We had probably the best Halloween weather we’ve had in a long time.  Trick or treating started at 4:00.  I took my bowl outside and decided to sit on the top stairs of my deck.

the loot – baby ruth – best candy bar 😀
just hanging out on my deck – enjoying the nice weather

No one was coming by, so of course I had to take pictures of leaves and trees! 😀

the tree in our side yard has only about 20% of its leaves left
and we have a HUGE pine tree in front of our house

After only two groups of kids came by within an hour, I just left the candy on the deck and came in to start dinner.  All of a sudden I hear Tony yelling – a car full of 16 and 17’s year olds saw the unmanned candy bowl and took it all – Tony stopped them in time and they put it all back – they were driving a Mercedes too!   I actually thought a parent was driving the car, but the last kid who put the candy back was the driver!

When Hannah woke up this morning I told her “I am making buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy.”  She was like “you better not be joking with me!”  They were the best biscuits I’ve ever made – thanks to Cook’s Illustrated.  And really so simple – from beginning to the end of cooking time was only about 30 minutes!

make sure your butter is really cold
don’t worry – the dough is really sticky – I put flour on my hands when I was making them – don’t work the dough too much otherwise your biscuits will be really dense

hard to believe something so simple can be so fricken good!
they look perfect just by themselves. . . but I think they need some gravy!


[sp_recipe]

On my way home from running errands, I texted Tony “Taco Bell?”  They have a new sauce that I really liked

my lunch pictures turned out like crap – somehow I was in between two settings, but I had a crunchy beef taco and a bean burrito.  I asked the lady what comes on the burrito and she said “red sauce, cheese and beans.”   Um, she forgot to mention ONIONS!  I didn’t taste them until the very end, but that white onion taste lingered in my mouth a bit too long. 🙁

I was bizzy in my kitchen – I made split pea soup with smoked ham, and a tofu/egg/green chile casserole for my breakfast – you’ll just have to come back tomorrow for those recipes!

For dinner I made Classic Roast Beef – this time from Cook’s Country.  It’s probably the fifth or sixth time I’ve made it.  This 3.5 pound roast cost $9.80 cents.  I plan to use the leftovers to make roast beef horseradish wraps for my lunch, and possibly a South Beach version of a Yankee Pot roast soup.

After the roast had been cooking almost an hour and a half, I probed it with my meat thermometer and it said it was only 45 degrees – I was like WTF??!!  A couple minutes later I realized the thermometer was on Celsius, not Fahrenheit!   Luckily I did not over cook it though – perfect medium rare:

I am not much of an ice cream gal, but I had to rid the freezer of this one last thing before starting South Beach:

totally worth the 170 calories! 😀

So the basic rules of Phase I of South Beach:

  • no baked goods; cereal; full fat dairy; no flour; no fruit or fruit juices; no pasta; no rice;  . . . no alcohol!

Tony will do just fine – he has a way of setting his mind to something and he’s all set.  I have a feeling I’ll be missing my chili stuffed baked potatoes and jalapeno bagels, but I am just going to take it a day at a time.  And thanks to Gina for giving me the green light on the South Beach diet – she’s a registered dietitian and she’s okay with it – however, since I will be consuming a lower amount of carbs, I just need to be mindful of low blood sugars.

Oh yeah, today is Weigh In Monday!

I am in the 160’s!  I lost another pound this week! 😀 This is the fourth of fifth week I’ve had a loss – hopefully I can keep it going! 😀

So I forgot to update my Hot 100 Update last Friday – goals for this week is to stay on plan for the Phase I, no wine, and shake up my exercise this week.

Make it a great day! 😀