Weekend report

So we hit the Party Source hard and well over the weekend. We had to have two people boxing our purchases. That's how much we rocked that place.

Hit up Maggiano's after the Party Source. We also rocked that place hard. I had the lasagna and Randy had the veal parm. Both were great. We got a tiramisu for the road. I heart me some tiramisu. It means "pick me up" after all. I may also have eaten about 12 slices of bread from the bread basket. But none of those carbs count because we were traveling.

Tonight (and probably at least one night subsequent) will be beef stew w/ dumplings night - lovely lovely comfort food. My recipe is pretty basic.

Place a cup of flour in a zip-top bag. Add generous shakes of onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Add 1 pound of stew meat, and shake thoroughly to coat the beef. Meanwhile, heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large pot. When heated, add the flour-coated beef in batches to brown. Once all the meat is browned, add 2 roughly chopped onions and let them get coated with the oil, meaty goodness. I generally toss in another tablespoon or so of flour at this point. Then add a cup or so of baby carrots. Then I add about a pound or so of large-dice red-skinned potatoes.* Then, give it a few squirts of the ol' W-shire sauce, a sprinkle of bouillion, some more salt/pepper, and any other seasonings that capture my imagination. Then I add about half a beer, whatever we have around (no High Life or Genny Ice, but we never have that around anyway) give it a good stir, and finally, 2-3 cans of beef stock or broth, to cover all the potatoes, etc. Let it simmer as long as possible for the flavors to meld. Delish.

Then, as if such stewy goodness weren't enough, I make the classic Bisquick dumplings - 2 c milk to 2/3 c Bisquick - spoon onto the top of the stew, cook 10 minutes uncovered, 10 minutes covered, and serve!

* Note - only use the sturdier varieties of potato in recipes such as this: red skins, Yukon golds, or regular white boiling potatoes. Avoid Idaho, russet, etc. because they will quite literally disintegrate into the soup/stew because of their flaky texture. They are best in dishes like vichyssoise, where you want that starchy texture to dissolve into the soup base.

TGIF

And I'm back. Not a whole lot to report on. The dress fits fine, so I enjoyed a delicious bagel this morning. It was rather ho-hum, so I'll probably be sticking to the reasonably low carb diet unless I'm presented with a really enticing item (i.e. garlic bread).

R-dog and I head down to Kan-tucky tomorrow to buy booze for the par-tay in February. Fun FUN times. Check this place out! It is off the hizzle.

Leftover day

Not too much to report here - it is Leftover Tuesday! Not to be confused with Fat Tuesday or Good Friday or any other especially named day of the week.

So tonight's interesting meal with consist of leftover pulled pork from Sunday, chicken souvlaki from last night, and maybe a spoonful or two of chili I'm preparing for later dinners.

Chili is super simple, easy, etc. blah blah blah. All I do is:

Brown 1 lb of ground sirloin with one minced onion in a large soup pot. Drain if necessary, although there shouldn't be much liquid. Add one chopped pepper (optional), some salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin, and about a half-handful of chili powder. Stir and let the spices hit the head for a minute. Add one large can of diced tomatoes, a smaller can of crushed tomatoes (or any mixture of canned tomatoes, really), and heat throughly..let it cook for a while if you want. Before serving, I add kidney or black beans, or both, and let them heat through. Serve with cheese or sour cream (or tostitos if you aren't resisting their Siren call)...it freezes BEAUTIFULLY!

Guess who's back?

And I've returned. Have decided to forgo the traditional sausage patty breakfast in favor of oat groats. I cook them for approximately the amount of time it takes to travel the distance of one light year, then season with a bit of half-and-half, cinnamon, and some fake brown sugar and Splenda. Mmm. Groaty.

I also roundly enjoy porterhouse steaks from Whole Foods. Mmm. Steak.

A Better Day

The scale is back in its better, downward position now. Whew.

Am quite looking forward to happy hour tonight at the 'Bees avec Elle and former-law-school-roommate. Will be dining on at least one Ultimate Margarita and some boneless buffalo wings. All for half-price. Awesome.

Grave, grave news

The scale went up 2 pounds today. Tis a dark day in Columbus/Lewis Center Ohio. A dark day.

Lunch Theater

Elle will confirm two events of our lunchtime:

1) I almost threw up on the table when a baby spinach leaf tickled the back of my throat with its stem causing me to make a horking noise at the table.

2) I experienced extreme pain when I accidently snorted some Robusto Italian up my nose. The same robusto flavor I crave on vegetables is not so good in one's sinuses and nasal passages.

Woohoo! I'm back!

After a fab weekend in NC where I attempted to low-carb-it, but still ate cheesecake, mini sandwiches, and PUNCH, I am now down 7 pounds. Not too bad for 2 weeks' work.

Tonight's dinner is chicken stir fry sans rice/noodles/whatever type of starch. If you are of a stir fry kinda mind, I highly recommend Real Simple's stir fry sauces - I've definitely tweaked them to suit my own tastes and dietary restrictions, but they are good, basic sauces. The Curry Coconut was blah, so I mixed it in with leftover Garlicky Hoisin sauce and it was delish. Hot and Sour was pretty good...perhaps will bust out the Cantonese Light Sauce tonight....

Friday breakdown

Not too much to report here. I want to reiterate my deep love of the panko bread crumbs. I made chicken parm last night using a bit of the panko with a lot of parmesan cheese as the breading, along with oregano, basil, cayenne, salt, and pepper, and it was delicious. Mmm.

Off to the southland shortly. Fingers crossed that I'm not tempted....

Offensive Foods List Part 1

Per Elle's suggestion, here's list #1 of offensive foods to moi:

1) Dried fruit - I don't LOVE any dried fruit - but I particularly hate raisins, dates, apricots, and TRULY despite golden raisins. They look like boogers. They do. The apricots have outsides that feel and taste like skin. And gooshy gross insides. Ick.

2) Shrimp - I know 99% of the population ADORES shrimp. Can't live without it. Whatever. You guys are all weirdos. It has a weird texture. And you have to de-vein it (which really means removing its nerve cord) and pull its legs off. Gross and grosser.

3) Beets - I actually don't really know what a beet tastes like, but my refusal to take more than a microscopic bite when I was 10 years old resulting in me sitting at the kitchen table until bedtime, and then returning to the breakfast table in the morning to find my dad had put the beet on a paper plate and put a glass on top, and labeled it "Beet Under Glass." Quite the wit.

4) Oysters - really, do I have to explain? When a food and a bodily discharge's nickname are the same, why would one eat it? You wouldn't eat something called "turds" or "earwax" would you?

5) Orange flavoring in EVERYTHING - this is more a method problem than an actual offensive food. The chefs these days don't think a recipe is FAB enough without some sort of citrus juice or zest. Well, I'm here to tell you folks, if God intended oranges and chocolate to be together, oranges would come out of a cow's teat. That's just how it is folks, live with it. Oranges + chocolate = ass nasty.

More later, I'm sure...

Burgers = delicious

So, as planned, I made delicious hamburgers last night - ground sirloin with the bacon, cheese, worchestshire sauce, steak seasoning, and other flavorings mixed in. Tres delicious. TRES! With some broccoli with garlic and RED PEPPER, it was quite tasty.

Another weekend of trials ahead of me - am going home to the Southland - and am expected to make 8 batches of cookies for wedding-related purposes. However, as we will not be baking them, only freezing the dough in lovely little dough balls (schwetty balls?) perhaps it won't be too bad.

Am wafting the enticing aroma of Johnsonville sausages throughout my office....wafting wafting wafting.....

Food poll

I'm taking a poll among readers as to their favorite cookies:
1) Shortbread
2) Chocolate chip
3) Chocolate white chocolate chip
4) Chocolate chip WITH nuts
5) Other

Please respond at your leisure.

Cake continued

Since I love thinking about cake in general, I want to discuss more about how there will be EXTRA cake at the wedding - 1) because we ordered extra and 2) the Boston ladies, Elle, and others can be thanked for leaving their significant others behind, so we have more extra cake! CAKE!

For those who don't know what kind of cake we're having, I won't ruin the surprise (unless you want me to), but it is from the Suisse Shop and is fab.

Official weekly weigh-in

I feel as though I'm in virtual WW for some reason - confessing my weekly weigh-in (minus the actual number so as to not scare women and children)

And so, fair readers, despite having eaten 10 chicken wings out last night with my mother, virtually ensuring water retention due to salt, I am down SIX yes SIX pounds from last week. Hurray!

I think 11 more to go, and I'm made in the shade....at least until February's end. Where I will promptly gain 5 pounds at the wedding eating extra cake.

Everyone needs to eat cake. It is delicious. Those who can vouch for the cake's deliciousness must do so.

Ugh...plus a tea review!

First off, something is going around that makes many of us feel like ass. I feel as bloated as Violet Beauregard in Willy Wonka. Haha, typed "Violent" by accident.

Second, I cannot explain how much I LOOOOVE Caribou's Irish Breakfast tea. It rocks the hizzouse. When people visit C-bus, I HIGHLY recommend a stop at the ol' Caribou.

Today's food update

Today, I've had 2 Johnsonville sausage, a cheese square (3/4 oz. of colby jack, more later), a salad with ROBUSTO Italian dressing, half a yogurt, and peanuts. Delicious, salty peanuts. I highly recommend some nuts for a snack, they get the job done.

While I enjoyed the taste of the colby jack cheese, it is v. squishy and got sweaty after mere minutes out of the fridge. Two qualities I find HIGHLY upsetting in cheese. Will stick with my delish sharp cheddah.

Tonight, am entertaining the MOB (mother of bride, thanks Miss A) with a repeat performance of last week's (and last weekend's) pork chops, green beans, and salad. Then I'll probably scarf a low carb ice cream bar. I cannot recommend these more strongly. They rule. The Almond Bars and Cones in particular.

Peace out homeys.

Conn's Honey BBQ Beef Jerky

Elle forced me (gun to head, or at least, appetite to head) to try some beef jerky today. This was of a honey bbq variety. This is my story:

I was excited to try the jerky, as I thought it could potentially become a lovely lowish carb, highish protein snack. I walked with Elle to a local emporium of snacks, beverages, greeting cards, and lottery tickets to purchase said meat treat. She bought a bag of Conn's Honey BBQ Beef Jerky. I proceeded to try some, on arriving back at the receptionist's desk of my office. This was a mistake, as my weak incisors were unable to pierce the armor of the jerky. This led to some flailing about, trying to rip off a hunk of dried meat. There may have been some drooling, I don't remember. She then informed me that you should tear, wolf-like, with the grain for maximum efficiency. Things were a bit better after that, the flavor was v. bbq-ey and sweet.

Flavor score - A-
Texture score - C
Overall - we'll give it a B.

Monday morning scale

Down 5 pounds! Yippee!

Weekend wrap up

Although many have already heard this, over the weekend, at a baby shower, I managed to resist the following delicacies:

1) Cake from the fabulous B-lo bakery, Dessert Deli (see photo)
2) Cookies, fruits, biscotti, and other sweet items to be dipped in a chocolate fountain
3) Chips and crackers of various varieties
4) Some kind of pastry like item
5) Fried ravioli
6) Egg rolls, a personal fave.

I instead ate a pound of raw veggies and some cheese. And a Diet Coke. Yee haw.

On the plus side, I found yet ANOTHER fab Zinfandel. Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin. Fab, yet again. Me likey.

Much thanks to the MOH for another fab weekend in B-Lo. And for letting me temporarily take control over her kitchen with my lowish carb fare.

That's it...not much else to report on food-wise. More soon.

FRIDAY! YEE FRICKETY HAW!

Hello. First, a shout-out to Miss A - hope the Friday goes well.

Second, can we discuss how much I lurve coffee lately? Caffeine, especially that found in the lovely coffee provided by Caribou Coffee, is a wonderfully unhealthy appetite suppressant and helps me get through my long mornings. Their Reindeer Blend is my friend. Although for those of you who are REALLY bored, this is sorta interesting re: Caribou.

Apart from some delightful Johnsonville breakfast sausage, I've also had some yogurt. Just a few bites. Mmm. I will soon be light 'n' fit. Not light AND fit. Light 'N' Fit.

We'll see if I can make it through a traveling weekend and stick to the diet. Please keep fingers crossed that my car doesn't automatically veer towards the McDonald's at the rest stops on the NY Thruway.

Meal plan for dinner, yet again inspired by the lovely but anorexically small Giada: Chicken, doused with a wet rub of olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and thyme, baked under a lovely layer of bacon. Mmm. Bacon. I don't understand how vegetarians can resist baaaaacon....mmm......gurgle....

FYI - I'm down 2 pounds from my horrifying weight on Tuesday night. An optimist would view this as resulting from my low carbing and exercise. A pessimist attribute it simply to normal flux. Pessimists can bite me.

For all you Cosmo (the drink, not the mag) lovers out there who aren't trying to squash into a heavily boned wedding dress (that sounded REALLY pervy), check this out for a Cranberry Granita recipe. Again, can you believe how thin she is?

Thursday's Food Update

I think I'm adjusted, scary as it may be. I'm about to float away on all the water I've been drinking however.

Relatively low-carb recipe idea:
Take a pork chop, season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and cinnamon. Brush lightly with low-carb apricot jam. Top lightly with bread or cracker crumbs (I used panko) mixed with a bit of oil or butter. Bake at 425 deg. for about 20 minutes. Mmm. V. delish. (Thanks to Everyday Food from wence this idea sprung)

Fantasy food item - a caffeinated beverage, which I know is not off-limits, but I just don't have one at my desk, ergo, I want it. NOW.

Johnsonville Breakfast Sausage

Spurred by the incessant ads on TV for Johnsonville's new breakfast sausage (the guy arguing with a sales lady over whether they use REAL maple syrup) I purchased some to become part of my gym-day lo-carb breakfast. Here is my review:

1) They look and feel v. fresh - look like little brats or other freshly made sausage. V. squishy.
2) Cooked up well.
3) Reheated explosively in office microwave. Must rethink reheating method.
4) Smell tasty.
5) First bite - tasty. not v. spicy. kind of bland for sausage, then again, I'm used to the "hot" variety. Haha, that sounds pervy. Hot sausage.
6) Nice flavor - no gross bits so far, and the outsides carmelized well.

Overall, I'd give them a B+. I need a little more spice and flavor in my breakfast meats, but they aren't too greasy and don't have weird bits in them.

MB out.

I hate Kroger yogurt

Kroger Carb Master yogurt SUUUUUUUCKS!

Current food fantasy - food that does not suck and...tuna noodle casserole.

My love of red pepper flakes

Although I'm not a freak, like my brother, who can tolerate things as spicy as they possibly can be, I do ROUNDLY enjoy red pepper flakes in a lot of recipes. Chicken, beef, pork, green beans, broccoli, pasta (sigh), potatoes...everything benefits from the introduction of red pepper flakes. The best way to gradually introduce red pepper flakes is through a chili oil, a very easy recipe. Put a cup or so of olive oil in a heavy pot, add a few teaspoons (or more) of red pepper flakes, heat to a simmer for 5-10 minutes, then let the mix cool. Bottle and keep for a month or so. Here's an official recipe from the suspiciously thin Giada De Laurentiis. And many MANY thanks to my MOH in B-Lo for introducing me to this wild, wonderful flavor sensation.

I use this in tons of ways - I add garlic to the heated oil and use it as a marinade, or as a cooking oil for meats and vegetables. You can modify it with any herb - rosemary, thyme, etc. Use it for a dipping sauce or to make salad dressing. I heart it.

Tuesday's food update

Today's journal (as of 3 pm):
30 minute at the gym
1 apple slice
1 cup of coffee
1/2 c yogurt
1 salad with balsamic dressing
1 oz cheddar cheese. CHEDDAH baby!

Planned dinner - chicken grilled, with a bit of salami and cheese melted on top, sauteed green beans with shallots. Shallots rule, ya'll.

Today's fantasy - more food. Carby food. Delicious bready, pasta-y, carby food. Something like "The Ultimate Potato Gratin" from Tyler Florence.

And for those who've not tried it, please RACE to your nearest emporium of adult beverages and get some Ravenswood Zinfandel. It kicks total red wine ass.

A new year, a new entry

Hello fair readers. So, I've not posted in quite a while - try, since before the engagement. Am clearly "engaged" elsewhere. Haha, a little pun for you.

Borrowing on the fabulous idea of coworker L, this is going to morph into a food column, including new recipes, ideas, and any other items that cross my mind. Until I inevitably lose interest again....

For those unaware, with the wedding rapidly approaching, I'm attempting the low carb lifestyle, at least for the next seven weeks. So the food chat will likely focus on that, with a few fantasy meals tossed in.