eating
March 19, 2008
one ringy dingy
Somehow I made it through 27 years without having a Ding Dong, a fact which Mike determined to remedy as soon as he found it out, and damn if he didn't. We made an emergency stop at a grocery store to pick up a box, and now I can no longer say I've never had a Ding Dong. They're damn good, too.
Posted by oracle at 10:22 AM | Comments (2)
March 13, 2008
I could eat this stuff all day
I'd moved away from microwave popcorn when I started making my own, but Orville Redenbacher's Natural buttery garlic popcorn is enough to reel me back in. This stuff is so good I gave serious consideration to licking the bowl when I was done with the popcorn. SO GOOD.
WW note: this stuff comes in individual serving-size bags and is only one point. <3
Posted by oracle at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2008
I may end up liking vegetables after all
One of the advantages of Weight Watchers is that it's making me more adventurous food-wise. I have a spaghetti squash that I'm going to be cooking either tonight or tomorrow, and I'm making a eggplant lasagna dish on Friday, both things I probably wouldn't be trying if I weren't counting points and trying to make the most out of my food choices.
Posted by oracle at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2008
in which our heroine stops eating everything that isn't nailed down
I started Weight Watchers this weekend, and I am extremely excited about it. I love the idea of having more structure to what I eat during the day, I am very goal-oriented (in that I feel fantastic when I achieve a goal, not that I pursue them relentlessly, sadly), and I like things that don't require a ton of thought right off the bat. This program works with all of those, and the fact that I can eat anything I want is a bonus. Granted, if I snarf down two pieces of pizza for breakfast that just about does me in points-wise for the day, so I will have to practice some moderation, but overall it seems like it's a good fit for me. I'm nervous about telling people, though, because, like the parenting class I took last summer, I feel like this is something I will be judged for, and I HATE that. Why should someone look down on me for trying to make myself better? And then I get angry for worrying about what people will think because it is my life. But acknowledging that doesn't make me less hesitant, in fact, I was even reluctant to tell Mike about it! I did tell him, and my mom and sister, too, but that felt horribly awkward, like when I told them I was seeing a counselor. Man, it is so hard for me to admit I'm not perfect.
The one thing I do not like about WW so far is the group aspect. I don't enjoy going to meetings for anything, and I don't need or want a bunch of strangers to give me support or celebrate my progress; I just want to get my materials and get started, thank you, good-bye. This isn't about losing weight - although I was horrified to see the scale stop at 146 on Saturday - it's about being healthier. I have a hard time making good choices when left to my own devices, and this is a good way to motivate me to make better ones.
Posted by oracle at 8:11 AM | Comments (2)
March 4, 2008
Girl Scout cookies? I'll pass, thanks
I have five boxes of Girl Scout cookies (three boxes of Tag-A-Longs, one box of Thin Mints, and one box of Samoas) sitting on my desk, staring at me, and I'm not even the slightest bit tempted by them. Hell is freezing over as I type.
Posted by oracle at 9:21 AM | Comments (2)
August 7, 2007
I don't even like Caesar salad
Mike found a copycat recipe for Outback's Caesar salad dressing yesterday and requested that for last night's dinner. After a trip to the grocery store (no, I do not keep anchovy fillets on hand) and an hour or so assembling the ingredients in the blender, the dressing was ready for consumption. I was skeptical about how everything would come together, but the end result looked and smelled a lot like it was supposed to, and Mike said it tasted fantastic, so I guess my worries were unfounded.
Warning: this recipe makes a fuckton of dressing, so, unless you're anticipating hosting a plague of salad-eating locusts in the near future, be prepared to store quite a bit of it.
Outback's Caesar dressing:
3 cups olive oil
6 large eggs
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped garlic
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt, pepper, dry mustard, and anchovy fillets to taste (I added two chopped-up fillets, a couple dashes each of salt and pepper, and approx. 1/4 tsp of dry mustard)
*combine all ingredients in a blender
*blend on low for 20 seconds to incorporate oil
*blend on high for 20 more seconds to mix thoroughly
*place in covered container and refrigerate
Posted by oracle at 7:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 17, 2007
in which our heroine falls in love with a cow
As far as I'm concerned, Maggie Moo's is the best ice cream place, evar. I locked my keys in the truck while H and I were out running errands over the weekend, and since I don't have a spare truck key, I had to call Mike to come rescue us from the parking lot. As a thank-you, H and I took Mike and Z out for ice cream. (N had opted to stay at home instead of coming along on the rescue mission.) The closest ice cream shop was Maggie Moo's. Mike and I had never been there before, but after Sunday's trip, it's my new favorite ice cream shop. In a moment of weakness I abandoned my elimination diet for that part of the afternoon and got a waffle cone with the Destination: Dark Chocolate Island (dark chocolate ice cream with almonds, strawberries, and fudge topping) Fresh Escape ("Maggie's favorite ice cream combinations") with marshmallows added in. I am here to tell you that was a not-so-tiny scoop of heaven in a waffle cone. It was worth every bit of pain I felt from the migraine that hit me later that afternoon. I was looking at the Maggie Moo's website just before I started writing this, and all the potential combinations I can think of from the flavors and mix-ins are overwhelming. It would take me several visits to try all of the combinations that sound appealing (although I have to say, I don't ever foresee myself trying anything with the cotton candy-flavored ice cream. yeck), and, quite frankly, that's too much ice cream even for me. It's probably a good thing I've never been to a Cold Stone Creamery. (For some reason, I can never get the name of that place right; I always call it "Stone Cold Creamery." I'm pretty sure that's a result of all the Monday nights I spent watching WWF [this was before they had to change to the "WWE"] Raw and Stone Cold Steve Austin.)
Posted by oracle at 9:54 AM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2007
a room with a moose
I was having headaches almost daily for the past couple of weeks, including frequent migraines. After reading a couple migraine books, I read about an elimination diet that is supposed to help determine which foods trigger migraines; the premise is that for 30 days, you only eat certain foods - ones that don't seem to be common migraine triggers (it's a very short list, trust me) - and after that, you start adding other foods back into your diet, introducing one every other day. I started doing this over the weekend, and this morning I noticed that I've been feeling pretty good since then. I've gotten in some cardio every morning so far this week, I've been sticking to the "can eat" list pretty closely (except for some small couscous confusion Saturday and Sunday - I thought regular couscous was okay, but noooo, it has to be WHOLE WHEAT couscous. Pfft.), and, sure, it could be a placebo effect, but I think I'm feeling better because of the food changes and exercise.
Posted by oracle at 7:18 AM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2007
a loaded letdown
I was so excited when I heard about Edy's Loaded ice cream, particularly the chocolate chip cookie dough flavor, and I was even more excited when I learned that the Giant closest to our house carried it. It wasn't worth making a special trip to the grocery store for, but you can bet that I put it near the top of the grocery list I made for this afternoon's stop. It was in stock so I grabbed a carton of it (and two cartons of the cookies 'n cream flavor for Mike) and was quite pleased that I'd actually been able to find it. When Mike got home we each had a bowl of our respective ice cream; he seemed to enjoy the cookies 'n cream, but I'm very disappointed with the chocolate chip cookie dough. I didn't even like it enough to want to finish eating the bowl of it.
Posted by oracle at 8:53 PM | Comments (0)
March 7, 2007
healthier food choices
I think it undermines my workout efforts if I keep giving my body crap to work with, so when Mike and I started going back to the gym, I decided that it's time for me to start making healthier eating choices as well. Part of that decision is a commitment to bringing real food with me to work instead of relying on microwave popcorn (Pop Secret's 100-calorie snack bags - I love them, but they're not the same as fruits, vegetables, etc.) to get me through the day. I bought this awesome lunch jar in September, but it sat in one of the cabinets in our kitchen until I pulled it out last Tuesday to use it for the first time. This is only the second week of the healthier eating, so I'm sure I'll be changing things up somewhat as time progresses, but the following is what I'm currently doing:
At the beginning of the week I fix a small container of soy milk to keep in the fridge at work so I can have milk with my oatmeal without having to dragging an extra container back and forth every day, and each morning I make a serving of oatmeal and put it in the largest container. There's an insulated container that can safely hold soup or other liquids, but because of its size I use it to hold a snack mix I make out of whole wheat Chex, Nature's Path Pumpkin FlaxPlus Granola cereal, and whatever else I feel like throwing in (last week I added honey-wheat pretzels, this week it's pistachios). I use another container for a bagel, and the smallest container is for whatever else I may need that day. Today it's got chunky peanut butter to go on the apples I brought in, yesterday I used it to hold scrambled egg whites, and last week it held leftover cherry cheesecake. I've also been bringing in fruit (this week is bananas, apples, and nectarines), a FruitaBü, and a bag of Quaker "mini delights."
Posted by oracle at 9:40 AM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2006
double feature
We've had American Psycho for a while, and yesterday we finally watched it. It's an interesting movie, that's for sure. I'm still trying to figure out of the end was a huge cover-up or if Patrick Bateman just imagined that he did all that stuff. I dunno. I did have to cover my eyes and ears when he killed a dog and then later a kitten, but it wasn't really scary. At several points during the movie I found myself thinking "Holy shit, he's insane," (or some variation on that theme), then I remembered that the movie was called American Psycho for a reason. Oops.
After the movie was over we had a round-robin dinner, but not the "Chic-Fil-A (or La Pizzeria) + cherry coke eaten at Wendy's" version seen frequently during high school. This version involved shrimp and key lime pie from Bonefish Grill + chicken caesar salad and sirloin marsala from Carrabba's. While we were finishing up our food, we watched the remake of The Omen. I liked it better than the original, but there are a couple of things I wish had been done differently, primarily the casting of Julia Stiles as Damien's mother. She was fine in 10 Things I Hate About You, but she was not believable at all as a twenty-or-thirty-something-year-old mother, especially since she was paired with Liev Schrieber, who did such an excellent job as Damien's father. Also, I wish the dog had been consistent throughout the movie. I was happy when we first saw the black German Shepard in the birthday party scene because that was much more fitting than the Rottweiler from the original movie and was then let down when the dog that Mrs. Baylock brought into the house was a Rottweiler. For me the German Shepard was less physically menacing and more ominously so. I really enjoyed the rest of the movie and, aside from the two things mentioned above, think it was a pretty good remake. I particularly liked how the Church did a presentation of how current events fit with the angels from the book of Revelations.
Posted by oracle at 8:54 AM | Comments (0)