Yo! Elberta Crone hath put a sign on the palace larder. It saith that she hath gone to bed early and the kitchen be CLOSED! Here be Amarantha's damage for Friday:
1/4 c. Scottish oatmeal (75)
Butter Spray for day (10)
1 T. turbinado sugar (45)
EAS Vanilla Carb Control shake (100)
1/4 c. Scottish oatmeal (75)
1 T. turbinado sugar (45)
EAS Vanilla Carb Control shake (100)
Turbinado-Pear Bar per recipe above(105)
Turbinado-Pear Bar (105)
2 Turbinado-Pear Bars (210)
EAS Vanilla Carb Control shake (100)
Reese's PB Egg (180)
EAS Rich Dark Chocolate Carb Control shake (100)
Curry/sage turkey patty (130)
Whole wheat Bun (120)
1/2 plum tomato (15)
1 T. fat free mayo (10)
Green beans (20)
EAS Rich Dark Chocolate Carb Control shake (100) Turbinado-Pear Bar (105)
Total: 1750
Exercise towards my 360 weekly minutes: 70 (60 weights w/trainer, 10 cardio on recumbent bike)
BAD FOOD s STAY AWAY FROM HERE TONIGHT!!!! NO BAD FOOD s NEED APPLY! POSITION OF ROYAL EATING MACHINE HATH BEEN FILLED BY FOOD (NOT CAKE)!!!! NO DEMONS, NO DEMONS, NO DEMONS!
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)
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!
Yowza! Eydie, the salad looketh good ... I'm going to work on eating salads next month and will be trying your recipe!!! Thanks. Your menu looketh good and I echo your shower o' blessings on Ceara re the cottage cheese ... I'm now mixing it into my baked goods! I was just remembering that before there was fat free mayo (dating myself), I liked to blend ff cottage cheese until smooth w/some mustard seed and curry powder to make a dressing for tuna salad. Must try that again. The stuff is phenomenal!
My report for today: 1680 calories, 40 minutes of exercise, 360 weekly exercise minutes complete! Will post vernal equinox exercise challenge tomorrow (unless co-chairperson Eydie wisheth to do so?) to continue my exercise count plus additional challenges for myself daily or weekly (not sure yet)!!!
Sinus pain and also depression still a problem and I KNOW instinctively that I eat too much sugar (even the turbinado, which is not refined white sugar, is a problem) and that it's contributing to these problems ... will not bore you with the sugary menu for today. Continuing to work on this and hope we can keep this thread going to talk about menus and recipes.
Never got to the spaghetti! Will try thy sauce tomorrow or Monday, Cerise!!!! Thanks again for posting it!
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...
I shall start the thread, E, but dunno why thou'd be unsure about they writing skills as they be first class!!!!! We should all write a cookbook and make a zillion dollars!!!!
Yea, I remember that Bill Phillips praised cottage cheese in his book. I'm going to get his cookbook someday soon as it has a lot of these kinds of recipes.
I love the curdy texture of the stuff in baked goods ... kind of a fat substitute kind o' thing.
I'm going to reduce sugar drastically this week (not entirely) ... the sinus pain is now affecting my teeth and I absolutely know that sugar is stopping me from getting better. Will keep thou Food Slayers posted.
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.]
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.
Yo! That Cranberry Orange Almondine Nemesis soundeth delicious, Zadie!!!! Wouldst it be good sprinkled on cottage cheese?
I'm obsessed w/cottage cheese and in an effort to cut down on sugar, I'm baking the following experiment as we speaketh:
Fight the Demon Apricot Cheesecake Bars
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Scottish oatmeal (porridge style)
2 tsp baking powder
1 T turbinado sugar
1/2 T canola oil
1 scoop Designer Whey Vanilla Praline protein powder (or any low sugar protein powder)
2/3 cup Splenda
1 container Eggbeaters (or any liquid egg substitute)
1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese
2/3 cup water
4 T sugar free apricot preserves
2 T buttermilk powder
Mix all ingredients. Line pan w/foil and spray w/zero cal canola spray. Pour in batter. Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes or until done. Cool and cut into 12 squares of approximately 91.25 (count 95) each.
I'm at 1870 cal now and going to eat some of these bars and a low carb shake, so won't post a menu tonight. Met all my goals as a high cal day is part of my plan and I did exercise for the FAIRE challenge. Yowza!
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.
Turbinado-Pear Bar per recipe above(105)
s STAY AWAY FROM HERE TONIGHT!!!! NO BAD FOOD 
A-freakin'-mazing marinara sauce.
I'm shy and unsure of my writing skills and you're so good at calling in the troops!
E, but dunno why thou'd be unsure about they writing skills as they be first class!!!!! We should all write a cookbook and make a zillion dollars!!!!
! Farewell!
