Homemade Soup and Pasta

I finished the potatoes this past week. We had a few cold snaps (back down to freezing) and rainy days so I made soup. I used to make homemade potato soup all the time but it was super high in calories and fat. You can read the recipe here:
http://thevillagepantry.blogspot.com/2008/06/bulk-cooking.html

My new version is to boil a small amount of water with two chicken breasts. When finished I shred one breast for today's meal and put it in a bowl. The second chicken breast is set aside for dinner.

Add 4-5 diced potatoes to the boiling water. I try to just barely cover them.

After about 10 minutes I add a cup of diced broccoli and a tablespoon of dehydrated onions.

When the potatoes are tender I turn the heat down and add - 3-4 tablespoons of instant creamer (still high in fat but only half as much as the real thing); 1 tablespoon soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

I spoon some soup over the shredded chicken breast.

I keep the chicken breast separate because they become rubbery in the microwave or when overcooked. While heating the soup for a different meal, you can shred the 2nd breast. Add it to the hot soup and it will warm immediately but still be tender. I was able to get 4 or 5 large soup mugs full of soup from this recipe.

This makes a low fat, low cal meal. Add a slice or two of whole wheat bread and you have a filling meal that keeps you warm:)

On another note - I dug out my pasta machine today and made homemade noodles!!! It was so much fun and I am digging through a couple of cookbooks and websites for some low fat recipes. I will post them next.

Happy dieting
Linda B in TN:)

The Good, The Bad and The Yucky

The good news - I haven't gained any weight BUT I haven't lost any either this week. The other good news is a friend of mine who works banquets brought me some wonderful leftovers. She brought a bucket of fresh veggies. Plus there were a couple of chicken breasts and lots of green beans.

The bad part I didn't manage the food well. She brought a tub with lots of deli meat. It was lean and I was very careful to only have about 3ou per meal. However I should have put some of it in the freezer. It was mostly ham and I diced it up in omelets. Made sandwiches (on whole wheat with LF ranch). Boiled potatoes and diced it up into them. All good but I think it was too much salt at once.

I have been sticking with mostly chicken breasts and allowing beef or pork/ham every 4th or 5th day. The only splurge is my two slices of bacon every morning for breakfast. I even skipped those and had ham in omelets this past week. I should have wrapped the ham in individual servings and put it in the freezer and meted it out carefully. All that salt probably has me retaining water and I am hoping is the reason for my lack of weight loss this week.

Oh well, I am back on chicken and boiled potatoes today so hopefully the pounds will drop off this week.

Happy Dieting
Linda B in TN:)

Getting Thinner all the Time

I continue to fight with sinus and ear infections and an aching back so I am still spending most of my time in bed. The good news - I am still sticking with my diet and have lost another 8 pounds. I am now at 352.

I have to admit that I was stunned when I got on the scales this morning. I expected the first 20 lbs to be easy. We always have that initial big drop. However I figured things would slow down to about 2lbs per week but evidently not yet.

Using Dr. Oz's advice of setting a small one or two day menu so you always know what you will be eating - I have narrowed breakfast down. I think I mentioned before I have 2 slices whole wheat toast (50x2), 2 slices precooked bacon (90) and 3 eggs overlight (240). I also sometimes add a small dash of maple syrup over the toast for a different flavor. I was using SF syrup but ran out and now use a light brand. I have to add a few extra calories but I am trying to get away from all fake sugars in my food by the first of Jan 2011.

For midmorning snacks I was eating trail mix or granola bars last month. This month I have been able to replace those with sliced oranges, carrot sticks or yogurt cups. I do think it might be because the weather has warmed up and I am enjoying the cool foods. I had some of those items last month and didn't eat them. Plus we had a cold spell today and I couldn't get myself to eat any of the cold stuff. I will have to work on some ideas for something warm - maybe toast and hot tea or instant oatmeal.

For lunch and dinner - about 4 days a week I am boiling a chicken breast and several potatoes. I drain them and add some cream of mushroom soup or one of the Ragu cream sauces. I usually drain some type of canned veggie and stir that in too. This meal gets divided into 2 so I eat about 2/3 of it early and then have the rest as a late evening snack/dinner.

The other 3 days I have my chicken and potato fry although I am going to be trying something different tomorrow. I got a great deal on catfish so I am going to try to saute some fish with my potatoes. If that isn't edible I have a recipe for fish croquettes that uses mashed potatoes for filler and no flour.

Here's a lesson for you - always check the calories when you change brands. I was using cream of mushroom soups that said 60 calories per serving and 2.5 servings per can. I picked up a different brand last month but never checked it - I just assumed it was the same. I looked a few days ago. The WM brand is 110 per serving but still 2.5 servings per can. So I went from 150 calories to 275!!!! Luckily I have been staying low on my calories most days so it didn't affect my overall count too much. My weight maintenance is over 3500, weight loss 2500 and I am averaging around 1900-2200 per day so we're still good :) Now here's the irony, I can't for the life of me remember the brand of that other COM soup LOLOL.

I haven't formally added any exercise yet. I was trying to reach 300 first. However I have been washing clothes each day. I don't have a washer, dryer or hot water so this is not an easy job. I had piles of clothes stacked up because of all the rain, snow and ice this past winter. For the past three weeks I try to wash two small buckets of clothes each day and get them on the line so this is my unofficial exercise LOL.

Happy dieting,

Linda B in TN @ 352:)

Good News and Bad News

I tried to do too much then I HAD to do too much and I have spent over a week in bed. Everything hurts and I can't seem to get more than 10-15 feet before I have to sit down. I continue to feel weaker but it is nothing to do with the diet. It is the pains in my chest and breathing problems. This is part of the physical problems I have been having for a couple of years. I know I should see a doctor but it is just not financially feasible and I can't get anyone to take me as a patient now that I am on Medicare.

First I was working on hand washing all those clothes which gave my back a fit. Then I tried to do some yard work everyday - only about 15 minutes each day but it was too much. Then the trip to town Wed did me in. I washed clothes (blankets, curtains, linens) which had to be hung out when I got home. Also I visited a grocery with no electric chair and was exhausted when I got done. It took me 4 days to get all the meats separated and stored in the freezer but I haven't finished the canned goods yet.

The really hard part - my dog was attacked Thurs morning and I have had to wrestle with him everyday. He has puncture wounds and gashes all the way around his head. They ooze stuff and I have to wash it at least twice a day and try to get him to hold still while I apply antibiotic creams. Of course it is the big, strong dog so he is tearing my arms off.

Add to that, I now have to walk both of the dogs on a leash. Everyone along here lets their dogs run at times. Since I haven't been able to get the fence up yet and have been feeling so badly, I have let my run twice a day for about 20 minutes to do their business during the last two months.

Most of the times they stay in the yard but other times they wander down the road. They seemed to get along with the other dogs but something went wrong the other morning. I had stepped back inside to get something when the little dog came flying back and stayed beside me. A few minutes later Bo came in with his head dripping with blood.

The good news - I have stayed on the diet. I splurged Wed evening with a double portion of steak but I skipped any snacks and desserts that day (too tired to bother LOL). Thurs we were all too upset to eat but Fri I made a nice dinner with diced squash and a large steak (6ou).

Sat we got back to normal but I have to admit that I have dropped a lot of the sweet snacks. I really don't care for them anyway. Now when I make breakfast I also cut up an orange. The orange goes to my computer desk and over the next hour or two I snack on it.

While preparing my dinner I chomp on raw cauliflower, baby carrots and/or celery dipped in a little bit of LF ranch dressing.

After the meal I fix a small bowl with a diced apple or some raw veggies or I get a box of raisins, a fruit cup or a yogurt cup. This goes to the desk with me and, again, is munched on over the next few hours instead of going for granola bars, trail mix etc. The calories are about the same but I am trading cane sugar for natural sugars which is a good thing.

I will get back to discussing some more of the diet tips I have read about and am trying in a few days when I feel a bit better. In the meantime
Happy Dieting
Linda B in TN:)

Never Eat More Than You Can Lift

I can start today with good news - I tried getting on the scales this morning

and they didn't bang or clang and went immediately to 360. I waited an hour

and tried again. Same results. So that is 20 lbs gone in 3 1/2 weeks.

I am getting ready to go grocery shopping so I am working on my menu for

the next month so I guess now is a good time to talk about portion control.
This was another problem I had identified in my old way of eating or should say the lack of portion control was my problem.

I hate counting calories and all those years of partially low carbing meant all the meat eggs and cheese I wanted. Well guess how many calories in ONE of those frozen hamburger patties that come in a giant box or bag? I am talking 100% beef, no fillers or junk and just ONE!!. 330 to 350 calories EACH!!!! Honey, I would toss at least 3 or 4 in the frying pan and reached a point where I would sometimes have that as an appetizer before I got around to the meal. And let's not forget the mayo (we now know how much is hiding in that stuff) and cheese I topped them with. I could have had a couple of Snickers bars or a box of Dove chocolate truffle Easter eggs (drool, slobber, drool) and been eating better.

I had tried the old Susan Powter idea of cans of soup over bowls of rice in Feb. It fell flat because almost every can of soup I opened was absolutely disgusting and I tried almost everyone of them. I ended up tossing them to the dogs and making something else to eat. The dogs were happy but I was in a snit. So for Mar I decided to try the frozen dinners. Sort of like NutriSystem but frozen. I could get portion control, make extra boiled potatoes, rice or noodles to bulk them up and stay within some reasonable controls on meat and fat portions.

First the only frozen diet foods available at my local grocers are Healthy Choice ($2 to 2.50); Lean Cuisine (mostly $2.98 with a few at 1.98); and Smart Ones ($2 to 2.50 but the $2 ones were on sale for 1.80). I also bought a few things for variety from Michelina (1.00) and Banquet (.88).

Lean Cuisine used to be very tasty. I ate it often for lunches back in the 80's and 90's (before you could buy cups of ramen for .15 each). I only bought a few LC's and was not happy with them. The chicken enchilada went in the trash, even the dogs wouldn't eat it.

Healthy Choice - well they were tolerable but very bland and skimpy. The beef sirloin tips had a few thick cubes of beef and the gravy was bland but good over a couple of extra potatoes. The lemon pepper chicken wasn't great but tolerable if you want to get some fish in your diet but I hate fish. I didn't like their chicken Alfredo, Michelina's was half the price and less calories and just a tiny bit more fat.

Smart Ones were very tasty. I did not realize they were under the Weight Watchers brand but most things they come up with are pretty good. While I plan most of April to be meals from scratch I will be keeping a few frozen things as back up for quick meals and variety.

The SO Sante Fe rice and beans is covered in yummy and ooey gooey cheese. I have cut cheese out for now so this is a way to get it into the diet without going overboard. I also enjoyed their teriyaki chicken and poured it over a cup of boiled rice. The turkey medallions had a nice gravy. I found the ones that said "bistro" had more flavor and weren't far from homemade.

Finally there are a few from Michelina I found not too high in calories or fat and half the price that I will keep on the menu. The pizza rolls and chicken nuggets once every few weeks are nice for a change. I liked the pepper steak and loved the tortellini chicken with broccoli. Didn't care as much for the Tuscan chicken (heavy on the garlic) but passable.

Oh and let us not forget the Lean Pockets. I forgot to mention them at $2 for a box of 2 pockets. I thought I could have one with a bowl of soup and call it a meal. The variety seemed nice - ham & cheese, Philly cheese steak and pizza. These things have 4-5 bites and are 250 to 310 calories each. That is too little food for such a high calorie cost. It doesn't do anything but make me hungry. Also I found them almost tasteless. They are very blah and dry compared to regular Hot Pockets.

OK gotta go work on the menu. Tomorrow we can talk snacks:)

Happy Dieting
Linda B in TN @ 360 :)

Breaking a Habit is Hard to Do

Note about my last blog and the Fried Chicken & Potatoes Treat recipe:
I forgot to note the calorie count is for 2 "medium" potatoes.
Also you can save more calories if you put the olive oil in a spray bottle and just "spritz" the pan a few times. Toss in the potatoes and spritz them again when you turn them. This will drop your calories considerably. I made them this way last night and it worked great. I prefer to add the one tablespoon of oil because I also toss in a cup or two of misc veggies plus the chicken. I limit this meal to about 3 times per week. Most of my other meals are boiled so I go ahead and splurge here. I will add this info to the last posting for anyone new that gets to see it.

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. ~ Mark Twain

OK, now for today's subject - Breaking Bad Habits. I mentioned that I had thought I was doing good things for my body. I started around Sep 08 working on pushing myself to give up things like chips and eat blueberries and grapes. No processed foods and lots more cooking from scratch. Well, I took a wrong turn with all that oil and butter. I was raised in the deep South. My mother was a horrible cook but my grandmother was awesome and it was her food I was re-creating.

But I did have some successes. You will notice a trend. I don't jump into anything in an all or nothing manner. I hold onto my bad habits with a death grip and have to pry them away bit by bit. It took me 9 weeks to quit smoking. I set up a plan and have been smoke free for 7 months as of Monday.

Over last summer I slowly weaned myself off sodas. For many years it was two - three cases per month. I went to bottles which meant about 2 dozen two liter bottles per month then I switched back to cans. Two years ago I was drinking 3-4 cases per month!! Now I drink one can every few weeks with a meal but that is it. I have a 12 pack that is half full that I purchased
in Dec:)

The bad news, I got hooked on iced tea. Two gallons a day in the summer and a gallon a day over the winter. Decaf but still too much tea and it was sweetened with Splenda. I was doing 3-4 bags a month so I cut down, down, down until I got to one cup per gallon and less than one bag a month as of Jan.

My next goal was to begin replacing every 3rd or 4th gallon with green tea and work my way up to full green. I bought the tea a few months ago but could never bring myself to do it. I am a staunch Southerner raised on really good iced tea. Ninety-five percent of the tea served in restaurants is disgusting and nothing like what I grew up on. That cloudy dark brown muck doesn't even resemble the tea served in the South.

You can imagine what a tough time I am having convincing myself to go "green". Also I tried some of those Celestial Seasonings herbal teas many years ago and YUCK!!! I have tried to use them several times and each time the taste IMO is like chewing on the weeds in my backyard. Green tea represents that same type tea to me. Evidently it is such a hideous thought that I just decided to skip it and go straight to water. Over the last two weeks I found myself drinking more and more water and less and less tea. By the beginning of this week it was all water!!!!

I also have found an unexpected benefit - more sleep. I get very little sleep and never seem to sleep more than 2-3 hours in various increments. There is no morning or evening I just lay down when I am tired and wake up a couple hours later. My kidneys keep me on alert and I am constantly getting up for mad dashes. I sleep in bits and pieces which is why I am always tired. I was drinking decaf - I gave up caffiene around 98 and have never gone back. However the water seems to run me less often so I am getting 4 to 5 hours sleep when I lay down at night. Which I am heading off to grab a few hours of right now.

A habit is something you can do without thinking - which is why most of us have to many of them - Frank A. Clark

Nite Nite
Linda B in TN:)

Take my butter ......please!!!

I had always favored low carb meals which don't count butter, mayo, cheese or most oils. The only problem - I would run out of money and have to add in potatoes, rice and noodles but I forgot to count the calories and I still ate meat and oils like I was low carbing.

Around December I realized the damage I was doing with all the butter, mayo and oils - let's just call it "boils" because it is just about as bad. I started reevaluating everything I was eating and was shocked to see how many calories I was spending each day on this. The heavy meat and cheese were also slight problems but we will talk about them later. My first goal was to start reducing the amount of "boils" in my food.

Butter and mayo - 100 calories per tbsp. Cream of mushroom soup (low sodium) is 60 calories per serving or 2.5 servings per can - 150 calories. It not from scratch yet but even an entire can is less than 2 tbsp of butter or mayo. I boil potatoes, rice or noodles and add some COM. I am working on some ideas for homemade low fat Alfredo and cheese sauces and will share when they are fit to eat LOL.

For potato or macaroni salad I replaced mayo with equal amounts of light mayo (2 tbsp = 35 cal) and light buttermilk ranch dressing (2 tbsp = 70 calories next month I am moving to LF ranch at 40 cal). I hate LF mayo but the LF ranch seems to cover the flavor if I use it in equal amounts. I remember this from one of those checkout cookbooks I bought back around 1990. It had a wonderful pasta salad using the fake crabmeat and seashell noodles. They suggested the half and half idea and I remembered how well it tasted.

I stopped using butter and milk for my scrambled eggs. I bought a quality nonstick frying pan just for that type foods and it is worth it's weight in gold (QVC $17.95 Cooks Essentials). A sp4itz or two of butter spray and all I need are my eggs. I cook them overlight and pour them over whole wheat toast so they make their own sauce:)

I have given up oatmeal for right now because I have not found a way I will eat it without tons of butter and sugar. I will work on some ideas for a low fat homemade granola this summer and will try for some hot recipes by next winter. However for now, no oatmeal.

Butter in veggies - none. I spritz a tiny bit of olive oil (or measure one tablespoon for a large amount) into the pan and saute them OR I saute them in soy sauce. I brown or caramelize them and they taste awesome. Ordinarily I would put 3-4 tbsp. (300-400 cal). Now I use a maximum of 120 calories if I use the extra olive oil for a large amount.

NOTE: most of the guidelines suggest using olive oil no more than 3-5 times per week and no more than 2 tbsp per meal - otherwise it can become a liability instead of a heart healthy idea.

My Fried Chicken - Potato Treat
2 medium potatoes diced or grated - 220
1 onion diced - 35
1 garlic clove, diced - 25
olive oil, 1 tbsp - 120 **
1/2 chicken breast - approx 100

First I buy chicken breasts and cut them in half. We all know those mega breasts they sell these days are bigger than most of the calorie books are talking about. I wrap the half breast in plastic wrap. I can pull it out still frozen and slice it into round quarter sized medallions about 1/4 inch thick that cook in just a few minutes.

Dice or grate the potatoes, garlic & onion (bell peppers could be added too). Heat the olive oil. Toss in potatoes and onions and cover pan. Cook about two minutes on med and turn. Add chicken medallions. Takes another 2-5 minutes to finish depending on thickness of potatoes and chicken.

Sometimes I like to remove the potatoes and chicken and quickly saute a fresh veg in the remaining olive oil.

Total calories - 500 which leaves room for a great veg (I love edamame) and some fresh fruit. I have actually added a diced apple to the saute (40 calories). I love one pot meals so I will frequently just toss it all together eventually.

**NOTE: You can reduce the olive oil if necessary by using a spray bottle. Spritz a little bit in the pan, add you potatoes and onions and cook for a few minutes and turn. Spritz lightly one or two more times. This will reduce your oil consumption to 20 - 50 calories.

This is my treat I allow myself twice a week for right now. I may have to give it up for awhile when I get closer to my goal but it is helping me get through my fried food cravings right now.

Happy Dieting
Linda B in TN:)