Noom it up: Bread

Bread has been tricky for me. I get the nutsiest twigsiest bread I can find, and try to just have a slice or two a day.

Dave's Killer Bread is great as is Grand Central Baking (here in Portland, OR). I also get some good stuff at the farmer's market.

I've done well with the Franz Everything bagel and the Franz totally whole wheat English muffin.

I always try to break down the package into smaller portions when I get it home and put most in the freezer: 2, 4, or 6 slices in a package. Double bagged.

The bread itself seems to be ok, but it really seems to wake up my hunger. And I don't have a strong intuition for when to stop.

The sandwich: I usually eat my bread in some kind of sandwich.

Condiments: Mashed avocado, hummus, dressing, the most flavorful mustard you enjoy... 

Green it up: 
Thinly sliced apples, roasted potatoes, cucumbers, ...
Salad greens (I like mine shredded).
Herbs (fresh basil!)
Pickles. (There are pickled veggies other than cucumbers too)

Always keep an eye out for how to sneak in more Greens: Side of fruit; Side salad; Carrots and celery...

Red Rebel Alliance: 
Red foods are not bad, they just need to be treated with care. There are options between LOTS OF CHEESE and NO CHEESE.
Red foods are the most important to weigh or measure carefully since Noom's "slice" may not be your "slice." Once you get the hang of it, you can estimate based on experience. And eventually, just rely on your intuition.
If a sandwich isn't a sandwich without mayonnaise, use a thin layer.

Mix it up: 
Do you love salami, but find turkey boring?  Try Turkey and Salami. Measure, log, pay attention.
Want less bread? Make half a sandwich and stack the fillings. Or have it open-faced.

To log condiments: 
Weigh bread before and after, or
weigh the knife with and without, or
weigh the container before and after.

New to whole grains?
Also, if you are new to eating whole wheat or whole grain bread: slow down while chewing. Give it some time and the enzymes in your mouth with break down some starch and provide a lot more flavor.

Noom it up: Salads

Salads are good; composed salads can be amazing!

My approach to salad construction is to layer in some order:
Fresh greens
Vegetable(s)
Fruit(s)
Protein(s)
Nuts (toasted)
A soft to medium cheese
Grated Hard cheese(s)
A small amount of dressing
Fresh Ground Spice (Coriander, Grains of Paradise, Pepper, ...)

Salads don't need to be boring.
Attending to the contrasts in shape and color, one can make a salad that is a pleasure to look at as well as to eat.

It doesn't add much time. Just prep the ingredients in the order you wish to layer them on the plate, and plate (weigh and log) as you go.

In this salad, I had some nice Feta cheese I wanted to
feature, so I made sure it was the
very last thing, even after the dressing.
If I'm going to spend the calories on
cheese, I want to taste it.

If your salad ends up more of a jumble, that's fine too.

Having many textures and an interplay of savory, sweet, and even some bitter helps keep the salad interesting to the palate. This is where even a few nuts and dried fruits can make a big difference.

Explore unfamiliar combinations: ham and strawberry? Give it a try. Take a hard look at leftovers in your fridge and things in your pantry and ask, "Is there a reason I couldn't use that in a salad?" You may find some great surprises.

Topping mixes can be pre-measured for speed of assembly and logging. Nuts, dried fruits, diced veggies... Anything that will keep and not make the other ingredients funky by the time you use them.

Similarly, greens and firm veggies could be pre-assembled. These make it easier to pull off a grab-and-go salad.

Carrots are one of the core veggies that I use in almost every salad. Since I use so many carrots, I like to prep two or three salad's worth at a time so I can batch the washing, cutting, etc. When in doubt, cut carrots into sticks (quartered down the length, then cut crosswise into a length that works in your storage container).

I try to mix up their treatment.
How to cut them: sticks, match sticks, sliced rounds, sliced sticks (little triangles), cubes....
Where to place them: top, middle, bottom, tossed with the greens, around the outside...

How to dress carrots: I often give carrots a quick marinade in good vinegar (white balsamic vinegar from Trader Joe's is nice if you want to keep the color), some lemon juice, and maybe a little toasted sesame oil, a little wine, port, or cider. Let them soak while you prep the rest of the salad. If you make extra, just keep it in the marinade until ready to use.

While I normally keep fruit in small pieces, if you have something worth showcasing at the peak of ripeness, make the pieces a little larger and give them pride of place: apricots, peaches, strawberries do well in this role.

Let's talk about dressing. My view (as a card-carrying member of the Red Rebel Alliance) is that it is better to have a small amount of a dressing you LOVE than any amount of a dressing that does nothing for you. Having some fresh or canned fruit in the salad further helps reduce the need for dressing by providing some juice.
I use between one and two tablespoons of dressing for a salad.

To minimize the dressing, take the greens and a few other ingredients that like to be well-coated (celery, carrots, ...) and toss just them in 1/2 Tbs of dressing per serving. Assemble the salad and drizzle another 1/2 Tbs on top.

For the greens, it is nice to have some variety, both within a single salad and from meal to meal. I like to wash and spin in a salad spinner enough greens for 4-6 salads and put any unused portion in a container with a little spacer in the bottom so the greens aren't sitting in any liquid that collects.

Red Rebel Alliance:
Count the red calories, and 
make the red calories count!

Nuts, cheese, egg yolks, bacon are all calorically dense (i.e., what Noom calls Red food). That does not make them bad but it does raise a warning flag to be mindful of the portions and if this item is really carrying its weight for you.

If it delights you, feature it, log it, taste it, enjoy it.

A salad does not have to be a whole meal. A smaller salad is a great companion to foods you love, but a reasonable portion size would not be filling. (I'm looking at you, Pizza. Did you know one serving of a Papa Murphy's Family Sized Stuffed pizza is one-sixteenth slice of the pie? True fact.)

When composing a salad, there is room around the outside to be creative: grapes, olives, berries, cherry tomatoes...

Let's talk veggies. Beyond the basic carrots, tomato, cucumber, and celery, the produce section is full of possibilities. Roasted potatoes, beets, fennel root, turnips,  parsnips, radishes, or Brussel sprouts all make lovely additions.

Avocado has a special place for its creamy texture and richness, especially if you are not using much cheese.

Consider Fanciful additions like this little hedgehogs (pork sausage, ginger, salt, with almond sliver spines, baked in the oven). Salads are a great way of having a little of something naughty without blowing the budget, and still being full.

Protein can make a flashy top layer and often provides a nice contrast in color, flavor, and texture.

When I use tofu, I like to marinate it in something to give a little flavor and variety. This works with turkey and chicken breast as well, especially if they are a little dry.

Hard-boiled eggs make an attractive source of protein.

Canned tuna, crab, or salmon are nice to mix things up.

There is no end to the variety.
Salad on!

Noom: I Lost Fifty Pounds with Noom

Salad from my first day on Noom

I'm in week 21 of Noom. Noom is an integrated weight loss app that incorporates daily articles, weigh-ins, food logging, daily steps goals, exercise logging, and social support with a group of Noomers who started around the same time, a group coach, and a personal goal specialist.

Most people on the program have a goal of losing one to two pounds a week. I went all-in with the program and have burned off 54 pounds. What drew me to Noom was that it was grounded in science and focused on long term sustainability. You are not on a diet you are focusing on modifying your diet to maintain a modest calorie deficit. Many lessons focus on hunger and the factors that contribute to the sense of fullness and all of the emotions and triggers around eating. Importantly, there is nothing that is off the diet, though you may decide that there are foods that "aren't worth the calories" for you. It's about choices and building better habits.

Adjust my shopping. More fruit, veggies, whole grains

For most of my life, 200 pounds was my hard upper limit that I would make sure never to cross. Then various factors conspired and I took my eye off the ball for a few years and blew right through that limit. For a while, I struggled to stay even, but every couple of years more weight would come on and I would settle into a new normal. When I hit 235 it was like a switch flipped and I was ready to commit to doing what it took, and I found Noom which was just the right approach for me.

50 pounds. Weight I was carrying all day, every day.

I've logged hundreds of meals in a row, walked 9K steps most days, plus one other active activity: weights, yoga, biking, gardening....

I've developed a new relationship with food and hunger.

I am more aware of the triggers within me, and in my environment, and developed tools to respond to them more mindfully and healthfully.

It has helped to focus on limits while avoiding the sense of deprivation. Nothing is "off the menu", though there are some things I've decided just aren't worth the calories.

Foods that I am still eating, but more mindful about portions: pizza, bacon, chocolate, my rich chocolate pudding, chocolate chip cookies, whole milk, cheese, donuts, cheesecake, crackers, chips, pasta, bread, rice, ....

Foods that are making a much larger part of my diet: FRUIT, carrots, potatoes, salads, soup, salsa, whole grains, avocado.

Real Food Art Vendors

While working at the Master Gardener's Incredible Edible Plant Sale, I met a couple of interesting vendors that I thought might be of interest to some of you, my gentle readers.

Victory Garden of Tomorrow 

They can be found at VictoryGardensOfTomorrow.com and have some very cool retro style posters, T-shirts, patches and other goods. The themes promote growing food, urban chickens, and farmer's markets, with a subtext of "let's all chip in and do our part".

a little sun

At ALITTLESUN.COM you will find cards and prints of fanciful slightly anthropomorphized fruits and vegetables, as well as the odd couple of cephalopods.

THRIVE PACIFIC N.W.

And with all of this images of food floating about it was nice to have some actual food vendors there. I had a lovely lunch of Thai bowl of fresh veggies with some grilled free range organic chicken added at the Thrive food cart. Evidently they can be found at some local Farmer's Markets and their tasty sauces are available at New Seasons. Menu, locations etc. at thrivepacificnw.com and they have a frequent diner card.

Spring scramble: sausage potato spinach

My lady asked for potatoes and sausage. This is what I came up with. 

This time I pulled out my cast iron. I like the way it turned out. I often make something similar in stainless steel. So, to your own liking I suppose.

Steam quartered potatoes until tender.
Fry up sausage, chopped green onion in butter and bacon drippings. Add chopped apple, prepared potatoes, roasted carrots (previously frozen).
Set the oven on low heat 150º-200º F and put tortillas on an oven safe plate with another upside down on top as a cover.

Quick Braised Asparagus with Bacon and Strawberries

With asparagus in season and and an abundance of strawberries and a wife that demanded bacon with her birthday dinner I was inspired to try combining them all into what proved to be a quite lovely dish.

• Wash and trim fresh asparagus. 
• Put in a pan with 1 Tbs each of bacon drippings, butter, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, water, and sugar. 
• Cover bring to boil over high heat and braise for 3 minutes. 
• Add chopped cooked frozen bacon.
• Cook uncovered for a couple minutes. 
• Add fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, and quartered. 
• Cover for a minute or two until the strawberries get up to temperature, but you don't really want to cook them. 

Serve hot and enjoy!

Incredible Edible Sale May 4, 2013

I am looking forward to getting more veggie starts at the Incredible Edibles Sale that the Master Gardeners are putting on May 4, 2013 -- next weekend (is it really almost May?!). I am looking forward to tomatoes, chard, salad greens, and tromboncino squash, all of which did well last year. This year they are going to have strawberries and flowers as well.

Last year I had a pretty good plan for the front yard garden, but not as clear of one for the back. As a result it took me a little longer to get the plants in the ground in the back and they didn't do very well.

Getting ready for the sale last year

Last year's raffel

Sharon helping out at check out

Getting the plants in the ground and tucked in with mulch

Harvesting a tromboncino squash

Tromboncino squash

I still have (well, had) two tromboncino squash fruits from last fall's harvest.

I have been impressed by how well they have kept over the winter. I just had them set on a shelf in the basement. I've had a couple of them develop a little bad spot at the end that then starts to rot. Once I cut that part off the rest is in good shape.

Turkey Soup from scratch

Well, mostly from scratch. And sorry in advance for the lack of pictures.

We had some lovely carrots in three colors from our CSA that I wanted to use, but we had a busy day doing stuff, so I went with default plan: coarsely chop, roast at 425 in olive oil and roasting salt, checking every 10 minutes until they were done.

While that was going on I chopped some small onions and sautéed them in the soup pot in some bacon drippings.
When the carrots were done (about 20 minutes, though they could have gone a little longer if I wasn't so hungry),
I added them to the pot.
Then some chopped turkey breast.
Then some chopped oven-cooked-then-frozen bacon.
Once that got all nicely up to temp, I added some almond meal and a little bit of mashed potatoes (because I had them and need to eat them and don't really want to sit down to a giant pile of mashed potatoes).
Then I tossed in some frozen squash. Wasn't planning to do it. I just did. That's how I roll.
Over it all I poured in one 28 oz jar of homemade chicken broth that I had heated in the microwave.
Once that got good and steamy I added another 28 oz of hot water.
Turned it down to low, covered, and let simmer.

Later, I put half of the soup into the Cuisinart food processor with a TBS of Herbs de Provence.
Added this back in and served over 1 TBS of sour cream.
Made six hearty servings.

I've been trying to figure out how to cost out a dish like this. I'm not sure what to do about the carrots, which were part of our CSA basket. Or what to do for the chicken stock, which was made from the bones and leftovers from a roast chicken we had a couple days ago (and more veggies from the CSA). I think it worked out to less than $1.50 per serving all told. Which doesn't seem fantastically cheap for homemade soup, but seems reasonable considering the quality of the ingredients and that it tasted really good. ;-)

In particular, I'm glad I added the potato and almond meal. Neither came through as a distinct element in the final soup, but I think they added to the richness of the broth.

Pi-tato pi-ttata for Pi Day

In honor of Pi Day I wanted some pi themed lunch. With mashed potatoes staring me in the face as I opened he fridge I wondered about a potato frittata, or rather, a pi-tato pi-ttata!

Scramble on tortilla

Here is another take on a veggie scramble of winter veggies. This time with potatoes.

I parboiled the carrots and potatoes, cut into chunks, for long enough to become fork tender. I chopped the greens pretty fine so it wouldn't feel like the same dish I did earlier.

And of course bacon. Because bacon.

Winter veggie wrap

I've been cooking so much "brown food" lately that I thought it would be good to show something green. We chose our CSA in no small part because we wanted one that continued through the winter. This time of year that means lots of root veggies and cooking greens.

I sautéed some leeks, tossed in some roasted carrots, some oven-cooked bacon, and finally some coarsely chopped greens.

Once the greens just started to wilt I added a quarter cup of almond meal, a Tbs each of lemon juice and soy sauce, tossed and covered for a minute to steam a little.

Then I served it up on a tortilla.

Quick lunch Potatoes, Turkey, Brussels Sprouts

I was having a low-energy day, but needed to throw together a quick lunch.

Rummaging around in the fridge and putting the microwave to work reheating in parallel with a quick sauté produced a quite tasty ensemble in 10-steps.

Spinach pecan bacon sautee

Spinach. Pecans. Bacon. Mmm.

Vegetable Shepherd's Pie

Sharon found me a nice recipe for Shepherd's Pie at Cooking For Engineers. Evidently it originates in the Joy of Cooking. I have made this a couple times in the traditional form -- with ground beef. Today I wanted to keep the form of the dish but make it vegetarian. So in place of the beef I thought I would use roast squash, apples, nuts, and maybe some cooked greens. What could happen?!

Purple carrots

Purple through and through. 

Our CSA basket included some carrots of various colors:

Part of this week's CSA basket

Featuring purple food

Sharon and I are big fans of "purple food", but so often purple veggies only have the pigment skin deep. In this case the purple went all the way through. I was so excited and I had to make a special salad just to show them off.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts -- FAIL

I tried out a recipe for roasted brussels sprouts but something went horribly wrong.

I tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them at 400 for 40 minutes. Maybe they were a little smaller and more open than "traditional" brussels sprouts, but they ended up really charred.

I turned them when they still had 15 minutes left, I turned them and they were starting to show some color.

Cooking veggies in the fireplace

Had a fire in the fireplace and decided to experiment with roasting some veggies in the coals.

Scrubbed two potatoes, an apple, and a carrot and rubbed them with some bacon drippings.

Placed them on a sheet of aluminum foil with a couple sprigs of rosemary.

I tried setting the potato in front of the fire, but it didn't really get hot enough.

So as the fire was dying down to coals, I just set the thing in against the inside wall and piled a bunch of hot coals on top.

I should have waited until it reached 210 degrees, but the coals seemed to be cooling off, and I was ready to eat at 204. This left the potatoes a little crunchy, but still cooked. The carrots were ok. But the Apple was amazing with a noticeable hint of rosemary.