Folks, it is time for a change in my life. I have been primarily a SAHM for the past 5 years, before that I worked in restaurants (serving, bartending, and managing), and in aquatics. During my time as a SAHM, I've worked part-time for the Red Cross, and I even had an 8-month stint as a manager at a local fine dining restaurant (I quit because the hours sucked big-time).
We've decided that I need to go back to work, and I decided to get back into a restaurant- mainly because the hours are somewhat flexible and they are definitely NOT non-profit (like the Red Cross or most places where I could use my education). I wanted to stay close to home to save on gas, and a friend got a job working at a new place that's opening pretty close to home... it sounded like a fun place to work, so I applied too- training starts Monday! I'll be working nights and weekends, so Hubby will have to sacrifice some of his Masonic activities to stay with the kids, but I think this will be good for us. I'm really excited about working in a restaurant again, especially about being just an hourly employee- management is nice because the pay is steady, but the hours are terrible and often the waitstaff makes every bit as much (or more) as the managers do.
The thing with working in a restaurant is that you're always around food. I happen to like food. Fortunately, I've been reading Kath Eats Real Food and have been trying to eat more like Kath does lately (she eats "real" food- less grease, more purpose); her choices must be rubbing off, because as I look at the menu of this restaurant, there isn't much that really interests me. It is typical American fare- lots of grease and fatty stuff, not much on the healthy side, though there is a salad bar. Hopefully I'll be able to withstand the temptation and continue in my quest to eat healthier. In an effort to do so, I am going to take an idea from Kath and attempt to photograph everything I eat. (Yes, she really does post a picture of everything she eats!) If I'm going to be working in a restaurant and trying to be accountable for what I consume, this makes sense to me- be accountable to myself and to the internet for what I eat. Maybe I won't be successful at this... I'm sure Hubby will laugh... for sure I'll get some weird looks as I snap photos of my food... but if that's what it is going to take to hold myself accountable, I'm sure willing to try.
I did not take photos of breakfast, but wow was it yummy! I had about a half serving of oatmeal, mixed with 2 handfuls of homemdade granola, about a tablespoon of peanut butter, and a tablespoon of brown sugar- all mixed up it is SO good. I also had an iced latte, with sugar-free syrup and skim milk.
Showing posts with label Tips/Tricks/Ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tips/Tricks/Ideas. Show all posts
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
HELP!!!
PLEASE HELP!
My computer suffered a heart attack Monday night and yesterday it was wiped clean and revived. I have spent the better part of the last two days working on it and have it almost back up and really going... but I lost ALL of my bookmarks.
I know that doesn't sound like much, but I had a lot of bookmarks.
Please help me replace them! I would love it if you would leave a comment (or several), recommending sites that I should visit and bookmark. Here I'm really looking for cooking/weight loss/WW/recipe sites and blogs.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
My computer suffered a heart attack Monday night and yesterday it was wiped clean and revived. I have spent the better part of the last two days working on it and have it almost back up and really going... but I lost ALL of my bookmarks.
I know that doesn't sound like much, but I had a lot of bookmarks.
Please help me replace them! I would love it if you would leave a comment (or several), recommending sites that I should visit and bookmark. Here I'm really looking for cooking/weight loss/WW/recipe sites and blogs.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Latte Demonstration
I've had a couple of questions about how I make my morning latte, so I decided to walk you through. The princess thought I was nuts this morning, taking pictures of myself making my coffee- but I guess it's nothing new! LOL
About a year and a half ago I worked out how much hubby and I were spending on buying coffee... waaay too much. I decided that we could be making our own for much less money, so I did a little investigating and decided to start with a stovetop espresso maker. We paid less than $20 for the silver one at World Market, I THINK it is the 6 serving size.
I bought the pink one recently, thinking that I never use all of the espresso that I make each morning, and that I wanted the smaller, cuter one for myself. Hubby hasn't been drinking coffee lately, and I thought that this would be the perfect size for just me. I was wrong- I've only used it once, and it didn't make nearly as much as I use... I guess I use more than I realized.
I don't actually make espresso- it is technically called "stovetop espresso", which is similar to a "cafe americano"- or halfway between coffee and espresso. For more info on my espresso maker and how it works, this Wiki page about the Moka Express is fantastic!
I use regular coffee grounds instead of the expensive espresso grounds. I don't know if there is a taste difference, but the cost difference is incredible. I've been buying my grounds at Sam's Club- I pay about $6 for this big tin:
I measure out a cup of skim milk and microwave it- my microwave has a "beverage" setting that I use... about a minute and a half, I think.
While the espresso and milk are cooking, I measure out my syrup. This week I'm using the Kahlua flavor, and since I decided to decrease the amount of syrup I use, I've been using 50 mL- which is about 1.6 ounces. The measuring tube I use is a teeny baby bottle (Enfamil) that we got from the hospital when the princess was born- I use it because I don't have a teeny measuring cup and this does the job. I go ahead and pour it into my mug while I'm waiting for the milk and espresso.
When the milk is done, I pour it in, then add espresso to top off the mug- if I'm using a bigger mug, I end up having more caffeine for the day. I'd never measured the espresso before today, but it turns out that I use almost a full cup (!!!) of espresso! (Wow, no wonder I have the jitters sometimes!) I ALWAYS use a travel mug. I like to take my time with my coffee, and it might take me an hour or two to drink the whole thing... the travel mug really helps to keep it warm. Also, I am picky about my mugs and will only buy 16 or 20 oz mugs- anything smaller and I don't have enough room, anything bigger and it takes too much espresso.
And that, my friends, is how Blondie makes her morning latte. :)
About a year and a half ago I worked out how much hubby and I were spending on buying coffee... waaay too much. I decided that we could be making our own for much less money, so I did a little investigating and decided to start with a stovetop espresso maker. We paid less than $20 for the silver one at World Market, I THINK it is the 6 serving size.
I bought the pink one recently, thinking that I never use all of the espresso that I make each morning, and that I wanted the smaller, cuter one for myself. Hubby hasn't been drinking coffee lately, and I thought that this would be the perfect size for just me. I was wrong- I've only used it once, and it didn't make nearly as much as I use... I guess I use more than I realized.
I don't actually make espresso- it is technically called "stovetop espresso", which is similar to a "cafe americano"- or halfway between coffee and espresso. For more info on my espresso maker and how it works, this Wiki page about the Moka Express is fantastic!
I use regular coffee grounds instead of the expensive espresso grounds. I don't know if there is a taste difference, but the cost difference is incredible. I've been buying my grounds at Sam's Club- I pay about $6 for this big tin:
I measure out a cup of skim milk and microwave it- my microwave has a "beverage" setting that I use... about a minute and a half, I think.
While the espresso and milk are cooking, I measure out my syrup. This week I'm using the Kahlua flavor, and since I decided to decrease the amount of syrup I use, I've been using 50 mL- which is about 1.6 ounces. The measuring tube I use is a teeny baby bottle (Enfamil) that we got from the hospital when the princess was born- I use it because I don't have a teeny measuring cup and this does the job. I go ahead and pour it into my mug while I'm waiting for the milk and espresso.
When the milk is done, I pour it in, then add espresso to top off the mug- if I'm using a bigger mug, I end up having more caffeine for the day. I'd never measured the espresso before today, but it turns out that I use almost a full cup (!!!) of espresso! (Wow, no wonder I have the jitters sometimes!) I ALWAYS use a travel mug. I like to take my time with my coffee, and it might take me an hour or two to drink the whole thing... the travel mug really helps to keep it warm. Also, I am picky about my mugs and will only buy 16 or 20 oz mugs- anything smaller and I don't have enough room, anything bigger and it takes too much espresso.
And that, my friends, is how Blondie makes her morning latte. :)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Baked Spaghetti
Tonight we had Baked Spaghetti on the menu, I'd estimated that this would take about 2 hours to prepare, but it appeared that it would be a "hands-off" two hours: a little prep work, let it sit and cook, a bit more prep, cook some more, prep one more time, cook and serve.
The prep took much longer than anticipated.
This recipe starts out by making a sauce, which will sit and simmer for about an hour.
the start of the sauce
I was about a third of the way through the ingredients list when I realized that this sauce is extremely similar to my homemade sauce... so similar that I decided to eyeball the measurements and add in a few other things. I added a bit more garlic (powder, not fresh); I substituted minced (dried) onion for fresh chopped (and I'm sure I used way more than called for); I skipped the bay leaves (I've never liked bay leaves); I also skipped the green pepper (didn't feel like chopping today), but tossed in a cup or so of frozen veggies*. I also added some leftover spaghetti sauce that I had in my freezer from a while ago- maybe a cup? Also, this recipe calls for 2 cups of diced tomatoes and 2 cups of tomato sauce. A can of tomatoes is 14.5 oz, tomato sauce is 15 oz- each notquite 2 cups. I figured it would be ok, and I'd do it again at just one can of each. The tomatoes I used were the kind with garlic and onion... I never buy the plain diced tomatoes, always with flavor.
sauce is ready to simmer for an hour
*About my frozen veggies: Shortly after I started WW, I bought lots of fresh veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots) and spent an evening dicing, mixing, and bagging them into gallon-sized freezer bags. These bags of frozen veggies have been fantastic for me- it's so easy just to toss a handful or so into whatever I'm cooking to "healthy" it up a bit. (Even boxed mac & cheese tastes better with a couple of cups of veggies!) My family never minded that I was adding veggies to most of our meals, and the kids sometimes prefer to eat the veggies instead of the rest of the entree! I always have these on hand in addition to whatever other frozen/canned veggies I have, and I tend to use these way more often.
The first time I did this, I let the veggies sit out for a couple of hours before I got them into bags and in the freezer... they dried out quite a bit before I froze them. I wish I'd done that every time, because the juice from the veggies forms ice inside the bags- I have to break up the ice before I can scoop out the veggies.
my bag of veggies
After letting the sauce sit and simmer for about 45 minutes, I started browning the ground beef. Mine was stored in our chest freezer and took at least 15-20 minutes to go from really-frozen to brown, so I added it right into the sauce when it was ready.
doesn't that look delish? sauce with meat added
The sauce/meat mix is supposed to simmer for another 20 minutes, so I used this time to cook the pasta. The recipe calls for 8 oz of uncooked spaghetti, I used one full 12 oz box. (Because what am I going to do with 4 oz of pasta?) I added water to the pan I'd used for the meat and put the pasta right in- didn't worry about cleaning it first. The extra bit of grease from the meat was enough that I didn't feel the need to add any oil to the water, and I think it gave the noodles an extra bit of flavor.
noodles cooking in water and leftover beef grease
Finally- ready to prepare for the oven! This is where I was ready to call it quits and just serve it like regular spaghetti. I was ticked that it had taken so long to prepare (especially when the sauce was so much like my own, I usually add ground beef to my sauce, too!); and I couldn't see what good baking this in the oven was going to do other than take longer. The Prince was starving. But I kept working, essentially building a lasagna.
First a layer of sauce, then noodles, then cheese. (The recipe calls for 2 cups of soy or FF cheese. I used maybe a cup-ish of 2% cheddar, because I was unable to find soy or FF cheese. FF cottage cheese would probably be great in this.)
I layered until I was out of noodles, topped with sauce (the top layer was a bit skimpy on sauce), and FINALLY put it in the oven to bake for 30 min. Take it out, top with cheese, return it to the oven. Set the table, take dinner back out of the oven and serve. We sat down a little after 6, I started this project at about 3:45. My kids like to eat between 5-5:30.
ready for the oven
all done!
this took some work- it did not look this nice on the other plates!
Was it all worth it? Oh yeah- I'm actually surprised at how good this really was! I figured it would just be glorified spaghetti, nothing too exciting (and I was not happy about that, based on the amount of time involved). And it really was just glorified spaghetti, but it was gooood.
the Princess approved!
so did the Prince!
Next time, I'll use just one can each of the tomatoes/sauce (like I did today) OR I'll use 2 cans if I don't have any leftover sauce to add in- probably because I used extra noodles, there almost wasn't enough sauce. Again, I'd wing it on the sauce recipe and add in the veggies (still omitting the green pepper and bay leaves). I would use the whole box of pasta, too- that worked well. I would SKIP the cheese- I couldn't taste it anyway- or use FF cottage cheese in between the layers to give it more of a lasagna taste. If I could find WW lasagna noodles, I'd definitely use those instead and really make it a lasagna instead of baked spaghetti. No need for cheese on top, it's only really good if you use a lot so it gets ooey-gooey, and with this amount I didn't think it was worth it. Most important thing about this meal? EAT SLOWLY AND SAVOR IT- I realized when I got up for seconds that I didn't need more, but I still wanted more, so I got just a couple of bites and enjoyed those slowly.
If you try this, I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Be liberal with your spices/seasonings, this might be a bit bland as written.
All-Core, all-day except for the cupcake at breakfast!
The prep took much longer than anticipated.
This recipe starts out by making a sauce, which will sit and simmer for about an hour.
the start of the sauce
I was about a third of the way through the ingredients list when I realized that this sauce is extremely similar to my homemade sauce... so similar that I decided to eyeball the measurements and add in a few other things. I added a bit more garlic (powder, not fresh); I substituted minced (dried) onion for fresh chopped (and I'm sure I used way more than called for); I skipped the bay leaves (I've never liked bay leaves); I also skipped the green pepper (didn't feel like chopping today), but tossed in a cup or so of frozen veggies*. I also added some leftover spaghetti sauce that I had in my freezer from a while ago- maybe a cup? Also, this recipe calls for 2 cups of diced tomatoes and 2 cups of tomato sauce. A can of tomatoes is 14.5 oz, tomato sauce is 15 oz- each notquite 2 cups. I figured it would be ok, and I'd do it again at just one can of each. The tomatoes I used were the kind with garlic and onion... I never buy the plain diced tomatoes, always with flavor.
sauce is ready to simmer for an hour
*About my frozen veggies: Shortly after I started WW, I bought lots of fresh veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots) and spent an evening dicing, mixing, and bagging them into gallon-sized freezer bags. These bags of frozen veggies have been fantastic for me- it's so easy just to toss a handful or so into whatever I'm cooking to "healthy" it up a bit. (Even boxed mac & cheese tastes better with a couple of cups of veggies!) My family never minded that I was adding veggies to most of our meals, and the kids sometimes prefer to eat the veggies instead of the rest of the entree! I always have these on hand in addition to whatever other frozen/canned veggies I have, and I tend to use these way more often.
The first time I did this, I let the veggies sit out for a couple of hours before I got them into bags and in the freezer... they dried out quite a bit before I froze them. I wish I'd done that every time, because the juice from the veggies forms ice inside the bags- I have to break up the ice before I can scoop out the veggies.
my bag of veggies
After letting the sauce sit and simmer for about 45 minutes, I started browning the ground beef. Mine was stored in our chest freezer and took at least 15-20 minutes to go from really-frozen to brown, so I added it right into the sauce when it was ready.
doesn't that look delish? sauce with meat added
The sauce/meat mix is supposed to simmer for another 20 minutes, so I used this time to cook the pasta. The recipe calls for 8 oz of uncooked spaghetti, I used one full 12 oz box. (Because what am I going to do with 4 oz of pasta?) I added water to the pan I'd used for the meat and put the pasta right in- didn't worry about cleaning it first. The extra bit of grease from the meat was enough that I didn't feel the need to add any oil to the water, and I think it gave the noodles an extra bit of flavor.
noodles cooking in water and leftover beef grease
Finally- ready to prepare for the oven! This is where I was ready to call it quits and just serve it like regular spaghetti. I was ticked that it had taken so long to prepare (especially when the sauce was so much like my own, I usually add ground beef to my sauce, too!); and I couldn't see what good baking this in the oven was going to do other than take longer. The Prince was starving. But I kept working, essentially building a lasagna.
First a layer of sauce, then noodles, then cheese. (The recipe calls for 2 cups of soy or FF cheese. I used maybe a cup-ish of 2% cheddar, because I was unable to find soy or FF cheese. FF cottage cheese would probably be great in this.)
I layered until I was out of noodles, topped with sauce (the top layer was a bit skimpy on sauce), and FINALLY put it in the oven to bake for 30 min. Take it out, top with cheese, return it to the oven. Set the table, take dinner back out of the oven and serve. We sat down a little after 6, I started this project at about 3:45. My kids like to eat between 5-5:30.
ready for the oven
all done!
this took some work- it did not look this nice on the other plates!
Was it all worth it? Oh yeah- I'm actually surprised at how good this really was! I figured it would just be glorified spaghetti, nothing too exciting (and I was not happy about that, based on the amount of time involved). And it really was just glorified spaghetti, but it was gooood.
the Princess approved!
so did the Prince!
Next time, I'll use just one can each of the tomatoes/sauce (like I did today) OR I'll use 2 cans if I don't have any leftover sauce to add in- probably because I used extra noodles, there almost wasn't enough sauce. Again, I'd wing it on the sauce recipe and add in the veggies (still omitting the green pepper and bay leaves). I would use the whole box of pasta, too- that worked well. I would SKIP the cheese- I couldn't taste it anyway- or use FF cottage cheese in between the layers to give it more of a lasagna taste. If I could find WW lasagna noodles, I'd definitely use those instead and really make it a lasagna instead of baked spaghetti. No need for cheese on top, it's only really good if you use a lot so it gets ooey-gooey, and with this amount I didn't think it was worth it. Most important thing about this meal? EAT SLOWLY AND SAVOR IT- I realized when I got up for seconds that I didn't need more, but I still wanted more, so I got just a couple of bites and enjoyed those slowly.
If you try this, I really hope that you enjoy it as much as I did. Be liberal with your spices/seasonings, this might be a bit bland as written.
All-Core, all-day except for the cupcake at breakfast!
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