And in the red corner...weighing in at....

Day 7

Today is my first official weigh in at the Smart for Life center. Is center the right word? Office? Den of evil not cookies and sugar free dressing? Nah, the place is great, I'm just joshin. My counselor I met with was a huge help and really sweet. I'm sure she thought I was losing my mind because I kept trying to come up with good snacks I could have during the day while she was talking.

I got on the scale this morning and it had gone up a pound. Lesson from this? Stop weighing yourself at work. I'm done. All it does is frustrate me and then I lose sight of what is really happening. I'm doign everything right and I know the weight is coming off so I'm not going to sweat the small stuff. We'll just focus on how much I've lost this week when I go in today. Goodness...I am extra thirsty today for some reason. Not too sure why...but I've had 48 oz of water already today so thats really good. If this diet does nothing else for me, it is making me drink a ton more water and a lot less of everything else.

I want to tell you what I cooked for dinner last night. 1) I wasn't sure how to cook spaghetti squash. I didn't even know what it was, to be honest, but it is on my list of veggies I can eat. So, I just kind of winged it. wow, it was REALLY yummy. And 2) it was the first night I cooked for Chris. Amazing that it took three months for me to make him dinner, but seeing as how my kitchen has been pretty much a war zone since we met..this is the first time I've braved it. OH! Number 3) I had also never cooked scallops before. This was much easier than I thought it would be and very delicious. So for you cookers out there:

Lemon Creole Tilapia
Fresh tilapia - rinsed off
1 to 2 lemons (based on how many fish filets you have)
Creole Seasoning
Salt and Pepper

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
• Lightly salt and pepper both sides of your tilapia filets
• Add creole seasoning (I use Zataran's or Tony's) to both sides to your desired level. I cover pretty liberally - but keep in mind that creole seasoning has salt in it as well, so you don't want to pre-salt the fish too much if you are going to add a lot of creole seasoning. I like my fish spicy.
• Place fish filets in a pan. I like to use my stone from Pampered Chef but a standard glass baking pan is what I use when my stone is out of commission.
• Slice a lemon into rounds fairly thin. Place two to three lemon rounds on top of each filet to cover as much of the fish as you can. This will add a nice crisp flavor and a lot of moisture while the fish bakes.
• Put in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Less if your filets are on the smaller side. You don't want the fish to dry out, but you want it to be nice and flakey.
• After you've taken the fish out of the oven, squeeze the juice from the lemon slices over the fish. I don't like to serve with the lemon slices on the fish (even tho it looks good) because people generally don't know what do to with them on their plate.

If you'd like to make a nice dip to serve with the fish, mix 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup mayonaise, three tablespoons fresh chopped dill and juice from a whole lemon. It compliments the fish really well.

Blackened Grilled Scallops
1 pound Bay Scallops (you can get them from the butcher at the grocery. Bay Scallops are the small ones)
Blackening Seasoning

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Rince scallops in water
• Put scallops in a plastic bag (the bag they came in will work fine, or a ziplock bag)
• Squeeze a little lemon or lime juice in the bag and toss the scallops around just so they all get a little wet from the juice. You don't need much.
• Pour blackening seasoning into the bag (I use Chef Paul Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic seasoning blend) and toss scallops around until all are covered. Use seasoning to your liking.
• Put in a baking dish and bake for about 10-12 minutes. Test one (it should flake apart very easily) to ensure cooked thouroughly.

I made these with the baked tilapia. Since I knew they would cook faster, I put the fish in first then threw these in the same pan with the fish about halfway thru the cooking time.

Spaghetti Squash - Roasted
1 Spaghetti Squash
Pam Spray or Olive Oil

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Cut squash in half long ways
• Remove all seeds with a spoon (you might have to use a knife to scrape the seeds out, I did)
• Place face down on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes to an hour (or until you can rake a fork along the 'meat' of the squash and it pulls away like spaghetti)

This was great with just salt and pepper, it was so sweet and moist it didn't need butter at all. Produced a LOT of squash too. Be prepared to have leftovers.

So we had that with some brussel sprouts and steamed cabbage. OH and I made a cucumber and tomato salad with balsamic vinegar and fresh basil. Yum Yum! And that is how I eat every night now. Haha. I guess that makes it easier to understand how I can stand just eating these cookies during the day.

Demetric is in the office next to me using a permanent marker and the smell has given me a headache. Fantastic. Hopefully it will go away with the Excedrin Migraine I just took.

Anyway, I'm off to finish my day. Hope you have a lovely one.

Sniffin' markers,
Lauren