Seared Lamb Chops with Rosemary Balsamic Reduction

I ran 9 miles today.  Ok, I probably only ran 7 out of 9, but I did complete 9 miles total this morning in 1:57.  It was hard as hell, don't be fooled. There are two pedestrian overpasses on the trail I took today, one that I knew about, one that I didn't.  The one I didn't know about came at about mile 7, and nearly killed me as I labored up the incline that to me, seemed to go straight up. 

I also lost 1.8 lbs this morning at my meeting, which is officially 75 pounds gone. I am at my original goal weight that I set when I started WW. Contrary to what everyone said when I told them my goal weight, way back when, I do not look emaciated.  I do not look anorexic.  I do not look "skinny".  I look healthy.  I have muscles. I have definition in my arms and stomach and back, that I never had before. 

A side effect, however of running 9 miles is burning over 1,300 calories.  Lucky for me I had lamb in the fridge from the last trip to the grocery store.  I love lamb. I love it the most when it’s wrapped in a warm pita and smothered  in Tzatziki sauce, but that’s a little high in fat for me these days. 

Despite my love for lamb, I am not up on the multitude of ways to cook lamb, nor do I have a great knowledge of what flavors go well with it. I do know rosemary is usually on it though, in some form or another. I served this with a side of red potatoes and green beans in a rosemary butter sauce, hoping to compliment the rosemary in the lamb.  It turned out phenomenal.

Adapted from Food Network, Emeril Lagasse

2  (~1 lb) Lamb Shoulder Blade Chops

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley leaves

1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 scallions, minced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 cup balsamic vinegar

3 small rosemary sprigs

1 teaspoon butter

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine olive oil, parsley, rosemary, and garlic. Season with salt, to taste. Set aside.

Set an oven-safe saute pan over medium-high heat. Season the lamb with 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the black pepper. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the oil to the saute pan and place the lamb, fat side down, in the pan. Sear the lamb until the fat has rendered and is beginning to brown; about 3 minutes. Continue to cook the lamb, turning to cook evenly about 2 minutes per side. Baste lamb with the herb and oil mixture. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook until the lamb is to your liking ( I cooked mine about 5-10 minutes).

Make the balsamic drizzle while the lamb is cooking: Set a small saucepan over medium heat and add the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots to the pan and cook about 1 minute. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Pour the balsamic vinegar into the pan and bring to a boil. Add the rosemary sprigs and allow the balsamic to gently boil, and reduce until only about 1/4 cup of balsamic remains, about 10 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Remove from the heat and swirl butter into the pan. Remove the rosemary sprigs before using.

Let the lamb sit for 5 minutes before serving, and drizzle with the balsamic reduction prior to serving.

GM Smoothies taste better than you think

 

I took a small break from the Green Monster for about a week, when I got sick and was hesitant to drink milk due to congestion. But I’ve been back at them, having them 5 days a week, mostly on my way into work, at the moment.  I am trying to find a way to incorporate one into Saturday and Sunday, which I suspect will be easier once the weather turns, and I am spending inordinate amounts of my weekend outdoors.

Don't dismiss the GM until you've tried it at least twice.  You cannot taste the spinach, so really it's all about the fruit and other ingredients you put in there.

In every smoothie I put;

- 1 teaspoon Canola oil

- 1 Tablespoon Flax Seed (ground)

- 1 Scoop Amazing Grass GREENSuperFood 

- 1 Cup cooked Spinach (~2 cups uncooked)

• Canola oil (also known as Rapeseed oil) is considered a “heart-healthy” oil, and is among the healthiest of cooking oils. It has the lowest saturated fat content of any oil commonly consumed in the U.S., at just 7%. Olive oil has 15%. It's an excellent source of the omega-6 fatty acid, linoleic acid, and it is higher in the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) than any other oil commonly used. These fats are particularly important in the diet because the human body can't produce them. Studies have shown that ALA may help protect the heart by its effect on blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation. 

• Flaxseed has numerous health benefits as well when made part of a healthy diet, particularly for women. With its high concentration of lignans, flaxseed serves as a natural way to normalize the menstrual cycle, manage menopause, as well as lowering the risk of osteoporosis, cancer and heart disease.   Extensive studies on both breast and colon cancer indicate that flax seed may play an important role in cancer treatment and prevention. It also; boosts immune function, protects again bone loss and reduces the risk of Osteoporosis, reduces “bad cholesterol” (LDL) and increases “good cholesterol”, decreases blood pressure, suppresses the development of atherosclerosis and inflammation, and enhances blood vessel tone, and potentially decreases the risk and development of breast and other cancers (more info here).

Why do I use the seed instead of the oil? Because freshly ground seed includes the fiber content that is so vital to maintaining digestive health.  I buy Barlean's Forti-Flax and grind it in my coffee grinder each morning before tossing it into my smoothie.

The rest of my ingredients are varied and sometimes diverse. I encourage experimentation, but here are two that I have made that appealed to my palate the most. I generally use frozen fruit (make sure it’s just fruit!), except for my bananas.  When the season comes around, I look forward to fresh berries.

Mango Berry

1 Large Banana

1 Cup diced Mango

1/2 Cup Blueberries

1 Cup Fat Free Organic Milk

Raspberry Peach

1 Large Banana

1 Cup Sliced Peaches

1/2-3/4 Cup Raspberries

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract

1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar

1 Cup Fat Free Organic Milk

Banana Cream Pie

So, my banana cream pie doesn’t emulate Emeril’s at all. His has heavy cream and split vanilla beans, and a whopping two cups of sugar!  I bet it melts in your mouth, honestly.  My banana cream pie is much less complicated and can be whipped up in about 15 minutes, if you don’t count the time for chilling it in the fridge so it firms back up.

I looked all over the house this evening for a few chocolate chips or a left over Halloween candy bar that I could shave and use for decorative topping in my pie, but as it turns out, I don’t buy chocolate chips or leave left over holiday candy lying around. In fact, I took every last left over candy bar to work on November 1^st.

Slice a bunch of bananas and line a graham cracker crust with them. Be generous!

Mix 6 oz reduced fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla,  and 1/4 Cup reduced fat sour cream. Once mixed, add 8oz of Cool Whip and mix until smooth.

Add filling into pie crust on top of bananas, and refrigerate for a couple of hours until firm.

If your house has chocolate  in it, shave some to top this pie with before serving.  If your house is like mine and has an abundance of fruit and nary a chocolate morsel to be found, top with orange zest and a few extra slices of banana.

Adapted ever so slightly from Gina at Skinny Taste
183 Calories / 5.9g Fat / 29.4g Carbs / 0.7g Dietary Fiber / 2g Protein 

Potato Leek Soup

I have been "off plan" for about three weeks now. There, I said it.  I was up at my last weigh in, which discouraged me, and then I got a cold, which morphed into a raging sinus infection,  I wasn't able to run, or go to the gym, or do anything without choking and sneezing;  all the while trying to convince my nose to stop running.  I drank a gallon of orange juice, and ate home made chicken soup and crackers.  But prior to that I was buying loaves of french bread from the deli and standing in the middle of the kitchen eating them with a glass of iced tea and butter. That was when the scale went up, and no wonder.

And then, I went shopping.  While at the store, I asked the clerk if a size 2 at NY & Co. would be about a size 2 in their pants.  The sales clerk looked frankly at my waist, taking me in, and at length told me that if that what I was at the other store, it should be the same at her store.  Too late.  Obviously, I thought, while she looked me over, I look decidedly bigger than the size 2 pants I went home with, vanity sizing or not. 

Shortly thereafter, I found myself in front of my mirror in nothing but undergarments, looking at myself from a side view wondering why I still looked so fat.  I still feel fat. Almost every day. I'm 5'8, weigh 146 lbs, and have 21% body fat which according to all the charts says I'm falling a mere 1 percentage point shy of being "athletic".  You are your own worst enemy. You can talk yourself into, and out of anything. 

I talked myself into getting back on plan.  I went that day and picked up fresh fruit,and some Amazing Grass Berry Green Super Food to add to my morning smoothies. By the time I'm beach side in Costa Rica in May, I will weigh less than 140.

French bread may no longer be welcome in my home, but that doesn't stop me from cooking up divine meals.  Cooking makes me feel better. Cooking plan friendly meals makes me feel a lot better, and one of my favorite on plan things to cook (and eat!) is soup. 

With the exception of one chicken soup mishap wherein I scorched the base and left the whole pot tasting bitter, and well, scorchy tasting, I haven’t had a miss yet.  Including tonight’s creamy, stick-to-your-ribs potato adventure soup.

2 leeks, cut in half length-wise, rinsed well, and chopped small.

One head of garlic, rinsed well.

2 Tbsp Butter

5 Cups Chicken Stock

2 lbs Russet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/3 C reduced fat sour cream

2-3 Bay leaves

Salt & Pepper to taste

Rinse the head of garlic well. Chop the top third off the head of garlic. Remove all loose paper. Pop out the garlic clove tips from the chopped off third and dice.

Melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and add leeks.  Saute about 5 minutes. Add diced garlic, and cook an additional minute.

Add 5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth, bay leaves, salt and head of garlic.  Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer partially covered, for 30 minutes.

Add chopped potatoes. Simmer for an additional 20 minutes ( you may have to bring this back up to a boil and then down to simmer - I did) until potatoes are soft. Remove whole garlic cloves and any garlic paper, add sour cream, stir well, and cook an additional 5 minutes.

With an immersion blender, blend soup until it is a thick and creamy, yet chunky consistency.  Chunks are good. 

I topped my bowl with a dollop more of sour cream and a bit of cheese, but you could add scallions or bacon bits just as well.  Since I'd been cooking for 3 hours between this soup, an apple pie fritter dessert and  Steak, Pepper and Mushroom sandwiches, I wasn't up to chopping the scallions for it.  

Original recipe by Smitten Kitchen, the only tweaking I did was to reduce the butter and the potatoes, and I use reduced fat sour cream. I'm not sure any other adjustments would be fortuitous.

Teriyaki Shrimp & Vegetable Stir Fry

I buy produce like it’s going out style.  And then I don’t eat it fast enough.  If we're being honest, that’s why I started making my green monsters for breakfast – it was a sure way to get my daily vegetables in.  But that’s a cop out, I’m pretty sure, to drink my vegetables at 8am and call it a day.  Sure, I was getting other vegetables in.  I do after all make a conscious effort to get something green in with my dinner as often as possible.

Unless my dinner is cereal; which it often is of late.

So on the way home from work today I thought it might be prudent to stop at the produce market and pick up some bananas and spinach so I can start having smoothies again after a week of being afraid to drink milk due to being congested.  While there, I spotted bok choy.  Crisp and covered in water droplets from the misters, beckoning me over.  

I bought bok choy once before, and let it sour in the fridge before ever doing anything with it.  Not this time, I told myself. I found the biggest, crispest looking one in the bunch and crammed it into my basket.

So I furiously googled for bok choy recipes when I got home. I found this really delectable sounding garlicky bok choy recipe from Steamy Kitchen, but it struck me as a side dish and not a main course; and I was in need of a main course.  When Google failed me I turned instead to my own knowledge of the kitchen and got to chopping.  “Hand me any vegetable in the fridge that needs to be cooked before it goes bad!” I told my mother, who was undertaking the daunting task of cleaning out the fridge at that very opportune moment.   

I saved a remarkable lot of vegetables, and made a creative mock-Chinese stir fry with what I (mostly) had on hand.

Measurements are not precise, because I didn’t measure, I eyeballed it.

 

2 Tbsp Canola Oil

1 Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Yellow Bell Pepper, diced

1 Cup Leeks, diced

2 Small carrots, diced

2 Cups small Broccoli Florets

6-8 Baby Portobello Mushroom, sliced thin

1-2 Cups Zucchini, Sliced and Quartered

1/2 Cup Teriyaki Sauce

1 Cup Bok Choy, chopped

1 Clove Garlic

1 Cup Bean Sprouts

8 oz Cooked Shrimp (optional)

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Start by preparing and cutting all the vegetables and measuring your ingredients so that they are ready to go. Once you begin stir-frying, it goes very quickly. 

In a wok or large skilled, heat canola oil over high heat until almost smoking. Add the peppers, carrots and onion while stirring constantly. While continuing to stir, add successively the zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms  garlic, and teriyaki sauce. Cook, stirring, constantly for 2 minutes. 

Add the bok choy, sprouts, pepper, and salt and cook, stirring, until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes more.

Stir in shrimp and sesame oil. Stir 1 minute until shrimp are heated through. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Serves 4: 1 heaping cup servings

Depending on your taste, you may want to add some corn starch (I added ~2 tsps) to thicken the sauce.

299 Calories / 14g Fat / 30g Carbs / 3.7g Dietary Fiber / 16.4g Protein

Berry-Banana Green Monster

My "green monster" smoothie this morning was actually more purple than green, but that didn't stop it from packing a healthy punch.  

1 Tbsp Flax Seed, ground

1 Tbsp Agave Nectar

2 Cups Uncooked Spinach

~2.5 oz Stoneyfield Farms Oikos organic Greek yogurt Vanilla

1/3 cup Blueberries

1 Cup Strawberries

1 Large Banana  

1 Cup Fat Free Milk

Place spinach into a microwave safe bowl with water and microwave until wilted, about 5 minutes.

Place into blender in the above order and blend on high for about 1 minute.  Add ice if desired. My strawberries were frozen so I didn't need much ice, but with hot spinach, you definitely will want ice!

Calories 469 * Fat: 6g * Carbs: 89g * Protein: 22.5g *  Dietary Fiber: 13.5g

Crackle Spice Drops

Grocery stores really know how to get you, don’t they? You’re standing in line, waiting patiently to check out, pay for your items, and go home. And then you see it, the cover a magazine boasting the perfect cookie that you know you have no choice but to make, now that you’ve seen it.  I saw that magazine.  Tempted as I was to race back into the aisle to grab each ingredient, I opted for putting the magazine onto the conveyor belt for check out instead. Self restraint at the helm.

And then I got home, and promptly wished I had raced back into the aisles and grabbed all the ingredients to make those fabulous looking cookies.  

It took me three days to decide that I really needed to make the cookies.  Three days of debating if they were “worth it” and by the time I was confirmed on baking, I was at work, and my magazine was at home. The grocery store? Between the two.  

I had no idea what my ingredients were for the cookies in the magazine, that I knew was laying, turned to the appropriate page, on my coffee table. 

So I made these delectable little things instead.

 1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar     

1 large egg

1 Tbsp vanilla extract   

2 cups all-purpose flour   

1/2 tsp baking soda   

1/4 tsp table salt   

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice   

1/4 cup(s) powdered sugar          

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a mixing bowl, on medium speed, beat margarine with brown sugar until creamy. Add egg and vanilla extract; beat until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt and spice.

Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into powdered sugar to coat. Place onto baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 7 to 8 minutes. Yields 1 cookie per serving.