Fabulous Foodies Fixing Fine Food for Better Health

Can Words Replace Food???

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 14:07:38 -0800

Since I have cut back on my indulgent eating I find that I am now reading what I call “food porn” - books that tend to be about men and women coming to terms with their particular circumstances through cooking, eating and writing about food. In a peculiar way it helps me curb my inclination to run to the kitchen cupboard for a snack. I would have thought that it would have the opposite effect but not so much.

Two of the most recent of a plethora of books I’ve come across are “The Saucier’s Apprentice” by Bob Spitz and “The Last Chinese Chef” by Nicole Mones. Under normal circumstances I read a lot but to be truthful my taste runs to mysteries and computer books with the odd action adventure thrown in for some variety. Lately though, now that I am writing about food more often, I find myself actively scouring the 641.03 call numbers in my library looking for books to feed my appetite; my food appetite that is. In the past I have read light mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson and have thoroughly enjoyed them particularly since they were loaded with recipes (none of which I ever tried incidentally) but these were as fluffy as the buttermilk biscuits she wrote about. I did have to admire, however, a protagonist who could drink endless cups of espresso as she cooked and catered, all the while solving cases invariably involving the murder of someone of unsavoury character.

The Saucier’s Apprentice is by the American journalist and writer, Bob Spitz, best known for his definitive biography of the Beatles called, not coincidentally, The Beatles, A Biography, which was published in 2005. This book catches up with Bob as he is contemplating his situation after a divorce and at somewhat loose ends. He has been cooking feverishly for his friends trying to find a remedy for what is lacking in his life. With his journalistic contacts and friends throughout Europe he embarks on a three and a half month journey from cooking school to cooking school. Some disappoint while others soothe his soul. He meets chefs who are mere pretenders along with some truly gifted individuals to whom preparing food appears to be instinctive. He includes recipes but I was a bit disappointed with them. They are more like illustrations than actual recipes because they don’t beg you to try them with the exception perhaps of the Heavenly Biscotti he made at his first stop in Burgundy at Robert Ash’s cooking school. His progress pulls you along with a variety of characters, many of whom should never be allowed near a stove but they are all colourful and interesting. I merrily rode along in his virtual suitcase sharing his failures and his triumphs without hurrying to the kitchen for snacks.

The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones was quite different. First it is a novel but the author showed her incredible understanding of how food in China is not food but an expression of individuality, philosophy, art, politics, religion, subtlety and finesse. And it is a love story. It tells the story of how a person can be transformed by food. A terrific book that is a window into the meaning of food in a society where everything has many meanings that we, as Westerners, can’t begin to understand. Nicole spent many years living in China and since 1999 has written about Chinese food for Gourmet magazine. She has a special relationship with Chinese culture and it shows but the book never feels like it is hitting you over the head with useless trivia - every explanation counts. You will never look at North American Chinese food the same way again.

My next book sitting ready to be read is called “Eating Up Italy - Voyages on a Vespa” by Matthew Fort. I would love to hear from you if you have any suggestions about what to read. Write to me at Shelley@sequoiacottage.ca I have just ordered a bunch of books from the library using the keyword “gastronomy” and can’t wait until they come in for me.

Shrimp Stir Fry with a Side of Honesty

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:46:16 -0800

So here’s the deal. I went to Weight Watchers last Friday and was pretty disappointed to have lost NOTHING from the previous week. I had only lost one pound the week before that. My two chums both lost weight and while I was really happy for them, I was having a little pity party for myself. I shook myself out of it and started to pay attention to the meeting. Our leader is incredible, more motivational speaker than anything else and she often encourages the members to share things with the group. Sounds pretty touchy feely but in fact it is really helpful. One thing stuck a real chord with me - we had been talking about how important it is to journal everything that we eat - one woman said that she realized that she discovered that she had been lying to herself and once she took responsibility for that it changed her whole approach to weight loss. I have been doing exactly that. As a result I have been meticulous this week in recording EVERYTHING I eat and the points value. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) it is making me much better about what I eat and, as a bonus, I am feeling a lot better about the whole process.

I have been diligent about exercise and hope that this Friday will be a positive one. Even if it isn’t, I am not going to give up. I am so enjoying my fitness and aquafit classes and am truly blessed to have such amazing instructors. I will also continue to honestly record what I eat.

Tonight I did a shrimp stir fry that I will share with you in the hope that it will help you along the way too. If you, like me, find yourself stumbling along, take heart - believe in yourself and be honest with yourself - that handful of cereal, half a chocolate bar or 3 cookies do in fact have calories and fat and you have to count them. You’re only committing self sabotage. One of the things our leader loves to say is “If you sorta follow the program, you sorta lose weight.” So if I bite it, I’m gonna write it!

Shrimp Stir Fry

2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
1/2 cup chopped onion (sweet is nice)
2 minced shallots
2 cloves garlic minced
1 lb raw, peeled shrimp
an assortment of chopped veggies - I used cauliflower, broccoflower, carrots,green peppers, sugar snap peas and mushrooms - about 1/2 cup or more each.
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste

Heat over medium heat a fairly large non stick pan. Add olive oil and butter and then add the onion, shallots and garlic and stir fry until soft. Add the shrimp and stir for about 2 minutes until it starts turning pink.

Add all veggies except mushrooms and stir for about 3 minutes until they begin to soften a bit. Then add the chicken broth and white wine and cover for about 7 to 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cover again and let cook for another 3 minutes. Serve over white rice.

Dinner with Friends

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:30:13 -0800

What could be nicer than being invited out by friends for a dinner following the Fabulous Foodies’ philosophy of eating a wonderful meal, beautiful to the eye, low in fat and high in wonderful taste. The friends, Marion and Phil, have a lovely golden retriever called Belle who is one of our Jasper’s best friends. Jasper is a golden retriever too. Our dogs brought us together initially and then further conversation led us to the revelation that our families both came from the same tiny town in Saskatchewan. Needless to say, we’ve bonded and they feel like family now.

So, back to the dinner. We started off with brown rice crackers topped with little bits of old cheddar and a drop of delicious Crema di Balsamico, a slightly thickened balsamic reduction. The crackers and the cheddar were quite salty but were low enough that Marion, who is limited in the amount of salt she can have in her diet, enjoyed one or two. The main meal itself was so good. Marion had let boneless, skinless chicken breasts marinate in a yogurt mixture (recipe follows) and then baked them in the oven. Her veggies included purple yams, chinese eggplant, zucchini, onion and red potatoes. These were roasted in the oven and just before serving she crumbled a small amount of feta on top as well as splashing a little more of the Crema di Balsamico (I love multi-purpose condiments don’t you!). It was the first time I have had purple yams and found them to have a really nice flavour as well as adding colour to the plate. We had a salad of mixed greens and each had half of a baked yukon gold potato with fat free sour cream and chives. Needless to say it was superb.

But the best was yet to come in the form of dessert. Marion had baked a virtually fat free cake which she served in a bowl with a dollop of lemon cream, 95% fat free Cool Whip and fresh raspberries. Absolutely delicious. Recipes for the cake and lemon cream also follow. We were sent home with a wedge of leftover cake which we had tonight with blackberry syrup, 95% fat free Cool Whip and fresh raspberries. It was still wonderful even without the lemon cream.

So here’s to Fab Foodies who are dear friends and amazing cooks - may we share many more meals in the coming years.

Lemon cream

1 cup greek style extra thick yogurt or drained plain yogurt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 T fresh lemon juice

in a small bowl combine yogurt, sugar lemon rind and juice, stirring well. Cover and refrigerate for as little as 30 minutes or up to 3 days.

Serving size 2 Tablespoons
49 calories; trace fat.

You have to exercise too

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:24:34 -0800

I did warn you that there was lamb and shrimp in our future so our dinner last night should not come as a surprise. Rack of lamb with a garlic, rosemary, mustard, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Tonight was leftovers - there were eight or nine chops on the rack so two each both nights. The recipe was a variation on a couple of online recipes and will follow. I guess the key for me is that I am trying to make the meat portion of the meal appealing enough that I can be satisfied with a smaller amount and then I fill up on salad and vegetables. This lamb certainly met that need in spades. We served it with salad, steamed veggies and Mrs. H.S. Ball’s Hot Chutney but Major Grey’s would be good too. It just adds such a nice tang to the lamb.

As you may have guessed from the title of today’s blog, being more conscious of what and how you are eating, while incredibly important, it is not enough. With this in mind I have also been working really hard to include exercise in my daily activities. So Mondays and Wednesdays I go to my fitness group for an hour and then Tuesdays and Thursdays I do aquafit at our local pool. Aquafit is an hour of aerobic and strength exercise and not for the faint of heart!! The fitness program is called Focus on Healing; we do a lot of stretching, work on our flexibility, core strength and balance. The woman who gives the class, Sheila Sutton, is incredible. She works with a lot of elderly clients as well as our group (of course we are getting closer to elderly every day). She often says that balance and flexibility are critical as we age. As people age without addressing these issues, the more likely they are to become fearful and in danger of falling which leads to late life injuries and more fear. The classes help us improve our overall wellness, range-of-motion, balance, strength and endurance and almost equally important, it provides us with a sense of camaraderie and friendship with people who are on the same journey as our own. Not everyone is dealing with weight issues but many are recovering from cancer and other surgeries. We also have members who suffer from chronic fatigue, firbomyalgia, arthritis, Parkinson's, diabetes or other physical disability as well as those of us who have been blessed with generally good health and just want to stay that way.

The aquafit program operates every day at our local pool but I choose to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. While all the instructors are very good there is one in particular who manages to get the best out of everyone. Her name is Monica and we call her our Mexican Jumping Bean. She is such a positive force and makes the hour fly by - we have also all learned how to count down from ten in Spanish. She works us hard and makes us enjoy it. What a gal.

We will have to see how well I stick with the programs but I’m pretty determined. My concern is that I have to do something from Friday until Sunday and think I’m going to institute “Wiikends” - corny I know but I have the balance board and all of the software so it is the best bet for me. My advice to anyone out there facing the same struggles is to find something that you enjoy doing with people you enjoy being with and expand your horizons. Always make sure you are healthy enough to start a new exercise program and expect to be sore the first few times you work out. You will soon find you feel pretty good about yourself just knowing that you are doing something good for yourself

Rack of Lamb with a herb crust
for most this would be two servings but for us it is four servings so take this under advisement.

1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste (can really do without the salt)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 rack of lamb (there is enough coating for two if you use 1/2 cup of fresh bread crumbs
1 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine bread crumbs, chopped rosemary, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread the mustard over the lamb and then pat the bread crumb mixture over the rack or racks.

In an ovenproof skillet (we use a big old cast iron skillet) heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the racks with the fat side down (we remove most of the visible fat) and watch out because part of the bread crumb mixture invariably falls off. Cook them for about 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove the skillet to the oven and roast for about 15 to 20 minutes. We like lamb really rare so we run closer to the 15 minutes. Internal temperature if you’re using a meat thermometer should reach 140 degrees for rare.

Remove the lamb and place on cutting board. Make a foil tent over the lamb and let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving. We cut them all the way through and serve the chops individually.

Not every night is Chateaubriand

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:48:01 -0800

We enjoyed our Chateaubriand last week so much last week both the night of the original dinner as well as the sandwich dinner the following night. However it’s back to reality now.

One of our early new year’s tasks was to go through the freezers in the bottom of our fridge as well as the one in the back room (a small front loaded freezer). In the interest of using what we have on hand vis-a-vis meat/poultry/fish we wanted to know what we had so that we can prepare our menus. I have found that it is so much easier to stick to an eating regimen when you plan your meals. We tend to shop the sales and so we have 11 yes 11 racks of lamb. One of our local grocery stores has a two for one sale from time to time and we take advantage of the sale. We also had a whole sockeye salmon and several bags of shrimp.

Hubby partially thawed the salmon just enough to cut it into steaks and then used the Foodsaver to pack them for the freezer. He kept two steaks out for our dinner this evening and it was delicious. It has been pouring rain today so the barbecue was out of the question. We never fry, particularly fish, so we decided to use the grill in our oven. The salmon needed some flavour and lemon was getting to be old hat. A look through what we had on hand and we found a bottle of Sweet Chilli Sauce for Chicken - well, Chicken Shmicken we were eating salmon so we were more than willing to give it a try. I must say I’m very glad we did. It was delicious. I had also purchased a bag of rice the last time I was at Galloway's in Richmond. It was rice mixed with some wild rice, dried veggie flakes and spices - in reality it could have done with more curry and perhaps some almonds. I did add some raisins but would definitely spice it up a bit more next time. I added the usual steamed veggies and voila, a meal for a rainy but ordinary night.

I read today’s blog by the Amateur Gourmet called “How to Cook on a Budget” and was interested to see that he has just discovered the idea of shopping for good prices and good quality foods and then making your menus around what you have in the house. He’s pretty young. It took me a lot longer to figure that out than it did for him, however, better late than not at all. My Mom always gives us a Costco gift certificate at Christmas and we tend to use it on meat for the freezer so we stock up and then work out our own menus. I can tell you for sure that I see lamb and shrimp on our horizon.

Eat well, exercise and revel in the results.

The Big Dinner Chateaubriand with veggies and aioli sauce

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 14:36:19 -0800

Yesterday was Ukrainian Christmas and, while my husband is Ukrainian, we don’t have traditional Ukrainian food on January 7th. We do however try to make it a special meal most years with this year being no exception. After much discussion and an amazing find by my Mom of a beef tenderloin at $4.99 a pound, we decided to go with our favourite beef dish, chateaubriand, and what a good choice it was. The trick was finding a way to make the meal low fat enough to suit my needs without sacrificing all the flavour. The aioli sauce was another thing altogether. Recipes follow for the beef and the aioli sauce.

A word here about the aioli sauce. It is important to note that this is incredibly garlicky and rich - not part of a low fat regimen. But in keeping with my philosophy of “everything in moderation including moderation” I had about two teaspoons with my one slice of tenderloin and it was heavenly. It was also great this evening (again about two teaspoons) spread on a fresh crusty multi grain bun with a slice of leftover tenderloin, alfalfa sprouts and avocado. The rest got the old heave-ho only because it’s too brutal to keep around. It just gets stronger and more pungent. So it comes with warnings.

Back to the dinner. Out came the low fat cookbooks. We settled on Provencal Beef Tenderloin from the Weight Watchers cookbook by Sarah, The Duchess of York, called Dining with the Duchess. Her recipe called for a three pound tenderloin but we had cut one that was only 2 pounds - we kept most of the other proportions the same as those for the three pound - recipe to follow. Hubby handled the preparation and everything else pertaining to the tenderloin itself. I am so blessed to have a husband who not only enjoys cooking but is actually a very good cook. When we came to the topic of the “extras” Hubby wanted roasted veggies but I wanted to avoid much of the oil required for that so we compromised with my making roasted potatoes and steaming the remainder of the vegetables; in our case, carrots, broccoli and brussels sprouts. That way I could eat a very small amount of the potatoes and indulge in the steamed veggies. I also made a spinach and mushroom salad and served the dressing on the side - same reason.

We had invited dear friends over for the meal and fortunately they know that I struggle with my weight and were very supportive. I normally do mounds of appies and a fat-laden dessert but not this time. We had a nice Glenphilly cheese with Rosemary Parmesan crackers - well, they had some while I did not. It ended up being a kind of rosemary and garlic themed dinner as I served the cheese with the aforementioned crackers, the roast was coated with fresh herbs, including the rosemary and lots of garlic. Since I had cut quite a bit of rosemary, I threw some in with the roasted potatoes. They were tasty enough and the rosemary wasn’t overpowering in any of the dishes. We had had quite a mild winter so far this year so I was able to cut rosemary, oregano, thyme and parsley from my own herb garden. Last year we were under about three feet of snow and I’m not exaggerating. There were 10 cloves of garlic in the aioli sauce and 6 in the coating for the tenderloin - I’m quite sure you could cut those quantities down to suit your own tastes.

Dessert was angel food cake with fresh fruit - they had whipped cream while I had the lowest fat Cool Whip possible - surprisingly good. And I think it looked pretty good on the plate too.

So here are the recipes I promised. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Provencal Beef Tenderloin
from Dining with the Duchess by Sarah the Duchess of York

makes 8 servings (using my quantities) or 6 if my husband is invited..

1 two pound beef tenderloin
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
3 T minced rosemary
3 T Dijon mustard
6-8 garlic cloves, minced
1 T minced oregano
1 T minced thyme
1 T olive oil
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Place the beef on a sheet of plastic wrap. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients to make a paste. Rub the paste all over the beef; wrap in the plastic and refrigerate one hour.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place the beef in a 9 x 13” baking dish or shallow roasting pan. Roast until the bef reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees (or 135 degrees if you’re like us and like really rare beef). Transfer to a cutting board and let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Aioli Sauce
from the Canadian Living Barbecue and Summer Foods Cookbook

10 cloves of garlic
2 egg yolks at room temperature (I usually put the eggs in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes if they are straight from the fridge)
juice of one lemon (use a real lemon - it’s better)
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups of oil (half olive oil and half canola oil)

In a food processor or blend process garlic until finely chopped. Blend in egg yolks until light in colour. Add lemon juice, mustard and salt and pepper to taste; process until mixture forms smooth paste. With motor running gradually pour in the oil in a slow steady drizzle. Continue blending until sauce is thickened and shiny. Transfer to a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving time.

Use with caution - it’s powerful. Only eat if those around you also eat

Brown Turkey Stock by Guest blogger, Ellen Lee

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 20:39:08 -0800

I had used Julia's recipe to make Brown Stock with beef bones, so I checked her recipe first to see if she had a recipe for making Brown Turkey Stock. She did not have one for Turkey, but does have one for Brown Chicken Stock. However, she calls for browning the chicken pieces in fat on top of the stove, as she says that the poultry bones tend to burn and acquire an unpleasant taste if browned in the oven. I didn't want to use the stove top method, because I was starting with a big turkey carcase which had already been cooked. So I checked out Martha's recipe. She calls for browning the bones in the oven, so I decided to go with a variation somewhere in between the two. Julia's method calls for browning the beef bones at a temperature of 450 which is probably too hot for the turkey carcase. Both Julia and Martha's recipes are starting with uncooked bones

So I roasted the turkey carcass, including the skin and all of the bones left from the Christmas turkey in the roasting pan in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. When it was nicely browned, I transferred the bones, skin and meat to the stock pot and covered them with cold water. Then I checked the recipes again, only to discover that I should have browned some vegetables (carrots and onions in Julia's case, and carrots, onions, celery, garlic and tomato past in Martha's case) with the bones. Since Martha's recipe calls for deglazing the roasting pan with water to scrape up the brown bits to add flavour to the stock, I decided to saute the vegetables in some of the fat in the bottom of the roasting pan before deglazing. So I poured off most of the fat from the roasting pan, added chopped onions, carrots and celery to the pan, and sautéed them until they started to browned. I then added a tablespoon or two of tomato paste to the pan, mixed it around and let it cook a minute or two. I scraped the sautéed vegetable mixture into the stock pot, deglazed the roasting pan with hot water and poured that into the stockpot. I brought the pot to a boil and then turned it down and let it simmer, partially covered for at least 5 hours.

I took the stock pot off the heat, set a metal colander in the top of a dutch oven and transferred the bones and skin into the colander. I let them drain and cool for about half an hour. Then I discarded the bones and skin. There was still a fair bit of "stuff" in the remaining stock, so I placed a piece of cheese cloth (doubled over twice) in the colander and strained the liquid through it. I discarded the cheese cloth, replaced it with a new piece and strained the liquid again. Then I placed the stock pot out in the porch to cool overnight

When I brought the pot in to skim off the fat, which was in a nice thin layer on top of the stock, I noticed that the stock was somewhat jellied (nice because that means the simmering had extracted some of the gelatine from the bones). After skimming the fat, I put the pot back on the stove at low heat to simmer and reduce a while longer. I tasted the stock this evening, and it has a nice, subtle turkey flavour. My plan is to put it back out in the porch to cool overnight again, so that I can make sure I have taken all of the fat off. Then I will put the stock in ziplock bags and into the freezer.

Can't wait to make soup with it. I may also try cooking some down to make Glace de Viande (or Meat Glaze) as described by Julia (page 110-111) and Martha (page 52).

The two cookbooks referred to are: Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child) and Martha Stewart's Cooking School.

Loonyspoons I love you

Sun, 3 Jan 2010 20:11:27 -0800

Three days into the year and I’m having a great time. We went to see Avatar 3D today and it was one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen. However, that’s an aside. Pork three nights in a row. You’d think it would be nasty but I have to say that the meal was wonderful, except for the boring white rice which I won’t do again. It was as bland as the pork was wonderful. I have Loonyspoons to thank for the wonderful pork dish “Reggae Gumbo”. For those of you who don’t know this cookbook, it is the first of Janet and Greta Podleski’s “outrageously delicious low-fat recipes”.

I had a pork tenderloin in the fridge that absolutely had to be used and rather than throw it away - HORRORS - I figured we could manage having pork for a third night. The question was how to do it differently from the normal higher fat version with white wine, mushrooms and cream. The answer was Reggae Gumbo, a recipe I wouldn’t have attempted before because - well, because it didn’t sound like something I would like (all that from the title).

I grew up a very VERY fussy eater. My Mom’s dad had been incredibly strict with his two girls and if they didn’t eat what was put in front of them they stayed at the table until they ate it. My Aunt was so stubborn that one dinnertime she fell asleep at the table rather than eat her dinner. She was not well pleased to find it waiting for her at breakfast. Mom decided that she would never force us to eat anything we didn’t want to eat. Well that was carte blanche for me to eat an incredibly restricted number of items, chicken or turkey, white meat only, white bread with butter and preferably without crusts, loads of sugar with everything or on the savoury side, ketchup. I’ve been told that I ate ketchup sandwiches; something I’d like very much just to be a story but I am sad to say it has a ring of truth to it.

So back to Reggae Gumbo: cubed pork, onions and garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, cilantro - recipe will follow. One thing I haven’t been able to incorporate into my new taste buds is celery. I’ve tried and tried but just don’t like it. I do like the flavour it imparts but it must be a texture thing so I left it out. And, in with honesty in mind, I also left out the okra/zucchini choice as well. I’ll put both items in the recipe so that you can make your own choice. The Gumbo was delicious even without celery or okra/zucchini.

I will suggest to you that you always read the whole recipe all the way through before starting something new. I tend to read the list of ingredients and maybe any preamble about the recipe but I have been bad about working out just how long it would take me to actually cook the meal. I do prep everything before I start which took me about 15 minutes. Keep in mind that I decided to start this at about 5:30 so my 15 minutes of prep done, I set it all aside until starting to cook at 6:15. That was when I noticed that part one was going to take me about 15 minutes, okay so far - hey wait, the second part was 45 minutes and OMG, there’s a third part too, another 30 minutes. Needless to say we sat down to eat about 7:45. The great news is that it was fantastic and not just because we were starving by that time.

So here’s today’s challenge - take a chance - try something new - you can eat very very well without compromising your health. Don’t be put off by a name or a preconceived idea about what Gumbo (or whatever else you’re avoiding). Maybe I’m being repetitious but this idea needs driving home.

Try it out and let me know how much you like it.

Making Changes can be a challenge

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 18:30:53 -0800

I knew I was in trouble when I went to the library today to pick up some books I had requested before Christmas. All it took was a look at the title “Unforgettable Desserts” by Dede Wilson and the photo on the cover. I’m ashamed to say that I started salivating almost immediately. Pavlov would have been proud! It is a beautiful book indeed but not what I need to be concentrating on right now so after the first few sugar and butter shockers I put it away with the intention of returning it tomorrow. This is only one of the many situations that will challenge us over the next days, weeks and months. Each time we manage to let it go no further than the salivating part we have a victory. It is important however to note that if you deprive yourself of certain foods you will crave them even more. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know so I won’t lecture - it never works for me but I will tell you what our Weight Watcher leader told us one time, “If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.”

Today I knew that dinner would be leftovers after the lovely pork roast dinner last night. I am proud to say that I didn’t have anything else to eat until this morning and my oh my how I enjoyed my breakfast. So given that our dinner was leftover pork, applesauce and freshly steamed veggies I decided a photo would not be necessary of that but I am going to give you a recipe of one of our favourite meals. We are very lucky here to get a lot of wonderful fish, although at this time of year much of it has been frozen. The recipe is adapted from a Donna Hay recipe. I have changed it somewhat to use less olive oil and no capers.

New Year’s Day - the first challenge

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 20:24:50 -0800

Last night we were invited to enjoy a wonderful New Years Eve meal with good friends. They served us a spectacular dinner from the appies to the king crab legs and steak with baked potato and steamed veggies ending with crepes suzette made by my dear husband. I woke up this morning and was not hungry - at all! But I also realized that it is time to make a change in our eating habits. When I first joined Weight Watchers in early 2006 we ate quite well. We planned our meals and were vigilant about what we ate. I lost a lot of weight and was quite smug about having the whole situation in total control. I have since learned that losing the weight is the easy part. Keeping the weight off is the hard part.

With this blog I hope to share my journey with you and to provide a forum where we can exchange ideas with one another, find answers to questions about lowering the fat content of our meals while still making them delicious, fun to prepare and beautiful looking. We all agree I’m sure that how a meal looks on the plate is motivation in itself.

So this is how Fabulous Foodies etc. came about. Last night I wrote a blog about making a commitment to eating better. You can read that piece here. As I said, I woke up full, had the little New Years talk with myself but this time I made a firm decision to actually do something about it. With all the Happy New year phone calls and visits I ended up asking some dear friends to come and share the first dinner of 2010 with us. Immediate panic set in because most of the stores were closed in our area, I wanted to make the dinner appealing and yet really healthy, I had taken a pork roast out of the freezer so had to use it and because of my friend’s high blood pressure had to make it virtually salt free. I had to make this initial meal out of what I had on hand.

What to do? What to do? It was surprisingly easy. The salt free thing worked just fine as it turned out. It’s pretty easy not to add something but where would the flavour come from? I decided to try a mixture of pressed garlic (3 cloves), fresh coarsely ground black pepper and some seasoning mix that includes dill, sesame seeds, more garlic (because you can never have too much garlic) but no salt. For reference the seasoning mix is made by Tree Mouse Edibles and is called “Dilly-icious Seasoning. I mixed the three together and then patted it onto the roast. Success - it tasted fantastic. We had homemade applesauce, unsweetened but made from ambrosia apples so it was naturally sweet. For veggies I just did potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts. broccoli and cauliflower all steamed together. I added a baby spinach salad with fresh mushrooms, dried cranberries and some toasted slivered almonds. We used a salad dressing spritzer for the salad (well Marion and I did, the guys used the full strength salad dressing). Finally I did not serve dessert. “WHAT!” you might ask “NO DESSERT!!!!” “Have you lost your mind?” “Perhaps” I reply, “but who the heck wrote the book that says you must serve dessert?” Easier for me - less guilt for all at the table.

So there you have it - somewhat makeshift but manageable. It was actually less trouble to prepare and we tasted the true flavour of the food, particularly the veggies. I’ll post some photos on our facebook page to show the meals visual appeal. Everyone raved and said that they were quite full. So any and all feedback is welcome. I look forward to talking about choices we make at every meal. Hopefully along the way we will all feel better at the end of the year.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. I’ll keep you posted.