Eye of Round Oven Roast - Use Dry Heat

Since I've been on the Dukan Diet, I've been eating a lot of meat. I have mainly been eating beef tenderloin, t-bone and striploin steak cuz they are so good and relatively lean enough for Dukan requirements. But I also noticed that my grocery bills have increased since these tend to be the more expensive cuts of beef. This month, I was determined to learn how to cook less expensive cuts of lean meat. I bought an eye of round roast (one of the leanest cuts from a cow) and brought it home not knowing exactly what I would do with it but figured I would ask the Internet and find a slow cooker recipe.

Fortunately, I attended a blogger conference last week and someone from Canada Beef (beefinfo.ca) was there. I learned that there are oven roasts and there are pot roasts. Oven roasts are best cooked in the oven with dry heat and shouldn't be cooked in the crock pot with 'wet heat' (I don't think they actually said 'wet heat' but you know what I mean). She gave me this very simple recipe for an eye of round roast.

What you need:
Eye of Round roast
Salt
Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Wash and dry the roast with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Stick a meat thermometer into the roast
3. Put the roast on a rack in a pan and into the oven
4. After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 275F.
5. Bake until meat thermometer is at 140F.
6. Let roast rest for 10 minutes before cutting into it.

My roast was small so this whole process only took just over 1 hour and it turned out amazing! Where has this been all my life?! My kids and I ate half of it before dinner even started!

Eye of round patted dry

Added salt, pepper and inserted thermometer set at 63C/140F

Done after 1 hour!  Let rest for 10 minutes.

Done to medium rare - perfection!

Dukan Diet - end of week 15

I lost 20lbs in 15 weeks.  I survived the first 2 phases of the #Dukandiet and I feel great!  It feels so surreal every time I look at the scale and I'm back at my wedding weight from NINE years ago.  I can't believe it!

I officially started Phase 3 of the diet today by adding 1 serving of fruit and 2 slices of whole wheat bread (or 1 ww bagel in today's case) to my daily diet.  I don't think I'm going to add the 1 serving of starch/week yet and I'll wait for very special occasions to do the celebration meal rather than doing it once per week.  I am going to keep a close eye on my weight to make sure it doesn't go back up just because I am reintroducing carbs.  If it does start to creep back up, I will most likely cut it out again and go back into Phase 2 for a bit.  We'll see!

Dukan diet - Middle of week 15

I'm happy to announce that I have reached my True Weight as of Oct 16 and have maintained at this weight for 2 days now.  In total, I have lost 20lbs since I started the Dukan journey in July.  I'm beyond excited and amazed at this result.  I've been telling everyone who will listen about this diet.  I've managed to convince 4 people to start the diet so far.  It truly has transformed my life.  I feel so empowered over my body now.  I went from a size 10 to a size 6.  I feel like I have the tools and know how to control and manage my weight - something that I've never felt before.

Starting this weekend, I will move to Phase 3 of the diet which means I can move to PV days everyday except for 1 day a week where I have to go back to a PP day.  Each PV day, I can also have 2 slices of whole wheat bread and 1 serving of fruit.  Once a week, I can have 1 serving of starch and once a week, I can have a 'celebration meal' where I can eat anything I want but only 1 serving of an appetizer, main course, and dessert.  No seconds.  I have to be in Phase 3 for 5 days for every pound I lost so that would be 100 days or just over 3 months so by the end of January, I should be able to move to the final Phase 4 of the diet.

Thank you Dr. Pierre Dukan!

Homemade Ice Cream Cake

My husband loves ice cream cakes and since ice cream cakes are so expensive, I googled "ice cream cake recipe" and discovered that we have been spending way too much money on buying ice cream cakes from Baskin Robbins.  I made a trial cake last week for my FIL's birthday.  The crust turned out too thick, I added chocolate turtle bits to the ice cream which made it too sweet, I only had a 9" spring form pan which made for slices that were too big, and I didn't put a layer of icing on it so it didn't look professional.  I modified my recipe (even bought a smaller spring form pan) and made this cake yesterday for my daughter's birthday and it turned out much better than last weekend's version so here's the recipe.

1 cup oreo crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
2L ice cream
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Mix oreo crumbs with butter.  Press into bottom/sides of an 8" spring form pan.  
2. Bake at 350F for 6-8 minutes.  Allow to cool completely and put into the freezer.
3. Defrost the ice cream at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Next time I'm going to try to make my own ice cream to make it a real "homemade" ice cream cake. But for now, Kawartha's Moose Track ice cream (so yummy!) from Costco works just fine.
4. Scoop ice cream into the chilled pan with the crust.  Ensure ice cream is packed into the pan so there are no air pockets.  Put into freezer for at least 2 hours or overnight.  
5. Beat heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks.  
6. Take the cake out of the spring form pan.  Frost the cake on the top and sides and return to freezer for another 2 hours or overnight.  I don't think I beat this enough so the whipped cream became kind of soft when I started to frost the cake but after I froze it again, it was fine.  i'll have to work on making a stiffer whipped cream next time.
7. Write a message on the cake and decorate with some buttercream icing if you wish.
8. Defrost for 10 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Happy 2nd birthday Ainsley!

Mui mui, you turned 2 yesterday.

Two years ago on Oct 7...

9am - mommy worked from home.  It was supposed to be mommy's 2nd last day of work before starting mat leave.

11am - mommy went to my 38 week doctor's appointment and the doctor took my blood pressure 3 times before telling mommy that it was a bit high.  He checked and found out that mommy was already 3cm dilated.  Then he asked if mommy could go to the hospital to have you today.  Even though you weren't supposed to come for another 2 weeks according to mommy's due date, mommy said yes and the doctor called NYGH and they told mommy to come in at 3pm. 

12pm - mommy and daddy enjoyed a nice long lunch at a restaurant, our last meal as parents of one child.  We were about to have a baby.  It was a bit surreal.

1pm - mommy and daddy picked up goh goh from daycare and dropped him off with goo tse.

3pm - mommy and daddy arrived at the hospital

6pm - mommy got induced

8:30pm - mommy was still only 4cm dilated
some time after 8:30pm - mommy's contractions started in full force

9:30pm - mommy was 10cm dilated (!!)

10:18pm - you were born

Your birthday is always going to be around Thanksgiving which means you are always going to have turkey for your birthday.   It also means that we are always going to be reminded of being thankful around your birthday which is so appropriate because mommy is truly thankful to God for bringing you into this family.

The past 2 years have gone by so quickly but you have grown so much.  From a little lump weighing 6lb 7oz, you are now a little person who has your own personality and likes/dislikes.  We call you mui mui all the time so I wonder when you are going to figure out that your real name is Ainsley.  You can barely pronounce Ainsley yet - just like most of your relatives.  :)

You bring so much joy to the family already with your ever expanding vocabulary and repertoire of songs.  You recently learned how to make a rocket sound and you have learned how to say grace before meals.  Mommy and daddy finds it so funny when we ask you a question and you say "umm...[pause as if you had to think about it]...no".  You sing all the time, especially in the morning after you wake up in your crib.

You like to eat and you always want to try mommy's food.  You have the cutest way of asking for food: "shum?".  You get it from when we ask you "do you want some?".   Mommy is often surprised at how much food you can eat and you like vegetables more than meat, especially steamed broccoli, which is opposite from goh goh.

You admire your goh goh so much and you try to copy whatever he does all the time.  You always tilt your head when we take pictures - something that you learned from goh goh.  Today, he was trying to show you how to throw a ball.  He is going to teach you so many things as you grow up.  I love how you and goh goh play with each other and have each other to play with all the time.

Mommy looks forward to falling in love with you more and more as you grow older, if that is even possible.

Dukan Diet - end of week 13

Wow - it's been 3 whole months since I started the Dukan Diet.  I've lost 17lbs so far and I'm still trying to lose another 3lbs.  My weight loss has certainly plateaued but I've also not totally been sticking to the plan.  I am still on alternating PP and PV days but I've also had other treats that I just couldn't resist, including an oh-so-yummy ice cream cake that I made for my FIL's bday last week!

I guess the secret is not to make anything that I can't eat.  With that in mind for Thanksgiving, our extended family is coming over to our place for dinner and to celebrate my daughter's 2 year old birthday.  Everything I'm serving is Dukan-friendly.  My MIL is making turkey (check) and I'm making all the sides: sauteed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, roasted carrots/zucchini/tomatoes (check, check, and check!).

I will be making another ice cream cake (no check) for my daughter but I bought a smaller springform pan so that we won't have leftovers to tempt me.