2017 Resolutions

Usually at this time of year I vow to eat better, do better financially, keep my home cleaner, pay more attention to family and friends and various other promises I fail to keep. Planning to make those promises again but this time with a better plan to make it easier to accomplish.

One of my plans is to learn to use Instagram and try to get further away from Facebook. I have had the account for years but never took the time to learn how to use it. I enjoy Pinterest a great deal, so think I can learn to like Instagram also.

Test

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How to Cook Everything app

You need this. Really you do. Mark Bittman and his team have outdone themselves and I know apps.
Read this Mark Bittman interview with @MattArmendariz over on his blog Matt Bites
I already used the app for a tapenade recipe and have spent a couple of hours getting familiar with it and reading. It is really really good.

Friday Reality Check-Tuesday Edition

I am so excitedabout the new season, I am really looking forward to Grey's Anatomy on Thursday and NCIS tonight. How I Met Your Mother was alright but kind of a bleh start to a show that has really dragged out the Mother thing far too long. I forget that is supposed to be the premise of the show until they bring it up. It kinda brings it all down because they have dragged it out for so long, I don't really care anymore who their mother is.

I am still kinda wanting to see Sheldon nail Penny on The Big Bang Theory. There just isn't really any chemistry with Leonard. At least they do seem to have admitted that in this episode so maybe that can end.

The Emmys were fun, Neil Patrick Harris was great and the gowns were beautiful for the most part. I thought Sarah Silverman was funny-ish but that gown was horrid. I was completely shocked that Toni Collette won for a show that most people never heard of, seemed very strange.

I really liked how Kate Walsh commented that she was keeping it low key, I would really like for more stars or people in the spotlight to spend less money and be proud of it. She looked beautiful.

Have I mentioned lately how much I cannot stand Giuliana Rancic? She is such an idiot, asks the stupidest questions, no idea how to handle celebrities and her timing is terrible. She looks like a scarecrow and has no sense of style. She always looks like she gets her clothes from the teen section. More Jay, less G.

One more thing. Lady Gaga is a dude. I am sure of it.

Survivor Samoa

Hahah I actually love Russell right now, I am sure I will get over it but the Dumbass Girl Alliance is just too damn funny. I checked him out a bit and he seems to be one of those stereotypical oil men that you love to hate. A pint sized JR with a little less drama. There are other interesting characters as well. I am excited for the season!

Dancing With The Stars

An odd bunch this time, of course I have to love Donny Osmond but I am pretty excited about The Chairman and that adorable little snowboarder Louie Vito. I would love for Ashley Hamilton to make a good showing but he has a long way to go. I honestly thought he was still in a wheelchair. It was so great to see him! I am more excited about the girls than the boys this season.

I hope Tom Delay is the first to go out of principle but I am not sure how many weeks I can stand to look at Nick Carter or Karina. She really needs to go, she comes off as a fame whore and I am over her.

Trader Joe's Youtube

If I Made a Commercial for Trader Joe's
Too cute!

The Cook's Illustrated is on Kindle

*EDIT: This book is no longer free to download but certainly still worth considering as an addition to your iLibrary!

Thank you so much @cpkimball for this gift! The Cook's Illustrated How-to-Cook Library: An illustrated step-by-step guide to Foolproof Cooking by The Editors of Cooks Illustrated is actually free to download to your Kindle or your Kindle app from amazon.com, I just got it for my iPhone and I am so excited! The illustrations are so nice, lots of recipes and tons of good information.
I don't know how easy it will be to actually prepare dishes from the iPhone but I read cookbooks like novels so it is not that important to me, when I am ready to prepare a dish I will sort it.
I love the clickable links that will take you right to the source. In the recipe for Potato and Leek Soup there is a call for 6c Chicken Stock which is linked. Click it, get that recipe and just hit the back arrow to return to the soup recipe. Fabulous!
Be sure you visit the Cook's Illustrated website for lot's of information, recipes and other goodies or to subscribe to the site or magazines offered. You can also follow Chris Kimball on Twitter @cpkimball

Lessmeatarian Week Five

Mark Bittman said I could find a better pyramid so I did. This is from the Mediterranean Diet. A special meal once a month with meat if you even want it, is a good idea. I do not really see me cooking beef again anytime soon so it would be pork. I am not sure why I am off beef but pork doesn't bother me.
I have lost 6 pounds so far but to be fair I wasn't being as careful as I should have been the first 3 with the stress of Mary's baby coming. I am happy with an average of 2 pounds a week, of course 10-20 would be great haha but I have lost weight fast before and it came right back again. I have lost 100 lbs twice before in my life, that has to be incredibly unhealthy. I have a lot to accomplish over the next few months and I need to be in much better health to make it happen. I have never really been much of a one day at a time or living in the now kind of girl. That makes it hard for me to accomplish things as I am always looking ahead instead of focusing on this minute. I am working on that now. I can fine tune this as I go along but for now the crapfood elimination continues along with getting more exercise.
Eventually there are a lot of things I want to change but getting these 10-20 pounds off needs to be a priority, it is seriously holding me back from practically everything I need to accomplish. The struggle for me is determining if I am holding on to this weight for a reason and what that is. I think I know and am working on this. If losing weight were just about putting down the fork, most people would not struggle with it.

Losing the Baby Weight

So, my daughter had a baby 2 weeks ago. She gained a total of 17 pounds, yes I said SEVENTEEN pounds which she has already lost. I gained a total of 15 pounds, did not actually have a baby at all and have not lost an ounce. How is that fair?
I know I am supposed to be following the Lessmeatarian way and I certainly am but this week is going to be more about taking in very few calories. That will of course mean more veggies but there is not going to be much in the way of grains or carbs.
I actually wrote this post last week and was feeling pretty frustrated. I have been much more on track this week and have dropped 5 of those 15 pounds. Carly who lives in Marseille has been following the Scarsdale diet and lost about 15 pounds as well I believe. I cannot count calories like she does though, I would go crazy and do not think that really works for me. I just have to cut out the crapfood which I pretty much have. I did have some gummy bears last night.
My ultimate goal is to not even be on a diet or to not think about weight or food in a negative way, or to consider if everything I eat is going to make my jeans not zip.

Lessmeatarian Week Four

This week I will direct you to this article by Mark Bittman. I was struck by the same statement Michelle Obama made, “You can begin in your own cupboard,” she said, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”
I also have to say that all this organic stuff bothers me, I have never purchased an organic product deliberately and I won't. To me it just seems like marketing. Many farmers actually are natural or organic or whatever but apparantly you have to pay to get a certification which seems like such bullshit. An apple from an orchard rather than an apple flavored treat has to always be better right?
I am glad the White House chefs Cristeta Comerford and Sam Kass have made the decision to put a garden on the grounds. I do not really see it making any sweeping changes in the economy which is where I would prefer the Obama White House were focused. I am not really concerned about the freshness of their vegetables.

I have made a commitment to myself to stop buying processed foods. Back when my kids were small and I struggled financially I never went into the center aisles of the grocery, only around the outside as all I could afford were meat, dairy and produce. Now it has shifted, those items are practically cost prohibitive and you can get 4 boxes of mac and cheese for $1. A gallon of milk is $4 and yogurt that used to be 4/$1 are now nearly $1 apiece. Some things are cheap like white rice but brown rice is 4x the price, plain white pasta is cheap but the whole wheat or high protein kind is ridiculously high. I am all for eating better but I am surely not going to make my own pasta, I do not have time for that anymore but then again maybe homemade pasta should be a treat, maybe a person really should only have something like that once a week or month instead of 3-4 times from a box.
In Holland we eat a vegetable and a small serving of meat all week long for dinner, lunch is bread with one thin slice of meat or cheese or peanut butter and maybe soup, breakfast is grains of some sort. Only on Sunday do we have something special . I never eat like that in Texas. I try sometimes but I never last long.

I think I might try to stop saying "I don't have time" I really don't have time to recover from a stroke either.

Sea Salt & Olive Oil Hand Scrub

Try this spring pick me up with ingredients you have in your pantry. Mix a little sea salt with some olive oil and scrub your hands, in between your fingers and up your arms to your elbows. Follow with a thick body creme and your skin will feel like silk! This is great for feet and the rest of your body as well but it makes a real mess in the tub, be careful as the oil will make it slippery.

You can also use it on your face but do not scrub, apply gently with your fingertips and be careful not to get near your eyes. Did I ever mention I am also a licensed aesthetician?