****

Can You Still Have Fun?

I wanted to thank Lara for giving me the opportunity to post on her fabulous site! Every time I read through her posts, I’m so impressed by the care that she puts into her food choices and the diligence she uses in planning her day. But at the same time, I’m totally impressed that she has so much fun!

In case you’re not familiar with my story, I used to weigh 305 pounds. Twelve years ago, I lost 150 pounds and went from a size 26/28 to a size 6/8. Losing weight was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, but maintaining the weight loss all these years is even more important.

When I was thinking about what to write today, the word that came to mind was fun. Can you have fun, make good food choices, and keep your weight where you want it to be?

I’d say the unqualified answer to that question is yes – with a caveat. You can have all the fun you want with food as long as you keep a few things in mind:

• Every choice is important
• Moderation is the buzz word of the day
• Keep moving and don’t stop
• Have some accountability for yourself

The choices that you make throughout your daily life all add up to one thing. They either keep you in the right weight range for you, or they start to move you away from your goal. My choices during my morbidly obese years moved me further and further away from a healthy weight. Instead of trying to watch what I ate when I first started to see the scale move up, I ate more. So by making poor choices I took the fun out of food. Instead of being enjoyable, food became a chore. I ate without thinking and didn’t appreciate all the great tastes out there.

Over the 14 months that it took me to lose the weight, I learned that I didn’t want to deprive myself of any food. If I wanted some chips, then I ate a few. If chocolate was calling my name then I answered – not with an entire pound bag of M&M’s, but with a few. I finally learned that I could have what I wanted, but I couldn’t have the whole bag!

Another idea that became important to me was exercise. You can pretty much eat what you love if you are moving your body and burning off a good amount of calories each day. Staying sedentary while my weight ballooned was the worst thing I could have done. I radically changed my thoughts on exercise and started moving – difficult at 300 pounds – but possible. I know it takes some planning to fit exercise into our busy lives, but if I can exercise six days a week with seven children, so can you!!

And finally, finding a way to keep yourself accountable is really important. For me, the accountability partner I selected was my scale. Some people like to use a favorite pair of pants, or other benchmarks to keep them accountable, but whichever you choose, be honest with yourself. I weigh myself every day, and if I see the scale move up out of the three-pound range I allow for myself, then I watch things for a few days. It’s worked well for me throughout the years.

As you move through your life, I just want to encourage you to have fun, enjoy every moment you are given, and within that fun to keep an eye on your health and weight. I so wish I hadn’t spent my 20’s and early 30’s as a morbidly obese woman. If I had been mindful of having fun in a smart way I may have spared myself many years of heartache. Take care of yourselves and thanks again Lara! Diane

****

Thank you, Diane!  To hear more about Diane’s weight loss and maintenance success, visit her over at Fit to the Finish.

Possibly related posts:

1. Start to Finish
2. Racing to Finish (05/10/09)
3. Review: EatSmart Kitchen Scale

So I was quite pleased when I was contacted by William Geronimo of EatSmart Products to review the new EatSmart Kitchen Scale.  I currently use a Salter scale and have never had any complaints, but with nothing to compare it to, I was happy to measure them up side-by-side.

EatSmart Kitchen Scale

The first thing I noticed about the scale when I unpacked it is how sleek and lightweight it is.  Notice how much more compact it is compared to my current scale.

Other pro’s of the EatSmart scale:

• A tare/zero button.  This allows you to weigh something out, tare it, and then add in another item without clearing the scale or starting over.
• Conversion to different units: grams, ounces, kilograms, and pounds,
• Large, clear screen with easily visible readings.  This was a nice contrast to the small readings of my Salter scale.
• Overload indicator
• Low power indicator

The last three are all features that my current scale does not offer.

Another feature that I really like about this scale is that it has a three-minute timer before it automatically shuts off.  This is wonderful!  So many times I am chopping or preparing food and rushing to chop it before the scale turns off.

Biggest pro:

This scale is very accurate, up to + – 1 gram.  My current scale is only accurate up to 2 grams.  I could just tell immediately that this scale was much more sensitive.  It responded when I added or removed a single raisin.  For anal number crunchers like me, that is fantastic!

Cons:

• Does not convert to milliliters or fluid ounces.  This is especially helpful when measuring wine!

However, I don’t think this is much of a con, as I understand my Salter just converts the weight measurement into a liquid estimate.  This is easily done on your own or with a measuring cup.

Overall:

I was surprised with how much I really do like this food scale.  I definitely recommend this scale if you are in the market for one.  I have had a few emails about what type of scale I use and the features that I look for, and this product pretty much meets all of those requirements.  It is very affordably priced and it even comes with batteries, so you can get to crunching those numbers right away

Thank you to William and EatSmart for the opportunity to review this product!

Possibly related posts:

1. Into Grandma’s Kitchen!

The place:  My first trip to Paris.

The time:  June, 2007. 

The trip was a present from Matthew for my college graduation.  Among other things, Matthew had planned a dinner cruise along the River Seine.  I didn’t know what to expect, I just knew I got to wear a cocktail dress and presumably drink wine. 

It turned out to be, quite frankly, one of the Experiences of My Life.  I hate to get schmaltzy on the blog, but there was truly something so magical about this Parisian encounter!  I will always, always remember it with pure happiness.

Luckily I was taking pictures of food long before I had a food blog.  I suppose that is proof I am a true foodie.  I am so glad I did so I can share the evening with you.

We started with a glass of pink champagne, some dinner rolls and an olive tartlet.

Then each couple received a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine.

Perhaps that contributed to my happiness?

For our first course, I ordered the salmon.  I do have the menu but it’s back in California, so I can’t give you details as to how it was cooked.  I can tell you, however, that it was very rich and flavorful.

Matthew ordered these.

See menu comment above.  Sorry.

For my main course, I ordered the chicken.  I don’t know how to explain this other than to say it was the best chicken I have ever had.  I know you’re thinking, “how good can chicken be?" but this actually tasted like chicken.  It tasted so fresh and nothing like the frozen chicken breasts we eat at home.  It was truly delicious.

Matthew ordered beef of some sort.  Again, the details are sort of fuzzy

The cruise took us past many Parisian landmarks.  This included the Musee d’Orsay, The Louvre, and Notre Dame:

There were singers, violinists, and dancing.

It was quite the experience, and perfect for our last night in The City of Lights.

Matthew even bought me a rose on our way back to our hotel in Versailles.

Got wine?

Have you ever been to Paris?

Possibly related posts:

1. Is It Friday Yet?
2. “F” is for Fitness, Food, and Friday
3. Sono con mio marito (“I’m with my husband”)

Last weekend was no exception, and, though it wasn’t anyone’s fault but my own, my hair is now back to being short after I was making great strides to grow it out. 

Crumbs.  On top of this, I have not been feeling so, uh, thinspired lately.   This had meant limited wardrobe choices.  Enter:  Sweater dress and leggings.

I have worn this outfit twice since Sunday.

Beyond my hair and wardrobe issues, things have been a bit stressful lately in our house.  Planning a move is tough.  Planning a trans-Atlantic move is even tougher.  And, while we have tons of support from everyone that is happy and excited to see us make this finally happen, there are others who are less than supportive and do not want to see us go.   

My mom is coming to visit THIS weekend, and I must finish my home study coursework before then.  I have taken the rest of the week off in hopes that things can start to come together before she gets here so I can enjoy her short visit.

Until that time, I am trying to remind myself of this beloved English motto:   

For those of you who aren’t familiar, this was originally designed to be a motivational poster during WWII, but was never used.  It is now widely known and very popular.  I love it because I have found it to be a very accurate description of the British mindset! 

That is the mug we recently bought for Matthew.

Here is the one we bought for me:

…Or should ownership be the other way around?!

I don’t have many food photos of the week thus far.  I haven’t been on my best behavior.  Far too much of this:

And not nearly enough of these:

One kitchen creation that is worth noting is Mama Pea’s recommended tofu ricotta.  Thanks to the nutritional yeast sent to me by Jennie, I was finally able to try this out.  I was very skeptical about it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results!

It was perfect for use in a vegan lasagna.  I layered marinara, zucchini rounds, WW noodles, and tofu ricotta for a simple, quick two-person serving.  Because I relied a lot on zucchini, I only had to use about five lasagna sheets for the whole thing.   

It was good, but not the kind of good that I would serve to company.  The kind of good where it is edible and you are motivated to make it better next time.  There is definitely room for improvement, but the “ricotta” is pretty rockin’.

I am off now to go read Eclipse work on my bountiful To-Do list.  Before I go, I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Lovely Lacey over at Livin’ Lovely & Healthy for sending me this awesome stash of Amazing Grass!

I have been wanting to try this for so long, but as a UK blogger I had not had the opportunity to sample it.  On my last trip home, I contemplated buying some, but it was so expensive that I didn’t do it.  Lacey was SO generous to send me this package.  I can’t wait to try it.  Thank you, Lacey!

How do you keep calm and carry on?

P.S. If you know the literary reference in the first line of this post, you are my new best friend

Possibly related posts:

1. Un tavolo per due (“A table for two”)
2. The Hangover
3. “F” is for Fitness, Food, and Friday

Hangover breakfast...except add another egg and a banana.

Lunch was also…well, carby.  Trust me, this was not the damage I wanted to do.  This was restrained.

Barney Butter Banana Sandwich

BBBS with yogurt and pumpkin butter

I did manage a nice dinner.  Though all I wanted was pizza, I talked myself out of it and instead made Mama Pea’s quinoa crust.  It’s not takeout.  It’s fakeout.

Mine didn’t turn out too crusty, unfortunately, but it was still very good.  I topped it with some organic marinara, sautéed zucchini, onions, and bell peppers, with a little feta cheese crumbled on top.  And some broccoli to garnish

The next morning, Matthew and I drew the curtains, lit some candles, and prepared for…

Yoga!

What else would I be talking about?!

Quickly followed by a pair of green smoothies…for one

Spinach, frozen banana, blueberry, soymilk, and vanilla protein smoothie

But these good deeds were quickly diminished by a group outing with friends for dim sum.

For those of you who are not familiar with dim sum, I always describe it as Chinese Tapas.  Having grown up eating dim sum quite regularly, it is definitely comfort food for me. 

Since I now limit dim sum to about once a year nowadays, I have a non-rule:  I never keep track of how much of it I am eating!

However, I do know the things I just had one of:  (Forgive me for not knowing all the proper Chinese names.  We developed our own names for these as kids.)

Fried "potato" thing--I think they are taro croquettes?

I had never tried this before, but it was pork in a pastry. Amazing.

Pork Shu-Mai

Chicken Spring Rolls

And now we are getting into the “more than one” category:

Steamed Pork Baus

My absolute favorte: Shrimp Har Gau (shrimp in steamed noodle)

Since there were six of us, there was A LOT of food.  I only took pictures of the things that I ate.  The har gau’s were the bulk of what I ate.  If I was lucky, I could maybe count the number I had on both hands.  But we’ll never know.  Because I lost don’t count.

By the end of it, I just wanted to doze off like Elliot:

Or perhaps buy this odd drink that I saw in the Asian market beneath the restaurant.

Instead, once home, we went for a long, long walk.  It was a lovely Fall day!

  

Yes. My pants are almost always too short.

I did eat dinner but kept it very light, just some sautéed zucchini and marinara sauce. 

I hope everyone else had as lovely of a weekend as I did! 

What are your hangover cures?  I always crave fried eggs!

Possibly related posts:

1. Travel Hangover
2. Is It Friday Yet?
3. A Sunday Dinner and Not-Wedding Cake

Baked cod with sweet potato and broccoli

End with this?

Allow me to explain.

Months ago we were out with friends Dan, James, and Vicki.  After dinner, we were deciding on a place to go for drinks, and I saw Dan and James look at each other and whisper, “Should we tell them about it?  Should we take them?  Lara would love it.” 

Enter:  Haus Bar. 

Haus Bar, I soon learned, is a super-elitist, super-secret bar in Bristol, which has obtained a sort of mythical reputation because it is so ridiculously unattainable.  It is hidden in an inconspicuous building and is set up so you have to ring a doorbell for entry.  Capacity is very limited and they are somehow always packed.  I have never been to another place that I can compare this with.

That night, we went to the doorbell of Haus Bar and requested a table for five people.  We were promptly rejected.  A man literally stuck his head out, said they had no room, and slammed the door in our face.

You might think this would turn me off to ever wanting to go there again.

In fact, it did the opposite: I made it my mission to get into Haus Bar before I left Bristol.

And so it was.  To celebrate our good fortune with the INS, it was decided that Friday night would be the night that we finally conquered Haus Bar.

The Scene:

Haus Bar somehow manages to be totally pretentious without actually being glittery or glamorous.  I am completely in love with it.  It is appropriately named because it is much like sitting in someone’s house; the entire bar is maybe the size of a large living room.  They do not do draft beer or wine, only swanky, expensive cocktails.   

The Suspects:

Matthew, James, Vicki, Dan...and me!

The Crime:

Oh, it started so innocently.  I really only thought we were going out for “a cocktail,” but you know how those nights can turn out.

I ordered a Gin Tai: Beefeater, Dry Orange, lime cordial, almond syrup, and lemon juice.

Round One: Don’t let the ice deceive you. There was alcohol in there.

Still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

But that drink went down much too fast, and I wasn’t confident I had had the full Haus Bar experience.

What better way than a martini to stir up some confidence?

Round Two: Shaken, not stirred.

This was a vodkatini:  Absolut, Noilly Prat, and olive.

The hilarious thing about this picture is that, when I was posing for it, I genuinely believed I was making my “sexy face.”  Lord help me, how did I ever get Matt to marry me?

I digress.

After two powerful cocktails, I started to catch on to the fact that no one else was thinking we were going out for just one.  I was doomed.

I didn’t even choose my drink for Round Three.  That was delegated to Dan.  Dan is possibly the funniest person I have ever met.  He also has excellent taste in cocktails.

Jack Rose:  Calvados, lemon juice, Grenadine, and sugar  

Happiness abounds. 

It was only this morning that I crawled out of bed and looked at the photos to realize…oh God…there was a FOURTH round?!

Round Four: I have no idea what this is.

I vaguely remember the boys ordering a few bottles of beer to compliment their Round Four cocktails.

By the time we left, the boys were bound and determined to eat.  Specifically, to eat the kind of food that one would only consider eating when inebriated.  In England, that food is often a kebab or “cheesy chips.”  But for Matthew & Dan, it meant fried chicken.    

On one of my first trips to visit Matthew in the UK, I was scrolling through his address book (as anal, overbearing girlfriends naturally do), and saw “Miss Mille.”  It was then that I learned that my then-boyfriend was not hiding a secret affair with a girl named Millie, but a secret affair with fried chicken sandwiches.

Allow me to interpret his expression:  “Yeah, I’m going to eat a fried chicken sandwich from this joint and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

He did.  I longingly smelled it the whole taxi ride home.  My mother always says, “Smelling is free.”  Even under the influence of four cocktails, I refused the opportunity to get to know Miss Millie. 

The Verdict:

I paid dearly for my crimes when we got home and when I woke up this morning.  I barely made it to my hair appointment at 11, and when I did, my fabulous and over-the-top hairdresser remarked:  “You look like Lindsay Lohan just out of rehab.”

It was worth it for a night of bringing down the haus.

Possibly related posts:

1. The Hangover
2. Is It Friday Yet?
3. FAQ: How We Met

I started with a green juice.  It’s been way too long since I had one and I had some broccoli stems and romaine to use up.  Here’s what went in:

Here’s what came out:

I still maintain that lemon is the secret ingredient.  I can throw almost any vegetable in there with it and the drink doesn’t taste "green" at all.  Thank you, Natalia Rose! 

I sipped on the juice while getting to work on my smoothie.  I wasn’t messing around this morning and went for a hearty mix.

• 200 mL soymilk
• Whole frozen banana
• 1/3 cup frozen blueberries
• 4 cups spinach
• 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder

Unfortunately, making and cleaning up after both beverages took so long that I had to take my smoothie and coffee to go.

Two for the road.

I’m pretty sure the people in this office think I am just plain weird.  I am definitely the loud American girl who sips green drinks and checks out what everyone else is eating.

To add to my green drink appeal, I brought a weird, random grab bag of food today for lunch.  This included a boiled egg, a piece of bread with Barney Butter, and carrots.  And the weather wasn’t so great today so I ate at my desk.

(I really need some small tupperware so I don’t have to take the entire jar of BB in my lunch bag.)

Imagine me peeling a smelly boiled egg, measuring out a tablespoon of BB, and crunching on carrots during what is supposed to be quiet time.  Awesome.

Now I’m home and trying to scrounge some dinner together before we go out with friends for some celebratory drinks.  It should be a fun night!

How do feel about liquid breakfasts?

Possibly related posts:

1. Fall…in Love
2. Aloe, Goodbye
3. The Hangover

It has been a crazy week already.  I can’t believe it is Thursday and not Friday.  The big issue right now is employment. Matthew’s company has agreed to transfer him to their CA office, but we are unsure of their timeline.  I also need to figure out when I am going to quit my (previously mentioned) temp job so I can focus on packing us up!  There will be much work to do, mainly figuring out which of our stuff we will sell, ship, or store.  We have already started that process, but now we can really get movin’!

I find that being busy like this can actually help me out when it comes to eating right and working out.  I do well with a structure in place to keep me accountable.  Between the move, work, Matthew’s 30th birthday next month, and other projects I am trying to finish up before we leave, I am hoping this will help me stay on track.

I have a list started of all the things we want to do/see/buy/eat before we leave.  This includes hopeful UK bloggie meet-ups!

Yesterday was an especially crazy day.  I had some faux apple pie for breakfast, and for lunch, well, did you know that Subway now does salads?

Carrots not included.

It was the best I could do with the options I had. 

After work I had a little vino.  I assure you it was necessary.

It went well with the last of the chicken sausage, broccoli, and a nice sweet potato.

I am so happy that I am on a salad kick again.  All summer I struggled to crave them, but they’re back, baby!

Breakfast this morning was another layered apple creation.

Layer 1: Microwaved apple & cinnamon

Layer 2:  Kashi Heart to Heart

Layer 3:  Nonfat plain yogurt

Layer 4:  All Bran cereal

Layer 5:  Pumpkin butter/Pecan butter

This dish is fun to eat

And enjoyed another Yogi Tea discovery…

My day was brightened today by meeting my friend Vicki for lunch.  Together, we are the Real Housewives of Bristol.

I have said this on the blog before, but I just love going out to lunch.  It seems like much more of a treat than going out to dinner somehow.  Such a nice break in the workday!

We met at Boston Tea Party, a fun little chain cafe.

At the recommendation of a friend I ordered the veggie burger.  It was a combination of beet, carrots, zucchini, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds.

This was a real veggie burger.  It was not a frozen patty.  It was topped haloumi cheese and the bun spread with hummus.  It came with some real potato fries and salad.

I left the bun and ate the burger & cheese, salad, and potato wedges.  Sorry for the crappy photos.  It was dark in there!

I want to try to re-create that burger at home.  The pine nuts were the magic ingredient, I think. 

The Hubs is at a work dinner tonight, so I went to the gym after work and then ate dinner on my own watching the Whitney Houston interview on Oprah.  Unlike lunch, this meal did involve a frozen patty.

Besides Amy’s veggie burgers, these are the only frozen patties I have found that I really enjoy.  They are the Goodlife Nut Cutlets and they are nutty and have a very distinct, almost home-made flavor.

Now I’m enjoying some popcorn with a little of this sprinkled on top:

I want to say a big thank you to Miss Jennie of Jennie in Wonderland for sending me this nutritional yeast!  I have had a heck of a time finding it in the UK and she so generously offered to send me some.  When she offered I imagined a few tablespoons in a plastic baggie, so this was such a lovely surprise!  THANK YOU, JENNIE!  I have big plans for this stuff

The weather is so beautiful here lately.  I will definitely miss Autumn in England.

Does having a busy schedule help or hinder your healthy habits?

Possibly related posts:

1. Under the Influence
2. Aloe, Goodbye
3. A Sunday Dinner and Not-Wedding Cake

Trans-Atlantic flights to maintain a five-year long distance relationship:  Several thousand dollars.

Rejected job offer in Newport Beach in favor of thankless temp jobs in the UK: I try not to think about it.

Finally getting to live with the love of your life in the country where you were born and raised:  priceless. 

GREAT NEWS!

Hubby got his visa to live in the US!

We are so, so happy.  This has been a very longtime coming for us and I can’t believe it is actually happening now!  We are hoping to be out by Christmas but it could be as late as January.

The wonderful day started with a 6 am workout and some Nutella-swirled oatbran. 

Mmmm.  I have all of my empty glass nut butter jars saved up for oat bran days.  Thanks Heather

It turns out that I have been able to pop home at lunch and do my own thing.  I love it!  How else could I have a lunch like this?

Not your mom’s leftovers.

NEW DISCOVERY!

I know what you’re thinking: licorice?  But this tea does not taste like licorice.  It tastes sweet and spicy and actually creamy. 

I just love it!

Later, a filling smoothie.

I forgot to specify the contents of my smoothie the other day.  A few of you emailed me to ask what was in it.  It’s the same smoothie I always have:

• < 1 cup (200mL) Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or soymilk)
• 1/2 frozen banana
• ~1/4 cup frozen blueberries
• ~4 cups spinach
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

It’s a great combination: sweet, creamy, filling, and pretty low-cal.

Best of all, it balances out celebratory drinks.

I love a glass of wine while I’m making dinner!  What’s the saying? I love to cook with wine…sometimes I even put it in the food.

On the menu:  Easy Ratatouille with chicken sausage

Sauté zucchini, onion, garlic, bell pepper, and Italian herbs in EVOO (I also throw in mushrooms if I have them).  Add tomatoes and cook down.  If serving with meat, add in cooked meat (tonight I used chicken sausage but normally I use shrimp).  Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and serve with parmesan cheese.

Don’t forget the salad.  Be sure it’s a big as your head if you are looking to re-create this meal.

Dessert was consumed in the form of popcorn and two GS cookies.  Yum.

Thank you for all the positive feedback on the new blog look!  Cory (AKA Zesty Cook) has been hard at work on it and plans to reveal it on his blog tomorrow.  Please be sure to check it out! 

For those of you who are bloggers and want a new look (or maybe you are not a blogger but want to start a blog), I definitely recommend Cory’s design services.  He is very knowledgeable and easy to work with.  Best of all, he is happy to do the technical stuff, suggest his ideas, and then let you make the fun decisions   I won this blog makeover in a giveaway he held last summer, so I am especially grateful to him for following through and giving me great service despite it being complimentary.  THANK YOU, CORY!

One of my favorite features of the new layout is the comments section.  I can now interact so much easier!  So please come back and check the comments section for replies and conversations!

Well guys, I am pooped!  It has been a very long day and the weeks ahead are going to get very busy, very quick.  Now that we have the visa, I am anticipating things to move very quickly with the move.  Please cross your fingers for me!  I am ready to go home!

Do you believe that home is one place, or that it can be many places?  I am especially attached to “home,” because I was born in the same house I lived in until I was 18 and left for college.  Even then, I stayed in California.  Being away from that has been wonderful but also hard.  Some people tell me that home is wherever you have felt happiest.  But I have come to agree with this quote:

My home is not a place, it is people.
-Lois McMaster Bujold

Possibly related posts:

1. Praying to the Visa Gods
2. Getting Real.
3. Is It Friday Yet?

It feels like only earlier today, not Friday afternoon, that I escaped during my lunch hour for a veggie Subway sandwich.  (Damn Biggest Loser product placement brainwashing!)

…and, only about a half hour later that I was reaching for a snack.

Followed by a mini freak-out around 4pm that I was hungry yet again.  I spent ten freaking minutes of my life sitting there and contemplating the damn banana.

It only took me ten seconds, however, to decide on a glass of merlot later at dinner.

We went to Las Iguanas, a Latin chain restaurant, for dinner on Friday night.  My photos turned out horrible, but I ordered a butternut squash, spinach, and chickpea enchilada for my entree.  It wasn’t the healthiest thing on the menu, but, minus cheese and sour cream, I thought it was a decent compromise between a salad and what I really wanted, which was a grease-soaked order of fajitas.  Chips and salsa were also consumed.

To see some of my other weekend eats, read on (vegetarians beware)!

After dinner we went to the home of our friends James and Vicki for some (more) wine and dessert Vicki is a wonderful baker and made some homemade pumpkin cupcakes.  When I say homemade, I mean she actually hacked the pumpkin and made the puree herself.  Libby’s is pretty much impossible to find in these parts.

Vicki’s Pumpkin Cupcakes

I had one of the mini ones in the back.  They were so good that I got the recipe from her to share with all of you:

Weight Watchers Pumpkin Muffins with Soft Cheese Icing

POINTS® Value: 3.5
Servings: 10

Ingredients

250 g self raising flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp. salt
110 g muscavado sugar, light (I believe in American-English, this would translate to brown sugar!)
2 medium eggs
1 tsp. vanilla essence
175 ml skimmed milk
50 g margarine, melted and cooled
225 g pumpkin, or butternut squash, finely grated

Icing

200 g low-fat soft (cream) cheese
2 tsp. icing sugar
2 tsp. Silver Spoon Treat Syrup, toffee, (toffee sauce) —Vicki left this out

Instructions

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190°C/375°F. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper muffin cases.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla, milk and melted margarine together. Stir in the grated pumpkin or squash. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Do not over-mix!

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases (they will be quite full). Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until risen and firm. Cool on a wire rack.

Beat the soft cheese and icing sugar together. Spread on top of the muffins then drizzle with the toffee sauce.

There were two noteworthy meals on Saturday.

The first being a blueberry “pie.”

Not too many of you were impressed with my faux apple pie last week, but I beg you to take a second look at these warm blueberries with cereal crunchies and Deb’s homemade brazil nut butter.

Don’t tell me you wouldn’t dig right into that baby.

The second memorable meal was a chicken that Matthew roasted for dinner.  I took pictures, but that bird was especially un-photogenic.  Even the end result did not do the meal justice. 

Looking at the photo, the salad was completely unnecessary.  But somehow it was all consumed.  The veggies were delicious: roast carrots, fingerling potatoes, and swede, with sautéed garlic spinach.  The swede was courtesy of Vicki, who happened to have some perfectly chopped in her refrigerator when we went over.  She couldn’t believe I had never tried swede and generously gave me a batch to try.  I was pleasantly surprised!  It tasted very much like a turnip.  It’s mild like a carrot but has a rootful flavor like a parsnip.

It is now somehow 8:30pm on Sunday night and am sad that, despite coveting an extra hour through daylight savings, the weekend has flown by.

I started today by meeting my new friend Katie (she is an avid blog-reader but does not yet have a blog herself) for a class at her gym.  Katie belongs to the posh, fancy gym in the city.  I belong to the local hole-in-the-wall down the road.  You see why we met on her turf. 

Together we took a Body in Balance class, which is a mix of tai chi, yoga, and Pilates.  It was perfect for a Sunday morning because it offered some challenging moves yet was still very relaxing and zen-like.  

The rest of the afternoon has been split between working on my nutrition coursework, talking with Zesty Cook about the blog’s new look, and making homemade chicken soup.  Technically Zesty helped me out on that one, too

I was trying to make it the way my mom does, but it just did not taste the same.  I had never made stock entirely from scratch, but I wanted to use up every bit of the chicken we roasted last night.  It was a long process and the results were only average.  I need more practice Edible, but nothing special.  Still, I had a big bowl tonight with dinner and a (what else) roast-chicken salad.

Matthew is actually working on my nutrition coursework for me in the next room, so I need to wrap this monster post up and get to it! 

What was the tastiest thing you ate this weekend?  I want details!

Also, make sure to check out Healthy and Sane’s Veggieful Giveaway!

Possibly related posts:

1. Is It Friday Yet?
2. Comfort Food Craziness
3. Not for Vegetarians (dinner 05/23/09 and random eats from the weekend)

Mr. Zesty Cook is in the process of making over my blog this weekend, so please bear with me as the transformation takes place

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Possibly related posts:

1. Thank You’s

Okay, so it doesn’t look like apple pie. At all. But it kind of tastes like it. I have Mama Pea to thank for the idea to nuke an apple and top it with some Kashi cereal. Then I thought I would “frost” it with some plain yogurt and top it with All Bran cereal for a “crust.” Topped with Barney Butter, it tasted a lot like apple pie with almonds and ice cream.

Things are a little crazy around here. Matthew is working 70 hour weeks and I am trying to juggle some projects on my own that I would normally have his help on. I think it’s been good for me though; staying busy is allowing me to eat on a schedule and not over-do it.

Lunch came in two parts…

This salad, if I may so, was gorgeous. I love salads that have lots of different textures and tastes. Fruit and nuts are my favorite things to throw in there. This was sort of a waldorf-style salad and consisted of romaine, cucumber, red onion, low fat feta cheese, avocado, grapes, walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette.

We ate dinner late AGAIN, so around 6pm I had my last Trader Joe’s brown rice crispy treat.

Dinner was some shrimp ratatouille with wholewheat spaghetti. It’s really easy to make and this is one of those dinners where you can eat a lot without loading up on pasta. That’s about a cup of cooked pasta and then loaded up on sauce.

To make the sauce, I sauté zucchini, onion, garlic, yellow bell peppers, and Italian seasonings in some olive oil. Add plum tomatoes and grilled shrimp. It’s easy and tastes really indulgent with the pasta.

Shrimp is easily one of my favorite foods! I think I could give up all other fish and meat before I gave up shrimp. A close second is salmon.

If you are a seafood eater, what is your favorite seafood?

There’s a blog issue going through my mind a lot lately that I thought I’d go ahead and write about and see if what kind of feedback I get. You see, I have visibility issues with my blog. There is a certain group of people that I really, really do not want to know about it. It’s been quite an odd dichotomy to be keeping the blog a secret on one hand, while trying to publicize it in other circles. I know that it is just a matter of time before I am “found out”.

For a while now I have been contemplating re-naming the blog and starting entirely from scratch, being extra careful about who I share it with. In an ideal world I would be able to write a blog that I could share with everyone, but that is not the case right now.

If you are a blogger, do you have visibility issues with your blog?

Do you have any insight about how to deal with this issue (other than just “dealing with it”)? Emails, comments…all ideas are welcome!

ETA: I just realized I should clarify that this “group of people” does NOT refer to an anonymous reader demographic—these are people that I actually know in my personal life.

Possibly related posts:

1. Lara Let Me Down
2. Twittering Away
3. Sunny Start (breakfast 05/22/09)

I’m going to try to write this post quickly without actually seeming like I am trying to write it quickly. This week was supposed to be laid-back but a bunch of things have come up at once and now it’s going to be a bit, as the British say, manic!

Despite the cold weather, I felt like starting the day with a shake:

Matthew makes audible gagging sounds when my smoothies turn out dirt-colored like this. I guess that means more for me! This is the same old green smoothie I love to make: spinach, frozen banana, frozen blueberries, vanilla protein powder, and unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze.

Maybe I was just feeling the smoothie love because of all the goodies Deb generously bestowed upon me during our bloggie meetups last week! Check it out:

Not only did she bring me homemade pecan and brazil nut butter, but she also left me with some awesome US magazines (highly coveted in these parts, people!) and a cute travel bag! The nut butters are amazing. My nut butter expertise is admittedly not at the connoisseur level yet, but I know a good thing when I taste it. For some reason, the pecan butter reminds me of the frosting on German Chocolate Cake. And the Brazil butter is creamy but still salty, with a little bite. THANK YOU, DEB!

For various reasons, I wanted my biggest meal today to be lunch. Success.

I don’t think was biggest in volume, but it was definitely the calorie-dense meal I was shooting for. To start I made a simple two-egg omelette with cooking spray and a Laughing Cow Light. I always try to put vegetables in my omelettes, but I was really in the mood for something simple today. I was surprised at how much easier it was to flip without all the extras in the pan, and how satisfying the flavor was with just eggs + Laughing Cow.

With it I had a big ole’ bowl of grapes and a slice of toast with homemade pecan butter on one half and butter (*gasp*) on the other half.

Something about this combination was so decadent, rich, and delicious! It held me over through an afternoon workout and for several hours in total.

I did still need a snack around 5pm though. Enter, my new favorite use for pumpkin butter:

Pumpkin butter swirled into plain nonfat yogurt

It was around this time today that I started to get stressed out. This is not unusual, I will usually find something to get stressed out about, but it scares me when it is actually with good reason. It looks like I am going to be working more than usual for the next few weeks, which would normally be fine, except I need to finish my nutrition coursework soon. I purposefully (and stupidly, I might add) waited until the last minute to finish this coursework up, because I knew that right about this time I would be going crazy waiting to find out about Matthew’s visa. Big mistake. Now I have about three big projects going on at once!

Dinner finally made it to the table, but not at an hour I was pleased with. At least it was worth it! Matthew did his favorite homemade version of fish & chips, but I wanted something lighter. I pan-fried a basa fillet in cooking spray with a bunch of spices and lemon juice, and paired it with sautéed zucchini, onions, and mushrooms.

With it, in honor of the return of Mama Pea, I had my first hugh-jass salad in quite a long time.

You can kind of see the edge of Matthew’s battered and fried fish in the corner of the picture

I won’t bore you with a discussion on why, and I know I’ve said it before, but I need to reiterate how much I hate eating dinner past 7:30.

Phew. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Before I sign off, some giveaway announcements:

Meals & Moves is 6 months old and is hosting a giveaway! check out cookware.com for your favorite brands like Cuisinart, Emile Henry, Rachael Ray cookware and more! Giveaway ends 10/23!

AND

The Candid RD is giving away an awesome stash of goodies as well!

Go check them out! Or not, because then I have a higher probability of winning Just kidding. Kind of.

If you had to choose ONE nut butter to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Possibly related posts:

1. Is It Friday Yet?
2. Visa: It’s Everywhere You Want to Be.
3. Good Eats & BSI Winner (05/18/09)

In the afternoon I met with reader Katie—a fellow Bristol resident who was kind enough to GIVE me the rest of the Twilight series I was missing! Thank you to the few of you who offered. This worked out since Katie and I have been meaning to meet for a long time, and because we live in the same city, there were no shipping costs to work through. THANK YOU, KATIE! I hope we can see each other again soon

Today it was back to reality—deskside lunches and all.

I decided to try out the Carrot Cake Cliff bar I brought from home. It was a good lunch “centerpiece”—along with satsumas, grapes & carrots (not pictured), and a special dessert…

I really enjoyed the Cliff bar! I’d heard mixed reviews about it. Maybe it was my craving for an actual slice of carrot cake, but I actually thought this tasted pretty authentic!

The “special dessert” was one of these guys:

I wish I could re-create these at home! Does anyone know if I can buy brown rice “krispies”?

It was great this afternoon with a cup of joe.

Dinner tonight was steamed salmon and veggies. I’ve had a few new readers contact me lately about my steamed dinners. Here is the post I wrote on steamed dinners back in August. In it I discuss the brands of steamers I recommend for those in the US and in the UK. If you don’t own a steamer yet, you need to!

I steamed the salmon, broccoli, and carrots, and sautéed some mushrooms and spinach in a nonstick pan with some balsamic vinegar to flavor. It was a really satisfying dinner!

Confession: I have been having Girl Scout cookies nearly ever night lately for dessert. I am skipping them tonight…just to prove to myself that I can do it!

Before I go, please check out my guest post on Smoothie Girl Eats Too if you get a chance!

How do you like to spend your Sundays? For me, I have a set pattern of “Sunday stuff” that I like to get done. It’s basically to-do’s to prepare for the week ahead and recover a little from the week gone by!

Possibly related posts:

1. A Sunday Dinner and Not-Wedding Cake
2. Gained an Hour, Lost My Weekend
3. Thank You’s

It started with breakfast out with some friends. Matt and I knew we would be having a big lunch, so we shared some croissants and coffee. It was my first croissant since Italy and it was delicious!

How can a day be anything but fabulous when it starts out with croissants and hanging out with this little guy?!

Deb and I had so much fun on Friday that we ended up meeting again on Saturday for lunch! She and her husband found this awesome little pub in the English countryside. It was so idyllic and unique.

The pub is called the The Cross Guns in Avoncliff. We would have never found this place on our own, but luckily Deb and Derek did their research! It’s literally in the middle of nowhere in the rolling hills of Avoncliff. We were (rudely) a half hour late because it took us a while to navigate through road closures and tiny streets to reach it. By the time we arrived, we were all hungry!

I ordered the lemon sole with a plain jacket potato. Deb taught me how to lift the bones from the fish so I could actually eat it! Thanks, Deb

We were excited to finally have our British beau’s meet!

After lunch we went for a walk along a moat canal leading to Bradford-Upon-Avon. It is a beautiful footpath along the water.

I love the English countryside!

Once we got to the city we stopped for a little dessert and hot drinks and then turned around. I checked Google maps today and it was nearly a five mile walk. I guess time flies when you are in good company!

Aren’t Deb and Derek a cute couple?! They are both so much fun to be around. We had a great time breathing the fresh country air and chatting away.

By the time dinner rolled around, we didn’t much feel like cooking a big meal. Of course, I always feel like eating, so Matthew put together my favorite type of tasting plate…bread with fruit, cheese, and wine

There was LOTS of bread leftover from the night before. We didn’t eat it all, don’t worry

The crackers are the Dr. Kracker Apple Crisps from Erin. These are definitely my favorite of the flavors I have tried! They are made from wholegrain spelt and have a great sweet and salty balance. They go great with Laughing Cow cheese.

All together now:

Dinner for two!

It has been an indulgent couple of days, but it was worth it. Good company, good food, good weather. I couldn’t ask for anything more (I will, however, wait a few days before I get on the scale again!)

Possibly related posts:

1. Take Me Back to the Start
2. Sunny Start (breakfast 05/22/09)
3. Fun to the Finish

Shockingly, neither one of us was too hungry, so we started by touring Bath Abbey. Actually we just walked around and snapped some pictures while talking about blogging!

When we were ready for lunch we decided on Sally Lunn’s, Bath’s oldest teahouse.

Sally Lunn’s is exactly what you would expect of an old, English teahouse!

It was a good choice; we both ordered sandwiches and swapped half and half, the whole time talking about blogs, husbands, weight, and life. Deb is so easy to talk to and I felt like I had known her for much longer than an hour.

We both started out with vegetable soup. It came with delicious crusty, buttered bread:

For lunch we ordered two sandwiches: bacon and chicken and the gammon and cheddar (no mayo!). Gammon is basically a ham steak. Both were DELICIOUS!

The sandwiches were served on the famous “Sally Lunn buns,” which are really more like cakes than bread. Totally fluffy, buttery, and decadent.

We chatted for a long time, and I couldn’t help but laugh when we got up to leave…our plates were a mess! I guess this is what happens when two foodies get ahold of buttery sandwiches:

I was definitely in good company to be snapping away at everything around me!

We then went for a stroll in the gorgeous gardens of the city. It started out rainy and cold in Bristol but turned out to be a beautiful day in Bath!

Later we met up with Deb’s husband Derek, and "Smoothie Dad.” They were kind enough to meet me at the train station when I first arrived and then later took me out for tea! I initially thought, “Her family must think she is totally insane for meeting up with some girl from the internet while they’re on vacation…” But we had a lovely time eating scones and teacakes and drinking tea.

Meeting with Deb and her family was not weird at all. There is no fancy way to say this: they were three of the nicest people I have ever met.

Thank you, Deb and family, for such a lovely afternoon!

If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Deb yet, check out her fun, cheerful blog at Smoothie Girl Eats Too.

Possibly related posts:

1. Start to Finish
2. Comfort Food Craziness
3. Thank You’s

Everyone has been buzzing about this pumpkin protein shake from a certain girl who knows her meals and moves I decided to try a version of it this morning, with added spinach. I only have one serving of pumpkin from my stash and it’s in the freezer, so I decided to use a tablespoon of pumpkin butter instead. Whoa. I was disappointed that I couldn’t taste the pumpkin, only the sugar!

So the mix was:

• 200 mL (<1 cup) unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
• 60g spinach
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1T Trader Joe’s pumpkin butter
• 1 small frozen banana
• cinnamon

That wrapper in the background is a Starbucks biscotti wrapper. I had half yesterday with a friend at coffee (Hi Vicki!), and the other half this morning, K style!

For lunch I reheated some Family Fried Rice that I made last night. It’s total comfort food!

I tried something different with this batch and used brown rice for the first time. It’s not the same, but it gets the job done, and I don’t feel quite so guilty for eating it. I also used shrimp instead of bacon. The next step in healthifying the family recipe will be to eliminate the *cough* uh, ham.

Insert kick-ass workout! 15 minute elliptical warm-up, 30 minute speed run, and LOTS of resistance work!

Snacks:

Plus more grapes!

Dinner was more comfort food!

Is there anyone out there who can have mac and cheese and not have a glass of milk?! I don’t think so.

While watching The Biggest Loser, my husband thought it would be a brilliant idea to whip out some Girl Scout cookies from our stash. I could kill him.

Two cookies in a serving. I’ll have one serving. Somehow one serving turned into two. I could have eaten the whole box at that point. I quickly put them back in the freezer and started peeling carrots. As Jillian Michaels would say, no need to keep slashing tires after one goes flat, right?!

Matt snapped my photo munching on carrots and writing emails. I like the picture because I look studious Haha.

I had two big carrots and now I have an incredibly full stomach. Total comfort eating today! The upside is that I had my first good workout in weeks. I’m definitely going to be sore tomorrow! Yay! I like being sore because it tells me that I worked hard Is that sick?

Do you like being sore after a workout, or am I weird?!

Before I sign off, quick note to reader Sam: Please email me about New Moon! Can’t get my emails sent to you for some reason

Possibly related posts:

1. “F” is for Fitness, Food, and Friday
2. Going Nutty
3. The Hangover

This stuff is absolutely amazing. If only the second ingredient weren’t sugar…and the third ingredient, honey.

It did make a nice topping on my oatbran this morning, though!

…as did the leftover almond butter in this little jar

Oatbran topped with banana, pumpkin butter, walnuts, cinnamon, and swirled with roasted almond butter is a great way to start the day

I realized today that in all of my posts I have never featured my morning cup of joe.

This morning I put vanilla almond milk in it as a treat but lately I’ve been having it black. It’s taken some getting used to, but it is getting better.

Caitlin would be so proud…I have decided to give Twilight a second chance and I’m loving it! I’m nearly done with it and will be moving onto the second one next, but my local library doesn’t carry it! Are there any UK readers out there who might be willing to loan their copy of New Moon to me?

Have you read the Twilight series?

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1. Fall…in Love
2. Thank You’s

We went to Coal, which I have blogged about a few times before. It’s a fun bar/grill sort of place that we like, because I can order shrimp, Matthew can order steak, and it’s right by the movie theatre.

We started with a glass of red wine and some olives…

I knew I wanted shrimp, but I was also in the mood for steak, so I went for both

I ordered the grilled surf ‘n’ turf with salad. It came with a peppercorn sauce on the side but it wasn’t very good so I skipped it. It also came with a baked potato, which I wrapped up and took home for lunch today! I have come to learn that “doggie bags” are really uncommon in Britain. The waiters always look at me funny when I ask to take something home. But it was a perfectly good baked potato and I don’t like to waste food!

We shared the berry cheesecake for dessert

We ended up seeing Dorian Gray. For a “book to movie” interpretation, I thought it was actually pretty well done. The story has always been very eerie to me, though! I had to watch something light-hearted before bed!

This morning I woke up late and thought breakfast on the lighter side would be good. I made a spinach, blueberry, and banana smoothie with a scoop of vanilla protein powder and my new unsweetened vanilla almond milk

I love this stuff! I wish almond milk was more readily sold in the UK. I have found it in specialty shops but it is so expensive that I just can’t justify the cost. It is so good in smoothies and with cereal.

No workout for me today. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on from my time away and I know I will make the time during the week for the gym.

Lunch, as planned, was my baked potato from the restaurant last night! I ordered it plain so it was perfect to fancy up for today. I added a little olive oil spread, grilled mushrooms, 1/4 avocado, and a Laughing Cow Light cheese wedge. It was a perfect lunch with some grapes:

I know it seems like random potato toppings, but as it turns out, avocado tastes great on a baked potato!

A few hours later, I needed a snack. I probably didn’t need it, but I was so excited to try the new PBJ Larabar.

I hate to report that it was a huge disappointment. First of all, can we talk about the size of Larbars these days?! Have they shrunk?

It wasn’t only the size. The flavor just wasn’t there. I wonder if I’ve over done it on the Larabars and perhaps I am just being too harsh? After a while, they all start to taste the same…just an overwhelming date taste. Does anyone else agree?

Oh, while we’re on Larabars, it’s funny timing because a lot of readers/bloggers have been asking me how to pronounce my name recently. I think I’ve talked about it with four or five people in the last few weeks! Hehe. I don’t mind; I would rather people ask than pronounce it wrong. People have struggled to pronounce my name my whole life. Visiting Santa was really traumatic for me when he pronounced it Lare-uh (rhymed with “hair”).

It’s actually pronounced with a short “a,” I believe the same way as the Lara in Larabar. So the “lar” rhymes with “car.” Just wanted to clear that up

Have you tried the PBJ Larabar? Do you like it?

And, for fun, do you know any other Lara’s? I know I have one reader who shares a name with me (Hi, Lara!), but other than that, I don’t know any!

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1. Lara’s Lean Meatloaf

I guess I haven’t, but I am going to try. Since I got back to the UK on Wednesday, I sort of let myself eat whatever I wanted on Thursday and Friday. Today, I am making myself return to normal eating…with one exception: no calorie counting. It’s not that I mind the calorie counting, and I will return to it again and again whenever things start to get out of control. But right now, I think I have built up enough belief in myself to try my hand without using the training wheels.

Breakfast seemed like the best meal to start this little experiment. For the star of the show, I broke into my new cereal.

Cheap Girl’s Kashi

This is basically the TJ-version of Kashi’s Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond Flax. Try it. It’s just as good, and you’ll save like, $0.60.

I would normally weigh out a 53-gram portion of this cereal. 190 calories. I know all the stats. Instead, I poured it out carefully, saying to myself, “I know what a portion looks like. I can eat like a normal person. I can eat like a normal person.” Weirdo.

Eventually, this is what I ended up with:

An unknown amount of nonfat plain yogurt, "Kashi" cereal, and 1/2 banana

With a side of grapes, because I like fruit Apologies about my wrinkled placemats. I’m wrinkle-conscious these days

Matthew and I worked out together today for the first time in a few weeks. I like having him as my workout buddy. You wouldn’t know it though, because I hate talking while I exercise. I just like knowing he is there

Do you prefer working out alone, or with a partner?

By the time lunch rolled around I was pretty hungry. I made a massive burrito without realizing it. A ton of black beans (I’ve been “cooking” them from dried form lately, thanks to Hangry Heather), spinach, mushrooms, onions, salsa, and avocado on a wholewheat tortilla.

Trader Joe’s salsa is THE BEST! I really love their smoky peach salsa, but I thought the roasted garlic would be more practical to bring back because I can use it on more things. I haven’t found a salsa here that I adore yet.

The burrito was delicious, but it got messy. I had a string cheese afterward and realized as I was eating it that I ruined the unintentional vegan-ness of the meal.

I just woke up from a little afternoon nap and I think tonight will be a date night We’re debating between seeing Dorian Gray and The Invention of Lying. Any thoughts?

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Possibly related posts:

1. Thank You’s
2. Fall…in Love
3. Take Me Back to the Start