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Winter Wonderland? You bet!

Wednesday, at 1pm:

Thursday, at 1pm:

Welcome to winter in Wisconsin!
This storm was predicted a few days ago and it did not live up to the hype. But I’m not complaining! I only needed to run the snowblower a total of three times in less than 24 hours. In Wednesday’s photo you can also see that I ran the snowblower on the patio and in the backyard. That is another example of spoiling Ozzie. He doesn’t like to run in the snow. When I plow a few runways in the backyard, he has places to “do his business.” This is actually a benefit for me, too, because it makes clean up easier.
Anyway, Winter Break is finally here! I have about 3 weeks off from school. Three busy weeks which have three Christmas celebrations, two dental visits, a platelet donation, and a three day vacation for Tammy and myself in Chicago. (The in-laws will house-sit the boys.)
But finally, the end of the semester is done. That is a overwhelmingly busy and stressful time (and any other educators here will attest to that) but now I can get back to my fun here.
For the past couple weeks, the food has been pretty basic and not really a lot to write about, but that has recently changed.  Yesterday’s meal is an example. Oh, most of the meal is nothing particularly exciting. Roasted vegetables and a beef roast makes for a nice meal, but they are not truly special. However, Tammy found a new potato recipe and that was a killer recipe! Even Bennett (our 20 year old) ate several servings.
Sometimes I think that finding a good side dish to finish a menu is harder than choosing the main dish. When I make a new side dish, and it works so well, I am excited to share it with you. So if you are making a meal and need a new way of serving potatoes, I hope you try the Bacon-Spinach Mashed Potatoes. 

Did You Notice A Change?

Hi! It’s end of semester over here and I am kicking my feet as fast as possible, trying to keep my head above the rising waters. One more day and life will get back to normal (or whatever I consider “normal”.)

But for right now, I added a new feature to the blog. On the right side, right under the “Followers” (are you a follower yet?  If not, add yourself!) there is a cloud of labels. I added labels to all my recipes. The labels are key ingredients and other attributes of the recipes (such as “Easy”, “Salmon”, “Grilled”, “Feta” and “Dessert”.) If you don’t know how those clouds work, the more often I use a specific word as a label, the larger the size of the word in the cloud. The number after the word indicates how many recipes correspond to that label.

That was not a difficult task, but it was fussy. Using “side dish” and “side dishes” created two different labels. Misspelling a label once also created different labels. So I needed to label everything, then go back and consolidate multiple versions of the same attribute together.

What does that mean for you? You can consider this an interconnected index of all my recipes on the blog. The cloud will make it easier for you to find recipes that you want. If you want a breakfast recipe, clicking on “Breakfast” will open all recipes connected to that label. I hope this feature makes the blog easier to use.

It also quickly illustrates what my cooking is like. Apparently, I use chicken, mushrooms, eggs and spinach a LOT!

The Winner of The Eating Well Subscription Is:

Jennifer Wegner!

Thank you to everyone that entered my first giveaway. It was exciting to receive an enthusiastic response. I hope to have others from time to time, always of products that have helped me reach my goals.

Jennifer, please email me your address. A link to my email is in my profile. As soon as I have your address, I will send in your subscription. (I don’t know how quickly you will receive your first copy. That is out of my control.)

Again, thank you to everyone!

The “Ps” of Long Term Success, the Final Piece of the Puzzle AND my FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!

You’ve got PASSION, are PLANNED and PREPARED. You’ve PROCEEDED towards your goal with PERSISTENCE and you PAY ATTENTION with PATIENCE.

You have a PASSION for your goal, and have a well-defined PLAN and are PREPARED. You PROCEEDED on your path, with PERSISTENCE and are PAY ATTENTION with deep PATIENCE.

What’s left?

8.  PARDON and PERMISSION

This time of year is a challenge. Thanksgiving feasts. Neighborhood parties. Holiday parties at the office. Christmas and New Years. The food is never ending. And it is all soooo good!

And in parts of the country and world, the weather begins to turn nasty. It gets cold. Blustery. Snowy. Night comes earlier than we want, and our commitment to before- and after-work activity diminishes. We start to get more enthusiastic about sitting in our recliner than taking that extra walk.

And you know what happens then.

The scale creeps upward. And that is so frustrating. You get angry at yourself for “losing willpower.” You feel as though you “failed.”

Pardon yourself. Forgive yourself for your slips. We are all human. No one is perfect and can show daily losses on the scale. We are not machines. So go easy on yourself. Remind yourself that every day is another day and each time you eat, you have another chance to make a good decision. Eating to excess on one day should not trigger a bad choice the next day.

If you are using LoseIt, or Weight Watchers, you are given a set budget, either calories or points. Maybe during this time of year, you might be better off to temporarily stop your quest for losses and increase your budget to your maintenance level so that you don’t lose, but also don’t  gain. That may give you enough of a budget so that you can avoid the self-recriminations for overeating during the holiday season. But don’t stop logging what you eat. And don’t stop getting on the scale. Logging provides accountability and the scale gives one form of feedback.

Taking a break is not quitting. If you follow NASCAR, you know that at some point every driver pulls out of the race and goes into the pit. Sometimes it is for gas, sometimes for tires.  But whatever the reason, it is all to help the driver succeed. Even though he/she takes a brief break and falls behind some of the other drivers, he/she knows that without that pause, the risk of catastrophic failure is greater. Pulling into pit row is not quitting. It is part of the plan, and prevent future problems. What would happen to the driver of a car who decides to push it, “just one more lap” on bad tires? A blown tire would end his/her race.

If you are excessively challenged, and everyday find yourself exceeding your budget by a little, maybe you need to drive into your pit row. Give yourself permission to take a short break. Make the conscious choice to stop and recharge yourself. Losing weight is hard work, physically, mentally and emotionally. A brief respite now might give you more energy after the new year to make a hard drive to the checkered flag.

(No. I really don’t follow racing. I just know some of the terms.)

Now, for the GIVEAWAY!

One of my favorite periodicals is Eating Well. It has great recipes that are healthy and delicious, as well as easy to make. My subscription is up for renewal and I have the opportunity to give a free one year subscription. I will give it to one of my readers.

To enter:
1.  Respond to this blog post, and tell me which of my recipes that you have made at home is your favorite. (If you haven’t made one yet, which will be the first you want to try.)
2.  If you are on Twitter, make a Tweet about this contest, such as: “Eating Well has great recipes, and you can win a subscription here http://bit.ly/YybWKd” and then tell me here that you tweeted the link.
3.  If you have your own blog, mention the contest on a post with this address http://bit.ly/YybWKd and add your blog address here for everyone else to see.

Each of those actions will be another entry.

I will announce the winner on Monday, December 3, 2012

You can start the New Year (or whenever they start the subscription) with a great magazine, full of new ideas for healthy and delicious food.

Welcome to All My New Followers!

Just a quick post right now. I want to welcome my new followers and thank all the others who have been following me for months. I hope that you find this blog has useful information for you. I try to right the same way I think: slightly humorous (in my mind), honest and to the point, and hopefully with interesting subject matter.

My recipes tend toward the relatively simple variety, that are also delicious and generally healthy. Not all my recipes will be strictly “diet” recipes, but my belief is that anything can be eaten, in the correct portion size (food allergies excepted, of course.)

I have used that approach to bring me to my goal weight, and stay there for more than 11 months now. It works.

Come back soon and often. Check out all the recipes (there are 100+ as of now, and I try to add 2 or 3 a week.) Also, on Friday I will announce my first ever giveaway! (It will cost nothing to enter!) Check back tomorrow for details!

Have you tried the soups yet? If you don’t have any leftover turkey, go to your local grocery store or deli and get a rotisserie chicken. That will work just as well. With the dumpling soup, don’t be stingy with the seasonings. The broth and dumplings seem to absorb the flavors of the soup. Add them during the cooking and taste often, adding more as needed.

Talk to you all tomorrow!

I Will Return…

Ugh.

I ate well yesterday, and currently I am still in a borderline post-feast coma. When I fully recover, I will post the pictures of the feast and will post the LAST “P” of long term success!

And this “P” is probably going to be needed by some (most?) of the readers.

Turkey Gravy

Turkey Gravy
Serves:12 (1/4 cup portions)

2 cup pan drippings, with as much floating grease removed as possible
1 cup hot water
Roux
Salt and pepper as needed to taste

  1. Combine equal parts flour and melted butter together (roux). Start with 1/4 cup butter and flour. It’s easy to make more if needed.
  2. Bring the pan drippings and water to a boil.
  3. When boiling whisk in small amounts of roux until you get the consistency that you desire. The gravy will continue to thicken as it cools on the table.
  4. Using a roux and whisking while adding the roux to the boiling liquids will reduce or eliminate lumps.
  5. You can add finely minced cooked turkey liver for more flavor. Alternatively, you can also replace some water with beer or wine.

Nutritional data (approximate, will vary with the consistency of the pan drippings):
Calories:      82
Fat:            8.2g
Sat fat:       4.1g
Chol:       14.2mg
Sodium:    5.6mg
Carbs:      1.9g
Fiber:       0.3g
Protein:     0.5g

Turkey Brine and Roasting Recipe

Brine
2 quarts apple cider
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
2 cups kosher salt
1/4 cup black peppercorns
1 tablespoon juniper berries
4 bay leaves
1 cinnamon sticks (3-inch)
1 teaspoon whole cloves
4 quarts dark beer (I am using my own German Rye)

Other needed ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 cup chicken stock
Your preferred seasoning, or a mix of sage, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and ground celery seed.

  1. Dissolve brine ingredients together. Pour into a large bucket or cooler. Add a thawed turkey and submerge in the brine. (Weight it with a brick if needed to keep it submerged.)
  2. Keep it cool for 24 hours. When ready to roast, pat dry and place in roaster.
  3. Melt the butter. Basted the turkey with half the butter. Season it well. Roast at 400F for 30 minutes.
  4. Baste with remaining butter. Reseason. Turn the oven down to 300F and roast for 30 minutes.
  5. Baste with 1/2 cup chicken stock. Reseason. Baste once more, about half-way through this roasting period. 

Total roasting time is 15-17 minutes per pound (unstuffed turkey). Roast to an internal temp of 155F in the thickest part of the breast, but not touching bone. When you withdraw the thermometer, the juices should run clear. I know the serving temp for turkey is at least 165F. But when you are done roasting, you need to let the turkey rest before carving, 20-30 minutes. During that time, the bird will continue to cook (all that mass hold heat very well.)  When you are ready to carve, the temp will be at least 165. (That’s why so many birds are overdone and dry, because by the time the bird is carved the internal temp is 180 or more.)

The “Ps” of Long Term Success, Part 8

You’ve got PASSION, are PLANNED and PREPARED. You’ve PROCEEDED towards your goal with PERSISTENCE and you PAY ATTENTION with PATIENCE.

5.  Presentation

Presentation is more than a bit of parsley on the plate. Proper presentation helps us anticipate what we will experience when we eat. We taste our food with our eye first. Then we smell it. Then we taste it. But our eyes are first.

And when we truly enjoy our food, we are more likely to feel satisfied, and less likely to keep eating. Think about all those cookbooks and cooking magazines that we read. Absolutely beautiful pictures, right? Those food photographers are true artists. When I try to duplicate the recipes, I am happy if I am even close to the professional photo. Still, I’d like to think that I am not horrible at food presentation.

I think the Spinach Lasagna (foreground) and Beef Lasagna is an okay picture.
This Chocolate Pumpkin Torte looks tasty!
And my BBQ’d Chicken Thighs, Mashed Potatoes and Cheesy Broccoli looks edible, too.
My Dublin Lawyer with Beer Carrots and Steamed Asparagus looks good.
Even something with an appearance as boring as Baked Tilapia, Mashed Parsnips and Zucchini Fries looks okay with it’s contrasting textures and service on a colorful plate.
All those recipes are from my blog. I do NOT claim to be a professional photographer, nor a professional chef. I don’t use exotic techniques or ingredients. I just make good food and try to make it look good. And I have fun doing it, and am able to feed a happy family, which all helps.
But what about food that is poorly plated and presented?  Will that change the flavor, texture, and enjoyment? Take a look and tell me. The following pictures are from a restaurant’s website, and are NOT my pictures, nor what I ordered. These photos are used by the restaurant to entice new customers. (Note: normally, I would give full credit for other’s pictures. But these are bad shots and I don’t think the restaurant would like to have their name identified.)

 
Petite Cut Sirloin Steak with Onion Frills

Okay. They are trying to sell a steak. Where is it? And the part I see looks a bit burnt. And a half piece of toast, blending in with the onion frills? It probably tastes good, but would you order this? Is it worth the $13 they are charging? Where is the side salad that comes with the meal? Even some steamed dilled carrots (not an available option) would be a welcome addition to the meal.

Chicken Cordon Bleu ($14)
All I see is a yellow sauce covering something lumpy underneath it. Is it meat? It is vegetable? Who knows? Ideally, this should have been cut open to show the chicken under the sauce. Even better, the chicken could have been plated ON the sauce, allowing us to see the chicken. (What I think when I see this is “what are they hiding from me?”) But this picture is all about the sauce. And a slice of orange? Come on! What about something with contrast, such as a tomato-cucumber salad?

 
Baked Cod  ($12)

I don’t know what to say about this. Well, actually yes, I really do know what to say. The plate is too large. The fish is white on a white plate. The piece of lettuce and lemon wedge look old and anemic (and are almost the size of the fish portion!) Where is the starch to give it some color? Maybe they could have put some some sweet potato fries on the side (except this restaurant doesn’t offer them.) How about a portion of butternut squash puree in the center of the plate with the fish placed on it (again, not offered as an option) would be better. Maybe pair the butternut squash puree with a fresh and tart broccoli slaw? But this plate? Ugh.

Food needs to look good before it will taste good. And it needs to both look and taste good to be satisfying. Otherwise, you are just chewing and eating something that will physically fill you but emotionally leave you still hungry.

That is the difference between “full” and “satisfied.” Eating food that energizes all our senses will more likely leave us feeling satisfied and complete because we are experiencing it through multiple sensory pathways in the brain. (Likewise, when you are learning something new, you will have greater recall if you are able to learn the information using your eyes, ears, hands and voice. But that is a completely different lecture!)

Besides tossing a bit of greenery on a plate, what can you do to enliven your meal? Go to a thrift store and find some colorful plates, in different shapes sizes so that you can use a smaller plate for a smaller portion size and not have the food look inconsequential. Prepare your food nicely. Find menu items with contrasting colors, textures and tastes and combine them in a meal. Try new foods! Explore the culinary world. Read new cookbooks and magazines for ideas, and pay attention to what is paired together.

More importantly, eat what you love. Eat the correct amount of calories (or if you are in Weight Watchers, eat all your points.) And feel satisfied when you eat, so that you do not feel the urge to graze your way through the pantry an hour after dinner.

Next: The LAST “P” of Long Term Success! (And more recipes, of course!)

The “Ps” of Long Term Success, Part 7

Getting back to the previous topic:

You’ve PASSIONATE about your goal, are well-PLANNED and PREPARED. You ‘ve PROCEEDED and have demonstrated PERSISTENCE, and you PAY ATTENTION to yourself and your surroundings.

5.  Patience!!

It won’t happen overnight.

You didn’t gain all the extra weight overnight. It crept on slowly. Stealthily. Ninja-weight. (Sorry. I’m a guy, and sometimes I need to throw a ninja in here.) But my point is that you gained your weight, one bite at a time.

What makes you believe it will leave your body any faster? When people set their goal, it is common to say “I will lose X pounds, by Y date” and then they follow it with “… because I need to look great for Z.”

Writing a goal like that is a great way of shooting yourself in the foot. Our bodies don’t like to lose weight. Our bodies will fight back. Random gains after a few days of eating good, followed by a sudden loss the day after the office party. You might know how fast you should lose weight based on your calorie budget, but your body is illiterate. It can’t read the weight loss books. Your body’s fat cells (in nurse-speak, “adipose tissue”) are stubborn, irritable, and cantankerous. (Sounds like one of your relatives, right?) You need to force the weight loss attitude on them.

But still, your body will never shed weight as fast as you want. You will need to accept that fact. It will always take a little longer than you want. Just like most construction projects, they don’t finish on time, and are generally over-budget. Your weight loss journey will take you longer than you expect, and will be harder than you planned.

But you will succeed. The only way you won’t succeed is if you quit. Even if you show minimal or no losses for a few weeks (months even?) just remind yourself that staying the same weight is better than gaining. Stick with your plan. Keep your eyes focused on your goal, which should be a weight, or a set of inches, or a level of physical fitness and should not include a date.

I saw this turtle on my long hike in May, 2012

You CAN succeed. You WILL succeed. Eventually. To mix a few metaphors, the tortoise will win the race
as long as the little engine never gives up.

Questions for my readers (and the first will separate the men and women from the boys and girls):
What do I mean about the “little engine that never gives up?”
What keeps you going when the challenges pop up?