Polenta, hummus and weigh in-Oh My !!

First, the food. Yesterday was a pretty much normal day of school, exercise routine and Reiki work. Yay for ordinary , for it makes up so much of our actual lifetimes .

Breakfast was instant polenta cooked with a tablespoon of raisins and then topped with 1/3 of a cup of cottage cheese and frozen blueberries. The decision to use the cottage cheese was made in an attempt to use up the last of the container. Bob takes cottage cheese and cereal 2 mornings a week ( 1/2 cup each time) and Aldi's only sells cottage cheese in roughly a pound container. It means that we either do not have enough or get surplus that carries over to the next week , leaving not enough so buy more and run the risk of the new stuff going bad before it is used. Having a family of 3 and measuring portions can cause some weird little annoying things. I am still looking to find a half egg- which is what you need when you reduce a recipe for 6 people ( using 1 egg) TO FEED 3 !

Lunch was Green Monster soup from the freezer ( kale, broccoli, leeks, sweet potato, white potato), baked sour cream and onion crisps that have been lurking in the cabinet and falling out whenever I go in there for the last 3 months, veggies and 3 different kinds of hummus. Red pepper, walnut and eggplant. Why 3 ? Two were all ready in the fridge and the 3rd was made to use up some leftover baby eggplant

Eggplant Hummus

2 baby eggplants, roasted at 375 for 1 hour
1 can garbanzo beans drained
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
water as needed


Place all in a food processor and blend till smooth

Dinner was Turkey spinach burgers( ground turkey, frozen spinach, 1/4 c oat bran, 1 chopped onion) , tossed green salad with walnuts and cranberries and Quinoa Bean salad. This one you can make ahead, stores in the fridge for about a week and makes for a very different, colorful, tasty dis to pass at gatherings.

Quinoa Bean Salad

2 cups cooked quinoa
15 oz can garbanzos or white beans drained and rinsed
1 carrot finely chopped
1 cup rasins or currants
1/2 cup raw walnuts chopped
4 plum tomatoes chopped
1 small red or white onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 yellow pepper chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup goji berries
2 teaspoons soy sauce or braggs annimo acids

Place in a bowl and mix well. Store covered in refrigerator for several hours to allow flavors
to blend

And it is Saturday Morning, so the contestants step up to the scale.

Me- DOWN 2.4 lbs
Nick- DOWN 2 lbs
Bob- DOWN 3.0

Another week down, another week to go !

Good Friday and weigh in

Yesterday was Good Friday- a day devoted pretty much to religious observance by Bob and Nick. Bob had a sacred concert, dinner appointment and then evening Mass, Nick got completely engrossed in the coverage on EWTN of all of the observances and I wound up having to watch with him and explain various gestures and symbols. Other than a walk in the morning and playing some Walk it out , the day was very much a slug day.


Breakfast was Hot Crossed Oatmeal ! Hot Crossed Buns are a traditional Good Friday Dish that is very tasty but not of the greatest nutritional value. Instead of these fruity buns I made oatmeal with apple, pear, dates and topped it with a cross made of coconut. It was good.

Lunch began a quest to use up the veggies that we had bought for the week , failed to eat because of two lunches at Sweet Tomatoes, and could bot be frozen. It was also going to be our big meal together for the day , so I made wholewheat pasta with kale and topped it with ricotta lentil balls ( from the freezer) with marinara sauce. On the side was a salad of romaine, watercress, avocado and temple oranges. Good and FILLING !


Last night I saw had a mountain of green produce in the fridge that I hated the thought of tossing, so I made a batch of Green Monster soup. Pureed soup will freeze very well- fresh greens will not. I cut up 1 large sweet potato, 4 small yukon gold potatoes, a head of broccoli, a bunch of fresh spinach , 3 leeks and 8 cups of chicken stock and put it in the crockpot till all the veggies were tender, and then I pureed it with the immersion blender. Yummy ! Because of the chicken stock it is not meatless, so Bob could not eat this yesterday, but Nick and I certainly could. I served it with grilled cheese and tomato English muffins topped with basil and carrot/celery sticks. Green Monster soup is pretty darned good !

Weigh in this morning- I lost 1.4 lbs for the week. The guys both gained 2 lbs for some reason. This too shall pass.

Did you happen to catch the end of The Biggest Loser last night ? They had a man who lost over 400 lbs on his own at home, and he did it through diet and walking. I think he is my new hero- proof that you DO NOT have to join a gym, run, buy a lot of equipment or join exercise classes to get results. Simple walking will indeed get the job done. It did for me when I lost 110 pounds in the past , and it gives me renewed hope that it will work again ! Walking made up a lot of our day yesterday , and when not walking we would take out time to play Walk it Out for the Wii with the brilliant decision to place the nunchuck in our socks, sit in the chair and swing your feet to the beat instead of walking and potentially annoying the neighbors. Sort of an air walking fidget if you will that was a heck of a lot of fun.

These things helped me to discover one very important motivational saying that I have repeated to myself my entire life when faced with a challenge- it's easy to make lemonade out of lemons, but a sign of genius to turn them into gold. Anyone can do anything with the perfect environment and equipment , but many times in life the only thing you have is a desire and your wits. If you stop focusing on what you do not have and concentrating on what you have in hand, you can pretty much do anything. Where would we be without people like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell - both of whom are men who wanted to accomplish something important and according to the voices around them could not do it. They took what they had and what they knew , used it to the best advantage and created something that changed the world.I see that kind of thinking involved with both my weight loss journey and overall life dilemma. Instead of pondering all those things I cannot do and all the restrictions, the only thing I can do is use what I have in my hand and make every possible moment count. Perhaps if the economic climate continues and less and less two car/two income households begin who have less and less ability to take children to numerous activities and events, people like my son , who has lived it, will be needed to show people how exactly to make fun and memories without external things. Perhaps.

Eats of the day were some goodies !

Breakfast was apple raisin oats with pumpkin seeds. I grabbed a pack of salted ones by mistake at the store, so I am stuck with them till we use them up. The salty and sweet does make for a good combo tastewise though !

Lunch was a mug of the current batch of 15 bean soup with veggies and hummus. My son seems to inhale this, lentil and minestrone soup. It makes me giggle- before we started this journey he absolutely hated soup, or an foods that contained multiple tastes and textures.

15 bean soup

1 bag 15 bean soup mix
1 lb pork product ( ham, sausage, ham hock, ham bone- highly flavored chicken sausage works as well)
4 cups chicken stock
2 cans diced tomatoes
3 carrots, sliced
3 onions, chopped

Wash beans and soak overnight ( I put mine in my crockpot overnight covered with water on low)Drain the beans and place with all other ingredients in a crock pot , cook on high for 4 hours

Dinner was something that has become a new favorite- Creole chicken with spinach and rice. This time I made it with rainbow chard instead of spinach because it was so good looking in the market on Saturday and on sale . Chard and Spinach are interchangeable in recipes, but because chard has a lower oxalate acid count, it has a slightly more mild taste. I used chard also because i had a craving for a spinach strawberry salad, which came along for the ride. So many greens....

Creole Chicken with Spinach and Rice

1 cup brown rice -- uncooked
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
olive oil (small amount)
3 chicken legs and thighs
1 1/2 cups chopped organic celery
1 cup chopped canned tomatoes -- (no salt)
10 ounces spinach or chard
1 cup chili sauce (low salt) or salsa
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 large green pepper -- chopped
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Cook brown rice according to package directions, adding chili powder to cooking water.
Using a paper towelmoistened with olive oil, lightly coat a deep nonstick skillet and heat. Cook thin strips of chicken on medium high, turning occasionally, for 3-5 minutes until no longer pink.
Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Simmer covered for
10 minutes. Serve over seasoned brown rice. Serves 4.