7/6/2014 0 Comments Long time, no blogRenee and I have been super busy working on our individual blogs, writing (patterns, short stories, novels), work, and even a family vacation (first one in about 40 years). So, that's where we've been hiding.
This past week, I had to go in to the doctor for a routine physical. It turned out it was a good thing, as I fell on a run the day before, so it was nice to have that checked out. My surprise came when I got on the scale--I weighed in at a good 11 pounds more than I thought I weigh. Now, my clothes fit fine, even my suits that get drug out every couple of months; but, I do know that there has been way too much "ish" in my veganish diet of late, and I'm aware of where those extra pounds came from. So, I decided to revive 2FS. I talked to Renee, and she decided to join me. What I'm doing starting tomorrow is blogging about my version of Dr. Neal Barnard's 21-Day Weightloss Kickstart. Renee is also adapting it to her needs as well. Why this version rather than doing my own thing? Well, as my Nutella adventures show, I can't always be trusted lately. I've also been on a cracker binge of late, as well as using olive oil a bit too freely. And as I was looking to put a meal plan together for this coming week, I said, gee, I wish someone would do this for me. Neal Barnard did. I have one of his other cookbooks and have enjoyed the approach, so I figured a little discipline can't hurt. OK, so why are you altering his plan at all? I hate oatmeal unless it is in granola or it is in a cookie (or part of a lentil loaf, etc). I also just prefer smoothies for breakfast 6/7 days of the week. I do plan on trying some of his other breakfast recipes on weekends, but smoothies are one alteration I'm making. Renee is gluten-sensitive, so she'll be skipping the pancakes. She's really into smoothies as well. The only other real alteration I see making in week 1 is that a couple of the lunches just don't look like they would pack well. Those might get swapped for another of his recipes. Also, I'm shooting for no more than 1500 calories a day, so that fancy fruit salad on day 3 is not happening. We'll have an open watermelon that needs eating, so that'll be a fruit option. What else are you doing? I have also returned to using Fitday.com to track intake and activities and I'll be walking the dogs daily (per usual--they won't let me out of it), as well as doing alternating yoga and step aerobics/cardio days.
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10/17/2013 0 Comments Mushroom Almond PateThere's no picture for this one, as it's been awhile since I've made it, although I hear it calling my name today. This is from one of Sunset's Vegetarian cookbooks someone gave me decades ago. While those of you who are veg heads already won't be put off by the wet concrete hue, expect omni's at parties to pass it up. That's ok because it makes a great fast meal for you the next day when there are leftovers. 1 cup slivered almonds (you're going to grind them, so use whatever shape and cut you like)
1/4 cup butter or margarine (I'm sure coconut oil would work, of course Earth Balance would) 1 small onion, chopped 1 clove of garlic, minced or pressed 3/4 pound mushrooms, sliced 3/4 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves (dried) 1/8 teaspoon pepper 2 Tablespoons salad oil (not sure what they are calling "salad oil." Use what you want. I have some sage and mushroom oil in my cupboard from Raimondo Winery that's going in my next batch of this). Spread almonds on a shallow pan and toast in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. (Or you could just buy roasted almonds). Melt the butter (or whatever solid fat you prefer) in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, salt, thyme, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and most of pan juices have evaporated. In a food processor or blender, whirl almonds to form a paste. With the motor running, add oil and whirl until creamy. Add mushroom mixture and whirl until pate is smooth. Makes eight 1/4 cup servings. This is not really the kind of pate that will be thick enough to slice. Just put it in ramekins or in a nice serving dish and let folks have at it. Nutritional info: 4 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrate, 35 milligrams cholesterol (if you use butter), 234 calories. 7/8/2013 1 Comment Gluten Free Yeast Bread!When Renee announced that she's gluten intolerant, I was sad for her for many reasons, not least of which is bread. You see, our mom makes awesome french loaves. Even though her recipe has evolved over the years, I think we both have very fond memories of mom's homemade bread. And, while it may be a good thing for us two fat sisters to eat a burger wrapped up in a lettuce leaf or eat our PB and J on a rice cake, it's just not the same.
When I was on the farm last time, Renee indicated that she'd had bad bread experiences. We both were singing the praises of farinata, and I've used it to make awesome pizzas, but I had to agree with her that a lot of the GF bread out there is crumbly, hard to eat, and just not really "bread like." Enter this recipe. If you have no problem with eggs, feel free to use the egg whites--I suspect they would work just fine. Do keep an eye on it in the oven. I made the following changes: I made an egg white substitute with agar flakes. I have this huge chunk of agar agar in my cupboard, and I broke off some and threw it in the Vitamix. 1 T agar to 1T boiling water is an egg white. So, if you're doing the vegan version, 2T agar powder in 2T hot water. Stir it around, then just use a hand mixer to incorporate it with the 1.5 cups water and the cider vinegar. Once the bread is brown enough on top, just throw a piece of foil on top. I did this after about 30 minutes, as it was getting very brown. I also only kept the oven at 400 for 45 minutes, then knocked it back to 350 for the remaining 30. I also proofed my dough for close to an hour. I went to workout while it did its thing. I did really beat it with the hand mixer for five full minutes. The results? A crusty loaf with a soft interior with nice structure. Slices easily, tastes like bread. In a related note, I got the Bob's Red Mill stuff from Vitacost this time, but will likely not order from them again as they screwed up my most recent order and I've had to email them multiple times. In the meantime, I went to Whole Foods and got all the stuff that I have been waiting weeks to get from them (they did some weird shipping on this package). Next time? I'm going to order from Bob himself. :) I use a lot of BRM products, so it makes sense to make this transition, I think. 6/18/2013 2 Comments Curried Red Lentil CakesSo, last night I decided to make this Sweet Potato Leek Gratin from Vegetarian Times and to saute the radish tops from last week's farmer's market haul. I also wanted something with protein to go with. I wanted it to be both vegan and gluten-free for my Sis, and I know she loves red lentils, so here's what I came up with.
Curried Red Lentil Cakes Saute the following, just until tender: 1 diced jalapeno, seeded 1/2 onion, diced 1/2 red bell pepper, diced 3 minced cloves garlic 1 knob of ginger (you decide how big), minced Once these veg are fairly tender, add: 1 teaspoon of cumin 1/2 t. of smoked paprika (I have the hot, which is awesome) 1/4 t. or so of ground coriander salt and pepper 1 t. curry powder of your choice You may need or want to deglaze the pan to get the last of the spices up--use juice of 1/2 a lime to do this (or you can put it in the bowl with your dry ingredients, which are below). In a mixing bowl, put in your spice/veg mix, a handful of chopped green herbs (if you hate cilantro, use parsley), with: 1 cup cooked brown rice 1 cup cooked red lentils 1/4 cup chickpea flour The mixture will be somewhat wet, but you should be able to make patties with it. I browned mine in a tiny bit of coconut oil, keeping with the flavors/smells of curry. They firm up nicely! Notes: If you don't have hot smoked paprika, I'd sub regular smoked with some cayenne for the kick (if you like a kick). Also, the gratin was good and was our only gluten tainted bit last night--I used smashed croutons on top. I would think you could use gluten free crumbs instead, or even leave the crumb topping off and it would be fine. We didn't put cheese, but I would think a smattering of Parmesan would be good if you were ok with it being mostly vegan and completely gluten free. As is typical of me, I made more rice and lentils than I needed, which is fine, as the rice will become rice milk and the lentils are going into a roasted garlic red lentil hummus dip, most likely today. 2/6/2013 2 Comments The Vegan MenuSo, while I was in Michigan last month, I signed up for The Vegan Menu because they had a deal on Living Social. For 15 bucks, you get six months worth of weekly dinner menus (five dinners per week) that include recipes and a grocery list for each week. I figured why the heck not?
I don't have anything negative to say here about the service. The two weeks after I got back from Michigan I had meetings every day that took up 3-6 hours of the day so I was spending the rest of my time trying to stay on top of posting, grading, handling complaints, checking voicemail and email. The Vegan Menu made it so that we got to have great dinners those two weeks with no planning and very little effort on my part. One of the big things I love about the service is that it focuses on whole foods and doesn't use added oil or refined sugar. It is also very low soy and tends to focus on beans more than seitan. I did wind up throwing in some extra beans into recipes that were pretty low calorie and low protein (under 200 calories a serving), but that wasn't a chore at all. There are sometimes some quirky typos or errors, but if you are kitchen literate, it's all good. So, if you want to give it a try, why not? If you go to their Facebook page, you'll see you have until 2/10 to get six months at the 50% off rate. You get to download and print/save the PDFs of each weekly menu, so you'll quickly have a set of recipes and grocery lists that you can pull out when you have a week coming up where you just want someone else to tell you what to make for dinner. 1/6/2013 1 Comment New year, new me.Okay, so I have not been pulling my weight around here lately. Life has gotten in the way. There will probably be more about that later. Anyway, when Angel was here at Christmas, we committed to each other that we would be working out "together" while we watch "Biggest Loser". The season premier is tonight. So in preparation, I did some house-cleaning this morning and moved the recumbent bike into the room where the TV is. She is going to put her rowing machine in front of her TV. I figure that I will take water breaks during the commercials during the first hour and then do a half-hour of core work, then cool down the last 30 minutes, since the show is running until 10 p.m. I don't want to be too ramped up at bedtime. This morning while chatting with Angel online, she linked a chickpea omelette for me, so I tried it. It was pretty good, but I think I can improve upon it, especially given my experiments making farinata last night. I am also on a 3-week elimination diet right now. Perhaps you have seen the Virgin Diet lately on TV? I have eliminated gluten, soy, peanuts, dairy, eggs, corn and sugar/artificial sweeteners from my diet. Then in a couple more weeks, I will test each one to see if I have any obvious food sensitivities. Nutritionist JJ Virgin claims that if you are eating food that you have a sensitivity to, it actually causes you to hold onto excess weight and causes inflammation in your body. So, as of day 5, I had lost 3.3 pounds. I have not weighed since then, and today is day 6. The hardest thing to give up has been gluten and learning to drink my coffee without sweetener. I just add a little coconut milk. It's okay; other than that, I had already mostly eliminated eggs and dairy. Corn is hard only from the standpoint that I LOVE polenta. But it doesn't mean that I can never have it again, just not for a couple of months, unless I seem to have a sensitivity to it. We'll see. Life has finally settled down a bit, so I hope to be able to blog here more often. Don't forget to tune in to NBC tonight...and if you want, you can work out with Angel and I while we all watch The Biggest Loser! Happy New Year! What the heck? A food picture...kale chips. Really, why did I wait so long to try these? Yum! 1/4/2013 0 Comments Enchiladas!I need to take a picture, perhaps, but wanted to write down what I did, as I will definitely make these again. I simply layered oven crisped corn tortillas with black beans and sweet potato mixture and enchilada sauce (I had two packets in my cabinet that each made a cup--one red, one green. I made one end red and one green in the casserole).
2 cups cooked black beans mixed with: 1 14 ounce can diced, no salt tomatoes 1/2 diced onion 2 cloves minced garlic handful of chopped cilantro minced chipotle in adobo salt and pepper diced, seeded jalapeno juice of one lime chili powder In another bowl: three baked sweet potatoes mashed 2 cloves minced garlic chopped green onion another minced chile in adobo salt and pepper 12 crisped corn tortillas 2 cups enchilada sauce of your choice Layer beans first, drizzle with sauce. Tortillas, spread on potato mixture drizzle with sauce. Tortillas, then beans and last of the sauce. I had some leftover cornbread so I crumbled some (not a lot) on top to give it texture and sub for the cheese. 425 degrees for 30 minutes and you've got dinner. Renee got me some goodies from the Santa Fe school of cooking, and I found that the green chile dip mix works great with a block of silken tofu in for the dairy/mayo. I just whirred up the block of tofu with a peeled lime in the vitamix, then stirred in two Tablespoons of the dip mix--it makes a great sour cream replacement. 12/30/2012 0 Comments (Pre) New Year's CookingI don't really *do* resolutions, as I don't necessarily think they work. I do, though, try to come up with some things I want to work on and this year, I think it is going to be to be an even better vegan by trying a variety of new recipes. I've already decided that I'm going to do a "day" sort of theme for menu planning this year where every week I have a dinner that focuses on these seven things (one per day). They don't even have to be on the same day of every week:
Bean and grain day Soup day Mexican day Pasta day Salad day Bread day (this can be a sandwich, a pizza, etc). Wild card day (I'm considering a "casserole" day) I've already gotten a start with new recipes tonight! I scored two 1/2 pound packages of sliced portobellos yesterday (99 cents each!) so I looked in the index of CDW's Passionate Vegetarian and there was Ned's Marsala Marinated Portobello Grill on page 770. I got those marinating (leaving the oil out and doubling the marinade to accommodate a full pound of shrooms) an threw some homemade veggie stock in the crockpot with a cup of polenta (I do a 3:1 ratio on that in the crockpot). When it came time for dinner, I split one of my vegan Italian sausages in half and threw in on the grill with the shrooms and then reduced the leftover marinade and thickened it slightly. Very awesome. I love *Chick'n (seitan) Marsala, but this is even better and the mushrooms really shine. Tomorrow, I'm making the Hearts of Palm Ceviche from Vegan Cooking for Carnivores (The link is to an internet recipe that is similar) and oven-baked tortilla chips as my new recipe of the day (I figure we'll snack around, eating the leftovers from dinner as grilled polenta cakes and shrooms at some point). New Years Day will probably see me making Susan V of Fat-free Vegan's Creole Black Eyed Peas with mixed greens on the side and some good old cornbread. It may be possible that I'm trying to eat all the corn that Renee will be giving up in the next three weeks (did I mention we had Latin Corn Soup for dinner last night for dinner and again for lunch today). 10/18/2012 0 Comments New Favorite ThingsMaybe I should title this: why I'm not yet a "Skinny" sister :)
Renee recently got one of those Keurig things, and it's pretty groovy. I've contemplated getting one of my own, but then our coffee roaster died, so we got a new one of those. This one has a fancy fan and heater adjustments, so I suspect we'll be playing with those to find our favorite roast. I was coveting the Keurig, and I've had a lot of fun looking at the reusable cups like EcoKups and reading some of the fun "hacks" people have figured out (like taking the top off a used K cup, rinsing it out, putting in their own coffee, then sealing with foil or with press-n-seal and brewing again). But, I think for now, I'll stick with the Chemex. I was glad to find out, though, that there is a paper filter in the K cups, given Renee's battle with cholesterol. Besides, I need to spend that money on other obsessions. This morning, I'm putting together an iherb.com order, and I realized how spoiled I am over all. Here are a few of my recent "finds" that are a good indication of just how spoiled: Healthy Surprise: I've always been a grazer, and now the folks at HS have me hooked on their boxes. I started with the intro box, and I've already upped my subscription (more snacks AND free shipping? Duh!). All vegan, soy and gluten free. Box full of fun. This month's box had my next new addiction in it: Power Wraps. I have already gone to their site and ordered one in every flavor so we can see what we like best. The Texas BBQ are kind of like vegan Slim Jims without the nastiness or indigestion! Butler Soy Curls: I'm down to my last bag of my second order of these (I guess not too bad since I gave a bag to Renee and we're nearing a year since I started ordering these). They are great as carnitas or for making the Vegan Rico (dinner last night). My favorite way to use them, though, is to rehydrate, dredge in flour with lots of salt and pepper, then broil until crispy on both sides and throw them in stir fry. They are non GMO, no hexane, and they are the entire soy bean, extruded at high temps, with no other ingredients. Scary realistic texture if you're a meat hater, though (you texture folks know who you are). I like them well enough that I'm contemplating the big bulk box, which cuts the price almost in 1/2. I may need an intervention. I suspect that box would last a year or so, and they keep well in the freezer. I think I just talked myself into it. Don't be surprised if you get a Christmas basket with a packet and a recipe, along with a bag of home-roasted fair trade coffee to put in your rinsed out K cups, Renee! 9/3/2012 0 Comments Apple Pie SmoothieSo, no soy in the smoothie today at all. Here's what was in it:
2 servings 1 cup apple juice 1/3 cup chopped dates (I soaked these in the apple juice overnight) 1 cup oat milk 1 scoop (2 T.) Nutribiotic Rice Protein Powder, Vanilla flavor 2 frozen banans That's it--whirl it all up, sprinkle the top with cinnamon, and it's brea |
The Two Fat SistersRenee and Angel welcome you to their blog. Hopefully we can change our name some time. In the meantime, watch as we try to get there. Archives
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