunch of their salad containers. They gave me a funny look, but it has proven to be worth it...reusable but disposable if needed.

We're still trying to hammer out the good recipes that are easy and tasty because, let's face it...if it don't taste good we won't eat it. Like the refried beans we made earlier this week...not so good. I think I'll just use canned vegetarian beans next time. And the mock chicken nuggets breaded with almond meal...yeah...couldn't even get Ada to eat them, and she'll eat ANYTHING.

It'll be nice to get a good repertoire of recipes we can always turn to. Especially since we're on a college student budget we need to make sure that we don't do anything too exotic just yet.

Side note: one of my friends recommended Eat to Live by Dr. Fuhrman. I tried to find it at the library yesterday but only two libraries in the Chicagoland area own the darn thing and it's reserved until May. Until then...