The Way Stuff Piles

Mmmmm. Topped with garlic croutons: epic.

Cake. Cake, cake, cake. I didn’t know what to expect when I plunged my fork into the soft depths of Panarao’s tiramisu cake, but oh, cake. I’ve never had one like this! It was so interesting to taste a cake that is actually supposed to be another dessert and try to match the flavors, feel the different textures, and re-write the memories of flavors past. The cake was moist, the homemade buttercream was somehow thick, rich, and light at once, and the filling? Yum. They even said we can use the chocolate-covered espresso beans for decoration on the cake. Perfection. We may have a winner! The cake selection from Muscoreil’s was also impressive, but the family feel and great service we got from Tony at Panaro’s really makes them the top contender for us personally. I do highly recommend Muscoreil’s as well, though; they do beautiful work and their white almond raspberry cake was delicious, packed with the perfect balance of sweet & tart. Mmmmm.

And even with all the cake tasting, the cinnamon rolls from Five Points Bakery, and the restaurant meals with my brother this past week, I still lost 1 pound! I know it’s not much, but it also means that I’m still on track. I didn’t have much time to exercise, and all 5 nights of work last week my stomach was growling and begging by 2 AM, but I made good food choices at home and out to eat. Plus, on Sunday, Jonmark and I finally made it to the rock gym!! I not only climbed higher on more difficult courses, but I hung in the air like Spiderman! I didn’t get more than 10 feet off the ground on the inclined walls, but I still made it. Worth being proud of for sure.

Tonight for dinner (lunch)? Potato leek soup. It wasn’t a recipe I made up, really – you can use one of any from Food Network or another site. Mine was delicious, and only 216 calories per serving. It’s a great way to end a chilly winter day, and a perfect low-cal, low-fat meal.

Working Girl

The day has come: tonight is my first night on the job from 11:30 tonight until 7 AM tomorrow. And what a time, since my brother arrives in town tomorrow afternoon!! It’s going to be a spitfire week, and one of my top priorities this week is attempting to maintain some diet and exercise despite restaurant meals and balancing work with school with Tyler’s stay. And my biggest question is: if I’m awake for 20-something hours, am I allowed more calories? It would seem so…but I don’t want to use it as an excuse to break my perseverance. Jonmark and I didn’t get to the rock gym today, but we did go for a nice long walk – very enjoyable. The houses on neighboring streets are so beautiful, an array of blues, oranges, teals, picture windows, Dutch overhangs, and castle-like peaks. The sidewalks are uneven, and the sky is always always grey, but on the arm of my future hubby in the perfectly brisk winter air, it was perfect.

Speaking of winter…I  made some delicious tortellini soup yesterday! I’ve been in the soup mood; I plan to make potato-leek and New England clam chowder this week as well. Tortellini was by far my favorite food as a child. In fact, it was practically the only food I would  eat when I was little. Something about cheese or meat wrapped in pasta…obviously tempting. This soup was pretty healthy: we cooked it with very little sodium, fresh veggies, and bi-colored all-natural TORTELLINIS yummmmmmmmm. SO simple and can mostly be made with things from the pantry, which makes it perfect for any cold winter evening where you are too chilly to remain outside of the blankets for too long.

Whitney’s Tortellini Soup
1.5 tsp. canola oil
2 tbsp. minced garlic (or to taste)
3 tbsp. diced onion
4 cups water
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 15 oz. can plum tomatoes, diced, with juice
about 10 oz. tortellini of your choice, uncooked
half a large carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, sliced small
about 1/3 summer squash, cut thickly and chopped
pepper and Italian seasoning to taste
salt to taste, if desired

-Heat garlic and onions in the bottom of a saucepan with the canola oil until soft and sweet (properly caramelized).
-Add 2 cups water, bouillon cube, and diced tomatoes with juice to pan and bring to boil.
-Add seasoning, celery, carrots, squash, and remaining water to pot and bring back to boil, then simmer until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
-Add tortellinis and turn up the heat a bit to boil the pasta, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve with a little parmesan cheese and bread!
-Spoon-feed self like helpless baby hungry for more. But blow first – that soup is damn hot!

This was an absolutely great, great soup for a winter night, particularly if you love tortellinis as much as I do. It would be far easier to use canned tomato soup and just “doctor it up,” as my 80-year-old Italian neighbor Jim says, but you must be careful of that sodium!! It gets bad.

So far today, I’ve only eaten about 900 calories and burned 160 on our 2 mile walk today! Needless to say, I’ll be getting my massive food processor out tonight and making a mean smoothie with Greek yogurt, fruits, and maybe even some peanut butter for extra naughtiness (and protein).  I’m off to pack a small lunch for tomorrow, gather my homework together, throw a whole chicken in the oven for low-sodium low-fat sandwiches this week, and then head off to my first night at work! No Red Bulls here, folks.

Today’s nutrition report

The Good Fight

Written last night, but our Internet went out!

My little treat for the day - a small scone, two Hershey kisses, and coffee with a titch of lowfat milk!

There is nothing quite like the smell of hot pasta as it floods in curly-q’s and sloppy spirals out of boiling water and into an ancient metal colander, the steam obscuring all visions of the writhing mass until it parts dramatically to reveal: dinner. Tonight, it wasn’t tortellini or tri-color macaroni, but linguine, the semi-skinny stuff typically suited for clams. Donned in asparagus, mushrooms, and just a little bit of grated parmesan cheese, it was a bowl of simplistic high calorie goodness. Yes sir, at a time where everything in my life seems to be a struggle, my greatest struggle today was indeed merely with the pasta. I stayed within my calorie count for today (and carbs, and fat, and went well over my needed protein!!) but I definitely could not resist that pasta. And with my knee acting up and the busy day I’ve had, I guiltily failed to work out today. Boo. But since I’ve had plenty of cardio this week with more to come, guilt no more. My pants were loose and I feel better. All pride here, baby.

Yesterday was good, too. 30 minutes of cardio – and I totally kicked ass. Good diet day, good work out day. I also resolved to never buy Toufayan Smart Bagels again (essentially, I’m still craving a bagel with no time to make one!). They are a let down each time I eat one….

I whipped up some very delicious impromptu bruschetta bread today – and it’s probably one of the quickest, easiest things to make!! If you like toasty bread and tomato…and cheese…this version is for you!! You may even have all these ingredients already in your refrigerator and pantry. To me, bruschetta is just classic (particularly if you’re at all Italian like Jonmark and I) and you really can’t go wrong. There’s plenty of chefs who do it better, but I’m not worried about it because it’s great in my tum-tum-tummy. You’ll be content with the process here; it’s so easy it’s practically nonexistent.

Easy Bruschetta Bread
Pre-sliced Italian bread (if you’re tracking calories. Otherwise, use the good stuff!)
Deli-sliced provolone cheese
Plum tomatoes
Dash of olive oil
Minced garlic
Italian seasoning
Red pepper flakes
A pinch of salt

Clarification: Why are there no amounts here? Because you can just go ahead and make as much as you want! However, for some specificity, two plum tomatoes makes about 1 cup of topping (the tomatoes are going to lose moisture and cook down. Plus, you’re removing the whole interior). You can use whatever type of tomatoes you want, but I prefer the plums for most purposes because they are always a fairly firm tomato.

-Preheat oven to 400 F and VERY lightly grease a non-stick pan with a little olive oil (or canola, whatever you like. I suggest extra virgin olive oil).
-Dash your pan with just a hint of oil and begin sizzling your garlic.
-Lay desired slices of Italian bread on the non-stick baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 5 minutes. In the meantime, de-seed and dice your tomatoes and throw them in to saute with the garlic. Add Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste.
-Add provolone cheese to the Italian bread and bake for at least another 5 minutes, or until desired level of crispiness has been reached for your toast!
-Saute the tomatoes for 5-7 minutes, or until they are fully cooked but not too soft or mushy. You’re not trying to make spaghetti sauce after all
-Remove toasts from the oven, bury in tomatoes, and demolish with your hungry face.

Behaving is so hard, and it really does feel good to be bad. But it’s not always worth it Anyway, you can check out my charts and see how I’m doing for yourself!

Wednesday’s report
Thursday’s report

Weekly report through Thursday

My Hearty Valentine

Obligatory picture of JM & I

Valentine’s Day. “Singles Awareness Day.” The “Hallmark Holiday.” Any way you slice it, February 14 is just that: a day. It’s only as significant as you make it.

That being said, instead of hanging around and doing nothing last night, we hosted our friends at our apartment and had a small get-together with good food and good wine!! To go along with the homemade pita chips I made the other day, I decided to throw together my chicken salad with homemade mayonnaise. This was met with a bleu cheese dip and a macaroni and cheese with broccoli from our friends that were all to die for!! Thank goodness we offset all the cheese and fats with a nice bowl of fresh pineapple. Even the low fat, low calorie banana muffins I made from sparkrecipes.com were a hit!

Now, yesterday was what a lot of people in the dieting world seem to call a “maintenance day,” in that I did not stick to my diet but also did not eat more than an average, non-dieting day (about 1800-2000 calories for women). I do feel a bit bad that Monday and Tuesday are lost dieting days this week, but I realize that dieting is a process: no one loses all their weight in one day, or even one month. Instead of letting guilt eat away at me all day, I think it’s better to just start fresh today and resolve to get back to my diet. I’m not the kind of person that thinks all these little slips will break my resolve, and I also don’t think you should have to give up a cupcake or a few glasses of wine on a special day just because of your diet (you couldn’t pay me to give up Eveningside Winery’s Cabernet Sauvignon or Schulze Winery’s Crackling Niagara)!! Because, let’s face it: I like to eat. And drink. That just ain’t gonna change.

You can access my nutrition report for yesterday here: http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/nutrition_food_chart.asp?sidn=3kMClpA6U++++++1]R5Na3++++++++&iMTGoalNum=219540182&dteDateShowing=2/14/2012&bGetElementByID=TRUE

I can't wait for lunch!

I realized that I have never included a chicken salad recipe here before! And while it is easy enough to make, there are so many variations that it is certainly worth talking about here. It’s not necessarily a health food (it is, after all, made with mayonnaise), but it’s absolutely not a food that must be avoided. In fact, skinless chicken breasts that have been poached are a delicious low fat way to get some much-needed protein into your day. My mother used to make chicken salad for our lunches, and her way was absolutely delicious. The variation I made last night was slightly different, but reminded me of getting those whole wheat chicken salad sandwiches in my purple lunchbox, sinking my teeth into something homemade and awesome, and that wasn’t covered with cheese and intended to be dipped in marinara sauce (most of our cafeteria lunches in high school).

Last night’s chicken salad was: chicken, mayo, curry powder, garlic powder, apples, dried cranberries, and dry coleslaw mix with a good grind of pepper. However, mix it up! Other good combos include: chicken-apples-cranberries-celery-onion-mayo-ground ginger, chicken-apples-grapes-walnuts-celery-Greek yogurt, chicken-cucumber-celery-pineapple-Greek yogurt…..these are my favorites! I love the combination of chicken, fruit, and veggies together, and honestly, any vegetable that does not require cooking would be great in the chicken salad because it will maintain a crunch. You can of course use store-bought mayo (I would suggest olive oil mayo), but you can also use Julia Child’s time-tested mayo recipe to make your own. I have begun to make my mayo with lemon juice instead of white vinegar, which gives it a whole new kick and tasted great with the chicken salad!

Chicken Salad
3 chicken breasts
approx. 1 cup mayonnaise
half an apple
handful of dried cranberries
handful of dry coleslaw mix
curry powder to taste
garlic powder to taste
black pepper (and salt, if desired) to taste

-Place defrosted chicken breasts in a large pot and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil.
-Boil chicken breasts for 30-45 minutes, depending mostly on thickness. You can lift a breast out of the pot with a pair of tongs and cut into the middle with a knife to see if they are fully cooked.
-Remove chicken from water, and cool the chicken by placing the breasts on a cutting board or, as I did last night, in a bowl that you place inside another bowl of cold water to create a water bath.
-Cut and shred the chicken into very small pieces. Add the dry ingredients and mix together well. Add mayonnaise until you are satisfied with the consistency of the chicken salad (I estimate you will use at least a cup).
-Season to taste and refrigerate until ready to serve.Tip: The chicken salad will taste better onday 2, so if you make it the night before you intend to use it, it will taste even better! Letting the flavors meld together is highly suggested.

So, yes folks, I am embarrassed by the results of yesterday’s meal, but considering the drinks and the very large meal, it’s good to know that I was still able to “maintain.” Let this serve as a warning to those who drink more than a couple glasses of wine or a couple beers more than once a week and intend (or not) to diet: think “beer gut.” I was pleasantly surprised by my cupcakes, as dry as they were: they were less than 250 calories even with peanut butter frosting! But still.

For anyone who is wondering about the homemade pita chips, I simply cut pitas into 12 triangles and baked at 375 degrees F for between 10-15 minutes (depending on your pitas and the intensity of your oven). Yum! Make sure that pan is non-stick so they don’t burn.

More weekly progress

Getting Back

This weekend, Jonmark and I drove home to Pittstown to see my father – and he’s doing great. Stubborn, yes, but great. Seeing him was truly inspiring and a great health boost!!

So many pita chips!

So you may be wondering why I have had nothing to post! Eating home-cooked meals all weekend under the auspices of my father’s diet, I didn’t worry about calories, fat, or salt – my mother always cooks delicious and healthy meals for all of us. And besides a late-night, overflowing bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, I was a good girl And, indeed, I have lost 2 more pounds in a week! So I’m working out and feeling good every day. Another reason for the slight lag in posting? A horrible, crap cold that crept up on me and hit me late Wednesday night after my workout. And it still hasn’t gone! But I did light yoga over the weekend and managed about 25 of 40 minutes for my Hip Hop Abs workout. I realized when my throat began to seize up and I couldn’t breathe through my nose that I had enough exercise…

Banana Muffins!!

Below is my nutrition for yesterday, but it doesn’t include last night’s naughtiness: dinner at Allen Street Hardware. While I quite honestly don’t even want to log the food we ate, it was absolutely delicious. I cannot say enough about this place! Located smack dab in the middle of Allentown, Allen Street Hardware Cafe was once just Allen Street Hardware – and it’s got great beer, great food, and great service! It was absolutely a great pick for a pre-Valentine’s Day excuse for dinner out together. The lighting in ASH is low and romantic, and though there is of course a big bar there, it still feels low-key and not too noisy to prevent intimate conversation. I had a Middle Ages Swallow Wit Belgian White, which was a bit bland and yeasty for my tastes, but was still great with our food. Jonmark had a Porterhouse XXXX Stout, which was super carbonated and flavorful! We began our meal with baked brie peppered with dried fruits, walnuts, and a balsamic reduction – absolutely AMAZING! The crispy toasts abounded and oh, how gooey. Yum. I just love the way that brie gets more mellow as it gets warmer and warmer. I continued my meal with Hardware’s Dr. Pepper-marinated pork loin, sliced thin like deli with an awesome cherry chipotle sauce on a perfectly panini’d panini. It was so unique! And the spice of the sauce offset the sweet cherry and the pork’s marinade, further complimented by greens atop the sandwich and the buttery bread. WOW. This panini gets 5 stars. Jonmark had a MASSIVE and perfectly cooked 12 ounce burger with cheese and sauteed mushrooms and onions. Accompanied by an incredible pickle and crispy homemade fries, his meal was great too! I truly cannot say enough about Allen Street Hardware as a cafe and bar. The waitress is always kind, sweet, and attentive, and the cooks didn’t overcook a single thing, all the way down to Jonmark’s perfectly rare burger. Again, wow. 5 stars. And the even better deal? Tons of food for a very, very affordable price.

Mmmm cupcakes!!

Thankfully, I should be able to fully detox today, as I made low-calorie banana muffins, homemade pita chips, healthier cupcakes, and homemade mayo yesterday in two hours of cooking/baking craziness. Plans to drink a ton of water and get a little sweat on later are in the works as well. Yay!

So, as I said, below is my nutrition for yesterday pre-ASH dinner. Tonight we have two chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, each under 250 calories!! Recipe up-and-coming tonight or tomorrow My plans for today include more wedding planning (!!), more exercise, and lots of homework. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.

Tuesday Feb 13