Mimi's Meals

Pumpkin Ravioli

2010-10-15T23:15:00.000-04:00

So the temperature is dropping here. It finally feels like fall. And I have begun harvesting Seminole pumpkins from my garden. That means it's time to start trying out pumpkin recipes. Tonight I opted for pumpkin ravioli and I kept it nice and local.

First I made my own pasta dough using unbleached all purpose white ultra-grain flour, olive oil, salt, and local eggs from Lake Meadow Naturals Farm.

While it rested, I made the filling using pumpkin puree from my garden, ricotta cheese that I made myself from organic milk, some grated pecorino romano cheese, an egg, fennel seeds, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, brown sugar, salt & pepper.

For the sauce I used some browned butter, minced shallot, sage and some organic carrot/orange juice. I made the sauce while the ravioli were cooking and then added them directly into the pan with a little of the pasta water until they were nicely coated.

A little grating of pecorino romano completed the plate.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Carrot & Orange Brown Butter Sauce

Yum!

Something To Be Said For Tamales

2010-07-19T23:50:00.000-04:00

Lately Marty and I have been enjoying the bourgeoning slow food movement in the Central Florida area. In particular there are two farmers markets that have made a commitment to supporting and promoting only locally produced food and goods. The leader on this front is the Monday night Audubon Park Market as it is a completely local market. And more recently the College Park Market, which is now being held on Thursday nights, is trying to follow the same model.

We have made some wonderful connections at these markets, actually getting to know the farmers and growers of the food we buy. I love the fact that the soft boiled egg I ate this morning was gathered by Dale at Lake Meadow Naturals from his very pampered and happy chickens; that Cinthia at Wild Ocean Seafood is my own personal connection to the hard working local fishermen and that Trish Strawn from Deep Creek Ranch can tell me exactly which animal my grass fed beef has come from, and every detail of its handling. I am also grateful to have met Tony Adams of Big Wheel Provisions who not only hooks me up with some truly amazing local free range pork but is a source for an endless array of yummy prepared treats - from charcuterie to condiments - pickles to pate. Each week it's a new adventure as he opens his coolers filled with handmade, locally sourced, thoughtfully prepared culinary fare.

Last week was no exception. When he handed us a package of his smoked Deep Creek Ranch beef tongue and told us to just take it and try it, how could we refuse? Perhaps we found ourselves tongue tied, because the next thing you know I was home in my kitchen with a package of food that looked like it was giving me attitude and not a clue what to do with it. My thoughts went in two directions: Vietnamese and Mexican. Should I maybe try it in something like a Banh Mi sandwich or a bowl of Pho? Or should I go the Latin route? After much internet surfing and recipe browsing I decided to use it to make tamales. Although I didn't come across a specific tamale recipe, it became apparent that it would be well suited to such a preparation. Let me just say up front that any trepidation we may have felt disappeared the minute we tasted the tamales.

They were wonderful. The tongue meat was tender and its smokiness layered with the smokiness of the chipotles, gave the filling a really nice depth of flavor. It just goes to prove that sometimes it is best to think before you speak, hold your tongue as it were. Because if we had rejected Tony's offer we would have missed out on a great meal. So thanks Tony - see you at the Market!

Pulling together the ingredients for my tamales

I had to get past the fact that it was sticking it's tongue out at me - literally

Sautéing the meat with some onions, garlic and green peppers

Cooked down with tomatoes, corn, celery, chipotle, honey, spices and herbs

Mixing the shortening into the tamale dough

Stuffing the tamales

Into the steamer for an hour

Fire roasted tomatillos and peppers for the salsa verde

Que Bueno!

Soft Rye Pretzels

2010-06-17T18:09:00.000-04:00

If you know me you know that I love cookbooks. I can't help it, I'm just drawn to them. My latest purchase is called Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.

I like that it is not only a book full of recipes that use a variety of healthy and interesting whole grain flours, but that her focus was on making sure that these recipes were also delicious. Today I tried her recipe for soft rye pretzels. If everything else in the book is as yummy as these, then I can't wait to keep baking! Maybe next I'll try the maple danish. I'll keep you posted.

The pretzels proof for a second time while the water bath heats up.

Then they take a 60 second bath in boiling water with baking soda.

After they come out of the bath you salt them and place them on a buttered cookie sheet.

They bake at 450 for anywhere from 12-18 minutes until they are nice and brown.

I couldn't wait and dug right in. It was great!

Potato and Green Bean Salad with Poached Egg

2010-06-15T14:30:00.000-04:00

Marty jokes that I will spend more time making a single lunch for myself than he used to spend making a weeks worth of meals. But for me the time I spend in the kitchen is often therapeutic. I get lost in the process of creating a meal. It's not unlike how I feel when I paint.

Today I had the idea that I wanted to do something with some of the fresh string beans from the garden and my homemade pastrami. This is what I came up with. I sautéed a potato in a little olive oil along with some chopped up pieces of the pastrami. Then I steamed the beans with a little roasted garlic and combined them all in a bowl. I made a light honey mustard vinaigrette with dill and drizzled it over the salad. Then I poached an egg and placed it on top of the salad. A little lemon zest and chopped chives completed the dish.

It was worth the effort.

Pastrami

2010-05-24T18:31:00.000-04:00

In an effort to continue to find ways to eat a healthier diet, I decided to make my own pastrami. This way I could start out with what I like to call "happy cow" (humanely raised, grass-fed, organic, local and sustainable) beef. I could also skip the nitrates because I don't care if mine has an unnatural pink hue. What I care about is that it tastes good and that it is good for me.

To begin you take a beef brisket and you let it marinate for about 3 weeks in a brine that has brown sugar, salt, garlic, onions, bay leaves, and pickling spices. Here's what I used.

12 Cloves Garlic, sliced
1 Large Onion - Thinly sliced
3 Quarts Water
1 Cup Kosher Salt
2 Cups Brown Sugar
2 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Black Peppercorns
2 Tbsp Pickling Spices
4 Bay Leaves

Combine the water along with the rest of the ingredients in a large pot and heat and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Cool Completely. (You can speed up the process by heating 2 quarts of water initially and once the salt and sugar have dissolved, adding the last quart of water in the form of ice. This will help cool your brine down faster. Once it is cool, place your brisket in a large brining bag and pour in the brining liquid. Seal and place in the refrigerator for 3 weeks. Check on it occasionally and add additional water if necessary to ensure the meat stays completely covered.

Basically you have to make corned beef before you can make pastrami. If you want you can cut your brisket in half and enjoy one half at the corned beef stage and continue on with the second half to create pastrami. I opted to go all the way to pastrami with the whole thing. So after removing the brisket from it's three week long bath I dried it off and covered it with a dry rub. After reading many different versions, this is the combination I put together:

4 T Fresh Ground Coriander
4 T Fresh Ground Pepper
1 T Onion Powder
1 T Granulated Garlic
6 Cloves Minced Garlic
1.5 t Fresh Ground Yellow Mustard seeds
2 T Kosher Salt
1/4 c Brown Sugar
2 T Paprika
1 T Ground Dried Ginger

I ground the ginger, mustard, pepper & coriander myself.

After removing the brisket from the brine, I rinsed it and dried it off with paper towels. Then I covered it with the rub and let it sit out on a drying rack until the surface looked shiny. This shiny film is known as a pellicle and it is important for the final step in this process to be most effective - that is the smoking. I smoked the brisket using a charcoal smoker and mesquite wood until it reached an internal temperature of between 165 and 170 degrees (about 8 hours). If you don't have a smoker you can rub the surface of the brisket with liquid smoke before adding the dry rub and then cook it in a low oven until the desired internal temperature is reached.

Then I let the meat rest and cool. I wrapped it in foil and placed it in the fridge overnight before slicing.

It may sound like a lot of work - but it really isn't. It's more a matter of time than anything. But believe me when I say that the results are worth it!

Eating From our Garden

2010-04-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

This weekend we really started to reap the benefits of our backyard garden.

I was finally able to pick enough blueberries to add to my morning cereal. It was such a treat!

For dinner Saturday night I kept the garden theme going with stuffed squash blossoms; which I served along with homemade whole wheat tagliatelle and a garden (literally) salad.

First I made ricotta out of organic 1% milk and a splash of organic half & half.

To make the ricotta I poured the milk with a little salt into a nonreactive pan. Starting with a cold pan, so the milk wouldn't stick I heated it to around 180 degrees.

I pulled the pan off the heat to add vinegar. I used rice wine vinegar because I thought it would add a nice subtle sweetness to the flavor. The vinegar should be no more than 5% of the total volume of milk that you use. I used two cups of milk so that came to about 20ml of vinegar.

Then I stirred the mixture around until the curd started to separate out. It took about a minute.

I covered the pan and let it sit for at least two hours. We actually went to an earth day festival so it sat for about 4.5 hours. When we got home, I drained the liquid out of the curd using some cheesecloth and a strainer. The longer you let it drain the dryer your ricotta will be. At this point you can add a little more salt to taste.

I mixed the cheese together with some chopped parsley and chives from the garden. I had picked a variety of blossoms - some male flowers (no fruit attached), and some female yellow squash and zucchini flowers. I was curious to see if there was any difference in the taste. I removed the stamens from the blossoms because I had read mixed reviews about their flavors and textures and I stuffed the blossoms with the cheese mixture.

Then I ran each stuffed blossom through some egg whites and seasoned flour and sauteed them in a little olive oil.

A salad of mesclun greens and nasturtium blossoms and whole wheat tagliatelle aglia olio with basil rounded out the meal.

The most amazing part of the whole thing was the fact that Marty ate it. When we first met, his vegetable comfort zone consisted of four main stays: corn, carrots, lima beans and potatoes. When we had finished eating this meal, he just kept saying "I ate flowers." He was very proud. So was I. :-D

We've come a long way baby!

Bagel Time

2010-03-31T15:00:00.001-04:00

Recently a friend asked for a copy of the recipe I have been using to make bagels. Her request placed the idea in my head and since it has been a while since I made them myself, I decided to make some this week. Yes, the irony of my choosing to make bagels at Passover is not lost on me, but I'm not Jewish and I like bagels, so I'm at peace with it.

Of course I can never leave well enough alone so I thought I would try making whole wheat versions this time which threw a bit of a monkey wrench into the process. Suffice it to say I was faced with a few setbacks. First my dough sponge didn't rise properly (maybe it was the Passover thing after all) and after rereading the directions on the package of yeast I decided to start over and make a second batch. Now I had two slow rising sponges! Since this early misstep yielded me twice as much starter, I decided to make one batch of cinnamon raisin and one batch of everything bagels. Making twice as many added more time to the whole equation. When all was said and done, what should have taken 4 - 5 hours from start to finish took twice that.

At midnight, when I had reached the final "floating" stage of the recipe - the dang stubborn things just didn't want to go there. So they went into the fridge and I went to bed. Let's just say that after a good night's rest I managed to work it all out and today my bagels floated willingly in their boiling malt bath and baked up nicely. A few chewy, crusty, bagely bites later and all the trouble I had was forgiven.

Lunch

Toasted whole wheat everything bagel topped with tomato & feta bruschetta and a poached egg

Side of fresh fruit

Getting my Danish On: Ebelskivers

2010-03-21T12:30:00.008-04:00

Decades before it became the latest and greatest kitchen gadget at Williams Sonoma, you could find an Ebelskiver pan in our kitchen. Somewhere along the line my parents picked it up as a nod to my Dad's Danish heritage. This traditional cast iron pan with 7 semi-spherical wells has it's origins steeped deep in Danish history. One legend has it that hungry Vikings used their battle worn shields as frying pans and cooked pancakes in the indentations. And although I grew up seeing this pan all the time (for a while it hung as a decoration near our family room fireplace) truth be told, neither of my parents ever actually used it to make ebelskivers.

When my parents died, one of the things I wanted most was that pan. After looking at it for all those years as a kid, I was determined to use it. So one Sunday I broke it out and invited some friends over for breakfast. There is some technique and finesse involved in making an ebelskiver and admittedly, my first attempts were hit and miss. I didn't use enough batter or I used too much. I tried to turn them before they were ready or I waited too long and they burned. But once I hit upon the right combination, I was enthralled by the way they miraculously transformed into golden brown balls of fluffy pancakey goodness and my guests where equally impressed. From that moment on I was hooked.

Marty and I were out in California a few years ago and he drove me up to Solvang which is a traditional Danish settlement founded in 1911 north of Santa Barbara. I remember watching through a storefront window as the woman inside adeptly rolled her pancake puffs with ease. Again I was inspired to conquer the art of the ebelskiver.

Ironically enough, I soon noticed the pans popping up in my local Williams Sonoma. Turned out these little filled pancake balls that could be traced back for hundreds of years were the "new" thing. I had to smile to myself as I found I was filled with pride for my Danish heritage. I didn't need their fancy pan - I already had one but I did break down and buy the ebelskiver cookbook and a set of wooden turning sticks. This morning I put them all to good use and I hope did my Danish relatives proud.

Good for the Soul ... and the Tummy!

2010-01-23T17:00:00.005-05:00

Marty felt a little under the weather earlier in the week so I broke out the magic elixir known as matzo ball soup. I'll admit that up to now, when it came to matzo ball soup, I would buy the matzo balls in a jar and add them to my own soup. However, I thought that it was high time that I left the Manischewitz on the shelf and made them myself.

Now having been raised Catholic, matzo balls were not exactly a staple in my diet but hey, that's what recipes are for. So this shiksa rolled up her sleeves and made her ailing hubby some homemade matzo ball soup. A mighty tasty soup it turned out to be too, even if I do say so myself.

OK, I confess those are grilled cheese sandwiches you see along with it - not Kosher. Marty doesn't keep Kosher. Truth be told, he hasn't been to a synagogue since he was a kid. This meal was simply about comfort food. When you don't feel well, there are certain foods that just fit the bill. In this case, these were the few that sounded appealing to him. And when your tummy is upset, you have to follow your gut - literally. So grilled cheese and matzo ball soup it was. He felt better and that's all that mattered to me.

Let's Try This Again in 2010

2010-01-19T12:26:00.007-05:00

So I realize that I disappeared for a few months and I suppose you could say I had a bit of a foodie meltdown. It began when I found myself rethinking my original concept of posting all that I ate every single day because frankly I was no longer enjoying the process. The whole thing had just become a lot of work. Ultimately as the holidays approached I was totally overwhelmed.

I decided that in order to ease my load I would simply consolidate this with my family blog. But truth be told, that wasn't as practical as I thought it would be. Although there may be some crossover interest the two really are separate entities and by mixing them up I was muddying the waters. In some ways it's not unlike painting. Sometimes you can get stuck working on a particular spot. You don't like how it looks and you can't quite figure out at the time how to get it to work but instead of putting your brush down and walking away you keep fiddling with it. Before you know it you end up with a big overworked, muddy mess. Well when I realized that I was heading down that muddy road with this blog, I decided to simply take a breather, step back, clean my brush and regroup.

Now I'm back and ready to continue documenting my meals and culinary adventures especially as they relate to my desire to stay at a fit and healthy weight. But I plan to do so in a much more fluid manner. It is necessary to allow this blog to evolve. Weight maintenance is not a stagnant thing - it's a journey. I'm certainly not the same person I was a year ago so it makes sense that my blog reflects that fact. If you are game and want to see where the road takes me this year, you have an open invitation to travel along with me. You know where to find me.

Vacation Bits from Vancouver

2009-10-06T16:43:00.003-04:00

Did You Miss me?

After three weeks of vacation, we are finally back on home turf. I'll admit that I truly did "vacate" and with a few exceptions, was not consumed with documenting all things culinary while we were gone. Below is one of those exceptions. Near the beginning of our travels we were in Vancouver and one of our stops was at that Public Market on Granville Island. I have one word - AMAZING! We could have spent hours there wandering about. Click on the picture below for a taste of what we saw.

Granville Island Public Market

Vancouver

2009-09-18T21:45:00.006-04:00

So we flew into Vancouver yesterday and I'll admit that spending the entire day in airports and a cumulative 8 hours on planes doesn't make for the healthiest of meal plans. Let's just call it a wash. Today has been a bit odd as well since I woke up at 6AM. If you know me and how much I am not a morning person you will appreciate how the change in time zones is a contributing factor in this phenomenon. So we wound up eating a mini breakfast before we met up with our friends a few hours later for the real thing.

Breakfast #1 was a wonderful banana/cranberry scone that Marty and I shared over a cup of early morning coffee. My actual breakfast was a smoked salmon eggs Benedict (sauce on the side) Greek potatoes and a wonderful fresh fruit salad that included a fruit I have never had before - Dragon Fruit. The flesh looked like a white kiwi and it was similar in taste but the actual fruit bares no resemblance to a kiwi.

Lunch was a quick bowl of Pho and as I type this we are still unsure as to whether or not we will eat anything more. A late afternoon visit to Starbucks for a nonfat latte took the edge off. So we'll see.

As my vacation begins I look forward to enjoying some wonderful food and being able to share my experiences with you though I'm not sure how often I will be able to post once we get on the ship. In addition, going from my Mac at home to this tiny netbook is particularly frustrating. Yes, I am spoiled now. So I think I will wind up doing most of my vacation posts upon my return. Besides, this is a vacation after all.

Breakfast (#1)

Caffe Express

Half Banana & Cranberry Scone
Coffee with 1% milk

Breakfast (#2)

Scoozi's Mediterranean Restaurant

Dragon Fruit (small speckles are cinnamon)

Salmon Eggs Benedict (sauce on the side)
Fresh fruit

A Change of Seasons

2009-09-07T21:50:00.005-04:00

September marks the fifth month that I've been doing this blog and I find that I have reached a point where I am rethinking my approach. I began with the hopes that showing what I eat every day, while still maintaining my weight loss, would be an inspiration to those who think that healthy mindful eating dooms them to a life of carrot sticks and grilled chicken. Hopefully, I have fulfilled that purpose. All you have to do is look back through the archives of these past four months to see that I have eaten well and I am happy to say that I still weighed in last week within my lifetime goal range. But now I find that my own needs for this blog are evolving.

Frankly, documenting every meal I eat has become a little tiresome. There are nights when I simply don't want to be sitting in front of the computer at 11:30 downloading the days pictures and writing an entry. I also wonder how many pictures of Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls with blueberries and 1% milk you care to see? The truth is that there is a lot of redundancy to my diet and if I am bored showing you what I ate, I have no doubt that you must be bored looking at it.

What I have enjoyed sharing with you are my adventures in cooking like my determination to create a healthy alternative to a traditional Boba drink, experimenting with Ethiopian food or my first foray into making homemade bagels. As I continue along my own personal journey of weight loss maintenance I want to explore creating even more home crafted meals with a focus on using local and sustainable foods. We eat out a lot so I want to share more about my experiences there. And as we travel, which we also like to do a lot, I want to have the time to share the things I discover about moving throughout the world and enjoying the foods we encounter while still keeping a mindful eye on staying healthy.

So please bare with me as my blog and I evolve. From now on I won't be posting every day as I take a "quality over quantity" approach. I always tell the members in my meetings, this is a lifelong journey and we continue to learn and grow as we go along. If you choose to, I invite you to travel along with me and together we will see where this next road takes us.

In the meantime, I splurged for the holiday and made some really good French toast for breakfast this morning and for dinner I slowly smoked some ribs on the grill. Roasted cauliflower with garlic and baked sweet potato fries rounded out the meal. Yum!

Full of Tomatoes

2009-09-04T22:28:00.004-04:00

We went back to Anthony's for dinner. It was just as good as the first time! Now there's a new gelato place opened up right across the parking lot. Good thing this is at the other end of town from us.

Breakfast

Soft Boiled Egg with Tomato Bruchetta on Multi Grain English Muffin
Cantaloupe
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch
Panera, Longwood FL

1/2 Chicken Salad on Whole Grain
Tomato Soup

Dinner
Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, Orlando FL

White Pizza with Meatballs
Coors Light

Dessert
Piccolo Gelato. Orlando FL

Small 1/2 mascarpone flavor 1/2 orange & carrot

Leftover Thursday

2009-09-03T21:33:00.004-04:00

It was a busy day filled with leftovers.

Breakfast

Kashi Cinnamon Heart to Heart with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Tossed Salad with Blue Cheese Crumble and Red Wine Vinaigrette
Whole Wheat Flatbread with Fig, Tomato, Bacon & Blue Cheese

Dinner

Shrimp in Garlic Sauce with Brown Rice

There's Something Fishy Going on Here!

2009-09-02T20:54:00.004-04:00

Marty ate the rest of the strip steak tonight so I had some salmon. I made a topping of Panko, chopped walnuts, chopped fresh dill, chives and a little melted smart balance. I cooked it on the stove top in a pan with a little olive oil first topping side down and then I flipped it. I don't cook fish very often since Marty doesn't eat it so I'll admit that it intimidates me a little (seems this has been the week for me to face down some of my kitchen fears). I was really pleased with the results. The topping got nice and crunchy and the fish stayed moist.

Breakfast

Thomas' Light English Muffin with Light Smart Balance & SF Peach Preserves
Grape Tomatoes
Scrambled Egg with Dill & Chives

Lunch
Peach Valley, Lake Mary FL

Corned Beef Reuben (no dressing)
Sliced Tomato
Cole Slaw
Kosher Pickle

Dinner

Panko & Walnut Encrusted Salmon
Garlic Peas
Baked Potato with Light Sour Cream, Bacon Crumbles and Chives

Running Around Town

2009-09-01T23:06:00.004-04:00

Today was a bit crazed and I spent little of it at home. I must say that the Fig and blue cheese flat bread that I had at lunch was wonderful. I look forward to having the leftovers!

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch
Harmony Market, Longwood FL

Mixed Green Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
1/2 Whole Wheat Flat Bread with Fig, Tomato, Bacon and Blue Cheese

Dinner
Imperial Dynasy, Altamonte Springs FL

Shu Mai (Steamed pork dumpings)
Edamame
Shrimp with Garlic Sauce and Brown Rice

For dessert, later on at home, I had one of the Mint Chocolate Pudding Cake cups I had made yesterday

This Jam is just Peachy!

2009-08-31T22:04:00.005-04:00

I realize that for many folks making homemade preserves is no big deal. People have been canning and putting up vegetables and sauces and fruits for centuries. But those people did not come from my world. When I was a kid, green beans came out of a can and jelly came out of a jar that had a Flintstone character on the outside of the glass. So the fact that yesterday I rather nonchalantly decided to save the peaches that were about to go bad by turning them into some homemade preserves was a rather monumental step for me.

Don't get me wrong, I had been thinking about trying to do something like this for a while which is why I had the supplies necessary on hand but up to this point I had been ... well ... I had been scared to try. But yesterday I figured I had nothing to lose except the few peaches that were already on their way out so I gave it a whirl. I wanted to make sugar free preserves so I took the package of pectin required to help things gel out of my cupboard and dove in. I cooked down my few peaches with some water and the pectin, added some Splenda, a little lemon juice and a dash of Grand Marnier and crossed my fingers that it would set up. Miraculously, when I was done I had 2 and 1/2 jars of pretty authentic looking and yummy tasting sugar free peach preserves.

Now since this post is all about "can"did confessions, I'll admit that since I was making such a small batch my plan was to simply keep the jars refrigerated once I was done. I didn't do the full canning procedure - making sure I had the proper amount of head space, boiling the jars to create a vacuum packed seal etc. That part still scares me. But I think I'm closer to jumping that hurdle now. One step at a time. For now I was just excited that today I was able to enjoy my homemade preserves on one of my homemade everything bagels and feel pretty proud of myself as I did!

Breakfast

Bagel with sugar free peach preserves and smart balance light
Cup of fresh fruit
Coffee with 15 milk

Lunch

Hummus, Tomato, Light Feta and Ham on Arnold Select MultiGrain Bread
Kettle Baked BBQ Chips
Pickle

Dinner

New York Strip with Sauteed Peppers & Onions
Baked Potato with Light Sour Cream and 1 strip of Bacon crumbled
Corn on the Cob with Smart Balance Light

Dessert

Mint Chocolate Pudding Cake cups

To make this dessert I took 2 mint chocolate Vitamuffin tops, broke them into pieces and divided the pieces among 4 custard cups. Then I made some sugar free fat free chocolate pudding and poured it into the cups on top of the muffin pieces and placed them in the refrigerator to cool. I served them with a little Fat Free Reddi-Wip. This was amazingly good for only 1.5 points!

Weekend Highlights

2009-08-30T23:28:00.003-04:00

Got behind on posting this weekend - so here is an overview

SUNDAY

Breakfast

Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Peppers, roasted garlic & Egg sandwich
Sliced Tomato with balsamic drizzle

Dinner

Beef & sausage ravioli in a roasted garlic, tomato cream sauce (I used 1/2 and 1/2)
Tossed salad with fat free Caesar dressing (not pictured)

Dessert

Breyers slow churned vanilla with SF caramel, dark chocolate nibs and fat free Reddi Wip

SATURDAY

Breakfast

Everything Bagel, light Cream cheese, SF Orange Marmelade
Fresh fruit
Coffee with 1% milk

Not pictured for lunch leftover Pho Ga - Vietnamese chicken soup

Dinner
Morgan's Birger Bistro, Sanford FL

She crab soup - not pictured (I ate a few spoonfuls and took the rest home)
Lamb burger with grilled onions and tsatsiki sauce
Homemade potato chips

FRIDAY

Breakfast

Oatmeal with peaches, blueberries and 1& milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Leftover Paparadelle with garlic, olive oil, tomato & ham

Dinner
Chilangos Mexican Food, Winter Springs FL

Chips, salsa & guacamole
Pork taco on soft corn tortilla (I scraped off the cheese & sour cream)
A chorizo sope on homemade tortilla (I removed the refried beans)

No Frills

2009-08-27T21:33:00.004-04:00

It was a busy day for me so I stuck to basics and some reliable standbys.

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded spoonfuls, with banana & blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Boars Head Honey Glazed Ham, Hummus, Low fat Feta & Tomato on Arnold Select
Kettle Baked BBQ chips
Cup of fresh fruit
pickle

Dinner
Boston Market, Lake Mary FL

3 Piece Dark Chicken meal (I removed skin and Marty ate part of one thigh)
Steamed Veggies
Dill Potatoes
Corn Bread

Total Points 20.5 (much better!)

Tomorrow is Another Day

2009-08-26T17:31:00.004-04:00

Some days you make good choices, some days - not so much!

Breakfast

Kashi Cinnamon Harvest with 1% milk and blueberries
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch
The Authentic Cuban Cafe, Winter Park FL

First we split a beef empanada

I know, I know ... what was I thinking? Simply, I wasn't!

Then we each got a different sandwich and shared them

I tried a variation on a Cuban that had Serrano ham, very thinly sliced chorizo, Swiss cheese, a pickle and mustard
Marty got a Mojo marinated roast pork sandwich

It seemed like a good idea at the time. The bread was very light and there wasn't an over abundance of fillings. It fact they really hit the spot. Unfortunately they took up permanent residence in the spot. Not such a good idea after all. And although I do know better, my "How bad could they be?" attitude came back around and slapped me we when I looked up the points on these. Yikes! OK - so tomorrow is a brand new day.

Dinner
Pho Hoa, Orlando FL

Pho Ga (chicken & rice noodle soup)

After today's lunch this was all we really wanted and it was the right call. Our tummies were happy and I have leftovers which is always a bonus!

Total points 37.5 (ugh!)

True Colors Shining Through

2009-08-25T22:08:00.005-04:00

Prettier mix of colors today don't you think?

Breakfast

Soft Boiled Egg
Bruchetta on Thomas' Light English Muffin with Smart Balance Light
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch
Subway, Longwood FL

6" Turkey on Honey Multigrain
Baked Lays
Diet Coke

Dinner

Baked Chicken with Roasted Garlic
Pierogi's with Sauteed Onions and Light Sour Cream
Maple Syrup Glazed Carrots
Pineapple Bliss Tea

Dessert
Rita's, Apopka FL

Sugar Free Pink Lemonade & Fat Free Slenderita Custard Gelati

(at 3 Pts this is my new not guilty pleasure)

Total Points 30

Monochromatic Day

2009-08-24T22:46:00.006-04:00

After looking at these pictures I realize I didn't do a very good job at eating a colorful palette of foods today. There was a preponderance of yellow and orange. According to the World Health Organization Yellow-Orange foods promote health and vision and boost your immune system. Guess I had that covered today.

Breakfast

Kashi Heart to Heart with blueberries & 1% milk

Lunch

Lamb, plums & saffron rice
Bread with smart balance light (not pictured)

These were my leftovers from the Kabbab House. But with 3 oz of lamb, 1/2 cup of rice and the plums this meal was quite filling. Dinner was a lighter affair as a result

Dinner

Curried Carrot, Pineapple & Ginger Soup
Bread with Whipped Cream Cream

Dessert

1 Large Peach

Total Points 25.5

A Peachy Sunday

2009-08-23T22:00:00.006-04:00

It was a nice Sunday. For lunch we went to a place out in Lake county on Little Lake Harris. This is the type of place that you can drive to or boat to. It seemed the perfect venue for a lazy afternoon lunch. We sat outside to eat, watching storm clouds build up far across the lake and enjoying the live music and banter of Tommy Treadway. He was very entertaining.

On the way home we stopped at a road side stand and bought a watermelon, some Georgia peaches, and some tomatoes that came from Tennessee. The sad truth is that there is very little going on in the farmer's markets and stands at this time of year that is local. The weather is just not cooperative. So Tennessee and Georgia it is.

I marinated and grilled a pork tenderloin for dinner. Then I made a crumble for dessert using whole wheat flour, oatmeal, smart balance 50/50 and some splenda to make a light topping for the peaches. Served up with some slow churned low fat vanilla ice cream, it was the perfect end to a really lovely day.

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% mik

Lunch
JB Boondocks, Howey in the Hills FL

Grilled Mahi Mahi sandwich with coleslaw

Dinner

Grilled marinated Pork Tenderloin
Whole Wheat orzo with saffron
Sauteed organic green beans with garlic and toasted almonds

Dessert

Peach crumble with Breyers low fat, no sugar added slow churned vanilla ice cream

More Soup for Me

2009-08-22T21:07:00.005-04:00

I knew I had one more hurdle in front of me this weekend - a family birthday celebration. And I knew the celebration would happen with pizza. So I tried to keep things in moderation the rest of today. For lunch I made a simple soup. I softened some onions and garlic in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Then I added 4 cups of vegetable broth, a pound of sliced carrots, about 2 Tbsp of sliced fresh ginger and a 1/2 cup of fresh pineapple. I cooked the soup until the carrots and ginger were tender then I used an immersion blender on it until it was smooth. I mixed in 4 Tbsp of half and half, and nutmeg, cinnamon, curry powder, salt and pepper to taste. Lastly I added some Splenda (again to taste) for a little sweetness. I garnished the soup with a few sliced almonds. It hit the spot.

Breakfast

Soft Boiled Egg
Thomas' Light MultiGrain Muffin with Smart Balance Light
Sliced Tomato
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Curried Carrot, Pineapple & Ginger soup (sliced almond garnish)
Pumpernickel Bread with Weight Watchers Whipped Cream Cheese

Dinner
Carmela's of Brooklyn, Longwood FL

Tossed salad with Italian Dressing on the side
3 slices Grandma's Pizza (Meatball garlic & Onion, fresh mozzarella, thin crust)

Too Much of a Good Thing

2009-08-21T22:20:00.006-04:00

So here I am confessing to you that yes I ate dessert twice today. I am not even someone who usually craves sweets (I'm more of a salty crunchy girl myself) yet I succumbed twice in one day. I could have left off the pictures and you never would have been the wiser but to what end? I do this daily food blog so you can see what it is like to eat at a maintenance level after losing weight. I hope it helps people understand that making good choices and eating a healthy balanced diet doesn't have to equal deprivation. And since we eat out a lot, I also want people to see that you can still do that without overdoing it.

That being said, I also want to be honest and let you see that at times I still fall short myself. This is real life. Eating gelato and cake in the same day was not necessarily a good choice on my part. But the thing that I find interesting is that my body knows better than my mind knew today. I don't feel very well right now. My stomach is a little upset. What I ate as a "treat" has not been received that way by my system. This is a really positive thing because it's an affirmation of all I have accomplished and of how far I've come. What never would have phased me in the past is now excessive. That is a really great place to be. Now please pass the TUMS!

Breakfast

My Everything bagel with Smart Balance Light & SF Marmalade
Fresh Fruit
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch
Soups and Stews by Lea, Orlando FL

Spanish Bean Soup
1/2 Roast pork and Swiss on pumpernickel
Small gelato

Dinner
Kabbab House, Orlando FL

Mint Tea - unsweetened
Side Greek Salad
Saffron Rice
Lamb Shank Tagine with Moroccan Prunes
Bread
(I brought half this meal home)

Dessert
Achilles Art Cafe, Orlando FL

Small non-fat latte
1/2 of the confetti cake you see below

Food so Nice we ate it Twice

2009-08-20T23:26:00.005-04:00

Yes we love the sandwiches from Pom Pom's so much that when we were there yesterday for lunch we bought a Fu Man Chu sandwich to go so we could split it for lunch today. Pom Pom's is Yum Yum!

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Wheat with blueberries & 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Fresh Fruit Bowl
1/2 Asian pulled pork sandwich on pumpernickel (Fu Man Chu from Pom Pom's)
Succotash Salad
Kettle Baked BBQ chips

Dinner

Whole Wheat Pappardelle Pasta with Garlic, Tomato, Arugula & Parmesan
(not pictured) Weight Watcher Latte Bar for dessert

Feeling Crabby

2009-08-19T22:51:00.003-04:00

Met the girls out for dinner tonight. I love places like this where you dig in and get dirty eating. It actually keeps you from eating too fast since you have to work for your food. In the end I think I probably ate more butter & garlic than I did crab meat! But it was fun catching up over crustaceans.

Breakfast

Kashi Go Lean Crunch with 1% milk, peaches and blueberries
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch
Pom Pom's TeaHouse & Sandwicheria, Orlando FL

A Woody (Pastrami on Rye with Swiss Cheese & Coleslaw)
German Potato Salad
1/2 Apricot Ginger cupcake (not pictured)

Dinner
The Garlic Crab House, Sanford FL

2 Garlic Chicken wings
Garlic Crabs with Potatoes & corn

Take a load off

2009-08-18T22:44:00.004-04:00

I met my friend Joann for lunch today at a place she recommended - Bernie's Gourmet to Go. They offer all sorts of freshly prepared, healthy salads, sandwiches, soups & dinner take out items. We shared a sandwich and a few of their specialty salads. Everything was great. For dinner I hauled out the leftover short ribs and sides so it was an easy food day for Mimi. For this I was grateful since I pulled a muscle (or muscles) in my leg last night and am rather uncomfortable today. I was not inspired to spend a lot of time on my feet in the kitchen so it worked out perfectly.

Breakfast

Thomas' Light Multi-Grain English muffin with Smart Balance Light,
tomato and sharp cheddar cheese
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch
Bernie's Gourmet to Go, Oviedo FL

Wheatberry salad (wheatberries, cranberries, mango & mint)
Jicama Salad
Grilled Portobello, roasted red peppers & Goat cheese on Ciabatta
Fresh fruit cup (not pictured)

Dinner

Grass Fed Beef short rib in Ancho Chili sauce
Garlic Mashed potatoes
Succotash salad
Jalapeno Cheddar Buttermilk Corn Bread
WW mint ice cream sandwich for dessert (not pictured)

Next time I'll go Light

2009-08-17T22:18:00.006-04:00

Recently I tried a gelati for the first time. If you have never had one, it's soft serve ice cream or custard layered with Italian ice ... and it's good. Tonight we tried the gelati at Rita's which is a National franchise that just opened a location nearby. I was pleased to learn that they offer a fat free soft serve and a different sugar free Italian ice flavor every day which makes it a pretty reasonable treat (3 pts for a regular size). I will however confess that tonight I didn't go that route. The sugar free flavor was root beer - which is something I love - but their version was kind of bland so I opted for a regular Italian Ice flavor - raspberry lemonade. It was nicely tart/sweet with pieces of fresh raspberries throughout - truly lovely. Sadly I didn't notice the flyer on the fat free ice cream until after I was already digging into my regular version. Oh well. This was going to be a one time splurge for us to check out the place - now that I know they have a really light option we can splurge more often!

Breakfast

Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with bluebarries & 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Turkey "cobb" sandwich on pumpernickel
(Lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, avocado, turkey, blue cheese & bacon crumbles)
BBQ Kettle Baked Chips
Peach

Dinner

Salad with Ginger Dressing and sliced almonds
Shrimp Green Curry with brown rice

Dessert
Rita's, Apopka FL

Raspberry lemonade / Vanilla Gelati

Positive Feedback

2009-08-16T21:45:00.006-04:00

We saw the movie Julie and Julia this weekend which got me thinking about some of the kitchen disasters I've had when making new recipes. Since I have a hard time ever following a recipe without making some kind of "adjustment" it is actually amazing I haven't had more mishaps. However, each time a meal has missed the mark I find I learn a lot - probably more than if it had come out perfectly. Yes it really is imperative that you let your cake cool completely before you fill it with lemon curd and ice it, otherwise it will slip slide all over the place on route to the dinner party and end up having to be served as a trifle ... I'm just saying!

Today I made cornbread. I used a combination of recipes and despite the little voice in the back of my head that was saying you have too much batter for this pan, I used it all anyway and over filled the skillet. As the little voice suspected might happen, when we cut into it at dinner we discovered it wasn't cooked in the center. Next time I really need to listen to the little voice. I also tried a slow cooker recipe for short ribs with an Ancho chili sauce. In this case I followed the recipe closely - well Okay, I cut it in half but I still followed it. Well, I followed it up until I tasted the sauce and decided I would like it better if it had some sweetness to balance out the heat and smokiness from the Ancho & Chipotle peppers. I added some honey but honestly held back a bit thinking I should give it a chance and taste the finished product before I started amending the recipe. Again I should have listened to the little voice and just added the amount of honey I wanted to in the beginning. I think that would have made the difference between them being just OK vs great. The thing is you never really know until you try.

At work we have a saying - no failures only feedback. I find that to be true in the kitchen too. If you take away something from the experience that makes you a better cook the next time, a little soggy cornbread is totally worth it.

Breakfast

1 oz. sharp cheddar
Fresh fruit - peach & fig
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Turkey Cobb sandwich on pumpernickel
BBQ Kettle Baked chips
Iced Pineapple Bliss tea

Dinner

Grass Fed Beef Short Ribs with Ancho Chili Sauce
Buttermilk Cheddar & Jalapeno cornbread
Garlic Mashed potatoes
Succotash salad with honey lime vinaigrette
Lipton's Diet Green Tea

The Secret Ingredient

2009-08-15T17:23:00.007-04:00

Tonight we met up with our friends Peggy & Bob for dinner at a Thai restaurant. I've had better Thai food elsewhere but it really didn't matter since this was more about spending time with each other. For that reason alone I enjoyed myself very much. There is nothing better than sharing a meal with the people in your life you love the most. That's an ingredient that makes all food taste better.

Breakfast

Mini Everything Bagel with Smart Balance Light and SF Marmalade
Soft Boiled Egg

Lunch
Jersey Shores Cafe & Deli, Winter Garden

Thuman's Boardwalk Griddle Dog with Sauerkraut & Grilled onions
1/2 order French Fries

Dinner
Thai Basil, Winter Springs FL

Vegetable Spring Roll
Curry Puff Pastry (chicken, potato & yellow curry in puff pastry)
Green Chili Curry with Shrimp
Brown Rice

Now You See it - Now You Don't

2009-08-14T22:55:00.003-04:00

This is the second time I have run into some kind of glitch trying to download my daily photos and have somehow lost pictures. Today it seems the casualties were my breakfast shots. Not sure what happened but live and learn. I have made note of the possible causes and hopefully I will not have this issue again. It was just toast but made from some really wonderful pumpernickel I got at The Fresh Market the other day. Oh well, I have more so you'll definitely see this bread again.

Breakfast

Pumpernickel Toast with Smart Balance Light and SF Marmalade
Cup of Fresh Fruit
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Salad with Gyro Meat and 1/4 Pita

Snack

Endangered Species 70% Dark Chocolate with Cranberries & Almonds

Dinner
Bahama Breeze, Altamonte Springs FL

Jerk Painted Tilapia
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
String Beans
Manga Salsa

Can I try that in a smaller size?

2009-08-13T22:37:00.005-04:00

It's no wonder that so many people struggle with weight issues when our portion sizes in this country have gotten totally out of control. It always amazes me when I can take what is served as a single portion in a restaurant and eat off of it for days on end. After using some of the leftover gyro meat in my salad at lunch today, I still have enough for one more meal!

For dinner we had leftover burgers. I started out with 4 oz of meat in each so once they were grilled the portion was a reasonable 3-3.5 oz. These burgers fit nicely on small dinner sized wheat rolls and were completely satisfying. I split a single slice of bacon between the two burgers and that too was more than enough. The best part is that instead of feeling overstuffed and guilty from eating a huge over-sized burger, I came away perfectly satiated and guilt free.

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Salad with gyro meat and grated Parmesan and 1/4 pita
Cup of fresh fruit

Dinner

90/10 Grass fed beef burger on wheat roll with arugula, tomato, onion, apple wood smoked bacon and light cheese sauce.
Baked Chipotle Sweet potato fries

About Face

2009-08-12T22:19:00.005-04:00

Up to this point I have been posting my meals in reverse order. Frankly it was just easier that way because I could do it as I went along throughout the day. The results however were somewhat counter intuitive since the first thing you would see would be the last thing I ate. So I am throwing convenience out the window and beginning today opting to post my meals so that the flow is a natural one - starting with breakfast and ending with dinner. I know you don't really care about the why's or the how's just the what's. But I just wanted you to know that the reversal you'll see today and from now on is intentional.

By the way, did you know that you can take soft corn tortillas, sprinkle them with salt and then place them in the microwave for a few minutes and they will crisp up like they have been fried? At just 1 point for two small corn tortillas it's a great low fat way to enjoy the crunch of chips and salsa.

Breakfast

Fiber One Honey Oat Clusters with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Lunch

Turkey panini on pumpernickel with fig, cheddar, arugula, onions and raspberry balsamic sauce
Kettle baked BBQ chips
Dill Pickle
mini banana cupcake with peanut butter icing

Dinner

2 Pork Tamales with guacamole, light sour cream and salsa
Cup of fresh fruit
Corn tortilla with Cabot 50% reduced fat jalapeno cheddar & light cream cheese queso

Dessert

1 Scoop Breyers Sugar Free Slow Churned Vanilla Ice Cream with hot fudge and Fat Free Reddi Wip.

Don't close that ... trunk!

2009-08-11T17:10:00.004-04:00

So I went shopping this morning and when I took my groceries out to the car I locked them in the trunk, along with my keys. As a result, I wound up eating lunch at a little Greek restaurant nearby while I waited for the cavalry (aka Marty) to arrive with a spare key. While I love this place, I'm just saying it wasn't in the plans. I was still really aggravated with myself when I sat down in the restaurant and distracted by the situation so I ordered kind of weird. First I ordered a Gyro with the sauce on the side and then realized that I really wanted more veggies. So I ordered a small Greek salad and ate some of the gyro meat and pita bread along with it. Now I have more than enough leftover meat for another lunch or two. I suppose this is not a bad thing.

For dinner I made burgers. I started with 4 oz of 90/10 grass fed beef for each one which cooked down to about 3 - 3.5 oz on the grill. I topped them with grilled onions and a cheese sauce that I made by melting some light whipped cream cheese together with some sharp cheddar for flavor. On the side I made an arugula salad with fresh figs, toasted walnuts, shaved parmesan and a crumble of applewood smoked bacon with a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. To make the dressing I took a few spoonfuls of sugar free strawberry preserves (Polaner) and a few fresh raspberries and heated them together in the microwave until the preserves had melted and the berries had broken down. Then I mixed in some balsamic vinegar, a little olive oil, some chopped shallots and salt & pepper to taste.

Dinner

90/10 Grass Fed Beef burger on whole wheat roll with light cheese sauce and grilled onions

Arugula, fig and walnut salad with raspberry balsamic dressing and shaved parmesan

and for dessert (not pictured) lemon Italian ice gelati

Lunch

Mykonos, Longwood FL

Greek Salad with Gyro meat and 1/2 pita

Breakfast

Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal with blueberries & 1% milk

Coffee with 1% milk

It's a Stretch

2009-08-10T23:28:00.005-04:00

All this working with dough over the weekend got me motivated to start stretching myself. So today I finally made it back to the the yoga class at my gym. I have been intending to go back for months but have always managed to find a reason not to make it. Today I made it happen. I'm out of practice but very glad I now have yoga back in my routine. I've missed it. It was a good way to end my Monday. Hope you had a successful beginning to your week as well.

Dessert

WW Giant Latte Bar (1 Pt)

Dinner

2 Pork Tamales, light sour cream, guacamole (8 Pts)
Light Queso sauce (1/2 WW light whipped cream cheese & 1/2 cheddar) (3Pts)
Home made corn tortilla chips from 2 tortillas (1 Pt)
Cucumber salad (0 Pts)
Salsa (0 Pts)

Lunch

BLT on Arnold select multi grain round (5 Pts)
Fresh watermelon (1 Pt)
Cucumber salad with blue cheese crumbles (1 Pt)

Breakfast

Homemade Mini Everything bagel with WW light whipped Cream Cheese and Sugar Free Orange Marmalade. (4 Pts)
Coffee with 1% milk (1 Pt)

Out of Practice

2009-08-09T22:27:00.004-04:00

Okay I'll admit that I haven't been very good about posting lately. It seems that once I went away on vacation I got out of the habit of doing this and I have struggled to get back into the routine. Either I forget to bring my camera or I have my camera but forget to take a picture or I just forget to do the entire thing. So I am hoping that I am back on track.

Today was a busy day in the kitchen beginning with part two of the bagel making process. This batch was a little more successful than the first. The dough came closer to the "windowpane" consistency and I actually managed to make the holes big enough that they didn't close down in the proofing and baking process. So I am improving. I still need to tweak the application of the "everything" mix. This time I started out with the poppy seeds and sesame seeds separate from the rehydrated onions & garlic and halfway through decided to just mix them all together. That was not the best idea because the mix got clumpy and didn't stick to the bagels as well as I would have liked. Next time I think I will try mixing the dehydrated onion & garlic together with the seeds and just let them absorb the dampness of the boiled bagel. I think they will stick better initially that way. We'll see.

For dinner I made tamales again. This time I made a filling of pork carnitas. They were really tasty. I was pleased with the results. Two for two. I like it when things come out well!

Dessert

Weight Watchers Mint Ice Cream Sandwich

Dinner

Homemade Pork Tamale, light sour cream, salsa & guacamole
Salad with Fat Free Italian Vinaigrette

Lunch
Leftover from Pizzaria Valdiano, Orlando FL

1 slice pizza, fresh mozzarella, meatball, onions & garlic

Breakfast

Homemade Everything Mini Bagel with Smart Balance Light and Sugar Free Orange Marmalade
Coffee with 1% milk

Some things are worth the price you pay

2009-08-05T22:52:00.005-04:00

Went for a short jog this morning. It felt good to get back out but man was it ever hot! But if you want to play (see coffee cake dessert below) you must pay! And I'm here to tell you that this maple and cream cheese coffee cake is worth the cost. The pastrami sandwich I had at Jersey Mikes on the other hand would not be worth it. Next time I head back to Subway.

Dessert

Still quieting down that coffee cake - who's yelling now sucka? (see yesterday's post for an explanation)

Dinner

Toasted Onion Papparadelle with Parmesan & spinach cream sauce
Tossed salad
Roasted Garlic Bread

Lunch
Jersey Mikes, Altamonte Springs FL

Mini Pastrami, swiss and sauerkraut on wheat roll with mustard
Baked Lays Potato chips
(not pictured) Starbucks Grande Light Coffee Frappuccino

Breakfast

(not pictured before run) Multi grain bread with cream cheese and orange marmalade
Go Lean Crunch with fresh strawberries and Activia light raspberry yogurt
Coffee with 1%milk

I Love Tomatoes

2009-08-04T14:25:00.007-04:00

I love tomatoes. I can eat them like an apple with just a little salt. Nothing makes me happier than a perfectly ripe, earthy, robust tomato. OK maybe other things make me happier but I do get a rush over a perfect tomato. And I really love them with eggs for breakfast. One of my new favorite preparations is to make a little bruschetta with tomatoes, scallions, fresh basil and a light vinaigrette and to serve it with a soft boiled egg on toasted hearty bread or an English muffin. Yum!

Dessert
This dang cake was yelling at me from our freezer. I had to shut it up for good! :-D

Maple Glazed Cream Cheese Coffee Cake (5Pts)

Dinner

Sesame encrusted ahi tuna - this time with wasabi, ginger and peanut sauce (4 Pts)
Garlic Brown Rice with quinoa (2Pts)
Asian Cabbage Slaw (2 Pts)
Cucumber Salad (0 Pts)

Lunch

Lump crabcake on Arnold Select Multi-Grain round with Asian Slaw (6 Pts)
Cucumber salad with light blue cheese crumbles (1 Pt)

Breakfast
Soft boiled egg on Thomas's Light Multi Grain English muffin with smart balance light & a tomato and fresh basil bruschetta (4.5 Pts)
Cup fresh cubed watermelon (1 Pt)
Coffee with 1% milk

Monday Monday

2009-08-04T13:19:00.004-04:00

Today I made seared ahi tuna for the first time. First I marinated the tuna in a mixture of soy sauce, lime juice, sherry, freshly grated ginger, garlic, scallions, cilantro & peppercorns. After a 1/2 an hour I rinsed off the marinade, brushed the tuna lightly with olive oil and rolled it in sesame seeds. Then I seared it on a flat griddle. I served it with an asian cabbage slaw that had mandarin oranges, fresh pineapple, toasted sliced almonds and more sesame seeds mixed together with a rice wine vinaigrette. I also made a cucumber and onion salad. I intended to serve a little thai peanut sauce along with it but my bottle had gone bad in the cupboard. I also forgot to pick up some wasabi and pickled ginger both of which would have made this just about perfect. I was really pleased with the results nevertheless, especially for my first attempt.

Dessert

Vita muffin Mint Chocolate muffin top (1 Pt)
1/2 cup Breyers slow chirned no sugar added vanilla ice cream (1 Pt)
Fat Free Redi Whip (0 Pts)

Dinner

Sesame seed encrusted seared ahi tuna (3.5 Pts)
Asian Cabbage Slaw with toasted almonds (2 Pts)
Cucumber & Onion salad (0 Pts)

Lunch

Leftover Beef Pho (4 Pts)

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls with blueberries & 1% milk (3 Pts)
Coffee with 1 % milk (1 Pt)

Latin flavors

2009-07-31T22:56:00.004-04:00

Today we tried two new places - one for lunch and one for dessert. For lunch we went to Alex's cuban cafe. It's a small place in a nondescript strip mall but there is nothing small or nondescript about the food. I had the roast pork platter and the pork was tender and flavorful. The red beans and rice were also quite tasty and the sweet bite of maduros was a nice compliment to the marinated pork and the tang of the onions.

After we left the cafe we stopped at Pan Pan's Bakery which is a little Colombian bakery right around the corner. I have had a curiosity about Pan Pan's for a long time so we finally went in. The first thing we noticed was how wonderful it smelled, sweet and doughy and yeasty. YUM! The woman behind the counter was very patient and helped us navigate all the unfamiliar breads and pastries lining their cases. We chose three items to try. First an almojabana - which is a cheese ball. When we made that selection she turned from the case and opted to take one fresh off the rack behind the counter, still warm from the oven. We had hardly closed the door on the car before I split it in two so we could taste it. The outside was crusty while the inside was light and soft and almost spongey in its consistency. The cheese flavor was prominent and very enjoyable. The second item we chose was a donut like pastry that had a layer of custard cream in the middle. Marty and I split that one for dessert tonight. It was also quite good. The custard was light and creamy and the pastry was pleasant. It had substance without being leaden with a good balance of yeastiness and airiness. Our third pick was a cheese and guava filled sweet bread. I will let you know about that one as soon as we've tried it. For dinner I made my take on a pork schnitzel with potato pancakes. All in all it was quite an International food day!

Dessert
From Pan Pan Colombian Bakery, Longwood FL

1/2 custard filled donut (3 Pts)
Glass of 1% milk (1 Pt)

Dinner

Breaded Pork Cutlet with onion & mushroom gravy (8 Pts)
Potato Pancakes (3.5 Pts)
Light Sour Cream and No Sugar added applesauce (1.5 Pts)
Beets (1 Pt)

After Lunch
Pan Pan Columbian Bakery, Longwood FL

1/2 Almojabana (cheese ball) (2.5 Pts)

Lunch
Alex's Cuban Cafe, Longwood FL

(I ate half of what is pictured below)
Roast pork with yellow rice and beans (6.5 pts)
Maduros (.5 Pt)
Bite of Bread (1 Pt)

Breakfast

Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal with 1% milk and blueberries (3 Pts)
Coffee with 1% milk (1 Pt)

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-30T22:37:00.005-04:00

I got home yesterday after a weeks vacation in CT. As much as I love to travel it is always great to come home and to sleep in your own bed. I also enjoy getting back into my own routine. It can be fun to take a break from the usual but I find that after a while the usual is exactly what I crave. The vacation indulgences behind me, it's time to refocus and so I have decided to track my food for a few weeks to help bring things back into balance quickly. I suppose Dorothy said it best. "There's no place like Home."

Dinner
Viet Garden, Orlando FL

Beef Pho (9 Pts)

Lunch

Honey Chicken Salad with Walnuts & dried fruit (6.5pts)
Wasa Multi Grain Crisp (1 Pt)
Sliced Tomatoes (0 Pts)
Cherries (.5 Pts)

snack (not pictured) WW peanut butter bliss bar (1 Pt)

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded spoonfuls with 1% milk and blueberries (3 pts)
Coffee with 1% milk (1 Pt)

Hit or Miss

2009-07-19T16:13:00.014-04:00

This weekend has been one of hits and misses. Today was no exception. We went back to the Maitland Farmers Market. The first time we went it was the holiday weekend and more than half the vendors were missing. This time a storm had just blown through and most of them had packed it up and left early. One of these days we'll actually experience the full market. The positive was that the pork BBQ from CK Jerk Shack at the market was just as wonderful as it had been the last time. The market itself was a miss but lunch was a hit.

For dinner I made a variation of Ethiopian Doro Wat. I added some sweet potatoes and pineapple to the mix and it was quite tasty. Since I didn't decide that I was going to make this until I was halfway into the preparation of the veggies I did not have Injera batter ready so I served the stew over Whole Wheat orzo with a light side salad. It was a hit.

For dessert I tried a new approach to my watermelon Boba drink. Instead of using evaporated milk sweetened with Splenda in the drink, I tried Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze Almond Breeze, Unsweetened, Vanilla, 32 oz. along with Splenda and a little fat free sugar free vanilla pudding mix. I liked this version even better. It was creamier and was even closer to the sweetened condensed milk versions we've gotten at Vietnamese restaurants. But I did something wrong this time when I prepared the Boba. I'm not sure if it was a function of boiling them for the wrong amount of time or because I prepared them earlier than I have been and put them in the fridge until I was ready to use them. Instead of being nice and chewy (like a gummy bear) they were starchy. So although the new drink recipe was a hit, the Boba themselves were a miss. I wound up not eating them so it was more like having a watermelon smoothie than a Boba drink.

Dessert

Watermelon Boba - almost!

Dinner

Chicken Doro Wat with sweet potatoes & pineapple
Whole Wheat Orzo
Tossed salad

Lunch
Ck Jerk Shack, Maitland Farmers Market

Jamaican Prk BBQ
Coconut rice & beans

Breakfast

French Toast with blueberries & warm maple syrup
Cup of fresh fruit

Saturday Stumbles

2009-07-19T15:39:00.004-04:00

We went out to grab a quick bite for lunch and to run some errands. I thought we had a solid plan until we pulled up to Salad Creations (our lunch destination) to find an empty store front. Ugh! I hate it when that happens. So we regrouped and decided to try a little Italian place nearby for a light antipasti salad. Strike two. They didn't have one on the lunch menu. They also were clueless. You know you're in trouble when the phrase you most hear coming from the server's mouth is "I'm so sorry". It's even worse when you discover that the challenged server is the owners wife! Anyway, I'll save the full review for another time (it will take some time). What I will say is that I ate half of what you see pictured below for my lunch. It's not what I ordered - but it's what I was served and at that point I just wanted to get the whole lunch debaucle over with. I suppose it's the price you pay for being adventuresome and trying a lot of different eateries. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!

Dinner

Leftover Pho
3 Potstickers

Lunch
Il Paradiso, Altamonte Springs FL

Salad (not pictured)
Bread
Linguine with Italian sausage (I ate 1/2 of this)

Breakfast

Soft Boiled egg with dill
Rye toast with Smart Balance Light & SF strawberry preserves
Cup of fresh fruit

Pho what if we eat a lot of Pho?

2009-07-17T22:43:00.008-04:00

We continued our search tonight for the best Vietnamese Pho restaurant with dinner at Pho Saigon. This makes the fifth place we have tried and I think I would rank it third out of 4. Yes I can count it's just that one of the 5 has already closed. Too bad too because it was our favorite. Anyway, the broth at Pho Saigon had a nice depth to it but the meatballs had an odd almost medicinal after taste that I didn't care for at all. The brisket had a nice flavor. The service was not all that friendly. Frankly, they all seemed unhappy so the vibe in the place was a bit of a downer. With so many options for Pho in Orlando, this would not be one I would choose to visit again.

Our lunch was another story. Soups and Stews by Lea was terrific. Thanks to my friend Audrey for the recommendation. We got a combo for two where you share a panini or salad and then each get your choice of soup. We split a Turkey Trot panini which had turkey, pear, arugula and brie. It was lovely. But the star of the meal was the soup. We each had the sweet potato and mango soup. That may sound like an unusual pairing but it was divine. Marty said it was the best soup he ever had! We bought an extra quart to take home. They also serve gelato which has 1/2 the butter fat than regular ice cream so it's a nice "lighter" treat.

Finally we stopped by a bakery that was a block away from Soups & Stews to see if they might prove to be a source for that elusive jelly donut I have been seeking. Pickings were slim as it was later in the afternoon and there were no jelly's to be found. So we picked out two of what they had left and I had mine for dessert tonight. It was a nice sour cream glazed donut but nothing special. That quest continues.

Dessert
Bakery Plus, Orlando FL

Sour Cream glazed donut

Dinner
Pho Saigon, Orlando FL

Grilled pork spring roll
Beef Brisket & meatball Pho

Lunch
Soups & Stews by Lea, Orlando FL

1/2 Turkey Panini with pear, arugula & brie
Taste of pasta salad
Cup of sweet potato & mango soup
Small gelato - 1/2 pistachio and 1/2 Cookies & cream

Breakfast

Go Lean Crunch with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Just Not Feeling it This Week

2009-07-16T23:10:00.004-04:00

This week has been more difficult than I imagined. I have struggled to stay motivated as I am teetering in between two vacations. I have just not been able to get myself back onto the swing of things for this interim period. So I am grateful we had leftovers as I was not inspired to cook for us myself, yet I am also tired of the leftovers. It's a sad catch 22. Now that the weekend approaches I am hoping I will recapture some motivation.

Dessert

Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint

Dinner

Lamb chop & rosemary chicken wings with grilled onions
Cucumber salad
Squash
Focaccia

Lunch
Red Lobster, Orlando FL

Cheddar Cheese biscuit
Salad with Red Wine vinaigrette on the side (not pictured)
Wood Fire Grilled rainbow trout, baked potato with sour cream & Broccoli

Breakfast

Last of my bagels with smart balance, cream cheese and SF marmalade
Watermelon
Coffee with 1% milk

Keeping it easy

2009-07-15T23:07:00.003-04:00

I still have a fridge filled with leftovers which makes for an easy week and since I am turning around in a few days and leaving again I am OK with spending less time in the kitchen now. But we went to Whole Foods last night and I have a freezer stocked with plenty of goodies to keep me entertained once I get back. I think I'll be ready for my regular routine by then.

Dessert

Weight Watchers Peanut Butter Candy Bar Ice Cream

Dinner

Pecan Crusted Mahi Mahi
Rice
Broccolini

Lunch
Subway, Altamonte Springs

6" Grilled Chicken sub on 9 grain Honey Oat with fat free vinaigrette
Baked Lays

Breakfast

Fiber One Honey Oat Clusters with 1% milk & blueberries
Coffee with 1% milk

Coal Fired Pizza and Cream Puffs

2009-07-14T22:11:00.005-04:00

I have been waiting for Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza to open a location in Orlando. I read about them online when I was searching for coal or wood fire pizza places so I subscribed to their twitter feed and facebook page and waited ... and waited ... and waited. Well today was the day they finally opened their doors and I dragged Marty down to check it out. We were not disappointed.

Because it is cooked in an 800 degree coal fire oven, the pizza is crispy and has a wonderful charred but not burnt taste. The ingredients were fresh and ample. They actually put whole miniature meatballs (made on site) on our pie. We also sampled their chicken wings which are baked, not fried, to perfection in the same hot oven. They were flavored with olive oil & fresh rosemary and served with grilled onions and focaccia bread.

Since it was their first day, service was a double team affair with seasoned staffers from other locations showing the ropes to what will be the local crew. So it is hard for me to adequately evaluate since the girl we dealt with will only be around until Sunday. What I can say is that if this local crew follows the lead of the trainers, we will be well served because our server/trainer was knowledgeable, helpful, attentive and very willing to accommodate. The only fault I could find would be the fact that the manager was as invisible and uninvolved as the servers were attentive and engaging. You would think that on your opening day, the manager would be making the rounds, thanking people for coming in, asking them if they enjoyed their meals etc. To the contrary we couldn't even figure out who of the few "in charge" looking people meandering about actually was "in charge". None of them spoke to a single customer at any of the tables while we were there. They had better make a better effort in that regard because sadly in this day and age it will take more than just good food to keep folks coming through the doors. They need the whole package if they have hopes of surviving and it gives you pause when the person most lacking a spirit of service is the Manager.

For dessert we tried a cream puff from Beard Papa's. This is a place that Marty has been wanting to try for a while so since it was in the same general vicinity, we made it a twofer and gave it a whirl. In this case, neither of us felt that the reality lived up to the hype. The premise is that you choose your shell and filling and then they fill your cream puff for you per your choices. Reviews made it sound like the resulting pastries were mind blowing. Frankly, they were nothing special at all. Don't get me wrong - it was a tasty cream puff but nothing out of the ordinary. In fact the filling was a bit surprising in that it was more like a soft serve ice cream than the custardy, pudding like filling I was anticipating. I had the chocolate eclair shell with the dark chocolate filling. It was pleasant but average. Marty chose the cookie shell with the strawberry filling. It was fine but again nothing to write home about. Whereas, we would make the drive back down and take the calorie hit to eat the pizza at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, we will not be going back to Beard Papa's. It is not worth it.

Dessert

Beard Papa's, Orlando, FL

Eclair cream puff with dark chocolate filling

Dinner

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, Orlando FL

Baked wings with onions and focaccia bread

Pizza with ricotta, meatballs, sausage & peppers

Snack

I found a small little bit (about 1/4 cup) of my homemade coffee ice cream left in the freezer so I threw in a few chocolate covered cocoa nibs and had an afternoon pre-work out treat!

Lunch

Tuna salad

Wassa Multi Grain Crisp

Salad with blue cheese crumble & Fat Free Italian Dressing

Watermelon

Breakfast

Soft Boiled Egg

Light Whole Wheat English muffin with 37% light Smart Balance & SF Marmalade

Sliced tomatoes

Back in the saddle again

2009-07-13T22:47:00.005-04:00

Have you missed me? We were on vacation on Sanibel Island and I purposely disengaged myself from the computer for the duration. It was a wonderful respite. I did however take shots of many of my meals while we were away. So I will do a separate post with some of those highlights soon. Now I am back for a little more than a week before I leave again. This time I'll be traveling without Marty for a visit to CT *gulp* to attend my 30th HS reunion. So things will be routine for this week and then I really can't make promises. I am not sure how much computer time I will log while I am away. I may just do another vacation retrospective when I return. I will have to play that one by ear. In the meantime, it's back to the real world for this week. But honestly I wish we were still at the beach!

Dinner

Lamb chops
Saffron whole wheat orzo
Squash

Lunch

Sliced steak, tomato & Onion on rye
Cucumber salad

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls with blueberries & 1% milk
Coffee with 1 % milk

Vacation madness

2009-07-08T23:23:00.005-04:00

I will be on vacation soon. It will be the first time I will be trying to post updates from a different place on a different computer. Hopefully it won't be a problem. We shall see.

Dinner
Fishbones. Lake Mary FL

Iceburg wedge with blue cheese crumbles & balsamic vinegar
pumpernickel bread
Lamb chops, saffron orzo and grilled vegetables

Lunch
Q'Doba, Maitland FL

1/2 pork burrito

Breakfast (not pictured because I forgot to take the picture!)

Kashi Cinnamon Harvest with blueberries and 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Time to make the bagels ... again

2009-07-07T20:10:00.007-04:00

I am almost out of my homemade bagels. I have to put it on my list to make another batch once we get back from vacation. I'm hoping I'll do a little better job this time and they'll actually end up with holes in them!

I met a friend for lunch and we went to this little place that is primarily a cheesecake bakery where they also serve lunch. They just added hot dogs to their menu. Neither of us could resist. It was not a mind blowing hot dog, but I enjoyed it just the same. The best part is that they give you a free mini-cheesecake sample with every meal. It's just a little taste - but that's all you need really. It was a nice treat.

Since we are going on vacation soon I am trying to use up the things in my fridge. So tonight I scrambled up eggs with some onions and peppers and sliced up leftover steak. I served it on what was left of the roasted garlic bread we bought at the Farmers Market on Sunday with a little grated sharp cheddar cheese. It was good!

Dessert

Sugar Free Watermelon Boba Drink

Dinner

Scrambled Eggs, Steak, Peppers & Onions with grated Sharp Cheddar on Roasted Garlic Bread
Sliced Tomato with Basil & Balsamic Vinegar
Kettle Baked Lightly salted chips

Mid-Afternoon

Starbucks Light Coffee Frappuccino

Lunch
Andrea's Quality Cheesecake Orlando, FL

Chili Cheese dog with cole slaw and potato salad
Mini-chocolate cheesecake sample

Breakfast

My Everything Mini Bagel with Smart Balance Light, light cream cheese & SF Marmalade
Fresh Fruit
Coffee with 1% Milk

Market Fresh

2009-07-06T20:54:00.006-04:00

Today I took advantage of our Farmer's Market buys from yesterday and enjoyed some wonderful tomatoes, bread and watermelon. There is nothing better than the robust and earthy flavor of a great tomato. It's hard for me to resist eating them all at one sitting. I feel bad that Marty isn't a tomato fan yet at the same time sightly relieved that I get them all to myself. OK if you were here I would share with you. I promise.

Dessert

Weight Watchers Mint Ice Cream Sandwich

Dinner

Roasted Garlic Bread
Cucumber & Dilly Yogurt Salad
Watermelon salad with Feta & Fresh Mint
Whole Wheat, Chicken & Sun dried Tomato Ravioli, with garlic, Olive Oil & Tomatoes

Lunch

Grilled locally made Swiss cheese on roasted garlic bread
Tomato salad with onion, basil and balsamic vinegar

Breakfast

Fiber One Honey Oat Clusters with blueberries & 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Best Butt in Town!

2009-07-05T22:34:00.004-04:00

Today we checked out the Maitland Farmer's Market. As I suspected many of my favorite vendors from the Winter Park market are at this one as well since they are held on different days of the week. The bonus being that it is much less of a zoo. The only downside with the market today was that apparently more than half the usual vendors weren't there because of the holiday weekend so I look forward to going again when everyone is back.

While we were there, we treated ourselves to lunch from the Jerk Shack trailer and let me just say that this was some of the best BBQ pork I have ever had. I'm not kidding hands down the tastiest stuff ever. So Good! The bark was crunchy and flavorful and the meat was juicy and tender. The coconut rice and beans were the perfect compliment. I am already craving it again. As we were sitting there eating Marty turned to me and said "I could eat this every Sunday!" Let me tell you - so could I!

Dinner

Snow Crab Cluster
Fried Green Tomato & Remoulade Sauce
Corn on the Cob
Baked Sweet potato

Lunch
Jerk Shack, Maitland Farmer's Market

BBQ Pork with Coconut Rice and Beans

Breakfast

Multi Grain, banana nut blueberry pancakes with Maple Syrup
Fresh Fruit Cup
Coffee with 1% milk

Independence Day

2009-07-04T21:18:00.006-04:00

It's been a long day for me because we got up 3 hours earlier than usual to go to the race. I had a new personal best (based on my training times) so I was very pleased with my results. It was really hot and humid, even at 7:30 in the morning, and there were over 3500 people which was slightly claustrophobic for me at the beginning. But it was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing the next race as an "experienced" participant. I can now check "ran in a 5K race" off the list! Woo Hoo! I will sleep well tonight for sure (once all the fireworks calm down!)

Dinner

Snow crab clusters with cocktail sauce - I made steak for Marty since he doesn't eat seafood
Corn on the Cob with 37% Smart Balance Light
1/2 Baked Sweet potato
Fried Green Tomato with remoulade sauce

I only ate two of these clusters ... too much food!

Lunch

Weight Watchers Key Lime Pie Yogurt

Breakfast

not pictured before the Watermelon 5k race - a piece of whole grain bread with cream cheese & marmalade and 1/2 hard boiled egg. My finishing time 43:24:82!

After the race at Junior's Diner, Orlando FL

Egg white omelet with chorizo, peppers, onions & cheese
Grits
Biscuit with apple jelly
Coffee with cream

It's a Matter of Choice

2009-07-03T21:05:00.006-04:00

So tomorrow I'll be participating in my first ever 5K race. I've been training for months. Just last weekend I actually went 4.1 miles which is a mile further than I will be going tomorrow and I am more than ready. I'm really looking forward to it but I'm anxious about it too. I suppose that is how it always is with new experiences. Maybe that's why I've been drawn to old reliable comfort foods this week - like macaroni & cheese and smore's.

When you are facing the unknown - it's nice to stay grounded by something familiar. And I won't deny that food is a powerful grounding force for me. We all find ourselves eating for emotional reasons from time to time. The key for me is to be conscious of when I am doing it and to acknowledge at any point in time that I am choosing a behavior. It is not choosing me. That way I maintain control and keep myself from going overboard. It may seem like I am splitting hairs but so much about weight loss and maintenance is a mental game. I have to remind myself all the time that I am in power. I did it because I chose to. So each circumstance is different and therefore I can make a different choice.

As we head into this Fourth of July weekend I celebrate how blessed I am to live in a country where we have freedom of choice. It's good to remember what a valuable resource it is - one I hope never to take for granted.

Dessert

Geneva Cookie Smore

Dinner

Finally - the last of the chicken Tikka Masala (still good)
Brown Rice
Roasted Red Papper & Apricot chutney

Lunch
Panera, Longwood FL

Chicken & dried fugi apple salad, gorgonzola - apple dressing on side

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls, 1% milk & blueberries
Coffee with 1% milk

Let the chips fall where they may

2009-07-02T21:37:00.004-04:00

A busy afternoon of errands meant we ate out this evening. Yes, I caved and ate chips and salsa. I could have skipped the picture and you never would have been the wiser. But it is what it is and I remain accountable. Did I mention I am running in a 5K on Saturday?

Dinner
Emilianoz, Altamonte Springs FL

Chips & Salsa
Grilled Mahi Mahi, Broccoli & Cauliflower with cheese sauce, rice

Lunch
Subway, Apopka FL

6" Ham & swiss on Honey Oat Bread - all veggies, mustard
Pickle
Kettle Baked lightly salted chips

Breakfast

Fiber One Raisin Bran Oat Clusters with 1% milk
Coffee with 1% milk

Number 59

2009-07-01T18:05:00.008-04:00

Today we picked up our race packets for the Watermelon 5k we are doing this Saturday. This is my first time ever to be in any kind of a race so this was exciting for me. I have a number! In all my 47 years I have never been in any kind of athletic competition. I never played sports. I was never on a team. In fact I joke that the only test I ever cheated on in my life was the President's physical fitness test. So the fact that I have an official - you must pin this on the front of your shirt number - gets me a little choked up. Because it makes me feel like an athlete. I have a number. I am number 59.

Dessert

Vanilla Orchid Tea
bear claw from Bula Donuts

Dinner

leftover Bucatini Murano - (starring the understudy Parpadelle, see this past Saturday's post for the full story)

Lunch
Johnson's Diner, Orlando FL

Smothered chicken
Macaroni & cheese, green beans, collard greens & cornbread

Breakfast
Homemade Everything bagel, Light Cream Cheese & SF marmalade
Cup of fresh fruit
Coffee with 1% milk

Slow Food

2009-06-30T22:05:00.007-04:00

I am trying to get better about keeping my food sources local and sustainable whenever I can. This is not as easy as it sounds because we don't live in an area where this is the norm. I can't necessarily just go into my grocery store and buy local. Even buying at the farmers market does not always guarantee that the food or produce is from a farm nearby. So I am slowly figuring out where and how to get what I want. It's a process and like the slow food movement itself it takes time. But today I made some progress at keeping it close. The egg in my breakfast came from one local farm. The cheese was made by a man who has dairy cows at another. The rye bread in my lunch was baked by a man just up the street. And the watermelon in our dessert tonight was grown by a third local farmer. I like knowing where my food came from and literally who had a hand in bringing it to my table. I also like knowing that the money I spent on it went to my neighbors and will stay within the community. The bonus is that the local stuff also tastes great!

Dessert

Watermelon Boba Drinks

Dinner

leftovers: Chicken Tikka Masala (tonight added a little goat cheese)
Brown & Wild rice
Roasted Red Pepper & Apricot Chutney
Iced Green Tea

Lunch

Chicken & Portobello Mushroom Burger, provolone cheese on rye
Kettle Baked lightly salted chips
pickle
Sprite Zero

Breakfast

Soft Boiled egg, Swiss cheese on Light English Muffin
Sliced Tomato
Coffee with 1% milk

To Everything There is a Season ...

2009-06-29T17:58:00.007-04:00

Tonight we met a friend at Seasons 52. This is one of the Darden family of restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster) but the concept is rather unusual. As their name would imply they have a seasonal menu that focuses on whatever is flavorful and fresh that season and where their specials are concerned - that week. They use natural cooking methods like oak grilling to impart flavor without the excess calories typical in similar restaurant fare. No meal has more than 475 calories which means that their portions are realistic. They also have one of the best wine selections available with an offering of over 120 wines, 60 of which are available by the glass. I truly hope that this becomes Darden's most popular chain because it is such a wonderful concept whose time is way overdue. The food is thoughtfully prepared, wonderfully flavorful and healthy to boot. Even their desserts allow you the freedom to enjoy a little indulgence without going overboard. I highly recommend it.

Dinner & Dessert
Seasons 52, Altamonte Springs FL

Not pictured: a shared appetizer - Spicy pork taco flat bread
Alaskan Copper River Salmon with corn risotto and asparagus
Mocha Machiato mini indulgence
Coffee with 2% milk

Lunch

Egg Salad on Rye
Kettle Baked Lightly salted chips
Dill Pickle
Nectarine

Breakfast

Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls & Blueberries in 1% milk. And yes, you are very observant, some of these blueberries are still frozen. Don't be alarmed they defrost the minute they come in contact with the milk. Trust me!
Coffee with 1% milk

You Can't Tikka This Meal for Granted!

2009-06-28T16:17:00.007-04:00

First things first, I must give credit where credit is due. Marty came up with today's title, not me. I wish I had but it is all him. We've been out and about a lot this past week and as much as I enjoy dining out, I find it is also nice to get back into my own kitchen and cook. Frankly I often find that I enjoy my own cooking more anyway. Tonight was no exception to that rule.

Now since I am confessing things, I'll also admit that I did not make the tikka masala sauce myself. Yesterday when we were at The World Market I came across Patak's Tikka Masala Cooking Sauce 15oz (Tangy Lemon & Cilantro) which looked really good. So we bought a jar. This made getting tonight's meal together really easy but of course I still had to give it the Mimi touch. So first I browned 2 cut up whole organic chicken breasts and 3 thighs in some canola oil. Once they had browned I removed them from the pan and added some sliced carrots, onions and green peppers to the oil that was left in the bottom and cooked them until the onion had turned translucent and the carrots had begun to soften. Then I added the chicken pieces back to the pot, poured the jar of sauce in and mixed it around until everything was coated. Finally I added some cut up fresh pineapple, covered and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

As a side I made a roasted red pepper and apricot chutney, the recipe for which can be found in the summer 2009 edition of the Publix greenwise market magazine. Unfortunately, they haven't updated their website yet but this link will take you there http://tiny.cc/KMd7E. Just keep checking and I'm sure they will put it up soon. Or if you live in an area where they have Publix supermarkets you can pick up a free copy at any store. I actually subscribe to it because it usually has good coupons, articles and obviously recipes! I served the chicken and chutney along with a mix of wild and brown rice.

The Tikka Masala sauce had a wonderful flavor. The jar said that it was medium spicy but truth be told it was actually pretty mild. So if you tend to shy away from curry because of the heat factor, this would be a good option for you. If you prefer some heat in your curry, you would want to doctor this up yourself. The label also said that there were approximately 3 servings of sauce in the jar but as I made it there was double that amount. There are easily enough leftovers for two more meals. Although I usually prefer to prepare meals like this from scratch, using this jarred sauce gave me a quick and easy route to a flavorful dinner. I'll tikka that anytime!

Dinner

Chicken Tikka Masala
Brown & Wild Rice Mix
Red Pepper & Apricot Chutney

Lunch

Leftover homemade multigrain pizza: potatoes, red pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, broccoli, goat cheese and provalone.

Breakfast
Peach Valley Cafe, Lake Mary FL

Poached eggs on dry English muffin with roasted tomato, red onion & asparagus
Hollandaise on the side (fork dip method)
Grits
Fruit cup
Coffee with skim milk

Pre-run Snack

Light Cream cheese & SF marmalade on multi-grain bread
Mini Banana

(ran 4.11 miles interval training)

The Best Laid Plans

2009-06-27T20:51:00.007-04:00

Some days just take an unexpected turn and all you can do is brace yourself and enjoy the ride. Today started out on an uneventful note. After lunch we went over to The World Market and picked up a few things including some new flavors of Torani Sugar Free syrups (see yesterday's post re: Boba drinks). I think that the raspberry flavor might be fun in the fruit Boba drinks and that the Irish Cream might add an interesting note to a tea version.

Anyway for dinner we decided to try a new Italian restaurant that has recently opened up in a favorite spot of ours near the movie theater where you can sit outside by a lake and enjoy the fresh air and then walk right over to the show. But first we bought our tickets so we so we would not feel rushed at dinner. Then things started to turn.

In this day and age when established restaurants with followings are dropping like flies, how you can open a new place without training your staff to the max is beyond me. That is to say, although pleasant enough, our server was uneducated when it came to the menu. Marty: "Is the pasta stuffed?" Our server "I'm not sure ... I believe so ... yes ... I think" and then a few beats later "No, I don't think it is". Us: "What is the difference between the single serving and family style?" Our server "Family style is larger." She just seemed confused and tentative and Marty noted that several of the other servers had a similarly baffled expression.

And tell me why would you bother to have a signature item on your menu called Bucatini Murano if you don't have any bucatini? Our server told me that most people substitute penne pasta instead. I mean the dish has bucatini in the name! So tonight the role of bucatini was played by parpadella in my dish. But after all that our entree's were slow coming out so I wound up only eating about a third of the pasta before throwing the rest into a to-go box so we wouldn't be late for the movie. The food wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't worth the price.

We hustled across the parking lot to the theater and admittedly still a little hungry, we splurged on a popcorn and a drink. With 10 minutes to spare we dodged the line for The Transformers movie and headed into our theater to enjoy The Hangover. That is until we discovered that there were no seats left. The place was packed like it was the opening weekend not several weeks into the run. Good news for the producers, bad news for us. So back home we came - full bag of popcorn, drink, rain checks and leftovers in hand. Oh well, like I said, the best laid plans ...

Dessert

Weight Watchers Mint Chocolate chip cone

Dinner
Cafe Murano, Altamonte Springs, FL

Bread with Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar dip
Caesar Salad
Bucatini Murano (Pasta tossed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, mushrooms, prosciutto, pancetta, peas, reggiano parmigiano & pecorino cheese)

Lunch

Grilled (with smart balance light) ham & swiss cheese on rye
Maui potato chips
Pickle
Diet green Tea

Breakfast

Homemade bagel with light cream cheese & sugar free marmalade
Cup of fresh fruit
Coffee with 1% milk

If at first you don't succeed, Boba, Boba again

2009-06-26T22:46:00.007-04:00

So if you have been following this blog for a while you know that I have been trying to perfect a lower calorie healthier version of the Boba fruit and tea drinks common in Vietnamese restaurants. What I learned as I did research was that the boba beads are pearls of tapioca (made from casava root) that have been boiled until chewy (like a gummy bear) and then soaked in a solution of sugar syrup until they absorb the sweetness. This accounts for the high calorie content on the beads. The other primary ingredient in these drinks is usually sweetened condensed milk and possibly a powdered creamer - also very high in calories. Sweetened condensed milk is scary high. So I tried a few lighter variations.

First I made a low fat, sugar free version of sweetened condensed milk using a recipe I found that included powdered skim milk, Splenda and water. This was not quite the flavor I was seeking. The powdered milk gave it that, well, powdered milk taste that I am not really fond of. I also went on a quest to find the large Boba pearls. Today we went to Dong A Market in Orlando - a local Asian market - where I found them. As a side note this place is amazing and I could have wandered around for hours looking at everything they had. If anyone has a suggestion for how to use real cinnamon bark - the kind that's the size of a rolling pin let me know because I now have a bag of that in my kitchen too.

Anyway, with the Boba pearls in hand I tried one more time to come up with a healthy alternative. So here is what I did and I must say it was a winner. First I boiled the Boba per the package directions for 5 minutes. Then I removed them from the hot water and put them aside in a bowl and covered them with Torani Sugar Free syrup. I used a combination of vanilla & caramel because that is what I had on hand. I let them steep in the syrup for about an hour & 1/2 while we ate dinner. Later I took 2 cups of watermelon, 4 Tbsp of fat free evaporated milk, 2 cups of crushed ice and Splenda to taste (about 1/4 cup) and blended them together. I filled the bottom of two glasses with the syrup soaked Boba pearls and poured in the watermelon mixture. The result was a very authentic tasting beverage with the fun of the chewy sweet boba pearls and very few calories. Marty gave it the thumbs up.

The bag said that a serving of Boba was 1/3 of a cup for 110 calories. But we actually found this amount to be overkill. Half that amount would have been more than enough. In that case you are looking at a drink that would have a cup of watermelon (40 cal), 2 tbsp of fat free evaporated milk (25 cal) and about 55 cal worth of Boba pearls. Compare that to the restaurant version that can vary from 400 to 1000 calories per glass and I would say that's a pretty good savings!

Dessert

Watermelon Boba Drink

Dinner
Leftover from Mykonos, Longwood FL

Salmon, Mixed veggies with light feta crumble , lima beans, bread & Olive Oil

Mid-afternoon Treat
Seven Sisters Coffee House, Orlando FL
Wild Woman Chocolate, Orlando FL

Iced light Coffee Latte
Chocolate samples and blueberry cardamon truffle

Lunch
Virgin Olive Market, Orlando Fl

1/2 Curry Chicken wrap on whole wheat
Maui Onion potato chips
Ice Tea

Breakfast

Soft boiled egg on light English Muffin with onion & tomato
Cup of fresh fruit
Coffee with 1% milk

A Day in the Mediterranean

2009-06-25T22:40:00.010-04:00

After work today I went to the Olive Garden with a my receptionist Debbie for lunch. That was a treat. But then I got home and found out that I had a present waiting. Our new I-Phones had arrived! So Marty and I spent all afternoon playing with our new toys. Before I knew it, it had blown through the time to make dinner and was well into the time to eat dinner. So we ran up the street for some Greek food. Well, actually we drove - If we had run there I could have eaten more bread!

Dinner
Mykonos, Longwood FL

Chicken Dumpling Soup
Bread with olive oil
Grilled salmon, mixed veggies & lima beans (I ate half and brought half home)

Lunch
The Olive Garden, Orlando, FL

Salad with light dressing on the side
One Breadstick
One bowl Pasta Fagiola

Breakfast

Go Lean Waffle
Yoplait Fiber One Strawberry Yogurt
Strawberries & Blueberries
Coffee with 1% Milk

Better in my Mind - Lessons Learned

2009-06-24T16:28:00.009-04:00

My supermarket has multi-grain pizza dough at the ready in the deli area so yesterday I picked up a bag. I decided to use it to make a pizza for lunch today. I've had pizza before that had potatoes on it so since I had some leftover in the fridge I thought I would use them along with some goat cheese as the base for this pizza. I'll just say that it didn't come out the way I had hoped. Oddly they somehow made the whole thing kind of dry. I should have given it a good dousing of olive it after it had cooked - but I didn't want to go overboard on the oil. Oh well. I'll know better next time.

And for the record, pizza cutters and silicone cookie sheet liners don't mix. I'm just saying.

Dinner

Grass Fed Beef Cheeseburger
Baked Beans
Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries

Treat

A handful of M&M's
Lunch

Whole grain pizza, goat cheese, potato, broccoli, red pepper, tomato

Snack

Nectarine

Breakfast
Panera, Lake Mary FL

Egg & Cheese on Ciabatta

Morning - PreRun

Arnold Whole Grain Bread with Light Cream Cheese & SF Marmalade
Mini Banana

A Case for Leftovers

2009-06-23T23:20:00.005-04:00

I did grocery shopping today so I wanted to clear out some of the leftovers that were still lurking in the fridge to make room. It made it a nice easy day for me. I like nice easy days!

Dessert

Weight Watchers Brownie
Breyers Slow Churned Sugar Free Vanilla & a sugar free caramel drizzle
Fat Free Redi whip

Dinner

Goat Cheese, Broccoli & Spinach Quiche
Side Salad with light vinaigrette & grated Parmesan
Potatoes & Onions
Slice of Rye toast with Smart Balance Light

Snack

Weight Watchers Cookies & Cream Mini Bar

Lunch
Leftovers from The White Wolf Cafe, Orlando FL

Eggplant Rolatini
Steamed Veggies

Breakfast

Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls, 1% milk & Blueberries
Cup of fresh fruit
Coffee with 1% milk

Going off Script

2009-06-22T22:10:00.006-04:00

When you act in a play, you memorize words that are not your own and take on another persona. The journey you take is mapped out by the playwright and your director and for the few hours that you are on stage, you invite the audience in and they come along for the ride. Along the way, true magic happens in the moments when you stop acting all together and find yourself just being. You are not thinking about your next line or stage direction and it all flows out of you naturally. That's when the experience transcends the fantasy of story telling and the audience is pulled in to an even deeper place. The wall is gone and they are in the moment with you. I honestly only had that happen myself a few times on stage but they remain vividly imprinted in my memory - because it is a really great feeling to be that grounded and authentic in something. The highest compliment I can ever offer any of my actor friends is to admit that I no longer saw "them" on stage - only the character they were portraying.

Ideally at some point you want the journey of weight loss and maintenance to make a similar shift. You want to reach a point when you are living the lifestyle rather than acting it. When what once you had to think about and rehearse, becomes second nature. I have maintained my own weight loss for a year and a half now and I really want to put down the script and see how well I can perform without it. I need to find out if I am simply acting the part or if I have transcended to that authentic grounded place where I am actually living it.

So as I make this shift to really focusing on living the lifestyle, you will notice that my posts no longer show points values. I hope you will enjoy being in this moment with me.

Dessert

Mint Ice Cream Sandwich

Dinner

Tomatoes, onion & blue cheese crumbles with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar
3.5 oz 90% Lean Grass fed beef burger on whole wheat slider bun, with caramelized onions and cheese sauce (sharp cheddar & light cream cheese melted together)
Vegetarian Baked Beans
Corn on the cob with Smart Balance 37% Light spread

Lunch

Pulled pork on Arnold Select Multi-Grain Bread with Tomato & Onion
Vegetarian Baked Beans
Cucumber & Onion Salad

Breakfast

Kashi Honey Oat Clusters, 1% milk, blueberries
Coffee with 1% milk

In memory of my Dad, Hal

2009-06-21T20:51:00.010-04:00

It's been 19 years since my Dad passed away and yet I still miss him like crazy. He loved the summer time - swimming, grilling, clam bakes, puttering around in the yard, enjoying an ice cold beer on a really hot day. So it seemed fitting that we celebrated Father's Day today with my in laws in a way that my own Dad and Mom would have loved - a simple backyard BBQ. As I stood out by the pool today, grilling up our burgers, I felt really close to my Dad. Many were the times that he stood in a similar fashion, rain or shine, huddled next to a grill cooking our food. Knowing that I am his living legacy in all that I am and all that I do makes me proud - even if at the time I am just making hamburgers.

I loved you Dad ... Happy Father's Day!

No little rain shower would keep my Dad from his grilling duty!

Dessert

Fresh Fruit (1 Pt)

Dinner

90% lean Grass Fed Beef Burger, with cheese & onion straws (8.5 Pts)
Baked Beans (2.5 pts)
Cucumber salad with Blue Cheese crumbles (2 Pts)
Potato Salad (5 pts)
Corn on the Cob with Smart Balance 37% Light (2 pts)

Lunch

Ham & Swiss Cheese sandwich (3.5 Pts)
Kettle Baked chips (1.5 pts)
Pickle (0)

Breakfast

Thomas' Light Multi-Grain English Muffin w/ Smart Balance light (1.5 Pts)
Hard Boiled Egg (2 Pts)
Tomato, onion & spinach bruschetta ( 1 Pt)
Cantaloupe (1 Pt)
Coffee (.5 Pt)

Saturday in the Park (Winter Park that is)

2009-06-20T16:20:00.007-04:00

We started this morning off at the Winter Park Farmers Market. My thoughts of wandering about and finding inspiration from the produce were dissuaded once we arrived. Frankly it was a bit of a zoo and about 2,000 degrees so we did an about face and instead of lingering over the lettuce we blew through pretty fast. As we raced around, I managed to grab some really good looking tomatoes, some corn, red peppers, a watermelon and some locally made Swiss cheese from the Winter Park Dairy. Sweaty and a bit tousled by the crowd we left the market in favor of cooler environs to go eat breakfast.

Tonight was ladies night out. I was meeting some friends for dinner then we were all going to see the play "Sordid Lives" that another friend of ours is in. The food was good but of course it was made all the better by the company of friends! If you live in the Orlando area, you still have a week to go see the show as it has been held over for one more week. Go to the Theater Downtown website for details. It is a really fun show (and I would say that even if our friend Katrina wasn't in it!)

Dinner
White Wolf Cafe, Orlando FL

Smoked salmon appetizer - shared by the group (2 pts)
Caesar Salad - dressing on the side (2 Pts)
Eggplant rolatini with steamed veggies - I ate 1/2 of what is pictured (8 Pts)
Cosmopolitan - it was ladies night, come on I had to have a Cosmo! (4 Pts)
Michelob Ultra - at the show (2 Pts)

Midafternoon snack
not pictured

2 slices Boars Head Maple Glazed ham (.5 pt)
Weight Watcher string cheese stick (1 Pt)

Brunch
Bakely's, Winter Park FL

Egg white omelet with feta, gyro meat, tomato & onion (3.5 Pts)
Fresh Fruit (1 Pt)
1/2 slice dry rye toast (.5 Pt)
Coffee with 1% milk (1 Pt)

Friday's Foibles

2009-06-20T15:34:00.003-04:00

One thing I have noticed since beginning this Blog is that even when I feel like I have been less than stellar regarding my food choices, looking back over it all at the end of the day gives me some perspective. I find that more often than not I have made more positive choices than negative and I see that as progress.

I won't deny that I struggled today. I was resentful of the process. I was tired of being mindful. Yet when it came down to it, despite those feelings, I held my ground. Maybe I stuck a toe in but I certainly did not jump off the deep end. I had a nice breakfast, a reasonable amount of pizza for lunch and found a pretty good balance at the BBQ joint. I ordered collards instead of coleslaw. I skipped the Texas toast. I fork dipped the BBQ sauce rather than pouring it on. And I only ate half of my portion of pulled pork. Considering my frame of mind and the possibilities - I think that was a win.

At the movies I resisted the temptation of a Free Large Popcorn and opted instead for a 100 calorie bag of Jolly Time that I snuck in. Did I mention it would have been FREE? So I managed to survive my Friday foibles with minimal damage. Yes, I think that is progress indeed.

Dinner
Shane's Rib shack, Altamonte Springs FL

BBQ Pulled Pork - I ate half of the pictured amount (6.5 Pts)
Brunswick Stew (2 Pts)
Collard Greens (0 Pts)

not pictured: at the movies I snuck in Jolly Time Healthy Popcorn (1 Pt)

Lunch

1 1/2 slices of leftover pizza (9.5 Pts)

Breakfast

Go Lean Crunch with Activia Light Raspberry yogurt (4 Pts)
Cantaloupe (1 Pt)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)

Tonight my Freezer was my Inspiration

2009-06-18T21:52:00.007-04:00

Lately, I am really trying to "shop" my freezer when it comes time to cook. So often I buy things that end up getting shoved to the back and eventually tossed without me using them. Such was the case with 1/2 a package of frozen pie crust that I needed to use soon or lose. I decided to use it tonight on a lightened up quiche. Usually they call for whole milk and cream. I used skim milk in this one and it worked out just fine.

For the filling I sauteed chopped green & sweet white onions, garlic, broccoli and spinach in a pan until tender. I added some fresh ground nutmeg, salt & pepper to taste. Then I let the mixture cool. I also baked the crust off and put it aside to cool. While they were cooling, in a separate bowl I beat 4 eggs, plus one egg yolk together with a cup of skim milk.

To assemble I added the cooled vegetables to the pie crust and spread them around evenly. I poured the egg & milk mixture into the crust. Then I dropped pieces of goat cheese throughout the mixture. I topped it off with a very light grating of cheddar cheese and baked it in a 400 degree oven until the custard had cooked and had turned golden brown (about 35 minutes).

Dinner

Spinach, Broccoli $ Goat Cheese Quiche (10.5 Pts)
Potatoes & Onions (5.5 Pts)

Lunch

Ham sandwich on Arnold Select with the laughing cow cheese (3 Pts)
Kettle Baked chips (1 Pt)
Pickle (0)

Breakfast

My Everything Bagel, Smart Balance Light, SF marmalade (3.5 Pts)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)
Not pictured - banana (1.5 Pts)

To Eat or Garlic Knot to Eat ... that is the Question

2009-06-17T21:23:00.007-04:00

I saw an ad for a relatively new pizza place across town that advertised that they used a wood burning oven. Since this type of pizza is hard to come by I really wanted to give it a try. Tonight I succumbed and we went there for a pie. I was hungry and pizza is a weakness. That combination can spell disaster for me. As it turned out their pizza had a very thin crust and was not very oily so it could have been worse calorically but this also meant that it really wasn't very flavorful. I was sad because I really wanted it to be special. Instead it was just average. I would take the Grandma's pizza at Carmela's ten times over this one any day. Yet did I still manage to eat too much of it? Yes I did! Tomorrow is another day.

Dinner
Adolfo's Tuscano Bistro, Winter Springs FL

Pizza (15 Pts)
Garlic knots (6 Pts)
Bud Lite (2 Pts)

Lunch

Gyro meat & feta crumbles on Arnold Select bread (6.5)
Pickle (0)
Fresca (0)

Breakfast
Fiber One Raisin Bran clusters (4 Pts)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)
mid morning snack (not pictured) Weight Watchers Ginger snaps (2 Pts)

Waste not Want not: Cleaning out the Fridge

2009-06-16T21:30:00.009-04:00

We had accumulated an assortment of leftovers over the course of the past few days - so today I finished them off. For lunch I had the second half of my Asian pulled pork sandwich and for dinner we had a combination of leftover wings from one night and pasta from the other.

Now last night I intended to try to replicate the avocado shake I have had at a Vietnamese restaurant only in a lightened up version. Sadly I discovered at the last minute that I had waited too long and my avocado had turned funky. Not to be deterred, I picked up a fresh one at the market today and went forward with my experiment tonight. To lighten it up, first I bought a lower fat "slimcado" which has 35% fewer calories and 50% less fat than a regular one. In lieu of the sweetened condensed milk usually found in these shakes, I used the sugar free alternative I found on the CD Kitchen website. Finally I used Splenda instead of regular sugar. I was pretty pleased with the result and it was certainly much lower in calories than the traditional version.

Dessert

Vietnamese style Avocado shake - lightened up (3.5 pts)

Slimmed Down Vietnamese Avocado Shake

1/2 Slimcado Avocado
1/4 cup condensed milk substitute (see link above)
1 cup ice
1-2 Tbsp Splenda to taste

Put it all in a blender and mix until it reaches milkshake consistency. Enjoy!

Dinner

Salad, light feta, crunchy onions, light Italian dressing (3 Pts)
Baked chicken wings (3 Pts)
Pasta Aglio Olio (4.5)

Snack

Weight Watcher peanut butter cookie (1 Pt)

Lunch
Leftover from Pom Poms Tea House & Sandwicheria, Orlando FL

1/2 Fu Man Chu: pork, goat cheese, cranberry chutney on pumpernickel (6 Pts)
Asian slaw (0 Pts)
Kettle Baked BBQ chips (1.5 pts)
Pickle (0)
Iced Diet Green Tea (0)

Breakfast

Barbara's Bakery Shredded Spoonfuls, skim milk, blueberries (3 Pts)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)

An "Eggpiphany" for Breakfast

2009-06-15T10:04:00.007-04:00

I watched a piece about Alice Waters on 60 minutes last night and she made Leslie Stahl a really wonderful looking breakfast. For the record my dream kitchen of all dream kitchens will have a wood burning pizza oven and/or a cooking fireplace like hers. Anyway, I digress. Not unlike the breakfast she served to Leslie, I too love to have things like tomato, onion and spinach with my eggs. Often I will take a toasted English muffin, top it with some spinach leaves then a slice of tomato and finally a soft boiled egg. Sometimes I'll add some grated sharp cheddar cheese into the mix. While this arrangement tastes great at times it is a bit cumbersome to eat because the tomato and the egg tend to slide around.

So, I had a kind of epiphany while watching Alice Waters when she made a bruchetta-like topping to accompany her egg and toast. Simply brilliant. By chopping the vegetables up and mixing them together with a little olive oil they became cohesive. I realize you are probably sitting there saying to yourselves - well, DUH! But I tell you for whatever reason it never occured to me to cut them up and mix them together like a salad, until this morning. So thanks to Alice Waters I enjoyed a new variation on an old favorite. Oh and it was really good too!

Dessert

Weight Watchers Key Lime pie yogurt, FF Redi-Whip, graham cracker crumbs (1.5 Pts)

Dinner

Tamale with Guacamole & light sour cream (4 Pts)
Tostado with cheese sauce, light sour cream & guacamole (5 Pts)

Lunch
Red Lobster, Altamonte Springs, FL

Tossed salad with oil & vinegar (1.5 Pts)
Oak grilled Rainbow trout (3 Pts)
Baked potato with sour cream (4 Pts)
Steamed Broccoli (0 Pts)

Breakfast

Soft Boiled egg on English muffin w/ tomato, spinach, onion salad (4 Pts)
Pineapple & strawberries (1 Pt)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)

Roll out those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer!

2009-06-14T15:38:00.006-04:00

It was a hot lazy Sunday for me today. Well, lazy after I went to the gym and did 5K on the treadmill. On my way home from the gym, I picked up a gyro to eat for lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the computer or reading out by the pool. It is supposed to be a day of rest, right? So I took that to heart and did just that - rested. In keeping with the theme I wanted to make a light easy meatless dinner, so I opted for some pasta with garlic and olive oil. We are huge garlic fans around here so this is actually one of our favorite ways to have pasta. It fit the bill perfectly. Now I am a lazy, garlicky girl. It doesn't get much better than that!

Dinner

Tossed salad with Light Italian Dressing & Parmesan Cheese (1.5 Pts)
Pasta Aglio Olio (10 pts)
1 1/2 Pillsbury Whole wheat dinner rolls (2 Pts)

Mid afternoon snack

Strawberry & Cantaloupe smoothie (2 Pts)

Lunch
from Mykonos, Longwood FL

Gyro, sauce on the side (8 Pts)
(they put so much meat on these that I remove half of it to eat again later)

Breakfast

My Everything Bagel, Light Cream Cheese & SF Marmalade (4.5 pts)
Cup of Fresh fruit (1 Pt)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)

Just Winging It!

2009-06-13T21:26:00.006-04:00

Tonight we went out for wings which normally would be a bad thing for anyone watching their weight. But not for us because we went to the Wing House where they offer "Naked" wings. These wings have been marinated and are baked skinless. We also get them dry with sauce on the side so we are really able to keep the calorie count down to a minimum. It's nice to be able to feed a craving without expanding our waistlines too much!

Dinner
Wing House, Altamonte Springs FL

Salad with Fat Free Italian Dressing (1.5 Pts)
Naked Wings (No skin, marinated & Baked) sauce on the side (6 Pts)

Lunch
from Pom Pom's Teahouse & Sandwicheria, Orlando FL

1/2 Fu Man Chu Oriental Pork Sandwich, pork, cranberry chutney, goat cheese on Pumpernickel Bread (6 Pts)
1/2 Banana chocolate chip cupcake with peanut butter frosting (2 Pts)

Breakfast

Kashi Cinnamon Harvest with Activia Light Yogurt & Banana (4.5 Pts)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)

... Sometimes You Don't

2009-06-12T18:08:00.008-04:00

We had a busy day today and wound up out and about for both breakfast and lunch. When dinner time rolled around we weren't very hungry and I wasn't very inspired so I pulled some leftover pizza out of the freezer and called it a day. What can I say? Sometimes you feel like a cook ... sometimes you don't!

Dinner

from Pastavino's, Apopka FL

Leftover frozen white pizza with meatballs, onion & garlic (12 Pts)

Lunch
Taproom at Dubsdread, Orlando FL

Reuben on light rye, no dressing, not grilled (8 Pts)
Fries & rings (5 Pts)
Pickle (0)
Iced Tea (0)

Breakfast
Christo's Cafe, College Park FL

Small egg white omelet with cheddar cheese (4 Pts)
Dry Rye Toast (3 Pts)
Grits (1.5 Pts)
Sliced Tomato (0)
Coffee w/ milk (1.5Pt)

I Get Around: Visiting Mexico and Vietnam in one Night

2009-06-11T15:41:00.008-04:00

The best part about working hard to cook a special meal is the break you get when you have the chance to eat the leftovers the next day! Today was no exception as we enjoyed a return performance by my chipotle chicken tamales. Yes, they were as good the second time around; she said while patting herself on the back. I also had some cut up watermelon in the fridge that was just past it's prime so I decided to work on my quest to perfect a healthy alternative to the classic Vietnamese fruit drinks my husband and I really enjoy. I am still trying to see if I can find a local source for the Boba or tapioca pearls - but I figured there was no harm in working on the drink without them.

The other day I was able to find one recipe online for a sugar free substitute for condensed milk which is a major ingredient in these drinks. This alternative only has three ingredients - water, Splenda and powdered fat free milk - all of which I had on hand. So I made up a batch and still had it in the fridge. I took the cubed up watermelon (about 2 cups worth), a few TBSP of the condensed milk alternative, a little extra Splenda and about 2 cups of ice and blended them all together. The flavor was pretty close to what I've had at Vietnamese restaurants although I am still tweaking the proportions. The last piece of the puzzle is to get the Tapioca pearls and to find a way to impart them with sweetness without using the huge amounts of sugar that regular recipes call for and that contribute mightily to the excessive calorie count on the original versions. I am thinking that maybe a sugar free syrup like Torani might work. I'll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, I think I'm almost there on the drink part.

Dinner

Leftover Tamales, salsa, light sour cream (9 Pts)
Brown Rice (2 Pts)
Tostones (1 Pt)
Vietnamese Watermelon Fruit Drink (1.5 Pts)

Lunch

Pressed Boars Head ham & salami on Arnold select bread with tomato, onion, cream cheese, SF orange marmalade & honey mustard. Might sound odd but it rocks! (3 Pts)
Kettle Baked BBQ chips (1 Pt)
Fresh Fruit (1 Pt)

Breakfast

Fiber One Raisin Bran Clusters, banana, skim milk (4 Pts)
Coffee with skim milk (1 Pt)

Putting Myself on the Hot Tamale Train

2009-06-10T15:03:00.011-04:00

I'll admit that one of my guilty pleasures is to watch "So You Think You Can Dance." I am just so amazed by the talent on that show and find myself transported by the dancing. And one of the things the dancers are always striving for is to have the one judge, Mary Murphy, tell them they have landed on the Hot Tamale Train. Trust me - it's a good thing. Well tonight I put myself on that train by making some really great tamales for dinner. This was my first trip on the tamale land express and I have just one thing to say about the results ... WOO WOO!

I served mine up with some red and green salsa. On the side I made fried plantains (Tostones) with a sauce of lemon & pineapple juice, minced garlic, salt and chopped cilantro.

For dessert we had Ina Garten's take on s'mores just like we had on Monday. Guess you could say we had some more s'mores! Isn't that redundant?

Dessert

S'more (4 Pts)

Toasted Marshmallow between 2 Pepperidge Farm Geneva Cookies!

Dinner

2 Chipotle Chicken Tamales (8 Pts)

Light Sour Cream (1 Pt)

Tostones with garlic sauce (1 Pt)

Iced Green Tea (0)

How I made the Tamales:

For the filling

1 pound chicken thighs bone in
1/2 medium onion cut in quarters
3 cloves garlic
corn kernels from 1 ear of corn (or 1/2 cup frozen kernels)
1 small chopped green pepper
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 Chipotle Pepper in Adobo sauce chopped + 1-2 Tbsp of the sauce

1/4 cup prepared salsa
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
salt & pepper to taste

Place chicken in a pot and cover with water. Add onion quarters and cloves of garlic. Bring water to a boil then cover and simmer until chicken is cooked (about 1.5 hrs). Remove chicken from pot and discard the skin. Then pull the meat from the bone and shred. Put two cups of the cooking liquid to the side and discard or save the rest for future use.

In the same pot heat oil until shimmery then add the chopped onions & peppers & shredded chicken. You can also add back in the already cooked onions & garlic cloves if you want. Cook until the chopped onions turn translucent. Then add the chipotle pepper, adobo sauce (to taste depending on how hot you like it), corn, salsa, cilantro and salt & pepper to taste. Allow mixture to cook for another 10 minutes. Put to the side and allow to cool.

For the dough

2 cups masa or corn meal flour

2 cups lukewarm reserved cooking liquid/ broth/ or water

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup lard or shortening (I used organic non hydrogenated vegetable shortening)

Whisk the dry ingredients together then add broth and mix with your hand until you have a soft dough. Finally add the shortening and beat together until fully incorporated.

To make the tamale

First soak dried corn husks in water to soften, then keep them moist under a damp towel while you assemble the tamales. Take one husk and lay it open. Spread some dough on the upper (wider) part of the husk - careful to not go all the way to the edge.

Then place some filling in the middle.

Pull the husk closed over the filling like you are closing a trifold brochure - first one side then the other then fold the bottom portion up. This will serve to encase the meat filling in the dough. As you make the tamales, bundle every two or three together to help keep them closed and either tie them with kitchen twine, strips of corn husk or you can use kitchen grade, heat tolerant rubber bands like I did.

Stand them up in the basket part of a steamer, cover and steam for 1 hr.

Lunch

Boars Head Ham & Salami sandwich, tomato, onion, mustard (2 Pts)
Baked Kettle Brand BBQ chips (1 Pt)
Cherries (.5 Pt)
Fresca (0)

Breakfast
Peach Valley Cafe, Lake Mary FL

Poached eggs, grilled tomato, asparagus & onions on dry rye toast (7 Pts)
Grits (3 Pts)
Fresh fruit (.5 Pts)
Coffee with Skim Milk (1 Pt)

Before my Morning Run - (Not pictured)

1/2 Arnold Select Multigrain round with cream cheese & SF marmalade (1 Pt)

Beef so nice I ate it twice

2009-06-09T21:56:00.004-04:00

This evening we ate hamburgers I had leftover from yesterday. I didn't have any more sweet potatoes to make more fries so instead I borrowed from the onion ring recipe in the Hungry Girl cookbook to make a crispy onion straw topping for the burgers. However I gave it my own little bit of a twist. Instead of making traditional thick onion rings to eat on the side, I used a mandolin to very thinly slice half an onion then put the slices in a bag. I added some egg white, ground up fiber one cereal and about a tsp of canola oil and mixed them all around until the onions were nicely coated. Then I removed them from the bag and cooked them on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven until they were crispy and brown. They made a great guilt free treat piled high on our burgers. Who says full flavor has to be fattening?

Dessert

Weight Watchers mint ice cream cone (2 Pts)

Dinner

Grass fed beef burger, onion straws, cheese sauce (9 Pts)

Corn on the cob (2 Pts)

Fresca (0)

Lunch

First Watch, Longwood FL

Egg White Omelette with turkey, spinach, tomato & feta (5 Pts)

Dry Rye Toast (3 Pts)

Fruit cup (.5 Pts)

Diet Coke (0)

Breakfast

Fiber One Honey Oat Clusters, 1% milk, Blueberries (4 Pts)

Coffee with 1% milk (1 Pt)

Grass Fed Beef - Outstanding in it's field!

2009-06-08T21:39:00.006-04:00

Tonight I made some great burgers with 90% lean, southern grass fed beef. It really is true when they say that this beef just tastes better. Some people think it is gamier than conventionally grain fed beef. I don't find that to be the case, I simply think it is more flavorful. I topped ours with some grilled onions and a melted light cream cheese/sharp cheddar cheese blend that I have really come to love. By mixing the two I am able to enjoy the cheddar flavor in a lighter way. A four ounce portion of beef cooked down and fit a small whole wheat slider bun perfectly. This way we still had a full burger experience without the bread hit from a big hamburger bun.

I served the burgers along with a tossed salad and baked maple crunch sweet potato fries. They are so easy and so tasty! I made them about a week ago but in case you missed that entry I'll post my recipe again below. Trust me you'll love them!

Finally for dessert I made a special treat. I can't take credit for this one as I saw Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) make these on a recent show and it was a slap my forehead and say DUH! moment for me. Why I never thought of doing this before is beyond me. Very simply she made s'mores using a prepared chocolate covered cookie in lieu of a graham cracker and a chocolate bar - so much easier and just as yummy. I bought Pepperidge Farm Geneva cookies and they fit the bill (and one marshmallow) perfectly.

Dessert

Pepperidge Farm Geneva S'More (4 Pts)

Dinner

Southern Grass Fed Beef burger, with cheese & onions on Whole Wheat slider bun (9.5 Pts)

Salad with feta and Newman's Own Light Italian (1.5 Pts)

Baked Maple Crunch Sweet Potato Fries (2 Pts)

Baked Maple Crunch Sweet Potato Fries

1 Large Sweet potato, peeled and cut into planks

1/2 cup finely ground up Original Fiber One Cereal

1 Tbsp canola Oil

1 Tbsp Maple Syrup (I like B grade)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp Splenda

Salt to taste

Place all ingredients in a zip lock bag and mix them around until the potatoes are nicely coated. Then remove them from the bag and place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and cook in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Makes 2-3 servings.

Lunch

Boars Head maple glazed ham & salami, cheddar cheese on light English muffin (3.5)

Kettle Baked BBQ chips (1 Pt)

Kiwi & pineapple (1 Pt)

Water (0)

Breakfast

Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls, 1% milk, blueberries (3 Pts)

Coffee with 1% milk (1 Pt)

Multigrain Banana Nut Crunch Buttermilk Pancakes

2009-06-07T11:08:00.012-04:00

I woke up feeling a little under the weather so my thoughts of going for a run turned into thoughts of making pancakes. That's a logical transition don't you think? I have been tweaking my pancake recipe each time I make them, looking for the ultimate light yet still nutritious pancake. This time I combined three different grains, whole wheat, cornmeal and oatmeal but folded in whipped egg whites to keep the batter light. I was pleased with the results. I also decided that I prefer chopped pieces of banana spread throughout over incorporating a mashed banana into the batter. With pieces, the banana impact is greater as you come across the nice sweet morsels hidden in each pancake. There is a textural change when the banana hits your mouth that I like very much.

Of course no pancake breakfast would be complete without the best bacon in the world - Niman Ranch Applewood smoked uncured bacon to be exact. I am a firm believer that one way to enjoy higher calorie foods while remaining mindful of your weight is to indulge in the highest quality and most flavorful version you can afford so that a little will go a long way. I would rather eat one rasher of this bacon over a pile of the other stuff any day. If you haven't tried it I highly recommend it.

For lunch I had a cantaloupe shake. I am trying to create a low calorie version of the melon flavored Boba drinks and avocado shakes you can get at Vietnamese restaurants. It's a work in progress. As soon as I feel like I have it right I promise to share it with you. Today was my first attempt and I have to say it was pretty close.

Dessert

Tapioca Pudding (2 Pts)

Dinner

Finished the Chipotle Chicken & Hominy Tostadas (9.5 Pts)

see Thursday 6/4/9 entry for recipe

Mid afternoon Snack

Sugar Free Cantaloupe Smoothie w/ tapioca (2 Pts)

Breakfast/Brunch

Multigrain Banana Nut Crunch pancakes w blueberries & maple syrup (10 pts)
1 slice Niman Ranch Applewood smoked Uncured bacon (1.5 Pts)
Coffee with 1% milk (1.5 Pts)

Multigrain Banana Nut Crunch Buttermilk Pancakes

1 cup(s) Whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup(s) Yellow corn meal plain
1/4 cup(s) uncooked oatmeal
3 tbsp Smart Balance 37% Light Spread Margarine
2 item(s) egg
3 tbsp McNeil Nutritionals SPLENDA No Calorie Sweetener
1 1/2 cup(s) low fat buttermilk
1 tsp table salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup(s) walnut halves, chopped
1 small banana(s) cut in pieces
Frozen blueberries (optional)

Instructions

Wisk dry ingredients together in mixing bowl. Separate eggs and whip whites until they are at the soft peak stage. Add wet ingredients (except for egg whites) to the dry ingredients and stir lightly to incorporate. Stir in nuts and banana pieces. Finally, gently fold in the egg whites until just incorporated.

Spray griddle or pan with cooking spray and heat to medium high temp. For crispier edged pancakes you can use melted butter or oil but this will obviously add some calories to the end result. Pour 4-inch rounds of batter onto the hot griddle pan. If you like you can add a handful of frozen blueberries at this time to each pancake for an added nutritional and flavor boost. Allow pancakes to cook until bubbles begin to form and pop on the surface. Then flip them over. Cook until this second side is golden brown. Enjoy!

Makes about 1 dozen 4in. pancakes (2 Pts each)