Diet Thoughts

Last night the boyfriend and I cringed and stepped on the scale.  I can say I'm glad I'm under 170 but not thrilled that I was as much as 163 pounds.  In theory I'd like to lose 20 pounds...or at the very least fit in my size 10 jeans again (though I've been a size 8 before and that would be optimal).  For now sticking to my diet and getting in some exercise are my only goals.  I'm thinking of also taking my measurements to see how those change.

In cooking I've noticed in addition to the change of grocery prices (yes, they went up) I've also noticed our food waste is much more organic in nature.  Because we're eating more whole and less processed foods there's a lot less packaging we're throwing out.  That's something to feel a little good about.  If we were in a house with a backyard we could start a great compost with all of our veggie trimming and such.

I wouldn't mind finding a cheaper way (and more organic if possible) of finding veggies.  The vegetables in the health food shops are so expensive and now the 'normal' grocery store isn't much better.  What's a girl to do?

I know that sometimes there are produce stands at swap meets.  There is of course a swap meet right across the street.  But, I've been too lazy to check it out.  There is also the Farmer's Market in Irvine.  Also yet to be checked out due to laziness.  

Then there is the option of the CSA basket.  Baskets of fresh veggies every or every other week that come from local, organic, environmentally responsible farms and aren't that much more expensive, and might even be cheaper.  A little further research is required for me to buy into this.  Also we can pick and choose our veggies at the grocery store.  Since we're going off of a specific menu plan the store might be easier at first.  Once I'm more comfortable with the diet I can be more flexible with what veggies we use.

Tofu Cacciatore

One of the first recipes we've tried from "The South Beach Diet Cookbook"(Agatston 2004) was something I would not have thought to make.  I'm glad someone thought of it because it was excellent.  The Tofu Cacciatore was tender, flavorful, and filling.  I can't say how easy it was to cook as I was under the weather so I let the boyfriend have at it.  I'll say to make certain to check the dish during the baking process about 40 minutes in.  The recipe calls for an hour but ours looked as though it was drying out if left in too much longer.

The recipe also calls for light tofu.  I can't find this usually (or ever) in 'normal' grocery stores, but a good health food store such as Mother's or Whole Foods will be more likely to carry the low-fat variety.  We also substituted fresh basil for the dried since we had it on hand.  I'm also very heavy-handed on the fresh basil.  We also left out the rosemary sprig since we weren't to concerned about the presentation when it was just the two of us.

1 LB firm light tofu

1/2 medium onion, sliced

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced

2 T white wine

1 large garlic clove

1 Tsp dried basil

1 Tsp dried Oregano

Pinch of allspice

1 can (28 oz) stewed tomatoes, drained

2 Tsp tomato paste

Sprig rosemary, for garnish

Cover a 17" X 11" baking sheet with paper towels.  Place the tofu in a single layer on the towels.  Cover the tofu with paper towels.  Cover the tofu with paper towels and pat down on the tofu until dry.  Remove and discard all of the paper towels and place the tofu back on the baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a large skillet coated with olive oil cooking spray over medium heat.  Add the onion and bell peppers and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.  Add the wine, garlic, basil, oregano, and allspice and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes and tomato paste.  Bring to a boil and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Heat another large skillet coated with olive oil cooking spray over medium heat.  Add the tofu and saute for 3 minutes, or until lightly browned on both sides.  Place the browned tofu slices in a 13" X 9" baking dish and cover with the tomato sauce.

Bake for 1 hour, or until cooked through.  Garnish with the rosemary.

Chinese Tea Eggs and Asian Salad Dressing

Chinese tea eggs are a lightly-spiced, marble-colored hard boiled egg treat.  While easy to make, the aroma while cooking is strong and you should be forewarned your house will be pungently spiced for a couple of hours.

When searching for a recipe I found many, but none seemed to be exactly what I was looking for.  I finally decided to mesh several of these recipes to make my own.  I thought it would come in handy now that we're on South Beach since we have to eat so much protein.  The tea eggs will be a good way to mix up our diet.

They can be eaten by themselves or I like them diced and added to a salad with mixed greens and bell peppers with my Asian Salad Dressing (recipe follows).

Ingredients:

6-12 Large Eggs

Water, enough to just cover the eggs in the pot

1/4 C Soy Sauce (I use wheat free)

1/4 C Rice Wine Vinegar.

3 T Loose Leaf Black Tea

3 T Chinese 5 Spice (This can be expensive. I find it's cheapest if you can go to a store like Henry's that offers spices in bulk and just purchase the amount you need. Also you can use less if you think the aroma will be too strong since this is what will cause the aroma while simmering, however keep in mind that even with this much spice the eggs will be lightly flavored)

Place the eggs in a large pot in a single layer.  Add enough water to cover eggs.  Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat to simmer and cover the pot.  Allow to simmer for 10 min.  Many recipes say to remove the eggs from the liquid and allow to cool so they may be easily handled.  I'm not that patient.  I remove the eggs one at a time with a slotted spoon (Do Not toss out the liquid...we still need this).  I then wrap the egg in a paper towel and crack it on two sides on a flat counter to (careful not to crush the eggs).

Place the eggs gently back into the liquid.  Bring the pot to a boil once again and then reduce to simmer.  Simmer the eggs covered for at least 40 min.  Many recipes will say up to several hours but for me the eggs become too tough if cooked this long and 40 min seems to provide the eggs with sufficient flavor.  Remove the eggs from the liquid when finished, place in a bowl in the fridge to chill.  When cool to the touch remove skins and rinse excess shell and spices off of eggs.

Asian Salad Dressing

Servings 1 

1T Peanut Oil

1T Rice Wine Vinegar

1T Soy Sauce

1T Thinly Sliced Green Onion

1/2 Tsp Fine Chopped or Grated Fresh Ginger

Combine all ingredients and shake or whisk.

Desperation For Greasy Potatoes VS Desperation To Stay Healthy

So I'm doing what I said I wouldn't and starting a diet. I needed some motivation. Some guidance...and some way of keeping me away from that 170lb mark.

South Beach here I come. No not the hurricane ridden posh beach community...rather the structured diet I think I need.

Won't go too much into the details of how it works, but I am doing it mostly vegetarian so that it's easier to cook for both the boyfriend and myself. We have to follow the first phase for 2 weeks which is much more strict on carbs but here's what we had today.

Breakfast: Asparagus, low fat cheese, and mushroom omlette. 6 oz of V8 juice.

Morning Snack: Celery filled with a wedge of Laughing Cow low fat french onion cheese.

Lunch: Veggie patty, salad with cherry tomatoes, pine nuts and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Afternoon Snack: Almonds, lite babybel cheese

Dinner: Tofu Cacciatore, steamed asparagus, salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and green onions with olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Dessert: Vanilla Ricotta Creme.

All in all I haven't really been hungry all day so that's good. That doesn't mean that I won't get some carb cravings. I did go into the grocery store today to buy cupcake foil cups (for making mini breakfast quiche) and had to desperately tear my eyes away from the potato chips.

Damned be the Delectable Italian Style Tomatoes!!!

So a wonderful discovery this week. From now on I'm buying plain chopped tomatoes and onions or tomatoes and chiles and reading the ingredients and then adding my own seasonings.

Lo and behold I find that Stewed tomatoes often have high fructose corn syrup as the second or third ingredient. Why are they so tasty? Oh right...the sugar. I used to eat an entire can as a 'healthy' snack. And I was one of those people that prided myself on knowing where there was added sugar because I have to read so many labels because of allergies.

How did I go wrong?

Today's Daily Report

Planned Meals:

Breakfast: Smoothie - 1/2 C frozen blackberries and pineapple, 1/2 c plain low-fat yogurt, 1/2 scoop vanilla soy powder, 1 C tangerine strawberry sunrise crystal light

Lunch: 1 C leftover stirfry - onion, carrot, garlic, vegetable oil, broccoli, bean sprouts, tofu, low-sodium soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice wine vinegar, chili sauce; 1/2 C brown rice cooked with veggie broth; 1 C 1% milk, 1/2 C unsweetened apple sauce

Dinner: 1 C steamed broccoli; 1/2 C brown rice cooked in veggie broth; 1/2 cup sauce made with leftover spaghetti sauce, soyrizo, mushrooms, olive oil, italian style stewed tomatoes, fat free 1/2 and 1/2; 2 tbsp parmesean cheese

Snacks: Morning- light babybel cheese; Afternoon- Steamed edamame, carrot sticks; Dessert- 1/2 C no sugar added low-fat ice cream.

So in straying from my planned meals I also had a glass of milk for snack and for dessert I added on top of the ice cream some sugar free pancake syrup and a teaspoon of chopped peanuts.

Planned Exercize:

Wii Fit- 1/2 hour free step

Dance- 1/2 hour practice

Walking- 1/2 hour walk

Excercize wasn't as splendid as I'd planned. Because of my crazy sleep schedule last night/this morning I was very lethargic and didn't get much done. We did manage to take a 1/2 hour walk after dinner.

Daily Food and Excercize Blogs

So this is mostly for my own tracking and interests but if anyone ever wants to make any suggestions when looking over this (I always love new recipes) that would be fantastic.

Mostly I'm a little concerned right now because I'm without health insurance.  I've been trying to be generally healthy but haven't been as hardworking when it comes to actual weight loss and I'm partially concerned because of my family history of Diabetes and I know that what's healthy for Diabetics can be a bit more restricting than what normal people can eat to be healthy.  So, because of this I'm going to try to follow a few rules.

1. Portioning - 1/4 of the meal starch (preferrably whole grain...harder to do when allergic to wheat), 1/4 of the meal lean protein, 1/2 of the meal non-starchy vegetables.  Can also add 1 fruit and 1 low fat or non fat dairy for each meal.

2. Less Sugar - no juice, no sugary sweets, no added sugars.  Includes staying away from foods with added sugar like most peanut butters and spaghetti sauces.

3. Less fat/ more good oils

4. Regular snacks such as low fat cheese, veggies, fruit, yogurt

5. Stick to my homemade smoothies for breakfast.

The boyfriend has good intentions when it comes to eating, but I do wish he brought less sodas and juice home.  I have also taken to making a smoothie for breakfast for him and packing his lunch in the morning.  I'm also trying to plan out each week's meals.

We'll see how this works.  Hopefully it can alleviate some stuff that's been going on with my body.