Love Apple Crisp? Read on....

There's no denying that fall has FINALLY reached the fiery depths of Arizona :) This morning when I went out for my mile walk (yay!) I was so chilly that I had to go back in and add another shirt! Unless you live in Arizona and understand the HEAT we deal with, you have no idea how insanely wonderful it was to have to put on a long sleeve shirt this morning.

True to my word in my prev. post, I went for a one mile walk, ate a healthy breakfast, and have been drinking my water and eating right all day :)

But all day I was thinking about how much I miss making caramel apples and having warm apple crisp on these perfectly wonderful fall days. As soon as I thought about it, I instantly knew where to look to get my fall goody fix WITHOUT running to the trick-or-treater's bowl of candy :) My FAVORITE WLS blog- The World According To Eggface

She has the best most amazing recipes that are specialized for people who have had weight loss surgery, or heck...for anyone who loves good but healthy food.

I decided to giver her Shelly's Apple Cherry Crumb a try, only making it more customized. I'm a seriously picky eater and don't like to experiment with flavor combinations and stuff.

So here is my version re-named Caramel Apple Crumble. Let me warn you, this will make your house smell SO amazingly delicious! I also tried to come up w/the nutritional stats, they're at the bottom.

Caramel Apple Crumble- by Stephanie (to view Shelly's original recipe, click on the link above as this is MY variation):

Ingredients:

*3 large granny smith apples peeled, cored, and sliced thin (I don't like cherries and apples so I used more apples)

*3 TBS Sugar Free Caramel Torani syrup (I wanted a more caramel-y flavor)

*2 tsp cinnamon ( I love cinnamon too much to use just a dash)

After the apples are peeled and sliced, put them in a small sauce pan over low heat.

Add the Caramel syrup and the cinnamon and mix well.

Cook over low heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until apples are starting to get a little soft.


While that is cooking, make the topping.



TOPPING Ingredients:


*1/3 cup raw almonds

*1/3 cup oatmeal (I used steel cut oats)

*sprinkle of cloves, sprinkle of nutmeg, and a large sprinkle of cinnamon (I didn't have apple pie spice, if you do just use 1/2 tsp. instead)

*1 TBS Sugar Free Caramel Torani syrup

*2 TBS almond butter (I tried 1 and it wasn't clumpy enough)

*1 TBS butter substitute (I rarely use real butter)

Finely chop almonds. I used a knife because I don't have food processor, but if you do, that would probably work better.

Then add all of the other topping ingredients and blend together in a mixer or processor.

Spoon apples into 4 oven safe dishes.

Sprinkle topping mix evenly over each dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sit back and bask in the heavenly aroma of apples, cinnamon, and caramel.

NUTRITION FACTS (approx.):

For 1 of the 4 dishes-

Calories= 224

Total Fat= 10g (there are a lot of nuts)
Sodium= 32 mg

Carbs= 33g
Protein= 6 grams (yay!)

So there you go! A delicious dessert that really helps take the edge off of cravings for apple crisp and caramel apples.

Let me know if you try making this and if you make any variations that you like a lot :)

Let's Re-Cap, Shall We?

OK sorry, been going through chaos lately...here's what's been happening:

*Oct. 16th I got my 3rd fill, I am up to 8 CCs in an 11 CC band (yikes). Am I worried? YES! I still do not feel ANY restriction...WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?! I know everyone is different and it takes a different amount for different people...bla bla bla bla bla, I KNOW. But come on :( this is not going so smoothly for me.

My Dr. said that my next fill she'll do under florescent so that we can make sure I don't have a leak or that my band has slipped or anything. I'm also going to ask her about this replacement for saline called "xray contrast fluid." I was checking the LapBandTalk boards (more on that in a minute) and another bandster had/has the exact same situation as me, 8 CCs in an 11 CC band and no restriction, so her dr took out all her saline and replaced it with that contrast fluid and she said now she has perfect restriction, so idk, but I'm going to find out what that's about.

On a somewhat positive note, I did another 5k. I'm a little discouraged because I thought I could do the full 10K, but I couldn't :( In all reality, of course I couldn't, that's over 6 miles! Just a month ago I could hardly do one mile, what on earth made me think I could do over 6 in less than a month? So I set myself up for disappointment. And my mom, dad, and husband keep telling me I didn't fail and I'm not a loser, but I still kind of feel like it. I know it's irrational and I should be super proud of the 5K, but I just feel like I should have been able to do 10. Oh well, I know I'll get there, right? Next weekend I have another 5K to do for Juvenile Diabetes. I'll post pics, I don't have any from this last one. Oh yeah...and SHE ----->
can bite me.

Now let's talk about how STUPID I've been lately. And normally I wouldn't even DARE to admit this to everyone, but I HAVE to be honest and take responsibility for me serious lack of common sense! Here are the serious mistakes I've made this month that I highly encourage everyone else NOT to make:

Mistake #1- Do NOT buy the large party size bag of peanut butter M&Ms when you're craving them and tell yourself that you can control yourself to only eat 1/8th of a cup of them at a time (that's like 10 m&ms)...because guess what...you'll eat the whole damn bag in 4 days.

Mistake #2- Do NOT go out and buy ANOTHER bag of peanut butter M&Ms after having previously make mistake #1 and try to tell yourself that it's because they're Halloween colors and are really just for decoration in your glass pumpkin candy dish, but you won't eat them. Why is this a bad idea? Because you WILL eat them.

Mistake #3- When inviting your parents (2 people) over for movie night and you want to provide a dessert (that you know only 1 of them will eat) do NOT buy enough Reeses and Heath Klondike bars for 12 people. I know, who would have thought that I would spend every waking second of the next 2 days doing nothing but thinking about those damn Klondike bars and then go on a mad ice cream binging rampage leaving nothing but foil wrappers littering the counter? Crazy, huh? Who'da thunk it?

Mistake #4- When you're at Costco buying all your healthy food in bulk, do NOT stop over in the Halloween section and decide that now (2 weeks BEFORE Halloween) is the perfect time to buy the 10 lb bag of candy to pass out to trick-or treaters. And why is that kids? Oh...right....because the candy won't ever make it to the trick-or-treaters bags! Poor little trick-or-treaters. :(

So...is it really any surprise that I'm not losing any weight this month? I think the bigger surprise is that I'm not gaining any!

SOLUTION TIME-
So I'm back to the drawing board. I'm going to write this month prior to today off as "What the hell where you thinking?" and move on to "I'm so over that!" Starting tomorrow I'm back in the saddle with my new found knowledge and re-affirmed motivation.

Let's review the basics that have been thrown out the window:
*1 to 2 cups of food per meal
*NO drinking 30 minutes BEFORE and 30 minutes AFTER a meal, and CERTAINLY not during!
*PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN!
*8 glasses of water per day! Not 1!
*A veggie with at least 2 of the 3 meals
*NO NO NO NO NO NO NO ice cream or candy (I'll allow myself later, but right now I need to get re-focused)

I've also decided that I need to get back to my online support at LapBandTalk.com and read up on success stories and people who are going through the same thing as me. This entire blog was inspired by the bandster who said she's lost 96 lbs in 6 months!! CRAP!


I can do this I can do this I can do this I can do this I can do this I can do this!! AND I WILL :D

See...I feel better already :)
BRING ON TOMORROW!!!!