The Blonde Diaries

Well, our music workshop at church was cancelled last night so Mike and I were able to start moving into the new apartment as soon as he and my mom arrived around 7pm. We decided to move kitchen and clothing since those are the easiest things to pack and unpack. So far everything that we both have from our respective apartments are fitting into the new apartment with room to spare. I did notice though that it might be time to upgrade some of our kitchen ware as both of us have very old and very cheap appliances, pots, pans, and bakeware.

I found that Sears is running at Cookware and Bakeware Sale right now. Everything is on sale right now and if you shop today, you receive an extra 20% off when using your Sears card. I really liked the basic essentials 8 piece roster set that came to $4.99 after the mail in rebate ($10 rebate). Talk about a pretty darn good deal. Sears carries all of the well known kitchen brands like KitchenAid, Wilton, and Cuisinart so if there is something you have been eyeing for a while you might want to head over there and see if you can score a deal. I did notice the famous KitchenAid mixer is on sale which doesn’t happen very often. You might be able to find some items to put aside for Christmas or even future wedding gifts.

A few weeks ago, upon my return from vacation, I shared that the impact of the hurricane and vacation on my health had been pretty minor. I only managed to gain 6 pounds but it was 6 pounds I didn’t need to gain. So I have taken to a number of methods to start shedding the pounds. The first was to obviously cut my calorie intake. The second was to start exercising again. The third method I am trying now is to vary the foods I eat and cut down on the number of carbs I take in each day. I have been using the tracker on fit day and man do I eat a lot of carbs! So this week I have been eating more “healthy” carbs like fruits, vegetables, and then lots of protein. I am down 3 pounds so I know I am making a difference. Slow and steady wins the race right?

So this is where I need your help. I need new healthy, low-carb recipes. I have the usual grilled chicken, baked fish, and grilled sausage down but I need help with varying them up. We like Italian but I do not have any good Italian recipes that do not include either a heavy sauce, pasta noodles, or something battered and fried. So any good recipes to share?

In an earlier post I talked about how well I did last night at one of my favorite sushi restaurants by swapping edamame for crab lagoons. Crab lagoons are these fried wontons filled with cream cheese and I think a little bit of crab and you dip them in a sweet and sour sauce – very yummy, not very healthy to say the least! So I knew getting them would be detrimental to my diet so I swapped for edamame.

Edamame is a pea-like vegetable in that you usually have 2 to 3 beans per green pod. I actually did a little research today to learn more about them and if they are a healthy option to eat on a more frequent basis. Edamame is actually soybeans before they are turned into soy products. They are normally served warm at sushi restaurants because they are freshly boiled in salted water. What I learned today makes me even happier to eat them – they are packed in protein (13 gms per serving), low in fat (3gms per serving), and are typically moderate in the calorie content (125 cals per serving). I have noticed them sold in the freezer section of the grocery store so I think I will try and pick up a bag and make this at home. If you have never tried edamame before I highly recommend doing so. It is an acquired taste I will admit but it is so healthy and yummy that you really shouldn’t pass it up. I’ll let you know how the freezer version works out for me.

I knew I wasn’t exactly being good while on vacation.  I mean I had a week of eating out daily or eating high sodium foods with Mike’s family and then a week of eating whatever I wanted while at Disney.  We were on the Dining plan so everything was prepaid and we didn’t have to watch our pennies while at our meals which was fantastic.  So needless to say, I knew the scale was not going to be kind when I finally got home and stepped on it.  What I found was not too surprising but really made me sit and think about how to best shave the extra pounds off.  I had finally hit my highest weight ever – topping in at 160 – and knew this wasn’t a place I wanted to stay at for very long.  So no more eating out after tonight, skipping the gym, or eating poorly at home for me.

I wanted to share the first of my quick and tasty dinner ideas that I made last night.  It was fairly healthy and a meal I want to make more often.  Basically, I purchased a small pre-marinaded pork tenderloin from HEB and just put it in a casserole dish with a meat therometer.  Since it was fairly small and not too thick (it was more wide and flat that round and thick), it only took 10 minutes to reach 150 degrees which is “medium” for pork.  I then pulled out the salad makings and made a small salad with veggies, very little cheese, and craisins and served it with the spray version of Wishbone Ranch dressing and regular Ranch dressing for Mike.  It was all very tasty when we sat down to eat it and it literally took only 15 minutes from start to finish for the entire meal!  I was very excited and glad that I was able to cook a healthy meal and tasty meal so quickly.  As I find more of these I will definitely pass them on.

Not too long ago I blogged about the contest that was going to take place in New Orleans to crown this year’s best chef and their best seafood recipe in the Great American Seafood Cook-off Contest. Well the cooking has taken place and the judges have the recipes and chefs narrowed down to a top 5 and have crowned their own winner. Now they are asking us to pick our own winner out of the top 5 recipes and chefs in the finals. Just looking at the recipes submitted in the cook off just makes my mouth water and I wonder how the judges even narrowed down to a top five. They all look fantastic.

My favorite in the finals has to be the Shrimp and Andouille Cassoulet by Chef Brian Landry of Louisiana. It combines two of my favorite food items: shrimp and sausage! The other ingredients look good as well – garlic, celery, onions, beans, tomatoes, and Abita beer to name a few of the ones that caught my eye. Right now the recipe is designed for 8-10 people and since it is just Mike and I, I’ll probably cut the ingredients in half when I try to make it so that it is serving 4-5 and we just have one set of left overs. The key though I think to making this recipe taste perfect is finding some Texas Shrimp since we are right on the Gulf Coast. I have tried a few recipes with both fresh and frozen (non local) seafood and you can totally taste a difference between the fresh and the frozen. I try my hardest now to avoid the frozen seafood because you don’t know where it is coming from nor how long it has been frozen. I highly recommend that if you are going to make a seafood dish to find fresh seafood because it really makes your dish.

If you want to read more about this recipe or any of the others head over to the Great American Seafood Cook-off Contest site and click on the red box that says vote and enter to win. If you vote you are entered into a contest a trip for 2 to New Orleans. It is really quick and easy to enter – just read the final 5 recipes and pick one!