Roasted Broccoli, Homemade Lasagna and a Tribute to Cabbage

This week has been a roller coaster of feelings. All in all, it has turned out to be a great week. I tried some new things and brought out a few old recipes, so I am excited to share. The first of the week started out with yummy leftovers. On Sunday of last week, Alex's mom made baked ziti and me and Alex brought home our vegetarian ziti. So, for dinner on Tuesday, I heated up the leftover ziti. I also did something different, which was roasting broccoli. This is, by far, the BEST way to eat fresh broccoli. First of all, I am absolutely in love with broccoli and especially fresh broccoli. Secondly, broccoli is so versatile and I have used it in a variety of ways, but I never thought to use it this way until my future mother-in-law suggested it to me. Vegetables are so amazing roasted. All you do is drizzle said vegetable (i.e. broccoli, asparagus, squash, etc.) in olive oil, throw a little bit of salt on it and whatever seasonings you like, and put it in the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit until it gets as soft as you like it.

Notice the huge portion of broccoli compared to the ziti.

So, this week was tough as far as money is concerned and we got low on dog food on Friday morning, so I cooked my dogs some rice to help fill them up. Well, then I realized that there is no nutrition in white rice, so I cooked up the rest of the eggs and put that in their bowls, as well. Alex was jealous as he doesn't even get eggs on a weekly basis.While this has nothing to do with cooking, I thought it was nice that I even made them something special.

They enjoyed it thoroughly.

The 20th was my mother's birthday and I actually forgot her birthday! I was so disappointed in myself so I offered to have her birthday celebration at my house with my family. It was so wonderful and since it was a special occasion, I made my homemade vegetarian lasagna. I do not have a recipe for this because it is something that over the course of four years, I have perfected. Last year I attempted to write a recipe for it, but upon reading it this time, I realized that I had no business writing recipes especially since I wrote on it to use cottage cheese for the recipe. Luckily, I caught the mistake only after I went shopping but, I had some ricotta cheese in the fridge that I bought for a different recipe. So, all I do is cut up red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, chop some onions and sautee them. Then, I just make a basic spaghetti sauce from scratch and add italian seasonings and a pinch of red pepper to give it a kick.

I didn't use green bell, but I should have because it breaks up the monotany of all those red hues.

Then, I use the ricotta/parmesan/egg mixture plus some slice sharp provolone for layering. I top it with some block mozzarella and then sprinkle shredded mozzarella for coverage. I put it in the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit for as long as it takes to make the edges start to get crunchy, then throw it in the broiler to brown the cheese a little. I accidentally broiled it for a little too long, but it still looked good.

Yum-yum!

For the bread, I slice a fresh loaf of whole wheat french bread and butter both sides. I also sprinkle garlic salt and McCormicks Italian Seasoning grinder on both sides and then sprinkle some shredded parmesan on top. Bake it in the oven for 5 minutes and then broil it until slightly browned.

My family wanted me to pose with my lasagna.

Saturday I also took my mom shopping for her birthday and found a coat that was made especially for me. It was on sale for 40% off and I just could not resist. I absolutely *love* this coat.

You can't really see it in this picture but you get the idea. And, no, my eyes are not closed, they are just that small.

For dessert, my mom had been drooling over a recipe for Buttermilk Pound Cake and Caramel Icing. The pound cake was very good, but the icing was way too sweet. I loved making the caramel because I have never made caramel from scratch and I thought that was really neat.

We drizzled the leftover caramel on the top of the cake for presentation.

Now, this cake is close to 600 calories per serving and between the eight of us we only ate 1/4 of the cake because no one wanted to eat 600 calories for dessert. What did we do with the remaining 3/4 of the cake? Threw it straight down the sink disposal because no one wanted to take it home. A travesty, I know, but you gotta do, what you gotta do!

Today, I made some more pumpkin bread upon request of Alex's parents. It is such an easy bread to make and it is so moist. I substitute the oil for applesauce which makes a big difference in the calories and fat. It also adds to the moistness of the cake. A-maz-ing!

I also mix walnuts in half the batter because Alex doesn't like nuts.

Me and Alex decided to go pick out pumpkins today and seeing as it is getting close to Halloween, it was long overdue. I enjoy carving pumpkins because I love roasted pumpkin seeds so I am really excited about these babies!

He didn't want to be there, as you can see from his facial expression.

This pumpkin is huge! We had to seatbelt it in because it wouldn't quit rolling around.

On the way to Alex's parent's house, we both craved pumpkin, so we stopped off at Starbucks for their pumpkin spice latte. It is like a warm, pumpkin pie drink. We also had some candy corn in the car, and it was as if we were celebrating fall with the pumpkin strapped in the back, two pumpkin spice lattes and candy corn.

I like to play with candy corn more than I like to eat it.

At Alex's parent's house, I helped make cheese biscuits which is just the White Lily Flour biscuit recipe and some cheese mixed in. This is only the second time I have made biscuits and I needed Alex's mom to show me what to do because the first time I made them, they were nothing more than average.

Alex's mom also made steamed cabbage which, to me, is one of the most looked over vegetables out there. It really does not get the credit it deserves. I absolutely love cabbage and it is such a wonderful vegetable. Alex's mom always says that she loves Chinese cuisine because they truly celebrate the amazing cabbage. Just for fun, some fun facts about cabbage!

+Cabbage is available in many varieties: red or purple, green and Napa cabbage, usually found in Chinese cooking, bok choi and Brussel Sprouts.

+Cabbage is rich in fiber and vitamin C and helps fight cancer.

+Cabbage is one of the oldest vegetables, dating back to the 1600’s.

+Cole slaw became popular in the US in 1903 when bottled mayonnaise was invented.

This was my plate of food: corn, cabbage, pinto beans, butternut squash and a cheese biscuit. Yes, I ate every bit and even went back for steamed cabbage.

This was the first time I had ever eaten butternut squash. Alex's mom cut it in half and put it cut side down in a casserole dish. Then, she poured about an inch of water in it and baked it for 40 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit. When it was done, she sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon on it and put it in the microwave for five minutes. It was so good; and prepared like this, it tastes like sweet potatoes.

For dessert, there was a choice between s'mores and pumpkin bread. Since I am going to have pumpkin bread tomorrow night, I decided to have a s'more.

 

This was Alex's S'more. He wanted double chocolate.

This week, in regards to emotional eating and weight loss, has been extremely trying for me. I don't know if I am just craving sweets because it is almost "that time" of the month, but there is really no excuse no matter how you look at it. When I checked the scale today, I was down a pound, which is good, but I do not want to let myself believe I can eat whatever I want and still lose weight. I am looking forward to a new week and I am elated that I am now down 10 pounds from when I first started counting calories 2 and 1/2 months ago. Since I have started working on emotional eating habits, I am down 3 pounds. While I no longer count calories, I am becoming use to healthy eating and occasional sweets, rather than dessert after every meal.

Ketchup, Peanut Butter and Corn

This week has been tough. With an impending foreclosure, I find that it is getting tougher and tougher to make it through each day. The wonderful thing is that I have a wonderful fiance who brings me up when I get down. Friday we decided to splurge and go to CornDawgs, a cute corn maze and pumpkin patch. That should let you know how bad off we are. We consider spending $26 a splurge. The idea of going was more to save our sanity, rather than just for shits and giggles. We got to spend some much needed time with each other without our minds totally focused on the mortgage or the mound of other bills.

We were lost in the corn maze, so I decided it was the perfect time for a picture.

Saturday I decided to make Chilaquiles Casserole. At only 243 calories per serving, this dish is a wonderful mexican inspired meal. It is wonderfully healthy too. It has zucchini, corn, tomatoes, onions, black beans and corn tortillas. My favorite part is that the zucchini is worked in there and you would never even be able to tell. So, all you do is prepare the veggies and saute the onions until soft. Then throw everything in the pan until it is heated through.

After that, layer it as if it were a lasagna. Spray a casserole pan with nonstick spray, put the tortillas down, layer with vegetable mix, then enchilada sauce and finally cheese. Repeat and cover with foil.

Bake at 400 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. I like to throw it in the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown the cheese. And voila!!

This dish is the kind of dish that gets better with age. After you layer it, you can pop it in the fridge overnight and have a quick meal ready to go. You will notice that the first time you eat this will taste completely different than when you eat the left overs. Since it is just me and my fiance, this lasts us days and it just gets better and better. Also, it is not super spicy so those of you who are sensitive to heat will enjoy this mexican inspired dish without the repercussions of a spicy meal. To those of you who are carnivores, this dish would work wonderfully with ground beef or ground turkey. To add, just brown the meat while you are cooking the onions.

Sunday I got up and decided to make some whole wheat pancakes. I had originally promised them to my fiance for Saturday's breakfast, but that turned into the Chilaquiles Casserole for lunch since it was starting to get late. So, I made the pancakes on Sunday. When I first started looking for a recipe, I was not looking for anything in particular. Then I found one that included fat free yogurt and since I had a bunch left over from last week's healthy cornbread I decided to use it. The recipe orignally calls for fat free vanilla yogurt, but all I had was plain, so I just added a little extra vanilla. The other thing I liked about this recipe was that it included lemon juice. A while ago, I read somewhere that adding some lemon juice to pancakes makes them extra savory so I was delighted to see it included in this whole wheat yogurt pancake recipe.

Mix the ingredients as directed.

Pour into lightly greased pan by 1/4 cupfulls.

Okay, to some of you this might look completely revolting, but I like ketchup on my eggs and peanut butter on my pancakes. Call me crazy.

I would say the taste of these pancakes *with the addition of peanut butter and syrup* was excellent. They were very moist and, to me, somewhat resembled the texture of oatmeal. They obviously were not mush, but they were moist and the whole wheat flour made the inside a little chunky. I did try a bite of one without anything on it and I was not impressed nor enthused by the taste. Again, they were very moist, but as far as actual taste was concerned, no good in my book.

Sunday evening we went to Alex's parent's house. It is so funny how even on weekends we do not plan to go out there, we somehow still end up there on Sundays. Alex's mom made baked ziti and she even took the time to make me my own little vegetarian baked ziti. She is the best future mother-in-law a girl could ever ask for. I am writing about this because it kind of led into a little hiccup in my efforts to abolish my emothional eating habits. Although I have failed pretty miserably the last couple of days, I still need to be honest with myself. Yesterday and today were pretty bad as far as eating when I am full. But, that is quickly becoming yesterday and I can start new whenever I want. It isn't what I do when I fail, it is how I handle that failure and what I do afterwards. Ta-ta for now.

Snickerdoodles and Successes

Tonight for dinner I made potato cabbage soup and a healthy version of sweet cornbread. The soup is something I adapted from my childhood. My mom used to make me and my sister a bowl of steamed cabbage and from the way I remember it, it was kind of soupy. So, a few years ago I decided to re-create it. I didn't think that a meal of steamed cabbage would be too wonderful, so I made it into a soup and added potatoes to it. All I do for this soup is peel and cut some potatoes and put them in a soup pot with some olive oil. I sautee them a little because it helps them to cook a little faster. I chop an onion and throw it in there for flavor. Then I very coarsely chop a whole head of cabbage and throw it in there to wilt slightly. Then, I add some vegetable stock- not enough to cover the potatoes and cabbage, because the cabbage is going to cook down a lot. Then, all I do is bring it to a boil and let it simmer until the potatoes are cooked. At the very end, maybe 5 or ten minutes before it is served, I add a chopped tomato. This is optional and my fiance likes it without the tomato. He says the soup has a very eastern european taste and the tomato throws it off, whatever the hell that means! So this is what it ends up looking like.

I add like a tablespoon of cheddar cheese to it. It adds such a nice touch because with the way the cheese melts in the broth is amazing.

The cornbread was fair, at best. The recipe calls for fat-free plain yogurt instead of the oil, and a couple of other minor changes. It was supposed to be sweet cornbread but with only a 1/4 cup of sugar for 12 cornbread muffins, how sweet could it really be? The recipe also said to cook it for 20-25 minutes. I always put it in for the minimum but after about 15 minutes I could smell them so I took them out. I have always been told that, when baking, you know it is close to done when you can smell the food. Well, in this case, it was a little too late. So, yeah, maybe it was my fault. But, this, this was a texture problem. It was not crumbly like cornbread should be.

I topped it with a little smart balance and then peeled of the edges on the bottom and put it in my soup.

Upon starting the journey of changing the way I veiw food, I consulted Stephanie on a healthy dessert recipe. She gave me a wonderful recipe for Snickerdoodle cookies. These are made with whole wheat and not a lot of sugar, so they end up being a pretty healthy dessert.

Snickerdoodle Cookies
from Gold Medal Whole Wheat Baking

1 1⁄2 cups sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Heat oven to 400°F. In large bowl, beat 11⁄2 cups sugar, the butter and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Stir in flours, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

In small bowl, mix 1⁄4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Shape dough into 11⁄4-inch balls and roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture; place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets.

1 Cookie: Calories 90 (Calories from Fat 35); Total Fat 4g (Saturated Fat 2.5g); Cholesterol 20mg; Sodium 70mg; Potassium 40mg; Total Carbohydrate 13g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 1g

So, I made these twice. Once on Saturday and then I made them tonight too. The first time, when I was softening the butter in the microwave, I put it in for five seconds too long a it was partially melted. This time, I softened it just right. Now, one would not imagine that this little detail would make such a huge difference. The first batch was not as firm as this one. I had a hard time rolling them into a ball and coating them. By the time they reached the cookie sheet, they were more like deflated balls. This time, though, the dough was extremely firm and very hard to mix, so I ended up mixing it with my hands instead. Rolling them into balls was very easy and when they were done cooking, they were like 3D semi-circles. The differences: The first batch made for a normal looking cookie, but still wonderfully soft-baked. This time, they came out very puffy and I actually pushed them down when I took them out of the oven. The first batch had a wonderful surface area ratio, so the cinnamon sugar on the outside was perfect for the size of the cookie. This time, they were still wonderful, but not as good as the first batch.

Still yummy, but huge cookies. So, the next time I make them, they will definately by done using melted butter.

This was my first full week following the advice presented in the book I spoke about in my last post. Now, while this pains me in a way only imaginable by women who struggle with weight problems, I am going to be brave and post my honest-to-goodness weight. Last week I weighed in at 206 pounds. Whew, that was not fun, but what's done is done. The good news is that this week, I weighed in at 202.8 pounds. In one week I lost 3.2 pounds, just changing the way I look at, approach and feel about food. This is exciting, but it is not something I have never encountered. A few months ago I started a diet where I would count calories, and I allowed myself 1200 calories a day. I lost ten pounds in two months, plateaued, gained six back and gave up again. What is promising about this, though, is that it is a change in the way I feel about food, thereby lasting a lifetime. My only qualm is that I do not think I should be weighing myself. I am the kind of person that will weight myself everyday. I justify it by saying that it is a way to tell how what I eat affects my weight. But, we all know this is not true. In all reality, the fluctuation from one day to the next is most likely water weight or something to that effect and that me weighing myself is really the neurotic ex-bulimic girl inside me trying to burst out. So, I am going to throw the scale away, and focus on eating healthy. The weight loss will follow, but it will not be the main concern from day to day.

September, October and Food Addiction

Ahh, well, where to begin? I know it has been a while, but I started a new job and while I am not working any longer than I was, I somehow have a lot less time on my hands. I am just now getting used to my new schedule and since I do not have school this week, I decided to carve out time for my blog.

So, I made eggplant parmesan. While I was not thrilled with the taste, it did look awfully pretty. That may just be because I love cheese. For some reason, the eggplant was not crispy at all and it was actually very mushy. This could be the nature of the vegetable. I have never had good experiences with eggplant, but for some odd reason I keep going back to it thinking it is going to magically change.

Last year, my wonderful fiance bought me a cast iron pan because I had a horrible day. It was the sweetest thing and I always jump at the chance to make something in it. So, I made a pineapple upside down cake. This was absolutely yummy, although I wish I woulda cooked it a little longer.

This was my design.

B-E-A-Utiful

I also celebrated my 22nd birthday on the 13th of September. Alex's mom made me the most wonderful chocolate cake. I don't have the recipe for it, which is good because I definately don't need to be making it! It was so rich and delicious. Gah.

At my new job, every year there is a spaghetti dinner. Everyone is asked to bring a dessert and since I love baking, I had no problem with that. I made sopapilla cheesecake and brownies. Sopapilla cheesecake is something I encourage everyone to try. It is wonderful and while I do not think it tastes too much like sopapilla, it is definately different. Oh, and the brownies, those are no normal brownies. They are abso-freaking-lutely amazing. The best brownies I have ever tasted or made. Caution: They are very sweet and chocolatey. They give me heartburn everytime I eat them, but it is well worth it. I also made yummy key lime pie, but my camera died before I could take a picture of them.

While I cooked many more recipes in September than just those listed above, I have to say, sadly, that I did not take any pictures of them. For October, though, I made caramel apples and even decorated them. I wrapped them so they would look super cute, too! I know, it's lame.

So, as I stated in my first entry I have loved food my whole life. In a quest to curb my emotional love affair with food, I bought a book called The Emotional Eater's Book of Inspiration: 90 Truths You Need to Know to Overcome Your Food Addiction.

After doing some research, I am convinced that my problem with my weight is more than just a problem with self-control. I got extremely worried when I was at work last week. I was having a pretty bad day and fiending for a cigarette in a really bad way. A girl that I worked with offered me some chocolate. Obviously she knew the kind of comfort a good ol' piece of chocolate could offer. My eyes lit up, my heart fluttered a bit and I excepted. As soon as I put the chocolate in my mouth, it was as if there was a wave of serenity came over me. It was a physical feeling of calmness. It felt much like the way a cigarette does when you haven't had one in a while. Are you kidding me? To be completely honest, it scared me. I thought, how in the world has it come to this? How is it that a piece of chocolate is calming me much like the nicotine in a cigarette?

After contemplating that for a while, I decided that I need to do something about this. For the past 10 years, I have wondered why it was so hard for me to resist food when everyone else can. After researching the difference between emotional eating and food addiction, I realized that I might just have an addiction to food. About 5 years ago, I struggled with bulimia for a little over a year. It did horrible things to my body and to this day I still have horrible acid reflux. While this form of weight management is no longer an option to me, I will not lie: it does cross my mind from time to time.

Yesterday, I went to the doctor and he commented on my weight gain. This time last year, I was 24 pounds lighter. I had gotten out of a serious relationship a few months earlier and lost the 24 pounds because of it. I told him that and he said that people eat when they are unhappy. I smiled and said, "No, Dr. Grillo. I tend to eat more when I am happy. That is what makes this so hard for me." Most people eat more when they are sad or depressed. I eat more when I am happy. I love food and I love to share that with people. When I got into another serious relationship, I started cooking meals every night, which meant that I ate meals every night. Being single meant that I had no one to share my love of cooking with. So I only ate out of sheer hunger.

Reading the aforementioned book has opened my eyes. My weaknesses are sweets. Right now I am avoiding all things sweet. I still hear, almost every night, that dreaded question from my fiance. "What's for dessert?" I simply have to tell him that there is nothing for dessert. I have turned down chocolate at work for 2 days in a row, too. So, at this point I am feeling very empowered, yet somewhat defeated. I am so sick of struggling with this that I am ready to make a change for life. No diet, no calorie-counting, no set dates of when I need to lose the weight, no worrying about losing 2-3 pounds a week... all I am concerned with is changing the way I eat and how I view food.