Recipe
Over halfway done with week three and going strong! Yesterday though, i just couldn't eat my lettuce (spring mix). I am not sure if I am tired of it or if I had expired freshness date. Dunno, but today I can't even think about eating lettuce. However, I need my vegis for lunch so I threw some stuff in a pan and it came out delicious. Thought I'd share.
Warm Vegetable Medly
Ingredients:
4 large carrots, sliced (raw)
1 bell pepper (any color)
6oz sliced black olives
1/3 purple onion, diced
1 small baked potato
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 clove garliced, diced
various Italian seasonings
First, dice the garlic and onion, toss in a frying pan with some water or oil to simmer. While the onion is simmering, slice the carrots and bell pepper - toss those in the pan. Peel and cut up the potato into smaller chuncks (i got 8 pieces from 1 tater), toss it in the pan. Add the olives and your seasonings and "stirfry" it for 5 minutes.
When adding the tomatoes, make sure you don't get too much juice, this isn't a soup (of course it would be more like stew if you added more juice). Put the tomatoes in and mix. Let it cook on low/med heat for 10 more minutes.
The carrots come out warm and soft but crunchy (not actually cooked through or steamed). Everything is just warm and yummy with a nice crunch but not "raw".
Oh yeah, it's fall! Scrumptious warm-food weather. Below is a recipe for Velvety Squash Soup. I made this once last year for Christmas dinner, and my mother loved it (always high praise). I made it again this afternoon for lunch, and it was just as yummy as I remember. The original recipe called for chicken broth and half-and-half, but I substituted veggie broth and soy creamer. The soup was a bit sweeter than I recall, so I might halve or eliminate the molasses or cider when I make this again.
This is a rich, very thick soup. Absolutely delicious.
Cut each squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place squash, cut sides down, on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.
Combine onion and oil, tossing to coat. Spread onion mixture onto pan around squash. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until squash and onion are tender. Cool slightly. Scoop out squash pulp from skins; discard skins.
Place onion and squash pulp in a Dutch oven. Stir in broth and the next 5 ingredients (through pepper); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes.
Place half of squash mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining squash mixture. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in half-and-half. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Garnish with thyme, if desired.
I have a confession. After starting this thread, taking the advice to heart and losing 20 pounds because of it, I let stress and work and poor planning skills knock me off track. 6 months of that and I put 12 pounds back on.
However, I finally woke up. I re-started in earnest last week and am on my way again. A few days ago I was coming home late from work and I almost pulled into a fast food place - but I decided that I'd rather be hungry than put that crap in my body.
Here's to second chances, it's never too late to correct a big mistake!
Oh yeah, it's fall! Scrumptious warm-food weather. Below is a recipe for Velvety Squash Soup. I made this once last year for Christmas dinner, and my mother loved it (always high praise). I made it again this afternoon for lunch, and it was just as yummy as I remember. The original recipe called for chicken broth and half-and-half, but I substituted veggie broth and soy creamer. The soup was a bit sweeter than I recall, so I might halve or eliminate the molasses or cider when I make this again.
This is a rich, very thick soup. Absolutely delicious.
Cut each squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place squash, cut sides down, on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.
Combine onion and oil, tossing to coat. Spread onion mixture onto pan around squash. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until squash and onion are tender. Cool slightly. Scoop out squash pulp from skins; discard skins.
Place onion and squash pulp in a Dutch oven. Stir in broth and the next 5 ingredients (through pepper); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes.
Place half of squash mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining squash mixture. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in half-and-half. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Garnish with thyme, if desired.
Yields: 10 servings (1 cup)
Time to make: 1.5 hr
YUMMY. I am going to make this as soon as I have all the ingredients. I'm getting a bit weary of old standbys and this is the perfect time of the year for a nice, hearty, sweet warming soup.
I have a confession. After starting this thread, taking the advice to heart and losing 20 pounds because of it, I let stress and work and poor planning skills knock me off track. 6 months of that and I put 12 pounds back on.
However, I finally woke up. I re-started in earnest last week and am on my way again. A few days ago I was coming home late from work and I almost pulled into a fast food place - but I decided that I'd rather be hungry than put that crap in my body.
Here's to second chances, it's never too late to correct a big mistake!
It's never too late, you're right! I hear you, it's hard to focus when you're busy and can't plan ahead but sometimes all you need is a little kick in the pantz.
I have been traveling most of this month and it's just so easy to slip...
Oh yeah, it's fall! Scrumptious warm-food weather. Below is a recipe for Velvety Squash Soup. I made this once last year for Christmas dinner, and my mother loved it (always high praise). ....
I just had to update because I made this soup tonight and I am SO in love with it! I made a few more modifications because I still try to avoid some things like soy creamer and I don't like using/drinking fruit juice.
1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
Cut in half, remove seeds. Roast in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes, cut sides down on a baking sheet. No oil necessary: the squash exuded enough water that kept it from sticking to the aluminum foil. When done, rest until cool enough to handle.
Meanwhile (and since I ran out of room in my oven) I sliced:
1 large red onion
4 small apples
6 large carrots
... and water-sauteed in a Dutch oven until they were all tender. I then added to the pot:
4 cups water
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1 squirt of Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Many many grinds of fresh black pepper
and brought to a boil, then simmered for about 15 minutes until everything was blended and very soft.
Meanwhile, I put 1/2 cup of raw, unsalted cashews into my VitaMix, and scooped out the squash with a spoon. When the soupy stuff in the pot was done, I blended everything in batches (after removing the bay leaf).
The cashews make everything so creamy and the squash makes it sooo sweet. The Braggs gives it a hint of salt that reminds me of the bacon I don't eat.
The only improvement I'd make next time is that I would get myself a real container of curry powder (we are currently out of it) and put a BIG ol' heaping spoon of that in as well. Maybe two. Oh, I'd probably also use homemade veggie broth instead of water, but again I didn't have any on hand tonight.
Thanks so much for the recipe and inspiration, Kerry!
Oh man Oh my waist .... is increasing need to cut down some fats.
Tell me
I have stopped taking sugar with tea :cry
Daily I eat peanut butter on bread + sugar free orange juice every morning.
Then i eat lunch in evening after uni
Any suggestion ?
Is peanut butter fat food ?
Or should i go to my tailor and tell him to add few inches in trousers ?
Two tablespoons of peanut butter has 16g of fat which is quite a bit. The fat comes from the peanut oil. If you are trying to lose weight, then you want to find foods that are high ratio of nutrients to calories (high nutrients, low in calories). Most vegetables are in that category. Most nuts or things derived from nuts are not. Nuts do have other nutrients and protein in them, so once you reach a weight you want to maintain, they are OK as an occasional snack food, but they will not be helping you lose weight.
You can think of fat as something that has nine calories per gram with basically no nutrients. So fat is one of the worst things to eat if you are trying to get a high ratio of nutrients to calories and lose weight. It just gives you calories, no nutriets and does very little to make you feel full.
My secret to losing weight is to eat as many things that are high in fiber as possible (vegetables, some fruits, whole grains, etc...) while avoiding things that are full of calories that have little fiber or nutrition (sugar, oils, fat, white breads, for example). My theory is that the things that are high in fiber make me feel full and satisfied with far fewer calories consumed, thus you can lose weight without feeling like you have to constantly deprive yourself and you regularly feel full. To make this work for me, I have to make sure I have available to me at all times (at work and at home) something to snack on that meets this critieria. Then, when I'm hungry, I have something to eat that will satisfy that hunger but not give me many calories and there's no deprivation involved.
Here's to second chances, it's never too late to correct a big mistake!
A friend of mine has a saying that I think sums it up
"We begin again constantly"
It is never too late to try and improve. All we can do is move forward from where we are today.
Awais, my first suggestion is to increase water and unsweetened tea. That helped alot. I also went with the simplified approach when starting is that if I can't pronounce it (or understand it) I don't eat it.
I just took his test to assess my health. It's a questionnaire that you can take and get a final score and recommendations. My big failing is my lack of exercise.
Overall I scored an 8.4. Who's gonna best me?
Warning: if you want to reduce the goofball factor, turn your sound down.
I'm sure if I cut the fish and the occasional order of french fries out, I'd score higher. But I'm thoroughly in the "not at risk" for everything but cancer, and that's still in the "not at risk" and I have quite a bit of family history with cancer.
Thanks for the link! I usually don't take online quizzes but this was worth it.
ETA: I should have read more, he actually just wants me to take Omega-3 and Vitamin D supplements. Not likely to happen, but yeah, not bad over all.
I'm sure if I cut the fish and the occasional order of french fries out, I'd score higher. But I'm thoroughly in the "not at risk" for everything but cancer, and that's still in the "not at risk" and I have quite a bit of family history with cancer.
Thanks for the link! I usually don't take online quizzes but this was worth it.
ETA: I should have read more, he actually just wants me to take Omega-3 and Vitamin D supplements. Not likely to happen, but yeah, not bad over all.
-Trav
Heh. You probably lied more.
I take the vitamin D, but not the omegas. I'm pretty sold on Vit D, just not the oil based ones.
I take the vitamin D, but not the omegas. I'm pretty sold on Vit D, just not the oil based ones.
I almost lied about the french fries (more like I didn't really think of them), but I went back and changed it after I thought about it a bit. I really should cut those out of my diet, that and the beer.... oh well, that's probably why I'm back up over 170.
I almost lied about the french fries (more like I didn't really think of them), but I went back and changed it after I thought about it a bit. I really should cut those out of my diet, that and the beer.... oh well, that's probably why I'm back up over 170.
For me it's definitely the lack of exercise, the drinking and the history of smoking.
I just took his test to assess my health. It's a questionnaire that you can take and get a final score and recommendations. My big failing is my lack of exercise.
Overall I scored an 8.4. Who's gonna best me?
Warning: if you want to reduce the goofball factor, turn your sound down.
I clicked the link and immediately got the results for Travis - age 30. I guess it doesn't like me. When I clicked "change answers" it gave me Travis's name and email address (schmoo's significant other).
Very odd! Well, it's not happening anymore. Thanks for fixing that TO. My email isn't exactly a secret, but still. Thanks.
I pulled in at "7", though it is odd because some of the questions I couldn't provide a good answer given the choices. I may go through it again and see what happens. Thanks for the link David.
Thanksgiving
I'm going to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving, and I'm starting to think about what to bring. You know, something that'll make everyone else wish they were vegan.
EDIT: I'm not looking for turkey substitutes. I'm not a tofurkey kind of guy. I just want some really satisfying foods that are what they are, not transmorgrified into something they're not.
Comments
Over halfway done with week three and going strong! Yesterday though, i just couldn't eat my lettuce (spring mix). I am not sure if I am tired of it or if I had expired freshness date. Dunno, but today I can't even think about eating lettuce. However, I need my vegis for lunch so I threw some stuff in a pan and it came out delicious. Thought I'd share.
Warm Vegetable Medly
Ingredients:
- 4 large carrots, sliced (raw)
- 1 bell pepper (any color)
- 6oz sliced black olives
- 1/3 purple onion, diced
- 1 small baked potato
- 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 clove garliced, diced
- various Italian seasonings
First, dice the garlic and onion, toss in a frying pan with some water or oil to simmer. While the onion is simmering, slice the carrots and bell pepper - toss those in the pan. Peel and cut up the potato into smaller chuncks (i got 8 pieces from 1 tater), toss it in the pan. Add the olives and your seasonings and "stirfry" it for 5 minutes.When adding the tomatoes, make sure you don't get too much juice, this isn't a soup (of course it would be more like stew if you added more juice). Put the tomatoes in and mix. Let it cook on low/med heat for 10 more minutes.
The carrots come out warm and soft but crunchy (not actually cooked through or steamed). Everything is just warm and yummy with a nice crunch but not "raw".
If anyone tries this, let me know what you think.
This is a rich, very thick soup. Absolutely delicious.
* 1 (3-pound) butternut squash
* 1 (2-pound) acorn squash
* Cooking spray
* 2 cups coarsely chopped onion
* 2 teaspoons canola oil
* 5 cups fat-free, less-sodium vegetable broth
* ⅔ cup apple cider
* 2 tablespoons molasses
* 1 teaspoon curry powder
* ¾ teaspoon salt
* ⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper
* ⅔ cup soy creamer
* Chopped fresh thyme (optional)
Preheat oven to 425°.
Cut each squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place squash, cut sides down, on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.
Combine onion and oil, tossing to coat. Spread onion mixture onto pan around squash. Bake at 425° for 45 minutes or until squash and onion are tender. Cool slightly. Scoop out squash pulp from skins; discard skins.
Place onion and squash pulp in a Dutch oven. Stir in broth and the next 5 ingredients (through pepper); bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes.
Place half of squash mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining squash mixture. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in half-and-half. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Garnish with thyme, if desired.
Yields: 10 servings (1 cup)
Time to make: 1.5 hr
However, I finally woke up. I re-started in earnest last week and am on my way again. A few days ago I was coming home late from work and I almost pulled into a fast food place - but I decided that I'd rather be hungry than put that crap in my body.
Here's to second chances, it's never too late to correct a big mistake!
YUMMY. I am going to make this as soon as I have all the ingredients. I'm getting a bit weary of old standbys and this is the perfect time of the year for a nice, hearty, sweet warming soup.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
It's never too late, you're right! I hear you, it's hard to focus when you're busy and can't plan ahead but sometimes all you need is a little kick in the pantz.
I have been traveling most of this month and it's just so easy to slip...
Let us know how it goes.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
www.ivarborst.nl & smugmug
It was until the end when I just gave up struggling. I don't think goat cheese omelette paninis on buttery, salty foccacia bread counts as ETL.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
www.ivarborst.nl & smugmug
That's what she had at Love Muffin when you had the waffle with fruit!
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
Cut in half, remove seeds. Roast in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes, cut sides down on a baking sheet. No oil necessary: the squash exuded enough water that kept it from sticking to the aluminum foil. When done, rest until cool enough to handle.
Meanwhile (and since I ran out of room in my oven) I sliced:
1 large red onion
4 small apples
6 large carrots
... and water-sauteed in a Dutch oven until they were all tender. I then added to the pot:
4 cups water
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1 squirt of Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Many many grinds of fresh black pepper
and brought to a boil, then simmered for about 15 minutes until everything was blended and very soft.
Meanwhile, I put 1/2 cup of raw, unsalted cashews into my VitaMix, and scooped out the squash with a spoon. When the soupy stuff in the pot was done, I blended everything in batches (after removing the bay leaf).
The cashews make everything so creamy and the squash makes it sooo sweet. The Braggs gives it a hint of salt that reminds me of the bacon I don't eat.
The only improvement I'd make next time is that I would get myself a real container of curry powder (we are currently out of it) and put a BIG ol' heaping spoon of that in as well. Maybe two. Oh, I'd probably also use homemade veggie broth instead of water, but again I didn't have any on hand tonight.
Thanks so much for the recipe and inspiration, Kerry!
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Never had 'em before and missed the season last year - even my fussy 12 yo loves them.
Tell me
I have stopped taking sugar with tea :cry
Daily I eat peanut butter on bread + sugar free orange juice every morning.
Then i eat lunch in evening after uni
Any suggestion ?
Is peanut butter fat food ?
Or should i go to my tailor and tell him to add few inches in trousers ?
My Gallery
Two tablespoons of peanut butter has 16g of fat which is quite a bit. The fat comes from the peanut oil. If you are trying to lose weight, then you want to find foods that are high ratio of nutrients to calories (high nutrients, low in calories). Most vegetables are in that category. Most nuts or things derived from nuts are not. Nuts do have other nutrients and protein in them, so once you reach a weight you want to maintain, they are OK as an occasional snack food, but they will not be helping you lose weight.
You can think of fat as something that has nine calories per gram with basically no nutrients. So fat is one of the worst things to eat if you are trying to get a high ratio of nutrients to calories and lose weight. It just gives you calories, no nutriets and does very little to make you feel full.
My secret to losing weight is to eat as many things that are high in fiber as possible (vegetables, some fruits, whole grains, etc...) while avoiding things that are full of calories that have little fiber or nutrition (sugar, oils, fat, white breads, for example). My theory is that the things that are high in fiber make me feel full and satisfied with far fewer calories consumed, thus you can lose weight without feeling like you have to constantly deprive yourself and you regularly feel full. To make this work for me, I have to make sure I have available to me at all times (at work and at home) something to snack on that meets this critieria. Then, when I'm hungry, I have something to eat that will satisfy that hunger but not give me many calories and there's no deprivation involved.
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A friend of mine has a saying that I think sums it up
"We begin again constantly"
It is never too late to try and improve. All we can do is move forward from where we are today.
Awais, my first suggestion is to increase water and unsweetened tea. That helped alot. I also went with the simplified approach when starting is that if I can't pronounce it (or understand it) I don't eat it.
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So glad you liked it! I'll have to incorporate some of your modifications to it in the future.
Sign up for a SmugMug account and save!
I'm going to try this.
I just took his test to assess my health. It's a questionnaire that you can take and get a final score and recommendations. My big failing is my lack of exercise.
Overall I scored an 8.4. Who's gonna best me?
Warning: if you want to reduce the goofball factor, turn your sound down.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
That would be me!!! I got an 8.5
I'm sure if I cut the fish and the occasional order of french fries out, I'd score higher. But I'm thoroughly in the "not at risk" for everything but cancer, and that's still in the "not at risk" and I have quite a bit of family history with cancer.
Thanks for the link! I usually don't take online quizzes but this was worth it.
ETA: I should have read more, he actually just wants me to take Omega-3 and Vitamin D supplements. Not likely to happen, but yeah, not bad over all.
-Trav
Heh. You probably lied more.
I take the vitamin D, but not the omegas. I'm pretty sold on Vit D, just not the oil based ones.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I almost lied about the french fries (more like I didn't really think of them), but I went back and changed it after I thought about it a bit. I really should cut those out of my diet, that and the beer.... oh well, that's probably why I'm back up over 170.
For me it's definitely the lack of exercise, the drinking and the history of smoking.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
That's so weird, his name and email are filled in for me, too.
EDIT: I think I fixed it, removed the UID (no idea how it got T's info in it to begin with!)
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
Very odd! Well, it's not happening anymore. Thanks for fixing that TO. My email isn't exactly a secret, but still. Thanks.
GreyLeaf PhotoGraphy
I'm going to my cousin's house for Thanksgiving, and I'm starting to think about what to bring. You know, something that'll make everyone else wish they were vegan.
EDIT: I'm not looking for turkey substitutes. I'm not a tofurkey kind of guy. I just want some really satisfying foods that are what they are, not transmorgrified into something they're not.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops