Phase One is over

Tomorrow we will be ending phase one and beginning phase two on Monday. Phase one has been difficult and required a lot of discipline. We both had lost a good amount of weight but more importantly we feel a whole lot better. We have learned so really great healthy recipes: rosemary salmon, "mashed potatoes" made out of cauliflower, stewed tomatoes and edamame salad. We are eager to start this second phase of the diet although it is still pretty restrictive.

South Beach Diet : Breakfast

We started the South Beach Diet. A diet that restricts your sugar intake for two-three weeks. Our first meal was vegetable to go cups.They are essentially crust-less quiche. We made them the night before. It was quite a stark contrast between the other meal we had made that night which was the ribs.

The recipe was simple mix vegetables and Egg Beaters and bake.
They were the saddest things I had ever baked in muffin tins.

The breakfast was not that bad: Two min veggie cups, V8 and coffee. Thankfully we can have coffee on this diet. Although here is a list of things we cannot have.

• Beets
• Carrots
• Corn
• Potatoes, white
• Potatoes, sweet
• Yams
• Brisket
• Liver
• Rib steaks
• Chicken, wings and legs
• Duck
• Goose
• No regular ketchup or cocktail sauce
• No pork rinds - too high in saturated fat
• Poultry products, processed
• Honey-baked ham
• Veal
• Avoid ALL fruits and fruit juices in Phase 1
• No jerky - too high in sugar content
• Limit Caffeine-Containing Beverages to 1-2 servings per day
• Brie
• Avoid all milk products in Phase 1
• Avoid ALL starchy food in Phase 1
• Alcohol of any kind, including beer and wine

Last Hurrah

The night before we started the South Beach Diet we cooked one last meal without any restrictions. "Barbecued Ribs with Asian Flavors. We had been waiting to make this dish for a while but we never had enough time. The ribs must marinate for at least 5 hours and then they cook for a hour and a half. The marinade was relativity simple: garlic cilantro Chinese Five spice powder, soy sauce, and brown sugar. The trick was finding a pan that was big enough to marinate the 3 lbs of ribs. I ended up cutting the rack in half and using my largest backing dish.

After the marinating process the ribs cook for a hour by themselves During this cook time we made the barbecue sauce which has twice as many ingredients as the marinade. Brian sautéed some onions and then made then into a puree and then returned them to the skittle and added the rest of the sauce ingredients.

Then we played take the rib shuffle. First take the ribs out after an hour and but the sauce on. Put back in without a cover for 15 minute. Take them out and cut them apart and toss them in the remaining barbecue sauce and then back in the oven, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Then they are done.

The ribs were delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed our last meal before our journey to the South Beach.