Putting food in its place

[chefk]

Yes recommend away!!

I ran in to tell my husband about the spiralizer and maybe it should be on my Christmas list so we have it in time for "the big cleanse". After I explained what it was he said he thought my apple, corer, peeler tool would do the same thing. Okay, I NEED new toys. I'm a cooking gear geek. I was surprised he said that! Well, I'm keeping it on my list, but now I'm going to check out the peeler thing in the meantime!

[amalfi_girl]

MsAnthrope--I used to think of smart ass comebacks I could/should have used when people said stuff like that to me (my Nana is always a classic--she would literally say "Eat something! Eat, eat, EAT! You're not eating enough!" and then make me something totally off-diet, force me to eat it ("I swear by my life! If you don't eat that I will drop dead!") and then, as I'm eating it, say "You're getting fat. You can't eat so much." What do you do with that fiasco?!?). Now I don't even bother with the mental come-backs, I just assume that when someone says something like that, it's about them, not me -- it actually has nothing to do with me -- and move on. I hope to continue to just find these things funnier and funnier. I'm starting to collect them (as you can see)!

Chef--NOTHING does what the spiralizer does! I wasted money on two sizes of veggie peeler and a mandolin trying to simulate the wonder that is a spiralized veggie, and in the end I still needed the tool itself. My only regret is that I didn't have it much, much, MUCH sooner. I got mine for about $30, and the 2 peelers and mandolin cost a lot more than that... I can't remember if I said this in previous posts, but when I used it for the first time, I squealed with delight and said to my DH something to the effect of: "I'm so pissed! I could have had a spiralizer all this time--I could have been having zucchini and squash pasta for the last 28 years! What a waste!" So that's my take on "waste." ... I'd consider sending you one myself just so that I can see the amazing recipes you'll post using it! It would be a win-win

As for raw (un)cookbook recommendations, I have favorite books and favorite blogs that have a ton of recipes:

Ani Phyo's Ani's Raw Food Essentials
Sarma Melingailis' Raw Food Real World and Living Raw Food (these have some complicated recipes that Sarma serves at her restaurant in NYC, Pure Food and Wine, which you may really enjoy attempting or modifying in light of your culinary skills)
Fav. blog: Choosing Raw, which has a ton of simple, easy, every day recipes. I also go on the websites for certain famous raw restaurants (like Horizons in Philly, One Lucky Duck in NYC, etc.--many are reviewed on Choosing Raw ) and just have fun trying to replicate the dishes they serve. Because raw food is all about the ingredients, you can usually figure out how to make something when they list a few ingredients and there is a picture of the dish to guide you along in making it. Have fun! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

On to business:

B: 2 eggs with onions, peppers and chicken apple sausage (yum!); coffee with FF lactaid and SF sweetener
S: a lemon larabar (double yum!)
L: chicken fajita salad w/ LF cheese & refried beans with DH
S: 1/2 green pepper stuffed with tuna salad (1 can tuna, 2 T olive oil mayo)
D: [anticipated] homemade baba ganouj with green pepper and cucumber dippers
Des.: something yummy made with chia seeds, unsweetened cocoa, sweetener and FF greek yogurt

30 minutes this AM on the treadmill.

[lakegran72]

I HAVE to have a spiralizer!!!!!!!!!

[chefk]

I bookmarked the choosing raw page and I'm looking forward to checking it out. I don't have any interest in "going raw" but I'd like to add a lot more veggies and I think doing a restrictive type cleanse is a great way for me to really be aware of every thing that goes in...a reboot so to speak and I'm excited about it. It'll be my first time doing a raw menu and I love travelling down a culinary path I'm unfamiliar with.

[amalfi_girl]

Lakegran, it is truly addicting...good luck on your quest to find the right one for you!

[EDITED]-Chef, just saw your post, that is exactly why I started experimenting with raw recipes! And look where it got me--my own larabar recipes and a spiralizer! Couldn't be happier. Did I mention that I am so looking forward to your recipes? Good.

I couldn't sleep very well last night so I sleapt in a little bit and plan to do either yoga or pilates tonight. I also have to clean the entire house, wash the sheets and towels, and prep some of the food for tomorrow's family visit. My parents are coming in this weekend instead of next week for a pre-Thanksgiving, since none of us can travel to the others on the actual turkey day. Since it is not technically Thanksgiving, I feel absolutely no obligation to make anything remotely resembling the classics (no stuffing, turkey, gravy or pumpkin pie at my house this year!). Instead, I'm making:

Pumpkin seed salad (butter lettuce mixed with massaged kale, pumpkin seeds, avocado, LF parmesan and dulse--that is a type of seaweed that tastes a little like BACON!--mixed with a lemon-pumpkin seed oil vin.)

Zucchini pasta primavera (tons of spiralized zucchini and perhaps some spiralized yellow squash, black olives, mushrooms, yellow peppers, halved grape tomatoes and basil with some marinara instead of the traditional primavera sauce)

Grilled chicken parm (chicken breasts pounded into cutlets and put on the grill, then topped with diced tomatoes, a little of the marinara, LF parm, and topped with one slice each of LF provalone. I've made this before, and it's a crowd pleaser!)

Side of cannellini beans with sauteed spinach (beans sauteed with garlic, olive oil, and wilted spinach)

Apple cinnamon almond bread "a la mode" with banana soft serve (this is blanched almond flour, eggs, baking soda, macadamia nut oil instead of butter, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg mixed with apple butter, diced fuji apples and some golden raisins and baked at 350 for 40 min. I top the slices (which come out like apple cinnamon pound cake!) with banana soft serve, which is just frozen bananas pulsed in the food processor until it has a creamy, soft serve ice cream texture and can be scooped with an ice cream scoop on top of the hot bread)

Needless to say, I am very excited for the meal...
But I'm also excited to show my parents just exactly how I have been eating on this WOL and how it is so very not a diet.

B: 3 egg omelet with chicken apple sausage, spinach, onion and peppers, coffee with sweetener and hazelnut milk
S: FF greek yogurt with honey, sunflower seeds and buckwheat
L: romaine with granny smith apples, brie and turkey, dressed w/lemon juice, a touch of honey and 1T grapeseed oil, 1/2 home made larabar
S: 2/3 container butternut squash w/cinnamon, honey & 1 t olive oil butter
D:
Des.

[Chris55]

Your menu sounds fantastic - nobody would know that it's mostly beachy! I'm doing the traditional New England stuff, but I might also do some chard or kale with beans so I can have an alternative to the dreaded green bean casserole (which I must make for my children who were corrupted by my SIL who can only open cans).

[jhderm]

Hi Amalfi,

Wow, you are a real cook! Just looking at this stuff I feel intimidated but all good food, hat off to you!

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Judi

[amalfi_girl]

Thanks, Judi! Definitely don't be intimidated, I purposely picked the easiest menu I could think of (I've made the dishes all before individually and they are super easy--they just sound fancy!). When I did SB the first time around (and lost 70 Lbs. and basically kept it off for a good year and a half before letting it go), I cooked all the time, really simple things that tasted really good and were SB friendly. I developed a list of go-to recipes that I could just kind of recycle with small changes for variety, and it really worked for me. After a few rounds of making the same thing, it becomes second nature and I really relied on that familiar ease to keep it going. Now that I'm back and ready to do this for good, I'm expanding my repetoire!

Plus, in the month or two that I was not on this site (after the board crash), I spent all the time I had used on here to oggle food blogs. They are very inspiring and I tried a bunch of recipes that increased my confidence in my cooking.

Work is so slow right now that I feel like a complete obsessive on this board all the live-long day, but there is nothing else that really gets through my job's spam zapper and nothing else to occupy my time (other than eating out of boredom, which we all know we're trying to avoid)! Sorry for being a board-hog!

[amalfi_girl]

The dinner went well! My parents were nuts about the main course and the dessert (they thought the banana soft serve was real vanilla ice cream mixed with bananas!). The salad felt kind of obligatory, so I'll have to work on that one.

B: 2 eggs w/spinach, onion and chicken sausage
S: red apple with PB
L: split chicken lettuce wraps and mongolian beef w/sister; egg drop soup
S, D & Des: 3 slices of apple cinnamon almond bread (left over from yesterday) with 1 baked fuji apple and banana soft serve.

Yes, the second half of my day was very far from beachy! I just wanted dessert for dinner... I feel so so sick after the lunch, they must have put something (maybe MSG?) in the food, but I am just a wreck. Eating very clean tomorrow. Only exercise was walking the little girl (Shana, my rescue shih tzu--best pup ever!!).

[Chris55]

I'm glad your family meal was a success! I know what you mean about the salad being obligatory. I think I'm skipping it for T-Day. Wed night I'm feeding the crew lasagna, eggplant lasagna, and a big salad. For T-Day my sister offered to bring some broccoli and asparagus so we'll have some fresh cooked green veggies. That plus my farm share veggies, which are all starchy, will be plenty. My sister is on WW and eats piles of salad, but I told her I wasn't doing it for T-Day - everything is going to be cooked.

Good luck with your work slowdown - must be driving you nuts!

[amalfi_girl]

Chris, YES, I absolutely hate hate HATE to be bored. I'm the kind of person who would much rather the completely slammed at work, doing 15 hour days, than this no-work at work nonsense where I am going nuts from boredom. At least I'm not binging, trust me, this is something of a pre-Christmas miracle, because I am the biggest boredom-eater out there. I'm glad you're making your own rules with T-day! Good luck, I'm looking forward to reading everyone's posts about how it comes off.

Here's the plan for today:

B: omelet w/green pepper, onion, tomato and turkey bacon; lactaid milk Starbucks mocha Via iced coffee (has a touch of real sugar in it, but so so good!)
S: orange pepper with tuna & 1 T olive oil mayo
L: salad with tomatoes, chicken, onion and a smidge of tatziki.
S: Smoothie made with greek yogurt, honey and an orange (I love having a magic bullet at the office!), cashew cookie larabar
D: Greek salad with gyro meat but w/o the feta
Des: Banana soft serve with SF chocolate sauce and walnuts (this is becoming a habit...!)

Exercise: 20 minutes on the bike tonight

[OnaMi]

Hiya amalfi..sorry I'm just answering your question you asked me, where do i find motivational quotes(in the What to do when you're Bored thread) but I've been busy. I've been skimming your Journey and looks like you have plenty to keep you from being Bored,thinking up all those good recipes
Anyway..over the past year,every since i started SB,I've been writing down different saying that "Red" has been saying that are motivational and inspiring to me.I've also collected some from other people on another sites.I keep them all together and have made a book (called my Motivational bible)sort of which i refer to quite often for help.
I also get daily e-mails(Quotes of the day& Daily Love messages) that say motivational things and i keep those too(the ones that help me the most).There's an Inspirational thread around here somewhere were i got the links from.

Have a good Day and a wonderful thanksgiving!!!

[amalfi_girl]

Thanks, Ona! I just visited your journal again and I have to say, congratulations on your amazing success! You are so inspirational. I also love to copy-paste Red's quotes into emails to myself and print them out to paste into my journal for portable reminders of his amazing sanity about this whole process.

[OnaMi]

Thank you,amalfi(x)..he has been a God sent for me!! I don't post in many journals cause i have so much Internet stuff going on,trying to plan my meals,stay focus on my new WOE,psyching myself up to move everday..i just don't have the time. but i read on the site everyday,trying to get as much knowledge about this WOE as possible.You've done a very good job and I wish you much success,I'll check in on you from time to time(x)..stay strong,focuse,patient and consistent and you'll be fine. you can do this!!!!!..You ARE doing this!!!!

[amalfi_girl]

Thanks, Ona!! That's why I love these journals--you learn so much, but you also get this phenomenal support. When I went through SB the first time, I didn't have these boards, and the cheering squad that comes with it! It makes a huge difference.

This AM: 20 minutes on the bike at level 4. My goal is to step it up this week to 25 minutes at level 4, then 25 minutes at level 5, then 30 minutes at level 5 (and then just step up the levels every week). I've decided the time has come to step it up with my work outs! I also want to do weight training on the weekends, and then eventually incorporate at least one weight training session mid-week.

B: scrambled eggs with mushrooms and chicken sausage; vanilla Via iced coffee with 1 T half and half.
S: 1 slice eggplant, 1 slice mozz. cheese, 1 leaf basil; 1/2 banana & 1/2 larabar
L: big salad with goat cheese, pears, almonds, raisins, oil & vin.
S: 1 orange bell pepper with 1 pack tuna and 2 T olive oil mayo, 1/2 c NSA grape juice diluted with 1/2 cup seltzer
D: red lentils, mushrooms and 3 oz. steak