A change is coming

       

written by Linda Gauthier

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.   "Maya Angelou"

This has been my mantra all week and today is the day of truth.  Has my hard work paid off?  Week 2 Weigh In Day, Drum Roll please...

Ta dah !!!

I'm down 6.6 lbs  I would suspect mainly water however it feels good .  :)

Oh, Oh having sugar twitches....Help

Sweet Tooth Satisfaction

I told you last that I created a new recipe to satisfy my sweet tooth. So here it is:
Note. I didn't remember to jot down, or measure the ingredients this time out, so as to give you an exact recipe, but I promise I will, and post it, in the near future.
So for now, here is the outline of what I did and the rationale behind it. You poor souls.  You get to see the inside workings of my creative mind.  Oh well, here goes.

I wanted to create something that was slightly sweet, that I could use as a breakfast bar to send to work with Gary and to help me if I was hungry.  I also wanted something that I knew what was in it.

So my first stop was to my pantry where I found a nearly empty box of All Bran cereal, another of Kashi Puffed Grain cereal, and on the baking shelf, a partial bag of ground almonds.
What can I do with this?  Hmm, what about making it like a graham wafer crust, but without all the fat.  Ok, let's try. Do I add sweet?  Yeah, I guess so, but not just sugar, then what?  Hey, how about some honey with a small amount of brown sugar?

So that is what I did for the base:
It turned out a little more crisp than I wanted, its flavour is good, a tad sweeter than I'd like, but that can be adjusted.  Has great texture, with the nuts and the puffed cereal.

Crispy cookie-like base

Now what?  Do I eat it just like this?  No.  I think I want a little decadence, so I've got the plums I've been canning and a few are getting a little soft.  What can I do?  Hey, I saw a recipe for roast plums at this site, what did they do?  I followed her recipe pretty well to the letter, but with a few additions of my own.  Of course!!

1. Instead of using just the thyme, I added some Epicure Fines Herbes[sic], because I didn't happen to have enough fresh thyme on hand. (my plant seems to be dying).
2. I didn't add regular sugar, but instead gave it a dusting with Epicure Maple Sugar.
3. Next when it was cooked I gave it another dusting of the Maple Sugar and here is the real surprise.  I gave it a quick shake of Epicures Maple Bacon Sea Salt.  Total amount of sugar is less than a quarter of a teaspoon.  Total amount of flavour, awesome!

Roasted plums

But being me I still wanted to add a little more, so what about a creamy texture?  Hey, I've got Greek yogurt.

So that is what I did:

On each serving, I placed 1 1/2 tablespoons of Greek plain yogurt, topped with 2 plums.  It tasted great and to top it off, I was very pleased with myself. :)  I have no name for this recipe yet, but I'm working on it.

The left over plums will keep in the fridge for at least 3 days in an air tight container, to be used in other recipes.  They'd taste great with pork or chicken or oatmeal.  I added the extra juice I saved to some balsamic vinegar and made a reduction to be used on salads or meat dishes, that I'm keeping in my fridge for future use.

I tend to be a sauce junkie, so in a future post I plan on creating a page with easy, calorie-safe, sodium-reduced sauces and dressings. Also so I can rid my fridge of all those half bottles, etc.

Part of my adventure is to become more aware of what is going into my body in all those little things we don't think about, like the sodium intake in dressings, soy products, the hidden fat and other unnecessary things in our food.  Basically, I'm trying to clean up my act so I can live long enough to see nieces and nephews grow up, their children grow up and someday, even grand-children to be born and to celebrate life with, in a healthy, active body, because I plan on being here until I'm at least 100.

written by Linda Gauthier Photos by Linda Gauthier

Feeling spicy today, puttin a little wiggle in the jiggle

Cuban Style Beans and Rice

Yummy recipe, worked great, flavour was great, hubby's approval rate also great, overall a pretty darn good review.  
To add to this dish, I had 4 oz of chicken breast and 4 prawns.  
Here is what I did:

1. I tossed the Epicure Cuban spices in my non-stick pan, warmed the spices to bring out the flavour; 
2. added some fresh chopped garlic; 
3. added the chicken breast first to cook; 
4. then during the last 8 minutes, added the prawns, cooked them until they were just about ready;
5. added 1/2 c clamato juice and 2 handfuls of baby spinach;
6. gave it all a quick stir until the spinach wilted and served it on top of the beans and rice. 

By doing this, I added more protein to the dish and more color and texture.  Bringing my point value for this dish up by 2-3 points, which I had room for. 

written by Linda Gauthier Photos by Linda Gauthier

Rain, rain go away come again another day..

Good Morning,

Here on the Pacific coast in beautiful Victoria, B.C., we are having another glorious sunny day.  You can however, begin to feel fall in the air.  I love fall, but it means our rainy winter will be returning sooner than I'd like.  Kids are back in school and the neighborhood is sadly quiet. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend.  We had a quiet weekend, but it was very nice.  My husband and I are just getting used to not having our young adult children around.  They are off forging their own lives and memories, and we are back to getting to know each other as ourselves and not Mom and Dad.  It is nice, scary and fun all at the same time, but I must say I'm rather liking it.

This weekend I had fun creating the food outlined in my menu and  I never once felt cheated or overly hungry.  On Monday, I had a bit of a sugar craving, but I managed it by creating a new recipe, which I will tell you about later.  I have to admit though, I have been changing the menu around a bit, depending on the food mood we are in. (my hubby is eating exactly the same as I am)

For Monday's breakfast, we had the Poached Egg on Corn Tortilla.
It turned out great, but there are a few things I might change for the future though. 

1.  The recipe is fine, but when I was creating it, I decided to make my own fresh salsa. Therefore, less salt and fresher veggies!  What I found was that it may have been too moist for the tortilla, so it may have been a good idea to lightly toast or warm the tortilla in a nonstick fry pan to slightly crisp it, to try prevent the tortilla from becoming soggy.
2. I had warmed the tortilla in the microwave.  This was fine, but I don't believe it brought the flavour of the tortilla out as much as toasting it in the pan would have. 

written by Linda Gauthier Photos by Linda Gauthier