Randomness...

So...it's been a minute. Hi! Some random thoughts, updates.

I'm moving. Like this week. So...there hasn't been a whole lot of cooking going on in my house. My eats have looked something like this:

• 1/2 c. cottage cheese with Splenda and Fiber One (this is my default food)
• Tales from the Food Saver machine! (We especially like stuff we haven't labeled. We take bets on what it is and wait for it to thaw)
• Eggs (because...well...I eat a lot of eggs

One thing I have NOT been eating lately is peanut butter. Sigh. I am on (self-imposed) restriction. I put that out there because even I am not immune to trigger foods. And trigger foods CAN be dangerous even if they are healthy! So...no peanut butter for me. Don't worry, you don't have to refrain from mentioning it. So long as I don't see it in person, smell it or get a sideways taste of it I am absolutely fine!

Hey...cool product alert! I don't think this is new but it is new to me.

Arnold Pocket Thins! These are really good. I had one today with some chicken salad. Each pocket is 100 calories total and they are pre...perforated? (indentation in the middle) so you can easily halve them. Lots of fiber, a bit of protein. Yummy! I am excited about these because they sorta look like a pita...and my friend Melanie just taught me the ultimate secret to making pita chips at home! (Stay tuned folks)

Other than that...not much else going on. A big, phat Foodie THANK YOU to everyone who has been buying Quest bars to help my friend Ruby Sue whose son recently passed away unexpectedly. As soon as PayPal and I work out some security issues (I think someone tried to hack my account) I'll be sending the first of two donations to her from the Foodie Nation!

So...enough talk about me. How are YOU? Anyone making anything exciting, tried a new product, hit a new milestone, had a non-scale victory? If so, share it!

Gypsy's Cilantro Lime Chicken

Foodies...how do I love you? Let me count the ways...

Well, firstly, because you all are always on time! What do I mean by that? Well, if you haven't heard yet, the divas and I are moving! On May 5 to be exact. So you know what that means...not much recipe invention going on over this end until the big move.

But you guys always have me covered. I love when folks send me their recipes! It's always fun to peek into your kitchens.

This one comes to me from my fabulous friend (and Bariatric Foodie Pledge enthusiast) Gypsy!

Here's what she had to say:

This is what we are having for dinner tonight. So yummy and my oldest actually requested the Cilantro Lime Chicken ;). Full of protein and flavor!! Enjoy

~Gypsy

 

Gypsy's Cilantro Lime Chicken

 

Ingredients

• 4 boned, skinned chicken breast halves (2 lb. total)

 (i'm using chicken tenders) 

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 

Preparation

(BF Note: This recipe would also be great if you use the "BF Secret to Marinating Meat" for tender meat every time!)

1. 1. Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness (about 1/2 in.) and place in a shallow baking pan.
2. 2. In a small bowl, mix lime juice, cilantro, garlic, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour over chicken and turn pieces to coat evenly. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes or overnight.
3. 3. Lay chicken on a grill over medium heat (you can hold your hand over the surface only 4 to 5 seconds) and cook, turning once, until no longer pink in the center, 4 to 6 minutes per side.

 ...And get this...Gypsy gave us a two-fer! 

 

Cilantro Bean Salad

Throw some kidney beans & garbanzo beans in a bowl- drained and rinsed, with some lemon juice and olive oil, garlic salt & red onions & cilantro. Refrigerate & eat for a snack or lunch! Better the next day when all the flavors meld together.   


Thanks Gypsy for those great recipes! If YOU have a recipe to share with the Foodie Nation, hit me up! I'd love to feature you. 

The BF Secret to Marinating Meat Post-WLS

Newbies, veterans, non-ops...lend me your ear.

Meat. It is challenging post-op. For some of us it's chicken, for others it's beef, but many of us simply have a hard time tolerating meat.

I have a solution. 

I've included this method in many posts, but I feel it deserves a post of its own. In cooking demonstrations, SOMEHOW I have convinced some very strong and brave post-ops to try formerly intolerable meats using this marinating method and MOST were then able to tolerate those meats. So I have hope that if you are just willing to give this a TRY it might work for you too.

Do you feel brave? Be brave with me! 

The Bariatric Foodie Secret to Marinating Meat

(For me, the challenging meat would be beef, but I SWEAR this works for chicken and pork as well!)

Step One:

(Either the day before or the morning of the day you plan to cook the meat)

Season up your meat well with basic salt and pepper (or Mrs. Dash or whatever basic spice you like).

Then combine it in a zip-top bag with Greek yogurt and any desired "special" spices (for instance, if you are doing a Mexican dish you might add cumin and coriander, Indian you might add your ginger and garlic, Chinese you might add soy sauce and pepper flakes, etc.)

Step Two:

(When it's time to prepare the meat)

Remove the meat from the bag with a pair of kitchen tongs and shake it gently to remove the excess yogurt. Add any additional spices you wish, then cook it as you would normally cook it. I promise, the yogurt will cook off. 

Step Three:

See? Nary a trace of yogurt left on this beef!

EAT! That's honestly it folks. WAIT! That's not entirely true. If you grill chicken or steak, let it "rest" on the cutting board a few minutes before cutting it. This gives it a chance to reabsorb some of its juices and it remains very tender and moist.

A few notes:

• The longer you marinate, the more tender the meat will become. Once I got sidetracked and marinated some chicken  for two nights and I could literally tear it apart like paper.
• Yes, this does add a NEGLIGIBLE amount of additional protein to the chicken.
• I personally don't notice the taste of the yogurt, but you may. It's in there. What can I say? But usually if you season the yogurt then season the meat, the meat will taste like the seasoning. 
• I have NOT tried this method with ground meats but I do know it works on smaller cuts of meat, like stew meat as well. 
• Having said that, this does work well if you are changing the form of the meat AFTER marinating it. For instance, if you cube chicken that has been marinated this way it will remain tender. Heck if you grind it, it will as well. I just can't vouch for mixing this with already ground meat!

In the end, if you want to incorporate things like steak and chicken breasts back into your eating, this method is worth a try. As always, I am a BIG advocate of the "bite test" (take a bite, chew well, swallow, wait a full two minutes for a reaction, repeat once more. If everything goes ok, proceed SLOWLY).

I hope this helps you bring the foods you love back to your table!

Spicy Mustard Greens and Sausage

Have you liked Bariatric Foodie on Facebook yet? If you had, you would have seen that I posted about trying this new recipe yesterday!

This adventure all started at the farmer's market. It's a place of inspiration! Do you go? 

Anyway, I try to commit to trying new things when I see them and this day I saw a bag of spicy mustard greens. I like spicy stuff so I decided to give it a whirl. Now...I have experience with collard greens and kale but not mustard greens. So my first step was to taste one: raw and straight up.

It lives up to its name. It is spicy and tastes like mustard. And that's all I have to say about that.

From there, I went about finding a recipe I could use to cook it. This recipe seemed to fit the bill and it is what I used! 

Verdict: YUMMY! The Cajun flavor came through and man! My body must have been missing green, leafy veggies because my pouch actually sighed in happiness. Word to the wise: if you try any variation of this recipe, add the tomatoes dead last. The freshness and firmness of the tomato will play nicely against the salty/spice of the sausage. The recipe called for cherry tomatoes but I had romas so that's what I used. When they are in season, though, I'd even advocate for heirlooms for a bit of sweetness.

Some ideas on making this dish a bit more WLS-friendly:

• While the Andouille sausage was wonderful, I could totally see this going with some low-fat turkey smoked sausage and being fine, especially since you have to add Cajun spices
• If you've never worked with kale or mustard greens before, remove the big stem. It is not pouch-friendly.
• If you aren't yet cleared for such a hearty green, I think baby spinach would work well, it's just tricky to make it "al dente" if you will. Spinach gets mushy fast. But luckily it also absorbs flavor really fast so I don't think the preparation would change so much as you just would not simmer quite as long. 
• Not related to health but a random thought: I should have known this but leafy greens of any kind produce a LOT of liquid, especially when you add salt (which draws the liquid out of foods). Although the instructions don't say to do this, unless you want soup, take the lid off the pot the last 10 minutes or so.

I did not feed this to the divas. They were in the mood for Zatarain's jambalaya (if you ever are...here is a much more "us-friendly" recipe) and as I have said many times, rice and I don't get down like that. But it was a quick and easy dinner for them and this was a quick and easy dinner for me and we all managed to have Cajun food together. Winning, right?

Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli & "Rice" Casserole

Ok, so let’s talk about condolence food.

You know what I’m talking about. Someone passes away and family, friends, people you hardly even know start bringing you food. Yummy food. Comforting food. Carby food.

For my part, I have sort of been picking at the condolence food, much to the chagrin of La Petite Diva who has appointed herself my grief counselor. It is her mission to ensure I get three squares a day and I was NOT doing that for a minute. (After employing some good old fashioned Chinese water torture she has reformed me.)

But all that is to say this dish is what I call a “recovery” dish. I needed some vegetables in my life. BAD! The children did too. Although La Grande Diva nearly fainted away of sheer joy upon receipt of a gamillion piece box of fried chicken from Super Wal-Mart (who even knew they SOLD fried chicken???)

To get us all headed back down the right eating path, I fixed this casserole. Interestingly it passes both girls veggie radars. Ordinarily the older girl loves broccoli and the younger hates it BUT I recently learned that there is an exception to that clause. We’ll call it the “cheese clause” and we’ll say it states “With liberal exceptions a small fraction of ordinarily unacceptable vegetables will be considered and perhaps even ingested with the addition of cheese.”

Broccoli falls under this clause. Hallelujah!

Nik’s Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli & “Rice” Casserole

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts, grilled and chopped into small pieces

1 small onion, finely diced

3 cups of cauliflower rice

1 package of frozen broccoli pieces (not florets…pieces…there is a difference)

1 can (10 oz.) of lowfat cheddar cheese soup

½ c. milk

1 c. each shredded sharp and mild cheddar cheeses

Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and any other spices you like

Directions:

1. Fistly, if you don’t already, check out my no fail tender chicken marinating technique (included in this post) before preparing your chicken breasts.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Boil your broccoli until it is the desired consistency then drain.
4. Sautee your onion in a pan with nonstick and add any desired spices
5. In a large bowl, combine chicken, onion, cauliflower rice and cooked broccoli pieces. Add soup, milk and half of each kind of cheese and mix well.
6. Transfer to a casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melty.

If you are not cleared for cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower yet (or worried that these might upset your system...or just don't like broccoli and cauliflower) zucchini works great in place of broccoli and spaghetti squash in place of the cauliflower. It is still yummy and so comforting you won’t miss the carbs!

Thank You



I won't lie. These past two weeks have not been easy. Burying a parent is something each of us imagines we'll do, but I think we all have this vision in our heads that it'll happen when we're in our 60's or 70's.

Over the last few weeks I have cried more than I remember crying in my entire childhood. And I've smiled some. I've been hugged a lot. A few days I've spent in a complete daze staring at walls. And inevitably a few times I've picked up my cell phone to tell my mother about my day only to realize, mid-dial that she won't answer the phone.

BUT. I am ok. It's just going to take some time for me to wrap my head around life without my mother (who I sometimes called "Mama Foodie" because her cooking inspired me so much!).

The funeral was last week. It was very lovely. I was so touched by all the flowers, cards, emails, voicemails and comments I received with messages of condolence and comfort. After the funeral we buried her in a beautiful cemetery on a spot on a little hill that overlooks the city.

Tomorrow I return to my day job (no, believe it or not, Bariatric Foodie is NOT my day job!). Next week I'll resume blog activities. I have a few recipes to share and, as always, stories. I'm set to move out of my house of 12 years in the next few weeks so inevitably you all are in for some five ingredient or less, quickie meal posts as I don't plan to fully grocery shop until I am in my new house (location as yet to be determined).

So...THANK YOU. Thank you for your words, your prayers, your positive thoughts, your messages and your willingness to hang in there as I work through a difficult period in my life. I am still on this WLS journey though and will have some details about a summer initiative that I think my "Bariatric Foodie Pledgers" especially will like.

Oh...I also found the above photo of my mother last week as I was searching for one for her funeral program. The one in the last post was after her health had declined. The above was taken six years ago when she was in better health. "Mama Foodie" will take her permanent place in the right menu bar next week.

So check back next week! I have some yummy stuff planned that I hope you'll enjoy.