Cutting Calories - Eat Slowly from Small Plates and Bowls

When we eat fast from a large plates and bowls, we don't realize how much food we are consuming.  And since the stomach and brain are slow to send and receive "full" signals, we are ready for seconds before the body is finished with our firsts.

Here are some suggestions to consider:

• eat from an 9" plate with appropriate portions - see a later blog for this
• eat with others.  Spend time talk about their day and yours
• notice the smell of the food while it is cooking, when you plate it up and when you eat it
• notice the flavor, taste and feel of each food in your mouth.  Chew it well
• if you must have seconds, make it protein
• stop eating three hours before bedtime
• eat a healthy breakfast of protein, veggie and fruit

More suggestions:

• don't eat during the night
• don't eat over the sink or standing up
• don't graze what is in the refrigerator - plate it up and sit at the table
• don't watch TV and eat

Regarding dish sizes for dinner and dessert back in the day, they were much smaller.  And our relatives used more calories getting to work, working and home chores than we are today.

12"x17" place mat, 9" plate, 3.5" bowl

12"x17" placemat, regular-sized plate and bowl at bottom

Getting Little Cowgirls and Cowboys to Eat Fruits/Veggies

My little cowgirls and cowboys have grown up and left The Place.  However, they return with their kids when schedules permit.

When they are here, my hubby and I want their little cowboys and cowgirls to eat their fruits and veggies, and here is how we do it:

When they arrive, we set out a craft table and appetizer table just for the kids.

Brightly-colored crayons and washable pens as well as place-card-sized paper and place-mat-sized paper are on the craft table as well as a list of people who will be eating, so they can copy the names.  There are extra blank place cards and mats in case of mistakes.  They make place cards and place mats for the meal.

They check off the names when the person's card and mat are done.  This keeps little hands and minds busy.

On the kids' appetizer table is fruit and veggie finger foods with a veggie dip and fruit dip.  Sometimes, I include cheese sticks.

I usually put out small plates and bowls for each child as double-dipping isn't encouraged.  Notice, I didn't include any candy, crackers or chips.  Our grocery store has fruits and veggies already cut up, and I have used them often.  The kids can eat anything they like from their table.

Their drinks (usually sprite and ice) are in cups with well-fitting lids and a straw.  So if the cup is dropped or tipped over, it survives.  And so does my floor and carpeting.

Nothing stirs up appetites like making things, serving oneself and eating at one's own speed without adult supervision.

I repeat many of the kids' items in the adult appetizers as well as a glass of wine or a margarita.   The adult appetizers include some crackers or chips that the kids don't recognize which limits their begging for the familiar.

Before everyone arrives, I put a tablecloth on the table where we will be eating and set out glasses, plates and silverware.  The kids (or anyone else) can set the table quickly using the kids' art work.  It is always fun to see who gets to sit next to who.

When it is mealtime, I don't worry when the kids eat some protein and spend the time talking.  They have filled up on fruits and veggies - our goal.

Sweet Potato Fries

I like these, and they are so easy.   They come pre-cut from the grocery's freezer section and ready for a few special touches.

Mix in a small bowl the frozen fries with a little olive oil and some Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Pour onto a cookie sheet lined with tin foil.  

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and turn fries over.  Bake 10 more minutes or until they are as crisp as desired.  Serve immediately.

Yummy !

Chicken Stock

I received this recipe in an email recently.  I would credit the sender, but I can't find it now - my inbox is too disorganized.

What does this recipe tell regarding ingredients and process?

• ingredient by ingredient, step by step process for newbies
• what one could add or leave out
• what steps are important
• nutritional information like calories per serving,  total fat, cholesterol, etc
• how long the food could be kept in refrigerator or freezer

Chicken Stock

Ingredients

1 large onion, quartered

1 stalk celery, cut into 4 pieces (optional)

1 leftover chicken carcass

10 cloves garlic

15 whole black peppercorns

4 quarters (or more) cold water

1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

• Place all ingredients except salt in stock pot.  Add water until reaches 2/3 of the way up the pot.  Cover
• Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour
• Remove stock pot from heat and strain.  Let contents cool to room temperature and transfer to refrigerator
• When stock is cold, skim off fat that has risen to surface
• Season with sea salt

Editor's note:  

To speed the cooling process, place the bowl of hot, strained stock into sink filled with ice water.  Store in refrigerator for up to three days or in freezer for up to six months.

Nutritional information per serving: calories: 11, total fat: 0.1g, cholesterol: 0mg

Margaritas on a Weekend Evening

Here's the best Margaritas we have found.  Our thanks to Sally and Bill.

Here is the process:

• put salt in plastic tub with lid (make sure glass can reach salt) - refill as necessary
• rim small diameter glass with water
• dip rim of glass in tub
• fill glass with small chunks of ice from ice maker or from baggie hit with hammer
• fill glass with the margarita mix shown below.  We have tried others, but like this one the best

Enjoy ! 

Rotisserie Chicken

One of our favorite meal gotos after a busy day is still-warm rotisserie chicken from the local grocery.  Slice up some white meat or have a wing, add a veggie, some fruit and yogurt, some ice tea, milk or ice water, and supper is table-ready - quick and easy.  Pre-cooked rotisserie chickens are around $6 for a whole chicken in our part of Colorado.

If we haven't eaten it all by the third day, I debone the large chunks of meat and pop the bones and small pieces of chicken into a stock pot.  I freeze the large chunks in 3/4 cup to a cup portions as well as the strained stock in cup portions for later.  I strain the stock as the remaining small chicken bits can be rubbery.

Since chicken bones, skin and rubbery meat can be attractive to cats, dogs and wild life, I pop them in a plastic bag for their trip to the freezer.  No muss, no fuss until trash day when I take it out - frozen and non-smelly.  In the heat of the summer, I add a quarter cup of coffee grounds to the still-frozen bag so animals don't mess with it.  Nothing is more demoralizing while dressed in good clothes and rushing to an appointment that a trash-strewn driveway.

Leftover rotisserie chicken is yummy - either for the following day's lunch or supper.   As I think of them, I will share.  I am sure you have some good ideas, too.  Please post them on the comments section below.

Easy, Peasy Chocolate Fondue in Crock Pot

One of the little cowgirls and I made this a month or so ago, and it was delicious.

I can remember my own parents struggling with homemade chocolate fudge trying to keep it from crystalizing or becoming rock hard.  No matter what they did (not stirring it during cooking, testing it in a cup of cold water, a cold water bath in the sink, folding in the butter and beating the fudge, etc.) it never looked as good as it tasted.

But this recipe is different.  From my notes, someone got it from Woman Day's Crockery Cookbook #2, 1976.  It makes way too much for us chocolate lovers, so I end up freezing at least half of the recipe in half-cup portions.  However, it doesn't last long hidden behind the frozen peas.

24 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 cup evaporated milk (plain - not sweetened)
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place all in crock pot.  Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes.  Stir well, cover and cook on low for an hour longer.

Dip pieces of pound cake, fruit like strawberries or bananas, pretzels, cookies or marshmallows into chocolate.  Makes 3 cups.

Meal Planning, Shopping List

I have a confession to make:  meal planning is the most difficult phase of cooking for me.  And as far as serving healthy food to my family and saving money by using a shopping list, it is the most important.

At every meal, we have a vegetable, a fruit and some protein.  Fruits and veggies can be any style - frozen, doctored canned or fresh.  However, the canned or frozen needs to be primarily fruit or primarily veggies to qualify - no veggie-flavored chips or fake cheese.  For the protein, I am always on the lookout for interesting, tasty and quick entrees.

Snacks are another challenge.  I gravitate to healthy, less processed and lower-in-calories alternatives.

Last year I visited a first grader in my family during school lunch, and two things stood out at this muddle-class school where many families have working dads AND moms:

• the school lunch looked great, but students left much of it on their plates.  When it was time for recess, students scraped the leftovers into a giant garbage bag. 
• of the students who brought lunches from home, I didn't see much fruit, veggies or protein.   One girl brought three large home-made brownies and no more.  Another brought several bags of chips and no more.  

I can only imagine what the last two students had for breakfast.  No wonder school breakfasts and lunches have become so important for children's learning and nutrition.

Food Network - $10 Dinners

I TIVO several programs from the Food Network, and this one is currently my favorite.  Melissa D'Arabian prepares easy-to-make recipes using readily-available ingredients, and we have liked those I have made.

Since I don't have time to watch much TV, I usually watch her roundup of this week's dishes at the beginning of the program and fast forward to those that interest me.  She usually spices up her food preparation with helpful hints and money-saving shopping tips.  Click here to see her recipes on the Food Network/ten-dollar-dinners.

Buyers Beware - Especially When Packaging Focuses on Kids

Earlier in the week, I got an email containing this video on fake blueberries in breakfast cereals.  It  claimed that many cereals advertise to have the nutritional benefits of blueberries including antioxidants, contain no blueberries.  No, not one.  According to the video, the list of ingredients showed the purple bits were made from artificial colors and flavors.

On my next grocery shopping day, I checked this out and found it to be mostly false.

However, what I did find was disturbing.  My large-chain grocery store and General Mills offered the two boxes below near the end of the aisle, at a child's level with kid-appealing art work.   It implied berries (one purple and one pink), but there was not a berry to be found in the list of ingredients.

What General Mills has apparently learned is that many Moms and Dads are too distracted to read the ingredients when shopping with kids, and that children can exert lots of pressure to buy something aimed at them - truthful or not.

Buyers beware.

My Cowboy's Special - tostadas in the microwave

My hubby doesn't cook much, but this is something he will whip up at a moment's notice.

Ingredient and process:

corn tostada on microwavable plate

spread with refried beans

covered with grated cheese

Cooking time:

microwave for 30-40 seconds or until cheese is melted.  Cheese will be hot!

Variations:

Add leftovers or condiments between beans and cheese step

Add cut up, fresh tomatoes after microwaving