Today's Eats

Had a late breakfast this morning. Well, late considering I had been up since 7am. I ate around 9am. Got busy puttering around and then I decided to clean the kitchen. I was halfway through when my stomach said, "Enough!" So I acquiesced and fed it this:



Two pieces of natural bacon, a fried egg, and 3 strawmatos. Strawmatos? You say. Yes, that's no typo. They are tomatoes that are shaped like strawberries and I paid top dollar for them. $4 for about 15. I'm a sucker for something different, obviously. They tasted like grape tomatoes so unless you're trying to do something visually don't waste your money!

Several hours went by before I began to feel the pangs of hunger and around 2:30 I decided to have lunch. I fixed a peanut butter and cherry jelly sandwich, a glass of tea and a small bowl of salt and pepper chips (about 8).

See?





Hit the spot!!

Dinner is a big question mark tonight because I think we're going to a rugby game so I'm not sure if we'll go out to eat or come home. I will still try and update it tonight before I go to bed.

Dinner: If you can call it that....

Well, we went to the rugby game and it was 8:30 when we left so dinner was drive-thru city. The kids wanted Wendy's and let me tell you, it was hard to resist getting the Spicy Chicken Sandwich. That one is my all-time favorite! But, I was strong and only ordered a plain baked potato. When we got home, I threw away the "Buttery-Best Spread" and the chemcially enhanced sour cream they they included and instead used my own organic butter and sour cream. Not exciting but it'll do in a pinch.



I only had the baked potato so I ate the whole thing. Like I said, not an interesting dinner but it was late. It worked out all right!

My Taste Buds Are A Changin'

Interestingly, when I embarked on this whole food journey, one thing I did not think to anticipate was the changing of my taste buds. Well, maybe I expected it to happen just not this quickly. Last night as we were eating the "natural" rice that had come in a package with a seasoning packet I was struck by how incredibly salty it was. Nothing was added by me, I only followed the instructions on the box and man! It was very, very salty to me. In addition to that, I made sweet tea last night and I've never considered my tea to be uber-sweet. But last night it was bordering on syrupy sweet and at first I was confused about that. I actually went and pulled out the measuring cup I had used to pour in the sugar because it seemed that I may have accidentally used a 1cup measure instead of 1/2. Nope. I had used a 1/2 cup of sugar for 2 quarts of tea and it tasted too sweet.

Today I'm going to experiment and use 1/4 cup of sugar and see what the taste difference is there. I think my palette is just so clean of gunk that I'm actually able to really taste my food now. It's kind of like how smokers palettes get dull over time and how all that changes once they quit.

Sorry if you're sitting there thinking, "Big Deal. So what?" but it was really striking to me the difference in the taste of food! It will be interesting to see what else tastes different.

Today's Eats - Won't You Take Me to Twinkietown?

If you read over at my other blog then you already know about my homemade twinkie calamity. I'll try and give a brief summary. Since we've decided not to eat any processed or chemical laden foods, we've had to put the kibosh on snacky foods like twinkies. A couple of days ago, my youngest was positively begging for some in the grocery store and was difficult to console when I told him no. He calmed down when I said we could make our own twinkies....little did he know that the first batch would be a disaster. Thankfully though, he was able to find another use for them and if you follow the link above, you will see what I'm talkin' about. Well this morning I decided to give it another go and, using a different recipe, made a beautiful yellow cake and filled it with cream. Not exactly like twinkies but much better for you and pretty damn good, if I may say so myself.



After doing that all morning, I still had to get ready for my lunch with Krista. Thankfully, I had planned something simple so once I had the kitchen cleaned up it was ready for me to destroy it all over again. I sauteed some chicken breasts in olive oil having seasoned them beforehand with garlic salt and black pepper. Along with it I fixed my trusty mashed potatoes and haricot verts. I meant to make tea but just didn't have time to do it and wouldn't you know it's the one thing Krista requested?! Anyway, here is my plate from lunch today:



You might look at that plate and say, "Wow, that is A LOT of food!" But it's not. It's half of a chicken breast, 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, and about 15 green beans and that was plenty of food. The plate I used makes it look like a lot of food. It's an antique dinner plate and it's 7" in diameter. Okay, wait. I'm lying to you because I don't know for sure. Hang on and I'll go measure it.

Good thing I went and checked because I don't want to mislead anybody. It's actually 8" in diameter. Just for kicks I measured one of my current dinner plates and it's 11". That's a huge difference and it really illustrates the point that it's easy to overload yourself when you use a plate that big.

Krista and I really took our time getting through lunch today and probably took an hour to eat. It was a nice, slow lunch filled with good conversation. She and I only see each other about once a month so we always have a lot to catch up on when we get together. I really enjoy her friendship!

Not sure what dinner's going to be tonight but I have a whole breast leftover from lunch so I'll probably fix that with some rice and a veggie. You know what I'm going to say...come back and check for the dinner update!!

DINNER

Leftover chicken from lunch, Long grain and wild rice, and yellow squash and zucchini. I forgot to take a picture before I started and by the time I remembered my plate looked like this:



The rice was a prepackaged "natural" product. The squash was cooked in olive oil, butter, chopped onion, sage, thyme, and Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt. Tasty! I also had one of the heart biscuits that was leftover from the chicken stew from a few nights ago along with a glass of iced tea.

It feels like another good eating day!

Weight Down A Little More!

Got up this morning and weighed 189. Yeah baby!! It has been a good while since that number popped up on the scale. I'm feeling really good about losing weight and getting healthy following Will Clower's method. I've been feeling better, sharper mentally, and just plain good! Now with starting yoga as well I expect to feel even more energetic as things progress.

Thanks for staying with me, friends!

Today's Eats

I greeted the morning with 15 minutes of yoga and a small, simple breakfast of French Vanilla organic yogurt, with a sprinkling of homemade organic granola.



It was an incredibly lovely way to begin the day. Later, the boys and I ran to the Fresh Market to pick up some things for my lunch with my friend Krista tomorrow. When we got home, my dad ran by to swab my cheek for HIV, part of the life insurance process. A little weird? Perhaps. After he left, I fixed lunch with simplicity again being the theme of the week. Leftover tuna salad on whole wheat bread, topped with organic romaine lettuce, along with an organic orange.



So good!!

I want to say a word here about mayonnaise. Recently I was reading on a blog that I like and the author, who lives in a town close to me, mentioned that Southerners favorite mayo is a brand called Dukes. Well, I must be even less Southern than I thought because this brand is one I absolutely detest. Can't explain why, but it just tastes gross to me. My personal favorite is Hellmann's which I believe on the West Coast goes by Best Foods brand. I have had fancy mayo, homemade mayo, and Hellmann's is still at the top of my list. Just curious...do any of you have a favorite? Please let me know, I'm really interested! Maybe you hate mayo all together. Tell me that, too.

Check back later for the dinner update!

DINNER

Tonight we had tuna and it was good! I seared it in a pan in which I had heated some canola oil, sesame oil, a pat of butter, some minced garlic, and freshly grated ginger. I did not season the tuna because I think it's easy to overpower the delicious delicate taste that tuna has to offer. Also, it was important to be sure it wasn't overcooked because we like it rare. With the tuna I served my favorite haricot verts which I had cooked in the same oil, garlic, and ginger combination, topped off with a sprinkling of salt and a couple of grinds of black pepper. It was really, really tasty.



I was trying to copy the taste of the tuna we had the other night and I did not accomplish that but our dinner was good in spite of that.

See you tomorrow!

Today's Eats - Simple Trend

The boys slept really late this morning so I was able to be up and completely by myself for a long time today. It was really, really nice! It's easy to underestimate the power of solitude. When offered it can provide a respite from the daily activities that can drain even the most super of moms. Anyway, my solitude this morning was greatly enjoyed while eating this for breakfast:



One egg and one piece of whole wheat toast with a light touch of butter. So, so good!

Lunch was a late one today, around 2pm. I got hooked on the movie, "Empire Falls" on HBO and didn't want to move until it was over. I was completely immersed in it! When I finally did come up for air, I fixed myself a tuna sandwich on whole wheat toast with a glass of whole milk. Really hit the spot!



The lemon slices were purely there to make the photo a little more colorful.

I think tonight for dinner I'm going to fix tuna, fresh though, not canned. Much like we had at the restaurant the other night, seared on both sides and rare in the center. Please come back later tonight and check for the update!

UPDATE: DINNER

sean had to work late and my tuna didn't thaw out so this is what I had for dinner tonight:



Ginger Beer which is a fancy ginger ale, quite good.



A big bowl of popcorn. This is two bags of 100 calorie pop secret, not exactly highbrow fare! The tuna will just have to wait until tomorrow.

One more addition. I had a teacup-full of ice cream. It's not a modern size though. It's an antique cup that belonged to one of Sean's aunts and it's pretty small.



Pralines and Cream ice cream. Delish!

Today's Eats - Off and Running!

What a great day this has been so far! Got up, fixed some breakfast and relaxed with a book for a while:



First, I cooked some of that Hormel Natural Bacon, it has no nitrates or nitrites added. One piece for me and two for Iain. I'm not sure why, but this bacon doesn't give off a lot of grease, not that I'm complaining about that, just curious about why that might be. What grease there was in the pan was used to cook my egg. In the meantime, I heated up a biscuit that I made last night from the dough leftover at dinner. Tasty, tasty breakfast!

My niece came over around 11:30 and stayed until 1pm. Then my dad came by to sell me some life insurance so I didn't have lunch until 2:00.



My lunch consisted of a Hormel Natural Ham sandwich topped with Claussen pickle slices, organic romaine lettuce, mayo, and a grind or two of fresh black pepper. It was accompanied by 2 Tbs of roasted red pepper hummus and some organic corn chips. I really took my time and ate it slowly, enjoying all the different flavors that were there. After that, I treated myself to a square of silky, Belgian milk chocolate that I had bought at World Market the other day along with some whole milk from our local dairy. Fantabulous, let me tell you!

I'm still trying to figure out what dinner's going to be but whatever it is I'm looking forward to cooking it, that's for sure!

UPDATE: DINNER

Tonight I didn't feel like having the leftover BFC Chicken Stew with Biscuits. It is a very heavy meal and we were eating sort of late and last night I had some WEIRD dreams. Like, I was married to Ben Affleck (so cute) and I was a co-host on the View. There was a bombing at the studio and Ben (first-name basis here) died. We had a tiny baby and I was devastated. Frankly I was amazed that I didn't wake up crying - it was SO real. Anyhoo, tonight's dinner was grassfed beef, London Broil. I seasoned it with McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning and cooked it under the broiler for about 15 minutes. Also I fixed some organic yukon gold mashed potatoes and tiny, sweet peas. Sometimes simplicity really is best.



And here's a nice close-up of all the seasonings. They were pretty spicy!



Today felt like a really good day eatswise. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Foodie Blogroll

I don't know if any of you will notice without me pointing it out but I have been added to the Foodie Blogroll. It's an awesome collection of websites by folks who love food. If you get a chance, take a look around and click through some of the sites there. It's chock full of good stuff! Look over to the left of my page and you will see the list. Have fun!

Today's Eats - Barefoot Contessa Showed Up

Ahhhh. Sunday mornings. Quiet, except for the crinkle of the morning paper. It was a nice morning because we were all up early and ready to face the day. Sean was very sweet and went to Panera and got me a chocolate croissant-ish pastry for breakfast. It was tasty!



We hung out, watched tv, and then I ran to the grocery store by myself. Can I just tell you what a luxury it is to go alone? I could actually take the time to look at all the glorious offerings in our newest fancy-schmancy store and it was so, so nice. I have to tell you, I've been buying milk from a local creamery and they sell it in glass bottles and man, it is good! I cannot fathom going back to the plastic jug. Anyway, I got home and fixed lunch for everyone and then fixed some for myself. Sometimes with all the different orders that get filled around here, I feel like I'm probably qualified to work in a restaurant kitchen. For myself I prepared leftover crabcakes and a salad with a honey ginger dressing.



Sean took the boys to a batting cage which gave me more mommy time. Nice! Then we all went to a couple of open houses and came home. I finally had enough time to devote to the Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Stew with Biscuits. I haven't eaten it yet but here is a photo of the finished product:



It is wonderous. You will not believe how good this is and it's not hard to make at all. When I serve myself I will have a small scoop with one biscuit. Delish!

If you're interested in the recipe, please email me and I will see what I can do.

unschoolingwhimsigal@gmail.com

Good news!

I'm back to 190, having lost the weight I put back on about 2 weeks ago. I'm holding firm to the ideals of healthful and mindful eating and am ready to go!

I cannot imagine trying to lose weight and live a healthy life any other way after reading the "Fat Fallacy" and "The French Don't Diet" books by Will Clower. I can drink whole milk, have a brownie if I want to, as long as I keep my portions sensible. God, can you imagine living without being able to cook some of the things on the Pioneer Woman's website? Sometimes she uses processed ingredients so I'll have to wing it then but, dang! Her stuff is good! Now that I have seen the light, there's no going back for me.

Yesterday's Eats

Yesterday was a crazy day but a really good day, too. We got up and went to visit Nan, Sean's mom, because the boys had been complaining that we hadn't visited with her in a while. I wasn't hungry when we left so I ate lunch when we got home. I prepared a ham sandwich on whole wheat bread with pickles, lettuce, some mayo, and a grind or two of fresh pepper. Also, I sliced a couple of strawberries to add a little personality to the plate! I did eat them though.



Then Sean and I took the boys out shopping at Toys R Us and got them each a couple of things. Oh, we took me to World Market so I could get a couple of things too! I was looking for a new plate, something pretty but there wasn't anything there that really wowed me so I bought a fancy chocolate bar instead! When we got home Sean and I spent at least an hour cleaning up the disgusting playroom - and when I say disgusting I mean disgusting, friends! Tiny bits of styrofoam, cotton candy, MOUSE POOP, all over the place. It was horrible!! To be fair, the mouse poop was old and behind the TV but it was g-r-o-s-s nonetheless.

After that difficult and exhausting task, I just couldn't face getting into the kitchen and cooking so we went out to a local restaurant that we had not been to before called Tripps. It serves general American fare and it was pretty good. They of course brought this to the table first:



I had two small slices spread with a thin layer of butter. Sean ordered an appetizer for us of seared Ahi Tuna served with wasabi, chinese mustard, and a teriyaki dipping sauce. Man that was good! I'm going to start eating more tuna because frankly it was better than the steak I had for dinner later!



God, I'm hungry just looking at that and it's 8am! LOL Anyway, we both ordered filet mignon, Sean's was crusted with horseradish and mine was undressed. It came with a choice of house salad or caesar and we both chose the caesar:



Usually Caesar salad is my favorite but last night it just had entirely too much garlic in it for me and as a result, I hardly ate any. A little while later, our steaks arrived at the table:



My steak was more done than I wanted and a little bit tough for the cut of meat. To me a filet should almost be like butter and this was almost like eating sirloin or a ribeye. It was fine but not something for me go ga-ga over!

My new book came yesterday, "The French Don't Diet Plan", by Dr. will Clower and as promised I read it so I could tell you which version of his book is better. Between this one and the "Fat Fallacy", the new one gives a lot more detail about HOW to eat this way and for that reason I would recommend the newest one over "Fat Fallacy". That said, there is some good reading in the "fat Fallacy" and if you can swing ordering both then I would do that. There are recipes in that one that weren't included in the new one and I'd hate for you to miss out on those. Really, reading this book last night re-energized me andhas helped me see what I've been doing "wrong" these past few weeks and I'm ready to start anew. It's almost as though you have to become a food snob and completely turn away from eating any kind of processed food. He gives some really compelling arguments in the book and I'm going to take some time today to plan my meals for the week so I can shop accordingly.

I hope you all consider ordering his book. Even if you don't need to lose weight it offers you a chance to learn how to eat healthfully without falling into the trap of tasteless low-fat, low-cal, or low-carb foods.

Today's Eats - Less than stellar

Umm, yeah. Right after I said I wasn't going to repeat the pizza from last night, I nibbled the toppings off one slice. Great start to the day, LOL!

I didn't eat a meal until around 1pm and at that point I needed something pretty quickly. Thank goodness I had leftover Cream of Mushroom soup in the fridge!



I also fixed a small plate of crackers to have with it but they were too salty to eat with the soup. They look pretty though, don't they?



Tonight I'm still planning to fix the Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Stew with Biscuits. Of course, it's five o'clock and I haven't done much to get started on it so we'll see. :)

UPDATE:DINNER

As I suspected, I got started too late and only finished a portion of what needed to be done on the Chicken Stew recipe so I will finish it on Saturday instead. Tonight we had crabcakes, steamed baby broccoli florets and diced potatoes cooked in olive oil.



Employing some "use-what-you-have-on-hand" tactics, I used canned crab (GASP), panko bread crumbs and followed the recipe on Old Bay seasoning. They turned out pretty well actually. Sean ate two, I only had one. For the potatoes, I diced two good-size organic red potatoes, put them in my non-stick pan with 2 Tbs of oil, Jane's Krazy Mixed-up Salt, Rotisserie Chicken spice and some pepper. Yummy! Sean and I each had the equivalent of one potato.

Today's Eats

Today I didn't want to have much to clean up in the kitchen so I decided on frozen waffles for breakfast. After freaking out thinking there wasn't anymore syrup in the house, it was finally located and the waffle toasting could commence....ahhhhh. Can't you just smell the warm butter and syrup?



After a busy morning and after being locked out for much of the afternoon, I was finally able to eat lunch around 2:30. It was a simple affair, the rest of yesterday's egg salad.



Egg salad is so yummy!

Because we still have some projects to do this afternoon, I won't be fixing the Barefoot Contessa's recipe that I mentioned yesterday. I'll tell you what it is though because I think I'm going to fix it tomorrow: Chicken Stew with Biscuits. It's slap your momma good and it's in her book, "Family Style". She may have the recipe on her website, too. Sometimes she puts them on there.

Tonight will probably be soup and sandwiches but I will update so you know for sure!

DINNER: Check out this monstrosity!



Pizza Hut Supreme pizza, 2 slices. Amazingly enough I didn't get heartburn after eating this beast. Will not be repeating that meal.....

Today's Eats

We got up and out the door first thing this morning so I didn't take time to have breakfast. I did grab a handful of nuts before we left though so at least I had a little something. When we got home it was time for lunch so I had leftover soup and a half of an egg salad sandwich:



A little while ago, I felt like having a snack so I fixed a cup of tea with a biscotti. Yum!



Dinner tonight will probably be leftovers. Tomorrow though I'm fixing something by the Barefoot Contessa that is going to knock your socks off so stay tuned for that! I'll update later with whatever I end up eating for dinner!

UPDATE DINNER: LEFTOVERS



Sean wasn't feeling well and I had plenty of this leftover from last night so I just reheated it in the oven. Really, this tasted better tonight than yesterday!

See you all tomorrow!

The Plan

Stephanie had asked me to explain my "minuscule" portion sizes and, after seeing the word "minuscule" I felt compelled to do so. The idea is to take less than you normally would and put it on your plate. For example, if you normally would have a whole chicken breast, a whole baked potato, and a large helping of some other side, then start with eating half of what you normally would. Use a small plate. Research has shown that over the years, our dinner plates have grown by 2-3 inches in diameter. If you see a plate that size with small amounts of food on it, you're going to think you don't have enough on your plate. But by using a salad plate, which is the old size that dinner plates used to be, you will find that you get just enough to eat. It's not really that you're eating minuscule amounts, you're just taking less and finding that it's enough.

Dr. Clower's book goes into it much better than I can and in a fun, friendly voice, too. Here is an example of a day on Dr. Clower's plan which was part of a course I took offered on his website:

Breakfast: Target time 15-20 mins
2 egg frittata with onion and garlic
whole wheat toast with butter
small glass of juice
Lifestyle tip of the meal: Wake up 30 minutes early. Sit in the peace of your kitchen to begin your day with your partner, paper, or favorite cup of coffee.

Lunch: Target time (15 minutes)
Open faced tuna sandwich on whole wheat toast, topped with a thin slice of sharp cheddar cheese, small spinach salad with tomatoes and raspberry vinaigrette.
1/2 pint of chilled whole milk

Dessert: Target time 10 minutes
One square of rich dark chocolate, about "two thumbs" in size.

Ender: target time 20 minutes
For the ender sip on a small cup of coffee or tea.
Lifestyle tip of the meal: Estimate the size of half your sandwich and resolve to finish with only that half after 7 minutes or so.

Snack:Target time 15 minutes
Handful of unsalted nuts (brazil, almonds, cashews) approx 10

Dinner;
Main target Time 20 minutes
Tilapia baked in olive oil and crisp white wine with capers and onions.
Garlic green beans (5-10)
Rosemary red potatoes (3-4 quarters)
1 glass pinot grigio or similar
1 glass water

Dessert Target Time 10 minutes
Creme Brulee in a ramekin

Ender: Target time 10 minutes
End with a cup of hot herbal tea or cocoa
Lifestyle tip of the meal: Set the table tonight, chill the wine, set out the candles.

You can see that the whole idea is for the meal to be an experience, not just shoveling food in one's mouth as quickly as possible. It does call for some common sense, which is something I have been having a little trouble with. It's easy in the beginning to go crazy with the things you're allowed to eat. That's something I definitely have to watch because the plan is also about learning how to balance the meal. Lean protein like fish and chicken are better choices than red meat, which is ok to eat once in a while. Don't drown things in rich sauces and butter, let them highlight the dish that you've prepared.

I hope this makes sense. I cannot recommend more strongly that you get your hands on a copy of this book. Amazon is selling used copies for $1 and some change for goodness sake! I just ordered a copy of the newest version, which I've heard is similar to the original but, I have to see for myself. :) Hopefully it will be here this weekend and I will be able to let you know.

Use small plates.
Take bites no larger than the end of your thumb, chipmunk cheeks are a no-no.
Take less than usual - amounts that might make you think you'll need seconds.
Eat slowly, converse with those around you, savor the flavors of the meal.
Use nice silverware, linens, and glasses. Every meal is good enough for the the good stuff.
Put your fork down between bites and don't put a new bite in until the first is completely chewed and gone.

You really are what you eat so use the best, whole, nutritious ingredients possible. I hope this made things a little bit clearer. If not, please let me know. I'll be happy to try and explain it better!

Deep breath in.....exhale.....Today's Eats

Thank you for sticking by me during my minor meltdown. I've had a lot of stuff simmering just beneath the surface and I think it all came to a head yesterday. I'm feeling a lot better today and with my emotions in check it's been easy to keep my eating in check, too.

I began the day with what I consider to be the ultimate breakfast: scrambled eggs.



I cooked three eggs in 2 tsps of butter and Iain and I split them. I'm very particular about my eggs. They cannot be dry nor runny. They must be creamy and buttery. Oh so delicious. This consistency is achieved by cooking them over low heat and stirring them often. I add a touch of salt and a couple of grinds of fresh pepper. Really such a great way to start the day. I also had a glass of whole milk 6-8oz.

For lunch I prepared Cream of Mushroom Soup. I don't think I will ever eat canned again because homemade is absolutely delicious. The only thing about it that has me in a quandary is how will I make green bean casserole?! I will worry about that at Thanksgiving.

Anyway, again I used organic baby bella mushrooms which are just so flavorful! When it was ready, I had a ladleful of soup and then a salad topped with sliced red peppers, bacon bits, and ranch dressing, maybe a Tbs of dressing. This was really satisfying. The warmth of the soup and the crunch of the salad are such a great pairing.



You see the two breadsticks in the picture? I didn't eat them. They were there because I thought the plate needed something else on it.

Tonight I think I'm going to cook the asian-flavored dish for dinner. I'll update when I'm done.

Also, I owe Stephanie a post on how I'm eating and I will work on that and get that done tonight as well.

UPDATE: DINNER

Well, I finally cooked my Asian-flavored dish.



I'd tell you how I did it but I was just making it up as I went along. It was pretty good but I forgot to account for the saltiness in soy sauce so the the dish was a little bit too salty. All in all it feels like today was a good eating day!

Sorry people. No pics today

I'm tired. Just plain tired and damn it I didn't want to photograph what I ate because it wasn't good! For breakfast, you know what I had?? A hot dog. Yeah, I said it, a hot dog. You know what I had for lunch? McDonalds. Frickin' McDonalds!! I won't lose weight eating like that!

I'm so mad at myself today and I just had to take the day off from posting pictures. My weight is the same, 191. Oh and just to get a little more personal, I'm suffering from the worst case of h-roids since I passed my nearly 10lb youngest child through the nether regions five years ago. Don't know what brought them on but it feels like it did a few hours after giving birth. Excrutiating! My butt is KILLING me and I am damn mad about it. They popped out the day after our hellish camping excursion. Perhaps I strained myself carrying a child through the yard and house and then up the stairs, I don't know. TMI - I know and I'm sorry.

At any rate, I'm not taking pictures of my food today but I will start back up tomorrow.

Today's Eats

well, today began on the rough side. See, last night we decided to camp-out in our backyard. I've never been camping before but thought I could handle it at least in the backyard. I was wrong. Really, really wrong. As a result, I made everyone come in at 12:30 which led to a lot of hurt feelings this morning. It's a long story as to why I couldn't make it out there but it involved our dogs and the various things that kept them barking through the night. Just. Couldn't. Take it.

Anyway, I skipped breakfast and prepared myself lunch around 12:00. There were a couple of sweet potatoes sitting on the counter and the air was so incredibly crisp today that soup seemed like a fine thing to do with those taters. I baked them in the oven, along with some Pecan Pumpkin bread that came from a Williams Sonoma mix. When the potatoes were done I scraped them out and then put the flesh into a saucepan with 2 Tbs of butter, 1 cup of chicken broth, a cup of half and half, salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, thyme, and a couple of dashes of Tabasco. I wisked everything together until pretty smooth with a few lumps and then just heated it until warm.



Then I had a piece of pumpkin bread as the ender to the meal.



The bread mix was ok but it seemed like it was missing a layer of flavor, like it needed a little more butter or perhaps some raisins. It was just missing a little extra oomph that i would expect from something offered by Williams Sonoma.

Tonight I think I'm going to try and use up my haricots verts but do some kind of asian flavored dish with them. I have some sesame oil and ginger in the fridge. I don't know yet.

We had hot dogs cooked over a camp stove last night along with smores (yuck). Tonight's fare should be a little bit better than that!

UPDATE: DINNER NOT THAT MUCH BETTER

We went out to run some errands and the boys wanted to stop at Salsaritas, a "healthy" Mexican restaurant. I had a taco salad, which was good enough. As I've said before I do not eat the bowl because I just don't like it. Here is a pic of the salad:



There was A LOT of cheese on that salad! Now, it feels like there is some kind of festival going on in my lower intestines. Sean has been blowing us away since we left the restaurant and I'm afraid, very very afraid of the cha cha going on in my tummy right now. When you cut back on the junk and then eat some, the results are not pretty.

It could have been worse but it wasn't what I imagined I would be eating earlier today.

Today's Eats

Today I wanted a simple breakfast so in the spirit of that wish, I pulled a waffle from the freezer. I don't know the brand, Kashi or something like that - it was a healthy waffle though. Not Eggo. Then I topped it with a teaspoon of lightly salted organic butter and pure maple syrup. Heavenly....



Even though the waffle was chock full of healthy grains, I still felt like I needed some protein to accompany it. So I cooked an egg in a pan with a light coating of Pam, sprinkled it with some kosher salt and freshly ground pepper and, Voila!



For lunch, we were pretty tired because we'd spent a good part of the morning cleaning so we just warmed up some of the leftover Shepherd's Pie from the other night. Still good!



We took the boys down to the park and when we got back I grabbed a small handful of Virginia peanuts and had a tiny bit of milk. Not sure what we're doing for dinner yet. We have to go out and run some errands and I saw a spider in the park that I'd like to go back and take a picture of. Plus, my parents dropped off a slice of cheesecake for us and I need to fix something delicious to go along with that. Don't know what that's going to be but I'll definitely have to go to the store for ingredients. I will update later, once we've eaten.

Yesterday's Eats - Sparse

Began the day with a late breakfast:



"fried" egg with cheese on a kaiser roll with strawberries. Those were some of the sweetest strawberries I've ever had the pleasure of putting in my mouth. And juicy, too!

Then, the boys and I got busy with some projects and an outing to the local science center and didn't get back until close to 4pm. After some scary moments with a couple of tornado warnings, we went and had dinner with my sister and her family which was pizza. I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any photos but I had two pieces of the special which had cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, onions, and sausage. One would have been plenty but since I hadn't eaten since 11:30am I was too hungry to think straight!

Today's going to be better, I can feel it!

Dinner - Gets It's Own Post

Man, I love this time of year when things start cooling down and the air begins to get crisp. Not that anything that drastic has happened yet but it's coming and it always makes me start craving wintertime food. Tonight was no different. I wanted something warm and comforting and for me that was Shepherd's Pie. There are many versions of this and most of the ones I see have tomatoes or ketchup and cheese in them. Please, keep that away from my Shepherd's Pie, thank you very much. I have no idea what traditional Shepherd's Pie is like in the UK but since my mom and dad used to live there and my Grammy is British, I'm going to go with the one we've always eaten. Normally it would have leftover roast beef or lamb but I'm on a budget so I got all natural ground beef which will do in a pinch. Wait, let me try and write down the recipe for you. I'm an eyeball cook so don't hold me to these measurements, ok? Taste as you go along to make sure it's all going ok.

3/4 to 1lb of ground beef or leftover roast beef or lamb.
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
3/4 cup of tiny peas
1/4 cup of carrots
3 Tbs flour
dried thyme leaves
beef broth
salt, pepper
4 good size red potatoes
butter
half and half or milk

First, dice and prepare the potatoes just as would if making mashed potatoes as described earlier on this blog. Boil them for 10 mins and then drain them, place them back in the pot with a lid on (not over heat) and steam them for 15-20 mins.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop your onion and garlic. Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat and when it feels hot enough, add the onions and saute until translucent, stirring occasionally. When the onions are translucent add the minced garlic, do NOT let it get brown or it will get bitter. Only cook this for a couple of minutes then add the ground beef. Cook until beef is done and then add the flour. I do not drain the meat because the flour needs something to adhere to. Cook for a couple of minutes to get the flour taste away then add 1/2 to a cup of beef broth. This is going to make some delicious gravy. Your significant other will smack you on the ass, that's how good it is. I promise. Add your seasonings: salt, pepper, thyme. Taste, taste, taste! Then add your peas and carrots. I cooked these in the microwave first for 3 mins just to take the chill off. At this point the mixture should look like this:



Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and put some foil on a baking sheet. You will see why in a minute. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish. I have no idea what size this is or else I would tell you 2 or 3 quarts I guess but don't hold me to it.



Then spread the mashed potatoes over the top. For the mashed potatoes this time I didn't use sour cream. Just 3 Tbs of butter and 1/2 cup of half and half plus some salt. Then I took 1 Tbs of butter and cut it into small pieces to put on top to save the potatoes from drying out in the oven.



Put the dish on the foil covered baking sheet and then put into your oven for about 20 minutes. When you pull it out, it should look like this:



Here, another view:



See why you need the foil? The gravy oozes out all over the place. Soooo good!

Then, I served myself about a cup of this food of the gods.



It is simple. It is delicious. It needs nothing else to accompany it because it has everything you need in one scoop. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out. This is one of my husband's favorite meals!