cooking

Steak and Cake

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

Somehow over the past 10 or so years our Thanksgiving meal became the pre-Thanksgiving feast for family to gather around. This is the result of blending families and the kids growing up and becoming adults. And when the son-in-law entered the family his birthday needed to be celebrated and then the grandchild was born all around the Thanksgiving holiday. So we don’t cook a turkey until Christmas because everyone will go to families with turkey feasts the next day.

So it is steak and cake…and pumpkin pie!

This year we bought a top butt uncut for $4.59 a pound. Hubby cuts it into the steaks for the Family Feast with plenty of meat to spare. This was a family time so I forgot to take a picture of the cooked steaks. And there were no leftovers!

The cake will be a rainbow sprinkle cake made from scratch. I do not yet have a “go to” plain cake recipe. The first year I bought the cake mix and pre-made frosting. My step daughters and hubby came home and caught me making a cake from a box!!! Horror of horrors! They thought they were in the wrong kitchen or possibly aliens had taken over my body! I did this for a couple of years so they got used to it and son-in-law got the birthday cake he requested. So this year it is made from scratch. I found a nice yellow cake recipe that I had made for our Easter meal this past spring. I figure I can just add rainbow sprinkles. Homemade cakes tend to be denser than cake-mix cakes, at least the way I make them. This particular cake is dense and moist. I am pleased that it came out so well because I had my granddaughter helping measure and add the ingredients. She is almost two so the exact amount of baking soda and salt are questionable.

What to do to frost the cake? The son-in-law announced that he too is lactose intolerant or sensitive. So no cream cheese or dairy, except butter, will be required. I do not like to make marshmallow frosting because I do not do it well. So I get out a standard Buttercream frosting recipe from my 1950 Rumford Cookbook. This is a book that my grandmother used. There are notations in her handwriting and a draft of Grandpa King’s obituary on lined writing paper as well. I substitute soymilk in the ingredient list.

Butter Cream Frosting: Cream 6 Tab butter until very soft; gradually add 3 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar; mix in 2 teas vanilla extract;  add 5 Tab cream or evaporated milk; beat until very light and fluffy and of good spreading consistency.

Thanksgiving2015 018Buttercream is very sweet but seems to mellow some after being placed on the cake and left to sit for a few hours. Decorations are courtesy of the granddaughter.

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And there is pie! A few years ago my son and I made two pies to determine if the Cook’s Illustrated magazine “improved” pumpkin pie was truly an improved pie. The crusts were store bought refrigerated crusts that you unroll. We used the Pillsbury brand crust for the “improved” pie and the store brand one for the other. The standard pie recipe that I had used was from my Betty Crockers’ Cookbook (1978). This is a basic cookbook found in ordinary kitchens all over America, nothing fancy or special about it. For Cook’s we ground fresh spices and it has sour cream added. It came out looking smoother and the aroma was better than Betty’s .

We had blind taste testing after the meal. Betty Crocker won hands down for best tasting! The lesson here is that those basic standard recipes can often be the best. I suppose that is why they become the standards and the basics.

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I had posted the Steak and Cake feast menu and recipes in sleeve protectors and hung it on the kitchen cabinet. I figured folks could take a look and help out with things.

Son cooked the Brussels sprouts. These were wonderful! And to think the recipe came from the local grocery store coupon flyer. Basically skillet roast the sprouts with bacon, onion, garlic, and whole cranberries.

I made the sour dough rolls and these were nice and light and buttery.Thank you KAF!

Daughter made the green salad. Stepdaughters worked on the mashed potatoes and the baked sweet potatoes. And the sauteed mushrooms.

Hubby and son-in-law supervised the grilling of the steaks.

All in all it was hectic and fun and crowded and I would not have it any other way.

Miscellaneous Food Stuffs

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The frost is coming so I must harvest the mint leaves. What am I going to do with all of these? I made a pot of mint tea but now what? What about putting some in vodka and making mint extract? I read somewhere about making one’s own vanilla extract by putting a vanilla bean into vodka…

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What to do with broken eggs? Went to the grocery store for a few items mostly for baking and when bringing the bags back to the car one dropped. The egg carton popped open and a few eggs rolled onto the parking lot. Oh no! Not the eggs! Well, one was lost completely as it had spilled its guts all over the ground. Three others had cracked their shells but the membrane was intact. Still I felt these needed to be used this same day. Scrambled eggs for supper maybe?

Made a frittata instead. Shredded four small potatoes in my Cuisinart food processor. I only remembered this summer that it has a shredder attachment. Finely diced one onion. Sautéed the onion for five minutes in oil then added the potatoes. I should have squeezed the potatoes drier and coated them with a little oil prior to putting them in the frying pan. I have to stir them and scrape them off the bottom of the pan frequently. I also dice up ½ green bell pepper a small chunk of ham and about 2 ounces of cheese. Crack four eggs into a bowl, pour in ¼ cup milk and whisk. Add a little salt, if you use salt, and some black pepper. When you think the potatoes look brown enough pour all the ingredients together in the fry pan and mix well. I use a cast iron skillet so I can put this directly into the oven, 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Turns out to be tasty and filling.

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I did not look at a recipe for the above but was trying to put together something from memory from cookbooks. I think I had the notion that the potatoes would be crispier like a hash brown. Perhaps if I had lined the cast iron skillet with the potato mixture, baked until crisp, and then added the egg and ham mixture? Sort of like a quiche with a potato crust? I think I saw something like that on a Facebook post from a food/cooking site using muffin tins. So not an original idea of mine.

Speaking of Facebook I find it is a fabulous place to get recipes that one wants to try. Then one can monkey around with the idea and personalize it. I bet women have been doing that in their kitchens since the dawn of time.

Dinners for the rest of the week have not been “recipe” dinners.

blogfoodpics 001Burgeblogfoodpics 002rs: add your own toppings. Hubby added Roquefort or Camembert or other smelly cheese; I added avocado, tomato, and salsa. One night we cut up a kielbasa, smashed potatoes and cooked frozen peas. And tonight is baked fish fillets sprinkled with lemon juice and dill weed, leftover smashed potatoes, and frozen veg.

Here’s dessert! This is from  http://www.dessertfortwo.com/2015/10/caramel-banana-pudding-2/

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Leftovers/a novel bread baking experience/pictures of food

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

As the title suggests this will be a stream of consciousness blog about food …

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Leftovers from dinner

First: I miss having the kids around to eat all this food. Sometimes I like to set a table with a well-rounded meal: meat, veggie, bread, dessert, etc. My step-daughters are good eaters. They always seemed to rave about my cooking and baking. I miss having them around the dinner table. My son became a foodie and likes good tasting food of good quality. There came a time when he stopped eating packaged bread so I had to make bread or have bakery bread on hand, along with plain yogurt, fruit, carrots and the like. Hummus was very popular with him. My daughter eats well of the basic foods minus cheese and milk products. Now these family dinner tables are reserved for an occasional weekend visit or holiday meals. The wee ones are growing up and going out on their own, establishing families and lives of their own, as it should be. But I miss them.

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Leftovers are not always a problem. Sometimes leftover bread becomes a problem. Especially should I get the notion to make a new loaf or muffins when the first batch has not been completely consumed. Like this evening. I was reading the KAF 200th Anniversary Cookbook again and looking at batter breads. I have half a loaf of pumpkin bread and a few pieces of Artisan bread left here!

Second: I decided to make a yeast pumpkin bread off the KAF website. It was a cool fall day and we were hanging around the living room parallel playing on our computers in between the hubby sleeping off and on due to having come down with a cold. You must understand that there are members of my family that think I am a fabulous baker. I am mediocre at best but I do bake which makes me unlike other people who do not bake or obsessively think about baking. Actually I must correct this thought. I am not mediocre; I am pretty darn good, just not always creative, or that knowledgeable about the science of baking. Mind you I have several books in my repertoire/collection that could teach me about the science but I have not memorized the information. I can tell you bits and pieces only.

That said, the bread dough is stiff and I set it out to rise. The recipe said this would take 45 minutes. So after an hour and a half I “call up” the KAF baker for a live chat about this issue. I have never called a baking or recipe hotline! I was not sure what to expect. It turns out that trying to rise bread dough in a 65 degree kitchen is going to take quite some time especially since I used the scoop and sweep method of measuring the flour instead of the proper method: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/measuring-flour.html

So the KAF on-line baker told me to boil water in the microwave, remove the boiling water, and put the dough in there to rise. This creates a warm moist environment that the yeast will like. It worked!

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So after the second rise I baked the bread in the oven and voila! pumpkin bread 004

This was fabulous.

Tastes good too!

Third: Since blogging about food I have been taking pictures of dinners and what I have made. I have not always written about a specific dinner but have enjoyed looking at the photos. Here are some in no particular order:

West point weekend 032spaghetti meal

fresh baked bread 001Irish soda breadfood 003 food 005

Cole slaw made in my food processor when I just realized that it had a shredder attachment. Served with ribs.

Planning breakfast

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I wake up on Sunday morning. Hubby is coming down with a cold so he sleeps in. We miss church. I am sure we can be forgiven. This is so unlike what I used to be like but that’s a whole other story. I still have faith; I find I am not as compulsive about church attendance.

So I am spending time blogging instead of writing my memoirs. I am spending too much time cooking/baking instead of sewing. And I am spending too much time watching TV instead of reading. And the housework is barely getting done! We did winterize the trailer yesterday after looking at new ones. So now I am dreaming of a new trailer with a few more amenities. But this is not a priority for our finances.

It is cold now. Well there is frost outside on the cars and the outside thermometer says it is 30 degrees. My weather App says it was 27 degrees. Brrrr!

Here’s Squeaky staring intently out of the dining room window. There must be a bird in the tree out there. breakfast 011

We spent too much money on groceries the day before since we did not go to the discount grocery store. We went to Stew Leonard’s. We went because we wanted to make fully loaded nachos for a meal and they have the best tortilla chips. Well, they have wonderful cheeses and a wonderful bakery and really good New England clam chowder and good meat even though it runs a bit higher in price than we are accustomed. So we bought too much. Now there is too much food in my fridge and pantry. What to cook first?

I put the coffee on to drip. I was going to write “to perk” but it is an automatic drip coffee maker. I have bought minimally processed breakfast sausages and thought this would be a nice Sunday morning breakfast treat. Then I remember the other day making baked eggs in a muffin tin and think I could make some more of these for weekday breakfasts. Lots of protein which supposedly is good for mornings and good for weight loss.

breakfast 007Cook up the sausages in the cast iron skillet. Four of these are for our breakfast this morning. I slice up the other four to put in the baked eggs.breakfast 005

Break an egg into each muffin cup. First spray with cooking spray.

breakfast 006Grate the cheese and assemble. I used about two ounces of sharp cheddar for 10 eggs. Oh, and be sure to poke each egg yolk. I am not sure why I think that is a necessary step. I know it would be essential if cooking the eggs in the microwave.

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Bake these for 20-25 minutes. Let cool only slightly before removing from the pan and placing on a plate to cool.

breakfast 010Here they are cooling in my fridge. (I forgot to take a picture of them right out of the oven.)

They don’t really look appetizing but toast a piece of bread, “nuke” an egg in the micro for 20 seconds, wrap it in the toast, and you’ve got breakfast in a jiff.

And breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Chili a la Aldi: on how to assemble a meal

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Aldi is one of my discount grocery stores that I like to shop. Their prices are fantastic and I find their brands to be good. But like all groceries with prepared/processed foods one must look at labels to avoid ingredients like high fructose corn syrup and the like. I did find HFCS in their pickle relish! I do stock my pantry with the canned goods and have not been too disappointed by their produce. In fact that was where we bought the absolute best tasting honeydew melon this summer. And the cantaloupe was fabulous too. I don’t know where they get them. Could be USA, could be somewhere else. I admit I do not always pay attention.

It is autumn and the weather is cooling down. Chili is a good meal to prepare early in the week as its flavors get better with the leftovers. October is apparently National Chili Month. Who knew? Check out the following website for daily food holidays: http://foodimentary.com/

One can make chili any number of ways. I use ground turkey and beans. In my pantry I have chili flavored beans, regular pinto beans, canned tomatoes with chili, canned corn with red and green bell peppers, and chili powder.

chili 001You could  just put the content of the cans in a pot to simmer and have a quick chili. This might come in handy for camping or road trips or if the power is out and you need to cook your dinner on the grill or camp stove.

First dice the onion. I do not cut onion in a professional manner. Julia Child would be appalled! But I get the job done. Then dice the green pepper. While this is sautéing in the bit of cooking oil, I just then remember to put in a garlic clove. I watched a TV show in which Jacques Pepin diced a garlic clove. For a while I could do that just like him but now I have forgotten how. So I just do my best and throw that in the pan too.

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When hubby watches me cut up vegetables he yells  at me to “curl your fingers”!  I find this the most awkward way to hold the vegetable but I do try.

I read somewhere that fat enhances flavors so I put the chili powder in at this time. I then brown the turkey in this mixture before adding all the canned ingredients. I need a lot of practice to be a recipe blogger because I forget to take step by step pictures. But here are a few:

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Not having any cheddar cheese we serve this in bowls with a slice of American Cheese on top. I toast up some ends of leftover sourdough bread on the griddle and serve these toastettes along side.

Dinner is served.

I don’t feel like cooking!

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This is real life. I come home from work. I think about food. I go to grocery store for a few items. Come home with more than a few items. I went for half and half and cans of pumpkin for pie. I come home with grapes, bananas, apples, cheese, chips, half and half and cans of pumpkin. Oh, and green peppers.

I already made a big pot of spaghetti earlier in the week. Hubby made spaghetti pie which we ate yesterday and there is one in the freezer. We had frozen fish filet sandwiches already this week. There is salad in the fridge but who’s in the mood?

Hubby comes home and eats cheese and chips. We sit on the sofa and play with our iPhones or computer. I peruse many interesting recipes on blogs and other places on the internet. The cat is curled up on the chair awaiting an opening of a new can of catfood. There is still some in their dishes!

I have too many ideas of baked goods to make. I still plan to “bake through” the King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook. I have made several recipes so far and will be using the sour dough bread recipe this weekend as well as the Cheddar Apple Coffee Cake. But what to do this evening?

I am reading a new book that women wrote about learning to cook and how food is important in their family. This is Three Many Cooks by Anderson, Keet, and Damelio. Is it the eating of food or the cooking of food that I love? I think it is the process of producing the food, cooking, baking, preparing. I also love to feed people. I like food, good food, but the social aspect of the meal is something I still strive for. My sister could write a book like that but she is not particularly a writer. Hey, here’s an idea: I could be her ghost writer! I do not remember being taught how to cook. I remember learning that homemade was better, and cheaper, which made it better. Mom gave me a cookbook when I got my first apartment so I could know how to cook vegetables and meats. I remember reading “women’s magazines” and trying out recipes. I learned that cakes were made from scratch and there were all kinds of cookies to make at Christmas. Mom  would make Divinity. My sister can make Divinity. Me, I make fudge!

So here I sit typing away getting hungrier and hungrier. I am most likely going to chop onions and peppers and put them in scrambled eggs. Should I use ham or bacon or pepperoni as well?

That will be my secret!

Crock Pot Meal

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

I like cooking in the crock pot. Meals are ready when evening comes. It is convenient and simple. Slow cooking meat this way is a way to turn tougher cuts into tender meals. I usually cook chicken in the crockpot although I have cooked beef. I would like to use it more but to be honest the texture of the meal is similar regardless of what I’ve cooked. It seems to be all “stew-like.” But this does not stop me from preparing meals this way. It is rather an assembled meal and not necessarily really a recipe meal.

It is convenient. I do not necessarily need the convenience in that I have 1 ½ hours at home alone before my husband arrives home from work. I have 45 minutes to an hour in the morning as well. I REFUSE to feel guilty that I have arranged my work to be so close to home. I do recognize that some may call this a luxury and that not everyone can arrange life like this. But I did and I really enjoy it. Work is work but this change saved my sanity from my previous job!

So we had a huge grocery shopping trip this week. And I say “we” because my husband makes it a practice to go shopping with me. Now this is a luxury! Lots of chicken was purchased at my discount grocery store. I have a 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters. These work nicely in the crockpot. I have every intention of making my own barbeque sauce and barbeque rubs. I have not done so yet. Well, that is not true. I made one sauce and used it over chicken but it would be better over pork. I am not sure that I like it; it is made without ketchup. My plan is to make a simple sauce in the morning before work. This does not happen. I have about ½ cup tomato  soup leftover and will use that instead.

Here is an assembly of ingredients that make a meal: chicken parts, potatoes, carrots, onions, tomato soup, spice rub, liquid smoke.

Maine weekend and crockpot meal 049 Maine weekend and crockpot meal 051

I put all that in the crockpot and cooked it on low for 8 hours then kept it on warm.

Maine weekend and crockpot meal 056And then there are muffins. I thought at first that I would make corn muffins but the KAF 200th Anniversary Cookbook had a wheatgerm muffin and I have wheatgerm in my fridge. So that is what I made. Page 76.

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And then I make pie! Dough from Emily RPCV referenced in previous blog (Savory Pie). And the pumpkin pie from the KAF cookbook. My standard pumpkin pie recipe is from the Betty Crocker cookbook. But I am trying to keep to my goal of baking through this one cookbook.

So I had gone to the grocery to buy a few more items that we forgot at the big grocery shopping trip. I come home and bake and bake. I feed my husband and we have a nice dinner. I make the pie after supper and then need to clean up. He says he is not doing dishes until the morning. Well, I did the dishes this morning since they needed to be done. I am sweeping up the kitchen floor and slightly seething, very slightly, not even seething, more like minor brooding trying not to brood, while my husband is trying to get his iPhone to find local pool halls. I have made his favorite pie! I bring this to his attention and he tells me he works hard enough and he is not going to work at home this evening after working hard all day! And he sometimes feels like Cinderella! This is true for both of us. I just wanted a bit of help cleaning up the kitchen. But it is done and we can relax and wait for the pie to cool down so we can have a slice.

Pie makes everything right. Happy autumn!

Gumbo time!

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gumbo 001

With fresh okra and fresh tomatoes and peppers from my local farm market it is time to make gumbo. I found a recipe that I have used before and it is tasty so I send my husband to the store for Andouille sausage on his day off.

But first… I have been reading a book that describes the French kitchen and ordinary cooking. The food does not look simple to me but has an appeal because of the fresh vegetables, cheese, and meat that is part of the everyday food lives of the French people. This book talks about the mythical or real French grandmother who taught or showed the family generations how to cook. The striking part to me is how this is “making do” cooking using what is seasonally available and what are pantry staples. Maybe when I retire I will live in a town where I can walk or bicycle to a local bakery and farm market daily and find farm fresh eggs and chickens to feast on. New Hampshire?

So although I am going to tell you about making gumbo with mostly fresh ingredients and pantry staples I do not usually make this fussy of a meal. And in reading that book it occurred to me that I would like to just make food without fussing over the particular ingredients or methods. But I want to make good food. Food that is satisfying and filling and healthy and nutritious. And on occasion do fussy! This is how my mother fed us. My mom collected recipe clippings all the time. She made few of them. I think she wanted to be more adventurous in cooking and baking but she struggled with obesity and the need to please my father in losing weight. She had to be economical as well so she made do with what were pantry staples and what grew in their garden. I did not get the green thumbs of my mom and dad like my sister and brother, but I did get her “make do” spirit.

This gumbo is an adaptation of a Better Homes and Garden recipe. I am using the recipe as a guideline for ingredients and amounts. I am putting in more of the vegetables and am adding tomatoes. I am using 3 cups of homemade chicken broth that I have in my freezer. I have chopped 5 plum tomatoes which is about two cups. The okra is about 1 ¾ cups sliced. Four cloves garlic, freshly ground black pepper, 2 bay leaves, and a pinch of red pepper flakes is all the spice that is used.

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gumbo 003First everything is cut up and then I make the roux. I suppose one does not have to make the roux but it makes it more classic. The roux is made with 1/3 cup flour and ¼ cup oil. Why I chose to stand over the stove and stir for this long I am not sure.

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gumbo 009I did not stand and stir for 20 minutes but for about 15 until the roux was a reddish brown in color.

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Now add the mire poix. It’s not traditional because it lacks carrots but it serves the same purpose. The garlic is in this addition. This is cooked for a few minutes , 3 to 5, before adding the broth, and then the meat and okra. This is when I add the tomatoes as well. Bring to a boil and add bay leaves and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

gumbo 014Serve over rice. Yummy. And there are leftovers for dinner during the work week.

Back to basics: baking

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Food is a pleasure. Baking is a pleasure. Life is too short to give up pleasant things. I recently was trying to eat oddly following a “diet book” and it was making me very unhappy. I am reading a book on French home cooking where food and meals are pleasurable and sacred experiences. This is what I would like to experience in my home. It is not about the intricacies of the recipe but the love and care and nurture in the process of making a meal.

The weather is cooling down so using the oven will be less oppressive than in the middle of summer. Bread baking season is here. I inventory my pantry and find that I have various flours including gluten free and gluten free baking mix. These are remnants of the “odd” eating plan. No one in the family has to do away with gluten but there it is in my pantry. I now have cinnamon and espresso powder and dark chocolate chips. I have whole wheat, pastry wheat, all-purpose, potato, and white wheat flour. I have about a cup of cornmeal and fancy pure vanilla extract.

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I plan to make the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes (Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François book, “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day”) and keep a tub in my fridge. I will also try out some of the recipes from King Arthur Flour. In fact I might as well bake through the King Arthur Flour  200th Anniversary Cookbook from KAF that I just purchased. Granted, it is the 225th anniversary for KAF but I got this book when I used the coupon they offered for entering their contest. It may be 25 years old but it is new to me. I don’t think it is practical to bake every recipe in the book. I will choose a recipe from each category and chapter. My sister had the idea a year or so ago of cooking through one of many cookbooks. She worked on it but I had too many to choose from and never made a selection. Let’s see how far I get with this one.

Let’s start with the ripe bananas in my kitchen. Banana bread or muffins sounds fine. Somehow I open up the KAF book to the Whole Wheat section and there is a lovely banana bread recipe using buttermilk, molasses, and whole wheat flour and cornmeal. I had bought an extra jar of molasses because I did not realize it was “extra”; I have a quart of buttermilk in the fridge and realize there is only so much buttermilk ranch dressing one can make. And cornmeal sounds healthy anyway.

baking 001Mise en place. Gather all ingredients and equipment. I am baking Whole Wheat Cornmeal Molasses Banana Bread.

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Baking through a cookbook does not mean having to start from the beginning and go in order. This recipe is on page 501. This is a hearty bread which didn’t rise much at all even though it had both baking soda and baking powder. I will share it with my colleagues at work and see what they think. Hubby liked it with butter and jam.

Next it will be on to something chocolate. Do you say chok-lit or chalk-o-lot?

Weight loss in ordinary life

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Like most American women I can be consumed with the “need” for losing weight. About 15 years ago I was given the news that my cholesterol level was too high. Back then I was a single parent, one child in college and one in high school. I got motivated. One thing that was helpful at that time was that the son in High School was an athlete and also a picky eater, basically grilled meat, macaroni and cheese, and lettuce salad. Since my daughter had gone off to college we no longer ordered pizza and Chinese food alternating weekends. I was free to make a variety of meals for myself. I found then that counting calories was the only way to lose weight along with waking 20 minutes at lunch each day, at least 3-4 days a week. I lost 27 pounds and 87 cholesterol points. Over the years I regained 15 of those pounds and 17 cholesterol points.

I love to cook; I love to bake. How does one lose weight? The weight is mostly on my belly so that is the least healthy fat to carry. My husband has the same situation. What to do? Well, last winter a colleague of hubby told him about the Zero Belly diet (David Zinczenko’s Zero Belly Diet ) and raved about it. My husband who has never to my knowledge embraced any diet plan stated that he would be willing to try this. So it is my responsibility to read the book and plan how to put us both on this diet. We found that for the week of learning about the diet, reading the book, and looking at the foods we eat, we both lost a few pounds. We spend a great deal of money on vegan protein powder, vanilla flavor. We did not know it at the time of purchase but this makes the shakes taste like mud.

This is just around the time of Lent so we decide to follow this diet for the 6 weeks and end by celebrating with a big Easter feast. I use the menu ideas but not his recipes other than for the Vinaigrette and the Shakes which make up most of the diet along with apple cider vinegar, no dairy, lots of citrus infused water, minimal alcohol, minimal carbohydrates except for whole grains, no refined sugars. So the various testimonials say that the exercise plan is not necessary but half the book describes the exercises. The first half of the book reads like an infomercial but I read the book from cover to cover and we follow the cleanse week exactly but without exercise. I lose 4.5 pounds, hubby loses 6 pounds. ½ inch off my waist; 2 inches off hubby’s.

We miss bread and we miss cheese and are not very happy. Our first cheat meal was spaghetti with meatballs, Italian bread, big salad, and red wine. That was a taste of heaven.

So I research how to make protein shakes without protein powder because that stuff is processed and the diet is to avoid processed foods. But the alternative is dairy. Slowly over the six weeks we add a bit of dairy and morph it into the “Mediterranean diet”. We are happier. At the end of our six weeks I have lost 10.5 pounds, 3 inches off my waist, and no cholesterol points. Hubby has lost 7.5 pounds, 3 inches off his waist, and unknown cholesterol points. He has since been started on anti-hypertensive medications. I already take those and cholesterol meds.

So here it is 5 months later. I have maintained my weight loss give or take 3 pounds and the 3 inches is back on my middle. Hubby is back at starting weight and waist is also back at square one. We are planning a Zero Belly cleanse for the next 6 days and will have a cheat meal next Sunday. I will make a chocolate cake with mint frosting from the DessertforTwo (by Christina Lane) cookbook. Not sure what’s for dinner. I wonder how soon we will add a bit of cheese this time?

I have modified the eating plan. The key to Zero Belly is protein, healthy fat, and fiber at each meal. We will use whey protein powder (in our budget), dairy and animal fat in addition to nuts and oils, and have cheat meals every week. I found that the original plan is not a natural way for me to eat or to feed my family.

According to the CDC I am 8 ½ pounds into the “overweight” classification. My husband is 25 ½ pounds “overweight”. I suspect that this week will find him with greater weight loss than me because it will be a more drastic calorie reduction. I also walk on a treadmill at the work gym for 25-30 minutes 2-3 days a week and have the opportunity to walk to work which I do not make a regular habit, unfortunately..

weightlossblog 007I am dreading this already! Here’s what we eat this week:

shake for breakfast, shake for lunch, fruit and nuts for snack, and then dinner:

weightlossblog 009 Monday: Italian sausages with sauteed peppers and onions in homemade tomato sauce. What’s missing here is pasta noodles and a loaf of crusty bread to sop up the sauce.

weightlossblog 010Tuesday: Steak salad with avocado and feta. What’s missing here is a loaf of crusty bread.

Wednesday: the plan is for grilled chicken breasts with corn on the cob and leftover salad.

But…I quit…I quit!

On Tuesday we gorge ourselves on watermelon and peanuts after our meal. I’m lying in bed dreaming about baked goods and am haunted by the thought that food is meant to be enjoyed. Sure a protein shake for breakfast is okay but not again for lunch. Yogurt with fruit and honey would taste so good. What’s wrong with a scrambled egg in a wrap with a piece of cheese? Irish soda bread fresh out of the oven with a bit of butter and jam? Banana muffins made with whole wheat four? The more I feel deprived the more I am likely to over indulge.

I quit in the middle of the night and the next morning I feel like a quitter which is not how I see myself. So I will take the yogurt for lunch. It will just be an unassembled shake, and we will continue on the no carbs this week only. These are no carbs in the form of bread, pasta, or grains. We eat fruit daily. But come Saturday all bets are off. Well not really. So for dessert and muffins this weekend they will be from Dessert for Two so as not to over indulge. Now see there, I’m not a quitter!

Look at all this healthy produce waiting to be consumed!

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Confession: On Wednesday both my husband and I took advantage of work provided lunch items including cheeseburger for him, and hotdog (no bun) and an ice cream sandwich for me.

Well eating healthy is not about following gimmicky diets even when those diets call themselves a lifestyle change and/or an eating plan. Let us eat, drink, and be merry!