I have been quite busy lately ever since I started working full time. It's also the time of the year when so many things just keep happening the same time. I have a bachelorette party to plan for, a wedding shower to organize, the actual wedding to help with, and also relatives and friends coming to visit from overseas. But that doesn't stop me from eating healthy on my diet journey. I got a package of discounted whole grain tortilla wraps from the supermarket the other day and thought I could use them in my breakfast.You can put anything you like in the wrap. One day I added turkey meat in the wrap and another day I added eggs with chicken bacon strips.

It's finally Saturday! That means only one more day to go and I can progress towards the second phase of my South Beach Diet! For the second week of phase 2, I can then have both serving of carbs and fruits on the same day! YEAH! But for now, I still have to stick with eating one serving of either carbs or fruits, so this morning, I made tuna sandwich with whole grain bread. But because it's only one piece of bread, I think the portion is a bit too small, so I added in scrambled eggs. I rather have a big breakfast in the morning so I don't have to eat as much later on.

I am sick of eating chicken breasts all the time for dinner during my South Beach Diet already, so I tried to experiment with different way of making the chicken. Last time, I made the kimchi stir-fried chicken which was a Korean dish, so this time I decided to go for a Japanese dish, Teriyaki chicken.

Way back when I was a little kid, there was this TV show in the kid's channel that teaches young kids how to make simple and yummy snacks with their parents. I remembered one of the snacks was the toast pizza. It looked amazingly delicious and simple to make (well, I was a kid back then, everything looks yummy) So now, I decided to try out for the first time as my breakfast while staying within the South Beach Diet restrictions. You can put anything on your pizza really, everyone has their own preference for pizza toppings, but since this is for breakfast, I like to have mine with ham, onions and cheese.

For dinner, I want to have something spicy and full of flavour, yet because of the diet, I'm pretty limited. But then I found a tub of kimchi in the supermarket and a light bulb came up. In the south beach diet, I'm allowed to have spices, and chili and kimchi is basically spicy lettuce. This dish is pretty simple to make, I don't need to add in anything extra in particular really. But I know that Koreans like to add sesame oil to enhance their dishes, so I included that in my marinade as well. I just wish I can eat this with a bowl of rice or noodles...it will be a perfect combo.

This is the simplest and tastiest south beach friendly recipe for fillet ever! I was actually in a hurry tonight so didn't really have time to cook anything that requires a lot of time and effort. So I decided to pan-fry a fillet of sole that I found in my fridge. I don't remember where I found this recipe but it was so simple that I wasn't expecting it to create wonders with your taste buds! I admit the reason why I saved this recipe in the first place was because it has strawberries in it, but then it also requires minimum effort and things that I already have in my kitchen! The original recipe actually requires chopped tarragon but I don't have any so I left it without. It still tastes wonderful though!

Starting my morning with a spinach and cheese omelette with salsa sauce. Pretty straight forward and simple. I just grabbed whatever I find in my fridge and toss them into the pan. Obviously I'm going to have some spinach and onions lying around because I have been eating them in my salad every lunch now. I added non-fat cheddar cheese because I really like the melted cheese flavour in my dish.

I hate gloomy days! It's been raining the past days and it makes me very depressed. I thought I should bring in some sunshine by making these lovely egg dumplings in a shape of a sunflower with broccoli and cauliflower.

Based on what I made for breakfast yesterday, the Winnie the Pooh Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce, it occurs to me that introducing some sugar intake in my South Beach Diet Phase 2 works fine for me and has not provoked any cravings that I used to have with sweet stuffs. So with the leftover pancake mixture I have from yesterday, I decided to finish it up and serve it with a different kind of sauce. Then I thought maybe I should use apples this time because I have stopped eating apples ever since this diet started. And most importantly, I think it would go really well with the cinnamon flavoured pancakes. Also, this time, I am going to serve it hot.

I can't believe how many temptations there are around me lately, especially today! First off, Baskin Robbin's is having its annual 31 cent scoop night, second, Milestones is also having a free date night special which offers pretty much buy one get one free and lastly, it's my parent's 32nd wedding anniversary. Great. I really need to concentrate on my diet plan and the best way to do this is to resist any eating out opportunities. But, family always comes first...so I ended up going out and pay for the bill as well. *sob*

I've been very excited about making this for breakfast. It's not bread and it's not eggs. Something different and something I have not eaten for so long. Pancakes!!! I know I'm still on the South Beach Diet and I still cannot have any pastries or use any flour but this recipe only requires as simple as ricotta cheese and eggs! Gluten free and Low carbs! Since I can only have one serving of either fruits or bread, I decided to bring in fruits today instead and see how my body reacts. So I made some strawberry sauce the night before to prepare for today's breakfast. I left it in the fridge overnight so that the next morning I'll have chilled strawberry sauce to use on my hot pancakes. By the way, I only used 4 strawberries for the sauce, that means I still can consume 2 more to make one serving of fruits of the day. YEAH! Not to mention, I can finally use my Winne the Pooh Frying Pan that I bought long time ago at the Night Market! Everything sounds so perfect. I love it~

Ever since I started on this south beach diet, I've been cooking for myself. And all I've been eating evolves around western style dishes like baked fillet, pan-fried chicken, roasted veggies etc. This morning after having some french toast sticks and away from eggs for breakfast, I decided to bring eggs to my dinner instead. So I made the most basic yet most popular Chinese dish of all time, Fried Eggs and Tomatoes 番茄炒蛋.

Now that I'm in phase 2 of my south beach diet, I can finally reintroduce some carbs that I've been avoiding. So to make use of this opportunity of having one serving of carbs in my diet now, I made french toast sticks for breakfast.

It's my last day of my south beach diet phase 1!!! I'm so excited to bring back some breads, fruits as well as fruit-flavoured yogurts!!! I'm so excited! I know I have to do it gradually but still I haven't been eating anything with sugar for 2 weeks! That's sooo long!!! I'm glad it's done and I lost 8 lbs so far in these past 2 weeks. So I have to say I'm quite proud of myself. I've never been so successful on a diet before...now to maintain and continue losing more while maintaining a healthy lifestyle, I'll have to make sure I stick with phase 2 as hard as phase 1.

It's weekend again! That means another temptation challenge! And this time, I have to attend to a friend's pot luck dinner gathering...sigh. Everyone needs to bring in one dish so I want to make sure the dish that I bring is something within my south beach diet menu. You know during pot luck you will see all sorts of greasy dishes and starches, like rice, mashed potatoes and spaghetti, so at least I can make sure my dish is "safe" to eat and I won't be starving to death.

I made the vegetable quiche again but this time in mini cups because it's easier to share in pot luck! I already posted my recipe last time as a breakfast here but this time I added red and green peppers to create more filling inside.

Hard-boiled egg is one of my favourite ways of eating eggs, so of course, I'm going to include that into my diet. Some people eat them as a snack after gym to get some protein, but for me, I like to eat them with my salad. Whether it is a fruit salad or vegetable salad, I think the eggs adds more depth and more colour in general.

This morning, I actually remembered to marinate my chicken for tonight's dinner. I followed this recipe I found online, it seems pretty easy to do and something different so I gave it a try. And then I realize, I DON'T HAVE A GRILL! Whatever, I already marinated the chicken for about 6 hours so I'm not giving this chicken up. So instead I just pan fried it.

I made Chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg custard) for breakfast today. I know this is quite fancy for the morning but if I don't find some way to make my meals look good and presentable, I think I'll end up having depression. Haha...this is my first attempt ever making steamed egg. It's not smooth enough and lack the flavour that normal chawanmushi has...Oh well, I couldn't put too much ingredients to make the flavour pop out more because the south beach diet phase 1 is a bit restricted...and I also left out the dashi stock that is supposed to be in the recipe.

Today, I decided to cook chicken breasts again. I mean if it's not chicken breast, I'll be eating fillet... how boring! But then, I wonder if I can actually do something like pizza pop but with chicken breasts. So I decided to insert a non-fat cheddar cheese inside the chicken breast and see how it turns out.