More One-Oh-One's Done

Here are some more scratches off my 101 to do list, all food related!

19. Cut out meat, carbs, sugar and caffeine from my diet for at least one week every 3 months
Lately I've been really fed up with my lack of discipline in the food area, making little allowances here and there and just knowing that's why I've creeped back up 5-9 lbs since my 29 lb drop Sept. 2008. I've been fluctuating between those 5-9 lbs for almost 2 years, and part of it's also been exercise but I just hasn't been as important to me as when I needed to lose 40-45 lbs. So much more was at stake then, I feel better about my body now, but deep down I know I should still lose 20 more lbs. So, I decided I'm going to recondition my body's idea of real hunger and self-restraint. I put myself on a meal-replacement diet this last whole week, Monday through to Friday, no meat, no carbs, and almost no sugar, but because I had caffeine I had to have sugar :) Don't worry, it's healthy, I've been getting my protein, fibre and vitamins through the shake I've been eating every meal for 5 days, adding plenty of fruit and dairy as well. And while calories were reduced, it's mostly because I wasn't snacking not because the shake lacked calories, I got more than the minimum per day (1200/day is said to be the lowest we should go before body thinks we're starving and slows metabolism). I created my shakes to get exactly the calories I wanted per day so snacking would have to be out of the question, and I could figure out if I was really hungry or not, and learned that half the time the growls go away when I know I'm not going to give into them. And I didn't lack any energy, probably had more, I slept fine and maybe even better, I felt good about myself that I CAN have self-restraint, and I lost a few pounds! This week has really re-fuelled my desire and motivation to lose that last 20 lbs (probably less lbs now ;) and I've already come up with a bunch of things I can do to boost my fat burning, keep a healthy but calorie limited diet, and exercise more. And I happened to accomplish most of my #19 for May-July!

23. Create another homemade soup recipe
It's been so rainy and therefore chilly (A/Cs are still running because technically it feels like it's in the 20s!) so I decided to try this goal before winter. Wanted a thick, creamy soup but obviously low in calories, for some reason a soup with white beans in it seemed like a good start and searched out http://www.recipezaar.com/ for some white bean soups. Decided I liked the sounds of some pretty interesting combinations, white beans with artichokes, white beans with cauliflower, white beans with potato's and cream....came up with my own combination of the ingredients (minus the potatoes, unnecessary fibre/starch/calories) including a low-fat way to make it creamy and it's pretty good! I'm still adjusting the spices a little to make it a tad more flavorful, but I'll post the recipe for my Creamy Veggie Chowder once I've got it down pat!

27. Try infusing flavours into vodka for cooking (NTKOG)
Thanks to a cool Smirnoff recipe book (freebie from hubby's work) I fell in love with the idea of adding vodka to my recipes. I've never been much of a fan of wasting money on booze just to cook with it, it's probably the most expensive ingredient out there!

I'm NTKOG who wastes good money on just one cooking ingredient, however, some of these recipes just were WAY too tempting not to try. Then it had a section in the back it had how to infuse flavors into vodka yourself so you don't have to buy a bottle of each flavor the recipes ask for, and I thought, brilliant! Now, that's my kind of do-it-yourself, cheaper version, I like getting into! So, I did, and I picked the flavors in most of the recipes I liked, vanilla, lemon, apple, basil, and garlic. You can see my next accomplished goal is part of the results :)

28. Try a new recipe at least once per month
Well, when hubby came home with the vodka recipe book, he already had one flagged for me to try, of course :) So dutiful wife that I am I tried a delicious pork roast with bacon, soaked in an apple vodka mix and then baked in a basil vodka mustard gravy, with a side of mashed apple sweet potato's, made with apple vodka and apples.

Then I used the leftover sauce from the roast and used it on another recipe I found that was similar except it called for white wine instead of vodka, so I made basa fillets wrapped around asparagus and smoked Gouda wrapped in prosciutto, in this the same mustard gravy, yummy! Here's some pics, courtesy of the recipe books, of the 3 very tasty new recipes I tried in May.


30. Find ways to eliminate buying any food with unnecessary preservatives and packaging
Mac and Cheese is one of my favorite foods, that KD yummy cheesiness! However, I do realize that cheese (and most everything) that comes in powder former is highly processed and has LOTS of preservatives, so I've been avoiding the KD. AND been trying to create a suitable substitute. I haven't come close to a clone, but I did get a pretty delish cheese sauce from mixing cheddar cheese soup with low-fat milk and low-fat mayo! Cheese from a can probably isn't a whole lot better, but I'm making improvements! I'm going to keep experimenting, but if you know any great homemade mac n' cheez recipeez feel free to share!