Happy Saturday, friends.

I served The Ramon spaghetti last night with this homemade marinara sauce I make, and it tasted so wonderful (if I do say so myself) and is so GOOD for you that I decided to share it here. I got it from watching TV - some Italian cook (is Emeril Italian? Can't remember...) said it's his grandmother's recipe, straight from Itay, etc. That's why I tried it and I swear I'll never go back to the jar. Ew. So, here it is:

Ingredients:

1-2 T. olive oil (your preference, enough for saute-ing)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
4-5 medium cloves garlic, coarsely sliced
pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
1 28 oz. can whole stewed tomatoes
1 bunch fresh basil
2 pinches dry oregano
blender

Dump can of tomatoes in a strainer over a bowl. Squish tomatoes (this is the fun part) to release juice. Keep everything. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onion, garlic and red pepper until the onion's translucent. Add the strained tomato pulp and whole basil leaves torn off the stems (maybe 10 or so large leaves), crumble in the oregano. Cover and stew on medium-low heat for a few minutes (like ten), stirring fairly often so it doesn't scald. When basil leaves are looking very depressed (cooked, I mean), put in the juice from the strained tomatoes, salt to taste, bring all to a boil (keep stirring), then simmer for 10-20 minutes. Then (another fun part) blend the **** out of it until it's a lovely orangey-red color with green flecks. At this point you can serve it (it's the perfect thickness every time) as is or put it back on the stove, add things like mushrooms, sausage, whole tomatoes, whatever, and simmer until they're cooked. You cannot overcook this sauce.

There it is. Enjoy, darlings! (I'm right now having the leftovers for brunch)

That looks fantastic, Cerise, thanks! I just happened to have some whole wheat pasta on hand, so ...

1 pkg. ramen noodles [the BAKED kind, not the fried]
1 pkg brocolli slaw [sometimes called rainbow slaw]
4 scallions, chopped [or 1/2 sm. sweet onion]

Cook ramen noodles. [Save the soup pkt. for another use] Drain noodles and mix with brocooli slaw and scallions.

dressing: 1/4 c. apple or pineapple juice
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. minced ginger
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1 1/2 tbsp. rice vinegar [or white vinegar]

Mix! Pour over vegetables and noodles and toss to mix. You can also add grated carrots and chopped yellow and red peppers---really pretty! If you want to go mad, sprinkle a Tbsp. of chopped cashews over each serving.

I tried this recipe at Christmas and have made it several times. I can't get enough!


Your recipe looks great, Cerise---I will definitely try it, soon! Wow, imagine if we all got together in the same kitchen---that would be some party!

Coffee w/ ff 1/2 and 1/2
omelette [egg sub., cottage cheese, ff cheese, lots of vegs.]
1 soy 'sausage'

1 1/2 cups vegetables and brown rice w/ 2 tbsp. peanut sauce
weight watchers chocoalate cake

Salad [lettuce, corn, peppers, onion, carrot, cucumber, lite cheddar, "chik" patty, ff ranch]

snax: apple
low-fat caramel ice cream sandwich w/ 1/2 c. peaches
1 popsicle

Calories: 1375
exercise: 30 min. Bellydance***30 min. Pilates***40 pushups***20 min. dumbells
water: 7 glasses

A shower of blessings on Ceara who taught me to mix cottage cheese into eggs before scrambling. Yum...

Please, Amarantha, start the thread. I'm shy and unsure of my writing skills and you're so good at calling in the troops!

I was reading 'Body For Life' yesterday and saw that the author was praising cottage cheese to the skies. I'll have to make sure I keep some on hand. And your dressing recipe sounds great---I love that it's blended 'cause sometime the curd-y texture gives me pause.

I'm craving sugar as well, Am. At this point I'm just trying to make sure that most of my choices are lo-fat, reasonable calorie things. Speaking of food, going out for breakfast this morning----I'll try to keep it reasonable. I really will...

Coffee w/ 1/2 and 1/2
small biscuit
scrambled eggs w/ lots of onions, peppers, tomatoes, and a bit of cheese
1 serving homefries w/ ketchup
grits
1 1/2 pancakes w/ syrup and 1 cup fresh strawberries
1/2 bueberry muffin
[This was my big breakfast out. It was fun, but next time I'll leave off the pancakes and the grits and the biscuit---not for any deep nutritional reasons, only because they weren't that enjoyable.]

Salad [lettuce, vegs, 1 tbsp. smoked gouda, 'chik' patty, ff ranch
brocolli-ramen salad w/ 1 tbsp. cashews

snax: low-fat ice cream sandwich
130 cal. Slimfast bar

calories: ?
exercise: 5 miles walk

I think this is the day for eating out, Eydie, except mine was TWO filled donuts at Walmarts. I weighed them and counted the calories and they were a whopping 1150 for both. Followed with a low carb shake to kind of balance out the sugar ... BUT the operative thing is I noticed that my headache came back with all the sugar ... so definitely, sugar has to be cut ... not altogether shunned, just cut. This is going to be my high calorie day, but I'll post a menu tonight unless I can't get on ... we've been having storms.

I have just run into my food nemisis: Orange Cranberry Almondine. Ok, so it does not sound so bad, nice co-op snack food type thing with craisions and almond slivers with natural orange flavor. but little did i know that i cannot stop eating it. the bag i bought to hide in my desk and last all week...nearly gone. "o co-op snacks, why dost thou betray me" is now my anguished cry.

coffee w/ ff 1/2 and 1/2
2 ww toast w/ peanut butter, lite cream cheese, spinach, carrots

2 cups vegs., and brown rice w/ 2 tbsp. peanut sauce
4 lo-fat cookies

4 spring rolls w/ peanut sauce
2 clementines

snax: apple
banana
ff yogurt cheesecake w/ strawberries

calories: 1505

P.S. Amarantha, your cheesecake bars sound really good. How'd they turn out?

Eydie, they turned out really good. My brother says I shouldn't use Splenda because that teaches my taste buds to continue to prefer sweet food. He may be right, but the bars are very nutrititious and not too sweet. Unfortunately, I've had a cheeseburger from Mickey D and 2 packs of pb bars today because I went on a shopping quest. But calories are ok so I'm hanging in. Will type in a full menu later or tomorrow.