Comfort food at its best! Last night we hade spaghetti and ceaser salad. The whole wheat pasta was smothered in sauce made form my home canned tomatos, zucchini, muahrooms, onions and some yummy spicy turkey sausage. The salad dressing was my go-to tofu ceaser dressing from Clean Eating Magazine

300g package of soft tofu
3 cloves finely minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt

just whizz this all together in a food processor (or blender). It needs to sit overnight so that the flavours come together.

Dinner last night was Bison Taco Salad. No recipe to post as I created this on the fly but it was so tasty! To make the shells you take some tinfoil, make a ball, put it on a cookie sheet and lay a tortilla on top (i used the small WW ones) Spray lightly with Pam and then sprinkle on some spices. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 and the shell with form a bowl.. easy and impressive! I use some local ground bison (with chili podwer, cumin, onion, garlic and chipolte) and added lettuce, tomato, plain yogurt and skim mozzarella. This huge filling meal was 7 points!

Smackaroni

I think I posted this recipe a few years ago but it looked so good as i dished it up the other night I thought it needed to be shared again. It is from the Canadian show on the Food Network, Eat Shrink and be Merry - Smackaroni and Cheese.

The last six weeks have had some ups and downs in the food department but I have been meal planning and bringing my lunch to work so that is a step in the right direction!

Tracking Troubles

I really think I need to go back to Weight Watchers meetings.. I know the program works but I really don't like the leader of the meeting in my small town. I am having trouble motivating myself to track my food/points/calories. I think that posting on my blog consistently this week has helped me start to get in the right headspace though. Tomorrow I am going to take a picture of everything that I put in my mouth - hopefully that will help me be consious of extra snacks and portion size.

Here was tonights dinner - this is a typical dinner a few nights a week, rice, grilled salmon and veggies. Mmmmm delicious! Plus I caught this sockeye with my own two hands!

Bean Burger

I took this picture with my phone because my camera batteries were dead... not the best image but Im sure you will get the idea. This recipe comes from a cooking light recipe from a few months ago - Black Bean Burger with Mango Salsa.

My husband ate two of these monster burgers and loved them. The flavour was really good but it was a bit too mushy for me - I think I will tweek this a bit to see if I can add a little texture to the patties. The mango salsa was great (I love anything with mango and avacado).

Risotto Love

I love risotto!! I love way the rice glistens as each grain is coated with oil, I love the sound o the white wine hitting the hot pan, , I love adding the stock one ladleful at a time and watching the rice plump up, I love standing at the stove stirring until the creamy starch is released from the rice..... I love risotto!

A few months ago I was in the Calgary airport for a 10 hour layover (!!!!!!!) and bought many food magazines to keep me company, one of them being Rachel Ray. She drives me a bit crazy on TV but the magazine had some pretty good recipes in it, including this one for risotto using pearl barley instead of rice... I made it and it was delicious!! Barley has a lot more fibre in it than arbario rice but the flavour and texture were great - this is a new addition to my cache of comfort food recipes.

No Dinner Tonight

Because this is what I was doing... he was HUGE!

Picklefest!

This was dinner, a recipe adapted from Cooking Light Magazine (Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp)

I was planning to add chickpeas instead of the cannellini beans called for in the recipe but decided it didnt really need them. These are prawns that we caught ourselves (love that boat!!!) and the meal had fanastic flavour!


My canning adventures have continued this summer and I am still loving preserving my own food to last through the winter. I love seeing where my food comes from before I eat it. My cucumber crop was pitiful this year (apparently from a catastrophic lack of bees) so I went to a nearby u-pick farm with a girlfriend and her kids and we picked 50lbs of cukes. We made 35 litres of dills and then a dozen pints of bread and butter (yuck!! but DH loves them). It has been four weeks so I opened a jar last night and they were great!! Since we eat fish several times a week I make a great lowfat tartar sauce and my homemade pickles will make it even better!

Here fishy fishy...

Here is a picture of what we have been doing with ALL of our spare time this summer. This boat is my husbands dream come true - all geared up for spending the day on the ocean fishing. We are so lucky to live only a five minute drive to launch into the ocean and explore Canada's stunning west coast. My freezer is bursting with salmon, cod and halibut to last us through the winter. I have also canned enough fish to feed us and our pup until next spring.

Here is last nights dinner as promised.. a piece of sockeye salmon sauteed in spices and orange juice. Tomatoes and cabbage from my garden made for a delicious taco. The sauce was plain yogurt, spices and a dash of sugar... delicious!!

slipping....

Yikes.. saw a number on the scale this morning that scared me a little... 220... eep that is 15 pounds higher than the same time last year. I have not been tracking for the past few weeks and it shows... time to get myself back on track! I have been slacking in the meal planning as well resulting in some poor eating habits (skipping breakfast, grabbing lunch out, eating dinner way too late etc...) and these are the things that got me into so much trouble before. I NEED to get back to regular planning, tracking and blogging starting right now!!! I love the blogs that post all their meal each day, Im not sure if I can be that committed but I willing to try... so I will be back later with some pictures.

Back from blogger limbo...

Wow it has been so long since I have written... I am happy to say that I am not coming back because I have regained a bunch of weight and need to recommit, but I am pretty much in the same place (weightwise) as I was during my last post. For some reason blogging about my life has just not been a priority for the past few months.. but I have not given up the fight and have been busy living my life and having some fun adventures. I am still frustrated with the fact that I can not seem to make significant progress in my weight loss goals despite continuing to eat healthy and exercise regularily... one great week can seem me lose a pound, one slightly off week can see me gain 5. I have resigned myself to the fact that years of yo-yo dieting has left my metabolism ridiculously slow and I will be celebrate every loss no matter how tiny and I will continue to treat my body with respect by exercising and giving it healthy fuel.

In January I wrote about going fishing with my husband (in my cute waders) and we have continued to do lots of that. I caught my first Sockeye on the weekend and was so proud!! Fishing for these beauties from shore is not easy and (not to brag too much) I was better than a lot of the guys out there... femae patience is an assest in this situation!

I have been riding my bike to work most days. The trip is 10km each way and I have begun to look forward to this time enjoying nature every day. A lot of my ride follows the ocean and it is a spectacular view!

We have begun a weightloss competition at work. We have a public weigh-in once a week and everyone puts in $2. At the end of 4 weeks the person losing the largest % wins the pot ($76!) I came in third last month. It was hard for all of us during the first weigh-in but now that the number is out there everyone feels comfortable and it is great having the added support.

As far as food goes I am following the clean eating philosophy as much as possible. No processed food and that now includes meat, I eat the fish and seafood we catch and some organic chicken and eggs, and bison from a local farm. Despite still weighing 215lbs I feel fit and healthy so it is hard to be too unhappy with my progress.

I have also recently begun taking melatonin in the evenings and my insomnia is gone!! I have struggled with sleeping problems for years and now I get 8 hours every night - what an amazing change... part of me hopes that this might be the final piece to kick start the weightloss again.

I'm sure all of my readers have forgotten about me but I know I often wonder what happened to the bloggers who disappear so I thought I would check in. Here is a picture of me and my fish!!

Tues Weigh In

Down 2lbs this week. Woo hoo... I have lost 8 pounds since Jan 1!!!

Spicy Monday!

I am still OP and going strong! I am going to make Tuesdays my official WI day so I will update tomorrow. Until then here are a couple of recipes I tried this week.

This is a terrible picture of a really delicious mango avocado salsa. It was so good that by the time I realized how bad the picture was I had already eaten all the salsa. I made some home made pita chips and it was a great snack.


This recipe is also from the October 2009 Cooking Light Magazine. Spicy Malaysian Stir Fried Noodles. I had baby bok choy in my organic veggie delivery this week so I thought this looked interesting. It was really really delicious. Even my friend who thinks she hates anything healthy thought this was great. It had fantastic flavour and the tofu absorbed the sauce beautifully. It was even better the next day.

I can't believe I did that...

There are so many things that I do now that I never did 60 pounds ago. Even at 215 pounds I am not afraid to try anything anymore - I feel that my fitness level is high considering my weight and I have worked up to a pretty good level of endurance. I do many things I always wanted to at 270 pounds but was too afraid to try. I can do a 90 minute yoga class, I can run on a treadmill for 10 minutes straight, I can swim 2 km without stopping, I can bike 80km in one day, I can hike for hours up in the mountains and many more 'fitnessy' things. Yesterday I did something I never thought I would.. my husband is an obsessed fisherman.. he would fish every spare moment of his life if he could. Since he works out of town for 4 days and then is home for 4 days on a regular rotation I know he tries had to curb his fishing to spend time with me when he is home.. but I see the longing in his eyes to be out at the river (or ocean in the summer). So, on Tuesday I took him to the fishing store and pointed out that they had some pink chest waders.. and I told him I wanted to come fishing with him. Now any chubby chicks out there know that any type of overall contraption is probably the least flattering article of clothing out there... and waders mean you wear the thick overalls over layers and layers of warm clothes. I was nervous to try them on but the XL ladies fit me just fine and I think I look pretty darn cute in them!!

We fished on the river near my in-laws place for two days and I actually really enjoyed it. Both days involved several hours of hiking through the bush carrying all our gear (not to mention the actual fishing) so there is definately a leel of fitness involved. I did not catch anything but the look of happiness on my husbands face of having me get excited about his passion was reward enough for me! I am looking forward to getting out there again next week.

Ok.. on to my favourite topic, FOOD! I am still doing great and have lost 6 pounds in the past two weeks. I have fully embraced the clean eating plan that I have been feeling out for the past few months. Here is the basic gist of what I am doing.

- no (or very little) processed food, including sugar, white flour or products containing them

- 6 small meals throughout the day (2-3 hours apart)

- protein and complex carbs at each meal

- plenty of water/green tea

- any meat or eggs are purchased from local organic growers or caught by us (fish, prawns, oysters etc..)

To most people I explain this to it seems a little harsh, but I have been working up to this for almost two years in small baby steps. I have (perhaps irrational) a fear of growth hormones and antibiotics in mass produced meat. My husband (and almost everyone I know) does not share my concerns but he supports me and I eat so little meat that I feel the extra cost is worth it. Of course I am not perfect (or I would be at my goal weight by now!) but this is the eating plan I strive for and when I have two weeks of clean eating, like I am celebrating now, the way I feel tells me I am absolutely doing the right thing for my body. So if anyone is interested I took a couple of pictures of the first four meals I have prepared for tomorrow.

I bought this small slow cooker for $12 and it is perfect for my morning steel cut oats - I can put it on low before bed and I wake up to perfectly cooked oatmeal - I add different fruits and a bit of agave nectar and cinnamon..mmmmm! I will have this at 6:30am before heading to the gym.

Next meal will be at 9:00 right before I start work. I will probably have the 3 egg whites and carrot sticks with some homemade vinaigrette to dip them in as well as an apple. By noon I know I will be starving so I will have my butternut squash spinach soup (made a big pot and froze 12 individual servings) with 3oz chicken breast. 3:00 will be the next meal of salad with half a can of tuna mixed with low fat yogurt and spices as well as some chips I made from a whole grain tortilla. When I get home at 6:00 I will have dinner - here is a picture of the salmon burgers we had tonight.

I mixed a can of salmon (that we canned ourselves in the summer) with 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, an egg, onion and spices. Put it on a whole grain bun with tomato, lettuce and some tzatziki sauce I made and it was delicious. Around 8:00 I have my last meal which is some homemade low fat frozen yogurt with fruit or a smoothie with skim milk. It is amazing that I really don't get hungry again after this last meal. The trick is to not allow yourself to get hungry during the day, when I get hungry any thought of finding a healthy option flies out of my head and I just start grabbing whatever is near and quick. So, to make this work I have been keeping my fridge full of easy to grab meal components. Today was my 'Sunday' so I prepped everything for the next five days - cooked a few of the chicken breasts I bought at the market, boiled a dozen eggs, made some quinoa, made salad dressing, made pita chips, cut up the veggies, made soup and portioned it. All this prep work should make for a successful week of packing my own lunches. I have left room for my kitchen creativity at dinner time - lots of great things to work with and recipes to try out.

I have been counting my calories everyday and even though it feels like I am eating all day long, I am still staying very close to my 1500 calorie goal!

Here is to another successful OP week!!

Quinoa Quickie

Day six tracking and completely on plan (calories, clean food only, exercise at least 30 minutes) and it is hard to remember why I have been struggling for the past six months. I really wish someone would figure out why my motivation turns off and on so randomly. I will just make the most of this momentum.. it feels like this will last awhile!

Today was a meatless day for me and by dinner time my body was crying out for protein. I decided to cook up some quinoa.

Quinoa (pronounced /ˈkiːnoʊ.ə/ or /kwɨˈnoʊ.ə/, Spanish quinua, from Quechua kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a grass. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach and tumbleweeds. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth, but the commercial availability of quinoa greens is currently limited.

Until recently I believed quinoa was a grain, but actually it is a seed from a grain - making it not only a great complx carb but also a fantastic source of protein. I love how versatile it is for taking on flavours and I love that I can cook it in my rice cooker!!! Tonight I made up a new dish - quinoa with roasted butternut squash and wilted spinach. I used cumin and nonya (an Indonesian spice blend) to perk it up. It was delicious and so filling. I ate 3 hours ago and am not feeling the evening munchies that usually hit before bed. Here is a picture of my creation.

Who is this blogger, and what has she done with Blendergirl??

Where had this girl been for the past six months? I am tracking my food, counting calories, going to the gym, trying new recipes, resisting temptation... Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh it feels so good to have the healthy me back!! I have been OP for 14 days now - and I feel happy, strong and excited! Two weeks seems to be my sweet spot for getting the junk out of my system, and regaining my motivation and energy.

Here are some food pics from yesterday. I had the day off with DH so I got up and made us waffles. I used this recipe from Mr. Breakfast.com this massive portion with some homemade apple topping was 450calories but full of fibre and good things that kept me going for hours.



Dinner on Tuesday night was fried rice - filled with veggies and some scrambled egg for protein. It was really tasty and filling.

Yesterday was the first dinner I made for my weight loss buddy (from now on I will call her S). She requested yam fries and my cereal coated chicken fingers (organic of course) and I made a new coleslaw recipe. It needs to sit for a few hours and then be drained - much lighter than the mayonaisey version I usually make - if I added some nuts and fruit it would make a great lunch.

Dressing is:

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp canola oil

1 tsp mustard powder

2 tsp honey

salt and pepper to taste

Page 5 of this link to Clean Eating Magazine has the recipe for the Carrot Ginger Dip recipe from my last post as well as a Cranberry-Honey-Mustard sauce I tried out yesterday. It shows it with Tilapia but I made it for the chicken I was sending to work with DH. I had to double the amount of honey as it was too tangy for his taste but I really liked the flavour. The recipe makes a ton of sauce so I froze it in ice cube trays and put the cubes in a baggy for future uses.

Last picture of the day is this cute pink and silver sparky notebook in which I am recording my daily food intake/calories and exercise. I have not journaled consistently in a very long time, even though I know that is a big key to success. Feels good to be holding myself accountable again!

This post brought to you by the letter C

Chickpeas and Carrots

A couple of quick food pictures from. I had a very late dinner after yoga class (which was great by the way!!) I made a big chickpea patty (like a giant falafal) and had it on a thin bun with sauteed mushrooms, low fat cheese, lettuce and a quick tzatziki sauce. It was incredibly messy but incredibly tasty.

I have a 'weight loss buddy' for the first time. A friend from work who happens to be exactly the same size as me. We both want to lose about 40 pounds this year and are going to try and hold each other accountable as well as being a support system. Her boyfriend (like my DH) is usually not home for dinner because of hiss work so we have decided to cook each other dinner once a week to help test out new healthy recipes and avoid the problem of eating alone in front of the TV.

I decided to make a snack for the girls at work and tried a new recipe from the oct/nov clean eating magazine. The dip is made of roasted carrots marinated in sherry vinegar, garlic, ginger, honey, cayenne pepper and cumin - all pureed together. I made a bid bunch of raw veggies to enjoy with it - the dip was very flavourful and low cal - a little went a long way to filling us up!

A few other victories to share from this past week: I have recorded 5 straight days of food/calorie intake in my journal and have come in at 1500 each day. I went to the gym three times, yoga class once and to the pool for lengths and aquasize once - that is 5 workouts in 7 days! I really hope I am back for good this time!

New recipes

I have been reading blogs for the past few weeks but just have not been able to make myself write an entry to explain why I have not written an entry.. then tonight I thought, why am I feeling guilty for not blogging? So I will not make excuses, just write about what I have been doing.

I had a great Christmas and New Years and have been doing great for the past two weeks at completing the steps to fully recommit to my healthy lifestyle. I am continuing with my attempt to strive for an 80%+ clean eating life. Since Christmas I have added another dimension to this lifestyle choice I have made, I will be cutting out all red meat and poultry for the next six months at least. The seafood that I am eating has all been caught by my DH or friends. I'm not going vegetarian but I have been reading more and more about the hormones etc.. that are pumped into the food we eat, and that scares me! So, I may partake in the occasional local grain fed organic chicken or lamb from down the road but mostly I will am content getting my protein from beans, soy, dairy, seafood and eggs from the farm at the end of my road. This way of eating is a huge change from the way I ate two years ago but the change has been so gradual that it just seems like a logical progression for me. I get such happiness out of creating a delicious and nutritious meal with 'clean' ingredients.

So, eating has been good and under control.. time to work on the real battle in my world. My DH bought me some fun new exercise toys for Christmas that I had asked for. Biggest loser game for the Wii, kettle balls, dumbells for the Wii, new yoga mat bag and towel and a cute pink ipod shuffle for running, I also have borrowed my parents treadmill while they are down south for the next four months. So, I have been working out in my makeshift home gym and I made it to the real gym three times this past week. And tomorrow I start a yoga class at a new studio near work. I have really developed a love for yoga, I love the way my body feels after the class and because of the extreme concentration needed for the positions it is 90 minutes of my day where my mind is focused entirely on myself.

One of my favourite blogs is Natasha's at Girl Stuck in a Rut. She takes pictures of everything she eats during the day and I love looking at all the different things she has prepared. I don't think I could remember to take a picture of all my meals but I am going to try and get back in the habit of posting a snap of new recipes I try out. The first one is from a dinner last week - portabello asparagus goat cheese risotto with roasted prawns. No recipe for this as I just made it up.. I love making risotto!



The next two pictures are from tonight's dinner. First was the usual big salad (a la Seinfeld) but I tried a new dressing. Usually I make my own vinaigrette but this one caught my eye in the grocery store. Only 5 cal per tbsp and I can pronounce all of the ingredients! It was pretty tasty.

Dinner was Salmon Corn Chowder - from Sept/Oct 2009 Clean Eating Magazine

2 medium Russet or Idaho potatoes, peeled
2 carrots, peeled
Olive oil cooking spray
1 stalk celery, diced
1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 T whole-wheat flour
1 c skim milk
1 32-oz container low-sodium chicken broth
2 6-oz cans salmon packed in water, without bones or skin
2 c corn, freshly shucked or frozen
1-2 tsp paprika
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 T dill, finely minced
Place potatoes and carrots in a medium saucepan; cover with water. Boil over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes. Drain potatoes and carrots in a colander and pour cold water over. Let cool for 5 minutes. Remove potatoes and carrots and dice.

Meanwhile, preheat large stockpot over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Mist with cooking spray. Add celery & onion and saute for 2 minutes or until onions become translucent.
Add oil and flour, whisking briskly. Add milk, whisking in a ¼ cup at a time. (This will create a roux, or thickener, for your soup.)

Add broth and cook for at least 5 minutes. If soup seems a little thin, add more flour (no more then 1 T), a ½ tsp at a time, and whisk briskly. Add salmon, diced potatoes and carrots, corn and paprika. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for at least 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add dill just 1 minute before serving.

Nutrients per 1 ½-cup serving: Calories: 210, Total fat: 4.5 g, Sat Fat: 0 g, Carbs: 25 g, Fiber: 3 g, Sugars: 6 g, Protein: 16 g, Sodium: 270 mg, Cholesterol: 0 mg

This was one of the best chowders I have ever made. It was really flavourful but not heavy. I used Salmon that we had canned this summer and carrots that I am still picking from my garden (gotta love West Coast living!). It was the perfect warm, filling dinner on a rainy Sunday night - I would definitely recommend this recipe.

I have lots of leftovers and packed up my lunch for tomorrow. I don't think I have ever posted a picture of the great 'lunch box' I bought a few months ago. Here is the food all laid out for a delicious lunch and the next picture is of the kit all clipped together. I LOVE this little lunch kit.

Here is a shot of my current favourite breakfast. Two whole grain waffles, organic peanut butter, homemade blackberry jam and a banana from my weekly organic delivery. 350 calories and it keeps me going until lunch.




Thanks for reading!