Rut-terless Meals While Trying to Drop a Few Pounds

The portion I should have stopped at.

Let's face it. Dieting healthy eating, can be tedious. I struggle with meal planning in general, but add that a) my go to meals have historically been carb and fat laden comfort foods, and b) I don't want to make separate meals for myself and the other members of my family, and I can easily get in a low cal rut. I've partially combatted this by starting my meal first with the bulk of the meal being steamed vegetables, and filling in the sides with the main meal. But that has me feeling unfulfilled. 

I've been scoping my recipe's and trying to reinvent them as healthier options. Last night's option was my mom's Rice Hotdish. This is a simple dish of just rice, water, soy sauce, hamburger, and onion baked in the oven. I decreased the soy by 1/2 to just 1/4 cup, added ginger and garlic, used a whole large, onion, four carrots, three stocks of celery, and only 1/2 pound of hamburger. I had a zucchini lurking in the crisper so that went in as well. With this, I've cut the sodium, cut the fat, and upped the vegetables. It has sort of a stir fry taste. I ate too much though and the scale showed it this morning-comfort food after a tedious, but stressful day. I might have been the extra snack last night of hummus on bread with cheese, again, when not hungry. I guess that's the point of daily weigh ins.

My go to lunch last week was a big batch of black bean, corn,and tomato salad. I had bell peppers and onion left from the pizza so those went in as well. It made a big batch, and by Friday, I was at my last bowlful. To help with the boredom, I ate it slightly different each of the four days, adding the last of a jar of green olives one day, broken multi grain chips (left in the bottom of the bag) another, and served with a side of cottage cheese on the other two days. I'll take a break but will revisit it in another week as I have all the ingredients on hand.. 

I love steamed vegetables, but even something I enjoy gets dull. I've tried to perk them up with using different herbs and spices. Oregano, basil an parsley  elevated the simple California blend a couple times last week. A little ginger with some steamed carrots I did to go with the rice hot dish boosted the flavor a touch. 

I've been having a bit of peanut butter with banana slices or a clementine with a eight almonds (a mere 50 calories) for an afternoon snack. The nuttiness, even though I'm using a small amount of PB, helps my snack feel more substantial. Friday on a work break, I sliced an apple with an ounce of sharp cheddar cheese-just about an ounce. 

Historically, my weight loss down fall is over eating and eating too much of the wrong kinds of food. While I am feeling more successful, hitting the three week mark, I am worried about my boredom level and getting in a rut, that then gets me mindless eating.(second portions when I'm not even still hungry.) If you have hints that work well for you, please share. If there are any good healthy food bloggers, real people with crazy busy lives, please recommend them in the comments.

Broccoli salad, Roasted Yams and Carrots, Taco Dip

The following three dishes were my contributions, along with plenty of wine, to the Thanksgiving feasts.

Broccoli Salad
five cups (roughly two heads) of raw broccoli florets
1 cup raisins
1 cup sunflower seeds
6-8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup Mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 Tbls sugar
2 Tbls cider vinegar

Mix sugar and vinegar until dissolved, stir in the mayonnaise until smooth and creamy. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, reserving 1/3 of the bacon crumbles.  Pour dressing over the salad and stir with rubber scraper, to ensure each  floret has dressing, nd t distribute raisins, sunflower seeds, and bacon bits.  Pour n serving bowl, top with remaining bacon.

Roasted Yams and Carrots
Wash and scrub 4 medium size yams, and 5-6 large carrots.  Peel if you prefer.  Slice the yams in pieces bout the size of an adult thumb.  Do same with carrots, though try and get pieces about a third thinner than the yam pieces. Put veggies in a bowl and generously shake with cinnamon-I estimate I used probably 3 Tbls.  Sprinkle about 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt, and same with pepper, but use more pepper to taste if you like.  Stir in bowl to get seasoning over all vegetables.  coat all vegetables with Olive oil, or a light vegetable oil-your preference, (I use Olive oil for almost all cooking) Spread out vegetables in a single layer on a large baking sheet.  Bake in over for 30 minutes.  after 30 minutes, stir, and check for softening-they should be getting soft, but not mushy at this stage.  If still hard, keep baking and check in 5 minute intervals.  Once soft, but still with firmness, stir, and then sprinkle brown sugar over the single layer.  Roast for another 10 minutes to let the sugar caramelize.  Pour in serving bowl, scraping the good flavored glaze over the top.  If you like a nuttier taste, you can put under the broiler for a coup minutes, which will brown up and even crisp the sugars, but watch carefully. 

Taco Dip-embarrassingly easy
1 brick 8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup Salsa or picante-chunkier the better, hotness to your preference
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese cheddar or Monterey jack or Colby
1-2 cups shredded lettuce
10-12 black olives sliced
diced small tomato

Combine cream cheese and salsa until blended but chunky texture.  Spread on a large plate or platter.  spread 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese over the cream cheese mixture.  Top with the Lettuce, spread across the base, followed by the rest of the cheese, and then the black olives and tomatoes on top.  chill at least an hour for the base to firm up.  Serve with tortilla chips.   I often omit the tomato in the winter if the tomato's are expensive and not good quality, but personally would never leave off the olives!

Souper Sunday's

Not the most original title, but I am introducing a regular feature to my blog called Souper Sundays. This will run through the cold months of winter to motivate me to test the waters with some new recipes, or create my own from the pantry, fridge, and freezer.  Today, we have plans with extended family, but a cup of soup in a mug later tonight when we get home, and having some leftovers ready for the week will serve us well for a light and quick meal. 

Today's soup...Tomato Vegetable with Rice

This will be a crock-pot soup, and a semi homemeade, use up ingredients on hand soup.  In no particualr order, throw into you crock pot the following ingredients:
1 can condensed tomato soup
6 cups of water
5 chicken, beef, or vegetarian bouillon cubes
1 large chopped onion (or two small is what I had)
3 large but small cut carrots-about 1+ cups worth
3 large but small cut celery stalks about 1+cups worth
1/2 cup
2 tsp. of pepper
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
extra salt if you think to taste but with the cubes and condensed soup, probably more than anyone needs in a serving.

These were my ratios based on what I had on hand and wanted to use up.  Roughly I do a 1-1 vegetable to water ratio, 1-2 rice to water ratio, and then 1 can soup-1 cup water ratio, so a little less than equal the can. I like to have 1 cube of bouillon per cup of water, but  reserved one less since the canned soup already has so much flavor. That's how I decide on  5 cubes and 6 cups water.  Tweak as it works better for your taste, and thickness of soup preference.

Turn on high if you will be eating in 4-6 hours, or low if you want to just let it cook all day.  That is it, and while somewhat experimental, I can't see why it won't be delicious. You could add meat if you wanted as well, but we often have a grilled cheese or a deli sandwich along with soup, so I don't worry about meat with most soups.  DD#1 is vegetarian so I got accustomed to versioning things, or making one and supplementing meat sides for some meals.  This was simple and cheap, and uses some of the stocked up at dirt cheap prices  tomato soup we have on hand, but never seem to eat as soup. Some day I might put pencil to paper and do a better cost summary than the estimating in my head, but I'll say roughly $3.25 for 6 hearty portions. Some of you like the pureed soup and I think this would lend well to that if you so choose, particularly if you left the rice out.  I wanted a little more sustenance to it. Enjoy!

If some things work out for me in the time department, I'd love to do a post at the end of December, early January compiling links to some of the best  tried and true or experimental soup recipes.  Leave a comment if you think that would be a post that would interest you.  Even better, if you like the idea, and have one to include, leave me the link to the blog post that contains your recipe.  All will be duly credited.

More Gifts of Veggies

Fall came back to Minnesota.  Not 80 degrees today, it is sweater weather.  I received another bounty of garden produce from a coworkers brother who is a tenant farmer in the rural Twin Cities area, growing for selling at farmers market.  With the end of the season approaching, apparently he has more than he thinks will sell, and happy to share his surplus.  It won't be hard to get our 5 a day in this week.  I'm so pleased, but does anyone know what sort of pepper this is, and importantly, how hot is it?  Once I know that, I am in need of ideas of what to do with them.  Do they fry up and mellow in flavor like bell peppers?  Do they freeze well?  Should I stuff them with cheese like jalapeno poppers or Chille Relleno?

They are absolutely stunning in color, but I have a fear that steam will be coming out my families ears if I don't prepare them well.  In my care package was also some more tomatoes, onions, and a bulb of garlic.  I could see pico de gallo in my future.  Underneath the skinny peppers are a slew of red and green bell peppers as well.  Regardless of what I end up doing, I better set some time aside this coming weekend  for baking.  Now that it is cooler, I can give a thank you to my generous "gifters" with some fresh baked pumpkin bread.   

Last of the Summer Gardens

Cool fall weather motivates me to get in the kitchen and cook and bake up a weeks worth of humble and tasty dishes.  That will not be today.  September 28th, 2014, while may not make the record books, we are at a hot and sunny 81 degree temperature.  I stopped yesterday at one of the roadside stands and  people were five deep to pick up sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons-the last of the summer bounty.  The acorn and butternut squash looked superb but I have a hard time enjoying the if I'm not wearing a sweater.  I was planning on sharing a few thoughts and a recipe or two on tasty fall morsels but am switching gear and sharing my ad hoc recipe for tomato, onion, and cucumber salad. 

I make a pig out of myself with it, but it is one of those treats that doesn't allow me to eat in  moderation.  I can reason that it is full of healthy vegetables, and vinegar and all things that our bodies need.  My hubby teases me and asks if I m making my "delicacy". While not a delicacy , it is one of the simple pleasures that you can't put a price tag on.  Well, actually, you can as I would estimate this cost me less than $2.00 to make a big huge mixing bowl worth, since I used free onions from a colleagues dad's farm, a $1.00 huge beefy tomato, and two cucumbers that were just 3 for $1.00.  You fortunate and talented gardeners can make for almost nothing . 

Above is my purchases from the stand, plus the last of the onions from my work friend.  I probably would have bought more if I had more than $3.00 cash on me. We've been enjoying the gift onions all week in stir fried potatoes, fajitas, and my daughters Spanish omelets.

The salad couldn't be easier.  Here it is-everything is approximate as I never measure:
3 TBLS sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup mayonnaise (or what was left from scraping the sides of the jar in this case)
2-3 small-medium onions
2-3 small- medium cucumbers
1-2 firm tomatoes
lots of pepper and salt to taste

Dissolve sugar in vinegar, add mayo, salt, and lots of pepper.  Stir until mixed. Thinly slice onions and loosen into rings or thin long slices. Thinly slice cucumber.  Slice and then 1/4 tomato into chunks. If you choose, salt vegetables before putting in with the dressing to get some of the water out.  I never bother with this.  Mix veggies into dressing, stir and cover them, add more pepper if you want (I love lots of pepper).  Cover and chill until really cold,  dressing is very watery, almost like pickle juice, but oh so delicious. 

All can be altered to your preference and degree of dressing you want. I know others leave out the mayo but I like the flavor and the creaminess it provides. I make a lot of the dressing, and then let the veggies marinate for a while.  It might seem a little wasteful, but I often then slice another 1/2-full cucumber and onion to the leftover dressing in the bowl and put back in the refrigerator for the next day.  We ate half last night, and will finish it off today with some pulled chicken sandwich's.

True fall will come back, and winters are long here in Minnesota.  We'll soon be indulging in soups, stews, baked breads, and squash. But for today, we'll eat like it is still August.