Our biggest loser

I am officially the an email queen for our biggest loser competition. Included in the first email was a fitness tip and recipe (see below). Since starting our competition, it has been really hard to take out the sweets. My down fall is, and always has been, bakery items. I love the danish, I love my favorite cake, and I really, really, really love banana cream pie. (Warning: The links click to pictures of these forbidden items- click at your own risk!). So imagine the horror when I walk into my break room at work to see a whole spread of pastries, mini tarts, and coffee cakes. All of it was on sale for our first quarter fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah.

Luckily, I was prepared. I packed the best lunch today and although I was tempted, I stayed strong. I also chewed a half stick of Extra Sweet Watermelon Gum. At five calories per stick, it is a great deal. It cuts my cravings so fast and lasts a while. I totally passed the danish test at work today because of it! Go Me!

Anyway, I hope that I can actually get to the gym tomorrow, otherwise I might go a bit crazy. I miss the warm weather only because I miss my bike. But really, a few more months of winter isn't bad either.

Big Tip of the Week:Shop the Perimeter

Recipe of the Day: Tuna Salad Twist

Plain old tuna salad seems like a great, low-cal, healthy item. But when using a full fat mayo it can be pretty bad for you. This is a lighter version with a few new flavors. This is also great because you can eat it open-faced, in a whole wheat pita, in a whole grain tortilla for a 'snack wrap', or my favorite: as a topping on a big bed of lettuce. If using as a main course this has 2 servings. If using as a snack item this has 4 servings.

8 oz (1 standard can) of white tuna in water- please buy from a reputable company that does not harm dolphins or whales :)
2 Tablespoons low-fat mayo
3/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1 squeeze of lemon juice, fresh is best
2 Tablespoons of chopped celery
2 Tablespoons of chopped green onion, optional
2 Tablespoons chopped dill pickle, optional

Drain tuna and place in a bowl. Mix in remainder of ingredients and blend well. Chill for at least one hour and serve.

As a main item (2 servings) the Per serving nutrition information: calories 170; fat 3 grams; carbs; 4 grams; protein 30 grams; fiber 2 grams

Haters

So I am reading a post today on Cjane and she is talking about the enemies. It got me thinking about blogs and how generally pointless they are in our lives. I mean, why write a blog? Why put your random musings and silly thoughts out there in the world for other people to make fun of? It's like leaving your diary in the middle of the hallway at a high school on purpose... What were you thinking????

My opinion is that there may be a few people that you can't physically connect with. It might be because you want to record your thoughts on a specific topic. It may be because you post somewhere else and you want your own personal blog, or it could be flat out narcissism. The point for me is that I don't really care. I mean, yes, blogs are good for all of those things, but really they are like reading letters to the editor in the NY times, or your local paper. You don't have to feel that way. Heck, you don't even have to read it! You can choose to spend your time reading other things that come from people who think, look, speak, and dream just like you. So this is a reminder for myself to think about the comments I make on blogs. I have never written anything hurtful or negative- that's just not my style- but I also want to send out my positive floaties into space. So the theme for my new month- positivity :)

The Beauty of Frozen Food

I try to be healthy. I also have a lot of work. I also get really tired at the end of the day, and therefore don't want to do anything. This includes cooking. Nope, don't want to do it on those nights that I get home late.  

I work 4 11 hour days and the problem with working 11 hour days is that I don't always get to eat like I want to. This would be why the early AM crew and the Late afternoon crew at our local McD's know us. Sad, but true :( In an effort to be healthier, my family chose to hold our own biggest loser competition. We each paid 25$ and we get 12 weeks to see who lost the biggest percentage of weight, and at the end? Winner takes all, just like biggest loser. 

So I weighed in on Saturday night and promptly wanted to cry. OUCH! I knew it was high, but really? Ouch. I am now determined to make that a more manageable number. The easiest way to do this is going to be saying goodbye to my local Mickey Dee's crew and saying hello to home cooking. This does not excite me. In fact, this makes me break out into a cold sweat. 

Enter: Frozen Food... (cue angelic chorus). I checked out a wonderful book on freezer cooking. Make things on the 3 days that I have off, freeze them, and then pull them out of the freezer later. Now I wonder why it took me so long to figure that out. Anyway, I made my healthy tofu lasagna last night. In fact, I made two. One was cooked and eaten and the other one is in the freezer for the next time I just can't face making dinner.   Hopefully this works for us, if not, I fear it will be back to the fast food sadness. Here's wishing myself luck, willpower, and more time.

Alright, Alright. I am sorry 2008

So. More than a whole year, and not a single post? Wow. I am lame.

I must admit that it was not a lack of topics, but rather a lack of time. I mean there was so much going on this past year, that I just did not have time for the old blog. Not to mention that I couldn't remember my password.

So. I have decided that I will try to be better for myself. I am going to add to this blog as a reminder of where I am in my life right now. I may not add daily, but I at least hope to add weekly, just as a reminder to be more 'me'.

To 2008: You were a year of change. For the first part of the year I tried really really hard to do things that just weren't me. In the last half of the year, I basically chucked it and decided to go with the gut. So everything that happened in you, 2008, pretty much happened in the latter part of 2008 (talking September to December here). So I changed my look, I decided that my friends were in a place that I no longer wanted to be in, I decided that I don't really like some people and were just trying to impress them. I decided to do things that I like. I started crafting again. I started writing again. I let God into my life (which probably deserves it's own post completely). I got pregnant. I lost my pregnancy. I went to the hospital a lot, but I was okay with it. I decided to ENJOY my job, because it really only sucks when I complain about it. I decided to ENJOY all the blessings in my life. I VOTED! I watched as the country voted, and cried when they announced the new hope (BTW, Do you think he is going to be like Luke Skywalker? Saving us from the evil Darth Congress? Or is he going to chicken out? Hmmm...). I also got scared, and laughed, and cried, and loved. Oh, and I let my silly husband talk me into playing World of Warcraft. 2008, you were a good year, but I am ready to let you go. You were a little bit bitter for me, which was my fault, but I am ready to move on to the sweet taste of 2009. It could end up with a bitter taste also, but the hope if that it will be sweet.

So to 2009: I hope that you realize the hope that is pinned on you. 2008 was a rough year. Fraught with the economic downturn, terror, a divided nation, and just plain freaky stuff. I have hope for you, 2009, that you will turn into one of the best years on record. That you will be stronger, and full of hope and change. I think that I share that hope with a lot of people, so good luck!

On the blog I hope to record all the plain and the extraordinary, the baby thing and the housewife scene, my hopes and my crushed dreams, my loves and my lacks, my God and the hacks, and most of all: the beautiful. So if anyone reads this... expect randomness.

Luck to me and happy reading!

Attack of the killer tomatoes!

So more notes on the scariness of offering to help with someone's garden. Beware! If they have more than one tomato plant, they are going to pawn lots of them off on you.

In speaking to the grandma and the mom, I casually mentioned that I needed to make some salsa. Grandma tells me that she is going out of town and wants to know if I could possibly, please, do her a solid and pick her plants clean so she does not have to worry about all those tomatoes going to waste. Remember kids, grandma's don't like to waste food. So I stop by the day before she is slated to leave and I am nudged toward the garden. I was prepared with my lovely plastic bags. I filled four. There were Romas and beefsteak, and lovely little cherry tomatoes that I ate off the vine. Talk about variety. I pawned some off on friends and neighbors and took the rest home.

Next day, Mommy drops off a lovely bag of peppers. Anaheim, Yellow wax and lots of Jalepenos. I only needed a few, I say. She says, oh well. You have all those tomatoes, you have to do something with them.

I did the only thing I could think of. I made salsa. Lots of salsa. Luckily I know people who like my salsa.

My Mommy's Salsa

A note about this salsa. This is a salsa fresca, meaning it is chunky and bright. If you want a smooth, dark salsa this is not the one for you. Also, it is a bit watery when I make it. This can be solved by straining the tomatoes after chopping. All the ingredients here are suggestions. I add more or less peppers depending on who I made it for. I add more or less garlic depending on who is eating it. Modify it to your taste. If you make it too hot, add more tomatoes.

A note about chopping: I do all my chopping by hand with my wonderful santoku knife. You can whir the tomatoes in the food processor and throw everything else in, but it tends to make the tomatoes really watery and foamy. Whir at your own risk.

6-8 large roma tomatoes, chopped
2 anaheim peppers, seeds removed and minced
1 yellow wax pepper, seeds removed and minced
1-2 jalepeno pepper (enough to satisfy your hotness), seeds removed (unless you like it really hot) and minced
1 medium size onion, chopped to your size preference
3-4 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon salt

Mix together and enjoy. Can be refridgerated for up to a week or frozen for about a month before the flavor starts to be sub-par.

The dangers of helping...

I have decided that it is a slightly dangerous thing to offer to help someone with their garden.

I totally agree with the urge to want to protect something that you have worked hard to create. Hell, I once made a chocolate cake and would not let the husband eat it because I wanted to oogle it for a while more (I had to cave eventually and let him eat the damn thing). So I can understand the "Garden of You" is a sacred place, but please don't yell in my ear that the bugs are vital to the environment and your garden. He was crawling on me, and I don't like bugs. What did you think was going to happen?

The next, and possibly the biggest, problem is this: if you offer to help someone by taking some of thier excess bounty off thier hands- you might just get what you wished for.

Example One: The great pruning of the apricot tree...
Grandma is clearing the apricot tree. It just so happens that you have been dying to make the Apricot Torte from the illustrious Molly of Orangette, but have not had time to go buy some apricots. Truth be told, you were wanting to find a tree with free ones so you wouldn't have to. Grandma seems overjoyed to provide you with the requested apricots because she hasn't been able to give them away and she just hates to waste food (you know, the whole Depression Era). But she just somehow doesn't understand that you don't need TWO WHOLE BUCKETS FULL. So, a question for the ages, how do you say no to sweet grandma that was just providing you what you had requested? You don't. (Not to mention you don't like to waste food either). So what do you do with all these apricots? You bake said Torte and borrow a food dehydrator. I made 4 Tortes and a gallon Ziploc full of Apricot Chips. Luckily, I know people who like cake.

Example Two: It's the Great Zuchinni, Charlie Brown...
You mention casually to your grandma and your mom that you need a zuchinni to make bread. BEWARE! You mention you want zuchinni to someone that has more than one plant and you will recieve a bounty of zuchinni. I recieved 9 of them. These were not sweet, wimpy zuchinni's either. These were meaty, two feet long, and about 8 inches around. They were HUGE! I offered some to everyone I knew. I got rid of two. So what to do with 7 huge zuchinnis? Make bread like you planned. You don't like to waste food, remember? So instead of the 3 loaves that you were planning to make, you make 18. Luckily, you know people who like zuchinni bread.

So here is the recipie that is saving me from being buried in zuchinni, because they are still showing up on my porch...

Zuchinni Bread- Makes 3 standard size loafs
A few notes about this bread.

When the recipie says grease and flour the pan, do it. Trust me, I tried butter, not flouring, oil, cooking spray and I always ended up losing bread in the bottom of the pan. The only thing that I know works is crisco. I tried silicone pans and you still need to flour it. Be warned, the loaf edge tends to be a bit darker in a silicone pan. Non stick pans work, but if you don't grease and flour, you lose bread in them too. Just grease and flour every pan, you will be happier.

Second, I shred my zuchinni and then strain it for about 2 hours. You can just squeeze out the extra liquid by hand too. If you don't squeeze it, your bread ends up mushy and wet. If you do strain it, it ends up thick but light. It's worth the bit of effort and fun too!

Last, I make my bread in my lovely Kitchenaid. You can mix it by hand, just do the dry and wet separate. But if you are going to make 18 loaves, you might want to invest in a Kitchenaid. Think of it as a savior for your arms.

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup oil
2 cups shredded zuchinni
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Grease and flour 3 standard loaf pans. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees farenheight.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, nutmeg, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Use a whisk to fluff and mix evenly.

In the bowl of your mixer mix 3 eggs and both sugars until combined. Add 1 cup oil and mix again. Keep your mixer going and slowly add dry ingredients in, pausing every few seconds to let the dry stuff be incorperated. Once all the flour mixture is in, add one cup of zuchinni. Wait a minute for your mixer to catch up, then add the second cup. Add your vanilla then add your walnuts. Stop your mixer and scrape the bottom to make sure nothing is stuck down there. Start mixing again for about a minute. Stop your mixer then pour your batter into the prepared loaf pans. Make sure that all your loafs are about the same height. Bake in your oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

Coming up.... Tomatoes, Tomatoes everywhere and not a chip to dip...

Being a new foodie

I have always loved to bake. I have always thought of it as a science experiment in the kitchen rather than an art. In fact, that is one of my favorite quotes. "Cooking is an art form, while baking is pure science". I have no idea who said it, but it is plastered in my new kitchen for the world to see.

In spite of my love for baking, I have never really been concerned about baking. You see, for many years of my life, I battled an eating disorder. I did not eat, or if I did it would come up later. I hated my body and felt that food made it that way. I was blind until about 4 years ago. I still remember the turning point. I had just eaten an amazing creme brulee, and my head was saying get it out. My body, however, was telling my head to shut up, because this was a full sensory experience that it did not want to give up. It was fighting to keep the wonderful taste alive for as long as it could. In the end the body won. And although I have had setbacks on the road of food, I am now officially concerned about food.

I am amazed by all things food now. I troll the food blogs like the younger set trolls myspace. I love the way people are so in love with their food. I am amazed by how much work goes into a blog. I don't even have enough time to post as much as I would like to, and some blogs have new posts everyday. Stories, trivia, and recipes all combined for the world to see, feel, and enjoy. I can't thank people enough for their blogs. I have found so many recipes that I now feel as if I can't live without. Food bloggers are like my celebrities. Who cares what Britney, Paris, or Nicole did last week? I care what the bloggers said. I care what recipes they have created. I want to get in my kitchen and bake, bake, bake.

I am now officially concerned. I still like to bake, but now I am also concerned about cooking. This is a new experience for me. I have never thought of myself as a cook. I was scared to cook anything on the stove top that did not involve chocolate. I am now trying to perfect my art of cooking. I am also inspired constantly, by the food blog world. Where else can you go and learn not only how to make something, but the pleasure that someone had sharing it with you. I humbly thank all the food bloggers out there for letting me into their recipe box and into their lives.

So if anyone stumbles across my small boring blog, Welcome. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer and maybe be inspired in your kitchen too.