Hello everyone, I was getting a little tired of the look of my blog so I gave it a festive face lift. I really need to put some current pics on but I need hubby's help and he is busy with homework right now. Thank you for the great comments, I think I will just tell sis-in-law that I don't want to do holiday baking, but plan a some other holiday activity date together. And for the sugary goodies that I am given hubby and I can always take them to work. The food bullies may never understand that being low sugar is a priority to me and not just a diet, but this is my lifestyle now and I have to stick to my guns.

Another thing that I need to work on is the voice that tells me "I deserve to indulge, and I will be missing out if I pass up on the belly bad goodies." I listened to that voice on Monday as I tried some homemade candies at work, I need to purpose to not do that at work because those little bites and "you have to try this" really add up.

Tonight for dinner I made a variation of the zucchini lasagna and it was delish. I added a package of frozen spinach to the ricotta mixture, hubby loved it. He says using zucchini instead of pasta is really helping him to stick to the bfc. He has really been on board with the bfc lately after he lost between  10-15 lbs doing the ft in October.

As far as pintrest is concerned my user name is Katesmccoy, just type it in the search box and then click on people. That is the simplest way to find the right Katie McCoy, or I should say The Real Katie McCoy LOL.

It's a good thing hubby liked what we had for dinner tonight :)

Hello friends, sorry I was a little MIA the past few days I was in a little post-holiday slump. Friday we didn't go anywhere hubby did homework all day, Saturday we watched the Apple Cup at the in-laws (the Apple Cup is a football game between the University of Washington Huskies and The Washington State University Cougars) hubby's team the Huskies won...yeah Dawgs!!! We did some celebrating that night off the bfc, I had two beers and bloody mary's, hubby had beer and screw drivers.

This morning I made a bfc friendly peppermint mocha flavored coffee, thank you Dawn for the inspiration. In a large mug of coffee 16 oz I added 1 Tbs coco powder, two truvia, 1/4 tsp peppermint extract and topped it with whipped cream DELISH. It's not exactly the same as a Starbucks peppermint mocha or the coffee-mate flavored creamer but it satisfies my craving for this seasonal drink. I am also loving the celestial seasoning candy cane lane tea and sugar cookie sleigh ride.

I am now wondering what to do about all the holiday baking and treats my friends and family make. While at my in-laws on Sat I showed my MIL my blog and was trying to talk to her about the bfc. She didn't seem very interested in either. My sis-in-law wants to do holiday baking together, which I don't want to do because I don't find it relaxing and to bake with others and because of the bfc I don't want to bake tons of sugar filled goodies. I am not sure how to handle this without hurting their feelings, I don't want to bake and I don't want a ton of sugary crap around.

I am glad everyone is loving pintrest, it is now one of my favorite sites and I look at it daily. I just want share that you need to be aware that sometimes there are some inappropriate images on there, today on the home page was an artsy black and white of a couple having sex, and the other day there was a pic of a man biting another man's naked butt. I am simply sharing my observations so you can be aware.

I am thankful for the bfc and my bfc buddies



Happy Thanksgiving

Hello friends I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, we really enjoyed ours. Thank you for all the nice comments about my cold, I am feeling much better and thankfully I wasn't coughing up a lung or sneezing on Thanksgiving.

I felt good about what I ate: Breakfast pumpkin oatmeal. Chicken soup as a snack before going over the the in-laws. My favorite appetizer was picked asparagus wrapped in cream cheese and ham. I had two glasses of red wine and a  little bit of everything I wanted, but only a tiny amount of stuffing, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. I felt like the amount of food I ate was similar to a normal dinner I didn't overeat and I felt really good. I only had two bites of pumpkin pie. The only thing that I had a hard time with was these sweet and spicy almonds my Mom brought she covered the almonds in a mixture of butter, brown sugar and pepper.

I am grateful that we talked so much about holiday food and plans the past several weeks, I felt that I was able to enjoy the holiday without stressing about food. I felt good about myself and how my clothes fit. I am hoping to continue to be good about holiday eating so I can say the same thing about how I feel at Christmas.

I am really thankful for the bfc this year, I feel that this journey into low sugar and better carbs has introduced me to so many new things that I love. I am committed to a low sugar lifestyle and I am trying to get my family on board. I really appreciate all my blogging buddies I don't think I would still be doing the bfc without your support and help. You guys are awesome and I love and appreciate you :)

Short and Sweet (with a little complaining about my cold)

Hello friends, I'm still not feeling good I called in sick today because I was coughing up a lung this morning. Hubby got me some cough syrup before school, I googled it to make sure my other prescriptions didn't interfere and holy crap it had a ton of sugar, 13g :( wow I never knew. At least I have been able to exercise the past couple of days so hopefully that helps with the sugar in my cold/cough meds.

The past several days I have been making pumpkin oatmeal my adding some pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, two packets stevia and walnuts to my oatmeal delish. I have done this for the past several years except pre-bfc I used brown sugar.

I don't have much else to say my head is foggy from the cold meds, I mostly wanted to check in and complain a bit about sugar in cold meds. Have a wonderful day friends I hope everything you have to do pre-Thanksgiving is going smoothly.

Good evening everyone, it is a snowy Saturday up here and I am very thankful that hubby put my snow tires on my car. The snow makes everything look pretty and fresh and I love it's crisp smell. One nice thing about living in an apt is we don't have to shovel any of it. I am also thankful that it's not bitter cold we are fortunate that it doesn't get that bitter cold up here too often.

I knew the sugar free mousse wouldn't be something everyone would like because of the fake sugar in the pudding. I made three batches last week with butterscotch pudding, cheesecake and vanilla and they were good but they had the fake sugar taste. I don't plan on making any more, I wonder if they even make sugar free pudding with sugar alcohols or stevia. I think I need to make another batch of the pumpkin coconut muffins to get my pumpkin fix. I really love pumpkin I've been putting pumpkin pie spice in my coffee, and I put some in plain greek yogurt although the yogurt wasn't that good so I wouldn't recommend doing that. The next pumpkin recipe I want to try is healthy pumpkin gooey butter cake from Lauren's blog healthy indulgences, it looks delish and I have most of the ingredients on hand.

This week I tried the zucchini lasagna recipe from Amber's blog we loved it! It is a keeper recipe, the next time I will make a larger batch in a 9x13 so we can have more leftovers. Hubby and I are being bums today and it feels so good. I agree with Cat in that we need to take better care of ourselves so today I gave myself a facial, my skin feels so soft now. Hubby and I watched last week's episode of Dexter and we are getting ready to start the new season of Top Chef. I think Rosalie gave the bug she has, I've been blowing my nose all day :) LOL. I've been drinking lots of tea and taking airborne I am hoping that I will be able to nip this thing in the bud, no one wants a sickie at Thanksgiving.

Sugar Free Pumpkin Mousse

Hello friends, I like Sherri's plan not to make goodies that are tempting and have them around they really are like crack. I feel like I am going into this holiday season strong. I went to the Dr. Monday for my physical I had been putting off (don't you just HATE the cotton swab the size of Texas they have to use for a pap). The scale at the Dr.'s office said 138, which is a 4.2 difference from my folks but it doesn't bother me because each scale is different and my clothes account for some of that.

Yesterday at work we had a Thanksgiving spread for lunch. YUM. I took only a dab of stuffing, cranberry sauce, a sweet potato dish,  and cheesy mashed potatoes, I had lots of turkey. A tablespoon size of the high sugar and carb dishes was perfect. I had two perfect bites with turkey, stuffing and cranberry all together on the fork. I feel confident that I can be good on Thanksgiving now. I plan on having a delicious hearty breakfast Thanksgiving morning so I don't get crazy hungry and snack on a lot of belly bad food.

I got inspired to look for some pumpkin pie pudding recipes after a recipe I saw in the paper and didn't write down. I usually avoid the fake sugars such as suclarose and aspartame but having some in the form of sugar free pudding is not bothering me right now. Between this pudding and the pumpkin coconut muffins I feel I am getting my fill of pumkiny things this season.

Pumpkin Mousse from Taste of Home.

• 1-1/2 cups cold fat-free milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• 1 package (1 ounce) sugar-free instant butterscotch pudding mix (cheesecake and vanilla are also good)
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup fat-free whipped topping, divided (I used Reddi whip)

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Combine the pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger and allspice; fold into pudding. Fold in 1/2 cup whipped topping.

• Transfer to individual serving dishes. Refrigerate until serving. Garnish with remaining whipped topping. Yield: 4 servings
  Nutrition Facts: 2/3 cup mousse with 2 tablespoons whipped topping equals 96 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 2 mg cholesterol, 360 mg sodium, 18 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1/2 starch, 1/2 fat-free milk.gs
  .

Hello friends, we got our first snow yesterday BLAH!  The good news is that it is all melted off today and the sun is out. Yesterday my sis-in-law and I got together to have coffee and discuss Christmas. I have some good ideas and I want to start getting things together to avoid the stress of the time crunch. This year I don't want to go overboard on the Christmas baking and sweets. We came up with some good ideas we just need to narrow them down so we don't take on too much and then really accomplish nothing. Last year we made cookies, caramels, pumpkin bread, roasted pumpkin seeds, and took holiday pics in front of the big Christmas tree at the mall to make a gift basket for my in-laws who lived in Philly at the time. It turned out great but it was time consuming and expensive to ship.

For Thanksgiving I am bringing a squash soup and the quinoa pie from Martha Stewart for sure, and I am thinking about bringing a bfc friendly dessert. I am feeling good about Thanksgiving I know there will be tempting food but I plan on eating a good breakfast and sticking to the belly good food. The only thing that I really LOVE that is not belly friendly is stuffing. Friends what are you planning to do with stuffing, will you eat a little or avoid it all together?

Yesterday was dinner at the folks, laundry and weigh in day. For dinner we had a tri-tip roast my my made and a recipe I saw on pintrest mushrooms and green beans roasted with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and an acorn squash soup I made. I am a badass soup maker. I roasted the acorn squash, sauteed 1/2 onion, 1/2 apple and 1 carrot, 6c veg stock, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice and sage, s&p to taste. It wasn't my favorite soup that I make but everyone else really enjoyed it and my Dad is a picky eater. I know some of you might be thinking the apple and carrot are too high in sugar but I only used 1 carrot and 1/2 apple and it served four with leftovers. Pre-bfc I would have used several carrots, the whole apple and onion now I use smaller amounts of the fruits and veggies that are higher in sugar. I make the bfc work for me by using less of the things I love instead of giving them up completely.

Yesterday I weight in at 133.8 that is .8 lbs less than last week, whoo hoo! And hubby was 189.2 this is his lowest weight in a long time. Doing the FT was the perfect thing for us, it gave us the kick we needed. For hubby it really motivated him to be better about his diet. I guess that is all for now I need to meal plan and make my grocery list. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday :)

Eleven, Eleven, Eleven :)

Hello friends, thanks for the nice comments I wish the pics of the frozen pumpkin yogurt and fudge were mine but they are the pics that came with the recipes. I have recovered from my meatloaf disappointment, Wednesday I made the pumpkin chilli from skinny taste and it was delish. Next time I might try adding a little jalapeno for some heat and flavor. I think this would be a good recipe to make and freeze. One of my coworkers has been telling me about chicken in the crock pot with salsa verde so I tried it yesterday I used four chicken breasts and a jar of salsa verde. The result was tender delicious chicken that we used for taco bowls. Taco bowls last night were the salsa verde chicken with cheese, sour cream, cilantro, napa cabbage, tomato and avocado...delish.

I feel really silly talking about pinterest like  I know what I am doing because it is still new to me and I'm not very good at some things yet. Such as being able find friends who aren't in my e-mail contacts or friends on facebook. What I do know about pinterest is that is super fun place to get inspiration for all sorts of projects and you don't have to set up an account to search for things.

I have fallen off the exercise wagon a bit and I need to get back on. I have a pilates chair, zumba and Tracy Anderson on my computer so I have no excuse. Exercise is important for physical and mental health. I have been having a bit of a hard time lately feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed. I think part of it is the change in weather and short days. The lack of sunlight in is hard and I need to start taking vitamin D supplements.

I hope everyone has a good Friday, funny that it's 11/11/11. In case you forgot today is Veteran's Day, if you know any give them a shout out today it makes them feel respected for their service and good about themselves. Have a wonderful day friends. TGIF :)

Frozen pumpkin yogurt & healty coconut butter fudge

Hello friends, thank you for your kind words I know things will work out, but it felt good to vent, and it's good to know that others have been in similar boats. I am sad to say my crock pot meatloaf did not turn out very well. I put it on the other night before bed so we could have it for lunch, in the morning the meat was still pink and there was a lot of grease from the ground beef :( so I drained the meat and baked it in the oven for a half an hour after work. It wasn't a disaster but not a recipe worth making again or sharing.
I made a dessert last night that I saw on pinterest: pumpkin frozen yogurt. I took a cup of plain greek yogurt ( the recipe called for vanilla yogurt but all I buy now is plain greek) 1 cup pumpkin, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, I added four stevia packets instead of one T sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla, and put all ingredients in the ice cream maker until cold. Hubby and I shared it and each serving had around 8g sugar. It was a tasty holiday themed treat but it could use some tweaking...maybe a pinch of xylitol as well, Lauren at Healthy Indulgences often uses sugar alcohols and stevia in her recipes.

I know that I have told you guys how much I LOVE LOVE Pinterest, it is such a great place to find pretty things, crafty things, recipes, ideas etc. Doing the bfc/ft has awakened a part of me that is interested in homemade healthy things. I am no longer content buying something that I thought was "healthy" but really full of sugar. One of my new finds is a site called http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/  (what a great name huh). What really drew me in was a picture of her sugar free fudge on pinterest. She calls it naughty girl vegan fudge. One of the main ingredients is  coconut butter. I had not hear of coconut butter before, it is the flesh of the coconut ground up to make a delicious butter richer than just the oil. 2 T has 1.9g sugar. I made the fudge which is a small banana, coconut butter, coconut powder, and a dash of salt (I added 4 packets stevia) blended together, it was delish. The texture was rich and creamy although it tasted very bananaee. A better name would be chocolate banana coconut yum yum, the name fudge sets one up for disappointment because it is not the usual rich sinful creation we are used to. My personal favorite belly bad fudge is the recipe off the marshmallow fluff jar yummm.


Naughty Girl Vegan Fudge

• 4 tablespoons Artisana coconut butter (or homemade)
• 1/2 a large, very-ripe banana (80g)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• scant 1/16th tsp salt
• You can add sweetener, if desired
• 2T (or more!) cocoa powder

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/01/31/sugar-free-chocolate-fudge/

Hello all my skinny peeps! I am having a nice relaxing Saturday, we took our usual walk with our coffee and enjoyed the fall day. It's getting chilly up here so we broke out our hats and gloves. I have been playing around on the internet looking for crock pot recipes, I plan on making the turkey pumpkin chilli everyone has been talking about from skinny taste and trying some new recipes: balsamic chicken, Italian low carb meatloaf and some pumpkin soup from the skinny crock pot. Don't worry I will keep you all posted and share if they are keeper recipes.

Today was weigh in day 134.6 no change from last week, but I'm grateful I didn't gain after the bites of candy and frosted sugar cookie on Tuesday. I didn't exercise at all this week, bad Katie. I feel I am in a bit of a slump lately I think it's a combination of the change in weather, money stress and hormones. All reasons I need to be exercising. We are only getting half of hubby's tuition paid for by financial aide which is frustrating because that is based off of our income last year, I wasn't working and hubby made less money an hr than he does now. Anyway we keep plugging away looking for money from other sources for next quarter, it's just frustrating when we are trying to save. The good news is I am not turning to food and drink to deal with my stress.

This picture makes me laugh. Have a wonderful weekend everyone :)

Good evening everyone, the weekend was nice and I had Monday off work.  We went to my folks on Sunday and had a great time. My folks were excited to hear that we got pre-approved to buy a house. One of their neighbors is renting their house out because it wouldn't sell and they are moving south for warmer weather, they told us several times that they would sell it to us lol...no way would we ever move so close to the folks. We keep telling my folks that we are holding out for the house right next store to them. LOL.

The scale said my weight was up by.6 lb but my waist measurement is down by .5 inches and my weekly pic shows that I am losing weight. I would like the number on the scale to be lower but after reading the article Beth shared with us it doesn't really bother me. Plus my Mom said she can tell I've lost weight especially after she hugged me :)

Monday I went to our brand new Trader Joe's holy crap it was busy, so I wasn't really able look around and take inventory. I bought hubby some good looking bfc approved bread and some other items. I was also looking for some fall decorations. Pier 1 has a pumpkin serving bowl and pumpkin soup dishes I  want, but I didn't get them because I have spent extra money lately on specialty bfc products: natures hollow jam, ghiradelli coco powder, clemmy's ice cream & unsweetened coconut flakes. It would be nice if money really grew on trees.

I was a little bad today because I ate  left over Halloween goodies: frosted sugar cookie along with several milk duds and candy corn, and a bite of butterfinger they didn't taste very good and TMI, they gave me gas. Eating that junk really reminded me that I don't miss that kind of food and need to continue to stay away from it. Goal for tomorrow: no more leftover Halloween candy cheats!!! :)