overcoming ghosts from my past...

There's a lady I work with who had knee surgery and as a result is going to be out of work for a while recuperating. She can't put any pressure whatsoever on her knee for two weeks. Complete bed rest. So a bunch of us at work got together and decided to cook her meals for her for these two weeks. We each took two days and one person is taking the meals to her each afternoon.

So the story starts out pretty nice, right...

Well, so I decided to make her a casserole. Actually, it was an excuse to make one of my favorite foods on this planet... Connecticut Beef Supper, a yummy casserole from Betty Crocker in the early 70's.

I haven't been able to make it over the years because my family doesn't like mushrooms. (Pic to right is from the recipe card.)


Tender beef stew meat with onions are on the bottom, on top of that are sliced potatoes, covering it all is a mixture of sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, and milk, so it drips down over the potatoes, beef and onions, and topped with shredded cheddar cheese. It's the yummiest thing I could possibly think of.

Well, because she's only one person, I made a half casserole for her. The problem with that statement is that I made a full casserole from the ingredients and put it into two half casserole dishes to bake separately. One for her and one for...

So I figured I'd have a small portion and throw the rest of it away. But I thought, what a waste of food. So I decided to give it to the only person I know of who's not on a diet, my father-in-law. But I could never make it out to his house.

So last night I pulled it out to toss it because it's almost a week old in the fridge. I open it up and smelled it and it still smells fresh. So what do I do? Yup, I fix myself a 2" square portion. Tiny little thing. Tiny little piece of heaven!

Oh my gosh! It was better than I had remembered it! "Hello Old Friend!"

Now came the problem. How on God's green Earth was I going to be able to toss it?? Not now,. Not after I've tasted it. If ever there was a "red light food", this is it!!

I did the smart thing, well the only thing I could think of, and put it back in the fridge and ate something healthy to get that wonderful taste out of my mouth. It worked. I didn't want any more of it.

Well... that night.

But it was still in my fridge.

What was I going to do??

How was I going to be able to throw it away??

So today at lunch time, I broke down and had another serving. This has got to be one of the all time lowest points in my life since I started WW a year ago. This serving was about twice (okay, a little more than twice) the size of the last one. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! I can't believe I did that!!!

But here comes the redeeming part of this story. As soon as I was done eating it, I threw the rest of the casserole in the trash.

Yup! I have conquered Mount Connecticut-Beef-Supper! And now it's gone! Leveled it flat. Blew it up like... well, you get the picture.

I will not be making Connecticut Beef Supper EVER again! I think it's something like 15 points per serving. I'm sure I could make it with reduced fat and fat free stuff, but it would not taste the same and some things just shouldn't be messed with. This is one of them.

I'm over it now, though. But I did sniff, sniff (tears) a little bit when I went to throw something away this evening and saw it sitting on the top of the trash.

Gone, behind me, though. Onward and upward!


P.S. I won't be blogging this weekend. Not to fret, I'll be back at it on Monday.