The GM Diet Plan : DAY SIX

Yes! Maintaining a 5lb weight loss. Time to up the water intake!

Today is Meat and Veggies day!

Day Six

Eat unlimited amounts of lean meat (fish / chicken) or cottage cheese and vegetables.

We were running around a lot today, so we had some cucumbers with lemon to snack on and the we got another bare bones In-n-Out Burger. Plus TONS of water. I think so far today I've had at least 12 glasses of water. TMI; I've been running to the bathroom all day!

We came back home to make dinner and were sooooo happy that we got to eat chicken!!!

So we made......

Veggie Stir Fry...

...cucumbers with lemon...


...and Greek Chicken!!


OMG it felt soooooooooo good to eat chicken again! I missed it EVER so much! :D

Yesterday, and most of last night, all that beef kinda made my tummy all topsy turvy, since I'm not really used to eating that much red meat in one day. But today I felt really energized from all the iron and protein, so I suppose that is the plus side.

Tomorrow for the most part, things get to go back to mostly normal, and we've already started talking about implementing a very healthy diet plan to stick to involving lots of whole foods and grains.

The GM Diet Plan : DAY THREE

I lost another 2 lbs! For a total of 3lbs so far! :D

Yesterday was so much easier than day one, but today so far is my favorite!!

TMI though, I woke up with the WEIRDEST morning breath ever. I dunno if it has ANYTHING to do with this cleanse, but it was odd.

Anyway, I digress.

Day Three

A mixture of fruits and vegetables - all the salad that you can eat day! No bananas and no potatoes. Day Three prepares the system to start burning excess pounds.

So today started off with me finishing off all the fruit I had leftover from Day 1. It consisted of a lot of strawberries, cherries, an apricot and an apple.

For lunch we made a big huge greek salad. You can find my recipe here.


Obviously we omitted the copius amounts of feta cheese, and I was a little lighter on the olive oil, and added a bit more lemon, but it was basically the same.

Dinner was my favorite. I did another veggie stirfry, but this time I used a lot more vegetables.


This has virtually no fat! Mmmm! Onions, garlic, carrots, sugar snap peas, zuchinni, summer squash, and asparagus (fresh from my garden), lightly sauted in olive oil and a pat of butter, then seasoned with fresh cracked black pepper, and lightly salted.

We got better corn and boiled it this time, and it came out much better.


To make it this way, simply put corn into a pot of cold water, and let it come to a rolling boil. It should take about 10 minutes, but you could cook it for as long as 20. I didn't do it this time, but usually I will add a pinch of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness in the corn. DO NOT salt the water, it will make the corn tough.


So my dinner consisted of, leftover lunch salad, veggies and corn with spray butter and sriracha rooster hot sauce! Can I get an ON NOM NOM?

I am soooo not looking forward to tomorrow.

Cafe Athena; Greek in PB

Josh took me out to lunch this week in exchange for a haircut. We perused Yelp for awhile, trying to decide between Greek, Thai, and BBQ. Greek won.

We drove down the street to Cafe Athena, located at 1846 Garnet Ave in the heart of Pacific Beach. Josh is a total foodie like me too, so we tend to order a lot and share everything. We started out with the hummus.


Very very good hummus, actually some of the best I've had at a restaurant in San Diego. For our entrees Josh and I ordered the Gyros Plate and the Riganato.


I started mine with a Greek salad. Their dressing is on the creamier side of a vinaigrette, but still very good, while their feta had a less "crumbly" consistency which I really enjoyed. I would have preferred a grape or cherry tomato instead of the sliced hot house ones I got, and a few more olives could have helped, but overall a decent salad.


The Gyros plate arrived with beautiful long strips of meat, tender rice pilaf (though I saw no orzo) and Briami, which is basically Zucchini and Eggplant in a tomato sauce. The Briami was a first for me, but really good. Their tzatziki was TO DIE FOR, thick with lots of cucumber shreds in it to give it a nice rustic texture.


The Riganato was fall off the bone tender, and came with these very interesting "Lemon Potatoes" which are kinda like home fries with lemon on them, the Briami and a garlic aioli on the side that was delicious. I hate mayo, so aiolis are very hit or miss with me, but this hardly felt like a mayo. In fact Josh and I forgot what it was until we double checked the menu.

As far as Greek places go, this one is near the top of the list and a definite must try if you like Mediterranean food. I will totally go here again and get a bit more adventurous with my choices next time, but we felt for a first time place, if they can get the basics right, they deserve another shot.

Santorini Island Grill

Today I ventured up to Poway for some Greek food at this place Dana used to work at and RAVES about. Santorini Island Grill. It was ok.



Their Hummus was decent, not as good as Gaby's but pretty good. Kristi pointed out that they don't use a lot of tahini so it doesn't have that "greasy" texture. Their pita wedges were pretty amazing though, soft and warm.



I got the 1/4 Greek Chicken meal and they were out of rice, so I substituted more salad for rice. How you can let a restaurant where the MAIN side dish is rice, run OUT of rice is beyond me. Their salad wasn't bad, but I felt it lacked substance, no romaine lettuce, just iceberg, cucumbers and some gross floppy tomatoes. (I prefer the Greek salad I made over this)I wish I would have thought to ask for the chicken breast, but I didn't and as my luck would have it, I got the leg and thigh. The meat was tender and juicy, but I just wasn't really in the mood to pick off the bones.

For fast food this place wasn't bad, and if I'm ever in the area and want Greek I might stop in again. The service was ok, but I think the main reason we didn't get the most amazing service was that Dana went into ex-waitress mode and took care of us a bit better, plus I think there was beef between her and our waitress from her days working there.

Trader Joe's really got it going on.

The other day, I braved the Southern California rain and drove to Trader Joe's in La Mesa. I wish there was one a bit closer to my house, but oh well.

If you've never been to Trader Joe's, it's really a treat. I personally LOVE the grocery store. I love going up and down all the aisles and checking out all the cool stuff they have. I even make a very OCD list when I go. It's super therapeutic for me.

If you aren't sure whether or not you have a Trader Joe's near you, you can check their locations here.

Honestly when I moved to Georgia, knowing that they had both Whole Foods AND Trader Joe's in Atlanta was a HUGE selling point for me.

Yesterday consisted of at least one Trader Joe's item per meal.

I started off by having their Chicken Apple sausage; cut length wise and grilled.



I also had one egg; scrambled, and half a bagel, toasted with Better'n Peanut Butter for breakfast. You know how much I love me some Better'n Peanut Butter.



Breakfast; roughly 400 calories.

For lunch I took the Trader Joe's reduced fat Greek Salad, removed half of the feta cheese, diced up the cucumbers and tomatoes and doctored up the dressing. I dumped out about half of the dressing and to the remainder, added lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and some olive oil and oregano. It was much lighter and tasted a lot better.

On the side I had 1 tbsp each of the Garlic and Spicy Hummus from the Trader Joe's Hummus Quad. To dip I had 3 of their Corn crackers, and 1/2 of their flat bread, broken into pieces.



Lunch; roughly 330 calories.

For dinner, I tried the Trader Joe's Asparagus Risotto.  1 cup is 200 calories, and it comes frozen in the bag, ready to heat and serve. I just cooked one cup, seeing as I was the only one eating and put the rest back in the freezer.

To doctor it up, I added some more asparagus, picked fresh from the garden earlier in the day, cut it up and tossed it in.

Keeping asparagus stalks trimmed, and resting in a glass of water in the fridge helps keep them fresher longer. As they go unused, trim the stalks down and replace the water.



For my protein I grilled 2 chicken breasts with lemon and cracked pepper, drizzled lemon juice on top, added a bit of water, before putting a lid on it to cook. One for dinner, and one breast for lunch the next day. (I spread some hummus on a flat bread, and added half the second breast, shredded and folded it in half and made a mini sammie and it was so yummers.)

I also treated myself to 4oz (about 1/2 a cup) of red wine with dinner. "They" say that 4 oz's a day is a good heart healthy amount of wine and antioxidants, plus it makes you feel warm inside, and when it's raining and cold, anything warm is welcomed in with open arms.

Here's what dinner looked like.

Dinner; roughly 450 calories

The "sauce" on the chicken, is the lemon juice, water and yummy stuck to the pan bits, simmered and reduced. It had a nice tang to it, which went very well with the creme fraiche and onion in the asparagus risotto.

Gaby's!!!

I was up in LA this weekend for work and some hang out time with my friends Jordan and Shaun. They met me on the Westside and let me choose the restaurant this time, so I didn't have much choice but to pick Gaby's Mediterranean in Culver City.

Three years ago, I discovered this shining little gem while looking for a place to cater my 25th birthday party. We showed up, ordered one of this and that, and sat in food heaven for a few hours. So I feel like I have an obligation to share my find with everyone I meet.

Gaby's has 3 locations on the Westside, but the Culver City one is my favorite. Parking totally sucks, but they have a great outdoor covered dining patio.

We started off with some pita, and zaatar. I've tried to make my own zaatar, and it didn't turn out so well, so if anyone has a recipe for it, let me know!!


The boys ordered "Mountain Dew" but instead got "Mango Juice". I suppose the term "lost in translation" is fitting here.

Anyway! I've tried a lot of hummus in my life. I'm a bit of a hummus freak, if you will. I even attempted making my own, which wasn't nearly as good as this lil puppy.



Gaby's hummus is so amazing that we had to order two. Seriously. After we ran out of pita bread, Jordan was eating it with a fork, which kinda grossed me out, but it really is that good.

While we waited for our food, we ordered an Apple Hookah. We are HUGE Hookah freaks, and I usually don't smoke hookah unless I am with the boys. The fact that they had hookah made both Jordan and Shaun VERY happy.



For all those hookah lovers out there, the apple hookah had a nice sweet flavor, and a spicy tang at the end with almost a licorice aftertaste. It almost tasted like I was smoking absinthe!

I ordered my favorite thing, Lemon Chicken and I substituted a Greek Salad for the house salad.



Personally, it had a bit too much feta cheese for my liking, but after I picked most of it out, it was really yummy. They have a great Greek dressing.



The Lemon Chicken was a total cheat on my whole "eating healthier" thing, but OMG isn't this so worth it?! The chicken was uber tender and the rice is so yummy with the sauce on it. I didn't inhale too much of that sauce so I still think I am pretty ok.

Shaun got the beef kabobs, with rice and house salad.



And Jordan got the Salmon kabobs with rice and house salad.



Everyone pretty much finished their plates. We sat around for about another hour finishing the hookah, paid the check and headed home. We were all stuffed and the whole meal, drinks, hookah AND tip was only around $25 each. I love that Gaby's has such great filling meals but not too much out of pocket.

Pat & Oscars

Today the family went to the Mall to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Usually my mom and I have movie/lunch dates and we go see something really mushy or girlie together. It makes me feel like less of a sap if I'm taking my mom, plus I don't really enjoy super girlie movies now that I'm older and have taste. But since Benjamin Button got such great reviews, and so many award nods, my dad wanted to tag along.

It's hard to eat out at the mall, especially "healthy". Sure there is subway, or salad bars, but those get old quick. We had an hour to kill. We wanted to sit down. We wanted GOOD food.

Enter, Pat & Oscars! It's a Southern Californian chain and in my opinion an institution. I have been noshing at Pat & Oscars since high school, and it's always so good.

It's the kind of place where you ask your friends, "Where do you wanna eat?", and someone will say, "Well.. there is always Pat & Oscars." and everyone says,"OMG PAT & OSCARS OMG YES!".

My dad had never been there, but my mom and I had been to many events catered by them. I've mentioned before that my dad is VERY PICKY when it comes to what he believes is "good food", and folks, I think we have a winner.

They have these really great meal combos for 1,2 or 4, and be warned, they are HUGE.

We got the Lemon Chicken meal for 2 which came with a WHOLE chicken, a medium greek salad and 8 breadsticks.



I had a plate full of salad,2 breadsticks with their YUMMY House Mustard Dressing, (makes it taste like a hot pretzel! OMG YUM!!) and a chicken breast, skin removed.



Anything my mom and I couldn't eat, my dad finished. I thought with the amount of food we had we would have at least a few leftovers, but that idea quickly faded. It was more than enough for 3 people for lunch. Even the meals for one are pretty big. The whole meal cost under $20, and I'm sure the next time any of us are in the area, be it for a movie or just shopping, that we will stop in for lunch again.

On a side note, the movie was pretty good. Kind of a tear jerker if you see it with your mom, but still cute. The makeup and CGI was amazing. A bit different than the short story, and longer than needed, but still a nice movie.

Tzatziki!

I've been asked by a few what exactly tzatiki is. It's basically a sauce made from yogurt, lemons, garlic and cucumber and, albeit time consuming, it's surprisingly easy to make at home!

This recipe is my tweaked version of the one from the blog Fields of Cake, and Other Good Stuff. I'll take you through it step by step with pictures. Don't worry.

First you need the basics.

32 ounce tub of plain yogurt, I used low fat,but whole or fat free would also work.
1 English cucumber; shredded
1/2 tsp lemon zest
juice from one lemon
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dill weed
1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper

Start with the yogurt. I knew I wasn't going to be in the need of 32 oz of tzatiki, so I halved it. It was enough for dinner, plus leftover, plus extra. It's great to dip pita chips into.

In a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, propped over a clean bowl, strain yogurt. This way you can get rid of any excess liquids. I strained mine for 2 hours, but you can do it overnight in the fridge.



Instantly it should start to drain. I lost about a 3/4 of a cup of liquid over the course of 2 hours.



Next you are going to want to prepare your cucumber. English cucumbers work best because they don't really have seeds. You can usually find them in your market. If you can't grab a regular one and de-seed it. Peel the skin off.



Next you want to shred your cucumber. I used a food processor becuase its much easier and it helped me get rid of any extra juice. If you don't have a food processor, you can grate it with a cheese grater and then squeeze off the liquids in a paper towel.



Once you've removed the liquids, you are going to just quickly run a sharp knife thru it to make sure its thoroughly chopped.



Transfer the drained yogurt into a bowl and add the cucumbers to it.



Next comes the lemon zest and juice. If you don't have a lemon zester, you can once again use the rough side of a cheese grater or even the edge of a knife. Zest about 1/4 a tsp off the rind and mix it in. Juice the lemon. I recommend using a separate bowl so you don't get any seeds into the sauce.



Press 5 cloves of garlic and add that into the mix as well. I like to press the garlic because it really releases the oils and flavor, but not everyone owns a presser, so if you are one of those people, buy one!! To hold you off until then, smash garlic under a knives blade with the palm of your hand (like below) and mince.



Add the rest of the spices into the yogurt and mix well. Allow the flavor to develop for at least 20 minutes. It should look something like this when done.



It keeps for a few days in the fridge and is wonderful on pita, lamb, burgers, and the shwarma recipe as well.

Greek Salad

Not many salads really turn my head. Especially not Greek salads, but I decided to cook dinner tonight and really do it up Greek Style, and what goes better with Greek food, then Greek Salad?

The recipe is super easy, yummy, and decently healthy. This is what you need;



Lettuce, chopped. I used Hearts of Romaine and a head of Iceberg, but you can use whatever types of lettuce you like best. Make sure that you use a lettuce knife when doing a chop salad, or rip it with your hands so it doesn't brown.



Tomatoes, sliced/diced/whole depending on the type you use. I used grape tomatoes cuz they are sweet and delicious and I halved them down the center. Cherry tomatoes will also work and are small enough, like grapes to slice in half or use whole. If you're going to use a larger tomato, I suggest dicing them into bite sizes.

Cucumbers, peeled, and cut into bite size pieces. If you prefer you can half it lengthwise and remove the seeds, or use an English cucumber. I don't mind the seeds, so I just left those puppies in.



Olives, of the Greek or Mediterranean variety. They usually can be found in the deli section of the grocery, or even in the olive section. I chose a green and kalamata mix.

Throw it all into a bowl in that order and it should look something like this...




Next you need to make a dressing, this is where it really sets itself apart from other crappy salads. It's a slightly modified version of a recipe I saw on For The Love of Cooking.





* 6 tablespoons olive oil
* Juice of 1 lemon
* 2 garlic cloves, pressed
* 3 tsp red wine vinegar
* Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
* 1/2 tsp dried oregano

Whisk it all together until it's creamy and then pour over the salad, top with some feta cheese, and toss. Voila!



I made this for my very picky father who actually finished his whole plate and asked if there were seconds. Then he proceeded to tell me that he needs this recipe. So I think it's a homerun!