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Lemon-Feta Vinaigrette and a Reflection on Life

Amanda — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 01:25:50 +0000

We’re eating a greek salad filled with local mixed greens, grilled lemon-truffle marinated chicken tenderloins, crumbled feta, roma tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, kalamata olives, and a lemon-feta vinaigrette.

A little over a year ago I wrote piece about my weight loss journey and how I was about to begin the project of writing a low-cal cookbook… then life happened. I was new to the tiny Caribbean town of Rincon, Puerto Rico and instead of working on the book, I worked on enjoying life. 2012 was filled with tons of fun in the sun (and water), great comida criolla, and perhaps one too many Medallas.

Since that post in October 2011 I’ve gained back about 11 of the 110 pounds I’d lost and, for me, that’s just not acceptable. I worked far too hard to shed that weight to allow it to creep back on. One of the things that I would remind myself during workouts was that I didn’t want to become a statistic. (I read somewhere that if you can stick with a workout routine for 6 months straight without any breaks the routine was more likely to stick – so thus for the first 6 months of working out, I refused to miss a workout… and guess what! It actually worked. I still workout at least three or four times a week.) Anyway, in the same way I didn’t want to become a statistic to not keeping a workout regime, I don’t want to be a statistic with my weight loss. For so many people who have shed a hundred pounds, a large percentage have gained at least a bit of that weight back. I don’t want that to happen and it’s solely up to me to nip that in the bud!

Mise en place!!!

The grilled chicken tenderloin recipe that I posted earlier this week, as well as this salad/vinaigrette are a part of my attempt to eat healthier in this New Year and into the future. I’m back to counting calories and back to restricting my alcohol intake a bit (comes with the calorie counting and I know my liver will thank me)! I hope you guys had an amazing holiday season! Did anyone else reflect on where they’ve been and where they’d like to progress towards during the turn of the New Year? What were your New Years resolutions for 2013?!?

Recipes in this post:

Lemon-Feta Vinaigrette

Ready to Talk: My Story of Obesity

Amanda — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:08:34 +0000

That was me. Just over two years ago (May 2009) and over 110 pounds ago. This is such a hard, emotionally raw topic for me that I’ve written dozens of posts about it over the past year and discarded them all. But I really want to start sharing my story as I begin work on my newest project – a low-cal, full-flavor cookbook (which I haven’t gone so far as to look for a publisher yet but imma get on that part real soon).

I’ll share a little background with you… by sixth grade I was 180 lbs. By 18 I was pushing 200. By 29 I was 265 (ish… that was the last time I stepped on a scale months before I started losing weight. Probably a little higher than that in reality but I wasn’t able to face it.) I’ve been “overweight” or “obese” the majority of my life. As a kid, my mom always said “oh the allergy shots you had at 7 years old made you gain weight” but lets face it, eating large portions of unhealthy food mixed with a lack of exercise are what really made me gain weight and continue my upward course. It’s so. Effing. Hard to change your habits, regardless of what they are – eating, drinking, smoking, exercise, etc. It’s so easy to say, whatever, I’m fat, this sucks, there’s no end in sight. No way to imagine how to shed 100+ lbs. Shit, it’s hard to even own up to the fact that you need to lose 100+lbs. Nobody starts off life at 265lbs, but over the years somehow you just wake up one day and it’s gotten to that point. And you don’t like looking in the mirror. And you don’t like stepping on the scale. And you can’t stand photos of yourself or, god forbid, video.

Me, also from July 2009, on a trip Tyler and I took to Chicago.

Having been overweight for nearly all of the first 30 years of my life, I know exactly how people treat you. In grade school you get called names like “thunder thighs” or the likes there of (that one still echos clearly in my mind), as you get older people just stop looking you in the eyes. Everyone makes judgments or assumptions on the type of person you must be to have “let yourself” get to that point. I even had a local vendor at the Ocean Beach farmer’s market say to me “Yeah, you should definitely eat some more [grapefruit] and lay off the french fries” as I went to sniff the citrus at his stand. Another time when I was a personal chef in Rancho Santa Fe, I went to buy some beef jerky for the family I was working for and asked a store clerk for help finding it. He took me to the tofu jerky section, aisles away from the actual beef jerky section, and said, “I think this would be better for your needs”. Really? Do you know my needs? Because I “needs” to keep my freaking job and buy beef jerky for my client. Don’t assume, people. (Sorry, 2+ years later, it’s still as raw as if it had happened yesterday.) If you’re overweight, or have ever been overweight, you have undoubtedly shared similar experiences. It sucks. People are mean. I, personally, consider myself a judgment-free zone. (If you know me, this is a phrase you are well-familiar with.) In all situations, not just regarding weight, I try not to judge other peoples actions, choices or lifestyles. Nobody knows what life situations anyone else has been through to evolve and shape them into what/who they are today. Just be nice and treat people with respect and love.

So, August of 2009 my two best friends from high school came to visit with their significant others. My friend Cristin’s husband happens to be obsessed with video documenting all aspects of their life (which I love/hate). We were on the beach and he, unbeknownst to me, took video footage of the day. Later that evening he plugged his camera up to our TV and started playing the recording. There I was, 265+ lbs, IN A BATHING SUIT ON A BIG SCREEN TV!!! I was mortified. It took all of my self-control not to run into the bathroom and start bawling. It’s one thing when you never have to see yourself and avoid mirrors, it’s another when your moving, breathing image, in a damn bathing suit, gets slapped up onto a big screen. No way to avoid the truth.

Just a couple of weeks before my friend, Nicole, had started the Couch to 5K program – a jogging program that lasts for 9 weeks and starts off with you jogging for 60 second intervals at a time and works you up to jogging for 30 minutes straight (or 5K) by the end of the program. Though I had always said I would never be a jogger, I begrudgingly started the program alongside her. Not gonna lie – in the beginning I didn’t even know if I was going to make it through the entire 60 seconds of jogging. But each week I continued to surprise myself and was able to succeed at increasing the length of the intervals on schedule with the program, though some weeks that meant pushing myself more than others. About half way through, the flip switched in my head. You know what? I can do this. And that’s the thing! It’s all in our freaking heads! When your inner dialogue is filled with “I can’t run for 5 minutes” “I can’t say no to that slice of pizza” “there is no way I’m ever going to shed 100 lbs” “I’m fat, I’m ugly, even I don’t want to look at me, how can anyone else” all of these negative thoughts just constantly circling over and over and over, yeah – you know what? YOU NEVER WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE ANY CHANGES. You have to believe in your ability to do it first. It’s going from having an “I can’t attitude” to an “I can” that allows change to happen. Seriously – I truly believe that anyone can do anything if they really put their mind to it and STICK WITH IT! No, nothing will change overnight. It’s thought patterns that have allowed us to reach the weight that we’re at and it’s thought patterns that will similarly allow you to make healthy changes in your lifestyle. That’s the problem with weight-loss surgery as a “solution” and why such a high proportion of people who have it continue to struggle with their weight even afterward. The real problems come from our relationship with food and why, for whatever personal reasons, we over eat.

September 2009, about a month after starting the Couch to 5K program.

Personal reasons aside, weight-loss happens when you burn more calories then you are consuming. That means that a) you should be aware of absolutely everything that you eat and b) you should be aware of how much you are burning! There are some really great online tools these days that allow you to do this super easily and quickly. The one that I’ve been using for the past couple of years is The Daily Plate (which livestrong.com eventually picked up). You put in your height, weight, age, gender, etc, and then tell it how active you are and what your weight-loss goals are and it tells you how many calories per day you can eat an still achieve your goals. BUT BE HONEST! By claiming to a machine that you worked out more than you did, move more in your day to day life, or don’t record your honest caloric in-take, the only person you are cheating (and trying to fool) is yourself! I, personally, didn’t share (and still don’t) my account with anyone. I find it easier to be upfront with my slip-ups when it’s only my eyes that see what I’ve eaten. Hiding what I’d eaten is part of what got me to 265 in the first place. Having an honest relationship with myself about the amount of food I am honestly consuming has allowed me to continue eating bacon every day, or a serving of insanely rich mac & cheese or devilishly delicious peanut butter mousse brownie pie and still continue on a downward track from 265 to 153 over the past two years. Shit, I wrote and ate a cookbook on food porn after I started my weight-loss journey. Yes, some days I eat more than what the calorie counter says I should (hello football game days!), but I don’t hate myself for it and I don’t give up! I just log it in, sigh, then try to do better the next day… and the next day… and the next day.

Also – one thing that I really want to touch on before I move on is the importance of not making unrealistic goals! Sure on reality tv shows where you have a trainer whipping your ass 6 days a week, no job to focus on or kids/spouse’s mouths to feed it’s possible to lose 8 or 10 lbs in a week. That’s an insane and unrealistic goal in the real world. From the beginning, I never set goals of more than 2 lbs a week. Two pounds is an attainable goal for someone with a significant amount of weight to lose. When you set a goal that you can actually reach, you can accomplish it, feel great about it and set a goal for the next week. If you set unattainable goals you are just going to reinforce that “I can’t” attitude as opposed to reprogramming your brain into an “I can” state of mind.

Taken on my first vacation to my new home, Rincon, January 2011

So why am I now, after two years on this journey, sharing my story with you guys? Well, I’m finally getting comfortable with my new self, and trust that I am not going to return to my old way of life. I mean, I spent nearly 30 years obese. I was really scared for a long time that I would be just another statistic and revert back to my old habits. After two years of building positive habits I no longer have that fear. I believe in myself and my ability to maintain control of my life and eating habits. But more importantly, food is what I love. It’s what I live for. Beyond that, it’s my livelihood. I run two websites dedicated to food and write cookbooks. I’ve always wanted to spend my life doing something to help others and right now, I feel like I have a great opportunity. I know that I have a low-cal cookbook in me that will show that getting healthy doesn’t mean you have to give up things like bacon or cheese or chocolate. It just means learning correct portion sizes, feeding your metabolism regularly and moving a little.

Less than a month ago – after we cristened our new-to-us Puerto Rico car with stickers. Dang it, Rincon!

Yes, I will continue to post desserts and high calorie content foods on this site, because true to my life, I will continue to make and eat them. But I’ll do so along side of healthy, delicious recipes. I hope you guys will continue along this journey with me. I have about twenty more pounds until I reach my goal weight, and these last twenty are the hardest. Let’s all be accountabilibuddies, through the good, the bad, the mac & cheeses and the bean & corn salads. If anybody needs support, I’m here. If you’re just beginning your journey and need an ear or want to chat, not in a public forum feel free to email me rather than comment below. (My email is at the bottom of the about page!) Or, alternately, let’s start a community of support. We all need someone to give us a push when we aren’t feeling it, or uplift us when our inner dialogue is weighing us down!

Eating healthy can be EFFING delicious.

You know I couldn’t do this post without sharing a healthy recipe, right? The super flavorful baked spiced tilapia filets with black bean and corn salad & tangy fresh tomatillo salsa verde below serves four and rings in at 373 calories per serving! So good it’ll make you wanna slap yo’ mama but so healthy that you won’t feel guilty about cleaning your plate. (Now you might feel guilty about slapping yo’ mama, but that’s a whole different story!)

Recipes in this post:

Spicy Baked Tilapia with Black Bean and Corn Salad and Salsa Verde

Knorr Contest Entry: Seared Mahi w/ Chorizo, Poblano & Caramelized Onion Stuffing & Roasted Garlic Tomatillo Sauce

Lemon-Herb Grilled Shrimp & Quinoa Salad

Amanda — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:55:47 +0000

We’re eating lemon and herb marinated grilled shrimp over a bed of quinoa salad filled with diced zucchini, yellow squash, roasted red peppers, chives and linguica and tossed with a lemon-herb vinaigrette. The dish was finished with a drizzle of local extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of chopped chives.

A long long time ago on a website far far away… okay actually more like three years ago on this same website… I used to make loads of quinoa salads. Loads I tell you. I might not have posted most of the salads I made but there was a period where Tyler and I were eating quinoa multiple times a week… for a couple of years. Moral of the story: burn out happens. Pretty much all of 2008 and most of 2009 were void of quinoa in our lives. I didn’t mind eating when it was served to me, but I had cooked it so many times I became bored with it. Fortunately I have a short memory and fickle taste buds so my burn out appears to have passed. Quinoa is officially back in my life, biatch! Oh how I’ve missed you, Lord of the Grains, and how excited I am to have you back.

Recipes in this post:

Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad

Amanda — Fri, 29 May 2009 18:36:58 +0000

We’re eating a shaved zucchini, yellow squash, kumquat and shallot salad dressed in an orange, lime & cumin vinaigrette. The cool, crisp shaved squash easily take on the refreshing flavors of the vinaigrette and the kumquats pull it all together with their bright citrusy flavor.

We thought this salad was so good that it deserved a post all of its own even if we did eat it with the succulent brined pork chops featured in the last post. I’m pretty sure that once the heat of the summer sinks and we’re too hot to cook, we’ll be eating a lot of this type of salad! What’s your favorite food to beat the heat?

Recipes in this post:

Citrusy Squash & Kumquat Salad

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Shaved Sunchoke Salad

Amanda — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:55:06 +0000

We’re eating a shaved sunchoke salad marinated in a lemon, chive, whole grain mustard and truffle vinaigrette. Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem Artichokes, are the tuber (aka root) of a species of sunflower. Their light, slightly sweet flavor and crispity, crunchity texture make them a perfect vegetable to use in slaws, pickles and salad. We thought they paired up great with the rest of our meal – seared sirloin and cumin roasted carrots.

Recipes in this post:

Shaved Sunchoke Salad

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Peach & Goat Cheese Salad

Us — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:51:50 +0000

Sometimes even a glimpse of summer can make life better. After an intense day at work dealing with a demanding boss, it was a joy to come home and toss back a couple brews, then make a nice light refreshing meal. This meal just happened to scream summer: fresh roasted corn on the cob and a big salad comprised of romaine lettuce, deliciously ripe peaches (which i know weren’t local but man were they good), cucumber, roma tomatoes, crumbled chevre, sunflower seeds, and a fresh lemon dijon vinaigrette. Surprisingly, all of the produce was really fresh and ripe…. and it’s only May!

Roasted Green Bean & Sweet Potato Salad

Us — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:51:18 +0000

Sometimes you just get a craving for some meat and potatoes… unless you’re a vegetarian. That’s the craving that hit us for this dinner. We’re eating marinated grilled pork tenderloin served with roasted sweet potato and green bean salad. The potato salad was dressed with a dijon-pomegranate molasses dressing for a unique and decidedly tasty flavor.

T: I suspect even vegetarians get the occasional meat craving… eh?
A: great question. vegetarians? are you out there? reading this meat-centric blog? do you get the occasional craving for meat?
T: I know our “vegetarian” friend michelle used to occasionally go out and eat a bucket of fried chicken. That pretty much proves it
A: ha! what that proves is that michelle was not a vegetarian at all! oh silly michelle.
T: Anyway, this potato salad was awesome. The pork was good too, but the potato salad was freaking fantastic. I’ve had tons of potato salad in my day, but most of them were prepared similarly. This one was different, and it was really good. Cheers to ya!
A: thanks t! i really dug the potato salad too. the combination of mustard and pomegranate molasses really works well together. if you’ve never tried it you really should. but go somewhat sparingly on the pom. molasses – it can certainly over power. the pork was actually marinated in the base vinaigrette that became the dressing for the potato salad. i thought eating a bite of pork and salad at the same time really made for some great flavorage.

A lovely hunk of meat

T: I love how you use the same or similar sauces in different parts of the meals you cook… really ties everything together. Alright, I rate the potato salad a 4.8/5. That stuff was solid. The pork went really well with it, although it was far less exciting for me. Overall I give the meal a 4.7/5. Clearly the potato salad was good enough to keep the overall score pretty high. Anybody who’s bored with potato salad should really try this stuff.
A: for sure. i don’t think we’ve even mentioned outside of the intro that we used sweet potatoes. i think they really worked well with the flavors in the dressing. so…. i think i’m going to give the meal an overall score of 4.44/5. it really did excite my taste buds. i guess i’m still kind of bored with everything i’ve been making lately. in the past this meal might have gotten a higher score from me, but hey! there’s always the future.
T: I know what you can do to break out of your boredom…. do you?
A: make sausage?
T: ding ding ding! Make sausage!! Sounds pretty exciting huh? I’m excited.
A: oh i know you are! you’re always game for a good wiener.
T: ha. ha. ha…. (actually that’s true)

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Summertime in a Cup… a Watermelon Cup

Us — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:40:05 +0000

We’re celebrating a wonderful summer evening with these perfectly light and refreshing fruit salad appetizers. Our pre-dinner snack was made with hollowed out watermelon cups providing the edible vessels for our sweet and savory fruit salad made with diced fresh yellow peaches, watermelon, jicama, Maui onion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and jalapeno. The salad cups were topped with a dollop of tangy and slightly spicy cilantro, lime, & feta cream fraiche.

Cool juicy and deliciousT: This was a seriously fun summertime treat. I should say, is a seriously fun summertime treat since there are more over on the table that I plan to eat right now…
A: hell yeah! they really are super summertime-y. and my god. i have been consuming those peaches i got from the farmers market like they were going out of style. i love summer fruits!
T: yeah, me too. What really gets me going are the blackberries. It’s awesome that we can pretty much buy and eat as many as we want without going broke. Fruit kicks ass. Normally I’m not a huge fan of fruit salady type dishes because the purity of the fruit is tainted by whatever dressing is added… but these little watermelon bowls o fruit did not suffer from that at all. The creamy dressing on top was really really tasty.
A: i was hoping it would work. it’s a tangy cilantro, lime, sour cream, jalapeno, and feta mixture. i didn’t really want enough of the “sauce” to coat the fruit. just enough so you get a hint with each bite.
T: well it was really more than a hint, but that was a good thing I thought. The jalapeno was kickin’ as well. I could have probably gone for a little more jalapeno in them… but that’s just my obsession with pain.

Papa watermelon cupA: heheh and your obsession with tasty spicy things, you’re not supposed to share the thing about your obsession with pain…. freak.
T: my therapist says I should share everything.
A: on our blog? with the whole world?
T: fortunately I don’t have to face anybody that reads this thing… it feels anonymous.
A: until your coworkers bring it up tomorrow… er… monday!
T: they have to know I’m obsessed with pain… how else could I work with them… snap!
A: oh. my. god. i just know you did NOT just type “snap”! that is sooooooooo wrong!
(t snaps several times, erratically)
A: alright snappy, let’s get back to the fruit at hand! do you have a rating for this little sweet and savory box of goodness?
T: I give these watermelon bowls a 4.73/5. They were really fun to eat… can’t say I’ve ever had fruit salad in a watermelon bowl… can’t say that I’ve ever had anything in a watermelon bowl. On top of that the fruit itself was delish and the creamy sauce was awesome and went really well with the fruit. What’s your rating?
A: i think i’m gonna have to go with a 4.4444/5. these little dealies make a great summertime first course. I thought the jicama added a nice crunch and the small amount of garlic, onions, jalapeno, and cilantro really worked well to bring out the savory sides to the perfectly ripe fruit. it was well balanced and fun to eat. my only problem at all was with my inability to create perfectly straight edges and thus nice boxes. in the end i had to settle for almost straight edges.
T: The straightness of the edges didn’t cross my mind once… actually, I thought they looked pretty neat.
A: why thank ya t! i tried… hard.
T: You did very well… every time I try hard at something I totally f it up.
A: i had that fear when i first started trying to shape the boxes. i just envisioned the barbie i tried to give a hair cut to when i was like 5 years old… eventually she ended up with a boy cut because i just couldn’t get the lines straight!
T: Nice to know! Amanda, how could you continuously offer to cut my hair with a history like that?

Recipes in this post:

Sweet and Savory Fruit Salad in Watermelon Cups

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