Taking it Beyond the Packet

Greetings!

I am a true-blue FOODIE that adores cooking and eating.  Making food for people is a way for me to express love and is my type of Art.  So it's kind of a big deal to be making a drastic change to my diet and therefor to the meals I'll be preparing.  However, that is exactly what I am doing.  I have started the Ideal Protein diet as a way to jump start weight loss to get healthier before expanding our family!

I am nervous, excited and of course a little apprehensive about this journey!  I probably could have described it better last week since today is actually Day 11 on the IP plan for me.  It didn't take me long to settle in and find myself enjoying the plan.  I have been very pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoy some of the foods, but of course I feel the needs to play around and style some things up!

As I embark upon the adventure of the Ideal Protein diet, I will be testing out a lot of recipes.  This will serve as a place for me to share some of those recipes, track my progress and possibly even to help others who are struggling for motivation to shake up their meals a little.

I begin not having a clue where this will lead but knowing that not enough fun stuff exists (that I and my good friends Google and Pinterest could find anyway) for those of us foodies that are on Ideal Protein!  The official Ideal Protein cookbook will clearly be a great resource but that really only covers Dinner... I need MORE.

So here goes... join me for the journey Beyond the Packet!

***By the way for those of you wondering, the blog title stemmed from a long time dream of having a funky soup, sandwich, coffee type of shop called De Jour that would focus on its specials of the day.  Allegria means Joy in Italian (one of my favorite types of cuisine!)  So there you have it, Joy of the Day.

Here's hoping you find Joy in some of my IP recipes De Jour!