Barking Mad

Weight and See - What I'm Eating: Breakfast - Strawberry Lemon Sunrise Smoothie

I know I know, it's been forever since I posted anything about my journey to lose 250+lbs.   In the last six weeks I've only lost 1lb.  ONE MEASLY POUND - which brings the grand total, since April of 2010 to 82lbs.  Of course if I got off my ass and climbed back out of the hole and learned how to actually deal with the stress I've been under rather than the stress dealing with me, well then, that ONE MEASLY POUND might very well be 11lbs or hell, even 21lbs!

If I'm being totally and nakedly honest; I'm scared.  I know I shouldn't worry about what others think.  Every time I sit down to hit publish on the post that lists my current weight, my measurements and me getting weighed (the video), I end up with my stomach in knots and then running for the bathroom because I can't deal with the fact that there are going to be people out there who are reading this for the sole purpose of laughing at the fat lady.   I wish I knew how to make all that nervous chatter in my head, go away.  Alas, I don't, so I'm taking baby steps. 

So, I thought I'd start sharing some of the things I've been eating.  A word in advance...I've been using the camera on my cell phone and the photos look like it.  I'm going to start using my DSLR's to photograph my food.  Also, I'm not sure if I'm going to take pictures of everything I'm eating.  Although there's a wee small voice that tells me that I should, to help hold myself accountable.

Do you guys really want to see photos of the food I'm eating?  Some of it might be boring, whereas some of it - the stuff I literally just pulled out of my ass thin air, actually turned out really well!  For instance, Monday night I made stuffed bell peppers and tried to keep the nutrition high but the calories and fat, low.   I'm not sure I scored a Gold Medal with the calorie count, but I'm pretty sure I still managed to end up somewhere on the podium.   Anyhow I took pictures of the finished peppers, and if you're interested, when I talk about dinners, I'll post those images as well.

Breakfast has become sort of mundane around here.  I'm not a huge fan of cereal.  You're more likely to see me eating it as a late night snack and then it's only a bowl of Cheerios or possibly Grape Nuts.  I do however love fruit and yogurt and smoothies.   You can pack an incredibly powerful amount of everything your body needs to fuel it through the first part of the day, into a smoothie.  One of my favorites is called a Strawberry-Lemon Sunrise Smoothie.  OK, so I made up the name, and the smoothie myself.  I'm not very original, but when you see what's in it, and how simple it is, you might agree that the name is very apt!

Five ingredients, a blender and a glass and you're ready to go!

1 to 1  and 1/2 cups frozen strawberries

1 Meier lemon (regular lemons are fine)

6 ounces of fat-free lemon yogurt

1/4 to 3/4 cup skim milk - depending on how thick/thin you like your smoothie

and the secret ingredient that I always put in my smoothies (and lots of other things!) is...

I buy the small travel packages because I can take them anywhere with me, and it's pre-measured!  I was having a problem with buying milled flax seed in bulk and not using it fast enough and it would go stale, so these little packets are wonderful!  I can't remember how many come in a box, but you can find them in the organic/whole foods section at your grocer, or online.

Toss all of the above into your blender, squeeze the juice of 1/4 Meier lemon in,  give it a whir for a couple of minutes, then pour into a glass and enjoy!

All of this is under 300 calories. 

You can play around with the fruits and yogurt and come up with some pretty spectacular combinations that are sure to brighten your morning and get you well on your way to having a great day!

Disclaimer:  Before starting any life-changing exercise or eating habits, please consult with your personal physician or other trusted medical professional.

 

Nobel Peace Pies

Is there any one thing that says "Summer Time" to you? 

For some it might be the 4th of July and all of the celebrations and parties it brings with it.  For others it's taking the shrink wrap off the boat, the cover off of the grill and breaking out the beer and brats, it could even be seeing their green grocer unload crates of fresh local corn on the cob - still tightly wrapped in it's green husks,  and for some it might be the arrival of their annual allergies.

For me there is nothing in the world that says summer time like strawberries.  Fresh, ripe, ruby red berries that are bursting with sweetness and flavor.  The smell alone of a strawberry brings back memories of sitting along the shore in Maine, with close friends and family while the embers of a pit fire close by burn red, orange, and white, and the smells of a lobster bake with earthy potatoes and bright yellow, crisp juicy ears of corn waft by on tendrils of smoke.  Afterward we all settle around the fire and dip into gorgeous bowls of fresh farmer's market strawberries with a dollop of  whipped cream on top.

I eat strawberries all year long.  If I can't get them fresh, then I load my morning smoothies up with frozen strawberries, a little yogurt and some skim milk or orange juice and call it good!

Over the 4th of July weekend I decided to try my hand at making a fresh strawberry pie...something I had never undertaken before.  I scoured my lonely few cookbooks for a recipe and couldn't find anything I liked, so I went out and surfed the web and found one that looked relatively easy.  

I'll preface this by saying that I suck when it comes to making pie crusts so I got a couple of frozen ones and used them.  I just can not, for the life of me, get a pie crust that I make to turn out halfway decent or anything resembling edible.  They are either so dry that they end up being a choking hazard, or so mushy that again, they're a choking hazard.   Pie crusts elude me. 

The recipe is very easy and takes almost no time to prepare.  Once prepared, all you have to do is pop it in the ice box to chill for a few hours and voila!  You have one of the best strawberry pies ever!  And I'm not saying this to be vain...I sent the extra one (this recipe makes two) to work with Gareth and they proclaimed it award worthy! 

So without further ado, how about we get on with the photos...because what good is a post about an amazing pie without some pictures?

Go out and get yourself some beautiful strawberries, then wash and hull them.  Oh, believe me, it was hard to stop at just washing and hulling.  I wanted to eat every single berry! 

   

   Gather your ingredients.  Two pre-baked 9 inch pie shells.  Sugar (You don't have to use super-fine sugar, I've just gotten in the habit of using it lately. Regular granulated sugar is fine), corn starch, 3oz package of strawberry Jell-O, and water.

    

 

 

 

This is the only part of the process that takes some time and attention.  Stirring, oh-the-constant-stirring of the sugar, cornstarch and water.  You need to stand right there and watch over it, stirring it constantly until boiling and until it reaches a syrupy consistency.

 

 

Add your Jello-O...Oh my gosh!  It smells so good!

   

Remove from heat and stir in Jell-O completely. Let cool for a few minutes.

 

I didn't pre-load my pie shells with the berries because I didn't want the shells to become soggy.  Now's the part where if you have some small people just hanging around your house (or in my case, standing directly behind me, begging me for strawberries every 32 seconds!), now would be a good time to take advantage of the free labor they afford you....

 

...but keep an eye on those little hands!  Before you know it, they're absconding with those gorgeous strawberries!   If you can keep your free child laborer on task, they tend to do a fantastic job of arranging the berries in the crust!

 

 

The recipe says that it makes two pies.  I had berries left over, but not enough for two pies.  So I grabbed some frozen raspberries out of the freezer and got creative with the second pie.

 

 

Top your pies with equal amounts of the gelatin-cornstarch-sugar and water mixture.

 

 

Pop those gorgeous pies in the ice-box (fridge for you non-New Englanders!) to chill for a few hours...and voila!  You have gorgeously set pie. 

 

I got a little over-excited by the smell of this scrumptious pie and as I was placing the first piece of pie on the plate it sort of didn't quite make it to the plate.

 

Ahhhhh!  This is much better.  Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream next to your pie and you have a little piece of Heaven right there on your plate! 

 

My only problem with this pie is that I think it's a wee bit too sweet.  However, since dropping 4-6 Coca Cola a-day habit, a lot of things taste overly sweet to me.  That said, I still think the sugar in this recipe could be cut out almost completely using something like Splenda and a sugar-free gelatin.  I'm going to try doing that the next time around and maybe playing with different flavored Jell-O as well.   You could probably use peaches, or apricots, cherries and other flavored Jello-O's as well, using this same exact recipe.

Despite me thinking it was a bit too sweet, Gareth thought it was one of the best pies he'd ever eaten and Gaby heartily agreed with her daddy!  Heck, maybe if we put together a whole bunch of these pies we could take them to Congress and the Senate and tell them to shut up and eat them...they'd be so busy enjoying the awesomeness that is this pie that they wouldn't have time to argue with one another...talk about an act worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize...no, make that Nobel Peace Pies! 

 

We Did NOT Eat Our Cat!

It seems that the order in which a couple of mobile uploads posted to my Facebook page have caused a few raised eyebrows out there.  

Click to embiggen (I know that's just a made-up word, work with me here!) and get the full story

 

Yesterday I took a picture of our Ragdoll cat, Geronimo, who was laying across a bunch of Gaby's toys and refused to let her have them back.  Almost immediately after that, for some odd reason I took a picture of the roast chicken that I'd just taken out of the oven to baste.  Poor Laurie (from Fooleryland), thought perhaps it was a "Before and After" shot. A couple of other people bemusedly chimed in and well, now I'm posting evidence that we did in fact, NOT roast the cat and serve him up alongside the rissoto and steamed carrots that accompanied that wonderful roast chicken!

See, here's Geronimo happily in Gareth's arms...wondering if he's going to get a taste of the lovely chicken...

 

Besides, have you seen this here fur beastie lately? 

 

 

He's GINORMOUS!  Geronimo weighs more than 20lbs! He never ever would have fit into that roasting pan.

Don't worry my luvlies, I haven't started cruising cat cuisine sites nor will I start displaying stickers like this one, here on the walls of the asylum...

 

Banner image stolen from this site...be warned, if you click on that link you will never be able to UNSEE what you're going to see!  You've been warned.