Recipe: Deviled Egg Salad

I've been on a bit of a sugar/carb detox after gaining a few pounds over Thanksgiving and my wedding vow renewal. This may give you an idea why:

So anyway...I'm eating very little sugar/carbs for a couple of weeks until my pants feel good again. This is a recipe I came up with for lunch, and woowee...it's slap-yer-mama good.

I don't normally like egg salad (except when my sister makes it with yogurt...hers is kinda delicious) but I LOVE deviled eggs. Go figure. It's a texture thing. But deviled eggs are kind of a pain in the butt to make in bulk, and transport for lunch and snacking. So I saw a recipe for deviled egg salad and I changed it a bit to suit my tastes. (Measurements are approximate - everything is "to taste" - I ended up using more hot sauce but didn't exactly measure...I love the stuff.) Yesterday for lunch, I made a salad with a bed of romaine, celery, a couple of ounces of grilled chicken, a scoop of egg salad, and a sprinkle of bleu cheese. Delicious!

Deviled Egg Salad

8 hard boiled eggs, whites and yolks separated, whites roughly chopped
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. hot sauce (I used Texas Pete's in this recipe)
Salt & pepper - to taste
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped

Mash egg yolks with mayo, mustard, vinegar, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Toss yolk mixture and veggies with egg whites. Chill. Eat.

Vow Renewal

Scott and I renewed our vows on Friday since that was our ten year anniversary. It was an amazing day! I wanted to share a few of the pictures with you...I am way happier with how I look now than I did at the original wedding in 2002...

This was my favorite picture from before the ceremony.

Posing with my mama.

My Uncle Mark flew in from California to surprise us...that was AMAZING!

With my ladies...some of my best girlfriends...

from left to right - Vicky, Donna, me, Mom, Dawn, and Jen

I put on my original wedding dress to take some pictures...it's about 8 sizes too big so my friend Dawn cinched it up with hair ties and barrettes so it would stay on...very "Project Runway" :-)

 I DEFINITELY prefer the way it looks on me now vs. 10 years ago.

Newlyweds...again. :-)

 We got a mini replica of our original wedding cake - white chocolate and fresh raspberries.

...which Scott proceeded to smoosh all over my face with the 

excuse that he didn't do it the first time around.

For reference...here are some pictures of the first wedding...

Baked Oatmeal

Michelle asked how I make my baked oatmeal. This is the basic recipe as written, but I make some changes (see below)...

Ingredients

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup chopped nuts

• 1/4 cup raisins

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Cut into squares.

My changes...

I use regular long cooking oats (NOT steel cut) because I prefer the texture. I reduce the sugar to 1/3 cup and the oil to 3 Tbsp. I then add 1/2 cup of some sort of fruit puree (my favorite is pumpkin, but unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana works too). I increase the cinnamon to 1 to 1.5 Tbsp. because I love it - or I'll use pumpkin pie spice if I'm using pumpkin puree for the fruit. I don't like raisins so I omit them, but sometimes will use dried cranberries instead. I've made it with or without nuts. I also find that it needs a little longer to bake - 35 minutes or so. I like the top to be a little crunchy.

I made one batch with frozen raspberries and blueberries - it wasn't as good. They were a bit mushy. I'm going to try fresh chopped apples and dried cranberries and see how that is.

There you have it! Easy as can be.

Voted

Scott and I voted today. Did you? :-)

I haven't posted a full body shot in awhile but this is me at work. I think I look just sort of...normal. I like that. 

I was talking to one of the doctors at work about my band (I was having a really tight day and was sitting in the break room with my lunch in front of me and not eating...I made some remark about how I know it's a tight day when I can't even eat a whole pudding cup) and I showed her the "before" picture below...she gasped and said she couldn't believe I was the same person. I forget sometimes that the people I work with now didn't know me at 292 pounds.