It's like Cream Cheese, only better for you...

Okay, I admit it... I've got Amanda started down the road of yogurt cheese. And, you know what... I'm not ashamed. It's good and it's good for you! In fact, you should use it the next time you make the sushi and see if it works better than the cream cheese.
This is how exciting yogurt cheese can be...

Yogurt Cheese with Pita and Olives

4 cup Whole Milk Yogurt
1 tsp Sesame Seeds
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Dried Summer Savory
1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/8 tsp Ground Cumin
2 tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Toasted Pita Bread
Triangles
Assorted Olives

Set strainer over large bowl. Line strainer with 4 layers of cheesecloth, allowing 4 inches to extend over sides of strainer (do not let strainer touch bottom of bowl). Hint: If you don't have cheesecloth on hand, use large coffee filter liners, e.g. Mr. Coffee filters. Spoon yogurt into strainer. If you are using cheesecloth, gather cheesecloth together; fold over yogurt. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight. Liquid will drain out and yogurt will thicken. Since I use coffee filters most of the time, I just invert a large plate on top of the strainer and refrigerate. Combine sesame seeds, salt, summer savory, cayenne and cumin in small bowl. Open cheesecloth up (or remove plate). Using a rubber spatula, transfer drained yogurt to a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over. Sprinkle with sesame seed mixture. Place bowl in center of platter; surround with pita bread triangles and olives.

Yogurt Cheese Spreads and Dips ideas...
*Stir in chopped dried apricots, raisins and pecans. Serve with warm muffins or toast.
*Stir in orange juice, minced shallots, tarragon and a pinch of grated orange peel. Serve as a sauce for poached fish.
*Stir in minced fresh spinach, fresh snipped dill, minced fresh parsley and toasted pine nuts. Spread on toasted bagels.
*Stir in minced garlic, minced fresh parsley and splash of lemon juice. Serve as a dip for raw vegetables or pita chips.

Use to replace sour cream or cream cheese! MMmmmm

Yogurt Cheese

I experimented today with Yogurt Cheese.

- drained just under a cup of Stonyfield Non-Fat Plain Yogurt all day
- added a splash of balsamic vinegar
- added a dash of cilantro (although parsley would have been better)
- added about a teaspoon of minced garlic.

Ate it with crackers. It was 1.5 points for the whole thing, which was quite alot and ate it with some yummy new crackers that Anna and I found. Garden Harvest Toasted Chips - Tomato Basil flavor. Those were 2 points. So a great low point snack.

Definitely bears some more experimenting.

May I have some more please? More! MOOOORE!

So I made this great porridge that is 4 pts per serving. Recipe to come. Lovely with veggies and/or meat. Also a mexicanoid casserole that in a 9 x9 dish makes 6 servings at 6 pts per. delish - however I was out of sour cream so that will add a bit once topped.

The best thing about the casserole was that I used raw brown rice in it (which is a pain to cook) and it cooked in the dish. I just loaded up the pan, threw it in the oven and 2 hours later - voila - dinner.

Finally, the grocery store!

I finally went to the grocery store, thanks Amanda! It's always much more fun when you can chat with someone while you're there!

Anyway, I made an awesome bento lunch today - probably too many points but I'll make up for it at dinner. The chicken, however, was just awesome.

For 1.5 lbs of chicken I made...

Asian Marinade
1/4 c Tamari (really good soy sauce)
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
1 Tblspn Enova
1/2 Tblspn seasame oil
1/2 Tblspn Sarashi
2 Scallions chopped
Red Pepper flakes (optional)

I only cooked up what I needed for two bentos (one for me, one for Tiste) and the rest is at home waiting for stir-fry for tonight! MMmmmmm

Bar food is hard...

...to diet out on.

But tasty.  So I don't know whether to feel bad that I used, like, half of my flex points for the week last night, or to be glad that I only used half.  Hah.

Here, let me tempt your taste buds:

- Steamed Little Neck Clams in white wine & garlic with a crusty baguette

- Panini Cuban with smoked pork, swiss cheese and pickles.

Sigh.

Gearing up

For a darn healthy weekend.  Please note my positive outlook and general excitement.  

I have no idea what I'm going to do to make this weekend so fabulous, but I'm going to do it.  I've got a weekend of sorting and sewing ahead of me, so I plan to stay in and eat well.  I've got some chicken thawing in the fridge, so things with that.  

Probably stir fry one day, baked one day (with my redskin potatoes!) and grilled one day with a yummy marinade.  I need to get to the grocery store to make this happen, so give me some good ideas!  Please!

All I need...

Is to make it to the freakin' grocery store! I can't cook without food in the house... Erk. And, well, it really hasn't helped that I've had a house guest for over a week. He leaves today though so Tiste and I will be home more starting Sunday. I just can't manage to be home to cook with all we have going on. It does make me the sad. I'm just watching what I order as best as possible.

Bleh.

You know you want it

Chocolate Fig Ice Cream.

That is all.

(I exercised restraint, I promise.)

maybe not

OK, well maybe I only drank 1 glass of water last night. But it was still better than nothing! :P
Trying to do better today. and not failing. completely.

blame

man, am I retaining water like freaking crazy!! Hoping to blame my hippopotamus shape on my monthly courses. Bleh.I vow to drink a gallon of water tonight and eat vegetables the rest of the week. OK, maybe only 1/2 gallon tonight. I do want to sleep tonight instead of spending a few hours peeing in the bathroom.I'll check in to tell you how my cleansing regimine is going.

Fruity cereal craving

Do you have those times when you know when you just have to have something so over the top sweet that you think only children's breakfast cereal will suffice?

Found a great replacement.
1/2 c Almond Special K
1 6oz container of your favorite low fat or fat free fruit yogurt
1 c or 1 item of your fav soft fruit

I used raspberry yogurt and a fresh peach.

Fantabulous! It was all the fresh and sweet and crunchy I could crave without all the corn syrup ickiness that I hate.

Possible future combinations to include.
Fruit Yogurt
Banana Cherry
Pear Lemon
Cherry Chocolate or coffee
Kiwi Peach

Maybe something with steamed pumpkin and vanilla yogurt?

We shall see.

Sushi nummy treat

Tonight, after reorganizing most of the house this past week and mainly this weekend, we treated our selves to home grown sushi. And it only took 3 trips to the store of "Crap we're out of...XX".

I made a build your own sushi tray of the following ingredients.

Salmon fillet seared in a mix of 1tsp plum sauce, 1tsp Chinese hot mustard and 1 tbsp soy.
Chicken bits in 1tbsp soy, 1tbsp sesame oil and 1 tsp cane sugar.
Zucchini in lime and garlic. (spritz of lime and a dash of garlic - like I measure anything)
Steamed carrots and green beans - plain
Smoked salmon
Cream cheese (we used neufchatel instead)
Crab sticks
Avocado

I think that is it aside from wasabi, ginger and soy.

It was loverly!! And we watched Iron Monkey while we ate. Great movie, but stay away from subtitled flicks when you have to look at your plate a lot. Glad I've already seen it a brazillion times.

heeheehee.... brazillion.

So tired

So after another great weekend of fun visitors I'm completely wiped out. Tired and not entirely sure how well I did on my diet.

Great news though, made sushi again last night (I'm getting some sort of reputation) and it was great! Kelly and Laura convinced me to try new things. We had real raw tuna and flying fish roe on the rolls. Wow!

And don't tell the girls who had to miss it, but the Greek chocolate and fig ice cream was really great!! I only had a half of a serving though. Trying to be good.

Surprise!

I hosted a surprise birthday party for my friend Rain last night and did most (almost all) of the food for the party. I know most people - especially her boyfriend and her boyfriend's friends - are just fine and dandy happy with pizza. Can we all say - bleh! Parties are a time to cook fabulous food and there's no reason to get that greasy stuff everywhere.

(Not that I don't like pizza, I do. But, I totally admit I'm a food snob too.)

Anyway, for 12ish people I made...

21 drumsticks in an Asian Marinade, which turned out fabulous
3 zucchini sautted with Enova oil, onions and crushed red pepper
1 lb of green beans with the citrus dressing I posted earlier this week
*Bought 1 lb of potato salad (for people who don't like all green veggies)
2 pkgs strawberries with the yogurt drained & Spenda brown sugar added.
There were also 3 bags of chips, salsa and peanuts.
Oh, and her boyfriend bought a cake...

My veggies were actually 99% gone by the end of the night and the potato salad was only half eaten. The chicken disappeared quickly too and we only had 4 pieces left at the end of the night.
Everyone complimented the food and ask for the citrus recipe for the green beans! :)
And, the yogurt - someone told me that it was so good, he thought it was the "store bought stuff". (hee, hee)

Goes to show you can put good food in front of people and they'll love it! With a bit of help from Amanda, my friend deven and myself in the kitchen... I planned the menu yesterday afternoon, bought the ingredients at 5pm, started prep at 6pm and finished everything right at 7:15pm.

I was sooo pleased!

Sweet Blueberries

While I was at the farm I picked (okay, fine - my mom picked them for me) some blueberries. I had recently seen the post from the Pioneer Woman about the yummy yogurt/brown sugar/blueberry dessert. So, my mother and I lightened it up and made it. It was SOOOooo good.

I have 3 cups of blueberries that I've been eating off and on since I got home. So, today in my bento I did a super quick version of that dessert. :)

===
2 Tblspn Blueberries - 0 points
1 Tblspn Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt - 0 points
1/2 tsp Splenda Brown Sugar - 0 points
===

It's not a lot but fits perfect into a silicone muffin cup and will be a sweet treat at lunchtime. And, best of all - NO POINTS!

Insanity

Can I blame EXTREME mood swings and general craziness on my diet?  Please?  I promise I haven't taken actual leave of my senses.  It's temporary.

Back On Track

Not that I really jumped off track. I just wasn't able to log everything.

I mostly ate veggies while I was home. There's nothing better than heirloom organic tomatoes, home grown green beans, fresh zucchini, fresh blueberries and organic free-range chicken. Mmm.

I made a zesty dressing for the green beans too...

1/4 tsp lime zest
juice of 1 lime
1/4 tsp lemon zest
juice of 1 lemon
1 TableSpoon *really* good Olive Oil
1/4 c. chopped shallot
1/4 tsp oregano
& as much fresh basil as you want (I did 6 leaves julienned)

Blanch your green (or wax) beans to desired crispness, drain and toss with the dressing.
Make enough beans to serve 4.

I served it at room temp and it was very refreshing! Mmm.

Hump day, sans humping.

Okee-doke. I 'm checking out the Hungry Girl site (to the left on the menu bar there).  It's pretty awesome so far and I'm only on the second page!  I'm going to make the smoothie to wow my guests this weekend (I think) and I'm entranced by the Philly Cheese Steak.  

Last night I did a totally low fat low cal soup.  Kind of Japanese I guess.  It's just:

4 Cups Water

2 Tsp Dashi Stock (powder)

1 Tbsp Fish Sauce

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce

Cabbage - sliced into strips

Kamaboku

Fish Balls

- boil and eat.

Yum!

So since dinner was so low point (like 3 points for the whole pot) I treated myself to a DQ cone.  Go me!

I'm thinking hard about hitting the grocery store tonight to find something that excites me.  Hey, Jes is gone, I need all the excitement I can manufacture solo.

Turkey pie

We didn't end up doing this for dinner the night I posted as I went with Jen and Madi to the mall for a while. Not conducive to having the oven on.

I made it last night and well, lesson learned on turnips. They take a lot less liquid to mash. I ended up adding in some instant potatoes to thicken a bit. To make up for this I halved the mushroom soup which was the big pointer in the recipe and I'm considering it a fair exchange. It was lovely. Peppery, garlicky, and a lot lighter in flavor than the beef or lamb versions. Generally an all around hit.

add this site to list

check out this website during your electronic travels in search of healthy indulgences. http://www.hungry-girl.com/ I've just found it and definitely looks like it's worth looking through for interesting ideas.