Je-diet Mind Tricks

Hi, friends. It’s the weekend. Woo hoo! Finally some time to catch my breath. It’s been a busy week. Let me catch you up in a hurry. Oh, and the photo at the top is a teaser. I’ll tell you about it in a minute. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• I’ve just finished 10 days of level of one Jillian’s notorious 30 day shred workouts. So far so good. I’m trying to shock my body a bit with some new tricks in my weekly routine, so I’m replacing 20 minutes of my usual cardio with 20 minutes of shredding. I’m still working out with my trainer, and I’m not shredding on those days. I haven’t worked out without resting days in between in a long time, and I’m only planning to do it for a few weeks. I’m not out to create any overuse injuries, but I am trying to shake things up a bit. So far, I feel stronger and I have more energy. The workouts are tough, but I like a challenge. Have you shredded?? What did you think?
• I just finished the second week of participation in a stair climbing contest at work. One of my favorite co-workers organized us into teams of five, and, each week, we compete to be the team to log the most flights (only ascending flights count). Prizes are awarded weekly. Last week, my team won the contest with nearly 700 flights!! This week, I wasn’t a very useful team member since I was out for training on Thursday and Friday, but I’m sure my team rocked it again this week anyway! They are awesome. Getting a little exercise throughout the day has given me a real boost. It has also made me realize how easy it is to park in front of the computer for hours at a time without moving. Honestly, I’ve also realized that it’s pretty easy to get up and move around too. I hope I can keep it up when the contest is over. 
• Last Sunday, I went to the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show here in D.C. I attended Tyler’s Ultimate Food and Wine pairing, and had some very tasty nibbles.

Ok. So, Tyler wasn’t a nibble, but he is rather tasty. Yes? We were also treated to a visit by another Food Network favorite…

Tyler has started making wine, and he was giving Paula a little sample of his wares. I had a great time at the show, and I sampled a ton of stuff at the expo too. I’m definitely going to try to go again next year!

Now that I’ve given you the quick catch up, I want to talk a bit about the title of this post “Je-diet Mind Tricks.” Over the past few years, I’ve looked for ways to make my food more enjoyable without piling on lots of extra calories. I’ve learned a number of tricks. For example, I’d always heard that serving your food on a smaller plate or in a smaller bowl would make you think you were having more. I’m sure I’d read that in magazines in the past and dismissed it with an “Oh please!! I’m way too smart for that” kind of attitude. The thing is, it does work. I have lots of small bowls, and I use them often. I like eating smaller meals off of smaller plates, and I tend to eat ice cream out of tiny little heart shaped bowls I picked up at Crate & Barrel.

One fourth of  a cup of ice cream really does look like a lot more when it fills up my small bowl than it would if it were sitting in a little blob in the middle of one of my big oat bran bowls. These bowls are also great for little nibbles of granola, trail mix, almonds and that sort of thing. I’m a fan!

Another trick I’ve learned comes into play in my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cakelettes. I could just call them muffins, but they are much sweeter and more like cake. Truth in advertising, right? Have you ever made a lightened up recipe involving chocolate chips? Often, these just seem to involve using a smaller portion of the chips you might use in a regular recipe. That’s not a bad strategy, but it can lead to a treasure hunt type scenario for the three little chips that might have made their way into your muffin. There is an easy solution to this, and I think it makes a huge difference with regard to the satisfaction factor– mini-chips!

Look inside this muffin. See all those brown specks?

Those are the mini-chocolate chips. There are several bits of chocolate in each bite, and a great deal of satisfaction. Employing another je-diet mind trick, I also used turbinado sugar in the topping because the crystals are bigger and add a nice crunch. I’ve made this with granulated sugar in the topping, and it doesn’t maintain its character nearly as well. It certainly seems like a bigger treat when I see the sweet little crystals and feel them crunch in my teeth. Tricky? You bet!!

I started with a recipe I’ve used for a long time, and I gave it some pretty significant tweaks. I love remaking an old favorite. The cinnamon and chocolate combo gives it a slightly Viennese twist, and the pumpkin just tastes like fall. Here’s the recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cakelettes

Ingredients:

Dry Team:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup teff flour (or 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour) 

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Wet Team:

1/2 cup egg beaters (or two eggs, beaten)

8 ounces (1 3/4 cups) of canned pumpkin

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. canola oil

Team Chocolate:

1/2 cup semi-sweet mini-morsels

Topping:

1 Tbsp. turbinado sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat a 12 unit muffin tin with cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the ingredients in the “dry team.” Make a well in the center.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the ingredients in the “wet team.” Pour the wet mixture into the well in the center of the dry mixture, and mix until the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Divide the mixture evenly among the 12 muffin cups. 

Mix the turbinado sugar and cinnamon together to form the topping, and sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the muffins spring back when pressed lightly in the center. Remove the muffins from the pan and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Based on my calculations, these come out just below 150 calories a piece. Not bad for a sweet treat in my opinion!

You could bake the batter in a 9×9 inch baking pan for 20-25 minutes if you would prefer to serve it like a cake. I kind of like the built in portion control I get by using a muffin pan, but I’ve made this as a cake many times. I’m also positive that cream cheese icing would be great on top if you were feeling more decadent or serving these to a festive crowd. 

Do you have a favorite pumpkin recipe? Do you love pumpkin as much as I do?

Now, it’s time for me to take my first run at doing level two of Jillian’s shred. Wish me luck! I may need it!! Ciao for now, y’all!

Georgia On My Mind

Hi, friends! Yes, it has been a long time since my last post, and no, I did not fail to survive the 10K I was about to run when last I posted.  Thanks to those of you who were kind enough to check up on me. You are too sweet!! The race went pretty well, by the way, considering the fact that I don’t run very often, and I beat my previous 10K time by just enough that I feel a sense of overall fitness progress. Since the race, I’ve been running another 10K of sorts. Work has been busy, and my weekends have been quite busy as well. 

My friend, Adrienne, her brothers and I spent the long Columbus Day weekend in Savannah, GA, and I couldn’t possibly let all of the foodie photos I took go to waste! I can’t believe it has been so long. Hopefully, I can get back into some sort of regular blogging schedule. I’ve really started to miss it, and I’m going to do some serious thinking about the kind of posting schedule that might work the best for me. I will keep you “posted”!

I’ve wanted to visit Savannah for as long as I can remember, and it is, hands down, one of my favorite places– ever. I decided that I’d give you a little picture tour/travel idea post, in case you are looking for a good option for a long weekend trip. I’m primarily going to post highlights about what we ate, but rest assured, we saw many historic sites, kept the sidewalks hot while walking from square to square, and did plenty of shopping too. Without further adieu…

When we arrived in Savannah on Saturday, lunch was the first order of the day. Thanks to an article that was forwarded to me by a friend, we found a barbecue place that was literally down a little dirt path. Thank goodness for this sign! 

Mac and Cheese, greens and pulled pork… YUM! Greens are one of my favorite things!! Wall’s Barbecue is not the kind of barbecue I’m accustomed to, being from the Memphis area, but I have to say that this unique Savannah version of barbecue was quite good. The sauce involves cayenne and worcestershire sauce, so it was definitely something different for me. There was also some unpictured cornbread. I had to have it to go with the greens, of course!

After lunch, we checked out the Colonial Park Cemetery, and then it was late enough that we could go and check into our room at the very hip Thunderbird Inn. It’s a retro motel. It’s funky. It’s cool. It’s also, cheap, clean and within easy walking distance of just about everything. Here’s the sign against the night sky:

I would definitely stay there again!

Once we were situated, we set out for a stroll around the city. The sky was still clearing from a big rain storm, and we were treated to this beautiful sight:

There are many beautiful old churches in Savannah, and I was so happy to have the opportunity to snap this photo. Here’s another:

We saw another beautiful sight, of a different sort, while strolling from square to square… We decided to stop at a very cool looking coffee place, Gallery Espresso, where I could not resist getting this luscious looking slice of red velvet cake:

Sorry about the lipstick on my mug. I started without you. I love having a friend around to split tasty desserts like this one. Hooray for the two fork approach!! The cake was probably the best red velvet cake I’ve ever had, and the coffee was quite good as well. We made the most of our little sugar high and walked some more. Savannah is probably one of the most walkable places I’ve ever visited, and I loved that about it. Among other things, we saw Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home. Very cool! After a good amount of wandering and a bit of shopping, we made our way to our dinner restaurant, 700 Drayton. 

Located in the Mansion on Forsyth Park, 700 Drayton was funky, artsy and vibrant, and the food was excellent! I started off with an organic baby spinach and berry salad topped with roasted petite vidalia onions, peach roasted pecans, a big crispy brie crouton and a lovely blueberry viniagrette. The big cube is the brie crouton, and it was essentially a big hunk of fried brie. Um… Yum!

The next thing on my plate was 700 Drayton’s Morroccan spiced rack of lamb with Israeli cous cous, rum soaked rasins, artichoke hearts, olives, vidalia onions, organic baby carrots, and cardamom honey drizzle.

There was a lot going on in this dish and all of it was GOOD! I followed that up with Leopold’s “Oh Savannah” ice cream which was chock full of rum, caramel, pralines, shortbread, and nougatine.

It is a very good thing that we had made the conscious decision to do as much walking as possible during our little weekend jaunt. It certainly helped to balance at least some of our tasty vacation eats!

On Sunday, we visited a TV Food Network institution– The Lady and Son’s. By the way, if you expected lots of healthy eats in this post, this should settle that matter once and for all!

The sign:

My plate at Paula Deen’s (already in progress…). Hoecakes and biscuits not pictured. 

This is the kind of food I grew up eating, and it really took me back. I think the fried chicken and creamed corn alone made the wait in line worthwhile. Oh, and there was quite a wait. We got in line around 9:30 a.m. in order to get on the list to come back for lunch around noon. It is a tourist hot spot, which isn’t always my scene, but I would have been sad to have missed out on this meal. As a bonus, there was sweet tea and Almond Ooey Gooey Butter Cake!

After our massive lunch, we hopped in the car and headed to Tybee Island. I would like to think that my climb to the top of the lighthouse burned off at least a few bites of that Mac and Cheese!

It was such a gorgeous day! After climbing the lighthouse, we hit the beach for awhile. It was so warm, and the water was perfect!

Monday was a day of grazing as we walked along the riverfront and nibbled on this and that (can you say “pralines?”). In addition to checking out the stores along the riverfront, we toured the historic Owens-Thomas House. It was a beautiful home, and the history was fascinating!

A visit to the Savannah Bee Company  was high on my list of things to do, so we headed that way in the afternoon. Is it bad to have biscuits and honey for lunch?

The store was glowing with all of the beautiful honey, and it was a sweet visit– quite literally. We were treated to a honey tasting, and it was so much fun to sample all of the different varieties side by side. It’s amazing how different each honey really tastes when compared with the others. The variety of colors is a good indicator. 

Just to sweeten the deal, we couldn’t resist trying honey lattes. I had mine made with the Sourwood honey. It is sort of maple syrup like, and soooo delicious! I had the same on my biscuit.

Sigh. So good. After that, we walked through Savannah’s City Market, and checked out some of the local artwork. We also grabbed dinner at a place at the market that was recommended by a friend of mine who spent several years living in Savannah– Vinnie Van GoGo’s. The presence of the Savannah College of Art and Design lends a delightful artistic flavor to many parts of the city. I love the vibe, and I loved the artist inspired name of this pizza place!

We split a salad and each had a slice.

I opted for a slice with sausage and mushrooms. 

I loved the casual “college town” atmosphere at Vinnie Van GoGo’s, and I’m so glad my friend recommended it! This really hit the spot. We followed our dinner with a walking ghost tour. It was a lot of fun and it fit in well with our plan to walk as much as possible. 

We had a Tuesday afternoon flight back to D.C., but we made the most of our Tuesday morning. I’m still amazed at how many things we did in such a short time. Because it is so easy to walk from one place to the next, it’s easy to do a lot of things in just a few hours. First, we decided to have breakfast at the Gryphon Tea Room. We had spotted it earlier, and I’m glad we decided to check it out. 

Located in a turn of the century pharmacy, the tea room features cozy dark wood cabinetry and vibrant stained glass panels in the walls and the ceiling.

Most importantly, I had an awesome pot of cinnamon orange tea and some mouthwatering fruit and apricot scones!

Y’all know how much I love tea… and baked goods! 

I wish this tea room was in my neighborhood. I’d be a regular!!

After our breakfast, we set out to tour the Green Meldrin House. Sherman stayed in that house during his time in Savannah during the final months of the Civil War. We also visited E. Shaver Booksellers, where I bought, what else– a book about the civil war! 

We started to get hungry again while at the bookstore, and we decided to go and find that last “must eat” place on our list: Harris Baking Company. We had looked for it earlier, but it had eluded us. Armed with the assurance that it really was where it was supposed to be, we went back. Luckily, it eluded us no more.

Have I mentioned that I love baked goods? Harris Baking Company did not disappoint. They had me with the samples at the register! I ordered a salad and this awesome sandwich with turkey and peppered bacon.

The bread was amazing, and the freshly made pickles were a nice touch too. I also needed a couple of cookies, including a pecan praline cookie, for the flight back.

Of course, we managed to squeeze in a visit to one of the Telfair museums before we headed to the airport, and I got to see a few paintings by one of my favorite American artists, Frederick Frieseke. Did I mention that we did a lot in a short time? I’m not a traveller who likes having a very tight schedule or a detailed agenda, and even I have to say that I never felt rushed or stressed about getting from one place to the next. It’s just so much easier when you (and your feet) are in charge of the travel. 

So that’s it! I do hope you enjoyed my little recap. Savannah is full of gorgeous sights and amazing food. Thanks to the seriously copious amounts of walking, I didn’t come back with extra vacation weight either– much to my surprise. I now see the real value of active vacations, and I will definitely seek out those sorts of trips in the future. I know it isn’t fully reflected in this food focused post, but believe me when I tell you that the beautiful historic homes, weathered monuments, verdant squares and southern hospitality made this a memorable trip too. How nice that it was rather close to home. I’d love to go back sometime, and I’m just sorry I waited so long to go. 

Where is your favorite place to travel that’s close to home??

Now I need to go and pack a lunch for tomorrow. I haven’t been cooking much, so it could be a challenge. Luckily, yesterday was Merry Produce Wednesday, and I had a nice fresh box of produce waiting for me when I got home from work. I see a salad in my future… Ciao for now, and I’ll try not to be such a stranger!

The Peaches Made Me Do It

When you see what this post is about, you might be convinced that all I’ve eaten this week is dessert. I assure you that is not the case. Although, several food photos on my camera won’t help with that misperception. First of all…

The applesaucy pie from my last post was SO good mixed in with my morning oat bran and topped with walnuts. I’ve had this bowl every morning since I made my Great G-ma’s recipe, and today I ate the last of it. What would happen tomorrow? Would there be an oat bran crisis? Luckily, the peaches were super ripe and they were screaming for attention. This should make tomorrow morning’s oat bran bowl super sweet:

I love the original recipe, but it could certainly be a bit healthier. I’m taking on the challenge of experimenting with the recipe to see what I can do to retain the flavor and texture, but improve the specs. I’m moving slowly on this one, but I’ll certainly be updating you. I don’t want to make drastic changes all at once, so I’m experimenting a bit with each batch. The changes this time were minor, and I couldn’t tell any difference! I figure every little bit helps.

• I used 3 1/2 Tbsp. of butter instead of 4 (I plan to try 3 Tbsp. next time. I couldn’t tell the difference, so I’ll bet I could definitely use less.)
• I traded out 1 Tbsp. of my regular flour for a Tbsp. of whole wheat flour. I’ll probably swap out even more next time.
• I added a splash of vanilla extract to the batter.
• I (obviously) used peaches instead of apples, and I’m sure that I used more than a cup of peaches. I put two whole peaches on top. Mo’ fruit is always mo’ better.

I’m sure that, with all of the awesome cooks in blogland, I am certainly not the first person to lighten up an old family recipe. What was your most successful experience with lightening up an old favorite? Sometimes it is as easy as replacing regular cheese or sour cream with lighter cheese or Greek yogurt. Since this recipe is a little bit weird, I’m hesitant to make a big change all at once so I’m easing into it. I often like the lighter versions better, so we will see what happens with this one! I will say that I would never ditch the butter. It’s a key to the flavor, and it’s a real treat to my taste buds. However, if I can use less and still get the dish I love, I certainly will.

So, in keeping with sweet eats, I should mention that I went to a beautiful wedding in D.C. on Saturday night. I had some of this gorgeous cake:

That cake was followed by an amazing red velvet cupcake that I took home from the wedding in a cute pink box (what an awesome favor!!), and enjoyed on Sunday. I savored every bite. Yum! Each cupcake had a fondant medallion with the couple’s last initial perched on the top. I thought that was a great idea for a favor!

I also enjoyed the centerpieces, although I didn’t enjoy them with my tastebuds. I love hydrangeas, and I had to snap a photo:

The wedding was beautiful, and I hope my friends will have many happy years together!

Otherwise, this week has been kind of boring in the food department. I made a big batch food on the weekend, but it wasn’t really the type of thing that merits sharing a recipe. It was an attempt to rescue some produce from the brink. I cooked up a pound of 96/4 ground beef and sauteed in some squashes, slightly overripe heirloom tomatoes and a ton of herbs (oregano, thyme and basil) from my little balcony patch.

I mixed it with a batch of Barilla plus elbows, and I’ve been having it for lunch each day topped with a bit of TJ’s light provolone.

I like Barilla plus pastas a lot, and they provide enough protein and fiber that they rank as more “valuable” than regular pasta in the nutrition department. This makes for a hearty and satisfying lunch. I cooked enough pasta so that I would have about half a serving of the pasta in each serving of the dish. It’s amazing how far the pasta goes when it is mixed with lots of tasty veggies and topped with cheese. Sometimes cleaning out the produce drawer turns out even better than expected.

Here’s something else I’ve been enjoying this week:

Honeycrisp apples and PB2 mixed with Almond Breeze! Honeycrisps are my very favorite apples. ILOVE them so much. I look forward to them every year. PB2 is, however, not my favorite peanut butter product. I bought some awhile ago, and it has been languishing in the pantry. It’s fine, but it doesn’t rock my socks off. I’d rather have a dab of real peanut butter (or almond butter… or cashew butter…) than a whole glob of PB2. Yes, in my world a glob is bigger than a dab. Do you agree? Anyway, I may have finally found a use for PB2 that I can get excited about. I mixed two Tbsp. of PB2 with enough almond breeze to make a rather thin dip. It went a long way, which was a good thing since this apple was ginormous! This will likely be the preferred method for consuming what’s left of my PB2 stash. Yum!

That basically covers my eats this week. Now, let’s play a game. Which of these pairs is not like the others?

I got an e-mail from Pacers yesterday reminding me about a 10K that will be happening on Saturday on the road in front of my apartment. Hmm… I haven’t really been running a lot as part of my cardio line-up lately, but it still seemed like a pretty good idea for me to sign up. I did that race a couple of years ago, and it was pretty fun. When I went to pick up my race packet this afternoon, I decided it was time to pick up some new shoes too. I’m an Asics girl, and I love my old 2130s. Today, I learned that the 2140s have arrived, and I’m happy to have a new pair of shoes that look different than the past three pairs I’ve had. They even have a cute little design on the tongues. Yay!!

I took my new shoesies for a test run this evening, and they felt great. I’m planning to just take my time on Saturday, and to walk part of the way if I feel like it. Since I haven’t really been training to run a 10K, I’m not out to set any new personal records, but I thought it would be a fun way to get in a Saturday workout. Sometimes, I still can’t believe that I’m fit enough to sign up for a 10K and actually plan to run most of it. I remember the days when I would have had a hard time walking that distance. At 340 pounds, I started out by walking for a few minutes at a time, and then built on that a little each day. The fact that I can bike and kickbox and run and lift weights and just do what I do is still sort of weird to me. Sometimes, I’m so amazed at how far I’ve come, even when the scale is being stubborn, and that is always followed by a huge feeling of gratitude. Anything is possible, blog friends. Never forget that!

So that’s what I’ve been up to this week– all in one mondo post. I’ve also been getting caught up on a lot of blog reading/commenting, and I’ve checked out some new blogs (and new to me blogs) that I’m excited about. Although, I still get pretty excited about some of the oldies! Speaking of which… check out this happy anniversary giveaway at Green Dog Wine! Congrats, Green Doggie! 

Ok, Sweeties. I have to go and empty the dishwasher. I need to get my act together for FRIDAY!! YAY! Here’s wishing you a great Friday, and an awesome weekend too! Ciao for now.

Using Both Sides of the Card

What you see above, Sweeties, is my Memaw’s recipe box. It has a special spot in my kitchen, and it holds the secrets to many of the foods I loved as a child. It isn’t a simple feat to find things in here– Most cards have one recipe on the front and another recipe on the back. It makes organizing it an impossible task, but it also highlights my Memaw’s tendency to make the most of what she had. Using both sides of the card is a sign of thrift, and the recipe I want to share with you today is one of the thriftiest dessert recipes I know. 

Oddly enough, I couldn’t find this recipe in the recipe box, but my mother came to the rescue. Thanks, Mom! I’m sure the recipe is in the box… somewhere. I’m glad my mother is so organized! This is a sweet treat that you can whip up with things you have on hand, and the ingredients are among the most basic and inexpensive things in the pantry. That seems to be especially relevant these days as people are definitely trying to find ways to use “both sides of the card.”

This recipe actually started with my Great Grandmother, and it has been prepared and enjoyed by each subsequent generation. She and my Great Grandfather (and later my Memaw and Papaw) were cotton sharecroppers who farmed in Arkansas and Tennessee. They never had a lot, but they used what they had wisely. This dessert is definitely a wise and delicious use of a few humble things! It’s also a good use of time. You can easily have it ready to go in the time it takes the oven to heat up. After my long and busy week, I wanted something quick and satisfying tonight, and this was the perfect thing. Another benefit is the fact that I only dirtied up a bowl, a pan, a fork, a measuring cup and a rubber spatula. Not bad for tasty dessert!

Great Grandma Clement’s Easy Apple Pie

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. butter

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon 

1/2 cup milk

1 cup sweetened applesauce or 1 cup peeled and thinly sliced apple

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, place the butter into a 9×9 baking dish, put it in the oven, and allow the butter to melt. While the oven is heating and the butter is melting, mix the dry ingredients together using a fork. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the milk, and stir until the batter is smooth.

Once the butter is completely melted, pour the batter over the top of the butter. Pour the applesauce (or place the fruit) into the middle. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the crust begins to brown. If using fresh apples, the apples should begin to brown as well. I left mine in a little bit longer because I like for the edges to be super chewy and crispy. Mmm….

Just to illustrate:

Melted butter…

Topped with batter…

Topped with applesauce…

Turns into this…

Close-up of the chewy and crispy edges (my favorite part!)…

Makes 6-8 servings

As you can see, this “pie” kind of stretches the definition of what counts as a pie. Whatever you call it, I think it’s awesome! I added a little bit of nutmeg, and I used unsweetened Almond Breeze almond milk in place of regular milk. Otherwise, I didn’t tinker too much with the recipe. I wanted what I wanted. Ya know?

I’ve never tried it, but I feel certain that this would work well with lots of other fruits. I’m thinking…. peaches, pears or frozen berries, in particular. It is simple, humble, cozy and delicious. I have a strong suspicion that some of this pie may find its way into a bowl of oat bran in the morning.

Since I’m counting calories while trying my best to respect my hunger signals these days, I took the time to figure out the calories for this recipe. Using almond milk instead of regular milk, one sixth of this pan was about 210 calories. That’s not as bad as I might have guessed! I was very pleasantly surprised. As an added bonus, my apartment smells fabulous!

Now, I’m going to relax and watch a movie. Last night’s work out with my trainer was tougher than usual, and I’m VERY sore today. Some moves were new, and others were just altered to make them a souped up version of the usual (holding heavier weights while doing core, increasing the weight on weight machines, adding holds to lunges, that sort of thing). I’m happy about making progress, but I can tell that today needs to be a good, solid, rest day. Luckily, I have a cheesy French movie waiting for me, courtesy of Netflix, and some comfy frumpwear. I love my frumpwear!!

I hope you have an amazing weekend, and I hope you’ll try my Great Grandma’s recipe sometime when you need a bit of cheap cozy comfort and the smell of fall in your kitchen. Ciao for now, sweeties!  

Do you have a favorite dessert from your childhood?

New Tricks

Hi, Sweeties! This week has been so busy. I’m so glad the weekend is almost here! I’ve had basically the same thing for breakfast and lunch day after day, but I’m not complaining! Luckily, I’ve had a new breakfast up my sleeve (or… actually… in the freezer), and it has been getting me off to a good start in the mornings. What is your ideal breakfast for a busy day?

I’ve always loved the overly sugary and often frosted scones for sale at local coffee shops, but I’ve learned that they make a better dessert than meal. The hit of sugar gives me energy for a little while, but they aren’t very good when it comes to staying power. If I have one for breakfast, I’ll be hungry again in no time. I saw a scone recipe in a Prevention newsletter a few weeks ago that looked as if it might be a bit different. Whole wheat flour, a wealth of nuts, no sweetener aside from what is found in the protein rich vanilla yogurt, and a smattering of dried fruit makes for a delicious, but not too sweet, breakfast treat!!

The link to the original recipe can be found here.

I changed it a bit by using:

• Regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour for a nuttier and chewier texture
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. of canola oil instead of 2 Tbsp.
• Lemon zest in place of orange zest 
• Dried cherries instead of dried cranberries (b/c that was what I had in the pantry)

I like to have one of these scones with a big pile of fruit and my morning coffee.

The scones are yummy, and, thanks to the healthy fats and protein, they keep me full until lunch time!! I will be making these again, and, undoubtedly, experimenting with variations. I had a few fresh ones, but I froze most of the batch. I had my first scone from the freezer this morning. I zapped it for about 20 seconds, and that was long enough to thaw it out and warm it up just a bit. Tasty– and quicker than my bowl of oats!

I’m so sad that the summer peaches are almost gone. If the farmer I spoke with at the farmer’s market last week was right, I may not have any more of these little gems until next season:

I’ve been stocking up each Saturday, and then using the paper bag trick to ripen a few at a time. I was spoiled by the peaches from Swihart Orchard, near my hometown, as a kid, and I never find peaches at the grocery store that are worthy of my spoiled taste buds. The peaches from the farmer’s market have been amazing, and I’m going to miss them so much!  :-)

Speaking of the farmer’s market, I happened to catch this fuzzy little guy frolicking among the blooms on Saturday:

I love blogging because I always seem to have my camera when I need it!

In other news, I tried a “new to me” product this week, and I’m a big fan! I’m sure many of you already keep these in your freezer, but, for those of you just starting to explore the realm of frozen veggie burgers, I thought I’d tell you about these:

I always keep a variety of soy and veggie burgers in my freezer. While I like most of them just fine, there are only a few that I really get very excited about. These spicy black bean burgers are on that list! I had them crumbled on top of my lunchtime salads this week with lettuce, tomatoes, fresh corn, reduced fat Mexican cheese blend, fat free Greek yogurt and salsa.

YUM! Seriously, I even love the way these burgers smell while they are cooking. The only problem is the fact that I’ve eaten them all. I need to buy more!!

The other fun thing I’ve had this week is the result of a little griddler experiment. I was cooking a pork tenderloin on the griddler, and I wondered what would happen if I tossed some thinly sliced potato on with the pork.

I’ve never tried to grill potatoes, and I wasn’t sure what would happen. I love making fries in the oven, but sometimes I just hate the time it takes to heat the oven to temperature. I would also hate to heat the whole oven to cook one little potato. If this worked… oh my! I’d have a whole new quick method for making something fry like! My fingers were crossed!!!

I sprayed the thin potato slices on both sides with cooking spray, and then sprinkled them with a little bit of salt. The end result:

Yes!!! We have griddler fries!! They were crispy on the outside, and nicely cooked in the center. A few of the thinner pieces got super crispy and tasted like potato chips. I’m so happy I tried this, and I’ll be making more… and more… and more… of them in the future! They went well with my sauteed swiss chard and pork tenderloin. Don’t be fooled by the photo, however. I did decide to have some ketchup with my fries. What could be better?

What’s your favorite way to eat a potato?

P.S. Mara is having an insanely awesome and cheesy giveaway. You should definitely check it out!!

Christina is also having a celebratory giveaway (Congrats, Christina!!) and you should check it out too!!

Soup Weather

The mug. It lies. If I had a “Curried Carrot and Squash Soup” mug in the cabinet, I would have used it, but this seemed like a good alternative.

It seems like Labor Day flipped the switch on fall weather in D.C., and I’m not complaining! The weather this week has been decidedly fall like, and I’m loving every minute of it. In fact, it inspired me to make a warm, cozy and spicy soup with things I had on hand, and I wanted to share it with you.

I had a pile of yellow summer squash, a partially eaten bag of baby carrots and the usual staples of broth, onions, nut butter (of course!) and Greek yogurt (as always!!). Add to that, the variety of spices in my spice drawer, and a creamy soup was imminent. I used lots of spice, because I love a little burn, but if you aren’t a fan of spice, you could certainly use a bit less curry powder, give it a taste, and add more if you decide you want to kick it up a bit. What’s better than roasted veggies? They are always just the way I like them– nice and sweet!

Sweetie’s Curried Carrot and Squash Soup

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

3/4 pound baby carrots

1 1/2 pounds yellow squash, quartered and cut into 1/2 inch slices

salt

1/2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground red pepper

1 Tbsp. almond or peanut butter

1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray. Layer the baby carrots on one baking sheet. Spray the carrots with cooking spray and then sprinkle them with a bit of salt. Layer the squash chunks on the other baking sheet. Spray the squash with cooking spray and sprinkle it with a bit of salt.

Place both sheets in the oven. Roast the carrots for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they become soft and start to brown. Roast the squash for about 25 minutes, stirring the mixture at the halfway point. 

Heat 1/2 tsp olive oil in a 3 1/2 quart saucepan. When the oil is hot, add the onions and a sprinkle of salt. Reduce the heat and cook the onions for seven minutes, or until they become soft. Add the squash, carrots and broth to the saucepan, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Add the curry powder, cinnamon, ginger, red pepper and nut butter to the veggie mixture. Using a blender, carefully puree the veggie mixture in batches. I usually remove the stopper from the top of the blender container and hold a dish towel loosely over the opening to allow some steam to escape while the veggies are pureeing. They are hot and they will spatter so be careful!

Add all of the pureed vegetables back to the saucepan. Stir in the Greek yogurt, and heat the mixture through on medium heat. Add salt to taste.

This makes 5 or 6 servings

The roasted veggies make it slightly sweet. The spices make it cozy, and the nut butter and Greek yogurt add creaminess as well as protein. This soup is low calorie with a high satisfaction factor. That’s a match made in heaven!

I’ve been having this for lunch over the past few days, and I’ve been looking forward to it each time. While packing my lunches this week, I realized it has been awhile since I have made a big batch type food for my lunchtime munching. I love having a hearty and filling soup ready to go in the morning, and then being able to match it up with whatever suits my whim– peanut butter on an Arnold’s sandwich thin, hummus and pita, cheese and crackers, whatever! I know that the soup will guarantee that I will have a full tummy, and that’s a good thing! Soup is also one of my favorite ways to eat my veggies.

Since the weather is cooling off, I thought I’d give you a little flashback with links to some of the soup type things I’ve made and blogged about in the past:

“Big Batch” Bulgur Chili

Cleaning Up the Apartment Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Soup

Creamy Cauliflower and Cannellini Soup

Just Sweet Enough Pinto Bean Soup with Tomato Chipotle Ketchup

“Not Going to the Store” Garlic Scape, Eggplant and Red Lentil Stew

“Project: Clean Out the Freezer” Spinach and Sausage Soup

Super Quick Lentil, Carrot and Tomato Soup

My little trip down memory lane reminded me of several things I need to make in the cooler months to come. I see bulgur chili in my near future for sure.

Mmmmm…..

Most of the soups I make are created using what I have on hand. How about you? Do you have a favorite soup, stew or type of chili? Is there one ingredient that always inspires you to whip up a pot of comfort?

Taste Testing: Emeril’s Essentials

Hi, Sweeties! I just couldn’t resist sharing this luscious tomato picture. I’ve been getting awesome tomatoes at the farmer’s market all summer long, and I will miss them when they’re gone. What an easy side dish! Slice and serve. That’s perfect for a busy summer!

I love things that make cooking easier in the summer. Summer is the time that I’m most likely to find myself cooking at a campsite or beach rental–  places where pre-made spice blends come in handy, and it is the season when I’d rather be outside than in a hot kitchen following an ingredient list a mile long. Do you take shortcuts during the summer? Let’s be honest too. If you have awesome produce, it takes very little effort to make a delicious meal.

I received a few new summer shortcut type items a month or two ago through my participation in the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program. I love trying new things, and it’s even more awesome when I can try them for free. I received a box full of products created by Emeril Lagasse. The box contained a container of Emeril’s Original Essence, Emeril’s All Natural Steak Rub, Emeril’s Kicked Up Horseradish Mustard, and Emeril’s Chicken Stock. Sad to say, the chicken stock package did not survive shipping, and the broth was seeping out through the top of the tetrapack. With safety in mind, I tossed the chicken stock. I have enjoyed using the other items, and I thought I’d give you a little run down on what I did with them, along with some basic info.

Emeril’s Original Essence

Emeril’s original essence is a pretty traditional seasoning blend– salt, paprika, black pepper, granulated garlic, spices and onion powder are the listed ingredients. Salt is first, and that’s something to keep in mind when sprinkling this on. I treated it in the way I would treat salt, just to be sure that I didn’t overdo it. I didn’t find it to be spicy at all, but it did add a nice bit of savory flavor. 

I used it to spice up some zucchini that was headed for the griddler. You’ll see the finished zucchini later in the post. 

I also sprinkled a bunch of Essence on top of a couple of chicken breasts that I put into the slow cooker with a can of Ro-tel. 

The garlic and onion in the essence went well with the spicy Ro-tel, and I ended up with a bunch of nicely seasoned shredded chicken taco meat at the end of the day.

I had some of it on a bed of brown rice along with some black beans, feta cheese, Greek yogurt, tomatoes and avocado. Yum!

Is the Essence an essential pantry ingredient? While I liked this product, I can’t say that it really rocked my socks off. It was fine, but nothing unusual. I don’t really mind mixing individual spices from my pantry when seasoning my food. In making my own, I would go heavier on the spices and lighter on the salt. I’m sure I could have used more essence to add more flavor, but, due to amount of salt, my food would have been way oversalted.

Having said that, if you don’t have room in your kitchen for a lot of different little spice bottles, or if you are trying to pack lightly for a camping trip or a beach vacay, this blend would be a great thing to have on hand for a bit of extra flavor. It’s also quicker than making your own blend, so it will get you out of the kitchen a tiny bit quicker too, if that’s a concern.

Now, onto the rub…

Emeril’s All Natural Steak Rub

This steak rub has a lot going for it. Just look at the blend:

The list of ingredients includes: salt, black pepper, minced garlic, minced onion, crushed red pepper, spices, chopped red bell pepper, granulated onion, granulated garlic. According to info on the side of the container, one of the spices is coriander. The rest are a bit of a mystery. Like the essence, the first ingredient is salt, so it’s important to keep that in mind when deciding how much to use. I don’t tend to like my foods super salty so I always proceed with caution where salt is concerned. 

I really liked the flavor of this blend, and it was certainly convenient. The chopped red bell pepper really stood out. How did I use it? 

I mixed some into a pound of 96/4 ground beef and made steaky burgers. I like that you can see the seasonings.

Remember the zucchini that I sprinkled with Essence?

I thought these burgers were easy and good. The rub really gave them a steak house flavor, and it required little effort to mix some rub in. I think I added 2 1/2 tsp to my pound of ground beef, and it was just about right.

I also used the rub on some awesome petite filets that I splurged on at the farmer’s market:

I didn’t use a lot of olive oil, but I did use just enough to moisten the rub and allow it to stick to the steaks. I rubbed it on, and let the beef sit for a bit. Then, my friend, Mr. T, and I cooked the steaks in a skillet on the stove. I sometimes overcook meat using the griddler, and I didn’t want to risk it with these little lovelies. Medium rare for me, please!

Alongside the steak, we had a bit of sauteed arugula with lemon zest and pine nuts as well as a lovely pile of polenta with gorgonzola and fresh thyme from the balcony. I must have polenta with gorgonzola again sometime. It was seriously good! The steak turned out just the way I like it, and I really thought the flavor of the rub enhanced the great taste of the beef. 

Would Sweetie Pie buy this at the store? The quick answer is “yes.” While I have some rub recipes that I mix up myself from time to time, I really liked the flavor of this product and would substitute it for one of my homemade rubs without any consternation. I especially loved it in the burgers, and I think I might keep it around as a burger seasoning if nothing else. I thought the big flakes of red bell pepper made it unique, and I loved the seedy coriander and the healthy amount of black pepper. I like the rub. Emeril, I give you a “bam” on this one!!

Emeril’s Kicked Up Horseradish Mustard

The final product I’ve been trying is Emeril’s Kicked Up Horseradish Mustard:

I will admit that I haven’t gotten very creative with this mustard, but I have used enough of it to have an opinion. The steaky burger pictured above is topped with a mix of this mustard, mayo and blue cheese. I’ve had it on numerous turkey sandwiches and on a few chicken sausages too, but I have no photos to share. My verdict? Sorry, Emeril. I don’t think this is kicked up at all, and I barely taste the horseradish. That was a disappointment. I like horseradish, and I was hoping this mustard would have a healthy dose of horseradishy heat. Instead, it is quite mild and just tastes kind of like dijon. It’s perfectly fine, as far as dijon goes, but it’s nothing to get excited about if you are a horseradish lover. The bottom line: this is fine, but it’s nothing special. 

So there you have it. I tried to give you my honest opinion on these products, and I hope I didn’t hurt Emeril’s feelings when it comes to his mustard. I’m sure he reads my blog. Ha ha!! Just kidding, of course.

Maybe I was expecting more spice and flavor from the mustard and the essence as well. This could be due to the fact that I’ve seen countless audiences yelling “BAM” as Emeril has chopped a garlic clove or lifted his pepper mill. I’m glad that doesn’t happen in my kitchen, by the way. I would not enjoy having people yell while I was cooking. Anyway, I think I equate Emeril with these strong and spicy flavors, and I don’t think the essence or the mustard really lived up to the expectation I had in my mind.

I’m curious to know if any of you have tried these products, and whether you agree/disagree with my take on them. Do you have a favorite pre-mixed spice blend?

Now, I’m off to the gym. Ciao for now, sweeties and have a great day!!

Sweetie’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Hi, sweetie pies! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Mine has been pretty laid back, but nice, so far. We have had a very mild summer up until now, and I think the month of August is going to be a hot one. I’ve been kicking it with the A/C as much as possible and laying low. It has been a perfect opportunity for me to spend some time in the kitchen.

My mom and I were talking on the phone the other day, and she mentioned that my dad had brought in a few “baseball bats” from the garden patch. The meaning of that statement was immediately clear– baseball bats are oversize summertime zucchinis! She was trying to figure out to do with them, and we laughed about one of our favorite ways to enjoy zucchini– in chocolate cake. There is an old zucchini cake recipe that we used to enjoy that was pretty decadent. I started to wonder if I could get the same yummy result with a few tweaks. I love revamping an old recipe to fit the way I prefer to cook now. I am especially happy when I get a result that I deem to be just as good as the original. I’m happy to report that such was the case with this recipe. Mom, here you go– If you make it, let me know what you think!

Sweetie’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/4 cup egg beaters (or 1 egg)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup grated zucchini

2 1/2 Tbsp. chopped pecans (or other nuts)

1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used mini chips, but any chips would work just fine. The minis just go further.)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9×9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Add the applesauce, Greek yogurt, and egg beaters and continue to beat the mixture until the ingredients are thoroughly combined (about two minutes). You can’t overwork this part of the mixture so don’t worry about just letting the mixer run for a bit.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry mixture to the mixing bowl, and beat just until the dry ingredients are moistened and the mixture looks smooth. 

Using a spatula, fold in the grated zucchini. I used the small holes on my grater to make finer shreds of zucchini. Pour the batter into the baking pan.

Sprinkle the nuts and the chocolate chips on top of the mixture, and bake for 40-45 minutes. When it is done, the center should spring back when you touch it with your finger. Just be careful, and don’t try to touch your finger to the hot, melted chocolate chips. Not that I did that myself. Nope. I would never do something silly like that.

This makes 9 to 12 servings, depending on how hungry you are for cake! 

Being the farmer’s market junkie that I am, I was so excited to see a new vendor a couple of weeks ago. They had whole wheat flour for sale. Of course, I had to support my local economy by buying a bag.

I’m happy to have this bag of beautiful flour in the fridge. The Greek yogurt and the zucchini in this cake came from the market as well. My zucchini was on the plump side, but it was no baseball bat!

The zucchini adds a lovely moistness to this cake, and it becomes virtually invisible (unless you know to look for a few flecks of green) in the finished product.

See… it’s in there!

I substituted applesauce for the oil called for in my original recipe, and I will admit that the applesauce sub was the switch that concerned me the most. I feel like I’ve tried that trick before only to end up with overly dense and sort of gummy baked goods. That is no bueno in my book. I don’t know if the Greek yogurt somehow balanced it out (which wouldn’t be surprising since GY is my kitchen superstar), but I didn’t find this cake to be overly dense at all. In fact, it had nice crumbs, was lovely and moist but was rather light and fluffy as well. Just the way I like it! Check out the side view. Do you see any green (aside from the plate)? Subtle, right?

When I woke up this morning, I realized that the thing I really wanted for breakfast was… yes… you guessed it… a piece of this cake! It seemed perfect for a Sunday morning, and I savored it along with my yummy cup of coffee. Maybe I should make some in muffin form…? They would certainly be similar to the cake like muffins for sale at Starbucks.

I’m finding that one of the amazing things about intuitive eating is the fact that, if I have what I really want, it often doesn’t take a lot of it to satisfy me. If I’m satisfied, I’m not going to go rooting through the kitchen looking for something more (or trying my hardest NOT to do that). For example, I’ve realized that I prefer my morning coffee to have a little bit of half and half mixed with unsweetened almond breeze. The flavor is so rich and satisfying that I’m completely satisfied with one cup. I’m really learning a lot from this new approach to eating, and it gets a bit better each day. I’m not just eating cake all day long, but it’s nice to enjoy my cake without feeling guilty and like I’m cheating on my plan. 

Speaking of the cake, I made this cake last night, and shared it with a friend, Mr. T, who came over for dinner. The dinner I made last night was not enormous, but I was very happy at the end of the meal because the ingredients were good quality, very fresh and cooked the way I liked them. In addition to testing out this new version of the cake recipe, we also tried out Emeril’s Steak Rub. I received a package in the mail the other day, from the Foodbuzz tastemaker program, and it had several of Emeril’s products for me to try out. So far, I’ve used a couple of them, but I’m planning to tell you about all of them in one big Emerilicious post. Stay tuned for that! I already have plans for the other two items, so I expect to post about them very soon. By the way, Mr. T seemed to enjoy the cake. Good thing since I sent a big chunk home with him.  

Now, I’m going to brave a Sunday afternoon trip to Trader Joe’s. I haven’t been in awhile, and I can’t wait to see what I find. Unlike Whole Foods, Safeway and Giant, I have to actually drive to Trader Joe’s. As a result, I probably only go to Trader Joe’s once every couple of months. That may seem funny, since it is probably only a ten minute drive, but I love living in a place where I can walk to do errands, and I try to stick to that as much as possible. I love getting a little bit of bonus exercise, and I know that leaving my car at home is better for the environment too. Can you walk/bike to run errands where you live? Do you?

Growing up in the country with no sidewalks and not a lot of stores, walking or biking to run errands wasn’t much of an option. We often hopped in the car to go “to town” to get groceries at Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Save-a-lot and, later on, the Wal-mart supercenter. The post office was really about the only thing within walking distance. Walking to run errands is one of my favorite things about the place I live now. TJ’s is always super crowded on Sunday, but the fun stuff I find usually makes getting in the car a worthwhile venture. Wish me luck!

Ciao for now, sweeties and I hope you all have a great week!

New Perspectives

Hi, Sweeties! Remember those photos I promised you of my ziplining adventure in Alaska? Well, get ready because here they come. They actually are a pretty good illustration for some of the points of today’s post, so I thought it would be quite appropriate. Also, I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long. This post should explain my absence. 

I was excited about ziplining in Ketchikan, Alaska, but I didn’t know what to expect. Before taking the leap off of the platform, the instructor made sure I had the proper gear and an understanding of how to use it. I was harnessed up and the trolley attached to the harness was clipped to the line. The instructor explained how I should use my hand to steer the trolley if  I found myself spinning off to the side and needed to straighten back up. He also explained how to press down on the top, which works like a friction brake, when it was time to stop. Stopping proved to be the challenging part.

Each leap into weight loss started with gathering gear and trying to understand how to use it properly. If you want to read about my journey in greater detail, please check out this page. Just to briefly summarize, you might recall that my experience went something like this:

Date: 2000 Weight: 340 pounds Gear: knowledge of fat content in the foods I ate, a well stocked kitchen and good walking shoes

Results: Loss of 110 pounds and gall bladder problems due to, according to my doctor, the restriction of fat in my diet

In 2001, I started law school, had to have my gallbladder removed, discovered that I didn’t have time to make all of my own food, and got out of my walking habit. I gained back 60 of the pounds I’d lost and ended up weighing about 280 pounds.

Date: 2005 Weight: 280 pounds Gear: Weight Watcher’s On-line tools, fancy food scale and all sorts of exercise gear, including a heart rate monitor to measure calories burned during exercise

Results: I lost 120 pounds and gained the ability to rattle off the points values for food like a superstar. I learned to really enjoy all sorts of exercises and discovered that my body was strong and capable. I also hit a plateau and became frustrated when my meticulous counting wasn’t providing results on the scale. 

I started this blog in January of this year and by March, I decided that I was sick of counting points and I was tired of beating myself up when the scale refused to budge. I decided that a change would be a good thing, so I switched to counting calories and started using the Sparkpeople on-line tracker in place of my ww on-line tracker. I thought that the new approach would be a bit more flexible and would shake things up a bit. I viewed it as a sort of transition to something that was less of a diet, and more like normal life. WW claims not to be a diet, but I never totally bought that idea. For a short time, I did revel in the flexibility of calories versus points. Calories are calories, and I didn’t need to use a calculator to convert things into points. That was somewhat liberating. The scale immediately dropped from 160 to 153 in reaction to the changes in my eating, and I started thinking about whether it was time to stop trying to lose and to start trying to maintain. That brings me to this:

Once you leap off of the platform and start zipping along, you build up speed and just sort of fly through the air. It’s a bit like cruise control. I think that dieting can be very similar. You just kind of zip along, counting your points or calories or whatever, and then you decide for one reason or another that it might be time to stop. That’s where things got tricky during ziplining, and that’s where things have gotten tricky for me with my weight loss. Here’s a photo of me getting ready to land. 

To stop yourself, you have to use the friction brake. If you press down too early, you may have to use your hands to drag yourself along the line to the platform. If you press down too late, and the friendly instructor doesn’t use the back up brake, you could find yourself pulling a “George of the Jungle” and crashing into a tree. Each platform is actually built around a tree, kind of like a tree house. If you stop too early, you will make it to the platform eventually. Stopping too late has a worse consequence.

Unfortunately, the ultimate weight loss stopping point isn’t always clearly defined like the strong and sturdy tree. Yes, I set a goal weight for myself, once upon a time, and I haven’t reached it. However, I was basing it on a BMI chart that doesn’t know how much muscle I have in my 160 pound make-up. It also doesn’t know how much deflated skin I have. Yes. I do have some. I don’t think it’s possible to lose more than half of your body weight without that unwelcome side effect. 

I think my bottom line this year has been that I’m not unhappy at my current weight. Sure, I wouldn’t mind losing more, but I could be happy right here. Rather than letting the scale determine whether it’s time to stop, I’ve started looking at other factors too. I’ve realized a few things.

1) I’m sick of counting points/calories and of weighing my food. This was becoming a bit of an unhealthy obsession for me, and I’ve only become more obsessed and frustrated as the scale has stayed steady despite my best efforts. To quote the old saying, it might have been “like beating a dead horse.” 

2) Despite allowing myself treats along the way, I’m definitely suffering from diet deprivation and the backlash eating it can cause. I ate like nobody’s business on my Alaskan cruise. I ate until I was sick on more than one occasion. I had the feeling that I’d been freed from prison for one week in order to eat everything that wasn’t on the menu in the prison cafeteria. It wasn’t a pretty sight to see, and that’s when the scale jumped back into the 160s where it has been ever since.

3) While I have certainly felt deprived of certain foods, I think the bigger sense of deprivation was coming from the inability to go out with friends and to do things spontaneously. I spent a lot of time and energy wondering if there would be anything I could eat within my rules when I found myself out with friends. Often, I would just stay home. Sometimes I would find something that would work. Other times, I would toss my rules out the window only to feel guilty later about breaking them. 

4) My perfectionist tendencies have been making me crazy. By giving myself a set of strict rules or limits, I drive myself to stay within the framework I’ve created in order to avoid feeling that I’ve failed and to feel that I’ve succeeded. I was to the point of weighing the lettuce in my salad so that I could calculate the calories and subtract them from my daily allowance. Lettuce!? Did the scale budge thanks to those efforts? No. Did my frustration level grow? You betcha. 

5) I can’t spend the rest of my life weighing everything and counting calories or points if I want to stay sane, happy and avoid smacking into the tree of endless dieting despair.

6) I like sanity and happiness.

7) I need to figure out a way to “stop” that is not a restrictive diet but that will keep me from reverting to my old habits. As funny as it sounds, I need to learn to eat.

That brings me to the last three weeks and my absence. I’d been reading about intuitive eating throughout the blogosphere for some time now, and I had a vague idea of what it meant to eat intuitively. I decided it was time for me to check out some of the literature on the subject. Forever the student, I picked up a few of the more well known IE books. The two most useful ones I’ve read so far are: Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works by Evelyn Tribole, M.S., R.D., and Elyse Resch, M.S., R.D., F.A.D.A. and The Rules of Normal Eating: A Commonsense Approach for Dieters, Overeaters Undereaters, Emotional Eaters, and Everyone in Between by Karen R. Koenig, ICSW, M. ED. A useful website that lists the 10 principles found in the book by Tribole and Resch can be found here.

Both of these books really resonated with me. I think the basic idea is quite simple. You should eat when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied/full. If you are already an intuitive eater, that might sound quite obvious to you, but my eating was not typically driven by hunger or fullness. Aside from, perhaps, being driven by an effort to avoid hunger completely. IE is a more novel concept for me. Back in the heavier days, my eating was likely driven by emotions or boredom. In recent years, it has been driven by the external rules and limits I’ve imposed on myself. I’ve watched plenty of my friends use this “eat when you are hungry method” in their daily lives, with positive results. It makes a lot of sense to me, and it seems like a natural way of giving your body what it wants and needs.  

The books go beyond that basic idea with a number of other very useful principles. One of these principles involves legalizing foods that you have forbidden yourself. Vani had an excellent forbidden foods challenge sometime back, and I happily participated. I think I’m just beginning to understand why this is so important. It’s human nature to sometimes want the very thing you can’t have. If you know that you can have those forbidden foods, their power is greatly diminished. I’ve been experimenting with some of these foods over the past few weeks, and the funny thing is, many of the things I’ve really been sad to pass up over the past few years aren’t even that great. I had a pretty lousy cupcake from the store yesterday, for example. It looked pretty, but it wasn’t all that good. When I really concentrated on the taste and texture while savoring it, I realized that the frosting was too sweet. I think that’s the first time I have EVER determined that something was too sweet. Apparently, “Just Sweet Enough” has an even greater meaning than I had realized. I’ve been amazed at the things that I have built up into some sort of mega treat in my mind only to find that they really aren’t that amazing after all. 

So, basically, I haven’t been cooking as much lately as I’ve started working through the principles in these books. I’m not sure what the scale is doing, but I do know that my pants still fit after three weeks. I’m trying to spend less time, energy and focus on food and the scale, and that has resulted in less blogging. I haven’t been sure how to explain what I’m up to, and I’m not sure this really does a great job. I would never want to discourage anyone from the path they’ve chosen, but I do think it’s important for me to tell you about my experience. I’m still not certain how IE will work for me, but my stress level around food and eating has already decreased by about a zillion percent. That’s right. A zillion percent. Math was never my strong suit. That, to me, has made this effort worthwhile. I think it is also a good experiment to try to get a new perspective on eating, and I’ve been pleased with the results so far.

I’m not going away, but, at this point, I do not plan to post full days of eats anymore. I find that putting that much attention on the things I eat is not a good thing for me. I do plan to share plenty of recipes and reviews with you, as well as updates on how this IE process is going. I just hope you will understand why I’ll be posting less frequently and why my recipes may not all be “light” ones. I know that my body prefers healthy and nutritious foods, and there will certainly be plenty of that in the days to come. I do plan, however, to keep experimenting with previously forbidden foods, which could lead to some interesting kitchen experiments. 

This blog has been so useful for me during the past 7 months as I’ve tried to find a way to stop my diet merry-go-round and find a comfortable resting spot, and all of the supportive comments from my wonderful readers have really made all the difference. The ultimate goal, after all, is not to fit into a certain pair of pants but rather to be happy in life. That might look something like my post-ziplining mug:

Since one of my favorite things about this blog has been the opportunity to learn from many of you, I just have to ask: Have you had a period in your life where you counted calories/points/fat grams/whatever and then decided that there was a better way to find balance? What’s your story? Are you still counting? Do you have an exit strategy for when you get where you’re going? 

As always, I wish you all the best wherever you may be in your life’s journey. 

Before I go, I want to send a few birthday wishes. My little brother turned 30 on Tuesday. I can’t believe it!!! It’s really hard to believe that he just turned 30 since our mother is just turning 28 today. Here’s a photo of my mom and me during the Christmas holidays:

Happy birthday to both of you and lots of love! XOXO 

Now, I’m off to have an air conditioned work out in the gym. It’s a scorcher of a day, and I’m glad to have an indoor option. Ciao for now, sweeties and have a great week!

Greek Yogurt: Kitchen Superstar

Hello sweeties! I hope this finds you enjoying your summer! I’m enjoying mine. As you know, part of my summer fun involves visiting the farmer’s market. I went to my market in Courthouse on Saturday and made a major haul:

I bought peaches, one little nectarine, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, an onion, yellow squash, zucchini, Brandywine tomatoes, beets, garlic scapes, tomatoes, some silver queen corn (my childhood favorite!!!), a container of Blue Ridge dairy Greek yogurt, and a pork shoulder that is barely peeking into the picture on the bottom right hand side. There’s also a little piece of cherry pie that I just couldn’t resist. It was a little one, I swear!

I had a plan for the peaches, and they’ve been sitting in the box with their nectarine buddy and ripening a bit this week.

This was all gone.

Time to make more frozen loveliness! I peeled all but one of the peaches and the nectarine (5 fruits), and gave them a blitz in the blender along with 1/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze, the juice of a lemon, the scrapings from a random vanilla bean I had in the fridge and a little can of fat free sweetened condensed milk. Today, I added a bit of extra love to the batch too: 1/2 cup of fat free plain Greek yogurt. I put the mix into the machine and flipped the magic switch.

While my mix was going for a spin, I peeled and chopped the remaining peach. It was SO ripe and juicy. YUM!

After the freezer had been running for 30 minutes, I added my ripe peach chunks and let it run for 10 more minutes. 

Take a look at this!:

This batch is bursting with fresh peach flavor, creaminess and tang from the Greek yogurt, and the smooth sweetness of the condensed milk. I will be sure to add Greek yogurt from now on. I couldn’t believe the difference it made! This is the creamiest batch I’ve made so far. I’ve tried more traditional recipes using eggs and full fat dairy before, but I can be quite happy with a slightly less creamy dessert that still tastes great and is virtually fat free. The Greek yogurt really upped the creaminess (as well as the protein!) without adding extra fat. Me likey. Me likey a lot!

Seriously, I don’t know how I made it for so long without Greek yogurt in my kitchen! It’s great for making potato salad, chicken salad and tuna salad creamy. It works well in baked goods. It makes a great salad dressing when mixed with a bit of mustard/vinegar/pomegranate molasses/hummus. It’s yummy with honey/maple syrup/agave/jam/nuts and fruit. It works great as a sub for sour cream. It adds creaminess to curry. It makes a great dip for fruit when mixed with a bit of PB2 and jam. I’ve never asked it to make my morning cup of coffee, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it could do that too. Yes. I believe Greek yogurt has officially become a staple in my kitchen. In case you can’t find it where you live, you can always make your own! Making your own might be a cheaper alternative as well, and that’s a good thing these days.

Aside from my frozen deliciousness, I’ve had a pretty uneventful week in the kitchen. I mentioned that I bought a pork shoulder at the market on Saturday, and I’ve been eating leftover pulled pork all week. While not as lean as a pork tenderloin, it isn’t too bad, and I tried to minimize the fat as much as possible. First, I trimmed off all of the visible fat using my kitchen scissors, and rubbed the pork with some mesquite grilling spice mix:

Then, I put it into the slow cooker with 1/2 an onion, 1/4 cup of apple juice, 3/4 cup of water, and 2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Then I let it cook on high for two hours. After two hours, I flipped it over and let it cook for a couple of hours more. 

At that point, my meat thermometer told me that it was done, and I pulled it out and let it rest. Easy! 

I let it cool and then gave it a good shred with a couple of forks. 

This pork shoulder was about 2 1/4 pounds before cooking. I put in enough liquid to keep the meat moist, but the meat was really just dipping its toes in the puddle. My goal was to allow the fat and juices to run off into the bottom of the pan instead of later appearing on my plate. I grew up eating Memphis style barbecue, which isn’t typically swimming in grease or sauce. I saw a number of recipes on line for cooking a pork shoulder in a slow cooker, and most of them involved adding bottles of barbecue sauce. I think that is no bueno from a calorie perspective and also from a yumminess perspective. I didn’t need that much sauce, and there would have been no way to avoid any of the fat that had cooked off if the drippings and sauce were all incorporated. I wanted to be able to taste the meat, and I was surprised at how much I liked this given that I cooked it without the benefit of a smoker. It was moist, delicious and, maybe by virtue of its ecofriendly upbringing, it really tasted like pork. Perfect!

My friend, Inga’s mom, came over for dinner Saturday night, and we each had a big plate of summer:

I’ve enjoyed something similar for my dinners this week, but now it is all gone. I’m going to have to do this again sometime soon!

I’ve had one other blogworthy eat this week. I picked up a little package of this wondrous stuff at Whole Foods over the weekend:

I nibbled some by itself, but quickly realized its proper place:

The. Best. Oat bran. Ever. It has chocolatey nibs, coconut, sweet raisins, berries and oat bran goodness all in one big bowl. Sadly, I’m out of this yummy little mix, but I will definitely be buying more on my next Whole Foods visit!!

So, now you’ve seen the highlights from my week. I know I’ve become a once or twice a week blogger this summer, but I’m finding so many nice outdoor activities to keep me occupied. Last night, I decided to walk home from work instead of taking the metro. It took two hours, and I was pretty pooped when I got home. However, the weather was great, I enjoyed my stroll through the city, and I got some exercise without hitting the gym. I’m trying to find more opportunities for that sort of activity, and it was a fabulous day for a long trek home. What’s your favorite way to get in some exercise without going to the gym?

I’m also trying not to focus so much on food. I think that, while useful, keeping a photo journal of my eats each day was putting way too much of a focus on my food and making me a little crazy. I’m sure to go back to that eventually, but, for now, I want to focus on new dishes and treats in my posts. I loved everything in this post, and I loved telling you about it!

Now, it’s time for me to head to bed. I did something weird to my shoulder the other evening, and I don’t think this evening’s strength training workout did me any favors. I believe that some ice may be called for, and then I’m heading to bed. 

I hope you have a great weekend, and I hope you stick with me and my infrequent posts. I think I just need to take it easy a bit and go from there. I’m sure I’ll be in the kitchen this weekend, and I’ll want to tell you about it for sure. Until then, ciao for now, y’all!