Cusina

I scrapped the salmon last night as I forgot to remove it from the freezer. Made provencal beef stew in the slow cooker instead. It turned out really well, very flavorful. I used peas instead of carrots and tossed in a few handfuls of pasta during the last hour of cooking. Also added some adobo sauce and wosterchire at the table. I'm kind of regretting tossing in the pasta though, as it would have been nice to have the leftovers for lunch today. I should have served it over pasta instead. Chardgirl, how was your party? Your menu sounded very good, I'm sure everyone went home happy. Why isn't that zucchini recipe core? Lots of butter? Therese, I'm glad to hear that your vitamin problems are over. :) School starts the day after tomorrow here and I have to say I'm ready. It feels like fall and we all could use a little more structure. I also am looking forward to a few feet of personal space, whew. The kids were so loopy at the grocery yesterday I could hardly think.

I love eating alone too, but honestly, the company is important to me. Some great meals in my life... eating breakfast at camp as a teenager. Nothing, nothing tastes better than french toast and eggs steaming hot off a tin plate while sitting on a rock in a forest on a coolish June morning. Or that peach cobbler my friend Russ made for me one night off at the camp's dockside firering. Not only was it delicious, it was made in my honor. That tastes pretty darn good too. Greece, as a college student. I honestly had no idea tomatoes could taste like that. The fact that it was incredibly cheap helped too... I could afford so much more there than I had been able to anywhere else in our travels. Then there was the Thanksgiving the year my son was born. I was still in the hospital for the day itself, but the Saturday after we returned home my mom put together the feast for us. It was great. Very traditional, but I was so happy to have our family table be complete. I also loved our wedding dinner. If I had to choose ONE favorite meal that would be it. The food was really very good. We got married in a small Wisconsin town. The reception hall was a recently renovated dance hall from the 40s, the new owners were retired chefs from Milwaukee. He had been making buffets for small town affairs for about 6 months - ham or beef, potatoes, salad, fruit if he was lucky, corn, beans, gravy, bread. That's it. When we mentioned we would like veal marsala, herbed salmon and a vegetarian lasagane his eyes lit up. He promised us salmon off the boat that morning, veal like you couldn't get for 100 miles and he delivered. It was a great meal, definitely the best reception meal I've ever had. Plus the company was amazing. All four of my grandparents were there, all of our families and close friends. (and, get this, it was $14 a plate! Even in 1994 that was a serious bargain, my Chicago friends were paying $50) This is a cool thread. Lots of great memories.

My son is 4 years old and 50+lbs (skinny, just solid and tall) and I already catch him standing there, staring into the fridge with that look on his face, you know the one. I know I'll be in for what you are describing in about 10 years. Omlettes are good for growing boys too. I can remember my brother whipping them up for an after school snack. Eggs are cheap too. Quesadillas are another suggestion. Either in the frying pan or the microwave. Giant tortilla, shredded cheese, leftover meat, salsa and sour cream. My favorite adolescence food was to fill a cereal bowl full of rice crispies, add marshmellows, a bit of butter and a few chocolate chips, nuke it for a few seconds (the marshmellows puff up and get HUGE, kind of cool to watch) and stir. Not exactly healthy but, yum.

Chardgirl, chicken eggs are core. I'm not fond of egg substitute either, but I didn't realize that real eggs were on the list at first. Thankfully I was wrong. I'll definitely use a real egg next time. 1/4 c sub = 1 egg. Still very much in the learning curve with the core program. Sorry. Therese, what a bummer with the vitamin nausea. I have a really hard time with multivitamins too. I take Scooby Doo vitamins with my kids for just that reason. I usually end up with the orange Fred as he doesn't appear to be popular. Poor guy. The weather has definitely turned cooler here. (North Eastern Wisconsin) Fall is arriving, which makes for a shift in the way I cook. I'm thinking about grilled sweet potatoes for dinner tonight. And some salmon, glazed with apple horseradish. Maybe some homemade applesauce too. I have a bag of very green, tart apples my kids insisted on at the farmer's market this weekend. And I'll probably try another batch of the baked oatmeal. No splenda this time, more banana. Must go menu plan and grocery shop. Enjoy your day.

I feel like my life is pretty darn active, and on the flex plan if I didn't give myself extra APs for things like yardwork (I work up a serious sweat with that reel mower, honestly) and playing hard with my kids at the park, keeping up with my son on his bigwheel etc... I was absolutely ravenous and ended up eating all the wrong things. I don't often get a chance to really "work out". My kids are little and it's summertime, there just isn't opportunity. But I'm far from sedentary. Maybe I'll have to shift that mentality now that I'm doing the core plan though. It is set up differently. During the flex plan those points basically went into my 3 squares and healthy snacks. With the core they are more about indulgences. If I'm not losing that will be something I change. So far I feel like I'm down a bit this week, my clothes are fitting well, so we'll see. I'm experimenting with core baked oatmeal bars this weekend. The first batch were pretty darn good. Next time I want to try blueberries and peaches instead of apples and bananas. I started with a cooking light recipe, but changed a lot of stuff, so I feel like it's my own. You could probably reduce the splenda even further, though they aren't terribly sweet to begin with. 2 c. quick oats 1/4 c. splenda 1 diced apple 1/2 t. cinnamon 1 t. baking powder 1 12 oz. can evaporated skim milk 2 T ff plain yogurt 1/4 cup egg substitute 1 mashed ripe banana Combine wet and dry ingredients separately, add wet to dry and mix till blended. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. I'd take a picture, but you know, they just aren't that pretty.

Hi Guys. I am starting to really look forward to checking in with this thread in the morning. Thanks. You're cool. Jensen, congrats on the loss! 10 lbs. is great. You go! Nanuqe, good luck. Going off the plan for a week kind of scared me, especially since we were in Maine part of the time, but when it was all said and done I only gained .5 lbs. Whew. I'm sure you'll be just fine too. O.k. Good news and bad news for me today. The good news, pushing a reel mower burns 422 calories an hour! http://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com/info/faq.htm Half an hour behind mine got me 4 aps yesterday. Plus two good long walks 2 points each (um, and some fun sex, 1 pt. ) I managed to earn myself an activity points total of 9. A record high for me. The bad news is that if you take your brother out for his birthday and drink 1/2 a bottle of wine, a crown and diet, a gin and tonic and a light beer you set yourself back 15 points. Ugh. I'm too old for that kind of thing. But it was fun, he had a very happy birthday. Jensen: Two tips on the meringue (I would call what you described a schaum torte), they are very difficult to make in the summer as the humidity makes them dense and chewy rather than light, crisp pillows. You need a dry day before trying it. With the splenda, you might want to add some other flavoring to the recipe. Make them strawberry, almond or lemon flavored or whatever, but plain I think the very slight, but still present, splenda taste might come through. And, finally, I had a great dinner last night... Gingered Shrimp and Soba I subbed edamame and broccolini for the broccoli, left out the apple juice and only used 2 tsp. of oil instead of a T. This was really delicious and core. The only bummer is that if I want to have sushi for dinner tonight I can't have the leftovers for lunch today. Too much starch. I'll add a photo when I get it downloaded.

Oh, and Abra, thanks for the evaporated milk tip, I'll try it.

I'm going to miss my afternoon Wasa snacks. I used to do them with ff cream cheese, 2 for 1 point. But, I don't like them enough to spend flex points on them, for sure. Funny how things come and go when you change the "rules". Lunch was kind of a challenge for me today as I haven't had the chance to go to the grocery since switching plans. I ended up with a tuna salad over spinach. Made the tuna with ff plain yogurt, diced dill pickle, and red pepper and it wasn't bad. It wasn't great either though. I need to find more lunch options. Actually, what I need is to prevent my children from crawling all over me while I'm trying to prepare lunch so that I can actually think. They are mighty persistent when they are hungry.

Therese, this cracked me up. So, after doing some more reading I've done an about face and switched to the core plan. Thanks, Tess, for posting that frolicanddetour link. I started thinking long term, which plan would be more sustainable for me as a life long eating pattern, and the core seemed to fit that goal best. So far, I'm liking it. The biggest suprise is how much I missed MILK. The flex system discouraged it. I didn't want to be drinking my points. I may be delusional but I feel like I have more energy with a glass of milk in me this morning. It seems like the core plan really encourages you to be creative with condiments and flavors. The proof is on the scale six weeks from now, I suppose, but for now it's nice to not have to write down every detail. The points-pad is so simple. I can also see a much more direct reward relationship for exercising with this program. In the flex point system those activity points just got mixed into the rest of the daily total. With this system your APs go straight to the treat pile and you really connect how walking that extra mile gets you an extra glass of wine or whatever. Breakfast this morning was steel cut oats, sprinkled with splenda and blueberries. Tasty. I can see that becoming a staple for me.

LEdlund, I feel exactly the same way about the core plan. My biggest problem is portion sizes. I need to learn through calorie counts exactly what I'm eating before I can give myself more reign. I have a library cookbook habit. I love to check them out and peruse. Last week was Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat". Wow, beautiful stuff. Way, way too rich for me while I'm on this plan. The last chapter of the book was devoted to her healthy eating theory. It isn't that far off from the core plan, however, her recipes don't match up. The siren song of whole cream gets to her, I can tell. I was glad to see that she at least addressed the issue but it seemed like an afterthought. It is almost as if she is saying "Here are all these beautiful recipes, buuuuuttttt, you know, you really shouldn't eat much of them." Gee thanks. This week's library find is really good though. The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook I love that every recipe gives specific nutritional information plus, it is serious food porn. 90% of the recipes have gorgeous and very clear photos next to them. Asparagus with Hazelnut Gremolata, Avocado salad with Ginger Miso Dressing, Whole-Grain Buttermilk Biscuits, Posole with Fresh Corn Gorditas... yum. Can't wait to experiment.

Wraps work well and come together quickly. Fajitas maybe? Shrimp or chicken and guacamole, salsa or pico de gallo, roasted onions and peppers. You could marinate the meat while you travel.

I was thinking dry white wine and butter, which I often stir into my risotto, for the congee example, not red. Just so you all don't think I'm some sort of weirdo. I also used to add lots of shredded gruyere cheese *sigh*. Back in the hedonistic days. I've noticed that corn and shrimp pancake recipe too. Thanks for posting about those Joiei. I'll have to give them a try. NulloModo, I agree they don't give much info in the free tour. I found two other BB sites that have some more at least semi-coherent information, though not much. Journal to Success and 3fatchicks. You have to sift through everything though, it's not a straightforward introduction.

I like the pics too... I'll try to provide some of my meals as well. Congee sounds marvelous and the weather is starting to cool off here. Would be a good meal for a cool day. The pork tenderloin skewers were great last night. Partly they were nice because they are so portion controlled. I made 1 ounce chunks of pork and put 3 pieces of meat on each skewer, Chris ate two skewers I only ate one. They were served over cous cous. (5 points for one skewer and one serving of cous cous) Also sauteed onions, garlic, chickpeas and spinach in red wine and evoo (2 points). AND for dessert, a little splurge, chocolate peanut butter cookie dough ice cream. Skinny cow brand. It was very rich and yummy - only 2 points. Tonight and tomorrow Chris is out of town. I always find it much tougher to get motivated to cook when he is gone. Hopefully I'll get inspired. Here's a question for you guys about the core program. If, for example, you went nuts and added a little butter and wine to your congee, would you need to count the whole dish out of your 35 weekly points or just the points for the butter and wine? Where do you draw the line and start counting a whole dish as not being core?

Just a hint. I make my rum cakes in a bundt pan. For the glaze I let the cake cool slightly in the pan, poke holes in what will eventually be the bottom of the cake and pour 3/4 of the glaze into the cake. Let the glaze soak in for a while, maybe 15 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a serving plate. Then brush the remaining 1/4 of the glaze onto the cake with a pastry brush. This technique ensures that most of the glaze gets soaked into the cake rather than oozing onto the plate.

One more thing... MealTutor, your response made me laugh and your web site is beautiful. Wish I lived in Buckhead so I could try one of your classes. No bugs though!

I don't enjoy capers or leeks. Just don't trip my trigger. I also, though this isn't gourmet, have been embarassed when presented with some goodie or another that contains sweetened condensed milk. I just can't stomach the stuff. I have a huge sweet tooth and it's not like me to turn down dessert but, honestly, I think it reminds me too much of regurgitated breast milk. Not a good association. This happens sometimes with very rich creme brulee as well.

I'm at 22 points. My points level won't change at all throughout the program. I started at the top of the range and my goal weight will end at the bottom of the range. After reading about the core plan and all of your posts (thanks), I've decided to stick with flex points. It's working well for me and the old "if it taint broke don't fix it" mantra applies here, I think. If I hit a long term plateau I'll think about switching over. Here's my menu plan thus far for this week. I'm struggling a little bit with it as we spent the past week and a half out of town and I'm easing back into cooking. I've posted the links to recipes when possible. Monday: Gingered Pork, Pineapple and Pepper Skewers with sauteed spinach, mushrooms and garbanzos Tuesday: Husband gone, I'll have aroasted veggie wrap and make grilled cheese for the kids. Wednesday: coconut shrimp and steamed broccoli, bruschetta. Thursday: Salmon (you inspired me Jensen! Beautiful pictures.) with grilled eggplant and cous cous. Friday: Sushi Take out Saturday: Out with my brother for his Birthday dinner. I'll also make some flavored light cream cheese (onion and roasted garlic I think), roasted veggie spread, and hummous for snacking. My best snack lately has been cream cheese on wasa crackers. I'll probably do a fruit sorbet for desert too. I got an ice cream maker for my birthday and it's been fun to experiment. Last night we had a great dinner. Grilled swordfish steaks(spritzed with evoo and sprinkled with sea salt) topped with a black bean pineapple and chipotle salsa served with a big spinach salad. One more question. I've read that the large carniviorous fish like salmon and swordfish can be very high in Mercury. How often can you eat them without running the risk of getting too much? I've got them in the menu three times this week (including some in the sushi). Is this too much? Maybe I should have chicken or boca burgers instead of the salmon and put that off until next week?

I use mastercook 7 as well and have the same complaints registered above. (liked your chicken liver analogy, heh) I also use an excel spreadsheet table to log meals that we have enjoyed so that I have ideas when we sit down to meal plan. That spreadsheet lists mains, sides, cooktime and method and the recipe source, if any so I know where it is stored without having to hunt. I find this to be really valuable.

Wanted to post a link to my favorite idea source since starting this program. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/051...9/egulletcom-20 This book is organized by menu and she includes the nutritional information on each of her recipes. Good stuff and lots of sideline tips and quotes that make the book interesting reading.

Happy Birthday from me too! Looking forward to the week and I'll appreciate your WW insights. I'm a newbie to their online program. Six weeks in and finding I have a lot of learning to do. Those blackberries remind me of my camp counselor days in college. There was a secret bramble down one of the little used paths that we would raid in August. YUM. Did ya open those presents yet? Get anything good?

Our very own eGullet blog is a WW this week. Abra's blog. And she is a personal chef. Yum. Looking forward to following her throughout the week. Tonight is clean out the fridge before vacation night. Anyone have any suggestions for Portabellas stuffed with some sort of tofu based mixture? Our trip is to see my inlaws in Mass. with a side trip to Maine. Tough food territory. My father-in-law is king of the midnight snackers and a good enough cook that his concoctions are hard to resist. whoo boy.

Sandra, my husband did a similar trick. It wasn't easy. Congratulations to you for making that change in your life. I agree with the author in general, in order for many people to lose weight or even just maintain a healthy one, they have to figure out a way to break those old habits and celebration traditions are tough ones to break. In my world, that means more understanding of what exactly is in what I'm eating and making the best choices I can with that knowledge. That bakery birthday cake served at my daughter's friend's six year old birthday party has a bzillion calories. One small piece, that I can't really turn down without being rude, is a definite splurge. I've learned to scrape the frosting off (it's kind of icky anyways) eat two or three bites of the cake and then throw the rest away. I can easily come up with 50 days this past year during which I splurged and celebrated something. Raises, baptisms, birthdays (my own and friends and families), the last day of school, the first day of school, weddings, visiting friends, funerals, dinner parties, volunteer appreciation breakfasts, award dinners, our anniversary, artist receptions... almost every week there is something celebratory going on in my life. I don't think it is realistic not to celebrate with food at all, for me, as I am a guest not a host at most of these celebrations and I sure don't want to stay home, but I can balance it out and be mindful. Edited for clarity.

I'm coming in late, but I wanted to echo all those who have said what a wonderful blog this is. I can hardly believe how prolific you are in the kitchen. Your experience and artistry really come through in your writing and pictures. Thanks for sharing it all with us this week.

Sorry, that sandwich should be 4 points... I only counted for one slice of bread, duh. I used natural ovens right wheat bread. They have several varieties that are 1 point per slice. Then 2 points for the cheese. Our meals are such that dinner is the main meal of the day. Another big thing for me on WW is that I force myself to meal plan, at least for dinner. We eat a whole lot better and go out less when I do that. Do you all meal plan too? Where do you guys turn to for meal ideas? I've noticed that my cooking has gotten a lot more simplistic since starting this plan. I almost never cook from recipes unless they are from the few cookbooks I have that print the nutritional info. for each recipe. I kind of miss that complexity. Tonight's dinner, for example, was an ham, smoked mozza (leftover from last night's sandwiches) and veggie frittata with toast. Tasty, but practically brainless. I think I'm not confident enough yet within the program to make more complex stuff. I hope that comes with time.

Loved seeing your dinner Jensen. Ours tonight was: Roasted red pepper and onion pureed soup. - 1 point. Grilled smoked mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwiches on whole grain bread. 3 points (use egg white instead of butter on the bread before grilling) These were delicious. Pinot Noir - 3 points Grapes - 1 point homemade fresh blueberry frozen yogurt - 2 points 1 1/2 cups non-fat plain yogurt 1 cup splenda 1 pint plus some fresh blueberries, smooshed 1 T. lemon juice 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest This was my first time using Splenda and found that I don't mind the taste. Suprising. My weigh in is tomorrow (I do the online, can't bring myself to go to the meetings). I was awful this weekend as we spent time at my parent's house and went to the state fair. Absolutely nothing is healthy at the Wisconsin state fair. Yikes. Hopefully being very lean the rest of this week will help.