Remember the days when Friday night meant a sub and some hot wings?

No? Well look that was just my reality then. It was pizza, hot wings, a steak sub, something. Cuz it was FRIDAAAAAAY!

Well today is Saturday and I'm here to tell you that YES even this food can be made WLS friendly.

My good friend Debbie hosted the event today with the theme "sub shop favorites"

This is a picture of the "Pouch Party" duo--me and my good friend and partner Jen. Up until now Jen has been behind the scenes. But since she's so awesomely AWESOME I am glad she was front and center with me.

In Jen's hand is some fiber one crumbs she was making for an "interactive" demo. In my hands was my fave kitchen utensil--the blender! For the protein shake demo.

I am proud of myself. I didn't "Paris Hilton" so much in this pic. :)

Moving right aloing...here are all the things we made together:

Philly Cheesesteak Eggs Rosettes
Philly Cheesesteak crustless quiches
Orange Creamsicle Protein Shake
Buffalo chicken dip

And here is Nessa perfecting her eggs rosettes technique. For this party, we did Philly Cheesesteak Eggs Rosettes (used deli roast beef for the cups and add to the eggs onions, green peppers, and provolone cheese). Nessa gave this dish two thumbs up!

This is Sandy, a friend of our hostess Debbie. She is post-op and really enjoyed making high-fiber mozzarella sticks.

Those things are so yummy. My kids and even my "I only eat PB&J and chicken nuggets" stepson likes them. Good fall back food for a cold day or a snack when you are watching a movie.

And just in case you were wondering what the mozzarella sticks look like going into the oven...

See what you're missing America???

Won't you book your Pouch Party today? You could do one after the New Year and we'll show you how to keep those resolutions in the yummiest ways possible!

Debbie is in PA and wants to do another party in January/February. If you are interested in that one, or hosting a party of your own, hit us up!

For those of you who could not make it to the party, I am going to give you the recipe for the Philly Cheesesteak Eggs Rosettes. Want all the recipes from this or any other party? Book a party and they are yours!

Philly Cheesesteak Eggs Rosettes

Ingredients:

Thin sliced, low-sodium, low-fat roast beef

1/2 c. Egg Beaters

3 slices of Provolone cheese, sliced into cubes

1/2 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. chopped green pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Sautee onions and peppers in a sprayed pan until the veggies get a slight crust on them. Set aside

2. Spray a muffin tin (medium sized) and in each muffin compartment, place a piece of roast beef and press down so that the beef has a slight overhang over the muffin tin. Place another piece on top of that. Your finished product should look "flowery."

3. Pour egg mixture into each rosette, about half filling each.

4. Bake in a 350 oven for 15 minutes.

You can top with many different things. My new preference? Ranch dip made with Greek yogurt!

Again, hit us up if you want to have your own "sub shop favorites" party (We have tons more recipes besides the above). Remember that we do travel (to a certain extent). Hope to party with you soon!

Viva Italia!

And we're BACK! I'm so happy too...I was starting to lose hope that this was, in fact, a good idea. But my friend Nessa helped me find my way back to the light. She was our hostess this month and she chose a wonderful theme....Italian!



So let's start at the beginning. Here are some of our pouchers, all lined up nicely and ready to learn! Kidding! I truly believe that I learn as much from pouchers as they ever could hope to learn from me. But I did dig Nessa's set-up. Usually I am facing folks "cooking show" style. This way felt much more like...we're all sitting at the table and Nik's cooking and we're just having a good time.


This is Nessa. Here she is showing us how she browns ground beef with her "meat smoosher" (or whatever that thing is called...I want one!) while I show how to properly slice a zucchini to make no-noodle lasagna.

These two gals were a BALL! I am horrible with names so I THINK the lady in blue is Kim (forgive me if I got that wrong...I adore you just the same!). Anyway, she was my de facto "helper"--she doled out whippage for the demo protein shake and made sure my onions and peppers did not burn. Thank you dah-ling...MWAH!

And this is me clearly showing off. I can't help it...you point a camera at me and I go all Paris Hilton!

So the dishes we made together were:

-Espresso protein shake

-Pesto Tuna Salad

-No-noodle red lasagna

For tasting the pouchers got:

-Nik's magic meatballs w/ dip

-Italian 3-bean salad

-No-noodle white lasagna

-Mocha protein pudding

...And of course there were the goodie bags. I did a variety of bags that included things like Skinny Water, low-carb cookies, Isopure protein drinks, vitamin holders, Kay's Naturals chips, vitamin samples, etc. We also had a drawing for a BIG prize basket that included: protein powder samples, Power PB (peanut butter), Ostrim Jerky, a shaker bottle, an MP3 player, a pedometer and a load of other stuff that I can't remember at the present but it was big and good. I think I have a pic of it somewhere. Once I find it I'll post it.

A good time was had by all! We are back in full swing here at PP! If you are interested in hosting your own party, hit me up! It's easy and fun and I guarantee you will walk away with at least one piece of knowledge you did not have before. I know I did!

Bring a Pouch Party to a kitchen near YOU!

I just want to clear up one thing right here, right now blogoverse...I am NOT averse to doing Pouch Parties outside of Maryland. I get messages from folks saying how they'd love to have this experience but they don't live in MD. Well, here's a tip: if you're willing to get enough folks together to have a party...I could come to you! I'm crazy like that! Hit me up! It may be a real possibility.

I thought I'd give my little spiel on why this is so important to me. Pre-op I hated to cook. My children and I did the carry-out, pizza night, carry-out schedule. Imagine my surprise post-op that I actually like to cook! Am interested in nutrition! I spend hours reading labels, comparing nutritional stats, finding the very best ingredients, the most beneficial recipes, not only for myself but because I don't want anyone out there who has had WLS to feel like they'll never eat well again! I truly believe I've been given this gift to share it with other people.

So seriously...if you're interested in having a party and you're willing to help make it happen...let me know...it may not be impossible.

Something the April Pouchers *didn't* get to taste...

I generally tend to only show recipes with stuff that people can get from their local supermarkets. This is a bit of a science experiment.

It's made with Carbalose flour, a low-carb, high-fiber flour that you can use just like white flour. The brand I used is called Carbquik (like a low-carb "Bisquik.")

This lovely little pancake is "regular people sized" and is about 21 calories, 1 net gram of carbs. And it was delicious. On top is some Blue Bonnet Light (40 calories for 1 tbsp, I used 1/2 tbsp) and some Smucker's sugar free breakfast syrup (40 calories for 1/4 c. I used about 2 tbsp which would 1/8 c.). This...a coupla slices of turkey bacon...one could fool oneself into thinking they had a "normal" stomach. Almost.

Want to taste this and other num, num, nummy breakfast stuff? Consider hosting a breakfast or brunch Pouch Party! Hit me up if you are interested!

Breakfast for Dinner!

Ok, so I lied just a little bit. I did not serve the frozen hot chocolate at this month's party...I served this instead:

What is that? It is a Click Frappucino and it's yuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmeeeeeeee....

Ok, so you weren't at the party. Cuz maybe you live too far away or maybe the warm day drew you outside. There really is no excuse but I will give you the recipe anyways.

Click Frappucino

8 oz. skim milk, 2 scoops Click protein, 1/2 scoop Body Fortress vanilla whey, 1 oz. Torani sugar free hazelnut syrup, 1 tbsp Splenda, 6 ice cubes.

Directions: Put it in a blender and whiz it. Top with whipped cream...sip...die...go to heaven...

This drink was VERY well received. So much so that my guests requested that I make a second drink later in the evening. "This does not taste like a protein shake at all," sayeth Lee, my faithful gym buddy and Pouch Party loyalist.

So the other one I do not have a pic of...but pics of protein shakes aren't that interesting. I'll just tell you about it. I call it a "protein mudslide."

Ingredients: 8 oz. skim milk, 1 scoop Body Fortress cookies 'n creme whey, 1 tbsp sugar free chocolate pudding mix, 1 tbsp Splenda, 1 oz. Davinci sugar free kahlua syrup.

Directions: put it in a blender and whiz it...pour in festive glass...top with whipped cream...mistakenly think you are at Applebees and wonder why nobody is bussing your table.

Moving right along...

So next we learned to make breakfast sausage. I got a few raised eyebrows on this one. I mean, why make breakfast sausage when Mr. Dean makes them so well? Well...because with homemade you get to control what goes in it AND how big your sausage patties are. Plus it's cool to say you made your own breakfast sausage. All this was toward the pursuit of making one of the most popular breakfast things that I make. The "Egg NikMuffin." We don't need no stinking arches ;-)
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Ok, so my girl Shelly (a.k.a. Eggface) makes these little crustless quiches that she calls bites. I had to demo the bites because they are goooooooooooood. So we did three kinds: Maryland bites (crab meat and Old Bay...keepin' it simple), Bacon/cheese bites, and ham/cheese bites (both with onions and green pepper in them). I wanted mushrooms in the ham/cheese bite but I got vetoed. I hate when that happens. Anyway...above is Renae mixing up her Maryland bites.

And here is a picture of the Bacon/cheese and ham/cheese bites. The Maryland bites...um...they didn't make it...


These are very yummy and ridiculously low cal. Check out more bite recipes on Eggface's super duper blog!

So anyone who has been to a Pouch Party thus far knows I'm all about giving away free stuff. This month's goodie bag featured the following (starting at 6 o'clock and going clockwise):

• 3 oz. Torani sugar free hazelnut syrup
• A South Beach Living cereal bar
• A South Beach Living nut snack mix pack
• 25 calorie Swiss Miss packet
• Baskin Robbins sugar free hard candy
• Soy nuts
• 1/2 scoop of Body Fortress chocolate whey powder (in the thingie that looks like lip gloss)

So that's that! My guests chose as the next party theme Mexican Fiesta! The party will be the last Saturday in May (and I'm too lazy to look the date up, ok????)

New Pouch Party e-mail and April Pouch Party info!

If you're interested in attending or hosting a Pouch Party, there is a new e-mail address: pouchparty@gmail.com! Send it there for the fastest response.

The April Pouch Party info is as follows:

Date: Saturday, April 25th
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: E-mail for details
Cost: $10 (this is to cover food and you get oodles of leftovers)
Theme: Breakfast Food!

We'll cover recipes for each kind of breakfast person, including the:

• "I don't have time for breakfast" person
• Donut/pastry breakfast person
• Cereal/oatmeal breakfast person
• "I like a cooked breakfast" person

If you're pre-op, this is a great opportunity to see how you'll eventually eat post-op (including portion sizes), talk to post-ops and ask food questions! Hit me up if you plan to attend.

See you at the Pouch Party!

Protein frozen hot chocolate recipe

The April pouch party guests will get to sample this, along with some other tasty protein shake recipes!

Protein frozen hot chocolate

8 oz. cold skim milk
1 packet Diet Swiss Miss (25 calorie kind)
1 scoop whey protein (I use this)
1 tbsp of sugar free chocolate syrup (Torani or Davinci so as not to add any more calories) or 4 packets of Splenda
4 oz. water
5-6 ice cubes

Directions:

Put it in a blender and whiz it! Serve in a nice glass with a squirt of fat free or sugar free whipped cream. It makes a very large shake, so if you can't drink that much, cut the milk down to 4 oz. and only use 2-3 ice cubes.

Wanna taste it? Come to my next pouch party! Hit me up for details.

Comfort Eating!

Welcome everyone to the Pouch Party blog!


What is a pouch party?


Long story short: I had RNY gastric bypass in January 2008. At that time my relationship with food totally changed. At first, like most new pre-ops I struggled with eating. I didn't like protein powder much, got sick of eating just a handful of foods. So I started experimenting, reading, buyign cookbooks and cooking!


Fast forward to today...I have lost 150 lbs. while a variety eating good, nutritious, protein packed, HEALTHY foods. Sitting in support group every month I would listen to other new pre-ops with the same struggles. I'd give them recipes but it can all be very overwhelming at first. So I thought...wouldn't it be great to have a cooking demonstration to show people how some simple substitutions can change your whole eating plan? Thus the pouch party was born!


This will be the place to check out the latest pouch party. See who came, what we made, get some recipes and find information on upcoming pouch parties!

If you'd like to host a pouch party at your home, feel free to e-mail me and I can give you information on how get set up for it.


Our first party was in February and the theme was comfort food. On the menu:

"Not Quite Carbonara"

Can you believe there is no pasta in this dish!!! It's actually my secret Italian comfort food weapon...spaghetti squash!!! This dish is so good even my stepdad (a staunch defender of white carbs) ate it all and didn't notice that it wasn't real pasta.

Taco Casserole

This is a fave in my household. For me I eat it as is, but for the kids I serve it with a portion of whole grain tortilla chips for dipping! This was by far the favorite dish that we made.

Curried Lentils

This is a personal favorite comfort food. Warm, inviting, perfect for a cold day inside.

Bacon-Cheeseburger mini-meatloaves

I gotta give shouts to my girl Eggface, whose blog features a million and recipes including many mini-meatloaves, which is where I drew my inspiration for this one! I make mine in a cupcake tin rather than a mini-loaf pan but it's still yummy!

Protein Balls

These are just like little donut holes...except no sugar, less calories, more filling and packed with protein! This recipe was passed on by a good friend who has her own blog where she keeps good recipes and much more!

Just so you know this wasn't all stuff I made in my own, kitchen, here are some party shots:

These are my support group friends Lee and Yasmin. Lee doesn't even look like he ever needed weight loss surgery does he? Darn men!

Who's that jokester??? That's my daughter Annikki. She wasn't an "official" guest...but she was so darn cute I had to put her in anyway! My friend Pat from support group also came but she did not wish to be photographed (you are beautiful Pat!) so she served as our photographer for the evening. Thank you!

And my BEAUTIFUL mother hosted the event at her house...isn't she the picture of a Nubian goddess?

And by the way here's me:

I looked soooo ratty by the end of it all. I really am a babe...really...LOL!

So the tradition is that the next party's theme is decided by that night's guests. My guests came up with a Breakfast food theme for the next party, which will be on April 25th. Hit me up to get on the invite list.

All my guests got the complete list of recipes for the dishes made that evening. For visiting, I'm going to share with you the recipe for the carbonara. It is soooo good.

Happy cooking!