How To Make Opti-Fast Chicken Soup More Palatable

Being on Opti-Fast for my pre-op diet has been somewhat rough.  I started out not minding the chicken soup mix, but that quickly got old and yucky.  I didn't have a lot of choices for my meals, and unfortunately I had to eat one soup per day.

I've been experimenting to try to make the soup more palatable.  I would highly recommend making sure you get your water very hot--warm chicken soup is way worse than hot soup.  Here are some flavoring suggestions:

• Lowry's seasoned salt & pepper along with chili powder, then I went crazy with the cumin.  I figure you can never have too much cumin!
• Soy sauce & ginger (and maybe some red pepper flakes if you like spice)
• Curry powder & ginger
• Garlic powder & onion powder
• Bacon & onion seasoning

I find that I'm better off with really fragrant spices--it helps disguise the taste!  You really almost can't go wrong with seasonings.  I tried to pick things that "went" with chicken.  I think the curry & the cumin mixes did the best for me.

I will be sooooooo glad when I am past the pre-op diet!

My Ideal Protein Pancake Day

So I needed a day of indulgence - or at least what felt like indulgence.  I decided to have pancakes for all three of my Ideal Protein meals.  I use an unrestricted pancake recipe, so I was able to have pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and snack!  It was sweet and pancakey and awesome!  It's an easy recipe to find - just google "Ideal Protein unrestricted pancake recipe"

The batter tends to be a little thick, so I add just a touch of water.  I also find it works  best if I spread out the batter a bit in my skillet--that way the pancakes aren't too thick.  I highly recommend using non-stick spray.  The finishing touch is the syrup--Walden Farms has absolutely killer pancake syrup.  It tastes like the real thing to me :)

I also like to microwave two slices of turkey bacon to have with my pancakes.  Since I'm doing pancakes all day, I only had the bacon with one meal.

I think it's great to find a way of indulging on the diet.  Find a couple of take out places that have delicious meat you can bring home once or twice a week.  Experiment with recipes and find some of your new favorite foods.  I think if I feel too deprived then I won't stick with it, so I make sure I don't feel deprived!

Yum!

Zucchini Chips

We've been experimenting with zucchini chips this past week.  I started with this recipe for baking zucchini chips in the oven.  They came out pretty good, but I found I couldn't fit many in the oven.  My DH also enjoyed the chips so I was having to make a lot for us both to eat.  The chips are thin so one zucchini makes a lot of chips.  The chips also shrink down a lot.  So after making a few batches, I splurged on a dehydrator.

And I made chips...

Yay!  Very lightly salted is good - you don't have to get fancy with them.  We've also enjoyed sea salt and freshly cracked pepper; Lawry's seasoned salt; salt and garlic powder; and celery salt.  They are all pretty good.  You have to watch the garlic powder--it comes out pretty strong.  They make for a nice, crunchy snack or side dish and they are veggies!

I have also dehydrated bell peppers.  They are pretty tasty on their own, but they are good in salads and soups.

Squash is pretty tasty too!  Eventually we would like to try our hand at jerky, and once I am able to eat fruit again, I'd love to make fruit chips and fruit leathers.

The dehydrator has been well worth the expense so far.

My Roast Recipe

We have been eating chicken a whole lot so we are trying to put more variety in our evening meals.  DH and I also lost less this past week than the week before.  Reading some of the forums, I saw someone mention that her husband loses more when he has red meat in his diet.  I thought that was interesting, so we'll see how this week goes.

One of our favorite meals is roast beef with carrots and potatoes.  Of course the carrots and potatoes are out--not to mention that I usually simmer the beef in beer and that's out too!  So to give our roast more flavor, I decided to add in some freshly roasted garlic.

My (Modified) Roast Recipe:

• Roast (your choice!)
• Mushrooms (optional - or add some other allowed veggies)
• 1-2 Heads of Garlic (how much garlic do you like?)
• Beef Stock
• Green Onions
• Rosemary (fresh or dried)
• Thyme
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

First, you roast your garlic!  Set the oven to 400.  Remove the very outer layers from the garlic.  Cut off the very top of the head so that it leaves a small opening in the tops of the garlic cloves.  Place your garlic in some aluminum foil, then pour some olive oil over the tops of the garlic.  Salt and pepper generously.  Enclose the garlic in the aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes or until the cloves are soft.  Yum!

Heat up some olive oil in a roasting pan.  Salt and pepper your roast.  Once the oil is nice and hot, brown all sides of the roast.  Take the roast out of the pan and set aside on a plate.  Add about a cup of beef broth to the pan and stir with a whisk to get all the good stuff off the bottom of the pan.  Then add your roast back in, followed by the mushrooms, green onions, rosemary and thyme.  Go ahead and pop your garlic cloves out and put them in the pan too.  They should come out very easily.

Add some more broth and/or water, to cover the roast about halfway.  The cover your pan and keep at just a simmer.  The cooking time will vary depending on how large your roast is.  I like to let mine cook for 3-4 hours so that the meat falls apart.  Check every once in a while in case you need to add more water/broth.  

Enjoy!

Tasty Boiled Shrimp Recipe

DH and I wanted to have some seafood tonight, so we stopped by the local seafood market and bought some shrimp.  I used to boil my shrimp in beer, but I had to try something new to make it work.  I was inspired by a recipe on Food.com - but I altered it to be a little more flavorful.  It wasn't as spicy as I usually have, but it had a really good flavor.  We were quite happy!

Tasty Boiled Shrimp Recipe:

• Shrimp (we cooked 4 pounds)
• Old Bay Seasoning (about 5-7 Tbs)
• Apple Cider Vinegar (1/4 cup)
• Lemon Juice (just a squirt)
• Whole Cloves (I used about 10)
• Salt & Pepper (not much--kept it mild)
• Water (cover the shrimp plus 1-2 inches to spare)

Put the shrimp in the pot and add the other ingredients.  Turn the stove to high and start to stir the shrimp.  As the shrimp begin to float, they are done!  If you are serving hot then drain and serve immediately.  If you want to have them cold, drain them and ice them for about an hour.

We enjoyed ours with just a touch of Sriracha sauce, but they were good naked too!

We had some leftovers which will go into either a stir fry or a soup.

Rosemary Shredded Chicken Recipe

I am definitely mixing things up in the kitchen.  I have a few stand-by meals I like to cook, but I'm trying to use more herbs and spices and see what I like.  I have long neglected rosemary as a seasoning.  I use it when a recipe calls for it, but otherwise it just sits in my spice cabinet.  So last night I decided to slowly simmer some chicken in chicken broth and used rosemary as my main seasoning.  It was absolutely delicious!  The rosemary was so fragrant :)

Rosemary Shredded Chicken Recipe:

• Chicken (I used skinless, boneless breasts)
• Chicken Broth/Stock--fat-free, reduced sodium
• Mushrooms (optional)
• Green Onions, chopped
• 1 Celery Stalk (cut in half - removed towards the end of cooking)
• Garlic (I used about 4 cloves, but you can increase/reduce to your liking)
• Ideal Protein Sea Salt (I used generously, but again to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• Dried or fresh rosemary (to taste)

Begin by filling a pot part-way with chicken broth.  Then add your veggies so they can begin seasoning the broth while you cut up your chicken.  I just cut each breast into 3 parts, but you can put them in whole or cut up.  Season your chicken and stock and add the chicken to the broth.  My breasts were mostly covered by the broth.  

Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until the chicken starts to shred when you stir.  Add more broth or water as needed to keep the chicken moist--the chicken does not have to be completely covered with broth.  I cooked this on low heat for about 3 hours.  Taste to make sure the seasoning is right!  Once you are ready, shred the chicken with a fork--the broth should be pretty reduced.  

Enjoy!

Favorite Site for Ideal Protein Recipes

I've been doing a lot of research to find Ideal Protein recipes.  The drinks and puddings are fine, but they get a bit old.  Finding new ways to use the IP packets has definitely made this easier for me.

My favorite site by far is 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet.  It is a diet forum and they have sections for so many different kinds of diets!  The Ideal Protein section is hidden in the "Packaged Meals and Clinics" area.  There are pages and pages of recipes.  One area I particularly want to hi-lite is Rainbowsmile's "MiX'N' iN THE KiTCH'N" - she is a cook who enthusiastically and adventurously concocts these wonderful creations for IP, including CAKE!!!  Her recipes are not to be missed!

I've been enjoying my Wildberry Yogurt Muffins and my Unrestricted Pancakes recipes.  I'm hoping to make some Lemon Poppyseed Muffins and some chicken nuggets this week.  One thing about dieting is I know I can't stick with it if I'm feeling totally deprived.  These recipes help keep me on track and losing the weight!

I'm also saving up to buy a dehydrator.  I've heard so many people rave about zucchini chips--I definitely have to try them!

Ideal Protein Recipes

Ideal Protein Recipes:

I was hesitant to try recipes with the packets. I'm not sure why. I guess I wanted to get a feel for the foods to begin with as well as get a handle on the diet itself.  So I decided to try a recipe this week.


Wildberry Yogurt Muffins - These mini muffins absolutely hit the spot!  They are not the best muffins that I've ever had, but they were pretty tasty, and it was sooooo nice to have some muffins.  The serving size was also nice.  It makes two servings (meals):

• 1 pack IP Crispy Cereal, finely crushed
• 1 pack IP Wildberry Yogurt Drink
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 packet of Truvia (I used Splenda)
• 1/8 tsp Cinnamon

Grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, mix 1 pack IP Crispy Cereal with 1/4 tsp of baking powder.  Add 1 pack of Wildberry Yogurt Drink, add 1 beaten egg, and add 1/4 cup of water.  Mix carefully until muffin consistency adding water if necessary.  Don't over mix.

Spoon into pan until 3/4 full.  Mix Truvia packet and cinnamon then sprinkle on top of muffins.  Bake at 350 until golden brown (about 10 minutes).

Makes 12 mini muffins.  Serving size is 6 mini muffins.

They definitely have made me consider buying the (expensive) Ideal Protein cookbook.