That is a line from a great movie, do you know which one?

I’m sooooo close to getting to my goal weight.  So close.  BUT, I am stagnant in the droppage (that’s not a word, but I’m making it one).  I’m currently working on three things that would assist in these final 7 lbs that includes, intermittent fasting (8 hr window), no bread the month of February (unless it is made with a nut flour and there isn’t a lot of that going on), and finally two days out of the week I eat no grains or complex carbohydrates. 

On Mondays during the cold months, I make soup or stew.  There is a plethora of soups/stews out there to be made and I try to test them all out.  This week I made chicken stew.  When I originally wrote this down on my menu possibilities list, I had chicken stew with cornbread.  I was not eating bread and unfortunately cornbread is a bread.  I mean, it has the word “bread” in the name.  I did a Google search to make sure that cornbread could be included in the bread list – DON’T JUDGE ME…..I really wanted cornbread with my stew.  Anyway, Google confirmed that cornbread was a no go…..I knew this I just wanted to check.  But, in my search I found a “low-glycemic” cornbread and it was Keto friendly.  What was this?  How could this be?  I clicked on the recipe and found that it was made with coconut and almond flour. 

I talked to my mother about it and she said….”Don’t do it.  Just make the cornbread and chalk it up as a loss.  It’s not a no-grain day, make the cornbread.”  Giving up the bread has not changed the value on the scale, so I could say that giving up bread has not made a difference; but I might get to the end of the month and see a 3 lb drop.  It COULD happen.  I decided to take a chance and make the “cornbread”. 

This is what I have to say….it was good!  With the exception that it was too salty.  Will I make it again?  You betcha.  Will I use the same amount of salt?  Nope.  I will cut the salt by half, do a pinch, or eliminate it all together. 

Finally, I want to talk about this stew.  I had in mind what I was going to use to make it.  I knew that I would not use potatoes of any kind because I wanted to be able to eat the leftovers for lunch on any day including my no-grain/no complex carb days.  I had boneless, skinless chicken breast, a red bell pepper, half of a butternut squash, carrots, green beans, onions, and a small amount of tomato sauce.  I have been forgetting celery every time I went to the grocery store (I finally remembered to put it on the list this time); so I used celery salt more than sea salt (I used just a smidge of sea salt).  The other herbs/seasonings that I used in this recipe was rosemary, thyme, and sage – what you would use when roasting chicken.  This stew was soooooo amazing.  And man, it got better as a leftover lunch dish.  I cooked the chicken just to brown it, not cooking it to completion.  It cooked the rest of the way in the stew.  Something about this process kept the chicken super tender and not dry.  This meal was perfect for my no grain days, even though I made it on a regular eating day.  I know the weather is transitioning to spring and warmer days; but this stew and “cornbread” are perfect for those rainy spring days to come. 

If you take the time out to make these, let me know in the comments below.  I’d love to hear how it turns out for you.  I want to note that the cornbread recipe came from a website, that I found online. I did not write it down, because I wasn’t sure if it would have been a hit – well it was, so now what do I do. I’m going to acknowledge that this is not my recipe; the only thing that I omitted was the salt and it made the “cornbread” so much better (I made it again and it was fabulous)

Until next time,