So far so good

Hi Guys

I just came home from a weekend of night shifts and I am emotionally and physically spent.  I haven't weighed in a couple of days, for the reason that I actually gained weight on my previous two weigh-ins.  UTTERLY discouraging, BUT stuck to the grand plan and more determined than ever to make this work!  Hopefully by tomorrow the scales will have some good news for me!

On the bright side, I haven't had any cravings since my last post about them, yay!  That and it's already day 6 on Cruise phase! I can't believe that yesterday marked the beginning of my third week on this diet already.

So, last week, I said to my husband that I think we need to start considering a reward for ourselves for once we've completed the Cruise phase.  It can't be food related, also not a vacation, since that invariably revolves around food for us.  It must be something of value and something that you've been thinking about for a long time.  So I came up with a Stand-up Paddle board.  For the longest time now I've been looking at the people on their boards in front of my house in the ocean, it looks so awesome, but my admiration is always accompanied by the realisation that a) I'm too fat for a bikini and b) will probably sink that board at this stage.  So, this board will be the perfect reward for me!   My husband still has to come up with something for him, I have no idea what he has in mind.

Still on the topic of the board, my cousin came around for coffee this morning and as she left she asked if I would be interested in this sport... Hell yes was my answer, and since she's also busy loosing weight, we're both getting boards at the end! How awesome is that?

You'll be glad to hear that my vegetable enthusiasm is going stronger than ever and I have an amazing green bean dish recipe to share with you, well, actually I have a couple of great recipes by now, but hey, a girl needs material for her blog!

Mediterranean Beans

• 1kg of green beans - strings removed and cut up in what ever manner that takes your fancy - I have this really cool cutter that strings and cuts beans into long linguine-type pieces
• 3 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

Chuck everything in a pot and bring to the boil, adding some water in the initial stages to prevent it from burning.  Cook this on low heat until the beans are nice and soft, you don't want crispy beans for this.  Once they're soft, turn the heat off and cook until the stew is nice and reduced and no longer watery.  Season with salt and black pepper and serve with plenty of fat free feta cheese crumbled on top.

I've been making this stew for a long time, but now that I've Dukanised it, I'll never make it the old way again,  eg. with oil and full cream feta, the small difference in taste is certainly not worth the difference in calories, in fact, I think the new version tastes better!

I hope you enjoy it too!

Happy cooking and God bless

Janie B