The Whiner Has Left the Building

Okay, the whining is officially over.

Don't know what was wrong with me last week. Let's chalk it up to hormones and move on, shall we?

Food Fetish

I feel stuck. I'm so close to having lost 50 pounds. I don't seem to ever have enough time during the week to exercise during the week. I crave, oh, how I crave. I crave things I never used to really care about: cheesey Hawaiian pizza, chocolate mousse, quesadillas....I'm craving a lot of melted cheese. Other things too--fried chicken. Cookies. Macaroni salad. Stupid stuff. Food I didn't seek out when I ate anything I wanted--and anything I didn't want.

And in the end, I don't give into them. Not really. Well, sometimes I do. But I've been trying to stay in control. Because being out of control, and not caring about what I did to myself, is what got me in this state to begin with.

I used to wake up and think, "What am I going to eat today?!" with excitement. I'd watch cooking shows and cook with abandon. Though even I knew to stay away from Paula Deen.

Now, I wake up and I think, "What am I going to eat today?" with trepidation. Will I stay strong? Will I stay in control? Will I make wise, nutritious choices? Sometimes I don't, but many times I do.

It's not just about eating fattening foods. It's also about controlling portions. I like BIG food. When I moved to California I was introduced to the two-pounds taqueria burritos and never did I question the enormity of them. It was Fleagirl-sized food. No need for seconds.

Am I an overeater? Yes. Am I a compulsive overeater? Yes.

Apple Salad

My parents came for a short visit last weekend. That prompted me to spend a week figuring out what to make for dinner. I knew one night we'd have Chinese food, as they live on a small island and never go out to dinner. Chinese food seems to be one of the few things my mom really misses since moving there nearly ten years ago. But for the other two nights, I didn't know what to do. I decided on my "angelic" sweet & sour pork for Sunday dinner and Apple Salad with sandwiches for Halloween night, after they arrived.

Apple Salad is a light and decadent way to celebrate Fall. The sweet and crisp honeycrisps are perfectly offset by the pungent, creamy cheese. And the glazed walnuts bring it all together.

Apple Salad
All amounts are approximate and should be adjusted to meet your taste and nutritional needs (ie., throw in more/less cheese and walnuts to make this more/less healthy)

8+ Cups Mixed salad greens--spring mix is great with this. You want the deep, dark lettuces, not the light iceberg/romaines.
1/4 to 1/2 Cup crumbled Roquefort
1/2 Cup glazed walnuts
2 Large or 3 medium Honey Crisp apples, cored and sliced thin
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Newman's own light Italian vinaigrette, just enough--the lettuce should not be dripping with dressing
Salt & pepper

Toss lettuce with salt & pepper. Toss apples with lemon juice. Combine all ingredients, then lightly toss salad with dressing. Serve immediately.

Sweet & Sour Pork

Chinese food is a "red light" food for me, meaning, if I start eating it, I won't stop. Deep fried meat covered in sweet, garlicky sauce? Pork fat and meat mingling with ginger and garlic, wrapped in pasta dough and pan-fried? Who would not eat a great potsticker put in front of them? Even green beans can be deep fried and still appear to look healthy.

On a completely different note, I'm about a pound or so away from hitting forty pounds lost. I'd gotten really close 10 days ago, then gained a bit (.8 lbs). Today I got on the scale to find I've gone up even more...so I need to get my nose back to the grindstone.

So why on earth would I make sweet & sour pork for dinner? Oh so many reasons. Because pork is a nice, sweet meat. Because I could. Because I wanted to take something really bad, and make it good. And I did.

Angelic Sweet & Sour Pork

2.5 lbs Pork Top Loin Roast, trimmed of fat
4 large red bell peppers (substitute up to one yellow or green)
1 large yellow onion
20-oz can pineapple chunks in sweetened juice
4 scallions, sliced in 1" pieces
Garlic powder
Dried ginger
Soy sauce
cider vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp ketchup
Red pepper flakes

Heat oven to 325; season pork with salt & pepper, cook in roasting pan, dry (no liquids, lid, etc), about 25 minutes a pound, until meat thermometer is about 143. Allow meat to rest, at which time thermometer will rise to 150-160 degrees.

While meat roasts, chop peppers and onions into large chunks. Heat pan on medium-high, add 2 tsps canola oil. When hot, add the onions. Stir fry until fragrant and still crisp. Remove (adding to roast pan is fine); add peppers to pan and stir fry, keeping crisp. Add a generous dash of garlic and ginger powders, and a liberal shake of soy sauce. Remove the peppers to the same pan as the onions. Add approximately three tablespoons of cider vinegar to pan, ketchup, sugar, and chili flakes, heat to boiling. Remove from heat, add pineapple with juices. Heat through. Add scallions.

Adjust sauce seasonings to taste, and salt onions & peppers. Toss with pineapple. Slice pork into generous slices (no wimpy thin pieces!) and serve.

Goes well with brown rice or quinoa.

Eating for life

Fall is finally here. I'm wearing a fleece jacket and am thinking the Baby needs to put on his sweater. Today I'll take him to the playground and I'll think that if I were on the East Coast, the leaves would be starting to change. Here by noon it will be in the 80s and blindingly sunny. Am I complaining? No, just procrastinating.

I need to make a meal plan for the week. One that Juiceboy can make some of the dinners, and not one where we will resport to going to Subway every night to avoid. Real food, healthy, easy to make. And I've got writer's block. Cook's block.

I look at all the recipes I've tried here over the past few years. No wonder I got to be the size I am. My eating habits were horrendous. In the past for Sunday brunch I'd have made a huge calorie-laden dish, like chilaquiles, and had two servings. Today, I had 27gm of Crunchy corn bran with 1% milk and 67 gm of strawberries. I know the weight only because I don't trust my eye in determining what an appropriate portion is.

I've lost 33.8 pounds total. I'm 28% to my goal--so I'm obviously in this for the long haul.

So--look for some changes in the future. I'm going to reorganize the blog to include the old, really successful recipes (I get hundreds of people every week just here for the into on how to make cream cheese wontons), but it's going to now focus on light, fresh, healthy foods. Organic whenever possible, and as seasonal as I can get.

Before & After

So I tried to post a weight loss simulation of me losing 28.4 pounds, but all I could get to post was my "current" look. See below.

I don't know how accurate this is. I mean, it looks somewhat like my body, if I were a Barbie doll, with fully-molded vinyl and all that.

And my goal weight image? Well, that Fleagirl just looks anorexic. What's WRONG with her? No boobs, no curves. Considering I've been nothing but curves since I was ten, I can't picture that. It's got to be wrong.

Then again, I haven't been 143 since I was in 9th grade....

Avgolemono Soup

As I mentioned in another post (Growing Up Greek), I love Greek food. However, I rarely cook it. Don't ask me why I don't. Maybe it's because this past year I haven't really been doing much cooking at all, though that's changing as I am re-training in how I look and think of food.

As I make my 100+ pound weight-loss journey--I have mentioned I'm fat, haven't I?--I'm looking for ways to satisfy my lust for food, while being healthy.

Which brings me to today's recipe. I was sitting in my backyard enjoying a good murder mystery while The Baby enjoyed an episode of Sesame Street. Juiceboy soon joined me. He pointed out some lemons that were hiding amongst the leaves of the lemon tree, and I knew what I was having for lunch. It's light, fast, and incredibly satisfying. And in this transitional time from Summer to not-warm-enough-to-swim-Summer, the fresh lemon was a terrific burst of sunshine.

Avgolemono Soup

6 Cups good Chicken Broth, low sodium preferred
1/2 Cup jasmine rice
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 C Egg Beaters/egg whites
Juice of 1-2 large lemons
1 T cold water
Salt & Pepper to taste

Bring the chicken broth to a boil; add rice. Simmer for 20 minutes. In the meantime, beat the eggs and Egg Beaters in a large bowl or 4-Cup measuring cup. Juice the lemons, straining out seeds. Add lemon juice and water to eggs, stir. After 20 minutes, check the rice for doneness, and remove from heat. Add broth & rice to egg mixture a ladle at a time. Do not bring to a boil, or even return to heat until burner is cooled down--otherwise your soup may break or curdle. This is NOT egg drop soup; it should be smooth and creamy.

Season to taste and serve immediately. I like mine very lemony, so I have sliced lemon in the bowls.

Serves four if accompanying salad or sandwich/serves two as a main dish.