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!