Water Crystals and Vibrations in Food

There are some very interesting studies concerning water and how its structure changes when it is loved or appreciated.

According to the scientists involved, the structure of the water can go from a broken look to resembling snowflakes or crystals. And that that can change by how you behave around the water.

Today, as I was doing a food prep and cutting up my vegetables for my julienned vegetables and my carrot-parsnip-cinnamon recipes, (something I like to prep for the week about every other week), I was thinking about this and also about how my food prep time has become like a meditation for me.

It has come up again for me that food changes when it is loved. This may sound really out there, but I change when I am loved too.

I can't eat angry food. When my husband and I first got together, it was paramount that he understood that. You see, he is a great cook! But he also used to be prone to perfectionism and could become easily frustrated in the kitchen too. But when he got that way, I COULD NOT eat what he had served.

Likewise, when I have been in very healthy places where people love to cook and serve delicious, nutrient-rich, beautiful food, there has always been that feeling of something special in the ingredients.

I wonder what the molecules look like!


-bbffair

[Beautiful Photograph Above by: Mark Charles Langdon, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org  /   http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Water_Crystals_on_Mercury_20Feb2010_CU1.jpg
His Description:

English: This is a photograph of water crystal growth on the window of my 1993 Mercury automobile, taken on the morning of February 20, 2010 with a Kodak M1063 digital camera. It shows a classic example of an emergent phenomenon in a physical system.]

~~

[Web page from one of various studies and theories regarding water's spirituality and capacity to transform:

http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/aug1/consciouswater.html]

Omelet Béarnaise

Fresh Baby Spinach and Mushroom Omelet with Béarnaise Sauce


This is my favorite omelet.





  

[Spinach Farmers Market Baby by mcolletterogers courtesy of photobucket.com]

Grocery List:

-eggs
-whole milk
-Sunflower Oil
-Soy Free Earth Balance Spread or Unsalted or Lightly Salted Grass Fed Butter

-Pam Olive Oil

-dry Béarnaise Sauce package (like Knorrs or other dry package, some are better than others, I like mine less salty)

-fresh ground pepper

-fresh baby spinach
-fresh brown and white mushrooms
-one tomato

~~

Slice a tomato on your plate and set aside.

In a small sauce-pan mix the Béarnaise sauce altering the directions by using 2TBSPs of Soy Free Earth Balance or 2 TBSPs Butter (in place of 4 TBSPs of richer butter or margarine, you don't need that much). Set-off the heat when cooked, but leave the burner on.

In a small skillet or frying pan, sprayed with Pam Olive Oil and 2 teaspoons of Smart Balance saute a whole pan of sliced mushrooms until browned. Move them to a small plate.

Beat 2 eggs in a bowl with a splash of whole milk.

Add another teaspoon of Smart Balance or butter to the pan and, on medium heat, add in the eggs.

When a bottom has formed on the omelet cover the egg mixture with fresh baby spinach (it will wilt) and all of the mushrooms. (If you have too many for this to cook right, put them on the plate with the tomatoes, but I love mushrooms. More is better!)

When ready, and slightly browned, flip egg over and cook the rest and rewarm the Béarnaise sauce.

Put omelet on the plate and cover with about 1/4 of the Béarnaise sauce.

Yumm.

375 calories and lots of flavor and vegies!

-bbffair

Note:
Béarnaise sauce (French: Sauce béarnaise) [be.aʁnɛz]^[1] is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and flavored with herbs. It is considered to be a 'child' of the mother Hollandaise sauce, one^[2] of the five sauces in the French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire. The difference is only in their flavoring: Béarnaise uses shallot, chervil, peppercorn, and tarragon, while Hollandaise uses lemon juice.
In appearance it is light yellow and opaque, smooth and creamy.
Béarnaise is a traditional sauce for steak*.     (*But I love it on eggs too!)

[copied from wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9arnaise_sauce]

Fruits and Vegetables

Isn't this an appetizing image!! All that delicious life force laid out before you.

Looking at, smelling, handling the food with joy and appreciation is all a part of healthy eating. When I am buying food, I want it to be beautiful and to call to me. I want it in my kitchen, in my vegetable drawer. Isn't it a wonderful experience to go to a farmer's market or a place like Whole Foods where they make walking through the produce department so inviting!

(I remember when "health food" had a lot of very depressing and anemic-looking glum people hanging around drab bins of oats with brown paper bags. No more!! Back then I thought that if that was health food, I wanted me my decadent food. Eating right needs to be attracting, don't you think! Marketers finally caught on. Nowadays, it is with relish that we walk through health food displays.)

It seems to me the first order of business in eating right is to enjoy it thoroughly! The tastes, smells, textures, colors, variations. I no longer feel that way about sugary heavy foods that used to call out trying to seduce me, and although I still love a fine wine or a sweet dessert now and then, I let my senses be drawn towards the life energy of naturally good-for-me foods. And when I prepare food or cook, I like to smell each ingredient, pick up the vibration and the energy of it all and enjoy being in my kitchen. And I love the presentation of serving it like works of art.

It can be such a nourishing practice to love and appreciate your food knowing it is perfect and will be good for you.

So that's your assignment, if you aren't doing it already. Go out shopping next time leaving any old thoughts about that bakery section behind and let the fruits and vegetables section of your market have at it with you and shift your allegiances.

May The Force Be With You!

-bbffair

[This great picture today of Fruits and Vegetables came from http://www.knowabouthealth.com]

Tip for the Day: when you are eating out, you can learn to ask for "double vegetables" and skip the starch, fresh fruit for dessert, and skip the cheese in your omelet. (Did you notice that I do!)

Southwestern Hit-It-Hot Omelet

I'm Hungry! This is no time to mess around. I need nourishment now.

Here is one of my sure fixes. It's a Southwestern Hit-It-Hot Omelet.

[Orange Bell Pepper by Sirenne Courtesy of Photobucket.com]

For your Grocery List, you will need:

-2 Eggs
-2 TBSP Soy Free Earth Balance (cooler health food section) or Fresh Butter
-2 Big Fresh Brown Mushrooms (or 1 white, 1 brown)
-Slices from 1 red or orange and 1 yellow sweet pepper
-1 Tomato
-Baby Spinach
-1/8 Avocado
-Fresh Black Pepper
-Dried Parsley Flakes
-Chi-Chi's medium thick and chunky salsa
-Shaken Cold Tropicana Orange Juice

~~

In a small skillet or frying pan sprayed with Pam Olive Oil, add 1 TBSP Earth Balance or Butter and heat up pan hot to about level seven (medium high).
Cut a 1 inch section from each of your two peppers and cut into thin strips and toss into the pan.
Cut the 2 mushrooms into thin strips and then again and throw the pin size pieces into the pan after the pepper. Make sure the peppers really, really cook while sauteing the mixture. Let the mushrooms get good and brown too. Pepper and add dried parsley flakes.

Chop 2/3 of the tomato into small pieces and 1/3 into bite size pieces. Put the 1/3 part on a plate along with 1/8 of an avocado wedged.

When the peppers and mushrooms are nice and tender and browned, throw in the 2/3 tomato pieces and add another TBSP of Earth Balance.

Beat two eggs with a dash of whole milk in a bowl.

When the liquid reduces from the tomatoes, throw in a big handful of fresh baby spinach. Fold in and cook for another 30-60 seconds. Then throw in the beaten eggs over it all and let it sort itself out and do what it's going to do. Reduce heat to medium (about level 6) once you've added the eggs.

Pour your orange juice. Put fresh cracked or ground pepper on the table and the salsa and wait for it.

The bottom will brown nicely and then flip it. When it looks fully cooked, slide it onto the plate with the 1/3 tomato and the avocado wedges. Go ahead and cover it over with Salsa because there are only 10 calories in 2 TBSPs. You can have 6 TBSPs if you love salsa like I do.

Enjoy.

This filling meal, orange juice included, with 6 TBSPs of salsa will cost you 632 calories.

You can even have a big mug-sized cup of freshly brewed coffee with 1/4 cup of whole milk and call it 675.

You will be out of the danger-zone and feeling no hunger pain and have worked your flavor well. You'll have used your calories where they added flavor but did the least amount of harm, all while taking care of your appetite and eating a balanced and balancing meal.

-bbffair

Notes:

1.)  I can't usually eat sweet peppers because they give me kick-back, but once in awhile, when I just have to indulge, I have discovered that if I cook them nice and tender and browned that they are no problem at all.

2.)  Sometimes you just have to have a 700-800 calorie meal to get rid of the "I'm hungry's!" It's better that you have a few ideas of where to run for the right meal than taking a more calorie costly turn, (i.e., a "plan-of-action" :-D )!

Food as an Adventure

Spicy-Adventures

I love the internet for food adventuring. Most of the time, I like fast healthy food that I can make up fairly quickly, but I like to also try new things, a spice, a recipe, add a taste or a flavor to my menu, and I try to experience at least one new thing every week or so.

But every once in awhile, I like to go on an all out Food Adventure!

With the internet, you can go to YouTube and learn how to use a spice, make a dish, cook something you have never even heard of before.

In January, I decided I was going to learn to cook a Malaysian dish that I had read about on the internet. I researched various recipes and finally chose one that sent  me on a quest through five different stores (some with things in them no grown woman should ever have to set eyes upon) to acquire all the many ingredients it called for. I spent hours on YouTube learning how to peel this or pound that. On the great day of the event that I cooked this, I spent five hours as a mad scientist cook. I lost one pan, sent my husband out for the ingredient I needed to replace (after I lost a pan burning it). I chopped, blended, pounded, prepped a bazillion strange things that got blended together in sequences and simmered and stewed.

In the end, I served a dinner that my husband loved and relished but that I could not eat when I learned I was allergic to coconut. (Yes, also the same ingredient I lost a pan trying to roast the first time.) But what a great adventure it was! I was introduced to so many unusual and exotic spices and I bonded  that day forever with my food processor that I had only previously known on passing occasions.  And, yes, I will never cook that dish again, but I had the Most Fun going on that adventure once!

Every once in awhile, holding an exotic spice to one's nose or hammering a flavor out of what had previously seemed inedible can be an amazing experience.

What are your food adventures?

-bbffair

[Illustration above: Cover of the pulp magazine Spicy-Adventure Stories (December 1936, vol. 5, no. 3) featuring "Viper Pit" by Alan Anderson. Courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org]

Yes in French

Oui!

 It can be a powerful exercise to actively, consciously, purposely say Yes or No to everything during a day and with attitude!

Mean it. Put enthusiasm into it. Be French!

At the end of the day, see how you feel!

Oui!

-bbffair






Wallace Fountain, Paris
[photo by Coyau courtesy of commons.wikimedia.org]

Re-Establishing Healthy Eating Patterns

Isn't this a beautiful tomato? Even seeing it appeals to me. Full of antioxidents and vitamins and flavor, the way food is supposed to appeal to us.

But what about the junk-food we take in?

It's been my own experience that you have to wean yourself from addictive, non-healthy eating patterns. For example, wheat, glutton, sugary deserts, starchy foods, wine, beer, fatty and fried food, cheese, artificial and overly processed foods are almost all culprits for many of us that lead our health astray. Not because they can't be fun in small or occasional doses, but because, when overly-consumed, they don't support our health.



[Tomatoes on the bush (from en:) Taken by en:User:Fir0002] 

 What is interesting is that the body, when acclimated to regular consumption of some of these "non-food food products," thinks and responds to them like they are necessary food. They are not.

However, until the body weans itself from these often addictive-like substances, it will still want them.

In my experience, replacing non-food food products with really, really delicious, healthy, life-impregnated, beautiful, and great tasting food is essential to that. You have to give the body something that it will like and learn to like more than the stuff that isn't so good for it. And the body needs time to re-realize that this healthy and delicious food ups the quality of energy, sleep, joy, and life itself.

I have a theory that it takes about five days to make the first shift towards that readjustment. At that point, you pass into the next stage, where you still might think about the life-depleting food, but you are actually starting to also experience actual nourishment. Three more days passes you through that danger period. Don't slip!

After this there are two more important shifts (of five days and three days each) wherein the draw towards life-depleting foods continues to ease up and disappear and a body readjustment occurs. In each phase, it gets easier because the body is getting better nutrients and starting to experience more health and balance. As the body feels better, it more easily convinces the mind that it likes healthy food choices too.

For example, I am allergic to wheat. One of the ways my body responds to that allergy, when exposed to too much wheat, is by craving it. (I found out that this is apparently a common reaction to a food allergy.) Now, I can still have occasional wheat in small doses, but if I have it all the time, my body starts to think it needs it.

When I've gotten myself to this point, I need to wean my body of it and the first five days without it are the hardest. After that, it's basically out of my system and the rest is more of a distancing from the wheat. Each stage frees my body–and my mind–from wanting this allergic substance more and more, and by Day 24, I am free of it and I have established a new, sustainable, nourishing eating pattern.

So, if you are giving up something not-so-good for you that you crave, understanding these weaning stages might be helpful:
Day 5 :   5 days gets bad foods out of system = less craving for them
Day 8 :   3 days past thinking you can now control the craving
Day 13:  5 days gets you further from the old cravings and gives body more healthy balance
Day 16:  3 days past a lighter temptation period to revert
Day 21:  5 days gets you further away from any lingering cravings and towards a more sustainable health
Day 24:  3 days past an even lighter mental temptation to revert

Good food satisfies the body. It does not make the body want to overeat (or give you headaches or put you in a bad mood or drain you of energy, etc.). And, yes, sometimes we all crave something a little salty, a little sweeter, a little more filling. But when the body is in balance, it will crave the healthier of those choices, not the least healthy.

-bbffair

Road Assistance for Dieters

 
 Plans-Of-Action

It seems to me the first step in change or in a journey is always the hardest. You are up against a pattern and a known set of habits that you are changing.

That's why it is so important in the beginning to just put one foot in front of the other and do it.

As the body adjusts to being treated in healthy ways, it will respond by liking that.

After that, like in any journey, one acclimates and gains confidence as they continue. One step builds upon the next. A rhythm is established and it serves you and carries you forward.

Taking a map of the stars–those heavenly beings that light up in the dark of night and show you there is majesty all around you–is a good idea too. You can steer by the heavens and know where you're heading.

Sometimes it can be interesting and an adventure to get lost or to take detours and see or experience things you never would have otherwise. But sometimes, you can get too far off-track or even breakdown or find yourself in a flat-tire time out.

Too bad they don't have road assistance for dieters, or for people moving towards a healthier lifestyle, because, like on any journey, there will be ruts in the road.

There are several danger zones that you can count on needing awareness around such as:

     -anytime the workout becomes boring or unlikeable or too monotonous

     -when you have had results and fall off (i.e. you meant to get to L.A., but you got distracted and landed in Tuscon instead, then got homesick and turned around, etc.)

     -when you aren't in a present *connected* mode with yourself (the *other* reasons why your body got out of shape)

and other such times.

This is when we need to have PLANS-OF-ACTION for when it gets tough or discouraging or you snag on one of those ruts in the road. (Perhaps it could be called The Pot-Hole-Plan?) And one of the things about detours, is that they may have necessary-information that you need to stop and gather so that you are really going in the right direction for YOU.

For me, one of my plans-of-action is to notice as my body starts to adjust to a new pattern. Okay, I had to force it to do what it didn't think it wanted to do for awhile and now it's working with me. I'm  feeling more alive and I've established a pace, which is GREAT. But it's important to listen to what the body wants to do too and to let yourself, your body, have FUN, to change it up. FUN will go a long way to keeping things moving in the right direction or to putting you back on the right road. So having FUN on a physical level is key important! It's always a good idea to try and remember what you love to do, not just for exercise, but for the joie de vivre.


I love to dance. I have always felt that when I am on a dancing path, that it naturally fills my life with light and balance and vitality. I do my very best if I live near and am involved in a dance community or a place where I can go out (Allie McBeal after-work style) and dance or rock-n-roll on a regular basis. It's so much fun for me that I enjoy myself too much to not do it.

However sometimes that's not available, so I have to be more creative. But if I remember that I am a dancer at heart, it's good information.

Another thing I love to do is go on walking vacations; full-on, month-or-more, long ones to places like the Grand Canyon or the ocean where I can walk on the earth and feel my life. Those have been truly transformative, not just because I get in great shape that way, but because I am also connecting to this beautiful planet with my core life force and spirit. But again, that is also something I can't yet do out in nature everyday where I live now. I have to save up and plan for those wonderful treats. (Someday I hope to walk Ireland and maybe even the Great Wall of China!!)

But knowing that these are things that really inspire me on multiple levels of my being helps me to look for closer, more attainable fun things my body–and my spirit–wants to do.

So I'm wondering, if you are reading along with me, what are your FUN or INSPIRING ways of moving or transforming, not just when you are trying to get from here to there, but things you love to do when everything is just fine the way you like it best?

And do you have plans-of-action? I'd love to hear about them.

-bbffair

[Constellations by dark-digidestined courtesy of photobucket.com ]

Sweet Summer Seared Sea Scallops - Dinner!

Seared Sea Scallops! And so many ways to enjoy them!


I love this combo because it offers such a variety of taste sensations. It is tasty, light, and fast.






From the grocery list:

-Pacific Natural Foods All Natural Thai Sweet Potato Soup (Small box - 2 servings a box.) (Note: This soup is divine!)

- fresh big sea scallops (1/4 pound a person is good about 3-5 each)

-fresh limes
-fresh cucumber
-fresh radishes
-fresh avocado
-fresh baby spinach


-fresh ground pepper


-Pam Olive Oil
-Soy Free Earth Balance or Sweet Fresh Butter (from grass fed cows)
-Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce (*There are a number of brands. I'm still experimenting. One has 100 calories and another 45 per serving. I like the spicy, less sugary variety and, so far, nothing beats the kitchen-made sauce that our local Thai restaurant puts together. Grin!)

~~

Heat the soup up on the back burner.

Cut up limes for the table and put out small saucers by each plate with about 2 TBSPs each of the Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce.

Cut up thick wedges of avocado.
Cut up slices of cucumber and radishes.

Arrange on each plate a small pile of baby spinach, about 1/4 avocado wedges, and the cucumbers and radishes slices to be eaten raw or dipped in the Korean Sweet and Spicy Sauce.

Spray Pam Olive Oil in a frying pan and add 1 TBSP of Butter or Soy Free Earth Balance. Heat up nicely, about medium high. Throw in the rinsed fresh scallops. Pepper to taste. Let sear, cooking until brown on one side then turn and brown the other.

Put on the opposite side of the plate of the vegies with lime squeeze garnish and serve the soup at the same time on the side.

All of these tastes together are wonderful. And it's so quick! I can make this during a commercial break while watching a television show. Total calorie count = about 475 delicious calories

Please let me know how you liked this one!

-bbffair

[photo courtesy of liveruralnl.com]

The Power of 12 Minutes

12  MINUTES!

I just got reminded of what sometimes works when all I want to do is zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

12 minutes.

I need three good songs. I can dance for three good songs and that's about 12 minutes. Or, I can handle 12 minutes jogging in place watching TV.

A coach I worked with once told me the biggest mistake women make is to aim for bigger goals than they can face. It's one of her secrets of success. If you aim for something very small, then Voila! Success! You've done it! You can do that!!

Then, if you want, everything more than that little increment is extra!

It's sort of a mind-game for me. If I can make it FUN!, no problemo (and I'll say more about ways I like to do that in another post).  But sometimes, exercise is just plain not fun and hard work and then just thinking about 30-35 minutes is too much for me to want to do. But even then, I really can't argue too much with 12 minutes of effort.

So it's a mind game. And most of the time, after 12 minutes, I can do another 12 minutes and then a third. I know the 30-35 minutes is going to give me the best results, but some days are harder than others.

Keeping to the 12 minutes as a base goal for days I don't feel like it, keeps me on a daily path. After my 12 minutes, if I really am still feeling beat , then I did my minimum and I stop, for the day, but I still accomplished staying with the program.

Likewise, sometimes I have to take the mat work in increments too and stop after each section for a mini-break.

But the most important part is the staying with a daily minimum effort part.

So, when I get burned out, tired, sluggish, etc., the worst thing I can do is drop the ball entirely.  I have to remember to break it down into minimum increments, find three great songs, and remember the 12 minute principle.

Right now, my three songs are going to be from The Rolling Stones, Stripped CD!!!

-bbffair

Learning To Appreciate The Journey of a Transformation

Someone wrote me over the weekend who was struggling with the time it takes to get from here to there. It made me think of butterflies and chrysalises.

There is work in transformation, but there is also beauty. How does the spirit shape itself in a body so that it stores up information that it can use, and when the time is right, blossom again into a new form?

We live in a world where results are heralded as the all important goal. But then, what are we supposed to do with the process? Close our eyes and hold our noses until we get there? Somehow, that doesn't make sense to me. I understand it because I have been subjected to the same attitudes. But maybe we are supposed to open our eyes and breathe deeply and live our transformations consciously and with much self-love along the journey and not just at its end. There is as much joy when a fatty dances freely as when a tiny ballerina does, and maybe even more liberation. We are meant to dance. It is in our spirits and it frees us to be our spirits.

So, for today, I have a wish for anybody reading. That you will step and turn a little with self-love and maybe even spin across the floor and, in whatever shape you are in at this moment in time, let yourself dance in it and celebrate the journey.

-bbffair

[This lovely photograph above is brought to you courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org]

The Devil Made Me Do It!

Yesterday, I was Evil!!

But what with the internet and google, information is everything when a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Let me walk you through my food yesterday:

Coffee: 1 cup Orange juice and coffee with whole milk (1 cup), (the right way!) 
calories = 260

Brunch: 1 lovely Sort of Greek-Inspired Omelet:
calories =  340

5 PM (I was hungry!): 1 cup of Imagine Creamy Butternut Squash Soup (90 calories) with 1/8 cup slivered almonds (100 calories) and two cut up mushrooms (10 calories): calories for snack/could be dinner = 200 calories.

And then...

Well, about two hours later, I found this partial bag of hidden contraband: 2/3 of a bag of hot blue corn chips (the not allowed in the house, they're so good variety) and I went wild.

I mashed up 1 large avacodo with 2/3 of a jar of El Pinto All Natural Hot Salsa that I also just had to try! And between my husband and myself, we finished off the whole thing. And, boy-oh-girlfriend, it was delicious, finger-licking yumm!

And then I went to see just how bad a bad girl had been.

The chips were 140 calories a serving with 9 servings in a full bag so, 2/3 of a bag or 6 "servings " (yeah) = 840 calories.  The avacodo was medium, but I'll calculate it as a big one just to be safe at 322 calories and the salsa (which was gloriously hot-hot-hot, just like the top of the jar promised it would be) was...  (Wait a minute. This can't be right. No it is!)  ...5 calories per serving (2 TBSP) with 15 servings in a jar and 2/3 of a jar was only 50 calories.

Um, (drum-roll), the grand total for this decadence was 1212 calories, split in half with my evil husband and I still came out to a protein rich yumm-loaded totally satisfying dinner calories count here of 606 calories!!!

I LOVE INFORMATION!!!

I mean, OMGosh, my Total food calories intake for the day was still only 1406 calories!!!

For a BAD girl, that information is Heaven!

(However, if you went for the margaritas, I cannot help you further.)

-bbffair

[Devil (above) by ojotez, courtesy of photobucket.com]

Eggs and A Sort of Greek-Inspired Omelet

Eggs

Not all eggs are created equally. After buying too too many tasteless, boring eggs, I decided to investigate a little deeper. I am still learning.

But here are a few of things I am learning about buying eggs:

1. The BEST choice is to buy pastured eggs from your local farmer or farmers' market. This

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

means the chickens were raised with significant outside time in fields, just like farms used to keep them. I have read that non-soy feed is apparently best if they are fed anything other than what nature provides, but talk to the farmer. He or she would know more about that than I do.

2. If you have to buy eggs in a store, you will find your better choices in the cooler in the health food section. Look for Grade A Eggs (not AA or AAA or B). Then look for: Omega-3, grain-fed, organic, hormone-and-antibiotic-free, and cage-free. ("Cage-free" is often a questionable claim though because what matters is the hens are significantly outside in the sunlight on the earth, not on a cemented "chicken-patio" with a window, but they probably won't make that distinction.)

I have learned to write a date on the top of the carton and tear it off and put it in my egg bin. I toss old eggs. I only repurchase egg brands I have been really pleased with.

Better, healthier eggs have much higher nutritional values, less fat, and they taste better, MUCH better.

~~

Now Let's Cook!

I love omelets and have a few specialties, most of which involve the vegetables I love in them. Today, while perusing sites about fresh seasonal vegetables, I decided to be adventurous and try something different. I came across a few Greek recipe sites and I had to try something similar, ala my own version:

A Sort of Greek-Inspired Omelet

Remember my julienned vegetables? You'll need a big handful.
Tomatoes.
2 fresh eggs
2 TBSPs milk
fresh ground pepper
dried parsley flakes (from the cupboard)
Pam Olive Oil nonstick spray
Fresh Sweet Butter or Soy Free Earth Balance or sunflower oil

(All of these things should be in your kitchen if you've been following my grocery lists, except the dried parsley flakes, that I have never known a kitchen cupboard to be without.)

One small regular frying pan.
One small non-stick frying pan.

Put aside about 1/5 of one tomato, cut into bite-size slices and put on a plate.
Chop up the rest of the tomatoes.

Spray your regular frying pan with the Pam Olive Oil spray and put in 1 tsp. of butter or soy free Earth Balance or sunflower oil. Heat up the pan nicely.
Throw in one big handful of the julienned vegetables and all of the chopped tomatoes. Start out hot, tossing constantly. Add pepper and parsley flakes.
After about five minutes, lower the heat and keep cooking, turning occasionally, until the juice from the tomatoes is all reduced. This will take about 30 minutes. (Really.)

While it's cooking, add a little more pepper and parsley flakes. Do this a couple of times or to taste. It'll get very soft and gushy looking.

Whip your eggs and 2 TBSPs of milk in a bowl.

Then spray the non-stick pan with Pam Olive Oil and 1 tsp. of Earth Balance.

(Believe me, you will be glad you went to another pan for this part. I didn't and got a sort of scrambled–but still tasty :-D–version the first time, because in my recipe I'm not working with much oil.)

Heat to medium.

Toss your gooey cooked vegie mixture into the egg bowl and fold it all together. Then pour the whole thing into the non-stick pan. Cook until brown and then carefully flip it and cook the other side.

Serve on the plate with the cut up tomatoes.

It really doesn't look like your ordinary omelet and it takes a bit long to do the vegies right, and I was sure they would taste overcooked, but this was pretty tasty.

Total Calories: 340

Let me know if you tried it and how it worked for you or if you came up with any variations. I'd love to know!

-bbffair

Salmon

I love salmon. Fresh, succulent, healthy, delicious. The recipe below is one of my husband's variations that are always good.

For your Grocery List:
-Salmon: we like a piece that is even, thicker, from the head (more so than the tail which is thinner) like the one in the picture.
1 lb is about perfect for 2 people and so good for you, but if you want, you can eat less (but why?).

[salmon_filet by Dr. McGuire, courtesy of photobucket.com]

-seafood magic
-McCormick Asian Seafood Sauce (Asian food section Kroger's)
-JFC Ginger Dressing (Kroger's)
-soy sauce (I like gluten free)

-sunflower oil

-Soy Free Earth Balance (Kroger's health food section cooler) or grass fed sweet butter

-lemons
-white mushrooms
-tomatoes
-zuchini
-yellow squash
-carrots

-tinfoil

(*Note: I try to separate my grocery lists into groups of items that can be located in the same section when possible.)

I prepped this dish by cutting up my julienned vegetables that I like for the week (or pulling them out if I've already done that).

My husband doubles up a tin-foil pan with edges (like a squarish pan with sides) and puts it in the middle of a small broiler pan. He washes the fresh salmon and sets it in the middle. He uses this with the grill too, but tonight it's in the oven.

He slices mushroom and surrounds the fish with the pieces. (He thinks this helps keep the fish moist.)
For this version of his salmon, (this varies), he sprinkled seafood magic over the top of the fish, the McCormick Asian Seafood Sauce sauce and sliced over that with a marbling of the Ginger Dressing.

He put it into the broiler for about 7 minutes or until it got bubbly.
Then he turned the oven to 350 degrees and checked it at five minutes and then five more minutes. (This piece was thicker- but it slices open nicely in the middle when it's done and you can see how it is cooked.)
(*Note: on the grill, it is about 15 minutes with the cover closed over the tin foil "pan" itself, without the broiler pan, although the broiler top is nice to carry it back and forth as it's not flimsy.)

When the salmon is about five minutes out, I spray Pam Olive Oil in a big frying pan, then I put 1 TBSP of fresh sweet butter or soy free Earth Balance and 1 TBSP of sunflower oil in it and get it hot. Then I throw about four or five handfuls of the julienned vegies in and toss with a spatula constantly. I like the vegies to be somewhere between cooked and raw or half and half.

I cut up tomato pieces for each plate.
I mix in servings of the vegetables with the raw tomatoes for each plate.

My husband removes the top salmon from the bottom skin that I don't like and serves it.

I like lemon slices and the gluten free soy sauce on the table: lemon squeezed over the fish and a tsp. of soy sauce or two mixed over my vegies.

If you want a full meal*, (i.e., a half-pound salmon each), your calories intake for this meal is about 765 including sauces.

If you go for 1/3 pound of salmon for your serving, it's 573 calories total for this meal.

If you go with 1/4 pound, it equals about 473 calories for the salmon and vegies.

*(By the way, I do really well with my OJ/milk and coffee mornings at 260 to 400 calories, lunch at about 400 calories, a possible 100 calorie snack, and a dinner that falls between 600 and 800 calories, so for my system, this is perfect. But adjust, of course, as needed.

And there are always nice variations to keep in mind like light dinners in between more filling ones, but I think if you do too many light dinners, your body may end up feeling deprived and hold onto its extra weight too, so every now and then, a more filling, healthy, dinner–i.e. still in line with your healthy eating objectives–is very reassuring to the body for a sense of well-being and for staying with a fitness program.)

Anyway you enjoy it, it is a healthy dinner and, in my humble opinion, even the bigger serving will do no harm to your diet because it's ALL good for you! And it is so succulent, that I have trouble eating salmon in restaurants that too often ends up being served dried out or overcooked or tough.

-bbffair

PS As someone has already mentioned over on Tracy Anderson, sometimes you have to offer rice to the people you eat with, but I try to stay away from rice for my own plate except for occasional treat dinners because on a regular basis, it can stall your results.

-bbffair

South of the Border Sunday

Meet my dogs! Who (as you will learn) approved this dinner, though not for the obvious reasons of their getting the leftovers.

On Sunday, my husband picked up some freshwater shrimp, which are wonderful. We get them with the shells cracked-open and they broil up like little lobster tails and the meat easily pulls out of the shell. (Cook the same way as I described for grilled shrimp, except these you don't have to flip.) He had the dip in mind too, but forgot to buy the buttermilk.

But it was Sunday and he didn't feel like another trip to the store, so we did a little survey. Sometimes you look in the fridge and you need to eat one of those meals working with what you've got before your next shop.

So I pulled out that box of Cuban Black Bean Soup with 2 cups still in it (Note: You really have to cut the box open at this point, the soup is so thick!), threw in the leftover half-can of the stewed tomatoes and chopped up two white mushrooms and put it on the stove. I grilled the freshwater shrimp just the way I like (above link), then chopped the meat up after taking it out of the shell (These guys are big!) and put the pieces in two bowls and poured the soup mix over the shrimp. Then I dolloped out 2 TBSPs of salsa and 1 tsp (it really does go a long way - you could use even less, but why?) of sour cream in each bowl, and on the side of the plate, I tossed the last of my leftover fresh baby spinach, lime wedges and pieces from 1/2 an avocado (1/4th on each plate) (all of which we ended up tossing into the soup too). :-D

It was wonderful with a nice glass of red wine. A very hearty meal with a lot of zest in a few inspired moments. Healthy and about 445 calories (or a little more with a glass of red). Then, instead of an extra trip to the store, we threw the Frisbee with the sheepdogs.

-bbffair

Results!

Drum Roll Please

I am officially 1/3 the way through my revised, adapted, modified, TA Metamorphosis program.

I have lost 32 inches from top to ankle. 19 the first ten days, and, consistently, 6-1/2 on each of the next levels (2 and 3).

Ta Da!!!

What I love are Results!!!

[Just Keep Swimming, photo by apple_pie000

courtesy of Photobucket.com]

What are your Results? Please share!

-bbffair

Grilled Shrimp

This is one of my favs.

First I make my trusty Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing with just a tad less mayo and the buttermilk and I put it in the fridge to get nice and chilled. And I keep it in a non-see-through container because I don't want to be too tempted to use this except sparingly for treats like this. Or, you can make a partial amount. It's also best fresh and leftover amounts should be tossed after a week.

Use very fresh shrimp or prawns, raw, and divined, and peeled (tail optional).

And, by the way, fresh water shrimps that have been cracked open with the shell are amazing, like mini-lobsters. Again, buy very fresh.

I put them in a low pan and spray the shrimp with Pam Olive Oil and coat them with Chef Paul Prudhomme's seafood magic, both sides. No oil! No bad calories. Just yumm.

Then, it's a couple of minutes under broil or (skewered) on the grill, turned half-way.

I love the Ranch Dressing as a dip for these. I have these cute little chicky bowls that I put a little personal dip in for each plate and you can measure it to be certain about the calories. (There are about 110 in two TBSPs so I keep mine to four TBSPs when I'm making a whole meal of it. That still keeps my total calorie count for a half-pound of grilled shrimp and dip to about 460 calories).

Okay, there ARE calories in the dip, but it balances out, does not wreck my diet, and, there is NO oil on the shrimps, so it's a nice, neat-o trade.

-bbffair

Black Bean Soup

-Imagine Bistro Organic Cuban Black Bean Bisque

You have to taste this soup. It is my opinion that this soup can do no wrong. It is thick as mud and smooth and beautiful to behold and heavenly to the taste buds.

I've been perusing recipes and there are many to choose from.

Today, I made my husband a bowl with two tablespoons of salsa and a teaspoon of sour cream.

For myself,
I chopped up two big fresh white mushrooms,
2 ounces of the Boarshead low-sodium turkey I like, (I like a good protein boost)
cilantro (:-D),
and a half-can of DelMonte stewed tomatoes.

I cut it all up and mixed it and poured my hot black bean soup over it.

Now, let me say a word or two about soups and sauces.
They are divine.
They are not evil.
You can look up their calorie content and decide which and what amount to go with.

(My husband's soup was 170 calories soup + 10 calories salsa + 50 calories sour cream = total calories of 230. Not a full lunch for him, but he just stopped in the house and had to have some!)

(My soup had a BIG protein boost. It included 170 calories soup + 120 calories turkey + 70 calories stewed tomatoes + 10 calories mushrooms = total calories of 370 all good for me and now I am good to go all afternoon.)

You can also make adjustments in some recipes without loosing any flavor.
Sauces and dips and things do not have to be loaded with fat or flour or evil preservatives or sugar.

AND...
Eating right should be delicious!

-bbffair