Just me, trying to live a healthy and happy life
They didn’t have the Breakstone 2% cottage cheese I usually buy at the grocery today. I noticed a 2% pineapple flavor, but when I took a look at the list of ingredients, there it was: High Fructose Corn Syrup!!!
Why? Why couldn’t they just add pineapple and be done with it!? Makes me mad!
It just proves that you need to read all labels, even on the products you have trusted in the past!
Review for the cookbook: The All-New Complete Cooking Light Cookboook: The Ultimate Guide from America’s #1 Food Magazine.
I love this cookbook! I love Cooking Light magazine, and found this cookbook at the library recently. It’s a well rounded cookbook, with lots of interesting recipes. Nothing too complicated.
Yes, there are a few recipes that are higher in calories, like desserts, but their versions are healthier than most regular recipes.
Sadly, I had to return the Complete Cooking Light Cookbook to the library (after renewing it twice) but I have it on my Amazon wish list, ready to order after the holidays!
Disclaimer:
I love reading cookbooks, like some people love reading novels! I am inspired by recipes, and enjoy learning ideas from cookbooks; I like putting my own spin on a recipe rather than exactly following it. Please keep in mind that my opinions might be completely different from the other home cooks.
Our first meal with grass fed / pastured beef (rib steak) – we found a local farm.
I was a bit nervous due to everyone saying how “different” it tasted, but it really didn’t taste too different. I guess just a beefier flavor, but great nonetheless.
We plan on trying to eat grassfed regularly.
Okay, I weighed myself this morning, and something has to be wrong. I was 174.4 on the new digital scale – that’s another 2 lbs! I checked on the old scale, and it was roughly the same.
That means I lost a total of 25 pounds! I just don’t think I believe it. Something has to be wrong with the scale(s)!!! I haven’t been working out, and it’s 5 days since my last weight loss. I am not going to celebrate until I know for sure it’s right!
:)
UPDATE 2009-11-19: yep, still at 175 pounds! How awesome. I don’t know why I doubt the scale every time I lose weight. I guess I just don’t understand how it’s melting off so fast. It’s the power of clean eating I think!
Over on the Hungry Girl Facebook Page, Lisa Lillien recently posed a question to her fans:
Cool Whip Free vs. Fat Free Reddi-wip. A fair fight dessert topping brawl with a clear winner… Thoughts????
The answers weren’t surprising, but they made me sad nevertheless.
Let’s compare the ingredients:
Reddi Whip Fat Free: Nonfat Milk, Cream, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Maltodextrin, Inulin (Chicory Extract), Cellulose, Mono- and Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80, Artificial Flavors, Carrageenan, Propellant: Nitrous Oxide
Cool Whip Fat Free: Water, Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Adds a Negligible Amount of Fat) (Coconut and Palm Kernel Oils), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Less than Two Percent of Sodium Caseinate (from Milk), Natural and Artificial Flavor, Modified Food Starch, Xanthan and Guar Gums, Polysorbate 60, Polysorbate 65, Sorbitan Monostearate, Sodium Hydroxide, Beta Carotene (Color).
They both look totally unappetizing and disgusting to me! But most Hungry Girl fans don’t have a problem with the ingredients of their favorite.
What frustrated me is that many Reddiwhip fans commented that it’s not made with hydrogenated oil like Cool Whip, and because it’s made with real cream, Reddiwhip somehow is more healthy. I guess they think that cream makes up for all the sugar and chemicals!
Thankfully there were a few that voiced their opinion on how unhealthy BOTH are, but they were few and far between. True Hungry Girl fans will put anything into their bodies as long as it seemingly doesn’t make them fat!
I don’t want to sound too negative toward Hungry Girl and Lisa Lillien, because some of her information is helpful and healthy. I just don’t like the fake food she recommends. Artificial sweeteners, Fiber One, Cool Whip. Yuck. It may be low carb or fat free, but no matter how you slice it, it’s just not healthy!
First time cooking polenta last night. For a first time, it wasn’t great, but I learned a lot!
I over salted! eek. I tasted with a spoon midway, and it was very bland, so I added more sea salt. After adding 2 oz of Parmesan Reggiano cheese, I mixed, then instead of using a separate metal spoon to taste, I tasted remnants on the wooden spoon before I stuck it in the sink.
It tasted bland still, so I added more salt.
I know better for next time! But the cheese tasted yummy, and so did the polenta, even though it was too salty!
I found the audio version of “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser, at my local library.
It starts off a bit slow; I actually stopped listening for a few days, but I am glad I gave it another try. By the time I started disc 6, I was riveted. It broke my heart to hear about the poor workers who receive injury after injury, but have no other skills but to work for a horrible place like a meat packing company. I knew it was a bad business, but to hear the personal stories of what really goes on there, I have a new found hatred for the big business of food, and a new found respect for the poor souls who are forced to work there.
The book begins with a lot of history. How fast food restaurants started, who started them, etc. It goes on to tell how advertising has played a huge part in brainwashing children and adults. Efficient equipment, ripping off rangers and farmers, food additives, it’s all in the book. Everything you wanted to know (and didn’t want to know) about the fast food industry, and how it has dramatically changed our way of life!
Obesity is a huge problem in America. As a whole, we are a fat and lazy country. Fast food is easy and delicious, so of course we love to eat it! But besides making us obese and giving us a vast amount of diseases, the fast food industry is also responsible for an unhealthy planet (literally!)
No, this book might not stop me from never ever eating at Burger King or Wendy’s, but it has opened my eyes wider to the huge problem of meat consumption in the world. I need to make better choices, more humane and healthy choices that will make my life better. I don’t believe everything I hear and read anymore, and it’s thanks to books like this one, along with “In Defense of Food” and “Don’t Eat This Book” I am learning more and more!
— —
This still shocks me when I get on the scale and see more weight loss. I keep thinking something has to be wrong. How could it be this wonderful and easy!?
Two more pounds lost on the (new) scale this AM. That makes me down to 177 for those keeping score at home, and 23 total pounds lost. YAHOOOOO!
Note: I haven’t adjusted my calories at MyFitnessPal.com in awhile, I am still at 1560 calories, and it continues to be working for me, so I won’t go lower at this time. To be truthful, most nights I don’t eat all my calories anyway, even though they say to always do so. I usually have a 100 or more calories left. I just eat when I am hungry, and if I am full, I don’t. So, I think 1560 is a safe number.
I don’t know what it is about this turkey meatloaf recipe (from Epicurious.com), but I am almost obsessed about perfecting it! I made it again last night, and while it was better than last time, it still needs a few more tweaks.
To recap, the first try, it was delicious, but it tasted too much like “stuffing” with all the bread crumbs. Second time, I made the mistake of adding way too much chicken stock/broth, so it was swimming in juices. Still delicious, but not right.
Okay, so last night, this was the recipe:
The consistency was less liquidy this time, but it was still a bit too mushy. I need to lower the chicken stock amount again, or maybe add a touch more bread crumbs. Or even better, try it with real crusty bread chunks. I didn’t have mushrooms this time, so I used zucchini, and I am sure that added a bit to the liquid content of the meatloaf.
It’s been really fun experimenting with this recipe!
I weighed myself on a whim this morning, and would you believe it? 179 lbs??? That makes 21 lbs!
I will have to weigh myself again tomorrow to be sure, but BOTH scales read 179. I am afraid to be happy!