Candied Tomatoes

These have an incredible taste. You can store them in olive oil in the refrigerator.

6 large ripe tomatoes (I usually use Roma's)
1/4 cup olive oil
salt

Preheat oven to 325 F. Slice the tomatoes in half crosswise. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet, cut side up. (Note, I find the tomatoes get juicy when backing, so I use a baking sheet with a ridge, like one you would use for a cake roll/jelly roll.) Pour the oil over the tomatores. Sprinkle with salt as desired. Bake for about 2 hours until tomatoes are wrinkled on the outside, but still somewhat moist in the center. (We like them just a bit browned)

You can serve these warm or cold and can be used in omelets. We cook fish on them. Put them over baked chicken breast.

SO many uses! If you use them for something, post a comment. I would love to see the many ways they can be used!

Tarragon Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups

This serves 4 - 6 Think of your lettuce leaves instead of tortillas! Wrap filling in them! That is what this one is about.

Just a note: I used the cooked chicken that was taken off the bone when I cooked chicken stock. Well... I thought all the taste was gone! So next time, what I will do is to partially freeze the chicken and cut the meat off. Then when I make stock, I'll have primarily the bones and things. I'll update the blog the next time I do that with an update!

HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE (Makes 1 1/2 cups)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
dash of tabasco sauce
dash of worcestershire sauce
1 cup vegetable oil

Combine all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl. Blend with a whisk, or in a blender. Add the oil very gradually in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Adjust seasoning to taste and refrigerate.

You can keep in the for a week. It has a smooth and silky texture, unlike store bought thick store bought.

CHICKEN SALAD
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 tablespoon homemade mayonnaise
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
1/4 sweet onion (maui or vidalia), finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (or 1/2 teaspoon dried... I used dried)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients for chicken salad in a bowl and mix until well combined. Adjust seasonings.

LETTUCE CUPS
4 - 6 romaine lettuce leaves
3 green onions, chopped
sprigs of fresh tarragon, for garnish (which I didn't have. We sprinkled with paprika)

Place a large dollop of chicken salad in each lettuce leaf. Garnish with green onions and tarragon. Then fold it up like a taco and enjoy!

Oriental Turkey Meatball Soup

Ingredients:
6 cups chicken broth
1 pound ground turkey, rolled into 1-in balls
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
5 slices fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 heads baby bok choy

Bring the broth to a boil and add the turkey meatballs, celery, ginger, soy sauce and red pepper flakes. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the bok choy and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Serve immediately.


Notes:
We really loved this soup. I actually added on TABLESPOON of red pepper flakes and it was spicy! I skimmed off the extra and added soy sauce to cut the heat.

I actually made home made chicken broth. Recipe to come later!

Not Sommersizing!

 

This certainly ISN'T Sommersizing! But I have been taking a Wilton Cake Decorating class for 4 weeks and had my "final" last night.

This is my cake for the final. Okay, so why am I posting it? Because during the 4 weeks I ate WAAAY too much of the icing! I have gained weight and need to get back on track. During the last month I only did one new recipe. And I'll post that one later.

So who's with me! Ready to go back and get grounded with what we know we need to do? I AM!

(((HUGS)))

Brenda

Stuffed Zucchini

I love Italian squash, and this was really good!

6 med zucchini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 med onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper
Pinch of hot red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (I actually used my gas grill! Yep!)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Parboil the zucchini for 5 minutes, then remove from the water and let cool. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides, creating a bowl to hold the stuffing. Reserve the zucchini insides in a medium bowl.

Heat a medium frying pan over high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, and red pepper. Saute until the onion is transparent and the pepper is soft and slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat and add to the reserved zucchini. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and oregano. Add the beaten eggs and blend the mixtures, mashing the zucchini well.

Fill the zucchini shells with equal parts cheese, pepper, and thyme. Place in an ungreased shallow baking dish and bake for 35 minutes, until stuffing is golden brown and bubbly. Serve immediately

Beef Stir Fry

The actual name for this is Beef Stir-Fry with Fragrant Vegetables. Now I don't know what she means by fragrant vegetables. I guess because her list includes things I use most every day. The great thing about stir fry is you can use just about any vegetables you have on hand. So for instance... she called for 2 cups broccoli florets... I didn't have any frozen, but I had about 4 pieces I cut from my garden. Not quite 2 c. :) But I did have two yellow squash and just about a cup of white mushrooms! I just added them! And the other thing I noticed I did different.... She called for the squash to be sliced... I thought I read DICED! But I really liked the squash diced. I didn't feel like I had to cut it up and didn't overtake my meal because remember I used TWO! :)

The beef turned out great too. I don't normally make beef stir fry. I don't cook that much beef. But I found some thinly sliced sirloin at walmart and decided to try it. Well... hubby and I got the schedule messed up for the Monday I was going to serve this so the sirloin marinated 24 hours instead of 1. Not sure if that made much difference, but it didn't seem to hurt anything!

Here's the recipe:

The Marinade part:
3/4 pound boneless sirloin trimmed of fat and cut into 1/4 in strips
2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger (don't forget to peel it!)
2 garlic cloves, minced (I did add more garlic... Italians you know)
1/2 cup beef broth (I used one of those cubes)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Marinate the beef strips for at least 1 hour in a mixture of the ginger, garlic, broth, soy sauce and vegetable oil. (As I am typing this I realized I didn't add in the vegtable oil! Oops!)


2 bups broccoli florets
1 yellow squashed, sliced (remember, I diced mine)
1 red bell pepper, julienned
4 green onions, sliced on the diagonal
1/3 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and the broccoli. Cook the broccoli for about 5 minutes, add the squash and stirfry for about a additional 2 - 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and cook 1 - 2 more minutes. Remove the begetables and set aside.

Add another tablesppon of vegetable oil, the beef strips, including the marinade and cook over high heat for a minute or two, until just cooked through. Stir the vegetables back into the wok to reheat, adding the green onion and red pepper flakes. After about 1 minute, remove from the heat. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Salmon Steaks with Fried Ginger & Lime

Another one in the like category! I thought the cucumbers really added a great texture to the salmon. I will make Salmon this way most all the time now! :) YAY!

Fried ginger:
1 piece (3 in long) fresh ginger
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Peel the ginger and thinly slice (I used my mandolin slicer)
Cut the slices into thin strips (I actually missed this part and still thought it turned out good, but she's going for the fried onion look. Remember those fried onions in a can you put on the green bean casserole?)
Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan. When hot, add the ginger and cook until dark golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon, set aside to drain on paper towels.

Salmon:
4 salmon steaks
2 TBSP Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Prepare the grill (I cooked inside with my george forman). Brush the salmon with a little olive oil, then season with salt & pepper. Cook on a hot grill until just cooked through. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the fish, from 5 to 15 minutes.

Garnish:
1 lime, sliced paper thin with peel
2 Kirby cucumbers halved lengthwise & sliced thin (I used regular cucumbers, couldn't find "Kirby"
A handful of daikon spouts - options (I couldn't find them)
3 TBSP soy sauce
Juice from 1 lime

Cut each lime slice into 8 pieces as if you were cutting a pie. Toss the lime with the cucumbers & spouts in a mixture of the soy sauce & lime juice. Place the salmon on plate and heap the vegetable garnish on the fish. Top with a sprinkle of fried ginger.

Okay, so as I'm typing this I realized I missed something when I was cooking this. I didn't see the part about slicing the one lime thin. So when I cut it in 1/8th my were 8 wedges!! Oh My! We just squeezed the juice from the wedges on the salmon.

We did enjoy eating the fried ginger. Hubby did more than I. I typically don't like ginger and rarely use it except at Christmas for gingerbread cookies. But I did enjoy the smell on my hands and in the house. And the house didn't smell like fish!

Very interesting recipe. I'll have to do it over and slice the limes! :)

Zucchini Frittata

I like frittatas, but I didn't care for this one. And I'm not sure why. I guess because I like a lot of veggies with my eggs. I missed having bell pepper. A recipe I did before was better. I'll have to dig that up and see if I can sommersize it.

Oh, I did add some extra pepper and it made it better. Hubby liked it just fine. May be me tonight.... Any way, here it is

4 large eggs
salt & pepper
2 TBSP Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup julienned zucchini (my favorite part of this, I'm going to julienne them next time too.
Sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese (I used 1/8 cup)
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped (I used 1 tsp dried)

Preheat the oven to 350 F
Whisk the eggs in a bowl with a splash of water. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Place a medium saute pan (with an oven proof handle) over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the olive oil. Saute the onion until crispy brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside half the onion for a garnish. Add the zucchini to the remaining onion in the hot pan and saute for a few minutes.

Add the beaten eggs to the saute pan. Immediately sprinkle with the grated cheese and remove from the heat.

Place the pan in the preheated oven. (If you do not have a saute pan with an ovenproof handle, transfer the egg mixture at this point to a small casserole dish or pie pan.) Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until puffy and golden.

While the frittata is baking, in a separate bowl, mix the tomato, basil, salt & pepper. top the cooked frittata with the tomato mixture and garnish with crispy onions.

I actually put it back in the oven for about 4 minutes to let the tomatoes get warm. That was a nice touch.

Curried Lamb with Cucumber-Mint Sauce

SURPRISE! I cooked LAMB! This dish was great. Very refreshing. I can still taste the mint a bit and love the light smell still on my hands!

It is more a lunch thing, but we had it for dinner after a very tiring day, when we both had lunch. Says it serves 8, but hubby and I finished it up. But that's all we had. I love this dish! Oh, and of course, I did substitute. It called to put it in radicchio leaves, but I got red leaf instead. The store didn't have radicchio. But hubby commented he liked the red leaf so much better than he would have the radicchio. So this time it was a GOOD substitution.

Also she says it can be served hot or cold as appetizers.

Here's the recipe:

Curried Lamb
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound ground lamb (from leg) I don't know what I got! :)
1 TBSP curry powder
1/2 tespoon ground cinnamon
Salt & freshly ground pepper

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and onion and cook until the onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the lamb, and season it with the curry, cinnamon, salt & pepper. Saute over medium-high heat until the lamb is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

Cucumber Mint Sour Cream

1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced (I used the end of my potato peeler to scrap out the seeds, very easy!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/3 cup sour cream
Juice from 2 limes

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them until well combined.

Assemble:

Fill each radicchio leaf with a large spoonful of curried lamb. Top with sour cream sauce and garnish with a mint leaf. Fold up like a taco and enjoy!

Ratatouille

Ratatouille (pronounced (rat-a-too-ee); is a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice. The full name of the dish is ratatouille niçoise

And this was a big hit with my hubby. It's been cold & damp out here in the desert. And so to have this when he came home from work was a wonderful event!
My only complaint about this dish? I used to many bowls for each of the veggies.

Here's the recipe - serves 8

1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 can (28 oz) peeled tomatoes with juice
4 bell peppers, julienned
1 large eggplant, peeled and diced
3 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices
Salt and black pepper

Heat a large, deep skillet (I used my wok) over medium heat. Add olive oil and onion. Saute until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Remove onion and garlic from the pan and set aside.

Quarter the tomatoes, reserving any juice. (I put this in a low sided casserole dish and pulled each tomato out with a spoon then cut it in the casserole dish to preserve all the juice. Moving them over to the side once cut). Set aside.

Layer the bottom of the skillet with the peppers, salt & pepper and 1/4 of the onion-garlic mixture.

Then layer with the the eggplant, more salt & pepper and another 1/4 of the garlic mixture.

Next layer is the zucchini with 1/4 of the garlic mixture

Last layer is the tomatoes with 1/4 of the garlic mixture. Pour in the reserved juice and top with remaining 2 tablespoons of oil.

Cover and simmer over very low heat for 35 - 40 minutes.

Recipe calls to then cook uncovered an additional 10 minutes to reduce the liquid, but I left it in because Hubby loves the juice.

Remember there is olive oil in this so if you want to eat with whole-grain pasta or brown rice, cook it with the tomato juice instead of the olive oil.

My stove has a Low, which just keeps things warm. It doesn't even actually simmer. I think the stove is old and it's not suppose to be that way. But I put this on about 2:30 and let it sit on low all afternoon. Served it at 6:30 and the flavors were blended perfectly and the vegetables weren't all mushy, had a tiny bit of crunch to them. We don't like our veggies too crunchy. But these were perfect.

Side Note

Hubby and I are feeling the difference in our body when we eat off balance. It is easy to eat great meals. It's just hard to remember when you're out to NOT have the protein with the carbs. And here in CA we have fruit with everything. But at least we are thinking about things more than we were before. It gives us something to relate with when we are ordering.

I've lost 2 pounds, but more than that, my clothes are bagging. My pooch is not so bloated. Hubby is feeling the same.

Now if you have read any of Suzanne Somers' books, you know the program is a level one being to follow all the rules. Level 2 is when you've achieved your weight loss and you can mix some things if it doesn't put you off balance. Hubby and I haven't stuck to a strict level one. We've been eating up the food we have here at the house. We are just making better choices over all.

Bottom line? We are enjoying the food, feeling less bloated, and losing a few pounds. To us, that's great!

Taco Salad

We REALLY enjoyed this dish! Hubby can't believe he's on a "diet"!

2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
1 Med Onion, chopped
5 Garlic cloves, Pressed
1 Lb ground beef (I used turkey)
1 tsp paprika (I didn't have any so this got skipped on mine)
1 Tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
Salt & black pepper

1 Cup water
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
2 med tomatoes chopped
6 oz Cheddar cheese, graded (I used a cheddar/jack combo.. yum!)
6 tbsp sour cream
6 green onions, chopped
1 jar (8 oz) mexican salsa

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer. Turn up the heat to high and add the ground beef. Brown the meat, stirring constantly, until crumbly, about 4 minutes. Drain excess fat. Lower heat and add the paprika, cumin, oregano, chili powder, cayenne and plenty of salt & pepper. Add the water and tomato paste, blending well with a wooden spoon. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To assemble the salad, place the romaine on 4 plates. Spoon the meat mixture over the lettuce. Top with tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, green onion & salsa.

Enjoy! It's a little bit spicy, so if you don't like heat (and I'm a baby) use MILD salsa.

Pork Chops with Creamy Shallot Sauce

One issue I'm finding is that I'm looking through my cookbook and I see things that I would like to make, so I mark them and jot down a couple ingredients that I need. Well, when I sit down to actually begin the process I've fogotten what it was I was going to cook. Case in point.... I had jotted down Pork Chops, but unfortunately I forgot to jot down Rosemary. In my mind I remembered I needed something with the PCs but when I got to the store I remembered Thyme! So now you can see one of the reasons I don't cook much is because I'm not organized! So that is all changing and I'm going to write down the meals on old fashion cards and keep them in my purse so I KNOW what ingredients I need. I am getting a good variety of spices now, so that should end soon.

Then the recepe wasn't in the same cookbook. I have two Suzanne Sommers' cookbooks. This one was from the Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away book.

Another issue I'm having is that I THINK I know what something is. Like the example of Capers in a previous post. I thought they were Peppercorns. Awww good thing my hubby caught that one before I started cooking!

But with this recipe I thought Shallots were green onions... chives. I thought the chive was the green part at the top and the shallots were the white part at the bottom. Hubby to the rescue again! And explaned to me the difference. Well, I made this without the shallots, but I'm having him bring some home. He told me once I cook with the shallots I would enjoy the taste so much better than always onions. I'm really excited about that because I love cooked onions!

But this turned out great! We enjoyed it. My porkchops were a little thick, so I had to put them in the oven to finish cooking while we ate our salad. But not a disaster! And like always, because I don't cook with wine, I used beef broth.

4 boneless center cut pork chops, 1 in thick (I cooked 3, but one each was enough for us)
Salt & freshly ground black peper
4 TBSP butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
5 shallots, finely chopped
2 clovess garlic chopped
1 cup red wine (I used beef broth)
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Season pork chops with salt & pepper. Heat a skillet on medium high. Melt 2 tablespoon of the butter in the pan. cook chops for about 5 minutes, until the outside is golden brown. Turn them over and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Remove pork chops from pan and reserve in warm oven.

Add the onion to the skillet (and more butter if pan looks too dry) and cook until browned, about 7 minutes. Add the shallots and garlic, then cook for an additional minute. Pour wine (beef broth) into pan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer, and cook until wine has reduced by half, about 3-4 minutes. Add the remianing butter, stirring to melt. Whisk in the cream. Season with additional salt & pepper.

Return pork chops to pan, heat for 2 minutes in the sauce and serve.

Lemon Roasted Chicken

Okay, so this is the first recipe I did NOT like. In fact, my hubby who eats most everything didn't like it either. Now there could be one factor.... I didn't BAKE it, I put it in the Crockpot so it would cook while we were at church. But GEEZ! I could have done without a LOT more lemon. Six was just too much for the Crockpot. I couldn't even takes the cayenne pepper! So if I make this again in the crockpot, I will use only TWO lemons! Or I will just follow the recipe and bake it! LOL

Here's what I did:

One whole chicken (Recipe callse for 6 chicken leg/thigh pieces attached)
2 medium yellow or sweet onions, quartered
Juice of 6 lemons
10 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablesppon dried rosemary, or more. (I actually used Thyme since I didn't have rosemary)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more
Salt & black pepper.

I put the onion in the crockpot. I skinned and layed the chicken on top of the onion and poured in all that lemon juice. Rub the garlic on the chicken then sprinkle with the rosemary, cayenne pepper, S & P

Cooked on high for 5 hours. The chicken was cooked great, but just tooo much lemon taste.

So will I ever make this again? Probably not. If anyone else tries it, make it the way she suggests

Skin the chicken, if you like. Place the legs/thighs in a roasting pan with the quartered onions. Squeeze the juice from the lemons all over the chicken and then rub the pieces with garlic. Sprinkle on the spices. Roast for about 90 minutes or until cooked through.

To serve, pour the lemony garlic juices over the chicken & onions. (OH! I also didn't even taste the garlic!!)

Please leave a comment if you made this and how it turned out for you. I am curious!

:)

Fish

Hubby had done some fishing in Alaska last summer and I love pulling some out of the freezer to make various dishes. This time I turned to my Somersizing book to find the "Fillet of Sole with Lemon-Caper Butter" WOW It was GREAT! I don't even know what kind of fish I took out, one was a linkcod, I believe. YUM my favorite! But you can use any white fish. Here's the dish:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 large fillets
1/2 cup broth
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp drained capers
2 Tbsp parsley (I used dried)
Juice from 1 lemon

Heat a saute pan large enough for the fish over high heat. Add the olive oil, then the fish and saute about 3 minutes per side. Remove the fish and set aside.

With the heat still on high add the chicken broth and reduce by half. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter until well combined. Stir in the capers, parsley and lemon juice.

The Linkcod was pretty thick so I let the fish cook some more in the sauce.

I served over shredded cabbage with diced red onion and black beans.

WOW! My new favorite fish!

Enjoy!

 

Here's the book I'm cooking my way through. I was at my daughter's house last week in Northern CA, so I'll post more this week when I get my feet back on the ground.

:) At least hubby was drinking his smoothies every morning while I was gone! :)

Celery Root Puree

3 celery roots
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional, but I used it)
4 tbsp butter (or 1/4 c olive oil - I used butter)
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring 5 cups water to boil in a large pot (the recipe calls for a steamer, but I just boiled them like I boil potatoes for potato salad)

Chop off the roots and peel off the outside layer of skin from the celery roots, being careful to remove all the brown. Cut each celery root into about 12 pieces and place pieces in the steamer. Steam (or I just boiled them) until very soft when poked with a fork, about 20 minutes.

Transfer the celery root to a food processor. Add the cream and butter and puree until smooth. (If you don't have a food processor you can use a mixer, just as you would for mashed potatoes). Add additional cream or butter to achieve desired consistency, or for a healthier option, omit the butter and cream and use a little olive oil instead. (I didn't spare for healthy!)

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata is one of the quickest and easiest dishes I've done in a long time.

It perfectly served hubby and me for dinner. I served it with a bunch of steamed asparagus. I served it on plates, but next time will serve in my pasta bowls because the juice from the piccata was wonderful poured over the chicken and the asparagus.

I followed the recipe except using 1/4 cup wine, I used 1/2 cup water and added a chicken bouillon cube. Not sure why I used 1/2 cup. But I'm glad I did. We loved pouring the sauce over everything. And for me, I don't really like lemon that much. So even with 1/2 cup water the juice from one lemon made it to lemon tasting for me. Hubby loved it.

Funny story... the recipe calls for capers. Now I don't know why, but I was thinking peppercorns were capers. So I had just opened my jar and had poured a tablespoon full of the peppercorns and was about to put it in the lemon sauce when I happened to stop and mentioned to hubby "is peppercorns the same as capers?" And of course being the grocery man he is, I got a resounding No! So hubby ran to the store to get capers and saved the day.

This is a great dish and we both commented how much we love eating from this book. Our lifestyle is changing and we are loving it!

I'll be at my daughters for a week and won't be taking my cookbook, so will chat with you next week!

Marinara Sauce

As a Italian house we love love love our pasta. So it was with "fear and trembling" (grin) that I tried Suzanne's Marinara Sauce. I mean... who could make sauce like his mother or older sister?? Certainly NOT this little midwesterner with NO Italian in her blood line! Or could she!!

I DID IT! I actually doubled the recipe so we could have extra. And I used dried minced onion and garlic from the jar, and fresh basil. I didn't have tomato sauce so I used 2 of the large cans of tomatoes and a small jar of tomato paste. The recipe called for "4 garlic cloves, pressed". Not sure what "pressed' was so I just through them in. Maybe the JUICE from the garlic?? I guess I'll have to google that. If anyone knows, please add instructions in the comment section. :)

And basil.... I actually don't have dried basil. Will have to put that on my shopping list. But the only herb we grow is basil, so I used 6 medium leaves and sliced them.

Then I have this jar-grinder thing of Melissa's Italian Herbs. So I added a teaspoon of that too.

Geez, it doesn't look like it was her recipe after all! So let me put Brenda's translation of the Marinara Sauce on page 170

4 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoon minced onion (hydrated in water for 10 minutes then drained)
2 teaspoon minced garlic (in jar, not dried)
2 can (28 ounces) tomatoes
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
4 tablespoon dried parsley
6 medium leaves fresh basil (sliced up)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt

Heat the oil in a sauce pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook 1 minute. Add all the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours or more.

That's it! Super easy! for us... it could have used more garlic. :)

I steamed some bell pepper, broccoli and snow peas.

Add pasta, then steamed veggies, then Parmesan cheese (I used the shredded) and top with your home made marinara sauce!

Hubby at it with cottage cheese (a family tradition that doesn't seem to get broken. they are convinced that cuts back on the acid from the tomatoes). He said a bit later it was the first time he ate pasta until he was full and didn't get bloated afterwards! Thank you Suzanne Somers! I'm not sure what difference there was in what I served and the regular. But I'm sure as I go into this more, I'll learn.

Weekend

The weekend came with mixed results. Hubby has lost 4 lbs, I gained one. But today we went hiking today in the hills that are pretty steep. I didn't do well because I didn't get good sleep last night and we left right after eating pot roast! :(

But I felt it in my upper thighs so that can only be good. Tonight he felt like pizza. :( I did convince him to go to California Pizza Kitchen. They have whole wheat crust pizza, he got me a vegitarian. It was delicious. And it didn't have sauce only veggies and cheese.

I wonder if when I get my body in balance if I won't react to the sodium in food so much. I get so puffy from water retention.

Tomorrow is the beginning of week two. And we didn't do bad. Fortunately we tend to eat somewhat healthy. But I did finish up things that are on the funky list like the almonds, bananas and carrots. And yogurt with fruit. And unfortunately I had a few pieces of chocolate candy bar. Yuck. I don't like that much sugar now. So I don't even have the desire to eat that stuff. So why do I do it anyway?!? Lord, help me!

Friday - Day 5

Today was left over day. And so I ate what I found. Which isn't a good thing, but at least that food is gone. I had french toast for lunch. And a blueberry yogurt.

I didn't really feel all that unbalanced.

Hubby did good when he got home. He ate left over wild rice (it was mixed however) and veggies. Not sure what he had for lunch. But he mentioned he has lost 4 pounds. How I wish women could lose that easily. Must have something to do with that muscle mass of which I don't have any! Menopause did it! :)

My weight has stayed steady. 1/2 lb until my first goal!

Thursday - Day 4

Today I cooked my first recipes from the cookbook! They were a big hit with hubby.

I cooked the Turkey Meatloaf (page 168). I didn't use fresh parsley or fresh onion. Because I didn't time the rest of my meal correctly, the meatloaf stayed warm in the oven for an extra 20 minutes so it was a bit dry. But it may also be because I didn't used fresh onion. I used dried minced onion. So the onion would have taken the juice. Geez. Well, that's how we learn, right? It was still delicious because of the combination of the meal. The chicken broth in it turned to a gravy like taste and was wonderful!

Then I made Celery Root Puree (page 98). It has the consitency of mashed potatoes so hubby loved putting the "gravy" on it just like he would potatoes. The celery root was a bit frustrating to cook the first time (thus the delay in getting the meatloaf out of the oven). So I would say this.... allow 45 minutes to cook it the first time. After the first time, you'll get the hang of it and it will work out great. I don't know what happened to my little steamer attachment so I had to adlib. I thought if I took a bowl and put it in the boiling water it would work. But after studying the recipes more, I realized you are basically boiling it like you would potatoes for potato salad. So then I got out my huge pasta pan with a steamer pan in it. It took only 20 minutes (like potato) to cook. Then you put it in a blender/food processor to puree. It all was relatively easy once I got the picture in my mind what I was doing. Next time it will go through like a wiz.

Hubby declared this could easily be on the menu for dinner weekly so I guess it was a hit!

Next time tho... fresh onion!

YEA! ! We did it!

See post for Celery Root Puree

Wednesday - Day 3

My hubby's night to fix dinner is Wednesday. His staple is Spaghetti. I bought some whole wheat pasta but he didn't want to make it.

I did have a good helping of mixed vegetables, with the white pasta and regular Prego sauce. Funny how that stuff tastes waaaay to sweet to me. But then I didn't eat anything Italian the entire time I was in India.

Today I did well with my eating except can't get by without my almonds. I won't be buying any more for a while, so when these run out, then I guess I'll stop.

Not sure how hubby did today. We'll see! I need to get him to log his weight. Then that will tell the story.

He's doing good with no caffeine. That is a miracle too! Oh well it's only day 3.

:) More to go!

Tuesday - Day 2

I was going to make the meatloaf, but I had a meeting that went way over what I thought. Hubby was fine with some stir-fried veggies and some broasted chicken I had taken out of the freezer for his lunch today. It was really good!

My downfall today?? Some trail mix, some almonds and cream in my decaf coffee. Plus I didn't eat lunch. I did have a wonderful apple for my morning snack. But I was really hungry when those veggies were done cooking!!

Plus, I haven't GAINED any weight. Need to exercise so I can lose some!

Getting it! I know I am!

First Day Blues

You would think that the first day would be a good one. Well, it started that way! I didn't really use any recipes from the book today. But I started Hubby and I off on a fruit smoothie. I had some left over cranberry sauce, as well as blueberries and a banana and put them in the blender. I thought it was great! Hubby doesn't love cranberries. Yes, Yes, I KNOW that banana is on the funky list. But I had some that need to be eaten.

Then I made us some scrambled eggs with some left over grilled vegetables. I put it on a piece of dry whole wheat toast. Sounds good? It was. But again not completely on the mark because Hubby puts olive oil on the veggies when he grills them. But I had some that needed to be eaten.

For lunch I had soy chips and salsa. I don't know why it is, but I've really been craving tomato. That is really unusual for me, I do like salsa, but rarely eat tomato. Guess I need to research that one. Followed it up with a bowl of cheerios with rice milk.

Then I also had a blueberry yogurt... yes.. I had purchased some.

Finally, I decided to make a rice medley that I had purchased at Trader Joe.

Sounds like I'm going to be sleepy again tonight. And not able to handle the stress tomorrow because I continue to be off balance.

I'm praying this will get better as I continue to firm up my commitment to this program.

Hubby had a softball game tonight, so he just wants a salad when he comes home.... better go make it for him.

Night all!

The Beginning - Somersizing

On the plane back from India I watched Julie and Julia movie. Because I had been away for so long and because I knew my hubby needed some home cooking I decided to also cook through a cookbook. What a great New Years promise to my family! Homecooked meals!

I remembered that Hubby had bought a couple Suzanne Somers' cookbooks for me. She was a customer of his store and she had signed one of the books for me.

Now I'm not much of a cookbook person. I have some. A whole shelf of them, but I rarely use them. I usually find recipes online. So unfortunately, those cookbooks were just put on the shelf.

This week I opened it up to see where I needed to start and discovered those weren't merely just a cookbook! It is a program for eating called Sommersizing! That's even better than just a cookbook! I actually have two of her books, so I decided to start with the oldest one. It is called Suzanne Somers' Eat Great, Lose Weight.

After a bit of conversation with Hubby, we agreed that we would give it a shot. This last week I've been reading on the program and today have begun selecting recipes and making out the grocery list.

Question is... what do I do with all the food that I just purchased that is on the "don't eat now" list? :) I think we will have a slow start. But at least we are starting and I'm living up to my promise about Homecooking! Plus, Hubby and I can afford to lose some weight. So if we do, how cool would that be!

More to come!