Pesto Salad Pizza

***Updated 5/3/13 to reflect NS approved cauliflower crust recipe changes***

My love affair with salad on pizza started in elementary school. Every Friday was "Pizza Day". For two bucks, you'd get two slices of pizza and a pile of salad with ranch dressing. I'd ignore the confused/disgusted stares as I piled the salad onto the slice and devoured it. Man, I loved Fridays when I was a kid....

Fast forward many, many years. I'd forgotten all about the salad pizza stuff until my husband and I went out to eat at California Pizza Kitchen. They had two pizzas that had salad on them. Instantly I was transported back to gradeschool. I HAD to have them. The first was a pear and Gorgonzola pizza with hazelnuts, topped with spring mix tossed with a blue cheese ranch dressing. The second was a "California Cobb" pizza with chicken, bacon and topped with shredded iceberg tossed with mayonnaise and topped with a fan of avocado slices. 

They were my favorite treat for a long time. Then they discontinued the first, then the second. While this was good news for my waistband and wallet, it made my heart sad. 

I figured out how to copy the Pear and Gorgonzola pizza, but can't have it on the Medifast plan. I do plan on doing a healthy version once I'm on maintenance, but for now we'll just focus on what I CAN have on-plan.

I decided to make a pesto pizza, and realized that I didn't have any other veggies to top my pizza but lettuce. So I decided to make it into a salad pizza so that I meet my Lean and Green guidelines. And it turned out spectacular!

Pesto Salad Pizza

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 cup grated cauliflower (2 green)
1/4 cup egg beaters (1/8 lean)
3/8 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella (6g fat/oz) (3/8 lean)


Pesto:
1/2 cup basil (1/2 condiment)
1 tbsp Parmesan cheese (1 condiment)
1 clove of garlic (1 condiment)

1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella (1/2 lean)

Salad:
1 cup shredded Iceberg lettuce (1 green)
1 tbsp Walden Farms Ranch Dressing (1/2 condiment)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a 1/4 sheet cake pan with parchment paper.

Grate 1 cup of cauliflower and place in a medium-sized bowl. Add 1/4 cup egg beaters, 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese. Mix with a spoon and spread on the parchment. Spread it as thin as possible, avoiding holes in the mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. The crust will be browned and look a bit like a quiche looks on the top.

Meanwhile, pulse the basil, garlic and parmesan in food processor. With the lack of olive oil, the resulting pesto will be a bit grainy rather than smooth like true pesto, but I'm okay with that. I actually prefer it! Remove the baked crust from the oven, spread pesto over the crust and sprinkle 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella on top. 

Return the pizza to the oven under the broiler (500 degrees) until the cheese melts and is bubbly (this happens FAST so watch it carefully!!!)

While the cheese is melting, in a small bowl toss the shredded lettuce with the Walden Farms Ranch dressing. Set aside. 

Remove from the pizza from the oven, cut into six slices, top with the salad and enjoy!

Recipe makes 1 serving.


L&G Calculations:
1 Lean
3 Green
3 Condiments

Laughing Cow Cheese and Other Yummy Stuff

I'm constantly trying to find the Medifast Nutrition Support answer for where Laughing Cow Cheese and other yummy extras fit in to the Medifast plan. And, of course, I never write it down. Then I have to go googling again the next time I want to use it. So here's the info that Nutrition Support has posted on the Medifast boards about Laughing Cow and other things they don't have on the quick start guide but are okay on the Medifast plan. I will be updating this post periodically and adding to the list when I come across things I want a quick reference to.

Laughing Cow:

1 wedge Laughing Cow Cream Cheese = 1 fat serving
1 wedge Original Laughing Cow cheese = 1 fat serving
2 wedges Laughing Cow Light varieties = 1 fat serving
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light (a flavor with 1 g carb/wedge) = 1 condiment
1 piece Mini Babybel, Light (Original) = 1 fat serving.
10 pieces (approximately 47 grams) Laughing Cow Light Gourmet Cheese Bites = 1 fat serving

Kraft Free Singles:

1 slice = 2 condiments (The sodium content is quite high, be careful using them)

Majestic Garlic - Cilantro:

1 tsp = 1 condiment
Link to post

Celery Pasta:

Can use the 3 ribs as your optional snack in addition to the 3 green servings!

Lean Serving Calculations:

(Copied/Pasted straight from Nutrition Support Message boards, Posting by Meredith, MS, CPT)
For any item to qualify as a Lean portion, the calculated serving size should be between 250 – 300 calories, <15 grams of carbohydrates, and >25 grams of protein. For the day, you want to stay between 10 – 34 grams of fat, and as recommended by the American Heart Association (AHA): under 2,300 mg of sodium (unless other health issues such as hypertension, etc. are present). If this calculated serving size provides between 0 – 4 grams of fat, you may add 2 healthy fat servings to your item. If it provides 5 – 9 grams of fat, you may add 1 healthy fat serving, and >10 you add no healthy fat servings.

Condiment vs. Healthy Fat Calculations:

(Copied and pasted straight from Nutrition Support Message boards, Posting by Meredith, MS, CPT)
To sum up, the serving of an item that is equal to 1 gram of carbohydrate can count as 1 condiment option. The serving of an item that is ~5 grams of fat and <6 grams of carbohydrates can count as one healthy fat option.

What to do if you run out of Medifast meals before your next shipment:

(Copied and pasted straight from Nutrition Support Message boards, posting by Meredith, MS, CPT)
However, if you are completely out of food, a 'temporary' (up to 1 week) solution to best try and keep your body in fat burning would be to consume 3, 4-ounce Lean & Green meals along with 1, low-fat dairy option. Either a 5 & 1 or a 4 & 2 may be appropriate options to follow while you still have access to food.

My Week In Review: Week 8

Total pounds lost: 35.5
Total inches lost: 18.5

Pounds lost this week: 0.6

Inches lost this week: 1.5

Weight Loss Stall

I went into a stall this week. From Friday of last week on, I didn't lose an ounce. In fact, I gained a pound! I racked my brain trying to figure out where I'd screwed up. Yeah, we'd eaten out a couple times, but I'd tried my hardest to select items on-plan (salads with grilled chicken, no cheese, sauce on the side). Other than that, I know I was on plan 100%. 

The big difference was that I'd increased my exercise routine. I'd been doing 15-20 minutes of walking, every day since week 3, increasing the mph I was walking. This week I'd bumped it up to 30 minutes per day.

After searching the Medifast discussion boards, it appeared that the exercise might be the culprit. The Medifast Nutrition Support/Personal Trainers said that you can over-exercise and send yourself into conservation/starvation mode. Symptoms include being hungry, tired, irritable. 

Ding ding ding! We have a winner. I decided to cut back on the exercise (doing it every other day vs every day) and bumped up my water intake from 64 oz to 128 oz/day to try and help break the stall. Thursday morning, a two pound loss on the scale.

*Queue angels singing*

I still find it hard to believe that I was over-exercising. I felt great, in fact, working out daily. I was just depressed with the scale not budging/going in the wrong direction. But when you think about it, Medifast keeps you at about 800 calories. My workout was burning 200, leaving my body just 600 calories to work with. Thinking about it that way, it makes total sense that my body was in starvation mode.

Going forward, I'll be working out just every other day until the weight loss tapers down, then I'll bump it up slowly.

(I worked out Thursday evening, apparently still too much, because I was up this morning a bit. ) :(

Making Mistakes

I learned something this week: don't ever, EVER, EVER trust that something on a menu is healthy unless you check the nutrition guidelines. Yeah, this seems like common sense. This hit home for me when I ate out with my kids for lunch yesterday. I ordered my usual, steamed veggies with a double order of teriyaki chicken, sauce on the side (my kids love the sauce, so I give it to them to put on their rice), and pick out the carrots from the veggies (for some reason my kids won't eat these... o.O) 

I have ordered this meal from Panda Express probably once or twice a month since starting Medifast. I was tentative the first time I ordered it, but my scale moved in the right direction the next day, so I figured it was fine. I weighed out the chicken the first time to see how much it was - nearly 9 oz of chicken! I gave 3 oz to the kids. Never once did I think to check the nutrition facts. I knew the sauce they marinated it in probably was a little off-plan, but how bad could it possibly be? it's not like it's swimming in sauce.

So yesterday after devouring my lunch, I decided to check the nutrition facts. *Queue horrified scream here*

The veggies were 70 calories, with over half of that from fat. The chicken? 250 calories a portion (and I had a double portion - 3oz)! Granted, I'm guessing that was including the sauce they drench the chicken in, but still. Holy. Moly. 

I totally screwed myself. I was in a stall as it was, and now I had completely blown it. After breathing into a paper bag for a while, I jumped on the Medifast message boards and posted my screw up. Within minutes I had a bunch of people just like me telling me not to skip my meals and that I would be okay. Forgive myself for making the mistake, chalk it up to a learning experience and move on.  If you're doing Medifast and haven't found the boards yet, DO. They are AMAZING!

I had already vowed not to let it derail me from my plan (although PE is dead to me now. lol). But it was so reassuring to know I wasn't alone and that I'd survive and it was okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from it. 

My big lesson? ALWAYS check the nutrition facts for restaurants before eating there.

Doctor's Like To See You Succeed Too! 

I had my 3 month follow up last night. As a diabetic, you have to see your doctor every 3 months to ensure that your treatment plan is working and your diabetes is in check. I knew when my doctor nearly bulldozed my nurse to get into the room that he'd just looked at my test results. 

He literally was dancing in the office, he was so happy about my progress. When I first went to see him, in January of 2012, I wasn't taking care of my diabetes. I was in denial that I had it, and my A1C of 8.0 showed that. My A1C this time around was 5.7. When I informed him that I'd stopped taking ALL of my medications 2 weeks into the program, which was 6 weeks prior to the blood test, he literally fell out of his chair. My blood pressure is normal. My A1C was at non-diabetic levels. 

We parted ways with a plan to follow up in 3 months, and if my progress continues to improve (which it will - I'm not stopping until I'm at my goal weight, and even then I'm in this for life!), we can extend the frequency in which I see him. 

*Happy dance*

Wrap Up and Recipes

So that's it. Sorry about the long post, but I had a lot to say this week! ;)

I've developed some new recipes, including a Broccoli and Cheese Grilled Cheese and a Breakfast Sandwich . I also developed some recipes but didn't take pictures of them. They include a Cobb Salad, Shrimp with Garlic sauce, and a Greek Salad. I'll post those recipes next time I make the dish (and I'll take pictures too! Hehe!) 

Sometimes it's not about what the scale says, but the test results and the tape measure that really makes your day. If you're going through a stall on the scale, see what other ways you can measure your success. Don't let it get you down! 

Until next week, Onward and Downward! ;)

The Tools to My Success

I cringe at the title of this post, because I am not at my goal weight yet. But, I *have* lost 36 lbs and am off all my obesity-related medications, so I would consider my journey already a success.

I wanted to show you the tools/tricks I use on a daily basis that I just can't live without.

Bag Your Day

I saw this idea on Pinterest long before I tried Medifast. I'd considered doing it, but wasn't sure I'd like the food/it was too expensive/etc. You know, the standard excuses. 

Basically as soon as I get my Medifast order for the month, I sit down with a bunch of zip-lock baggies and put my day worth of food in each bag. I used to use a spreadsheet to make sure I wasn't repeating the same variety on every day. Now I just sit with the boxes, decide what looks good and go for it. The trick is 5 Medifast Meals per bag, per day. I love the Medifast optional snacks, so I put one of those in there per day too. This way I don't have to count how many meals I have. There's no guesswork. It's just there, and as I go I grab my meals. Sometimes I don't feel like what's in the bag and will exchange it for a meal from another bag. Which is fine. I love this method and it's nice to take ALL the work out of deciding what I'll eat for that day. I just grab a bag and go!

Fill Your Jugs

 Another way I take ALL the thinking out of doing Medifast is my trusty Rubbermaid 64 oz jug. I fill it up in the morning and make sure it's gone by lunch. Then I refill it and make sure the second is gone by the time I finish my workout at 9pm.

Medifast recommends you drink 64 oz of water. So, you could just fill it up once and make sure it's gone by the end of the day. That's what I was doing when I first started. But if you read my Week 8 update, I had a stall and bumped up my water intake to 128 oz and broke the stall.

But whatever you chose, this is a great way to ensure you're getting in all your water!

Weigh More Now, Weigh Less Later

By far, my favorite, and most used, gadget for Medifast is my kitchen food scale. I've had it for years

and have no clue where I bought it (I'm guessing Bed Bath and Beyond or Walmart). It sat in a drawer for a number of years, and came out the day I got my Medifast order. I make sure to weigh every lean item I have, and now that I found a spreadsheet with all of the weights in grams for vegetables, I'll be weighing those too (instead of my "how much can I cram into a level half cup method. ha!)

I didn't post a picture of my measuring cups and spoons, but those get a workout too :)

Go for a Spin

 This is one of my favorite gadgets for making Medifast interesting. It's the Hamilton Beach personal drink blender. It's like 15 bucks at Walmart and worth every penny. In fact, it kind-of makes me want to splurge the 60-ish bucks for one of those Magic Bullets.

This thing is great for making up smoothies with the shakes, mixing up the soft-serve, even making my Wendy's Style frosty with the Medifast Chocolate pudding. (I'll post that recipe at some point. A similar recipe is on my Pinterest board :) )

Grill It Up!

Oh, how I love this Rival Sandwich Maker. It was about ten bucks at Walmart, and again, worth every penny. I bought it after finding a Medifast Grilled Cheese recipe on Pinterest. After failing miserably the first time (tip: spray PAM on the grates, even on first use!!!), I scraped up the mess, threw the cheese on it, and ate the first heavenly grilled cheese (however ugly) on-plan.

Then I thought, well, if I can make THAT with this little appliance, what else can I make? I've developed a couple recipes I'll be posting in the future (think Stuffed French Toast and Grilled PB&J sandwiches and a few other things ;) )

If you're doing Medifast and getting a little tired of the standard fare, consider buying one of these babies and expanding your meal options. I love mine!

Medifast Broccoli and Cheese Grilled Cheese

Here's another recipe I found on Cody's New Beautiful Me blog that I adapted to fit with what I had on hand. I would never in a million years order the cream of tomato soup (I can't STAND tomato soup). But I did have some cream of broccoli soup, and I really, really wanted to try the grilled cheese sandwich.

Like with the breakfast sandwich, I chose to use the Kraft Free Single as my cheese option. Rather than being part of my lean, it counts as two condiments for one slice. Again, I'm okay with this. Use your own discretion regarding the cheese choice for this recipe, though. If you chose a cheese with fat, make sure to deduct it from your lean.

Again, other recipes I've found do not count the egg beaters as part of your lean. I didn't either. Again, use your own discretion with this recipe. (If you're making more than one of these per day, or in combination with other recipes using 2 tbsp egg beaters (such as the breakfast sandwich) be sure to deduct the Egg beaters from your lean.)

Medifast Broccoli and Cheese Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

1 Medifast Cream of Broccoli Soup
1/4 cup Egg Beaters (1/8 lean)
2 Tbsp water
1 slice Kraft Free Single

Spray non-stick spray into the wells of a sandwich maker and pre-heat. In a small bowl, mix together the egg beaters and water. Pour the mix into a pre-heated sandwich maker. It should fill all four little triangles. Close the maker and cook for three (3) minutes.

Once the "bread" has cooked, remove from the sandwich maker and place half a slice of cheese between two squares.

Medifast calcs: 1 Medifast meal, 1/8 lean, 2 condiments

Medifast Breakfast Sandwich

So like many other people on Medifast, after a while on the program, you just need some variety. So I went searching for recipes to "tweak" my Medifast meals. 

I came across Cody's New Beautiful Me Blog, and her recipe for a breakfast sandwich using the pancake mix. While it looked delicious, I really didn't want to use up that much of my lean on one of my medifast meals.

I searched the Medifast Nutrition Support forums and discovered that you could use 2 Tbsp of Egg Beaters on one of your Medifast meals and not count it towards your lean. Because really, one lean serving of Egg Beaters is TWO CUPS. So two tablespoons is like, 1/18th of your lean or something. 

Anyway...

I also discovered Kraft Free singles at the grocery store. On the Nutrition Support boards, they said one slice of Kraft Free singles would count as two condiments. There's a lot of sodium in one slice, so use them sparingly if you chose them as the cheese portion of this breakfast sandwich. If you use low or moderate fat cheese for this recipe, remember to deduct it from your lean for the day. I have been using the Kraft Free singles for a few weeks now and haven't seen it impact my weight loss at all, so I'm happy to count them as two condiments. I also only use one slice per week (either as a grilled cheese sandwich or this breakfast sandwich) and need to use up my package! :)

For a McGriddles-type sandwich, add one tbsp of sugar free maple syrup (1/2 condiment). Remember to deduct it from your condiments for the day.

Medifast Breakfast Sandwich

Ingredients:

1 package Medifast Spiced Pancakes
1/4 cup water (2 oz)
2 Tbsp Egg Beaters
1 slice Kraft Free Single

In the shaker bottle, mix 1 package of Spiced Pancake mix with 2 oz water. Shake 6 times. Set aside.

Spray a small ramekin with cooking spray. Pour 2 Tbsp Egg Beaters into ramekin and microwave for 1 minute or until set. Tip out onto plate.

Pour the pancake mix into the ramekin. Microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Tip out onto another plate. Slice the pancake in half.

Place the cooked egg and a Kraft Free Single onto one half of the pancake. Top with the other half of the pancake.

I like to dip the sandwich in 1 Tbsp sugar free maple syrup. (Add 1/2 condiment to the totals below if you choose to do this, however).

Medifast calcs: 1 Medifast meal, 2 condiments (2.5 if using syrup).

My Week in Review: Week 7

Total pounds lost: 34.9
Total inches lost: 17

Pounds lost this week: 4.5

Inches lost this week: 4

I've been glued to the news and wondering what the world has come to, that so much bad can happen in one week.  So with that, I'm not going to talk about my week, because in perspective, it really doesn't matter. My heart goes out to the people in Boston, MA and West, TX. I hope that you can begin to heal.