When I got home last night I was telling my sis about the truffle recipe I posted yesterday.  She suggested I also post the BLT dip because it was such a hit at our party.  In fact, she liked it so much she made another batch of it yesterday!  Needless to say I had a little with dinner.  It really is tasty and easy to make.  Here's the recipe we used:

Ingredients

• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup chopped grape tomatoes
• 1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2-5 green onions
• Assorted crackers

Directions

Combine the sour cream and mayonnaise and mixed well.  While the  bacon cooks,  chop the tomatoes an green onions up into small pieces.  Take the cooked bacon and crumble into the dip.  Mix and chill.  The longer you let it sit the better it tastes!!!

Cranberry, Feta, and Roasted Walnut Salad
 

INGREDIENTS:
1 package (10 oz.) mixed salad greens
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 package (4 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted California walnuts
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
 

PREPARATION: ready in under 30 min
Layer salad greens, cranberries, cheese and walnuts in shallow salad bowl or on large serving platter. Whisk vinegar, honey, mustard and pepper in small bowl. Slowly add oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly until well blended. Pour over salad. Toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.

I am so blessed to have experienced continued growth in my business and in the micropigmentation industry overall. Both Fabianna and Erica have been instrumental in NaturaLook’s success over the years and I am honored to be an influence and mentor in this new, exiting chapter in their lives.

With almost 20 years combined experienced in the permanent makeup industry, they are now able to add another credential to their resume: the art of micropigmentation. Their exposure to this industry contributes even more credibility to NaturaLook’s overall mission statement; strive for continuous innovation, high standards and restore confidence through the art of micropigmentation. They have both conquered the craft with their skill and I’m confident that their expertise and passion will take them very far.

Erica’s Game Day Soup

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef or ground turkey
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 pkg. Original Hidden Valley Salad Dressing Mix
1 can pinto beans
1 can red beans
1 can hominy
1 can chopped green chilies (4 oz)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
3-4 cups water (I like to substitute half of the water with a dark brown ale, such as Newcastle) 
Grated cheese
Sour cream

Directions:

In a skillet, brown meat with onion, drain grease. In a large pot, mix together meat, taco seasoning, salad dressing mix, all beans, chilies, tomatoes, and water. Let soup cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for at least 30 more minutes. The longer it simmers, the better the flavor. Serve with grated cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

1T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion – finely chopped
1 medium green bell pepper – finely chopped
1/2c chopped celery
3 cloves of garlic – minced
2T fresh ginger – peeled and minced
1T curry powder
2 large tomatoes – peeled, seeded and chopped
1 bay leaf
4c fat-free, low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (the "low-sodium" is very important, be sure to check the label)
3T creamy or crunchy natural almond butter
1 1/2 c soybeans (edemame)  – cooked and dried
1/4c fresh cilantro – chopped
1/2lb baby spinach leaves torn into bite sized pieces
Salt and Pepper to taste.

1. 1. Heat olive oil in a 4-qt saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add onoin, bell pepper and celery and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes
2. 2. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder and saute until fragrant; do not brown the garlic.  Add the tomatoes and bay leaf and cook, uncovered intil tomoatoes are slightly reduced, about 3 minutes.
3. 3. Ass the brother and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and whick in almond butter until blended.  Add soybeans (edemame) and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes.  Stirin cilantro and spinach.  Season with salt and pepper.

Taken from: The 14-Day Perricone Weight-Loss Diet by Dr. Nicholas Perricone

2 Tablespoons loose leaf green tea or 3 green tea bags
3/4 c lightly packed fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon greated lemon peel
4 c boiling water

Place tea, mint and lemon peel in a pot or small saucepan and add the boiling water.  Cover and allow it to steep for 8 minutes.  Using a strainer, pour the tea into your favorite mug.

Taken from: The 14-Day Perricone Weight-Loss Diet

So I guess it is time to make some revelations and talk about the dreaded numbers!!!  Dun, Dun, Duhhhhn.  First I should start out that I have been over weight my whole life.  I can not remember a time when I was not bigger than the girls in my class and most of the boys and that includes high school.  I have done the trend of slight loss of weight and then subsequent huge gain of weight after dieting but have never really lost more than 30lbs and that was when I was on Nutri-System in middle school.  Anyone 14 years of age and on a strick calorie controlled diet would lose weight.  But for a 14 year old that strict calorie controlled diet was far from realistic, especially to a child that had been making all of her own food decisions for the better part of 10 years.  Calorie control was just not part of the plan. 

The year before I had surgery I was pregnant with my second child.  I ballooned to over 300lbs, 309lbs to be exact on the day that I delivered.  Which I guess was a first at the hospital becasue the anesthesiologist could not correctly calculate the dose for my epidural.  Large numbers are a challenge to some.  Even though I was 9 months pregnant and having a baby and was privy to all the wonderful excuses that come with being pregnant and eating whatever I wanted, it was the largest I had ever been and I have never felt more miserable physically.  I couldnt move, I couldnt tie my shoes and my selection of what I could get my fat foot into was limited to flip flops and this terrible pair of wide width baby dolls that were thankfully made of fabric and not leather but were stretched to the point of agony. 

So the baby comes, healthy, beautiful and magical and the harsh reality is that I now have 2 children to chase after, because babies walk before you know it, 2 children to raise and 2 children to live for.  I put things on hold for a moment, now I am a master when it comes to excuses, justifying and turning things in my favor usually so I dont have to DO anything.  I will tell myself becasue I did not have 3 slices of sourdough bread slathered with a 1/4" slab of butter and only had 2 I was making a real effort to make positive changes in my health and I would for sure notice a difference in my clothing the next day.  Or becasue I walked for 20 minutes 1 day this week I could allow for a handful of chips, after all you did burn 1,000,000,000 calories during that walk so go ahead and have a treat.  If you are reading this and you are an eater like me you know that the 5 chips you plan on eating turns into half or the entire bag.  By the time you have finished your "treat" and the fog clears all you have left is an empty bag.  And I mean EMPTy!  Flattening the bag and banging the tiny pieces to the bottom corner while placing your mouth at one end, tipping your head bag and shaking the remainder into your mouth will just not do.  You have turned that sucker inside out and licked the bottom creases so as not to miss any of the grease, salt, or crunchy pieces begging not to be forgotten since all their "full-sized" buddies have been selected to go on to the happy hunting grounds known as your stomach and it would be cruel to leave them there in the darkness alone, moist fingers from licking them and a shirt which probably needs to be changed from all the salt and chip dust flying around during the feeding frenzy.  

So deciding to DO something came only after realizing the afore mentioned realizations and understanding that being a single mom will be hard enough with 2 children, I should be as healthy and in as good as shape as I could possibly be in to take care of them.  Plus I remembered what it was like to be a fat child and I didnt want that for my children.  Fat adults usually raise fat children, you can see it on every talk show or magazine cover out there and even if my children werent fat having a fat mother can be a hard pill to swallow when you are getting teased on the playground for it. 

It was time to change my life and it was time to do it in any way I could.  I already new about gastris bypass because I had had gastric bypass surgery in 1999.  Yep the plot thickens.  I started looking for surgeons in my area and by shear happenstance I was put in the care of Dr. Alan Wittgrove in La Jolla, Ca.  Little did I know that this renowned doctor had been fixing my not-so-little problem for years and was going to reveal to me exactly the damage in my body and do a beautiful job fixing it. 

Date of surgery: 12/14/2009
Weight: 284lbs
Weight today: 253.6lbs

Next week: My Surgery Stories

White Death has been a favorite in the Majanvinos house for years.  Fabianna, our Practice Coordinator, contributed this recipe for a holiday bake off and it was the success of the party.  CandiQuick white chocolate, usually found around the holidays, holds all the ingredients together and shapes them into perfectly dropped mounds just right for tossing into your mouth.  Don’t let the name fool you, this delectable confection has all the makings of a heavenly treat. 

8 oz stick pretzels broken into pieces
1 cup salted peanuts
2 cups captain crunch breakfast cereal
2 cups rice krispies breakfast cereal
2 pounds Candiquick white chocolate
Waxed paper, about 8ft

Mix all dry ingredients in big bowl. Lay out wax paper on counter. Melt the Candiquick chocolate in the microwave for about 2 ½ minutes making sure to stir every 30 seconds to avoid burning the chocolate.
When it is melted, pour into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix it up. Drop by teaspoons onto the wax paper and let set for about 30 minutes to cool and firm.