Lots of Taste

Sunday March 6th

2011-03-06T18:31:00.000+02:00

Sorry I didn't post for a couple of days, I was sick with a stomach virus on Thursday and Friday. I will spare you the ghastly details, just that they were ghastly.
Yesterday evening I went to a party, and you'll be proud, I only had salads, and the cakes looked amazing and yum!

Today I went to weigh in and guess what! 68.8 kilos! I lost 1.600 kilos in 2 weeks. And that was after I 'porked' out on pasta last week, imagine if I hadn't (although I didn't eat much on Thursday and Friday). So I lost 2.600 since I started my diet 6 weeks ago. That is almost as much as my son was born (2.657)...

Just a little graph.

I made Minestrone soup on Thursday, a little different than before, I didn't measure out the veggies, just stuck in according to taste. I added cabbage too, which is in the original recipe.
I didn't taste it yet, but Hubby said it was good. Tonight I'll be the judge of that.

Today I made Shepherd's Pie, my way. It came out pretty good, and totally carb-free!

SHEPHERD'S PIE

- 2 large onions
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 small yellow bellpeppers
- 2 tomatoes
- 500 g (1lb) ground turkey
- dry white wine
- taco seasoning (I mix my own)
- 1 butternut squash

* Dice onions and garlic and saute in some oil. Add peppers and tomatoes and cook a little. Add taco seasoning and ground turkey and wine. Cook until done.
* In separate pot, cook butternut squash that has been cut up in chunks until soft. Drain and mash. You can add some chili sauce to this.
* Put ground meat in bottom pan, cover with mashed butternut squash, and bake in oven on 175C/350F for 30 minutes until browned and bubbly.

March 1st and 2nd

2011-03-02T17:29:00.001+02:00

Didn't have time to blog yesterday, sorry. I did have something to blog about. I made meatloaf from Enlitened Kosher Cooking and it came out good! I know that's a surprise, it was for me too...

MEATLOAF

Sauce:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 onions, diced (she said 1 large leek, 1 small onion)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 oz of tomato sauce (I measured out 3 oz of tomato paste and 3 oz of water weight wise - don't know if that's correct but whatever)
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1/2 cup water - the recipe states to put in 1/2 tbsp meat-flavored soup powder, I didn't have any, so I put in spices: garlic, a teensy bit of cumin, paprika and salt)
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp flour

* Saute onions and garlic until browned. Add other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes. Stir frequently.

Meatloaf:
- 1 lb (500 g) ground turkey
- 1 tbsp flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup zucchini, peeled and thinly shredded, and drained.
- 1/4 cup sauce

* Mix meatloaf ingredients well. Add flour if needed. I have to add I needed more flour. It was very sticky. What might be a good solution that I forgot about: the meatballs on the previous page don't have breadcrumbs, but you put them in the fridge 20 minutes. That helps shape it a bit. I'll have to remember that next time.
* Put into 2 loaf pans, pour a little sauce on top and bake at 350F/175C for at least an hour. I thought it wasn't ready so I put in a bit longer, but that has to do with my personal quirks, that my chicken and turkey need to be cooked very thoroughly...
* You serve it with the rest of the sauce.

The picture is a bit weird, Hubby was holding it up for me to take a picture before he dug in.

Today I made Italian pinwheel rolls, they smell like heaven! The recipe was really easy too, although it seems intimidating.

ITALIAN PINWHEEL ROLLS

Original recipe here. My modification:

- 1 cup warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees)
- 2 teaspoons date syrup
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup white flour
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
* I put all this in the breadmachine and put it on the dough-cycle (#8 on a Morphy Richards)
When it was done I divided the dough into 2, shaped both into flat rectangles, spread on soft white cheese, sprinkled some garlic powder and oregano, and rolled it up. With a knife I cut slices out of the roll, put them cut side up in a baking dish and let them rise 30 minutes.
* Bake in an oven warmed to 175C/350F for 25-30 minutes until brown.

Just look at those boys! I can't wait to taste them!

Saturday February 26th

2011-02-27T00:40:00.000+02:00

Today was pretty good. Yesterday I had too much ice-cream cake. But it was delicious and my birthday, so maybe I can get away with it. I am allowed dessert on Shabbat.
Today I had a small cinnamon roll, okay I had 1 and a 1/2. But they didn't taste that sweet, my neighbor made them last week and I especially saved it in the freezer for Shabbat.

Tonight I made Pasta Pronto, it's one of the first things I ever cooked. It's also one of the first recipes in my collection, that at that point was torn out from either Good Housekeeping or Woman's Day. We're going back about 7 years!
The recipe is basically: Saute some peppers and sausage, add marinara sauce and wine and pour it over pasta. Usually I use sliced hotdogs, but they're not on my diet, and I didn't want to make it 'meaty' in any case (Jewish dietary laws and all).

I sauteed onions and garlic, diced in some oil. Then I added bellpeppers (red and light green) and sauteed a bit more. I added spices: oregano, basil, thyme, bay leaf, paprika. Then tomato paste and water and dry red wine. I let it simmer for a pretty long time. Then I cooked pasta the regular way and now I just need to put it together. And we have lunch for tomorrow. I can't eat too much of it, so I'll have it for a few days and my hubby can have too.

I crocheted 2 more squares, one a regular granny square (I did it while watching the Big Bang Theory, no pattern) and one has a butterfly. I made up the pattern so it's a bit wonky, and it reminds me of a van Gogh, and I don't even like his art, I am more of a Rembrandt girl.
Pictures tomorrow.

Have a good night!

Friday February 25th

2011-02-25T15:35:00.000+02:00

First of all today is my birthday! I am turning 2....1 again (why not). And birthday means cake. My mom already made some for tonight. And my sister made cookies for the cookie-contest. Oh dear.

Anyway, today I made chili. I want to cook at least 1 thing everyday from my list, better even 2.

The chili was delicious. I posted the recipe the first day of my diet.
And here is a picture:

I ate this for lunch, it is really filling on it's own, although it's probably healthier to eat it with a salad. Almost no carbs! on Fridays I try to save some carbs for the evening meal, which has fancy food and salads and stuff.

For breakfast I had branflakes, and my mid-morning snack was a yogurt.

I also started to crochet granny squares, I want to make a huge blanket:

Higland Rose (that's what they called it)

Peekaboo Shell

Granny Spiral

I wonder how long this project is going to take.

Have a great weekend!

Couldn't post yesterday - February 23rd

2011-02-24T11:11:00.000+02:00

I spilled some water on my keyboard yesterday, so I couldn't post because it had to dry out.

Yesterday was fine, I ate a bit too much carbs. I'll try to exercise extra today instead. What can I do? The orzo with Creole sauce was just delicious.

I made carb-free cabbage soup. The recipe seems similar to the Cabbage-Soup-Diet recipe, which is a very bad diet, because it's basically a crash-diet. But if you eat it with a balanced meal then it should be okay.

So here goes:

CROCK-POT CABBAGE SOUP (from Enlitened Kosher Cooking)

- 1/2 medium cabbage, cut up
- 2 zucchinis, peeled and diced
- 1 onion (my addition)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp dried basil
- some salt, pepper and sweet paprika to taste (the paprika I added)
- 1 cup tomato juice
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 carrot, diced
- 3-4 cups water

* Mix everything in a crock-pot and and cook on low 8-10 hours, or on high 4-5 hours.

The house smelled great although the taste could have been better.

I have no picture, I was about to take one when the camera told me the batteries were done. Maybe next time!

Tuesday February 22nd

2011-02-23T00:37:00.000+02:00

Yesterday and today I felt so thin! Just knowing I lost a kilo makes me feel thin. It was worth going up to my friend in the wind and rain!
I finally bought the stuff I need to make serious amounts of food. My poor hubby said the whole time: 'Are you sure we need that many?'. I told him I made a count of exactly how many tomatoes I need for each dish. We also bought some salami for extra treat. And I found a bread that I can have 3 slices, not just 1! I'm having some with peanut butter right now.

I'm making salsa now. I really love it, it has no carbs, sugar, or fat, and I love how fresh it tastes!
The recipe is my own, it is very mild. It can be found on the blog here, but I'll put a short version right on this page:

SALSA

- 1 kilo tomatoes, quartered (2.2 lbs)
- 2 red bell peppers, cut in strips
- 1 onion, cut in chunks
- 3 large garlic cloves
- salt to taste
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

* Mix veggies in a big baking dish. Bake at 200C/400F for 40 minutes. Let cool.
* Once cooled, add salt and cilantro, blend in a blender, but not too smooth.
Of course you can add or leave out cilantro and salt, and add veggies. I once used 1 small hot pepper. It burned my hands the whole night (serious agony), and you didn't even taste the difference!

Sunday February 20th

2011-02-20T22:20:00.000+02:00

Went to weigh myself again this morning: 70.4! I lost 1 kilo! I guess that's good, because Friday I felt very fat, but Saturday I felt thinner, and I fitted better into my skirt. So I'm going down, great!
I didn't go shopping today, because I remembered just in time that on Sunday there are no fresh veggies. So I dropped MK off at the playgroup and went to my nutritionist friend and we hung out in her house.
Today I didn't really eat anything interesting, some rice-cakes, some crackers, some bread, all according to the allowed amounts.

Saturday February 19th

2011-02-19T21:27:00.001+02:00

Today I had my first peanut butter jelly sandwich (okay, I had one in 2002 when I was in the US, but that one I barely remember). Of course the peanut butter was sugar-free, and the 'jelly' was sugar-free blueberry jam. I have to say it was pretty good! I might eat this more often... I never thought this moment would come...
I also made a vegetarian stew:

I sauteed cubed onions and minced garlic. Then I added cubed red bellpepper, sliced carrot (thick slices) and cubed butternut squash, and a can of white beans. Spices were: sweet paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, a little bit of hot paprika. I think that's it. I put it on the hotplate Friday afternoon, and it was all cooked Saturday morning. We ate at about 12:00. I would have put it in the crockpot, but it wasn't that much so I preferred a small pot.

Follow-up on the cookies: I did dip some of them in melted chocolate. Hubby tasted them and said it didn't taste that good, so I flattened them a bit and baked them. The ones covered in chocolate got a very interesting look to them. I don't think they won the contest though...
But maybe next I'll make stained glass cookies:

Isn't that gorgeous. This image I randomly pulled of Google. Here's more.

I made a huge shopping list for tomorrow:

- 3 sweet potatoes
- 14 onions
- 4 tomato paste
- 13 peppers
- 1 dry white wine
- 2 white cheese
- 8 zucchinis
- 1 cottage cheese
- 3 cans of beans
- 1 kilo of tomatoes + 7 tomatoes
- 1 bottle of soy sauce
- 1 butternut squash
- 2 small cabbages
- 1 pkg of dried dates
- 1 pkg of dried apricots
- 1 pkg golden raisins
- 2 pkg ground turkey or chicken
- 1 celery
- 2 eshed (a kind of yogurt)
- 2 sour cream
- 1 bag of tealights
- 1 bottle of sweet chili sauce
- diapers

What do you think? How am I going to take it all home? I really don't know...

Thursday February 17th

2011-02-18T00:07:00.000+02:00

Also today I have nothing interesting to report. I didn't cook today. But at least I got good exercise: I set up (most of) the house. And I have pictures to prove it. Also I put away laundry: 1 or 2 items at a time. Every item to put away from one room to another: about 10 steps to and 10 steps from. So I guess that counts too. MK 'helped' with the laundry; he put took it off the bed where I put it, and put it into his crib. At least that got his focus off taking his clothes out of the drawer and into the washing machine. He's got some ideas, that one...

Okay so the kitchen didn't get that clean... And hubby did most of the dishes, the sweetheart...

Today I ate branflakes for breakfast, a yogurt later on. Mexican orzo for lunch again (hey, I just need to heat it up in the microwave), and 2 slices of whole-wheat with peanut butter for dinner. Very boring. I hope to cook food next week. This week was just a hard one.

I did make cookie-dough balls for my parents. We're eating by them Friday night and my mother told me they're having a cookie-contest... This is just cookie-dough, unbaked, although I plan to dip it in melted chocolate later on.
The recipe? Sure, why not: I got it off Allrecipes.com, the site I use most it seems...

1 cup butter, softened (I used margarine)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed (I used 1/2 demerara and 1 white sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, if desired (I didn't add these)

Directions

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in the vanilla, water, flour, chocolate chips, and walnuts, if desired, and mix until well blended. Roll dough into bite-sized balls (or use a small ice cream scoop). Place on a baking sheet and freeze until firm, about 2 hours. Store balls in resealable plastic bags in the freezer.

Monday February 16th

2011-02-16T21:05:00.000+02:00

Sorry I didn't post for a couple of days. I really had nothing new to write.

Right now I am eating oatmeal at 18:00. It is my afternoon snack, and I figured it would be more filling than 2 rice-cakes. It didn't come out as perfect as I'd have hoped.

For lunch I had Mexican Orzo and Pumpkin Soup. It was good.

Right now I am eating whole-wheat bread with cream cheese, fried egg and cucumbers.

I made a list of new foods to try:

- chicken in BBQ sauce
- pasta pronto
- baked macaroni
- baked fish
- vegetarian chili
- fried rice
- hawaiian chicken
- chicken lo-mein
- meatballs with cabbage
- lentil rice veggie bake
- salsa
- peanut butter noodles
- sweet and nutty couscous
- falafel balls
- little pizzas

What do you think?

Sunday February 13th

2011-02-14T16:46:00.001+02:00

And week 4 begins!
I didn't have time to post the delicious foods I made for Sabbath, so here they are.
I made:
Breakfast
A dip called Matbucha
Chicken Stir-Fry
Babaganoush (eggplant dip)
Tuna Patties
Vegetable Casserole.

For breakfast on Friday I had whole wheat bread with an omelet (I think, I don't really know how to make them) and cut up cucumbers and tomatoes. It was a real Israeli breakfast!

Then I made food for the evening meal which is fancy.

MATBUCHA

Basically a bunch of tomatoes peeled and cubed, mixed with cubed red bellpepper and minced garlic cloves, spices: salt, paprika, cumin. I used a lot of tomatoes, and it cooked on a small low flame for 3 hours. Just mix it every so often. This is a basic Sefardi dip, but almost everyone eats it.

BABAGANOUSH

This is not really healthy, but good nonetheless... Original recipe here, in Hebrew.

- 2 medium eggplants

- juice from 1/2 or 1 lemon

- 4 heaped tbsp mayonnaise

- 1-3 garlic cloves, mashed (I used garlic powder, because last time it was too strong)

- 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/3 tsp black pepper

* Roast eggplants in 200C/400F oven until soft. Turn over every so often. When done, cool. Peel and lets sit in a colander for 20 minutes to let juices run out.

* Mix with other ingredients and either mash in a food processor or with a hand-held blender. Hand-held blender is less cleanup afterward. Cool in the fridge and enjoy with bread or crackers.

Tuna Patties (recipe here)

CHICKEN STIR-FRY

Really easy!
Saute an onion in some oil. Add sliced sweet potatoes. The ones I had where very thin, so it sliced nicely. Fry.
Cut defrosted chicken breast in chunks, not too big. Add to veggies. Add a little sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, basil, curry and garlic powder to taste. Cook until chicken is completely done and sweet potato is soft. Enjoy!

Today I made fish for lunch. Again a recipe from the book Dining In, although I didn't follow it accurately at all.

FANCY FISH WITH HUNGARIAN LETCHO

- 1 small onion
- 1 red bellpepper
- 1 small tomato
- 1 fillet of tilapia fish, defrosted

* Put fish fillet in baking pan, sprinkle some salt.
* Slice onion, pepper and tomato in strips. Saute onion until golden, add pepper, when soft add tomato. Add garlic powder. Pour vegetables over fish and bake 20 minutes in 350F/175C oven until fish is done. Eat with couscous.
The fish and couscous in the picture were shared by hubby and me.

To my readers!

2011-02-11T12:07:00.000+02:00

To my (potential) readers,

I have been recording everything I eat every day for almost 2 weeks now. Personally I am boring myself to tears, so I want to ask you: what do you want to read? What tips can you give me to get this blog read?
Should I just post a picture of everything I eat, and if it is interesting I'll write a recipe? Make sure I cook once a day and write about that? I would like to have you participate as well, if you made some food because of my blog, write me a letter or send me a picture:
chavmal (at) yahoo (dot) com

Hope to hear from you people out there!

CM

Day 18: Wednesday February 9th

2011-02-10T01:45:00.004+02:00

Today was errand-day, I went up to the top of the town where I live (it's on a mountain, all the interesting stores and stuff are up, I love all the way on the bottom), to the municipality for building permit related matters. Then I made my way down with my neighbor and out kids, and visited various stores. It was pretty fun!

I made some interesting food today: more jam, pear and apple this time. It came out more chunky and not 'jammy', but tasty and the house smelled great.

APPLE-PEAR JAM

- 3 apples, in chunks
- 4 pears, in chunks
- apple juice concentrate, cinnamon, tiny bit of ground cloves and some vanilla.

* Put everything in the bread machine on the jam-cycle.

If someone has an idea to make it more jam-like I am open to suggestions!

Before and after:

I also made Onion Crescents:

SAVORY ONION CRESCENTS

- 4 large onion, diced
- 4.5 tsp dry yeast
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup apple juice concentrate (original recipe: 1/2 cup sugar)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup oil (original recipe: 1 stick margarine)
- 4 cup flour (I used 2 whole-wheat, 2 white)
- 1 tsp salt

* Saute onions
* Dissolve yeast in water. Put all ingredients into mixer, adding salt and yeast last. Mix until smooth/ let rise 1/2 hour. Roll dough into 3 circles, about 8 to 9 inches in diameter, maing sure dough isn't too thin.
* Slice each circle into 8 triangles, pizza-style. Sprinkle onions onto each triangle. Roll up triangles from the wide end. Place onto a cookie sheet. Let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 400F/200C for 15 minutes.

I kneaded it by hand. The preparation was messy, but well worth it. The rolls smelled wonderful and taste very light and fluffy.
Note to Jewish readers: the rolls are Mezonos

Onion Crescents fresh from the oven!

update: I forgot to mention that the recipe for the onion crescents comes from the book Dining In.

Day 17: Tuesday February 8th

2011-02-09T00:04:00.001+02:00

10:46
Totally forgot to blog yesterday. Not that there was anything interesting to report, although I managed to control my carb-intake. I wasn't feeling well lunchtime, so I didn't eat. But I didn't cram in food afterward, so all's good.

I had an amazing dream: that I went to weigh myself and I lost 10 kilos! May it come true soon!

13:28
Had the regular breakfast and mid-morning snack: oatmeal, coffee, yogurt, and apple.
But for lunch I am going to have something special: Zucchini Parmesan! I got the recipe from the Spice and Spirit Kosher Cookbook.

14:22
Just had 2 slices of whole-wheat bread with some leftover marinara sauce and white cheese, and some salad (just cucumbers, tomatoes and a bit of onion chopped up) on the side.

The parmesan came out a bit (okay a lot) watery, but delicious nonetheless. My sauce was watery and I didn't add the breadcrumbs to cut carbs, but I guess they do soak up moisture.

ZUCCHINI PARMESAN

Zucchini layer:
- Thinly sliced zucchinis, 6 cups. (I only had about 5 cups, that also works)

* Cook in a small saucepan with some water until tender and crisp

Sauce: I made my own marinara sauce instead of using the one in the recipe, but they're similar.
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- basil, oregano, thyme, sweet paprika and salt to taste
- 1 can of tomato paste (570 grams, about 20 oz)
- some water
- a little bit of wine

* Saute onion and garlic in a bit of oil. When browned, add spices. Cook some more.
* Add tomato paste, water and wine. The sauce should be pretty thick.

Cheese layer:
- 1 container of cottage cheese
- 1 egg
- parsley

* Mix the cottage cheese, egg and parsley

TO ASSEMBLE:
* In an oven dish, put half the zucchini, sauce and cottage cheese mixture. Repeat layers. For added carbs: add 1/8 cup of breadcrumbs between zucchini and sauce.
* Bake at 350F/175C for 25-30 minutes.

23:59
Okay I am off to bed. Today was a bit messed up, I had 2 slices of white bread as afternoon snack, which is bad news. Luckily I went to my aerobics-sculpt class to work it off. And for dinner I just had more quiche.
MK learned more things today, like the word 'dirty', 'cheese' and to eat bread with cheese (that's how I ended up eating bread, I made him a few sandwiches and it just smelled so good and fresh!).

I also made jam in the bread machine, I made it out of oranges, tangerines and 1 lemon, and I sweetened it with apple concentrate. I didn't really like it, it was too bitter, hubby liked it though. I guess the pith added the yucky flavor, I just couldn't get it off. Maybe I'll try again soon with other fruits.

Good night!

Day 15: Sunday February 6th

2011-02-06T23:21:00.001+02:00

Today I went to weigh myself by the nutritionist. Guess how much I lost? No really, take a wild guess...

200 gram!

That is 0.440924 lb...

Almost nothing after 2 weeks!

Apparently my carbohydrate servings are too big... although I am allowed 5, and the meals have only 4.
I'll just try to exercise every day, and eat a little less. I love food, especially carbs :(

On the bright side I did hi-lo aerobics today, boy was it hard. You would think I would be more in shape, I am exercising for a good while now, at least once a week.

Today I didn't have interesting food, I had a bowl of lentil soup. My hubby is making me quiche now. The dear!

HUBBY'S VEGGIE QUICHE

The ingredients are pretty versatile. Sometimes he cuts them small and fries them, sometimes he grates them and doesn't fry, you can add potatoes too.
- 1 eggplant
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion
- 2 small zucchini
- a bit of soy sauce
- oregano, cumin, black pepper, garlic powder, grill chicken spice

* Either cut or grate veggies, mix them in a bowl with spices and soy sauce. Bake on 175C/350F for 35-40 minutes.

Great Moussaka!

2011-02-05T23:41:00.001+02:00

Hi again!
I didn't make a ton of stuff for Sabbath as I usually do, because it was cold and rainy and that always affects my mood. I just didn't feel like it. But I did make moussaka for Friday night. It came out so delicious that I finished it all tonight!

The recipe is from about.com kosher food. I didn't make the white sauce though, it was too intimidating. I also left out the cinnamon (remember what happened with the rainbow soup?) and added some spices on top with the tomatoes.

KOSHER MOUSSAKA (slightly modified)

- 1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled or unpeeled, cut into slices (I thought the ones I did were a bit thick, but that is just personal preference)
- salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 pound ground beef/turkey/chicken
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons red wine (or more, :) )
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tomatoes, evenly cut into 1/2-inch slices
- a bit of breadcrumbs
- garlic powder, sweet paprika

* Place the eggplant slices on a piece of paper towel. Sprinkle with salt. Top with a piece of paper towel. Place a pan or other weight on top. Leave for 20 minutes. This salting will draw out the bitterness of the eggplant and the salt will be drawn out with it.
* Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onion. Saute for 4-5 minutes until beginning to soften. Add the ground beef, breaking it up with a fork. Saute for 15 minutes. Add the tomato paste, wine, tomato sauce, parsley, oregano, cinnamon, and garlic powder. Simmer for 15 minutes, until the mixture is almost dry.
* Lay half of the eggplant slices in the bottom of the prepared pan. Pour most the meat mixture over the eggplant. Top with remaining eggplant slices. Press down to compact. Add rest of meat mixture. Arrange the tomato slices over the top. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, garlic powder and sweet paprika
* Cover loosely with foil and bake 1 hour. Uncover and cook for 10 minutes longer until golden brown and bubbling around the edges.

Enjoy!

Not a great picture... Oh well.

Good night!

Day 12: Thursday Feb 3rd

2011-02-03T13:26:00.025+02:00

12:31
Hello again. Today I am pretty tired, I woke up early (okay, 8:20, but I went to bed after 1:00) to set up the house for the playgroup, as it was my turn. It wasn't even that bad! The kids fought a bit about a car, and one fell off it, but except for that we were good.
I am working on my Purim costume, it is 1.5 months away but I have a lot to do, as the costume is very elaborate. I will post pictures after Purim, because I want to keep the costume a surprise. Hubby and I are going to be matching, that's all I'm going to say. Maybe MK will join in too.

15:06
Had a wonderful lunch of pita with the sweet potato burrito filling, I froze it, it comes out great! Just reheat it in the oven.

20:23
I kind of fell today... Had some French fries. Just a few, and they were baked in the oven, although still oily. I was by my parents and really hungry, and they were all eating. I'm going to exercise tonight to burn it off, and lets hope it doesn't happen again.

23:16
Just had a very good dinner. I wanted to spoil myself. I had another pita, and inside I had scrambled egg (spiced with taco seasoning and a little bit of basil) and I sliced a cucumber and a few cherry tomatoes. I also had some butternut squash apple soup. It was a really good dinner.

I wonder what I'll make for Shabbat.

I did only a bit of exercise, it's called Sculpt by Shelley McDonald, but it is after midnight and I'm tired. At least a little bit. Tomorrow it's Friday so I don't know if I'll have time, but I hope so!

Good night!

Day 11: Febuary 2nd

2011-02-03T01:08:00.002+02:00

00:05
Today was kinda boring. I rolled out of bed to bring MK to the playgroup. Luckily it was it was the front door right next to mine, so I didn't have to get dressed. Then I read a bit with a cup of coffee, it was great. I got so caught up in it I forgot to eat breakfast, and then ate it when I was so hungry I wanted to faint. I just had a bowl of branflakes. Later on in the day I had a pear.
For lunch I had 2 slices of whole-wheat bread with peanut butter.
I went to my parents, that was fun. I ate 2.5 rice cakes.
Sorry this is so boring, MK was a bit annoying today, he didn't take an afternoon nap and nagged quite a bit.
At least for dinner I had hubby's quiche, I really need to write down how he made it, but he is really tired right now. MK loved it too.
And I finished it off with another bowl of branflakes.

Are you asleep yet? I hope tomorrow will be more interesting. I have to cook for Shabbat, I'll blog about that...

Just a picture to make you laugh.
Good night!

Day 10: Tuesday Feb 1st

2011-02-01T14:53:00.033+02:00

14:09
Ah the smell of food in the air! My hubby and I are cooking, he is making vegetable quiche, and I am making sweet potato burritos! I love cooking together, it's so homey.
This morning I started off with coffee and oatmeal, delicious on a cold day like today.
I also had a pear and yogurt a little later on.

Right now I am about to have burritos, and I am starving. Get back to you soon!

14:50
The burritos were delish. Okay so they weren't technically burritos, I made the filling for these, and put it into a pita. Tortillas aren't available here as far as I know, and I was going to roll the filling into half a pita (sliced that you get 2 circles), but I didn't think it would roll so good so I just sliced a pita in half the normal way and put the filling inside. It was good! My hubby's quiche was also very good, I have to ask him exactly how he made it and I will post it here.

SWEET POTATO BURRITOS

- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 can of cooked white beans (about 2 cups I think, I didn't measure), drained
- 2/3 cup water
- spices: sweet paprika, cumin, hot paprika, mustard, soy sauce
- sweet potatoes

* Saute onion and garlic until soft. Add beans and mash. Add water and heat.
* Cook sweet potatoes in hot water until soft. Drain and mash.

I put a bit of both in half a pita, and just ate it. You're supposed to roll it in a tortilla with cheese and bake it. Maybe once I am off my diet I'll add the cheese, it sounds great!

22:51
Just had some more quiche (hubby made more, we ate the first batch.
My in-between meal consisted of whole-wheat crackers with some finely chopped veggies my husband fried up. Dinner was 3 slices of whole-wheat bread with sliced avocado (yum!).
Then more quiche.

MK enjoying some quiche.

Exercise: I walked up to a store to buy a gate for the pantry/laundry room (go figure, Israeli architecture. Apparently if the laundry room is next to bedrooms, the apartment was designed by a woman, if it's next to the kitchen, it is designed by a man). The only one they had was too complicated and expensive.
On the way home I stopped by the second-hand clothing shop. I found 4 scarves and a hat that I am going to "frog" - to pull apart to use the yarn for crocheting or knitting.

Have a good night!

Day 9: Monday Jan 31st

2011-02-01T01:01:00.001+02:00

00:08
Okay technically it's Tuesday already. Whatever.

Today was okay. Not too hard. MK went to a playgroup today which was great. I weighed myself at the nurses station today, but it wasn't the same scale, it was a very weird one. It also measures your height and it had that wrong, 2 cm below my height. I'm supposed to get thinner, not shorter. It didn't show any change in my weight at all. Then I found another one that told me I lost 300 gram. That is less than 1 lb :(

So I started the day on coffee and branflakes. I wasn't home to eat a yogurt and fruit, but when I came home I had some couscous and meatball soup. It was good.

Later I ate rice cakes with peanut butter. After that a pear, and some bread and leftover minestrone soup, which is yummy.

MINESTRONE SOUP

- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup diced zucchini
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 6 cups water*
- 5.5 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 sliced green beans
- 1/2 cup diced carrot
- 1/2 diced potato
- 1 tbsp freshly minced parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp basil
- 1 cup cooked white beans (I used white beans in tomato sauce, and washed off the sauce)

* Saute onion and celery, zucchini and garlic in some oil, until onion is translucent.
* Mix in water, tomato paste, green beans, carrot, potato, parsley, spices.
* Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer veggies until almost soft (approx 20 min). Stir in white beans. Simmer until veggies are tender, approx 10 minutes more.

* I used water because chicken broth would make it meaty, and then I can't have milk afterward (being Jewish and all). So I add some spices to give it extra taste. You can use vegetable stock also.

Goodnight!

Day 8: Sunday Jan 30th

2011-01-30T23:50:00.001+02:00

10:47
I was gonna go weigh myself today, but it's raining like mad, so maybe tomorrow.
Meanwhile I had a cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal

16:32

Having a steaming bowl of minestrone soup now... Just holding it feels great. It was raining a lot and I had laundry outside that fell on the floor, so I had to bring it in now. It's soaking wet and freezing! Boy that's good soup!

I ate a yogurt at around 12:30, and a pear. I love pears. We used to have them as a treat sometimes when I was a kid. My dad would cut them in quarters and peel them and give it out, good memories.

I also had some 'Mexican orzo', I posted about that a couple of days ago.

I'm going to have another bowl...

19:08

Having crackers with peanut butter for in-between snack.

23:46

I had whole-wheat bread with a scrambled egg. It was good. I also exercised for 20 minutes. I have these DVD's of The Caribbean Workout, it's really great. They're short and fun!

Nothing interesting today. See you all tomorrow!

Cooking Spree - Diet Food - Part 2

2011-01-30T11:17:00.001+02:00

CHICKEN

I don't know what to call this chicken, but whoever comes up with a cool name is invited to tell me about it!

- 1 onion
- 2 small beets
- 2 carrots
- chicken breast
- grilled chicken seasoning (sold in a jar here, I am sure there is a spice mix to be found somewhere)

* Slice the onions into rings, the carrots and beets into chunks. Put in a dish. Add chicken breasts and sprinkle with a lot of grilled chicken spice. Bake in 175C/350F oven until done, about 45 minutes
I am going to eat this tonight and I will tell you about it tomorrow.
Update: pretty good, but the beets and carrots weren't fully cooked. I recommend maybe boiling them in water first. MK loved the beets weirdly enough...

TUNA PATTIES

- 1 small can of tuna (170 g)
- a bit of onion, chopped finely
- 1 egg
- sweet chili sauce
- a bit of flour

* Mix all ingredients. Let sit in the fridge for a while. Heat some oil in a frying pan. Make patties from tuna mixture and fry 5 minutes on each side until brown.

PUMPKIN SOUP

Saute an onion. When it browns, add pumpkin chunks and sweet potato chunks. add water and spices to taste. Cook until it boils, and simmer until veggies are soft. Turn of flame and puree with a hand-blender.
I added too much water, so it became very watery. So be careful. I managed to thicken it with flour and water, but that adds carbohydrates.

You can see the steam coming off...

Cooking Spree - Diet Food - Part 1

2011-01-29T20:54:00.010+02:00

My hubby cooked a few thing for my diet and for Sabbath.
Here's a list:
* Veggie stir-fry
* Meatball soup
* Applesauce cookies
* Chicken
* Tuna patties
* Creole sauce
* Pumpkin soup

Recipes:

VEGGIE STIR-FRY

- sweet potato, chopped
- zucchini, chopped
- carrot, chopped
- onion, chopped
- soy sauce
- sweet chili sauce

* Saute the onion in some oil. Add the rest of the veggies. when they are mostly done, add sauces. Let sit on a very low flame until done.
* Make sure you add a little bit of oil, otherwise you taste it.

MEATBALL SOUP

- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 zucchini
- celery leaves
- 3 tomatoes
- tomato paste
- cumin
- salt
- paprika
- garlic cloves
- water

* Chop all veggies and put all ingredients in a pot. Let boil

Meatballs:
- 1 grated onion
- 500 gram (1 lb) ground meat
- 1 egg
- spices according to taste
- bread crumbs, not too much

* Mix the meatball ingredients. Let the mixture rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Shape small balls and drop them in the soup. Cook on a low flame until they are done.

APPLESAUCE COOKIES
I got these on-line, I don't remember where

- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tablespoons frozen concentrated apple juice, unsweetened
- 2 cups unbleached white flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 cups unsweetened granola

* In a mixing bowl beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, and apple juice concentrate. Add flour, baking powder, and spices. Beat well. Mix in granola. Drop batter by teaspoons onto oiled baking sheets.

Bake at 350°F for 7 to 10 minutes or until firm to the touch and bottoms are browned. Cool on wire racks.

Makers 4 dozen cookies.

Cooks Note: To prepare homemade, unsweetened granola, combine equal amounts of any of the following: rolled oats, chopped nuts, flaked coconut, finely chopped dried fruit, seeds.

This didn't make 4 dozen, but 30 cookies. I always get less than they promise. So annoying. As granola I used mostly rolled oats, some coconut, raisins and dates.
They came out pretty good, but not like chocolate chip cookies of course. Still, I remember my first attempt at applesauce cookies (I used applesauce instead of oil, not instead of sugar like this recipe). What a failure!

Day 5: Thursday Jan 27th

2011-01-27T21:56:00.001+02:00

21:50
Today wasn't easy, since we went to a party (a meeting where people eat).
In the morning I had a cup of chamomile-mint tea, because my throat was hurting. My breakfast was: 2 slices whole-wheat bread with white cheese and scrambled eggs. And the tea. I had an additional slice of bread because I was still hungry.
Later we all met at my SIL's house. We were going to the party from there (in another city to another SIL, the whole family went in a minibus). It was taking a while though so I pilfered a yogurt from her fridge. It was a very tart one and I didn't finish it.
At the party I was very good. I ate 3 slices of the whole-wheat bread (too much, I know, I am allowed to have 2) and some chicken. The potatoes looked delicious and there tons of cake, which MK ate instead of me.
I missed the snack between lunch and dinner, but it's okay. it makes up for all the bread. Once home I ate some tuna patties (a little bit of flour) and some stir-fried veggies. And I had coffee, of course. I don't know how I went so long without it!
I am signing off now, I have to post the cooking-spree recipes (and take pictures, oh no, I already ate the stir-fry and the tuna-patties! Oh well).
Good night!

Day 4: Wednesday Jan 26th

2011-01-27T00:29:00.004+02:00

11:35
Off to a late start today. We woke up a 10:00 and I had to go buy milk. So I left MK with the neighbor (we're starting this thing called 'round robin', where different mothers watch the kids every day of the week) and went to buy. My sister was the cashier so it took me a long time, although then my father came to buy coffee so we had fun all 3 of us.
Then I finally had a coffee, and was about to put my oatmeal in the microwave, when the neighbor brought MK back. We went back and forth a while and now we're home and I'm finally eating oatmeal!
Today I have to cook a lot, also ahead for the coming days. I feel like I have to cook all day with this diet. Now I do like to cook, but not all the time. Also most dishes are dirty, I have a hard time washing them because my hands are very dry from the winter, and I have cuts and stuff all over them so it hurts. I wish I could crawl back into bed.
At least I put on the step-counter, I forgot it yesterday. Lets see how many steps I do today...

13:15
I am having a 0% yogurt, and it's as gross as you can imagine. Sorry, I am in a very bad mood today.

18:16
I had an amazing lunch. I made Simple Mexican Rice, except with orzo.
I sauteed onion and garlic for a few minutes. Then I added sweet paprika and cumin (there I don't follow the recipe, I just put in whatever I want, a whole tablespoon is way too much. I added 1 cup of orzo, 1.5 cup water and 4 tbsp tomato-paste (easier to measure, it's 1/4 cup). I cooked it until it boiled, put it in a dish, covered it with aluminium foil and baked it on 175C/350F for 30 minutes.
Then I ate it with the easiest chicken salad. I cooked the chicken breast in water with some paprika, garlic powder and salt. I sliced a cucumber, cubed a tomato and added a bit of onion. I added pieces of chicken breast and used 2 packets of Thousand Island dressing (they're pretty small, don't worry). It was great!

21:52
I had a good sandwich for dinner. It was 2 slices of the 'light' whole-wheat bread with white cheese, and sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. I also had pumpkin soup, but it was too watery. I am going to try to thicken it with flour.
I am also on a cooking-spree, I made Creole sauce, meatball soup, tuna patties and veggie stir-fry and hope to make more tonight and tomorrow. I will devote a separate blog-post to that with pictures (I hope).

00:26
I made another chicken salad, and now I'm having Italian soup.

I didn't manage to exercise but I walked 5250 steps!
Good night

Day 3: Tuesday Jan 25

2011-01-25T16:23:00.016+02:00

15:12
It is pretty late, I've been busy all day.
For breakfast I had a cup of coffee, a bowl of branflakes (yum!) and an avocado with cherry tomatoes. It was good, filling and delicious.
I had to take my kid to the doctor again, but he's good now, Thank G-d. But I was running late on my yogurt and pear. And when I was eating the pear the surveyor came and needed access to the neighbors garden, so I went down to the neighbors instead of cooking lunch. Then I had to borrow 3 carrots from another neighbor, because mine went into that gross rainbow soup. The chicken takes too long to defrost, so I'll eat that tomorrow, and eat tilapia today instead of tomorrow.
In short today is a bit messy. I finally got the soup into the pressure cooker. The fish we're still waiting for. I predict lunch will be at 5:00. And I had to bake a few more cookies from the batter yesterday, and it smells really good. I hope I don't fail and eat cookies, although they are healthy.
Now I am relaxing on a cup of coffee.

Here's the
LENTIL SOUP RECIPE

* Saute    - 2 large onion, cubed
* Add       - 1 tsp minced garlic
       - 1 tsp paprika
       - 2 celery ribs, diced
       - 3 carrots, cubed
and saute 10 minutes.
* Add       - 2 cups tomatoes
       - 7 cups water
       - 1 1/2 cup lentils
       - 2 bay leaves
       - 1/2 tsp salt
       - 1/2 tsp pepper

You should really add 3/4 cup dry wine, but I didn't notice that I didn't have any. All this happens in the pressure cooker, and then you cook it closed on high until it makes sssss noises and then on low, according to the directions on your pressure cooker.
The original recipe is somewhat different, you can find it here.

16:21
I caved :(. I had 4 cookies. Luckily they are pretty healthy and have no sugar, but still.
The soup is cooked and the tilapia is in the oven.

LEMON GARLIC TILAPIA

1 tilapia fillet
oil
lemon juice
garlic powder
salt
cayenne pepper
parsley

Place tilapia in baking dish
Mix oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper
Pour mix over tilapia
Add parsley leaves

Bake in 180C (350) oven until done (about 15 min)

18:17
Had "lunch" a little while ago. It was worth the wait though. Especially the fish came out good, even MK (my kid, Mikey) thought so. And he barely eats real food!

22:32
Just came back from my weekly exercise class, aerobics and sculpting. It was fun as always. Had 3 rice cakes with peanut butter, a cucumber and cherry tomatoes with 3% white cheese.
I am going to have a decaf coffee now, I have a real craving. Didn't drink enough as always, I really have to work on that.

So today wasn't an easy day foodwise, but I did exercise. Hope that tomorrow will be better!

Day 2: Monday Jan 24th

2011-01-24T20:53:00.001+02:00

11:05
I had an okay breakfast: a cup of coffee, 2 slices of bread with 3% white cheese and scrambled egg (yum!) and a green pepper, which I didn't finish because it was yuk.
Am making Rainbow Soup now, hope it comes out good because it smelled a bit weird before...

14:19
I skipped the mid-morning yogurt because I wasn't home, but anyway I should only eat it if I'm hungry. The rainbow soup really was weird.
Here's the recipe the way I made it:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 large stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 small red bell pepper
1 cup chopped carrot
1 Tablespoon sweet paprika
3 teaspoons turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 bay leaf
A little hot sauce
11 oz chopped tomatoes
green beans from a can
Salt and pepper
5 cups water
1 Tablespoon oil

Preparation:

1. In a large soup pot, put oil, onion, and celery. Cook on low heat for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Add garlic and turn up the heat to medium. Cook for a minute or so and add the peppers and carrots. Cook another minute or two and add the spices. Stir and cook until fragrant -- another minute or so.
3. Add tomatoes and stock, and bring to a boil. Add beans and simmer.

I don't know if I'll make it again. Right now I'm having some couscous (half white half whole-wheat) with a teensy bit of Thousand Island dressing, because we ran out of ketchup.

16:29
I am enjoying (not really) my yogurt now. I made healthy banana cookies and I'm waiting 'till they cool off :D. They smell really good. My 17-month-old already climbed on the table to have one, but they're too hot.
And they are good!
Here's how:

HEALTHY BANANA COOKIES

- 3 bananas, mashed
- 2 cups rolled oats (this time I did 1 cup rolled, 1 cup quick)
- 1 cup dried fruit: raisins, dates and apricots are good, dried apples are also good, but I like apricots better
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 tsp vanilla

* Mix everything and let rest 15 minutes. Make cookies and put them on a cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes on 175C. (350F).
Your kids will love it, mine does! The original recipe is here.
I had to throw them into the freezer in order not too eat them all! I had 3, which is already too much...

20:14
Just had a pretty nice dinner. I had 3 5-grain crackers. They are only 7.8 carbohydrates per cracker, I think that isn't so much, but I am no expert. The 5 grains are: wheat (whole wheat and regular), oat, rice, corn and rye. I dipped them in home-made mock-liver (eggplant dip).
This is how you make it:

MOCK LIVER

- 1 big eggplant, peeled and cut lengthwise in wide strips
- 1 big onion, chopped
- garlic cloves to taste, minced
- 3 cooked eggs
- salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste

* Put the eggplant on a baking tray. Mix with some oil
* Fry the onion and garlic in a pan with oil, on a low flame until brown
* When everything is cooled off, combine in a food processor with the S blade. Add eggs, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Pulse until it is all mushy.
This comes out eggcellent (corny, I know).

My husband made some delish avocado salad (guacamole if you will).
I didn't drink so much water and barely exercised today, except for running after my kid by the doctor. Yes we had to go again, and tomorrow again. Lets hope he gets better soon.
At least I got a new battery for my step-counter.

Funny story: my hubby went to a store yesterday to put in a new battery, because we didn't have a screwdriver small enough to open the thing. So the clerk puts in a new one, presses the button, it beeps, and that was it. It didn't do anything, didn't show anything. So the guy took out the battery and said it wasn't good. My husband just bought a screwdriver and came home. Tonight I decided to try, and it worked fine. I thought the guy just couldn't get the battery in or something, then my hubby told me that the thing didn't work. So I pointed out it doesn't show anything until you start walking! Then it works just fine!
So now I can the amount of steps I took every day.
Good night!

Day 1: Sunday Jan 23rd

2011-01-23T21:27:00.003+02:00

10:30
It is still morning, and meanwhile I had a cup of coffee (of course, only being in the first trimester of pregnancy will keep me away from coffee, and even then it's hard), a bowl of oatmeal, and a small avocado with 2 cherry tomatoes, the most delicious tomato on Planet Earth.

The oatmeal recipe is here, but I didn't put in nuts, raisins or sugar, because:
1. I don't like nuts
2. I like raisins but not in oatmeal
3. I don't want to eat sugar because it's bad for me and I am on a diet
oh and I forgot the salt. But I did add the cinnamon and also some vanilla

But the consistency of the oatmeal was indeed perfect. When I figure out a way to make it delicious (probably with date syrup), I will of course post the recipe.

13:27
Just had a Granny Smith apple and Greek yogurt, which is 7%, I didn't realize. Oops! Oh well. I should have eaten this earlier, but I had to go out to take my son to the doctor. I'll have to eat lunch a little later.

15:52
I just had a great lunch. I had butternut squash apple soup, leftover chili from Friday night and a baked potato.

I found the butternut squash apple soup from here.
Here's the way I made it:

BUTTERNUT SQUASH APPLE SOUP

- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 rib of celery, chopped

* Saute the veggies in a little oil until softened. Add:

- 1 butternut squash
- 1 tart green apple (I used Granny Smith)
- 3 cups water with spices like salt, pepper, whatever you like really (instead of broth)

* Bring to a boil and then simmer until veggies are soft. Puree with a stick blender.
I forgot to add the cinnamon and spices, they make the soup even more delicious.

MILD CHILI
This is my own recipe:

- 1 onion, chopped
- a red bellpepper and a green bellpepper, chopped
- garlic cloves according to taste, minced
- a can of cooked white beans (we have white beans in tomato sauce, but the sauce has sugar, so I drain the sauce and rinse the beans)
- 1 lb (500 gram) ground turkey or chicken
- tomato paste according to taste
- spices according to taste: salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, paprika, whatever really...

* Saute the onion until brown, add peppers. Cook some more and add beans. My husband's trick is to let it cool, then add the ground meat while it's at room temperature, that way it mixes real good with the rest and doesn't get lumpy (I can be picky). Add the spices and tomato paste and some water. Cook until the meat is cooked and enjoy. It's really easy, my husband made it the last couple of times :).

18:29
Right now I'm having 2 rice cakes with peanut butter. I know that sounds really boring, but it isn't. The rice cakes are whole rice and oats... I prefer the more 'interesting' ones I guess.
Now it's time to make antipasti for dinner. I got the recipe from Enlitened Kosher Cooking.

21:00
The antipasti was very disappointing.
I cut a large onion, mixed it with curry, sliced 2 small tomatoes into thick slices, did the same to a sweet potato and a zucchini. I added some oil, basil, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
I think zucchini's shouldn't be baked like that. It does nothing for their flavor. There was too much onion, and it was too chewy. The sweet potatoes were delicious, but then they usually are.
Also it said it was 10 servings, but it soooo wasn't, although I didn't add the eggplant and mushrooms, but I don't think that would have increased the amount much. I planned on eating some tomorrow afternoon, but I was hungry now so I ate it all. It smelled great, and my husband said he wanted some, but he had to leave before it was ready. To tell the truth, I don't think he would have liked it.
The rest of my dinner was simple: 2 slices of bread that is called dark bread, although it is white (so not whole wheat) with soft white cheese.
I'll have another bit of soup later.
I had 4 cups of water today, which is a lot for me. Did I mention I live in the desert?

The first day was pretty easy, I have to say. Today I weighed 71.4 kilos.
The rest of my day was also good, I had to go to the doctor with my boy, because he was coughing a lot over the weekend and wheezing. Laryngitis again. Great.
We went to the neighbors and he had fun there though. And so did I.
Good night!

My New Diet

2011-01-22T22:34:00.000+02:00

I know this blog has been about just random recipes. But I see I don't post on it so often, so I'm going to use the webspace (is that a word? spell check doesn't think so...) to record my diet that I am starting tomorrow. I'll just record what I ate and how I made it.

So basically I am starting a diet. This is my fourth diet but the first one I'm doing just because I am fat.
My first diet was to try and loose weight in order to get pregnant. It didn't work.
My second diet was when I was pregnant, I had borderline gestational diabetes.
My third wasn't really prescribed by a dietitian, I had gal stones, and just couldn't have any fat. It was very very hard but I got so skinny... just 62 kilos (136.4 lbs).

So anyway, now I'm back up to 71.4 kilos (157.1 lbs) which for my height is a too high BMI. So I went to a friend who is a nutritionist and she wrote down a diet plan for me. It is actually very similar to my gestational diabetes diet: very little carbs. I hope I can keep up with it and this blog. There was just an article on Yahoo.com about how writing a blog helps you lose weight.

Wish me luck!

Veggie Stuffed Butternut Squash

2010-10-10T11:40:00.002+02:00

I ate this in the restaurant where my sister was working, Gafna in Bat Ayin. I asked her for the recipe, but couldn't get all ingredients so I changed a few things. I serve this on Shabbat or Festivals, cut in wide slices. It may look hard but it's pretty easy actually.

Ingredients - most of these are to taste:

1 onion, chopped thinly
1 zucchini, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 stalk celery, sliced
soy sauce
silan - date syrup
black pepper
cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cumin
sunflower seeds, peeled, unsalted, unroasted (I get mine in the local health food store)
raisins
1 butternut squash, sliced in 2 lengthwise and emptied of pits and stuff.

Directions:

Saute onion until soft. Add celery, cook a little, add carrot and zucchini. Add some water to cook down. Add rest of ingredients except butternut squash. Cook until done.

Put butternut squash in an oven dish with some water on the bottom. Mix (olive) oil with some salt and pepper. Brush on cut side of butternut squash. Bake in the oven on 200C for 30 minutes.

Take butternut squash out of the oven. Let cool a bit and then scoop out some of the flesh. You can add this to the veggie mix or just eat it, it's delicious!

Put filling in squash. Serve hot or cold, whole or sliced. Enjoy!

Pesach Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-04-20T22:12:00.000+03:00

Pesach (Passover) was just a couple of weeks ago. This year I had the good fortune of having an oven, so I made tons of cakes and cookies.

In recipe-books they always make Pesach cookies complicated, so I decided to take a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe (off a bag) and put matzo meal instead of flour. And I added cinnamon for that extra magic touch...

- 1 cup oil
- 1½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups matzo meal
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- as many chocolate chips as you want

Preheat oven to 190°C.
Combine softened butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix until fluffy.
Add matzo meal, salt, baking powder and cinnamon into mixture and stir well.
Add the chocolate chips and mix. Drop on baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes.

They came out looking real nice!

Green Onion & Garlic Bread

2010-02-14T22:49:00.004+02:00

A simple bread machine bread. It is based on the regular bread machine and I added some flavor. My husband and I like to eat 'flavored' breads.
I like to use half whole wheat and half white flour, but it's up to you what you want to use.

- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tbsp oil
- 2 1/2 tbsp sugar (I used 2 baggies of Splenda)
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups white flour
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cups green onions
- 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Put ingredients in order into the bread machine. Use either the setting for Basic White (number 1 on a Morphy Richards) or the dough setting to make a loaf or rolls and bake them in the oven (number 8 on a Morphy Richards).

Vegetable Stock

2010-02-11T19:40:00.002+02:00

I needed vegetable stock for some dishes. So I looked it up on the internet. There were different recipes, one said to put in anything but the kitchen sink, even if it went a little bad already, and only to cut it in order to fit in pan, also not to peel anything. Another said to use chopped vegetables.

I asked my dad, who is a very good cook, and he said to use good vegetables and to chop them. He even had a fancy French word for it (which I forgot).

So I peeled and chopped some veggies, cooked them, strained it and got a delicious stock that was clear as a bell.

I used:

- Zucchinis

- Carrots

- Kohlrabi
- Onions
- Celery
- Garlic
- Bay leaves
- Salt
- Pepper

You can use almost anything, but always use onions, carrots and celery. Potatoes will make it thicker and cloudier, and tomatoes will add a nice taste.

I chopped all the veggies and sliced the garlic.

Put it all in a pressure cooker and added water, salt and pepper. Put it on high until the pressure cooker hissed and then on low for a while.

Strained the soup into a bowl, measured it out in cups and froze it in freezer bags.

Turkish Salad

2010-01-22T12:21:00.003+02:00

This is a typical Israeli dish. I got the recipe from a book, and modified it of course.
If you want it to be very spicy, you can add 4 tsp of hot paprika instead of sweet paprika, according to the original recipe. That was too hot for me though!
This is a very easy dip, that can be frozen.

Ingredients:

- 3 scallions
- 1 white onion
- 1 medium-large tomato
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup tomato paste
- 4 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- about 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Slice scallions and onion thinly, and put in a small saucepan.
Hold the tomato under boiling water, rinse under cold water, and peel. Cut into small dice and add to saucepan.

Add tomato paste, spices and salt and mix well.
Cook on a small flame, gradually adding the water while stirring, under it reaches the desired consistency.
Cool off before serving

Split Pea Soup

2010-01-07T18:06:00.001+02:00

Another nice winter food, split pea soup. This one was very thick, although not my record, once I made a pea soup so thick you could eat it with your hands once it cooled of...

This one is pretty simple.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups split peas

- 3 carrots

- 3 small sweet potatoes

- 2 potatoes

- 2 garlic cloves

Spices to taste:

- Sweet paprika

- Turmeric

- Cumin

- Salt

Preparation:

Put all vegetables in a pressure cooker.

Add water to cover.

Add spices to taste.

Cook according to pressure cooker instructions on high and then turn low and cook at least 30 minutes.

Blend with a stick blender.

Surprise Muffins

2010-01-07T13:16:00.002+02:00

I saw this recipe on allrecipes.com. It looked very interesting, so I decided to do it with my own recipe, substituting oil with applesauce. i used bought jam, because I haven't made jam yet... but I hope to do that also.

The beauty of using applesauce is that you can make serious cuts in the sugar, which is great! I cut out 1 whole cup, and the muffins tasted just fine.

The cake recipe is one that I got from a friend, slightly modified.

Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup applesauce

- 3/4 cup sugar

- 2 egg whites

- 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla

- 2 & 3/4 cup flour

- 2 & 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/4 cup lemon juice mixed with 1 cup water

Preparation:

Mix first 3 ingredients until mixed well.

Add the rest of the ingredients and continue mixing.

Line muffin pan with paper liners

Pour mixture into muffin pan, fill each about 2/3 full.

Put a teaspoon of any jam into the middle of each muffin.

Spoon more mixture on top of jam.

Bake in oven on 175C (350F) unil browned.

It takes a bit of experimenting to mke them without having them explode...

These freeze well.

The paper liners stick when they are arm, but come off once the muffins are cooled down.

Root Vegetable Stew

2010-01-04T22:21:00.001+02:00

I wanted to make a dish in my slow cooker that would be warm and filling, something good for those dark winter nights...

I made this up, using the amazing ingredients of potatoes and sweet potatoes! Yum!!

The ingredients in the picture are a bit different than in the picture, it depends on availibility, and I wanted to add a kohlrabi to the stew. Maybe if I have enough courage I'll add a beet next time...

- 1 big sweet potato, cut in chunks

- 3 big potatoes, cut in chunks

- 3 carrots, cut in chunks

- 1 large onion, diced

- 3 cloves garlic, diced

- 1/2 cup sweet red wine

- 1/8 cup soy sauce

- 1/8 cup sweet chili sauce

- 1/2 cup tomato paste

- 1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Combine in slow cooker.

Cook on high 3-4 hours.

Cook on low 4-5 hours or until veggies are soft.

Or if you put it in in the morning to eat at night, cook on low until veggies are soft

You can add or substract any vegetable you like.

Potato Casserole

2010-01-04T14:05:00.001+02:00

Ate this casserole by a neighbor, it was so good I had to know how to make it! It is very simple, I tweaked it a bit, added sweet potatoes and some spices...

Ingredients:

All these ingredients are by eye, I just filled the baking dish I had. And all the spices are by taste.

- Potatoes

- Sweet potatoes

- Salt

- Garlic powder

- Onion powder

- Milk

Peel potatoes and sweet potatoes. Slice thinly.

Mix in a bowl with salt, garlic powder and onion powder to taste.

Put in baking dish.

Pour in milk until the milk almost covers the potatoes.

Bake on 200C (400F) until potatoes are soft, about 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Apple Sauce

2010-01-03T22:10:00.004+02:00

This is the easiest way to make applesauce! And it's great, it had no added sugar, no additives, almost no work at all!
I like to use it instead of oil in muffins (want to try cookies also, keep you posted!), to eat it just like that, and my baby likes it too (he's 4 months old).

Ingredients:

- Apples!

Peel, core and chop apples. Put in slow cooker and cook on low until brown and mushy.
I had 3.5 kilos of apples (7.7 lbs) and I cooked it 8 hours.

This can be frozen by the way.

Sugar Free Granola Bars

2010-01-01T13:45:00.005+02:00

I ♥ granola bars!

I already make my own granola, so I decided to make granola bars too!
They are not the crispy kind they are chewy, but delicious all the same.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup raisins (or 1/2 raisins and 1/2 dates)
- 4 cups dry oats
- Just under 1/2 cup oat bran
- 2 tsp speculaas or cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cup apple juice
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup apple butter (I use my sugar free version, see recipe)
- 1/8 cup date honey
- 1/4 tsp. salt

Soak raisins in water for 15 minutes.
Mix everything and spread out on a baking sheet.
Bake 20 minutes on 175C (350F).
Let cool and cut into bars.

I save them in the 'fridge.

These were are very popular!

Sugar Free Apple Butter

2009-12-29T18:22:00.009+02:00

I saw this good recipe for apple butter on allrecipes.com, it's called All Day Apple Butter.
The only problem I had was that it was too sweet, I scaled the recipe down to 40 servings, which needed 2.5 cups sugar, I added only 1 cup and it was still too sweet! I used Golden Delicious apples though.
Anyway, I now made it without sugar! And I added vanilla. And it was so much tastier!

Ingredients:

- 1 kilo apples (2.2 lbs), peeled, cored and chopped
- 1/2 cup natural apple juice concentrate with no added sugar
- 3/4 to 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preparation:

Combine ingredients in slow cooker.
Cook on high for about an hour, then turn on low for about 7 hours, stirring frequently.
Turn off and take off lid partially or completely.

Note: I made it again with half Granny Smith apples and half Golden Delicious, I added 2 tbsp of apple juice concentrate, and it gives a nice tangy taste to it.

Roasted Pasta Sauce

2009-12-28T14:34:00.003+02:00

When I made salsa the other day the smell reminded me of spaghetti sauce. A smell I love!
I usually make an easy marinara sauce, with fried onions and garlic.
I wanted to make one without frying, and I remembered once making a sauce where tomatoes were roasted with garlic and then crushed with some salt.
I thought, why not take that a step further? I also added carrots and peppers, for some extra veggies :)

Ingredients:

(These are the amounts I used. Different people have different tastes)

- 1.200 kg tomatoes (2.64 lbs), diced

- 1 large onion, diced

- 2 carrots, sliced

- 2 orange bell peppers, diced

- 4 large garlic cloves, diced

- 1/2 tsp dried thyme

- 1 tsp dried oregano

- 1 tsp dried basil

- 2 tsp sweet paprika

- 1/2 cup tomato paste

- 1/4 cup water

- Splash of sweet red wine

Preparation:

Put diced veggies in a baking dish.

Bake in oven on 200C (400F) for 50 minutes.

Add spices.

Kind of mash with a spoon until desired consistency.

Add tomato paste, water and wine.

Mix thoroughly.

Enjoy on pasta or spaghetti!

Zucchini Muffins

2009-12-28T14:04:00.007+02:00

I love zucchini muffins! I saw this recipe once in a pamphlet we got in the mail, and I had to make it immediately. It was funny because zucchini is added to cake and muffins in the United States, but in Israel people looked very weird at the idea...

The original ingredients included:

- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 1 egg
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 3 tsp vanilla

I quickly reduced 2 cups sugar into 1 cup, it was way too sweet, you could see the sugar int he muffins.
And now that I can't have oil meanwhile, I decided to make these healthier and less fat, with applesauce!

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup applesauce (mine was homemade, just apples nothing added)
- 1 egg white
- 1 cup grated zucchini
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 3 tsp vanilla

Preparation:
Mix everything by hand or with mixer.
Line muffin pan with paper liners.
Spoon mixture into liners, and bake on 175C (350C).
Bake for about 1/2 an hour, until skewer inserted into center comes out clean.

Makes 9 big muffins
When they come out straight of the oven, the muffins stick to the paper liners. But when they're cooled off they don't stick anymore.

Easy Mild Salsa

2009-12-25T15:00:00.006+02:00

I saw this cool recipe for Mexican Sunset Bread that called for salsa, and I decided to make my own.
I looked up some recipes on Google, and developed my own thing from there.

sites I looked up:

Delicious Red Tomato Salsa
Roasted Vegetable Salsa
Salsa Bell Peppers

And this is what I came up with!

Ingredients:

- 1 kilo tomatoes, quartered (2.2 lbs)
- 2 red bell peppers, cut in strips
- 1 onion, cut in chunks
- 3 large garlic cloves
- salt to taste
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Preparation:

Mix vegetables in baking dish.

Bake 30 min in top rack of oven at 200 C (400 F)
Take out of oven and let cool.
Add cilantro and salt to taste.
Put everything in your food processor and pulse until desired consistency.
Cool in fridge and enjoy yummy goodness!

I like to use it as a dip for my bread and to eat alone.