Broccoli Casserole

Here's the recipe for tonights snack, broccoli Casserole.

4 oz low fat Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup cooked long grain brown rice
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tbsp butter
2 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 tsp Celtic sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 quart casserole with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In 3 quart sauce pan combine all ingredients, except broccoli and Celtic sea salt and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until cheese and butter are melted. Add broccoli and Celtic sea salt and cook, stirring frequently, until broccoli is heated, about 2 minutes. Turn into sprayed casserole and bake until mixture is heated throughout and broccoli is tender, about 30 minutes.

Makes 4 servings at 221 calories and 8.2 grams fat each.

Gravel Mouth

Week 3 lesson 5 really encouraged me and so I thought I would share about it with you.

Never been a closet eater. Yet when I read the verses from proverbs they hit me pretty hard. "The women folly sits at the door.... calling out...let all who are simple come in here! Stolen water is sweet and food eaten in secret is delicious!" So often we have this voice inside our heads that says eat it it's ok it won't really be bad for you. It really helped to give that voice a name... and that name is folly, it is sin, and not good! And Prov. 20:17 Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel. Unhealthy food does not satisfy. And I never thought of that as biblical.

I pray you keep up the good work, That you notice a difference. KNow that you have encouraged me by starting this group and I know many others as well. Don't listen to folly. Listen to our LORD.

You are blessed,

Laura May

Micro Baked Apple Delight

Snack for our 6/18 PRISM meeting

1 Golden Delicious apple
1/3 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/3 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Core Apple. Place in microwave-safe baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on HIGH 3 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes, covered.

Makes 1 serving at 126 calories and 0.6 grams fat.

I will be baking mine covered in the oven at 350 for a half an hour (or as long as it takes) and then will let stand for about another 10 minutes. Somehow it just seems like apples should be baked and not zapped.

This diet is for the dogs

Since we've been on this program my stomach has been feeling much better. No more clearing the room with unexpected gas problems. No more waking myself up at night with unbearable flatuence. As good as I feel right now I couldn't have done it on my own. I just don't have the will power. I eat what I see; burgers, corndogs, scrambled eggs, donuts. You name it I eat it. I'd eat the cat but Monica wouldn't be happy with me at all.

And I want her to be happy because if it weren't for her determination and will power, I'd be right back eating her leftovers and having an upset stomach. This diet truly is for dogs.

I am having a bit of trouble understanding the devotions though.

Sabre,
the dog

Chili Recipe

Snack for the 6-11 meeting was PRISM's Easy Chili recipe. I add and subtract different ingredients each time such as ground turkey meat, different color peppers or different kinds of beans such as black, cannellini, etc. Of course if you decide to do that you'll need to adjust the calories accordingly. If you add ground turkey I recommend 1/2 lb per batch.

Below is exactly how it reads in the book.

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 1/2 green peppers, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp water
2 (16 oz) cans unsalted tomatoes, cut up
2 (16 oz) cans kidney beans, drained
1 to 3 Tbsp chili powder, or to taste

Lightly saute fresh vegtables in oil and water until onions are tender. Add tomatoes, beans, and chili powder. Cook, covered, for 1 hour or longer on low heat.
6 servings at 217 calories and 3.0 grams of fat each

Great for the freezer!

The Rocking Chair Method!

PRISM may have said put away your scales but it didn't say anything about rocking chairs and tape measures! My boys have a child size rocking chair in their bedroom. According to Garin's tape measure the width of that chair is 12.5 inches at its widest point and 11.5 at its skinniest point. What does this have to do with PRISM? Well, last night wanting to sit somewhere besides the floor for evening devotions, I tried to squeeze my caboose into that rocking chair. It's never worked in the past but last night I was surprised to find both caboose cheeks firmly planted (although uncomfortable) in the base of that rocking chair. And when I say firmly I mean it was hard to stand up without the whole chair coming with me. But who cares? Success is success! Even if I cant look at a scale, I do now have a place to sit for devotions.

Way to go Monica!!

Monica, your blog is so inspiring. I just went through and read everything to catch up. You make me want to try harder. I am totally struggling right now, but I need to start journaling and reading again. Thanks for the blog and all the support. Keep up the good work!!!

Crunchy Chicken Salad

Here is the recipe for tonights (6-4-07) snack. If you come across any good recipes you'd like to share by all means do. You can post them here, email them, or bring them to the meetings. Thanks! Monica

4 oz diced cooked chicken
1 tbsp low fat Mayo
2 tbsp mustard (spicy mustard is good)
1 finely chopped medium apple
2 chopped dill pickles
2 chopped baby carrots

Mix it all together and serve on a bed of chilled lettuce or spinach greens.

P.S. I personally think this is better after a night in the fridge.

No sugar is best in breakfast cereals

I needed clarification on cereal options this past week so I spoke with a PRISM consultant today and this is what I learned. Cheerios, which has sugar listed as a 3rd ingredient is ok to have on the PRISM diet. It's the 3rd ingredient but it is only a total of 1 gram of sugar per serving. PRISM considers 1-2 grams of sugar per serving in cereal not great, but ok. An example of a cereal not allowed is Kashi's Heart to Heart cereal. With this one, sugar cane is listed as the 3rd ingredient which is one of the allowed sweeteners, but it has 5 grams of it per serving. Too much. So, now on to a cereal I have found which has no sugar. General Mills, Fiber One. It's a sugar free option that's not as bad as it looks in the picture on the box. There are other sugar free options out there so look at the labels and do the best you can. Remember to only do one serving, measure that serving, and count the calories in your journal. -Monica

It's not about the 6 weeks!

This is a tough program. And we've been asked to quit a lot of things cold turkey without any exception, but it's the discipline someone like me requires. The reading from Week one, day 3 really spoke to me in that I do need to GROW UP, quit my little pity party about everything I can't have, and get over myself!

It's not about the 6 weeks, it's about getting control. It's not just about transforming our bodies, but our thinking. I would like to think a day will come when I can have cookies in the house without eating the whole pack.

Food is a problem for me and I don't want to struggle with it the rest of my life. I need to get a grip on it!

The first three days were tough and I missed my 7-Eleven family, but as the week went on I felt quite empowered and ready to grow up.

Monica