Getting Back on the Wagon

So despite my posts of delicious, lower calorie alternatives, I must confess ... I still do a LOT of eating that I shouldn't. And since I am not held accountable for what I choose to consume, or when, or why, I have (admittedly) put 15 of the 30 pounds that I lost BACK ON.

Naturally, after having been so successful on my own in the past, I am extremely disappointed in myself. Yes, things like stress and a hectic schedule do make it a challenge to lose weight. But I need to stop using it as a crutch. No more "oh, it's okay if I eat half a pizza -- I'm stressed.". No more drowning my sorrows in a cheeseburger and fries. And this time, I mean it.

I thought I'd kick off a new (or rather stick to what I am supposed to eat) diet than with a little retail therapy? (huh?) I treated myself to a few new HEALTHY cookbooks. Though I have a number to choose from already, sometimes it becomes the nudge I need when I have some new cookbooks to try out. I am more excited to try these new things and share how wonderful they taste or how easy they were to make.

But here's what I am doing differently this time. I am keeping track of my calories and major foot statistics (like fat, sodium, sugar and fiber) online. This gives me no excuses for having left my food journal at home. I have no excuses for not keeping tabs on what I eat. I also started to plan out more than just dinner. I am also plotting out breakfast and lunch. Though I know the new system will have a few kinks as far as potential left overs go, I am sure that I'll have it down pat in a few weeks.

To me, here's the most important part. Part of my "food journal" (which is all set up nicely in a Google Doc spreadsheet I created) is a sheet that allows me to keep track of my stress level. When I am feeling stressed out, I rate what I am feeling on a scale of 1–10, keep track of my "stressor" and log what I choose to do to resolve the issue. If nothing else, this helps me to keep track of stress patterns, but also serves as a reminder that stress should not equal a chocolate bar.

Day one was good. I started the day with an apple, some water and a short power walk work out. I made Hungry Girl (less than 300 calorie) breakfast burritos. (YUM!) I had another Hungry Girl recipe for lunch that closely resembled a meat and cheese burrito from Taco Bell ... but healthier. Ended the day with some egg and turkey bacon pitas. In between, I had lots of water, and carrots and yogurt. And I kept track of EVERYTHING.

Unlike so many of the other diets out there, I did not feel hungry in between meals. If I space out meals and snacks (HEALTHY ONES) accordingly, I have enough energy and fiber in my body to keep me feeling satisfied. When I have that much going for me, it makes it MUCH easier to pass up those pesky temptations ... like donuts, cookies, pizza, burgers, or other indulgences. What's even more awesome is that I have things like breakfast burritos, fettucine alfredo, black bean burgers and more to help ease me back into healthy eating and right sized portions without feeling like I'm missing out.

So here's to watching my weight go in the right direction again. Here's to some awesome looking Veggie and Turkey wraps for lunch! Here's to holding myself accountable for what I eat. And here's to fitting into my jeans -- and maybe a cute dress or two.

Off to get a good night's sleep before yet another crazy day at the office -- filled with lots of healthy alternatives in between. I'll be blogging and posting photos of successful cheeseburger diversions soon! Until then, Buon Appetito!

Valentine's Day Menu

Photo by: Für Verliebte ©Cogipix / Fotolia.com

So I know it's a little early for dinner, but I am just so excited to share tonight's menu that I simply cannot wait to share it with you.

It all started when I asked Kevin what he wanted for his Valentine's Day dinner. All prepared to be making a dinner consisting of steak, potatoes, shrimp cocktail, grilled veggies and some sort of dessert, I was surprised at his answer.

"Gnocchi, " he said, "with salad, garlic bread and wine ... and dessert".

After my last gnocchi venture (see Giada's Gnocchi blog post) I was kind of surprised that Kevin wanted me to make gnocchi again -- so soon. I guess that despite its odd appearance, my husband thought that it tasted good enough to encourage me to give it another try. I told him that the menu he'd chosen sounded like a good idea and that I would pick some appetizers to accompany it. The more I thought about all of the possibilities, the more excited I got.

Appetizer #1: Stuffed Mushrooms
I have a recipe from Hungry Girl for these delicious sounding stuffed mushrooms. I cut the recipe in half to only make 2 servings -- so as not to ruin dinner by the end of the appetizer course. Baby Portabella mushrooms stuffed with a mixture of fat free cream cheese, fat free ricotta, canned spinach, reduced fat mozzarella, garlic, onion and the sauteed stems from the mushrooms. 1 serving is 99 calories. (3 mushrooms)

Appetizer #2: Hot Dates
I modified a recipe from the cookbook "Kissing in the Kitchen". I sliced open some pitted, dried dates and stuffed them with about half of a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Blue Cheese (as opposed to the gorgonzola called for in the recipe) and wrapped in a slice of Tukey Bacon (in lieu of regular bacon). I don't have the calorie counts handy, but these will be significantly less damaging than the original recipe.

Soup Course: Strawberry Soup
Another modified recipe ... from our Princess Cruises "Courses" cookbook. I cut this recipe by fourths so as to only make just enough for about a 3/4 c serving per person. I used fat free Half and Half in lieu of heavy cream, fat free yogurt, pureed strawberries, nutmeg, 1/8c of white grape juice and a splash of Disaronno. We made this soup for a cooking showdown about a year and a half ago. It's delicious, light and will make a lovely transition from the appetizers to our next course.

Salad Course: Spinach, Chicken and Cranberry Salad
I'll admit ... I cheated on this one. I picked up a packaged lunch sized salad bowl. I'll add the ingredients, shake it, and serve it. For about 100 calories a serving, why not?

Main Course: Giada's Gnocchi, round 2.
These were delicious ... But this time, I will serve them up with a little pesto sauce instead of the Aglio i Olio and Marinara creation that I came up with the last time. I'll be serving this with a little garlic bread to accompany the pesto .... Bellisimo!

Dessert Couse: Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cupcakes (unfrosted)
A "regular" sized cupcake from this amazing Hungry Girl recipe is just over 100 calories a piece. But I made these as mini cupcakes .... at about 1/3 the size, they're roughly 35 calories a piece, and will be the perfect size for a small bite of something sweet to follow the savory courses preceding it.

Wine choices: Shiloh Road Chardonnay and Vigilance Cimarron
The appetizers, soups and salad will be better accompanied by a light, citrus flavored white wine. The savory flavors of the gnocchi will be better paired with a red wine blend. Chocolate also goes very well with read wines, but I'll likely move on to a nice cup of hot decaf coffee by then.

Okay ... so this sounds like a TON of work ... and in a way, it was. BUT -- Kevin and I did all of the preparation work yesterday. We pop the appetizers in the oven and then roll gnocchi ... boil the gnocchi and enjoy a five course dinner at our leisure. The whole idea was to be able to enjoy a restaurant-style fancy dinner without the price tag, the crowds, the mega calories and the fuss of dressing up and fighting traffic. If dinner takes 3 hours to eat, even better. No one will be trying to rushing us out of the restaurant ... we'll be in the comfort of our own home. Yes, we'll have a few dishes to wash, but it will be well worth it since we would not have spent hours cooking BEFORE we ate. So I get to have my cake and eat it too ... We prepared a 5-course meal (yes, totally spoiling my hubby) and we will get to ENJOY it together (as opposed to being stuck in the kitchen).

I hope that you all enjoy YOUR plans for Valentine's Day -- whether you're snuggled up with your spouse, sharing a date with your special someone or perhaps just having a night in while enjoying a gourmet meal all your very own. Enjoy it! Buon Appetito!

Calorie Counting?

For those of you who make frequent stops to any sort of fast food location, you may have noticed the new additions to the menu board that weren't there before. In fact, these additions expand even beyond the food, but also include the beverage stops like Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Jamba Juice. It's those pesky things called calories.

In compliance with new laws, fast food locations are now required to tell you just how many calories you're about to consume (at least here in the state of California). Though some restaurants have had nutritional information available upon request or online for a while, how many of us actually take the time to look a it? I'll admit, I'm definitely guilty of not taking the time to visit a restaurant's website before dining there to pick out the best options for me to consume. And sometimes, I know it's better not to think about it.

However, these pesky little numbers ARE making me think. The last time I visited a Coffee Bean, I went in ready to order a large Non-fat Vanilla Latte. When I realized that the beverage was 240 calories, I stopped. Instead I ordered the 80 calorie large Non-fat Cafe Au Lait and added 1 splenda and a shake of cinnamon. Did I notice a difference in the "quality" of the coffee? Absolutely not. In fact, I felt pretty good about my choice. Paired with a 240 calorie multi-grain blueberry bagel, I ended up with a 320 calorie breakfast that gave me plenty of "get up and go" to hold be over until lunch.

The same thing happened to me today at Jamba Juice. Instead of going in and ordering the medium something delicious and a whole pretzel like I WANTED to, I scanned the menu, found a delicious mango smoothie, ordered the 150 calorie small, and a small pretzel stick. So what COULD have been an almost 650 calorie disaster, became a 390 calorie pat-on-the-back for going to the gym every day this week. NOTE: 390 calories is still not great for a SNACK, but today my lunch was quite small (about 300 calories). I need to go grocery shopping. :0| So it evened out.

Though it is still my choice to eat (or not eat) where I wish, I'm kind of glad those pesky numbers are there in my face at every restaurant now. It helps to remind me to make healthier choices and not be persuaded by what strikes my fancy.

I'm hoping that the required calorie posts will have similar effects on others too ... perhaps even making formerly popular items (like Big Macs) less in demand, forcing fast food joints to serve up something a little different and healthy -- or at the very least "right sizing" the portions to be a reasonable amount and not the platters (like Acapulco or El Torito portions).

What would be REALLY cool is if they began to show MORE of the nutritional value. Very few restaurants are doing this "on location" right now. Sure, that meal might be so many calories, but what about the fat content? The cholesterol? Sodium? Sugars? ALL of these things are important to making a good choice, particularly for those who need to watch these certain factors for various dietary reasons. Just because a chicken sandwich and a small salad are both 300 calories a piece does not mean that the salad is low fat, or that the chicken sandwich is going to have enough fiber to keep you satiated for a long period of time. So how do you choose?

What do you think? Are YOU impressed by the changes? Angry or frustrated by them?
In the mean time, I'll be grocery shopping to stock up on more carrots, celery, cottage cheese and other delicious, healthy snacks to subdue the 3:00 p.m. snack craving. 

Until next time,
Buon Appetito!

A Little Taste of Luxury

While selecting my recipes for last week's menu, I came across this recipe ... Cornmeal Pancakes with Smoked Salmon and Caper Sauce. It was in my Weight Watchers: Make It In Minutes cookbook. It sounded like something different and so I decided to give it a whirl ... and I am GLAD I DID!

Smoked salmon is not something commonly found on menus ... except perhaps at a Bagel Shop that offers it up with tomatoes, onions and cream cheese. I've also seen it on cruise ship brunch spreads. With this delicacy selling at about $7 for 4oz., it's a small slice of luxury that is worth splurging on once in a while.

For those who associate pancakes with breakfast (and who doesn't?) this takes those syrup-loving tastebuds and makes them think outside of the box. These pancakes are savory, not sweet. So this becomes the perfect treat to serve up for either a brunch or even dinner, as I did here.

The batter consists of all purpose flour, cornmeal, skim milk, ground corriander, cayenne pepper and 1 egg. Once mixed, I had to let it sit and "marinade" for about 15 minutes, which gave me time to make the sauce and pre-heat my pancake griddle.

The sauce was made with sour cream, about 2T of red onion, 1T of capers, a little lemon zest. I put this mix in the fridge until it was time to serve.

Meanwhile, my griddle was getting nice and hot -- on low heat, of course -- those pans hold heat well, and will burn the pancakes if they get too hot. I took a scant 1/4 cup of the pancake batter and put in on my olive oil sprayed griddle. I repeated, until I could not fit any more pancakes on there ... I got about 3 per batch. Once bubbles formed on the top of the pancakes, I flipped and lightly toasted the other side.

I placed 3 pancakes (NOT stacked) on a plate ... equal to one serving, believe it or not! ... I topped each pancake with a small slice of smoked salmon, and dressed it with 2T of the sauce.

These were not only wonderful on the taste buds, they were also very filling! My husband and I were only able to eat 2 of the 3 "allowed" pancakes. Hooray for left-overs for lunch! This also pairs quite nicely with a glass of Shiloh Road Chardonnay. If you were so inclined, you could also make "mini" pancakes and use just a tad of the sauce and salmon to make tiny appetizers for your next cocktail party.

Buon Appetito!

Healthy Italian

I love Italian food. Pasta, sauce and cheese and lots of garlic -- it's amore. (Yes, I also love sushi, mexican food and -- well-- food in general, but that's beside the point).

Last week, I gave Hungry Girl a break and busted out my Biggest Loser Family Cookbook (as mentioned in my last blog, this is the square, green cookbook that's available everywhere). Inside, is this wonderful recipe for Grilled Chicken Parmesan. Yes, I said GRILLED. (Bring in the BBQ, guys!)

The recipe calls for four 4oz. chicken breasts (or 2 really big ones, cut in half). I always trim the extra fat off of them to make them leaner. Lightly spray the chicken with olive oil cooking spray, rub a little salt and pepper on each side of the chicken breasts, and grill. NOTE: Don't grill until it's about 95% done -- not raw, but about 1 minute away from grilling to well done. (The chicken also bakes for a few minutes, so you don't want it to dry out).

With the oven already preheated to 350º, top your chicken with 2 T of light marinara sauce. (I usually use Ragu Marinara with roasted red pepper -- or some other low sodium sauce) and a 1/4 of a deli slice of reduced fat mozzerella and a shake (about 1 tsp.) of parmesan. Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the chicken completely cooked.

I happened to pair this meal with some fresh green beans and carrots, sauteed with some tomato, garlic, lemon zest, salt, pepper and oilve oil. I lightly drizzled it with balsamic vinaigrette. It was very fresh and light and an easy way to squeeze in a couple servings of vegetables. It also made a nice complement to the entree in lieu of a plate full of pasta.

So, Biggest Loser Fans (you know who you are ...) for those of you who have not picked up this cookbook, it's a GREAT resource to create proper portion sizes, cook balanced meals, and even find healthy alternatives to things like .... nachos, pizza, breakfast sandwiches, desserts and MORE. Yes, even healthier than some of the Hungry Girl approaches. But I best not say too much ... I'll save that for another blog.

Until then, Buon Appetito!

Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf

Partially in the spirit of that major sports even happening on Sunday (what's it called? um ... something about a bowl, which makes me think of cooking ....) and also in the spirit of cold weather and the desire for comfort food ... I bring you this tasty recipe.

The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook (the square, green one) turned me on to this crazy concoction. I'll admit, before I had made this recipe the first time, I never knew that they actually SOLD ground chicken. LOL! I have made this recipe several times, and it is indeed DELICIOUS! Served up with a side of garlic mashed potatoes, my hubby will beg for seconds (and leftovers for lunch the next day) every time.

It contains one pound of ground chicken (I have also used Turkey, but think Chicken is better for this recipe), old-fashioned oats, 1/2c of skim milk, 1/4c onion, shredded carrot, chopped celery, egg, a little salt, 2 oz. of Blue Cheese Crumbles, and 2 1/2T of Buffalo Wing Sauce. So, in theory, you have buffalo wings all wrapped up into this considerably less messy meatloaf form. And when you get a nice little bite of Blue Cheese .... YUM!

A few notes ... the few times I have made this, I have used a little of the Lawry's Buffalo Wing Sauce. Although it's good, I like a little more zing. So, you can either splash a little tabasco on your plate, or perhaps could also brush the loaf with a light layer of sauce on top. Though I am sure if I used the REAL wing sauce (or Louisiana Cayenne Sauce) there would be quite enough burn to more than clear your sinuses.

Since it IS meatloaf, you can also pair it with a number of sides. I like the traditional mashed potatoes. however, a nice leafy green salad, steamed or grilled veggies or a number of other choices could certainly be prepared with it. And they make a tasty meatloaf sandwich the next day. But ... PLEASE ... for the sacredness of all that is hot wings ... DON'T put ketchup on it! LOL!

More coming this week ... no deadline schedule means I'm cooking more! YAY!

So until I blog again, Buon Appetito!