Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Basil and Pine Nuts

My hubby and I tried this recipe out at Thanksgiving last year and we liked it so much, we brought some to a family dinner. I thought it was time that I started using this blog more, and figured this was a great new post - sharing this recipe with all of you! it is a Weight Watchers recipe so I made sure to share all information, including point value per serving.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Basil and Pine Nuts
PointsPlus® Value: 2
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

See the recipe online here:
http://www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=378391

Shredding and briefly sautéing the Brussels sprouts maximizes their crunchy texture and nutty flavor. It’s a terrific side dish to poultry or fish.

Ingredients
2 pound(s) uncooked Brussels sprouts, ends and brown outer leaves trimmed
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 medium uncooked shallot(s), minced
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup(s) basil, fresh, minced
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
8 tsp pine nuts, toasted

Instructions
1. Working in batches, place Brussels sprouts in a food processor and pulse until shredded. If you don’t have a food processor, thinly slice using a mandolin. Or using a knife, halve each Brussels sprout and then thinly slice it lengthwise.
2. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add shallots and cook, stirring frequently, 1 minute. Add Brussels sprouts and sauté until leaves are bright green and inner sections soften slightly, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, basil, salt and pepper; garnish with pine nuts and serve. Yields about 1 cup Brussels sprouts and 1 teaspoon pine nuts per serving.

Staying on track

It's been slow going, but I've been steadily losing at least 1lb a week. The one thing I've learned is that slow and steady is a good thing with weight loss. If its lost this way, it tends to stay away and I intend to keep with that trend.

To that end, I did a search and found a weight loss simulator at Model My Diet which gives you a few options to change the color of your swimsuit, the type, and your starting and goal weight. Below is the image I'll be using to help me stay focused to my goal:

This image is based off my current weight and not my starting weight. I think that in the grand scheme of things, the difference wouldn't make any real noticeable change to the image.

There is another simulator I found that I want to eventually try, but it requires that I have an actual photo of myself. If anyone happens to visit Weight Mirror and tries it out before I do, could you let me know what you think?

As always, thanks for letting me share and good luck with your own weight loss and health goals!

Progress

Last week I emailed my interim doctor and told him that I thought it was time for me to have my A1C checked. I asked him to please order the test so that I could go in the following day on my day off. My A1C results went down by a whole percentage point! My doctor wants me to get it below 7%, so I'm now .2% away from that goal.

He did decided to have me start taking a whole pill rather than a half a pill twice daily. I debated on ignoring that and just trying to take the pill as I'm supposed to, but my husband made the good point that I shouldn't stress myself out too much and just take it as the doctor suggests. If I end up taking it as often as I'm currently doing so, then I end up taking the original prescribed amount. If I get better at it, then it will only benefit me more.

It seems to be doing so. This morning I got right on track and took my pill before breakfast. I then made sure to take my other medication as I ate. Right before lunch, I checked my blood sugar and was shocked at the result. Before meals the suggested range for people with diabetes should be 70 to 130.

I tested my blood before lunch and it was 84!! Its never been that low before! This will be the meal today that I won't take any medication before, so it will be interesting to see what my blood sugar results will be.

Finally some improvement

I was diagnosed Type II Diabetic about two years ago. Its been a bit of a struggle for me because my family and culture eat a lot of carb heavy foods and I've always been someone who has had a difficult time remembering to take medication. An even harder time when I have to take medication on a specific schedule. Because I haven't been doing it as I should, a few months ago my doctor prescribed me an additional medication that I need to take with the ones I'd already been prescribed. This particular pill has to be taken a half hour before my meal. The problem with this is that I don't have a set time that I eat meals (I know, I need to have one) and often I don't know that I'll be eating in a half hour.

The past few days I've done my best to take this pill. I've been sucessful at least once a day a few times a week so far because I've been taking it just as I pick up my husband from work. Usually by the time we get home and a salad is prepared its been a half hour.

When I was only taking one medication for my blood sugar, no matter how well I did during the day and at dinner, my blood sugar levels were always too high for fasting. This morning, for the first time ever, my blood sugar was within the suggest fasting range. It was near the top, but it was still within the range.

I'm also wondering if the pill might be helping with my appetite or if its just having my sugars starting to be in the suggest range, but I'm also not feeling the urge to eat as much at dinner time as I normally feel the need for.

I think this weekend is going to be one of the ultimate tests because tomorrow is my RDO and we are also having our weekly get together's for game night. There tends to be a fair amount of snacking on these days. I should make sure to have my food tracker handy at all times and see how things work out.