Tag Archives: foodie

Vogue Magazine 1970’s Diet

I have seen this post pop up every year about the 1970’s Vogue Magazine diet. After seeing it for the Elventy hundreth times, I decided to try it. Side note: I am on Rally; a weight loss program sponsored by my company and have lost 12 lbs so far. At the start of the process, my weight was 172.9 lbs. I have a vacation coming up and need to lose more belly fat. I’m not concerned with the lower half of my body because thick thighs saves lives.

I am guessing that this diet worked in the past because most of the people who tried this diet were on cocaine which is an appetite suppressant. So, I’ve heard. The diet as you see below, consist of an approximately 800 calorie diet plan that keeps you drunk throughout the day. The calorie count for me is higher because I have a Keurig and I like my lattes which are about 100 calories. I’m doing black coffee for dinner because, I’m not that crazy.

I searched online for reviews of other bloggers who have tried this diet and the reviews are that they have lost weight but they quit by the 3rd day. I was determined to see this all the way through. I took off work for 3 to try this. This means that I will be away from temptations and I don’t have to drive around on an empty belly while drinking wine throughout the date. Safety first. The cheapest bottle was $22 dollars, and I was not spending $66 for three bottles of wine just to experiment with this ridiculous fad diet. Franzia had a box for $15 dollars which was more economical. A bottle of wine at 5 oz per glass will add up to 5 glasses of wine for each day.

Day 1:

Breakfast: I tried sleeping in but who am I kidding. Once you are over 35, there’s no such thing. Even if you go to be after midnight. It’s sucks to be an adult. Anyway, I when I got up to do my daily routine, I remembered that I was doing this crazy crash diet (minus the cocaine). I just knew that I was going to start craving things that I had not had since I was a child but no, breakfast wasn’t that bad. Before you judge me, I am not the skipping breakfast type of woman. I tried the slim fast shake breakfast one year and practically fell all the way out after two hours. However, since the one egg is solid, I did not have any issues.

Lunch: I still had energy to do my chores. After getting my pedicure, I decided, noon would be a great time to have my lunch. As I look at my two eggs (whites only, I hate the yokes), I began to have second thoughts, but the hunger pains were light, so I pushed on. I did not feel like doing much in the form of working out, but I was able to do about 30 minutes on the exercise bike.

By no means am I a PH D in anything but I think my antidepressants are helping me get through this. I did not notice that the bloggers had experienced headaches by this point. But they also did not mention drinking any water. I am a firm believer in water. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! After sipping my glass of wine, I realized that lunch called for a second glass, and I was already feeling floaty after just one glass.

I was halfway through my second glass, when I began to have an outer body experience. I was going to try to post my progress on TikTok but there was a lot going on internally that I decided that I needed to use my words. By 3 P.M., I was looking forward to my 5 P.M. dinner consisting of a steak smaller than the palm of my hand. Seriously!

Dinner: I drank black coffee an hour before my meal. I sipped it slowly because the diet stated to finish off the bottle of wine. The very miniscule piece of meat called dinner gave me life. Day one was not as challenging as I thought it would be.

Day 2: Surprisingly or not really, I slept through the night. This was the first time that I had gone to bed at a decent hour and did not get up at 2 A.M. scrolling through all my social media sites. I woke up a bit famished, I think that my body is getting used to the ridiculous food portions. Again, I’m not a doctor but I think my anxiety meds and drinking tons of water are helping me through this process.

I am down three pounds. After my “lunch”, I did not feel hungry at all. That is probably where the wine comes in, but this is not as traumatizing as I thought it would be. I was able to do my regular daily activities, slowly but I was able to function.

Day 3: I survived this whole ordeal and lost a total of 4 pounds on this “diet” plan. It got me to a point that I have been trying to get to for a while. It’s a dramatic way to get there but it worked. Now I wonder if when I go back to my regular 1650 calorie diet plan, will the pounds stay off? Do I recommend that you try this fad diet? No, absolutely not. There is something strange about being tipsy all day for three days and you are not on a beach vacation. Also, I’m sure my kidneys are in shock from the daily intake of boxed wine. If you do feel adventurous and need to drop 4 or 5 pounds for a trip, have at it.

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Cooking with Pinterest

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala OG

Ingredients

 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

8 boneless skinless chicken breasts

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 jars (6 oz each) Green Giant™ sliced mushrooms, drained

1 cup sweet Marsala wine or Progresso™ chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

½ cup water

¼ cup cornstarch

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Meal three of cooking with Pinterest is Chicken Marsala. Yes, this is another crockpot meal but what can I say… I love my crockpot! The instructions were very clear and simple. I only forgot two ingredients: fresh parsley and cornstarch. I also cut the ingredients by half. The instructions state for you cook on low heat for 5-6 hours. I used 4 thinly sliced chicken breast and it cooked quicker than noted in the instructions. I’ll let you in on a secret I learned to thicken any sauces, Minute Tapioca. You frown but it works and it’s flavorless. One tablespoon should work for half portions.

Chicken Marsala

As you can see from the picture, placed the chicken and mushroom sauce on top of brown rice with a side of Brussels sprouts with black pepper.  I know I said that the three envelope beef was my favorite but this one has taken its place. I guarantee that you will love this as much as I do. I will be making this again. Enjoy!

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Cooking with Pinterest

Meal two of cooking with Pinterest is Creamy Italian Chicken.  I know that this is the second crock pot meal that I’ve made but what can I say, I love my crock pot.  Creamy Italian Chicken

Ingredients

1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 in cubes

¼  cup of water or chicken broth

1 packet dry Italian salad dressing  mix

½ c onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can cream of chicken

½ cup chicken broth

1 (8oz) block cream cheese, softened

1 (16oz) box Rotini pasta, cooked

This meal has a lot of instructions, more than what I was expecting.  You have to dice the chicken breast into cubes then with the ½ cup of water mix with the Italian seasonings.  I used chicken broth instead of water, I figured the more flavor the better.  After the chicken has been in the crock pot for 4 hours on low you are to saute the onion and garlic in a pan for a couple of minutes.  The next step is to add the ¼ cup of broth, cream of chicken and cream cheese to the pan.

You mix the ingredients until smooth.  Well as luck would have it, my burners went out on my stove, so… I had to throw everything into the crockpot.  I also cooked the chicken on high and tossed everything in at the three hour marker.   As with any cream sauces, you need to stir every thirty minutes or so to keep the sauce from clumping or burning.  Everything melted smoothly after about an hour to which I then added the cooked pasta.

Did my creation match the picture, not really but it was creamy.  It was sort of on the bland side but I think that’s because I used light cream cheese, maybe. It was also thicker than was appears in the picture.  It yields a lot so my family will be getting half sent to them. By the  second day, the flavors seemed to settle and it tasted better.  I do recommend this meal.  It was easy for the most part but there were a lot of steps, if you follow the recipe exactly.

Creamy Chicken pasta

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Cooking with Pinterest

I should be working on book three of the Elesin Vollan Story but since I have severe procrastination issues, I’ve decided to share the meals that I cook.  My goal is to cook every week using meals I’ve found on Pinterest and critique them.  I’m sure that I will make it until the end of the month before I am bored with this blog but here we go.

As a single person who seems to always be in-between jobs, I like to try to cook great meals on a budget. I hope to inspire individuals to share their meal ideas and experiences with the others.  I will also provide pictures of perfectly executed meals but also the not so perfect as well.

The first in the line up Three Envelope Beef, which is my go-to for a quick no hassle crockpot meal.

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Ingredients:
3 pound beef roast such as chuck roast
1 envelope of dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 envelope of dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 envelope of dry brown gravy mix
2 cups water

It calls for 2 cups of water but I use 1 cup since the beef creates it’s own broth.  I also throw in some red potatoes and onions.  I place the meat in first then toss the vegetables on top.  In a bowl, I mix the dry ingredients into the water.  Once properly mixed, I pour the liquid over the roast and veggies.  On high, it takes about 4-5 hours and on the low setting 6-7 hours.

Obviously, since I’ve made this before, it’s quite tasty and the cooking instructions can’t get any easier than this.  I can’t tell you how many servings it makes but if you are single, you will have so much left over that you will consider becoming veggan.

3 Evelope Beef

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