Jensen

Here!!! I've done I-80 across and back and I-40 one way but haven't done "the southern route". Can't wait to see what I'm missing!!!

I'm loving the pictures! (I know, I know ... half of them are mine. ) For dinner, we had pork tenderloin skewers (6 points), Caesar salad (1 point), and corn on the cob (with butter, 2 points). I also had about 11 points worth of alcohol...(several beers pre-dinner and then a glass of wine with dinner). I have three points left over. So, do I make myself a small dessert and deduct from the alcohol points (formerly known as Flex Points) or do I just drink some water, deduct at least one of the beers from my Flex Points, and suffer?

The Flex Point congee... One rice-cup of basmati rice ultimately made 9 ladles-full of congee. So, I reckon that it is 1 point per ladleful. This bowl was two ladles; after I took the picture, I added some "krab" for a grand total of 3 points. Not bad. I'm looking forward to eating some for breakfast tomorrow morning.

I'm making some as well, using basmati rice and low-Na/low-fat chicken broth. I'm looking forward to comparing the Flex Point congee with the Core Plan congee...

Well, I'm back from my trip back east and am hoping I didn't go too hog wild whilst there... The Spouse made dinner tonight (which was wonderful for me, as I'm still getting used to the time difference); the entire meal was 9 points. The day before I left for Connecticut, I went to the farmers' market in Davis with a friend, where I bought some wild king salmon. I vacuum-packed it and stuck it in the freezer that very night. Wayde built dinner around one of these fillets. First, he made a marinade/sauce of 1 T. mayonnaise, 1 T. sriracha sauce, and 1 T. low-Na soy sauce. Here they are, ready to go on the grill: To go with the salmon, he made a salad of Israeli couscous, dried cranberries, and leftover vegetables from last night's dinner: The dressing was made of vinegar, sweet chili sauce, and a dribble of sesame oil. The veggie side was twice-cooked long beans (first steamed and then stir-fried with some garlic): I reckon the salmon was 5 points (each piece weighed in at just under 4 oz. when cooked), the salad was 3 points (serving size was about 2/3 cup), and the beans were worth 1 point (because of the stir-frying). Garnished with some chilled cucumber slices to offset the heat of the salad and the salmon: Yum!

Abra, when cooking congee in a rice cooker, nothing needs to be exact. The rough guideline is 7 parts water to 1 part rice. [snippage] Thank you so much for posting this! I haven't had congee since I moved from Vancouver five years ago. I can't wait to make some in my cooker!

Oh my! I wish I'd been there too. What a wonderful meal!!!

Can you insert it using the ASCII code for it (Alt - 0176 -- hold down the Alt key while you enter the number using the number pad on your keyboard)?

I've always liked to have some Trader Joe's sauces in the cupboard for quick dinners. I was very happy to discover that they are also points friendly. I've also got the fixings to make up some dal lentils which I will freeze in serving size packets (not for convenience but because I'm the only one who will eat that ). That might not work if you have busy *seasons* though, rather than just a busy day, here and there. It still takes time to prepare the initial meal and freeze it. For a quick meal, there's always the trusty stir fry. My grocery store sells some fresh veggies already pre-chopped. And there's always my favourite low-point meal ... sushi!

And some chipotles in adobo sauce. Yum. Now I know what I am doing with my left over corn. This sent me on a frantic search through my cupboards for chipotles in adobo. I was sure I'd stashed a tin in there somewhere but no... I substituted a pepper from the market on the weekend. It's not a hot one but it still has a bit of a burn to it. The salad is now made and waiting in the fridge until dinner time. It ended up being: * corn * tomato * onion * chile * cilantro * juice of 1/2 lime Seasoned only with salt. The little taste I snuck was pretty good

Tonight I'm going to celebrate another successful weigh-in (and the resetting of my flex points) with a real treat: pork chops. My friend and I went to the farmers' market in Davis last night and I purchased some 1.25"-thick pork chops from a pig guy. No hormones, natural feed, blah blah blah. I've got some leftover corn on the cob from the other night that I think I will scrape and build some sort of salad with too. I lost points today (dropped to the next level of target points) so I hope I can keep it all under my allotment! Maybe if I just dress the corn salad with lime juice???

I'd like to know exactly what being a personal chef entails. (Pretty please...) It sounds so exotic and fabulous.

It must be everyone's holiday time! I'm heading out tomorrow for Connecticut. I think I'll be able to stay OP while I'm there. I'll be staying with a friend and she lets me cook when I visit her. I'm looking forward to peeking in on Abra's blog. Maybe I will get inspired to try different things while back east (my friend has a much nicer kitchen than I do and much nicer pots and pans and knives and things like that).

Happy Birthday! Looks like it will be another interesting week...

Dejah, thank you for a wonderful peek into your kitchen... It was a wonderful week to follow (even if it did make me homesick ).

Here, now I have been meal planning a lot more. I think not planning was my big downfall that led me down the path to overweighted-ness. Since moving here, for a bunch of reasons, we ended up eating out more and more. You can't do that and stay at a reasonable weight (or, apparently, I can't). Until recently, I was using my trips to the farmers' market to help with my meal planning. I'd hit the market on Saturday morning and then, after I got home, would write down what I'd purchase on a whiteboard stuck to my dog fridge. From there, I'd plan meals around the *vegetables*, not around meat. I found that to be really helpful. Of course, now that it is stone fruit season here, most of the market goods are peaches, nectarines, plums, and pluots. Kind of hard to plan a meal around those. (Also, missing the market can throw a wrench into things.)

I believe simply cornstarch is used instead of a cornstarch solution. Whenever I silken meat, of any kind, I first season, then add acouple tablespoons of cornstarch and vegetable oil. This is "worked" together and allowed to rest until needed. I always season first, because once the oil and cornstarch is added, the seasoning won't penetrate the meat. Hope that helps. Thank you! I've used plain old cornstarch on its own before (as per Laska) but my friend, Jin (who was visiting from Vancouver and with whom I was perusing your pictures), said that she uses a cornstarch solution. Neither of us had heard the technique called "silkened" before though.

Just had another thought...Trader Joe's Punjab sauce.

I used ground turkey in the stuffed squash I made (riffing on the LA Times' article about stuffed vegetables...now sadly archived away in oblivion). Photos, description here (just scroll down past the tower of pork...) If you were in a rush, you could make the filling the night before and then just stuff a vegetable when you got home from the gym and steam it. I used leftover filling from that dinner to stuff a pepper for lunch a day or two later. It was great too.

We got treats from home just yesterday: * spicy peanuts * coconut cream-flavoured peanuts * wasabi peas (also available here in Sacto but the market is that sells this particular brand is far away)

I purchased walnut and cilantro pesto so there's a combo that's a little bit different.

It's still too hot for a warm breakfast here in Sacra-tomatoes. I've been eating Trader Joe's fat-free granola (1/2 cup) and TJ's low-fat organic yogurt (1/4 cup). 3.5 points And speaking of TJ's low-fat organic yogurt...it is fabulous! I went on a huge yogurt-making binge not too long ago because I find American yogurt too sweet. This yogurt is wonderful...even though it's low-fat, it tastes creamy and it has the runnier, European texture that I like. Yum!!!!

You can get the fish and shrimp balls at just about any Asian market. You can buy them fresh at the fish counter or frozen in the freezer section or fresh but vacuum-sealed in the refrigerated food section. Last night, we used fresh but vacuum-sealed. In Vancouver, we used to buy the paste from the fish counter at T & T Market and then just form quennelles with a couple of spoons. That was even better because the fish paste was sooooo good. Fresh noodles makes a big difference in flavour. Last night, we used Vietnamese rice noodles which are fresh but not cooked. They were great. Chinese rice noodles are sometimes coated in oil so you need to watch that.

Hi, I have a question about "silkened" chicken. You've mentioned it a couple of times. Do you mean coating the chicken pieces in a cornstarch solution just prior to cooking???? Thanks!

Well, I guess this is going to be *the* Weight Watchers thread. We can worry about the name of it later... Yesterday, friends from home (Vancouver) arrived for a couple of days and we spent our first hours together partaking in one of our favourite meals...hot pot. As far as points go, I'm really not sure. Maybe someone with the eTools access can run it through the points builder. Here are the ingredients for 8 people: Vegetables: * baby bok choy * pea shoots * sui choy * cilantro Fish & Seafood: * fish balls (12 oz) * shrimp balls (12 oz) * prawns (8 oz) Meat & Other Protein: * lean pork (12 oz) * chicken (8 oz) * tofu (8 oz) Noodles: * rice noodles (2.5 lbs) You can also see our sauces in that photo: Kai's "special sauce" (cooked oil--not much in deference to the WWs crowd, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and green onions), sambal olek, sweet chili sauce, and oyster sauce. Also a little dish of chopped green onions for anyone who wanted them as a garnish. Here is the table before we started cooking: We'd started the broth out with a little flavour by boiling some pork neck bones on the stove while we were getting all the ingredients together. Then the stock pot goes on the tabletop burner and ingredients are added, a bit at a time: Once the first batch is cooked, it is removed from the pot and put in the "community bowl". This bowl is then passed around the table, with all diners helping themselves. I had a very sad flash card corruption and these were four of the five photos that were recovered. (Thank God Kai is an übertech!) What is missing is a photo of the first batch of noodles coming out of the pot, my first bowl of food, and the finishing touch to the meal...the broth. Once all the ingredients have been eaten, the broth (by this time, very flavourful) is ladled out into the bowls. I wish all the photos had been recoverable but I'm still very happy that even these few could be shared. This is a fabulous meal, especially when shared with great friends...no added fat, no added salt. Just healthy eating that tastes good!