Coca-cola?

Another entry in the cola wars. I am simply astonished that people actually drink this stuff, and pay a fortune to do it. I don't talk about it much - I figure my attitude is not good and I'll just make people mad.

But anyway, it's an interesting article.

A Low-Cal Dessert

It's a little weird, but it's good...

Chocolate Cottage Cheese

Look at it this way - it can't hurt, can it?

I put 2 teaspoons of dark cocoa powder (the real stuff, not chocolate milk mix,)

and

1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar in 1/2 cup of lowfat cottage cheese.

I know, I know. Sugar. Is. Bad.

I know. So use the smaller amount. If you're like me, you like your chocolate dark and sort of bitter, anyway.

For fun, throw in some vanilla, or rum extract. Or heck, if it's a fancy dessert, throw in rum. Or Kahlua or Amaretto. Just half a teaspoon or so.

I ran the numbers, and this dessert comes to:

128 calories
16 g. protein
2 g. fat
12 g. carbohydrates
2 g. fiber

I think that's great for a dessert. And a real boost to your protein for the day, if you need that.

If you want to be really good, have just 1/4 cup in a fancy glass. You'll halve the calories.

The Weight Battle Continues

I spent Saturday lost in the joys of creating a spreadsheet. My husband, the Excel King, was quite helpful with formulas and suggestions, and the thing works splendidly.

I always have trouble keeping track of what I eat, largely because I cook nearly everything from scratch, so I have to look up the nutrition data online and then add it all up. That's a real hassle and I've never been organized about it, so I can never find a recipe when I want it again.

But NOW - ah, now I have a SS where I can figure the nutrition data for a recipe, move the total per serving into a "LIST," and then, in another table, I can LOOKUP the recipe (or food item) from the LIST. And the data is automatically entered into the table where I'm keeping track of what I ate that day!

It adds it up, and I can see where I'm at on calories, fat, protein... all the usual stuff. Best of all, I can use it to plan my day, which just may help me keep within my allotted calories.

So tomorrow, for instance, I can have Oatmeal-with-Peanut-Butter (and a little honey & cream) for breakfast. Lunch is leftover fish, served in a spicy tomato sauce with garlic and capers. Dinner is a carrot soup (carrots from last week's CSA box), with a salad of lettuce, steamed romanesco, and a tablespoon of olive oil over it.

Not only that, but sometime during the day, I also get a few of my favorite whole wheat crackers and an orange. And after dinner, I get dessert - this great chocolate-cottage-cheese thingy I made up. I added that because I'm also tracking my husband's food, and I've discovered that he doesn't get enough protein. So I'm going to work on ways to add it to his diet. Tomorrow, he gets some tuna with his salad, and the cottage cheese for dessert. That brings him up to 98 grams of protein for the day.

My total calories for the day: An even 1100. Protein clocks in at 60, Fat at 38 grams, Carbs are 127, and Fiber is 22.

Pretty darn good. Add in some exercise (yoga and strength, for sure, and some aerobics, assuming I've slept reasonably well), and my weight is slowly beginning to respond. *crosses fingers*

My Favorite Coleslaw

Still trying to use up weekly vegetables, and I'm enjoying every minute! Today, I made this:

It's called Fusion Coleslaw. It's a variation on the recipe found in Earthbound Farm's Food to Live By. Too simple for words:

1 head of cabbage, sliced thin (hopefully a small one)
3 scallions, chopped
1 jalapeno, diced
2 carrots, grated

The sauce:
3 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp chile garlic sauce (or is it garlic chile sauce?)
1/2 tsp salt

whisk the sauce together and pour over the veggies, mixing it all up. Add chopped peanuts before serving, and some golden raisins, if you like them.

This makes a big bowlful, and it tastes so good, I have it for snacks!

Holiday Cooking

I make a serious rum cake, and I know to stand well back when opening the oven door. But today, I forgot. I still have my eyebrows. But I'll pay a visit to Supercuts, to get all the singed hair trimmed away.

I sit at my desk and occasionally stop and say, "What is that charred smell?"

The Week - The Day

In two hours, the guests will arrive. The turkey is in the oven, having waited its turn after the pies (2 pecan, 2 pumpkin) and the rolls. I managed to resist tempation and did not eat a roll when they came out of the oven. They are now safely wrapped in foil, ready for reheating later, and thus invisible to me.

We hope. I do know they're there.

This bread recipe is screwy. The first time I made the rolls, I used the temp called for and set the timer for a few minutes less time, to check them.

They burned.

This time, I lowered the heat 50 degrees and set the timer ten minutes less. I had to rescue them a few minutes early, but they're perfect. Sheez!

The potatoes are peeled and cut, ready for boiling and mashing. The giblets are beginning to simmer. The table is set, with side tables set up for appetizers in the living room, and an extra card table in the dining room, for the overflow. I have discovered I no longer have enough wine glasses (I'm a danger to all around me), enough napkin rings, or napkins that go with our nice dishes. I will try to remedy these things before Christmas.

For now, we'll make do. All the people coming over here love each other - no one will be upset by such faux pas.

Here's how things look so far. And yes. I'm having fun!

Day 2's Dinner

Last night's dinner got lots of raves. I had lots of leftover antipasto veggies: marinated radishes, red potatoes, baby carrots, artichoke hearts, radicchio... but it wasn't enough for three people. But I had cooked a huge batch of wild rice for the Thanksgiving stuffed squashes, and I didn't use it all. So I threw in about a cup of cold wild rice, added the chopped up leftover roast beef, some mizithra cheese I found in the frig, and put it all over a bed of lettuce.

I served it with warm bread and butter.

Not bad. Not bad, at all.

Tonight's dinner? We're getting pizza. And it won't be Zachary's or Cheeseboard, since we don't live in Berkeley.

Darn.