Finally weighed myself this morning after a couple weeks of shunning the scale. Still at 166, though I suspect I was higher than that during those weeks of not weighing.

Yesterday I made Dana Carpender's Peanut Butter Brownies. They didn't turn out like she said they would, but they were not bad. Even DH said they weren't bad. The recipe called for whey protein powder. All I had was Carb Solutions vanilla, and every time I substitute that for the regular stuff, things don't turn out the way they're supposed to. Guess I'll have to break down and buy the real stuff.

Also, the brownies weren't very chocolatey. It calls for 1/2 cup of Splenda. Next time I think I might substitute 1/2 cup of SF chocolate syrup (not the Davinci kind of syrup, the thick ice cream type of syrup). I also might double the peanut butter part of the recipe. I worked out the numbers, and doubling these ingredients only makes a minimal change in each serving (like 1 carb).

For dinner I tried a recipe I got from the recipe board here. You combine 1/4 cup Ranch dressing with 1/8 cup half-and-half and 1 egg. Dip boneless chicken breasts into this (wipe them off a bit), and then dredge in a combination of parmesan cheese with pepper, paprika, a bit of cayenne pepper, and oregano (no salt). Bake for about an hour. It was quite good, and DH said it was excellent. It made 6 large breasts.

I really like recipes that don't take much effort. Keith, are you listening? There are a lot of things you can make without spending all day in the kitchen. For one thing, notice that I made 6 breasts (about 6 ounces each). That's enough for lunch or dinner for both of us for a couple days. Today I'm going to make a Guinness beef stew, maybe in the crockpot if it thaws out in the next hour. I contacted Guinness once and they said there were only about 6 carbs in a 12-ounce serving. The recipe uses just one bottle, so that's negligible. Even twice that much would be negligible, seeing as how this will make probably 8 servings.

Well, I need to go do my workout now. I haven't done that in two weeks either, and I can sure feel it. I tend to "store" my stress in my upper back and neck. I even woke up with a bad headache this morning because I'm so tight. An hour with my dear Bowflex will fix that right up!

See you later!