Oats for dinner

Who says oatmeal is just for breakfast ???

Sounds odd to some, but for a long time I have wondered why we consider oats to be something to eat only as a cereal or in bread. Why is it that they are no served like we do with rice or barley or pasta, as a side to a meat or bean type meal ? Just when did the food police come in and say "Oats, you will only be allowed to be used between the hours of _ and _ , or there will be stiff penalties." Why is wheat seemingly the only grain without time restrictions ? I think this kind of radical thinking was begun by my mother, who would often serve us rice with milk and butter and sugar for breakfast. She never made oatmeal, but rice was a pretty regular breakfast.

I am in a food rut, and if I have to place the same ole thing on the same ole plates in the same ole combination, I am going to lose it. This can be really hazardous to a diet, because at this point things like pizza and buckets of chicken start looking really, really good. I can do nothing about meal choices the next few days till we go grocery shopping, so make the best of what I have on hand and try to mix it up somewhat. What do I have ? lots of salad, brown rice, quinoa, barley , steel cut oats...

Hmm. Perhaps oats for dinner ? Why not ! Where is it written that this is a no no ? So I came up with the following, as inspired by something I read on a freezer cooking loop

Steel cut oat Pilaf- serves 3

1 cup steel cut oats
2 cups water
small bunch green onions, sliced
1 large zuchinni ,chopped
1 half red bell pepper, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp chicken soup base

In a pan , saute the onions, pepper and zuchini in olive oils till tender crisp. Transfer to a rice cooker and add water, oats and spices. Press lever and cook. If no rice cooker, place in a pan with a secure lid, bring to a boil , and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

It was a huge hit ! The oats come out with a creamy sort of mouth feel, and it is somewhat reminiscent of a rice and gravy kind of dish. We will be definately having this again . And now off on a quest for side veggies beyond salad. Why is it that we Americans hare content having the same 11 varieties of frozen vegtables to choose from ? There simply has to be more to this life !

Some changes

Sometimes you have to do things to streamline life a little .

I found that keeping my food log and exercise log on a hard copy instead of on the computer is going to be much more "user friendly" to me than keeping it on the computer. For one thing it is permanent and if there is a problem I will be able to pinpoint the problem easier. Second, weird as it may sound, one of my most prized possessions was the food log I kept from my weight loss journey in order to get pregnant. It sounds odd, but to me it has always symbolized the time in my life when I fought the hardest for a goal and won. Isn't it funny how you attach meanings to things ?So I won't be posting my food logs anymore. Second, I noticed as I was uploading pictures the last few days, pictures really eat up ram, and if I keep going at this rate I will run out of space on my blog by about August. It would be lovely tho think that we will all be at our goal weight by then, but it is not realistic. So if you will still be following this blog, you are going to get more glimpses into me instead of the things I eat and just statistics for exercise. I think it will be fun.

I have been focusing more on strength training these days , and i am finding that therin lies the true state of my body. This human machine that could , at one time carry a 120 pound canoe PLUS a 75 pound food pack on her back and walk a quarter of a mile without trouble is now an official wimp. Age, sedintary life and needing to focus more brains than braun on life are what did it. Hand weights I can do without problem, but when you put me to task with something like the Plank, well then the fun begins. The first one I thought I was going to die, but realized that this is exactly what I need to strenghten my non existant core muscles. Second day I wondered if I would break my nose if my legs wimped out doing this move. Third day I was able to hold it a little better , and it just keeps imroving. Gee, perhaps one day I might work myself up all the way to Abs of Jello !!! Not looking for washboard abs, but it would be nice to look down and see something that no longer resembles the infamous Mount Wash Me pile that the washboard could tackle.

I am also reaching a food rut. We seem to be eating exactly the same thing every day, and while this is very good for meal planning and bugeting, my brain is begining to feel like if I see one more meal of chicken and salad on my plate I will scream. We have to watch sodium, we have to watch allergens ( I am allergic to fish and shellfish), we have to watch calories, we have to get in the health goals, and it makes for some really narrow choices when you also figure in finances. I have a recipe software program that has about 20,000 recipies I have loaded in, and all I have to do is sit myself down and go through it for some new ideas. Problem is with that, it makes me very hungry reading all these recipies. Watching Food Network does the same thing. So I am trying to figure on some new ideas on my own.

Wish me luck !

New horizons in chocolate

Weight loss is work. Plain and simple. There are no short cuts, and every bit of the process takes effort to one degree or another. You need to devote time to exercise, time to planning and time needs to be devoted to preparing your meals. Skipping exercise will bring you lesser results, failing to plan leads to many disastrous moments and eating out or eating a lot of packaged meals is a sure fire way to make the scale drift up because of the added salt, fat and chemical enhancements. Time becomes one of your most valuable assets when trying to make any kind of lifestyle change. We have been doing this weight loss journey as a family since December of 07, and a whole lot of the planning, prep and cooking has fallen on my shoulders. It is not a jab at my husband or my son, but simply a fact of our lives. Out of convenience and logic, we have drifted into a largely traditional model of stay at home mom and working dad . It works well, we see many benefits and we both really enjoy this model. That is not to say it does not have it's moments of stress.

One thing I have been casually doing for the last 20 or so years is learning herbal medicine and energetic medicine. I have considered going for a formal degree, but as I have no intention of doing this as a practice , I don't see the real point. I am a Reiki Master with certification that allows me to offer treatment to others in a non hands on fashion. I do this well, but herbs are my first and foremost passion.Herbal medicine is different from conventional forms in the fact that it treats the root cause of imbalance and not simply the symptoms. Since we began the weight loss journey, my time has been very limited, and my own studies have been pushed aside.Two weeks ago I was asked to participate in an ongoing large Reiki healing project, and not only did I agree to participate, but it reminded me that it has been a long time since I devoted time and energy to my own studies, and so I remedied that. I made a commitment to myself to devote at least an hou each day to my own studies, and so far I have succeeded. Homeschool-check ! Houswork-check ! Exercise- check ! Studies-check ! Energetic work-check ! And with it came a dim memory of two herbs that work well together but are not always thought of as being combined together-chocolate and cayenne pepper . What do they do ? They energize you. So what could be a more perfect seasoning combo for an evening meal ? Rather than eat dinner and turn into a slug, eat and actually be present for the evening.

Chocolate Chili chicken

2 T Hersheys Dark cocoa powder( plain will also do)
1/8th t cayanne pepper
2 boneless skinnless chicken breasts

Combine the cocoa and cayanne and mix well. Spinkle on the chicken breast and rub in- coat both sides. Let sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, grill or broil( I cooked ours in the George Forman Grill)

Tastewise it needed a little something, but energetically it kept hubby and I very alert but made our son fall into a very deep sleep very early. It is definately worth experimenting with . Incidentally, adding a small amount of cocoa powder to your favorite chili recipe will give the same affect.

Log for yesterday- I am not taking pics of all meals because they are all pretty much the same
exercise-
rowing 15 min
Wii fit 10 min- balance
Jillian Micheals Ultimate fitness 10 min
bike 10 min
weights 200 reps

Breakfast-
Oats, barley, rye flakes
ground flax,crasins,seed nut mix,wheat bran,coconut,goji berries
olive oil and peanut butter
Yo plus digestive yogert, apple
coffee,water

Lunch-
Turkey pastrami and provalone on whole wheat english muffin
celery and carrot sticks, blood orange
yo plus digestive yogert,water

Dinner-
Chili chocolate grilled chicken
Brown and whole grain rice, California blend
tossed salad, fresca

Snacks
afternoon- sugar free jello, sugar free pudding
evening- sugar free pudding,Fiber Plus bar, apple
carrot and celery sticks

water 18 (144 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 7
lean protien 2
dairy 2
healthy fats 2

Hang in there, baby !

This little guy caused quite a disruption in our school this morning. It was started by a very loud robin perched on the tree right outside our living room window. I think he encouraged Mister Squirrel here to come up and investigate our digs. After all, it must be a party in here, and this must be the location for the next installment of Squirrels gone Wild. You have to admire the creature's tenacity. After a few futile attempts to enter, he ran away in search of happier hunting grounds. Either that or he check the adress given to him and realized he was in the wrong place.

Somehow this squirrel sums up my feelings about weight loss today. I would love to go searching for that double chocolate sundae that is fat free, sugar free and calorie free. It would be quickly followed by my quest for the zero point french fry and endless plate of Magical Nachos that actually burn more calories in their consumption than you ingest in doing so. Wouldn't they be great ?

However, I know better. I know weight loss is not about quick fixes, magic pills, voodoo mathematics or other fancy stuff. It is all about making a healthy choice one meal at a time and not robbing Peter to pay Paul calorie wise. ( or as I have attempted in past decades knocking out Peter and stealing Paul's wallet so he does not realize anyone owes him money). No matter how my brain would justify eating that fast food meal/birthday cake/pint of ice cream/mountain of fudge, my body knows differently. All it sees is calories , nutrients and fuel coming in. Put in too much, and it has handy little containers to store the surplus. Fill to move enough and those storage units get really swolen with stuff. Weight loss is hard, long, and at times can make you feel like Mister Squirrel here- desperately looking for something different.

Nothing for it but to just hang in there,baby !!

Cottage cheese should never come in 5 lb tubs

Yesterday could best be described as "use up the cottage cheese day" . Last week I started thinking that one reason hubby might be stalling with his weight loss was eating cottage cheese too many meals, and we switched his meals. Problem is, we had been buying the stuff at Sam's, and it comes in huge 5 pound tubs, so we had leftovers. I moved the container to the back of the fridge and kind of forgot. Sunday evening when I was trying to get lunch packed i noticed the container and determined that I had best use it up. Happily it is now gone, and we can move on.

exercise-
wII fit 15 min ( strength 15 min)
rowing 15 min
walk 15 min
10 min bike
220 reps hand weights

Breakfast-
Oats, barley, rye flakes
ground flax,crasins,seed nut mix,wheat bran,coconut,goji berries
olive oil and peanut butter
Yo plus digestive yogert, navel orange
coffee,water

Lunch-
Bocca burger on Thomases Whole wheat muffin
celery, carrots,yellow tomatoes
cottage cheese with blood orange
water

Dinner- Inspired by a dish created by Marisa
Eggplant tomato garbanzo sauce on whole wheat pasta
cottage cheese
tossed salad,Fresca



Snacks
Am - fat free cheese stick, celery and carrots,green tea
Afternoon- sugar free pudding, sugar free jello
evening- Yo plus dighestive yogert, sugar free pudding, fiber plus bar

water 14 (112 oz)
Fruits 2
veg 9
lean protien 2
dairy 3
healthy fats 2

Just the log

Spent much of yesterday dealing with things of a spiritual nature which will not be discussed here, so just the log for yesterday . No exercise, but instead a day of rest

Breakfast-finally got to try butterscotch chips with grains !
Crockpot Pumpkin Grains (barley,wheat berries,steel cut oats)
topped with butterscotch chips,ground flax,coconut,bran,almonds,
heath bits,olive oil,peanut butter
Yo plus digestive yogert, apple
coffee, water

Lunch-repeat of Saturday because I got kind of busy
Turkey pastrami on whole wheat
celery and carrot sticks, blood orange
mozzerella tomato salad
spa water

Dinner-some days if I did not have a crock pot, we would starve !
Pork pot roast with potatoes and carrots
salad, Diet Sierra Mist


Snacks if it was not for my son, who is a creaturde of habit and reminds me of what needs to happen when it does, i probably would not have eaten any snacks.
Afternoon-sugar free pudding, sugar free jello
evening- sugar free pudding, apple,Fiber Plus bar

water 12(96 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 6
lean protein 2
dairy 2
healthy fats 2

Celebrate

There is something very optimistic about seeing the calender flip from February to March in our household ! January sees us dumped into the most frigid temperatures of the year, February brings some heavy snows and nasty cold snaps, but come March first you know things are going to change dramatically. You will see a few days temperature wise that are genuinely warm. And, just the other day day I heard the familiar "cheer up" call of a robin. Spring is definitely on the way.

Not only is March the month when the sun moves into the calendar based season of spring, but it is also the month when some dramatic changes happened for us personally. Many years ago, after being friends for 3 years and moving into a dating relationship, we kissed for the first time. It had been far from my first kiss, but it was the first kiss that melted my heart and told me that I had indeed found the second half of my soul. If that was not enough reason to make March a memorable month, it is also the month where after 10 long years of infertility and 9 months of a rough high risk pregnancy, we became parents. Granted, there were also bad events that happened in March, but these two good ones seem to erase them from our memories foreground. So for those reasons, simply entering the month of March is a reason to celebrate. And we did a little with some of our food choices. Definitely within our points range, but just a little bit cut loose and say hooray. Plus another opportunity for me to play with my George Forman Grill !

exercise-
walk 90 min
rowing 15 min

Breakfast-
pumpkin Oat,rye barley flakes with cinnamon, brown sugar,flax,crasins,seed mix,
goji berries,wheat bran,coconut olive oil and peanut butter,
Yo plus digestive yogert, blueberries
water, coffee



Lunch-
Turkey pastrami and provalone on whole wheat with olive oil mayo
mozzarella tomato basil salad, celery and carrot sticks
blood orange, yo plus digestive yogert
Diet Sierra Mist

Dinner-
New York Strip steak with portabello mushrooms and onions ( my husband has rarely had steak, and we are trying different cuts)
Whole wheat couscous, broccoli/cauliflower/carrot blend
salad, Water



Snacks
afternoon- sugar free jello, sugar free pudding,parsley tea
evening- Fiber plus bar,Black Forest cake ( celebrating)

water 10 (80 oz)
Fruits 3
veg 7
lean protien 3
dairy 2
healthy fats 2