Kathyann

I don't have a picture handy, but one of my favorite breakfasts is 2 scrambled eggs with, JUST before taking off the heat, 1/2 a diced avodaco mixed in. The texture is sublime, totally decadent.

I don't have any terribly aged condiments, but recently my sister dug out a container of food coloring for her daughter, only to discover it had expired in 1963. It had been inherited from my mother, who died in 1983. My niece decided to spring for some new ones : )

I came up with one I really like. White beans, kalamata olives, shallot, squirt of tomato paste, parsley, lemon juice, and a drizzle of olive oil. More olive oil for a dip, less for a sandwich spread.

I give cookbooks to my kids, who are now entering their 30s (!!!). I know what they like to cook, what their families like to eat, and what cookbooks they already have, so it works for us. My daughter is getting Around My French Table and for my son, Alton Brown's Good Eats:The Later Years. He turned into a foodie in high school thanks to AB--he and his friends would announce to me at 5 pm they were making me dinner; we'd sit down to something exotic and delicious at 10 pm or so : ) His timing is better now. I've given How to Cook Everything as a wedding/shower gift a few times and it was well received.

Cutting up veggies. Kneading bread. Cooking anything with my grandkids

I had half a moose to cook many years ago. I like it much better than venison. I brought moose bourguignon to a party and it went over very well.

Yes! Weight loss and maintaining that loss (which is the hard part) requires a change of lifestyle that becomes a permanent part of your life. Depriving yourself is not going to work long term, nor is "I can never eat <whatever> ever again." The trick is in finding guidelines for yourself that allow you to have what you love in a controlled and sensible manner. For example, restaurants. I walk in knowing I can order anything I want, but as soon as it's served to me I divide it in half and eat only half. The rest I bring home and eat over the next couple of days. I *love* baking and desserts. If I have guests, I'll bake something and have a small piece, then send the rest home with them. "Can't keep it in the house" is my rule on that one. And I have been known to tie a scarf around my face, bandit style, to keep my fingers out of the bowl while I'm cooking

I like to roast veggies separately, except I may add onions to something else. I cut them into uniformly sized pieces, toss with a little olive oil and salt, and spread in a single layer on cookie sheets lined with foil. 425 degree oven, mostly. Love, love, love them. (I did try roasted radishes, and ate the results, but will not be doing that one again!)

Lifestyle is exactly right! My personal plan for Thanksgiving involves eating whatever I want, but just a little of each thing. I'm eating elsewhere this year, so I just need to not bring anything back home with me; when it's at my house, I make sure other people take home all the stuff I don't want around.

Thank you Darienne and Voktoria. I can't describe how much better I feel!

Interesting topic! I'm convinced that losing/maintaining weight is a very personal journey and we each have to find our own path, but that the bottom line is calories in + calories expended. You could lose weight eating only twinkies, but you wouldn't be very healthy . I got serious about a year ago, didn't want to count, measure, or any of that stuff, and decided to eat 3 meals a day, period, of small/medium-ish portions. I don't allow myself to have seconds. Mostly vegetarian, some fish, I eat meat if someone else serves it to me. I eat lots of carbs, but only whole grain, and splash olive oil around liberally, but butter is special occasion only. Also only for rare treats: sweeteners, dessert, cheese. I avoid processed food, make my own bread, granola, etc., mostly because I enjoy doing so. I don't snack, ever--the big plus in this is that I don't need to make constant decisions about what I'm going to snack on and I find that much easier for me to deal with. I don't miss it, now that it's a habit, and I really enjoy my 3 meals, try to make them special. I do make 2-4+ servings when I cook, because I like having leftovers. I will admit this style of eating is easier for me because I live alone, my family is grown, but it has worked extremely well for me. Over the past year, I've lost 90 lbs.

Another fan of wrapping--I usually wash the herbs, wrap loosely while still damp in a clean dish towel, stick in a plastic bag and refrigerate. Parsley keeps up to 2 weeks this way.

Thanks for the welcome, LindaK! I had a puff pastry obsession for a while and this is one of the experiments that came out of that. Right now it's pomegranates

My favorite: Pumpkin Galette. Roast smallish chunks of pumpkin w/ some onion (tossed w/ olive oil, s&p, 425 oven). Roll a puff pastry sheet thinnish--I usually use store bought; round off the corners a bit with sissors if you want. Sprinkle pumpkin/onion on top,leaving one inch border (not all of it, unless it's a really small pumpkin); fold up border over pumpkin. A sprinkle of feta is good. Bake about 25 min. I usually cut it in quarters and have one quarter with a big spinach salad, really good! The remaining pumpkin often gets stirred into a black bean chili, which I make w/ a square or 2 of unsweetened chocolate--bliss.

I eat vegetarian about 99% of the time. Noshing on some really good ratatouille with whole wheat penne as I type. I added garlic scapes to Bittman's basic recipe, good addition! I eat plenty of whole grain carbs, but stay away from the refined stuff as much as I can, and eat very little processed food (which includes highly processed vegetarian stuff). I don't worry about protein too much, eat lots of beans and lentils. As a side note, by eating this way and cutting out snacking--3 meals per day of moderate portions--I've lost 75 lbs in 8 months, and intend to eat this way for the rest of my life.

My local health food store has many different loose teas in bulk, very good stuff at a huge price savings. Herb tea mixtures are esp. fun to play around with.

For sure on toast, with whole grain dijon. Not so good in an omlet experiment

My son thought it was pretty funny when I suggested he bring an iron His must haves were microwave and ricecooker.

Another vote for the fridge, but I don't use it that frequently.