Taking a break

Life has been pretty manic lately and I'm having less and less time to cook, read, blog, basically do the things I really enjoy. I'm taking a blogging break (I know some of you may be thinking that I don't blog all that much anyway, so a break isn't anything new). But it's been a slippery slope down into insanely busy, no time for anything land. I hope to return to the normal land of the living soon.

Thank you for reading,
Susan

p.s. Notice that I didn't say there is no time for drinking. There is always time for wine :)

Apple Picking and Baking

The Husband and I were apple picking over the weekend. It's a fall tradition for us and he always appreciates the amount of baked goods that apple picking allows us to have in the house. What he doesn't appreciate is the amount of crazy parents and children that we have to contend with in order to get these fresh apples so we are in and out of the orchard pretty quickly.

The first of the baking experiments was homemade applesauce. I save my jam jars so that I can make the applesauce look more authentic. What's great about this recipe is that you just put your apples (six) into a pot with butter, cinnamon, brandy, brown sugar and just let it cook down. Any leftover bigger chunks can be mashed with a potato masher.

Next was the apple pie. I'd never actually made apple pie before and I'm not interested in making pastry from scratch so my good pal Tenderflake helped me out with this project. Other than peeling and slicing the apples, this was a really easy recipe... just add brown sugar, cinnamon, brandy, lemon juice and butter. Egg wash the top of the pie to make it shiny and you've got this:

Ordinary products into extraordinary

I am all about quick, delicious and sometimes healthy meals. I work and go to the gym every day and I also don't want to eat at 9 p.m. every evening. Because of this, i've had to learn how to take normal convenient products from the grocery and turn them into amazing dishes with an almost 100% homemade feel.

Last night's dinner? Whole wheat rotini in alfredo sauce served with breaded pork tenderloin medallions. Sounds kind of boring when you just write it out like that... like I could have just poured sauce over noodles and shake n baked a pork loin. That's not what I did.

My alfredo sauce from a jar (Classico is my fave brand) became uber alfredo sauce when I crushed two cloves of garlic in it, then added a cup of freshly grated cheddar and parmesan cheese. I also added a bit of fresh cracked pepper.

My pork tenderloin? That was marinated in a piri piri sauce (PC brand bottle), honey and Franks Red Hot (I maybe do put that sh*t on everything), and then I breaded the outside of the meat with breadcrumbs and parmesan. Bake on 400 for 30 or so minutes to an internal temperature of 160ish and you're all good. THIS was delicious.

Not much I could do with whole wheat pasta but it's healthy so it gets a bye.

This entire dinner including the side salad I tossed together with balsamic took about 35 minutes (55 with the marinade but I don't count marinade time as I can do other things... like shower after the gym).

Changing the ordinary jarred sauces, plain jane products into special food is easy... just experiment. I haven't gone wrong yet. It also helps to arrange things really nicely on the plate. Just because a meal was quick to put together, doesn't mean you have to be thoughtless with how you arrange it. Make it pretty and it feels like it took much longer to prepare.

And if I had wine last night, I would have likely had a sauv blanc or something really fresh and crisp to cut the fat in the sauce/spice/richness of the pork. I took the night off though... which I always regret but my liver thanks me for.

Boneless Ribs... yes, boneless

I have become an Eat, Shrink and Be Merry addict. I PVR it and watch reruns at least twice a week. I take the recipes, modify them and try them out all the time. The fact that these women are making my favorite foods healthier makes me so happy and so hungry.

Here is my latest venture into the ES and BM world: Boneless Ribs

Now the actual recipe is right here and don't freak, although it looks long, it's really quite simple: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Main/Pork/recipe.html?dishID=8421

I made it even more simple with the following:

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin

1 cup one of your fave BBQ sauces

1 cup one of your other fave BBQ sauces

(I used honey smoked and maple smoked)

Directions

Put pork tenderloin between two large pieces of saran wrap and beat the f--k out of it until flat so it looks like actual rips. I used a rolling pin as my beater.

Marinade pork for as long as you have... I believe I had an hour.

Grill 5-6 minutes a side marinating the hell out of with the BBQ mixture the whole time. Take off heat, cover for a few minutes, then cut into strips that look like ribs. Slather again with BBQ.

I served with a baked potatoes (course salt and pepper rubbed on the outside) and corn on the cob. I salivate just thinking about this.

If you're in the mood, you can serve with a red wine as well... I would do an Aussie shiraz, a Primitivo, a Cali Zinfandel or whatever you like... Any wine that says it could be a BBQ wine is fine.

And P.S. don't let anyone tell you that ribs can't be boneless. Do you know what your comeback is? Regular ribs, although delicious, will make you fat. My boneless ribs are delicious and keep you thin. No contest.

30 day challenge... over

The 30 pounds in 30 day challenge is over and I lost about five pounds. I know that's a far cry from 30, but most of my clothing is too big now and my skinny jeans fit. That tells me that I lost five pounds but my body composition has drastically changed. I'm happy. So that's that.

I'm keeping on with the diet and exercise, but being a bit more lenient (like tonight I had a small piece of ice cream cake after dinner courtesy of a new friend who makes homemade ice cream cakes).

I've been cooking a lot lately and recently mastered my version of Huevos Rancheros. I know this might not be a foreign concept, but I hadn't had it until recently at my local haunt, Dr. Generosity. We were there for brunch and normally, I would have the eggs benny because I think hollindaise sauce is like edible gold... but decided to try the HR. It came and was a huge tortilla, chili, poached eggs, salsa, sour cream, cheese and definitely one of my top five meals ever.

The Husband looked over at this and had immediate food envy. I knew that I had to recreate this. I whipped up a pot of my Mom's chili over the weekend. The recipe is a huge mess which I can't even begin to put down on paper, much less post on this blog, but it's meaty chili goodness.

So this is how I put it together:

My Huevos Rancheros

1. place a warm tortilla on plate

2. put about a cup/cup and a half of chili on the plate

3. shred a bit of cheese over the hot chili

4. add some hot sauce if you like it spicy

5. place one egg over easy on top of the chili (you could do two depending on how big the plate is)

6. shred more cheese on the egg

7. more sprinkles of hot sauce

8. sour cream on the side

It's decadent and delicious and if I'd had fresh tortilla chips I probably would have put them on the side as well.

Try it out if you like this sort of thing... It is comfort food to the core.

Chicken Pot Pie

I was watching Eat, Shrink and Be Merry this week (I PVR it twice a week because this is one of my fave cooking shows) and they were remaking chicken pot pie. If you don't know the premise of the show, they take really fatty dishes and make them into healthy, amazingly tasty options.

This got me craving chicken pot pie... and not the frozen store bought version that could probably give me a heart attack simply by ingesting, I was craving the good stuff... like I saw on TV.

Hence, I modified the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry recipe and had the most amazing chicken pot pie EVER. If you like chicken pot pie, have a go at this.

Semi-Healthy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients: Filling

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 cup diced onions (I actually pureed them because I hate hate hate onion chunks)

2 cloves minced garlic

2 cups frozen mixed veg, mine were peas, carrots, green beans and corn

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1 cup cream-style corn

1 cup 2% evaporated milk

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup packed grated light Swiss cheese

1 large rotisserie chicken, meat cut into chunks (light and dark meat)--I actually got the "herb roasted chicken" flavour... look for this one as it's awesome. I used my hands to strip the chicken too... you don't have to, but I found it effective.

Biscuit Topping

1 sheet puff pastry, rolled out and measured to more than cover your baking dish... mind looked very rustic

Directions: Filling

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place baking dish (I used one larger, probably a quart or two, dish and one smaller, 2 cup dish) baking sheet lined with foil and set aside.

To make filling, heat olive oil over medium-high heat in large non-stick pot. Add onions and garlic. Cook about 3 minutes. Stir in mixed veg and thyme. Cook 1 more minute. Add broth and corn and let mixture simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together evaporated milk and flour until smooth. Add to pot. Cook and stir until mixture thickens (and don't worry, it will thicken, just give it a few). Remove from heat. Add cheese and stir until cheese melts. Stir in cut-up chicken.

Fill baking dishes with warm chicken mixture and top with pre-measured puff pastry. Brush tops of pastry with a weeee bit of melted butter. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until filling bubbles and pastry tops are puffed up a golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving because this is super hot.

For wine, I had a reserve Syrah from Chile that I've been wanting to try... the peppery-ness of the Syrah was really nice with the herbed flavour of the pie, and the weight of the pie felt equitable with the body of the wine.

Less than one week left in the weight loss challenge

So what have I learned so far?

1. Eating healthy and fresh foods makes you crave eating more healthy and fresh foods.

2. Exercise begets more exercise begets more exercise and so on and so on

3. When the brown rice package says 1/4 cup rice = 170 calories, they mean uncooked and were just being idiotic by not putting that warning on the package. 1/4 cup brown rice cooked is actually like 60 cals. Seriously, who puts the nutritional value for uncooked food on the package? Like we really eat uncooked rice?

4. My body actually doesn't need a lot of food to feel great. I've cut portion sizes in half in the case of most of my meals and I feel satisfied.

5. Eating healthy does not mean eating boring. My meals are full of flavour, using fresh and healthy ingredients. I'm still practicing the "ritual" of eating... presentation, sitting down and enjoying every bite of my smaller portion. In some ways, I feel that my mealtimes are more luxurious now then before.

6. I can indulge every so often in wine, beer, vodka, etc... eat steak, chips, potatoes, cookies and STILL lose weight. Don't misunderstand, I won't lose much by doing this twice a week, but with discipline and lots of exercise during the weekdays, I can indulge on the weekends.

7. Wine, steak, cookies, etc all taste incredible when you consume them slowly, thinking about what you're putting in your body and the different flavours that make up the food.

That's it so far.

I've lost just over five pounds as of today but my body composition has drastically changed. My pants from four weeks ago no longer fit the way they used too and some don't fit at all. I'm in my skinny jeans (which happen to be skinny jeans) and have decided that even though this weight loss challenge ends in just under a week, I'm keeping on it. I feel as if I've made a sustainable life change. No, I won't be doing two/day workouts four days a week into perpetuity, but can I handle it at least two days a week with an additional four other days for regular workouts? Absolutely.