Signs of Summer

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Cammy

Well, that was a short weekend, wasn’t it? Funny how that works out.

After a cooler than normal spring, Memphis is seeing its first glimpses of summer. We went from jacket weather on Friday to shorts and flip flops on Saturday. The hair on the nape of my neck is damp by noon and stays damp until…October. That’s the surest sign of summer that i know!

Other observed signs of summer:

Honeysuckle! Along with roses and fresh-cut watermelon, I can’t think of another scent that so represents summertime. Whenever I see a honeysuckle vine, I’m instantly transported 30 40 the many years back to my childhood when we would pull the stems and dart out our tongues to taste the tiny drop of nectar. I should do that again to see if it still tastes as sweet. (I wonder if Sparkpeople has “honeysuckle nectar, single drop” in its database.)

Lavender is another sure sign of summer. This bed is in the neighborhood in which I’m pet-sitting, and I’m making it a point to route my walks so that I pass it every day.

For me, another sign of summer is a BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, for folks who might not have experienced the joy). On a work excursion last week, I stopped at a local diner (Blue & White Restaurant in Tunica, MS) for a long overdue lunch. Since it was 2:00, I wanted something “light” and went with a good old-fashioned BLT. It was even served on Wonder Bread! (Yes, I ate Wonder Bread for the first time in–heck, I can’t remember when I last ate it–and didn’t die!) Perfect lunch alongside a glass of unsweetened iced tea.

Later on the drive home, I thought something sweet might be nice, so I stopped for another summertime treat:

I wanted some awesome-looking molten turtle sundae concoction, but I figured the Wonder Bread was enough of a dance with danger for one day, so I ordered a nice, refreshing ice cream cone.

Another favorite summertime ritual: al fresco dining.

I took advantage of my pet owners’ bbq grill (with permission, of course) and grilled up enough burgers and bbq chicken for the next few weeks. Last night I enjoyed chicken, salad, and oven-roasted corn on the patio, under the watchful eye of Jasmine and Dali.

One sign of summer I had hoped to show you didn’t happen.

On early evening weekends, the Greenline is normally over-crowded, but I had it all to myself for the most part late Saturday afternoon. It was a little humid, true, but there was a nice breeze in places. I quite enjoyed myself, but I’ll enjoy it more after a little more “seat time”. (Ow. Cyclists know what I mean, I’m sure. )

Those are the early signs of summer. We’ll have fresh tomatoes and melon and complaints about the heat in no time, but for now I’m just enjoying the change of seasons.

What are your favorite signs of summer? Have you seen them yet? (Equator-South, please convert to winter signs. )

Special Report: Neighborhood Dessert Social

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Cammy

Busy, busy week, but I’m thinking/hoping the pace should start slowing down now.

One thing that kind of slipped up on me was the annual Neighborhood Dessert Social, which was held last night. As y’all know, I usually spend ~~way too much~~ some time contemplating my offering, but I had to come up with something in a hurry this year. Thanks to a big sale at Kroger, I have an abundance of cottage cheese (10/$10) in the fridge, so obviously I chose to make cookies:

Okay, maybe not the obvious choice, but I needed to go with what I had on hand. I knew I wanted to make something bite-sized (or two-bite sized for the dainty eaters) and I did have all that cottage cheese, so I googled “cottage cheese cookies” and found a recipe on Food.com.

As published, the recipe says it makes 9 dozen cookies, so I halved it. (It also says it has 895 calories for the whole batch, but the butter alone tops that, which is why we should check these things out for ourselves.) Anyway, like I said, I halved it…and got about 9 dozen cookies out of it. Seriously, people, I had cookies everywhere!

But y’all don’t care about that. You want to know about the cookie, and I’m pleased to let you know that they turned out quite well. I didn’t do a whole lot of substituting. I swapped out for some whole wheat flour, cut back on sugar, added vanilla, omitted the nuts, added a few chocolate chips, but other than that…

The result was a chocolate-y, cake-like cookie–sweet, but not overly so. Not a hint of cottage cheese taste, so I’m not really sure what it’s purpose was exactly. But I digress. I’d make the recipe again (maybe with coconut oil in place of the butter), but that won’t be for a long, long time, because I have about 4 dozen leftover cookies in my freezer.

Despite the goodness (yes, I tasted “a few” before going to the meeting), I didn’t think these cookies were prize winners. I mean, after the Red Velvet Massacre of 2011 and last year’s debacle, I know my ‘hood has no taste. And the prize is not the point anyway.

It’s a good thing I didn’t have any expectations, because for some reason, they’ve taken the competition element out of it, and we just enjoyed the desserts (and a presentation from the district attorney.) I’m glad of that because there were at least three desserts that were homemade and delicious.

Thanks to my tracking and attention to details, I’ve been logging a few hundred calories under my target most days, so I was able to sliver my way around the table to sample the red velvet cake, pecan bars, and strawberry shortcake. (Out of courtesy, I also took a sliver of some kind of “poke cake”–box cake mix with holes poked in it and drizzled with something red–that only had one small square taken from it.) Everything I sampled was delicious and had there been a contest, I would have been delighted to lose to any of those desserts. But knowing my neighbors, the winner probably would’ve been the Kroger bundt cake with cherry pie filling dumped on top of it. (It did look good, I have to say.)

Most of all, I was really pleased to see a good many of my cookies disappear and several people took extras home with them. (It could’ve had something to do with me encouraging them to take a bunch while holding a butcher knife.)

With that, it’s back to basics for me for a bit! The family reunion is next month–say, I think I’ll take cookies this year!–and I’ll be saving up my sweet splurge for that.

In the interest of a balanced post, I’ll share a healthier “recipe” I made a couple of times this week–Flatbread Pizza:

Y’all remember the Whole Wheat Flatbread Roll-ups I found a few weeks ago? I cut one wrap in half, topped it with marinara, 2 oz. lean ground beef I’d browned and stuck in the freezer, 1 oz. mozzarella, 2 tsp. Parmesan cheese, and peppers, black olives, and Italian seasoning and baked it for about 10-15 minutes. The whole thing was around 250 calories, 10g carbs, 14g fat, and 24g protein. Best of all, when served alongside a nice, fresh salad, it made a filling and delicious meal!

With that, I must run. I’m moving across town for a few weeks for pet-sitting duties, and I need to get my bag & bike (hello, Greenline!) packed up. I hope you’re planning for an awesome weekend! Anything special on your dance card?

Book Review: Foodist

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Cammy

Disclosure

I was sent a copy of this book for review purposes with the expectation and understanding that this review would reflect my authentic opinion and it does.

(Any links are to my Amazon affiliate account, where you can also read other reviews.)

Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting
by Darya Pino Rose, Ph.D.

About the Author

Darya Pino Rose blogs at Summer Tomato, where she writes about food, health, and science, and using all three to build an awesome life. In addition to her blog, you’ll find her on Facebook and Twitter.

Overview

The overall premise of Foodist, straight from the book flap:

Foodist is an approach that actually celebrates food while taking you through the nutrition and psychology involved in eating well to help you move beyond the daily obstacles and bad habits that keep the tasteless, empty, and unsatisfying food-like products on your plate. Losing weight no longer has to be about sacrifice, deprivation, and willpower, and food will turn from something you fight into something you can actually love again. As Darya writes, “You don’t need a diet. You need an upgrade.”

The book is broken into three parts:

In Part I, the author introduces her concept of healthstyle–focusing on increasing energy and improving health over “dieting.” (Around here we call that The Tippy Toe Diet. )
Part II is the Getting Started section and covers shopping, cooking, mindful eating, and exercise.
Part III discusses daily life situations and how to incorporate your healthier food choices.

My Take

Don’t let the word “science” distract you. This book is written in a contemporary, often humorous style that doesn’t feel geeky at all. It’s a quick and enjoyable read and would most benefit people who are looking to overhaul their way of living–to “upgrade”, as suggested by the author–but have no idea where to start. Since I’ve been at this a few years now, I can’t say I learned anything new or profound, but I did take a couple of points as gentle reminders. (Namely, eat more slowly! But more about that another day.)

Where Foodist really shines for me is the section on habit changing, primarily because the author uses examples from Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath, which is one of my favorite books EVER on change management. (I recommended it back in 2010 if you’re curious.) Figuring out how to motivate yourself and convert bad habits to better ones is more than half the battle. Or it was for me. Your mileage might vary. Anyway, the author draws out the healthier living angle to a greater degree than the Heath Brothers did, and I found myself nodding as I read along. I love when that happens.

If this is to be an honest review, I do need to mention one general sticking point I had while reading. I’m uneasy with the book’s emphasis on organic, grass-fed, pastured, pure everything, including a specific recommendation to shop at Whole Foods. I have nothing against good quality food (who would?) or the Whole Foods grocery chain (I shop there a teensy bit myself), but a large portion of the US population doesn’t have access to and/or the financial resources for either. Also, many national grocery chains offer organic produce and quality oils, vinegars, spices, etc. on their shelves. I think the book would have been more inclusive and served a wider audience had there been more discussion on upgrading to the best of one’s ability with guidance on making “better” choices when shopping more common grocery stores. (But then again, if it had, I might not have had an idea for a series of ‘good, better, best’ posts for the future.)

But that’s my personal quibble. We all have them. Overall, I really, really appreciate the theme that food is to be appreciated and celebrated, and that eating good food is more satisfying and energizing and leads to a better life.

Final Score

Despite my quibble, Foodist contains useful information presented in a lively and fun manner. I give it two thumbs up, only with one thumb listing to the side just a hair.

Discussion

What “upgrades” have you made to the way you live? What do you still have planned?

I Ate Zucchini and Survived

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Cammy

I love when a Friday rolls around and I feel really good about the week behind me.

Meal Logging

My re-entry into normal Cammy living, brought to us courtesy of Sparkpeople:

Not perfect, and not exactly balanced out right for the components, but the overall trend was good. I’ll take it and keep going. For week two, I’m going to work on getting protein and fiber up and carbs down a little.

I’m also hoping to get my average exercise minutes up a bit. I’ll be working quite a bit next week, plus I’m transitioning into the second phase of New Rules of Lifting for Life, so we’ll see what time and the body will allow. The effort will be there, and that matters more than the minutes.

New Foods

I did make the Parmesan-Zucchini Crisps (pictured on right) I mentioned in my last post, and I quite enjoyed them. I basically used Ellie Krieger’s recipe, only using a teensy zucchini, a teaspoon of olive oil, and a tablespoon each of panko crumbs and parmesan. After tasting, I added a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Verdict? Good while they’re hot, not so much as they cool. Since I don’t need to gobble them down in a hurry, I found a work-around by dipping the cooled crisps in my marinara. The next time I make them, I’ll serve a little marinara alongside for a flavor boost.

I also found a nice little flatbread (pictured above on left) to enjoy with my zucchini. Am I the last person to learn about Damascus Bakery? They make several types of breads, but these roll-ups caught my eye at the market the other day. I want to make some tuna salad for the weekend, and these looked like good possibilities for tuna melt yumminess.

I didn’t realize until I got home how big these things are, bigger even than the monster strawberries!

This is half of a roll-up! As you can see, it’s plenty to go along with a meal. I had a whole one with turkey earlier in the week, and it was too much. (Yes, that’s ME, queen of the bread lovers, saying that!)

For dinner a couple of times this week, I spritzed half a roll-up with olive oil, sprinkled on a tiny bit of parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning blen, and broiled a couple of minutes to crisp them up. Dee-lish! And only 55 calories for the half-portion! I’m thinking that the next time Cheez-its sound like a good idea, I’ll be turning one of these roll-ups into crackers.

Wrap-up

And that’s it for me for this week. I’m off to light a candle that my Amazon shipment arrives today or tomorrow so that I don’t have to go to dinner on Mother’s Day empty-handed. Maybe I can take them some homemade Cheez-its.

Wishing you all a great weekend!

Notes from My Kitchen

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Cammy

Warning: I’ve been cooking again. But nothing too strenuous.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

I had a container of Chobani Apple Cinnamon yogurt on the verge of expiration, but I wasn’t feeling like waffles. What I wanted was cupcakes, only it will be another month or so before one of those shows up on my menu. So I compromised and made muffins.

The recipe I used is from Peanut Butter and Peppers (link to recipe), and I mostly followed it as published. My only significant changes were to use 1/4 cup of stevia/sugar blend in place of the 1/2 cup of sugar in the original and to omit the apples from the batter because I don’t absolutely love cooked apples. Unless they happen to have a pie crust wrapped around them.

I also forgot to sprinkle sugar on top of the muffins before baking. I was going to use my special, homemade cinnamon sugar, too! (It’s like any other cinnamon sugar, only made by me.) Oh, and I poked some dried cranberries into a few muffins.

These were quite tasty, even without the cinnamon-sugar sprinkle. I think the only adjustment I would make would be to add a little bit more cinnamon. And maybe some walnuts.

I made 6 regular-sized muffins, 12 mini-muffins, and one little cake in my 4″ mini pan. They were all ready (a few were beyond ready) after about 10 or 12 minutes. I guess my oven is an over-achiever.

With the ingredients I used, the whole recipe works out to about 1500 calories. I’ve assigned 100 calories to the larger muffins, 50 calories each to the smaller muffins, and the remaining 300 calories to the mini-cake. That’s not particularly precise, but it will average out over time. I try not to get too persnickety about it, so long as I do account for all the calories eventually.

Most of the muffins are already packaged in the freezer. The mini-cake is in the fridge. I’m thinking it’s going to be breakfast in the morning, perhaps with a bit of peanut flour “frosting” on top. Yummy!

Fresh Corn in the House

I know it’s too early for really good summer corn, but I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of ears of fresh corn this week at Kroger. At $0.33/ear, it was worth taking a chance.

NOT summer corn, but still good. I roasted it in the oven, of course, which helped retain some juiciness. I think I can survive until the good stuff comes in.

Godzilla Strawberry

This is the largest strawberry I’ve ever seen! It covered half my hand and I have big hands! Almost all of the berries I’ve bought so far this year have been larger than normal. What’s up with that? (I really don’t want to know, do I?)

Anyway, Kroger has strawberries on sale for the next week, 2 pints/$3, so I guess I’ll be finding out if the Godzilla berry trend is continuing. I’m going to be making strawberry cubes to go with my kale cubes.

Next on the Culinary Agenda

With fresh greens being a bit pricey, I’m trying to extend my veggie repertoire. Today I bought a teeny weeny zucchini for experimenting. (I survived the Brussels sprout last year; I can handle a zucchini. I hope.)

I think this might be the first zucchini I ever bought, because I don’t care much for it, as a rule. For some reason, when I was wandering the produce section, I remembered seeing a recipe for zucchini-parmesan crisps and decided to give it a try. Basically, it’s zucchini tossed in olive oil, seasoned, and then sprinkled with parmesan cheese before popping in the oven for a bit. I might not be wild about zucchini, but I love parmesan cheese. So I’m giving it a go. If I don’t like it, I’m out $0.52. I’ll report the results later in the week.