Potato salad with orange and gorganzola

This was a very easy side dish to make and very yummy though I'll start by saying it does not make good leftovers if made as per the recipe. I got this one from Giada on the foodnetwork.com.

Start by roasting baby potatoes that have been coated in olive oil - slice the potatoes in half, coat then put on a foil lined cookie sheet - sliced side down - that has been sprayed with cooking spray, roast for about 40 minutes on a 400 degree oven. While that's cooking, I opened a bag (tough work!) of mixed greens - though the veggies are already cleaned before they are bagged, I rinse them just a bit with cold water, helps them perk up. The dressing is a table spoon of orange zest, orange juice, champagne vinegar but I used rice vinegar, 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste all whisked together. The orange juice is from the orange peel of the orange that was zested. The orange needed to be peeled using a knife then you squeeze the peels to get the juice. You want to get all the membrane off the orange and separate the wedges, put the wedges on the salad greens.

Ok - once the potatoes are cooked, remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes, then add to the greens and oranges. Add 2 ounces of gorganzola cheese crumbled and top with dressing. Oh - I forgot, Giada uses toasted walnuts, I'm not a fan of walnuts, I used toasted pine nuts - adds crunch!

I served it with steak that I marinated with steak house marinade. It went well together - I was very happy!

Now - having said all that, I had the salad the next day for lunch and it felt soury to me, like the cheese went bad... I think if I were to make this again, I would hold the cheese to the side so the next day the cheese would be fresh.

Enjoy - Be well!

Feta cream cheese chicken

Oh so yummy and super easy!

I have made this recipe my own the second time I made it - it's really just a method.

The recipe calls for 1/2 cup feta mixed with 2 table spoons of cream cheese that you let sit out so it softens and mixes well. Make a small slice in a chicken breast to create a pocket, fill the pocket with the feta cream cheese mixture, close the pocket with tooth picks and cook in the frying pan. I have NEVER cooked this in a frying pan, I bake it!

As I said, I make this my own...I add garlic and onions to the mixture along with pepper - the feta adds a good amount of salt. I also add more feta and cream cheese - I don't measure it. Instead of making a pocket, I butterfly the chicken or I will use thin breasts (cutlets) and then roll the chicken and secure it with toothpicks. I have added cranberries and then served it with a spinach salad with cranberries, nuts and feta - ties it all together.

Today I cooked it with petite diced tomatoes on top and served it with homemade rice (secret recipe from the BFF) and green beans (steam fresh from the freezer that I added almonds to).

This is a family fav for sure!

Enjoy - Be well!

Cauliflower pasta

We have not had a lot of cauliflower in our house simply because I'm not a big fan but I saw Michael Simon cook with it on the Chew so I had to try it!


You start by cutting the cauliflower in to small pieces and saute in the frying pan with a small amount of butter. I think I added garlic - we like garlic - and some onions. I cooked up some Asian rice noodles in lieu of pasta -so difficult to eat pasta! Since this was a lot of food - our primary dish - we decided to cook up chicken and add it to the cauliflower then added the pasta. It was really quite delicious. I highly recommend you give it a whirl!

Enjoy - Be well!

Garlic Shrimp

A few years ago I had garlic shrimp at Legal Seafoods, it was really yummy and very easy to make my own. Essentially, it's pasta with garlic, shrimp and cherry tomatoes - couldn't be easier!

Every time I make it, I make it somewhat different. This go around, I traded out pasta for Asian rice noodles though in the past I have made it with ziti and cavitappi. I saute precooked shrimp in olive oil and butter, add two cloves of garlic and cherry tomatoes - this is the standard way I start, however, I decided to flavor it up a bit so I added about 1/4 cup of white wine. Once the pasta was finished, I added it to the shrimp mixture and topped with Parmesan cheese.

I will say one thing, it was really difficult to mix the shrimp into the pasta otherwise - YUM! 

This was easy but it can be expensive to buy the shrimp so I made it with the leftovers from shrimp cocktail I had from Thanksgiving.

Enjoy - Be well!

Pasta - rice noodles

Due to my bypass surgery, easting pasta is well...not worth it! Pasta is very dense and sits like a lead brick in my belly. In an effort to have the occasional easy dinner, I swapped out pasta for Asian rice noodles. I have to say, it is sooo much better and I cannot tell the difference.

Hope it works for you as it has for me!

Enjoy - Be well!

Beef Bourguignon

I channeled my inner Julia Childs for this dish - well, actually, I got the recipe from Clinton Kelly on The Chew (my new favorite talk show!). I remember this from Julie and Julia as being a difficult dish to make. I didn't find it difficult at all, just took a while to get it cooking and then it has to simmer for a couple of hours. I'm not going to item by item the recipe but would highly recommend everyone try it. I have been trying to make a good beef stew for years, this one may take a while but this is it - I won't try another one!

I served it over mashed potatoes which I think helps. The Hubs and L really enjoyed it and we had enough for lunch tomorrow. YAY!

Keeping this one short - try it!!!!

Enjoy - Be well!

Spaghetti Squash Fritters

YUM! I've made spaghetti squash in the past, roasted and shredded it then added sauce as if it were spaghetti. The hubs wasn't a fan so I didn't make it anymore. Oh but then I saw it on The Chew (a cooking talk show) and decided I needed to try it again. So very glad I did!

It takes a bit of time to make because you have to roast the squash and let it cool before you can make the fritters. Once the squash is cooled, shred it with a fork on to a towel an wring it out well to get out as much water as possible. Combine the squash with one egg, 4 oz of crumbled blue cheese, some flour, orange zest, a green onion (including the white portion), nutmeg and sage (I forgot the nutmeg and don't have any sage). I fried in a shallow pan of canola oil and put on a paper towel lined plate to drain, sprinkled with coarse salt and more orange zest. They were soooo good!

I had a bit of a conundrum though, what was I supposed to do with the remaining blue cheese, green onion and the orange? The Hubs sauteed some thin chicken breast, when it was close to being finished, we added the onion, some of the blue cheese and orange slices (I peeled the orange with the knife and sliced). He degalzed the pan with some nice white wine. This carried the flavors of the fritter over to the chicken.

I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious dinner turned out!I highly recommend you try the fritters - the exact recipe can be found at: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Michael-Symon-Spaghetti-Squash-Fritters

Enjoy - Be well!

Potato Corn Chowder

I am a fan of a really good soup - that has not always been the case! I got a ton of recipe cards in the mail a million years ago. One night I couldn't decide what to make for dinner so I went through the cards and found one for a potato soup that calls for something like three medium potatoes, ham and cheese. Yeah, not my idea of a good soup - I really don't like ham (or bacon) in my dishes unless I'm eating ham for dinner.

Needless to say, I modified the recipe! I use five to six potatoes, depending on the size, cut them into 1" pieces that I bring to a boil and cook to almost done - I like them to be a bit on the firm side so they will hold up during the remainder of the cooking time. I reserve a cup of the potato water before draining. I use the same pot - melt butter and saute an onion then add flour to make a roux - at this time you would add any seasoning you'd like, for example; chili powder, paprika and cyanne pepper to make it south west style. Add in the potato water, 3 cups of milk, the potatoes and a table spoon of sugar (I use a packet of Truvia). Bring that up to a boil and add a bag of frozen peas (I use the steam fresh bags). Bring it back to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add a cup of shredded cheese. Let it simmer for 30 minutes but make sure you stir it pretty often because the cheese will sink to the bottom and not really mix well - sometimes I add it at the very end, just before I serve it. Too keep consistent with the recipe - to keep the Hubs and L happy - to bake some bacon to top the soup.

Love this soup! It's very versatile and really good the next day.

Enjoy - Be well!

Calzone

It's been a while and I was supposed to make a video of me cooking the calzone, that, however, is proving to be difficult to do - a lot of balls in the air right now!

I am still cooking though! I got a recipe from a magazine to make feta and cream cheese stuffed chicken (for another day), then I have a recipe from our church cookbook that was for calzones, with chicken and veggies, which gave me the idea. I take the feta/cream cheese mixture add a bag of mixed veggies (I buy the steam fresh, cook in the microwave) and cooked chicken finely chopped and combine it in a bowl - needs to be a good size bowl because this makes quite a bit of filling. Your supposed to use 1/2 cup of feta and 2 Tbs of cream cheese, I don't - I use quite a bit more of both to make the whole mixture creamer. Remember to let the cream cheese come to room temp otherwise, it will be hard to mix though the hot veggies will soften everything.

Once all the ingredients are combined, I roll out a can of Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough, spread out the mixture - evenly, then use a second can pf thin crust pizza dough for the top, you can brush melted butter on top or PAM to make the crust brown up. I bake it for 15-20 minutes on a 375 oven.

This makes a very large calzone - really too big for the three of us - so it's good for a pot-luck or a large group event. I have make the same mix and instead of making one big calzone, I made a perogie type appetizer. For those, I use pre-made pie crust (also Pillsbury), unroll it and cut to the size you want, from there, put a small scoop of the mix in the middle and fold the dough over or top with a second same size piece, use an egg wash to keep the dough sealed and bake 20-25 minutes on a 350 oven. Follow the baking time on the package.

Enjoy - Be well!

Back to work :-/

It's been a while since I posted - I've returned to work this week and well, am not the happiest person but as I keep telling myself, "if I want pretty things and a roof over my head NOT made of cardboard, I must work!".

Having said that, tonight I am making calzone for dinner. How is that healthful meal, you ask, I'll tell you - I make it with canned thin crust pizza dough, chicken, veggies, cream cheese and feta cheese. This is very easy and I'll go into more detail later - this was just a little tease to make you hungry!

I am planning on making potato/corn chowder on Sunday and hope to record it for my next how to meal. As for make over dishes, I made Paula Dean's Red Velvet Cake (as cup cakes) and frosted it with a cream cheese frosting recipe I got from Splenda. They were very tasty! I love Paul Dean, she has a new cookbook out and is currently on a book signing tour, hope I can meet her if she comes this way!!

Enjoy - Be well!

B, L, T and P soup - in a bread bowl!

Dinner, last night, we really enjoyed a B, L, T and P soup - Bacon, Leek, Tomato and Potato soup - which I served in toasted bread bowls. I got the recipe from the Food Network website, it's a Rachel Ray dish.

I changed it up just a bit. The recipe called for cooking the bacon in the soup pot and then cooking the veggies in the bacon fat and olive oil...I didn't do that. I baked the bacon and used it as a garnish. This is one to make again and again, however, I would add my own twists to it. The bacon added a needed flavor but we feel the soup needs a boost - the next time I make it, I think I'm going to skip the bacon but add some turkey kielbasa. We thought chicken wouldn't hold up so well but a sausage would the kicker is, I don't like sausage.

A few suggestions for making soup - any type - unless you make your own stock (who has time for that?) use reduced sodium stock; if the soup calls for canned tomatoes (as this one does) use reduced sodium. You can always add more salt but once it's there, it's there. I'm not a salt person and have recently started cooking with sea salt - it makes a huge difference. Having said that, I want to be in control of how much salt I eat - and especially the hubs and kids.

The bread bowl...well, that was simply a small hefty roll of bread I bought at the bakery in the super market. You'll want to get one that is crusty on the outside but has soft inside. I sliced off a small portion of the top, making a lid, and scooped out a good amount of the inside making a vessel to pour the soup in - keep some bread in the bowl to absorb the broth. From there, I baked the bowls and lids in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes to make the nice and toasty.  Once everything is done, I poured the soup into the bowls and added more broth so the bowl didn't absorb all the broth.

Left overs - yep, we had left overs! The hubs took a huge bowl to work, a couple pieces of bacon and two slices of chibatta bread. I had a smaller bowl (considerably compared to his...) with a few pieces of the left over bread bowl middles and a few thin, almost thick shreds, of extra sharp cheddar cheese - I skipped the bacon. It was really good, almost thinking it was even better today than yesterday.

A very satisfying dish to say the least! Makes the hamburgers we're having tonight seem boring....wah-wah-waaaaaaaaaah! ;-)

Enjoy - Be well!

French's onion chicken and grilled potatoes

Tonight's dinner was D-licious! The hubs was especially happy with it - to say the least. Ok, so the chicken is a combo between the French's recipe and one my gram makes with corn flakes. Again, super easy!

Take one part mustard to two parts mayo with ground pepper, mix well and put it in a container for easy dipping. I put about half a large can of French's Onions in a zip lock bag, crused and poured onto a plate, again, easy for dipping. Then I dredged the chicken in the mustard/mayo mix, then in the onions and put it on a greased baking sheet. From there, I cooked the chicken in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or so - I over cook my chicken because I'm so afraid of under cooking it!

The potatoes are a Paul Dean recipe - sort of... First, I cut three dark russet potatoes about 3/4" on an angle and boiled them until they were just al dente. Then I grilled them - sort of. I don't have a grill but I have an awesome grill pan that pretty much gives me the same results (one day I will have a real grill). I melted a couple tablespoons of margarine in the grill pan and then added the potatoes. I sprinkled a mix of salt, pepper and garlic powder, then flipped and then sprinkled the same mix on the other side along with some parmesian cheese. They were a little dry so I added a bit more margarine with I served them.

I added cut green beans to complete the meal. On a side note - I highly recommend using frozen green beans, they are closest to fresh short of getting them right out of the garden. Plus, you can get them reasonably priced if you keep an eye out.

I will make this over and over for sure!!!!!

Enjoy - Be well!

Individual pizza and salad

Earlier this week we had individual pizzas with garden salads for dinner. I got the pizza idea from the Pillsbury commercials. The hubs and L had Hawaiian and I had cheese. This was a very easy and super quick dinner. I took one roll at a time from can of Pillsbury flaky rolls and pressed it them out to a six inch (roughly) round dough, smeared jar pizza sauce on top and then thinly sliced fresh mozzarella with well drained pineapple chunks and a few pieces of Canadian bacon then baked them in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or so.

I made a traditional salad but I made my own salad dressing - ok an attempt at my own dressing! The dressing.... 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar with about 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil (I used a little less because I thought it was too olive oily), from there I whisked in salt, pepper, garlic, onion and oregano. It came out pretty good the only down fall, I poured it all over the salad - it was too much dressing.

Over all, this was a very easy meal and I'll make it again in a heart beat - just not too sure I would want it too often.

Enjoy - Be well!

Plum and Cherry ice cream

Tonight we had an interesting dessert that pretty much could do with any fruit. I never thought to try plums and cherries. Essentially, it's no sugar added vanilla ice cream with pluots and cherry flavored dried cranberries (it was supposed to me plums and cherries but I figure this was close enough).

This was pretty good but I think it would have been better if I had made a sauce with the pluots and some splenda-sugar mix.

Esentially, this isn't a recipe as much as it is a process...not sure that's a fair way to describe it either. No matter how you describe it - it was tasty!

Enjoy - Be well!

Tangy grilled chicken

Per my earlier post, L found our recipe for dinner at the grocery store. Basically, you combine four chicken breast with four table spoons of red wine vinegar and marinade for at least 30 minutes. Then you pat it dry and grill it - you could cook it any means necessary. The chicken is topped with a shepherd salad - two cups of dices cucumber, two cups of diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup of green onion mixed with three table spoons of red wine vinegar. You're supposed to sprinkle 1/4 cup of rough chopped parsley on top but I didn't. I added feta cheese to my chicken (not on the picture below).

I served this with a side of roasted red bliss potatoes. Quick and easy, cut your potatoes to like sizes, coat with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper - I add garlic and onion to enhance the taste.

Enjoy - Be well!

What your partner can NOT do that may help you...

Not so sure I phrased that correctly, however, I was recently asked what was something I needed the hubs to stop doing and by stopping helping me on my weight loss journey. I told everyone (we were at a weight loss support group meeting) about this time, about 5 months post op, where I ended up in the hospital for a few days due to a complication from having the surgery. (Back story - I had extreme stomach aches, ended up going to the ER which began three days of morphine and testing to find there was nothing wrong...I think, in the end resting my stomach and not eating for several days helped.) The day I was discharged, we left the hospital very late at night and both L and the hubs were very hungry. I told him several times to go eat but he didn't want to leave me in the event I was discharged while they were gone. So, on the way home, we stopped at McDonalds so they could get food. This was very hard for me because I hadn't eaten in days and was going home on a very soft - mostly liquid - diet.

This was the last time that, as a family, we went to a fast food restaurant; I'm sure the hubs has gone on his own from time to time and I know L has been since but they very rarely go. I think, as I explained that him not going to McDonalds, Wendy's or Burger Kind with me in the car was what he needed to do to help me wasn't a fair answer - clearly, that specific situation doesn't apply to most people.

The better answer would have been: to help me avoid my triggers. Fast food, though I didn't have it often, is a trigger for me. It certainly does make meal time easier. I know that I could go and choose healthier options but I also know that if I go to Wendy's, I'm not going to want to get a bowl of chili - I'm going to want a double cheese burger, large fries (they have the BEST fries) and a chocolate frosty (I loved dipping my fries into the frosty - yum!).

It may not be fair for me to ask the hubs to avoid something he likes because it's something I feel I need to avoid but where we are in this together, I feel like this is an easy choice for him to make. I'm not in control of him so if he wants to eat fast food, that's all on him. I just ask that he doesn't when he's with me which he has graciously agreed to do. Also, given that it's fast food...which is generally junk...it's only helping him and L when they don't have it. Anyway, it's not like I'm asking for the world!

It's been a while since....

It's been a while since I've posted a blog and cooking - really cooking. It's been a busy couple of weeks to say the least.

Last week I had planned on making inside out bacon cheese burgers but that didn't happen - we had plan old boring burgers. So when I was faced with hamburgers again this week I decided I wanted to make them much more exciting, but how was the question.

A couple of weeks ago I made steak with a warm potato salad with a sour cream bacon dressing. I though hmmm that dressing would be really good on a burger. So, I made the burgers put them on miami rolls - which are fancy onion rolls, topped with cheddar cheese, red leaf lettuce and the salad dressing - they were messy but really good! To that, I made the tortilla chips - again. This time, I made a savory seasoning mix and added a bit of the bacon to tie it all together. I overcooked them so they weren't quite as tasty as they should have been; still, I'd make them again!

Tonight, we are having tangy ngrilled chicken with roasted potatoes - Liam found this recipe on a free card at the grocery store! HA - Actually, this looks really tasty. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cooking during a busy week, HUH?

This week is relatively busy in the evenings which is making it tough to determine what to cook or when to shop. Last night, Monday, Leo and I went to a weight loss surgery support group meeting - the theme was from the perspective of the care giver. Tomorrow, we have soccer practice at 5:30 and a fund raiser at a resturant after. So dinner will be today, Thursday and Friday.

I feel a bit like life has gotten in the way of healthy cooking; to that, I haven't gone grocery shopping and may not until sometime Thursday. This leaves us with the question...what do we want for dinner tonight? We are having one of my least favorite and most difficult meals to eat - hamburgers! I'm going to try my hand at inside-out bacon cheeseburgers with grilled onion mayo - may skip the mayo but we'll see.

I want to clarify my earlier comment about hamburgers being one of the most difficult things for me to eat. Since I had the bypass surgery beef, in general, has become difficult to eat because it is so dense. I do have beef about once a week and have learned to go for the 80/20 hamburger verse the 90/10 - it seems the higher the fat content the easier to eat. I think that is because the higher the fat the more moist the burger. I also tend to cook my steak a smidge on the rarer side. All lessons learned the hard way! Having said that, it took me a while to accept that higher fat content but since I don't have a lot of fat - especially unhealthy fats - in my day to day meal choices, I can make the occasional exception.

I learned, last night, that not everyone who has gastric bypass surgery has the same challenges I have or chooses to avoid certain foods the way I choose to. Please keep in mind, as you read my thoughts and comments, that this is my life style choice, this is how I choose to eat, the foods I choose to avoid and so forth. If you have weight loss surgery, you will live your life style choice.

I guess I'm off to the grocery store to grab a few thing...

Enjoy - Be well!

How did the week go?

To recap - L and I picked our menu by drawing letters and having the make a dish with the letter. Our letters and meals were:

N - strawberry Nachos
I - Italian meatballs and spaghetti
Q - hash brown Quiche
A - Apricot chicken with white rice
D - warm steak and potato salad with warm sour cream Dressing
Y - grilled chicken pitas with Yogurt sauce

I loved the pitas and the strawberry nachos. L's favorite was the nachos and the quiche and the hubs really enjoyed the apricot chicken twice, he had it the next day for leftovers.

I have to say this was the first time I made a menu, buy all the food and cook the dishes as planned. I have to admit this was an undertaking to say the least, because of the baby - it's not easy to have a fussy baby and cook. If I didn't commit to do this, I could have easily turned to take out, pasta or what we refer to as "pick ups" which is pretty much what ever we can find in the house.

L and I plan on doing the same next week. We will draw letters, search for meals, shop and cook.

This was a lot of fun, satisfying and I have to admit, I feel quite accomplished!

Thanks for following me. I hope you have taken away something you can make or simply a fun way to come up with your weekly menu.

Be well!

Grilled chicken pitas

So tonight's dinner sounds pretty simple, right? Right. However, there was a lot more to this meal than what it sounds but like last night's dish, this was not a make over meal - for a Paula Dean meal, that's saying a lot! The chicken is made with a marinade of soy sauce (I do use low sodium), lemon juice, garlic and oregano. Once the ingredients are mixed, you let the chicken marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes. While that is marinading you make the tomato/feta mix which has....two tomatoes finely chopped with 1 cup of feta, diced garlic clove and 1/4 cup of olive oil. This needs to rest a room temp for 30 minutes. Next, you need to make the yogurt dressing that has plain yogurt, finely chopped walnuts, oregano and lemon juice. From there, you need to cook 12 strips of bacon (I baked my bacon in a 375 degree oven for quite a while - I like it really crispy! This basically eliminated the grease.), chop some romaine lettuce and get out the alfalfa sprouts. The chicken is suppose to be grilled but I don't have a grill (can't where I live) so I cooked it on a grill pan. While it was cooking, in a second grill pan, I toasted the pitas. One tip - when slicing the grilled pita, keep in mind it could be doughy so you want to split it all the way through with the knife to prevent tearing (like mine did...)!

Once everything was prepared, I set it up on the table so everyone could make their own - using as little or as much as they wish. This is a keeper! We will eat this again - in fact, the leftovers will make a great salad tomorrow!

Enjoy - Be well!

Warm steak and potato salad

Last night we had warm steak and potato salad with a sour cream bacon dressing. This was not a make over meal, I did not need to swap ingredients to make healthier options. In fact, this recipe calls for extra virgin olive oil which I think is a great way to get your fats; good fats are necessary. So, this is basically a salad of red lettuce and grape tomatoes then topped with roasted red potatoes and the salad dressing (you make the dressing). From there, you add sliced grilled steak. The recipe calls for topping the whole dish with shredded cheddar. I took pictures of both with and without the cheese. We liked this dish - the dressing definately makes the meal, otherwise, this is a go to meal for us minus the potatoes or the sour cream bacon dressing.

Enjoy - Be well!

Cream Cheese Tarts

Finally! Here's my video.

Apricot Chicken

Well - it tasted good and looked good on the plate but didn't look at all like the picture from the food network. This was not really a make over meal though I did switch out regular apricot preserves for sugar free. Once completed, I poured it over white rice and added a side of peas - wish it were sugar snap peas but I didn't have any...

So the picture showed the chicken pretty well coated, almost like a glaze, mine was very soupy so I may have done something not quite right.

I think I'd try this again - I think apples would go great with apple jelly and some nutmeg.

Enjoy - Be well!

Hash brown quiche

One of the easiest meals I have ever made - hands down. The recipe calls for using butter, I used margarine - not much difference, 3 eggs, I used egg substitute to equal three eggs, 1 cup of 1/2 & 1/2, I used fat free, 1 cup of cheddar - I don't substitute my cheese but I think less would be fine, 3/4 cup of diced ham - ick but I added it anyway and 1/2 cup of chopped green onions all in a shell made of 3 cups of shredded hash browns (get the frozen ones set aside 3 cups to defrost, press between paper towels to absorb as much moister as possible) mixed with 1/2 stick of melted margarine (butter) which I pressed into a 9" pie plate, making sure to get the sides. The crust/shell was baked for 20-25 minutes in a 450 degree oven. While the crust was baking, I mixed the other ingredients in a bowl then poured into the crust, lowered the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

I garnished the individual slices with additional green onions and a dollop of sour cream - you could add more onions or sour cream to taste.

As I was making this dish, I realized it could be used for additional flavors, if you will. I could make zucchini strata with it - make the crust, add sliced zucchini then the egg and 1/2 & 1/2 mixture top with feta and croutons then bake for 30 minutes. From there, you could really add what other veggies or meats of your choice. The key to making this lighter is using the egg substitute, fat free 1/2 & 1/2 and veggies. A little potato is ok along with a little fat - the butter or margarine.

So having said all the above...both the hubs and L had second helpings. I, on the other hand, am not a fan of ham in my eggs. I would make this again for a pot luck or something of that nature but if I were to eat this again, I'd make it with out the ham but add some additional veggies.

Enjoy and be well!

Strawberry nachos = SUCCESS!

YES - The nachos are awesome! The original recipe calls for deep frying tortillas to make chips then topping them with sliced strawberries and a drizzle of sweet cream.

Well, I didn't follow this recipe at all! I started with 4 organic, vegan 10" tortillas (organic/vegan by chance) which I cut into pieces, sprayed with cooking spray and covered in a mix of Truvia and cinamon on both sides and baked in a 375 degree oven - maybe 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, I hulled and sliced a quart of strawberries and shaved chocolate to sprinkle on top. Once the chips were cool, I put them neatly on a plate, covered with strawberries, added a small amount of whipped cream (Redi-Whip) and sprinkled the whole dish with the chocolate.

The chocolate shavings are made with 60% dark chocolate that you can get as a bar in the baking isle. Three squares of this chocolate equal 16 grams of sugar which equals 5.1 grams per square, the squares approximately 1" x 1". I used three squares for the whole dish.

You could really make this with any type of fruit you prefer though I think some would work better than others. Plus, if you don't have to watch your sugars, you can use real whip cream and milk chocolate. Ice cream would be nice with this as well. You could put some vanilla ice cream (Eddy's no sugar added vanilla would be great) in a bowl, top with the strawberries and chocolate then add a couple of chips for garnish.

If you want to bring the Strawberry nachos for a dessert to a friend's house or a party, I would suggest assembling it once you get there. Another option would be "make your own" nachos so if someone wanted more whipped cream or chocolate, they could add as much as they want!

L told me this is a must make again dish!

Enjoy and be well!

this weeks meal menu

Today I decided to do something different to spice up our meal options. I put a letter on a card and had L pick one for each meal then we went on to FoodNetwork.com to search for meal options. This was certainly challenging for two reasons: 1 - I'm super picky!, and 2 - my diet options. So here is what we've come up with:
Monday, Italian meatballs with spaghetti (my own recipe) and strawberry shortcake nachos for dessert; Tuesday, hash brown quiche; Wednesday, Apricot chicken and white rice; Thursday, warm steak and potato salad and Friday, Grilled chicken pitas with yogurt sauce.

The key to making this work...follow through! I will try my best to make sure I actually cook each night. This won't be easy with the baby and me being tired by the end of the day but it's what needs to be done to stay healthy - and not break the bank with eating out!

I'll let you know how it goes!

OH! My make over dish...well, there will be some make over happening for most of the week but the one I have chosen is Paula Deans' Cream Cheese Tarts (she makes them with canned pie filling on top, I'll have to figure something else out!). Wish me luck! (with the dish and the laptop!!!!)

Be well!

To my family and friends

I just re-read my previous posts. Most of you did not know any of what I have posted, I kept it all between the hubs and me. I made it through all that and never plan to revisit it again! My life is wonderful, was wonderful, I just needed to break out of my "head", get over myself and do what was needed. I am grateful for all the support and understanding for why I did what I did and why I'm going to be so honest in my blog. I cannot help people without being honest and up front for where I've come from, where I'm at and where I plan on being. I love you all!

The baby is here and now what?

Just shy of 6 weeks ago I had the baby. C is a wonderful gift I never thought I would have - never! I am so very happy and, at the same time I'm having the normal adjustment challenges.


I am happy to say that I lost almost all the weight I gained from being pregnant by the time C was three/four weeks old. I also have to say that I am struggling a bit with food, I seem to be hungry all the time but I have no desire to stick with the healthier options. Don't get me wrong, I can't eat traditional "junk" but I guess an apple would be better than cheeze-its! Part of the reason, I think, that I'm making the poor choices or am always hungry is because I learned to medicate myself with food - stressed = eat, happy = eat, sad = eat, etc... I am happy/sad/stressed/frustrated and I also try to hide instead of dealing with what is troubling me. I mean hide behind my addiction...food.

Sadly, today I found out that a person who I care a lot about was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. My friend's dad was also diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer a few weeks ago. I am taking this as a message to either shit or get off the pot, as they say. So, here goes.... Time to air my laundry - I just had a baby, have very little desire to leave her - EVER - but I need to, have a wonderful husband who I don't want to let do anything with C except when it comes to the late night feedings... I don't sleep when she sleeps because I have a 10 year old and a house to run, plus, I think I'm just too ADHD to be able to rest. The hubs and L are wonderful - they take such great care of me and C.

I want for very few things at this stage of my life - happiness is on the top and well, I'm pretty close to that, health - well, we're much better in that area, family - couldn't ask for anything more, work - I have a job, I enjoy my job and am grateful I have one it's just not my dream job... I would like to have more money so I could buy a house and one day have my dream kitchen. I guess you could say that even though we are in a better financial place than we have ever been in, I really want a house and dream kitchen! The thing that I want most in my life is the financial means to be able to stay at home to raise my family. I hate that I have to leave C with anyone for her day to day needs as I go to work.

This is where I make my move to make my dreams/wants/desires happen. I will be recording myself in the kitchen making a Paula Dean dish but as a make-over dish so you can see how to prepare a delicious meal/dessert with less fat and calories. Everyone can do this but I am hoping this will be the start of something wonderful for me and my family. At the end of the day it will, at the very least, be something wonderful to eat! My next post will be September 7th (this is when L goes back to school) which I hope will be my dish video (the only challenge will be making the video on my laptop...new technology and all)

Be well!

The last thing I thought I'd do...

So the last thing I thought I was going to be able to do - EVER - we be to make myself vomit. See, I had the weight loss surgery and from time to time food gets stuck in my little pouch. However, with the pregnancy it has become a more and more regular occurrence. The pouch is small, the baby is getting bigger and squishing the pouch making it even smaller.  So, I eat my dinner and well, then it gets stuck and I have no choice but to relieve the problem.

Unfortunately, I was not forewarned this could happen. I can say that since I haven't learned my lesson yet then it wouldn't have mattered if someone had forewarned me... I still eat what I like though those choices have changed quite a lot!


Another thing I've run into would be the most painful gas I have ever experienced in my life! This is not gas you would release by passing as a burp or toot but as a part of the digestive process. Sadly, there really isn't anything you can do to relive it, it has to pass on it's own. The worse it gets, the more difficult it is to eat or drink. Generally, I have to try to throw up to just move things around, eventually it works but until then - it is the WORSE pain ever! Since it is very difficult to eat or drink, when going through this, one can get dehydrated very quickly. When you're pregnant - that's a very bad thing.

I have to admit that if I had known I was going to go through either of these, to the extent that I do, I don't know if I would have gotten pregnant again. Well, I certainly feel that way when I'm going through the worst of it all but in light of what we have gone through, I would go through hell everyday of my life to have this baby! So, as usual - NO REGRETS!

If you are interested in having weight loss surgery and getting pregnant, just keep these things in mind but go for it anyway! Don't let it stop you. On top of all the baby rewards, my by-pass surgeon told me that women who have the surgery then get pregnant, report they feel like they've had the surgery a second time because their stomachs shrink. I guess they loose any weight they gain very quickly. Well, I've gained 28 pounds, so far, I'm sure a good amount is baby but the rest is not. I'm not banking on loosing it quickly but I figure once I put a bit of work into it, the weight will fall off!

Here's hoping! Good luck to anyone who is looking to do what the hubs and I have done - it truly is a gift I could have only hoped and prayed for. Every ache and pain is well worth it!

how I lost the weight

Now that I have given you may back ground, I will tell you what led me to finally loose weight and how I went about it. 

My very dear friend, K, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer at the same time the hubs and I realized we were financially in over our heads. K is my very BFF I'm really closer to her than either my sis's. I was truly devastated when I found out which pushed me into a deeper depression than I was already in - I should add that I did not know that I was depressed at that time. Hubs, L and I did nothing but fight constantly. I figured that with K going through all that she was, I was going to take care of my self go to the doctor and get healthy... I did NOT do that. Hubs and I decided we needed to move for a more financially secure situation so we sold our house and moved into a very nice apartment. I was still quite miserable though. The fighting had gotten better, L and I were not really fighting at all but at this point I had pretty much checked out of life. There is NOTHING worse than having a wonderful child and being so depressed that you can't appreciate it! Hubs and I had a pretty bad fight and I kicked him out - not that I meant it or that he actually left. 

I decided to, finally, go to the doctor. She decided, for my best interest - and health - that she wanted to see me frequently (every four weeks for a bit) to make sure I wasn't getting to a deeper depression. She and I decided I would take antidepressants, which worked for a bit though the side affects were too much to take.

During one of my appointments, she suggested I see a gastric by-pass surgeon to discuss options for loosing a lot of weight in a quick amount of time. I agreed to go and met him on, if you can believe this, my birthday! I researched the heck out of lap-band surgery and decided this was the best approach for me. However, once I met the amazing doctor, we realized that with the band, I could eat what I wanted when I wanted - just smaller amounts. So I said, I could eat ice cream if I want ice cream, he said yes. The amazing hubs told me that I was not going to have the band because if I could eat ice cream, I will eat ice cream so he decided I was going to have the by-pass and I, of course, was completely on board with it - I would not have done it if I wasn't on board completely. 

Now, by-pass surgery isn't for everyone - weight loss surgery ISN'T for everyone but it was perfect for me. It took about six months for me to go through the pre-surgery process, I had to loose 5% of my weight before I could have it and I had to make some pretty serious commitments to myself, the hubs and my medical team. I lost 20 pounds pre-surgery, which was more than I needed to. I also needed to do some serious soul searching, too. This was a lifetime decision, it affected the hubs and L and it was truly a life or death situation - life because it was going to save my life and add years to it, death because if I didn't do it, I could die and if I did do it I could die.... Ultimately, I decided I'd rather die trying than doing nothing and I was so terribly unhappy I can't say if I wouldn't have died from "other" reasons.


On the way to the hospital, morning of my surgery - April 29, 2099 - I looked at the hubs, asked if I was doing the right thing, he told me that he wouldn't bring me unless he thought I was. So, needless to say - I had the surgery! I started weighing my heaviest 321 pounds and lost 141 pounds to my lowest, adult weight, of 185 pounds. I should add that I lost the total weight in six months - normally, you would loose the weight in 9-12 months, I was ahead of the game!


This is where the REAL work started...

Why now?

I have decided to start a blog to share my story with my weight, weight loss, struggles and the reality behind what happens when the weight is gone and I can't hide behind the fat anymore. I'm hoping that my story will help other people as they decide to move forward on their journey. Otherwise, it will probably be a lot of random rambling! I hope that, once I get passed my introduction (if you will), that I will be able to share tricks and recipes that I've learned along the way. So here goes!

Today I am 35 years old, my baby (L) is turning 10 tomorrow, my husband (hubs) is 38 and I'm almost 37 weeks pregnant. I have been with hubs for 18 years, married for almost 12. We met when I was 17 and roughly 200 pounds at 5' 8 1/2" tall. I have a brother (bro) and two sisters (sis 1 and sis 2) in that order - I am the youngest.

A quick background: My parents divorced when I was young, my dad remarried twice, I had two boy friends but nothing at all serious - I was way too young, kids at school didn't really make fun of me for being a big girl but no one wanted to be my boy friend because they would get made fun of, school was a struggle for me (I've recently decided I'm ADD - self diagnosed - and I think that's why I did little but got by), I could go on and on about this that and the other thing but the bottom line is at the end of the day I didn't like myself very well and I always had excuses to fall back on. 

Ultimately, I was a big girl at a young age. I learned to medicate my problems with food and think I really became a food addict; hubs and I disagree on that, he thinks I found comfort in food but that I wasn't actually addicted - I think I was addicted. I weighed around 200 pounds when I met him, I was 17 and 5' 8 1/2" tall. I have been told that I carried it well due to my overall size... BS to that I say! 

Life with the hubs was great before he was the hubs. It was wonderful to be with a man who didn't care (or at least acted as he didn't) about my weight. We had a ton of fun drinking and partying like rock stars for a few years. By the time I was 21 I was over the "21 scene" and was ready to move on. We moved into our first apartment and we were DIRT POOR! It was still great though! From there we eventually got married and had L. By this time, I weighed 296 pounds pretty consistently. When I found out I was pregnant with L I weighed 315 pounds which I lost pretty quickly. My pregnancy was great - no swelling, minimal morning sickness and, really, no complications that were too concerning. Two months after he was born I lost 35 pounds - I promise you I quickly  put that back on!

Life became much more of a struggle, sadly. Two months after L was born three planes crashed into our buildings and a fourth into a field. So many people were killed. I work in a government type setting so it was tough to go back to work, new baby and terrorists. 


Two years later I was pregnant again, but this baby didn't make - I lost it at 8 weeks, about six months later it happened again.


Hubs and I continued to have financial challenges, as many do, I was an emotional wreck and just getting bigger and bigger all the time. I chose not to take care of myself. All that got me was 321 pounds, a prescription for antidepressants and my bed. 

So this where my weight loss journey begins...