If you're coming for the recipe, scroll down to the end of this post. There is a picture as well at the end so anyone coming just to read the weigh in but who wants to avoid food pictures can skip the recipe!
Anyway... again this week: no weighing, measuring, or tracking food. Choosing very small portions. Eating whatever I would like with no lists or restrictions, but with the thoughts in mind that sugar causes me pain and keeping carbs low to moderate feels best to me (which results in choosing lower carb options). Last week I saw 254; today the scale says 253. One pound could be a fluctuation or may be the start of the downward trend long term. So this week I will continue my calm, un-obsessive way of eating. I did eat more salt than usual over the last 2 days so perhaps once the water retention goes away I will see a greater loss on the scale.
Something my kids used to like when they were little is tater tot casserole. It's a simple mix of cooked ground beef and onions mixed with cream of mushroom soup, canned green beans, and cheese, then topped with frozen tater tots and baked. I haven't made it in awhile but my son requested it last week. It sounded so good to me! I decided to try and make this healthier by adding more vegetables, skipping the canned cream of mushroom soup, and baking part of it without tots. I found a recipe on a low carb cooking site that looked like it would fit the bill, so I changed it up a bit. Here it is.
Modified from this recipe: Green Bean and Hamburger Casserole ("tot free tater tot casserole")
1/2 pound of 93% extra lean ground beef
14-ounce can of French cut green beans, well drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1/2 small onion, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2 Tablespoons of light mayonnaise (I used Best Foods Light)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
to taste: salt, pepper, garlic powder
Brown the hamburger, onion, celery and mushrooms; drain the fat. Mix all ingredients in a small (approx 8" by 8") casserole dish or pie pan sprayed with Pam. Bake, uncovered, at 375º for 30 to 40 minutes until hot and bubbly.
4 servings. Each serving contains:
215 calories
18 g protein
6 g carbs
2 g fiber
12 g fat
(The "regular" recipe for tater tot casserole contains almost 500 calories, 24 g fat, and 37 g carbs per serving... not to mention far more sodium).
As you can see, I topped mine with a few frozen tater tots before baking, which added about 130 calories and 15 grams of carbs (for 7 tots). Obviously if you are really keeping your carbs low, you'd want to use cauli-tots for this recipe. I am lower to moderate on the carb scale (and I don't count carbs) so a few taters on occasion works for me.
When I make this again, I will double the green beans and mushrooms but keep everything else the same. It was really good and I'd like to try it with the cauli-tots next time!
Have a great week!
Weight Loss
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