The Cabbage That Saved Christmas

So the Christmas miracle I had was in the form of cabbage soup.

No, I am not on the cabbage soup diet…I'm having too much success with the 17DD. BUT…I've learned that there is something to be said for cabbage soup.

When I was a kid my mother used to make cabbage soup when it snowed. It was something that I can just picture my ancestors cooking up durning those cold, Russian winters. Total peasant food. I don't remember liking it very much, but I loved to pick out the meat that my mom put into the soup. It was  called flanken…which are short ribs cut across the bone. Delicious. Not an easy find in my area, but places with a larger Jewish population will usually carry it in the grocery store. I suppose you could ask your butcher to cut the short ribs across the bone…but either way it is NOT a healthy option. So, I opted for a leaner cut of stew meat when I decided to make myself a pot of cabbage soup.

I started off with a head of cabbage, a sweet onion, a large can of San Marzano tomato puree, and a package of stew meat. I cut the meat into smaller, bite-size pieces and browned it in a large stockpot with the chopped onion. After it cooked for a bit, I drained off the fat. I shredded the cabbage and dumped it into the pot with the can of tomatoes. I added enough water to cover the cabbage and that was it. Covered it up and walked away. After a couple of hours I added some salt and pepper. In an attempt to replicate the sweet and sour flavor that my mother always achieved with sugar and sour salt, I added a couple of packets of Truvia and some lemon juice. I could not find sour salt in the store around here. Guess it is like the elusive flanken-cut of meat. Only found in certain areas! Who knows?

Was this the best soup ever?

Not even close. But it was decent. It was filling.

It was a miracle!

I would eat some cabbage soup for lunch and then the next day the scale went down. It happened EVERY time I ate the soup. I am sure it was mostly coincidence but there has to be SOMETHING going on. Whatever it is, I'll take it. To be able to drop 11 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas is no easy feat…but my new best friend cabbage soup was there to help me along!

I can't promise you any miracles, and I can't even promise you a super-delicious bowl of soup…but here is my hodgepodge recipe:

Cabbage Soup

1 head of green cabbage
1 sweet onion
28-32 ounce can tomato puree
2 pounds stew meat cut into bite size pieces, or 2 pounds lean ground beef
water (or  beef broth to add more flavor)
salt and pepper
Truvia
lemon juice
olive oil for sauté


In a large stockpot, heat enough olive oil to sauté the beef and onion. Cook until onions are translucent and beef is browned. Drain off fat and return to pot. Shred head of cabbage and add to pot with the can of tomatoes. Add enough water to cover the cabbage, bring to a boil. Immediately turn to low/simmer and cover. After an hour or more, add seasonings to taste.


So, I won't win any prizes for this recipe..but I feel like I have won the lottery on the scale! Try it out and see if you get similar results!

Twas The Week Before Christmas

Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the house
Mommy was baking for child and spouse.
Here, bring these treats to work and to school
Found the recipe on Pinterest, isn’t that cool?

The store shelves were lined with candies and cake,
Chocolates and cookies and gingerbread houses to make.
Brown sugar, white sugar, butter and nuts
All ingredients that add inches to butts

Tis a hard time to diet, with all of these sweets
But I just threw on my ipod and listened to the beats
Away to the gym, I flew like a flash,
Jumped on the treadmill and started to dash.

Ate my greek yogurt, and chicken and healthy grilled fish
Stayed away from the sweets in the candy dish
 What to my wondering eyes should appear on the scale?
But an awesome week’s loss, not an epic fail.

With a little patience and working real hard
I was rewarded with 5 pounds less of lard
The 17 Day Diet was working for me,
Thirty four pounds lost and a new future to see!

"No cookies! No pizza ! No crackers! No candy!
No soda! No pasta! Now to the gym, Randi!
MIles on the bike, then to the treadmill!
And drink all your water until you get your fill!

Hair in a ponytail! Face is so sweaty!
Cheeks red like roses, sneakers at the ready!

Slimming down the face and the round belly,
Santa’s not the only one who shakes when he laughs like a bowlful of jelly

So I try to eat right, and get through the season
Just keep plugging along for a very good reason

I'm ending 2013 right on the 17 Day Diet,
Happy Holidays to all, you might want to try it!

Thanksgivukkah!

I had every intention of posting before Thanksgiving and Chanukah, or Thanksgivukkah as we called it in my house. I had faithfully been researching and pinning recipes for weeks, making lists, comparing notes with my friends, and was going to share it all here with you.

Well, we know THAT didn't happen.

Still, I did document some of my Thanksgivukkah and can tell you all about it now, after the fact.

Like all good Pilgrims, we boarded our version of the Mayflower. It was JetBlue Flight 590. Two hours and twenty minutes later we arrived at our Plymouth Rock…West Palm Beach, Florida. My bags were stuffed not only with flip-flops and bathing suits, but all things decorative to turn my parents house into Thanksgivukkah central!

Here's a sampling:

The personalized M&M's were from http://www.mymms.com and consisted of a mix of Chanukah and Thanksgiving colors. Blue, orange and silver. Some said "Happy Chanukah" with a Star of David, some said "Gobble Gobble!" and some said "Happy Thanksgiving" with a turkey on it.

The banners were both from Target…my favorite place to shop!

The cornucopia was a real pain to find! We missed the boat at all of the craft stores by waiting until a few days before Thanksgiving. They were all sold out. Fortunately I saw some in the window of a florist and she sold me one. I stuffed with tissue paper (of course in Florida my mother had gold and bronze paper…it goes with the personalized napkins everyone seems to love so much down there!) and put in some chocolate gelt and dreidels that made the trip with me. I paid a quarter a bag for the gelt. At Publix they wanted a dollar! Highway robbery!

My favorite is the wreath. My son decorated with felt and corduroy stickers I got at Michaels, and my husband wove the Chanukah ribbon through it and hung on the front door. I'm sure we were the only family in Florida with a Thanksgivukkah wreath on the door!

Of course we can't forget the Menurkey!!

I had bought a set of four glass turkeys at Willams Sonoma years ago…but needed more to make my Thanksgivukkah menorah complete. Unfortunately WS doesn't sell the tiny turkeys anymore. Seems they've moved on to acorns and pumpkins. Luckily I was able to get a hold of some on Ebay and the menurkey was born.

Now that all of the decorations were taken care of, it was time to shop. Repeatedly. I visited Publix at least three times, Whole Foods, and a specialty market called Joseph's. I cooked for three days, and I loved it.

Now you may be wondering what is going on with the 17 Day Diet. I survived our vacation to Disney as I blogged about last month, and then the return home was a successful return to the program. I lost some more weight in the few weeks before we were to leave for Thanksgiving and decided that I would just do the best I could while away and stay the course, indulging within reason.

It wasn't only Thanksgiving and Chanukah that week…it was my 41st birthday. I made the choice to celebrate it with a healthy dinner at Seasons 52 where everything on the menu is 475 calories or less. We had a beautiful night by the water and everything was delicious…and I didn't feel deprived OR overstuffed. It was perfect.

I did try to make a few healthy recipes for Thanksgivukkah so there were some safe options. I did end up trying everything at the table and it was absolutely worth it. Here is the menu and the recipes:

Auntie Ina's Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette

Pumpkin Challah from The Shiksa in the Kitchen

Auntie Ina's Herb Roasted Turkey (originally for a breast, I tripled for a 20 pound turkey)

Potato Latkes with Homemade Applesauce - this recipe stays in my head…its never been written!

Sweet Potato Casserole

Unfortunately I did not get a pic of the stuffing and the roasted veggies. I roasted carrots, parsnips, fennel and cauliflower. Both were good!

For dessert we had fresh fruit, and these:

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and Pecan Pie Rugelach

All in all it was a success in many ways. I made it through another vacation, gained two pounds but lost that in two days after I got home. I'm up to 28.5 pounds lost now and hope to get a few more off before Christmas…where I will be cooking Colonial Williamsburg favorites at my mother in law's house! Can't wait to share with you.

In the meantime, I will try my best to share some more 17 Day Diet compliant recipes I've been trying!

Loafin' Around

After returning from vacation it was time to start Cycle 1 again. After the sweet taste of peanut butter in Cycle 3 it was not quite as fun starting over at the beginning. After two months, the thrill of a new plan is gone and it was time to try out some new recipes. The thought of salad with shredded chicken or turkey on a daily basis just wasn't keeping me motivated.

Luckily, one of my 17DD BF's had pinned a link to a bunch of interesting looking recipes right before vacation. I printed a few out and decided on the Feta-Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf with Tzatziki Sauce. My whole family has been inhaling Tzatziki (yogurt) Sauce on a regular basis since I started this diet. The Chicken Souvlaki has become a staple, with my ten year old asking for it every week and butchering the name. Chicken Tzaslaki. I guess it works...a combo of souvlaki and tzatziki?

The recipe was easy enough, the only thing I left out were the breadcrumbs and/or coconut flour that it calls for. I did not make the tzatziki because I have found one at my local grocer that I absolutely love.

The turkey meatloaf was a pretty basic recipe. Saute some onions and spinach together, then add to the turkey with egg and some seasonings. The recipe had called for bread crumbs or coconut flour but sticking to Cycle 1 I used neither and it didn't seem to cause any issues with the meatloaf.

I spread half of the meat out onto a sheet pan, shaped into a loaf and then covered with feta. The recipe called for one cup...I used a six ounce container of reduced fat feta and it was plenty.

After spreading out the feta, I covered it with the rest of the meatloaf mixture:

Baked it up, and that was it! Here is a cross-section of the finished product so you can see the line of feta cheese in the middle:

I was SO glad that I tried this. I absolutely love it, especially with the tzatziki sauce. It was just different enough than the turkey meatloaf/muffins that I have been eating for the last couple of months and it got me excited about trying more new recipes!

Here's the link to the recipe. Remember...leave out the flour/crumbs and cut the cheese (LOL! I did it again!) if you are doing 17 Day Diet. 

Feta-Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf with Tzatziki Sauce

Disney World is NOT For Wimps!

After many, many trips to Disney I have finally learned that I don't need to eat my way through the parks.

I weighed in before I left, and weighed in when I got home and the scale did not move up OR down! I was able to indulge within reason and still not gain an ounce.

The Fitbit Zip that I wear was a great motivator. It tracks steps taken, distance, and calories burned. The total distance we covered in the six days we were away was 46 miles! That's crazy!! That's almost two marathons!! Hence the title of this post. Unless you are in a scooter...you're going to be hauling your butt all over the place when you visit Disney World.

Before I left I checked out the menus for the restaurants we were planning on visiting. Because we traveled at an off time, we were eligible for the Free Dining promotion. Free food? Hell, yes! But...I needed to be mindful and make good choices. This didn't mean I missed out on the treats. It just meant that I had a few bites and passed it on to someone else.

The other foodie event happening at Disney was the Food and Wine Festival. There are kiosks all over the World Showcase that have a few foods and drinks that are representative of the countries that are participating. Each item was just a few bites, enough to get a taste. We did not hit up too many booths, but the ones we did had some great choices that were pretty healthy!

Scotland had a Salmon and Cauliflower Puree with Malt Vinegar Reduction:

No problems there! 

We hit up Hawaii and I wanted to try the Pulled Pork Slider with Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayo

Ate the inside, left the bread.

We went to Greece where I snitched a few Kalamata olives off of a pita and spreads that my husband had. Then we made our way to Ireland where I had a cheese plate minus the bread. We also split a little cake between the four of us.

That was the extent of the Food and Wine Festival. Not too much damage at all!

Later that night when we went to dinner I chose a dish I had never eaten before but I knew was going to be very healthy:

Red Snapper with Olives, Fennel and Greens. OMG, this was delicious! Best of all, it came with no carbs to push to the side! I was completely satisfied with this and did not feel guilty at all when I ordered dessert. Fortunately my choice was not so good...leading to two bites of Bakalava and then passing it on to the boys!

Breakfasts were lackluster...mostly because I am just not a breakfast person. At home I eat cottage cheese with fruit every day. At Disney that wasn't an option. I'm not up for pancakes and waffles, and eggs and bacon just weren't going to sit right. They did have yogurt parfaits, but even that was just not appealing to me. This is what I ended up most days. NOT EXCITING. Not so tasty either. Kind of like paste.

I branched out one day to egg whites, ham and cheese. What can I say? Breakfast just isn't my favorite at Disney.

Our next reservation was at Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom. They have a family-style dinner that is sort of like Thanksgiving. Rolls, salad, turkey, ham, beef, veggies, mac and cheese, stuffing and mashed potatoes. Kind of like this:

This totally worked for me. Loads of meaty protein and veggies. I had a few tablespoons of the potatoes and mac and cheese and stayed away from the bread. I even ate some dessert...ice cream over a cranberry cake. Later that night I had ice cream again close to midnight. Not very diet friendly but those 8 miles we did that day earned me some treats.

Downtown Disney has one of my favorite places to eat. Wolfgang Puck Express. Fantastic food and healthy choices. We left Hollywood Studios to go here. Their food selection is pitiful. We had lunch earlier in the day at 50's Primetime and it was nothing to write home about. But Wolfgang's?  Check out this beauty:

This was probably a good choice because earlier I had this:

I tried the grey stuff. It was delicious. Don't believe me? Ask the dishes! If you have NO idea what I am talking about...you haven't seen Beauty and the Beast!

At Animal Kingdom I was thrilled to find this:

Hummus, olives, pita and veggies! I also got a side of edamame to split with everyone. It felt so good to eat this and was making me look forward to coming home and getting back to my diet.

Our last dinner was at a family favorite, Ohana. This is at the Polynesian Resort and is another family-style meal. Lots of salad, veggies, noodles, potstickers, wings and skewered meats. As much as I like all of that, this is my favorite part of the meal....

Umm, yeah. I ate some of that.

And the next day I ate some of this gelato and cookies at Via Napoli in Epcot:

I spent the plane ride home wondering what was going to appear on the scale the next morning when I weighed in. I indulged for sure, but in moderation. I walked my ass off...surely it couldn't be that bad. I resigned myself to the idea that it could be a couple of pounds up and figured I would lose those quickly.

The moment of truth came the next day and I was pleased to see that the scale did not budge. Not even an ounce. I ate whatever I wanted in moderation and did not gain any weight. Best of all I did not suffer or struggle while I was there...or go off the rails which is easy to do in a place like Disney World!
I made myself a bowl of cottage cheese and strawberries and was having a real Dorothy moment. There's no place like home!

After being home for a week and restarting with Cycle 1 I have lost another 5 pounds since my trip. I managed to get back on track immediately...a real feat for me. That has never happened before!

Next challenge will be Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Or Thanksgivukkah. Another vacation, another food event, and my birthday. Now that I have conquered Disney World I think I can take this on! Looking forward to sharing all of my holiday cooking with you!

Oh. My. Cod.

Recently most have my posts have been positive ones where I am swooning over my new found love for cauliflower and spaghetti squash.

Cooking new recipes, especially ones found online with no prior reviews can be a gamble. The odds have been in my favor for the last few creations. Until last night.

I had gone to Whole Foods with my BF and bought some fresh, wild caught cod that was on sale. Fish isn't really my thing...especially cooking it. I have finally mastered cooking salmon since starting the 17 Day Diet...and I really enjoy it. I must have been feeling pretty confident when I decided to buy that cod. I know its bland and not fishy, but that was the extent of my experience. I think I've only had it fried or breaded and baked. This was going to be interesting.

When I got home I went straight to Pinterest to search for recipes. I also checked Epicurious but did not have the time and ingredients for the dishes that sounded interesting. On Pinterest I found a few that looked good but they all seemed to have sugar in the recipe...a no-no on the 17DD. I finally found one that was a mixture of ginger, soy sauce, orange rind, oil, and honey. I swapped agave (apparently an ok substitute) for the honey. Mixed it up, poured it over the cod, covered with foil and baked.

I won't even show you a picture of what came out of the oven. It was a white, squishy plop surrounded by brown liquid.

Not knowing what to do, I threw it back into the oven and turned it to broil. That seemed to brown it up a bit and take away the pale, flabbiness of the dish. If I wanted to see pale flabbiness I can look in the mirror. I don't want to see it on my plate!

I dished it out and suffered through it...but it was pretty damn gross. And chewy. My husband said he liked it but I tend to doubt it. I gave him the rest of mine. I couldn't finish.

So the bad news is that the cod was an epic fail. Good news? My scale was down one and a half pounds this morning. Yucky cod = less dinner eaten = good loss in the morning. And that was about all the cod was good for.

Thats-a Nott-a Pasta!

I've made it to 40 without ever having tried spaghetti squash. I've had spaghetti, and I have had squash, but never thought the two needed to meet in the middle. Turning up my nose at the healthy version of pasta all of these years was a big mistake.

Spaghetti squash? It's REALLY good! Who knew?

Ok, all of the people that told me to try it knew. I'm a stubborn mule. I'll admit it.

Since the 17 Day Diet is going so well, and I have been surprising myself with enjoying some foods that I previously thought I hated (I'm talking to you, eggplant!), I thought I would give the spaghetti squash a go. My two BF's who are doing the diet with me have been enjoying it since they reached Cycle 2, and now that I am on Cycle 3 and need to have two starches a day I feel the need to explore my options.

I did a quick search online for ways to cook the squash. My friend suggested microwaving it because it was the easiest way to do it, but I wanted to see what roasting was like. She was right about it being difficult to cut in half...but I managed to do it. I scooped out the seeds and followed a recipe I found that looked pretty darn delicious.

Here is the squash ready to bake, with a little olive oil, salt and pepper:

It cooked for about 50 minutes at 400 degrees. It was supposed to cool for a half hour before scooping it into a bowl...but ain't nobody got time fo dat. I grabbed a potholder and held onto that sucker while scraping furiously with a fork to make spaghetti-like strands.

While that sat, I sauteed some garlic and onion in a skillet. I then added the squash and mixed together for a few minutes. After it was blended and heated through I removed from the pan. In a bowl I mixed it with 1/2 cup shredded parmesan, salt and pepper.

Holy Moly. This stuff was GOOD! I don't know how, but it tasted buttery despite the fact that no butter was involved. I even cut the cheese (insert fart joke here) to 1/2 cup from 3/4 to keep calories down and it was still absolutely delicious.

Consider me a convert. Hallelujah! All hail spaghetti squash!

Here's the recipe:
Roasted Spaghetti Squash With Parmesan

Soup-er Easy

I'm on a soup kick. I think I have been genetically programmed to get in front of a stock pot as soon as the cool weather comes in. I remember my mom used to make soups and stews whenever it snowed. I've taken it even further and have to have a new batch of soup in my fridge every week as soon as the leaves turn and it drops below 60 degrees.

Before the 17 Day Diet I supplemented my soup addiction with prepared foods. Either canned or from the big vats of soup at my local grocery. Now that I am hyper-aware that I need to stay away from processed/unhealthy foods as much as possible those are not an option for me. Besides...it is SUPER easy to make soup from scratch.

This weeks soup isn't going to win any major awards. I am not falling out of my chair like I did with the cauliflower pizza crust I made last week. But...it fits the bill. The soup actually gets better as it sits, so while I was not wowed by it as I tasted it from the pot, it got significantly better the next day.

The recipe is from the Williams Sonoma website. I did not tweak it too much. I left the potatoes out because I wanted to be able to eat it later in the day. No starches after 2 pm on this diet. I also left out the parsley...just because I hate parsley. I subbed asparagus for the green beans, and cut the beef into bite size pieces before cooking. The last thing I did was not purposeful, but my can of San Marzano tomatoes was more of a smooth puree rather than crushed. But that shouldn't make a difference. Just texturally smoother.

Gourmet? No. Healthy and easy? For sure!

Hearty (and Healthy) Beef and Vegetable Soup

You Don't Bring Me (Cauli)Flowers

Who knew that my favorite flower these days would end up being cauliflower?

It has become a staple in my rotation on the 17 Day Diet. I had no idea it was such a magical little vegetable!

Sure, I knew back from the Atkins Diet days you could mash it up with cream and salt and it was like mashed potato....but there's no butter or cream happening on the 17 DD.

What I found online was a veritable treasure trove of cauliflower recipes that were healthy and low calorie substitutes for some favorite foods. Missing fried rice? Guess what? Toss some raw cauliflower florets in the food processor for thirty pulses and it turns into a rice-like consistency. Throw it in the wok with some soy sauce, veggies and a raw egg and you come pretty close to getting your take-out fix without the carbs and grease!

Amongst all of the cauliflower-porn I found something I needed. Pizza crust. I needed pizza crust.

Every Friday night is pizza night in my house. We eat pizza and watch a movie...if the schedule allows.

I've been eating my salads, chicken, eggs, whatever while the boys are having their pizza each week. It doesn't bother me to the point of breaking down and having some...but it is one of my all time favorite foods. With the cauliflower crust recipe I had the potential of getting my pizza on again!

Check out this gorgeous specimen:

It looks amazing, right?

Guess what?

It WAS amazing!!!

A bit of a pain in the ass to make, but totally worth it. You see, when you put raw cauliflower in the Cuisinart it tends to get all over the place. Or maybe its just me. I'm not sure.

After pulsing, it gets cooked in the microwave and then has the life squeezed out of it so all of the water gets out. Mix it with egg, spices and cheese. I used fat free mozzarella and regular shredded Parmesan. Not the powdery kind in a can. That's just yucky.

The recipe suggests you use a rolling pin to roll out the crust between two sheets of wax paper...but you really can use your hands. No big deal.

The genius woman who created the recipe also has you making your own sauce. I was way too tired to deal with that...so I used jarred. I've found one at Whole Foods that I really like...365 brand organic marinara and it has no added sugar and low carbs.

The attached link has all of the instructions and photos. Make this. You WON'T be sorry. And you'll never look at a cauliflower the same way again!

Cauliflower Pizza With Spicy Tomato Basil Sauce

Carrot Soup For the Sick

I had a bad feeling last week that I was going to be coming down with something.

Mostly because I had a feverish, hacking child in my bed in the middle of the night. There was no escaping the coughing that was going on as he buried his head in my neck. We had two nights of interrupted sleep which is nothing when you are raising a baby....but after years of peaceful sleep that comes with having a ten year old, those two wakeful nights are murder. After a trip to the doctor, a diagnosis of croup and a dose of Prednisone, my boy was on the mend.

Now Mommy and Daddy are feeling it. Post-nasal drip, scratchy throats, ear pain. The beginnings of a cold.

In the past a cold would mean comfort food to me. Junk like hot ramen noodle soup or a bowl of ice cream. You know... to soothe my sore throat. Drs. Ben and Jerry to the rescue.

Three and a half weeks and a nice weight loss into the 17 Day Diet I am not giving in to junk food. I scoured recipe blogs looking for some kind of soup that would appeal to me and fit the diet requirements at the same time.  I found a Carrot Ginger soup that looked relatively easy and palatable.

Now I did tweak it a bit...I added some pepper and some pumpkin pie spice. It would probably be good with a bit of Greek yogurt swirled into it as well. Whatever you add, it is an easy and healthy option for those nights you feel a little under the weather, or just need a hot cup of soup!

Carrot Ginger Soup

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 pound carrots, peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock

1 and 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated (*I mashed mine into a paste)

 For garnish: chives, creme fraiche, orange zest, etc

Instructions

1. In a large Dutch oven or sauce pot over medium-low heat, heat the olive oil until shimmering.

2. Add the onions and cook until softened and translucent, about 10 minutes.

3. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

4. Add the carrots and about 2 cups of the broth (enough to cover the carrots completely.)

5. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

6. Reduce the heat to low, cover the soup, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the carrots are completely cooked through.

7. Very carefully, using an immersion blender or a blender (in batches), puree the soup until smooth.

8. Add the remaining 4 cups of broth and ginger and cook until the soup is completely heated through, about 10 minutes or so. Garnish as desired.

Source:  Adapted from Williams-Sonoma.

Salad Days

Sometimes I am just too damn tired to cook. I'm not organized enough to prepare meals ahead of time most days. What used to happen on days like this was take-out. Pizza, Chinese, whatever. On the 17 Day Diet there isn't room for quick and easy crapola like that so I have to get resourceful.

My grab and go of choice has become rotisserie turkey breast. I had a love affair with the rotisserie chickens at my local market pre-17DD where I would inhale both drumsticks before that baby even knew what happened to it. That is NOT an option anymore and I hate to waste some good dark meat because no one else in my house eats it. The rotisserie turkey breast solves the issue of being a lean protein without dark meat making an appearance.

The turkey is then shredded and thrown into a big bowl of mixed greens. Yes, I graduated from plain Romaine to the melange of fancy, dark lettuces with funny names. Ones I always avoided because they were bitter, or curly, or just plain good for me. I eat these now, not with much pleasure but I do tolerate them.

Fat free shredded cheese is then added in a small amount. This is a big difference from the big handful of regular cheese that made its way into my previous salads. Gone are the olives, croutons, bacon pieces, nuts and other calorie bombs. If I am feeling crazy I may toss a chopped hard boiled egg in there.

The lettuce, turkey, chopped egg is then topped with a (measured) two tablespoons of Paul Newman's Balsamic Vinaigrette.

That's it. No excitement. Just salad. The way salad should be. Without the tasty morsels of evil masquerading as a salad.

And I am ok with this. Really. I am.

Shocking.

Would you believe me if I told you that my dessert consists of a container of plain yogurt? I know! What's become of me? Hopefully less....that's what!

Something's Fishy!

Auntie was able to make an appearance tonight at dinner!

It turns out her Asian Grilled Salmon is compatible with my diet, and it is SUPER easy to make. The marinade is only four ingredients. Olive oil, garlic, Dijon mustard and soy sauce.

The salmon is cut into portions and half of the marinade is drizzled on top. It sits for about ten minutes before cooking. Now Auntie cooks this on a grill, but I had other plans for it.

I got a faaabulous pan a few weeks ago. It is a thirteen inch nonstick skillet that can go into the oven. I didn't want to spend a fortune, so I went to Kohl's with a coupon and a dream. Also a lot of patience, because I really, really hate that store. Here is a link to the pan, because it is THAT good:

Food Network Skillet

Anyway....I used it to cook some salmon for the holidays a few weeks ago and it came out perfect and was ridiculously easy to clean up. Now I use the pan for practically everything. It's getting quite the workout.

I decided to cook the Asian salmon in the magic pan. Seared the salmon skin side up until it got a nice brown crust and then flipped them over. Then I was able to stick it straight into a 350 degree oven to finish it off.

Hello gorgeous!

Honestly, I am not much of a fish eater but I am trying to be healthier and salmon is one of those super foods that is good for everyone. I am finding when it is cooked right, it is pretty damn good. With the right pan and the right attitude...anything is possible!

Asian Grilled Salmon

She Likes It! She Really Likes It!

Let me tell you something about eating whole, unprocessed foods. After the initial withdrawal from sugar, flour, and other crap....and the massive headaches it brings....food starts to taste different. Everything is suddenly DELICIOUS!

Honestly, in all of my years of eating and dieting I think that I have never had this experience. It is almost as if the processed food dulled my senses. Even things that I thought I had previously hated are now favorites of mine. Something as simple as carrots roasted in the oven suddenly tastes like candy! It is blowing my mind.

One of the vegetables that never seemed to make it to my plate was eggplant. The texture and weird little seeds always grossed me out. Of course when it was covered in egg and bread crumbs and fried I managed to choke some down, but otherwise I avoided it like the plague. 

When I was searching for 17 Day Diet-friendly recipes I came across one that had people raving...and it was eggplant based. I figured since I had already been able to change my mind about cooked carrots (love those roasted suckers) and cauliflower (wait until I tell you about this miraculous vegetable!) I could try eggplant again.

The first thing I did was peel that sucker, even though the recipe did not suggest it. I may be able to change my mind about eggplant...but I won't change it about the skin. Yuck. Not a fan.

All I had to do was cut it into rounds and bake it on a sheet pan sprayed with PAM. That was it. Oy. Where's the egg?  The breadcrumbs? The hot oil that always splattered all over me? How was I going to manage this?? Plain eggplant sprayed with PAM? Eww.

So, I baked up the eggplant rounds and then browned the ground turkey. I added the tomato sauce, and then got ready to layer them with some fat free mozzarella....another food I thought I would never be caught eating. Alternated the eggplant with the turkey sauce and cheese, then baked for about thirty minutes.

And wouldn't you know it? It was FAAABULOUS!

Try it! Who knows? You may learn to like something new!

Healthy Eggplant Turkey Parmesan (17 DD Cycle 1 Friendly)

It Dropped Below 50 Degrees....I'm Making Soup!

I love soup, but won't touch it in the summer. It's just too hot. As soon as we got our first crisp night in New England, I decided I wanted to make some 17 Day Diet Friendly Soup. I had been compiling different recipes from websites and marking the ones that I wanted to try and figured I would start with something simple, Roasted Tomato Soup.

Oddly enough, I despise tomatoes. I will eat sauce, soup, ketchup, etc...but never ever a raw tomato. I don't even like handling them but sucked it up in order to try out this recipe. It was quick and easy, and I am glad I pushed myself to try it out.

You may want to season it a bit more, I was trying to keep the salt at a minimum. I added a pinch of parmesan to my cup and it was fantastic. 

Roasted Tomato Soup

20 plum tomatoes sliced in half lengthwise

1 onion, sliced thickly

6 cloves of garlic

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup low sodium chicken broth

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fresh Parmesan to garnish (2 teaspoons is a 20 calorie serving)

Preheat oven to 350

Line 2 cookie sheets with foil, and put tomatoes skin side up with garlic, onion, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes.

Take the skin off the tomatoes...it peels very easily. Throw them away! Then put all of the ingredients into the blender, including the juices from the pan. You'll have to do this in two batches. Blend until smooth.

This was so good, and lasted for days. I put a sprinkle of fresh parmesan on top. The last day I had it I even crumbled up some turkey meatloaf and veggies into it and made a "stoup" out of it. Now that cooler weather is ahead, it is perfect to have on hand.

It's All Greek to Me!

On Day 5 of Cycle 1 of the 17 Day Diet I decided to make Chicken Souvlaki.

I love Greek food. I grew up on Long Island where we had an abundance of Greek restaurants. Here in Connecticut they are few and far between, and I miss being able to easily grab a salad with chicken gyro or some souvlaki.

Knowing that on the first 17 days of this diet I can only have chicken breast, turkey breast, eggs and some fish for protein has me searching my brain for all of the ways I can cook these things without getting utterly sick of them. Tonight I hit a home run with this recipe for Chicken Souvlaki that I adapted from online.

Chicken Souvlaki

6 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 garlic cloves, minced (I use the DOROT frozen cubes...so easy)
1.5 pounds chicken cutlets, cut into 1 inch pieces

wooden skewers, grill pan

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large Ziplock bag. Add cubed chicken and shake. Put in refrigerator to marinate for 30 minutes. Shake bag around or turn over about 15 minutes through to make sure chicken is marinating evenly.

Remove chicken from bag and thread on skewers. Cook on grill pan coated with cooking spray on medium-high heat until cooked through.

Serve with Tzatziki....also Cycle 1 friendly with greek yogurt, garlic, cucumber and dill. Here is a link to the recipe:

Tzatziki


This was SO good, and I did not feel like I was eating "diet" food at all. My son loved the chicken, my vegetarian husband loved the Tzatziki. Winner all around, and going into my rotation for sure! There is plenty of Tzatiki left, and it will be used for veggie dip tomorrow.

Losing It With Auntie

It seems that my adoration for (almost) all things Auntie Ina has gotten me into some trouble.

It turns out that "How baaaad can thaaat be?" can be quite bad.

So, I need to adjust my relationship with Auntie and break up with the butter, sugar, cheese, good mayo, white flour, chocolate, etc, etc.

The struggle with my weight has been an issue for years.  I was hot and thin for about 5 minutes back in the 1990's but it didn't last too long.  I have a terrible addiction, and food is my drug of choice. It turns out that Auntie is one of my pushers.

I've tried lots of ways to lose weight, all of them at least twice. If surgery was covered under my health insurance I would try that too. After a few months of letting it all go to Hell, I decided to try again. This time with something new. A friend of mine mentioned something called The 17 Day Diet and suggested I take a look.

Perfect timing, as I was looking for anything to come along and kick my ass. The fact that my best friend was along for the ride made it even better. Then roping in another friend just sealed the deal. Because if you are going to be a cranky, detoxing witch....it helps to have your friends in the same boat.

Now here is the question....

What do I do with this blog? I don't want to abandon it, but I can't continue to ply myself with Auntie's delicious but not so healthy goodies. I am actually cooking more than ever, and would love to share it with you....so I think I may make more than just a lifestyle change and go ahead and make a blog change.

But what to do about the title? I am going to have to do some thinking. I do plan on adapting some of Auntie's healthier recipes. As a matter of fact, I have already made one that did not even need any changes....and it was AMAZING!

Here is the link:
Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

I hope you stick with me. Heck, I hope I stick with me! It is quite the challenge so far, but I'm up for it!

No Fancy Vacation For Me!

Oh, dear.

If I were Auntie, I would say that I took a faaaabulous summer off to tend my gardens and entertain in the Hamptons. Alas, I am not. I am just a distracted, harried lady who started a project and neglected it.

So, now that the few months of chaos has died down my intention is to start cooking more. My favorite time of year is approaching and I can't wait to get back into the kitchen!

See you soon!

Two For One Special!

Yes, I know. It's been a while!

Life gets busy, and then I get lazy with my writing. I have been keeping up with cooking though and now have a nice little backlog to choose from. I figured I would make up for my lack of posts with a double review today.

Here in Connecticut it's been mostly nice weather and feeling like summer. We had a few broiling hot days where it seemed too hot to cook, so I took advantage of the "Salad" section of Barefoot Contessa. I knew Auntie had some real gems in there. 

We were lucky enough to have a new Whole Foods open in the area and they had some gorgeous corn on display. It was shockingly cheap, since some people refer to Whole Foods as "Whole Paycheck" due to their steep prices. I know it can be pricey, but I do feel very Ina-rific when I shop there. You just know their stuff is "good" as she likes to say. I picked up the ingredients to make Fresh Corn Salad. Not too much was needed...just the corn, red onion, basil. I already had the cider vinegar and olive oil at home. I would actually refer to this as one of Auntie's more budget-friendly recipes!

It was simple to make, just boiling the corn for three minutes, then blanching in ice water to stop the cooking and set the color. Before I started cooking Blanche was just Rue McClanahan on the Golden Girls. Now I know better.

Cut the kernels off, toss with the diced onion, basil and the rest of the ingredients!

It was simple and delicious. Refreshing on a hot night, we ate it with hamburgers/veggie burgers. It was just as good the next day, so it's able to be made ahead if you want to bring it to a bbq this summer!

Keeping with the salad theme, I also experimented with Beets With Orange Vinaigrette. Obviously you really have to like beets to make this one. To be honest, I never touched a beet until two years ago. My best friend used to eat them out of the jar like they were candy and it would make me want to hurl! I saw them at a farmer's market years later and they looked so beautiful. They had golden and red beets stacked up and it looked just like a picture from one of the Bon Appetit magazines that I've been pouring over for the past 15 years. My foodie friends swore that they were delicious roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper, so I decided to go for it. They were right, and I've enjoyed beets ever since!

This recipe was mercifully easy because Auntie gave her blessing to use CANNED beets! I was prepared for my hands to be dyed red after peeling the real deal, so I was thrilled to see that there was a shortcut. Again, not too many ingredients so it was prepared fairly quickly and easily. Those canned beets are slippery little suckers though and were a bit of a pain to cut into halves. Another of Auntie's favorite ingredients that is incorporated into many of her recipes is zest. I caught on quickly after the first cookbook and purchased a zester. Some people just use a microplane grater, but this makes for much nicer  looking pieces:

I also had to figure out how to properly segment an orange, and thanks to You Tube I was able to quickly figure it out without demolishing them. Here is the end result for the Beets With Orange Vinaigrette:

I didn't love this as much as I thought I would, but my husband certainly did. I also gave some to my beet-loving bestie and her now beet-loving little girl and they finished it off. So I am guessing if you really like beets this will do it for you!

Here are the links:

Fresh Corn Salad

Beets With Orange Vinaigrette

A Step Back in Time

On Mother's Day we took a self-guided "foodie" tour in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was prompted by one of my all time favorite books from childhood. All of A Kind Family by Sidney Taylor.

I recently bought a copy and started to read it with my son. Foolishly I was concerned about it being too "girly" for him, and was quickly ashamed at myself for gender stereotyping. He absolutely loves the story. It turned out that my husband ended up being captivated by it as well. There is something about the book that transports you to a different place and time, the descriptions make you feel as if you are right there in the tenement with the family in 1912. Much like the way the Little House on the Prairie series took you along in the covered wagon with the Ingalls family. We read it together in bed when there's enough time, and each chapter is a little short story within itself.

One chapter in particular has always been a favorite of mine, and as soon as I read it to Jake it quickly became his. It is a very descriptive passage of a shopping trip to prepare for Friday night dinner. Each of the five sisters had a penny to spend. I remember being shocked that you could buy anything for a penny...and 30 years later Jake as just as surprised. The author so vividly portrayed the streets of the Lower East Side, with its pushcarts and peddlers. You could practically smell the pickles, or feel the heat from the baked sweet potato peddler's cart. The two youngest sisters went into the candy shop and one spent her penny on chocolate babies. The other bought a bagful of broken crackers. It wasn't until I read it again as an adult that I realized the crackers were really ginger, chocolate, and lemon snaps. They must have called them crackers back then.

Before they went to sleep, they had hidden the paper bags under their pillow in the bed that they shared in order to play a game. They would put their hand into the bag without peeking, and then make up a rule about whatever it was that they pulled out. If it was a chocolate baby, they had to bite off just the head. If it was a cracker, they had to take little nibbles around the edges until it was all gone. They created all kinds of rules until the bag was empty.

After reading the chapter to Jake, he was full of questions about the various foods they girls had bought. He had no interest in the wax-paper cone full of hot chickpeas that one sister bought, or the sweet potato, but was curious as to what chocolate babies were. I showed him a picture of them, and then made a plan to take him to the exact neighborhood where Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie bought their candy.

Mother's Day seemed like the perfect day to indulge my All of A Kind Family obsession. We drove into Manhattan and luck was with us as we found a street parking spot directly across from the Tenement Museum! No paying to park! Happy Mother's Day to me!

I know all of Manhattan is full of history, but there was something about this area that felt like home to me. I've always been fascinated with old New York, in books like Up From Orchard Street, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Gangs of New York and the All of A Kind Family series.

Wouldn't you know, the Tenement Museum tickets were sold out, so we promised to come back another day when we were sure to pre-purchase our tickets online. We made do with exploring the shop, and it was full of great books, prints, and other great items.

Our hungry child prompted us to hurry up, so we made our way down Orchard Street, crossed Delancy and headed toward Katz's Deli.

Katz's Deli is approaching its 125th anniversary, and is THE place to get hot pastrami. I've seen it in various shows including Man vs. Food and Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and its been on my foodie bucket list for some time. I was really excited to check it out.

I've been in plenty of New York delis in my life and Katz's looks no different from the others. Busted up linoleum floors, rickety wood tables and a huge counter. Packed with people.

When you enter, you are handed a ticket. You are warned that you have to hold onto that ticket, and if you lose it there is a $50 charge per ticket. It turns out that as you go to the counter to order, the person filling the order writes what you had on the ticket. It is then carried to the beverage section, and they write on it too. When you leave, it has to be handed in at the register. A little weird, but it is the Katz's tradition.

There wasn't a question as to what we were eating. Pastrami and Corned Beef. Both are sliced to order and served hot. While you wait, the carver puts a couple of bits on a little plate so you can pick at them until your sandwich is ready. The proper way to do it is with mustard and rye, but they do have rolls and other breads. They even have cheese, as this is kosher-style and not authentically kosher. But really...if you put cheese on pastrami you shouldn't be let in the door. Feh. A knish, pickles, and some Dr. Browns and we were in business.

It was fun to look at the hundreds of photos on the wall of celebrities who visited Katz's. It was NOT fun to go to the bathroom, where the stall seemed even smaller than an airplane bathroom. Oy vey. The pastrami in particular was out of this world. They also have their own brew made by Brooklyn Brewery...a hit with my husband.

Our next stop was Economy Candy. This was located on Rivington Street. It is another business that has been around for a long time....since 1937.

This place was PACKED to the rafters with candy. They have bulk and individual items, nuts, dried fruit, and everything you could ever think of. Except chocolate babies. Which was why we went there in the first place. They had them on the website, and we were excited to try out the same candy that Gertie and Charlotte had bought for just a penny in All of A Kind Family. When we asked, they told us that chocolate babies were only made at certain times of the year. I didn't really press for more information, and we were consoled with Happy Hippos, Harry Potter's Chocolate Frogs, Goldenberg's Peanut Chews, and another assorted goodies.

After loading up on goodies here we made our way over to Grand, to find Kossar's Bialys. For those that don't know what a bialy is, it is a bread roll that is shaped somewhat like a bagel, but with an indentation instead of a hole. The hole is usually filled with onion or garlic. It is baked, not boiled like a traditional bagel. 

Gorgeous, right? 

I love bialys. I grew up with them on Long Island. They have them here, but it just isn't as good as what you can get in New York. People say it has something to do with the water that they make them with. I have no idea. What I do know is that these bialys from Kossar's are RIDICULOUS. We picked up a half dozen and added them to our packages.

Right down the street from Kossar's we found Jake's idea of heaven. Possibly even more than the candy store. We found The Pickle Guys.

Barrels full of pickles. Sour, half, 3/4, pickled mango, pineapple, tomato, okra, etc. A great bunch of boisterous men chatted with us and gave us tastes of their wares. Modern day peddlers. Too bad a penny won't get you anything! Still, we got ourselves some proper pickles, Jake charmed his way into the back for some pickle tattoos, and we were off.

Back to Orchard Street and the Tenement Museum, and our sweet parking spot.

I can't wait to go back. There is so much more to see and do! I highly recommend a trip to the Lower East Side. It's such a refreshing change from the typical tourist spots in NYC. We were able to see the new spire on One World Trade that was nearby and pledged to make a stop at the memorial on our next trip. The South Street Seaport is also close. 

I've got to thank my husband and son for indulging me on Mother's Day. I also have to thank Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie for inspiring my love for my culture, history, and reading. They were such a gift to me when I was young and I am so glad to have them back in my life and to be able to share them with the next generation.

I've Gone Bananas

A few posts ago I told you about the ham that I made in Florida. And the Indonesian Chicken. And the Crash Hot Potatoes. Well, you KNOW there had to be dessert to go with all of that goodness. Even though I strayed from the original Barefoot Contessa cookbook that I am making my way through, I stuck with Auntie and baked up something from one of her later books, How Easy is That? No, really. I'm not asking you that question. How Easy is That? is the name of the book. But really, it should be called "How Easy is Thaaaaaat?" If you know Auntie, you can just hear her voice right now...

I had also recently written about the episode that I saw when I was on an airplane, where Ina visits a classroom of special needs children and bakes with them. One of the things that she made really stood out. Partly because it looked super easy, but mostly because when I saw it I knew that it was right up my dad's alley. Old Fashioned Banana Cake. Daddy is a big fan of banana. And peanut butter. And no, he isn't Elvis.

Well, Auntie was right about this recipe being in the "easy" cookbook, because it was super simple to throw together and took no skill to present. It has one layer, so no need to have two cake pans. It isn't even frosted traditionally, and just has the cream cheese icing on the top of the cake...no sides involved!

Since I was dealing with a non-baking friendly kitchen I had to grab a disposable cake pan from Publix. My mom DID bake many moons ago, but I have a feeling most of her bakeware was quietly disposed of once my parents left New York for Florida. One thing about Auntie is that she loves her 9-inch pans. Unfortunately, if you're in a hurry and without a pan your only option is the 8-inch pans that they sell in the grocery store. This could be an issue if you aren't careful! More on that later...

While my parents do own a Kitchen Aid mixer, a staple of every one of Auntie's baking recipes, it lives in the garage. I am not really sure why they have it, or if they have ever used it, but there it is....on the shelf next to the pool noodles.

Great, I've got access to a mixer....right?

No. I don't. Apparently removing the mixer from its home in the garage is too much of a "potchka." For those who don't know what that means, it is a Yiddish word for something "that requires a lot of fussing." So the gleaming, white Kitchen Aid stayed put in the hot Florida garage, next to its friends the pool noodles. Fortunately there was an electric hand mixer in the kitchen cabinet, and I was able to use that. I haven't used one of those since I was a little kid! I remember watching my mother mixing some sort of batter and waiting (im)patiently to lick one or both of the beaters when she popped them off of the mixer. I guess no one was concerned about Salmonella back in the olden days.

The electric hand beater was perfectly serviceable, and the cake was mixed and in the pan in less than five minutes. Fortunately my parents had most of the ingredients in the house....Costco-sized. They must be hiding a pet monkey, because they had not one, but two huge bunches of banana. For people that rarely bake, they manage to have a giant Costco bottle of vanilla. For greasing those pans....no less than SIX cans of PAM in the cabinet. I wonder if that stuff can double as suntan lotion? Maybe I'l try that next time I visit...

To solve the problem of the 8 inch pan, I ended up filling it with only part of the batter so I did not overflow and spill into the oven. I would not be allowed in my parent's  kitchen anymore if I did that. I already had one strike against me when I caught a pot of oil on fire in their old house. The rest of the batter went into a mini-loaf pan.

I washed the beaters and whipped up the frosting. Cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Upon doing a taste test I have to say that I like the frosting that Auntie makes for the Coconut Cupcakes better. The only change is almond extract instead of vanilla, but it makes a significant difference in my opinion.

Fortunately things went off without a hitch, the house smelled fantastic, and the cake was a HUGE hit! So much so, that I had to make another one three days later for the next batch of company. Notice that while my parents may be lacking in culinary tools, they make up for in fabulous granite counters and gleaming white serving dishes.

A slice (of heaven)

You need to make this cake. Throw your box mixes out the window and whip one of these babies up!

Old Fashioned Banana Cake