Recipe of the Week: Broccoli-and-Ham Breakfast Casserole

My last two breakfast casseroles were a big hit in our house (at least for me) so I tried a new one this week. This one was adapted pretty closely from this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen -- the only major changes were that I added diced ham and substituted Egg Beaters for some of the eggs. This tastes a lot like a broccoli and cheese omelette, so if you like that sort of thing, then I think you'll like this one as well.

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Broccoli-and-Ham Breakfast Casserole
Makes 6-8 servings, depending on how big you cut them and your specific ingredients
(When cut into 8 servings, ~150 calories per serving)

• 3 cups fresh broccoli, florets and some stems (about 1 big broccoli crown, cut up)
• 6 oz. diced ham*
• ¾ cup shredded reduced-fat Colby Jack cheese (or similar reduced-fat cheese)*
• 3-4 Tbsp. green onion tops (or 1½-2 Tbsp. dried chives)
• 6 whole eggs
• 1½ cups Egg Beaters*
• Seasoning salt, to taste
• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

* NOTE: Ham can be omitted, if you like. The original recipe doesn't even use it, but I found diced ham that is only 20 calories per ounce, which works out to about 15 calories per serving, which I figured was perfectly fine for a little extra protein and hammy goodness. You can use any kind of shredded cheese in this that you like. We've been using mostly reduced fat (2% milk) shredded cheese, but we did see a full fat "mac n' cheese" blend at the store that would be delightful in this. If I had been able to do the math in my head and known that this was pretty low-calorie for one of these casseroles, I would have used that instead. But anything is fine, really. Go nuts. I love cheese and don't judge anyone for their personal cheese preferences. Also: I used plain old "regular" flavored Egg Beaters in this, because that was all I could find at the store, but pretty much any flavor will work here. Three cheese or Florentine would both be great. I recommended cheese-and-chive flavor last week, but it looks like they don't make that kind any more, so ... sorry, I guess?

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 7¼"x11¼" baking dish with cooking spray (optional). Cook broccoli in about 2 quarts boiling lightly-salted water for 2-4 minutes or until desired doneness. Drain and rinse in cool water. If desired, chop into smaller pieces. Arrange broccoli in the bottom of baking dish. Cover with ham, cheese, and green onions. Open whole eggs into a bowl and break the yolks. Add Egg Beaters and seasoning salt and LIGHTLY beat just until blended. Pour egg mixture over ingredients in baking dish. Lightly stir with a fork just until combined. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes or until eggs are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and cut into servings.

Recipe Time!

I don't talk about it on the much because it's boring, but way back at the beginning of Lent I "gave up" white carbs (sugar, flour, potatoes, and rice) and by Easter I'd lost a bunch of weight -- about 25 pounds. It's been a weird experiment for me because I love sweet and salty snacks at night, but I've been trying to keep up with it and so far I'm down close to 40 pounds. So, um, yay? Except I'm getting into that scarily familiar territory where LoseIt! tells me I only get a frighteningly small number of calories per day. Eek!

Generally I don't buy into "low carb" diets because it seems that a lot of people do it "wrong" -- or, at least, in a way that seems weirdly unhealthy. You know how I love bacon, but in general it doesn't sound like a good idea to eat rashers of bacon at every meal. Some people at work do that and I fear for their cholesterol levels. Although I do love me some bacon IN MODERATION every once in a while.

I'm not really following a specific plan on this particular diet, but if I needed to but a name to it, I'd probably say it's something like "South Beach with Butter." We've mostly been eating more veggies in general, trying to eat more protein, and I've been trying to eat fewer than 100g of carbs every day (which is about 1/3 of what the USDA recommends for a 2,000-calorie diet). I'm maybe not eating as much fruit as I should, but I am eating a lot more vegetables more regularly than I was before, so I'm calling that a wash.

One of the things I've been doing is eating a lot of eggs with turkey sausage or low-fat ham for breakfast. I know the jury is out on eggs (go ahead, do a Google search on "are eggs healthy" and look at the wide range of responses you get), but I watch the rest of the fat that I eat and keep an eye on my cholesterol, and I think that eating two hard-boiled eggs a day is fine. I have been eating mostly Eggland's Best brand eggs, or organic eggs, and when I eat scrambled eggs I usually mix in some egg substitute (that is largely because of calorie considerations, but they're lower in fat and cholesterol, so it certainly helps).

But it gets boring eating the same thing every day for weeks on end, so I decided to start mixing it up lately. Via Pinterest I found a website called Kalyn's Kitchen that features a lot of South Beach recipes, and I've been using her basic instructions as inspiration for "egg casseroles" that I can make ahead and reheat for breakfast. These are the last two that I made -- they're really good so I decided to share them in case you get likewise inspired. (BTW: I would check the ingredient labels on the individual products you're using, but these dishes are also gluten-free the way I made them.)


Ham-and-Egg Casserole
Makes 4-8 servings, depending on how big you cut them and your specific ingredients
(When cut into six servings, ~250 calories per serving)

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter
• 8 oz. diced ham
• 1 large bell pepper, diced
• 6 large mushrooms, chopped
• 1 cup assorted shredded reduced-fat cheeses*
• 2 Tbsp. shredded Gouda*
• 2 Tbsp. green onion tops (or 1 Tbsp. dried chives)
• 5 whole eggs
• 1 cup Egg Beaters, cheese-and-chive flavor
• Seasoning salt, to taste

* NOTE: You can use any kind of cheese in this, really. I didn't have enough of any one kind of cheese so I used a mixture of reduced-fat 4-cheese Italian blend and reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend, plus that little extra bit of Gouda because I love Gouda. You can leave the Gouda out, obviously. I don't recommend using fat-free cheese for baking applications, as in my experience the texture gets "plastic-y." YMMV.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8"x8" baking dish with cooking spray (optional). Heat oil in large skillet. Add ham, pepper, and mushrooms. Saute until vegetables are softened. Drain if necessary, then spread in the bottom on prepared baking dish. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then cover with shredded cheeses and green onions. Open whole eggs into a bowl and break the yolks. Add Egg Beaters and seasoning salt and LIGHTLY beat just until blended. Pour egg mixture over ingredients in baking dish. Lightly stir with a fork just until combined. Bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes or until eggs are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and cut into servings.


Chorizo-and-Egg Casserole
Makes 4-8 servings, depending on how big you cut them and your specific ingredients
(When cut into eight servings, ~175 calories per serving)

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter
• 6 oz. chorizo, chopped (about 2 links -- made with turkey preferred)*
• 1 large bell pepper, diced
• 1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained, rinsed, and patted dry*
• 1 cup reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend (or cheddar)
• 2 Tbsp. green onion tops (or 1 Tbsp. dried chives)
• 5 whole eggs
• 1 cup Egg Beaters, Southwestern flavor
• Seasoning salt, to taste

* NOTE: Turkey chorizo is hard to find. I couldn't even find any in my local Wegman's, and they have everything. So if you're using regular chorizo (as I did) and you're watching your total fat, you might want to swap out one of the whole eggs for the Egg Beater equivalent. I would not go too crazy here, though, as I don't think Egg Beaters set as nicely when baking as real eggs do. Also, this dish as prepared is slightly spicy -- not super spicy, but it does have a nice Tex-Max kind of spice. If you want it hotter, you can use hot chorizo (I have been told such a thing exists) or you can use chili-seasoned tomatoes or even tomatoes with jalapeños. If you want it less spicy, you can use regular diced tomatoes, or serve it with a little bit of sour cream on top.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8"x8" baking dish with cooking spray (optional). Heat oil in large skillet. Add chorizo and pepper. Saute until pepper is softened. Drain if necessary, then spread in the bottom on prepared baking dish. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then cover with tomatoes, shredded cheese, and green onions. Open whole eggs into a bowl and break the yolks. Add Egg Beaters and seasoning salt and LIGHTLY beat just until blended. Pour egg mixture over ingredients in baking dish. Lightly stir with a fork just until combined. Bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes or until eggs are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and cut into servings.

12W12S12: Magic Diet Miracle Trick

I lost 7½ pounds this week, by following the one simple magic diet miracle trick of not eating pizza bites at every meal. Seriously, I know that is a HUGE loss for one week, and that it's an outlier, and that any weight loss going forward will be smaller and more consistent, but DAMN. What the hell have I been doing for the past six months, if just eating like a normal person for a week helps me drop 7½ pounds?

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One of the things that is always helpful when you're on a diet is knowing how to cook. I don't mean "tear open a package of rice and heat it up in the microwave," either -- although of course we do our fair share of that too -- but more of the "look at what sorts of random things you have in the fridge/freezer/pantry and throw together something that tastes good" kind of cooking. I would never argue that I'm any kind of gourmet chef, but I hope I never take for granted how easy it is for me to take one thing from Column A and another from Column B and yet another from Column C, throw in some herbs and stock, and come up with a meal that is delicious and satisfying and totally diet-friendly. (Plus, we very rarely have leftovers that go to waste.) This is what I came up with yesterday for dinner (we're having leftovers tonight - as always, see notes below the recipe for particulars and substitutions).

Sausage, Bean, and Vegetable Soup

• 1 Tbsp. basting oil
• 1 lb. spinach and feta chicken sausage
• 8 oz. package chopped celery and onion
• 4 oz. shredded carrots
• Herbs: rosemary, oregano, and fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cans seasoned petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 qt. vegetable stock
• about 1 package assorted frozen vegetables

Heat oil in stockpot over medium-high heat. Cut sausage into smallish chunks. Add sausage, celery, onions, and shredded carrots to pan. Season with rosemary, oregano, and pepper to taste. Saute until sausage is cooked through and onions are translucent, about 10-12 minutes. Add tomatoes and stir well. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Add beans and stock. Adjust heat as necessary. Cook for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Add frozen vegetables. Cook for an additional 10 minutes or until vegetables are cooked through. Serve.

NOTES: Use whatever kind of sausage you have on hand, obviously. We only ever buy turkey or chicken sausage these days except for special occasions. If you cut your own celery-onion-carrots, you want about ½ cup of each. You can use chicken broth instead of veggie, and we used whatever leftover previously-frozen veggies we had in the fridge from previous meals, so we ended up with a lot of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and squash in there, plus a few random corns. Green beans (especially Italian ones) would be delicious -- perhaps with a can of dark red kidney beans substituted for one of the cans of cannellini beans. Almost a minestrone!

My math says there's about 200-225 calories per cup of soup, depending on how lean your sausage is and what's in the veggie blend you use. We served ours with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on each bowl, with a side of warm rosemary rolls. Delightful!

12W12S12: Amateur Food Pr0n

This is going to be the phase of my diet where I take pictures of everything I eat, isn't it?

We started on Monday. And by "we," I mean "the lot of us," because I have this thing where I won't make multiple meals just because one of us -- or, in this particular go-'round, two of us -- are on a diet. One of the reasons why this particular "lifestyle change" (because I am already getting sick of writing "diet" and it's only Day 3) worked for me before and why I have faith that it will work going forward is that it's based on "everything in moderation" instead of "not eating anything that tastes good." So, if my kid wants to have teatime on a Sunday afternoon, then by hook or by crook, I will find a way to be able to enjoy teatime and not feel the least bit guilty about it.

PS: Stella d'Oro breakfast treats? They really are treats. And neither my kid nor my husband are particularly fond of them, so I am going to get that whole bag ALL TO MYSELF BWAHAHAHAHA. But what can I say? It's pretty easy to stick to your diet when it openly involves cookies, you know?

The only thing I'm really doing different this time is that I am trying to get as much buy-in as possible from my husband, which means that we're doing a lot of "convenience" cooking. As in, "let's see what we already have in the fridge and see what we can count as a serving of vegetables." On Monday we passed on the traditional New Year's Day pork-sauerkraut-and-mashed-potatoes dinner because EW! and instead had stuffed shells and this salad I concocted out of assorted kitchen fixin's: iceberg lettuce (which keeps surprising well when your refrigerator is set at like 35°F, bee tee dubs), shredded carrots, shredded cheese, and bacon bits, with some "crunchies" that I found in the fridge and a couple of croutons apiece. Plus balsamic vinegar -- just balsamic vinegar, plus salt and pepper -- which is my very favorite salad dressing.

It is also easy to stick to your diet when you can go out to lunch to use up a gift card and you can find a drink on the menu that is light, something you'd drink anyway, and actually good. That's a "skinny mojito" from The Cheesecake Factory, of all places, and that whole giant drink is under 150 calories. I think I'm going to Google a recipe for this, because it was perfectly light and refreshing and delicious and I'd definitely drink that on vacation.

This salad, also from The Cheesecake Factory (from their Skinnylicious menu, which is smaller than their regular menu, of course, but pretty damned good, honestly), is much prettier than mine, and of course better, because I assume the chefs at The Cheesecake Factory actually know what they're doing: chopped lettuce, chopped bacon, chopped chicken, chopped tomatoes, chopped apples, corn (not chopped), and blue cheese (also not chopped). The regular menu salad comes with avocado, which I don't like, and I don't know what kind of dressing was supposed to be on this thing, but (1) there wasn't much of it and (2) it didn't really need it, anyway.

And the really best part? We still had calories left to have some tuxedo cheesecake, which was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

12W12S11: Greek Stir-Fry

It's not really "Greek" and it's not exactly a stir-fry, but I didn't know what else to call this concoction besides "delicious." Possible substitutions are marked with asterisks.

Greek Stir-Fry
Makes 2 servings, about 550 calories each

• 3 ounces broad egg noodles
• chicken or vegetable bouillon cubes (optional)
• 2 tablespoons lemon vinaigrette*
• 1½ teaspoon olive oil
• 4 links (or about 12 ounces) chicken sausage with feta and spinach*
• 1 medium zucchini*
• 1 large yellow bell pepper*
• ¼ Vidalia onion
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary*

1. Cook egg noodles according to package directions, adding bouillon cubes to cooking water if desired. When done, drain and toss with vinaigrette. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, preheat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Slice sausage into thin rounds. Add sausage slices to skillet and cook 1-2 minutes or until meat starts to brown slightly. Stir.
3. Slice zucchini into rings. Cut pepper and onion into strips. Season with salt and pepper. Add to skillet and cook 1-2 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften. Stir.
4. Add rosemary and continue cooking until desired level of doneness, making sure meat is fully cooked, stirring often. If necessary, reduce heat partway through cooking to prevent burning.
5. Divide noodle mixture between two bowls. Top with cooked sausage and vegetables. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

*Possible substitutions: Instead of "Greek" stir fry (which, BTW, is because of the feata-and-spinach sausage and the lemon vinaigrette), you can make this "Italian" by using Italian dressing or balsamic vinaigrette instead of lemon, and sweet or hot Italian sausage. If you want, you can swap out oregano for the rosemary, but I like rosemary and it will work fine. Also, I used zucchini and a yellow bell pepper (mostly for color), but you can use a yellow summer squash and any color peppers you want. You could also add a can of diced tomatoes if you wanted to and cook the liquid down by at least half (I often do that when I serve this with a heartier pasta instead of egg noodles), or serve Italian-style stewed tomatoes on the side.

Let me know if you like it!

12W12S11: Faked Beans

You know how sometimes in your darkest hour, when you didn't have a chance to go grocery shopping over the weekend and you don't really have two nickels to rub together anyway so you're eating out of the cupboard and the freezer until payday, sometimes you whip up something out of random ingredients and it turns out to be pretty darned tasty?

Yeah, me neither.

No, I'm kidding: I made up this sort-of BBQ beans dish out of stuff I found in the pantry, the freezer, and the cooler full of dry goods that I never fully unpacked from our beach vacation last year. And it's really pretty good. So here is the recipe:

Faked Beans
Makes about 4 cups

• 2 cans (15½ ounces each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ can Manwich sauce (about 1 cup)
• ½ cup barbecue sauce
• 2 tablespoons Heinz 57 sauce
• ½ pound Jenny-O turkey kielbasa, cut into chunks

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and stir to combine well. Cook at high heat for 1 hour, stirring only as needed. Reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 1½-2 hours or until done, stirring only as needed. Add additional Heinz 57, ketcup, or barbecue sauce if needed. Reduce heat to warm and continue cooking until ready serve, or remove from heat, cover, and refrigerate over night. If necessary, reheat before serving.

Adjustments: Obviously this recipe can be doubled, since all my measurements are based on halves. I guess you can use any kind of beans you want. I used cannellini beans because they're light in color and pretty plain in flavor and I had about 5 cans of them in the cupboard. You can use any kind of barbecue sauce you like (our was store-brand brown sugar), or make your own. I don't know whether the Heinz 57 makes a difference, but I used it so I included it in my recipe. You could use ketchup or extra BBQ sauce instead. I used turkey kielbasa because we had it but you could use any kind of kielbasa here (or maybe even chorizo or andouille sausage, and definitely hot dogs would work).

My math is fuzzy because I didn't measure everything exactly, but this makes about 4 cups of the finished product. I counted 1⅓ cups as a serving, and there are about 350-400 calories per serving using this recipe. Using lower-sugar BBQ sauce, lower-fat kielbasa, and smaller quantities of everything can reduce the calorie count if you need to. Enjoy!

PS -- I called these "Faked Beans" because they aren't baked (even though most of the baked beans I eat aren't either) and also because I "faked" this recipe out of cupboard ingredients.

12W12S11: Salad of the Week - Cobb Salad

I'm actually EXCITED about this salad, because I love me a good Cobb salad. Not that this one is going to be quite as good as the best, mind you, but it will be a pretty good approximation (assuming that you do not like avocados, which I don't, so you won't find them in this recipe).

• 2½ ounces Romaine lettuce (about 2 cups)
• 2½ cooked diced chicken
• 1 tablespoon bacon bits
• 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
• 2 tablespoons crumbled reduced-fat blue cheese
• ½ cup grape or cherry tomatoes
• Choice of dressing (I used balsamic vinaigrette)

Like I said, this is an approximation, and to make it easily lunchbox-friendly, I used easy-to-find ingredients. Reduced-fat blue cheese crumbles might be the hardest thing to find on the list. If you want, you can probably use regular blue cheese, but of course I am trying to be careful of calories, even if I am only eating a salad for lunch. Note that  the "real" recipe calls for assorted lettuces including curly endive and watercress -- I went with Romaine here because it's easy, but you can just as easily substitute any number of pre-packaged fancy green blends. (I don't like weeds in my salad, so I try to keep it pretty simple.) It also calls for ½ an avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into ½" chunks -- you can add that if you want to. (Blech.) Also, a real Cobb salad has fresh chopped chives -- I suppose you can use a small amount of dried chives if you want to, but I don't -- and you're supposed to chop the egg white and the egg yolk separately, and also seed and chop a whole tomato, but who wants to do that much work? You can always halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes if you're feeling fancy. And in a pinch, to make things even easier, you can substitute a reduced-fat blue cheese dressing for the blue cheese crumbles and the vinaigrette. (The recipe I linked to also uses Roquefort instead of blue cheese, and it puts the Roquefort in the dressing, which is homemade, and ... well, you can see how my version will work well enough to satisfy your Cobb salad cravings with like 75% less work.)

Blahblahblah calorie disclaimer: Lose It calculated this at about 255-275 calories per serving before dressing, which would depend of course on the calorie counts in your chicken, bacon, and blue cheese crumbles. My ingredients came in at 265 calories, which included 95 calories for the chicken, 25 calories for the bacon bits, and 40 calories for the blue cheese. And I went with Wish-Bone balsamic vinaigrette for the dressing, with 60 calories per 2 tablespoons, which comes out to 325 calories total. (It makes a great marinade for chicken and steak, too, BTW.)

12W12S11: Salad of the Week - Chef Salad Recipe

Okay, here is the "recipe" I used to recreate the Chef Salad from yesterday:

• 2½ ounces Leafy Romaine salad blend
• 1 ounce low-fat honey ham lunch meat, chopped
• 1 ounce low-fat roasted turkey lunch meat, chopped
• ½ ounce Swiss cheese, deli sliced, chopped
• 1 large hard-boiled egg, chopped
• ½ cup grape tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons shredded carrots
• 1½ tablespoons sunflower kernels
• 1½ tablespoons light honey dijon salad dressing

The flavors are pretty much the same as yesterday's store-bought salad, although obviously theirs was a little prettier. I really enjoyed the sunflower kernels yesterday, so I decided to use them for "crunch" this week instead of croutons. You can use croutons if you prefer. (I like croutons better with creamier dressings like ranch and blue cheese, myself.) Yes, I actually weighed out the lettuce -- this weight comes out to a little over 2 cups, even though the bag says 3 oz. = about 2 cups. With my ingredients by my math and an assist from Lose It, this salad has 330-350 calories per serving, including the sunflower kernels and dressing.

Side note: I always forget how tasty honey dijon dressing is -- I generally prefer vinaigrettes or creamy dressing, but this particular brand of dressing (and the Newman's Own that I'll be using later in the week when I run out of Ken's) is very tasty, and I might start using it instead of mayonnaise on sandwiches this summer, if I ever start packing sandwiches in my lunch again. It will be nice on a ham-and-Swiss or turkey-and-Swiss wrap.

12W12S11: Bean and Ham Soup

I lost 4½ pounds last week. I don't get it either. Except for the exercising, I did exactly nothing different. I don't believe that 84-88 minutes of cardio-Pilates made that much of a difference, but who knows.

I also think that, unfortunately, I am going to have to change my goals soon, because when I lose more than 11 pounds, Lose It tells me that I will be eating under 1,200 calories per day, and that doesn't seem very reasonable to me. I've been doing okay with these gradual calorie drops, but I just think that fewer than 1,200 calories is not  healthy. It certainly won't be sustainable -- how am I going to keep from porking back up when I reach my goal and start eating "regular" again? But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Probably won't be for another few weeks or so. At that point I think I will change my weight-loss goals from 2 lbs. per week to 1½ lbs.

On the other hand: I am now closing in a weight that begins with a "1"! If you had told me back in May 2010 that I would be at this point right now, I would have laughed in your face. This might be the longest I have ever been on a continuous, sustained diet in maybe ever. So go me!

At this point in the proceedings, I'll come right out and tell you that I've been eating a lot of soup. I like soup, especially in the winter time, and it's pretty cheap and easy to make a relatively healthy lunch out of a can of soup. I try to watch my sodium as much as possible, and go with lower-sodium varieties, but one of the things that I like the most about soup is the saltiness. Don't know why, and I'm sure it's entirely psychosomatic, but I tend to feel more satisfied after I eat salty foods -- maybe it's all the extra water I drink afterwards, to try to compensate. Not sure.

I still like to make a nice family dinner on Sundays, so I've been going the soup route lately. It's pretty easy to make a soup that will satisfy the people in my house who are not on a diet and still make something that fits into my particular limitations. Last night, we had a wonderful bean and ham soup that took only 1½ hours to make, was totally delicious (I'd have brought the leftovers today if my husband hadn't snagged them), and was completely diet-friendly. I could still have a nice slab of bread with it, and everybody knows that broth-soaked bread is the best part of a family dinner. Here's the recipe (see asterisks at the end for possible adjustments).

Bean and Ham Soup
(This receipe makes 4-5 servings)

• 2 cans Great Northern beans, undrained*
• 12-ounce bag large-cut mirepoix*
• 1 clove garlic, minced*
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon mustard powder
• 1 quart vegetable stock*
• 1 pound ham steak, chopped or diced*
• Pepper to taste

In a large stockpot, combine beans, mirepoix, garlic, bay leaf, mustard powder, and stock. Bring to boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add ham and pepper. Stir to combine well. Adjust seasonings as needed. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and simmer for an additional 10-20 minutes or until soup is desired thickness. Serve with crusty bread, if desired.

*Adjustments*:

1. If you want to use a different kind of bean, go for it. The recipe I based this on called for Great Northern, so that's what I used, but navy beans would work well, and probably split peas. Also, I used canned beans, but of course you can use the equivalent of dried beans that have been soaked. In that case, you might want to add a ham bone and bay leaf to the soaking water, if you're into that kind of thing (discard the bone before finishing the soup). Also also, my husband said that he would actually like more beans, so next time I'm going to use three cans of beans. I thought this came out a little bit salty, so if I can't find reduced-sodium broth next time, I will rinse the beans and add extra water.
2. I buy already cut mirepoix at Wegman's because I am a lazy-ass, and also because celery tends to go limp before I use it all, so in this case, there is less waste. If you want to cut your own vegetables, the equivalent would be approximately 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, and 1 small or ½ large onion. You can obviously use more or less to taste (more veggies = better!). I will probably use 2 bags of veggies next time because I like veggies. And I use the large-cut instead of the standard small dice because my husband likes his vegetables chunky. In this particular case, I think the large cut was the way to go because nothing got super mushy.
3. Use more or less garlic to taste.
4. You use chicken stock instead, but I'm into vegetable stock right now, so that's what I used. I recommend using a lower-sodium stock if you can find one; otherwise, definitely rinse your beans. I did not have to add any salt at all to this soup, and as I mentioned, this was a little bit salty, even for me.
5. Use more or less ham to taste. We used a 1¼-lb. country ham steak and discarded the bone. It was perfect, just fell apart the right amount but still had a nice meaty texture and delicious flavor. I highly recommend using a bit of ham that has some marbling in it and some fat around the edges. You can trim this off if you want, but it gives an excellent flavor, and since there is almost no fat in the rest of the soup, you won't be overdoing it.

If you make it, let me know if you like it!

12W12S11: In the Night Kitchen

My husband is working nights four days a week now, so we've switched up our schedule and now I'm the one who picks up Shae at school and makes dinner. And even though I probably shouldn't admit this out loud due to the principle of "careful what you wish for" -- I kind of prefer it this way.

He's a perfectly respectable cook -- he makes some of the best Tuna Helper I've ever eaten -- but he's an engineer, which kind of means that he can't really make a meal without directions. This is not always a problem, because a lot of what we eat for dinner is simple enough, but I'm the one who likes to whip up concoctions in the kitchen.

I will not claim that I am a chef by any stretch of the imagination -- my skills are barely passable on my very best day, and my knife work is atrocious -- but if you've seen any of the recipes I've posted before, what I lack in a traditional culinary background, I more than make up for with cleverness.

And, let's face it, a decent palate. I didn't get to looking like I do without enjoying food, you know?

The point of all this is, when I whip up something I am particularly proud or fond of, I'll tell you here. And tonight was one of those nights. For dinner we had:

• chicken sausage, flavored with spinach and feta cheese
• "super pasta," made with whole grains, extra protein, and omega-3 acids
• sauce made from canned diced tomatoes with sautéed spinach and minced onion
• sautéed zucchini and onion with balsamic vinaigrette glaze

Not too shabby for someone who thinks Tom Colicchio is kind of a tool, no?

12W12SP2 Update: Skinny Lasagna

We felt like having lasagna for dinner yesterday, but I didn't want to starve the rest of the day, so I used what we had in the freezer and cupboards plus a couple of strategic additions to come up with this magical concoction that satisfied all our cravings and still didn't break the calorie bank. (This recipe is adapted from a basic meat lasagna recipe that I got off the back of a box of pasta about 200 years ago.)


Skinny Lasagna

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ pound ground turkey breast
• 1 small-to-medium zucchini, diced
• 1 small-to-medium yellow onion, diced
• Italian seasonings (or basil, oregano, and garlic powder), to taste
• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach
• 9 lasagna noodles (regular, not no-boil)
• 2 containers (15 ounces each) fat-free ricotta cheese
• 2 cups reduced fat (2%) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• ¼ cup (12 tablespoons) shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 egg
• 1 jar pasta sauce

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add turkey, zucchini, onion, and Italian seasonings. Cook over medium-high head until turkey is cooked through and vegetables are soft. Add spinach and cook another 3-5 minutes or until spinach is thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water until cool enough to handle. Pat dry with paper towels.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and 6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Add cooled turkey mixture. Stir to combine well. Check seasoning and add salt, pepper, and additional Italian seasonings if required. Add egg and stir to combine well.
5. Pour about ½ cup pasta sauce into the bottom of a large (13"x9") baking dish. Spread with the back of a spoon to cover the bottom of the pan. Arrange 3 cooked noodles. Add half of turkey-and-cheese mixture and spread evenly over noodles. Cover with ½ to 1 cup pasta sauce, spreading to cover filling. Sprinkle ⅓ cup mozzarella and 2 tablespoons Parmesan over sauce. Add 3 more noodles and repeat layers. when last 3 noodles have been added, cover well with sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheeses.
6. Cover with foil and bake at 375°F for 35-45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until top layer of cheese is browned. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Total cooking time is about 1½ hours. Makes 9-12 servings, depending on who's eating and how hungry they are. By my math, for 9 servings, each serving has about 350 calories (less if you use a lower-calorie sauce, but I just used regular old Ragú Mama's Special Garden Sauce, which is our favorite). Even better? Each slab of lasagna has about 2 servings of vegetables (from the sauce, the zucchini, the spinach, and the onion). You can add shredded carrots and/or chopped red bell peppers if you want. It's only two layers instead of the more traditional three, but there is no less filling, only slightly less pasta. And it really has something in there for everybody: meat for the guys, veggies for the gals, and plenty of oozy cheesy goodness for the kids. Pair with a side salad AND a nice slice of multigrain baguette, because you CAN. Reheats well, and my husband is taking leftovers for lunch voluntarily, so you have his seal of approval.


Enjoy!

12W12S2P Update: Test Run

We had our annual Turkey Feast at work today, and I used it as a gauge to try to plan my "attack" for Thanksgiving day. This is what I ended up eating:

• 3 ounces white meat turkey
• 2 tablespoons gravy
• ½ cup mashed potatoes
• ½ cup stuffing
• ½ cup triple-squash soup
• 1 spinach roll (roll with spinach, onions, and cheese)
• ½ cup green beans
• 2 tablespoons light pumpkin dip*
• 2 Danish butter cookies
• 2 spice wafer cookies

All told, LoseIt says that's approximately 700 calories of food. That's kind of a lot, more than half my calories for the day, and I want to do better for Thanksgiving. I know that I will have more vegetable options on the Big Day -- there were not a lot of plain, unbecasseroled vegetables available today, since 50% of the covered dish contributions were desserts. Our family dinner always includes broccoli, and I have no qualms about helping myself to half a plate of broccoli. I may also make some veggies of my own, just to make sure there are enough, since I know I won't be the only person at the table who is trying to be careful.

Here is my plan so far: same amount of turkey and gravy, no mashed potatoes, same amount of stuffing (because my Uncle Quack makes some damn fine stuffing), half a dinner roll (although I will tell you right now that the spinach roll was worth the indulgence), way more vegetables (including V8, which is ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED for me to feel like I have had a complete Thanksgiving meal), and only a little bit of dessert. I am planning to make a lemon custard pie that is a Weight Watchers recipe that only has like 2 points per serving. Although I keep insisting that I am not doing a low-carb diet, per se, I will admit that cutting back on starchy foods does seem to be an easy way to stay on target.

The other accommodations I have made today? Small breakfast (oatmeal with raisins) and small dinner (probably a can of soup, and some whole-grain bread if I have enough calories). Lots of water and Diet Coke. And an early bedtime.

=====

For like the last three years I have been making pumpkin dip for our Turkey Feast, because it is DELICIOUS, but it's also sort of high in calories because it is basically a bowl of creamed sugar. So I made it a slightly different way today, made it "lighter," and it was just as good, maybe even better because the flavorings were a little richer. If you will be at my sister's baby shower, you'll be eating this recipe.

• 15 ounce can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• small package of sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
• small package of sugar-free instant cheesecake-flavored pudding mix
• 1 teaspoon (or so) pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 16 ounces fat-free Cool Whip

In a large bowl, beat together pumpkin, pudding mixes, spices, and vanilla with a hand mixer until well-blended, uniform in color, and fluffy. Add half the Cool Whip and beat on medium-high speed for two minutes. Add remaining Cool Whip and beat on high speed for another two minutes. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Turn out into a serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve with graham crackers, spice wafers, or cookies. (Or, if you are me, eat straight out of the bowl with a spoon.) Approximately 30 calories per 2 tablespoon serving.

12W12S2P Update: Hanging In

Lost another 2½ pounds since the last time I weighed in (last weekend, maybe), which is pretty impressive because I also have PMS. (I always get that special combination of bloating and constipation when I have PMS, which makes weighing in especially ... special.)

That is the single weirdest thing about this diet, so far: I am now getting regular periods. WTF? I have never gotten regular periods in my whole life, except when I was on the bill. I once went almost A WHOLE YEAR between periods. That is one thing I could have probably done without, but oh well. Since June or July, I have gotten my period every month. I only had maybe five periods in all of the last year prior to that.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THESE THINGS, STAY OFF THE INTERNET. LULZ.

Anyway ... it's getting cold and when it gets cold I like to eat heavy, rich, warm foods. So tonight we are having chicken enchiladas (or, as we like to call them for reasons that we don't even know any more, "chicky-itchy-llamas"). Except we're making them with turkey. Our recipe comes basically from the back of a can of Old El Paso enchilada sauce, the red kind (so I won't reprint here due to copyright issues, because I am not Cooks Source magazine), but we do make the following changes:

• Only use one can of sauce (yields 6 enchiladas, instead of 12)
• Ground turkey or chicken, instead of ground beef
• When browning meat, add ½ cup or so of diced onion
• Use low-fat or fat-free cheese
• Serve with a little bit of nonfat sour cream

Try it sometime. You'll really like them! By my math, using this recipe, there are about 210 calories per enchilada (variable depending on the leanness of your meat and the calories in your tortillas and cheese). And I usually eat 2 enchiladas, plus a little bit of rice and a little bit of beans? About 600 calories of LOCO BUENO. (We have ours with fat-free refried beans and Spanish/Mexican/taco rice.)

12W12S2P Update: Mashed Potatoes

Down 30 officially, and close to 50 unofficially. Nothing fits, not even my socks. I give the hell up.

Now we're getting to the time of year when the weather wreaks havoc on a diet -- fall. It's getting cool and all I want to eat is potatoes, and then sleep for weeks at a time. Heavy foods: pot roast, pumpkin pie, cream-based soups. Don't know anyone who thinks a salad is filling in cool weather. I caved in today, a little bit, and made meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner. More calories than I usually eat for the starchy side, but they were damned good; here is the recipe I used.



Lighter Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

• 2 medium red-skinned potatoes
• 2 small Yukon gold potatoes
• 4 medium-to-large cloves garlic
• salt, for boiling water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ½ cup fat-free half-and-half
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• pepper and/or dried chives, to taste

Peel potatoes (leave as much skin as desired). Cut into 1" cubes. Peel garlic. Add potatoes and water to saucepan. Add water and salt to taste. Boil until potatoes fall apart when stirred. Drain. Add butter to pan, then return cooked potatoes to pan. Add half-and-half and Parmesan cheese and mash by hand to desired consistency. Season with pepper and chives; stir and serve.

Makes about 2 cups of mashed potatoes, with about 160 calories per ½ cup.


Honestly, delicious. And it satisfied the craving I was having. Also, we made the meatloaf with turkey, and we're having it again tomorrow with gravy and egg noodles. So we're multitasking, whee!

12W12S2P Update: Pending

Can't give you a weight loss update at this point because I can't get an accurate reading right now -- let's just say "technical difficulties" and leave it at that. Instead I will give you the recipe for what we had for dinner tonight and hope it is sufficient for now.


Skinny Stuffed Shells

• 15 jumbo shells
• 15 ounces fat-free ricotta cheese
• 1 cup shredded 2% milk mozzarella cheese
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• ¼ cup shredded carrots (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 26 ounces (1 jar) pasta sauce

Cook shells according to package directions. Drain, rinse under cold running water, and drain again thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a bowl, combine cheeses, garlic, spinach, carrots, salt, pepper, and egg. Mix to combine thoroughly. Spray a 9"x13" baking dish with cooking spray and coat the bottom with 1 cup of sauce. Fill cooked pasta shells with equal parts filling and arrange in bottom of baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over stuffed shells (and sprinkle additional shredded cheese on top, if desired). Loosely cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until heated through.

Makes 15 shells. Approximately 115 calories per shell. Average serving = 3 shells (350 calories). [Edited because I can't do math!]



Balsamic Roasted Squash

• 1 medium zucchini, sliced
• 1 yellow summer squash, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• ½ tablespoon olive oil
• ½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a roasting dish with cooking spray. Add vegetable slices. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with oil and vinegar. Toss well to coat. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Uncover, stir well, and cook uncovered for another 20-30 minutes or until cooked through and slightly browned. If desired, sprinkle with shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese and place under broiler for 3-5 minutes or until browned to your like.

Makes about 4 cups. Approximately 40 calories per cup.

12W12S2P: Recipe

That little addendum to the code name up there? The "2P" part? That's "Phase Two." Because we are now in 2P, people, and that means we're getting creative all up in this beeyotch. I said yesterday that one of my new goals is to keep dinner at 600 calories or under (all the better to leave room for pistachios and Skinny Cow fudge bars and MOAR MOUNTAIN DEW), and sometimes that requires some fancy footwork. Again, as I said yesterday, thank heavens I can cook. Here is what I whipped up for dinner yesterday, and it was pretty darned awesome, and if I did my math correctly, it was also under 500 calories. G loved it, and Shae even ate some. (Not a lot, because she is Having A Phase, but she tried it, at least, which is progress.) It's a little bit spicy -- not hot-spicy, but slight-afterburn-spicy -- so beware if you don't like Mexican-style food. I marked some possible substitutions with a blue "*" asterisk for easy reference.


CHILE-STUFFED PEPPERS
Makes 3 servings. By my math (with help from Lose It!), I figure this is ~425 calories per serving.

• 3 large green bell peppers
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
• ½ pound ground beef, 90% lean*
• ¼ cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained*
• ⅔ cup Spanish rice (packaged, prepared according to directions)*
• 6 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese, divided*

Cut off top ½" of peppers. Do not discard tops. Remove seeds and membranes from peppers to make "bowls." Blanch in salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes or until peppers are softened but not mushy. Carefully remove from heat and rinse with cold water until cool enough to handle. Drain, pat dry, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Clean and finely chop tops of peppers. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped pepper tops, ground beef, and onion. Cook for 7-10 minutes or until meat is browned and vegetables are softened. Add diced tomatoes and cook for 5-7 minutes or until most of liquid is evaporated. Add rice and cook 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in 3 tablespoons cheese.

Arrange pepper "bowls" in bottom of a small baking dish. Fill each pepper with ⅓ of meat mixture, packing with the back of a spoon if necessary. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cheese over each stuffed pepper. Bake at 350°F for 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving and enjoying.


Possible Substitutions: Any ground meat can be substituted for the ground beef. If you don't like spicy food, you can substitute a can of plain diced tomatoes, or if you like extra spicy food, you can substitute a can of chili-seasoned diced tomatoes or diced tomatoes with jalapeños. Mexican rice or a bean-and-rice mix can be substituted for Spanish rice, and any other kind of cheese can be substituted for the cheddar. Note that any changes to ingredients may affect calorie counts.

12W12S: W10 Update

Last night's dinner ...

... which inspired this here post.

12W12S: W8

Haven't really talked much about it, because I am not keeping track in terms of "numbers" (i.e., weight), but I think this diet is working. I think. I mean, I didn't really expect to lose a whole lot -- as I said myself:

I do not really have a goal here, beyond the generic "eating better and being healthier." Ideally I'd like to lose some weight, maybe 20-25 lbs. by the time the 12 weeks are over, but I am more interested in making positive changes and sticking to them [than] I am in hitting a specific target. Maybe if I can stick to this plan I will revise the goals.

I also said some stuff about maybe weighing in at the beginning, which got exactly nowhere. I have not once, in the past seven weeks, weighed myself, and I don't intend to jinx things now.

But ... well, I need new pants. One pair of shorts does not stay up, like at all, unless I am sitting down. I did just get a replacement pair, but I don't want to go too crazy, just in case I decide to revise this plan for another 12 weeks. I have some veteran shorts that I haven't been able to wear in a while, and maybe they'll fit me by vacation. Otherwise I might need to get a belt or two. My bras and bathing suits fit all wonky, but I don't really care. I have a sassy bright orange bathing suit that maybe I will fit into for the shore, but let's not get too crazy.

Mostly I'm glad at this point that (1) I have been able to stick to the plan so far, (2) I have not had a single piece of candy before 6pm in at least five weeks (I have had a few handfuls of M&M's and a couple of pieces of licorice since I started, but they have all been after dinner), and (3) most melons are in season, and I have designed this thing to allow myself to eat all the fruit I want to, because the cantaloupe I have had so far has been spectacular.

Anyway. Here is today's menu: yogurt, mini bagel with ⅝ oz. strawberry cream cheese, 2 small plums, 1 can Chunky Roasted Beef Tips with Vegetables soup (not exactly a Lean Cuisine, but similar calorie content and 2 servings of vegetables in the can), carrots, pistachios. For dinner we're having "Fajita Chicken Skillet" (recipe below), corn on the cob, and Spanish rice -- I'll be having ½ cup of rice.


FAJITA CHICKEN SKILLET RECIPE
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ large sweet onion (Vidalia or Maya sweet)
1 green bell pepper
1 red or orange bell pepper
2 tablespoons shredded Mexican cheese blend

• (If desired, marinate chicken up to overnight. Mesquite or fajita marinades are fine, or even plain old Italian dressing will work. This step is totally optional.) Cut chicken into thin strips. Season as desired with salt, pepper, chili powder, Sazon, or other Latin-style seasonings.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken strips and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until outside is no longer pink but meat is not yet cooked through.
• Meanwhile, cut onion and peppers into thin strips. Add to skillet and continue cooking for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are desired level of brown.
• Remove from heat, add cheese, stir to blend well, and serve.
• Can be served with fajita-size tortillas, over rice, or just plain. If desired, garnish with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. (We eat it just plain.) Delicious with corn on the cob.

12W12S: W7 Hoagie Day Salad

We're having our monthly "Tasty Tuesday" at work today, and this time around we made a hoagie bar: everybody brought in different meats, cheese, condiments, etc. for hoagies, and we're building our own sandwiches. (I was in charge of Swiss cheese.) Instead of making a huge hoagie, I decided to make myself a chef salad, using a little bit of everything:

This salad contains a bed of shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, chopped onions, pickled sweet peppers, a sweet gherkin, a dill pickle sandwich slice (off to the right, not really visible in the picture), and then one slice each of imported ham, honey roasted ham, bacon-lover's turkey breast, roast beef, Genoa salami, sweet Lebanon bologna, regular Lebanon bologna, Swiss cheese, American cheese, and smoked Provolone cheese. I used hoagie dressing (oil, vinegar, and spices) instead of another kind of salad dressing. Really tasty, and it leaves room for potato chips and Doritos! (Which I enjoyed only in moderation, pinky swear.)

(I ate a light breakfast -- cereal and milk plus banana -- and I am planning on a smallish dinner, so I splurged and made a smaller second salad out of lettuce, tomato, peppers, honey ham, turkey, roast beef, salami, and Swiss, kinds of pickles, and dressing, and I didn't feel the least bit bad about it, since there are basically zero carbs in this thing.)

One strange / unusual thing about this: a couple of people saw me making a salad, and they liked the idea enough to make salads of their own. It's been a LONG TIME since I was a trendsetter.

12W12S: W6 Recipe

I wanted a salad for dinner tonight, because salads are pretty quick and easy, but I didn't want a regular old Caesar salad, so I "invented" this concoction. I didn't measure so the ingredients are approximate.

Chinese Chicken Salad

• 1 package ramen noodles, any flavor, noodles only
• 2 tablespoons Asian sesame dressing, plus additional for salad
• 6 ounce package salad greens
• 1 can mandarin orange segments, drained and rinsed well
• 9 ounce package cooked chicken strips (or equivalent)
• 3 tablespoons dried cranberries
• 3 tablespoons thin chow mein noodles

Recipe makes 3 servings. Cook ramen noodles according to package directions. Drain, rinse, and lightly pat dry. Add 2 tablespoons dressing and stir to mix well. Let rest for 5-10 minutes or until dressing is absorbed. Divide greens among 3 bowls. Add ⅓ of marinated noodles to each bowl. Add ⅓ of mandarin orange segments to each bowl. Add 3 ounces of chicken strips to each bowl. Add 1 tablespoon dried cranberries to each bowl. Add 1 tablespoon chow mein noodles to each bowl. Toss each bowl and serve with additional dressing.

Everybody ate every bite of this salad, including Shae, so I didn't get pictures. But I assure you it was as pretty as it was tasty. The red lettuce in the blend we used matched the dried cranberries and the orange was a nice pop of color and ... it was yummy. We'll definitely eat this one again.

For reference, we used the following brands: Maruchan ramen, Oriental flavor; Kraft light Asian toasted sesame salad dressing; Dole Seven Lettuces salad blend; Great Value mandarin oranges in light syrup, 11 oz. can, rinsed and drained twice; Perdue Short Cuts carved chicken breast, original roasted flavor; Great Value dried cranberries; La Choy chow mein noodles.