Last night I was the BBQ master. Most of you who know me, know that I let my husband be the BBQ'er and I am the indoor chef. Well I took the reins last night and roasted all my tomatillo ingredients myself. Doing this gives the salsa such depth of flavor with the smokey element from the bbq.
First I slice the onion in 1/2" or so rings. Then husk and wash the tomatillos, and wash 2 jalapenos. All veggies get a brushing of oil to keep them from sticking to the grill. With the bbq on high heat, everything gets all lined up. Close the lid and let the heat do the work. Keep turning your tomatillos and peppers so that they are getting cooked and charred on all sides. I don't time anything, I just go by look and feel. I use tongs and when the tomatillos are good and dull green in color and squish a little with a squeeze of the tongs - they are done. The peppers skin will char a bit (not burn) and will split open.
It is an awesome and different way of making salsa verde. Because the ingredients are all hot, you could can this as well. I put the recipe on the recipe page - give it a try!!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Mango Salsa
This is the mango salsa I made and canned earlier this week. I put them in pint jars as I don't bother wasting my time with those little half pint jars. The color from the camera is not giving it is true justice as it is really a beautiful yellow with red and orange from the roasted peppers and the green from the fresh cilantro. I can tell you that it tastes even better than it looks!
Tomorrow I will be making Roasted Salsa Verde. I roast the tomatillos, onion, and pepper all on the bbq until softened and browned. This gives it a delicious smokey flavor and also a bit of sweetness to the tomatillos and onion. It is awesome!!
House Smells Awesome!
Okay, doing more food prep today! Just poached chicken and also roasted some chicken breasts too. Why poached do you ask. Well it is a lean alternative to roasting. When you roast your chicken with the skin on, all the fat from the skin is absorbed into the meat. The other great thing about poaching it is that if you add some vegetables and herbs you will also make your own chicken stock. Homemade chicken stock is the best way to insure you know what is in it and that you can control the amount of salt. In fact you can poach the chicken without even adding salt to the stock. That way you are ensuring that you are not over salting future recipes.
So once the chicken is cooled, I will shred it off the bone and store it in ziploc bags and put it in the freezer. Now it will be ready on hand for when I want to make chicken salad sandwiches, bbq chicken pizzas, enchiladas and so on. I will also freeze the stock for use in rices, soups and whatever else. Pretty cool huh.
Now I did roast about 4 of the breasts today for the Barefoot Contessa's Curry Chicken Salad Sandwich wraps. A big favorite of ours. Hard part is even though I don't know the calorie count, I can guess it is super high. I mean a cup of roasted cashews for crying out loud - that is 680 calories right there (for the entire recipe that serves 6 ). What I did do though is replaced her 1.5 cups of mayo for 1 cup Greek yogurt and only .5 cup of mayo, so that should help a little!
Since the diet doesn't officially start yet, we are going to enjoy these Curry sandwiches without the quilt darn it! It is such a beautiful day that I am going to pack them up for a picnic dinner at the beach with my family. It is going to be awesome!
So once the chicken is cooled, I will shred it off the bone and store it in ziploc bags and put it in the freezer. Now it will be ready on hand for when I want to make chicken salad sandwiches, bbq chicken pizzas, enchiladas and so on. I will also freeze the stock for use in rices, soups and whatever else. Pretty cool huh.
Now I did roast about 4 of the breasts today for the Barefoot Contessa's Curry Chicken Salad Sandwich wraps. A big favorite of ours. Hard part is even though I don't know the calorie count, I can guess it is super high. I mean a cup of roasted cashews for crying out loud - that is 680 calories right there (for the entire recipe that serves 6 ). What I did do though is replaced her 1.5 cups of mayo for 1 cup Greek yogurt and only .5 cup of mayo, so that should help a little!
Since the diet doesn't officially start yet, we are going to enjoy these Curry sandwiches without the quilt darn it! It is such a beautiful day that I am going to pack them up for a picnic dinner at the beach with my family. It is going to be awesome!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Official Start Date Decided
Okay, so we have discussed when would be a good day to officially start our 6 week adventure. We are going to go for Monday the 24th. Reason being as hubby will be in the hospital following surgery for at least 4 days. This way when he gets home he can lay in bed, drugged up for a couple of extra days. I too can have a chance to get the menus set, shopping done and food prepped, all at the same time pulling double parent duty.
So on that Monday I will post my weight and measurements. I am not sure he will be up for it, but we will try. If all else I will use his weight before his surgery.
Sad part is I just realized today that this scheme means no In-N-Out for 6 weeks! Now that is going to be a struggle!! LOL
So on that Monday I will post my weight and measurements. I am not sure he will be up for it, but we will try. If all else I will use his weight before his surgery.
Sad part is I just realized today that this scheme means no In-N-Out for 6 weeks! Now that is going to be a struggle!! LOL
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Working on Menu
So I am working on my menu for the first week. Man this is a lot of work upfront. Hopefully it will make it easier come execution time.
What I do is use Excel and break it down per meal for each day. I have it total up the calories for me and then let me know what the leftover calories are so that those can be used for snacks, beverages or desserts. And let me tell ya they have some good desserts. Yesterday I made their Deep dark chocolate cake and it is only 222 calories!
Here is what one of the days looks like. It deleted my nice lines from Excel, but you get the picture.
What I do is use Excel and break it down per meal for each day. I have it total up the calories for me and then let me know what the leftover calories are so that those can be used for snacks, beverages or desserts. And let me tell ya they have some good desserts. Yesterday I made their Deep dark chocolate cake and it is only 222 calories!
Here is what one of the days looks like. It deleted my nice lines from Excel, but you get the picture.
| TUESDAY |
| French Toast Bread Pudding |
| 230 |
| Cook Yourself Thin Faster - pg 27 |
| Healthy Potato Skins (2) |
| 420 |
| Cook Yourself Thin - pg 115 |
| Sesame Peanut Noodles - 308 |
| Spring rolls w/ lemongrass dipping sauce (2 rolls) - 167 |
| 475 |
| Cook Yourself Thin-pgs 133&131 |
| 1125 |
| 1200 |
| 75 |
1st Blog
Well this is my first attempt at Blogging. I am not sure how it is going to go exactly, but I will give it my best effort!
So why Blogging you ask. Well it is part of my goal in some weight loss and eating better. So my thought is, if I blog about it I will stick to it better. My thoughts don’t always go my way, but it is a start.
I have owned and cooked from quite often, the “Cook Yourself Thin” cookbooks. I have them both and have used them both a lot. In fact some of our favorite and common dinners have come from these books. I also like Ellie Krieger a lot too.
The “Cook Yourself Thin” philosophy is that once you set your goal weight (goal weight multiplied by 10 will give you the total calories you should intake each day) and stick to it for 6 weeks you will drop a dress size.
Since my husband will be having surgery next week and will be out of work for at least a month, I thought this is a perfect time to take this on. Not to mention we live in the Sunshine State now and I want to be able to wear a swimsuit and feel confident about it!
Now the kicker is, if you calculate my BMI I am exactly where I should be for my height. I am 5’4″ and currently weigh 134 pounds. According to the BMI calculator I should weigh anywhere from 111-140 pounds. I can bounce anywhere from 137 to 132 pounds depending on what we eat and how much activity we have going on.
So why weight loss than you ask??? Well because the darn BMI calculator doesn’t see my belly fat or gut if you will and my big booty – aka Junk in the Trunk! And if I don’t cover up the gut and butt with a good pair of jeans and a long T-shirt, you can forget it. There is no way in heck I would be caught dead in a tucked in shirt, a sheath cut dress and don’t even get me started on a swimsuit!
I used to be really good about planning out our meals and shopping accordingly. I have allowed the move, getting settled, and life get in the way and getting way from this practice. The plan now is to get back into the planning and shopping accordingly.
So here is the plan. For the 6 weeks recommended by “Cook Yourself Thin” I will do the following:
1. Plan out meals for each day using the recommended calorie allowance. Me 1200 calories My husband 1850 calories
2. Eliminate all processed foods.
3. Prepare snacks ready to eat to keep us on track. Such as carrots, fruits, salad fixings, etc.
4. Get out and get some exercise in the form of walking and jogging. I hate running, but hope that the beautiful weather will make it easier!
5. Blog each week as to where I am on my goals, with posting weight, gut and butt measurements, calorie intakes, and calories burned through exercise.
What do I hope to gain? Well I hope to drop down a size, lose some of my gut and butt, feel better, have more energy and last but not least……….buy a swimsuit that doesn’t look like something my mother would wear!!
Wish me luck!
So why Blogging you ask. Well it is part of my goal in some weight loss and eating better. So my thought is, if I blog about it I will stick to it better. My thoughts don’t always go my way, but it is a start.
I have owned and cooked from quite often, the “Cook Yourself Thin” cookbooks. I have them both and have used them both a lot. In fact some of our favorite and common dinners have come from these books. I also like Ellie Krieger a lot too.
The “Cook Yourself Thin” philosophy is that once you set your goal weight (goal weight multiplied by 10 will give you the total calories you should intake each day) and stick to it for 6 weeks you will drop a dress size.
Since my husband will be having surgery next week and will be out of work for at least a month, I thought this is a perfect time to take this on. Not to mention we live in the Sunshine State now and I want to be able to wear a swimsuit and feel confident about it!
Now the kicker is, if you calculate my BMI I am exactly where I should be for my height. I am 5’4″ and currently weigh 134 pounds. According to the BMI calculator I should weigh anywhere from 111-140 pounds. I can bounce anywhere from 137 to 132 pounds depending on what we eat and how much activity we have going on.
So why weight loss than you ask??? Well because the darn BMI calculator doesn’t see my belly fat or gut if you will and my big booty – aka Junk in the Trunk! And if I don’t cover up the gut and butt with a good pair of jeans and a long T-shirt, you can forget it. There is no way in heck I would be caught dead in a tucked in shirt, a sheath cut dress and don’t even get me started on a swimsuit!
I used to be really good about planning out our meals and shopping accordingly. I have allowed the move, getting settled, and life get in the way and getting way from this practice. The plan now is to get back into the planning and shopping accordingly.
So here is the plan. For the 6 weeks recommended by “Cook Yourself Thin” I will do the following:
1. Plan out meals for each day using the recommended calorie allowance. Me 1200 calories My husband 1850 calories
2. Eliminate all processed foods.
3. Prepare snacks ready to eat to keep us on track. Such as carrots, fruits, salad fixings, etc.
4. Get out and get some exercise in the form of walking and jogging. I hate running, but hope that the beautiful weather will make it easier!
5. Blog each week as to where I am on my goals, with posting weight, gut and butt measurements, calorie intakes, and calories burned through exercise.
What do I hope to gain? Well I hope to drop down a size, lose some of my gut and butt, feel better, have more energy and last but not least……….buy a swimsuit that doesn’t look like something my mother would wear!!
Wish me luck!
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