Red Wine Diet

Recently, my friend Becky visited and brought with her a copy of OK magazine. I love to read those rags and they are great for fad diets from time to time. I’ve never been a fad diet girl. Well, I’ve done South Beach until I realized how toxic it was for me, but Weight Watchers has always been my thing because it’s sensible. It’s portion control, but still eating the things you enjoy. Anyway, I read this red wine diet and decided that I could totally rock this and it promises that you lose 5lbs in 2 days.

Here’s how it works from an eating standpoint. I’m including the link to what it recommends, but here’s what I ate since I no longer eat chicken and I refuse to add OJ and tonic to my wine.

http://www.free-fad-diets.com/red-wine-diet.html

Breakfast (Both Days)

I slice of whole wheat toast

I hard boiled egg (since I have no idea how to poach one)

1 cup of coffee (diet says black, but I can’t…I used Splenda and Silk Soy Creamer

I glass of red wine

Lunch (Day 1)

Salmon sashimi – (half a pack because I was in the sun and it started to get weird, so like 5 or 6 pcs)

2 glasses of red wine

1 cup coffee

Dinner (Day 1)

Grilled shrimp marinated in garlic, cayenne, paprika, lemon juice, and olive oil

Small Romaine lettuce salad with onions and pomegranate dressing

Rest of the bottle of wine

I was hungry at the end of Day 1, but it was a huge cutback in food for me. I resisted the urge and I lost 2lbs the first day.

Lunch (Day 2)

Sashimi – ahi (10 or 12pcs)

Diet Dr. Pepper b/c I was too hot for coffee

Glass of red wine (Only 1 b/c I had kids around to be responsible for)

Dinner (Day 2)

Crab legs – steamed w/out butter

Small Caesar salad (this was a total cheat, but yummy and satisfying)

Rest of the bottle of wine

I was not hungry at the end of Day 2 and I lost a total of 4.6lbs. This will be repeated again next weekend and the one after that. I will be maintaining through the week with Weight Watchers. For the curious, I added up my WW points for Day 2 and it was 26 of the 29 I can have.

Lasagna Cupcakes

First of all I have to start this post by saying that Eve and I are obsessed (and I do mean obsessed) with cupcakes and Cupcake Wars and the like. When I told her this was dinner, she was super psyched. She didn't realize that it wasn't going to be sugar goodness, but I have to say it was definitely yummy goodness in the mouth. I made CRH's without ricotta (since he did find the recipe and all) and of course I used Morning Star Farms veggie soy crumbles instead of ground meat, but the overall verdict was yum. Each cupcake is 7 points for WW, but I actually estimate less because I didn't use as much of the ingredients as it called for. The 7 points does factor in using MS Farms vs. ground beef, just FYI.
Here's the recipe compliments of tablespoon.com.

Ingredients
1 cup marinara sauce
3/4 pound ground beef
12 wonton wrappers
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
3 ounces Parmesan cheese
4 ounces Ricotta cheese
(optional) basil for garnish

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
2.Brown beef and season with salt and pepper. Drain.
3.Cut wonton wrappers into circle shapes using a biscuit cutter or using the top of a drinking glass. You can cut several at a time.
4.Reserve 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and 6 tablespoon mozzarella for the top of you cupcakes. Start layering your lasagna cupcakes. Begin with a wonton wrapper and press it into the bottom of each muffin tin. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese, Ricotta cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Top with a little meat and marinara sauce. Use around 1-2 teaspoons of all the ingredients depending on your personal preference.
5.Repeat layers ending with marinara sauce. Top with reserved Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
6.Bake for 18-20 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. To remove use a knife to loosen the edges then pop each lasagna out.
7.Garnish with basil and serve.

Yummy in the Tummy Weekend Recipes

I’ve started Weight Watchers again. It’s a whole new system than the old Points that I was used too, so it’s taking some time. Plus it seems I’ve been eating double my allowed points each day, which would explain the weight gain! My new allotted points for the day is 29 with 40 something extra weekly points. When I did the plan before, I got like 20 points a day. I did well on it and eventually got to a point where I wasn’t hungry in between meals. I’m feeling pretty sure I can do it again.

This weekend I made White Bean and Shrimp burgers from Mark Bittman’s book. YUM! I initially made them a little too pureed, so I had to double the recipe and add in coarsely chopped shrimp and beans by hand. It is 8 points alone and then you have to add some mayo and a bun. Well, I guess you don’t have to, but we did! CRH made a yummy Miracle Whip mayo for it.


For dessert, I made this Blueberry Crisp from the same book. I loved it, but it was 10pts and I can never, ever have it again. Ok, well perhaps I could modify the recipe and have it again but that’s not one of my strong suits.


Last night, CRH made this salmon and mushroom pasta. I didn’t get a pic, but omg it was delicious and only 10pts too. It was seriously yummy!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
12 oz salmon fillet (skinless salmon fillet cut into 3/4 inch pieces)
3 large garlic cloves (chopped)
1/2 lb mushrooms (sliced)
5 green onions (chopped)
1 tomato (seeded diced)
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 tbsp capers (drained)
1/2 lb linguine (freshly cooked)
1/4 cup fresh dill (chopped fresh dill or 1 tablespoon dried dillweed)
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice


Preparation Steps:
1. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat
2. Season salmon with salt and pepper
3. Add to skillet; sauté until just cooked through, about 3 minutes
4. Using slotted spoon, transfer salmon to plate
5. Add garlic to same skillet; sauté 30 seconds
6. Add mushrooms; sauté 2 minutes
7. Add green onions, tomato, wine and capers; cook until mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes
8. Add linguine, dill, lemon juice and salmon and toss
9. Season with salt and pepper

Ode to Mark Bittman

Mark is the author of the beloved lima bean parmesan recipe in this house. He's written a ton of recipe books and I'm dying to try some more of his recipes. Last week, I took Eve to the library and to my complete surprise my tiny little Waialua library had his Food Matters cookbook. There may or may not have been a girly squeal emitted in the middle of the library as I snatched it off the shelf! I've poured over it this weekend and on Wednesday (pay day), I'm going to Costco and the grocery store and stock up on groceries to make pretty much all of the bookmarked recipes.

School is over for me until Tuesday, August 23rd. I get an almost 2 week break, so I'll try to do a much better job of cooking and posting. I think these recipes are going to be awesome!!

Farfelle with Tomato Goat Cheese Cream Sauce

I know I haven't blogged in eons. I haven't really cooked in eons. With Eve being gone this summer and my working and going to school for literal 14 hour days the past month, I haven't had time for much in the kitchen.

I dusted off my apron today and rocked it. I actually made this dish earlier in the summer and I loved it. I thought Eve might just possibly eat a few nibbles since it has peas and she loves peas (weird, huh?). CRH won't eat it because it has goat cheese. It's hard to please them both at the same time these days in the culinary world, but CRH closed tonight so he wasn't home.

I made dinner and placed it in front of her with some grapes while we watched Diary of A Wimpy Kid (loved that movie btw). She ate every single bite. I mean happy plate club. I was ecstatic! It's officially kid approved, well my kid approved. Eve has her mama's love of all things cheese. She and I love cheeses, but if your kid isn't a fan of goat cheese you can make a substitute listed in the recipe below. Enjoy!


Farfalle with Tomato-Goat Cheese Cream Sauce
From Vegetarian Times

Mild goat cheese lends a sophisticated tang to this creamy, orange-hued sauce. Tossed with tiny green peas, toasted pine nuts, and festive bow ties (it&39;s fabulous with fettuccine and gnocchi too), the resulting dish is wonderfully easy and original. If you&39;re not a fan of goat cheese, try the recipe with Boursin or low-fat cream cheese. You can also add a grating of Parmesan cheese before serving, if desired.

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water according to package directions until al dente, adding peas during last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain in colander, and set aside. Quickly return empty pot to same burner (with heat off). Wait a few seconds until pot looks dry, then add pine nuts. Cook over medium heat 1 minute, or until fragrant and lightly toasted. Transfer nuts to plate.
2. Add oil to pot, and sauté garlic over medium heat 15 seconds, or until just beginning to brown. Stir in soup, half-and-half, and wine, if using; bring to a brisk simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer gently 3 minutes, or until mixture is slightly reduced and begins to thicken, stirring occasionally. Add cheese, and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, or until cheese is completely melted into sauce, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.
3. Stir pasta, peas, and nuts into sauce in pot; toss well, and serve.
Member Rating:

Ingredient list
Serves 6
12 oz. farfalle pasta
1 cup frozen petite peas
2 Tbs. pine nuts
1/2 Tbs. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
11/4 cups prepared creamy tomato soup
1/4 cup nonfat or regular half-and-half
1 Tbs. dry white wine, optional
3 oz. creamy mild goat cheese (6 Tbs.)

Nutritional Information
Per 1-cup serving:
Calories 341
Protein 11g
Total Fat 7g
Saturated Fat 3g
Carbs 57g
Cholesterol 7mg
Sodium 283mg
Fiber 3g
Sugar 4g

PS I skipped the pine nuts step in an effort to increase the kid appeal.

Black Bean Cocoa Quinoa

Oh how I've been lazy the last few weeks with cooking and such. Eve comes home next week and I've been working my ass off at practicum, school, and work. We have a huge assessment at work next week. I'm trying to make up as many hours as quickly as possible for my practicum, so cooking has taken a side line.

I did stumble on a new website (well, new to me) the other day and I fell in love. The site is called Daily Garnish and the recipe that I made was Black Bean Cocoa Quinoa. It was definitely a new and interesting flavor. I took it to a class potluck and it was a hit. Several people asked for the recipe, so here's the link if you're interested!
http://www.dailygarnish.com/recipes?recipe_id=6000057

It was pretty easy to make, although this was my first attempt at quinoa so I suspect it took me longer than it should have.

Chik'n Enchiladas

I have had a craving for chicken enchiladas lately, but since I quit eating chicken I had a slight problem. Fortunately for me, Morning Star Farms has a faux chik'n that is tasty stuff. I made the recipe listed below stolen from The Lazy Vegetarian. CRH wasn't in love. When I asked him what I could have done differently to make him like it, his reply was "Use meat". He doesn't seem to love recipes where I sub faux meat for actual meat.
I liked it and I fed the neighbor and he liked it, so I'm giving it a "B+". I added more cheese on top while it cooked and accidentally mixed the tomatoes into the mix instead of on top. I also used flour tortillas instead of corn. (We prefer flour.) Otherwise, I followed the recipe. :)

16 corn tortillas, 5" - I prefer the "extra thin" variety
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 cups Mexican 4 cheese blend 2% shredded cheese (8 oz package)
1 small can, 4 oz, diced green chilies (or jalapenos)
1 package Morningstar Farms chik'n strips, cooked in a tiny amount of oil in a non stick pan, then chopped/shredded into small pieces
1 package (10 oz box or 12 oz bag) frozen chopped spinach: thawed, drained, and extra water squeezed out
10 oz can red enchilada sauce
14.5 oz can diced (or petite diced) no-salt-added tomatoes, quick drained (ok to leave some liquid)

Lightly oil the bottom of a 13"x9" pan or casserole dish. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine diced onions, cheese, green chilies, cooked and cut up chik'n strips, and thawed and drained spinach. Combine well.

Using a damp folded paper towel, heat the tortillas in microwave in groups of 4 for 20 - 30 sec.

Fill the tortillas generously with the filling, rolling and placing seam side down in dish.

Use same bowl to mix together enchilada sauce and diced tomatoes. Pour on top of filled tortillas, making sure that no tortilla spots are left completely dry.

Cover with foil and bake 15 min, then remove foil and bake another 10 - 15 min.

Shrimp and Feta Pizza

I have been super busy this week and totally uninspired to cook. I also haven’t been home before 8:30pm since Monday night. Thursday night, I managed to get home at a reasonable hour and after collapsing on the couch and talking to an old friend on FB chat about feta recipes…I was inspired again (and hungry!).

I whipped up a shrimp and feta pizza for dinner. I googled this to make sure that such a thing did exist and would be yummy goodness and the multitude of results that popped up assured me that it would be. I chopped up some garlic and sautéed it with the shrimp. Then I cheated and used Pilsbury thin crust pizza dough and loaded that onto the dough, along with fresh rosemary, sliced black olives, feta, and an Italian cheese blend from Kraft and oh…my…word. It was delicious!!!

Here’s a pic of it going into the oven…


And on my plate…YUM.

Reader Opinion

I went to my newly beloved Costco tonight and bought a giant tub of strawberries...giant tub. Even if my little strawberry loving kid was home, I don't know that we would eat all of these before they go bad. I've found some good recipes to use them in and then I stumbled onto this. It's a recipe for a strawberry salsa. The recipe calls for this to be served over grilled chicken, which we quit eating. Do you all think this would be yummy over a type of seafood?? I would love to make it, but I'm still learning in the ways of food pairing. Thoughts??

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
1/3 cup minced red onion
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Homemade Meals All Day

I was supposed to start my practicum site today, but due to paperwork complications I don't start until next Tuesday. This left me with a free day and I decided to make all of my meals at home today.

Breakfast was a yummy, calorie trimmed version of the lox bagel. I make mine on a bagel thin with smoked salmon, capers, onions, and Weight Watchers Cream Cheese...oooooh so yummy and less calories than the regular way. Other than the decrease in breading, I can't taste a single difference.

Lunch was a crab cake sandwich made with these fantastic Costco crab cakes. CRH and I have been making crab cake items individually all week. They are sooooo good. He made a mayo for his the other night that I copied for mine today and it was fabulous. Eve wanted me to call her in the midst of eating it, so I couldn't quite savor it the way I wanted to, but I missed my baby and much preferred talking to her...really.



Dinner was Crispy Black Bean Tacos! I opted to make these when CRH wasn't home b/c he's not a fan of Feta cheese. Actually, he's branched out a lot on cheeses in the past decade, but he's not going near Feta. I bought a giant thing of it at Costco the other day, so I better find some other recipes for it soon. Here's the recipe for tonight's tasty treat. I made 2 of these for myself, so I cut the recipe in half as this makes 4. Total calories was only 500 for both! I subbed regular onion for the green onion b/c I am not a fan of the green onion.

Ingredients

1(15 ounce) can black beans, drained
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 -1 1/2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 cups coleslaw mix
2 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro or 1/3 cup parsley
4 corn tortillas (white or yellow ) or 4 wheat flour tortillas
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
bottled chipotle hot sauce or hot sauce
Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:
Prep Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 25 mins
1. Place beans and cumin in small bowl; partially mash. Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl; add coleslaw, green onions, and cilantro and toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Heat 3 teaspoons olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas in single layer. Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture onto half of each tortilla; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Fill tacos with feta and slaw. Pass hot sauce alongside.



I think I need to work on my artistry in the form of food pictures. Clearly, it's not my forte. :)

Veggie Goodness and Some Not

I've been slack in cooking lately because CRH has been working a lot and without Eve home, it's just me. I'm not big on cooking for just me unless I know it's something I'll love as leftovers. I have a few things on the menu, but whatever...just haven't been in the cooking mood.



Today was no different and I stopped by one of my favorite island delis (Kalapawai Cafe & Deli in Kailua) on the way home from work for a take out dinner. I bought this yummy goodness, which was Eggplant Parmesan, grilled veggies, and roasted Brussels sprouts. I've wanted to try Brussels sprouts for the longest and I have to say that I'm officially over the urge. It was not love. I ate one of them, but I couldn't manage to get through the second one. To the deli's credit, I microwaved this plate to warm it so I think it toughened them up. I loved the rest of my meal. Their food is awesome, but I won't order the Brussels sprouts again. Blech...

Ode to Goat Cheese

I cannot even describe how much I love goat cheese. I haven't eaten much of it in the past decade because CRH is not a fan at all and I typically can't eat enough of it before it goes bad. While I love, love, love it...I don't enjoy eating the same thing in mass quantities.

When I went home to NC a few weeks ago, my mom took me to the Farmer's Market in Greensboro. The Goat Lady Dairy was there and I sampled each one of their flavors (just for fun) and ended up buying their Fig and Honey flavor. I almost embarrassed myself by raving over it to their completely personality less workers behind the table. Dear Goat Lady, If that was in fact you selling your cheese that day, please find some personality and customer service skills...you would sell more. Love, Amy.

Flash forward to last night...I've been craving more goat cheese and I stumbled across this recipe for Farfalle with a Tomato-Goat Cheese Cream Sauce a few weeks before leaving for NC but I hadn't tried it yet because again, I'm the only one here that eats goat cheese. Eve has never tried it, but I think the flavor will be too strong for her for a couple of years. Anyway, this pasta is some serious yumminess. It looks a little strange when you're mixing the cheese in and I became skeptical, until I put my finger into the pot to taste and it was instant love. The only things I did differently were omit pine nuts (because I didn't have any) and I used Herb Goat Cheese which added extra flavor. My apologies for the lack of photos, I've been slacking.
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11432?section=

I will add a picture of my garden, which is coming right along. I'm pleased to report that for the past two nights, I've made myself a salad using lettuce from my backyard garden that my neighbor helps me keep alive. It's grown a ton in the past month and I've also picked 2 strawberries off my little plant.

Sweet Potato Quesadilla and Portabello Mushroom Burgers - Oh My!

Clearly, I'm never going to lose a pound as a vegetarian, much to my dismay. I've gained about 12-15lbs (depending on the day) in the 9 months and I thought switching to a vegetarian life style would help this, but it's not. I love fatty things like cheese and oils and butter and sugar and well, it doesn't make the fat fall off my ass.

Today included a big meat cheat. A few days ago, I was going through one of my FB friends and former neighbor's food pics on FB. She had posted a picture of a Sweet Potato Quesadilla from Highway Inn in Waipahu. It's this local seafood market that is also a restaurant. Here in Hawaii, Okinawan Sweet Potatoes are big and I love them. It's a purple potato with a great flavor. Highway Inn pairs this with Kahlua Pork (I'm weak for it), cheese, and a papaya salsa. Oh dear lord, it was sooooooo good. In the future, I would ask them to make it without the pork because pigs are filthy animals that live in their own poop, but the one I ate sure tasted good.

For dinner, CRH and I wanted portabella mushroom burgers. I used this recipe and started making dinner, but thankfully CRH ended up taking over the making of the meal. I ate this mayo and he made his own, which was also very tasty and we added melted Havarti slices because what food isn't better with cheese?! (See the aforementioned love of fat that prevents me from losing my fat!)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-portobello-with-basil-mayonnaise-sandwich/detail.aspx

Broth Dilemma

I'm having a broth dilemma, of the chicken kind. I'm working on the upcoming 2 weeks of menu planning and a lot of recipes that I keep coming across that initially seem vegetarian all have chicken broth in them! Uggg! What do you do?? Can you substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth in most recipes or does that totally change the flavor of it?
(I'm thankful this is about my biggest problem in life right now!)

Return to Veggies

This week I've been back to vegetarian. I'm considering re-watching Food, Inc. too in an effort to remind myself of the gross. I did eat meat some while I was home, and it was mostly tasty, but I'm just not feeling it. I keep thinking about that movie and the others I've seen and well, it's just gross. So, I'm back. I've had some super yummy foods this week to include
Red velvet pancakes...omg, these are the best things ever...ever.

Earlier in the week, I made some yummy Basil Calzones with soy protein. I loved them, CRH was a little on the fence. He said the flavors were just too distinct with the soy crumbles. Then the following night, I made a crockpot spinach pesto lasagna courtesy of the Crockpot lady blog. I have followed this blog for a long time, but I didn't have a crock pot here until December. So, I made this Thursday night and ate it for dinner. Yesterday, I took it for my co-worker and I to eat for lunch (he loved it!) and then I ate it again for dinner last night. It's just that good. Here's the link...go now and make it. OMG, one of the best meals I've ever cooked and SUPER easy!
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010/09/slow-cooker-pesto-spinach-lasagna.html

Today, I branched out and went to a local Thai truck here in Haleiwa for lunch. I don't really eat Thai, but people rave about Opal's all the time so I thought it was time to try it. I was not disappointed. I went to order and the guy asked what I like and we talked a little and then he presented me with a tofu noodle dish that was fantastic and super cheap for food around these parts. I will definitely be returning for more!

Hiatus

I'm on a brief cooking and probably a brief hiatus from my new eating habits while I go visit family and friends in NC. With the exception of my friend, Sara, I think they are all hard core carnivores and if I want to eat without hassle, a little meat shall be had. Plus, there are a few mainland things that I just need to eat one more time. :) No worries though, I'm back at it when I return and will be posting new recipes and pictures as the journey continues around mid-June.

I had a seafood risotto for dinner tonight that was to die for! I really want to limit my seafood a little more when I return and rely a little less on it. It's super yummy and as I've discussed I probably won't ever be cut it out entirely from my diet, but I'd really like to move more toward actual vegetarianism. Seafood feels a little like cheating.

Discovery of Indian Food

I do not know how I've lived 35 years without eating this fabulous cuisine, but I'm officially in love. I went to an Indian restaurant for dinner tonight in town and I swear I had one of the best and most interesting meals of my life. It is a super crowded tiny little place and I refrained from photographing my meal because of the packed nature of the establishment and because it was kind of dark-ish in there.

Since this was a new experience, I wanted to try several things and ordered an appetizer and a meal...which is a boatload of food for me. For my appetizer, I had a vegetable samosa. It was a pastry type item filled with a spicy mixture of potatoes, peas, and carrots and it came with 2 sauces for dipping. I could have just eaten those as my meal, but then I would have missed the next yumminess.

For my entrée, I ordered the Chef Specialty which was Palak Peneer. It is a creamy spinach dish with homemade cheese and served with a side of rice that I mixed with it. I have no idea what spices were in it, but it is hands down one of my new favorite foods. I was lucky enough to be super full and only eat half of it, so I have lunch tomorrow! The meal also came with naan, which if you are unfamiliar with Indian food as I was before tonight, it's a super soft flat pita type bread...tasty!!

Thank you Cafe Maharini for a delicious dinner. I will be returning!

Pescetarian Days

I've been practicing this at dinner the last two nights. I just can't quit you seafood, I love you.

Monday was a great food day. It started with my favorite breakfast of a MS Farm veggie sausage biscuit and coffee that was delivered to my room (Thanks, CRH!). Lunch consisted of a yummy salad and an eggplant calzone from Down to Earth that I could eat daily and costs less than most burgers. For dinner, CRH made a scallop pasta with a spicy rum pineapple sauce and chunks of pineapple...o-m-g.

Today, CRH and I had to have our oil changes done and we ate breakfast at Starbucks. I branched out today from my Reduced Fat Cinnamon Swirl coffee cake and had the Blueberry Oatbar. They warmed it and add a little bit of whipped cream and it's my new fave. I haven't checked the calories yet, but damn it was tasty. Lunch was a pizza veggie burger and dinner was hand rolled sushi from a friend. It was laden with ahi and again, I'll say it...I love you seafood and at least you aren't as vile as poultry, pig, and cow.

Pizza Night

We love to make our own pizzas on pita bread. A year or so ago, I was at the aforementioned Farmer's Market and discovered this pizza that looked delicious. It's a pesto base with tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella and basil...can you say lick you lips good?!

We've made it in various forms on various crusts, but since Eve is struggling with the whole vegetarian thing, I thought make your own pizza night would give her the opportunity to just eat what she wanted to make. She made a regular cheese pizza and scarfed it down. I made us 2 tomato pesto pizzas and 1 white sauce based pizza with mushrooms and black olives...tasty!

Before


After

Farmer's Market Goodness

We have a great local Farmer's Market in Haleiwa. I love, love, love it. We have one in Waialua too, but I can't ever seem to make it over there despite the fact that they have it twice a week on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. I need to try harder because I've heard they have great stuff too.

Yesterday, Eve and I were out shopping and came upon a lady selling mini loaves of Banana Pineapple bread. I have a jar of homemade jam from the market that is Banana Pineapple yumminess. I swear I could just eat it from the jar. I came home, sliced the bread, microwaved it for a few seconds, and slapped a heaping mound of the jam on it.
OMG...drooling.


Today, we went shopping at the market and I bought a ton of produce and lunch. The Naked Cow Dairy ladies make sandwiches and burgers. I opted for an ahi sandwich, you know since I've cut out all other meat. It was soooooo delicious. They make it with fresh ahi, lettuce, tomato, pineapple, and tzatziki sauce.


I don't know that I'll ever be able to give up seafood. I love eating good, fresh food. I feel better too. I'm thinking I haven't lost any weight, but I've maintained and this new way of eating is rocking!!

Vegetarian Chili

Last night, it was chili night! I swear this tastes like regular chili. CRH swears it is yummy, but does NOT. He said that it's like when I go on a diet and I "forget" how regular food tastes. At any rate, this was super easy and delicious!!

Simmering on the stove before I added the tomato juice and sugar.

In it's final glory, we did add way more sugar than the recipe called for. We ended up with about a 1/4cup and we added a tsp. of cumin. I also added minced garlic (2 heaping huge tsp.), crushed chili pepper flakes, lots of hot sauce, and garlic salt.

Ingredients
2-3 onions
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bag griller bits (Morning Star)
1/2 green pepper
2-4 tsp Chili powder
2 cans Bush Chili beans (15 oz - small size)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
15 oz can diced tomatoes
Rounded 1/2 tsp white sugar
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 large can tomato juice

Directions
Saute 1” X 1” pieced of onion in the olive oil until tender and add pepper
Then add griller bits and saute 5-10 minutes scraping bottom until crispy
Then add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, and beans.
Simmer 5-10 minutes
Add tomato juice and sugar, simmer 10-15 minutes
Overall simmer on low 45-50 minutes
Add salt to taste (1/2 – 1 tsp)

About Recipe submitted by Pam C.
View on the Key Ingredient website

Processed Vegetarian Food Day

Today was the fast food of vegetarian days. I didn't sleep worth a damn last night. The smoke alarms started randomly going off last night at 1:45am because they needed a new battery. Then I woke up at 4am with a leg cramp, walked it off, went back to sleep, and woke back up at 6:30am with both legs cramping so severely I was totally drenched in sweat and was crying. That was a good time.

I was off today, so luckily I slept until about 9am. When I got up I had my usual MS Farm veggie sausage biscuit. I'm not tired of them yet...so good! I decided that I didn't want to go to the beach today and went to hit up Target instead. I went hungry and that's never a good idea, but I found some yummy deals including Amy's burritos on clearance for $1.28. I bought 6 and promptly came home to eat one!

I also stopped on the way home today and picked up some plants for our garden. Our neighbor has the most amazing garden (He's quite the grower if you catch my drift...) and he prepared the area behind my house this week for us to plant some things as well. Eve loves helping him in his garden and so I bought some peppers, lettuce, strawberries, sage, and basil along with some seeds to try to attempt artichokes, soy beans and green beans. I've never been overly successful with seeds, so those may or may not make it. Here's Day 1.

I made a very thick, super peanut buttery, yogurt, banana, and almond milk smoothie this evening to give me some potassium to help the leg cramp situation. By this time, we were kind of tired and lazy around here and neither CRH nor I really felt like cooking. We had vegetarian hot dogs for dinner that were tasty. They're called Smart Dogs. I loaded mine with ketchup, mustard, and onions. I briefly contemplated adding cheese and CRH suggested Velveeta. Ewwww! I tried to melt it and it was just nasty, so I thankfully skipped adding that layer of processed cheese food to my meal. Tomorrow I'm going for fresher food choices.

A Week In With Just Seafood, No Other Meat!

I've been a crappy blogger since Sunday, but I've pretty much been eating leftovers and veggie burgers and such. Tuesday night we had some amazing Brie and Apple Salsa Quesadillas. We also had a craptacular day that day and had a lot of wine and I wasn't in the mood to photograph it, but they were delicious!!

I tried some new things at lunch yesterday. First up, I added "mock chicken" to my salad. I am assuming it was tofu and I honestly liked it. It was a little strange texture wise, but it did taste like chicken. I would try it again. I will not be trying gluten, wheat free pizza crust again though. That just sucked. I picked up a slice of veggie pizza on that crust by accident, but I'd touched it by the time I realized it.

Last night for dinner, it was Pesto Shrimp Mac and Cheese night. YUM, YUM, YUM! I did manage to snap a few pictures of this goodness.
Before it went into the oven...

Before it went into my mouth...

Here's the recipe from Better Homes & Garden. Enjoy! It's seriously good and super easy.
Pesto Shrimp Mac & Cheese
Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes
Stand: 10 minutes

Ingredients
1 lb. fresh or frozen medium shrimp in shells
8 oz. dried elbow macaroni (2 cups)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup half-and-half
1-1/4 cups shredded fontina cheese (5 oz.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. pine nuts, toasted
1-1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, chopped
Fresh basil leaves

Directions
1. Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and devein shrimp, removing tails. Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels. Chop shrimp and set aside.
2. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.
3. In large bowl stir together eggs, butter, half-and-half, 1 cup of the fontina cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, garlic, pine nuts, chopped basil, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir in shrimp and macaroni. Transfer to buttered 2-quart casserole. Top with remaining cheeses.
4. Bake, uncovered, 40 to 45 minutes or until heated through and shrimp pieces are opaque. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Top with fresh basil leaves. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Facts
Calories 509, Total Fat (g)27, Saturated Fat (g)14, Cholesterol (mg)254, Sodium (mg)694, Carbohydrate (g)33, Fiber (g)2, Protein (g)33, Vitamin C (DV%)7, Calcium (DV%)33, Iron (DV%)23, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Lima Bean Parmesan Finally!

This morning I woke up to my usual breakfast. Then around lunch time, Eve and I hit the farmer's market. We gathered our yummies and headed home to make lunch. I read a recipe earlier in the week for Baked Eggplant Fries. I am the only one in the house that likes eggplant, but I decided to make it for myself today with my freshly purchased eggplant straight from the market. It was super easy and would have complimented my veggie pizza burger splendidly, if only I had better timing in the kitchen.

As it turned out, the eggplant fries were dessert. To make these, slice your eggplant, dip it in Italian dressing and then bread crumbs, bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes and turn them half way through. Tasty!

Eve after eating an eggplant fry. I swear they are good! She's 7.

For dinner, I've been dying to try Lima Bean Parmesan. I think I've mentioned it in every post and tonight was it's night. All I can say is, I don't give a crap if you're vegetarian or not but you MUST try this dish. It was pure yummy goodness in my mouth. I'm posting the recipe below the pictures. I modified the sauce slightly. I used 28oz of Italian diced tomatoes. In the future, I would use more for more sauce because I served this over thin spaghetti and I like sauciness on my pasta. I also added more than just salt and pepper, such as basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper and then to make it Eve and Amy friendly, I blended it up. We do not care for chunky tomato sauce. It was totally worth the build up. Everyone ate it and Eve begrudgingly liked it. CRH went back for seconds.


Baked Lima Beans Parmigiana
From how to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

1 recipe Fast Tomoato Sauce(below)
4 cups fresh, frozen or cooked dry lima beans
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 cup cubed mozzerella(preferably fresh)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 400

Use a tbs or so of the oil to grease a 2 qt souffle or gratin dish or a 9x13 baking dish.

Spread tomato sauce in the dish and spoon the beans on top. Spread the mozz cubes around evenly pressing them into the sauce and beans a bit. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and parm and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake until cheese is melted, sauce is bubbling and crumbs are brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Remove and sprinle with parsley and additional black pepper if desired. Can be served over rice or pasta.

Fast Tomato Sauce

3 Tbs olive oil or butter
1 med onion, chopped
1 24-32 oz can tomatoes drained and chopped (I'm lazy, I bought diced)
salt and fresh ground pepper

Heat olive oil in 12" skillet over med-high heat. Add onions and stir 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes break up and the mixture comes together, thickening about 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
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Peace Offerings and Continued Defiance

When Eve spends the night away, she's usually home pretty early the next morning. This morning, she did not come home until almost 11am. She knew I wasn't happy with her from our whole conversation last night, but I don't want this just ending up being a battle of wills, so I was willing to drop it.

I had my usual for breakfast, despite making the granola. Granola is actually more of a snacky thing for me than a meal. I think I need to mix it up with some yogurt and fruit though and turn it into a meal pretty soon. Anyway, I packed the kids up today to hit the beach since the rain finally stopped here and I made them all PB&Js and I packed myself white bean hummus and blue corn chips. It was a great beach snack - easy and light.

Tonight as a peace offering, I suggested to CRH that we have Salmon and Havarti pizza since it's Eve's favorite and it was one of our five fish items that I knew she would actually eat. After we came home from the beach, she went out to play. While she was out playing, she managed to eat half of a 20pc chicken nugget meal and came home to tell me that she wasn't hungry for dinner (before she knew what we were having!). CRH and I really enjoyed the pizza and she ate a bite or two, but the defiance in her face when she was telling me she ate chicken nuggets was priceless. It's going to be a long road. I couldn't yell at her because just last night I was telling her that it is her choice if she eats meat when she's not at home. Trust her to find the loopholes!

Tomorrow night is Lima Bean Parmesan and she's actually kind of excited about that. I'll keep you all posted!

Granola

My favorite granola for years has been Cascadian Farms Organic Oats and Honey. It is delicious, tasty goodness. It is super expensive here though, as is granola in general. I don't know if that's a Hawaii thing or if it's expensive everywhere, but a box here runs about $6. I ran across this recipe the other day and thought it looked yummy. It's not so healthy, but it sounded great.

Dee's Dark Chocolate Granola

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 30 Minutes
Servings: 8

"This crunchy peanut butter and chocolate granola is great for breakfast, or any time that a chocolate craving hits."
INGREDIENTS:
cooking spray
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter flavored spread
(such as I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!®
Spread)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups oats (such as Quaker Oats®)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
(such as Craisins®) (optional)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Melt together the brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, butter flavored spread, and vanilla extract in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until well combined; remove from heat.
3. Combine the oats, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Pour the brown sugar mixture into bowl; stir well to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and almonds. Spoon into the prepared pan; pat down and spread evenly.
4. Bake in preheated oven until browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com (Maybe this means I shouldn't post it, I don't know, but there's the credit.)

I left out the almonds and dried cranberries because I'm not big on nuts and I can't stand dried fruit. I also used semi-sweet chocolate chips because it's damn near impossible to find dark chocolate chips on this island. It is as delicious as I had hoped it would be. I made it last night after Eve left as sort of a peace offering to the transition. We'll see how it goes over when she gets home today.

Burritos, Beer Garitas, and Resistance

If I'd known I could eat like this, I would have made the change years ago. I started Day 2 with a veggie sausage biscuit per the week's norm and stopped at 7-11 on the way to work for a cup of coffee. I've been a die hard Starbucks fan for decades, but I have to say that the 7-11 coffee with French vanilla creamer for $1.49 gave my Starbucks $3.30 latte a run for it's money. Clearly my champagne tastes on a beer budget are now starting to align and I'm developing beer tastes on a beer budget, which is as it should be!

My co-worker/lunch buddy is seemingly on the fence about this process. Yesterday, he was totally supportive though and we went to Down to Earth for lunch at their hot bar. I had the MOST delicious piece of white pizza with olives, mushrooms, and basil. The dough was super soft yummy goodness sprinkled with herbs on the bottoms...omg tasty. I complimented that with a fresh salad from their salad bar with a lovely red pepper dressing. I could eat that lunch every day for the rest of my life...really.

On the way home from work, I stopped off at Safeway and found lima beans for the aforementioned Lima Bean Parmesan and bought the stuff to make my own granola. Yes, I said it...make my own granola. No, I'm not going to quit shaving my legs. I'm sure if you have known me for any length of time, you are laughing your ass off right now.

Anyway, I came home and made this.

Dinner was a Veggie Burrito Casserole, compliments of CRH's iPhone recipe app thing and Beer Garitas, compliments of Southern Living. The verdict - I loved it, he liked it (though he said he wasn't feeling good and was super tired, so he may have loved it), and Eve hated it. It sparked her asking to watching Food, Inc. since this movie was changing her life. She decided she wanted to see it. I immediately agreed and then she promptly changed her mind, started crying, and said I was forcing her to do things she didn't want to do. Can ya'll imagine what my life is going to be like in 5 years if I'm getting this now?! We talked about it some and I told her I wasn't "forcing" her to do anything. I wouldn't make her watch the movie if she didn't want to and as far as becoming a vegetarian too, that was up to her when she wasn't at home but that I wasn't cooking meat here anymore outside of some select seafood. Fortunately, the convo ended when her bff came over to pick her up for a last minute sleepover. Good Times, really.

Here's the recipe for the casserole. It totally packed my 8x8 dish and CRH thought it needed more tortillas, but he loves bread a lot.

Ingredients
3/4 cup white rice
1 1/2 cups water
1 (12 ounce) package frozen soy burger-style crumbles
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
2 (10 inch) burrito-size flour tortillas
1 (14.25 ounce) can vegetarian refried beans, divided
1 can green chilies
1 1/2 cups salsa, divided
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
Directions
In a saucepan bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Place soy crumbles, tomatoes with juice, chili powder, cumin, and taco seasoning in a medium frying pan over medium high heat. Cook and stir, breaking up tomatoes, for 10 minutes.
Lay 1 flour tortilla in a lightly greased 8×8 inch baking dish. Layer with one half of the beans, green chilies, rice, salsa, soy mixture, and 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients, beginning with the flour tortilla, and top with remaining 1 1/2 cups Cheddar cheese.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
About Recipe submitted by Barbara T.
View on the Key Ingredient website

Day 1

Thursday was the official kickoff of the venture. I'm pleased to report that I grocery shopped for 2 weeks and spent about what we normally spend. I had hoped to spend less, but it's apparently pretty freaking expensive to eat healthy. I'm still trying to figure out the breakfast thing. I'm not good in the mornings at all. I actually hate the morning and find myself scrambling around for food (no pun intended).

So, every morning this week I've had a Morning Star Farms veggie sausage biscuit. I love those, but I need to find some alternatives quickly before I get bored. I'm working on some things this weekend, but I'd love ideas for quick and easy.

Yesterday I sat here...

and ate an egg salad sandwich with tomatoes and onions from my favorite bakery, Waialua Bakery. They have a Pesto Turkey Special that I will miss very much, but alas their egg salad is pretty rocking.

I had awesome plans of coming home last night and making Lima Bean Parmesan, a recipe given to me by a friend, but Foodland did not have limas and I had moved onto plan B in my head. Around the time I was headed into the kitchen to cook, a friend of mine came over with beer and sushi and I ended up eating that for dinner. After I put Eve to bed, I decided I was still snacky hungry and I made some edamame. I let Eve get up to try some and she LOVED it. She stood with me in the kitchen and ate half the bowl. Who would have ever thought?!

The Metamorphosis

I grew up in the South. When you sit down to eat, something has died. It's just the the way of it. We are some meat and potato loving people. In our household growing up, my parents would usually have one vegetarian meal a year that consisted of fried squash, fried okra, and corn on the cob. It would piss my carnivorous brother off and he would go to the fridge and grab either some leftover meat or lunch meat and eat that with his dinner. It wasn't my favorite until many years later. I'd give my left arm to have that meal in front of me right this very second.

When I got married, Christropher was a vegetarian following a bout of kidney stones. It didn't last long because he was the cook and he got tired of preparing multiple meals (an event that I think only occurred a handful of times, mind you). Anyway, we continued our meat loving ways for years. In 2007 (ish), I read and watched Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me. I was horrified by both and went off McDonald's for a good solid month. Fast Food Nation did more than get me off fast food for a month though, it laid the groundwork for this. I also weighed 180lbs give or take (and I'm 5'4").

I've wanted to watch Food, Inc. for a long time, but I've been really busy in grad school for the last year and I just had not gotten around to it. A few weeks ago, I bought the book at Borders and I read part of the 1st interview with Eric Schlosser, who also wrote Fast Food Nation. I've also been watching Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver and I'm horrified over how we feed our kids, but I'll get to that in time. Last weekend, I was laying around the house because we've had nothing but rain for weeks and I finally figured out how to watch Netflix movies on the Wii. Food, Inc. was one of the free movies and I watched it in absolute disgust.

I'm in the middle of making a lot of life changes right now. Three years ago, I moved to Hawaii. I lost 55lbs and pretty much eliminated all fried food from my diet. I am currently in grad school for my MSW. I'm in the process of getting a divorce (although we still live together and get along really well these days). I'm moving into another phase of my life. I won't go on and on about how gross the movies were and the books I've read that have lead to this point. You all know that it's out there and if you want the details, educate yourself. This blog is going to be about my personal transformation from Southern Girl Carnivore to Vegetarian. I plan to post recipes with pictures and discuss the process. I want to talk about healthy food practices, Eve's (my daughter) responses to our food choices and life style transformation, provide recipe feedback and ease of preparation, product reviews, and overall changes in my body and how I feel.

I planned our next two week's worth of dinners this morning with Christropher's help. We've decided that fish is still ok. I'm sure it's actually not as ok as I think it is and I know some about the overfishing and such, but none of the movies and books I've seen have discussed the gross factor in fish eating just yet. It's not processed, so I feel like what I'm eating is pretty pure in that regard. I am pleased that out of the 13 meals we planned, only 5 have fish.

Stay tuned for updates, feel free to comment and offer recipe ideas, and I hope you enjoy reading about the journey!