Product Reviews For Turkey Sausage/Beverage/Burgers/Dish Mat

Posted by Tami on 28 July 2010

When I find something good I like to share it! This weeks product review picks are amazing. They are random and totally unrelated but that is just how it worked out.

This Italian Turkey Sausage is the best! I find it at Whole Foods and it has incredible flavor and is very lean. I like to use it in spaghetti sauce and lasagna.

I first read about these chicken burgers on TJ’s blog. I found them at Costco and the entire family has been enjoying them.  The family likes to heat them up and then melt some cheese on the top, put them on a whole wheat bun with burger toppings and enjoy a fast lunch. You can microwave them or heat them up in a skillet.

I like mine chopped up on a salad with fresh fruit and Annie’s Mango fat free dressing. Each burger contains 140 calories, and 6.5 g fat. It is nice to have some quick meal options on hand for busy summer days.

With my Invisalign braces I’m only suppose to drink water when I have them in but sometimes I want something with a little flavor. This Calistoga Sparkling water with lemon essence is refreshing with out any fake ingredients and is 0 calories. Love it!

Even though I have a dishwasher, everyday I seem to always have some dishes to hand wash. I don’t have room to store a drying rack or dish drainer so I have always laid out a couple of dish towels to place the rinsed dishes on. The towels get soaked and my counter ends up getting wet!

When I was at my sister in laws house this summer she had this awesome drying mat that I got to use a number of times when hand washing dishes during our family reunion. Once we got back home I was in Bed Bath & Beyond and happened across a huge display of the drying mat she had. I snatched up a couple of them at just $4.99 each.  I have been using them for the past couple of weeks and they work perfectly. It holds 4 times it’s weight in water so it is super absorbent keeping your counter top dry. They are a generous size at 16″ x 18″. They fit over the oven door handle to dry. To clean just throw in the washer and dryer! To store, I fold them in half and place in a kitchen drawer. No more wet counters!

What is your favorite no calorie or low calorie beverage?

Chocolate and The Art of Low Fat Desserts

Posted by Tami on 27 July 2010

Before I lose your attention to this incredible cookbook and dessert I just have to tell you that my mind is going full speed ahead with so many post ideas!

I have several drafts in the works and there is so much I want to write about that I have a little fight with myself every morning about which idea to go with first! I was going to post today about goal setting but then I decided to go with this awesome sharing of my love of chocolate desserts in a healthier way of course!

I am also thinking about changing my blog and having a different set up for posting my recipes so that I can post a recipe and a different type of post on the same day. I don’t have the expertise to figure that out for myself, so right now it is just an idea. I floated it past my son and he didn’t think it was necessary to have two separate blogs one for recipes and one for chatting. There must be a way to have both contained with in one blog perhaps a separate page for recipes or something like that. If anyone has any ideas in this regard please share them.

I have a back log of recipe reviews, product reviews, a give away I won on another blog, thoughts on goal setting, a weight loss update and my thoughts on the real meaning of deprivation and the mindset of a yo yo dieter! I think I will be posting more often this week as I just have too much I want to share and I can’t get it all into 3 little posts!

Enough of that and now let’s get going with the post that won todays little mind battle!

This is my favorite low fat dessert cook book.  Dessert chef and chocolatier Alice Medrich is a genius when it comes to developing low fat desserts that taste anything but light! The recipes are sensational and use high quality ingredients no fake stuff allowed, resulting in rich full flavored decadent desserts.

Alice Medrich said “Today I know that the health conscious changes we have made in our diets – even – subtly – over the last decade have also changed our palates. Even those of us who love food have begun to taste things differently, to have less tolerance for fat and rich foods, and to derive more pleasure from good tasting, well made lighter food.”

Alic did such an outstanding job with her lighter recipes that this cook book did receive the James Beard 1995 cook book of the year award!  If you like to bake, love chocolate but still want to keep the fat and calories at a reasonable level then this cook book is for you. The author also included some non chocolate recipes but honestly I have yet to try any of them. I don’t often bake any more but when I do have the desire to bake for a special occasion this is the first place I look for inspiration.

Since this cook book is no longer in print when I learned about it I had to search for a used copy on line. I found it for around $7 a few years ago. The copy I have has an inscription inside from Alice Medrich to a couple thanking them for a lovely evening. Well their loss in giving up this book was definitely my gain!

Katy made the Fallen Chocolate Souffle Torte for me. It is one of our favorite chocolate recipes. Don’t tell anyone it is a lighter recipe, they will never know. It is a full rich deep chocolate flavor, moist and decadent. You will have a hard time eating a whole serving in one sitting, okay maybe not! Sometimes though, just half a serving is satisfying for me. One serving is under 200 calories and just 6.4 g of fat. We have made this recipe many times over and it is plate of pleasure for a chocolate lover. Remember, this is not an every day food for me but I can enjoy it for special occasions!

This recipe calls for Dutch process cocoa and the more common supermarket brand is Droste. Do look for it as Hershey brand just won’t result in the same rich chocolate flavor. In her book Medrich explains all about the high quality ingredients she has chosen and why they work so well.

Dutch Process Cocoa                                                                    Line the spring form pan with parchment paper.

Fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture.               All puffed up right out of the oven.

Torte starts to fall.                                                                                   Remove the spring form, turn onto a pan.

Transfer to a serving dish.                                                         The top is fallen and all cracked and rustic looking.

Dust with powdered sugar.

Cut into 10 generous servings.                                                                 Bon appetit!

Celebrating at Zocalo

Posted by Tami on 26 July 2010

Thank you for all of the wonderful birthday wishes and the nice comments everyone left! It really made my birthday extra special. I am truly blessed with a wonderful family, good friends and now all of my cyber friends!

Zocalo is where I chose to go for my birthday dinner on Friday night. It is gourmet Mexican food and it is fabulous! I don’t usually take photos when we go out to dinner as I want to just relax and enjoy every moment. However the family was agreeable to some photos for the blog as this food is so very special. We had about a 20 minute wait so that was a good time for photos, you can’t say no to the birthday girl!

Daughter Katy, me and son David.

David, Katy and hubby Tom.

Me and hubby Tom.

The food was amazing. We all ordered something different and shared bites with one another. The dish of plantains with black beans and sour cream was my favorite and the first time I tried plantains.  I loved the combination of sweet plantains with the earthy flavor of the black beans and the cool sour cream on top. I have to find a light recipe to prepare this dish as I was hooked by the first bite! The food and service were top notch.

Platanos, plantains with black beans and sour cream.                    Pan seared salmon potatoes and green beans.

Baked  Tacos de cazuela                                                                           Chicken enchiladas Salsa roja

El burrito with carnitas.                                                                                         Salmon Cozumel

The restaurant is located in the heart of Midtown and this beautiful Victorian home was up the street from Zocola’s. It looks like a doll house with all the cute detail work. I would love to see inside! I used my new camera with it’s incredible zoom to get this photo.

We came home and enjoyed the Fallen Chocolate Souffle Torte that Katy baked for me. It deserves a post all of it’s own! So check back to learn about my favorite low fat dessert cook book and this amazing recipe!

My family gave me the perfect birthday card and I just have to share it with you. What a difference  living healthy makes. I actually had this kind of good day, skinny jeans and all!

Tami

What is your favorite ethnic food? Mine of course is Mexican.

Then – little girl, big cake! Now – bigger girl, smaller cake!

Posted by Tami on 23 July 2010

This photo of mom and I was taken in Beatrice, Nebraska at my Grandparent’s home in 1959.

It’s my birthday today! How old am I today you might ask? I am happy and proud to say I am 51 years young today! I have enjoyed each and every birthday God has blessed me with and I hope to celebrate a whole lot more of them in the future! Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me the gift of life and helping to mold me into the woman I am today. I think I turned out pretty darn good!

The photo above makes me laugh, that cake is almost as big as me and I am looking as if I am about to drop it! That is my big brother Jerry, peaking around behind me checking out the situation. The rest of the kids are neighbors. I sure do hope things got happier after this photo was taken!

Check out that darling cake and those cute little party hats with the 4 on them! I had these big birthday cakes when I was a little girl. That was then and now that I am a bigger girl I have graduated to having smaller cakes. Life is funny that way! Katy baked an incredible chocolate torte for my birthday from our favorite dessert cookbook and it just happens to be a “light” recipe but it isn’t light on taste! Check back for photos of it and of course we will be sharing the recipe.

Katy played photographer with my new camera and we had a photo shoot. I think she did a great job!

Here are the plans for the day. I will do my 3 mile run/jog early, early as it is going to be another triple digit temperature day here. Hubby Tom has a full day of work so Katy and David are taking me to a movie and then we will meet up with hubby for dinner out. I have two places picked out both are Mexican one is far away and the other is close by so it all depends on how hungry we are and how far we want to drive. We will come back home and have birthday dessert, oh and candles and singing of course! I guess 5 candles will have to do, it is only a little torte and there just won’t be room for 51 candles!

Two of my blogging buddies Leslie from Something Brilliant is Brewing and Journey Beyond Survival share my birthday so please stop by their blogs and wish them a Happy Birthday!

Celebrating my life and all the blessings that God has provided!

Tami

Since it is my birthday and all would you do me a favor? If you have never left a comment on the blog would you introduce yourself today and let me know you are following? Pretty please, it would make my day!

Yogurt Product Reviews

Posted by Tami on 21 July 2010

Yougurt or Yogurt however you spell it I love it! Everyday I have at least two servings of yogurt usually with some fresh fruit. It is a great source of calcium and depending on what type of yogurt and what brand you are eating it can also be a good source of protein. I usually have yogurt with my lunch and after my dinner meal.

I use to buy the fruit flavored, artificially sweetened yogurts because on Weight Watchers they only count as 1 point. I was really into stretching my points and getting as much food as possible for as little points as possible!

When I decided to clean up my diet and improve my over all nutrition I gave up artificial sweeteners. That created a mini crisis for me where my yogurt was concerned. The hunt for new natural yogurt was on!

There are so many brands of yogurt on the market and it took a while to find my favorites but I now have several that I buy on a regular basis. I use to detest plain yogurt but once I got off artificial sweeteners and reduced the volume of sugar in my diet that all changed. Now all I need is a little sweet fruit to go with plain yogurt and I love it. If the fruit isn’t sweet enough for you then try a small amount of Agave Nectar or a little bit of Stevia until your taste for sweetness changes.

This European yogurt from Trader Joe’s is the one I eat most often. It is creamy, smooth, pour-able and organic. I like it over fresh fruit with cinnamon. Use it in smoothies or my quick and easy soft serve. It contains 14 g of protein per 1 cup. You might have to enlarge the photos to see the nutritional information. I had photo issues today!

What is Greek yogurt? It is yogurt that has been strained to remove the excess whey creating a thicker, creamier product. When the whey is strained the yogurt contains less lactose. Lactose is a type of sugar found in milk products. Greek yogurt contains less sugar (carbohydrates) and more protein than regular yogurt. This results in less of an impact on blood sugar. Ever notice that if you eat a sugary container of yogurt you are hungry again a little bit later? Me too!

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