Vicky Learns to Cook

Day six.  Down another 2/10ths of a pound.  ------------Breakfast ---------------------------------------- Wanting to repeat yesterday's outdoor breakfast I walked to the door with my cheerios and coffee only to discover that it had rained and my seat was wet.  I opened the doors to let in the breeze and sat on the couch, choosing a new book to read.  I finally picked another Ruth Reichl book Save me the Plums.  After breakfast, I decided to do Tai Chi inside. That went fairly well except the oven guy showed up and had questions, so it took longer than Id like to get him settled.  Turns out I ordered white console for my white oven, but they gave me black. I said put her in, I want my oven back! It actually looks pretty cool. And it works. woohoo! After tai chi, I wandered out to the garden. By then it was so humid you could drink the air.  But I weeded anyway.  Good thing I did, the morning glory is a gorgeous plant, but it wants to take over the...

Day five.  Down 1/2 pound as of this morning! Sweet.  ------------Breakfast ---------------------------------------- I sat outside since the weather was perfect and the animals were out.  Squirrels, birds, bunnies.  Very peaceful.  I had a mini bagel and some coffee and contemplated what book to get next. -----------Lunch -------------------------------------------- I spent a big chunk of the day converting recipes into one big cookbook.  Got a lot accomplished.  Asked daughter if she wanted takeout, she said no. She was planning on mac n cheese that she bought.  Then when I went to heat up my own leftovers, she left to get bubble tea with her friend, and ended up getting takeout.  Sigh.  -----------Dinner -------------------------------------------- The boys wanted hamburgers rather than meatloaf, so I made them burgers and some dilled potatoes.  It was great to just walk out to the garden and get some lettuce for my burger. ...

Day four. I got last blog's days mixed up. oops! I had no time to weigh myself.  ------------Breakfast ---------------------------------------- Late.  Ate oatmeal with raisins and almonds and brown sugar cinnamon.  and coffee.  High in calories, unfortunately. I like a lot of stuff on my oatmeal ;) So. Many. Meetings. -----------Lunch -------------------------------------------- Its like 1230 and I'm not hungry yet. Okay not long after that I was hungry. I repeated the quick dinner i had on tuesday and warmed up  angel hair, with some shrimp, the last of the broccoli and some scallions, soy, ginger, and garlic.  still yummy but I have to get better at mixing. Got a big bite of ginger!  -----------Dinner -------------------------------------------- Quick break for dinner. We had Scalloped chicken, garlic butter israeli couscous,  minted rainbow carrots, and fruit salad. (mango, peach, grapes, raspberries, apricots)  And then I had one tiny cho...

Day three. I weighed myself and gained 1/10th of a pound. Bleh.  I'm going to look up what causes weight fluctuations daily so I dont get discouraged. 1. It’s usually the result of food or water intake 2. Sodium and carbs cause water retention 3. All food and drinks have some weight 4.The resulting urine and stool also have weight 5. Exercise, Medication, Menstrual cycle, Alcohol intake, Illness When to weigh yourself If you want to lose more than 3 pounds You can use your daily base weight to help measure any amount of weight loss. One 2013 study  suggests that daily weigh-ins can contribute to significant weight loss. The study also factored  in exercise and diet. Make sure you keep in mind that you need to burn more energy, consume less energy (calories), or  do a combination of both to lose weight. Generally speaking, losing 1 to 2 pounds  a week is considered a healthy approach. So I think it was likely I ate more than I thought I did.  ------------Bre...

Yesterdays breakfast was good. I wanted that again.  Vicky's Rule #2: Find ways to be accountable and let people help you.  How do I feel?  I was glad this morning to get through the entire day sticking to my plan. Felt good.  Stomach was happier this morning.  I posted my breakfast with the egg and parm cheese, 4 others hadnt tried it before so I just inspired a few others to try it.  How about that? -----------Lunch -------------------------------------------- Still with the comfort food today. one cup of mac and cheese is 400 calories.  It fits my calorie budget.  This is one cup:  It doesnt look like much, but I wasnt hungry after.  I still WANTED more, but I wasn't hungry after eating it.   I think this is the epitome of portion control and watching my weight right here.  I can add some raw veggies to the meal (not in it, gross!)  I had a raw campari tomato...yum. and im good.  I like this eating plan! -----...

The new eating plan begins. I can't believe I'm doing this, but I am, and I'm taking you with me.  I was horrified to see how much weight I've gained, and let's be honest from the start,  it's not the fault of the pandemic. I've been steadily gaining for years now.  But you know how it just sort of hits you one day? And I'm really really bad with deadlines to lose weight. I sabotage myself and try to  stretch out the timeline or I try to lessen the weight I need to lose by that date.The trigger was actually pandemic related - I haven't seen anyone but the neighbors since this  started and now we have a graduation party coming, where I could see a lot of people I know.  I'll tell you this right now, the Rebel Vicky tends to get defensive when it comes to taking advice  from well meaning friends. I try to have a "take the best and leave the rest" mentality most of the time.  But my brain likes to cope by coming up with excuses why somethi...

Thinking about the effects of Social distancing                                               This is like those stories where we are in the future and only one thing has changed, but it changes everything.  Only this is real and the one thing is we need to keep our distance from each other if we are not part of a family that lives together.  So Let's say we are in this pandemic another 2 years before a vaccine comes out.  In response, the stores are spreading out their merchandise to make room for social distancing.  They don't have more room, the building is a finite space, so they will need to carry less things and more purchases will be online thus causing more need for deliveries. Now people going back to work are driving around and among all the delivery trucks.   Also restaurants are spreading out their tables, running at half capacity f...

Toaster Ovens and no bakes.                                            When a problem presents itself to me, after the initial panic, and worry, I tend to chew on the problem.  My mind has an optimistic side that tries to find avenues to still do what I need to do.  With the prospect of no oven for weeks and weeks, especially with both kids graduating and gifts being purchased, I need to wait to get the oven fixed or replaced.  Meantime I have a toaster oven and I can make no bake items.  What are no-bakes? Cheese cakes, fudge, Mousse, ice cream, barks, rice krispie treats And the other things can be done in a toaster oven, just smaller.  Muffins, cupcakes, biscuits, bacon, scones, pizza, cookies, small cakes, small pies, breads It makes me breath a sigh of relief to at least have a plan. So rather than worry about not getting an oven any time soon, I'm ...

Oven troubles.  Our console on the oven has been shoving itself back further and further as we push the buttons.  Today something fell inside of it when we hit Start. So this currently baking lemon blueberry pound cake may be the last one I make in this oven. (cries a little) It will be a week before we even make a decision on what we are going to do. And if it's anything like the last one, it will take a month to get a new one.  Good thing I spent all weekend organizing my cookbook and planned to test out recipes. Sigh.  I may have to impose on my neighbor, if she has air conditioning. (If not,  I would not even ask... I cant make her house hot in June!) Stoopid Oven If it's not one thing it's another. I mean, you know, since like February. Sigh.  One thing I'm not going to do is complain loudly. Appliances talk to each other. And my dishwasher and fridge have been known to mutiny too.  I'm going to go enjoy my pound cake, and offer some to the neighb...

Yesterday, I made a round sourdough bread loaf. I'm researching a possible idea for a set of recipes, some classics, some "make your own [fill in the baked good]".  If I can find some really good recipes for the classics and the basic doughs, I think I can do pretty much anything. It's exciting. I think I found the sourdough I've been wanting to make. It was a bit sour but not too much, and had the nice holes in the bread - a nice crumb. And chewy. I love chewy sourdough. Definitely a winner.  Sourdough Loaf Yesterday I also planted some lettuces, so today I got to harvest the outer leaves of my red lettuce, add that to my butter lettuce from Imperfect Foods, and a giant salad was born! We ate it with spaghetti.  Dinner! I also got some succulents and Petunias, and made some pretty fairy garden and a planter in the back yard. Loving the color.  And while I was working these two guys put up a sign for Andrew. I thought it was sweet. Found out later they were his as...

I just finished reading Ruth Reichl's book Garlic and Sapphires.  The crux of the story is that she became so famous as a food critic that everytime she went to a restaurant, the restaurants would bring the finest food,  and the best service, thus making it impossible to give an honest review.  So she fixed it by wearing disguises! So it of course got me thinking, if I wanted to play the part of someone else, who would I be? I think I'm too shy to pretend to be someone besides me.  But.  People do reinvent themselves so I can become my best self.  So I started looking in to what people do when giving a makeover.  What advice would they give someone who wanted to become their best self.  You remember the show What Not to Wear, right? I found this list from that show:  9 RULES OF FASHION FROM A DECADE OF WHAT NOT TO WEAR Rule #1 – Keep the girls locked and loaded. Basically this means make sure your "girls" have the support they need. Get measu...

My day in pictures:  Seafood Lasagna, Garlic Shrimp, Zucchini We had to eat dinner in less than 10 minutes because my work ran late and my Fruit Carving club started at 6.  Carved Watermelon June 1 This is what I came up with for my first carving.  Clematis bloomed today! See, the neighbors turned on their sprinklers a couple days ago, and Clem is really happy about that. :) Yes that is catnip on his back That's some good nip Tried out the cat nip from my garden on our kitty. It is most definitely good stuff.  That's about what my Monday was like.  How was yours? Stay safe, sane and healthy, even if visiting friends! Vicky