But it is nice to see so many of you find use in it.  I guess I should get busy and write you some more recipes.  I am happy to report that my weight has remained off and I continue to work towards my final goal of 105 pounds.  Nearly there now, just this last ten pounds that wants to hang on so badly.

Sorry all, life got really busy so I haven’t kept up with the blog for a while. 

I promise to post some fresh recipes that will fit into all of your dieting needs.  Not because I am still on a diet, I am proud to announce that I have managed to not only maintain my weight, but lost a little more.  I am now a whole 122 pounds and have two more pounds to go. 

For all my subscribers, I am sorry for not being vigilant in keeping up the blog, but I am back now with lots of pages in my sketch book (how I work with them while creating the recipes I post).  So over the next few days, you might find many emails, for this I apologize, I will try to simply list one recipe each day.  They might have a little more ingredients than your diet allows, so I will keep them OMIT friendly, meaning you can remove certain items without compromising the recipe itself.

Cheers my fellow losers and happy sliding this summer.

Home Made Energy <—where I purchased my guide from

Last year was a big push for us with solar panels.  And as a part of my research I tried a whole bunch of those guides you can purchase around the Internet.  You know all those websites giving their top 3 list of guides?

Well, I tried all those, there were not many, the thousands of websites out there touted the same three guides do be had.  Now I had favorites folders filled with information from here, information from there and was maintaining a document so that I could put them together from all the free resources on the Internet.  It took the better part of a year to gather and find all the information needed.

I really didn’t understand all the many systems that have to come together in order to make a solar system work.  The panels, the PV cells themselves, how to make the frames, the mounting systems (there are many out there and they depend on your roof or ground if doing a pole mount system) invertors, software that ties them all together, monitors, batteries (wow are there lots of ways to do batteries) and the list goes on and on.  Half way through the year I got frustrated and decided, that was just too much work.  I wanted a guide that had all the information in one place.

So I purchased a guide, sadly I can’t recommend it to you.  Why?  Because that guide wasn’t complete, while it showed you portions of how to do each part of the system, it left out the key components.  Like it talked about building a battery bank, but not the housing of the battery bank which is a key part.  How to chain the PV cells together, but not how to build the enclosed frame for it, which again is the key part.  Talked about the inverters and everything else, but had no suggestions or even a GUIDE on how to tie them all together.  Worst part was, darn near every video in his “guide” was from You Tube and free of charge.  That was a total waste of time and money.

So I hunted and searched for more professional websites looking for what it was I needed and purchased yet another guide.  Well, sadly it was the same thing.  I ended up purchasing books and doing more research.  After all of this, we decided we wanted to move and set up a farm.  So I gave up on a solar system here at the house because I would never get my investment back in the next few years when we move.  So the whole solar system thing was put onto the back burner.

As the summer season hit us this year, we took an early camping trip in our camp trailer.  It isn’t anything fancy, just a pop up trailer which weights next to nothing and is easily pulled behind the SUV.  I had reserved a full service camp spot for our tent trailer and we left home expecting a really nice weekend trip.

When we arrived at the camp ground, we were not given a full service camp spot “Those are reserved for the real R.V.s” the manager and owner told me.  Mortified, I had not packed for pocket baths.  I mean we hauled our trailer all the way up there expecting to have full hook ups.  All we had in the end was water hookup.  With no electricity, the refrigerator, lights, water heater or pump on the shower would not work. 

We spent the weekend in our glorified tent, took showers in the public shower, which were okay, moldy and smelled funny, but not cluttered with too much dirt.  Went to bed and awoke with the sun because well, I didn’t pack the lanterns or emergency candles.  Though I did have two bug candles which we laughingly used.  Bad on me for not packing correctly, but bad on the camp ground for not giving me the full service spot I had reserved. 

And so my quest to build a solar system from scratch began again.  I mean if my camp trailer isn’t considered a real RV, this might happen again and frankly, after riding motorcycles all day long, I really want a hot shower and a bottle of cold water from the refrigerator.  If I wanted to camp in a tent I wouldn’t have purchased the camp trailer to begin with right?

So I purchased one more guide on building your own solar systems.  The whole reason I purchased the one I purchased was because he talks about geothermal systems.  Another passive system that is Eco friendly.  That and I thought it was kind of funny that the site owner recorded his video in his garage.  Which to me I liked because he was keeping his overhead lower to help keep the costs down.  So I purchase his guide, without any grand expectations.!

Home Made Energy <—where I purchased my guide from

Based on my experience from last summer, I didn’t expect much……so I was surprised to find out that it was as easy to understand as it was.  And yes, if you have several months of time to spend finding all the information on the Internet, it is all available for free.  For the cost of the Home Made Energy guide, it took only minutes.  This made it very much worth the time and the value was there with this project.  I am happy to say after studying over the weekend, I have even more ideas for the farm in terms of geothermal and other sources of energy (don’t forget my magnet generator).  But we went camping again last weekend and yet again were denied a full service spot for our pop-up trailer.  I wasn’t so upset this time however as with the help of the Home Made Energy Guide—I had a fully working portable solar system which provided us with hot water and lights, not to mention cold beverages from the refrigerator as well.   

I figured if I could swear my way through a magnetic generator, I could do the same with the solar panels.  Amazing how easy this stuff is once you dig in and just do it the first time.  But the guide made it super simple and easy, if I had to purchase the Home Made Energy Guide again (which I don’t because I already did) I would because it was that complete and easily understood.

——>I got my water conversion guide here <——

Alright, just so you know, there was no way I was going to attempt to do this myself.  No way, no how, just would never happen.  I know how to keep my vehicles clean, I know when to tell my husband to change the oil and I know how to drive it to the shop for yearly maintenance.  I know the mechanics of changing a tire, but have never had to do it. 

Based on this, when my husband announced he was going to convert my gas hog SUV to run on water, I put my foot down.  I know I have some crazy ideas, but this was more than a crazy idea, it was my SUV!  I told him if he wanted better fuel economy that he could purchase his own vehicle to do this to.  Well, he didn’t want to convert his, he wanted to convert mine.  I get about 18 mpg in my SUV, he gets 36 mpg in his sedan…..he told me we had to do it with mine. 

We argued about it for days, I didn’t really win the argument, because no one ever does, but he decided to convert his car and not my SUV….whew I thought, I was in the clear.  So he and some of his friends came over to the house and converted his car over to this system.  The first week he averaged over 60 mpg, that was really nice.  They made some adjustments to the system and the next week he averaged 65 mpg.   Well I was really curious at this point and about peed my pants laughing so hard when I saw him using two of my canning jars in his system.  And I do mean I had to excuse myself from the garage because his expression was clearly irritated by my laughter.

Well, the joke was on me at week three (and I still didn’t know it).  He knew I would never bother to look under my hood.  I didn’t have to, that is what a good husband is for.  Week three we had a BBQ and the guys came over for one more adjustment to the car.  The car was still getting about 65 mpg so my husband was really happy.  The guys ate BBQ steak and had a great afternoon.  That night all of us wives went over to another girlfriends house and played bunko.  I never played bunko before and those ladies sure can get loud playing it.  Anyhow, we all jumped into my husbands newly named ”Mason Jar Burner”  and drove back to my place to pick the guys up.  There in the garage was Kimberly’s car on our jack stand.  She knew what they were up to all along.  I saw more of my canning jars sitting on a bench and knew at that moment they had converted Kim’s car to use water as well. 

My husband asked me yet again if he could convert my car………….NO, not just NO but HELL NO I said.  We relied on my vehicle to pull the boat, the tractor, the snowmobiles, the R.V.  it was responsible for all of our recreation weekends, no way was I going to allow him to convert my car to use my canning jars.  It just wasn’t going to happen. 

I guess I never bothered to pay attention, you know how it is when you fill your car up with gas, you swipe you card, press the buttons and go in for a bottle of cold water while the fuel pumps into it.  You come out, tell it NO receipt, put the nozzle back, screw on the fuel lid and drive off.  I mean I don’t really pay attention to how many miles I get per gallon because it doesn’t matter.  I drive only the miles I need to and it gets what ever mileage it gets.  Only once per month do I record for one week my mileage.  After all, a dip in mileage is a great indicator for when something might not be working right.

Well, it was time for my mileage tracking week.  I filled up, looked at the trip odometer, wrote it down and figured I would calculate the mileage later.  My husband at this point had not said a word about his activities.  And he knew better than to ask me again because I already gave him my “NO WAY IN HELL” answer.  Well, I filled up twice that week and sat down Saturday morning to calculate the weeks mileage.  36 mpg.   I knew I had done the math wrong, grabbed the cell phone, opened the calculator application, calculated again, 36 mpg.  I didn’t have to look under the hood, I already knew what had happened.  The guys had converted my SUV to run on water without telling me. 

Sadder yet, they had done it the same time they had done his.  Three recreation weekends, I pulled the tractor twice, the boat three times and the motorcycles one weekend.  My SUV never missed a beat and never let me know anything was up.  She ran like a champ and continues to do so today.  The only change she made?  She runs on less gas these days.  So go ahead, convert your vehicle to run on water too, you will never look back, but you will love the savings. 

As for my husband…don’t worry ladies, he got paid back for this.  I was really happy about the fuel and that it didn’t impact the towing capacity any….but he still made my beautiful SUV run on mason jars.  So I went out with the girls and treated them to a day at the spa.  We got massages, our hair and nails done and had a really expensive lunch.  We plan to do this every month with the money our Mason Jar Burners are saving us.

——>I got my water conversion guide here <——

We have seen hybrids, watched the news of companies like the EVO vehicles pull their perfectly fine working hybrid cars off the market.  I have gone to shows and seen some really neat vehicles that were very effective for what they were designed for.  Yet with all our politicians sitting in to many back pockets of the Oil companies, energy efficiency simply will not be something we will see in the lives of our great grand children’s lives.  I don’t see any change in who pays all those politicians to represent me.  Lets face it, I won’t pay a politician!  I expect them to represent the very people that voted them in because that is their job!  They wanted it, they ran for it and they got it.  Why should I donate millions of dollars to get them to represent me?  Too bad that so many other companies do have and are willing to purchase them with millions of dollars.  Lets get real here, there are few politicians that have not been purchased, fewer yet that you can not purchase if you have enough money to do so.  This is the sate of affairs our greedy nation has created.  Okay, off of the soap box and onto the post.

Because we can not rely upon our elected leaders to do anything in the energy arena (they make their money keeping us using them, not avoiding them).  We need to look at ourselves, our life styles and our homes to create energy efficiency and save our own energy usage.  here are some simple ways to do that.

• Have cable or satelite T.V. ?  Did you know that your boxes pull 50-80% of the energy they use when they are turned on as when they are turned off?  Yes, you read that right, they pull 50-80% as much energy sitting in stand-by.  Simply turning it off isn’t going to help, you have to turn them off at the plug.  Either unplug the box from the outlet or get a timer for that plug and have it turn it off in hours where you don’t use it.  Like the hours you are at work and the hours you are sleeping.  It is free to simply unplug it, so try plugging your box into an easily reached outlet and just unplug it when it is not in use.  Tie a ribbon or colored tape to the plug going to the box so you know exactly which one it is.
• Car pool or join a car pool to commute to work.  Take the bus, train or trax system if you can.  I don’t even drive down town any more, the trax and bus system get me to where ever I need to go when down town these days.
• Purchase a bicycle to get around when running local errands.  Yes, it is cold these days and snowy days aren’t the safest for a bike, but if the roads are clear, do your local errands on a bicycle.  When I first started doing this, I was always running around on my bike.  It doesn’t take but a few weeks of doing this that you become far more efficient with your errands and marketing to reduce the number of trips you have to make on a bike.  Better yet, the kids also start getting better about telling you what they need.  You only have to drag them out on their own bike to pick up their needed items a few times and they will get really good about keeping a list.
• Just like the box for your television, the energy pull is only reduced by computers, cell phone charges and the likes when they are on stand-by.  Unplug the lap top, the desk top computers, cell phone charges and every other electronic gadget you have when they are not in use.   They still pull on average between 10-25% of their energy usage while in standby position.
• Here is a strange idea, but it really worked and not only reduced my electric bill, but also my gas bill.  I put the hot water heater on a timer as well.  it kicks on and fires only 3 times per day now.  In the morning for showers, at night for showers and mid day for the dishwasher.  We have a 60 gallon water heater and have never run out of hot water since doing this.  I program the dishwasher to wash mid day and showers are taken in the morning and in the evening.  Have the hot water heater kick on 2 hours before these times.  No need to heat and keep the water heated when no one is home.
• Programable thermostat for the air conditioner and the heater.  Again, program them to work while you are home,  Do you really need to heat your home when no one is there?  Program the thermostat to kick on an hour before you get home, reduce the heat when you go to bed, warm it up an hour before you get up and turn off 1/2 hour after you leave.  That 1/2 hour is to accommodate times when you might be running late. 
• Seal your windows, doors, put insulation foam into all of your electrical outlets.  We even got special curtains that help keep the heat out in the summer, and another set for winter that helps keep the drafts out and the heat in.  I didn’t think they would really work, but they do.  it is amazing.
• Keep all your junk mail if you have a fireplace.  I have a high efficient fireplace with a blower.  I save up all the junk mail each week and sunday night we burn it all.  I roll them up with a paper log maker ($14 at a yard sale).  Anyhow, I roll them all up into logs, tie them with a cotton or jute string and save them in a woodbox till sunday.  It produces enough junk for me to keep a fire going for 5 hours on sunday.  This really shocked me that we get that much junk mail, but we do.  From November till the first of January due to holiday sale announcements, I can burn a fire from the junk mail for nearly 8 hours.
• You may not be able to afford it, but when I replaced the old refrigerator, oven and dishwasher, I was able to reduce my electricity.  I paid a little bit more, but got a double oven/stove unit.  I can use the smaller top one for most of my cooking.  If I happen to have a large turkey or roast, I use the larger lower one, but the small top oven section is perfect for about 90% of my baking needs.  No need to heat a whole oven for a batch of cookies.
• Only have the lights on that you really need.  I know, it is a given, but often times when I come home, there is a trail of lights on in the house.  I know which person is home based upon the trail of lights.  Sad but true, no matter how many times I say, TURN OF THE LIGHTS, it just doesn’t happen.  So here is how I encouraged everyone to turn lights off.  Every time I found lights left on, I removed one bulb from the socket.  If there is only one light in the area, they are in the dark.  You have to be firm, don’t give the light bulb back for a whole week.  You must remove the bulb when the lights are left on.  It took me a whole week to take all the light bulbs in my daughters bathroom (she has 10 lights in there).    She went an entire week with no lights, and well, it was an inconvenience to her.  More of an inconvenience than turning off the light switch.    Now this practice sometimes requires a revisit because people forget to turn off the lights, but don’t worry, don’t argue, simply take a bulb every time it isn’t turned off.  Trust me, a week in the dark does a far better job of teaching the importance of a light than yelling and arguing about turning them off when not in use.

There are lots of ways you can save energy, this should give you a good start. 

Leave some comments, let our readers know what you have done to reduce your energy usage and reduce your monthly bills.

Good news and bad news today.  The good news is that I have broken into the 130 pound range.  Bad news is that I went in today for my weekly check up and I have to go off of hCG for a minimum of 8 weeks.  Having hypoglycemia, I simply am not getting enough protein to maintain proper sugar levels and this week was the breaking point for my doctor.  I have maintained marginal levels this long, but my body simply isn’t able to maintain a high enough blood sugar level with so little protein. 

So, for the next 8 weeks I have to increase this, go off of my hCG and do what I can to maintain or try to lose using other methods.  One thing I have to say however is that the hCG diet has helped me cook with fresher ingredients.  I will be maintaining daily recipes of a fresh and healthy variety, but will not be loading more hCG diet menu and recipes during this time. 

I can resume my normal work outs in two days however as I will have the extra calories to burn which is really nice.

So in 20 days I managed to lose 23.8 pounds, 11 inches from my waist and went from a size 12 to a size 5.  This was really good progress and I honestly hope that I can maintain and or continue to lose over the next 8 weeks while I build back up my protein reserves so that I can do one more round of hCG.

Yummy, in the fall, this is a treasured smell coming from the kitchen.  Though now that fruits are being shipped around the world year round, you can make it all the time.  Swap the apples with any other dried fruit that you might like.  The recipe is basic enough to cook up even dried pineapple.  Pineapple muffins are really good sprinkled with coconut on top with macadamia nuts in the mix 🙂

Apple Muffin Mix

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup chopped dried apples
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Combine all ingredients.  This makes exactly one batch.  And you can substitute the apples for dried cherries, pears, apricots or any fruit you may want to substitute in to change the flavor.  In the fall I like to make this with dried cranberries.

Include the following note with this mix:

Add the mix with 1 egg, 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup butter.  Heat your oven to 400 degrees, Stir the mix just until moistened.  Fill your greased or lined muffin cups 3/4 full, sprinkle with bran flakes or rolled oats.  Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown.

For all those coffee drinkers in your life, here is a super simple recipe for flavored coffee creamer.  Best part is, you can swap out the candy you use based upon the time of year or the person you are giving it to.  Perhaps you are making it for yourself, you deserve a treat as well.

Buttermint Coffee Creamer Mix:

• 1/2 cup powdered non dairy creamer
• 1/2 cup buttermints, run through the coffee grinder till it is a nice powder
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 cups powdered milk

Mix all ingredients thoroughly, place into your gift containers, or any container you might like.  I normally place 1/2 cup mixture in a zip type bag, place into a mug and tie the whole thing up in decorative tissue paper. 

At Christmas, swap out the buttermint for ground up candy canes or peppermint candy.  Butterfinger candy bar, snickers even milky way work great as well.  Just make sure if using anything covered in chocolate that you mix it in a blender where you can also add the confectioners sugar while blending.  You only have to not do this once to know why it is important.

Woo hoo all my fellow hCG sliders.  I hope today welcomed you as a loser again.  We have a treat for the belly today. 

Breakfast:

Start with the usual coffee or tea, make your 1/2 gallon pitcher of green tea and 1/2 gallon pitcher of water.

Lunch:

Veal Steak with Salsa Verde

• 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, rough chopped
• zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, rough chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh sage, rough chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, rough chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• dash onion powder
• dash celery salt
• 100 grams Veal

In the blender, combine all ingredients except for the veal, puree, pour into a bowl and set in the refrigerator.  Wrap your veal steak up in foil,  I like to put an ancho chile in the foil, but you can’t eat it, just cook with it.  Make sure your veal is really wet.  Bake in the oven until done.  You can pan cook it if you prefer. 

When your veal is done, arrange it on your plate, spread your salsa verde around it, dip your steak in it, eat slowly and enjoy.

Snack:

• One orange
• 1 breadstick or 2 melba toast squares

Dinner:

Chicken Enchilada Salad

• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 small bunch of frisee lettuce or any other serving of greens
• 100 grams chicken, cubed

Combine all ingredients except your greens, add your cubed chicken, wrap in foil and cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until your chicken is fully cooked.  Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly.  Pour mixture over your greens, eat slowly and enjoy.

Snack:

• 1 medium apple, cored
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Place cored apple in a microwavable bowl, fill with 1/2 cup of water.  In the center where you removed the core, sprinkle all of your spices.  Place in the microwave and cook on high for 10-15 minutes depending upon your desired softness in the end.  Eat slowly and enjoy.

Hope the scale greets you in the morning with a beautiful weight loss.

I have really been craving a stew, so today we are going to have a stew and some nice white fish.

Breakfast:

Start with your usual coffee or tea, make your 1/2 gallon pitcher of tea and 1/2 gallon pitcher of water.  Today, drink in front of a window and enjoy the morning.

Lunch:

Veal and Fennel Ragout

• 100 grams of veal, cooked and diced
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
• salt and pepper to taste
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• dash onion powder
• dash garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
• 3 cups water

Grind up your fennel seeds with your salt and pepper, place all ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a rolling boil and reduce heat, simmer for about 20 minutes or until fennel is tender. 

Eat slowly and enjoy.

Snack:

• 1 handful of strawberries, sliced thinly
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• few sprigs of mint leaves, minced
• stevia if you like it.

Mix all ingredients, eat slowly and enjoy all the weight you are losing.

Dinner:

White Fish and Cucumber Salad

• 1 tablespoon organic apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 whole grain mustard
• 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• 1 serving cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons whole fresh basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced or run through press
• dash celery salt
• juice of 1/2 lemon with zest
• salt and pepper to taste
• 100 grams white fish (I am using up the last of my bass)

In a ceramic bowl, combine all ingredients except for the fish, mix well and set aside.  Prepare your fish, cooking until it is done.  Place your marinade mixture on your plate, put your fish on top of it, eat slowly and enjoy.

Snack:

• 1 medium apple
• 1 breadstick or 2 melba toast squares

I hope you enjoyed the menu today, see all you losers tomorrow.