the food bitch

So, things are a little different

2006-04-23T20:33:00.000-04:00

A little. But still tasty as all heck.

I went out to the stores this morning in the pouring rain, and all I wanted to do when I came home was cook a little and relax. I put some baked oatmeal in the oven, cooked up my rice for tonight, and set my chicken to marinate. Then I watched the Chronicles of Narnia, knitted, and took a little nap.

What a nice day, despite the rain.

Dinner tonight featured two completely unrated recipes from Cooking Light. It made me a little nervous, but I'm glad I took the risk because both dishes ended up being quite good. I marinated the chicken for a good 5 hours, and it came out nice and tender, with spicy and sweet flavors. It matched quite well with the papaya. The rice salad was a nice spin on beans and rice. The sweetness from the balsamic paired well with the chicken, I was tempted to lick the plate when I was done. But I didn't. I'm civilized sometimes.

Caribbean Chicken and Papaya Kebabs
Serves: 2
WW Points: 5 (1 point on Core, for the molasses)

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp salt
8 oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" chunks
1 medium papaya, peeled, seeded and cut into 1" chunks

Directions: Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl; stir well. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 1 to 8 hours. Remove chicken from bowl, reserving marinade.

Thread chicken and papaya alternately onto skewers. Prepare grill or broiler. Place kebabs on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray; cook 7 minutes on each side or until done, basting occasionally with reserved marinade.

I broiled these, as 1) it was raining like a you know what, still, and 2) I'm poor and don't own a grill of any sort (unless the Foreman counts). I'm pretty sure they would be even better on the grill.

Cuban Beans and Rice Salad
Serves: 3
WW Points: 4 (or Core!)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup diced avocado
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati)
1/2 cup plum tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp parsley
3/4 cup black beans, drained and rinsed

Directions:
Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl, and toss gently. Add rice, next 3 ingredients (rice through beans), and cilantro, if desired; toss well. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Samey?

2006-04-17T18:27:00.000-04:00

Okay, I realize everything I've posted lately kind of looks the same. I'm motivated to cook something different next weekend. This was Saturday's dinner, posted a little late because I've been quite the busy Ellen.

Both of these dishes are Weight Watchers recipes, and both completely core. I had to modify the salad a little bit to make it so, but that doesn't detract one bit from the tastiness. Greek Eggplant and Turkey Casserole is a healthier spin on moussaka. No cream sauce here, the meat is cooked with a nicely spiced tomato sauce until thick. With a bigger pan to brown the eggplant, this would have come together much quicker, but even so I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to throw together. And that's important lately, I'm becoming impatient in my old age.

To round out the meal, I made a simple Greek Salad with chickpeas, artichoke hearts, olives and feta. No oil is used in the dressing, simply balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and spices.

Greek Eggplant and Turkey Casserole
Serves: 3
WW Points: 8 (or core!)

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1/4" thick slices
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz lean ground turkey
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1/4 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp dried chives
1/4 tsp dried tarragon
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
14 oz canned diced tomatoes
1 tbsp canned tomato paste
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp soy parmesan

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat an 8" square baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Lay eggplant slices on paper towels and sprinkle tops with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Let stand 20 minutes to draw moisture out.
3. Meanwhile, coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and cook until browned, breaking up meat as it cooks, about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft, about 3 minutes more. Add fresh parsley, dried herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and stir to coat. Cook 1 minute, until herbs and spices are fragrant.
4. Add tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and set aside.
5. Coat surface of same skillet with cooking spray and set pan over medium-high heat. Wipe salt from eggplant slices with paper towel and add eggplant to hot skillet. Cook, until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.
6. Arrange half of eggplant slices in bottom of prepared baking pan, slightly overlapping pieces to cover entire surface of pan. Top eggplant with turkey mixture and then top turkey with 2 tbsp of grated topping. Top with remaining eggplant slices and remaining 1/4 cup of grated topping.
7. Bake until top is golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 45 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, slice into 3 pieces and serve.

Greek Salad
Serves: 3
WW Points: 3 (also core!)

Ingredients:
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup canned artichoke hearts, not packed in oil
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olives, chopped
1 tbsp parsley
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups lettuce , shredded
3 medium plum tomato, sliced
3/4 cup sliced cucumber
3/4 oz fat free feta cheese, crumbled

Directions:
1. Combine 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, chickpeas, and next 5 ingredients in a bowl; toss well.
2. Combine lettuce, remaining lemon juice and vinegar in a bowl, and toss well.
3. Place 1 cup lettuce on each of 3 plates; top each salad with 1/2 cup bean mixture. Arrange tomatoes and cucumber around bean mixture. Sprinkle cheese evenly over salads.

So next week, something different!

food blog love.

2006-04-08T20:48:00.000-04:00

So, tonight's dinner was courtesy of one of my favorite food blogs, fat free vegan kitchen. One of my favorites, because it's actually full of things that I eat. Not just things to drool over. But I have been drooling over this one particular recipe for the past week, and decided to make it tonight.

Santa Fe Spaghetti Squash Casserole combined a whole bunch of my favorites. Black beans, spaghetti squash, a cornmeal crust - oh, this dish was oozing with deliciousness. To be honest, as much as I like spaghetti squash, it's not something I've ever prepared myself. They look like so much work. But the microwave method worked beautifully, and I see many more squashes in my future. I prepared the squash beforehand, and really once that and the little bit of chopping was done, this came together in a flash. I worried it would be too liquidy, as I'm really no good at rinsing and draining black beans (as a side note, I've found that Walmart brand black beans are far superior to Bush's), but I cooked the mixture down well enough, and once cut, the casserole held together extremely well (as my hastily taken picture shows - it looked really good and I was hungry! There's no time for composition!).

I suggest checking out FFVK. Healthy tastes good, there's no secret to it.

And for my Weight Watchers people, a huge 1/4 of the casserole is only 3 points, or completely, satisfyingly core!

more core goodness!

2006-04-01T21:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm in love with this whole core thing. I'm almost two weeks in, and I've gotten comments on how much healthier I look. I feel healthier, too. I'm putting emphasis on getting in my two dairy and two healthy oil servings a day, something I was definitely lacking.

Tonight for dinner, I made a recipe that I found on epicurious, polenta tamale pie. Needed some alterations to make it semi-tarian and core, but I think it would be great with ground turkey instead of the gimme lean. Next time I might even make my own polenta for it, but it's a super quick (you can even put it together the night before, cover, and refrigerate) and easy meal.

Polenta Tamale Pie
Serves: 4
WW Points: 5 (or core!)

Ingredients:
8oz. gimme lean ground beef style
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 cup thick salsa (I used hot, but go with your taste)
1 cup fat free refried beans
2/3 cup fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 lb. roll polenta, sliced 1/3" thick (I used sun dried tomato flavor)
3 cups shredded fat free cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Crumble gimme lean into a medium saucepan coated with non-stick cooking spray over medium heat. Cook 1 - 2 minutes, until lightly browned. Add chili powder and cumin, cook 1 more minute. Add salsa, beans and broth. Simmer until mixture thickens, about 10 - 15 minutes. Stir in half of the cliantro, season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spray 8x8" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Layer half of the polenta slices in dish. Top with sauce and half of the shredded cheese. Top with remaning polenta, cheese, and cilantro.
Bake uncovered, in preheated oven, 30 - 35 minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is heated through and bubbling. If baking from refrigerated state, cook covered for 20 minutes, then uncover and cook 30 minutes longer.

All things good for you!

2006-03-18T21:28:00.000-05:00

So, if you've read through the majority of my (few and far between) posts, you'll realize that I'm on Weight Watchers. I'm at my goal weight, but of course it doesn't end there. I lost all of my weight doing the flex plan, where you count points for everything. But lately I've felt as if I've been spending more and more of those points on sugary, empty calorie treats. And all the sugar has left me feeling... kind of gross.

So, in an attempt to shake things up, I'm switching to the core plan. This is the one that people label as "low carb" and "oh my god, I couldn't trust myself to eat til satisfaction!"

Well, it's not low carb - included are whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean proteins.. you know, all those things that we should be eating.

Anyway, I made my first consciously core meal tonight. And it was delicious. Chunks of chicken, chickpeas, brown basmati rice. Oh mama, I feel better already.

Mediterranean Chicken and Brown Rice Salad
Serves: 3
WW Points: 7 or CORE!

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup uncooked brown basmati rice
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup fat free, reduced sodium chicken broth
1 cup chopped plum tomatoes
8oz. cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp chopped olives
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 garlic clove, mined

Directions:
Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, and saute for 3 minutes, until soft. Add brown basmati, and saute 1 minute. Add water and chicken broth, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 30 - 40 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Spoon rice mixture into a large bowl, fluff with fork. Add remaining ingredients, toss to combine. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate.

It was a nice, sweet, springtime like salad. Even though it barely hit 30F today, I'm still ready for spring. I served it on a bed of lettuce with some cucumber, but I'm thinking this would also go well with a bowl of tomato basil soup.

Impossibly easy?

2006-03-05T21:07:00.000-05:00

Okay, I admit it. I've never even heard of an "impossibly easy pie" before about a month ago. I've never even bought Bisquick. My mother never used it, and this sort of casserole was strangely missing in my youth. Which kind of makes me sad, because this was tasty, easy dinner.

I was enticed by the claims of "ooh! it magically bakes it's own crust!"

And it does. I didn't keep a close watch on the oven, so there might have been some magic involved, but I was busy with other things at the time. But there is a crust, I can assure you that.

For a short on time dinner (I was pretty short on time on Saturday night, after a day of planning my trip to NYC for next weekend, and futzing about all day, dinner didn't even get started until after 8), I'll have to keep this kind of pie in mind.

I lightened up a recipie I found on the Betty Crocker website. But go ahead and use the full fat versions if you're so inclined.

Impossibly Easy Southwestern Pie
Serves: 6
WW Points: 3

1 1/2 cups canned yellow corn, drained (about 1 can)
8 scallions, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed (about 1 can)
1 1/2 oz. Cabot 75% light cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Heartsmart Bisquick
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup salsa (I used Santa Barbara Habanero & Lime)

Preheat oven to 400F. Coat a 9" round or square baking pan with cooking spray. Layer corn, onions, and beans in pan. Sprinkle with cheese.
Stir Bisquick, milk, salsa and egg substitute until blended. Pour into pan.
Bake 35 - 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes before cutting. Serve with additional salsa.

Mmm.. Spicy

2006-02-25T22:29:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't been posting my foods all that much lately. Mostly because I've been lazy. I cook every night, as processed/frozen foods never satisfy me, but at the same time, nothing I've made has been very spectacular.

I had great hopes for a chicken with mango sauce dish that I made last weekend, but it turned out pretty bad. Well, not bad, just a little on the bland side and not too pretty looking.

I tried my hand at chicken again this weekend, as I had some in my freezer that was looking like it should be used. And I was in the mood for a good stir fry. Chinese food isn't something that I go out for very much, mostly because I never know what to order. Well, I usually order chicken and broccoli, or tofu and broccoli.. something and broccoli.

So that's what I made, chicken and broccoli.

Everything about this is simple and quick, but it ended up looking and tasting great. I wasn't in the mood for rice, so I had it over wheat pasta. Throwing some toasted almond slices on top would probably be pretty nice, too.

Chicken Stir-Fry with Broccoli, Honey, and Orange
Serves: 2
WW Points: 4

Ingredients:
8oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 medium onion, sliced
8 oz broccoli florets
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp grated orange peel
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy Stir-Fry Sauce (or any kind of stir fry sauce)

Directions:
Toss chicken with cornstarch to coat. Heat a large skillet coated with cooking spray. Add chicken and onions, cook 5 minutes, until chicken is lightly browned. Meanwhile, steam broccoli (or do what I did - buy one of those microsteam bags of florets). Add stir fry sauce, water, honey, orange peel and crushed red pepper flakes to skillet. Bring to boil. Stir in broccoli, and serve over pasta or rice.

And that's that! If you're sensitive to spicy foods, you might want to stick with a non-spicy stir fry sauce, but I thought that it was a great contrast to the honey.

Overall, it was a nice substitute for greasy, fatty Chinese takeout.

Comfort.

2006-01-29T01:31:00.000-05:00

Soups, more than anything, are the ultimate comfort food. I love making soup, taking the time to chop everything up, and have everything prepared. After putting in all of the effort and time, it's so nice to curl up on my couch with a big bowl.

And so, since I had a nice, relaxing afternoon (book shopping in Saratoga!) in the almost 50 degree upstate New York January weather, a soup sounded like a great idea.

This is a chili, but a thin chili, so we'll call it a soup. There's a rather long list of ingredients, but everything came together incredibly quickly, and I had a bowl in front of me in a little over an hour (including the time it took to grill the chicken - i didn't have any leftovers hanging around, but I did have some in the freezer that needed to be cooked before it got too freezerburned to be edible).

I love having inherited my Nannie's Farberware soup pot. The thing can do no wrong.

White Chicken Chili
Serves: 5
WW Points: 3

Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon stick margarine
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 tablespoon minced seeded jalapeño pepper
1 small garlic clove, minced
7 oz chopped cooked chicken
2 cups cannellini beans or other white beans, drained and divided
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 oz canned chopped green chiles
1/2 cup frozen whole-kernel corn
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
Melt the margarine in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and next 4 ingredients (onion through garlic), and sauté 5 minutes. Add chicke, 2/3 cup beans, broth, and next 6 ingredients (broth through black pepper), and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.

Mash remaining beans. Add mashed beans and milk to the chicken mixture. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until mixture is thick, stirring frequently. Stir in chopped cilantro.

It was light, and nicely spiced. I might add more of the jalapeno, next time. I served it simple, alongside salad and garlic toasts.

I eat breakfast all the time

2006-01-22T08:41:00.000-05:00

I love breakfast so much, that some days I'll eat it for all three meals. Yesterday, I kind of did that (if you count the english muffin pizza I made for lunch).

For dinner, I made a really easy and incredibly tasty breakfast casserole. And the recipe actually called for vegetarian meat! I suppose you could make it even lighter by using all egg substitute, but after not eating regular eggs for so long, I forgot that the texture isn't supposed to be... rubbery. I wasn't able to get Gimme Lean Sausage, so I opted for the ground beef. I don't think it made much of a difference, but I would like to try this recipe again when the grocery store has what I need.

Savory Breakfast Casserole
Serves: 3
WW Points: 6

Ingredients:
1 cup 2% milk
2oz. Cabot 75% Light Cheddar Cheese, shredded, divided
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
4 egg whites
2 whole eggs
7oz. Gimme Lean Sausage Style (or ground beef, whatever!), crumbled
2 1/2 slices reduced calorie wheat bread, cubed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine the milk, 1/2 of the cheddar cheese, scallions, dry mustard, salt, pepper, egg whites and eggs, stirring with a whisk.

Spread bread cubes and crumbled meat substitute on the bottom of a 8x8" square pan or 8x5" loaf pan, coated with cooking spray. Top with egg mixture, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Cover pan with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Tasty!
I haven't been cooking as much lately, I strugged with some vegetarian enchiladas last weekend that weren't very spectacular looking (but tasted just fine!). I did get a new kitchen table yesterday, and reorganized things so I can be a little more spread out when I'm cooking, so perhaps that was just the motivation I needed :)

Made it Meatless!

2006-01-07T23:20:00.000-05:00

Me, I don't like meat. I'll eat chicken, I'll eat turkey, I even ate a piece of pig on Christmas. But I don't touch the red meat. It's been over two years since I gave it up, and I don't miss it at all.

But I also like a good casserole. They make me feel so... Midwestern. I'm not really sure what that means, I've been to Chicago once, and that didn't make me feel very Midwestern. But throwing ingredients in a pan, topping it with cheese and baking it just makes me feel all homey.

Trouble is, sometimes casseroles call for ground beef. Sure, I could substitute chicken, but why? Why, when there's a wonderful veggie meat called Gimme Lean out there. I make meatballs and burgers with this stuff, why not a casserole?

Why not!

Tonight for dinner, I made another Cooking Light recipe. One that I was a little wary of, because all of the reviews seemed to point towards it being rather flavorless. I'm not quite sure what these people were doing wrong, but I thought there was tons of flavor. I think I tossed a little too much nutmeg in the sauce, but that just warmed it up even more. And my fake ground beef was spectacular.

"Beef", Cheese, and Noodle Bake
Serves: 4
WW Points: 4

Ingredients:
4oz. uncooked whole wheat noodles
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 garlic clove, minced
8oz. Lightlife gimme lean, ground beef style, crumbled
1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tbsp all purpose flour
dash of nutmeg
3oz. Cabot 75% fat free cheddar cheese, shredded, divided

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Lightly coat pasta with cooking spray.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Coat with cooking spray. Add onion and carrot; saute 4 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic, cook 1 minute. Add "meat", cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add tomato sauce, 1/4 tsp salt, and black pepper. Cook 2 minutes, or until most of the liquid evaporates.

Remove from heat and add in pasta, stirring to combine. Spread into an 8 x 8" baking pan coated with cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, place milk, flour, nutmeg, and a 1/4 tsp salt. Stir with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat for 1 - 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk until thickened. Add 2/3 of the cheese, stir until melted. Pour over the pasta mixuture, spreading it evenly over the top. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Makes me want to talk all Fargo-like, I tell you.

I also had a really nice post-shopping lunch at Panera today. If you get past all the sandwiches that are dripping with cheese and bacon fat, they really have some smart choices. I had half of the roast turkey sandwich on sourdough (mmm), a cup of low fat chicken noodle soup and an apple, all for 8 points. I like it when you can pick fruit with your meal without having to make a special request. It was a mighty fine apple, too.

Shopping consisted of Kohls and Michaels. I didn't go crazy like I usually do in Kohls. I got a new pair of pants for work, a pair of pants for the gym, a cute $5 shirt, two pairs of tights, and two pairs of boots. One pair is pink and fuzzy and you know the type. The fuzzy fake Ugg style usually makes my calves look like those huge turkey legs you get at Disney World, but these actually look good. And... I got a pair of mid-calf black and white and red plaid rain boots. Oh my! I love them. I was walking around in them while I was cooking just because they looked so cute. You never know when it's going to rain.

Leftovers (of leftovers)

2006-01-04T19:31:00.000-05:00

So on Saturday I decided it was time to finish up the leftover turkey I had stashed in my fridge from Thanksgiving-ish time. I only had a good sized chunk of white meat left, and some Italian bread that my sister gave me at Christmas.. so.. what?

A turkey bread pudding, of course!

This tastes like a big hunk of the holidays, with the creamy stuffing and turkey and veggies. Next time, I may try this topped with cranberry sauce. I'm fairly positive there will be a next time. I adapted the recipe from Cooking Light, mainly just replacing the eggs with egg beaters and leaving out the dry mustard, as one of my dinner mates despises any kind of mustard and can taste even the slightest hint of it.

I didn't get a picture when it was fresh out of the oven, so I snapped a photo after I reheated the leftover slice for dinner tonight. It got a little too toasty, but just as tasty as a few days ago. And a little sauteed asparagus with fresh ground pepper on the side.

Turkey-Mushroom Bread Pudding
Serves: 4
WW Points: 4

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups sliced baby portobello mushrooms
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 minced garlic cloves
4 oz cooked skinless light meat turkey, shredded
1/3 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 cup egg substitute
4 oz Italian bread, cut in 1" chunks
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms, celery, onion, thyme, and garlic; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in turkey, salt, and black pepper. Remove mixture from heat, and cool slightly.

Combine milk, red pepper, and egg substitute in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in mushroom mixture and bread; toss well. Spoon into an 8 x 8-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

And that's it for the leftovers.

Out with the old

2006-01-02T18:31:00.000-05:00

New year, new year. Happy? We'll see about that. New years always makes me sad. I know it's all about starting fresh and second chances and new possibilities, but i always tend to look at the old. The things that are ending, the things I wont get back. Let's face it, I just don't deal with change all that well. But there might be changes for the better in the new year. I'm at least hoping for some.

"Let it do what it do," as a good friend told me.

On New Years day, some of my family got together for an extra little Christmas, as not everyone was in town and there were still presents to be opened. It was really a nice time, even if I was a little edgy and hitting the box of wine (I haven't had boxed wine in so long, it still amuses the daylights out of me) a little too hard.

But regardless, we opened presents and talked and I played with my almost four year old cousin, which cheered me up some. It's amazing how big and smart and even more adorable he's getting. We had mostly a purchased lunch/dinner of sandwiches and wings and vegetables, but I made these really cute mini muffins to go with our desserts (which included cheesecake and some peanut butter pie thing that I wouldn't let myself eat, so I'm glad I made the muffins). Mini muffins are so adorable. I'm more a fan of big, bulging muffins, but it makes me giddy to pop these cute little suckers out of their tins.

I found this recipe in last month's (I think) Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I don't generally like applesauce in my baked goods, but I'll at least try it when the recipe actually calls for it and it's not just a random substitution. I think they came out pretty darn well.

Dark Chocolate Mini Muffins
Yields: 41 (recipe said 48, but I didn't get quite that many)
WW Points: 1 point for 1, 2 points for 2, 2.5 points for 3 (best bargain!)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup fat-free skim milk
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp molasses
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat about 48 mini muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray, set aside. In a bowl combine flours, sugars, cocoa powder, baking soda, and 1/4 tsp salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside. In another bowl combine milk, applesauce, oil, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture. Stir until just moistened (batter should be lumpy). Stir in half the chocolate pieces.

2. spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each mini pan up to about 2/3 full. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate pieces. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm. Or cook completely; wrap tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat to serve.

If you don't have enough muffin cups, bake in batches. Cover and refrigerate muffin batter no longer than 30 minutes. Wash and prepare pan between batches.

I really like the sweetness of the two sugars and the balsamic vinegar in these muffins. Definitely makes for a dark chocolate taste. And they're so cute!

I'll be back with other new yearsish recipes soon, I made a really tasty dinner on Saturday night. But that's for another day!

Christmas!

2005-12-28T18:29:00.000-05:00

Christmas was mellow, the days to follow were completely freaking insane, due to an out of town visitor.

So it's taken me a while to get things together and have the energy to sit down and compile the goodies I made.

First I'll start with my family, all sitting around the table. Note the brother in law with his bottle o' wine. He brought some good wine. The Amuse Bouche 2003 Merlot was particularly tasty, but it was gone before 2pm. Rumor has it he has another 25 bottles laying around. How soon until my birthday? Oh damn.

Anyway:

Aww, ain't they cute.

Christmas was very mellow and this made me very happy. My mother and I made duelling lasagnas, hers loaded with homemade sauce with sausage and beef and whole milk mozzarella, mine with a white sauce and loads of vegetables. I think mine looks better, dammit.

My lasagna was from Cooking Light, a Four Cheese Vegetable Lasagna.

Serves: 8
WW Points: 6

12 uncooked lasagna noodles
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cups chopped frozen broccoli spears, slightly thawed
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrot
1 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1 1/2 cups 1% low-fat cottage cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded 2% mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese

Cook lasagna noodles, omitting salt and fat. Drain; set aside.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add broccoli and next 4 ingredients (broccoli through garlic), and sauté 7 minutes. Set aside.

Place flour in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in spinach. Reserve 1/2 cup spinach mixture for top layer of casserole, and set aside.

Combine cottage cheese, mozzarella, and Swiss cheese; stir well. Spread 1/2 cup spinach mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 lasagna noodles over spinach mixture in dish; top with half of cottage cheese mixture, half of broccoli mixture, and half of remaining spinach mixture. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread reserved 1/2 cup spinach mixture over noodles; sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with pepper, if desired.

Considering I was making this bleary eyed on Christmas morning, it didn't come out as a disaster. I've never had lasagna with cottage cheese in it, but heck, when mixed with the mozzarella and swiss, you could never tell. Well, I love cottage cheese anyway, but the people eating it couldn't tell.

I also made a simple salad with parboiled green and wax beans, cherry tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and fresh basil and made a mixed fresh vegetable platter on this beautiful crystal plate that my mother got for Christmas from a co-worker. It was rounded out with fresh Italian bread and butter, meatballs and sausage. And more wine.

I also made desserts. Not that many, as we had tons of chocolates from Commodore in Newburgh (the strawberries nearly killed me. I swooned), various cookies brought by the family, fresh fruit, and I don't even know what else.

But as a tribute to my favorite lady in the whole wide world, I made my Nannie's fruit loaf. This is our first Christmas without Nannie, and I may not be a person of many beliefs, but I think she sent a happy one to us. Perhaps it's because I made her fruit loaf.

I mean, okay, it's an All Bran recipe. All right, it's got no sugar in it. But I swear, it's good eating. I also found that my uncle has seriously reduced his sugar intake (and quit smoking and dropped 25 pounds, good for him!), so we dug in like crazy.

Nannie's Fruit Loaf
Serves: 12
WW Points: 2

1 cup All-Bran
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup skim milk
2 packets of Sweet 'N Low
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup raisins
2 apples, chopped

Stir all bran, egg and milk together, let sit for 5 - 10 minutes, or until cereal is softened. Mix sweet n low, flour and baking powder together. Sift into first mixture. Add raisins and chopped apple. Bake in loaf pan coated with cooking spray at 325 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes.

I cooked it for just about 50 minutes, and it was perfect. I know it sounds gross. I know.

I also made Maple Walnut Spice Cookies, also from Cooking Light. I read the reviews, and many people had a hard time getting the 30 cookies that the recipe said it made. I had exactly thiry cookies. Because I'm awesome.

Maple Walnut Spice Cookies
Serves: 30
WW Points: 2

Cookies:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 large egg

Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon fat-free milk
2 teaspoons butter, softened

Remaining ingredient:
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cookies, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through cloves) in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

Place brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add 2 tablespoons syrup and egg; beat until well blended. Beating at low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat just until combined.

Spoon batter evenly into 30 mounds (about 1 tablespoon) 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Unfrosted. Kind of ho hum.

To prepare frosting, combine powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons syrup, milk, and 2 teaspoons butter, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Spread frosting evenly over cooled cookies. Working quickly, sprinkle cookies with nuts.

Frosted. Ho yum!

So like I said, Christmas was good. My family can be great when they want to be, and I got a good haul of kitchen goodies (everything except for a bigger kitchen!)

Via Chicago

2005-12-18T18:51:00.000-05:00

Ho ho ho, pardon the dirty countertop.

This weekend feels like it's been about five weekends long. I still don't want to go back to work tomorrow, but I've gotten a lot done.

It started Friday night, making up a care package for my friend Matt in Chicago. Sure, he'll most likely (fingers crossed) be home for Christmas, but he's poor and everyone likes baked goods.

I had decided on Peppermint Bark Cookies and Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies. Nothing fancy.

I, however, managed to mess up the cookies big time, and none of them were sent to Matt. I didn't soften the butter enough, and ended up overbeating the batter. Hard, hard cookies. Tasty!, but hard.

After the cookie disaster, I was a little worried about the brownies. Mixing two cups of mini marshmallows into a sticky, gooey, buttery batter just really.. scared me. They came out of the oven, and looked (and smelled, due to the butterscotch chips) amazing. I attempted to cut them while still slightly warm, and ended up with a very soft and crumbly brownie. So, into the fridge they went for the night. And in the morning I had nice, gooey chewy brownies. It's kind of a neat recipie, the marshmallows melt into the batter in the oven and goo everything together. I added Nestle Holiday Morsels instead of just plain chocolate chips. The santa faces were too cute to resist.

Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies
Serves: 18
WW Points: 6 (does it even matter at this point?)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or holiday morsels!)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13" inch pan.

2) Using a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butterscotch chips and butter together in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth. Set aside to cool.

3) In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the melted butterscotch chips, then the flour, baking powder, and salt until smooth. Stir in the marshmallows and chocolate chips last. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan.

4) Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven. Cool, and cut into squares.

That tin is going to work with me tomorrow. I'm putting a sign on it that reads, "Please eat, so I don't have to" because I would seriously be able to eat that entire tin of about 20 brownies in maybe two days. They're really freaky good.

Anyway, I got that done. Did I mention that I made these at my parents house? Well I did. My mother needed some sane company, and I was as good as it was going to get. So I baked, then she had a couple of glasses of wine and we played Scrabble. Next time we play, I've promised to get drunk with her. That woman cracks me up.

At about 1am, I remembered that I hadn't shut my morning alarm off at my apartment, and it was going to go off at 6:05am. I live about an hour from my parents, so I cursed and grumbled and set the alarm on my cell phone so I could wake up and go shut it off. I got here at 6:06am. Not bad!
You would think, however, that I would just curl up in my own bed and go to sleep and call it a day. But no! I had Christmas shopping to do. I had Christmas shopping to do... back near my parents house. So I get back in the car, go back to their house, have some breakfast, and I'm off to the bank, post office, Target, mall (ugh!), and then back to my parents. I had promised to go out with my mother, as she needed to get out of the house. So, I had some lunch and a few gulps of coffee, and off we went!
We hit a couple of stores (one of them being Putnam Market, my favorite specialty foods store. My mother's buying one of the chocolate babkas for Christmas. Oh my. But it was enough shopping, so we hit the casino. I was up $17 on a nickel machine, so not a bad day after all.
And finally, I was able to take a nap.
I did some more shopping today (officially finished! and almost officially finished wrapping!), got my car inspected (almost a month late, not bad), and cleaned today. So many accomplishments. I'm fucking beat.

if my stomach explodes, at least i'll die happy

2005-12-11T19:47:00.000-05:00

Oh goodness, turkey noodle soup. How comforting, and how freaking easy. Chop a few vegetables, open a few cans, defrost the turkey in the fridge overnight. Voila! Turkey soup!

The recipe, as it often does, comes from Cooking Light.

Turkey Noodle Soup
Serves 4 (very generously)
WW Points: 4

Ingredients:
1 cup sliced carrot
3/4 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup sliced celery
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 oz. uncooked wheat blend egg noodles
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 bay leaf
2 cups shredded turkey (about 8 ounces)
coarsely ground black pepper (optional)

Directions:
Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add carrot, onion, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is lightly browned. Add celery, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; sauté 3 minutes. Add broth and next 3 ingredients (through bay leaf); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Add shredded turkey; cook 3 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle with coarsely ground black pepper, if desired.

While mincing the garlic, I started to worry it was too much. This is definitely garlicy, but not in a bad way. I love the simplicity of it, prep time included and I was eating in just about an hour.

I'm about to settle down for the night and watch the Survivor finale while wrapping some presents. I'm planning on finishing my shopping next weekend, I only have a few presents left to get (good thing, I'm going completely broke). But Tuesday is office party day at The Century House, and there will be lots of drinking (no drinky for me until after my next set of bloodwork), eating, and bonuses. I can't remember how much I got last year, but it was a good amount, and I had only been there for about two months. Now it's been a year longer, perhaps I'll get more (even though I just lost a reasonably good sized sale. oops.)

Alas, football has pushed back my tv watching. Maybe it's a sign that I should be washing my dishes!

Testing...

2005-12-10T20:37:00.000-05:00

So I'm making my soup tomorrow. Tonight, I decided to try out a lasagna recipe. See, I'm on a quest for a good lasagna to make for Christmas. I'm not sure what I want to make yet, so I bought a big box of lasagna noodles, and went to town.

My first attempt is Broccoli Lasagna Bianca. I originally found the recipe in one of my Mother's cookbooks, some kind of brand name vegetarian book. I really like tomato sauce in my lasagna, but I figured it was worth a try.

Broccoli Lasagna Bianca
Serves 4 (I halved the recipe)
WW Points: 5

Ingredients:
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 Tbsp basil (fresh or dried, i used dried)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup skim milk
10 oz frozen chopped broccoli
1/2 cup shredded 2% mozzarella cheese
4 1/2 lasagna noodles, cooked
1/2 small tomato, chopped
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
In medium bowl, combine ricotta, egg substitute, and basil; set aside. In large saucepan, over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in margarine until tender-crisp. Stir in flour; cook for 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk; cook, stirring until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Remove from heat; stir in broccoli and mozzarella cheese.

In lightly greasted 8 x 8" baking dish, place 2 lasagna noodles; top with 1/2 each ricotta and broccoli mixtures. Repeat layers 1 more time. Top with tomato; sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with basil leaves.

I was pretty worried about this one. There was a lot of egg substitute, and the ricotta mixture was very liquidy. However, it firmed up nicely in the oven and didn't have an overwhelming egg taste. I baked it covered for the first 45 minutes, so nothing would get burnt around the edges. The only thing this recipe needs is salt and pepper. There was none in the original recipe, so I added some to the broccoli sauce. Next time, some crushed red pepper might be nice, too.

I had an out and about kind of day, stopping at Target for some baking supplies (cookiethon next weekend!) and random Christmas gifts and supplies. I also had my picture taken with my sister, as my mother wanted a nice picture of the two of us, and we decided to get one done as part of our Christmas present to her. It was a beautiful day, a nice change after all the snow yesterday, so we went out to Congress Park. Here's a copy of the picture we chose to get enlarged, I think it's a nice one.

Of course, the print looks much better. Not having a scanner, this is just a picture of a picture. My sister makes me look like a beanstalk. Getting this blown up to an 8 x 10" is kind of frightening.

So, tomorrow will be tires, soup, and gingerbread day. My mother promised me gingerbread muffins, as a consolation for having my visit my fresh out of surgery father two days in a row. I love my Dad though, so it's not a chore. And there will be gingerbread.

i ruined christmas

2005-12-07T22:58:00.000-05:00

yesterday at work, my office buddy craig started belting out you're a mean one, mr. grinch at me, in a very authentic boris karloff tone. it's not my fault that i have to inform customers that some very popular items are on backorder. i don't want to ruin christmas, guys!

Anyway, I went to Paramus last weekend for some shopping paradise. First stop: Ikea. Oh my, Ikea. I get dizzy there, my eyes don't know where to settle and want to take everything in at once. I was on a Christmas shopping mission, and didn't end up buying much for myself, other than some Löfbergs Lila coffee and Finax Good For You Apple-Papaya-Raisin Muesli.

This is good stuff. Small (but plentiful) pieces of dried fruits, crunchy grains, and only lightly sweetened with honey. And the coffee is marvelous, I wish I had bought more. You can order from Nordic Trade, but shipping is kind of pricey. I'm still considering it.

I've been cooking, but nothing worth posting about. For dinner tonight, I coated some tofu with wasabi mustard and cooked it until it got all crispy on the outside. Lots of veggies and bulgur on the side. It was good, but who wants to see my green and crispy tofu?

I'm craving a soup, and as luck would have it, I have leftover Thanksgiving turkey in my freezer. I think that's a plan for the weekend. Soup!

There's lots of plans for the weekend, actually.

1) get new tires and wiper blades (my car didn't pass inspection. oops!). My Dad offered to buy me new tires for Christmas. He's having surgery tomorrow and feeling generous. I guess I should have got it in writing.

2) get photographed! As part of my Mother's Christmas present, my sister and I are having a nice professional photo done. We've got a photographer, we've got the date, but we don't have a location. I want it done outside, let's hope for decent weather.

3) buy ingredients for my cookiethon next weekend. I'm sending cookies to my good friend Matt out in Chicago. Baking commences next Friday night.

4) more Christmas presents! Shop, shop, shop.

5) and don't forget the soup. I just have to figure out what I'm in the mood for.

I'm also in the mood for a good casserole of some sort. Winter makes me crave that kind of thing.

But next time you hear from me, there will be soup.

Goodbye, Leftovers

2005-11-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

It was eat it or dump it night in my apartment. I couldn't bear seeing my last stuffed eggplant half go out with the trash tonight, so I heated that up, cooked up some brown rice, and made a little salad.

Okay, so the eggplant was a little past its prime. Everything was a little more.. moist than on turkey day. But it was still absolutely delicious, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

My recipe doesn't differ much from the original on Cooking Light, but I'll go ahead and post anyway.

Baked Eggplant with Savory Cheese Stuffing
Serves: 6
WW Points: 2

Ingredients:
2 slices reduced-calorie wheat bread
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
2 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 3/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
1 1/2 cup seeded, chopped plum tomato
1/3 tsp dried Italian seasoning
3 minced garlic cloves
4 1/2 oz. crumbled fat free feta cheese
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp salt
1/3 tsp black pepper
3 medium eggplants, 1 lb. each, halved lengthwise

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°.

Score cut side of each eggplant half by making 4 crosswise cuts. Place the eggplant halves, cut sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven; cool on pan 10 minutes. Carefully remove pulp, leaving a 1/3-inch-thick shell; reserve eggplant shells. Chop pulp.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°.

Place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 3/4 cup. Drizzle the breadcrumbs with olive oil, and pulse to combine.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, Italian seasoning, and garlic; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cheese, parsley, salt, and black pepper. Stuff each eggplant shell with about 1/2 cup onion mixture; sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture. Place on a baking sheet; bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated and lightly browned.

I was a little worried that my family would spot the fat free feta and call me out on it, but President makes a great block style fat free feta that crumbles up nicely and tastes wonderful. They also have some nice flavored fat free feta crumbles. Basil and tomato in an omelet? Oh yes.

Anyway, a little while later, I heard a small voice coming from the fridge.

"Hey, you forgot about me!"

"Forgot about who?" I replied.

"Me!"

I opened up the fridge, and sitting there on the bottom shelf - the lonliest piece of pumpkin pie.

To be honest, it did look very lonely.

"Don't worry," I cooed, "I wouldn't forget about you. Come here, and I'll make it all better."

And I ate that sucker with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. While wearing my PJs.

Okay, no, I ate it with some Edy's Slow Churned Light No Sugar Added Neopolitan ice cream. If I was inclined to call things "the bomb", I would definitely be breaking the phrase out right now.

Okay fine, turkey!

2005-11-27T19:41:00.000-05:00

So I went to see my parents today, mostly to do laundry and grab some turkey. My mother cooked the turkey I gave her on Saturday, and I figured I'd probably be able to do something with a chunk of it. I also left some gifts that I bought there, and some of my measuring spoons. Need those.

I stopped off at the grocery store on the way over to pick up ingredients for pumpkin fluff (you know, the seemingly unappetizing mixture of canned pumpkin, vanilla pudding mix, cool whip, milk, and pumpkin pie spice), and bought her a miniature curly poinsettia plant just because.

I mixed up the fluff while my laundry was on, and we split the goods. Pumpkin fluff. Sounds so gross, tastes so good.

Part of my hunk of turkey turned into dinner tonight. I made a turkey version of Cooking Light's Chicken-Apple Crunch Salad. It was easy, and pretty darn tasty.

Turkey-Apple Crunch Salad
Serves: 2
WW Points: 3

4oz. diced, cooked white meat turkey
1/2 cup diced apple
1/4 cup diced celery
1 Tbsp. diced onion
2 Tbsp. raisins
2 Tbsp. light mayonnaise
1/2 Tbsp. fat free sour cream
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
dash of cinnamon

Mix! Eat!

There was a picture, but it came out blurry and there's no re-do because it's already in my belly.

I stopped at the grocery store again on my way home because I was pretty low on important things like vegetables and assorted breakfast cereals. Cereal is my downfall, seriously. I love my local chain grocery store. I know that's probably sacrilege, and really it is because they don't have the best quality produce, but goodness almighty I do love the employees.

They're all high school students, but they're a charming bunch. Especially my floppy haired jailbait cashier boyfriend to be. But I digress!

I actually don't digress. I finish.

No Turkey!

2005-11-25T18:10:00.000-05:00

Yeah, another Thanksgiving's come and gone. I've never been big on Thanksgiving. Well, there's two things I like about it: eating, and looking at the Black Friday ads.

So that's what I did. I ate and got me a newspaper.

Thanksgiving was at my aunt and uncle's house. I had planned on a low-key day with my mom and dad, but it turned out that my uncle wanted everyone together for the holiday. My Nannie passed away in the spring, he's been really big on togetherness since then. I think he was right, though. As much as my family drives me bonkers, I like being around them.

So I was going to cook for my parents, but since we were going elsewhere, I decided on bringing some healthy sides and a healthy dessert. It's expected of me, the healthy.

There were thirteen of us, and two dogs. We had a pretty decent bunch of food, a lot less than we usually do, but still a table full. Dinner consisted of turkey (I don't really know what it was cooked with, and didn't eat any. I like turkey, but I wasn't in the mood. Blasphemy? Maybe!), roasted pheasant stuffed with citrus (didn't have this either, although there's leftovers and I'm intrigued), stuffing (from the bird and oven baked, thank goodness), mashed potatoes, mashed turnips (mm!), green bean casserole (it's a tradition. what an ugly dish, but it's a tradition), boiled onions and brussel sprouts (oh man, the sprouts were heavenly), sauerkraut and kielbasa (another tradition, and a way nasty one at that), sweet potatoes, honey roasted root vegetables (made by me!), eggplant with savory cheese stuffing (also made by me!), eggplant parmesan (my mom's), and an assortment of rolls and bread. Wow. That's a lot more food than I realized.

My aunt loves to bake. So as always, the dessert table was jam packed. There was apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, ice cream salad, fruit salad, and homemade toasted coconut marshmallows (from the barefoot contessa, yay!). And... also my maple pumpkin pie.

The only thing I have a picture of is the maple pumpkin pie. It's a Calorie Commando (marry me) recipe, which can be found here. To be honest, the crust was more trouble than it was worth, and if I make this again, I may make it a crustless pie. The crust is my least favorite part of pie, and I always eat it backwards to get that part out of the way first. Same deal with pizza. But the filling was delicious, and a whole four pieces were eaten, while none were taken from the full fatty pumpkin pie that was also on the table. None!

Here's what it looked like, fresh out of the oven

I had another piece a few hours ago. Now there's one piece left, and I bet it's gonna go soon.

I wish I had taken a picture of the stuffed eggplant. This was a gorgeous recipe, one that I've been looking at on the Cooking Light website for ages and wanting to make. I made a total of six halves and took three with me to dinner, saving the other three for myself because I am a greedy, greedy woman. I sliced each half into about six slices, and it was devoured!

Also quickly devoured were the honey roasted root vegetables. Sweet potato, parsnips, turnip, carrots, and shallots mixed with clover honey, olive oil, and salt. Roasted in the oven at a high temperature (I had to take the battery out of the smoke detector. Oops!). They tasted so, so sweet. And good god almighty, I love parsnips.

So Thanksgiving was good, family was good, the ads in the newspaper were good. Getting six inches of snow kind of sucked and I'm sick of winter already, but what can you do.

I woke up late-ish this morning (around 9:30, way late for me), had some breakfast, and hit a few stores with my mom. I actually wasn't prepared for more Christmas shopping, so I only bought two presents and some cards to send out. Every little bit helps, and next weekend I'm down to Jersey for some outlet shopping (and Ikea! Ikea Ikea!), so I should get a bunch done then.

My work gave me a free 20lb. turkey, and I handed that off to my mother. She's cooking it tomorrow, and I will get leftovers. I started feeling a little regretful about not eating any turkey, so I'll grab a chunk of white meat and run.

Now it's time to look at Christmas cookie recipes. I may hate snow, but I love the holidays.

Pesto Plum Tomato Pizza

2005-11-19T22:24:00.000-05:00

I like pizza. A whole lot. However, I don't eat it very often. You know why?

Because pizza is greasy. Now, I have absolutely no problem with grease. I've been told that it's its own food group, and an important one at that. And while there's a time, sometimes, where nothing is more satisfying than biting into a big slice of pizza that leaves your lips shiny with grease.. there's one thing that will never agree with me on that. My stomach.

Case in point: On the last Friday of every month, my work will buy us lunch. It usually consists of sandwiches and salads from a local deli. And they get pizza. I usually order a salad, but this last month, I decided on a sandwich. I picked carefully, and decided on barbecue chicken on wheat bread with lettuce, tomato, and onion. Nothing special, nothing difficult. Maybe it was too easy, because the deli forgot to make my sandwich. I was offered half after half of everyone's sandwich, but not wanting to take anyone's food away from them, I figured I'd have a slice of pizza. It looked really good. Cheese with big chunks of fresh portobello. And it tasted really good. A nice, thick layer of cheese, easy on the sauce, medium thick crust. I enjoyed it, until an hour later when I thought I was going to die. My stomach was doing somersaults, and I still had a good two hours of work left. That's when I was informed that grease is its own food group, and that I was showing signs of deficiency. That could possibly be correct. But anyway, when I want pizza, I have to make it myself.

Out of laziness, I went with a pre-baked crust. A whole wheat boboli crust, to be exact. And here's what I made:

Plum Tomato Pesto Pizza
Servings: 4
WW Points: 6

Ingredients:
1 Boboli whole wheat thin pizza crust
2 Tbsp. basil pesto
3/4 lb. plum tomatoes, sliced
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup shredded 2% mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°.

Place crust on a large baking sheet. Spread pesto sauce over crust, and arrange tomato and garlic slices over crust. Top with cheeses, and sprinkle with pepper. Bake at 450° for 8 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with basil. Cut into 8 slices.

Yield: 2 slices per serving

With a salad on the side, I was pretty satisfied. I used store brand pesto, which isn't the greatest, but there's not much on the pizza so it just added a little aftertaste of pesto when biting through the tomatoes.

Pizza. Comforting after a day of blood work and Christmas shopping.

Tomorrow I'm doing some Thanksgiving food shopping. I'm not cooking a whole meal, just two side dishes, a pie, and maybe some cookies depending on what time allows. I can't wait to get my hands on those parsnips and turnips.

Dinner and Movies

2005-11-13T00:54:00.000-05:00

It's been a stressful week for me. First, I was deathly ill at the beginning of the week, and missed two days of work. To make it worse, I have no sick time until January. So that's two days of no pay, but still, there's very little I could do to help it.

I was on a watered-down gatorade diet for a day and a half, and let me tell you - I hate gatorade. Passionately. I love seeing lazy people drink it, though.

So the rest of my week at work was reasonably stressful, it's hard to get caught up after a couple of days. But I got caught up and I think the upcoming week should go smoothly.

To top off the week, I had to babysit my father on Friday night, as my mother's been in Vegas for the last few days, and my father is.. "infirm". Actually, I don't really know what he is. He's sick, but not so sick that he can't leave the house. Still, he doesn't leave the house. So he's been cooped up with no human contact, and being the good daughter I am, I went to babysit. Now, I love my dad. I love him a lot. But he's insane. Not the kind of insane where I have funny stories to tell about crazy family members, insane in a way that scares me to death because I'm afraid of ending up like that too.

Anyway, I brought him dinner and watched movies with him and got out of there by the afternoon, even though he started getting mopey about being left alone again. Kind of like a dog, he knows when you're ready to leave.

To wind down tonight, I had a dinner and movie night. The movies - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Undead. And for dinner - Buffalo Chicken Wraps.

I really wanted to like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I rarely like Johnny Depp, and from seeing previews, I had a feeling this wouldn't be one of those rare moments. However, his semi-goth-rock-retard rendition of Willy Wonka kind of struck a cord with me. Delving into family issues always does that. I enjoyed the movie as a whole. The only parts that bothered me took place inside the chocolate factory. The Oompa Loompas were a disgrace.

Undead, an Aussie zombie/alien flick, was actually pretty cool. Zombie movies are best left in the hands of non-Americans, in most cases. I like a movie without a happy ending.

The dinner came from my favorite food blog in the whole wide world, Culinary in the Desert. I read it faithfully, and drool heavily over the pictures. The pictured wrap looks a lot better than the ones I made, so I have nothing to show. I did make a few substitutions, mostly because I didn't feel like going to the store, but the recipe itself is pretty open to interpretation, I think. My wraps always come ou disastrous. I either buy tortillas that are too small, or I overfill. I think it's a combination of both.

One thing's for sure, blue cheese makes for a happy tummy.

I'm going winter coat shopping in the morning, because it's getting very cold. Well, cold, and then warm, and then it's cold again and I'm unprepared. As a perpetually cold person, it's best to be prepared.

Burgers and Fries (kind of)

2005-11-05T20:56:00.000-05:00

Well, what a great day. Seventy degrees, sunny, I woke up early and went to the gym, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. On top of that, the person I'm in love with* called me from Chicago. And he'll be home for Christmas. Now, I can never wait for Christmas, it's absolutely my favorite time of year, but this makes it all the better.

After he called, I took a spritely trip out to the grocery store, and came back to make dinner. Oh, dinner. I haven't had a burger and fries in what seems like a very long time. Well, I haven't eaten red meat in just about two years, and don't plan on eating red meat ever again. But I still like burgers. Frozen veggie burgers are fine in a pinch, but sometimes you've just gotta go it on your own. So I found a Cooking Light recipe that sounded good. Of course, it called for real beef. Scratch that, I'm using Lightlife Gimme Lean. This ground beef substitute is really rather unappetizing to look at, but it's flavored well and makes good meatballs. I've never made a burger out of it, but I figured it was at least worth a try. And success! Combined with a hefty spice rub, this is an incredibly flavorful and filling burger.

This burger don't need no mayo.

Open Faced Burgers with Mushroom-Onion Topping
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, sliced and separated into rings
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1/8 tsp black pepper
8 oz lightlife gimme lean, ground beef style
1 thomas' light multi-grain english muffin

Directions:
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and cook for 5 minutes or until golden. Add mushrooms and salt; cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add vinegar; remove mixture from pan. Set aside.

Combine the paprika and the next 4 ingredients (paprika through black pepper). Divide the "beef" into 2 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Coat patties with spice mixture. Cook patties in non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray 4 minutes on each side or until done. Place burgers on muffin halves, and top each burger with 1/4 cup onion mixture.

WW Points: 4

What's a burger without fries? I love fries, any fries. Baked, fried, when I was a kid I even ate them frozen. Well, I did it once and learned my lesson. Fries are not to be eaten frozen. I was in the mood for fries, but I wanted to do something a little different. So, another Cooking Light recipe, this one for Crispy Hash Browns. Crispy, indeed. I may have taken my eye off of the oven a little bit too long, but at least I know the recipe doesn't lie. These are a nice, unfried hash brown. If I was eating these with eggs, I might find them a little bland, but matched with the flavor heaven mentioned above, it was a nice side dish.

Crispy Hash Browns
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1/2 pound baking potato, shredded
2 tbsp scallions, sliced
2 tbsp green bell pepper, minced
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp onion powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 475°.

Place potato in a large bowl, and cover with cold water. Let stand 5 minutes. Drain and rinse potato. Dry thoroughly in a salad spinner, or pat dry with paper towels. Combine potato, onions, and bell pepper in bowl. Add the cornstarch, salt, black pepper, and onion powder; toss well to coat.

Line a baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil; coat thoroughly with cooking spray. Place a 3-inch biscuit cutter on prepared baking sheet. Fill biscuit cutter with 1/2 cup potato mixture (do not pack). Carefully remove cutter, leaving potato patties intact. Repeat the procedure with remaining potato mixture. Coat tops of potato patties with cooking spray. Bake at 475° for 20 minutes. Turn and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until golden brown.

WW Points (per hash brown): 1

So, a good, good day.

*I may or may not be in love with him. He's asked me, and I've told him I'm in something with him. It's something, all right.

apples, pears, and raspberries! (and pumpkins!)

2005-10-29T22:36:00.000-04:00

Today was a fruity day.

Today was a lazy day. A lazy and fruity day.

Why I took an hour and a half nap after doing absolutely nothing is beyond me. But when I woke up, I had to leave the house.

So I went and got myself a pumpkin, and a few groceries for dinner.

I haven't carved a pumpkin in years. Honestly, I've never really carved a pumpkin. I was so bad at it as a child, that I ended up throwing in the towel, and my Mom bought me a nice set of poster paints. I could barely even do that right.

But you know what, I wanted to carve me a pumpkin. And I did, more or less. It's actually outside right now, and it I wasn't pretty cold, I'd go grab a picture. But I'm cold, and stepping outside might kill me. It probably wouldn't, but you never know.

I carved a bat into it. A bat that's missing a chunk of ear. I was able to slip the little bit of ear back in there, and you'd never even know that it's disconnected. Let's just hope a small animal doesn't carry it off in the middle of the night.

After carving a pumpkin for an hour and a half, I was pretty hungry. So I got up off of my kitchen floor, and started on dinner. On the menu tonight was Caramelized Onion Chicken and Apple Pear Slaw.

Caramelized Onion Chicken
Servings: 2
WW Points: 3

8oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup sliced onions
1/4 cup Smuckers sugar free red raspberry preserves
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp peeled, minced ginger root
1/4 tsp dried rosemary

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté 2 minutes. Add chicken to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove onion and chicken from pan.

Add jam and remaining ingredients to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return chicken mixture to pan; cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

This was absolutely delicious. It was quick and easy, and I made barely any mess (which is incredible - I am the world's most messy cook). The original recipe called for regular raspberry preserves, and that would have made for a stickier, sweeter sauce, but I think the sugar free preserves did the job. The ginger and rosemary made it smell amazing. This is definitely something I'm making again, and soon.

Apple and Pear Slaw
Sevings: 3
WW Points: 1

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 cups thinly sliced apple
1 cups thinly sliced pear
1/2 (12oz) package cabbage and carrot coleslaw

Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.

Combine apple, pear, and coleslaw in a large bowl; stir in dressing. Chill up to 2 hours.

My slaw, on the other hand, not so good. The regular coleslaw mix that I found was looking not so hot, so I picked up a bag of rainbow slaw. This was probably a good move on my part, because at least the mix of veggies added some flavor. The vinegar marinade was.. very vinegary, but not much else.

Hey, but my roasted potatoes were good!

I thoroughly realize that I need better lighting in my kitchen. Just looking around, I realize that my kitched does actually look yellow. The sun was actually out today, and my kitchen looked, you know, white. It kind of messed with my eyes.

Part 2!

2005-10-22T19:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't had one of those bagels yet.

I have, however, made dinner. I had made pinto bean burgers not too long ago, and they were good, but kind of crumbly and mushy (at the same time!). They were good, mind you, but the texture left something to be desired.

So I found a recipe for black bean burgers. black bean burgers with cucumber and red pepper relish, to be exact. I've got nothing better to do, so why not make 'em.

They were actually incredibly quick to make, and they turned out quite a bit better than the pinto bean burgers. The breadcrumbs bound everything together and kept them moist without the crumbly.

Black Bean Burgers with Cucumber and Red Pepper Relish
Servings: 2
WW Points: 5

Relish:
1/3 cup cucumber(s)
1/4 cup bell pepper(s)
2 Tbsp red onion(s)
1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp dill
dash of salt
dash of ground red pepper

Burgers:
1/2 of a 15.5oz. can black beans
2 Tbsp dried bread crumbs
2 Tbsp red onion
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp Egg Beaters
2 Tbsp. light mayonnaise
2 Country Kitchen Light Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

To prepare relish, combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill 2 hours.

To prepare burgers, place beans in a large bowl; partially mash with a fork. Stir in breadcrumbs and next 5 ingredients (breadcrumbs through egg beaters). Divide bean mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.

Prepare grill.

Place patties on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until thoroughly heated. Spread 1 tablespoon mayonnaise on the bottom half of each bun; top each with a patty, 1/4 cup relish, and top half of bun. Garnish with dill sprigs, if desired.

Obviously, it's pouring out so I just cooked them on the stove. Nice and crispy on the outside, mushy and hot on the inside. The honey and lime in the relish wasn't overpowering, so you were able to taste a little bit of everything. This recipe's a keeper, for sure.

Chi-chi-chipotle!

2005-10-22T15:42:00.000-04:00

So I was supposed to go apple picking this weekend.

So it's been raining in New York a lot lately.

So I got up really early, went to the gym, hit the grocery store, and came back and made Chipotle Chicken Stew. I guess if I can't pick apples, dreary day cooking is the next best thing.

This is a beautiful soup for the current weather. Actually, it would have been great for after apple picking. Maybe I'll remember that for next time. Considering the fact that I have not cooked with meat in a good six months, I think it came out pretty well.

Chipotle Chicken Stew
Servings: 8
WW Points: 3

1 1/4 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cup onions
3 garlic cloves
1/2 pound uncooked red potatoes
3/4 cup carrots
2 Tbsp canned tomato paste
3/4 tsp ground cumin
24 oz fat-free chicken broth
22 oz canned diced tomatoes
1 1/2 items Canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1/4 tsp table salt
1 Tbsp cilantro

Place a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add the chicken; sauté 7 minutes or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add oil to pan. Add onion; sauté 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add potato and the next 6 ingredients (potato through chiles); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add chicken and salt; cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in cilantro.

Serving size: 1 cup

Chipotles in adobo, how i love you.

At the grocery store, I found Thomas Mini Caramel Apple Bagels. The "Made with real apples!" and festive ghost and scary tree on the package made me unable to resist. I'll be into those later.

I Didn't Even Have To Use My AK

2005-10-16T00:21:00.000-04:00

Oh, what a good food day.

Breakfast - pancakes with sliced apples and syrup.

Lunch - veggie sausage quesadilla (which got rudely interrupted by a phone call - but at least it was to confirm that I'm going apple picking next weekend!)

Dinner - oven baked breast of tofu (yes, it was successful!) and an obscene amount of mashed potatoes

And for dessert.... Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies

Oh, and they were good. They are good, as I'll be munching on these for a few days. These are a really moist, light brownie and the smell is just amazing. I've been craving everything pumpkin lately, and by adding chocolate to it, well, I'm satisfied.

Pumpkin Chocolate Brownies
16 servings
2 WW points

Ingredients:

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking cocoa
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat 8-inch-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine sugar, pumpkin, egg, egg whites and oil in large mixer bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Add flour, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon, allspice, salt and nutmeg. Beat on low speed until batter is smooth. Stir in morsels. Spread evenly into prepared pan.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Elle-an Can Cook Tofu!

2005-10-13T19:50:00.000-04:00

I love tofu. Yes, I love tofu a lot. I have a favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Albany, and man, can they cook tofu. The seared tofu steak is amazing, as is the tofu curry. However, I did not go to Vans tonight. No, I had a chunk of tofu in my fridge.

I always buy tofu and have great expectations for it. I've tried barbecue tofu, I've tried honey baked tofu, I've tried five spice tofu burritos. They all have one thing in common - disaster. After each disaster, I always admit defeat and swear to only stick to being spoiled by the people who know how to cook it correctly. But always, after a couple of months, I decide to try again. This past weekend, I bought a chunk of light extra-firm tofu at my local Price Chopper. As I was checking out, the kid bagging my groceries said, "Hey, I didn't know they made light tofu." I laughed and said something dorky along the lines of, "Hey, they sure do!" But then he said it again, this time to the cashier, "Hey, I didn't know they made light tofu!" The cashier ignored him. So he said it again. I was ready to say, "Yeah, I bet there's a lot of things you don't know, which is why you're bagging my groceries," but instead I just laughed nervously and turned away from him.

Anyway, I made it home with my light tofu (hey, did you know they make light tofu?), and decided I should just start with a simple stir fry (or something like a stir fry, considering the fact that I cook with minimum amounts of oil). Very simple. I started with a teaspoon of oil, almost a teaspoon of ground ginger, and a small onion. After cooking that for five minutes, I added in two cups of sliced zucchini, my light tofu (!), a tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce and a tablespoon of water. I mixed it very, very gently (my main problem is that my tofu usually falls apart and becomes mush) and let the zucchini cook up. And you know what, it was good. It was very good! My tofu did not fall apart, it was spicy and salty and.. my tofu did not fall apart!

Okay, so it may not look like the most delicious dinner ever, but I strongly believe in the appearances are decieving thing. Now I have another half-chunk of tofu in my fridge, and I'll be back to report my breaded breast of tofu dinner on Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed!

Ode to Snacking on a Dreary Day

2005-10-10T16:00:00.000-04:00

So it's Columbus Day, the end of my three day weekend. What have I done with myself? I've cleaned my apartment, or am in the process of cleaning my apartment (the living room and entry way are the only parts left, and really there isn't much to do other than pick up some newspapers and vaccuum. I'm a little apprehensive because I found (and lost) a rather large spider that was on my front door last night. I have no idea where it went, and am content in thinking that I may just have imagined it, because it was 2am, and I was very tired when (I thought) I saw it. I've also hung up a few Halloween decorations. A very few, I need to get more.

I always have trouble cleaning up because I get so distracted. I took an 11am break to watch the Price is Right (a home on a weekday tradition that goes all the way back to staying home with my Nannie when I was in elementary school and sick), and am taking another break now. My stomach felt a little bored and rumbly while I was watching ol' Bob, so I went through my cabinets.

I love snack food. When I considered myself as being "on a diet" I never wanted to snack. Now that I've made permanent changes in the way I eat, well, if I didn't snack, I'd probably die. The thing is, though, I love buying new healthy-ish snack foods so much that my cabinets get full and I have more food than I know what to do with. So I found a bag of Guiltless Gourmet Chipotle Tortilla Chips.

I've tried other varieties of Guiltless Gourmet chips, and they've all generally been good. Nice amount of flavor coating, crisp, and fresh tasting (without the stale, kind of foamy taste that Baked Tostitos leaves in my mouth). However, these chipotle tortilla chips are the best flavor I've tried yet. They're not overly spicy, however they do pack a tangy, slightly cheesy punch that left me licking the plate I put them on.

As far as the nutritional information goes, a serving of 28 grams (I'm a slave to my digital food scale), you're getting 120 calories, 2 grams of fat, and 2 grams of dietary fiber. That's 2 weight watchers points, pretty typical for a baked chip. They also contain no trans fats, and 200mg of sodium. They do taste less salty than a lot of baked chips, but they also have what a lot of baked chips don't have - a good, strong flavor.

I haven't even showered yet today, and should go back to cleaning. I may require another snack break shortly...

The Before & The After

2005-10-09T21:27:00.000-04:00

So, a little introduction is in order. I'm Ellen. I'm 24 years old, live in upstate New York, and I love food. You'll see how much I love and have loved food in a second.

We'll start our little introduction by way of my trusty time machine, otherwise known as the box of fat photos that I keep under my bed so that no one (no one unwilling to brave the dust bunnies, anyway) will see. Let's take a trip back to September, 2002. Ah, September. I remember you well. Well, I don't, the only thing I do remember is that this is the month my sister got married. And I was selected to be the maid of honor.

So here I am. Just barely 21 years old, and clocking in at 260 - 270 pounds. My college diet consisted of taco bell express, veggie melts with fries dipped in mayonnaise, and lots and lots of swedish fish. I'm not exaggerating, I would sometimes even eat two two-packs of poptarts for breakfast. And the soda, oh the soda.

I wasn't terribly unhappy, but I just didn't feel well. I didn't feel like a normal young person, socially or physically. I had friends, I had had a boyfriend (who loved me very much before he cheated on me), but I still didn't feel right.

Fast forward to the winter of 2003. Things had reached a head for me. I was miserable, and hated the state I had put myself in. I tried diet and exercise, but my diet was more like starvation and my exercise was extreme. I had no idea why it wasn't working. New Year's came and went, and it finally dawned on me - Weight Watchers!

I had joined Weight Watchers with my mother while I was in high school, and lost about 80 pounds (which yes, I gained back in college). I talked to my mother about it, and she figured if it had worked once, it might as well work again. I was feeling apprehensive, I knew I could follow the program, but could I really do it? For good? By the second week of January, I was willing to at least try it and find out.

So my first weigh-in had me at exactly 260 pounds. I received my plan materials, listened to the meeting, and went on my first week's journey towards feeling more like I thought I ought to feel.

What surprised me most was how much food I could eat. I could eat! That first week, I had a hard time even getting all the points I was supposed to be eating. I didn't realize at that point that I didn't have to eat a small veggie salad with fat free cottage cheese for lunch. I could eat decent-sized portions of foods I actually liked (though I have come to like cottage cheese very much since then - it makes me feel like a grandma), I could eat real food as long as I put the effort into controlling my portions and keeping track of what I was putting into my mouth.

I hate to say it was easy. I hate to tell people it was easy, because I know it isn't for most people. But to be completely honest with you, for me - it was easy. It made so much sense! I eat sensible portions of healthy, balanced foods, I exercise, drink my water, and what?! I'll lose weight?! Imagine that. I found that I had self control, and that discovery alone was almost as good as losing 135 pounds.

Yes, folks. I lost 135 pounds. I weigh somewhere between 123 - 125 on any given day. I have so much energy, so much more stamina, and heck, I even went to Disney World!

Yep, that's me. As of September, 2005. Ah September, I remember you well. That's because you were only a month ago.