watching weight and eating gluten-free

Here's a delicious and easy recipe for lettuce wraps that's both Weight Watcher friendly and gluten-free (just use wheat-free tamari instead of soy). We used napa cabbage instead of bean sprouts tonight, but we like it with sprouts as well.

I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging, but I've been so extremely busy with work and all that other good stuff.

Tonight I did my first Meet Me at Maynards. The mission, stolen from the website,is to bring active adults and families to the downtown Tucson area to enjoy healthy exercise, experience the history, beauty and architecture of our unique neighborhoods, and to appreciate and patronize local businesses. It's a 3.4 mile run/walk that brings in people from all over the city to enjoy downtown Tucson. There's always entertainment before and after, as well as free water at stops around downtown and a little snack at the end. What a wonderful way to get out and enjoy downtown from a different perspective, and get my heart pumping as well!

If you live in Tucson, I'd highly recommend giving it a try.

Canned heat

This weekend we went out to Apple Annie's in Willcox. After picking almost 20 lbs of granny smith apples at the apple orchard, we headed down the road to the veggie farm and picked green beans, jalapenos, green chiles, eggplant, bell pepper, squash, and pumpkins.

I wish I could show you pictures from Willcox but I seem to have lost my wonderful Canon point and shoot in Willcox. RIP camera.

Last year after we visited the veggie farm we canned jalapenos using this recipe from pepperfool.com. We loved it so much that we did it again this year. Anything pickled is good in my book, and canning is a fun and not too challenging activity that you can enjoy all year around. Before you start, though, it's important to read up on the food safety aspects of canning.

Here's how it went:

We chose to use wide mouth quart Bell jars. They are a good size and the open top makes them easier to fill. You need the following equipment: jars with lids and rings, a really big pot, a smaller pot, jar grabbers (that's the technical term), and a pyrex or plastic quart-ish sized measuring cup with a pour spout.

Clean everything by hand. Really well. Lots of soap and water.



Sterilize the jars in boiling water



Clean the veggies well

Bring the vinegar to a boil, stuff the peppers into the jars with the garlic and bay leaf, and pour vinegar into the jars.

Let the jars sit for a few minutes to let the air escape

Preserve the jars by immersing them in boiling water, remember to adjust for your altitude. (Here in Tucson we needed 20 minutes to get them sealed up right)

Let the jars cool overnight. Check to ensure the jar is sealed by pushing on the top of the lid. It shouldn't pop in and out. If it does, throw it in the fridge and eat it soon.

This year we got 16 quart jars of jalapenos. They are wonderful - more flavorful than the stuff you get at the store. We use them in everything - quesadillas, nachos, on breakfast cereal... kidding. Sort of.

If you look closely above, you'll see we also tried our luck at canning green beans using this recipe from allrecipes.com. My best friend in Seattle attended a 'canning party' (awesome idea) and I got to try her green beans, which were really fantastic.

We got 8 quart jars of green beans out of 5 lbs of hand-picked beans. I don't know if I'll be able to wait a few weeks to try them. They look SO GOOD.

gluten-free mac and cheese

There are things I miss about the days of gluten. Cupcakes, cookies, and mac and cheese top the list. I am so excited that Betty Crocker came out with a line of gluten-free baking mixes and I can't wait to try the boxes waiting in my pantry.

Last Sunday I was craving comfort food, so I thought I'd try to make gluten-free mac and cheese.



It was fabulous.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter. Whisk in 1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all purpose baking mix. Whisk for 1-2 minutes until the flour and butter turn a golden brown. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt, grind in pepper to taste, and add whatever spices sound good to you - I like dried mustard, cayenne, and garlic powder. Add about 3/4 cup milk or half and half (depending on how healthy you're feeling). Whisk together and let the mixture come to a simmer, whisking occasionally. Add shredded cheddar cheese, a handful at a time, until you've added about a cup and a half. Toss in 6 oz cooked Tinkyada elbow macaroni, drained well and rinsed. Serves 2.

I have found me a home

I love Tucson. I love the weather and the attitude and the people and the grit. It's old west meets modern democratic party politics, with a heavy dose of Mexican and Native American culture and a laid back charm. I love our sprawling ranch house that's older than we are, and I love our views from the patio every night.

Summer's storms are passing now. The nights are getting cooler and my very favorite time of year is here. Fall in the desert. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world, and that's why you'll find me here - the old pueblo.

working on Labor Day!?

I made my poor sweet husband work over Labor Day. We have this unused corner of our laundry room (corner pictured above) and it drives me crazy that the space wasn't being used for storage. After all, our laundry room is right off our kitchen, so we could be using the extra room as a pantry.

I came up with the hairbrained idea to install shelving against two of the walls and dragged David to Lowe's (or the Home Depot, I forget - aren't they the same?). We purchased three 72" long, 12" wide shelves, as well as tracks and wall-mount kits for the tracks.

Here is my nice husband cutting the shelves to fit the area.

And here was our first problem - the big wall has pocket door that hides inside. When David went to make a hole for the screws to mount the tracks to the wall, he hit the door. Below, you'll see the hole in the wall and the resulting hole in the door.) That meant the screws that came with the wall-mounting kit were going to be too long to use. What to do, what to do.

I found some drywall screws and other assorted screws in the garage. We decided on the screw on the left. (The screw that came with the kit is on the right.)

We went to work installing the tracks and placing the shelves where we wanted them.

And after a total of 2 hours of work, look at all that beautiful storage! Now my Rice Chex (gluten free!) can have a nice cozy place to hang.

I might cover the shelves in contact paper so they are easier to see (wouldn't want to put an eye out), but overall, I am thrilled.

goat cheese

If you live in the Old Pueblo, you've got to try goat cheese from Foot's Hold Dairy. They are set up every week at the Sunday morning farmer's market at St Phillips Plaza.

We like the creamy, light fromage blanc crumbled over brown rice and grilled veggies

and the deliciously tangy chevre with honey-soaked dates on crackers (gluten-free for me - these, from Costco). I'd show you a picture of the chevre but it didn't last long around here.

And my favorite part of this wonderful, local goat cheese (besides the fantastic flavor)? It's affordable ($6 for 4 oz) and you get 50 cents off your next jar if you return your cleaned glass jar after you use it.

YUM.

gluten free banana bread

WOW. This bread is fabulous. It's even better than the banana bread I used to make - and that stuff was made from wheat flour. I'm telling you - this is better.

The bread is made from a mix made by Mindy of Miracle Munchies.

If you live in Tucson, stop by the farmer's market at St. Phillips Plaza on Sunday mornings and pick up a bag of the mix. If you don't live in Tucson (too bad for you), you can buy the mixes on her website.

Thank you, Mindy, for making such a wonderful mix for me to enjoy. (Even my skeptical husband has been eating the bread and raving about it all weekend.)

PS I subsituted half a cup of lite applesauce for the oil and added about 1/4 cup walnuts. This stuff is heaven.

Big News!

I got the job!

watermelon gazpacho

In the spirit of our clean out the fridge and pantry week, we recently made watermelon gazpacho. Well I shouldn't say we - I should say David.

He diced up half a watermelon, added in maybe half a peeled cucumber, a few tablespoons of red onion, a couple of roasted red peppers (we didn't have any fresh ones in the house), one hot chile pepper, about 1/4 fresh basil, a big drizzle of vinegar (we used both balsalmic and apple cider), drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Pop it in the blender in two installments, then add additional seasoning to taste. (Ours needed an extra drop of vinegar.)

Since our chile pepper came from my boss' garden, we didn't know how hot it would be. Turns out, it was very hot. Luckily, the cool temperature and flavors worked well with the heat. Next time I'd use less pepper - maybe half of one.

This gazpacho is interesting because it doesn't taste too much like watermelon. It's similar to tomato gazpacho but it's got a cooler and slightly sweeter taste. I will definitely be making this again.

If you need a point of reference (I know my measurements leave something to be desired), this recipe is very similar to what we did.

Chicken stir-fry with black bean sauce

Image from foodservicedirect.com

Um... yeah. This black bean sauce is REALLY SPICY. I'm no spice wimp and I could barely eat my dinner. Let me explain how it all happened...

I'm trying to find more Chinese, Thai, and Indian recipes to make for dinner since they are typically gluten-free (think curries over rice, pad thai with rice or bean noodles, etc).

And in our continued effort to eat only what's in the pantry, fridge, and freezer, I concocted an idea to make chicken with black bean sauce stir-fried with bean thread noodles (sometimes called cellophane noodles or glass noodles) for dinner. I have some bean thread noodles I picked up at the 17th Street market. Asian ingredients are easy to find there and cheaper than the grocery store. An 8 oz bag of bean thread noodles was $1.69, but I saw many varieties for even less.

Most of the recipes I found for black bean sauce stir-fry called for a couple of tablespoons of black bean sauce, thinned with some chicken stock and whisked with cornstarch. So we used about half of the jar pictured above, a can of chicken stock, and about half a tablespoon of cornstarch. We stir-fried some veggies, then added diced chicken breast, then the sauce and the bean thread noodles after soaking them in hot water for about 90 seconds.

WHOA. It was REALLY spicy. Next time I'd use about a tablespoon of the black bean sauce. I guess we should have tasted it, especially considering it is called "Black Bean Sauce with Chilli."

Maybe next time I'll learn and try a recipe like this one or this one.

I love a challenge

Recently I've been picking up new grocery items we don't normally use. From the 17th Street Market, I picked got a bag of bean thread noodles and a bag of very thin rice noodles. And yesterday we went to Costco and I bought a huge jar of marinated artichoke hearts. I'm pretty sure in the lazy susan cabinet there's even a can of beets from a recent grocery trip.

We buy most of our meat and seafood in bulk, too, and keep it in the freezer. Chicken breasts and salmon from Costco, a whole beef tenderloin trimmed and cut into 1 lb servings, and shrimp purchased in 2 lb bags when it goes on supersale at the grocery (ask for the 2 lb bags from the butcher - they've got them in the back).

So we're pretty stocked up on food around here. David suggested that this week we skip the grocery and try to make a week's worth of meals from the items we already have in the house.

Today for lunch we had spinach salads with diced Costco rotisserie chicken breast, roasted red peppers, tomatoes from the garden, and artichoke hearts.

Tonight's menu:

Tilapia filets, cooked in a little olive oil and and white wine, seasoned with salt, pepper, tarragon, and lemon juice (I wanted to do cornmeal-crusted, but David is cooking tonight)

Steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli, and bell peppers left over from our pool party)

Quinoa

A quick note about Costco: They have some seriously good deals. If you don't have a membership, you don't know what you're missing. Yesterday I picked up a 3.5 lb bag of Bob's Red Mill quinoa for $8.69, 3 lbs of tilapia fillets at less than $6/lb, and 3 lb bag of spinach for $4.

gluten-free products

Friday night we tried both the Arrowhead Mills Pizza Crust mix and Trader Joe's gluten-free brownie mix. We invited 4 friends over (one has Celiac) and sat down to dinner.

courtesy of www.arrowheadmills.com

Everyone liked the Arrowhead Mills gluten-free Pizza Crust mix. We didn't have any extra rice flour, so we dusted the counter with cornmeal before rolling out the dough. It worked perfectly. We baked each crust for about 10 minutes before adding toppings. The crust has a nice, firm, and slightly crunchy texture. It's almost reminiscent of biscuits. We topped the pizza with Trader Joe's fat-free pizza sauce, lots of freshly shredded mozzarella, and black olives, mushrooms, and red onion. The mix makes two pizzas, and the two pizzas just barely served 6 hungry adults. We had a nice big salad to round out the meal. If you can't find the mix at your local supermarket (this came from Safeway), you can find it on amazon.com.

courtesy of www.gluten-free-blog.blogspot.com

I added maybe three tablespoons of crushed walnuts and about a quarter cup of chocolate chips to the Trader Joe's gluten-free brownie mix, then lined an 8x8 baking pan with foil and Pam'd generously. I cooked the brownies about 5-8 minutes longer than the 30 minutes listed on the package, but I think they were actually done at 30. Next time I'll trust the bag instead of judging by the toothpick test. The brownies have a great flavor and decent texture, but mine were dense and a bit dry and I think my over-cooking was to blame. Although this mix is yummy (my husband had a second brownie after everyone left), next time I want to try gluten-free brownies from scratch. But it's nice to know of a good product to use in a time-crunch.

I wish I had pictures of the end products, but I got distracted by entertaining and the food was gone before I knew it. I guess that's a good thing!

tomatoes

Victory! My elaborate tomato protection system seems to work. In a few days, these will be joining up with peaches, red onion, cilantro, and red pepper flake for a delicious salad. #2 off The Minimalist's list of summer salads.

review: Glutino crackers

Holy crap, these things are good. They are way better than the nut-based gluten-free crackers from Blue Diamond, although I like the nut flour crackers with cheese. These are by far the closest thing to Ritz or Club or any of those traditional crackers.

They even look like Ritz crackers. Why can't I get rid of this dumb weblink text?

They're a little dry all on their own, but with Philadelphia Light Chive and Onion cream cheese, they are a fantastic snack.

Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

Ok SO. I'm back. Here I am. See me?

I don't have to go out of town until the middle of August, and after that - no plans! Hooray!

I am looking forward to:

farmers markets

new recipes

sticking with Weight Watchers (signed up online on Monday)

sewing

working on the house and yard

gardening

swimming

This week, David's going fishing with his Dad in Canada and I've got big plans.

1) I'm installing some shelves in the laundry room so I can store more food in there.

2) I'm trying out the ol' sewing machine (finally!!)

3) I might put in some tomatoes and squash. I have to ask the nice people at Harlow Gardens if it's too early for fall tomatoes. I really want to pot some cilantro, parsley, tarragon, and dill, and maybe pick up one of those Trader Joe's cheap and ginorm basil plants. I've got plans to make a huge batch of pesto and freeze it in an ice cube tray. It's funny that I have these huge sage and thyme plants, plus tons of rosemary, and I wind up buying cilantro at the store but barely use the herbs I have outside. I do use my basil and chives more often but about half of my basil has gone to seed. Gah. My tomatoes are getting attacked by birds, so I rigged a protective contraption out of an upsidedown tomato cage and some garden netting.

4) I'm going to the farmer's market. I've never been to the one at St. Phillips on Saturday, so I'm going to check it out. And of course I'll be there Sunday, bright and early to get the good stuff. Sybil found this awesome list of 101 summer salads and I'm dying to try about 45 of them.

I can hardly wait!

Oh, and here I am in Rocky Point, Mexico, enjoying a gorgeous sunset.

one more week

One week until things settle down, until we're back in town, until our calendar is free of out-of-town trips for at least a little while.

I want to make a plan to lose these 20 pounds, but I can't quite think until next week. Not when I'm staring down a wedding and another 4 flights and sitting in the airport.

Breathe...

summer vacation

This has been the busiest, most over-packed summer I can remember. Since the beginning of June, we've celebrated our anniversary, gone to Ohio, had my mom and sister visit, driven to San Diego with the dogs for the 4th, and now we're headed to Rocky Point, Mexico for the weekend with David's company. OH, and next weekend we're going to Idaho for a wedding.

I need a vacation from vacations. More importantly, I need a few weekends at home to finally learn how to use my sewing machine, tackle some gluten-free baking projects, and shop for an entertainment center for the living room.

I can't complain; this has been a really fun summer. But I really can't wait until we have a weekend free of plans. I miss the farmers market.

Here's David and the dogs at the beach in Cardiff by the Sea, California. It was a great 4th.

playing catch-up

We're back from Ohio and getting ready for my mom and sister to visit on Thursday. Things have been a little crazy around here trying to get the house in shape for visitors - it seems we've been ignoring our chores in favor of enjoying the summer.

Yesterday I visited my new PCP, Dr Lieberman. He seemed to think that because I've already been diagnosed with microscopic colitis, I don't have celiac, but he had my blood drawn anyway to check. I should hear back in a few days. He was very knowledgeable about both colitis and celiac but didn't have an answer to explain why a gluten-free diet has helped me so much. If my tests come back negative for celiac, I'm still staying gluten-free, and luckily there is a pharmacutical that apparently helps to clear colitis is some patients, so I'm happy to give that a whirl. I guess we'll see in a few days!

And -- my tomato plant has 16 baby tomatoes growing on it right now. The little bush isn't more than a foot and a half tall. I can't believe it.

Mount Lemmon

If you are lucky enough to live in Tucson and you like camping, you must go up to Mount Lemmon. Less than an hour away, 8000 feet elevation, and 30 degrees cooler than town, it's heaven. Head up to fish at Rose Canyon lake or take a day hike, or pack up the car and the dogs and spend the weekend. Our favorite camping spots are off Mount Bigelow Road, around mile 20. The road is off to the right about a quarter mile past the ranger station.

Go - early and often.

Sunny approves.

(sorry the picture is weird. I couldn't get it to work.)

Trader Joe's and gluten-free

If you're eating gluten-free and you enjoy shopping at Trader Joe's, go into the store, march up to the counter, and ask them to print you a list of all of their gluten-free products. Then grab a basket, wander around, and notice all of the products marked with this:




They can't promise that the product was made in an entirely gluten-free facility, but they do promise it was made with gluten-free products. And for me, for right now, that's good enough.

cheers

Cheers to summer.

Cheers to a wonderful salad topped with farmer's market tomatoes and sweet onions.

Cheers to Wednesday night.

Cheers to farmer's market beans, with their crunchy, meaty texture and their sweet flavor.

Cheers to beef tenderloin on sale for $5.87/lb at Basha's. If you have a husband that likes to moonlight as a butcher thanks to Alton Brown's whole beef tenderloin episode, you can have 3 1 lb tenderloin roasts, 3 dinners of two filet steaks, a pound of stew meat, and more than a pound of scraps for beef broth out of a 9 lb side of beef. (Search youtube for how to clean a whole tenderloin, or set your DVR to Alton's Tender is the Loin episode.)
























Cheers to enjoying most of your filet mignon before remembering to take a picture.

If you're really lucky, you're toasting with some wonderful cabernet franc from Sunce in Sonoma County, a great winery run by a really cool Croatian winemaker named Frane. Join their wine club. It's the best deal around.

what's in your lunchbox?

Starting week 2 of being gluten-free and still feeling great. The biggest challenge has been trying to pack lunch if we don't have dinner leftovers. This morning I was late to work because I made a salad. Tonight I tried to remedy the situation by making a brown rice something-or-other with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, basil, onion, mushroom, fresh tomato... ugh.
I need to find some gluten-free non-lettuce salads to make on Sunday night for lunches for the week.
Also, I need to stop eating what I make before I can even pack it into Tupperware.
Goat cheese, yum.
PS I want to give myself a pat on the back for hitting the gym 4 days last week for classes. Now if only I could turn that into 5-6 days a week.

take me out to the ballgame

Last night David and I went to a Tucson Toros home game at Hi Corbett field. It was $5 for general admission and a gorgeous 80 degree night.

If you're lucky enough to live in the Old Pueblo, I recommend you check out a game. All the games start at 7 pm. What a great place to enjoy the beautiful weather.

gluten-free might be for me

I've had digestive issues for about 3 years now. It started midway through second year of law school - I started to notice lower abdominal cramping every day in the late afternoon. I thought it was related to my feminine parts, so I saw my ob/gyn, who recommended I have an ultrasound. The ultrasound didn't show any ovarian cysts, so I saw my primary care physician and also told him about my cramps as well other, um, digestive trouble I was having. Ok, well I guess I should tell the whole story - I was having a lot of constipation. So my doctor sent me to a GI doctor who recommended that I have a colonoscopy. No way, I thought. So I tried to eat more fiber and yogurt and went on my way. The troubles didn't stop, and last summer while I was studying for the bar I had fresh blood in my stool. I freaked out and thought I had cancer, so I called the GI right away. I went in to see him and scheduled a colonoscopy for early September. I went to Italy in late August with my best friend from law school and had a couple of 24 hour bouts of blood in my stool. One episode was particularly jarring - the toilet literally looked like a murder scene.

The colonoscopy went off without a hitch - everything looked fine. (And if you are ever lucky enough to get a colonoscopy, do your self a favor and buy baby wipes for the day before.) The biopsy, on the other hand, came back with a diagnosis of microscopic colitis. The GI doctor told me there wasn't much I could do to treat it except to treat my symptoms with fiber and yogurt and an anti-spasmodic for bouts of diarrhea.

So, since then, I've been doing my best to get lots of fiber, eat lots of veggies, and treat my symptoms. Unfortunately, the cramping hasn't ever stopped. Neither have the swings between diarrhea and constipation. Sorry, I know this is gross, but if it helps one person out there going through the same thing as me, then the embarrassment is at least for some good.

Cut to recently - I began talking to my friend Carrie about her Celiac's disease diagnosis and how she eats gluten-free. I've done a lot of research and think I might have a gluten allergy. Since yesterday, I've been cutting - trying to eliminate entirely - gluten from my diet. And this sounds silly, but today, I didn't have cramps. 4 pm came and went without any abdominal pain at all. So maybe there's something to this gluten-free thing.

I'm setting up an appointment with a new PCP and will schedule a Celiac's blood test at that appointment. However, I have read that you can have a false negative blood test if you've already cut gluten from your diet, so I'll be asking the new doctor about that. And I'll keep you posted.


Ok, so after all that, here's my gluten-free dinner recipe!

Caramelized Scallops and Sesame Snap Peas


















image from Cooking Light

We made some Rice-a-Roni white and wild rice on the side because we didn't have enough rice noodles for two people. The recipe would be great with quinoa, as well. And the best part was that it took less than 20 minutes. Oh, also, we followed the recipe in the little leading paragraph for the sesame snap peas. Don't forget to string the peas first!

what a wonderful world

Congrats, Mr and Mrs Wallace!

just call me Estelle

I'm feeling a little bit like a 90 year old lady right now. I'm alone, it's 7 pm on Friday night, I've had 1 very tall Tom Collins, and I'm listening to Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison.
Tonight's supposed to be date night, planned by me, but D is working on the Pizza Audit from Hell. He got home after midnight tonight and left before I got up this morning. So my cute tray of hummus and yummies is slowly being fed to the dogs while I get drunk.




On a happier note, I picked up this cute blue-grey ocean-creature-looking-thing from Pier 1 yesterday for $9 and it makes me happy. I like it on David's nightstand with his collection of old man books.
























Bruce approves.

Stan and the sad cake

Have you met Stan?

Stan's my BFF.

He helped me make this delicious lemon cornmeal cake tonight.

Too bad Stan can't talk - otherwise he would have told me to put more Pam on the bundt pan.

Guess I'll be taking in 2/3 of a cake to work tomorrow for my swearing in.

yummy salad

Tonight for dinner we had Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad from Cooking Light. I found it on their website and made it based on its 75 or so positive reviews.


















Image from Cooking Light
We grilled two chicken breasts seasoned with chile powder, garlic powder, salt, and lime zest in lieu of the two cups of chicken in the recipe. We both thought the salad might have been better with about half the can of beans - the whole can was a little too much. Also, the avacado got smooshed in with the dressing, so to save a few calories, you could definitely leave it out.

The salad was delicious. It's something I'll make again and again because of its ease and short list of ingredients.

The recipe claims to serve 4, but for two hungry Kravecs it was plenty for two people for dinner. There was some left over but we were too stuffed to finish the whole bowl.

and another thing...

Things are really good right now. I want to remember all of the wonderful things I have to be thankful for because I catch myself all too often getting lost in the shuffle of day to day living and breathing and working and complaining about how I never get enough sleep.
So, I'm going to try my hardest right now to remember all of the wonderful things I encountered today. Here goes.

My tomato plant has at least 8 beautiful and growing tomatoes, and my basil plants have completely taken off. I am drooling with anticipation for the wonderful caprese salads to come.
My dogs are the cutest and they both smell nice and coconutty after their bath this evening.
I am so lucky to own a home with a pool. I took a nice dip after work to cool off and continued to work with Sunny on her swimming, which mostly consists of her bounding down to the second step, staring at me for a while, and jumping out of the pool.
I had a fantastic dinner and some delicious Arizona wine and enjoyed it all with my cute husband.
Our cleaning lady comes tomorrow for her monthly visit, so my house will be wonderfully clean when I get home from work.
I got to play poker at lunch today with Matt, Amy, and Joe. Lunchtime poker always makes the day a little better.
My new honey calendula lotion smells so good that when I catch a whiff of myself at work, I want to take myself out on a date.
I have the best boss in the whole world.
And great, albeit strange and flawed in their own ways, parents.
And cute little siblings that send me funny pictures of themselves while they're golfing.
And a really cool sister-in-law and the best in-laws I could ask for.
My weekends are full of fun things to do with all of the fantastic friends we've made in Tucson.
The sun shines almost every day here in the desert.
I have a job.

See, like I said. Things are good. :)

Napa and Sonoma 2009

Well, I finally got around to uploading the Napa and Sonoma pictures from our trip.

Here's a link to the facebook album. Ok, here it is.

I am having lunch with a potential job lead tomorrow and I'm very excited. Better get the suit out. My interview with the public defender went alright last week, although I have to say it was an extremely stressful interview.

I am off to do some embroidery. Sounds nice and relaxing.

I'll leave you with a couple of favorites from wine country.

Monday, Monday

Today was a real drag. At lunch I didn't feel good so I laid down on my boss' couch only to wake up 20 minutes later, drooling. Ugh.
I did pull it together this afternoon and manage to make it through more than half of a body pump class at Gold's before I had to leave because I wanted to punch the instructor. She could not have been more annoying and less motivating.
So I went to Sunflower on the way home and picked up a ton of produce for the week. Man their produce is cheap. I got mangoes, pineapple, pears, strawberries, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, romaine, spinach, bell peppers, baby carrots... whew. Most of the veggies are for veggie kabobs and for lunch salads. Since the thermometer hit 100 I've been craving fresh veggies and simple meals.

That brings me to my menu:
Tonight - burgers and corn on the cob
Tuesday - grilled shrimp and veggie kabobs
Wednesday - pizza with caramelized onions and prosciutto
Thursday - chipotle chicken taco salad
Friday - headed to a retirement party for Kelly's mom
Saturday - no plan yet. David's best friend from grade school might be coming to visit for the weekend.

Tonight I need to get some serious sleep.

Since I didn't get to go to Lush in Berkeley while we were in the Bay Area, and I am running dangerously low on body wash and lotion, I stopped in to the beauty section of Sunflower and picked up Kiss My Face early to bed body wash, Kiss My Face honey calendula lotion, and Jason cocoa butter lotion (for the nighttime hands and feet and elbows routine). I can't wait to try them all tomorrow! I almost grabbed a new scent of ShiKai lotion since I've been in love with my pomegranate lotion, but Jason's was on sale, and I'm a cheapo. Next time I'm out I might pick up the ShiKai honeysuckle lotion. I can still smell it on my arms from when I tried it in the store. Yum.

Pictures of Napa and Sonoma to come as soon as I get a good night's sleep, promise.

back in the swing of things

I'm back from Napa and Sonoma. Whew! I almost need a vacation from my vacation. And I definitely need a break from the gluttony. 12 pounds in 32 days is laughable at this point. Oh well. Right now I'm craving vegetables, simple foods, exercise, and relaxation. Sounds like a good summer lineup. Once I get an idea of how I'm going to accomplish that, I'll get back to you. For now, it's off to work.

I need to vent. It's been over a week and I'm only down 2.4 lbs. After 4 days I was down 3, then I went to Phoenix for a bachelorette party this weekend, and I'm up .6 from that. I was the same yesterday and I figured it was bloat from the weekend, but I worked out yesterday and stuck to my WW points Monday and Tuesday, so I thought the bloat would go away this morning and I'd see continued results. No such luck. At this rate I have no chance of losing even half the weight I wanted, because next week we're going to Napa and Sonoma and there's no chance I can lose weight there. I plan on running in the mornings and being very careful with what I eat, but I don't see how I'm going to get anywhere near my goal if I can't even lose weight while I'm at home, going to the gym, and following Weight Watchers. UGH.
Vent over.

Weekly Menu

Because I was in Phoenix this weekend, David made our menu for the week as well as the grocery list. Tonight we tried the first recipe, chicken scaloppine with a snap pea and asparagus salad, and it was delicious. I made quinoa to go with the meal and it soaked up the sauce nicely. I would recommend stringing the beans before julienning them. I thought the salad was really yummy, but I might be biased because I got to use mint from my herb garden and a lemon from our friends Carrie and Todd's citrus trees. I love Tucson.

The rest of the week looks like this:

Tuesday - Ancho rubbed steak, roasted potatoes, salad

Wednesday - Chicken with mushrooms (still have to see how outrageously expensive morels are at AJ's...)

Thursday - Spinach risotto with shrimp, broccoli

We're out of town again this weekend, so no fun Friday happy hour at home. Sad.

This week all of our recipes are from the newest issue of Cooking Light. I usually mix a few new recipes with a few favorites, but I guess we're being adventerous this week.

For lunches, we just went with the old standby, turkey sandwiches. Tomorrow I packed my diet version of tuna noodle casserole - tofu noodles (40 calories for a whole bunch of noodles!), tuna, some Laughing Cow cheese, some parmesan. It'd be better if I had some frozen peas, but alas, only a mix of peas and carrots in the freezer. So my tuna noodle casserole will include carrots. See the original Hungry Girl recipe here. I omit the can of cream soup and add in just a little reduced fat mayo.

And here's a picture from Kristin's bachelorette party. What a fun time celebrating a really great girl and her upcoming wedding to a really great guy.

time to get crafty

I really need to get started on a embroidery project I'm making as a wedding gift for our friends Kristin and Chris. I won't mention what it is on the off-chance she'll find out, but I will post it after we attend the wedding!

So, for sewing. I picked up some fabric at the discount fabric store (think thrift store for fabrics) and I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to make an apron.

Here are a few ideas:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=2309.msg15734
http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/Merchant2/aproninstructions.html (maybe with two small pockets instead of the one big one?)

and no matter what, the waist strings will be long enough to wrap back around and tie in the front, because everyone knows aprons are so much cuter that way.

I guess I could always just buy a pattern at JoAnn's.

Here are the fabrics. I can't decide which should be the main fabric and which should be the accent. The blue is almost like the material of an oxford shirt, and the yellow and white is fairly heavy, but really pretty.

Help! I need suggestions.

Mushroom Barley Pilaf

Mushroom Barley Pilaf
Adapted from Cooking Light

Makes 4 servings

1 cup pearl barley
4 cups reduced sodium chicken stock
1 T olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced, depending on size
8 oz white mushrooms
6 oz baby bella mushrooms
5 oz shitake mushrooms
Some chopped fresh or dried rosemary
Salt and pepper
¼ cup dry Marsala – I have used whatever red wine we have open in the house
2 t sherry vinegar, although red wine vinegar would also work

Add the chicken stock and barley to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer at least 50 minutes. Test the texture after about 50 minutes. I like mine still a little crunchy.

Slice all the mushrooms. I like to do them fairly thick for a heartier texture. With about 15 minutes left on the barley, heat olive oil in a large dutch oven. Add the onions, garlic, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Cook until mushrooms have released their juices and onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in Marsala, cook 1 minute. Add barley and whatever chicken stock is left, plus the vinegar. Cook 2 minutes until heated through. If it has a little too much liquid, cook a few minutes longer, stirring frequently, until liquid evaporates.

Total deal: 20 Weight Watchers points. 5 points per serving.

32 days

I'm going to attempt to lose 12 lbs in 32 days. That's an average of 2.6 lbs a week. I'm not going to crash diet. I'm just going to stay away from sugar and liquor and processed foods, and work my butt off at the gym. I'm going to use Weight Watchers and try not to eat many of the extra 35 points you get each week.

So I made a calendar that I'm going to put on the wall in front of the scale. If I work out, I'll get a gold star for the day. If I stick to my Weight Watchers points, I'll get a red star. And if I lose weight, I'll get a blue star.

This week's menu is:

breakfasts: breakfast burritos (potato and egg white - made a big batch of potatoes yesterday)
lunches: that couscous carrot salad you see below
dinners -
Monday: David won't be home tonight, so I'll be scraping together something delicious and healthy
Tuesday: barley mushroom pilaf, since I didn't get to make it last week
Wednesday: chicken caesar salad (grilled the chicken breasts yesterday)
Thursday: steaks (small one for me!) and roasted asparagus
Friday and Saturday: I'll be out of town, so David will be on his own. I'd bet you $20 he'll go to Dickman's and get a big ol' steak.
Sunday: shoot. no plan. That usually means Trader Joe's mandarin orange chicken with rice and lots of extra veggies. Unfortch, TJ's is definitely processed food. Maybe by Sunday I'll come up with something else.

Yesterday we drove to the 99.99 cent (yes, you read that right) store. It was awesome! We got stir fry veggies, a bunch of produce, and whatever the heck else David threw in the cart for $22. My grocery list for tonight consists of 7 things.

Ok, wish me luck!

salads

I love salads. Not so much the lettuce-y kind. More the
israeli couscous and carrot salad

black bean and couscous salad

tomato-basil pasta salad

light and fresh potato salad

kind of salad.

I love these guys because I can make them over the weekend and take them for lunch for a couple of days during the week. They're usually best nuked for 30 seconds to bring them up to room temperature.

And one more that I love -

Giada's Tuna and White Bean salad
2 cans tuna packed in olive oil
2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
red onion, diced, add to taste
6 T red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
Use the tuna AND the olive oil it comes in, and mix the whole deal together. You can throw in cherry tomatoes, too.


Look what I'm having for lunch this week!
















Looks pretty close to the picture from Cooking Light. That's always a plus.

a week (or more) in pictures

My birthday fiesta at Casa Vicente

April 15 with David and his co-workers

Desert in bloom

The Wine and Farm Festival with Jason and Nate