Shrinking Daisy

Not Your Momma’s Crockpot

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 | Recipe, Thoughts | 2 Comments

Do you have a crockpot? Do you think crockpots belong to little old ladies and only make beef stew? That’s what people tell me, but really how did they get this bad rap??? I love my (multiple) crockpots and use them to cook everything from breakfast to dinner! There are some great reasons why crockpotting can make your life easier and leaner in the future.

1. First reason you should love a crockpot… it’s super easy.  No 5 step processes, no big complicated lists of things to do, you just throw everything in, and come back when dinner is ready! It always feels like a present when I walk in the door and smell my cooking dinner! Yay! This can save you many a call for takeout on a busy evening. By the way, I’ve been known to throw all of the ingredients for dinner in the pot the night before, refrigerate the whole thing, then take it out and turn it on the next morning before work.  This works great and makes things even easier.
2. Second reason to start slow cooking today is that there’s pretty much no need for added fat.  Your food cooks with moist heat, and doesn’t need any fat to keep from sticking, or brown anything.
3. The third reason is… it stretches a buck! If you haven’t figured this out yet, I’m super cheap.  My motto is, spend money where you actually want to, where it counts, other than that be thrifty. You save money by having a great dinner/breakfast/dessert waiting for you instead of caving to the instant gratification of easy (and high calorie!) restaurant food.  You also save money because Crockpots cook for a crowd, you can feed a ton of people with a huge crockpot full of chili or chicken or whatever you like! But… if it’s just you or just a few, then you are luckier still.  Your crockpot full of food can now become some of the yummiest and most economical frozen dinners ever.  Freeze your leftovers in individual containers so that they’re ready to go, in two weeks you’ll be so excited to eat bean soup (or whatever) again, and you’ll feel like a genius for planning ahead!  You’ll not only save money over the store bought stuff, but you didn’t spend any more time to do it. 

It’s almost summertime though!  Why would I want soupy stewy stuff from a crockpot?  Actually, I think it’s an even better idea to use them as the weather heats up, with a crockpot you avoid heating up your whole house with the oven or stove, not to mention use less energy.

There are so many great recipes for the crockpot out there, here’s one that I posted last fall that was a hit http://www.shrinkingdaisy.com/2008/11/14/provencal-style-slow-cooker-beef-stew/ and this one was a great too http://www.shrinkingdaisy.com/2008/11/14/seize-the-season-pomegranates-csas-and-soup/ , the WeightWatchers website has a lot of great crockpot ideas, and I have this wonderful cookbook with tons of great ideas http://www.amazon.com/FIX-FORGET-LIGHTLY-Healthy-Low-Fat/dp/1561484318 but here are two ideas, that everyone loves, and are super simple to get you started.  The first is breakfast, followed by a dinner idea. 

Crockpot Oatmeal (8 one cup servings)

• 2 c steel cut oats (these are small peices of oatmeal instead of smashed old fashioned oats, they hold up better to the crockpot, and can be found cheapest in the bulk bin section of the grocery store, sometimes located in the natural food section)
• 7 cups water
• 1 tsp salt (don’t forget this, it’s important!!!)
• 1 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste)

Put all ingredients in your slow cooker and cook on low 8 hours or overnight.  When you wake up, turn it off, top with bananas, milk, raisins, strawberries, nuts, syrup, peanut butter, pb2, sugar free hot cocoa, sugar free syrup, or whatever you like.  I like to make a chunky monkey with cocoa, bananas, and pb2, but that’s just me!!! Talk about an easy way to get in your filling breakfast…

Nutrition Facts
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		140.0
Total Fat		2.5 g
	Saturated Fat	0.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		0.0 mg
Potassium		0.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		27.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	4.0 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		6.0 g

Crockpot Salsa Chicken (8 servings)

This one has a million variations but this is the basic. 

• 8 frozen chicken breasts
• 1 jar of salsa (16 oz.)

That’s it.  Put the chicken breasts into the crockpot frozen, and turn it on low for 8 hours.  When you return it will be like shredded chicken in a flavorful sauce and will be great for soft tacos, enchiladas, over rice, beans, burritos, etc.  You can mix this up by adding spices like chili powder and cumin, adding a can or two of black beans at the beginning to bulk up the meal, the possibilities are endless!  Everyone loves this and it’s great for a crowd or a party, think of how easily you could put a healthy mexican buffet together with this chicken! This is easily doubled, or halved depending on how much you need!

Nutrition Facts
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		143.4
Total Fat		1.6 g
	Saturated Fat	0.4 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.4 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.4 g
Cholesterol		68.4 mg
Sodium		287.5 mg
Potassium		404.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate		3.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.8 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		27.9 g

Tags: chicken, Crock Pot, healthy cooking, oatmeal, Recipe, recipes, salsa, slow cooker

Taking a Moment Off

Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Thoughts | 1 Comment

Did you know that stress can make you gain weight?

“Um… duh, I know,” is probably what you’re thinking right now.  Stress from work, home, school, our fabulous economy, it all piles up, and I know my first response is “I know what will make me feel better… a brownie! Yay, brownies!”  But you know the story right? Inevitably the brownie bliss is short lived and unsatisfying, and only leads to a spiral of guilt, which leads to more brownies, and so on until a scary weigh-in experience occurs!  Wow, this sounds like a total downer, how to avoid this scenario?

Well, some stress we can control we can choose to eliminate, and some of it we can’t, so what can we do about that? Lucky me, I was a lucky attendee at an amazing women’s conference this week, and one session discussed just this subject. So here are a few strategies I picked up, try a few out and de-stress yourself!

• Take a Break - Sometimes 5 minutes is all you need to clear your head and give yourself a new attitude! Set a timer, give yourself a break to look forward to, and actually go!  Go outside if you can, take deep breaths and notice the scenery.
• Step out for lunch (and dinner, and breakfast) - I’m not talking about eating out here, I’m talking about stopping what you’re doing, moving to a table, outside on a bench, or to some other lunch type spot, and giving yourself a few minutes with no distractions to have a meal.  Eating with someone else can be great too, the social interaction is healthy and refreshing!
• Find a Childhood Picture  - I love this idea!  Do you have a picture of yourself as a child? One where you’re really happy and smiley? Do you remember how you felt in that picture, what it was like? Find that picture, hang it up, and take a minute every so often to take a look.  You’d be surprised how it can change your perspective.

Tags: stress, Thoughts

Hey, What’s Quinoa?

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 | Food Finds, Recipe | No Comments

In the spirit of adventure, and exposing the world to foods that I love, love, love… I’m unveiling the awesomeness of quinoa (keen-wah)! Ok you say… what is that, and why is it so great? Well, you just have no idea what you’ve been missing. 

Quinoa is a grain… ok, actually it’s a seed, but you use it as a grain.  It has a delicious nutty flavor and it cooks super fast.  You can use it anywhere you would normally use rice. It’s from the Andes mountains in South America, and was a favorite of those oh-so-healthy Incas. 

So… why wouldn’t you just use rice you ask? Why go for the weirdly spelled grain nobody’s heard of? Well, this is no ordinary grain, it’s jam packed with protein, in fact it’s the only plant based food that is a complete protein, so it keeps you really full and satisfied.  I love the flavor, a lot more interesting than rice.  It cooks up in just 15 minutes too! It’s great for people who have gluten issues (gluten free), and since it’s a seed, you can eat it during religious holidays that ban grains.  And… here’s a good one, it’s cheap!!! Buy it in the bulk bins in the natural/whole foods section of your grocery store and the price is a lot lower than if you find it in a box.

The basic recipe is 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa (so if you have 1 cup of quinoa, use 2 cups of water) , bring it all to a boil and then cover and simmer on low for about 15 minutes.  You’ll end up with a pot of slightly al dente (not mushy) grains, with little curly-q tails attached (that’s the germ), they’re super cute. You have to make sure you rinse the quinoa off first before you cook it, because theoretically it could have a bitter taste if you don’t (this has never happened to me).  You can also cook it in a rice cooker.

I think qunoa (like a lot of other things) tastes even better if you cook it in chicken or vegetable broth instead of water.  More flavor without adding a bunch of fat or calories, woo hoo!!! You can make a quinoa veggie pilaf, stuff peppers with it, put it in soup, make a cold salad with it (great for potlucks), and just basically be the inventive person who introduces your friends to a great new food.  You can also make a stellar filling breakfast by adding fruit, nuts, and milk, and treating it like oatmeal.  This will definitely hold you until lunch! 

Well, are you convinced yet? Are you going to try it? How about a recipe to give you a kickstart? Here’s a spicy black bean and corn one pot quinoa meal that has been a hit everywhere I’ve taken it:

Spicy Black Bean and Corn Quinoa

• 1 cup dry Quinoa
• 1 15oz can black beans
• 1/2 cup chopped bell peppers (I like red, orange, and yellow)
• 1 jalepeno pepper diced (or feel free to up the volume if you’re braver than me)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 2 medium diced green onions
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• dash of salt
• pepper
• cooking spray

Rinse quinoa in a colander or sieve under running water. Get out a medium saucepan, saute onions, and all peppers with the dash of salt in cooking spray over medium heat.  When the onions and peppers have softened, add quinoa and toast with veggies, while stirring.  Add in broth, spices, corn and beans; and bring everything to a boil.  Cover with the saucepan lid and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.  At the end add in the  green onions, and salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy humongous servings!

Nutrition Facts
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		314.9
Total Fat		6.2 g
	Saturated Fat	0.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.7 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.8 g
Cholesterol		2.5 mg
Sodium		837.6 mg
Potassium		452.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate		82.7 g
	Dietary Fiber	12.7 g
	Sugars	9.0 g
Protein		18.3 g

Tags: Food Finds, healthy cooking, quinoa, Recipe, recipes, weightwatcher recipe

WALK !T

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Thoughts, Thursday 6:30 Merriam WeightWatchers | 2 Comments

That’s right, this is the PSA about the WALK !T challenge that Weight Watchers is launching this week! I’m so excited about it.  In the Celebrating Change in Spring challenge that I gave to my Weight Watcher meeting (a non-scale number goal to work on until Mother’s Day) 22 of the 24 goals had to do with exercising more, so… obviously everybody is primed to go, and I expect our group to rock!!!!

So, here’s the downlow on the basics, go to www.teamweightwatchers.com and check out the program, there are training programs, teams to be formed, awards to be given, and pounds to be lost people! We’re going to talk about all the specifics during meetings, but be sure to get on the website to check out the events in the area that we could get involved with.  Let’s sign up, get together, and get moving!

Tags: 5k, activity, challenge, walking, weight loss

Food P#rn

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 | Thoughts | No Comments

This came up in my Weight Watchers meeting… and how could I resist writing a post about it??? Seriously, too juicy to pass up! You know you’ve thought about it… it’s the Special K commercial with the chocolate ice cream seductively calling from the freezer, it’s the thought you had about eating all those scrumptious looking chocolate eggs in the grocery store.  (Um, yes that was me that stood in front of the Cadbury display for an uncomfortably long period of time..)

I watched an immensely entertaining episode of No Reservations (with Anthony Bourdain) that talked about nothing but this subject…. and what did Anthony say about it? He said it’s on the rise, that more Americans today than every are sitting down to watch footage of food and food experiences that they are not likely to experience themselves in person any time soon. http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/read/the-money 

Seriously, how often do you actually recreate the masterpiece that you just witnessed on food network? I’m guilty, I do get ideas and ”weightwatcherize” recipes all the time, but I also  love to watch Iron Chef, Giada, Paula, all of them, making things that I will never dare to try.  Really now, how on earth would I lower the calories in Paula Deen’s Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding???? 

So why do I like it? Here’s my theory, there’s more to food than food.  Food is full of feelings, food is one of the first expressions of love that we recognize.  It’s full of memories of childhood, the smells can  remind us of good times, of being a kid, of family dinners, of things we wish we had more of, things that aren’t stressful.  Michael Pollan (in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma) has the theory that eating is a communal act, we’re looking for community or belonging, sort of a stopper for our loneliness drain.  Maybe when we’re staring at food network, or the giant crazy honey bun, we’re confused… we’re like the teenager who confuses what love really is… we’re looking for love, but all we get is food lust.

Tags: Anthony Bourdain, Food Network, Michael Pollan, Omnivore's Dilemma, Thoughts, weightloss

What’s the Deal with Greek Yogurt??

Friday, April 10th, 2009 | Food Finds, Recipe | 1 Comment

Greek Yogurt… it’s advertised in all of the weight loss magazines, everybody talks about it on weight loss message boards, it comes up in weight watcher meetings but… what is it, why would you want it, and what makes it Greek exactly???

So… here’s the deal, Greek yogurt is yogurt that has been strained so that it is less liquidy. Those crafty guys over in Greece figured out how to make creamy yummy goodness out of a low fat or fat free milk, yay! It’s more the consistency of sour cream than yogurt. People like it because it’s thick and creamy even when it’s fat free! You can use the plain one as a stand in for sour cream in any recipe or on tacos/potatoes etc, and it has less fat and calories. (This is the perfect ingredient for something like low calorie scalloped potatoes, or a creamy dip.) Another great use is… if you have an ice cream maker/freezer, you can mix fat free Greek yogurt (2 cups) with a box of any flavor of fat free sugar free pudding, and have a great  low calorie home made frozen yogurt!

As for the nutritional side of things, since it’s denser than regular yogurt is has more protein per cup so it should keep you full, the downside is though that some of the calcium is lost when the liquid is strained out… bummer.

You can buy it at most grocery stores, and there are many brands. I’ve seen it at Hy-Vee, Price Chopper, and even Wal-mart, but… it’s usually a little more expensive than regular yogurt.

If you’re super cheap like me, you can make it yourself, here’s what you need:

• A strainer,
• a container of regular yogurt (Plain or flavored, whatever you want to end up with, the fit and active brand from Aldi works great, but note, some yogurts have weird ingredients like gums, they may not work, check and make sure there isn’t anything like “guar gum” in your yogurt before you start.)
• coffee filter,
• a bowl,
• a little plastic wrap

Put the strainer over the bowl, put the coffee filter in it, dump in the yogurt, put the plastic wrap on top, and put the whole thing in the fridge for 6-8 hours (overnight is good). When you come back the yogurt should be about half the volume it was, and there should be clear liquid in the bowl. Throw out the liquid. Voila! You’ve got Greek yogurt. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Now… for even more fun, you can leave the yogurt in the strainer in the fridge longer (12 hours) and it will become the constistency of cream cheese. Why would you want yogurt cheese you ask? Because it’s a low calorie tasty swap for cream cheese, with a little more tang.  You can even stir in some garlic and herbs before you strain it, and come up with something that many have mistaken for Boursin cheese! Here’s an awesome recipe for herb yogurt cheese spread from the Food Network that got me started down this path.  Yogurt Cheese Recipe

Tags: Cheese, Frozen Yogurt, Greek Yogurt, recipes, Yogurt Cheese

Zumba

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Exercise | 2 Comments

So.. I mentioned drop in classes at the community center.. but I didn’t tell you about the love of my exercising life (if there could be such a thing) ZUMBA! What is this? Basically a Latin dance party disguised as a workout, it is amazing! I must admit that on my own sweating and jumping around doesn’t seem so appealing, but suddenly in a class full of people with a high energy motivating instructor making you dance around… it’s fun!  I’ve even started dropping in on extra classes at a local dance studio, I just feel energized afterwards!

In truth, I am a total exercise class avoider, I laughed at my mother for dancing around in spandex when I was a kid… but well, I guess we all come full circle because here I am rhumba-ing my nights away and loving it.  Do you know what I love about it the most? Everybody can do it.  The class I go to is full of all kinds of people, and they aren’t worrying about whether or not they jiggle the most or if they can do the steps right, we’re all jiggling, and everybody messes up! (This is good news for the coordination challenged among us) I can’t take credit for the idea, it’s another suggestion from my always inspiring weight watchers meeting, a recommendation from a member, well…. Thanks! It’s been awesome!

So… get over to the Zumba website they have a nifty class finder and you can Zumba too!

www.zumba.com

Tags: Exercise, zumba

Willpower

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Thoughts | 4 Comments

That’s the topic this week at weight watcher meetings.  It’s one that gets me thinking.  Is willpower what makes you succeed, what vaults you into the realm of people who lost weight versus the ones that never do? Is that what it takes to lose weight? Somewhat it is, it has to be, because at the end of the day, no matter how much support you get or don’t get, no matter where you start from, it’s you.  You are the one that decides every day to keep going no matter what, and that takes willpower

 I think that willpower evolves over time, it’s not static.  At first it’s the willpower not to eat like you used to, the willpower to wake up every morning and put in a good workout, all the stuff you think about when losing weight but I think these are only the beginning, the obvious.  After a while it takes willpower to keep going even when you don’t get the results you think you should.  Willpower to show up to your meetings even though you know the news is bad, to forgive yourself.  The willpower to face yourself and the reasons you gained weight in the first place… that one’s a tough one, but of course, the hardest is possibly the most important.

Tags: Thoughts, willpower

Romanian Garlic Chicken

Friday, April 3rd, 2009 | Recipe | 2 Comments

Aren’t cookbooks great? While I must admit I almost never really follow the recipe exactly, I get so much inspiration from them.  This week I’ve purchased 2 great ones, both Romanian, which makes my husband so happy.  I’ve just tried a version of Romanian garlic chicken, with only a few modifications to weightwatcherize it.  It was really really good, I was so excited for lunch the next day to have leftovers!  Give it a shot and shock your friends with a cuisine they’ve almost certainly never tried! (Notice the ingenious move of thickening the sauce with mashed potato, a great trick for other sauces too!)

Romanian Braised Chicken with Garlic (8 Servings)

• Cooking Spray (4 sprays)
• 3 lbs of chicken pieces (mixed) without skin, with bone (or you could used boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, it will cook faster)
• 1/2 cup of onion, chopped
• 1 Tbs. tarragon
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed (or 5 tsp of jarred garlic)
• 1 Tbs. salt
• 1 Tbs. black pepper
• 1 large potato, boiled and mashed (or do what I did and nuke a potato for 4 minutes in the microwave, then smash it up!)
• 2 Tbs. chives, chopped (I had green onions, so I used those instead)
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 cup chicken stock (low sodium so YOU can add the salt)
• 1/4 cup plain fat free yogurt (this would be a good place for Greek yogurt if you have it, or you could substitute fat free sour cream, the nutritional information may change)
• 2 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped (looks pretty if you have it!)

Sear chicken pieces in a skillet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray over high heat, about one minute on each site.  Remove from heat and cover. Let stand.

In a saucepan, saute onion in cooking spray until golden, about 5 minutes.  Add tarragon, garlic, pepper, and salt to onion and stir.  Now add the potato, chives, and lemon juice, stir it up again then add in the chicken broth. 

Put the skillet with the chicken in it back on the burner, add the sauce to the chicken skillet, if the sauce seems too thick, add a little water.  Cover the skillet and simmer over low heat until chicken is tender and cooked through.  (30 minutes or so)

Remove the skillet from heat, stir in yogurt. (Creaminess, Yum!)

Serve it up and enjoy!!!

Nutrition Facts
8 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		178.5
Total Fat		3.7 g
	Saturated Fat	0.9 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.9 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.2 g
Cholesterol		78.1 mg
Sodium		300.2 mg
Potassium		504.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		7.7 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.6 g
	Sugars	1.3 g
Protein		27.3 g

You could serve this with potatoes, rice, roasted veggies, whatever you like; but I served it the traditional way over polenta.  Never had polenta you say? Well, you are in for a treat, polenta is a filling food, it’s creamy, warm, and somewhere in the mashed potatoes area of comfort food! Polenta is great with stews, steaks, chili, it makes a great tamale pie.  Possibly best of all in this economy… it’s CHEAP! Here’s the down low on the low fat method:

Yummy Polenta (4 servings)

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 3 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed (or 1 tsp jarred garlic)

Heat broth in a pot until it boils vigorously.  With one hand slowly pour in cornmeal, while stirring with the other hand. (octopus like abilities appreciated here)  Keep stirring until it bubbles again.  Lower the heat to medium-low, and stir occasionally until it’s thickened and all of the broth is absorbed, it should be about the texture of mashed potatoes.  Turn off the heat and let it stand until you’re ready to eat it!

Nutrition Facts
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		169.9
Total Fat		3.1 g
	Saturated Fat	0.7 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.9 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.2 g
Cholesterol		1.9 mg
Sodium		1,189.2 mg
Potassium		410.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate		25.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.2 g
	Sugars	0.2 g
Protein		10.8 g

Tags: chicken, garlic, polenta, Recipe, romanian

Celebrate Spring

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 | Thoughts | No Comments

It’s definitely spring, I know, I know it snowed last weekend, but isn’t that how spring is? Gorgeous flowers interspersed with tricky surprise snow and ice storms? Enjoy them. Really, at last the long grey winter has broken and it’s time to celebrate!

Think about it, this time of year we celebrate newness and change in everything, so why not the newness and change in yourself?  This spring, it’s all about noticing the little things.  The birds that weren’t there before, the flowers that didn’t die in the ice storm, the day that was warmer than yesterday, the second cookie you didn’t take, the healthy breakfast you made time for, the 20 minutes of working out that you gave yourself! These little changes, they add up to so much more, next spring you can look back on this one, and see what a difference you’ve made!

Tags: spring, Thoughts, weightloss