italian wedding soup--Clean Eating Magazine

Saturday, February 20, 2010

i tried to look for the recipe online, but i guess clean eating magazine does not post every recipe....

so here it goes: (please note, i did not add the croutons or the parmesan cheese and extra eggs at the end because it just did not need it--there was so much flavor from the broth and meathballs alone)

4 slices whole-wheat cubed (i did not use the croutons)
1/2 lb ground chicken (but i used turkey instead...and i used a whole package--over a lb, because this was our dinner and i was making nothing else)
1 medium carrot (i think i put in 4 because i used more meat)
3/4 medium onion (i used the whole thing)
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 clove garlic (i skipped this because i was crunched for time)
1 tbsp fresh basil (i used dried--again because of time constraint)
1/4tsp oregano
4 eggs whites--but i ended up only using 2 for the meatballs and did not pour any in the soup at the end
6 cups chicken broth--for us i have homemade that i freeze in mass quantities
10 oz spianch (i put way more and then threw in some chopped bok choy i bought from my kid's school's organic garden)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese

mix meat, bread crumbs, onion, garlic, basil, 1 egg white with the meat (again i threw 2 egg whites in because i used more meat)

form into meatballs

bake at 350F for 15 minutes---i just cooked them in a pan with some PAM spray because i was limited on time

bring broth to a boil, throw in the spinach and then the cooked meatballs

here's the step i skipped: whisk remaining egg whites with parmesan cheese and pour egg mixture directly into the soup until cooked

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easy to get in those veggies---a funny thing my 8 yr old did

Friday, February 19, 2010

last night i made an italian wedding soup from Clean Eating's Jan/Feb issue....i love how the recipe suggested adding shredded carrot into the meatballs....it was an easy way to get one other veggie into the meal without feeling like we had to eat another side of veggies.....

the college girl who is living with us, said she would have never of thought to add carrots into the meat....she said that there are so many ways to get those veggies in--the hardest part is just preparing one more veggie...

the meatballs swam among floating bright green leaves of spinach and bok choy in my homemade chicken broth ....

it was such a hit at our house....my 8 year old was making this circular movement on the top of her head---and i had no clue what she was doing...i had to ask what it meant, and she said "it's my halo--because i am in heaven with this soup"....just too funny

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Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser--disturbing, yet interesting read

Monday, February 15, 2010

i love to read and the lastest book i just finished is Fast Food Nation...it came out several years ago, i believe 2002 and the research that went into the book spanned about 4 years up until then....

i had heard of it many times and finally saw it at my used book store and read the whole thing in 3 days....

i will not get into any of the details, because there are just too many of them, but really it opened my eyes really into the livestock industrym in particular the cattle industry....and although, the book was about the fast food industry, i would find it hard to believe that most of the meat we buy at costco or our local gracery store would be exempt from the practices i read about...

i am NOT a vegetarian, and i doubt i ever will be...but i tell you, there are humane and healthy ways of dealing with livestock and i was appalled to learn more about their conditions in the past....what was MORE APPALLING was what the industry feeds cattle.....so appalled that i am switching to only buying beef that is grass fed.....again, i just don't want to get into the grissly details of what they feed the cattle that gets turned into beef that is supplied to fast food chains--but i can say it is unfit for human consumption, yet they feed cattle that feed....

i have not had a McDonald's meal, or any fast food meal for many, many years now---and thankfully i haven't, nor am tempted to eat....however, the book made me think about Costco meat i purchase in bulk to save a dime, and i am wondering if it's worth it long term for our health....

just last week i wrote about me wanting to add more red meat into my diet consistently, but now i want to rescind that statement...there are just so many other ways to get protein and iron for me....keeping my beef intake to 2 to 3 times a month seems ok to me now....

the book was not just about beef--there was a wealth of information about food additives and what's put into the fast food to make it taste better....and these are the same kinds of chemical additives that are put into processed foods at the store.....again, it was a reconfirmation to me to avoid as much processed food as possible.....

also i found out that just because something says Natural Flavoring in the ingredients, it's not necessarily 'natural'...to get 'natural' flavors the manufacturers have to use chemical processes to get those 'natural' flavors and hence they are NOT natural...

i highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles with eating processed foods--the info in the book might just be what is needed to really cement in one's mind NOT to eat processed foods....

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2nd day--no snacks after dinner, also stopping obvious carbs at lunch

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

so i survived my 2nd day last night with out having a snack after dinner.....but i did have a cup of decaf coffee with lowfat milk and a sugar cube--is that cheating???....i know it's still around 100 calories right?....but at least it ain't a big bowl of cereal or a bowl of peanuts.....

i was a little hungry when i went to bed last night....but this had more to do with the fact that i loaded up on snowpeas and edamame and passed on the rice last night for the stirfry i made for dinner....

i am also trying to give up obvious carbs for dinner......

i do carbs for breakfast--in fact i ate these great oatmeal cookies for breakfast...the recipe from vegetarian times magazine....and i will have tons of fruit through out the day.....but obvious carbs stop at lunch now....

so, no snacks after dinner, and no carbs after lunch...crossing my fingers that this will help me lose the 2-4 lbs i want to lose...

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bikini op coming up--need to lose maybe 2-4 pounds

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

it's tricky for me since after the holidays and then jumping into a new job...i have gained a bit and i know it....i have not weighed myself because really it means nothing to me.....

(...totally off topic but----i just watched Dr Oz today and found out we gain weight after we work out....he explained it as putting stress on our muscles and then the swell and retain water....interesting)

also i know i have gained weight because i am not exercising as vigorously as i had before i started work....

so i need to do something before my bikini op coming up in the next couple of months--yes, a vacation in a tropical location....

the only thing i can do better is stop the after dinner eating....i am 99.5% of the time not really hungry--just want something in my mouth..if you have been following my blogs, you know that i am putting good stuff in my mouth, but still 200 calories of peanuts at night after dinner is 200 extra calories....

i need to quit justifying how healthy they are and just face the facts that i just want to put something in my mouth out of habit....

so, i could save myself between 8,000-14,000 calories between now and my vacation....how many pounds is that?...so that's 2.8 --4 pounds over weeks.....that's exactly the weight i want to lose.....so i think the first step would be not to consume those calories to begin with.....

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