Batch Freezer Cooking

This post is for Lisa.  And will be LONG.  But if anyone else is interested, feel free to use.  And if you have any questions, feel free to ask away!!

What will follow is a timeframe for a weekend of freezer meal cooking my Mom and I did last winter.  What worked for us, may need to be adjusted for you but it's a great starting point I think!  I didn't include a shopping list because some people may have some stuff on hand.  But, you can run down the recipes and quick do your own.  It's not hard. 

A couple of notes: 

When you grocery shop, if you do all the same recipes, check the crazy giant bulk canisters of stuff.  You know at the end of the aisle you never look at??  The industrial sized stuff? Yeah, that.  You use a LOT of tomato juice and stuff, so just add it all up and see if that makes $$ sense.

We portion and freeze everything flat in Ziploc freezer bags.  They take up less space and because they're flat, thaw out super quick.  You can do what you'd like, but this way is great.  Just write on it what it is, how much and quick cooking instructions and you're set!

I left our timeline on there to give you an idea of how long it all took.  Yours may vary.

The recipes listed are SINGLE BATCH (thank you for asking that Lisa!!).  If you'd like to double, triple, etc - you need to make that adjustment on your own.


Freezer Meals

Day 1 Menu: Stew x 2, potatoes x 2, pepper steak x 2, roasts x 4, beef gravy, sloppy joes x 2


(Start 8:45am) Roasts in to cook
Potatoes peeled and put on to boil (do this during the browning of meats)
Brown Stew Meat
Brown Pepper Steak Meat
Onions and Peppers chopped
Start Stew Veggies/Pepper Steak onto Simmer
Simmer Stew/Mash & Finish Potatoes
(11:45) Lunch break
Package Pepper Steak
Start Sloppy Joes/ Sloppy Joes start to simmer
Sloppy Joes Finish/roasts out/gravy start
(2:45) Package Sloppy Joes
Package Roasts
Package Gravy
(5:30) Package Stew

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Finished Portions:
Potatoes – 1 serving = 3/4c.                       
6 – 3 serv. bags; 6 – 6 serv. bags

Pepper Steak – 1 serving = 1c.                    
4 – 2 serv. bags; 4 – 1.5 serv. bags

Sloppy Joes - 1 serving = 1c.                      
2 – 1 serv. bags; 4 – 3 serv. bags

Roasts –                                                       
6 – 1.5 pound bags

Gravy –                                                       
4 – 3c. bags; 2 – 2c. bags

Stew –                                                         
8 – 4c. bags; 15 – 3c. bags



Day 2 Menu: Spaghetti Sauce x 4, pasties x 3, chili x 4, turkey breasts x 4, turkey gravy


(8:45 Start) Put turkey breasts in oven
Brown Spaghetti Meat/Start prepping pasty veggies
Brown Chili Meat
Brown Pasty meat/mix spaghetti sauce
(10:45) Put together chili and start in crockpot
Package pasties (done around Noon)
Turkey out/Gravy start
Package Turkey/Gravy/Spag Sauce/Chili as it finishes

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Finished Portions:

Pasties – 1 serving = 1/2 c.                        
8 – 1c. bags; 13 – 2c. bags

Chili - 1 serving = 1/2c.                             
4 – 4.5c. bags; 2 – 3c. bags

Spaghetti Sauce -                                        
10 – 2.5c. bags; 12 – 4c. bags

Turkey                                                         
(New this next time so no stats!)

Gravy                                                          
(New this year so no stats!)


THE RECIPES:

Oven Roast
Place roasts in oven (frozen or fresh), uncovered at 375 degrees for approx an hour or until the outside of the roast is browned.

Reduce heat to 325 degrees, add water to ½ way up the side of the roast (add carrots and peeled potatoes if desired as well). Cover. Cook all day/6 hours until done.


Roast Gravy
Strain remaining cooking liquid and put in large stockpot. Mix 1/2c. flour and 1c. water and add slowly to cooking liquid until desired thickness is achieved. You can also add jars of Heinz Homestyle gravy to stretch the quantity.


Fancy Mashed Potatoes

5 lb. white potatoes
2 – 3oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp salt
1 stick margarine
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp garlic powder

Boil and mash potatoes. Mix with remaining ingredients and beat with mixer until smooth.

To prepare: Put in baking dish and dot with butter. Cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.


Beef Stew

1 lb stew meat
Brown gravy mix
Frozen peas
Onions
Potatoes
Cabbage, sliced thin
Carrots
Rutabaga
1 can tomato soup

Chop veggies to bite size and place in large stock pot. Add water to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil and simmer all day.


Chinese Pepper Steak

1 lb. round steak
2 large green peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 can beef consumme
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp corn starch
2 TBSP water

Cut steak into bite sized pieces. Brown in a deep electric skillet. Season to taste and add onion and green peppers. Add consumme and simmer for 1 hour. Combine corn starch, soy sauce and water to make a paste. Add to meat mixture and stir until thickened. Serve over rice or chow mein noodles.


Sloppy Joes

2 lb. ground beef
1 c. ketchup
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 big onion, chopped fine
4 stalks of celery, chopped fine
1 can tomato soup
1 scant can water
1 Tbsp Worchestershire Sauce

Cook ground beef in deep electric skillet or stock pot. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour.


Oven Turkey Breasts

Place turkey breasts in oven (frozen or fresh), uncovered at 375 degrees for approx an hour or until the skin is browned.

Reduce heat to 325 degrees, add water to ½ way up the side of the breasts. Cover. Cook all day/6 hours until done.


Roast Turkey Gravy
Strain remaining cooking liquid and put in large stockpot. Mix 1/2c. flour and 1c. water and add slowly to cooking liquid until desired thickness is achieved. You can also add jars of Heinz Homestyle gravy to stretch the quantity.

 
Ginette’s Spaghetti Sauce

2 lb. ground beef
5 cloves garlic
1 small onion

Cut garlic and onion fine and brown slowly with ground beef, salt and pepper in a large stockpot until beef is cooked.

Add:
1 quart tomato juice
4 – 15oz cans of tomato sauce
3 large cans tomato paste
1 scant can of water
Salt and pepper to taste
3 bay leaves
Simmer all day stirring frequently.


Crockpot Chili

1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 quart tomato juice
¼ tsp chili powder
1 can kidney beans
1 can Hormel chili
1 can cream of celery soup

Brown ground beef and onion. Combine all ingredients to crockpot and cook on low 8-10 hours.


Pasty Filling

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
4 carrots
4 potatoes
4 stalks of celery
1 rutabaga
1 medium onion
Salt and pepper

Chop all veggies into evenly sized, small diced pieces. Mix with cooked ground beef.

To Prepare:  Put desired amount of mix in pie crust. Cover with 2nd crust (slit the top in a few places). Cook 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until crust is brown. You can also make individual pasties by folding over one crust for individual pasty. (think calzone)  We just freeze up the mix to do meal by meal, but you could prebake individual pasties to freeze as well.

Finding my groove...

School's been back in session for a week.

Cue the angelic chorus, "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLELUIA!!"

This week has been me attempting to get back in a groove of some sort.  The more organized I am, the better this house runs.  Both Mark and I have a natural tendancy towards sloth and anything I can do to ward that off is a GOOD THING.

The biggest attempt at organizing?  I made my meal plan out for the entire month of September.  Yes, yes I did.  All the suppers, all of Holland's breakfasts (same thing for one week at a time), and all of Holland's school lunches/snacks (again, same thing for one week at a time).  So far, it's working beautifully!!

I tried to get a good mix of main ingredient (so we don't have chicken four nights in a row) as well as recipes that can be pushed off if things come up.  A perfect example of this is today's Mexican Polenta Bake.  Nothing in it is perishable so it can wait until tomorrow - or even next week - if it needed to.  As it is, it's just waiting until lunch tomorrow, but still.  It also takes into consideration things already on the radar like early soccer games or Girl Scouts after school.  Those days get crock pot or soup meals.  Fast and easy.

Thursday after work, I look at my calendar and start the grocery list for the meals/snacks/lunches.  Then, I add to that the other random things we might need like milk or lunch staples for Mark and me.  The only thing missing is a catagorized shopping list - broken down row by row according to the store I always shop it - and the whole thing would be perfect.  Friday morning is errand morning so the groceries get purchased then and we're all set for the next week.

An extra benefit is that it gives me the weekend to do any cooking needed for the week.  Last week it was three batches of muffin, a whole army of mini cupcakes and homemade ranch dressing.  This week will be mini quiches and bagels.

I haven't had time to put up recipes from the past two weeks, but here are some things I've learned:

• Turns out, Phyllo Dough and Puff Pastry aren't the same thing.  Whoops!  Now we all know.
• Sometimes recipes look not so awesome but end up being amazing.  Look for me to post the Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder recipe soon to prove that.
• I don't like scrambled eggs, but love fritattas.  Apparently what I do like is super overcooked eggs.
• What started as a winning recipe can sometimes turn into something that no one likes.  Interesting.
• Taking a cold lunch has made all the difference to the little kid.  She gets that extra 10 minutes she used to spend in the lunch line to settle down and eat.  And has come home with a completely empty lunchbox every day for the past week.  Maybe cutting her sandwich into a butterfly shape helps.  :)

So that's that for this Sunday morning.  I promise I'll try to get more recipes up in the next few weeks.  I've run across some really good ones that I'm excited to share!

Grilled Salad

I know.  Crazy.  But ohhhhhhhhhhh so good!! 

Let me link you to the original recipe so you can first peruse and I can give credit where it's due:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/salads/grilled-salad/

We love the Pioneer Woman and her recipes.  And I read this and thought someone had lost their minds.  Had a friend not specifically tried it and gave it a rave review, there's no way I'd have tried it.

Why?
Well, for one, I've never tried Feta cheese.  I know.  But good news, I can cross that off the ol' bucket list now.  I've tried it and *drum roll* I liked it.  The reason I've never tried it is that I always thought it was like blue cheese.  Which is not in my eating inventory at this point due to its stinkiness.  It looks too much like the stink cheese, so I've largely ignored it.  But it's not stinky at all.  It's sort of tart?  sour?  hmm...I don't know the best word.  But very very mild and worth trying.  The texture was sort of like fresh mozarella but not as wet.  Blah.  I know.  This description isn't going well.  In a nutshell, you should try it.  As well as be prepared for more recipes on here featuring feta now that it doesn't scare me.

Why else?  Well, have you ever even contemplated GRILLING LETTUCE??  It just doesn't make any sense, right?  But it works!

Here's the recipe:

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Grilled Salad

Ingredients
2 heads Romaine Lettuce, Washed And Dried
½ cups Feta Cheese, Crumbled
½ cups Balsamic Vinaigrette
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions
Split each head of lettuce lengthwise.
Drizzle the cut side of each half evenly with a tablespoon or two of oil.
Season the cut side of each half with salt and pepper.
Grill each half, cut-side-down, over a hot direct fire for about 90 seconds.
Remove to a sheet pan, sprinkle evenly with the cheese and let cool.
Drizzle each half with an equal amount of dressing.
Cut each half in half width-wise, serve and enjoy!

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Julie's notes:

• When prepping the Romaine, I trimmed the tops off with a knife and left the root/base part intact.  I think you need to to keep the leaves from flying all over the place.  The when I served it, I trimmed the bottom off and cut it all up.
• We did this on our outdoor charcoal grill.  So it was delightfully smoky and charcoaly tasting.  Mark is in LOVE with this recipe, so we will be trying it again on our indoor grill pan.  Not sure if it will be the same but yum on the charcoal!
• The oil will drip off onto the grill and if you're like me, you're going to be waiting for those bundles of Romaine to just go up in flames.  But they don't.  Maybe because of the water content?  Not sure.  But if you leave it the 90 seconds, you'll be fine.  Just look for the grill marks and you'll know you're done.

And that's about it!  It's just really so so simple. 

Interesting "problem" to have I suppose!

I have 18 points to eat yet today.  And it's 4:39pm. 

Yikes.

In my defense, I really assumed that my lunch was waaay more points that it turned out to be when I actually inputted it on the WW website.  And that does include activity points which I try to eat the day I use them.  Just works better for me.

Hmm.  I mean, that's good because now I'm fairly unlimited for supper.  BUT.  I have no PLAN for supper.  And dont' grocery shop until tomorrow.  So I don't know how to use these bad boys up! 

Pretty standard for me though on the first day getting back on track.  Tomorrow I'll be RAVENOUS.  Just wait.  LOL!

Return of the Grapefruit Spoon!

Some of you may remember this moment:
http://juliesjourneytoawesomeness.blogspot.com/2010/05/crab-stuffed-tomatoes.html

The moment I realized my pure geniousness in using the lowly grapefruit spoon as a multi-tasker.

OK.  Hold onto your horses.  I've got another one for you.

Cucumber de-seeder.

Yup.  You read that right.  Today, as I was forcing my choice of veggie on my kiddo she said, "But I don't like the seeds in cucumbers Mommy!"  Which made me stop and think, "Huh.  Neither do I.  But being the mean Mommy I am, I always leave the seeds in her despite taking them off of mine."  What you should know is that I'm also a cheap Mommy and refuse to buy those delightfully individually wrapped English cucumbers for twice as much money. 

I had already cut her chunk off and had halved it.  And the the epiphany struck. 

GRAPEFRUIT SPOON!!!

Out it came from the depths of the silverware drawer and quick as a flash, seedless cucumber boat.

Awesomeness.

Carrot sticks and chicken broth

Isn't that what you used to be required to eat on a "diet" back in ye olde days?  Eat as little as possible and you'll lose weight? 

AGAIN, my body has proven to me that in order for it to lose weight, I just need to listen to it.  This week, I made great choices about 80% of the time, sort of questionable choices 15% of the time and totally splurged 5% of the time.  But really, who DOESN'T go for ice cream with their kid after their first soccer game??!  And what sort of a lame-o wilting flower would I be if I was all, "Oh no, none for me.  I couldn't POSSIBLY eat a scoop of ICE CREAM."  It's one scoop of ice cream.  And as long as I can make sure that doesn't parlay into 50 scoops, I'm good.

Yesterday though was a PERFECT example of having to listen to my body.  Trying to conserve points at the end of a mediocre week in which my cheat weighs had shown I was losing nothing, I ate a little "lighter" than usual.  Salad for lunch being the main culprit.  And that would have been fine had I been home at 3pm when the hungries hit.  But instead, I was at a finishing soccer practice and then on my way for a few errands.  One of which was the grocery. 

YIKES.  ALERT ALERT!!  Do NOT go to the grocery hungry!!

Well, I had to.  So, off I go and at this point am RAVENOUS.  But I'm also technically out of points (I'd preset my supper points earlier in the day and knew I'd be using them all).  So I have a choice.  I either get hungrier and hungrier until after supper is made in three hours OR I just eat something.  I grabbed a Luna bar and ate it on the way home. 

Now yes, back in "the day" BOY would that have been a no-no.  Strict was the way to go.  You don't allow yourself those indulgences as they make you week.  You remain loyal to your will power of steel and, by God, you will be thin.

Well, I not only ate that Luna bar but also shared a ball of fresh mozz cheese and sliced tomatoes with Mark and the kiddo BEFORE even starting supper. 

And lost a pound and a half "overnight".

So there carrot sticks.  While I do enjoy you as a side dish to my lunch, you no longer control what else I can eat on this journey.

And this is why we only weigh once a week...

I will totally admit to being a cheat weigher.  Not cheating in the NUMBER way.  But cheating in the "don't weigh more than once a week" way.  I *know* weights can fluctuate wildly even over the course of a day.  In know this. 

BUT....

I can't help myself when I'm doing Weight Watchers.  I feel like I'm working soooo hard controlling my food intake that I should be losing like a pound a day.  If not more.  Like 10 pounds a day. 

OK.  Not really THAT much, but still.  It's Friday morning.  I want to look at the scale just over halfway for the week and see that my previous days of hard work have started budging the scale.  And that hasn't happened this week.  In fact, I weighed in on Monday morning and promptly GAINED two pounds by Tuesday. 

HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??!!

Blah.  I know how it happens.  It's just aggravating.  So now I'm barely back to that Monday number, feel like I lost two pounds and they won't even count because I'm busting my butt just to break even again.  I still weigh a LOT.  It isn't totally unrealistic for me to expect to lose at least 1.5-2 pounds a week at this weight.

Maybe it's all going to just shoot right off magically on Sunday while I sleep.  If that's going to be the case, it would be great if it would just take ALL the extra weight with it and we can just be done!

Day 2 Starvies

SOOOOO hungry today.  I'm willing to lay odds that a lot of it is phychological.  The first day back on plan is exciting and empowering.  The second day is sad and lonely and hungry.

I, being a girl of extreme intelligence, planned ahead and we are having the mouth wateringly amazing Murphy Hot Hambuger recipe and corn on the cob for supper.  It will be perfect.

If only I can make it to supper........

And there was even ice cream!

The past couple of weeks have seen an influx of time spent with friends from a long time ago.  I'm not sure what to make of that entirely so I'll just let the universe do what it's doing and go along for the fun!  From a weekend spent with Tom and Daniel last weekend to yesterday's surprise gathering in Canal Park with friends who now live in Colorado - I'm soaking it all up.

Moving to Duluth 6.5 years ago did something to my friendship bonds I never thought it would.  We became invisible somehow.  Life kept moving in the same way for our friends in Minneapolis and we fell out of that orbit.  No one ever comes up here.  I like to think that if we had a guest room, more would.  But I don't know how firmly I believe that.

I have tried to find additional "newer generation" friends in our time up here, but it's been a slow process.  Thank GOODNESS for my handful of good girlfriends up here (you know who you are!) because I'd be a mess. 

It's just tricky.  Before, I met my friends doing shows.  I'm barely on the brink of getting back into that so where the heck do I find them now??!  It's just me and the pastor at work.  And we're not going to be hanging out for cocktails and gossip anytime soon.  One of my goals on this journey is finding potential friend people and put myself out there to see what happens.

Yesterday was so great.  A couple of hours in the sun while the kids ran and played and the grown ups sat and talked.  And there was even ice cream.  :)  (Which was catalogued and counted on my Weight Watchers tracker!)  It just doesn't get much better than that!

Found

"Your playing small does NOT serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory that is within us. And as we let our light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."

-Marianne Williamson (Nelson Mandela's 1994 Inaugural Speech)

 
Sometimes things find you when you're not looking for them.  Or when you are looking for them.  Or when you didn't know WHAT you should be looking for.
 
This quote found me this morning via a friend's status feed on Facebook.  And shook me up and slapped me around and called me Mama.  In short, I love it. 
 
And as I sit here on the eve of jumping back into my journey, it keeps rolling around in my mind. 
 
It's such a "female" concept.  To sell yourself short so as to not be perceived as being stuck up or conceited or haughty.  It's not really a rewarded female trait in mainstream life.  But why?  What's wrong with being assured and confident?  And one step further, what's wrong with letting people KNOW what it is you're good at?? 

I know.  I don't have the answer to that either.  I do know that sometimes fear of success can be as paralyzing as the fear of failure.  I know it because I live it.  And I think many people do.  And think what an amazing world this could be if everyone led according to their glory inspiring all they touched to do the same.  Could be a pretty powerful revolution.
 
As I said, it's the eve of my jumping back into my journey.  I took a scenic byway called "New Puppy Place" and along that road found "Lack of Inspiration Lane".  Good news?  I also travelled to "Happy Birthday Boulevard" and had such an wonderful couple of weeks that I'm refreshed and feeling capable of continuing the journey.
 
And be warned.....I won't be playing small.

Back at it! You know you missed me.

I missed you, too!  I'm officially back at "it" today.  It's just time.  At some point, I have to figure out how to take control of the household back from this new puppy, right?  Today's the day.

Had my All-Bran for breakfast.  Have my banana and Fiber 1 bar for snacks at work.  Have my meal plan all set for the week.  Have the groceried to make all of the things planned for the week.  I'm ready to ROLL!

Let's take a minute to talk about meal planning. SOOOOO important.  My brain needs to be locked down when it comes to food.  If I don't know what's for supper, it will just yell "ORDER PIZZA ORDER PIZZA ORDER PIZZA" until I do.  It's ugly.

To fight the pizza brain, I took all my recipes and ran them through the Recipe Builder on Weight Watcher's site.  There are other sites to do this as well if you search.  I *think* Sparkpeople.com has one as well.  But, I used Weight Watchers.  Most came through with a reasonable number of points per serving.  If they didn't, I looked at the recipe and figured out the best way to tweak the ingredients or portion size to get in a decent range.  Click print and put it in the magical recipe binder.  Ooooooo....ahhhhhhh.....magical recipe binder!  I can take a picture, but it's just a lime green three-ring-binder with colorful tabs and now, recipes in plastic sleeves.

Why is this nice?  Well, you have al lyour recipes pre-pointed out.  That way, you can add your intended supper points to your day right away and know your wiggle room for lunch and snacks.  It also makes meal planning WAY easier.  If you can just flip through your options, you know you need to pick enough to fill your week and be done.  The plastic sleeves are really nice too if you're a sloppy cook (like me!!) and need a buffer between your ingredients and the paper the recipe's on.  I shift the week's recipes to the front of the binder and as they're made, they go back to their spot.

Yup, it's a little anal-retentive.  Just like me.  But it works and that's the important part, right?  A girl needs to be prepared if she's going to succeed!!

ACK! I'm stuck in a puppy time warp.

It's bad people.  BAD.  Things have been in such uproar with the addition of Scout + the building of a GIANT patio for a swimming pool in the backyard + the end of the school year that I don't even have a firm timeframe in place of how long ago this puppy joined the family.

CHAOS.

And, for the record, I'm not a fan of chaos.  Some people thrive under it.  Not I.

Oh yeah, and the kid lost another tooth in the mix. 

The puppy needs CONSTANT attention.  Something we either totally neglected or blocked out from when Boo was a pup.  Or Boo was not this insane.  Scout would GLADLY chew up everything in this house.  Including the carpet, any random cords and all of the people.  Boo wasn't a chewer.  Scout would also gladly potty 850 times a day.  Boo was trained on indoor puppy pee pads.  It's just sooooo different and sooooooo exhausting.

So where does this leave the journey to awesomeness?  Well, it's still happening.....just a lot more slowly and solely fueled by the 1/2 of a brain cell I have left over after having to focus all the others on the puppy.

A beacon of light?  Now that school is out, Holland makes a great puppy wrangler and potty break facilitator.  Perhaps this will give my brain a chance to go back to writing amazing blog entries and focusing on being 100% on plan for Weight Watchers and my hiatused Couch 2 5K training.

He won't be a puppy forever..........he won't be a puppy forever.....he won't be a puppy forever.......

Who's getting their eyebrows waxed?

ME!  I AM!!

Goal #1 (Goal post ) reached and surpassed, baby!   Wooooo!  And not only did I lose the 10 pounds, I threw in a few extra for good measure.  12.6 to be exact.  I got to change to my next goal weight on the Weight Watchers site and even lost a daily point!

It's funny.  I don't really notice where I've lost the 12.6 pounds.  Blessing and a curse I guess.  That's how it is when I gain weight as well.  It just sort of evenly piles on.  I guess that's how it is coming off too.  As long as it's coming off, it can come off wherever it likes! 

So, after work, I'm heading out to reward myself before coming back home to puppy pandemonium.  What a great day!

Newest advancement in bringing awesomeness to my life...

Meet Scout.  The newest addition to our little family.  He has caused quite an uproar but in a mostly good way.  Can't say I've had much to say about my usual topics but give me a couple of days and I'm sure my brain will return to its normal programming.  Until then, enjoy the cute!

Weigh in day! SUCCESS!

Down another 2.2 pounds this week!  That makes a total of 9.6 pretty darn painless pounds over the past month.  Very motivating, very motivating indeed. 

This week will be interesting as we're eating out as a family to celebrate some really good news and I'm going out for dinner and cocktails with a friend on Wednesday.  I do plan on getting back to my Couch to 5K runs this week though, so hopefully it will all even out.

I'm soooooooooo close to Goal #1 and the eyebrow wax that comes with it!  YAY!!

What a day looks like for me.....in food.

Let's kick today off by talking about food.  Why not, right?

I've had a couple of emails wondering about what I typically eat in a day.  Clearly, the concern is about me not starving to death.  I understand - it's a large concern of mine as well.  Luckily, I have some natural padding to see me through the tough times still.  I'll have to start thinking of my survival plan to fight off starvation once I hit my goal weight though....

To get us started, here are a few broad ideas I like to keep in mind when planning my menus/meals:

• Don't bring food into the house that will tempt you to a point you're not ready to match with will power.  I have a six year old whose taste buds do not always go the way of healthy eating.  Intentionally, I'll allow her "fun" foods or snacks that I know I won't eat - fruit snacks, GoGurt, mini Baby Bel cheese.  She's a fan of dessert (who isn't??) but she has a drawer of things like mini Tootsie rolls and Dum Dum suckers.  If they were to get too frisky and entice me to eat one, damage would be minimal.  But she still likes them so it's a win/win.  We also have Cheez-Its in the house but I've built up a tolerance to their presence and only indulge when I know I have four points to burn. 
• Speaking of indulge, do it.  Not all day long obviously.  But if you KNOW there's something you always crave, find room for it.  What I have discovered is 90% of the time, I REALLY want a taste of chocolate after supper.  I have two choices, ignore it and hope I don't go C to the RAZY at some point and take down an entire pound of peanut M&Ms or induge it in a sensitive, controlled way.  Clearly, I indulge.  My indugence?  ONE Riesen candy.  It's exactly enough if I allow myself to slow down, taste it and enjoy it.  And one Riesen is ONE point.  Perfect!
• Along the lines of not bringing tempting foods into the house, it's also a huge help to have healthy tasty foods always available.  Some of the big ones for us are:  Homemade Ranch Dressing (see previous posts for that recipe!), pickles, carrots, blackberries, Fiber One 90 calorie bars, Jolly Ranchers (You get THREE for one point!) and sunflower seeds in the shell (that's for Mark.)  In a pinch, you've got something you love and will keep your mouth busy for zero to 1 points.
• Plan ahead.  I meal plan over the weekend and assign each supper to a night based on how busy our schedules are for that day.  Then, after breakfast I load in all my points for breakfast and morning snacks as well as my anticipated points for supper.  That automatically tells me how many points I have left for lunch, afternoon snacks or even dessert.  I've found this to be a great way to make sure I'm not only eating all my points and not hoarding them but also to spread them out appropriately throughout the day.  Trust me, I have no need for a points binge at the end of the day before going to bed!  That helps no one!
• Consistancy can really help.  I don't think it's the key to success, but if you take the thinking out of it, food gets put back to it's place as something YOU control - not something that controls you.  I always have cereal for breakfast.  This is a LEARNED behavior.  I've long since been one of those people who thinks that eating early makes me sick to my stomach.  And it did for the first two weeks I did it.  You're welcome metabolism, for getting you back on track.  Now, I'm appropriately hungry in the morning for the fuel to kick start my day.  I also have fruit and a Fiber One bar as my snack at work.  If I don't have it, by the time I'm home I'm ready to eat EVERYTHING.  Not good.  So, I pack a snack.  Lunch tends to be pretty similar every day - mostly so that I can just come home, make it and eat it before the hungries start blinding me.  Thomas bagel thins or mini bagels, Weight Watchers cream cheese spread, veggies and dip and some pickles are pretty common.  That leaves supper as my daily wild card.  So far, it's working.

Onto what an actual day or two looks like for me.  I'll go on record to say, at no point have I been out of my mind starving in the past month.  To me, that says I'm doing a good job with the types of foods I'm choosing.  Protein is always somewhat of a challenge for me because I don't like meat and eggs sort of make me gaggy unless I eat them at suppertime.  There are only so many beans a gal can eat and still be allowed to participate in society, so I just do the best I can.

So here's what I had a couple of days ago - note: I don't track water on my food list.  I drink plenty as it's the only thing I drink aside from coffee (and the occasionaly cocktail, but shhhhhhhhhh.....)

Morning
1/2 cup(s) Original All-Bran                          1
1 large banana(s)                                            2
1 serving(s) 90 Cal. Fiber One bar                 1
20 oz black coffee                                          0
1/2 cup(s) fat-free skim milk                          1
Subtotal 5

Midday
1 serving(s) Thomas Bagel Thin                    1
1 1/2 serving(s) Old Dutch FF Pretzel thins   3
1 oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese Spread       1
3/4 cup(s) blackberries                                  0.5
1 cup(s) carrot(s)                                           0
1 Tbsp sunflower seeds                                 1
3 Homemade Ranch Dressing                        4.5
Subtotal 11

Evening
4 oz frozen grilled salmon                             3
2 Tbsp sliced almonds                                  1.5
1 1/3 cup(s) cooked green beans                   0.5
1/2 Tbsp canola oil                                       2
1 serving(s) Uncle Ben's Fast & Natural Brown Rice 3
1 cup(s) watermelon                                     1
1 serving(s) Smart Pop mini bag                   1
Subtotal 12

A perfect 28 points - which is what I'm allowed in a day.  I was never hungry.  And it's a LOT of food!  (As you can see by my lunch, I was craving salty/crunchy!)  While suppers change dramatically, I'd say, the point spread stays about the same - I use 5-7 for morning foods, 8-11 for lunch foods, and 10-15 on supper foods.  I'm working on trying to shift more calories to the mornings, but for now, this is working well.

Hopefully this will soothe some minds that I'm sitting here starving all day just nibbling away on clear broth and carrot sticks! 

What else?

As is evidenced here in the past posts, a big focus this journey is related to my physical health.

But what else?

There's just gotta be more to it.  And in an effort to not leave you hanging, I think I know what "that" is...

I've stopped challenging myself.  There was a time when I was totally fearless - informing my mother at 15 that I was going to volunteer at a camp for mentally handicapped kids and adults two hours from where we live; day trips to wherever felt fun at the moment; taking a year off from college to "discover myself" as well as learn more about my chosen profession - heck, just the CHOOSING of theatre as a profession.  I felt armed and dangerous (in a non-lethal, weapon free way of course!)

Somewhere, that love of challenges got lost.  I'd even go so far as to say it all but disappeared.

But fear not, dear anonymous blog readers!  The time for challenges has returned!

Bold, right?  I know.  Of course, I haven't really identified too many yet.  One is that whole being able to run a 5K.  So that's good.....every list needs something to kick it off!  Another, embarassingly enough, is that I NEED to get back to auditioning.  That one's trickier because I have qualifications to it.  I want to love the show, ideally it would be something Holland could see and it has to "fit" into our lives.  Lots harder to balance when there's a kiddo in the mix.  But it has to happen.  It's been too long and now I'm sort of scared of it.  Which is dumb.

What else is a good challenge?  Reasonable here people - I'm not putting bungee jumping in at #3 so let's calm that idea right down.  You think of some too and we'll get together for tea (virtual or not) and discuss.  I'll let you know as I come up with more!

Murphy's Hot Hamburger

AKA - Heaven on a plate for my meat loving husband.

I'm going to warn you.  This recipe contains gravy.  And fries.  And hamburgers.  MMMMmmmm.  I know.  It had me at gravy.

I originally found this on the Pioneer Woman website, but she links it to here:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2010/03/a-tasty-recipe-murphys-hot-hamburger/

Here's the picture:

Seriously.  Do you hear the angels singing?  And I don't even LIKE hamburgers. 

This household always has a small challenge when it comes to meal planning.  Basically, Mark loves meat and I do not.  There's very little I enjoy about meat and in case you're fearing an ethical debate from me, fret not.  It's simply a texture thing.  I don't like to touch it raw and I don't love the texture when I eat it.  Fish being about the only exception to the taste texture issue.  Because I do most of the cooking, I win.  And Mark's pallatte has had to adapt.  I do try to have meat dishes a few times a week to play nice.  This is one of those that's great for both of us.  All I do is skip the eating of the hamburger patty.  Trust me, I'm down with just eating fries and gravy. 

Want to know the best part?  The way I prepare it comes out to only 8 points a serving!!  CRAZY, right??!  Doesn't it look way worse than that?  Onto the magical recipe...

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Murphy's Hot Hamburger

Ingredients

1 pound lean Ground Beef (7% fat)

Garlic Powder to taste
Onion Powder to taste
1 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
Black Pepper to taste
5 Tablespoons Flour
28 oz. Fat Free Beef Broth
3 Large Potatoes
1 Tablespoon canola oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice potatoes into fries. Place on large baking sheet. Pour oil onto fries and toss to coat evenly. Bake for approx. 45 minutes or until golden and crispy.

In mixing bowl, mix hamburger, garlic, seasoned salt, onion powder, and salt and pepper. Mix well. For 4 large patties. Place in large preheated skillet over medium heat. Brown burgers on each side until fully cooked.
Remove burgers from skillet and place on plate covered in paper towels. DO NOT drain the grease. Add the flour one tablespoon at a time, stirring with a whisk until all grease is absorbed and flour mixture gets thick and bubbly. Slowly add the broth, whisking constantly. Bring to a simmer and allow to thicken.
To serve, place fries on plate, hamburger on top of fries and cover all in gravy!
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Julie's Notes:

• Cutting the fries is actually not all that hard to do by hand.  I bought a cheap fry cutter from target and it was junk, so I threw it away and just do it by hand.  I also peel the potatoes due to a finicky 5 year old who lives in this house.
• Parchment paper rules.  I use it on the baking sheets under the fries and have no trouble with them sticking or burning.
• In using the 93/7 lean ground beef, I've found there is very little "fat" left over for the flour to get mixed into.  There's MAYBE enough for a tablespoon of flour and that doesn't make it thick enough.  I'm still researching a way for more flour to get incorporated without lumps.  Although the lumps don't seem to be slowing anyone down in this house when I make this recipe.

There's not much more that needs to be said for this recipe.  It's amazing. 

WHOA! Huh?

I lost this week!  .8 pounds to be exact!  Huh??!!!

To be 100% honest, I didn't track a single point from Wednesday afternoon on.  Life was just too busy with the craziness of the rummage sale and eating at my parents' house most of the meals.  There were donuts consumed, fancy coffee drinks swigged, Chinese food ordered and eaten.

And I still lost!

My theory?  I need to eat my activity points.  At least.  I've been trying not to - thinking it would help me lose weight faster.  And knowing that if I stopped losing, it would likely be due to needing to up my fuel intake.  This has proven it to me.  I wasn't eating enough.  I could sort of feel it too - I was really lethargic and FELT hungry pretty much all day long for the previous week and a half (pre-rummage sale madness).  But, since I don't have a great track record with proper eating, I didn't know if it was part of me adjusting to just eating LESS or if I wasn't eating enough. 

So, YAAAAAAAAAAAY!  I don't need to feel hungry and can still lose!  This has just totally jazzed me back up for the week.

(Although talk to me after tomorrow's run and you may not hear the same enthusiasm!)

Is this totally crazy?

There's a 5K walk/run on July 31st.  It was established in memory of a local doctor who died of a heart attack while out for her daily run three years ago.  She happens to be the doctor we credit with saving Holland from much more severe damage during her ear situation three years ago.

I'm considering registering.

ACK!!!

Is that totally insane??  Is there any way I'd be ready to run a 5K by then?  I certainly could walk it - it's not that far to walk.  But if I registered, I'd want to run it.  I feel such a strong pull to do this.  Even down to the last phrase on the registration pamphlet I picked up:

Those who ran with Nancy often remember her saying, "We must be nuts."

See - it's like everything is pointing me to do it as it would be NUTS for me to think I could!

To run or not to run.....that is the question...

Thank goodness this is a marathon...

What in the world do you do when you are trying to count points but are away from your house for hours and hours and hours while running like a chicken with their head cut off trying to prep a rummage sale as well as sell for thirteen hours across two days.  In the snow - incidentally.  Ick.

Well, if you're me, you just eat what's there and deal with the aftermath later.  I'm exhausted.  I'm sore.  I'm a little crabby.  And I just really felt like if my brain had to do one more thing, it would pull a Bret Michaels and explode.  (Too soon?)  I did the best I could for the meals I was in control of, but we were at my Mom's house for this sale and frankly to feed nine people during the ridiculousness that is a garage sale is challenging enough.  She doesn't need me in there poo-pooing everything because I can't figure out points in that environment.

My plan is to get a good night's rest, meal plan the heck out of the week and hit the grocery store so we're totally ready to get rolling again.  Who knew a silly ol' rummage sale would cause so much disruption??!

Crab Stuffed Tomatoes

For many reasons, this wasn't the next recipe I planned to post.  One major reason?  I feel like "stuffed tomatoes" are such a weigh loss cliche.  Especially if they're stuffed with cottage cheese - aka "diet plate".  So, why post it?  Well, for one, it's super yummy (I was actually craving it last night so that's a good sign!).  For two, well...just remember the phrase "grapefruit spoon."  Trust me.  We'll come full circle.

What should you know before reading the recipe?  Orzo.  Yup.  Another totally "new to me" ingredient.  It's a really good thing I watch a lot of Food Network or I would still be of the opinion that orzo is a vegetable of some sort.  Thank you Rachel Ray for enlightening me.  (Please note:  This will probably be the only thank you Rachel Ray and her "Yumm-O!"s will ever get from me.  Bask in the glow Rachel.)  From her show, I learned orzo is actually pasta.  Yeah.  But it looks like flat rice so go figure.


Again, scale is tricky on a blog, but the little pieces are maybe 1/2" or 3/4" in length.  The only package I found was a tiny little bag of Barilla brand - maybe a cup or a cup and a half total?  So, keep those eyes peeled.  (Although, I'll admit I was flustered so it might not be as hard as I made it!)


Onto the recipe!  (Nope, not time for the secret of the grapefruit spoon yet!)  It's right off the Weight Watchers site - apparently from the book "In One Pot".

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Crab Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients
1/2 cup(s) uncooked orzo
8 medium tomato(es)
3/4 pound(s) cooked crab meat, lump, picked over for pieces of shell
1 medium stalk(s) celery, chopped
1/2 small sweet red pepper(s), seeded and chopped
1/2 small onion(s), chopped
1/3 cup(s) reduced-calorie mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp parsley, fresh, chopped
1/2 tsp OLD BAY Old Bay Seasoning

Instructions
Cook the orzo according to package directions; drain and rinse under cold water.


Slice off the top fourth of each tomato and reserve. Using a spoon, scoop out the pulp from each tomato. Place the tomato shells upside down on a layer of paper towels to drain; set aside. (Save the pulp for use in stews and soups.)

Combine the orzo, crab meat, celery, bell pepper, onion, mayonnaise, mustard, parsley, and Old Bay seasoning in a bowl; mix well.

Fill each tomato shell with about 1⁄2 cup of the crab mixture, mounding if necessary. Replace the reserved tomato tops.

One serving = 6 points.  2 stuffed tomatoes per serving. 
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Julie's notes and the reveal of the grapefruit spoon mystery:

1.  OK - are you ready?  I had an EPIPHANY last night while getting my tomatoes prepped for hollowing out.  And since my husband wasn't as enthusiastic as I needed in my moment of glory, I present it here for you to worship and adore.  You know that grapefruit spoon you have?  Serrated and shoved all the way back to your silverware drawer?  USE IT TO HOLLOW OUT YOUR TOMATO!  Seriously, I'm not sure I've even been more proud than when that occurred to me last night.  And definitely follow their suggestion of just cutting off the top 1/4 and then going in - sort of like if it were a pumpkin you were about to gut and carve.  The first time I made this, I didn't do that AND I tried to hollow it out with a small spoon with mediocre results.  I mean, it's a tomato and I'm a person, so I eventually won, but still.  GRAPEFRUIT SPOON.  Ahhh...soooo worth it.

2.  I used imitation crab both times.  Really, it was a matter of cost.  I'd never touched a piece of imitation crab and well, it's a little weird and creepy.  But it tasted just fine so I'll get used to it.  Not to be too graphic, but I bought the "leg" style and peeled them each like a piece of string cheese.  THEN I diced them up. 

3.  Due to my dislike for raw peppers, we left those out.  And used onion powder instead of onion.  That's due to laziness, not flavor.  And dried parsley.  For the same reason as onion powder.

4.  I'd never tried Old Bay either.  Is that weird?  Sometimes I'm not sure.  It's pretty yummy - no need to fear it.  Sort of like richer, slightly zestier Lowry's Seasoned Salt.  At least to me.

5.  It doesn't tell you to do this, but it's a lot better chilled.  More crab salad-y.  But, I don't always plan ahead as well as I should, so I can confirm it's good room temperature as well.

6.  I used regular mayo because that's what we had in the fridge.  With that change and the use of imitation crab, the points come out to 7 per serving instead of 6.

7.  The serving size is TWO tomatoes in case you missed that.  And while it doesn't seem like enough, it's absolutely filling enough for a suppertime meal.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this recipe.  Obviously, you'd need to like crab to like this.  I suppose you'd be able to omit the crab and just do the filling as sort of a pasta salad and it would still be good.  Maybe I'll try that next time just for research purposes.  Until then, I'll let you go find that grapefruit spoon so you're ready to make it on your own!

Feats of strength!

Today is the day all the women of the church I work for come together to bake apple pies for the roast beef dinner tomorrow.  There are goodies all around to keep the workers full and happy while they wait for their payment.  In the previous installments of apple pie day, I've eagerly and gratefully accepted my "payment" of a piece of fresh, warm, amazing pie.

Not only did I pass on ALL of the goodies - I also passed on my piece of pie!  NOT EASY PEOPLE.  I feel compelled to take out a billboard or something.  But blogging is cheaper, so you get to be the first to know.  FRESH APPLE PIE.  And I was in the kitchen the entire time it was baking.  It smelled sooooo good. 

I'll settle for my half a piece tomorrow with my roast beef dinner.  It'll probably taste all the sweeter!

Weigh in Day!

Duhn duhn duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun........ *that's the ominous soundtrack music*

Yep, I was up a little today.  .6 pounds.  I'll own it.  And for good measure, I'll add that the blueberry martini, fondue, dessert and evening out with my husband feeling all fancy was 100000000% worth it. 

I refuse to get all worked up over .6 pounds.  Please.  I could probably cut my hair and lose more than that.  (But I won't as that's goal reward #3, right?!)  And I really believe that the slower you lose the weight, the surer you can be about it being gone for good.  I've got time.

The plan is to just get back to working on my habit goals for this week and let my body even out from all the celebrating.  Might be easier said than done with the craziness this week looks like it will bring (doctor's appointments for the kiddo and a massive garage sale over the weekend).  Why of why can't I be one of those people who drops 400 pounds at the mere mention of stress?  Instead I'm one of those people who tells stress to shut up by feeding it cookies.  Tastier, but not healthier.

I promise I'm here this week....I'm deciding which recipes to put up next and I want to make them great ones.  Keep checking back or go up to the top of the screen and click "follow".  That way you can just pop onto your blogger dashboard and know if I have anything new.  I promise not to write 87 posts about the garage sale. 

Blog Flashback: Farmer's Market Phobias!

As I sat here wistfully thinking about when the Farmer's Market season opens around here, I thought of this blog entry I wrote a few months ago for another blog site.  While I know it's too early in the life of this little blog to be repeating entries, my guess is, very few of you have read this one.  And those who have, well, enjoy it again!  :)


Hello. My name is Julie and I'm scared of Farmer's Markets.


Yes, lame. Trust me, I know. I LOVE the idea of Farmer's Markets. I love everything about the idea of Farmer's Markets. But I have this thing where I don't like looking like an idiot. And my perception of Farmer's Markets is that there is something I'm missing. Like, can you just buy one apple? Or do you have to buy the whole bag? Can you buy one tomato or do you have to buy that whole little flat? And how will I KNOW what and how much of the stuff I want to buy? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!! It's just a little overwhelming for this detail oriented gal.

Secondly, there's the issue of guilt. I feel like I need to buy something from everyone if I'm buying anything at all. They're all right there LOOKING at you. The produce guy at Super One doesn't care if I buy that bundle of beets. But I feel like this nice Hispanic fella DOES. And the one next to him, and the fella selling honey, and the guy selling Kettle Corn, and the list goes on and on. Who am I to say this tomato is going to be better than the one a booth down from you. And will that guy see I'm buying a tomato here and feel slighted that I didn't buy his? Seriously, I'm already feeling guilty enough about needing to eat more produce and now we've added interpersonal issues and baggage into the mix. It's just all too much.

However. Today I went to a Farmer's Market. With Holland and Mark who obviously don't have the same ridiculous issues as I do. We got a GIANT bundle of flowers - GORGEOUS for $6. Insanity. Mark bought 2 huge tomatoes and I bought a bundle of beets. Total spent? $9. 

And it didn't dissolve me into a puddle of indecision and need to keep things equal and fair. What a big girl, huh? I mean, yes, next time I'm likely going to feel compelled to buy organic honey and artisan chocolates because well, I didn't this time and I don't want them to feel like no one wants organic honey and artisan chocolates (even though truthfully, I have no use for artisan chocolates or organic honey.) If they would all just sell tomatoes and flowers, I think we'd really be onto something.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooo-al!

Heehee.....I wrote that how those crazy soccer announcers say it. 

Goals.

Whew.  Intimidating.  At least for me.

Why don't I like to set goals?  Probably fear of not attaining them.  That's pretty common, right?  But here's the twist.  In my brain, it's not usually *my* fault when I visualize not attaining goals.  It's usually someone else getting in the way and goofing it up.  Great, huh?  That way I take no blame at all!  Brilliant, really.

But these are the times for bootstrap pulling and becoming responsible.  Enter goals, stage right.

Looking at this whole process, it's really easy for me to get overwhelmed by where I want to end up in terms of my weight.  Truthfully, the total I should lose is around 80 pounds.  Ouch, huh?  Way too overwhelming to simply think in terms of getting to a certain number so very far away.  Which is a little ironic at the same time.  Setting that as the only goal - single focus - is exactly the thing that is the most overwhelming. 

I've chosen to set two different types of goals.  Weight related in one corner and habit related in another.  See, I can only do so much to achieve the weight goals.  Sometimes, you do everything right and your body has other ideas and plans.  If you hitch your feeling of accomplishment to that, I think you run a bigger risk of frustration.  That's why I have additional goals in place - ones that *I* am in full control of fulfilling.  And the best part is, I can adapt them to try bolster up areas in which I might be slacking.  Not that I would ever slack.........  *uneasy whistling*

Before I unveil the goals, let's talk rewards!  WOOOOO!  Getting stuff for doing stuff!  Awesome!  Do you know how tricky it is to think up non-food related rewards?  Whew.  And non-expensive rewards?  Double whew.  It's important to reward yourself though....you're working hard!  But yeah, can't be food.  I also don't attach the reward to accomplishing a goal in a certain time frame.  Just accomplishing.

Onto the unveiling of the goals!

Let's start with the weight goals and rewards as the first few are pretty set.  Once these are accomplished, I'll have to re-evalute.

Goal 1:  Lose 10 pounds
Reward:  Brow wax

Goal 2:  Lose 20 pounds
Reward:  Cash in the gift card I already have for a 45 minute massage

Goal 3:  Lose 30 pounds
Reward:  Cut off all my hair!  YAY!  Makeover week!

Between that and losing 80 pounds, I have nothing planned.  Luckily, I'll have a little time to decide on something!

My habit goals don't have outside rewards because DOING them is the reward.  Like that?  uh huh, I'm pretty clever like that.  Also, I'm likely to change them up as I refect on the past weeks successes and challenges.  This week's goals are:

Goal 1:  Repeat and Complete Week 2 of Couch to 5K  (My knees are making this a CHALLENGE)

Goal 2:  Drink twice as much water as coffee a day.  (Um, I drink a LOT of coffee.  Which is a whole different challenge for a whole different week.  But I need to up my water.)

Goal 3:  Off the computer/couch by 10:30pm.  Period.  I need to get more sleep.

That's what it looks like for this week folks.  Those are my goals.  I'm EXCITING aren't I?

Decisions, decisions

Tonight, Mark and I are going out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary.  The actual anniversary is thiscoming Wednesday - Cinqo de Mayo! - and it sort of snuck p on us this year.  I guess after nine years, I can see how that would happen.

We have the opportunity to eat out tonight - Holland's going to my parents' house for a sleep over.  BUT, we already ate out this week and used up about half of our "weekly points".

So, what's a weight watchin' girl to do? 

This girl is going to go out, celebrate and make sure every last calorie she consumes is 100% totally worth it. 

It's not going to be easy.  It doesn't fit in with my "all or nothing" brain patterns.  I'm firmly in the "nothing" frame of mind and allowing myself an indulgence sort of freaks me out at this point.  I've been doing so well.  And it's going to sting if I gain come Monday.

But it's an idea I need to get OK with as it's in line with what normal people do and how normal people eat.  I know my brain isn't normal (shhhhhh.....I'm specifically talking about food here, people!) so it's a constant struggle to react to food in a normal way.  It's one night.  It's a place we've never been.  It's a great menu of lots of different "heavy apps" and it looks AMAZING from the website.  I'm not tying the feedbag on at the local casino buffet, gulping down quantities of tasteless unidentifiable foods.  Which incidentally is exactly what we would have done had this anniversary happened three weeks ago. 

Mindful eating and balance is the goal and I think tonight is a perfect example of both.  To quote my friend Lisa, "When it's a party- eat like it's a party. When it's not a party step away from the table."

And that's what I intend to do!

For fun - a wedding picture or two:

And our engagement picture - Man do we look young!!

Freaky Deaky Leeks...

How many of you know what a leek is?  As in, you could go to the grocery store and walk right to it, knowing with utmost confidence you didn't pick the wrong item?

Yeah, I couldn't either until about three weeks ago.

But it's OK!  Not only can I go pick them out of the crowd of other random produce, but I have cooked with them twice AND ................ like them!  Add another into the "win" column. 

Never would I have considered buying a leek until all of the recipes I tore out of the magazine named for one, Ms. Martha Stewart, included them.  Of course they do.  Leek and "foil lined parchment."  Whatevs, Martha.  I don't have time for that nonsense.  But there was this recipe that looked DIVINE in the magazine picture..... so off to the grocery to find a leek.

I think you'll be proud to know that I didn't need to ask for help.  Although I totally would have.  I go to the grocery Mark manages so I'd have called his sorry butt over if necessary and HE could have hunted for it.  What?  That's what the little old ladies do!  Somewhere in the depths of my Food Network obsessed brain there was an image of a leek. Sort of greenish I thought.  So I headed to that big wall of leafy geen things.  You know, the one that is also located under the leafy green sprinkler system that seems to be perfectly timed to soak you just as you reach in?  The possibility of drenching aside, I started digging through the display. 

AHA!  Leeks.

I'll spare you having to ask - here's what a leek looks like:

I know!  Right?  It looks just like a friggin' giant green onion!  If someone *cough* MARTHA *cough* would have just said that, the process would have been a lot easier.  Some notes on using leeks ('cause I'm an expert on them now apparently!):

1.  An average leek is like 12" long.  You can't tell that from the picture.  But they're big.  You only use a tiny part of the plant.  Even though they sell you all the giant extra parts.  Stupid.  But, you hack off the big green leaves from the top and the root - keeping only the pale green and white parts to use.

2.  It will be STINKY as you start cutting into it.  It's a friggin' giant green onion remember.  And it smells sharp, just like you'd imagine a friggin' giant green onion would.  (If you were so inclide to imagine something like that.)  Don't worry.  It totally mellows out and that smell doesn't show up as a taste.

3.  You have to wash it AFTER it's all cut up.  Why?  Sand.  LOTS of sand.  All in between the layers.  And if you just rinse off the outsides, all that groady grit will still be in there and as a result, in your recipe.  Not good.  So, chop it all up and then rinse, rinse, rinse.

Want a recipe?  I knew you would!  Get your fancy-pants on because it's all Martha-y.

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Potato and Sweet Potato Tian

Ingredients

1 lb Yukon Gold Potatoes, thinly sliced

12 oz sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
1 green apple cored and grated
3 leeks, white and pale green only, sliced ⅛ inch thick
1Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp coarse salt
pepper to taste
2 oz grated Gruyère

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F. Toss together potatoes, apple, leeks, oil, and 1 tsp coarse salt. Season with pepper. Transfer to a 9 X 12 oval baking dish and cover with parchment-lined foil. Bake for 15 min. Raise oven temperature to 400F. Remove, uncover, and top with Gruyère. Bake until bubbling and top is browned, about 30 min.

Makes 8 servings.  3 points/serving
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Notes from Julie:

1. Yeah.  I don't know what "tian" is either.  It's OK, we'll work through it together.  It's like super fancy-pants potatoes au gratin.
2. While there is a sign at the grocery indicating they sell both yams and sweet potatoes, I have no idea which is which.  Just grab one.  They'd cook up about the same for this I think.
3. Gruyère cheese.  O.M.G.  DELISH!!!  I had never tried it before.  At least not that I knew about.  I found it in the grocery store deli section - you know where all those fancy cheese are that you've also never tried?  And it's EXPENSIVE.  So be ready for that.  My 4 oz piece was $10.  Craziness for cheese.  BUT.  So worth it.  It's like a nuttier version of fresh parmesan cheese.  Also, a little goes a long way.  I'm a cheese-aholic.  I blame my geographical proximity to the state of Wisconsin.  And when I put that 2 oz on there I was skeptical.  It's enough.  Trust me.
4. You know what to do with the leeks.  Cut thin and rinse, rinse, rinse.  They'll look like little curly locks of hair.
5. Martha's Oval baking dish = Julie's 9"x13" Corningware dish
6. Martha's foil lined parchment = Julie's tin foil
7. The apple may throw you off.  Don't let it.  It totally works.  The first time I made it, I didn't read for comprehension and cut it into thin slices like the potatoes instead of Martha's way.  The second time, I went with Martha's way.  I kind of preferred it my way.  But don't broadcast that - Martha's an ex-con.  She may find me and shiv me.  I liked the random bite of sour.  Player's choice.

I think that's it.  I personally could eat this every day.  Very rich flavors.  And even Mark, "Mr. I don't like sweet potatoes", liked it.  High praise indeed.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAT??!!!

Guess who can run 90 consecutive seconds - SIX TIMES - with a two minute walk in between each run?

ME!!!!

Wooooooooo!

Who knew??!

Today marked the beginning of Week 2 of the C25K training.  I won't lie.  I was actually a little scared to even think about starting this week.  I mean, my first attempt at Week 1 wasn't exactly a rousing success, right?  It did get a little better, but still.  There was no, "YIPPEE!  I get to run MORE this week!" scrolling through my head.

Something that may have helped is that I changed up my route.  It's tricky to find non-ridiculously hilly terrain around my house.  Or anywhere in this city, really.  And while I have found I have one hill in me, I'm just not quite in the mountain running catagory.  (Is that a catagory?  Should be.  Mark it down.)  The new route is pretty good.  I'll call it my Week 2 route.

The first three runs went really well.  Even with a small hill.  Run four marked the turning point for my calves and during runs five and six, my knees decided to join "Calf Revolt 2010".  And I'm pretty sure I spotted a turtle passing me...

BUT I FINISHED.  WITHOUT STOPPING!!

And then, promptly got the hiccups.

Huh?

I agree.  I thought it was weird too.  Maybe I'm a medical miracle?

Tomorrow will be a rest day.  I intend to rest the heck out of it.  And back at it on Thursday.  Fearlessly.

Another reason to LOVE Mondays...

Weigh in day.  And yes, I CHOSE that day.  You know, because Monday's aren't enough fun all on their own, right?

Monday weigh ins weren't totally my first choice but it's what day it was when I registered for Weight Watchers online, so why not.  I mean, do I magically get thinner by Wednesday?  No, not really.  Although the past two weeks I HAVE weighed less on Wednesday than any other day.  It sort of bugged me this morning, but after some reflecting, I think I know why.

First of all, I'm happy to report that I was down another 2.4 pounds this week.  That's a total of 7.2 for the past two weeks.  Totally not shabby.  Of course, I'm greedy.  I probably haven't mentioned that yet, have I?  I'll sucker you in with all the delightful sides of me and then lay that little fact down for you.  I'll be honest and say that I had a twinge of disappointment this morning when the scale wasn't as low as I pictured it would be.  I mean, I didn't eat a single homemade chocolate chip cookie yesterday.  Homemade.  By my Dad who makes AMAZING chocolate chip cookies.  And I didn't eat one.  Or any raw dough which is even more delicious than the cookie.  I feel like somewhere in the rules of how, why and when you lose weight, that feat should count for an automatic 10 pound loss.  If not more.

The twinge passed pretty quickly though.  2.4 pounds in a WEEK.  7.2 in TWO weeks.  Heck, that's even better than some folks do on The Biggest Loser, right?  And I'm just lil' ol' me doing it on my own. 

There have been some adjustments I've decided to make though as we go into week three.  I love eating out.  It's HARD to eat out and figure out points, but we've done OK so far.  The plan is for one eating out night a week.  The past two weeks, that day has been Saturday.  I think that's too close to my weigh in day.  Not because I'm trying to get some artificially low number on the scale, but because it's just an abundance of calories (and the sodium and fat that comes with those eating out calories!) in too short of a window for them to properly even out before weighing in.  Plus, I can 2.5 points worth of sodium-rich microwave popcorn last night.  I have enough real weigh to get rid of - I don't need the scale registering Orville Redinbacker's popcorn induced water weight as well!

Eating out day is henceforth declared to be Wednesday.  (cue the old timey trumpet fanfare!)

On a final note, I know from other folks that in general, Monday is a less desireable weigh in day so that people can work off the weekend binge calories.  I guess what I'm doing is similar with moving the eating out calories, but I have found that knowing Monday is my weigh in day keeps me from going too nuts over the weekend.  It's good motivation to cast an editing eye on my food choices.

Just ask those poor homemade cookies sitting in my parents' freezer waiting for their chance to be eaten.

Product Recommendation: The Titan Peeler

Yes.  From "As Seen on TV" fame.  A. Maze. Ing. 

I know.  You think I've lost my mind.  It's OK.  I'm used that.  You're looking at your computer screen the same way my husband looked at me when I announced my Titan Peeler love a few months ago.  You NEED to trust me on this.

Now, I'll admit I do enjoy gadgets.  I also enjoy infomercials.  So if I'm lucky enough to catch wind of a gadget informercial, you've probably lost me for the 22 minutes it takes to give me all the justifications I need for purchasing said gadget.  I blame genetics and my father for all of this.  He, too, is a fan of the informercial gadget.

OK, so WHY do I love the Titan peeler so?  Some of it's positive attributes:

• Nice heft to the peeler.  It doesn't feel chintzy and the handle is nice and fat so it's easy to hold.
• The peeler has little pointed teeth instead of the flat blade on a traditional peeler.  Why is this so great?  Well, it makes the skinless parts of whatever you're peeling have TEXTURE.  AMAZING.  No more potatoes flying out of your hand and into the sink filled with peels.  No more struggling to hang onto slippery carrots.  No slipping at all.
• As a person prone to fileting skin from their fingers while using a peeler, I have some limitations on which types I can buy.  We call this kind the "Julie safe vertical kind".  It's very technical and scientific, no?  As opposed to the "Julie bleeds all over the food and has to start over much to the chagrin of her husband who doesn't understand what the problem is between his wife and a horizontal peeler" kind.  Perhaps I've shared too much.  The good news with the Titan peeler is that when you do try to take your skin off, it's not a giant slice.  It's just a few little scratches.  All because of those nice little teeth.
• It rinses clean really easily and doesn't really need to run through the dishwasher if you're inclined to skip that.  Which I am.  Because I'm lazy.
• I HIGHLY recommend buying the version that includes the Julienne cutter.  It takes a little learning curve, but once you figure it out, you're going to be Julienning anything that crosses your path.  Trust me on this.  It's magical.
• You can skip the slicing board.  I sent in a tiny piece of paper and $2.99 for shipping and handling and still haven't figure out how to make the whole "mini-mandolin" of advertising fame happen.

I did link to an Amazon set in case you just can't wait another second.  But I got my set at Walgreens for $15.  You do what works for you.  It's a free country.

Perhaps it's because I'm a total gadget geek, but I use these peelers every day.  Because I can.  They're so slick, especially that Julienne peeler.  I add carrots and cucumbers to just about everything I can because it's fun and the pieces just turn out so perfect.  Definitely worth checking out!

Let's talk about running, shall we?

I am not a runner. 

Let me set the scene for you:  It's 1985.  You're in a church parking lot about a half block from Lowell Elementary school.  There is a group of about 20 fifth graders and perhaps some orange cones laid out in an oval.  (That cone part may be fictionalized.  My old lady brain can't remember that part.)  It's the big day.  The day "they" want you to run a mile.  And be timed.

Torture.

There's one little girl.  Adorable, really.  (Well, maybe not in fifth grade.  There were some "lost years" there in early puberty!)  She wants to do well.  In her head she's thinking, "It's just running.  I'll nail this."  She SEES herself coming in first.

And, she comes in 4th to last.  Painfully so.  Embarassingly so.  And did I mention that her Dad was a cross-country running coach?  sheesh.

Yes, that little girl was me.  Obviously, 25 years later, I'm OK with that.  Hey, at least I finished!  But it's one of a long list of examples in which I am just not biologically predisposed to be a runner.  Now, if a bear was chasing me?  I could probably run.  But not for long and that bear better only have like 2.5 legs or something to slow him down as well. 

Over and over I've been challenged to run - training for the volleyball season, trying to get my cardio up for my dance training, at the gym track - and it's just never stuck.  Who knows why.  In all of those instances, I was in pretty top shape fitness-wise.  Not to be to er, blatent, but I have always blamed the largeness of my chest.  It's not easy to run with all that going on.  Trust me.

In this new era of eliminating the "can't" from my life, I'm DETERMINED to become a runner.  A couple of years ago, I'd run across this running program called:  Couch to 5K. http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml  At that time, there was really no such thing as an MP3 player or iTunes.  I printed the training schedule off and dragged it down to the dusty basement treadmill.  Did the first day and then abandoned it.  People, it's hard enough for me to run - think Pheobe from Friends but with less joy and flailing - without having to refer to flowcharts of duration and speed.

Enter the modern age.

There's an app for that! 

Now, I don't have a fancy cell phone.  But I dug through iTunes and found a free podcast download by a fella named Robert Ullrey.  It's free and with only a little coaxing, it is now on my MP3 player.  His website (which also contains his podcasts) is here:  http://www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/index.html  The music is a little new age-y but you get used to it.  I do know my friends with fancy phones bought apps that flow right over your own music.  I can get the name of it if anyone's interested.

Basic breakdown of the Couch to 5K program - or C25K as the cool kids (or lazy kids) call it.  You walk for about 5 minutes as a warm up and then do alternating intervals of running and walking.  Week 1 is 5 minutes warm up, 1 minute run, 90 seconds walk and repeat until you've completed 8 running intervals. 

And the first day I did it, I thought I was going to die.  Total flashback to the fifth grader in that church parking lot.  Surprisingly, my lungs didn't feel like they were going to crawl out of my body in protest.  It was my calves.  Holy Hannah.  On the second minute of running they started BURNING.  I'll be honest, I only made it partially through that workout.  Good as an eye opener, not great for morale.  But, after a rest day I was out there again.  And made it twice as far without full body meltdown.  Rest day, onto day 3 and I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!  The whole program from start to finish.  With no pausing or even really any feelings of wanting to die right there on Basswood Avenue.  Amazing stuff. 

I made the executive decision to repeat week 1 this week.  You can't really count what I did last week as successfully completion.  Today will be day 3 and I am probably ready to move onto week 2 next week.  I'm SCARED to move to week 2, but I will do it. 

There's nothing pretty or glamorous about me and running.  Yet.  But, it's nice to know that I *can* run.  Even if it's for 8 spaced out minutes.

Emeril's Oven-Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower. There. I said it.

It's sort of like ripping a Band-aid off.  Let's just get it out there so we can start the conversation.

If you're anything like me, your experience with cauliflower has probably been limited.  Relegated to the last thing left on a party veggie platter.  Sitting there, steamed, in the way of a few baby carrots and perhaps a piece of broccoli on the side of a plate at a wedding reception.   It has some strong disadvantages to overcome - bland color, its resemblance to broccoli, sort of stinky.  Truth be told, I've always just assumed I wouldn't like cauliflower.

Turns out, I LOVE it.  Well, at least one very specific version of it.  Thank you, Mr. Emeril Lagasse for opening my eyes to cauliflower's potential.  Admittedly, it helps that the veggie in question is paired with olive oil and parmesan cheese, but still.  Don't we all need friends sometimes?

I'm obsessed with this recipe.  It's crunchy and nutty and lemony and even a little decadent.  Again, this could be the starvation talking.  You'll have to try it and report back!

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Emeril's Oven-Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients

5 to 6 cups cauliflower florets, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (from 1 medium cauliflower)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sliced garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
Chopped chives, for garnish


Directions
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
Place the cauliflower florets in a large saute pan or a roasting pan. Drizzle the olive oil over the cauliflower, and season with the garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Place the saute/roasting pan in the oven and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even roasting.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Garnish with chopped chives and serve immediately while still warm.

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Julie's Notes:

If you've never dealt with a whole cauliflower before, be prepared for it to be a little feisty.  I'll admit I've never dealt with one before, I'm not proud.  I expected it to behave like a head of broccoli but it's denser and tighter.  So, have a good, small knife to get in there.  The plus side?  It's less messy than a head of broccoli.

I'm not sure what sort of oven situation Mr. Lagasse has happening at his house, but in mine, I don't use my oven at 500 degrees.  First of all, it seems like overkill.  Second of all, it's the temperature at which my oven CLEANS ITSELF.  I'm not sure I want to put my food in there at that temp and risk spontaneous combustion.  Player's choice.  *I* kept it down to a nice, calm 450 degrees and it turned out just fine.

Another thing that I'm not sure of is what the heck constitutes a "large saute pan or a roasting pan".  So, I used a metal baking sheet.  And all was fine.

Fresh garlic and chives.  Go for it if you feel you must.  I just used powdered garlic and no chives.  It was still delish and no one came to arrest me for food abuse, so I think you're safe if you follow in my footsteps on that one.

In terms of points, well, here's where it's tricky.  When I ran the whole recipe through the WW site, it came out to about 3 points a cup.  If I break it down to 1 cup cauliflower, 1 tsp oil, and 1 TBSP cheese (which is what the recipe serving essentially is!),  I get 2.5 points a cup.  And yes, that .5 point is important to me.  Especially since I plan to eat at least two cups of it.  Don't judge.

I promise you this one's worth trying.  Even if you think you don't like cauliflower.  Even if it still looks a little yucky to you when it comes out of the oven.  Even if it smells a little funny to you once it's all assembled.  All of those things happened to me at first too, and now I have an addiction to this stuff.