More Fun With Food

The other day I went to our Sewing Day Christmas potluck. It was quite lovely. Some of the women are health conscious, so there were some good choices. I had more of the good choices, and just a bit of the ‘bad’ choices. Which were quite good, BTW. I signed up to bring a fruit salad, and kind of forgot until the last minute, so I just made do with the fruit I had on hand. Which turned out to be a very delicious fruit salad, so I thought I’d share it here. I’m calling it a Winter Fruit Salad.

But what I really want to talk about is what to do with leftover fruit salad. It was delicious, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat all of it, and besides, it just wasn’t in my plan for the next few days. I hated for it to go to waste.

So what do you do with leftover fruit salad? Why, you make Baked Oatmeal, of course! Because you can cut baked oatmeal into serving size portions and freeze it.

Just an idea for those creative cooking folks out there. I’m not going to give you a recipe, because every fruit salad has different ingredients.

This morning I made another batch of the Bare Bones Scones, only using raspberries instead of blueberries. Because raspberries are so festive this time of year, don’t you think? As I ate this scone, I worried about people who might taste this recipe and be disappointed. Because honestly, when they come out of the oven they look better than most bakery scones. But for 155 calories, they don’t taste like full fat scones. You just don’t get a lot of fat for that kind of calorie budget. But then I thought, they still taste WAAAAYYY better than any of the low calorie processed breakfast bars. And they are full of fresh delicious raspberries. Not 4 or 5 dried raspberries like you find in some bakery scones (not that I’m looking at you, Starbuck’s or Pete’s…) Its all a matter of perspective.

So right now my freezer is well-stocked with low calorie tasty breakfast choices. Just the way I like it.

Did I tell you about my Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino (could they make that word a tinier bit easier to spell????) I save my leftover coffee (because I never drink a whole cup at one time) and use it the next day (my brother says gross, but go with me here–it works.) I put the coffee in a Magic Bullet cup along with 4 ice cubes and one scoop of Chocolate Mint protein powder and mix away. Voila–lunch is served!

We’ve been having a cold spell here. I know. 27 degrees is nothing to you northerners. But my hands get so cold, especially when I’m working on the computer. Last night I remembered that I had knit a pair of fingerless gloves. I found one of them, and it really helped! Now to find the other one…

Well, we’re on the countdown for Christmas. I am having a very laid back Christmas. Minimal decorating. Not too much partying. Just the way I like it. I have a wonderful little book with an Advent reading every morning–all short devotions from the writing of Henri Nouwen. So lovely. Another book I really love at this time of year, and I usually read a bit from this before going to bed, is Kneeling in Bethlehem, by Ann Weems.

Oh, one last recipe suggestion. This one is a little more decadent, and I have it bookmarked for my Christmas morning treat. It is Georgie’s Chocolate Banana Butter Crepes. I KNOW this will be a great recipe. The crepe recipe is just a version of our favorite protein pancakes, with a lot more egg white, and less oatmeal. And what’s not to like about a combination of banana, chocolate, and nut butter. Yumm. Yumm. Yumm.

 

Single Minded

Hmmm. That’s what I thought this morning, as I started in stitching. As the day went along, I decided that wasn’t exactly true. While I have been working quite steadily on the quilts for the upcoming show (some of you asked–it is at the Art and Soul Gallery in Oak Hills Church, Folsom, CA from January 6-February 10,) I have been balancing some of those other hats I talked about the other day.

I am working on five small quilts at one time! I told myself I couldn’t start or do any more, even though I have new ideas constantly cropping up. There is beauty in God’s word, and I am constantly finding a phrase that ignites my imagination. But I need to finish up, and do some of those unpleasant chores I don’t particularly like, like labeling the quilts, cleaning up the backs, and writing descriptions of each quilt.

Here is a glimpse of the last five!

I am holding steady on my new diet plan. Which I still don’t want to talk about very much. Except to say that that is why I have some new ‘pared down’ recipes posted. I talked about making that low calorie apple cranberry sauce the other day, and I have enjoyed it so much that I wanted to write the recipe down so I wouldn’t forget it. And BTW? It does freeze very well. I used my ice cube tray method, and I took out a couple of cranberry cubes for dinner tonight–tasted as good as fresh to me!

And then a few weeks ago, I experimented with paring down my blueberry scone recipe, thanks to Suzi, who shared her low calorie pumpkin scone recipe with me. So here is my “Bare Bones Blueberry Scone” recipe–only 155 calories per scone! They have been a very enjoyable lower calorie breakfast that holds me quite a while, thanks to the oatmeal in it I think.

Oh, and here’s a rather weird new recipe that I enjoyed today. If you use flavored protein powder, this was quite enjoyable. Just mix 3/4 of a measuring scoop of protein powder, 1/4 cup egg beaters, and 1 Tbsp oat bran. mix thoroughly and let set in fridge for 15 minutes. Makes a nice pudding, and still has 18-24g of protein (depending on the protein powder you use.

I think that’s all I’ve got in my brain for now. Off to rejuvenate the brain cells (sleep) and start all over again tomorrow!

The Post-Tday Report

So how did everyone do?  I did so much better than I thought I would!  I just took a little of this and that.  It really helped that I had already planned my ‘leftovers’ of my favorite foods.  I didn’t feel like I had to eat as much as I could because there wasn’t going to be another chance.

BTW, can I just say that I CANNOT BELIEVE that I have been blogging about the same stuff for this long!  I was looking for an old recipe and found some of my video blogs from three years ago (which, BTW, I’m very sorry that I rambled on for so long in them.)  Anyway, in some way it was comforting to see that I had not changed that much.  And in another way, it was very distressing to see that I had not changed that much…

Back to the topic at hand.  I had a wonderful time with my family. I was very thankful for that. I am thankful for a lot of things this year. I was going to write a post about being thankful on Thanksgiving, but the time slipped away from me.  One of the things I am thankful for is the beautiful fall weather we have had.  It has been just cold enough, and there has been just enough rain.  The color on the trees has not been as dramatic as in past years, but on the other hand, it has been a long slow change, and every day there is something new to see.  I really try to pay attention as I drive around.

I am also very thankful that I am still able to move and exercise. I am enjoying my renewed love of exercise. I went to the physical therapist, and he gave me some beginning exercises. He even made the statement that he thought we could get me back to jogging!  WHAT??  That was not even on my radar screen. What a kick that would be!

I am very traditionally NOT a black Friday shopper.  But I slummed around online, and saw that Lowe’s had a good deal on a stove. Have I told you that my oven has not had a thermostat for quite a while? It was amazing that I was able to bake anything by just guessing that the temp might be around 350 or so.

So I headed down the hill. First thing I saw was one of those infrared heaters that I’ve been stalking for a while. It was on their black Friday sale too, and  was quite a bit cheaper than any I’d seen, so that went into my cart. I went over to check out the stoves. They had the sale stove in stock, but not on the floor. I was really planning to go to the local appliance store to see if they would match the price of Lowe’s.  I had been told that their service was so much better than Lowe’s.  So off I went to the appliance store.  I told the guy what I was looking for, and sure enough, he matched their price on what he said was a superior product. Its just your basic stove, but its new to me! Very exciting!

So do you know how small my kitchen really is?  A stove is 30″X25″. The opening to my kitchen is 26″. The poor delivery guy. I said, I’m pretty strong. Could we lift it over the refrigerator? LOL. I think that offer was what made him get creative. He took the handle off the fridge and got it in there.

So here are a couple of post-holiday recipes for you.

I was watching The Food Network during my bicycle session at the gym, and I saw a pumpkin bread pudding.  That really ignited my imagination, and I started dreaming about how I could create a ‘healthy pumpkin bread pudding.‘ I think I was very successful on my first attempt! Basically using the ingredients for pumpkin custard and my healthified french toast (that I make with whole grain English muffins) I came up with this recipe.  It is good enough that I have eaten all four servings.  I’ve had it for dessert, a snack, and breakfast. Now that’s what you call an all-purpose food! At 140 calories, its a darn good deal.

Then the recipe I was searching for was my “Thanksgiving salad.” Originally I added some avocado, but I did not have that tonight. Basically you could add anything you want to this salad.  Bare bones, it is like a deconstructed turkey sandwich:  lettuce, laughing cow light cheese, cranberry sauce, and turkey.

This salad came in at under 200 calories, with 2 ounces of turkey breast and 1/4 cup of the cranberry sauce I made. I love this flavor combo.

So the cranberry sauce! I had planned to just buy some at the store.  But the stores were all out the day after Thanksgiving. So I found a lone package of cranberries in the produce department and then set about finding a recipe I wanted to try. Cranberries are darn tart on their own. I know that’s why most of the recipes have so much sugar in them. I didn’t want to try to make the orange juice recipe, because the author herself says it is tart. Plus, I didn’t want that much orange flavor in my cranberry sauce. I looked and looked for a lower sugar recipe. And then I thought APPLES! Apples are naturally sweet. So I googled apple cranberry sauce, and found this recipe. Of course I had to change it just a little bit because I didn’t have all of the ingredients ( just sub’d fresh orange juice for the apple juice.) And to be honest, it was STILL quite tart. And then my brilliant BF said, why don’t you just add a little Splenda to it? Bingo! For me this was perfection. At 35 calories for 1/4 cup, quite the bargain! It is very fun to see the cranberries turn into sauce–kinda magical.

I do believe this is the end of this long and rambly post. I hope all of you had a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving celebration! Oh! I will leave you with a candid shot of Noah pretending that he is not on the sofa.

Broccoli Slaw Two Ways

I posted the delicious broccoli slaw the other day.

And then I remembered why I had originally picked up the package of broccoli slaw.  I wanted to try cooking it.  Fortunately I had gotten another bag of it at TJ’s last week.  So tonight I threw the whole package (140 cal) in the pan and cooked it, added those leftover veggies (53 cal) from last night, some pre-cooked shrimp (90 cal,) some crumbled bacon (70 cal,) one container (2 servings, 310 cal) of brown rice, and 1 Tbsp sesame oil (130 cal.)  Seasoned with some pepper and soy sauce.  Four big servings of delicious for less than 200 calories each!  I love the texture of the broccoli slaw in this.  And no extra work for me–win-win!!

Based on my basic fried rice recipe.

I am definitely on a cooking jag lately.  I made another batch of homemade yogurt today, and there was still some leftover milk, so I dug a box of the sugar free chocolate yogurt out of the cupboard, and made a batch of that.  I like that pudding once in a while!  I’m going to have a bowl of that tonight, and then give the little guys some lap time.

You Choose

I’ve had a hankering for spaghetti for about a week.  Ever since I told someone I don’t eat pasta any more and they looked at me like I was a crazy woman.  My brother mentioned that he was having spaghetti over the weekend.  And then when I was in line at Half Price Books (don’t you just LOVE that store?) and there was a weird greeting card with a photograph of a big plate of spaghetti on the cover.

So yesterday was the day.  I looked through my recipe index for my Darn Good Spaghetti Sauce, and I had almost all the ingredients. Yahoo!  Now.  Intellectually, I KNOW that I prefer the taste of the sauce over some sautéed vegetables.  But some of those old neuropathways are still around, and I wanted a bowl like that one I saw in the picture.  Plus, I reasoned, I was too tired to cut/chop ALL those vegetables up last night (ha!  I still had to cut/chop veggies for the sauce.)  So I followed my recipe almost exactly.  The only thing different was that I only had 4 ounces of ground sirloin, and I only added the equivalent of 2 slices of bacon (I used those pre-cooked bacon pieces from Costco.)  For pasta I used Barilla Plus, which is made from a variety of grains, and has 210 calories and 4g fiber per serving.  I like the texture and taste better than whole wheat pasta.  Here’s a picture of my bowl:

Doesn’t that look like darn good spaghetti sauce?  Using the grated carrots and chopped mushrooms adds a great taste and texture to the sauce.  Even with half the amount of meat, I found it very satisfying.

The pasta?  Not so much.  It just doesn’t’ taste like much to me any more.

So, for the interest of my readers, (and hopefully to continue to reprogram my neural pathways,) I stopped at the store to get one zucchini on my way home tonight.  Added to onion, carrots, and mushrooms, this makes up the “BIG FOUR.”  They are a great basis for any number of dishes.  In fact I cooked up a little extra so I could make some of my fried rice tomorrow!  Here is tonight’s bowl of spaghetti:

SOOO much more flavor than the bowl the night before.  Stats for the veggie combo (not the sauce) is 53 calories.  That includes 20 calories for the 1/2 tsp of olive oil I drizzled on at the end of the cooking.

In case you don’t remember, and you are also interested in reprogramming your neural pathways, here is how I make the “BIG FOUR.”  Take 1 medium sized onion, cut in slices. Cut slices in quarters, and put in preheated skillet sprayed with Pam.  While the onions are cooking, slice the mushrooms (cremini mushrooms have a great texture and flavor, pretty cheap at TJ’s.)  Add the mushrooms to the pan, along with another spray of Pam, and give them a stir.  Take 2 large carrots and one med/large zucchini, and use a vegetable peeler to peel them.  If you keep turning the veggies and continue to peel, its pretty easy to get them done.  I don’t peel the core of the carrot or the seedy part of the zucchini.  Add the peels to the pan with another spray of pam.  Continue to stir occasionally.  At the end drizzle with a tsp of olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.  I used half of the total veggies to make one serving, and saved the other half for tomorrow night.

 

Good Clean Fun

This is good clean fun!  That’s what I thought as I made some pumpkins scones (thanks for the recipe, Suzi!)  The original recipe for these scones was only 87 calories each.  By the time I changed up the recipe and the portion size a bit, they came out to be 135 calories, which is still pretty good for a treat.  And as I thought about what would make them ‘perfect,’ I remembered that a little Fage greek yogurt was a pretty good substitute for the traditional clotted cream served with most scones.  Fun!

I’ve been on quite a cooking/assembling jag lately.  Probably the reaction to being away from my kitchen for a week.

I ran out of the wonderful Justin’s Cocoa Almond Butter, and I thought I could probably recreate it.  Here’s the recipe.  Pretty easy to make yourself, especially if you start with the slivered almonds.  It’s kinda hard to get a nice shot of chocolate almond butter, so here’s a pic of my favorite way to enjoy it–on a nice crisp apple.

After I got home from my trip I had quite a hankering for Mexican food.  Here’s the simplest way I know how to solve that one.  I picked up some tortillas at TJ’s that were only 60 calories each.  Added one ounce of cheese, some salsa and chopped romaine lettuce.  Very satisfying.

I also picked up a bag of TJ’s broccoli slaw.  I followed their recipe ALMOST exactly.  They said to use 1 cup of your favorite dressing.  Wowza.  That could be a lot of calories.  I made this dressing to put on it:  1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt, 1 Tbsp Honey, 1 Tbsp oil, 1 Tbsp honey mustard, and 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar.  JACKPOT!!  This was so very tasty, and it was good for a few days.  (Main recipe:  1 pkg broccoli slaw, 1/4 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup walnuts, and 1 apple chopped.)  For 6 servings it is 130 calories.

 THEN, I had bookmarked this recipe for pumpkin butter quite a while ago.  I thought the stats were pretty good (47 calories for 2 Tbsp) and when I compared it to TJ’s commercial pumpkin butter, I was right–theirs is 45 calories for ONE Tbsp.  So I finally set out to make it.  I followed that recipe almost exactly.  Very tasty, and a little goes a long way.  Oh. When I made those pumpkin scones, I didn’t have any canned pumpkin in my cupboard, so I sub’d a smaller amount of the pumpkin butter.

I got a cold or something this week.  Just feeling under the weather, but not bad enough to stop eating evidently.  I was so glad I had stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies, because that is what I crave when I get a cold.  Now that’s a change for the better, isn’t it?  The asian pears and fuji apples that I brought home are just so delicious.  I had a head of cauliflower in there, and that Cauliflower Potato Bake just does the trick for some healthy ‘comfort style’ food for me.

Trader Joe’s was featuring a few new foods, and I succumbed to both of them.  One is frozen sweet potatoes.  I believe they are sweet potato cubes LOL.  And the other was some BBQ pulled chicken breast.  So yummy, and only 140 calories for a 5 ounce serving.   Yummy, but quite zesty, I have to admit.  It would be great over something bland, like a baked potato.  Or like they served it at TJ’s, with the mashed sweet potatoes.

So another thing I’ve been thinking about is how I learned in W.W. that the little changes you make really do count.  Suzi’s pumpkin scone recipe is definitely a lesson in that.  It is a very low fat recipe, which is why the original recipe was only 87 calories (and it was a modest portion size.)  When you start adding a ‘bit of this,’ and a ‘little of that’ for a treat or for extra flavor, that is when the calories start creeping up.  Do that enough times, and you won’t be on a diet any more.

Which brings me to my last point.  I didn’t write a final thought on The Hunger Game.  As I said before, I kind of stopped waiting until I was hungry to eat.  Which points out that there are a lot of reasons I eat besides just to ‘fuel’ my body.  Still, I did learn that it was unnecessary for me to have those little snacks or bits that I would indulge in between meals.  And it is a tool that I plan to continue to use and to strive towards.  I just checked out Georgie’s blog this afternoon, and there was an EXCELLENT article about calorie counting, and her suggestion that you just wait until you are hungry, and then wait 30-60 minutes to eat!  How about that!  Georgie is a registered dietician, and everything she’s ever written has made sense to me.  I hope you’ll check it out if you don’t know her.  She is also a wealth of excellent healthy, low-calorie recipes.  Lately she’s been experimenting with more grain free recipes.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print around here.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  I plan to stay inside with the doggies on my lap.  Very comforting, even if it is a bit difficult to stitch with 45 pounds of dog on your lap.  (I just figured that out!  No wonder I get tired after a while with all three of them on there!)

Bananas!, an Oops, and Planning Ahead

I went to the grocery store the other day and they had bananas on sale 3 pounds for a dollar.  That seemed like a good deal, so I picked out the over-ripe ones and put them in my basket.  When I got to the check stand, the checker remarked that they looked a little past prime, and I happily went into my explanation of banana cubes.  ”How bout 50 cents?” she replied.  Yeehaw!  A chance to try out a few new recipe ideas before they even became banana cubes!

That vegan banana nut muffin I got from Vicky the other day was delicious.  I remembered that I had bought some brown rice flour a while ago, and I wanted to give these a try. I googled ‘vegan banana muffins,’ and after comparing recipes, this one was the most innocent.  Some had twice the amount of sugar and oil in them!  I followed this recipe exactly, except I (don’t you hate it when I say ‘exactly’ and then proceed to list how I DIDN’T exactly,)  EXCEPT I used 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup granulated splenda. I used 1 cup of spelt flour and 1 cup of brown rice flour, and I used coconut oil.  The calorie count is pretty high (240c/muffin,) mostly owing to the large amount of walnuts in them (yumm.)  And they are still WAY too sweet.  I’m gonna have to quiz Vicky about the ratio of sugar to flour in her recipe. (edited to add:  I checked with Vicky and she was nice enough to share her recipe with me.  Interesting, because I thought it tasted “richer” than the recipe I made, but it does indeed have less sugar AND less oil in it, and it has some almond milk in it as well.)

The other banana recipe was just to try making my banana frozen yogurt idea in my real ice cream maker, and to get down the right ratio of banana to yogurt.  This was absolutely perfect for me.  It is the just right combo to make a sweet/tart frozen yogurt.  Much healthier than the store version, I’m sure.  And a little easier for me to control myself on volume and toppings…

The oops was yesterday.  First day since I started The Hunger Game 10 days ago that I ate when I was not hungry. Disappointing.  I also ate some not-so-stellar choices while I was out and about with a friend.  Oh well.  We are not going to be perfect, as I read recently somewhere.  And I am very glad that I was able to get right back on track today.  Started out a little rocky, as I ate two of those banana muffins for breakfast.  But then I didn’t eat until 1pm, so that was okay after all.

And Sharon asked the other day if I plan ahead or just wait until I get hungry to figure out what I am going to eat.  I’m pretty much doing what I did before I started this.  I am usually pretty well-stocked with quite a few healthy food choices.  I batch cook, so many times I have whole meals pre-cooked.  I am trying to pay attention to what my body actually needs, so sometimes my choices will change from what I originally thought I was going to eat.

Some examples of pre-planning:

• Today I took an already-cooked salmon fillet out of the freezer to have in a salmon salad tonight (presuming I am hungry tonight.)  Since that will be a heavier dinner, I had a lighter lunch when I got hungry.  I had a smaller bowl of cottage cheese/pear spread/walnuts, and some roasted butternut squash.  Yumm on the butternut squash.  I got a package of it already cut up at Costco.  I really love butternut squash, but I really really hate cutting it up, so this is a great find for me.  (BTW, butternut squash people, can I just enjoy the wonderful buttery nutty taste of the squash all by itself?  Do you have to include that recipe that adds apples, butter, honey, and pecans to the squash on the lid?)
• A couple of days ago, I had just gotten a LOT of veggies at the store, and I finally remembered to pick up a package of that shredded cabbage, so I wanted to make a batch of my fried rice.  I took a piece of pre-cooked chicken and about 4 ounces of pre-cooked shrimp out of the freezer in the morning.  BTW, that cabbage worked wonderfully well in this recipe.  You don’t know where the rice leaves off and the cabbage starts.  Such a taste treat.  Anyway, even though this is a recipe that requires a little more chopping and prep time, I just waited until I got hungry to start preparing it.  It really only takes about half an hour.  That’s not too long to be hungry, is it?  And now, the next time I get hungry, there are three pre-portioned servings of fried rice just waiting for me!

Hunger and Delicious Food!

Well, I know you all are waiting with baited breath to hear how hungry I am!  The Hunger Game is actually going very well.  What I have found so far is that I don’t really need my afternoon snack with my coffee break.  And I don’t need a snack or dessert after dinner.  Waaaagh.  I already kinda knew this.  So I guess if I really want those things, I will have to eat even less for lunch or dinner.

I normally get up at 6am, and I immediately fix my coffee and breakfast.  So now I’m waiting just a bit to make sure I am hungry.  I made myself a little rule that if I wasn’t hungry in the morning, I wouldn’t wait longer than 2 hours, because I do believe its best to start the day with breakfast.  Anyway, that doesn’t’ seem to be a problem so far.  So if I eat between 6 and 7 am, I really am hungry for an early lunch.  It seems to be working out for me to have a small meal at about 11 and then again about 2.  I’m not getting set on times yet.  I still am waiting until I’m hungry to eat.

And then, so far, I’m really not hungry for a big dinner.  I’ve been having small dinners, like meat and veggies, or just veggies, or some veggies and cottage cheese and fruit.  Sometimes…  I have not even finished my dinner!

So yesterday I was thinking about the container of blueberries that was in the fridge.  I always buy blueberries when they are a good deal because they are supposed to be so healthy for you.  Trouble is, I only like them in baked goods.  So I googled ‘blueberry crumble’ or ‘blueberry cobbler.’  Goodness sake!  All those recipes have 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar in them.  I just can’t do that anymore!  So I went through my recipe archive to see if I could adjust one of my recipes.  And this is what I came up with!  SCRUMPTIOUS!

I think I’ll call it Blueberrylicious Pudding Cake.  Its a derivative of my old Apricot Oatmeal Bar recipe, but super-moist because of all the blueberries, and also because I held back some of the dry ingredients for a topping.  Pretty good stats, and enjoyable as a healthy snack, breakfast, or as a dessert.

And last, I thought I’d tell you about my favorite walking shoes this summer–my Montrail Molokini flip flops!  It started out because I was too lazy to put my shoes on for our after-dinner walk.  But then I really really liked walking in them.  I can walk just as fast in them, and even break out in a little run once in a while.  My version of barefoot running!  Because of the way the sole molds to your foot, they really feel supportive.

Its 6:51, and I am hungry!  But I’m going to walk and pray a bit, and then have my LITTLE dinner.  Because I’m still hopeful that I’ll be hungry again, and can have a little bowl of popcorn with The Dog Whisper.