Finally, I CAN

One of the BIG things on my summer To Do list was to learn to can. It's been on my version of a bucket list for several years, but this year is about making things happen. I bought the necessary equipment in July and have made my first goody a couple of weeks ago.

Jalapeno-Spiked Cherry Preserves

All in all, I've made Vanilla-Infused Blueberry Jam, Jalapeno-Spiked Cherry Preserves, and Ginger-kissed Honeydew Drizzle. While these are all fun to have made, they aren't foods I normally eat. Instead, I'm saving them to give as Christmas gifts (and am more than half-way done with my shopping thanks to them!). But to be cost-effective, I need to use my canning stuff for REAL food, you know?

When I went to the farmer's market this morning for my weekly groceries, I had this hope that I could find a great deal on tomatoes and make (and can!) tomato sauce. It's practical, useful, and something I can benefit from this fall and winter. Imagine my joy when I managed to buy 12.5 pounds of tomatoes for $8! Add the that the cost of peppers, onions, spices, garlic and lemon and I spent a total of $13 on today's adventure.

I based everything on a recipe published in Taste of Home last year and republished online this week. Here is a link to the original recipe, but I made a few modifications. First, I cut the recipe in half. Then, I chose to omit the canola oil. I see no reason for it at all and my mother said she's never heard of a tomato sauce calling for oil. Then, after reading the comments at the bottom of the recipe, I decided no oil was a good thing - food-safety-wise. Generally, tomato sauces require a pressure canner. In fact, I was pretty surprised by this recipe. But since it was first published last year, I figure if anyone got sick from it the magazine wouldn't have included it in their weekly emails this week. My mother agreed with this as well. Finally, I used fresh basil from my garden rather than the dried stuff - because I could, duh.

At the end of the day, I'm thrilled to have made 4 quarts of spaghetti sauce. We ate one tonight (with leftovers ready for tomorrow's Meatless Monday lunch) and have three to store for winter!

All ingredients necessary ... purchased from local farmers market

Prepping tomatoes for blanching and peeling.

Boiled 60 seconds until the skin started separating from tomato.

Thrown into ice bath to stop the cooking.

Peel is super easy to remove!

All ingredients cut, chopped, diced, etc. Ready to simmer 4-5 hours.

Still simmering after 3 hours ... just one more to go. Time to get water bath ready for jars.

Sanitized jars are filled with 2T lemon juice and the super-yummy sauce.

Dropped into water bath - carefully - for 40 minutes.

All canned and ready to store (well, once they cool).

Bon appetit!

P.S. Tomato sauce is SUPER low-calorie and high fiber. I like to serve it on julienned zucchini mixed with noodles in order to lessen the carbohydrates and increase the flavor and veggie love.

Very filling AND healthy zucchini "pasta"

Breakfast ideas ...

Ok, I am officially sick of oatmeal.

Well not really, but I eat it every day.

Check out my baked oatmeal recipe. I loved it so much, I took pictures and uploaded them to SparkPeople.com.  As good as it was (Each time you bit into a blueberry it melted in your mouth. It was DIVINE!!!), it's easier to make on the weekends since it bakes for 40 minutes.

While I put different fruits in it each morning ... and even cook it different ways sometimes, a little variety would be nice (though I'm excited to try my next new recipe: Crockpot Oatmeal.

So, I am looking for new breakfast ideas that will 1) satisfy my sweet tooth early in the morning 2) give me at least 5 grams of fiber and 3) give me protein. Sometimes I make turkey bacon, ham or an egg to satisfy my protein cravings, but I have really gotten sick of eggs lately and the bacon and ham are kinda messy.

This morning I made Cracked Wheat - a hot cereal with 7 g of fiber and 5 grams of protein in each serving. I added strawberries and cream (non-fat, non dairy, sugar-free vanilla creamer). Basically, it was like eating a crunchy oatmeal without the comforting taste of oats. But it has more fiber than oatmeal and I think I can figure out things to add to make it tastier.

They say variety adds spice to life. So tomorrow, I'm going to add Pumpkin Pie Spice to my variety. But I'm totally open to any ideas for different breakfast foods.

New Focal: Local

I am currently reading (okay, fine, listening to a CD of) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kinsolver on my commute to work in the morning. It is a little preachy, but still very inspirational. It is all about her yearlong adventure in eating locally. Some interesting facts...for each 1 calorie of food produced, 11 calories (of energy) were used to produce it...the average trip for everything on your plate? 15oo miles...We use almost as much fossil fuels in our fridge (transport, fertilizer, etc) as we use in our car. Pretty crazy, right?

As a side point, buying organic is fabulous, but buying conventionally farmed local fare has less of an environmental impact since it didn't need to be refrigerated and shipped from far away. Obviously, buying local, organic produce is the best, but its not always possible.

I am a weekend gardener. I have a few vegetable plants in my backyard and a plot at the community garden. I recently planted a Fuji apple tree and a grapevine along my back fence. It is great for my health and sanity to be able to dig in the dirt on the weekends. I try to eat locally from my garden and from the Farmer's Market (find yours at http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/farmersmarkets), but sometimes I get lazy and I just want the easiest thing from the grocery store.

I want to take it more seriously this year. I want to eat locally and healthy throughout the winter. This means lots of prep work in the summer and fall. I will buy things when they are in season and can, freeze or dry them so they are available throughout the winter.

This is, of course, intricately tied with losing weight and staying healthy. I always do great in late spring, summer and early fall while fresh food and warm weather make me want to get outside and stay healthy. As the bitter Maryland cold sets in, my morning runs cease, the yummy fruits and veggies disappear and pizza delivery starts to look really good. If I have the remnants of summer available, I will be more likely to pull them out of the cupboard or the freezer and make a soup, chili or healthy homemade pizza...not to mention cut my reliance on fossil fuels and support local farmers. It's a win-win situation all around.

I just wanted some flavor!

I spent most of last week trying to cook tasty, healthy meals and had a a lot of fun doing it. But I was really looking forward to Date Night on Friday so that I could take a rest from the forced creativity and try new foods that could inspire me for more dishes. I told Kevin I wanted something "ethnic" mainly because I was craving "exotic" flavors that I don't normally use to cook.

Apparently, he wasn't feeling the same cravings. After a drawn-out hunt for a restaurant, we finally ended up at some bar and grill. Bratty Natty reared her ugly head and, though I should be more grateful since Kevin was paying, I was pissed that he won the "what should we eat for dinner." In my defense, I cooked him dinner all week - at my expense. I don't think it's asking too much to take my desires into consideration.

Anyway, I was too tired to fight and starving so I gave in and we ate at "Harpo's," a cool patio bar and grill that would have been fine with me last summer, but just upset me this time. I looked at the menu and pretty much started crying.

It was your usual bar and grill food: nachos, burgers, chicken tenders and dinner salads. There was nothing exotic and nothing healthy. Maybe I'm just bored with the usual food at places like that, or maybe my taste buds are maturing, but nothing on the menu looked appetizing. Nothing. I had saved almost 1000 calories for that meal and I was going to waste it on a patty melt? No, thank you.

I've decided (and I know this is hardly a food revelation) that restaurants have us "addicted" to grease. They take food - normal, yummy food - fry it, and tell us it's tasty. For some reason we believe them. But, after several months of no fried foods, I am over it. Potato cut up and dripping with grease? It's just gross to me now. I tried one of Kevin's fries. It tasted familiar, but was so close to the roasted potatoes I'd made a couple of nights before that it just wasn't worth it. Plus, it was boring. There was nothing creative about it. No hint of rosemary or taste of basil to be had.

I ordered a chicken taco salad, no sour cream and skipped the (FRIED) taco shell that it came in. I asked for extra salsa and it came with jalapenos. At least it had some flavor. But it's a food I serve myself at least once a week at home. Sigh.

Part of me feels bad. I never wanted to change my eating so much that it affected Kevin and made it difficult for me to enjoy a night out. But after cooking things with real flavor I just can't justify asking Kevin to spend his money on such gross foods.

Whose idea was it, anyway, to take wonderful foods, slap them together, fry them and call it dinner? With a side of fries?

A few of this week's meals

A culinary experiment now dubbed "Yin Yang eggs" ... I made 'em twice this week. The first time, like this, but I scrambled them after the photo. They second time I "fried" them (really just put a lid on the skillet and let them steam themselves. I left the yolk runny the second time and just LOVED the rich yolk taste. I added a bowl of Quaker Oats High Fiber Cinnamon Swirl oatmeal both days, but will be switched back to reduced-sugar instant oatmeal (subtract 50 calories!). 265 calories, 35 carbs, 7 fat grams, 16 grams of protein


Monday's dinner was a grilled lemon pepper fish fillet, cooked green beans and carrots, red pepper "chips" (just chopped red pepper) and salsa, 2/3 cup of milk, and a bowl of fruit for dessert. Oh, and a side of Legal Ethics, of course! 399 calories, 63 carbs, 4 fat grams, 30 grams of protein


I wasn't feeling very creative for last night's dinner, but I'm pretty pleased with the final result. I challenged myself to do a creative take on buffalo wings (super low-cal themselves!) so I made buffalo drumsticks, cream of celery "risotto" and cheese bread (next time I need a bleu cheese element, but I didn't have any in the fridge). 350 calories, 59 carbs, 5 fat grams, 16 grams of protein



This morning's breakfast: A main dish of Legal Ethics (exam tomorrow!), 1 cup egg substitute, green onions, 1/8 cup reduced fat cheese, 1 tbsp Hormel Bacon bits, 2 slices of Wonder Lite wheat bread and a tsp sugar-free preserves. 278 calories, 22 carbs, 3 fat grams, 33 protein

Other meals this week included:
- Pork chops served on a bed of steamed cabbage and raisins
- Tomato Lima Bean Parmigiana from my new bean cookbook (recipe still needs work, and I revamping the leftovers for lunch today)
- Pulled pork tenderloin made from a recipe I got in Taste of Home magazine - SO GOOD!

My Sunday routine

Oh sweet glorious routine! How do I love thee.

It's Sunday - the day I read most of my assignments for the next week's classes. I go to the grocery store for food for the upcoming week. I plan my meals and talk with Kevin about the nights he will be joining me. I pack my gym bag for the week and do the laundry.

Right now, I'm steaming potatoes for tomorrow's lunch and waiting for low-cal brownies to cool so that I can bag them up for lunch tomorrow as well.

I have a paper due this week and am about half way through it - and I am completely calm because I am starting my week off on the right foot. I will be in bed by 10:30 - with all laundry folded and put away and the school bag packed for the day.

The food I eat is tied to this routine as well. Adding breakfast into my life has probably been the biggest change I've made since starting the 50n50 endeavor. In fact, I attribute most of my weight loss to the fact that I now eat breakfast every day. It's more than that though. When things are really bad in my world, I don't eat for days. I forget. And my body starves. But these days, I plan and enjoy all the food that I eat.

I can tell, on days that I don't plan, that things aren't quite right. Maybe I end up eating potatoes for dinner or I have to resort to yogurt for breakfast (something that is NOT filling to me at all!). Perhaps I didn't plan out the right amount of food for the week and my lunch lacks my usual mid-afternoon snack. I end up eating something straight out of the fridge or cupboards the moment I get home. Something that lacks the nutritious value of baby carrots or the protein of string cheese. Then, it throws off dinner and puts the whole day out of whack.

Self-control, will power, ocd, insanity ... no matter what you call it, I call it necessary for survival. If I were to miss planning my food for a few days I know that I would immediately fall off the wagon, so to speak.

For me, routine is imperative. Routine keeps me balanced and keeps me sane - literally. The greatest mood swings occur when my world order is shaken and out of whack.

It can start off simply - a messy desk makes me less productive - and then it can escalate - a messy house makes it hard for me to concentrate and sees me forgetting little things. Finally ending in disaster - not paying bills on time for several months and avoiding creditor calls while riding a carousel of shame and spiraling ever-downward.

I've alluded to a few times when this has happened, one was fairly recent and I am just now feeling myself free from the disorder and chaos in my mind.

Finally, after almost two years of turmoil, I have a routine.

Mitigating the Damages

I have made several references to a legal term, "mitigating the damages," and how applicable it is in every day life. It is especially applicable in weight loss.

I first fully learned the term in my Contracts class last semester. It rests on the idea that you have it within your control to lessen the amount of damage someone causes you.

For example, a contractor is building your house and, as the first boards of the frame go up, you notice he is using balsa wood. It is up to you to stop the construction then, rather than waiting for the house to be complete. Were you to wait, the house would fall apart and the damages would involve the entire cost of the structure, rather than the cost of a few pieces of balsa. Honestly, you would only be awarded the damages completed before you saw the balsa wood. When we see something potentially wrong, it is our legal duty to stop it then instead of when it reaches maximum damage - to mitigate those damages, rather than profit from them.

Eating healthy involves mitigating a lot of damages for me.

Know you're going out for dinner that night and will be drinking Magic Hat #9 with your meal? Then you better save that 160 calories from lunch - eat an open-faced sandwich and skip the bread.

Did you have real eggs for breakfast? Want to have ice cream for dessert? Better skip the banana from breakfast.

But this morning I received a new twist on my idea from Women's Health (I am pretty sure I need a subscription to this magazine!). They suggest cutting a serving size of something bad in half and supplementing it with a healthy alternative. I love it!


BETTER FOOD: HEALTHY MIX-INS
Improve Food: Better By Half
Good junk food? Not really. But we do have advice on how to make that guilty pleasure a little bit healthier if you have to have it


Here is the link! Enjoy!

Mother Hubbard will be living here

I found myself in a unique position this past week: My cupboards were bare. Completely. And I had to stock my kitchen from scratch.

I spent $187 and still things look empty. However, it has given me the chance to try out a theory.

A normal-sized fridge is too big for a 2-person household in my opinion. My plan is to buy just enough groceries to make meals lasting two weeks. I will make meal plans and corresponding grocery lists, then not go shopping again until that food is gone.

I hate throwing food away - I feel it is a sad, sad waste - and I think this plan will limit the wasted foods. It should also help me save money, something I am constantly concerned about doing.

Only a select number of door-items carry over: marinades, sauces, condiments.

I'll let you know how it goes!

The Color Purple

I spent my weekend painting my kitchen cabinets and while telling a friend about the interesting color choice I made, he commented on that particular color's effects on appetite.

I never thought of this, so I did a quick research jaunt online and found a few similar comments.

While blue is one of the most popular colors it is one of the least appetizing. Blue food is rare in nature. Food researchers say that when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black, or purple. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose appetite. (Source).

I didn't intentionally paint my cabinets a regal, bright and feminine color that, apparently, also helps suppress appetites, but hey - whatever works!

Fascinating.