Salads... How I learned to love them!

I hate salads. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them. But everyone seems to be ordering salads when I go out, so I feel like that the fat schlub who orders the fried appetizer all because I hate salads.

Well, it turns out that I actually love salads but not for the reasons that you think. I could care less for the lettuce, tomato or cucumber. For me, it's all about the dressing and the cheese. I found a great low fat tomato, balsamic vinegar and oil dressing only like 35 calories. I add either feta cheese crumble or blue cheese crumbles. That's the trick to loving salads when you actually hate them.

A salad can be made of only the things that you like. Don't like lettuce, skip it. Eat a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers. Add some feta, scallions, mint and splash of lemon juice and olive oil. You have a Greek Salad. Through in some olives if you like them (Me? Not a fan of olives). Only like carrots? Buy a bag of baby carrots and grab your favorite dressing. I love blue cheese dressing with baby carrots. You can try ranch dressing with baby carrots too.

Make a salad out of a grain like barley. Cook the barley, add some tomatoes, black beans, charred corn (put a cleaned ear or corn or two beneath your broiler until charred), shredded cheese, onions, poblano peppers and a good cheese based salad dressing.

Think outside of the box a bit and add some fruit to your salad. Strawberries are perfect for most salads. My favorite is a chicken, spinach and strawberry salad. Add some almonds, blue cheese and a simple dressing for a really nice and fancy, but cheap salad.

Then there's pasta salad. So simple! Boil your pasta, like bow tie or the spiral pasta according to the package directions. During the last three minutes, add your favorite veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, green beans, peppers, onions and so forth. Drain everything and put into a container. Place that container inside another container filled with ice. Stir until the dish cools down. Throw on your favorite Italian salad dressing.

Tonight, I was going to make Pineapple, cilantro rice, but I'm going to make a simple salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Of course I'm going to add my blue cheese crumbles and my favorite salad dressing.

Turkey and Black Bean Burgers

I found this burger on the Web and tweaked it a little bit. Ground turkey is very, very bland if it's not seasoned properly. Seasoning is always the key! I know I'm not supposed to say this, but salt is always king. You need it for everything. It's essential in baking.

Why turkey burgers? A long time ago, I would have looked at it and said I'd prefer the real thing. But over the years it's grown on me, thanks to my Dad, who forced it on me. This turkey burger is really good. Invest in a bottle of chipotle mayo.

What You Need

• 1 15-oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1lb lean ground turkey
• 1/2 cup rolled oats (quick cooking oats are fine)
• 1 green pepper, diced small
• 1 small onion, diced small
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• 1 large egg, beaten
• Salt and Pepper to taste (Dip a finger into the taco packet to see how salty it is, you may not need salt)

What To Do

1. In a large bowl, take a potato smasher and smash half of the beans. Add in the ground turkey, oats, green pepper, onion, carrot and taco seasoning. 
2. Mix well with your hands (FYI, I keep a box of vinyl gloves in my kitchen for times like these. If you have long nails, you definitely want to invest. 
3. Form as many patties are you can. I can get about eight small patties out of this. Spray a large plate first with cooking spray as the patties are sticky.
4. Cook a grill or frying pan with a little oil or non-stick cooking spray. Cook 5 minutes on each side until well done. You cannot eat poultry if it is not cooked all the way through. The internal temp should be 165 degrees. 
5. Serve on a whole-wheat but lettuce, tomato, chipotle mayo and ketchup.

Enjoy!

Southern Biscuits Recipes

One of my favorite standby recipes is Buttermilk Roast Chicken. I almost always have buttermilk left over. I got sick of making buttermilk pancakes. It seems I eat a lot of pancakes. I needed a break. I have tried and tried so many different biscuit recipes but they always come out a little hard but I think that's because I'm really lazy and I like to use my food processor instead of my hands. But this recipe, the biscuits turned out really well and they browned really well too.

The trick to making biscuits is two things... Use fresh baking powder! Use baking powder as well.

This recipe originally called for using a mix between butter and shortening. I don't buy shortening. So it's okay to use double the butter. I know that there are a lot of health conscious people out there. When it comes to baking use butter instead of margarine... Just for baking!

What You Need

• 2 cups of flour (See Note)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons cold butter cut into cubes
• 1 cup chilled buttermilk

What To Do

1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the the dry ingredients, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
3. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks kind of like crumbs. Do this as fast as possible so that the butter doesn't melt. This is what helps make your baked good fluffy.
4. Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in the buttermilk and stir until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky. 
5. Turn dough onto a floured surface and dust the top of the dough with flour. 
6. Knead the dough five or six times. And press into 1-inch thick round. 
7. Cut out biscuits with a 2 inch biscuit cutter. If you don't have one, use a glass cup that has an approximately 2-inch diameter. 
8. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet so that they are touching each other.
9. Reform the dough, press into another 1-inch round, and cut out the next batch of biscuits. This batch won't rise as much as the first batch.
10. Bake until brown on top. 15-20 minutes.

Special Note: Don't scoop out the flour from your container with the measuring cup. Instead take a spoon and spoon the flour into the measuring cup. This allows more air into the flour and will help make your biscuits and baked good rise.

Special Note: Don't use self-rising flouring! Self-rising flour already is mixed with baking powder and salt. It's always best to stick with all-purpose flour. You can do a lot more with it! Also there are specific baking ratios that go into baking. 

I am a Binge Eater

I feel as though binge eating doesn't get a lot of attention. Maybe it's because we don't purge after a binge. But I feel that there is a lot of shame associated with binge eating and many people, men and women, don't admit to it.

For me, binge eating is tied to my emotions. If I'm sad, I eat. If I'm stressed, I eat. If I'm angry, I eat. But we're not talking about eating a couple of pieces of cake. No, we are talking about eating the whole cake, a pint of ice cream, a handful of nuts, and three cookies. We are talking about eating a whole pizza pie, french fries, salad, and what else.

It's not because we suffer from hungry. Although starving ourselves can lead to a binge. It's because we get some sort of enjoyment or satisfaction from eating. When I'm in the middle of a binge, it feels good. It feels comforting.

But then, afterwards, it feels like hell. After a binge, I feel horrible. Not only physically, because I'm so full, but emotionally. I feel like a loser. I feel helpless. I feel so bad about myself that I end up binging again to make those feelings go away. Maybe not immediately, maybe not even the next day.

On top of the binging, I also suffer from chronic depression. So depression can lead to a binge and a binge can lead to depression. For me a never ending cycle of hell that most times, I feel like I can't escape.

To add to all of this, I have all of these people bugging me to lose weight. I know how to lose weight. I know what I should be doing, but it's difficult for me. When you're depressed you are only able to the absolute minimum to get by. Trying to lose weight requires a lot of dedication and hard work. That is hard to do when you have no gas left in your tank. You can only go so far before you putter out.

My health is in serious jeopardy. I'm not in denial. I know I have to work very hard at this. But it takes time. It seems that the people always telling me to lose weight expect me lose it rapidly. I feel like if I wasn't a binge eater and suffered from depression than maybe losing the would be easier. But I am a binge eater and I'm chronically depressed, so losing weight will take time.

I did think about having gastric bypass or the lap band surgery. However, there are many people who regain the weight, and end up stretching out their smaller stomachs. Also, most people end up with vitamin deficiencies and there can be complications to the surgery. I'm not willing to go through that... yet. If within the next five years, I haven't lost any then I will consider getting the surgery.

Hence, I'm going to start a new blog, following my weight loss journey and struggle. It will be a public diary of what I eat, my workout, my thoughts, and feelings. I will be following steps in this binge eating book that I have.

Tips and Tricks for Busy People

I work from home now, so cooking is a lot easier. If I want to make something elaborate like lemon curd cupcakes with a blackberry cream cheese frosting, I can. But before the powers that be allowed me to work from home, I would get home at 7pm depending on traffic and be completely too tired to cook anything. So I basically, I ate fast food. It occurred to me that I should plan ahead, but on my days off, who wants to do anything resembling work? Not I.

Not everyone is a stay-at-home mom or dad, retired, or works from home. Some of you have to go into the office and not come home to a home cooked meal. So here are some tips and tricks to make your life a litter easier, a little bit healthier and a little bit of a food change.

• PLAN AHEAD
• Don't wait until the last minute to throw something together. Before you go grocery shopping, know what meals you are going to be making until your next shopping trip. Include everything. Including snacks. You don't have to make a schedule, but you should know what foods you are going to eat for the day, say on Tuesday.
• If you buy stuff like chips, baby carrots and other little snacks, separate your portions into a plastic baggy. Dedicate a section of your refrigerator and cabinet just for these little snacks. 
• Make for the week on your day off. I know, it sucks to do this on a day off, when you can be out at the beach having fun, but a little work during that day, can save you time for the rest of week. Make a batch of meat sauce (add in some carrots and zucchini) and freeze the entire batch. Make lasagna and put in the freezer uncooked. Season some boneless chicken breasts, bake, and chop them up, bag them up for quick chicken salads. Make a smoothie the night before so that you can drink on the way to work. There are tons of things you can do, to easy your work days.
• KEEP A WELL STOCKED KITCHEN
• Having the basics on hand means you can cook an easy meal in minutes. For example, the other day, I was just down to some frozen meat and the bare essentials, I was able to make a nice meal of blueberry pancakes from scratch because I had the basics. 
• Keep things that you can cook when frozen. For example, I love beef kielbasa and frozen mixed vegetables. I can chop up the frozen kielbasa and throw it in a pot in ten minutes I have a somewhat nutritious meal for lunch or dinner. 
• Freeze your leftovers. If you're getting sick of your leftovers, freeze them in single serving size containers. I save all of the sour cream, cream cheese, and other such containers just for these occasions. It's good for the environment, saves you money, and if something gets moldy, you can throw the container away without regret. 
• INVEST IN A CROCK POT
• I love my crock pot. I make soups and chili in it. I make overnight oatmeal in it. I throw a whole chicken in it, beef brisket, ropa vieja. The sky's the limit. The night before, I prep all of the ingredients so that in the morning before I've brushed my teeth, I can just dump them in, give a quick stir and set on low, and know that when I come home, a hot meal is waiting for me. 
• FYI: cooking in a crock pot is a great way to make a low fat meal. Make sure to use lean cuts of meat. Because the heat is low and the cooking is slow, the meat gets really juicy. With chicken, watch out, because when it's done, you can literally cut through the bone with a spoon.
• MAKE SOUPS AND SALADS
• Soups keep well in the fridge for about a week. They freeze well too. 
• You can cook up from chicken or steak on your day off. Slice them and freeze or refrigerate them. Add them to a salad. There are thousands of types of salads out there. I'm working on a recipe that involves watermelon and cilantro. Get creative. You can make your own salad dressings by experimenting with different types of vinegars and oils. I love fresh squeezed lemon juice and olive oil. 

Technique 1: Searing

You can learn a recipe and cook only that recipe and a few variations of that recipes. You can learn a cooking technique and create thousands of your own recipes. Searing is one of my favorite ways to cook a steak. It locks in all of the juices and I can finish up my steak in the oven.

You have probably seared meat before. Every time you "brown" a meat before cooking in another method, you are actually searing. Searing not only gives your meat a pretty color. But it takes more than simply throwing a slab of meat into a pan.

1. Your meat must come down to room temperature. This lets the meat's natural juices reabsorb into the muscle.

2. Season your meat with salt and pepper. You can also add other spices. The spices will create a really nice crust on your meat. If you are using a marinade, shake off the excess moisture. We do not want to saute or pan roast the meat.

3. Open a window and turn on your exhaust fan if you have one. Because it's going to get hot and smokey!

4. Make sure to use a pan that heats evenly and most importantly, make sure it is extremely hot. Medium-high or high heat! If your pan is too cool, you won't sear your meat it will be sauteing or boiling if you used a marinade. Make sure that pan is HOT!

5. Add a little fat to the pan to keep the meat from sticking. If you're cooking something that is fatty, you can skip the this step. Definitely add some fat to the pan if you're using lean meats. Do not use anything that has a low melting smoking point, like butter, extra virgin olive oil and so forth. Your butter will burn and the EVOO will really smoke.

6. Add your meat to the pan and watch it. It should brown pretty quickly and once it's brown it's a minute or two away from being burnt. If you're cooking something like a pork roast, or a round cut of meat, lean it up against the side of the pan, so it doesn't roll around.

7. Once your side is brown, flip it and brown the other side. Keep doing this until you've browned all sides of the meat. Even if you're cooking a steak, you want to sear those sides! Be careful searing the ends, you don't want the meat to fall back into the pan and splatter the hot juice all over you.

8. Now you have a piece of meat that is beautifully browned, but most likely is raw on the inside. This is where you would use another technique. You could roast the meat, boil it, saute it, put it in the slow cooker, braise it, there's a variety of cooking techniques you could use to finish off that meat.

9. Don't throw away those juices! The juices and the brown bits that are stuck to the bottom can actually be used to make a gravy! More on making gravy coming soon!

Green Blueberry and Green Tea Smoothie

This is a great way to add both fruit and vegetables to your breakfast or snack. This recipe is going to really give you a boost. It is packed with vitamins, minerals, good fats, and fiber. I pulled this recipe off of a Web. I changed it up a bit by adding 1 cup of raw spinach. To get the full benefits of the raw spinach and blueberries (if using fresh), make sure to use them as soon as possible. As the veggies and fruits decay, so does the vitamins and minerals. But some vitamins are better than none.

This smoothie works great as an after-workout-recovery drink. You can add a scope of vanilla whey or soy protein, some BCAA, and a teaspoon of linoleic acid to really help you with your recovery, especially if you're weight training. You might want to add in a few more berries to mask the taste. This smoothie is also made with green tea, which has been proven to speed up fax oxidation (making your body burn extra fat).

Blueberries are a super fruit and has tons of antioxidants that combat free radicals, which can cause aging. Looking to get rid of that belly fat? Blueberries can help with that too. Want to prevent cancer? Blueberries can also help with that!

Spinach, Popeye's favorite! Spinach doubles the benefits of the benefits of blueberries. It also is great to ward off constipation and helps with digestion.

What You Need

• 3/4 cup water
• 2 green tea bags (brew the tea the night before)
• 2 cups of blueberries
• 3 ice cubes
• 12 ounces of non-fat vanilla yogurt (equals 1.5 cups)
• 2 tablespoons of raw almonds unsalted (about 20)
• 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed
• 1 cup spinach, fresh or frozen, thawed

What To Do

1. Bring water to boil and pour over tea bags
2. Steep for four minutes and then squeeze the bags dry and discard. Let the tea chill overnight
3. Place chilled tea, blueberries, ice, yogurt, almonds, flax seed and spinach into a blender. 
4. If adding protein powder, add it in now.
5. Process until smooth.