Cucumber Couscous Salad

Shawna's Cucumbers

Veggies for the Cucumber Salad

That’s right, my partner in the Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative, the totally outstanding Shawna Coronado, gave me cucumber and when life gives you cucumber, you make salad.  (Or pickles I guess.)  I know you sure as heck don’t make dinner for $11.50.  Until now! 

If this is your first Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiatve Post, welcome.  Let me give you the drill.  Shawna is the mad scientist in the garden and while she’s more than a decent cook, she lets me work my magic to turn her nude veggies (no chemcials!) into a dinner for four for $11.50 or less.  According to the rules of this challenge, I can use salt, pepper, cooking oil, and flour along with whatever Shawna has in garden.  It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it!

Today’s salad is going to be super easy and super delicous.  All you really need is some couscous, a few veggies for chopping, and some pita and you are good to go.

Making Cucumbers into Eco-Cheap Dinners

So the idea behind this dinner was to take a popular side dish, the cucumber salad, and turn it into something a bit more substantial.  Since we’re doing this eco-cheap, I figured I’d use couscous.  Not only is it easy to prepare, but it’s also very filling and doesn’t cost a lot of money.  While the couscous is cooking, prepare the salad and serve when the couscous is cool enough to eat!

You will need:

• 2 cups broth or stock ($1.00)
• 2 cups couscous (buy in bulk $2.00)
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 tomato (50 cents)
• 1 red onion (50 cents)
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (50 cents)
• 2 tablespoons of feta cheese crumbles ($1.50)
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 package Pita bread ($4.00)

Total $10.00 (under budget!!)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Over high heat, bring the stock to a boil.  Into a glass bowl, first pour in the couscous and then the boiling broth.  Cover with plastic wrap.  That’s all it takes.  The couscous will be done in about 10 minutes.  Once it has finished, fluff it with a fork and let it cool.

Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise then slice them into half moons.  Dice the tomatoes and remove the seeds.  Finally, cut the onions into 1/2 inch dice and put all the vegetables into a bowl. 

Add the rice wine vinegar, feta, a good pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup of olive oil to the bowl and stir.  Give the mixture a taste.  If it’s dry, add more olive oil.  Test it for saltiness, you may need to another pinch.  Let the bowl rest.

Cut the pita in half and brush liberally with olive oil.  Sprinkle salt on top and bake until warm, maybe 5 minutes.

Mix the cool couscous with the salad and serve with pita bread.  Nice, healthy, and delicious.

Enjoy!

Get healthy today and follow the “2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative” with Blog Well Done’s Chris Perrin and the Casual Gardener, Shawna Coronado.

Thanks to Shawna and Thriteen of Clubs for their pics.

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Egg Topped Zucchini Patties With Bacon!

Egg Topped Zucchini Patties

So, wait, what is this 2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative you may ask?  Well, the constantly amazing gardener extraordinare Shawna Coronado has been doing her thang in her garden and flooding my kitchen with delicious nude vegetables (in other words free from harsh chemicals) and I turn them into delicious dinners for a family of four costing less than $11.50.  Of course, when making these dinners, I get to raid her garden for whatever ingredients she has and I get cooking oil, flour, salt, and pepper, but it’s still a challenge.  And hopefully it’s one you all are enjoying!

So, wait, what then are zucchini patties?  Glad you asked!  Zucchini patties are patties made from shredded zucchini mixed with onions, sometimes carrots, spices, and breadcrumbs to make a delicious patty kind of like a crabcake.  Sans the crab, of course!  (Though I baked some for about an hour and they tasted like crabcakes.  Cool, huh?)

Want to make them?

Making The Zucchini Patties and Their Egg Topping

Zucchini From Shawna Coronado's Garden

Zucchini patties are very simple to make.  Just shread the veggies with a box grater, mix the ingredients and cook.  Even better, they are very versatile when it comes to how they are cooked.  You can deep fry them, bake them, or you can pan fry them like I did.  In fact, since I served these patties with bacon I, of course, cooked the patties in bacon grease, but you can use olive oil if you would prefer to keep it vegetarian!  (Or you know, healthy.)

You will need:

• 1 large zucchini or 2 smaller ones
• 1 yellow onion (75 cents)
• (optional) 1 carrot (25 cents)
• 7 eggs ($1.50) (divided)
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise ($2.00)
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (25 cents)
• 2 tablespoons each garlic powder and dried oregano (50 cents)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs ($1.25)
• 12 strips of bacon (3 per person) ($5.00)

For a total of exactly $11.50, making this my most expensive meal yet.  Darn bacon is expensive!!

To assemble this dinner:

Vegetables After Shredding, Before Anything Has Been Added

Shred the zucchini, onion, and carrots.  Place in a bowl with 3 of the eggs, the mayo, parmesan cheese, spices, salt, flour, and panko.  Mix will with a fork or with your fists.  Let it sit.

Ove medium high heat, cook the bacon and reserve the grease.  As you cook your bacon, preheat your broiler to 350 degrees.

Now, it’s time to cook the patties.  First, get a skillet warm over medium-medium-high heat (no, that’s not a typo, there’s a notch between medium and medium high, there’s your sweet spot.  Trust me, I’m a professional. )  Then add about two tablespoons of bacon grease and swirl it around the pan.  Scoop out four patties each consisting of about a tablespoon of patty mix and put them on the skillet.  Use a spatula to pat them down so they are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.  (Yes, I am being precise, but that’s because of the trail of ruined patties in my … well … stomach, but better mine that yours or your families’!)

Cook 4 minutes to a side and then flip.  Use a spoon to put an indention in each patty and crack an egg on top of each one.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put in the broiler until the whites have set.  Start checking after 3 minutes.

Transfer the be-egged patties to a plate, sprinkle with some of Shawna’s freshly chopped basil and serve with bacon.  And then you must enjoy!

Get healthy today and follow the “2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative” with Blog Well Done’s Chris Perrin and the Casual Gardener, Shawna Coronado.

Baked (Lower) vs. Pan Fried (Top) Zucchini Patties

Note:

 

1. I actually made my version with spring onions instead of a white onion, but finding spring onions is tough when they’re not in season.  However, if you can find some, use a garlic press to mince the onions, and then thinly slice the greens.  I have to tell you, it was worth it.  I much preferred the fresh spring onion over the more plain yellow onion.
2. You can also make the patties in the over for 35 minutes before broiling the egg, but they just aren’t as crispy or tasty.

Thanks to Shawna for the pic of the zucchini!

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Fried Blossoms

Edible Blossoms

And we’re back with a second helping of the 2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative.  In case you missed the first installment, the Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative is all about using what comes out of our gardens to make delicious dinners for less than $11.50. 

I shouldn’t say my garden since it resembles a nice pile of dirt right now, but that’s where the always awesome Shawna Coronado comes in.  She has been gardening up a storm and has given me a nice bunch of daylilies to cook up (along with some delicious herbs).  So now my goal is to give you a great daylily meal that will feed a family of four and all I have is what comes from Shawna’s garden, cooking oil, salt, pepper, flour and $11.50.

No sweat because I’m turning her daylilies into

Daylily Fritters

Daylily fritters were actually Shawna’s idea.  Apparently her grandmother used to make these little delicacies for her when she was a child so I really hope that I can do them justice.  The fritters themselves should be fairly substantial with their breading, but to make this a meal, I’m going to use some of Shawna’s delicious lettuce to make a nice salad and pair it with rice to round out the meal.

Frying Daylily Fritters

I’m going to use my favorite tempura batter for these lovely little daylily blossoms.  Just make sure the batter is as fairly wet so that it coats the daylily.  

You will need:

• 5-6 daylilies per person
• 2 cups of All-Purpose flour
• 2 cups of milk ($1.00)
• 1 egg (25 cents)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (10 cents)
•  Oil for frying
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (25 cents)
• (optional) 4-5 leaves fresh basil from the garden if you have it sliced thin
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Lettuce or seasonal greens
• 1 tomato, diced ($1.00)
• 4 carrots, sliced ($1.00)
• 1 can chickpeas, drained ($1.00)
• 2 cups rice ($1.00)
• 1 orange, juice and zest (50 cents)

Total: $6.10

Preheat the oven to 250.

To make this dinner, start with the rice.  Make 2 cups of rice according to the package directions.  When the rice is done and still hot, mix in the orange juice and zest.

To make the fritters, take the daylilies out of the refrigerator to bring them to room temperature.  Mix the flour, milk, egg, salt, and baking powder together well with a fork to remove any lumps.  Dip the daylilies in the batter and let them rest.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees or over medium-high heat.  Fry the daylilies in batches of 5 or 6 until they are golden brown then place on paper towels to drain.  Sprinkle with salt when they are out of the fryer.  Keep them warm until serving by putting them in the oven.

Make the dressing by combining the rice wine vinegar, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of pepper and optional basil in a bowl.  Then slowly whisk in the olive oil.  Taste to make sure it is well-seasoned.  If not, add more salt.  Finally, toss the dressing with the lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and chickpeas in the salad dressing.

Then all you need is a couple of forks and you can enjoy!

Get healthy today and follow the “2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative” with Blog Well Done’s Chris Perrin and the Casual Gardener, Shawna Coronado.

Thanks to Shawna and biskuit for the magnificent pics!

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Finished Lasagna

So I was hanging out on Twitter today and saw one of my Tweeps, amoyal, mention that today was #MeatlessMonday.  I had never heard of this particular Twitter tag,  but I got pretty excited since it’s so close to what I want to do with Vegan Weekend.  Anyway, never one to let a good Twitter tag go, I figured I couldn’t not start doing #MeatlessMonday posts.

(For the record, I’ve already been reminded Mondays are hard enough, so giving up meat is just cruel.  I, however reminded my friend I wasn’t asking him to give up caffeine! )

So, the long and short of it is that you can be 100% sure that every post I write on Monday will be completely meatless.

Like today’s recipe for:

Lasagna Made With Italian Sausage Match Meat

Using delicious Match Meat flavored Italian Sausage, Mrs. WellDone, BWD, Jr., and I made our own lasagnas this evening.  Me, I like lots of sauce, garlic, and mushrooms.  Mrs. WellDone likes lots of cheee.  BWD, Jr. likes noodles and that’s about it.  So we all made our own.  And to get some protein and the flavor of meat, we used Match Meat Italian Sausage.

The Italian Sausage Match Meat was perfect.  It was spicy like Italian sausage should be and it crumbled like Italian sausage, so the texture was ideal, but at the same time, there was a ton less grease, making it healthier, too.  I know that to a lot of people going without meat may seem like a huge deal, but no one missed!

Make Your Own Meatless Monday Match Meat Lasagna

Really, lasagna is a personal thing.  Everyone likes it prepared differently, but the good news is that as long as you have enough lasagna pans and enough freezer bags or tupperware, everyone can have it how they want.  Here’s how I made mine:

You will need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 healthy pinch red pepper flake
• 1 large white onion, minced
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 3 12.5 oz cans of tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 4 tablespoons garlic powder, divided
• 1 box lasagna noodles
• 1/4 cup ricotta
• 1/2 cup mozzarella
• 8 mushrooms, sliced
• 8 whole stewed tomatoes (San Marziano plum tomoates if possible)

Get the ricotta into a bowl so that it can come to room temperature.  Preheat your oven to 350.

Put the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and wait for the oil to get warm.  Then add the garlic and red pepper flake.  Cook about 15 seconds and then add the onions, a good pinch of salt, and black pepper.  Cook until the onions are translucent, then add the tomato sauce and basil.  Continue cooking, stirring occassionaly until the sauce starts to bubble.

After you have added the sauce, pour enough water into a pot to cover the noodles.  Bring the water to a boil, then add 2 tablespoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of garlic.  Boil the noodles according to their package instructions.

(Side Note: A lot of people cook their noodles before the tomato sauce is added to the skillet.  Don’t be like them!  You do not want the noodles hanging around waiting on the sauce, you want the opposite.  If the noodles sit, they either get soggy or get sticky and neither makes for great lasagna.)

Once the noodles are ready, assemble the lasagna thusly:

Unfinished Lasagna

1. A tiny layer of sauce to keep the noodles from sticking
2. A layer of four noodles (it’s okay if they overlap, really)
3. Ricotta, noodles, the rest of the garlic powder, 1/4 of the mozzarella, and the mushrooms
4. Another layer of four noodles
5. More sauce and the rest of the cheese (Save some sauce if possible)
6. Mash the plum tomatoes and place on top

Bake your lasagna until the cheese starts to melt, turns slightly brown, and gets bubbly.

Portion out on to plates and then top with some extra sauce and a little Parmesan cheese. 

Get a fork and Enjoy!!

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Chef Chris Perrin of www.blogwelldone.com and Shawna Coronado of http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com have teamed up to create the ultimate cooking and gardening lineup for the “2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative.”

In an effort to encourage people to grow gardens for better health, Shawna Coronado has created the “Get It Garden Challenge” on her blog. As a garden and green living expert, Shawna has written “Gardening Nude”, a book focused on green lifestyle living. Shawna’s challenge has been to replace her suburban front yard with a vegetable garden and grow fresh organic vegetables (naked of chemicals) for better health. She is encouraging her readers to simultaneously grow a garden for better health and record progress with The Casual Gardener gardening blog.

As Shawna pulls ripe and metaphorically nude veggies out of the garden, Chris will feature a meal which includes a special recipe for the veggies picked that day. This entire meal will cost a family of 4 to 6 under $11.50 to prepare. Chris Perrin is author of “How To Make Tofu Not Suck”, an e-book on fantastic tofu cooking techniques, and is internationally famous as the chef for Blog Well Done.

While cooking an entire meal for under $11.50 is an inspiration during these hard economic times, it is also a goal as part of the initiative to stay as natural and organic as possible, utilizing simple, uncomplicated ingredients and cooking techniques that everyone can afford and should use for a healthier lifestyle.  Today’s fresh picked vegetable is Bonnie Plants’ Broccoli ‘Packman’ variety.’

Get healthy today and follow the “2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative” with Blog Well Done’s Chris Perrin and The Casual Gardener, Shawna Coronado.

You hungry yet?  Good, because we’re making

Broccoli Bechamel Loaded Baked Potatoes

When I saw Shawna’s beautiful broccoli, I knew I had just the recipe.  Tyler Florence, on his show Tyler’s Ultimate, had a recipe for celebration loaded baked potatoes.  Basically it was blanched broccoli and cheesy béchamel stuffed into a crispy baked potato.

This is my inspired take on Tyler’s fantastic dish.

Making broccoli béchamel loaded baked potatoes

You will need:

1/4 package of bacon ($1.05)

(optional) 8 tablespoons kosher or sea salt

4 potatoes (approximately $1)

Shawna’s amazing broccoli (free!)

Olive oil (part of the challenge!)

4-6 white button mushrooms, sliced ($1)

1 pinch of salt

2 cups heavy cream ($4.29)

2 cups white cheddar cheese ($2.75)

Total: $10.09!!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a heavy skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon and render out the fat.  Keep the fat and cut the bacon into small pieces.  Roll the potatoes in the bacon grease and optionally roll in two tablespoons of salt.  Prick the potatoes with a fork and bake the potatoes until fork tender (how long this takes varies, but start checking around 20 minutes.)

If you prefer a vegetarian version, use olive oil instead of bacon fat. That’s what Tyler Florence did.  Add another dollar’s worth of mushrooms.

Blanch the broccoli by cooking it in well salted boiling water for three minutes.  Immediately remove from the heat and shock it in ice cold water.

In the same skillet, add a tablespoon of olive oil, the mushrooms, and the pinch of salt.  Cook the mushrooms until they turn brown and have given up their water.  Add the broccoli and the heavy cream.  When the cream starts to bubble, add the cheddar cheese and stir to melt.

Add the bacon and mix.  Top each potato with one quarter of the mixture.

Also, if you have any leftover ham or chicken, you can add it at the same time as the broccoli (as long as it’s cooked.)  Now sit back and enjoy!

Get healthy today and follow the “2009 Nude & Eco-Cheap Cooking Initiative” with Blog Well Done’s Chris Perrin and The Casual Gardener, Shawna Coronado

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Fried Wontons

I learned a great tip from the Kansas City Culinary Institute’s Executive Chef Matt Chatfield tonight.  Apparently, the dough used to make wonton wrappers will continue to brown after it has been removed from the oil.  So only fry your wontons until they are firm and so the filling won’t come out.  Then remove them from the oil to a paper towel.

If you fry the wontons any longer, they will take on a brown, almost burnt coloration.

I also learned from a few of the students that wontons don’t necessarily float to the surface when they’re done.  I also learned that when they reach a deep black color, they’re burnt.  They still taste good, apparently!

Thanks to avlxyz for the pic!

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Kid Friendly Ground Beef for Tacos

So I am playing around with different features here on the blog.  Since I am the proud father of WellDone, Jr. and because my friend Carissa asked, I really got inspired to start thinking about ways I can get the kids into the kitchen. 

Now, to me, cooking in the kitchen with kids means two things: chaos and the inappropriate use of sprinkles (seriously, pick up a kid’s cookbook and see how many recipes they have involving candy and sprinkles.  It’s sad.)  While I can’t do anything about the chaos, I will promise you that these recipes won’t sugary or too simple.  We want to teach kids to cook, right? 

On the other hand, these recipes won’t involve complex knife skills, deep fat frying, or grilling since all you need is one of these plus a kid with an independent streak and you have disaster.

With that being said, grab your kids and your aprons.  It’s time for

Tacos!

In this case, we’re going with beef tacos since they’re pretty simple.  As long as your child is tall enough, he or she (or they) should be able to do all of the cooking with minimal exposure to grease splatters or heat.  Also, with the help of your grocery store, this dish can be made without even needing a knife.

Kid Friendly Tacos

To make this dish kid friendly, do three things:

1. Get a high sided skillet or a small soup pot.  Basically, all you need is something with high enough sides to catch grease spatters and prevent burns. 
2. Keep the heat at medium.  This should further reduce the chance of hurts. 
3. Practice knife safety.  If you want to chop the veggies, that’s great.  If not, head to your grocer’s salad bar and get pre-cut onions, tomatoes, and lettuce.

And now to the recipe.

You will need:

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pound ground chuck
• 1 tablespoon cumin (explain these are flavor spices, not hot spices!!)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder (explain these are flavor spices, not hot spices!!)
• 8 taco shells
• 1 package shredded cheese
• 1/4 head chopped lettuce
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• salsa

Okay, that may sound like a lot, but this is such a simple recipe.  First, cut the veggies if you have not already.  This is a great time to talk about knife safety.  Well Done, Jr. still call’s my knives “big owies” because I told him if he wasn’t careful, he’d get big owies.  Still, even at a young age, he can use a potato peeler (when supervised) and he cuts soft things with his children’s knife.  So, it’s never too early to start talking about kitchen safety.

Let your child preheat the oven to the temperate specified by the taco shell’s package.  You put the soup pan on the burner over medium heat and wait 2-3 minutes to get the pan hot.  You can pour in the oil or you can let your children do it if you’re sure they won’t splash themselves.

Add the onions and stir.  This is a very kid friendly step.  I let Well Done, Jr. stir and he’s almost four.  Once the onions are translucent, add the ground beef, cumin, and garlic and keep stirring until the beef is totally browned.  Chaos should ensue as beef goes everywhere, but that’s half the fun.  And it will give your kids another good reason to ask for a dog which would happily eat that beef right up!

Once the beef is in, help your children get the taco shells on a cookie sheet and into the hot oven.  They may be old enough to be careful, but hot ovens are good at giving burns.

Once the shells are done and the beef is fully browned, it’s time to lay out the cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa and it’s time to dig in.

Tacos are perfect kid food.  They are easy to make, everyone can make them according to their own taste, and well, they’re delicious.  Enjoy!

Thanks to rick for the pic!

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Grilled Carrots with Portabellos and Match Chicken

Okay, so today’s post is a bit of a nobrainer as far as recipes go, but we’ve been eating it so much that I just wanted to share.  Today we’re going to talk all about

Grilled Carrots

This may sound strange, but it was not until last year that I had ever had grilled carrots.  Onions, peppers, mushrooms, yes, but for some reason carrots, no.  Then one day my wife and I decided to have lunch at Whole Foods.  I’m sure I had pizza, but she came away with a to-go container of grilled vegetables.  I didn’t think much of her selection until she started making little moaning as she was eating.  She kept going on and on about the carrots.

So, I, too, tried one.  They were ever-so-slightly sweet from the cooking of the natural sugars in the carrot, but they had a subtle savoriness from the pinch of salt and just a dash of pepper that worked so well together.   

We were hooked.   And you’re about to be!

Grilling Carrots

Grilling carrots really could not be easy easier.  Just mix all the ingredients in a plastic bag and put on a hot grill!

You will need:

• 8 carrots, peeled
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• (optional) 2 teaspoons garlic powder

Cut the carrots in half lengthwise and the cut each half in half again to make four roughly equal pieces. 

Put the carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, and optional garlic powder in a pastic bag and shake to coat the carrots in oil and spices.

Heat your grill until you have about a three second grill (put your hand over the grill, the fire should be too hot to hold your hand over the grill for more than 3 seconds.)  Put the carrots on the grill and cook for 7 minutes, then flip, and cook for another 7 minutes.

Pull off the grill to cool, then serve and enjoy!

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If you know me, then you may have guessed what this illicit love is.  Hopefully, you’ll keep this little secret to yourself because I am going to go out on a limb and tell you.  I love food.

I love everything about food.  The taste, the smell, the color, writing about it, thinking about it, watching it get cooked.  I love that little sizzle that onions or meat or tofu makes when it hits a hot pan with oil in it.  Sadly, I think I love food too much.  Since at the time of the writing I currently weigh a dizzying amount of weight.  And so even though I love food, I am trying as hard as I can to separate myself of it.

Some call it releasing weight, some call it dieting, some call it slimming down, but whatever it is, I am trying to make that little number on the scale drop by about 120 from where I started.  Basically, I am trying to reinvent my body and reinvent myself.

The good news is that I enjoy exercise.  I like lifting weights, playing racquetball, swimming, and the feeling I get when I look down at the elliptical and say “Ha, I OWNED you for 30 minutes!” (even if the truth is more like I was in awful pain and hated life for all 1,800 seconds I was on the [bleep]ing machine.) 

There is, however, one thing I won’t give up.  I am pretty sure that I am unable to give up my love of food, so I am not going to try.  Instead, I am learning a new concept: moderation which I think comes from the Latin for “[Bleep]ing [bleep] of a [bleep] I’m still hungry, but I am not licking my plate clean” or something like that.  Basically, to acheive this moderation-thingy, over the past several weeks I have been doing four things:

1. I am leaving food on my plate or, depending on the meal, putting it in a doggie bag.  This tactic works better with an attentive waiter who can get my plate out from under my nose quickly, but it does work.
2. I am slowing down.  I am trying as hard as I can not to shovel food anymore.  Instead, I am taking time to taste each bite, savor the different flavors, and then swallow.  Since I am eating less (per #1), I still want to engage in the culinary pleasure of eating and slowing down is one way I am doing that.  Overall, I am finding that my enjoyment of food has actually increased.
3. I am avoiding temptation.  No buffets or Mexican restaurants for me except for one meal a week.  All chips are out of my house as are Jelly Bellys, Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream from Ben and Jerry’s, etc.
4. I earn my rewards.  Anytime I want something, say like a Dr. Pepper or a treat, I make myself earn it.  That means going to ju jitsu or the gym and working for it.  In the end, this means that instead of depriving myself and risking a slide back into my old habits, I am accepting a slower pace of weight loss in exchange for a lifestyle I can do.

Now, I promise not to turn into a health freak.  I am going to try to do more healthy recipes, but that’s more because that’s what my readers seem to want.  (This of course excludes next January where I will do a second Unresolution month, but that’s another story!)   I wouldn’t normally even talk about this type of thing except it’s been on mind so much and that’s from where these little vignettes come.

So is it working?  I’d caution a guess and say yes.  Last week I lost 13 pounds.  Tomorrow I face the scale again.

Wish me luck?

(Thanks Rick for the pic!)

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