Dinner on a Chilly Night.....

Tonight's Dinner

It's 44 degrees outside right now (remember, it's Arizona), and it's only 7:20 pm. I rode my bike to my parents house today, visited with my aunt and my cousin as well as with my grandfather and my family. We had a really wonderful day talking about old times.

My sweetie wanted to order pizza for dinner, I said no, we have plenty to eat at the house. So I roasted some potatoes and made zucchini, tomato, and rice pilaf from Mediterranean Harvest by Martha Rose Shulman. I also made a dill and mint Greek yogurt sauce to go along with everything and served it with sliced cucumbers. It was a very good.

It's a Chilly Saturday.........

As of 8:41 am, it is 36 degrees outside. I am contemplating riding my bike this morning to my parents house......I think I will wait a little while for it to warm up. I rode to their house yesterday, and my legs are a little sore this morning. (It's about five miles.) I don't know about anyone else, but I was so stuffed from eating all day Christmas, that I felt like I needed to work some of it off.

We just finished a lovely breakfast of potatoes lightly sauteed in olive oil with garlic and onions. I served it with a side of scrambled eggs garnished with green onions, a roasted green chili and a small bit of cheese. That should keep me fueled for the morning.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Beautiful Sunday

This morning for breakfast I made omelets. Mine was a two egg omelet with cheese, green onions and tomatoes. It is so gorgeous out today! It is in the low 70's, I took a walk in the neighborhood and am trying to get everyone else out of the house to enjoy this spell of coolness.

Friday Night Taco's

Tonight's dinner consisted of potato tacos with sauteed onions, green bell peppers, and yellow corn on an organic yellow corn tortilla. The tacos were topped with homemade guacamole, pinto beans, cilantro and diced red tomatoes. Very quick and delicious.

What have we been up to?

Beautiful Flower

San Diego Zoo

USS Midway Museum

Disneyland

Saturday afternoon drive to Los Angels, California

Hiking in Prescott, Arizona

Flagstaff, Arizona Arboretum

Vegas Baby!

Getting back to life.....

We were broken into a few weeks back...they pretty much took everything of any value we had. After getting an alarm system, still being scared to come home (I was the one who walked in on it), dealing with the insurance, it's time to get back to food and eating. It could be worse, we could have lost our home like the people in Iowa did.
My sweetie made me dinner tonight. Pasta with marinated home grown squash crusted with garlic salt, pepper, olive oil and Italian seasonings, organic marinara sauce and tofu sausage. A sprig of basil garnishes the plate.
I love good vegetarian food.....Especially when it is made with love.

Provencal Tuesday

I had some bananas that I needed to use up, so I made the basic muffin recipe from Nava Atlas The Vegetarian Family Cookbook and added chopped banana as my mix in. I had a muffin warm from the oven and it was delicious and dense. I made the vegan version using apple sauce and soy milk. Eating one of these gems should last me through the morning until lunch time.

We are on day five of the no eating out challenge. Tonight's dinner was steamed zucchini, Greek salad with Roma tomato's, sliced red onion, and cucumber. I seasoned the salad with a little garlic pepper and dried basil. The main dish was Provencal Lemon-Herb Rice from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein. This rice is not only very easy to make, but it has a wonderful flavor. I added fresh mint at the end which I think makes taste even more special.

Sometimes Simple is Better......

Home cooked black eyed peas, wild rice pilaf, steamed broccoli, sliced red onion and tomato. Delicious.

A Fine Sunday for Adventure (Culinary and Otherwise)

My sweetie was feeling much better today, so we took a drive up north to Prescott Valley to see a good friend of ours. We drove past this sign and I had to take a picture as I thought Dawn to Milky Way was a very cool street name. We had a great time target practicing, I hiked around a little bit and took some pictures. It got very warm today, I even got a little sun burnt.


I am still learning this blog thing and my pictures are a little out of order as they were taken with different cameras. This was tonight's dinner, veggie black bean burgers made from a recipe in Jeanne Lemlin's Simple Vegetarian Pleasures. The burgers were okay, and may have been better with the salsa mayonnaise that Jeanne suggested to serve with the burgers. (I am trying to do low fat, so I skipped the mayo) I used mustard as my condiment along with sliced red onions, tomato and red leafed lettuce. I also had a problem when cooking these, I got the pan way to hot, and my Sweetie had to help me cool down the pan with water so I would not burn the burgers. (I took them out of the pan first) Once we cooled the pan down enough, we sprayed a little more olive oil cooking spray in the pan and the burgers got toasty crispy on the outside, but were very soft on the inside. I was also thinking that the bread crumbs I used may have been old and they also may have altered the taste of the burger. For my first venture in cooking veggie burgers, I think I did pretty well, and learned that I don't need to have my pan scorching hot, or I will burn the burgers.
I served a side of store bought potato salad with the burger. (Bought for today's picnic up north but never eaten) It was okay, but homemade is so much better!


Okay so we are on day three of the no eating out challenge and I think we have done very well. We ate breakfast at home, took snacks to eat up north, and we managed to make dinner at home (and try out a new recipe). Not bad for such a busy day. It's so hard for me to plan as I never know what we are going to be doing. We are a kind of "fly by the seat of our pants" people. It's always exciting because I never know what we are going to do next.

I figured we were going to be staying home today because my sweetie was sick, but he wanted to go do something as he was going stir crazy.

My Saturday in Photos.....

Breakfast of Nature's Path Organic Mesa Sunrise Cereal with sliced strawberries, sliced banana and milk.

We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie this morning, we were stopped by a train on the way home from the movies. The movie was good. Shhh, we took are own snacks into the movie. I had a small bag filled with Golden Graham cereal with vegan chocolate chips. Yummm......

Don't you just love it when they make faces when you are trying to make their picture?

Squirrel blowing bubbles. My sweetie is still sick and has been running a fever on and off all day. So we hung out and watched TV all afternoon.

Lunch...Whole Wheat bread with melted dill Havarti cheese, and sliced tomatoes.

Cool Refreshing afternoon drink.

Our little Pluto

Squirrel and I playing Sponge Bob Life. Trust me, I would rather be venturing off somewhere, but sometimes, it's nice to just hang out at home.

Friday Night Delight....Day One of No Eating Out Challenge

Tonight after a rather hectic day at work, I stopped by the grocery store to do the weeks shopping. I really didn't know what I felt like eating for dinner. I walked in the door and my sweetie is lying on the couch telling me he is sick. "Groan" He wants juice, so I make him a glass of juice, put away the groceries and ponder what I am going to make. I decided to make him and Squirrel soup (you know that whole soup makes me feel better thing) and I make me brown rice, okra and red beans loosely based on the recipe in Moosewood Resturant's Low Fat Favorites. It was very good, I finished the dish off with a few splashes of Trappey's Pepper Sauce.
So it is day one of the no eating out challenge. Not only did I not eat out today, but I managed to
make me a low fat dinner which was totally delicious.

No Eating Out Challenge....

Tonight's dinner was Mexican inspired. Steamed broccoli, creamed corn, homemade guacamole with sliced red onion, diced jalapeno, tomato and lime juice. This was all served with sliced raw cucumbers, baby carrots and cherry tomatoes. It was very good and very filling. I even have leftover guacamole for lunch tomorrow.

I went to lunch today with one of my vendors, and came back with a really bad stomach ache. I spent about three months eating mostly fat-free and wheat-free. I have added more fat back into my diet along with wheat products. I feel like my weight loss is suffering for it, plus I am not feeling very well. I was so tired when I got home, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch.

So, I am giving myself a very important challenge. To eat mostly fat-free and wheat-free again, along with not buying or eating any candy. (Chocolate is so evil....) I also want to see how long I can go with out eating out. I don't know how long the no eating out challenge will go on for, it my not even last one week, but I will try and see how long I can go. (My sweetie loves to eat out.) I just feel better when we eat at home, and I want to continue to lose weight. Plus I have a ton of cookbooks I haven't even cooked out of yet.

......I weighed myself this morning, 143lbs...........

A Little Bit of Everything.....

Picture of flowers taken at Alamo Lake, Arizona a few weeks back.

Back to work today, you know, it's funny, I was just telling someone that I felt like I needed to make a "change" with my job because it's not challenging anymore....When I walk into work this morning, it's chaos and then the day goes by like a flash.

Nothing exciting cooking wise, ate some leftover Thai fried rice that we drove all over Northern Arizona looking for Sunday afternoon. Word to the wise, don't go to Flagstaff looking for Thai food on a Sunday, nobody is, and I mean nobody is open. So we drove back down through Sedona, waited in a really long line of traffic (two hour wait). Then drove back through Cottonwood, Jerome, then on to Prescott Valley to the old reliable Tara Thai. Now we could have saved gas and ate Thai food here at home, but we wanted to take a small drive, and trust me, it was so worth it. It was so beautiful up north this weekend, and here in town for that matter.

On Monday we got some pineapple with chili and lime, a container of guacamole and some chips from the Ranch Market and my sweetie took me to a park with a beautiful pond to have a small picnic. (I don't know what my thing is with having picnics, but I just love to.)

Hopefully, I will have a tale of more cooking adventures tomorrow........

Summer Time Greek Food

I spent the day off from work, after an adventurous three day weekend. I slept in until eight thirty (very rare for me) and was awaken by a phone call from my sweetie. Feeling a little guilty, I left my warm cocoon and started my day...... I exercised, watched really bad television and made Greek Food for dinner.
I roasted some baby potatoes, zucchini and onion. I seasoned it with salt pepper and a pinch of dried oregano. I topped it with a lemon yogurt sauce.


I also made a Greek salad with spinach, yellow bell peppers, cucumber, red onion, tomato, peperoncinis and feta cheese. Dinner was yummy and filling, even though we didn't eat until eight thirty at night.

Also, stay tuned for some adventures in low-fat vegetarian cooking........Cookbooks are a wonderful thing......

First BBQ of the Spring...

We had our first BBQ this afternoon, and all I can say is that it was wonderful! I don't think we have barbecued in about a year. I cut up some veggies including onions, red bell pepper, zucchini and yellow squash. I seasoned them with salt, pepper and some herbs. I brushed them with a little olive oil, then we put them in my non-stick grill basket. They came out so good!

Here is my sweetie grilling us lunch.

I also had an Amy's Texas Veggie Burger which was really good. It had a sweet BBQ flavor that was just perfect. We topped our burgers with lettuce, tomato, red onion and mustard.

We had a pretty lazy day, we ended it with a bike ride around the neighborhood. The weather is still beautiful, for now. I know the heat is just around the corner........

Snow in April.......

Today we took a Saturday morning drive to Prescott. I packed snacks and we parked and had a really nice picnic. I had roasted garlic hummus with crackers and carrots, it was delicious. We stopped at the New Frontiers Natural Food Market so I could pick some up for lunch on our way up the mountain. After we ate, we took about a mile hike down the Hassayampa River. We couldn't believe that there was still snow on the mountain.



There still is quite a bit of water running in the creeks and springs, but not nearly as much as four weeks ago. We took our girl Pluto with us and she enjoyed walking and drinking of the fresh clean water. We stopped at one point down the creek and while they tried to dam the water, I laid down next to the creek to take in some sun and listen to nature. The weather was cool enough to wear sweatshirts, but I got warm while we were hiking.

There wasn't any flowers blooming, and Mother Nature seemed to be stuck between Autumn and Spring.

Once we were done with our hike, we drove over to the apple trees and ate the apples we brought with us. We took a few pictures, then we decided to leave because someone else came and parked by us. I was disappointed that I didn't get to hike more, so I got out of the truck and they followed me while I walked and jogged 2.7 miles to main road. It took me less than an hour, and I was so tired and sore, but I did it. (Some of this was up hill walking and jogging.) Not bad for a girl who did anything she could to get out of PE.

Lazy Sunday....

I don't have any adventure pictures this weekend, because we didn't go anywhere. Friday night was black-eyed peas, steamed broccoli and sliced tomatoes. Saturday night was left over lentil soup. Tonight, I made butternut squash chili though I didn't make it very spicy, because my sweetie was going to eat some too, and he thinks I make things too spicy. I cooked up my own combination of beans. Then I added green chili, fire roasted crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, butternut squash, onion and red bell pepper. I then added various spices including ancho and chipotle powder. I also made a spinach salad with tomato, red onion and yellow bell pepper. My dinners were fat free with the exception of the little fat in the saltine crackers I had with my chili tonight. I didn't exercise this weekend either, so it will be interesting to see what the scale will say tomorrow.

Eat'n McDougall Style

Tonight's dinner was fat free with steamed brussells sprouts, spinach salad topped with salsa and a side of corn. I am going to start eating McDougall style again. I will be doing the MWL (Maximum Weight Loss) with lots of greens and veggies. I have been eating this way on and off for about six months and have lost weight. Almost twenty pounds, but I find that when I eat vegetarian including eggs and cheese that I maintain my weight instead of losing. I weighed in at 146 this morning, and I have a goal of 115, which may be too skinny, but I will have to get down to that weight to see.

I want to use this blog to help keep me accountable, as well as sort of a food journal. I will still have culinary and other adventures, even of the vegetarian type (cheese and eggs included on special occasions). For now, I want to stay vegan and fat free to see if I can get down to my goal. After all, swim suit season is just around the corner....

I don't want to do this just for weight loss, but for health. I have been really overweight most of my adult life, and it would be nice to get back down to a weight that I feel good at.

Fat Tuesday's Leftovers

Tonight's dinner was leftover Fat Tuesday's Skinny Red Beans from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites over white rice with steamed yellow and zucchini squash and a spinach salad. This recipe was wonderful and flavorful, as well as very filling. I biked around the neighborhood for exercise, as well as walked a mile on my lunch break with one of my co-workers. Once again the weather was beautiful and I didn't want to stay inside.

Weekend in Nature.....

Saturday afternoon we took a drive up to Prescott and was greeted by snow! It was so beautiful to see the snow on the ground. It was still a bit chilly on the mountain, but in town, it wasn't that bad.

Here is a picture of the snow still on the mountains.

Water was running everywhere, which is a very good thing as we have been in a drought. On our drive up the mountain we could see yellow Mexican Poppies all over the Bradshaw's. I haven't seen this many wild flowers in a very long time.

After dark we decided to go back into town to get dinner. I wanted to stop at the New Frontiers Natural Market place, just to check it out. This ended up being the place I got my dinner from. Unfortunately, it was dark and I didn't get a picture, but they made me the best veggie burger ever. I have never had a homemade veggie burger before, but I think I am going to have to start making them. I think I gushed about that burger the whole way home. :) It was amazing....

We spent our Sunday at the Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix. The weather was beautiful, and it was a perfect day to be out. We saw lots of cactus, flowers and even took a hike through their Sonoran Desert Trail.

They had a butterfly exhibit, with thirty two species of butterflies. You can walk through the exhibit and take pictures of the butterflies landing everywhere. I had two land on my head.

Here is another butterfly blending into it's surroundings.

Dinner tonight was very simple. Organic vegetarian ranch beans with steamed asparagus, sliced cucumbers and spinach salad topped with fat free salsa.

Breakfast Smoothies

For my morning breakfast I have been making chocolate smoothies. I add Nature's First Law raw cocoa, living hemp powder, wild blue green algae, frozen cherries, goji berry powder and oatmeal. I blend this in my vita mix with some raw agave nectar and either almond, soy, rice, or oat milk. This is so yummy, it's like drinking a super chocolate milk!

I also got my shipment from Nature's First Law today. Every time I get a shipment from them it's like Christmas. I got some more things to put in my smoothies including acai powder to put in my berry drinks and some herbs to make tea.