Dinner Parties

With my grandparents, brother, and aunt in town, I had the occasion to cook for a large(ish) party last night. I nearly killed myself doing it, but it ended up being a lot of fun and a great success. The food, though a little cold due to some miscommunication over time, was fantastic. The company was brilliant. The mood was jovial.

I served a first course of what I'm calling "Trilogy Thai Soup" for it's three major flavors: sour, sweet, and spicy. The main components are coconut, lime, ginger, chili, and shrimp. Here's the recipe for 8 people (for a first course) or 4 people (for a main course):

1 can coconut milk

1 can vegetable broth

1 and 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (about 3/4 cup raw)

One medium green bell pepper, diced

2/3 cup diced scallions

1 pound cooked shrimp- tail off

3 tbls lime juice

2 tbls turmeric

1-4 tbls sriracha sauce (Thai chili sauce- sometimes called rooster sauce)

2 tsp freshly grated ginger

1 tbls sweet Hungarian paprika

1 avocado

1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro (Chinese parsley)

Salt to taste

Start cooking rice ahead of time so that it's ready while you're making the soup (brown rice takes about 45 minutes to cook.) Make sure to add some salt to the water.

Put coconut milk, broth, ginger, lime juice, sriracha, and all spices into a pot and begin cooking over medium heat. When all components are well blended (when cold, they'll remain somewhat separate,) add bell pepper. After about 4 minutes, add shrimp. After 2 more minutes, add rice and increase heat to high. Stir frequently. Add scallions. Add all but a few sprigs of cilantro (for garnish) to the pot, after tearing them into smaller pieces (tearing, rather than cutting, releases more of cilantro's pungent flavors into the soup.) After another 2 minutes, turn off heat.

Ladle portions into bowls, making sure to ladle from the bottom of the pot, where all of the rice, shrimp, and peppers will be resting, and then also from the top, where the flavored broth and milk will be. For first courses, this will be about one medium ladle-full of each. Add a small mound of chopped avocado to the middle, where it will be supported by the rice and shrimp below. Add a sprig of cilantro to the top. Love and yummy!

In each (first course) serving, there is about: 300 calories, 19 grams of fat, 19 grams of protein, a quarter of the recommended vitamins B and C and half of the recommended vitamin D, along with about a quarter of all daily recommended minerals, including iron, but excepting calcium. It also includes one full serving of whole grains.

Since I doubt I'll be cooking tonight (I believe my good friend Bubbly and I will be each other's dinner company) I'll post the rest of the meal tomorrow if you want me to. Otherwise, we'll leave it at that!

Happy New Year!

Saints and Zinners

I love the Zinfandel varietal. Love. Lovelovelovelovelove. In fact, I would venture to say that, should I be forced to choose but one alcoholic beverage to drink for the rest of my life, it would be a good Zinfandel.

Now. For anyone who isn't into wine, "Zinfandel" is actually a red wine. Made from red grapes. It is NOT pink. If it's pink, it is a sweet, vaguely wine-like impostor. It is not Zinfandel. White Zinfandel is actually made by removing the skins from those beautiful red grapes and then fermenting just the flesh. It's a travesty and I am becoming nauseated just thinking about it.

Moving on.

Anyway, that was my dinner last night. I decided to have my wine night. It was magical. Just the two of us. Snuggling up on the couch, a romantic fire going, some candlelight. We laughed and cuddled. Oh. Bryan was there, too.

So no recipes today. Unless you'd like me to teach you how to make wine. If that's the case, I'd suggest buying a book. I am by no means an expert. Although I would love to own my own vineyard some day. That's my pipe dream. A small hotel with a vineyard, a winery, and a Michelin-starred restaurant. The likelihood it'll happen? Hah! Slim to none. But a girl can dream, right?

Cooking a big, lovely meal for a large party tonight. I'll post everything tomorrow!

Love and yummy!

Tuscan Rotini with Pancetta, Rosemary, and Thyme

I forgot my cellphone (again) but I did take pictures, so I'll post them tomorrow. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely hate using recipes that don't include a picture of what the dish looks like. Maybe I'm just more of a visual person than a lot of cooks. Who knows.

Anyway. Bryan's dinner was so delicious that I had to have a few bites. But I made up for it by not having my veggies and rice and also not having two glasses of wine. I had one. I planned for three in my calories. That might sound like a lot. Until you taste the wine I currently have in my "cellar" (read: counter top.) It's amazing. I have nothing even remotely near the "just decent" line. So I anticipated my wanting a little more... and then a little more... and then...

You get it. Funny thing is, like I mentioned yesterday, alcohol hasn't been all that appealing to me lately. Not even my lovely wine. Which works for me- I save money and calories. And don't have to be concerned about when I may have crossed that vague line into what I like to call "lush-land."

So here's the recipe- it will make two servings. So a dinner for two or a dinner and a lunch, etc. Or double it for a family, halve it for a single serving.

Two cups whole wheat (or whole grain) Rotini
Half package of lean bacon or pancetta (about 6 pieces.)
Two cloves of garlic, minced (or more, if, like me, you can't get enough of the stuff.)
One 1/2-inch thick slice of red onion, cut into four quarters
Two un-packed cups spinach
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 sprigs fresh Thyme
2 sprigs fresh Rosemary
1/4 cup grated or shaved Parmesan
Coarse sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
Sun dried tomatoes and/or roasted red bell peppers (optional, but lovely.)

While completing other steps, boil water for pasta and add pasta when boiling- when pasta is finished, strain and set aside.
Cook the bacon or Pancetta until just crispy. Set aside on paper towels and periodically pat any grease off. Let cool.
Drain excess grease from pan, leaving only a film. Put heat at medium and return pan to stove. Add red onion. After one minute, add garlic, stirring frequently. After another minute, add leaves from thyme and rosemary. Return bacon to the pan. Add spinach. If using sun dried tomatoes or roasted peppers, add now.

When spinach is wilted, turn off heat. Add mixture to pasta. Add olive oil to pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix until olive oil thinly coats all pasta and mixture is evenly dispersed. Serve. Garnish each serving with the Parmesan and a sprig of herbs.

Each serving has approximately: 443 calories, 22 grams of fat (80% from the olive oil, which is a "good" fat), 20 grams of protein and 42 grams of carbs. It's also full of vitamins and iron and contains a full serving of veggies and 2 of whole grains.
Love and yummy!

Shifting Gears

Granted, I'm only about three months into my smoking quit, but I think it's time to switch gears, more or less officially, to my weight loss. I only rarely have cravings that are so terrible I honestly think about giving up my quit, so I'm now going to cautiously put that part of my goal on the back burner. I think it will be okay back there on it's own.

Now my focus is squarely on my weight. I've decided I'm not going to focus on drinking at all. I've learned over the past couple of weeks that I don't need to. It kind of takes care of itself as long as I'm also focusing on losing weight. Alcohol does have calories (and sometimes quite a lot), afterall.

I've also come up with a clear goal. What I want. I want to lose half of my weight. Oh yes. You heard... er read... that correctly. Half. My ass is that big. I have gained 20 pounds since I quit smoking, and those are going to be the first pounds to go. I refuse to let something healthy that I did for myself turn into another problem.

The goal is to lose at least 2/3 of that weight by Independence Day. I am determined to rock a swimsuit and look damn good doing it. I am going to start a chart which I will post soon. Same goes for progress pictures. I'm not posting them now because, well, I want to be able to say I've made progress. I am still mired in my own shame. I am still furious at myself for letting it get to this point. So pictures and my chart will be somewhat retrospective. At a point where I am proud enough that I've done something about it.

So here it goes. I have one day left (New Year's Day) to eat whatever (hangover burritos... yum.) Today, however, I will be good. I am sipping my coffee with no cream and Splenda. In a moment, I will go get one tamale from my lunch and eat that for breakfast. Then two tamales for lunch. Dinner will be veggies only. Maybe a little brown rice. A glass of red wine. Bryan, in the meantime, will get his beloved pasta (but wholegrain) with wild mushrooms, bacon, and I'm thinking an herbed cream sauce. A little sprinkled parmesan. Yum. Too many calories for me, but I do love to cook for the hubby. Maybe I'll start posting some of my healthy recipes here, too. Maybe some of the not-so-healthy ones on special occasions. Like the seared duck breast and red-wine braised duck legs over wild mushroom and goat cheese risotto with pomegranate and redwine demi-glaze I served for Christmas Eve.

Okay. No more. I'm hungry.

Okay, seriously?

What happened to my willpower? I was looking for it yesterday and couldn't find it anywhere! I looked under the scale that keeps ticking upwards. I looked in my holiday-meal-splurge-stuffed refrigerator. I looked in all of the candy-filled stockings. I looked in the closet, between my masses of clothes that barely fit (or don't fit at all.) I looked at work, behind all of the fattening, sugar-filled, caloric suicide food people bring and put in the lunchroom (no doubt because they actually managed to find their willpower, and it commanded them to get that crap out of their houses.)

Hell. I even looked at the Chinese restaurant down the street. After they welcomed me by name and asked if I'd have my usual, I just walked away- my willpower was definitely NOT there.

I've always been able to jump back on the diet wagon. But the wagon must have gotten souped up, cause it's leaving my fat ass in the dust.

I need inspiration. I need motivation. I need someone to babysit me and cart me to the gym no matter how much I kick and scream.

I need to find my willpower.

Strike that...

We start tomorrow, ass. We start tomorrow.

Happy Holidays

I was hoping I'd be so awesome by now that I'd magically manage to bypass the whole gaining-a-bunch-of-weight-around-the-holidays thing. Apparently not.

The husband and I celebrated our birthdays this past weekend. We had a lot of fun. And a lot of drinks. And a lot of food. When it's your birthday, calories don't matter. I think I read that somewhere. Anyway, someone forgot to tell my ass that. It is still under the impression that calories DO, in fact, matter. Not only do they matter. They matter a whole lot. Cookies, apparently, are not calorie free just because it's your birthday. Neither are birthday shots or the hangover burritos the next day.

Damn.

So I made a deal with my ass. I said, "Look, ass. I will give you three more days this holiday season. Three days during which I will not scrutinize you or say you look like a bowl of jelly stuffed into a balloon. Three days on which I will not monitor your big-ness. I will allow you to eat whatever you want. Those days are Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years Day (for the hangover burritos.) On the other days, I don't want to hear any whining. You will subsist on what I like to call a stranded-on-a-deserted-island diet. Restricted calories. Nothing processed. Nothing refined. Nothing fried. And don't even think of trying to convince me that the plane you were on happened to be a hostess delivery plane. I am smarter than you, ass. I own you. You will obey."

It was a bit of a tough-love talk. But, you know? Sometimes that's what it takes.

Soy Chai

Since when is a venti soy chai a full breakfast? I had to be at the gym at 5:30 this morning, and so didn't want to eat that early. Since I go to work directly from the locker room, I had to improvise for breakfast. The fact that I'm dirt poor combined with the fact that I need to watch my calorie intake led me down soy chai lane.

I'm not entirely sure where the logic came from, but it seemed completely reasonable at the time. Now I realize that while I kept my calories to a reasonable level for breakfast and did get a good dose of protein, I also consumed a... how shall I put this... buttload of sugar. Ugh. I'm so angry at myself and at Starbucks for making such sugary spicy foamy delicious concoctions.

Oh. Did I mention that I added whipped cream? Yeah. Then there's that.

I had a random craving yesterday, but I managed to get through it okay. I think the gym is helping. I was stretching this morning and this guy came over to use the machine I was next to. He was covered in tattoos and reeked of cigarettes. My first thought was, "what are you doing in a gym?" I guess it takes all kinds, as the cliché goes.

More on the gym later.

For now, I'm going to dwell on my utterly preposterous notion this morning that soy chai constitutes a healthy breakfast.

**dwelling**
**dwelling**
**dwelling**