Day 51, Together: Indulgence!

So, I (Nathaly) had a little hiccup of frustration planning out her indulgence, but the final product came out just fine and was VERY enjoyable!  As you can see in Day 49's post, I had definitely been craving deep-fried cheesy goodness.  I got most of what i was looking for in the following:

Bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers! (50 cal each). 

• Cut jalapeño pepper in half, scoop out veins & seeds.  
• Fill with 1 tbsp of fat free cream cheese
• Wrap with 1/2 a strip of uncooked bacon.  
• Seal shut with a toothpick (I was out, so I ended up having poppers that popped open during cooking) 
• Broil on high for 10 minutes (turn once, halfway if your oven is like mine and likes to cook the back half of the tray more than the front). 
• Oh!  And be sure to lay the little suckers down on a small rack on TOP of the baking tray so the bacon drippings don't get all over the poppers -- that can be a little nasty! 
• I made 24 (to finish off the 12-pc package of bacon and not be tempted with it in my freezer) and invited some friends over. :)

I was VERY surprised they could be made for 50 cals each (45 actually), and chowed down on 5 which only added up to 250 calories -- UNDER HALF of my allotted indulgence!! :-D (talk about good times!). So I walked my butt over to the corner store and was gearing up to buy a bottle of Long Trail Blackberry Wheat (135 cals), when I realized the store was closed for the night!  UGH.  Saddened, but really not all that upset, I decided to pop another popper (at 300 cals now) and then sat at the couch wondering what more I could eat with minimal effort (I was feeling too lazy to walk to the market at 9pm on a Sunday).

I decided I'd be OK with enjoying a serving of Ramiro's indulgence treat (only after MUCH cajoling -- he didn't wanna share even though he knew he wasn't allowed to down it all, lol):

sickly deliciousness (300 cal per 1/2 cup).

Surprisingly, this STILL left me under the 700 cal maximum, so I think all in all it was a pretty good day!!  I was planning on meeting a friend at a bar yesterday so there was a small chance I would've ordered a Blackberry Wheat just cuz, but he rescheduled and anyways, that would've felt a little too far on the cheating side of the spectrum (to split up my indulgence over two days). YAY for keeping indulgences positive! :)

Lesson learned:  I need a full day to think through my "need" to eat cheese fries covered in bacon bits and slathered with ranch dressing.  In the end, I usually make the right choice, but since I like to be in control, the thought of those amazingly delicious (but honestly pretty horrible dishes) being "forbidden" can get the best of me.  A simple alternative to cut back calories is to make it yourself!! Yay for home cooking!
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I (Ramiro), decided to further experiment with my ice cream addiction.  For my first indulgence, I had 400 cals of my favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Chocolate Fudge Brownie. I was surprised to find it bitter-tasting and overly chocolate-y.  For this indulgence, I tried my absolute top favorite, Vanilla Swiss Almond from Häagen-Dazs -- all 700 calories. It was much creamier than I remembered and almost too sugary. It wasn't bad at all, just incredibly intense, but I could've easily made do with half the portion I served myself (2.5 servings, according to the nutritional information). The result: a bad stomach ache and a slight headache.

Lesson learned: My ice cream addiction is subsiding.

Day 43, Nathaly: VEGETABLES!

So, Ramiro's been hungry the last couple weeks and our weekly diet message saying he could eat as many veggies as he wants made his eyes light up -- so healthily cute.  lol  This is a man I used to have to trick into eating fruits and vegetables back in the day!

Anyways, so as i've mentioned before, I've been pretty bored with the veggies lately, so I went to the lunch counter at the local co-op the other day and checked out some veggie medley options that could be adapted to be PCP compliant (as simple as removing salt from ingredient list for the most part).  Two looked really yummy so I bought some on the spot and enjoyed them thoroughly.  Recreating them based solely on my memory of the ingredients list was certainly the hard part..

From L to R: zucchini/corn medley; mustardy roasted broccoli & roasted red peppers; asian slaw (PS -- that peanut butter is exclusively for Tigger's daily pill delivery -- fear not! (I get no more that one finger lick per morning)

1. Home versions of City Market creations:

• Yummy roasted broccoli thing (shown in the center shot above)!  Mmmm MMM M!  I'd never even had roasted broccoli before (can you believe it?) and it stood out a little while back after Sarah left this great comment with lots of veggie suggestions.  Anyways, this is simply roasted broccoli with roasted red pepper and (here's the ta-da ingredient!) MUSTARD.  not your typical hot-dog stuff, the classry stuff with the seeds.  SO GOOD.  Also a little drizzle of olive oil. 
• My version of the Napa cabbage thing (pictured on the right) was not so great (and I made a LOT so i'm gonna be eating this mistake for most of the rest of the week..).  I think this one definitely req'd precise measurements as opposed to the free hand thing I was doing -- mine has too much apple cider vinegar and has never really got sweet, despite 3-4 drizzles of agave nectar.  Anyways, the original recipe had toasted almonds and soy sauce which I omitted from mine and am definitely missing.

2. Other stuff I whipped up this afternoon:

• Zucchini corn medley (pictured on the left above):  The original recipe which I shared before (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Corn-and-Zucchini-Melody/Detail.aspx#) includes bacon and although is did make for a really lovely dish, it's not bad without that salty-greasy loveliness..  As mentioned before, I add 1/2 of a seedless jalapeño for a little kick. I think it's cuz the corn I got is from a local farm (19 cents each a week ago!) and in season and I cooked it perfectly (not to brag or anything), but I ate a whole ear for lunch today without even blinking cuz it was just SOOOO lovely.  Guys -- if it's corn season where you are, do it up! WARNING: avoid licking fingers if you've recently been chopping jalapeños..
• Roasted fall veggies:
• eggplants (below, foreground):  I was in the first stages of making some baba ganoush, but by the time I was done with the stuff I've already listed, I really didn't feel like pressing on.  Plus, I don't keep tahini on hand, so I'm gonna hold off on that.  Hope the eggplants will keep (they were already sorta borderline..

Roasting fun. 

• beets (center): we had bought these to juice, but never got around to it, so I found them tossing around a fridge drawer and thought, what the heck..  Here's the thing:  I don't really like beets.  I'm thinking I'll try to sneak them into Ramiro's food somehow.. lol I'm open to other ideas, of course!
• potatos (background): a new fave.  ramiro had one for lunch while I went with a nuked sweet potato.  not as lovely as the last one I nuked, but still fun times.  

This is what's left to cook up/eat before the next trip to the super market:

Anyone have any suggestions for what to do with that watercress I bought on sale?  I'm thinking of trying this, .http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Avocado-and-Watercress-Salad-242342, but am afraid of experimenting with asian after that sad slaw

OOh -- and as long as I'm in this fun picture-sharing swing, I've been saving these next couple images to work into a post at some point.  Now seems as good as ever:

A PCP-compliant refrigerator: fruit & veggies galore, milk, homemade chai & lean meats (not shown here..)

Local Farmer's Market Bounty!  YAY for VT in the summer!

And last, but not least..

My teeny weeny garden red onions.  Hold back the giggle, folks! It's a product of my very first gardening attempt.

OK -- it seems I had a lot to share today.  Total bummer I lost dinner bananas, btw..  I was really loving those banana milkshakes.  OH -- and HUGE bummer that I didn't lose any weight this week.  I knew it was too good to be true:  last Sunday's weigh-in shown I had lost 4 lbs in a single week which seems WAY weird.  Must've just been a glitch in the matrix.  150 lbs, here I come!!

Day 36, Together: Some Favorite Recipes

Potato Curry: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Potato-Curry/Detail.aspx

• switch from ghee to olive oil
• i've never used mustard seed and haven't missed it
• great with whole wheat tortillas!

Zucchini Corn Medley: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Corn-and-Zucchini-Melody/Detail.aspx

• obviously, you gotta forgo the bacon & cheese
• i like to add peas
• you can also add 1/2 of a small jalapeño for zing

Balsamic Marinated Eggplant & Zucchini:

• cut into 1/2 inch rounds (i like to leave the skin on)
• dip in balsamic vinegar
• pan sear on med-high heat for about 1 min on each side
• serve with your choice of protein (i like lean steak)

Pasta Primavera:

• toss appropriately weighed angel hair pasta with:
• cherry tomatoes
• sugar snap peas
• broccoli spears
• a sprinkle of Parmesan
• a drizzle of olive oil
• serve with your choice of protein (i like salmon)

New Favorite Pasta Sauce:

• sautee at low-med heat:
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 2-3 medium garlic cloves, crushed or diced
• add 1 large can low-sodium, organic diced tomatoes
• stir in 2-3 tablespoons of homemade pesto sauce
• sprinkle in fresh basil to taste
• serve over turkey meatballs & pasta 
• OR make a turkey meatball sub on a whole wheat sandwich roll (i like to sprinkle on some Parmesan)

Shrimp & Veggie Lo Mein:

• weigh out & stir-fry together: 
• frozen lo mein noodles
• frozen shrimp
• frozen veggie mix

Banana milkshake:

• 2 medium bananas
• 250 ml milk
• handful of low-sugar breakfast cereal
• 1 tsp on maple syrup

Other easy fave's:

• nuked potato with plain yogurt
• nuked sweet potato with drizzle of maple syrup
• steamed broccoli with garlic
• frozen blueberries

Day 10, Nathaly: dieting

Day 10 -- we've made it this far!  Can we keep this up for another 80 days?  It's not gonna be easy, but I think so. For me, the biggest bonus to keeping straight on the diet is knowing there's an end in sight. :)

Truth is, the diet is less hard than I would've thought.  I think it's 'cuz of all the eating - it's helped reduce my emotional eating cravings, but i'm really missing the salt.  Gonna have to jump on that lemon/vinegar/citric acid thing Kim's been talking about.  Will also recommended using lemon pepper -- so i'm gonna pick some of that up tomorrow along with a gallon of milk (we're going through that pretty quick!), some bulgar wheat & quinoa (new!) and more lean meat.

I've been enjoying eating local, in-season veggies (mostly zucchini right now) & fruit (heirloom melons and tree-ripened plums!) and have reached out to folks in my grad student community about getting my hands on some lake fish.  A friend is delivering some filleted white fish for me on Thursday (a by-product of her research!) and another has even offered to teach me to fish.  Fun fun :)

Ramiro and I have both noted that the program is (inadvertently?) helping shape our lives closer to what we consider "grown-up" life to be:  treating our bodies right with healthy foods and regular exercise, having regular sleep patterns, regular showers and even less of the dog begging at the table.  These seemingly-simple things are actually pretty big adjustments for us and we're glad to make them, so that's a definitely plus!

OK -- it's almost 10pm and I've gotta join Ramiro in finishing up our fitness routine.  Keep those recipes coming, folks!  Today I marinated 1/4 inch slices of eggplant & zucchini in balsamic vinegar and pan-seared them at high heat.  Very yummy.