LOSING WEIGHT AFTER THE HOLIDAYS!

OK people, lets get down to the point...most of us are guilty of gaining a few pounds during the holidays. I know how we love bread, pizza, creamy soup, mashed potatoes and all that good stuff, I'm guilty of that too.

So here's an fast and easy way to lose that extra weight. Get yourself together! Choose filling foods with no carbs. Filling foods like oranges, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe. Now breakout that old bike in the garage and take it for a spin, you only need to ride the bike for about a mile and a half every day, do some power-walking, maybe jogging. You need 45 minutes of exercise every single day, if you get bored then try dancing for 45 minutes, you need to break a good sweat. Drink A LOT of water, when I say a lot I mean 2-3 liters a day, mineral water with no sodium is good too. Drink plenty of green tea because it drains you of access water. For breakfast eat a small omlett with fresh vegetables NO BREAD! For lunch eat a light salad, no crutons, two tablespoons of light dressing tops. For dinner steamed chicken with vegetables, stay away from fat and carbs, chose serloin meat, chicken or turkey. Stay away from honey or sugar, even brown sugar.

Thank you for reading, I hope this diet works for you too.

CHEESY CAULIFLOWER FOR DINNER TONIGHT!!

This recipe came from my mother she used to make this for me all the time.

You will need...

1-2 heads of fresh cauliflower
1-2 cups of low moister mozzarella cheese
1-2 servings of whole wheat spaghetti (optional)

First wash the cauliflower. Break it apart into bite size pieces. Boil the bite size pieces in a pot with with water and a pinch of salt. Let boil on medium-low heat, check on the pieces every 15 minutes. Poke some of the pieces with a clean fork. When the pieces are soft and the fork goes through the pieces easily, strain the pieces in a strainer. In a medium sized bowl mix the mozzarella and cauliflower pieces. If you used one head of cauliflower then use one cup of cheese, if you used two heads of cauliflower use two cups of cheese ( add a little extra cheese if you used two head of cauliflower). This is a perfectly healthy topping for whole wheat spaghetti. Because cheese cools off quickly I would cover the bowl with the cauliflower and cheese mixture with a lid, this will keep the mixture hot and the cheese runny. Because the cheese is already prenty salty you will not need to add any extra salt.

Thank you for reading. Let me know how it turns out

SANDWICH OF THE WEEK, RADISH YOUR WAY THROUGH SNACKS!!

You will need...

3-5 medium sized radishes

2 tablespoons sour cream
4-6 stems of fresh greens of your choice (I advise dill)
1 pinch of salt

4-6 slices of the bread of your choice

1 small glass or round cookie cutter

Slice as many pieces of bread as you desire with an upside down glass or round cookie cutter. Smear a little bit of sour cream on the piece of bread, sprinkle with chopped dill or greens of your choice. Slice the radishes thinly and place as many as you like on the sandwich. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and you are ready to go!

Thank you for reading. Let me know how it turns out.

MEATY TOMATO-BASIL PIZZA!! HEALTHY AND GOOD

This is NOT an all homemade pizza. It's perfect for all of you out there who have a 9-5 job and a family to feed. It's really simple and you don't have to be a great cook.

You will need...

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce of your choice
1 serving of pizza dough

(If I were you, I would go to Big Y, or your neighborhood market and buy the spaghetti sauce and dough that they make every morning or you can use Jiffy pizza crust mix)

1 medium sized tomato,
3-5 leaves of fresh basil
1/2 pound of ground sirloin,
12oz. bag of shredded low moister mozzarella cheese
1 nonstick pizza sheet.

If you bought the store-made pizza dough, just sprinkle flour on both sides of the dough and try to roll it out as best as you can. When you bake it, the dough will rise a little bit so try to make it as thin as possible. If you have the talent of throwing the dough up in the air and stretching it out like a pizza pro...more power to you. I tried stretching the dough like a pro...all I got is a big mess. I got flour EVERYWHERE. It looked like a flour bomb went off.

Anyways, enough about my failed experiment. The dough takes a little longer to cook than the rest of the pizza. I like to let the rolled out pizza dough that's on a nonstick pizza sheet bake on 300 degrees untill you start to see a little hint of golden brown.

While the dough is baking, take the 1/2 pound of ground sirloin and cook in a pan on medium heat. DO NOT ADD OIL TO IT. The meat produces it's own juice. I like to add a few tablespoons of water to it so it has a little more to work with. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Cook the meat until it's ALMOST done. If you cook it until it's done it will be too chewy in the pizza.

When you take the pizza crust out of the oven, take a tablespoon and spread the pizza sauce all over the crust. Pour the meat over the pizza dough and the sauce next. Make sure that the meat stays away from the very edge of the crust (you dont want to eat meaty charcoal, trust me). Next comes the cheese. Load the pizza with a lot of cheese. If you can, try to keep the cheese away from the very edge of the crust... it will burn before the center is cooked. Make sure to wash the basil leaves very well, tear the leaves into pieces of your choice and place all over the top of the pizza. Slice the tomato and place it on top of the cheese and basil. Place the pizza in the oven and bake on 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. After that time is up you can turn the oven up to 400 degrees and bake the pizza until all the cheese is melted and you can see that the tomatoes are soft enough to poke through with a fork without much effort.

Naturally, when the basil is baked on the top of the pizza, it will not remain green. It will turn into an almost brown color because it's drying. If you find the pizza crust a little too chewy, you can always pop it back in to the oven to bake some more. That will make the pizza crust a little more crispy.

Thank you for reading and let me know how it turns out.

COMING UP, SANDWICH OF THE WEEK!!!

Every Wednesday I will be writing a post about a sandwich. That would become the sandwich of the week. I will be writing about breakfast sandwiches, snack sandwiches, some of those bite size sandwiches for platters or tea parties, lunch sandwiches and sandwiches for dinner.
Also, I will be posting pictures of most of the recipes (once I find the cord so I can plug my camera into my computer), so get ready!!

I'm excited, IT'S GONNA BE GREAT!!!

SAUCE FOR AMAZING SPAGHETTI!! SO SIMPLE!!!

All you will need is 1 pound of ground meat, spices of your choice (I used Italian spices, salt and dried dill weed), a couple tablespoons of spaghetti sauce (Newman's Own), a few sprinkles of shredded Parmesan cheese, about a cup of mozzarella cheese, one tablespoon of butter, two servings of spaghetti noodles and one medium sized fresh tomato (or red bell pepper).

Okey Doke, start boiling water for the noodles. When the water is bubbling, throw the two servings of noodles in the water. While the noodles are boiling, heat the pan on medium heat with one tablespoon of butter in it ( I like using the imported Irish butter, it's really good). Dice the fresh tomato or bell pepper and throw it in with the butter in the preheated pan, stir a few times, turn the heat down on the stove to make sure that the butter doesn't burn before the vegetables are done. You already should have one pound of hamburger meat prepared on the side (make sure the meat is NOT frozen, for those of you who have frozen hamburger meat). Stir in the meat with the butter and vegetables ( I would advise using a spatula to spread the meat around, MAKE SURE THE MEAT IS CHUNKY, OK? Otherwise you will be left with a big meaty mess!). Add about 1/4 cup of water to the mixture and put it on high heat. The water will eventually evaporate most of the way and what you will be left with is a juicy meat sauce. Add spices of your choice, salt, pepper and mix in a little Parmesan cheese while it's still simmering. Serve over a plate of spaghetti noodles. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the dish and serve with a salad on the side.


Thanks for reading. Hope you like it and let me know how it turns out.

HELLOOOO LASAGNA!!!!!

Okey Dokey, many people do not have the nerves to try to make lasagna!! It's fairly easy. All you need is some serious creativity and all the necessary ingredients.

First, go out and get yourself some lasagna noodles. It doesn't matter what kind, just make sure most of them were not blasted to smitherines when they were shipped. In other words, try to make sure at least 3/4 of the noodles in the package are intact. I like to use organic noodles (actually I like using everything that's organic). If you want to make this recipe for more than half a dozen people then you might want to buy two boxes of lasagna noodles. Riccota cheese. I used 22 oz. of organic Riccota cheese. As far as sauce goes, I like using Organic Newman's Own tomato-basil flavor (it adds a little extra kick to the lasagna). You will need about 6 oz. of shredded low moisture mozzerella cheese. I like to add extra mozzarella just because it makes the lasagna a little more yummy and stringy. Two eggs. 1/2 a cup to a cup of Grated parmesan cheese (make sure it's like a powder, not shredded), depending how much you like parmesian. Now you can add meat if you want. What I like to do is take all the white meat of a medium sized rotisery chicken, put it in a blender, add a couple spoonfulls of sour cream or heavy cream to make the mixture creamy. Add a little salt, pepper and other spices to taste ( I like to use Italian spices).

Ok, are you ready? This is the ultimate secret! You will need a 7 in. x 7 in. x 4 1/2 in. pan, preferably teflon. If you use a small and deep pan there will actualy be more lasagna and less carbs per serving because there will be less noodles and a moderate amount of other stuff per serving. That's my own little secret.

Now mix the ricotta cheese, eggs, parmesan cheese and mozzarella in a big bowl.

In a soup pot, boil about half the noodles from one package. Let it boil until the top layer of the noodles is soft and the inside is not yet done (shouldn't take more than a couple munutes). If they are not completely the way they are suposed to be, that's ok, don't start freaking out. With tongs, carefully place the noodles in the pan you have selected. In the pan listed above, three strips of noodles should fit across the pan. Now here's the fun part, layering. Just alternate the cheese, meat, sauce and noodles as you desire. I add a lot of sauce and cheese mixture in between the noodles. Boil the noodles as needed. When almost at the top of the pan, top off with sauce and layer with extra mozzarella cheese. Pop in the oven preheated at 450 for 20 minutes. After that, slide a knife through the middle of the lasagna. If it slides in easily it's ready. If it does not, then put it back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes. It should be ready by then.

Thank you for reading and hope you like it. Let me know how it turns out.

THREE INGREDIENTS! PERFECT LUNCH.

All you will need is a package of fresh mozzarella (should be in a plastic container and the cheese should be wrapped in Saran Wrap), greens or fresh vegetables of your choice, roasted tomatoes (should be in oil, in a plastic container or a glass jar) and bread of your choice.

What I like to do is cut the bread no more than 1/2 inch thick and place a couple slices of mozzarella on top of the bread. Also place a few slices of roasted tomatoes on the top. Toast the sandwich in the toaster oven set to 35o degrees until the cheese is completely melted. Serve with fresh vegetables or fresh green salad on the side.

Thank you very much for reading. Let me know how it turns out.

FEELING CROU-TONY?

Okey Dokey, you will need some bread of your choice.

All you will need is olive oil, salt, brush, Italian bread (or bread of your choice) and a pinch of dill weed. Cut the bread into desired pieces. I advise you to cut the bread no more than 1/2 inch thick. In a little bowl mix olive oil and salt together. Brush the pieces of bread lightly on both sides and sprinkle lightly with dill weed. Toast in oven until the edges are slightly golden brown on top.

Thank you for reading, let me know how it turns out.

A HINT OF OUTDOOR MUSHROOM SOUP!

That's right people, mushroom soup time! I know that some of you are a little ick-ed out about mushrooms or have no luck with them at all. I know how you feel. I feel the same way. It's like I was born to ruin mushroom recipes. Even stir fried mushrooms!

This soup is imposible to ruin. No matter what, it will turn out delicious and will keep you and your family craving for more...YIKES! I sound like an infomercial. Anyways...all you'll need are three large potatoes (I like to use those baking ones, the Idaho or Russet), one package of oyster, baby bella, and shitake mushroom mix. I like to use everything organic... one medium sized carrot, one small sweet onion, scallions, one stem of thyme (optional, it gives the soup that unforgetable flavor, trust me), one stem rosemary, one bay leaf (extremely important), two tablespoons butter, chicken broth (big container), pinch of sea salt and a pinch of fresh cracked black pepper. Now you have to figure out how many people its gonna be for. This recipe is approximately for three people. To start off, your mushrooms should already be cut into bite size pieces. DO NOT MAKE THEM TOO SMALL! If you can find a mushroom mix that is already precut that would be the best thing to do. If you wish, you can get a little more oyster mushrooms to add to your soup. They give a nice little flavor to the broth. You don't want them to be small enough to floss your teeth with. Chop the carrot, don't make the pieces too big. You want to them to cook well enough before your soup is done, but don't make them too small that they will fall apart. So if you want to slice them, make them from 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch thick. Chop the scallions. In a metal soup pot throw one tablespoon of butter and stir fry the carrots and chopped scallions together on low heat until the butter is melted and the carrots are getting just a little bit soft. If the carrots are not getting any softer and the butter is starting to burn, pour the chicken broth over the carrots and scallions in the soup pot. Let it boil a few minutes, peel and cut the potatoes into about 6 bite size cubes and then boil along with the carrots and the scallions. Throw in a a bay leaf. In the meanwhile, wash the stems of rosemary and thyme, chop them extremely fine (you do not want to chew them when eating the soup, you just want the rosemary and thyme to give the flavor and aroma to the soup) and when your done doing that, in a separate frying pan throw one tablespoon of butter and the package of washed mix of mushrooms. Stir-fry them for a couple of minutes and throw them into the cooking carrots, potatoes, scallions and broth. Let it all cook until the potatoes are almost done (you will know when the potatoes are done when you put a fork through them and they break apart easily). Chop the sweet onion finely and throw it into the soup along with the chopped thyme, rosemary pinch of sea salt and pepper. The soup will be done when the potatoes are done.

I like to serve the soup with homemade croutons.

Thank you for reading, and let me know how it turned out.