The Blonde Diaries

Short title for a post I will admit but I think it says it all. I have been eating A LOT of soup this week with the weather crappy and being sick. I started with my mom’s chicken noodle soup and progressed to some canned Progresso Italian Wedding Soup (not so good) and some Zesty variety which was good.

Tonight I decided to continue the trend because soup is also good for filling you up without a lot of calories so it is perfect for weight loss when you aren’t in the mood for salad. After work, I headed straight to Kroger and picked up some soup starter kits. I love these kits because they provide a base for a good soup and then you can tailor them up however you like. Plus you get 6-8 servings per bag for just under $4. Can’t beat that budget helper!! So I decided to make Chili tonight. I have never made that myself so I was excited and nervous. I browned my ground beef and then rinsed and drained it. Next I boiled the water and added the tomato paste, seasoning mix, and ground beef and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Boy was that a good Chili and I really didn’t have to add anything special to it. I also liked that in total, dinner only took 30 minutes from start to finish with browning the meat, simmering the chili, and making grilled cheese sandwiches. I’m freezing a few servings for January and February when it gets really cold and finishing the rest off this weekend at lunch and dinner. Yum!

Sticky Toffee Pudding has got to be my favorite dessert from my last trip to Walt Disney World. It is very much like a Bread Pudding but has a little British twist. I enjoyed this dessert from the Rose and Crown Pub while dining at the United Kingdom in Epcot. I’m not sure how I managed to fit all of the food I ate in and still enjoy this pudding but somehow I did and then I went back to my room and passed out in a food coma LOL. I was so happy to find this recipe on Deb’s website AllEarsNet.com because it was so tasty that I would like to try and make it at home. The recipe doesn’t look too complicated other than the long list of ingredients. I’ll have to give it a try at home over the Christmas holidays when I have a few days off from work. If you haven’t experienced this before I highly recommend eating at the Rose and Crown Pub on your next vacation or making this one at home!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

“Pudding” Ingredients

12 oz. dates, chopped and blanched
8 oz. hot water
2 tsp. vanilla bean
2 tsp. baking soda
1 lbs. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
4 oz. unsalted butter
12 oz. sugar
2 whole eggs
1/4 tsp. salt

Method

1. Chop dates and add to hot water.
2. Stir in vanilla and baking soda.
3. Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs one at a time.
4. On low speed add half flour and baking powder and all of the liquid; mix until combined.
5. Fold in rest of flour to mixture.
6. Fill greased molds halfway and bake 15 minutes at 325 degrees F.

Butter Rum Toffee Sauce

Ingredients
1 oz. butter
4 oz. heavy cream
3 oz. dark brown sugar
1/2 oz. dark rum

Method

1. Combine butter, sugar, and cream; bring to a boil.

2. Remove from heat and add rum. Stir until all is incorporated. Serve hot.

Custard Sauce
Ingredients
8 egg yolks
3 oz. castor sugar
1 vanilla bean
½ pint milk
½ pint heavy cream

Method

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until well blended.
2. Scrape the insides of the vanilla pod, if using, into the milk and cream, add the pod too, and bring to the boil.
3. Sit the bowl over a pan of hot water and whisk the cream into the egg yolks and sugar. As the egg yolks cook, the custard will thicken.
4. Keep stirring until it starts to coat the back of a spoon, then remove the bowl from the heat and the pod from the custard.

Serve warm or cold. Stir the sauce occasionally until cool, to prevent a skin forming, or cover with greaseproof paper while it cools.

I have had some fun in the kitchen lately. It seems like a while since I have posted anything food related but I have been pretty hard at work looking for some new recipes to make to keep me on the track to weight loss and not weight gain. Last week, Mike and I were in a rut and I was tired of eating beef products. It seems like we are in a rut and only eating beef and that is not too healthy. So I bought some chicken but wasn’t sure what to do with it that would be quick and easy. Well, I saw that we had spaghetti sauce, shake and bake, spaghetti noodles, and laughing cow cheese. hmm…

How about Moc Chicken Parmigiana? Talk about an excellent meal and very little prep work. I had Mike coat the chicken with shake and bake and we tossed it into the oven. While the chicken was baking I started boiling the water for the noodles. When the noodles went in, I poured the sauce on the chicken and continued cooking. Once everything was done I cut up the laughing cow cheese into chunks and put on the spaghetti/chicken mixture till they turned a very light golden color (this cheese does not melt). A very tasty twist on an Italian favorite without all the fat and calories! You could even make it healthier by substituting white pasta noodles for whole grain noodles. I am going to try that next time for me at least. This recipe I made up on the fly will be making it into our permanent rotation. Give it a try next time you are stumped.

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?

I have posted a few times about going and eating fish tacos at a local Mexican chain restaurant here in Houston but I have failed to explain how to make these tasty treats here on my blog. Fish tacos can either be fried or grilled and can be served on flour or corn tortillas. They are a great way to get fish added to your diet since fish is packed with Omega-3 and other good for you vitamins and minerals. I eat them both grilled and friend and tend to prefer them on flour tortillas since the corn ones can taste a little sweet to me.

So how can you make a fish taco at home? It is quite easy! All you need is a couple of fillets of either cod or tilapia fish and decide how you want to cook them. For grilled or baked, I will wrap the fish fillets in aluminum foil after spritzing with spray butter and tossing in taco seasoning. Next, I will bake following the directions on the back of the fish package. Once they are done you just transfer over to a tortilla and add your desired toppings. Lime juice, cilantro, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, and cheese all work nicely on the grilled/baked fish tacos. For fried fish tacos, pick up a package of the beer batter and a little bit of a thicker fish like cod. Batter the fish as you normally would batter fish and then fry as you normally would fry fish (I’ve never fried anything so unfortunately I am useless here). After they finish frying, transfer to a tortilla and top with your desired toppings. Since the fish is fried and a little meatier/thicker, this taco can handle a stronger sauce. Berryhill’s which is where Mike and I love to go serves it with a mayo based sauce that is similar to Thousand Island dressing (which I wouldn’t totally recommend here).

Have fun making fish tacos at home! I heart them!!