food and thoughts about food

Chipotle Orange Burger with Cheez and Spinach
Sesame Seitan and Broccoli
Chipotle Orange Chili

I finally got my camera out again.. maybe I'll actually start taking more food pics. It has been hard, because I really love coming here, but to be 100% honest, it is not good for my diet. The more great food I see here, the more I want to cook and taste... and that is not something I'm able to do yet.

I am wondering though.. because so many of you cook and eat such awesome food.. and most of it isn't "diet" type food... how is it that many of you are so slim? I just don't get it. I know that from doing WW, I have reduced the calories and have been measuring portion sizes... and from a lot of the food I see plated and posted here, many of you eat the same portions that I eat...

It is something I'm thinking about.

It's finally winter


view from my window

Comforting Soup

As most of you know, I am doing Weight Watchers and really serious about losing weight. I have been slowly revamping recipes and figuring out ways to make food as satisfying as it was before. One of the biggest changes for me has been not cooking in olive oil. Now, I use cooking spray and just before serving, I add a tsp or so of the highest quality evoo to the food. I find that it makes a big difference. I also measure and weigh foods, which I never did before.
In the past, my White Bean and Escarole soup started with 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and was finished off with more on top.
I revamped this recipe for lunch today and am really happy with how it turned out:
I only used 1.5 cups of garbonzo beans, instead of the 3 cups I usually used. That cut almost half the calories right there.
This makes 9 cups. Since I am a big eater, I eat 3 cups of it as my main meal for lunch. I also added 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil to the top of it, for a total of 300 calories per 3 cups and 4 Weight Watcher points.

White Bean and Escarole Soup

Cooking Spray

6 cloves garlic

1 onion

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

red pepper flakes to taste

salt/pepper

2 tbsp dry sherry

around 6 cups of raw escarole

1.5 cups chickpeas or other white bean (canned or cooked)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

6 cups vegetable stock

1 cup tomato sauce

3 oz silken tofu

water, if needed

nutmeg

extra virgin olive oil

Method:

In a heavy bottomed, soup pan, add the garlic and spices and slowly bring up to medium heat, making sure the garlic doesn''t burn. As soon as you can smell the garlic, add the sherry and diced onions and a pinch of salt/pepper. Cook over medium heat for several minutes, then add the escarole, white beans , vinegar, tomato sauce and broth. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a strong simer. Cook for 15 minutes or so. Turn the heat down to very low and wait for the soup to stop boiling. Take around 2 cups of soup and add it to a blender with the silken tofu. Blend until totally smooth, then add back to the soup. Grate in some fresh nutmeg, about several pinches. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil drizzled on top of each bowl.

A Dog's Life

Today was a nice day. Mommy was very surprised that it was over 50 degrees in the middle of December. Usually, in New Hampshire, we have cold weather and snow. I don't remember what snow is, but Mommy says that I like to play in it. I was very bored, so I asked nicely if we could go for a walk.

I like riding in the car, I can tell where we're going and I get really excited when I know I'm going for a fun walk. Today, Mommy confused me a little because she took a different route to the beach. Boy, was I relieved when I saw where we were!

It was a perfect day. I wanted to play at the beach, but Mommy said that we had to walk first. She promised that we could play later.

We went to the trail and Mommy started muttering about how everyone should see Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth. She's been talking about this Al Gore guy a lot. She says that the grass shouldn't be green in the middle of December in New Hampshire! She sounded kind of mad.

We walked through the trails for an hour and finally, we arrived at the beach. This was a different beach than the one we park the car at. I love this beach the most, because sometimes, I get to run off leash here! Mommy says that if no one is around I can today! I am so excited.

We looked all around and waited a little bit to see if anyone was there. I really wanted to run!

I'm really good at being patient. I decided to sniff and sniff and sniff some more. I like to dig up clams and eat them! I don't even mind being on my leash. See the leash? That's the one that cut Mommy's hand really bad. She's much more careful now.

WooHoo! Freedom!! I love sniffing, oh, how I love sniffing. I just want to eat all of the dead crabs I can find! I love crabs more than running free. Mommy keeps telling me to drop it, but I'm not listening. I tell her that there's green grass I can eat so I won't get a tummy ache.

Mommy got bored and told me if I wasn't going to run around, then we were going to start walking again. I was happy because I saved some crabs in my mouth. We went back through the trails and ended up at the first beach where our car was parked. Mommy said it was so pretty. She said we could play there for a while, but I had to stay on leash. That was fine with me because all I care about is sniffing. I'm a sniffer. I love to snif. I like sniffing more than anything! Even playing with my boyfriend, Jake!

Mommy says that we are so lucky to live here. I don't know what lucky means, but I sure like coming to the beach! Mommy says that this is her favorite time to come, well, this and sunrise. She calls this the sunset and says that she thinks it's magical. Mommy looks really really happy right now.

It was getting dark, so we had to go. I sure had fun! Mommy says that the Golf Course will be closed for the season today, so maybe tomorrow we can go on a long walk there. We went the other day, but it was still open for 9 holes and we had to sneak around so no one would see us.

"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is 'bring them on'."

- George W Bush

July 2, 2003

Heeeellllllooooooooo!!

Hello everyone! I miss all of my blogger friends. I have been checking in with many of you, but haven't commented or spent too much time here. I find I am way too tempted to want to cook and eat more than I need to when I spend the time here!

I am thrilled to say that I have lost 28lbs so far! I joined Weight Watchers to give myself accountability. It helps a lot to pay someone to weight you once a week when it comes to keeping yourself on track.. or at least for me it does. I have been logging every single morsel that goes into my mouth and exercising between 1-2 hours a day.. mostly walking and swimming. I am going to start yoga again soon, as soon as I hit a plateau.

I have fallen off the vegan bandwagon. I am still around 90% vegan, but I haven't been nearly as strict with myself. I'm OK with that right now, but know that ultimately, vegan is my goal and ideal.

I also haven't been taking many pics, but here are a couple. The cheese on the pizza is soycheese with casein.

Quesadilla, Salad

Quinoa and tofu Spanikopita

"Beef" (seitan) and Broccoi

Kale and Golden Rasins

Present to myself for losing 25lbs (the necklaces) my friend is selling them HERE. She has serveral more available and will probably make some to order. Go buy some!

My sweet baby!

Speaking of babies, my niece is doing great. My SIL is not comfortable with me posting pics of her here, so I'm afraid I can't show you here perfect little face, but she is amazing.

I hope you all are doing well!