Curried Cream of Cauliflower Soup

I usually eat a pretty light lunch. It's often just enough to hold me over to supper cause I like to eat a substantial evening meal. I'd like to switch things up a bit to eat a larger meal closer to the middle of the day and end the day on a lighter meal but i haven't yet worked up the courage ... yes courage, to do so.

I quite like soup for my mid day meal because it is light and low in calories and yet packs a nutritional punch. I occasionally will have a full sized sandwich on whole wheat or better yet a half sandwich with a half a bowl of soup but i rarely have any more than that.

While I used to buy most of my soups in those cartons you see (I'd mix and match ... a little of this ... a little of that) lately I have been making my own. It' easy and I make a big batch, freezing my extra portions to be thawed, heated and eaten later.

The last soup I made was curried cauliflower. Now, I like plain old regular cream of cauliflower soup but THIS soup has a curry twist which is really quite nice and flavourful. If you like a bit of heat (not much) this is something you might like to try. It's only 156 calories for a full cup serving (250ml) and has 3g of fiber! You can see the recipe and complete nutritional data HERE

Curried Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

• 1 Leek
• 4 tbsp Shallots
• 1/2 medium Onion, Sweet
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 tbsp Unsalted Cultured Butter My Country
• 1 medium stalk celery, raw
• 2 tbsp Minced Garlic in Water
• 2 tsp Curry Powder
• 2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 3 cups No Salt Added Chicken Broth
• 3 cups Vegetable Stock Salt Reduced
• 1/2 whole yiel LEMON Juice, Fresh Squeezed
• 840 g Cauliflower Head
• 1 cup Creamo Half & Half
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Ground White Pepper
• 2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese, Grated
• 1 oz Shropshire Blue Cheese

Directions

1. Cut leek(s) in half lengthwise. Wash to remove dirt. Pat dry and thinly slice crosswise. Slice leeks and rough chop remaining vegetables.

2. Heat the oil with the butter in a heavy pot over low heat. Cook the leeks, shallots and/or onions and celery until softened, about 10 minutes; add garlic and cook another couple minutes, no more than 5, you don't want to burn the garlic :)

3. Stir in the curry powder and ginger, and cook over very low heat about 1 minute or so to wake the spices up.

4. Add the broth, lemon juice, and cauliflower florets from 1 medium to large head. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the cauliflower is very tender and falling apart, 15 minutes. Cool slightly. ADD cream, Parmesan and blue cheeses.

5. Purée in a food processor until very smooth, (I used an immersion blender) Season with salt and pepper. You can adjust the thickness of the soup by adding more broth if you need to. I did not need to it was perfect as is.

Notes:

This called for 2 leeks but I only had one so I subbed a couple shallots and half a sweet onion for the second. Don't be afraid of the spices, I used a 50/50 blend of mild and medium curry powders and the final soup just had a light hint of it, enough to let you know it was there but not nearly enough to really say there was heat to this. Fresh garlic minced would be great but all I had was some of the jarred variety and it was fine. The recipe called for 6c of chicken stock and/or vegetable stock so I used 3 cups of the last of my homemade chicken stock and 3 cups bought veggie broth to make up the difference. You can use what you like :)

This is optional but I added 2T grated Parmesan and 30g of blue cheese at the very end when I was pureeing this and it really made this soup sing! Be warned that blue cheese is quite a strong cheese imo so less is more, if you get my drift, still it does add a nice dimension to this soup so I recommend trying it at least once ;) If you want a richer soup use coffee cream (18% fat) but I used half and half (10%) and it was lovely. In a pinch you could probably even use milk but it wont be as rich. I found it plenty rich myself but then again I added cheese.

Salt and pepper are of course, to taste. I added about a tsp salt but most of my ingredients started out sodium free, let your taste buds decide

IA

BMR and Maintenance Calorie Calculations

Knowing how many calories your body burns to sustain your current lifestyle BEFORE you begin to try and lose weight can be the key to your dietary success. Luckily it's pretty simple to figure out. The first step is to calculate your BMR.

What is BMR you ask?

BMR is short for Basal Metabolic Rate and that stands for the number of calories needed by your body JUST to keep it alive. Basically it's the number of calories you would need if you were in a COMA ... just lying there ... not getting up ... not talking ... not walking ... not getting dressed ... not even eating and DEFINITELY not exercising.

BMR does NOT represent your maintenance calories .... but it can be used to calculate them :)

There are several way to figure out your BMR. The most accurate unsuprisingly requires a trip to a doctor or specialist. Measurements are taken just after you awake in a darkened room after 8 hours sleep and 12 hours of fasting to make sure the digestive system is inactive while you are still in a reclining position in bed. Sounds like an awful lot of effort, and you're right, it is ... so we won't bother .... luckily for us there is a really good way to ESTIMATE what your BMR is using a fairly simple calculation which for our purposes is plenty accurate enough to calculate a rough maintenance calorie number.

Now there are plenty of good BMR calculators out there (google it) but if you are curious about the specific calculation used BY those calculators .... here it is. We'll do it long hand just for giggles.

English BMR Formula

Women:

BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men:

BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

Metric BMR Formula

Women:

BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )

Men:

BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

I live in Canada but I still like working in pounds for body weight so here goes.

I am a 52 year old woman. I am 5'5" tall or 65" and I currently weigh 220 pounds. Down from 325 ... stop laughing ... lets plug in those numbers, shall we?

BMR = 655 + (4.35 x 220) + (4.7 x 65) - (4.7 x 52)

BMR = 655 + 957 + 305.5 + 244.4

BMR = 1673.1

Ok then that means my body needs 1673.1 calories a day just to stay alive, keep my heart beating and lungs working, digesting food, processing waste ... you get the picture

NOW if were to start moving about, getting out of bed, going downstairs to make breakfast, walking the dog, getting the paper, vacuuming etc I would need MORE calories to sustain my weight ... how many more depends on how active I am in any given day.

Lucky for us there is ANOTHER formula, (this one is easier) to calculate THAT number, which represents maintenance calories.

Let's say, just for argument I live a really sedentary life. I don't get out much. I sit most of the day either at a desk or on a couch. I do a little light housework but I don't do any outside sports, yard work or much of anything else ... to calculate my MAINTENANCE calories to support that sedentary lifestyle I would take my BMR number and multiply it by 1.2

BMR x 1.2 (for sedentary) = MAINTENANCE CALORIES

1673.1 x 1.2 = 2007.72

So there we have it. If I live a sedentary life I could eat roughly 2007 calories and still MAINTAIN my current weight of 220. If I am more active than sedentary I would use a different factor to multiply my BMR by:

Activity Factor	Category	Definition
1.2	Sedentary	Little or no exercise and desk job
1.375	Lightly Active	Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
1.55	Moderately Active	Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week
1.725	Very Active	Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week
1.9	Extremely Active	Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job

So you see ... the more you move, the more you can eat and not gain any weight.

BUT .... you want to LOSE weight

Well now that you know your maintenance calories it's pretty simple to figure out the deficit you should aim for. There is just a little more math to do, bear with me it's not too hard.

A pound of fat can be represented as 3500 calories ... if we were to eat 3500 calories LESS in a day than our maintenance calories we'd lose a pound a day .. but that is NOT a reasonable number. A much healthier number to aim for is, at the MOST about 1% of your current weight or 1-2 pounds a week in general, although very obese people can lose at a slightly higher rate.

This works out kind of neat actually ... remember that a pound is 3500 calories? Well there are 7 days in a week and that divides quite nicely into 3500, soooo if you were to shave 500 calories a DAY off of your maintenance calorie number, you would, over the course of a week eat 3500 calories less than your maintenance or 1 Pound's worth of fat ...

Since my maintenance calories at sedentary worked out to 2007 if i were to subtract 500 from that and eat 1507 calories a day I could expect to lose 1 pound a week. If I wanted to lose 2 pounds I would have to take ANOTHER 500 off daily for 1007 calories ... (see below)

Now another word of caution. To maintain a healthy weight loss and to give you the best shot at KEEPING the weight off it is not advisable to eat less than 1200 calories (for a woman) and 1500 (for a man) it's just not healthy to aim for more, that puts the 1007 calories/day right out of the picture so in reality it is just not feasable for me to aim for a 2 pound a week loss with a sedentary lifestyle ... it would be impossible to make sure you got enough minerals and nutrients eating that few calories on a daily basis ...it just isn't healthy, so don't do it. Period.

Besides, eating too few calories can actually SABOTAGE your progress and/or cause you to lose muscle mass INSTEAD of fat and that is not a good thing. It sends you body into what is commonly called starvation mode and that causes all kinds of havoc with your system and metabolism. It's not worth it .. I repeat .... don't do it. Make sure you are eating ENOUGH to lose weight .. it sounds counter intuitive but it works ... trust me.

My general goal is to eat 1500 calories a day, give or take. That should net me a loss of a pound a week or maybe more if I am more active than sedentary. I find 1500 calories allows me to eat three decent meals a day with room for snacks and/or dessert. I am not deprived in any way and I can enjoy the occasional meal out without any difficulty.

Hopefully this might help you figure out your own numbers. Knowledge is power. Armed with the right numbers, you should not have any difficulty meeting your goals and I wish you luck on your journey.

Mushroom Crusted Beef Tenderloin Steak (Filet Mignon)

My husband and I go cruising in our sailboat every summer for 2 weeks in the San Juan islands located in the Straits of Georgia just off the coast of southern Vancouver Island. Its in the US so our first port of call is usually either Roche Harbour or Friday harbour so we can check in with US customs.

When we go cruising the majority of our meals are made on the boat, but when we do go into port we really like to look for a fine dining establishment so we can splurge on a fancy gourmet meal. This summer for the first time we tried the signature restaurant of the tiny Roche Harbour community instead of going for the more casual balcony cafe with it's umbrella tables overlooking the harbour.

The dining room is definitely more formal but unlike other years if my memory serves, THIS year I think they changed their menu cause it was much more appealing to me than I remember it being. I usually *wanted* to eat there in other years but after checking out the posted menu by the door we usually gave it a pass. The items were SO high end gourmet and/or seafood that it was definitely not my thing. I am not overly fond of seafood and lambs brains and such curdle my stomach.

This year however among other tasty menu items (gone were the lamb brain type offerings) I saw they offered a filet mignon steak (beef tenderloin much more my style) so we decided to give it a try ... oh man am I glad I did!

It was perfectly cooked with a delicate delicious crust and was served with some sort of red wine reduction. My idea of heaven! I am still drooling and I sure hope they have it available next year as well!

When I got home, I made tenderloin a few times ... did it the simple way I always did with the results I always had. A 'tasty' or so I thought, tender steak, BUT, it wasn't even a fraction as good as the one I had this summer in Roche harbour and it just wasn't good enough any more ... even for an easy Sunday meal. Steak on the grill, baked potato and a couple cobs of fresh corn on the cob. So I started to look for recipes to mimic my favourite steak dinner of all time.

I succeeded.

The following recipe is AMAZING gourmet fine dining and it is simplicity itself. This is now my 'go to' tenderloin recipe and it is perfect every time. Since I usually have the herb butter made in the fridge already, and the dried mushrooms already pulverised, it is super fast too. It isn't an exact replica of the tenderloin recipe I had at Roche Harbor but it is similar and in my mind just as good.

Herb Butter :

• 1 stick unsalted butter, for herb butter, don't panic we wont use all of it for this recipe, I keep this in the fridge for all sorts of applications, it's great with chicken too.
• 2 Tbsp dried Chives
• 1 Tbsp dried Tarragon
• 1 small garlic clove, pressed or 1/2 tsp garlic puree, that's what I usually do, I roast my own garlic and store the puree in the fridge just for occasions like this, use more if you really like garlic ;)

Beef Tenderloin :

• beef tenderloin, 1.5 inch thick, (too thin and it is hard to get the crust on the outside right without overcooking the inside, too thick and the reverse is true. Use as many tenderloins as you want for the number of diners you are serving, I always take off the little bit of silver skin the butcher often leaves behind and I trim any excess visible fat
• 1 or 2 small bags (1/2-ounce each) dried mushrooms, I am not sure it matters what type, I just used a small bag of assorted dried mushrooms from the grocery store produce section. (Last time I was in Costco they had the big plastic jars FULL of dried mushrooms for a fraction of the cost of the tiny bags I get at the grocery store. I bought one and threw it in my garage fridge. I used a handful or so to pulverize in my magic bullet for this steak recipes among others and the rest I left in the fridge to be used in all sorts of dishes! I have never been a mushroom fan, in fact they used to make me gag but they add a marvelous flavor dimension to almost all beef gravies and/or stews and pulverized you'd never even know they were in there ... it's even helped get me over my aversion to WHOLE fresh mushrooms  ... who knew?)

Preparation:

1. Mix first 4 ingredients in small bowl to make herb butter. NOTE: after mixing, I sometimes put the butter on a piece of saran and used it to roll the butter into a tube shape about an inch in diameter. Twisted the saran ends to form a wrapped tube and chilled in the fridge to harden. Makes it easier to slice and it looks nice on the steaks. You can do this wayyy ahead ... days even ... keeps forever in the fridge and is nice with other recipes ... or you can just keep it in a plastic tub ;)
2. Process dried mushrooms in spice grinder or blender to a fine powder (a few larger bits are nice so you don't have stress over this too much.  I also do this way ahead ... I buy a couple small bags of dried mushrooms and grind them into powder, then store in a small mason jar in my cupboard. Whenever I want to make steak I just spoon a couple Tbsps onto a plate as needed to coat the steaks and save the rest for use in other recipes. I add some to my beef gravy recipes quite often to add a little earthy mushroom flavour and no one is the wiser.
3. Season steaks with salt and pepper.
4. Transfer a bit of the mushroom powder to a small plate (a couple Tbsps) and press steaks into the powder to coat both sides well. (don't worry about the sides .. just coat top and bottom , I press it in real well to get as much mushroom powder on each steak as I can, but it sticks on nicely so it shouldn't be a problem) Add more powder to plate as needed till all steaks are coated on both sides, reserving remaining powder for future use.
5. Melt 2-3 tablespoons herb butter or as needed, in heavy large nonstick skillet over medium heat. I used my well seasoned cast iron skillet but any heavy bottomed pan will do. Add steaks to skillet and cook to desired doneness, about 6-8 minutes per side for medium-rare to medium (depending on how thick your steak is and how hot your element is. It should be sizzling but not smoking) I think I do mine for roughly 7 minutes and they are usually PERFECT but my stove may not be the same as your stove and my steaks may have been thinner or thicker than yours .. so time is approximate.
6. Transfer steaks to plates. Put a dollop of herb butter atop each hot steak and serve. The original recipe called for a rounded Tbsp of butter to be served on top but I think the MOST I used was a tsp and it was plenty ... as it melts it drips over the sides and flavours the meat with each bite ... truly, this recipe is divine and it doesn't get any simpler than this, especially for a gourmet meal, and I DO mean gourmet. You should try it.

I figure each steak absorbs a tsp of butter (for calorie counting, no idea if it really does but I doubt it would be too much more) while cooking and I add another tsp on top so it has about 2 tsp of added fat. Depending on your sides and how you serve them that isn't too bad, of course the final calorie count of this depends on the size of your steak but a small raw weight 4 oz steak is plenty and is only about 165 calories without the added butter of course that adds another 140, the mushrooms add almost nothing calorie wise .. maybe 15-25 calories so all together with a little buffer maybe 350 calories for a small tenderloin... and a generous 6 oz steak only comes in about 100 calories more, which should leave plenty of room for a small baked potato.  Calories dependent on how large the potato is and what you top it with of course, but mine usually end up in the 300-350 calorie range which isn't too bad for a splurge meal. A simple vegetable side is usually under 50 calories so if you were careful early in the day you should STILL have room for a light dessert.

Pecan Crusted Chicken

Have never made this before and in the process as we speak so can't say whether this is going to be a winner or not. But I like chicken and I like pecans and I like panko breading so by all accounts I should like this recipe! It looks like it's a pretty simple straightforward recipe as well which is perfect for a busy Saturday afternoon!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup ground pecans
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs - you can use regular bread cumbs but it's worth looking for Japanese style panko bread crumbs, they give a much crunchier crust
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter (1/4 cup) you can use salted but if you do make SURE your chicken broth is no salt added
• 1/4 cup shallots
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 cup home made chicken stock or no salt bought variety
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.

Grind up your pecans in a magic bullet or small blender to a fine powder. Mine were more pasty when done than powdery but I am presuming that's ok.

Mix panko and pecans in dish.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Remove skillet from heat; brush some of melted butter onto chicken, then coat chicken in panko mixture. I was generous and tried to use all the breading ... didn't quite succeed and lots fell off while doing the initial frying ... tried not to mess with the chicken too much.

Place skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and sauté until brown on bottom, about 2 minutes. Turn chicken over.and immediately place in preheated oven cooked side up. Bake until chicken is cooked through, about 18 minutes ( I left mine in for 30 minutes). Transfer chicken to platter.

Using slotted spoon, remove any crumbs from skillet. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter( I actually did not add any more butter at this point. I just sauteed in what was there after I spooned away the extra crumbs), garlic and shallots (onions); sauté over medium-high heat 1 minute. Add broth and simmer until slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Mix in parsley. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper; drizzle over chicken

Final thoughts ... while this was good, the high fat content almost makes me want to say don't bother ... if you can figure out how to make this without so much butter and with only half the breading it might be worth a try. This is definitely a recipe that needs some tweeking, as written, it doesn't pass the grade. It was low in sodium and a good source of fiber and the taste is good, quite good in fact but the greasy mushy coating (most of which fell off) wasn't what I was hoping for with this and for all those calories it should be something I go WOW over and it wasn't. Sauce was only so so. 

Dieting is about REAL food

For me dieting is about learning to eat real food ... in proper portions and training myself not to binge eat in between those proper meals.

Real food for me consists of less processing and unlike a lot of women I see trying to lose weight I do NOT go in for most of the highly processed *diet* foods pushed on us from every corner of the manufacturing world. I think of processed food manufacturers like drug dealers, except THESE drug dealers are prominently featured in every grocery store, magazine or TV channel.

Ever since I started my new lifestyle I have done a LOT of research, trying to glean whatever extra bit of knowledge I can out of the masses of misinformation out there. I've made mistakes, I'm still making mistakes but the learning curve continues and as I read more and more I can slowly weed out those mistakes and that's what I'm doing. It's a learning curve and I am still on the upward curve of it.

A lot of my initial misconceptions were based on conventional wisdom. Things drummed into my head over time, put there primarily by my mother (who sadly was hoodwinked by the drug pushers in the food industry) but also by the sheer volume of articles and opinions spouted by very serious people gracing our TV screens and magazine/newspaper covers telling us the danger of this food or that. Butter is bad, Margarine is good! Canola oil is "healthy"! Try this new sweetener it's ZERO calories! Aspartame that's the ticket! Saccharin! New! NO FAT mayonnaise, Fat free sour cream! Coke zero! Skim milk! Baked not fried! Animal fat is BAD! Trans fat is bad! Eggs are BAD! ... I could go on ....

I readily admit that while some of the things on that list are bad for us, not all of them are, and yet we think they are, and some of the things we think ARE good for us, aren't ... how are we to know the difference?.

For instance, Skim milk is a good choice of milk for the dieter but it isn't necessarily BETTER for you than say a full fat whole milk and to me it tastes like water. It's an option to be sure but it is not the only healthy milk option available to us and that's what we have been led to believe ... skim milk perfectly fine, especially for folks who for various health reasons are forced to try and reduce their fat consumption, but for reasonably healthy people, whole milk or a higher fat milk like 1% or 2% might actually be a BETTER choice. Have you seen the recent studies that said that kids who drank primarily whole milk when growing up tended to have a lower BMI as adults than kids who grew up drinking non fat milk? They aren't sure why yet but I bet when they do it will be something like ... the kids who drank whole milk had better overall diets and outlooks toward food and weren't nagged to death about food by well meaning but misinformed parents who passed their own hangups about food onto their children ...or ... the fat in the milk they had with their cereal in the morning probably help keep them full longer so they were less likely to develop bad snacking habits in between meals so they ate fewer calories overall ... stuff like that.

Whatever ... I don't really care what the reason is. From what I have read we would all be better off if we stopped listening to the food industry who's main goal ISN'T to give us healthier food ... it is to MAKE MONEY and they only reason they even SELL healthy food and fake healthy food is because they are trying to balance what they can convince us is healthy (and super cheap for them to make) and what is actually healthy.

What I have found on my weight loss journey is that to lose weight you MUST eat a calorie deficit .. it doesn't have to be huge but it must be less calories than you burn on a daily basis ... all the fad diets out there do this ... some do it by cutting out an entire food group or even several, but do you REALLY think that is a healthy way to lose weight? I don't. The fact is even those diets are really just based on getting folks to eat less calories than they burn, the PROBLEM with those diets is that they are unsustainable and even if the dieter is successful, as soon as they start eating *normally* again the weight just packs back on and often worse than before they started the whole diet thing in the first place. You heard it all before, I'm sure ... I am just adding my voice to the choir.

My diet plan goes like this is eat real food, keep track of what you eat, to lose weight eat a calorie deficit, exercise more ... The best thing about it is it works, it's healthy and it's sustainable for a lifetime. No tricks, no quick fixes and no huge cash expenditures to join programs that will ultimately fail.

If you think this could work for you, then you're right ;)

IA

Chicken Pot Pie

Knowing the calories in your home cooked meals is crucial to successful weight loss. There are several sites out there that allow you to create recipes and they calculate the calorie count for you BUT the only site I have experience with is Livestrong so that's what I use.

The thing I like about Livestrong is that I am able to select EXACTLY the brand of whatever I use that is relevant to MY region. The same food can vary significantly in nutritional content depending on where it was produced, even if it comes from the same manufacturer so knowing the nutritional values of the food you are actually using is paramount. I trust the calorie count for my home cooked meals because "I" control what goes into each recipe and Livestrong helps me to do that by making the information available to me when creating the recipe. tracking the recipe to my plate and in the creation of my meals and recipes.

So what does this have to do with Chicken Pot pie? Nothing, I just thought of it while collecting my thoughts ... oh and I have to update my recipe on Livestrong to reflect the modifications I made to my regular pot pie recipe ... which is very good ... this one however is likely to be better ;)

Just a few thoughts before beginning;

1) This recipe changes every time I make it cause I tend to use up what's in the fridge, yours will probably do the same

2) Tonight I am making little packets filled with the chicken mixture made with phylo but I am just as likely to serve this as a stew on rice or beside potatoes or in small ramekins topped with a pastry crust or even as a 2 crust pie, which is how this was initially intended to be served. The final recipe calorie count given is just for the filling, see final notes below for more details.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken breast cut into 1" cubes (about 4 small boneless breasts or 600g give or take) I also chopped up 2 boneless chicken thighs in addition to the breasts cause I had them lying around and needed to use them up. Just use whatever but at least 1 pound total
• 1 large Carrot, diced (about 1 cup volume or 145 g)
• 1 cup frozen peas (about 145 g)
• 2.5 cups home made chicken stock, no sodium added ( I had a little bought vegetable stock that I added in order to use up an almost empty carton. The total broth volume however was not more than 2.5 cups or end product may be too runny)
• 3/4 cup grated zucchini (left over from making zucchini cupcakes about 125 g not in original recipe)
• 1/2 cup creamed spinach (again leftover in my fridge not in original recipe)
• 1 can undrained peaches and cream corn, Green Giant
• 3 Tbsp Butter, unsalted or salted your choice
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves (I used the equivalent of garlic puree in a tube)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• 1/3 cup flour ( if you REALLY want this to be thick you can use 1/2 c here but it could make the final product too dry if making a pie or pastry packets so be careful.
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions:

In a large dutch oven combine chicken, chicken broth, carrots peas, corn and any other veggie you have lying around that you think might be good in this. Cover and simmer on low about 15 minutes. Remove from heat transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

In the same (now empty) dutch oven saute onions in butter until translucent Add salt, celery, pepper and celery seed and saute an additional 5 minutes or so on low heat. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds while you measure flour (remember burnt garlic tastes bad don't overdo it here) Add flour and cook another couple of minutes stirring constantly to take the raw edge off.

Add milk 1/3 c at a time stirring flour mixture after each addition.

Ladle and stir in reserved chicken, vegetables and broth mixture.

Bring up to temperature (but not quite boiling just enough to let the flour do it's thing to thicken this). Taste and season as needed. You can also add a 1/4 c of table cream to this if you want it more intensely creamy. I sometimes do but make sure it doesn't get too runny ;)

At this point you can either add it to a (partially cooked maybe 5 minutes before filling helps prevent soggy bottom) pastry lined pie crust, cover with pastry and bake it as a pie .. or you can line individual serving dishes with several layers of phylo overhanging the sides and pour filling in, bring up phylo overhanging sides, twist to seal and bake at 350' until top is golden brown and pastry is cooked. Read phylo package directions for more detailed directions for working with phylo. You could also just serve this as is in a bowl or with a side like mashed potatoes. It's your table, your calories, you decide ;)

Time is approximate but about 30-35 minutes at 425 should cook the pie I'd probably reduce the temp to 350-375 for the smaller phylo packets. If serving as a stew put it on the table right away and enjoy or put in a casserole, top with buttered bread crumbs and bake until crumbs are golden and filling is hot throughout before serving ;)

When all was said and done the total weight of this recipe was 2.124 kg assuming a serving is about a cup or 250 g this makes 8 generous portions. Your portion size will of course differ depending on the ingredients you use and how you are serving. When plugged into my Livestrong recipe builder this worked out to 280 calories per cup serving as written here, but of course that is without any crust or phylo or sides added .. that's just for the filling.

I ended up adding 1/4 c table cream as well as 2 tsp of better than boullion chicken demi glace to season it a bit more, after that addition this was delicious before that it was just really good ;)

PS: I ended up lining to small custard cups with 2 sheets of phylo pastry cut in half to make 4 layers for each custard cup serving using about 2 T butter in total per serving to brush each pastry layer. Since each sheet is 80 calories that added 160 calories to the meal for the pastry and 140 calories extra for the butter.

Total calorie cost for my packets was 280+160+140= 580 calories .. I baked this for 30 minutes at 375 and served with a side of brussels sprouts (100g serving 40 calories) for a grand total of 620 calories for my supper. Who said you have to eat like a bird to diet? Yeah with the pastry it's higher in fat but it's GOOD fat ... and do NOT start with me about butter being bad for you ... it isn't.

Livestrong

As I have mentioned before ... my whole weight loss journey started with a chance stumbling upon a wonderful website called Livestrong.com

It's a sister site to Lance Armstrong's Livestrong.org ... the site set up by his foundation to support cancer victims and survivors. Whatever you think about Lance BOTH these sites are worthy and worth a visit, and for those who are struggling with weight issues or other health related issues or for people who just want to live and eat healthier, I cannot suggest strongly enough to go and immediately sign up on Livestrong and start tracking your calories.

It's FREE ... there is no obligation and the tools and support they offer are INVALUABLE to both help you LOSE the weight but also to KEEP it off. If you decide to join, again there is NO obligation, you get access to a few more fun tools but they are not necessary for you to be successful and the cost to go gold is a FRACTION of what other diet sites may charge you MONTHLY. For instance the cheapest WW plan online worked out to over $60 a MONTH or $85 for 3 months ... Livestrong Gold membership is only $45 ish for a YEAR but like I said ... you do not have to be a paying member, ALL of the most important tools are at your fingertips for no charge.

If you're curious you can go check out my daily food diary found HERE . I track my food daily and I am quite meticulous about it. If you have any questions you can just ask and I'll be happy to help you get started. I also have many of my most favourite recipes listed on the site including nutritional information as do thousands of other members so it's a great place to search for low cal healthy meal alternatives.

Yeah I know this is a shameless plug for a website but it saved my life ... it could save yours too.

IA

Breakfast

The most important meal of the day. I just wish I was a morning person ... I'm not. During my super super obese years I rarely ate breakfast .. maybe that helped contribute to my problem .. or maybe it was all the crap I ate ... or maybe I ate the crap because I skipped breakfast *shrugs* ... who knows ...

All I know now is that I do eat breakfast. I don't exactly eat it when I should, right after getting up, but I DO eat it which is better than nothing ... baby steps, at least it's my first meal if the day.

I pretty much have the same thing every day. I do occasionally switch it up with some eggs or maybe a bit of kashi berry crunch *yum* but in the long run this is better calorie wise for me and it keeps me satisfied longer, besides I like it.

I prefer Scottish Oatmeal because it cooks faster than regular. Bob's Red Mill makes a great Scottish Oatmeal, look for the little bags near the cereal aisle. I switch mine up frequently but I generally only have about half a portion of oatmeal which I doctor up with flax and chia meals, some dry powdered milk, real and fake brown sugar mixed with some maple flavouring or syrup and vanilla. I like to blend artificial sugars with a bit of real sugar/syrup because even a little addition of the real stuff can go a LONG way to making this taste authentic without all the extra calories. I created a *meal* on Livestrong that reflects my current favourite way to prepare this for easier tracking ;)

Lately I started making huge batches of all the dry ingredients and storing it in large mason jars. That way when I want breakfast I don't have to laboriously weigh every ingredient one at a time. I just pour anywhere from 40-60 g in my pot add an appropriate amount of water and bring to a simmer til thick. Much easier but I did have to modify some of the liquid ingredients to use all dry instead which may or may not be easy for you. For the vanilla I found a nice source of powdered vanilla not to be confused with powdered vanilla SUGAR ... the vanilla I use is just the bean with seeds in powdered form nothing less, nothing more. It's potent stuff and kind of expensive but luckily you only need a fraction of what you'd use if using liquid vanilla extract. For the maple flavour I substituted maple sugar, unfortunately I could not find a suitable sugar free powdered alternative so there you have it ... sugar doesn't add that many calories per se I just try and cut back on my all round sugar consumption as best I can usually cause my daily sugar totals are usually higher than I'd like. I DO have a sweet tooth :)

My Oatmeal as prepared with the extra chia and flax and more recently Hemp hearts as well, has about 6g of fiber which goes a long way to help me hit my daily fiber target. Something I often have to struggle to reach even though I eat more whole grains than ever before.

Oatmeal is also incredibly versatile and the variations you can have are only limited by your imagination. Add applesauce and cinnamon, banana or strawberry(puree or whole), cranberries, dried cherries etc.

I've also been known to have oatmeal for an evening snack, I add a Tbsp or to taste of cocoa powder or a bit of chocolate and a Tbsp of peanut butter for a mock peanut butter cup flavoured oatmeal, it was tasty but not exactly as advertised ;)  I have also added pumpkin puree and spices to make a pretend pumpkin pie treat ... like I said the only restrictions are your own taste buds and what you have on hand ... experiment! I mean can you REALLY have too much oatmeal? I'm not sure.

What do YOU have for breakfast?

IA

Most Important Weight Loss Tool

There is no magic pill you can take to lose weight. No secret tricks ... no quick solutions. For me there was only ONE way to lose weight. Eat less calories than I burned. Simple.

Not so simple as I found out but it was pretty darn close.

If I had to identify the single most helpful tool I had during my weight loss I would have to say it was my kitchen scale. Knowing what you are eating is the first step to controlling WHAT you are eating. Measurement by volume is ok for some things ... liquids for example but measurement by weight was absolutely crucial to my success in losing weight.

The scale you get is important. Look for one that has a high maximum weight capability. This is important for Taring (zeroing) out the weight of large pots or volumes when needed to determine the weight of something to be added to an already existing pot full of other ingredients.

For instance when I make spaghetti and there are others eating the same meal it can be difficult to determine my correct share of, say, the pasta, when cooking in bulk, for calorie counting purposes. My son is a twig, he has an appetite like a horse, he wants more than one serving for himself and that's ok ... he is active, he burns it off ... me on the other hand I want a strictly maintained portion ... I am eating a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day from my maintenance so any overestimation on a daily basis can affect my weight loss significantly.

What I do in this case is I weight an EXACT 3 portions of the dry spaghetti pasta. It only takes a second. It's usually 85g dry weight per person so 255g. I cook it as I normally would and when done I drain and give it a quick rinse like I always do. Then I dump the whole lot into a large bowl that was zeroed out on the kitchen scale to get a total weight for the 3 portions. I divide that number by 3 to figure out exactly what a single serving of cooked pasta is and I portion it on my plate. My son can then dig in and take as much or as little as he wants.

Nowadays I know that a serving of my homemade sauce is 2 ladles, about half a cup and I know that serving has about 260 calories. How do I know?

Well I use the website Livestrong.com to log and calculate the calorie counts for everything I eat. It has a MASSIVE database that includes information on every food I eat and if something isn't there I can ADD IT. I can store and log my own personal recipes there and they calculate the calorie counts for every recipe I make depending on what particular ingredients I use and how much of them I use.

In making my spaghetti sauce I have created and logged it soo many times I know that it makes roughly the same volume of sauce each time and I know based on repeated calculations that as long as I start with roughly the same volume of ground beef the calorie count is very consistent over time as well. Knowing that makes it easy.

Make a batch of spaghetti sauce. Tare a LARGE empty bowl and tare it. Weigh entire batch of sauce. Decide what a reasonable serving size is. What I did is I put my pasta on my plate and I put however much sauce I thought was a serving. I did it with the ladle I always use to serve my sauce. Turns out that ladle is about 1/4 cup and a serving for me was 2 ladle fulls. I weighed the 2 ladle fulls to use to calculate how many servings in the entire batch. then I calculated how many calories in each serving. I did this each time I made the sauce for several months but eventually I learned that 2 ladles was a serving and it came out pretty close to 260 calories a serving for the sauce.

Without my scale I couldn't be nearly as accurate. I know it sounds like a lot of nit picking but you have to understand. I have a problem. I have a BIG problem and this is what I have to do in order to solve it.... and it works and it IS working. Now that I have done the initial legwork, portioning out my serving now is very quick and easy. I no longer have to do all the calculations I just make sure the pasta serving is correct and that takes no time or effort, mental or otherwise, and I top it off with 2 ladles of sauce. Calorie count? 310 for the pasta ... 260 for the sauce ... total 570 calories. It a generous serving. It's filling and tasty. I am not deprived AND I am eating the same food as the rest of my family.

Another thing to look for in a scale is the weighing surface. I ruined my first scale by trying to weigh one too many pots right off the stove. It was plastic and I warped the weigh plate beyond repair. My new scale has a flat aluminum surface but glass is probably acceptable as well. Both easy to clean and more durable than plastic. If you aren't dumb like me plastic is fine ... I still miss my first scale.

One last thing to look for in a scale. Check to see that it measures in units of ONE. My new scale doesn't seem to recognize that there are TEN numbers between 0 and 10 and it refuses to give me odd measures ... no 1, 3, 5 ,7 ,9 gram servings for ME. Yeah right ... for a pot of spaghetti that's fine but how about measuring a tsp of cinnamon or sugar ... or SPLENDA.

My new scale has a max weight of 22 pounds ... my old one was only 11 ... and while I have actually appreciated the increased max weight at least once, I miss being able to weight in units of ONE several times EVERY DAY.

Of course you may let your budget be your guide, it is possible to get a scale that meets all your needs quite well, even on a budget! Check your local hardware or grocery store for a budget model and you local cooking store for a more upscale model.

IA

Why am I doing this

I spent much of my adult life in denial. Denying I had a problem with my weight and my approach to food. I knew I was overweight, I knew I was killing myself, I knew if I didn't get a handle on it I was in a downward spiral, I knew I ate too much and I knew I was eating the wrong foods. I KNEW it but I pretended to myself that all those problems didn't exist, I was fat but I wasn't THAT fat .. yeah right. I ate bad but I didn't eat THAT bad ... well aside from the processed food and extra unnecessary fats and sugars added to meals ... oh and just ignore the not so secret binging. Looking back now it's obvious to me I had a serious eating disorder ... undiagnosed ... untreated ... but very very serious ... and it was killing me. Even now I still think of myself as totally normal ... no eating disorder ... I am just overweight, it's simple, I can lose the weight and I'll be fine.

I'm NOT fine. I'm not JUST overweight. I have an eating disorder and I will have it the rest of my life.

There I said it. After a year and a half eating a calorie deficit and losing 100 pounds I finally admitted to myself something that was obvious in hindsight. It's a little depressing and a little liberating at the same time.

I am obsessed by food. The taste, the texture. I am also incredibly picky. I am not fond of seafood, I'll eat it but it isn't one of my go to meals, and exotic seafood is RIGHT out. I don't like organ meats. I never used to be able to tolerate mushrooms, in fact I'd gag if I tried to eat one, no idea why, all psychological I assume, I am getting over that though and while I they aren't my favourite food I am cooking with them a lot more these days and am starting to appreciate the wonderful flavour they can give a dish ... just not that thrilled with them in bulk ;)

The thing is, ever since I started this *diet* (I hate calling it a diet) it's a new lifestyle. I seem to have switched some of my food obsession not into eating it (well binging anyway) but into MAKING it. I am experimenting constantly with new recipes and flavours. I am eating much healthier than I have ever eaten in the past. I am watching my portions however, I am counting calories, I am setting goals and I am sticking to them! At the same time I am learning new recipes, some good, some not so good but some GREAT.

My kids have more or less flown the coop. My son lives at home but his work hours are such that he rarely eats dinner at home and my daughter is away at college. A budding great cook in her own right! I love sharing recipes with her and learning new tricks she has tried :) My husband works out of town and only gets home on weekends so for the past couple years I have had a lot of time available to focus on ME. Getting a handle on my weight and weight related health issues. Dealing with menopause and generally getting reacquainted with myself, the self that isn't molded to those around me. Not a mom. Not a wife. Not a daughter or a sister .... just me. It's been emotionally liberating. It isn't that I didn't like being those things I mentioned, I did, and I do ... it just that I was so busy BEING those things I lost touch with who I WAS.

I like to cook. I hate cleaning up but I like to cook. I love the way all those different ingredients go together to make something delicious and healthy. I was a lab technician for many years and I guess for me, cooking is sort of like being in a lab, concocting things, experimenting, a little of this .. a little of that, what does adding this do? Anyway ...I'm having fun. My family gets to enjoy my occasional successes when they come home and I get the benefit of turning my obsession from something harmful into something that is creative and healthy.

This blog is being posted not just for anyone who might stumble upon it, who might be encouraged or inspired by something I wrote but rather, it is being written for me. A sort of public diary and recipe book for me. A way to document and share what I've learned if anyone is interested and a way to express myself, even if it's only to an empty computer screen. All my successes and failures in the kitchen with maybe an occasional rant about the state of the world ;)

Cheers,

IA

Fresh Basil Pesto

This recipe makes a wonderful Basil Pesto comparable to the best (and expensive) commercially prepared Pesto you can find anywhere. It's fast and easy to make, uses relatively few ingredients, you can adjust the sodium content to make it healthier, it keeps well in the fridge, can be used in many delicious recipes, it's fresh and best of all ... it's delicious! I didn't mention this in the instructions but if you pan toast the pine nuts in a dry saute pan over medium heat for a few minutes before pureeing it can add a delicious extra dimension to this. It's totally optional however and I don't bother unless I want something extra special ;)

This is best made in a food processor but if you don't HAVE a food processor (and I don't) making this in a blender is doable (and worth it) even if it IS incredibly annoying and messy, just be careful and NEVER run your blender while trying to push down hard to blend ingredients ... STOP your blender, stir contents, remove stirring utensil, cover and restart. Nuff said.


Ingredients

2 c fresh basil leaves (60g)
4-5 cloves garlic peeled but not chopped
1/3 c olive oil
1/3 c pine nuts or approx 2oz/60g by weight
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese 2oz/60g
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

So the short of it is, if you have a food processor this will be easy, add everything and pulse a few seconds til you have a nice pesto paste...if not ... use a blender with caution. A magic bullet would probably work for this as well, maybe chop the nuts and garlic first as they are a bit harder to incorporate if you add them later. The oil helps a lot while blending but don't go wild on it, you want this to be more of a paste not a sauce.

Nutritionally this is very similar in calories to a popular commercially prepared brand but whereas theirs has 180mg/Tbsp of sodium mine only had about 57mg/Tbsp as calculated using the volumes and brands I personally used in making this recipe. In a taste test I could not tell that mine was lower in sodium at all, and every little bit helps when you are trying to reduce your sodium.


Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 tbsp
Calories 82
Total Fat 8.34g
Saturated Fat 1.6g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 56.58mg
Total Carbohydrate 0.88g
Dietary Fiber 0.32g
Sugars 0.15g
Protein 2.17g

IA

Chicken Stock

This is super simple so there is no excuse to not have a couple jars on hand for your favourite recipes.

Ingredients:

1.5 Kgs (3pounds) fresh or frozen chicken backs and necks
2 large carrots cut into large chunks
1 large onion skin ON (gives nice color) cut into quarters
2 celery stalks cut into large chunks
2-3 cloves garlic skinned but not smashed or chopped
10 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 liters water

Directions:

Put all ingredients into large stockpot and cover with water about 3-3.5 liters.

SLOWLY bring to a low simmer. As soon as it just starts to have bubbles breaking the surface adjust heat. You do not want to bring this to any sort of hard boil. A slow smooth simmer is what you want ... boiling but just barely.

After a few minutes you will see some scum appearing on the surface. You could just skim it off but this is what I do. I put a strainer over a small pot. I cut a couple layers of cheesecloth, enough to just line the strainer and I skim the scum from the surface of the broth into the lined strainer. That way I can remove the scum but save the broth. It's probably overkill but I am anal that way. Once the scum is gone you are basically done. Simmer this slowly for about 12 hours ... how long is up to you anywhere from 4-12 is acceptable but I recommend 12 for maximum flavour :) If you like you can add a little water from time to time but it probably isn't necessary if you keep it on a really slow simmer.

When done turn off heat and let cool for an hour or so before pouring into your storage containers. I use wide mouth mason jars with plastic lids, but you could freeze in ice cube trays or even ziploc bags if you want.

This keeps for a week or so refrigerated but if you want to keep for longer I'd recommend freezing this. To freeze in mason jars, leave at least an inch head space to allow for expansion, put them in the freezer upright with NO lid (again to allow for expansion while freezing) ... once frozen you can put the lids on but not too tight. Before using, thaw, either in the fridge overnight or at room temperature to help prevent the glass jar from cracking. Glass (even mason jar glass) is susceptible to cracking or even shattering if it changes temperature too quickly from a frozen state so thaw with caution. I recommend wide mouthed large jars if you are planning to freeze this, and I have heard that straight sided jars are preferable to jars with *shoulders*, when freezing anyway, apparently, the *shoulder* CAN be a weak point but isn't necessarily so, just something to keep in mind, if all you have are jars with shoulders I wouldn't bother buying more just for the sake of getting shoulder free jars. I usually keep at least one jar thawed in my fridge at all times so it's ready whenever I need it.

The first time I made this I actually kept it in the fridge for a couple weeks before I used it all up and it seemed fine BUT upon reflection that was probably a stupid thing to do. This stock has no salt (or any other preservative) so the viable shelf life is probably limited. To be safe, if not using within 3 days to a week, I'd definitely recommend freezing.

Just for informational purposes, the slow simmer helps to keep the broth nice and clear since the veggies aren't being battered around by the heavy boil and they maintain their structural integrity while leaching all their wonderful flavour into the broth.
If your broth turns into a jelly like substance when cooled that is a GOOD thing. It's the gelatin from the bones and is very good for you, not to mention yummy in soups and stew etc. The fact that this broth has NO added sodium makes it ideal for reducing in sauces etc., when you reduce broths containing any sodium even if it is a reduced sodium broth to start with, concentrates any sodium in the reduction and that can ruin the end result so starting with a sodium free broth in the beginning and salting to taste later is the better way to go, not to mention more heart healthy.

Why use homemade chicken stock over store bought?

Looks like it's going to be another nice day here in Comox. It's a little chilly this morning though so I had to turn on the furnace for a bit until it warms up outside and manages to work it's way through the trees and to my well shaded windows ;)

This morning, even before having my morning coffee (with splenda and half and half) I dumped the bag of fresh chicken backs and necks that I got yesterday from the country market, into my stockpot ... added my aromatics and set it to start up towards a SLOW simmer. This baby needs to simmer all day so I needed to get an early start. Then I went to grab my coffee ;)

I recently started making my own stock instead of buying store bought for a couple of reasons.

1) While store bought stock is absolutely fine to use, make sure you get as low a sodium content as you can, especially if reducing in a sauce for instance ... homemade is ... just ... BETTER.

2)It's richer in color, more gelatinous and in my opinion, no technical data to back this up, more nutritious. I say that in part because I know what went into it (all good stuff) AND I know what DIDN'T go into it, extra preservatives, salt and who knows what else.

3)Maybe it's my imagination but I think my recipes using it taste a lot richer as well.

4) It just makes me feel so darn good knowing I am doing this myself ... I dunno, it makes me feel competent or something .. sad but true lol ... it feels healthier as well and that also makes me feel good .. it's a win win ... totally satisfying in a culinary sort of way!

5) It's so darn easy to do, why WOULDN'T you make your own stock. It takes all of 5 minutes to dump the chicken in a pot add the aromatics, fill it up with water, set the stove and walk away to do whatever for the rest of the day. Yeah it takes 12 hours to simmer but you aren't standing BY the stove for those 12 hours ;)



I'll post the complete recipe in a bit.