My food journal blog

Just a FYI, I have a different blog for my food journaling etc.. now. It is on my side bar under Reynolds Wrap.

Burger of the week!

On hubbies request, after watching The Ultimate Burger on the Food Network, I will be making a different burger each week. Tonight I made salmon burgers and we liked them! It was a light hamburger and I put them on cracked wheat buns and served it with corn on the cobb. This coming week, probably on the 4th, I am going to make green chile cheeseburgers. Here is the recipe for the salmon burgers.

For Salmon Burgers:
2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
1/2 Vidalia onion, diced
2 eggs
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 lemon, zested
4 tablespoons Dill Mayonnaise, recipe follows
2 (6 1/2-ounce) cans Alaska skinless and boneless pink salmon, drained well
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In medium bowl, combine, parsley, onions, eggs, panko, black pepper, salt, lemon zest and Dill Mayonnaise together. Add drained salmon and mix well together. Make 4 patties and set aside.

In a large skillet on medium, heat 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil. Place burgers in skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned. Turn and brown other side. Place in oven for 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve on buns with Dill Mayonnaise.

Dill Mayonnaise:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons freshly chopped dill leaves
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream Cake with Berries

This is a simple, not too sweet cake that is great with any type of berries.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups of whipping cream (1 pint)
2 large eggs
berries
(I think I am going to try adding lemon zest to the next cake I bake)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. In a large bowl mix flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, 1 1/2 cups of cream, and eggs until smooth, creamy and quite thick. (I accidently put in the 2 1/2 cups of cream and baked it a little longer and it was moist and good).

2. Pour batter into the pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-45 minutes. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

3. In a bowl toss what kind of berries you like with sugar and let stand for 20 minutes. Tonight I used raspberries and ollaliberries. Strawberries would be good too. Serve cake topped with berries and whipped cream.

Homemade whipped cream

Use the rest of the whipping cream and place it in a chilled stainless bowl. Start mixing on high speed. Add about 1 tsp of vanilla and powdered sugar. Taste cream, start adding 1/2 cup powdered sugar, if you need more, add more. Beat until it forms a peak.

I never make mistakes!

Ya, right! I gave Cindy the recipe for Sticky Chicken. If you have not read her blog regarding the Sticky Chicken disaster, you should, it is hilarious and ALL MY FAULT. I gave Cindy the recipe but accidently left out an important ingredient, 1 1/2 cups of water. That is why it turned out like TAR! I feel so bad that I ruined their dinner and now I am going to make some Sticky Chicken for them. I made it for dinner last night and it is one of my favorites. Here is the CORRECT recipe:

Sticky Chicken

1 tbsp veg oil
4 skin-on chicken breast halves or 2 lbs
2 each dried chiles; ancho and chipotle. Though I use whatever red dried chiles I can find.
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water (it was not on my paper, that is why I forgot to add it to Cindy's recipe).
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Heat oil and add chicken skin side down until browned, about 5 minutes and remove. Drain the oil out of the pan leaving any brown bits.

Take the stems and seeds out of the chiles and add to the pan on medium high heat. Add your soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and water, stir and bring to a boil, turn down hear to a simmer and add the chicken skin side up back to the pan. Cook until the chiken is done arounc 15 minutes.

Take chicken out when it is done, place in a 200 degree oven in a pan with foil covering it to keep warm. Reduce sauce until it coats the back of a spoon, around 20-25 minutes more (simmer). I like to shred the chicken and place it back into the sauce. I spoon over rice, add chopped cilantro and stir fry some veggies for the side. Make sure you take the chiles out of the sauce before serving!

Aaahhhh Beach Weather!

It was nice at Avila Beach. You wore your sweatshirts in the morning and at night. We had lots of fun and little man cried when we left, though we had to turn back at San Luis Obispo because I noticed that he forgot his BLANKIE! That would have been awful if we had made it all the way home with no blankie!

The first morning, on Monday, we had this great idea to ride our bikes to breakfast. We thought, oh Seaside is not too far, lets ride. We put the kids on the back of our bikes with a back pack and headed out. We got to Avila Valley Barn which is a nice ride with a bike trail and saw the first hill. Why do you not notice these things when you are driving? Well, up the first hill huffing and puffing.....we got up and WHAT, another hill....hubby said, "maybe we should stay at the Avila Valley Barn and get a muffin", and I said, "no, it's not that far". Hah...was I ever wrong! Up 4 more hills and about 50 minutes (7 miles) later we got there with freezing children on the back. Those poor little things were shivering.

Hubby then called a Taxi that took him back to the hotel where he got his truck and drove back so we could load up the bikes and drive back. I don't think the kids wanted back on those bikes after that! That was the most expensive breakfast ever. It cost $22 for 7 miles! Lesson learned....just ride to the Barn, no more than that.

We had lots of fun the rest of the day. Fed the animals at Avila Valley Barn and picked up some fruit then headed for the beach. We played at the beach and park most of the days and every morning went to the Barn and fed the goats. Little missie loved the baby goat and little man loved playing on the hay.


This sums up the bike ride with this look.

I will post pictures on Facebook since it is faster and you can post more.

Out of the Office

I will be tech free for the next 5 days, so I will not be posting. We are going to Avila for Father's Day and staying until Wednesday. It will be nice to take a trip. I have been packing and even had time to give myself a pedicure, cuticles and all!

My plan of attack food wise is to not eat bread, limit junk food, but will allow ice cream one evening when we go to Arroyo Grande and of course the best ollaliberry turnover ever at the Avila Farmer's Market. I am sitting her in some shorts that are a little tight around the belly (trying to stretch them out) but to remind me that I am close to fitting in some of my shorts and that I need to watch what I eat, even on vacation.

I am taking 4 days off working out as well. I think my back needs a break. The last couple spin classes that I taught I have had back spasms when I get off the bike to stretch. I end up on the floor telling my class what to stretch..LOL!~ My body is getting used to the extra work outs and starting one week from Tuesday I am going to teach a Boot camp with guts and butts right after that....what am I doing to myself?
Have a great Father's Day...see you later:)

TGIF

Exercise:

1 hr spin class and weights (arms)
Drank 1 liter of water

Breakfast:

Quiche just took out the egg and sausage from the pastry and ate that
1 cup cappucino

Lunch:

Leftovers from last nights dinner. Chicken w/small about of noodles
Bowl of strawberries
Iced tea

Snack:

A chocolate espresso cookie...I need to send them to someone else's home!

Dinner:

De-boned chicken and salad

Don't even want to go there!

So, today I had a group of girls over. I enjoyed baking last night and this morning. I made, chocolate espresso cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, berry cobbler, homemade whip cream, strawberries, sausage quiche and potatoes. And YES, I ate a little of everything and just had some more cobbler which is my favorite thing in the world! I really did not pay attention to what or how much I ate, so I am leaving it at that today. I had fun with my friends and enjoyed myself!

Tonights dinner line up is Bacon wrapped pork loin with corn on the cobb and fruit.

My daughter is now up, so I need to go rescue the tired little cutie. I think she had fun too! I know little man did!

I am laying it out on the line....

and my heart is racing because NO one knows how much I weigh. I have always weighed A LOT! When I was a size 4 I weighed 133 pounds. I do carry a lot of my muscle in my lower body so I do not mind if I weigh more. When I got pregnant with my first I argued with the nutritionist at the OBGYN's that I was not fat! I told her how much I could leg press, how many triathlons I had competed in etc....Nothing like finding out you are pregnant and being told you weigh too much. I hate BMI scales because everyone is different. I am into health and fitness, not a number on a scale. So why do I hide the fact that I weigh 150 pounds! Yes, there it is. I want to weigh 138 pounds. That is the weight I am comfortable at.

The last time I got down to 133 pounds, I was leg pressing 360 pounds and not eating very much, so I know that is an unrealistic goal that I just can't keep up. Really I would be happy at 140 pounds....that is just 10 pounds (that is my comfort zone)! Why is it so stinkin hard to loose 10 pounds! So, I am keeping a diary of what I eat, how much I exercise and the supplements I am taking. I do not believe in diet fads, medications etc...to loose weight. I do it the old fashioned way, eating better and exercising. Like I said before I am also reading up on the Thyroid diet. I take bits and pieces that I think will work for me because I do not follow eating plans, I like to make my own and find out what works for me. I hope to give others inspiration if they are in the same place, or to give others the freedom of letting go of the that number on the scale and to live a healthy life.....enjoy!

Update:

I think you should be wherever you are comfortable with yourself. For me, it is 140 pounds. I just want to be healthy and not have many complications that can come with a thyroid problem and I can solve most of those problems through proper eating and exercise. And yes, I can get a little obsessed when I want to reach a goal. I am a bit of a perfectionist!

Zucchini Anyone?

Little man and his Papa planted a garden at Papa's house and this is the result! Can you say ZUCCHINI! I grilled it up tonight and needed around 6 more people to join us! Papa said that there is another one like this. I am not sure how much more zucchini I can handle. I have fried it, grilled it, stir fried it and put it in a salad. Maybe I can put it in a dessert? Ya, I don't think so.

Blackened Salmon

I made this tonight and it was so good. I found the recipe off the internet and added a little twist.

Rub
2 tbs paprika
1 tbs cayenne pepper
1 tbs Onion powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano

Salmon Filets 4 for this recipe. I made 2 and cut the recipe in half.

I melted 1/2 stick of butter with one juice of a lemon. Before adding the rub I drizzled the lemon butter onto the salmon on both sides. Add rub generously to salmon. It has a little kick to it with a great flavor. Heat a non-stick pan add a little Pam. Make sure the pan is nice and hot before putting the salmon in. Place the salmon in and let it get a nice crust before turning. Once turned I added a little more lemon butter to the pan until the salmon was flaky and moist. I added a little more lemon butter on the top once plated.

I served the salmon with garlic and chive smashed potatoes and green beans.

Garlic and chive smashed potatoes

8 yukon gold potatoes cut into quarters
Boil the potatoes until fork tender
Drain and put back on stove to let the rest of the moisture out
In a small pan or microwaveable bowl, add 1/2 stick butter, 2 minced cloves of garlic and 3/4 cup of milk. Heat until butter is melted and you can smell the butter. Not too hot, you do not want to burn the garlic or milk.
Add mixture to the potatoes and smash with a smasher. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Stir in the desired amount of chives.

Green Beans

I only use fresh green beans, that is what we like
Blanch green beans in boiling water for 5-7 minutes and drain
Add a little olive oil to the pan and sautee 1/2 of a medium white onion to carmelize (about 10 minutes). Add 2 cloves of garlic salt and pepper with a splash of soy sauce. Add the green beans back into the pan and fold the onions through the green beans. To add a little kick add a dash of cayenne pepper and white pepper. At the end I add some mushrooms.

I know, I do not write recipes well. I just kind of throw things in and taste until I am happy with the outcome.

Strawberry Mice

For some reason it was not letting me change my picture and then when I deleted it, it would not let me put it back...so here are the strawberry mice.

Kid's Food Night a Success!

I made jello moons for dessert. What a mess that was!

The tree in dirt (cupcakes in the flower pot). They had fun playing with them, don't really think they ate much of it.

We ate on the living room floor picnic style which they loved! I do not know why my pictures are fuzzy on the bottom. I think I need to clean the lense.

Kid's Food Night a Success!

Little man very excited about the strawberry mice.

Little missie already a mess. She thought it was pretty cool to just pick out what she wanted to eat. We had potatoes and chicken packets which the hubby loved.

Dad teaching the kids how to suck jello off the plate!

Little man trying it out. He ended up with jello on his eye.

We ended the evening with a bike ride. Little man said that he loved kid's night and wants to do it again:)