Spritz'

I am always on the lookout for how to get myself to hydrate. Water is nutritionally best but sometimes I need something more interesting.

Think bubbly water and juice and experiment. Here are a few ideas.

Make Hybiscus tea..from health food stores..chill and use half Pellegrino and half tea..2 thin slices juice orange and a sprig of mint..muddle briefly with a bit of ice..

Mix 1/4 pomegranate juice and 3/4 bubbly water

Use a bit of flavored syrup and bubbly water..I like linden flowers. go easy on the syrup as it is full of sugar but a tablespoon or so is enough to transform a large glass of water into a nice little alcohol free cocktail

Experiment with Verjus..this is the unfermented grape juice which if fermented it would be wine. It is a bit tart and added to sparkling water makes and excellent sophisticated alcohol free aperetif

Tuna Salad with eggless Mayo!

Well its been a busy week. I did do some more cooking but because I was out a lot and also not feeling too well I cooked less. I ate out..always more challenging for my diet.. so I will start Monday a little up from my low weight but still I have lost 4 pounds since 10 days ago..which is still good progress.

I went to the Union Square Green Market on Saturday and the health food store today so I am ready to start cooking again tomorrow.

I bought two brands of eggless Mayonaise. They are acceptable if you are trying to control your cholesterol and lower calorie than an eggbased product.
I taste tested them and  there was a very clear difference. The Spectrum tasted much better than the Nayonaise. Both had 35 calories a tablespoon and 3.5 grams of fat

I made a tuna salad.

 I bought American line caught tuna, labeled American Tuna

 www.americantuna.com  

 Generally the tuna caught in the USA that is line caught is thought to be smaller and therefore have less time to develop a high mercury count.  American Tuna is a group of family fishermen and women who are committed to not killing Dolphin while fishing for Tuna.  I feel like I would rather pay a little more for this tuna cooked in its own juices tuna than trust that in Thailand or other far away nations they are so concerned with the mercury levals or saving dolphins. It also is great quality and fresher tasting to me.

Tuna Salad 2 servings

One can of tuna
Juice of one lemon or to taste
Chopped celery 2 stalks
2 tablespoons eggless mayo
Cherry tomatoes sliced in half and marinated in balsamic vinegar
Slice of organic whole grain bread from Le Pain Quotidien

www.lepainquotidien.com

This company serves organic whole grain breads and lots of really good things. They have calorie counts to aid us all and lovely communal tables where we can meet eachother..Nice!!

Mix and serve on lettuce with the tomatoes marinated in balsamic vinegar and  a slice of whole wheat toast

Today I saw a tuna salad with halved green grapes and a bit of toasted walnut..it was really good!!!

Read Your Labels! Buy From the Farmers!

Labels tell us what products contain and where they are from. I am adding a link regarding organic foods and why it's important to monitor closely what you buy and eat. If you have a farmer's market near you my guess is that is where you will buy the food that is grown with the most care but be aware that even there it is possible to buy foods that are grown in the mass culture of agribusiness. Ask whether the "farmer" has grown this vegetable, egg, meat themselves and whether they are free range, authentically organic, what pesticides if any they use..as you become familiar with these ideas it becomes clear the more you know the better you eat. I am adding two links. One a filmed article on organic food that comes from places like China and Mexico..not bastions of environmental purity. The other a link to the grow NY site which is full of great ideas about growing food and has schedules of  when and where the green markets we have in the metropolitan manhattan area are happening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y

http://www.cenyc.org/

Cooking for One a great blog on the NYT!

Here is a great link to healthy easy cooking

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/a-more-healthful-dinner-for-one/

Turkey Wrapped Sweet Potato and Fennel Salad, Bean and Kale Soup

Started the day off with Oatmeal..

recipe

1/2 cup Bob's Red Hill organic extra thick rolled oats..The best I have found!

1 cup of water

boil quickly til almost dry..watch the pot or you will burn it

add hot skim milk, agave syrup, a little currents and a little sliced almonds

Coffee with hot skim milk and Agave syrup

low glycemic agave syrup tastes great and doesn't spike your glycemic levels. It is the same calories as you get in cane sugar but doesn't have the effect of making you hungrier later as does cane sugar

Lunch

Salad:

mixed mescalun greens with shavings of fresh fennel dressed with lemon juice and good tasting extra virgin olive oil pepper and a few flakes of sea salt

Shopping in New York City is a joy

Fairway allows you to taste different olive oils daily and sells large great bottles for 12 to 15 dollars..your food is only as good as the individual ingredients you use..especially if the recipe is simple and ingredient driven

Main Course

a sly diet copy of a recipe by Mark Bittman seen on video at the NYT.com website..he makes sweet potato wrapped with proscuito

Sweet potatoes are recommended in stage two South Beach Diet because they are not as starchy as white potatoes and again are low on the glycemic index..something integral to the diet, so I decided to slightly change Mr. Bittman's recipe substituting turkey bacon for the somewhat higher fat of proscuitto.

Here is what I made

peel and slice a medium sweet potato

parboil til medium tender..not too much so it stays together and can be baked again

roll in a bit of olive oil and salt very slightly as the bacon is already salty

place a fresh sage leaf against the potato and wrap a slice of applegate farms turkey bacon around each piece laying them loosely into a baking pan..drizzle a tiny bit more oil into the pan and rotating the pan around to distribute oil under the wraps.

bake 450 for 20 or so minutes..you want little crusty edges to form. I had three of the wraps which was quite filling for lunch after eating the salad and will have the remaining 3 pieces next week for a lunch. or even for breakfast.

the potato is about 170 calories..half ends up one serving and the bacon is 35 calories per slice with 1.5 grams of fat so a serving for lunch might amount to more or less 300 calories!

skipped the gym today as it was pouring all day

Dinner at 7 pm a little late

Bean and Kale Soup

I cut the leaves off and put just the leaves in boiling water to parboil. Then I lifted the leaves from the pot put them in a colander and ran cold water over them to cool..then squeezed out the water and chopped up..then reduced the water to about 5 cups of liquid.

Next, in a tablespoon of oil I sauteed a medium onion and two minced cloves of garlic and salt, adding a bit of broth and a bit of water, two cans of navy beans two sprigs of rosemary two sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf as well as enough of the reduced water to cover the beans simmer 20 minutes or so. Then I put it all into my cuisinart after removing the rosemary, thyme and bayleaf and puree the beans and liquid in batches til smooth. I put it back in a pot and added the kale strips to warm it..if you need extra liquid add kale stock or a bit of water.season with lots of pepper and salt to taste.

I like it topped with croutons. Just a few..this is after all a diet!

Fried croutons

a small piece of french bread I took from the freezer and thawed.

in a small frying pan, I cooked a clove of garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil. Removed the clove of garlic and I added the bread cut into croutons. Cooked slowly til brown. Just before it is ready turn off heat and cool in the pan then drain them on paper. When they are cool they can be stored in the cupboard in a covered glass jar.

Kept drinking my water..lots of water is really good for a diet.

Tomorrow morning cardio then Yoga.

And I have lots of leftovers for meals.

Black Bean Tacos

Thursday evening I had plans to go to a lecture at 7. Having finished work at 6 this was a tight schedule. I had just commited myself to keep to an eating and exercise plan whose goal was to be thinner by 10 or so pounds down the road. That meant I needed to eat before 7 or so if I was to not wear dinner on my hips..more on the general diet excercise program which works for me in a seperate entry..So, I priorised eating dinner over arriving exactly on time and made the following:

Black bean tacos

One organic corn tortilla..available in good spanish stores..I bought mine in the essex street market downtown..then heated it up in a teflon pan tossing both sides til its warmed through.

Put it on a salad plate. Top with one pan fried eggwhite lettuce, black beans, a tablespoon of grated Cabots 50% reduced fat sharp chedder cheese, Green Mountain Gringo Salsa..I like hot, two tablespoons Cabots no fat Sour Cream. Yum! diet, quick filling and satisfying.

and I was ready for a night out..and kept to my diet plans!

Deborah Madison makes a recipe which is called Black Beans with Chipotle.. I cannot reproduce her recipe but it is a really easy concept.. Chipotle chiles in adobo are available in the spanish section of the supermarket. If you combine them..one chile per 2 small cans of beans with onion and a bit of fresh cilantro,chopped tomato..canned or otherwise you can use these for many things that are good for you. I like to use organic beans..canned are easier but dry can be used provided you soak overnight and cook til soft. then if I saute onions I use trace olive oil to start at a slow heat adding tiny amounts of water til they are softened a bit..then just add the rest and make a mush that is neither very dry nor soupy..all this takes is 15 minute and this can sit in a plastic container in the fridge for when you want to use it various ways.

Turkey Meatballs, Quinoa Cereal, Kale Soup,

So the diet is going very well. Thanks to blogging I am staying focused and I have lost 5.5 pounds since Wednesday! Most of this is water loss as it is not reasonable to assume it to be fat but it is an exceptional start for me.  For breakfast I made quinoa as a cereal. Quinoa is an ancient grain that has the highest quantity of protein of any grain..It is thought of as a supergrain and tasty and easy to make. You can read about it on the web or if you want to know about grains there is a wonderful book called Whole Grains by Lorna Sass which has lots of information about all those grains we should know more about and start incorporating into our meals. I put the quinoa in a strainer and wash with cold water a few times. Then I cook it in lots of boiling water til it is plumped up.. 15 minutes or less.  then just strain it and use or put into tupperware and refrigerate,for use later. Don't cook til mush as it is not as pleasant that way. The first time I cooked it I saw white threads in it which I thought were worms in the grain and tossed it out. These are the parts of the grain/seed that would sprout! I find it a tasty grain for cereals and salads and will include recipes for you as I go. For cereal I put about half a cup cooked and mix with hot skim milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, sliced almonds and currents. Btw cinnamon is good for lowering cholesterol. Use the nuts and currents thoughtfully. While they are good for you too they are not low cal. This is one of those breakfasts that gives me lots of energy!

Lunch was a mug of bean and kale soup made over the weekend with a few croutons.

Dinner was a salad of greens and cucumbers, fennel, tomato, with a great fat free dressing I learned from the Canyon Ranch people.

And meatballs

Turkey Meatballs

a 1.3 pound package of lean ground turkey. 2 eggs, ¾ cut freshly made breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons chopped italian parsley, salt and pepper

mix all together lightly

in a medium large skillet place 3 tablespoons olive oil and two crushed garlic cloves..Heat til cloves are lightly browned. Discard the cloves and over medium heat fry meatballs.. as one side browns turn carefully with a wooden spoon. You should have made about 36 small size meatballs and they should fit comfortably in the skillet. When they are browned on all sides, drain as much of the fat as it possible. Then add chicken broth to halfway up the sides of the meatballs and a cup of chopped canned Italian tomato. Cook rolling the meat balls in the broth over medium low heat until it forms a light covering with a little sauce with bits of tomoatoe in it.

Serving size is 6 meatballs per person. There are roughly 6 grams of fat per serving and about 200 calories.

Fat Free Dressing for salads Green or Quinoa

mix together 1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 cups apple cider 

1/4 cup of agave syrup

2 cinnamon sticks

1 teaspoon of sea salt

put it all in a jar in the frig and remove the cinnamon after marinating over night. It seems to keep indefinitely in my frig.

Morning snack was an apple I grabbed on my way to 30 minutes of cardio
evening snack was not health food but good for my sweet tooth..fat free no sugar instant vanilla pudding with a teaspoon of rum and some nutmeg..think fake eggnog!

Bean Taco and Chicken Curry and Plum Omelette

Got up this morning thinking I wanted a sweet breakfast..Sundays always seem to be days for french toast or pancakes..That would definitely mess up my plans for weight loss. I decided to make an old favorite. Ricotta and Plum Omelette
Here is the recipe:

Using the egg white omelette directions from an earlier blog.Make the egg white omelette. place good ricotta cheese in small pieces over the surface of the omelette and then add two or three teaspoons of sugarless jam..I used plum..lift out the omelette and fold on the plate..dip a fok into a jar of honey and let drip into jar then quickly wave over the top of the omelette and attach some sliced almonds to it..salt and pepper to taste..Yum!

I use Ricotta from a company called Salvatore Brooklyn.

www.salvatorebklyn.com

it has 40 calories per ounce and 3 grams of fat. I use just a small amount..less than one ounce and I buy it at the Essex Street Market



Then off to yoga class..boy am in inflexible..But, I am working on it.

Lunch was Bean Taco..this time with lots of cilantro and 1/4 cup cut up avocado and lots of fresh jalapeno.. Note the jalapeno is optional but remember if you like spice it speeds your metabolism and makes you prone to drinking more water. You can see the basic recipe for the taco in an earlier blog.

the delicious tortilla I use, made by Buenatural has 47 calories per tortilla and less than a gram of fat. it is available at the Essex Street Market and costs $1.79 for 12 tortillas. They are organic and made of stone ground corn..

web address is www.buenofoods.com

After lunch and posting to the blog I went to the gym and walked/jogged on the treadmill for 20 minutes..

I needed a snack before dinner..a cup of no fat vanilla yogurt with a few sliced almonds..I like stoney field organic..I'm partial to vanilla..which I also use as a sauce for berries and lemon and coffee..I dont like the chocolate as it has too much flavored gunk on the bottom of the cup.

Dinner was Chicken curry with Brown Rice Cake

Slice thin, across the grain, two or three ounces of partially frozen boneless skinless chicken breast. In an iron pan or teflon add a teaspoon or so of olive oil..cook briefly just to whiten. Remove from pan..add another teaspoon oil and cook, vegetables that you have lying around in the frig..I had..red peppers..sliced 1/8 inch thick and celery I cut on the Benriner, an inexpensive useful tool from japan..more on this one later. I added a teaspoon of curry powder and a pinch of ground cloves and a shake of ginger and mixed it up. Then I added water to keep it from burning and reduced it. When the water was drying and the veggies were not yet cooked I added more liquid. Here you can use imagination..water, chicken broth, white wine or vermouth even a little cider vinegar..but if you use vinegar don't use cast iron or you will ruin the seasoning of the pan. Next I added small pieces of fresh mango and a touch of hot sauce. When the veggies were al dente I added the chicken back just to heat through as they are very thin thats all they need..I leave a small amount of "sauce" in the mix.

I had brown rice cakes in the freezer and cooked them direct from the freezer in a slow/medium no stick pan with a thin coating of oil..maybe two teaspoons..

I make these cakes from leftover brown rice

1 cup brown rice
1 egg white
mix
add grated parmesan and 2 tablespoons low or no fat cottage cheese..I like axelrod cottage cheese the best but any brand will work..use good parmesan as it has the best flavor.
then I take about a 1/4 cup or a little less of the mix and place it into wax paper and fold it up after flattening the mixture to a square roughly 3.5 inches and about 1/2 inch thick. I then put these packages in the freezer and use as needed. I cook them until brown and crunchy on each side.

Last snack was a half grapefruit. Grapefruits are great diet foods and if you get great ones they need no sugar at all.

Food Thoughts

Ok so I will be frank..I have avoided this diet forever. My clothes from 5 years ago don't fit and I am unhappy about it.

Deciding to blog, while doing, is helping me to stay on track about sensible eating and exercise..I only hope if anyone reads this, that it will help them to re-set their patterns too.

Some History

Years ago..diagnosed with higher than acceptable cholesterol levels I devised this diet..I did it because..I did not want to go on lipitor and ended up losing about 20 pounds and lowering my cholesterol by 120 points! My doctor told me I was the poster child.

I did it by eating a low fat high fiber diet. But I love to eat so I did it my way. Fast easy to make meals that were very tasty. I am a food lover so food has to be delicious or I won't eat it! Period!

I read Dean Ornish..Dr. Ornish advises his patients to give up meat and eat vegetarian. Good advice but not for me.

I used some of his ideas..while he advocates ceasing eating meat..I couldn't manage that, so I started considering using meats as tasty treats rather than the main thing on my plate. He advised a varied vegetarian diet rich in grains and vegetables. This I did buy into. After all, I had cooked wonderfully for my vegan daughter.

I also consulted and used the South Beach Diet, a very good diet in my opinion. The main thing I took away from that diet was information about glycemic levels..I am not an expert..not a nutritionist or chef so please take this as one woman's idea, but..essentially I learned that there were foods higher or lower on the glycemic index. Glycemic being about the foods' ability to spike your insulin levels thereby causing you to become even more hungry shortly after. I cook with foods, low glycemic foods because the higher level foods set you up to become hungry again sooner and one of my goals is to eat so I feel full. I hate being hungry.

Whole grains and leafy green vegetables are good for us and help lower cholesterol. They are also slower to digest and therefore make us feel full longer as well as keep our digestion functioning longer..using calories to do so. But very few of us know how to prepare them well, so that they taste reat and are easy to fix.

I try to keep my overall fat intake on the low sided and think about where those fats are from. I use good tasting extra virgin olive oil and avoid eating servings of cheese.Like meat, I use cheese as a condiment. Butter is another thing I try to avoid, using it only for flavor and in minute amounts. Small amounts of nuts, seed and avocado give us variety in the type of fats we eat and are good..As in 1/4 cut avocado or 8 almonds..not the whole bag!

Eating this way makes me feel more energetic and a sustained diet like the one I am describing, coupled with regular exercise seems to be what will keep my cholesterol, blood pressure and weight in check.

I am not into cooking every day or in a complicated manner so the simple things I cook, I use later for leftover based meals.

I try to drink lots of water. If I haven't been doing it for a while, I have to build up. At first it feels impossible but after a while I can drink a lot of water. The easiest test to see if you are drinking enough water is the color of your pee. It should be clear or pale..not dark. Dark indicates you are dehydrated.

I find alcohol impedes my diet in a number of ways. Liquor is empty nutritionless calories. It slows my metabolism and I lose my will power. A friend said it like this, "If I drink I will have the rice pudding for dessert" Also Isleep badly if I drank so my body does not have a chance to recouperate at night. So while I love good wine, I need to limit my intake.

Finally, I have made the connection that cooking healthy, tasty food for myself, serving it attractively and focusing on it while I eat it , it is honoring myself three times a day.

As Julia Child would say, Bon Appetit!

What this blog is about

This blog is about cooking, eating and feeling and looking well. It is also about enjoying your life. In it will be ramblings of what I cooked and if it tasted good. My goal is to bring to others a lifetime of simple home cooking and exercise ideas that will be both easy tasty and possible to achieve. I invite others to add their experiences and ideas.

About me.

I am a longtime home cook and exerciser. I love great tasty food. I don't love food that tastes so wholesome but not yummy. I use mostly healthy ingredients and steal from every cuisine and cookbook. I will whenever I know credit the original makers of recipes and sometimes add my own take on their really good ideas..My life of travels and gardening and an aesthetic interest in food as well as my interest in being slim..not always achieved..has led me through a lot of vegetarian and diet oriented cookbooks. These days I am only interested in cooking easy to make, good tasting foods, that will allow me to go back to fighting weight. So follow along with my diet and exercise efforts and please send in your favorite tips as well.