2011 Blasts from the Past

Some of my favorite posts from the past year. It was an AWESOME year in my post weight loss surgery world...

January: 10 Favorite Protein Sources

February: Girl Scout Cookie Combat


March: Ramblings

April: NYC Wrap Up & Brooklyn Bridge Walk

May: Cinco de Mayo and Weight Loss Surgery Friendly Memorial Day

June: Fun at the Fair and Obesity Action Coalition in Washington DC

July: Cucumber Crackers

August: Weight Loss Surgery Meet & Greet Snacks and 5,037 pounds lost with Weight Loss Surgery

September: National Pancake Day! and New Orleans Recap

October: Deviled Eggface and Just Add Water

November: Weight Loss Surgery Holiday Survival

December: Strawberry Cannoli Santas

2010 List

Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Heads up: Celebrate Vitamins FREE SHIPPING

Fellow Celebrate Vitamins ♥ers: Here's a heads up on a FREE SHIPPING coupon code offer. For ALL orders placed between now and DEC 31, 2011, Celebrate will be providing FREE SHIPPING.

The coupon code is: SHIPNOW. You need to input this code during the check-out process and then choose the Free Shipping from the shipping options. Woot! Stock up on all Multi's, Calcium, Iron, B12, etc. for a healthy New Year!

If you nab some of that super yummy ENS (multivitamin, calcium, fiber AND protein all in one) be sure to make one of my nom nom nom slurp shakes:

Pumpkin Pie
Apple Cake Shake
Strawberry Snowball

Drum roll...

Thank you for the wonderful response to The World According to Eggface and Quest Protein Bars Holiday Giveaway.

The random generator has selected:

Debi
Squeezymama@xxxxx.xxx

Congratulations!!! You are the winner of a huge 12 bar sampler box of the new Quest Protein Bar All Natural line: 3 Cinnamon Roll, 3 Chocolate Peanut Butter, 2 Strawberry Cheesecake, 2 Lemon Cream Pie, 2 Coconut Cashew bars. Check your mail and follow email instructions for claiming your prize.

When you get your prize be sure to warm one of those Cinnamon Roll Bars for 10 seconds in the microwave = Heaven

Interested in finding out more about Quest Protein Bars (20 grams of protein). Here's a link to learn more or purchase. Currently only available online. They sell individual bars too which is way cool.

A Christmas Day in my pouch

My Christmas Day post weight loss surgery eats...

Breakfast: I decided to make this a day in my pouch blog post but had this been a post just about these crepes I had a bitchin' title... Nog Nog Noggin' on Heaven's Door. OK maybe it wasn't that great a title but these were seriously heavenly.

Shelly's Egg Nog Crepes

2 Eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Egg Nog (I use Silk Soy Nog)
1/4 cup minus 1 Tablespoon Water
1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Torani Syrup (I used SF Vanilla)
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1/2 cup Spelt Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
dash of Salt
dash Nutmeg

Blend all ingredients on low till thoroughly combined. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for a half-hour. Spray a non-stick 8 to 10 inch crepe pan with Pam. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan and twirl it around to spread the batter in a thin circle.

Cook till top appears dry and flip. Cook a minute or so on other side. Repeat till all batter is used. While you are making them you can keep them warm in a low oven 200 degrees or nuke for 20 seconds before serving. Makes 8-10 crepes depending on size of pan. I put a dollop of my Egg Nog Ricotta filling inside each and served with optional warmed SF Maple Syrup.

Shelly's Egg Nog Ricotta Filling

1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 Tablespoon Silk Soy Nog
1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Vanilla Torani Syrup
a few dashes of Nutmeg

Mix till well blended. Refrigerate till ready to use.

Lunch: We normally head to the beach but we decided to hang out closer to home today. We were just there a few days ago and we have to go in that area later in the week so in the interest of saving gas money we went to the lake near my house for a walk and packed up the super cool bento boxes for our annual Christmas picnic. Here's what we ate and some pictures from the day...

Pink Box (top left): Christmas Ham
Green Box (top right): Cucumber Slices (my crackers)
Blue Box (bottom left): Shelly's Christmas Chickpea Deviled Egg and a variety of Cheeses
Orange Box (bottom right): A storebought Spelt Sugar Free Cookie dipped in SF Chocolate (I made a few as a holiday treat)
Along side: Mustard for dipping

Shelly's Christmas Chickpea Deviled Eggs

4 Hardboiled Eggs
1/4 cup canned Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans), rinsed & drained
2 Tablespoons Greek Yogurt
1 (2 oz. jar) Pimentos, drained
1 Green Onion, diced fine
dash of Kosher Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper

Hard cook eggs. Cool. Cut in half. Remove yolks and mash with above ingredients (hold back a little onion for the top) till smooth-ish. Spoon back. Top with diced green onion.


It was a beautiful day...



If my friends up north wonder where their ducks go in the winter I think most of them moved to my 'hood.



Dinner: Leftovers from yesterday's Feast of the Seven Fishes. Crab Cake (Costco) and a simple Green Salad (lettuce, tomato, crumbled fresh feta, store-bought balsamic dressing.)
Snacks: Oodles of coffee including a Grande Sugar Free Cinnamon Dolce, No Whip, No Foam, Extra Hot, Soy Latte (could my order be any longer) at Bux.

The end.

I hope everyone had a lovely day filled with smiles and laughter.

Merry Christmas!

It's true. The best gifts in life will never be found under a Christmas tree. I am blessed to have you all in my life. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Post Weight Loss Surgery Menus: A day in my pouch

What I ate today post weight loss surgery...

Breakfast: Started the day with a classic, old-fashioned malted chocolate milkshake. If you loved Whoppers or Maltesers as a kid you will love love love this...

Shelly's Chocolate Malt Protein Shake

1 cup Soy Milk (any milk will do)
1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder
1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Vanilla Torani Syrup
1 Tablespoon Malted Milk Powder (the No Sugar Added kind)
a few Ice Cubes

Whiz in blender till smooth. Top with optional squirt of Sugar Free Whipped Cream and a crushed SF Malted Milk Ball.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. Not so much. Well not the right boys.

Ran errands most of the day. Costco, supermarket, post office to mail a package. The line was out the door literally but it moved pretty quickly and they played great music so I actually enjoyed the people watching. Cutest little baby. Made my ovaries twitch a bit ;)

So I got home and realized I forgot to drop my Christmas cards in the box while I was at the P.O. Grrr. I was in luck though our mail hadn't come yet so I put the flag up and left them for our carrier.

Lunch: Yay for nicer weather. I was able to sit outside and soak up some afternoon Vitamin D. Brought my super cool bento box outside and noshed on this. My own personal ploughman's lunch...


Pink Box (top left): Turkey, Sopressata, and a hunk of fresh Feta cheese
Green Box (top right): Cucumber Slices (my crackers)
Blue Box (bottom left): Pickles, Olives, Sliced Tomatoes
Orange Box (bottom right): 1/2 a Cinnamon Roll Quest Protein Bar

More Bento Box lunches

Went out a little before dinner to get the mail, reached in the box and thought wow we got a lot of mail today. Went in the house to realize my postal carrier put the new mail on top of my cards and never took them. WTH!? So if you normally get a Christmas card from me ummm, yeah... Happy New Year!

Dinner: I did a little twist on my old faithful Healthier Hot Chicken Casserole that I make (a go-to when I have leftover rotisserie or baked chicken.


Shelly's Healthier Hot Chicken Salad Casserole (Italian Style)

2 cups Cooked Chicken, cubed (leftover rotisserie is great)
3 Green Onions, diced
1 can (15 oz.) Artichoke Hearts, drained, chopped
3 1/2 oz. Greek Yogurt
1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise
1/4 cup Shredded Italian Blend Cheese (one of those 6 cheese blends with Mozzarella, Fontina, etc.)
1 Tablespoon Fresh Basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/2 teaspoon Oregano
a few twists of Black Pepper

Topping:
1/4 cup Durkee Onions (the Green Bean casserole kind)
1 Tablespoon Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon Oregano

Blend yogurt, mayo, cheese and seasonings together till well combined. Pour over other ingredients and mix till well combined.

Pour into a Pyrex casserole dish. Crush topping ingredients together and sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes till golden.

Would be great served with a steamed veggie, sauteed spinach, or a green salad. I ate it with sliced tomatoes (I'm on a kick)

Snacks: Lots of coffee throughout the day including a Sugar-Free Cinnamon Dolce No Whip Soy Latte at some point in my travels and the other half of that Cinnamon Roll Quest Protein Bar while waiting on line at the post office.

More days in my pouch.

Drum roll...

Thank you for the wonderful response to The World According to Eggface Stocking Full of Samples Giveaway!

The random generator has selected:

Lisa Z.
2315lisa@xxxxxxxxx.xxx

Congratulations!!! You are the winner of the AWESOME Christmas Stocking chock full of samples of some of my favorite weight loss surgery friendly products! Check your mail and follow email instructions for claiming your prize.

Link to learn more about the great products in Lisa's stocking.

Thank you for playing everyone! Be sure to add your info to the hat for the current Eggface Giveaway! A huge sampler box of All-Natural Quest Protein Bars.

Quest Bar Holiday Giveaway

Since having weight loss surgery I always have a protein bar in my purse and toss a few in my carry-on bag while traveling. Protein Bars are a great portable protein source and because it isn't a powder or a liquid the airport security dudes don't give me the stink eye or pull me aside to use their x-ray vision machine to see what color underwear I'm wearing. Tossing some bars in my bag also saves me from paying $7 for an in-flight snack box that maybe has 1 or 2 items in it we can eat and keeps me from making a not-so-wise choice off a hotel room service grease-laden menu.

Quest Protein Bars are a great choice. 20g of Protein, Low Carb (most are 4-ish grams), High Fiber, No Sugar Alcohols (Stevia and Erythritol are used to sweeten the All Natural bars) and they are Gluten Free.

It's the holidays so let's put a box of these yummy Quest Bars under someone's tree. It's Giveaway Time!

The Prize: A Huge 12 bar Sampler Pack of the new Quest Protein Bar All Natural line: 3 Cinnamon Roll, 3 Chocolate Peanut Butter, 2 Strawberry Cheesecake, 2 Lemon Cream Pie, 2 Coconut Cashew bars.

How to Enter: LEAVE A COMMENT (include a name and an email addy) on this blog posting (scroll to bottom of this post and click on # of comments to leave yours.)

Contest periods ends: Sunday, December 25th, midnight (Pacific time)

Monday, December 26th I'll draw a name using a random number generator and announce the winner here on the blog! I will also email the winner at the addy posted. You'll have one week (7 days) to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen. One ENTRY per person. Blog comments are moderated so there may be a slight delay (up to a few hours) in seeing your comment/entry post. Giveaway is open to anyone in the United States (48 contiguous, Alaska & Hawaii.)

***Want extra chances to win?*** Do anything listed below and leave me a comment letting me know what you did! For up to four more entries per person!!

* Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway: Hey everyone enter the @Eggface @QuestBar Holiday Giveaway http://tinyurl.com/74wdzcz

* Post about the giveaway to your pals on Facebook or some other social networking or support forum you frequent.

If you are a blogger:

* Blog about this giveaway and include the link to the contest (send me the url so I can enjoy your post!)

* Place my super snazzy badge on your site.

<a href="http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/favabean/Lolatini/buttoncleangrad.png" /></a>

P.S. Can't wait to see if you are a winner to try Quest Protein Bars. Here's a link to learn more or purchase. They sell individual bars too. Woot!

Friday Five

A weekly round-up of tidbits, tips, ideas, news articles, random cool things...

1. If you haven't read through my Holiday Survival Tips. Check them out. A made a few mistakes early on... bad shrimp incident. I hope it will help you guys (especially new post-ops) avoid a similar experience. There's some yummy recipes too.

I find myself repeating this in my head often this time of the year: Don't trade what you want most, for what you want at the moment. I'm thinking a tattoo ;)

2. Shopping, parties, holiday pageants, visitors, everyone has lots going on this week. Here's a quick and easy protein packed meal that is a go-to when things get busy at my house.

Shelly's Cold Cut Roll-ups w/ Mustard Yogurt Dip

Ham (or any cold cut)
Pickle Spear (or cheese sticks are great too)

Roll up and spear with a toothpick. I prefer Boar's Head Low Sodium cold cuts if you can find them they are great. I also sometimes heat them up like this or this.

Mustard Yogurt Dip

3 oz. Greek Yogurt
1 Tablespoon prepared Mustard
dash Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper

Mix till well combined.

3. Some articles I read this week that were worth checking out:

FDA Tells Weight-Loss Surgery Centers To Pull Misleading Ads
Taking the stairs makes you more fit, saves you time

and there's a new Obesity Action Coalition Bias Busting effort underway to put an end to the use of derogatory and degrading images that depict individuals affected by obesity in a highly negative manner. You know those horrible headless photos and overly animated images of people stuffing their faces with burgers and chips. Help us put a stop to the use of these stigmatizing images. Here's the link for more information on how to help.

4. Our Weight Loss Surgery Twitter Twibe reached a milestone this week. 1000 members. A "twibe" is basically a place where people with common interests (who are using Twitter) can find each other. A few years ago I was chatting on twitter (I'm @eggface) with several of my pals who had weight loss surgery and realized those pals didn't all know each other so the WLS Twibe was born.

Basically you add your name to the WLS Twibe so others can know you are "one of us" and can follow your tweets on twitter. All surgery types and all stages (pre-op & post-op, newbees to old farts) are represented. You can't have enough support networks. So if you are tweeting feel free to add your twitter name to our twibe. You can post directly on the twibe page or most of us just use the hashtag #WLS on weight loss surgery related tweets.

5. Stop by Sunday when another Eggface Giveaway begins!!! What will it be?! Hint: Nom nom nom. Be sure to add your name to the hat for the current giveaway: A Christmas Stocking full of AWESOME weight loss surgery friendly samples (ends Sunday midnight PST)

Post Weight Loss Surgery Menus: A day in my pouch

My yesterday in post weight loss surgery meals...

Breakfast: Started the day with my latest CLICK Espresso Protein creation.

Shelly's Malted CLICKball

1 cup Soy Milk (any milk will do)
2 scoops CLICK Espresso Protein Powder (any flavor)
1 Tablespoon Sugar Free Vanilla Torani Syrup
1 Tablespoon Malted Milk Powder (the No Sugar Added kind)
a few Ice Cubes

Whiz in blender till smooth. Top with optional squirt of Sugar Free Whipped Cream and a SF Malted Milk Ball. This is one of my favorite protein shakes.

Lunch: Made a batch of these. I love Deviled Eggs.

Shelly's Chickpea Deviled Eggs

4 Hardboiled Eggs
1/4 cup (plus a few extra for top) canned Chick Peas (Garbanzo Beans), rinsed & drained
2 Tablespoons Greek Yogurt
dash of Greek Seasoning (blend found in spice aisle)
dash of Kosher Salt
a few twists of Black Pepper
Optional: Flat Leaf Parsley

Hard cook eggs. Cool. Cut in half. Remove yolks and mash with above ingredients till smooth-ish. Spoon back. Top with a chickpea and a parsley leaf.

How I hard cook eggs: Place eggs in pot. Fill pot with cold water till 1" over eggs. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. Pour off hot water and cover eggs with very cold water. This is an extremely important step which prevents the greenish ring you sometimes see on yolks. When eggs are cool enough to handle. Crack & peel away shell. Chill.

I had a slice of provolone and salami and a couple of olives with my deviled egg. Would have been the perfect picnic except it was cloudy and gray. I ran a ton of errands including waiting in the line from h e double hockey sticks at the post office. I, unfortunately, need to do this again today or tomorrow too.

Dinner: Remember Shelly's Bacon Onion Cheeseburger Mini Meatloaf...

I pulled one out of the freezer. Nuked it in this groovy gadget keeps it super moist then topped it with a 1/2 a slice of American cheese and broiled it for 2 minutes. 2 Pickle Chips and you have a Bacon Cheeseburger. I ate it with sliced tomatoes.

Snacks: Too much coffee and I have been jonesing for Crustless Sweet Potato Pie for days and finally made a batch.

If you are a lover of sweet potato or pumpkin pie you must make this. Full of good stuff and no added sugar. It is soooo good.

More A day in my pouch posts.

Drum roll...

Thank you for the wonderful response to The World According to Eggface & Celebrate Vitamins Healthy Holidays Giveaway!

The random generator has selected:

Kim
sprmom98@xxxxxxx.net

Congratulations!!! You are the winner of the HUGE holiday gift basket filled with some my Celebrate Vitamins favorites! Check your mail and follow email instructions for claiming your prize. When it arrives make up a batch of that yummy Berry Merry Christmas Fluff. Soooo good!

Thank you for playing everyone! Be sure to add your info to the hat for the current Eggface Giveaway! A Christmas stocking full of great weight loss surgery friendly samples!

Stocking Full of Samples Giveaway

When I was a whippersnapper my favorite part of Christmas was reaching down into my stocking and opening all the little mysterious packages. The more expensive gifts like roller skates, Atari 2600 and boom boxes were always under the tree but there was something wonderful about that stocking and it's treasures. Truth be told it's still my favorite part.

It's the holidays so there must be a stocking! It's Giveaway Time!

The Prize: an AWESOME Christmas Stocking chock full of samples of some of my favorite weight loss surgery friendly products...

1 packet Celebrate Vitamins Strawberry ENS
1 packet Celebrate Vitamins Chocolate Milk ENS
1 packet Celebrate Vitamins Vanilla Cake Batter ENS
1 packet CLICK Espresso Protein Mocha
1 packet CLICK Espresso Protein Vanilla Latte
1 packet CLICK Espresso Protein Vanilla Latte All-Natural
1 packet CLICK Espresso Protein Mocha All-Natural
1 Apple Pie Quest Protein Bar
1 Wild Berry Quest Protein Bar
1 Chocolate Brownie Quest Protein Bar
1 packet Just the Cheese Crunchy Baked Cheese - Grilled Cheese flavor
1 packet Just the Cheese Crunchy Baked Cheese - Classic White Cheddar Cheese flavor
1 packet Kay's Naturals Protein Cereal - Honey Almond
1 packet Kay's Naturals Protein Cereal - Apple Cinnamon
1 packet Kay's Naturals Protein Cereal - French Vanilla
1 Sampler Set of Sugar Free Torani Syrups (4 - 150 ml bottles in SF Caramel, SF Raspberry, SF Vanilla, and SF Hazelnut)

and I decorated the stocking with an Eggy's Mum original homemade knitted holly pin.

How to Enter: Like The World According to Eggface on Facebook. Come back here and LEAVE A COMMENT (include a name and an email addy) on this blog posting (scroll to bottom of this post and click on # of comments to leave yours.)

Contest periods ends: Sunday, December 18th, midnight (Pacific time)

Monday, December 19th I'll draw a name using a random number generator and announce the winner here on the blog! I will also email the winner at the addy posted. You'll have one week (7 days) to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen. Remember winners MUST be a Facebook friend of The World According to Eggface. One ENTRY per person. Blog comments are moderated so there may be a slight delay (up to a few hours) in seeing your comment/entry post. Giveaway is open to anyone in the United States (48 contiguous, Alaska & Hawaii.)

***Want extra chances to win?*** Do anything listed below and leave me a comment letting me know what you did! For up to four more entries per person!!

* Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway: Hey everyone enter the @Eggface Stocking Full of Samples Giveaway http://tinyurl.com/c49sos7

* Post about the giveaway to your pals on Facebook or some other social networking or support forum you frequent.

If you are a blogger:

* Blog about this giveaway and include the link to the contest (send me the url so I can enjoy your post!)

* Place my super snazzy badge on your site.

<a href="http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/favabean/Lolatini/buttoncleangrad.png" /></a>

P.S. Curious about any of the great products mentioned above? Click on the highlighted links to learn more or purchase.

Trim the Tree Party Snacks

A few packed with protein, weight loss surgery friendly appetizers (of course I called it dinner) and some Christmas music gave us the motivation we needed to finish decking the halls.

Shelly's Red & Green Holiday Shrimp Cocktail

Cooked, chilled shrimp
Cocktail Sauce
Guacamole

Serve shrimp in small cordial glasses. Some with a dollop of guacamole, some with cocktail sauce. They do make sugar free cocktail sauces but I just use the real deal. I don't slather, a small dab per shrimp and I don't have issues but if you are highly sensitive look for SF versions they are out there or make your own. The alternating red & green on the table looked so festive. Perfect for a Christmas party!

I also sliced some zucchini lengthwise and grilled them earlier in the day. Then took slices and wrapped them around a piece of fresh feta cheese.

Shelly's Zucchini & Cheese Roll-ups

Grilled Zucchini Slices
Feta or Mozzarella (whatever you like)

Slice the zucchini lengthwise, brush with olive oil. I sprinkled a little Greek seasoning on each slice (an Italian seasoning would be great too.) Grill the zucchini on the BBQ (or an indoor grill) till bendy and tender. Set aside to cool. Wrap each slice of zucchini around a piece of cheese. I get fresh Feta (unsalted) at my farmer's market, it's the best feta I have ever eaten in my life but fresh mozzarella would be great too. I skewered them with a food pick for ease of eating. I served them room temp but they would be great warm too with some marinara sauce for dipping. Yum!

Here's the finished tree...

Every ornament has a story or memory. I love carefully unpacking each one and reminiscing each year, like old friends coming for a visit.