The Shrinkage Diaries: Strawberry Fudge Brownies! Serios!

Don't be scared...it's just Amy and I imitating the Bears. :D

Shrinkage is still going well, though somewhat delayed since coming home. I haven't been exercising much, which I am going to make a goal of this week. It's funny how getting out of practice of a thing makes you rather reluctant to do it! I love experimenting with healthy recipes of every sort, but some of my favorite things to work on are Clean-Eating desserts.

I mean, really. Who can resist a dessert? Not me. And I knew that giving up refined sugars and wheat-flours didn't have to mean the end of everything amazing.  I like to know my food blogs, and for a long while Smitten Kitchen was the place I went (and still go) when I wanted a weird recipe like homemade Wheat Thins or Goldfish or Graham Crackers. Brown Eyed Baker was a close second with any and every recipe . And when I was feeling really French and adventures, I went with David Lebovitz for something like his divine Lemon Curd. But obviously a paradigm shift in diet means I can no longer frequent sites like Smitten Kitchen or Brown Eyed Baker. They have become the rarest of treats.

But I'm still not panicking. Because, well, this is where Clean-Foodie blogs like Chocolate Covered Katie  come in. Do you realize, people, that CCK is a blog devoted almost entirely to clean dessert recipes? AH! I have tried several and have loved each one. Other great Clean-Foodie blogs are An Edible Mosaic and Gracious Pantry, which I have likewise scoured for recipes to satisfy my family's collective sweet-tooth. There are so many I have yet to try that look amazing, like CCK's No-Bake Coconut Crack bars. I mean, really people. How can anything that tastes as good as these recipes be healthy for you?

I'm developing an understanding that healthy actually tastes a whole lot better.

That being said, the other day I had an urge to making something delicious for when Abigail Taylor arrived. I hopped on to CCK and chose Chocolate Chip Everything Bars. Now we all laugh, knowing that I am an untraditionalist when it comes to following a recipe, and I'm always altering even the most simple things to fit my preferences. The first problem came when I didn't have chocolate chips. Or enough coconut. Or nuts. Or freeze-dried berries. or xylitol, and I really didn't want to use sugar. Oh yeah. I didn't have stevia either.
Before you dismiss me as being crazy for settling on a recipe I didn't even have the ingredients for, you have to do two things:

1.) Look at this picture:

2.) Remember I'm very good at this sort of thing.

You can't resist the one and you can't deny the other, so hush for a second while we move onward. I started substituting this for that and her for him and them for y'all and you know, eventually these weren't Chocolate Chip Everything Bars. They were Strawberry-Fudge Brownies. Now you may laugh, and then enjoy the recipe, which I'm posting below.

Srawberry Fudge Brownies:

• 1/2 c. oats (rolled or quick)
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
• 1/4 c. shredded coconut (you may use up to 1/2 cup)
• 2 (15 oz.) cans white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/3 c. dates soaked
• 6 Tbs. coconut oil
• 4 Tbs. applesauce
• 4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. fresh strawberries, diced
• A sprinkling of chocolate chips would be nice if you had 'em.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. and grease a 9 x 13 pan.
2. Combine all ingredients except strawberries and chocolate chips in a blender or food processor, and blend till completely smooth, scraping down the sides when necessary.
3. Stir in strawberries and chips by hand, then smooth into pan.
4. Bake for 30 minutes and cool completely.

Makes about fifteen brownies...if they make it out of the pan

These are absolutely to die for. The batter was a little disappointing flavor-wise...you could taste the beans a little bit. It was like chocolate-hummus! :D But something magical happened in the oven, and the caterpillar was transformed into an elegant chocolate butterfly. Abigail was astonished. Dad was more astonished. He's not been eating sugar for at least 9 months, so he walked in and was like, "So, is there anything good to eat around here?"
I gestured to the plate of decadent, fudge-y brownies sitting on the countertop. "Those."
"Yeah, but they have sugar."
"No they don't," I laughed.
"Yes they do."
"Dad, really, they don't."
"What?" and then he took one and tried it and I think I'll be his favorite daughter from now on. ;)

Kidding. But honestly, you really need to try these brownies. You can leave out the strawberries if strawberries and chocolate together aren't your thing, and you'd still be left with a killer brownie: moist, fudge-y, deep, and impossibly, deliciously dark. You'll never taste a better clean-eating brownie (or a better regular brownie!) unless, of  course, it was my Single-Lady One-Serving Brownies. But those will have to feature in another post!

Would you like me to continue the Clean-Eating Recipe posts? I'm having such a great time trying out these things and sharing them with you. Do you have any favorite healthy-food blogs? I'm always on the lookout for more!

The Shrinkage Diaries: It looks like a bird's nest...

Dear Figure-seekers!

If you would be so kind, take a look at the picture below....

This is a severely inauspicious plate of food.

Honestly. It looks like a cross between a haystack, a bird's nest, and what I used to pull out of the garbage disposal when it got clogged up. (That is, before we moved out to the country where we can't have a garbage disposal system.)

Look at it again.

It looks bland at best, I know. But this is pancit, and it is one of the stinkin' best Asian dishes there is to feed a large crowd. My first introduction to pancit was way back at the church where my Dad worked as assistant music pastor. There was a Philippino woman in the choir, and on occasion she would make pancit for us. Then a Philippino couple moved down the street from us, and she made us dinner and lo and behold, pancit popped up again. Then we moved churches and house, and I forgot all about this amazing dinner until we were at a friend's party, and there again was a huge bowl of the stuff. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was at a Narnian costume party to which I went dressed as The Lady of the Green Kirtle. I ate pancit again, and boom! Right back to memory lane. 

The best part about this meal is that it's waist-friendly, (more-so if you use chicken instead of beef) and qualifies as Shrinkage food because there's not a smidge flour or sugar, and it's packed with veggies. Also, it's gluten free, because those are rice-noodles up there, not wheat, which makes them much better. It would be awesome if you could buy brown-rice noodles, but for now these are great.

Pancit is one of those things that is great for feeding large families because it's kind of a catch-all dish. You can use any kind of meat in the dish. (We've used chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.) Really whatever you have on hand. Last night we had ground beef, and I'd never done that before. When I think of Asian cuisine, ground beef isn't exactly the first thing I think of. I knew I'd need to kick the recipe up a notch of I didn't want dinner to taste like a Teriyaki-Burger from a Japanese McDonald's.

Fast Fun Tip: While rummaging around for the best chili recipe for Dad, I had stumbled across a website that I can't find now. The guy writing the article mentioned that most of the time we don't "brown" ground beef, we "grey" it. In short, we put too much meat in the pan at once and it basically boils in the fat without ever gaining that awesome "browned" flavor. This time I took my pound of ground beef and did it in three separate chunks, smushing the ground beef into patties, sprinkling a bit of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, salt, and minced ginger over the top, then flipping the patties and breaking them apart. This is THE BOMB and allowed me to impart a vague Asian flare to the ground beef which was lacking beforehand.

Okay. So now that we've established how you have to cook your beef if you are using beef, we can get on with the real recipe. Again, it's a "per your own taste" thing, so the measurements for spices are going to be rather ambiguous. I change it every time depending on what we have on hand and what flavors I'm feeling. 

Pancit

• 1 head cabbage
• 1 red bell pepper
• 12 carrots
• 2 onions
• 3 tbs. minced ginger
• 4 ribs celery
• garlic
• 1 lb. ground beef (or other meat, chopped)
• 1/2 c. soy sauce (and a bit for serving)
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 1/4 c. rice vinegar
• 1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
• Salt
• red-pepper flakes
• olive oil or sesame oil
• peanuts
• 2 packages rice noodles (we use Mai Fu)

1. Start by slicing up all vegetables sensibly. The idea is not chunky--it's long strips to match the noodles. I left my carrot round just because they'd go farther, but onions, cabbage, and peppers can be cut into strips. Toss all veggies in a bowl together.
2. Brown the ground beef per my instructions further up the post. Set aside.
3. This is going to get majorly messy, and this recipe feeds a lot of people. A whole lot. Like...twelve of us with leftovers. So you'll need three skillets on the stove. Pour a bit of olive oil into the bottoms of the pans, and sautee leftover ginger and a spoonful of garlic in each man till golden. Divide the veggies into the three pans, and sautee for ten minutes until the vegetables are tender. Dash all your soy/vinegar/worcestershire sauces over the vegetables and continue to cook. Sprinkle with salt and red pepper flakes. When vegetables are done, cover and let steam while you work on the noodles.
4. Rice noodles are really cool because you don't boil them. Your first step will be to pull the noodles apart and put them in the bottom of some great big bowl. Then you will boil a kettle-full of water (a couple quarts) on the stove. When it is at a rolling boil, pour the water over the dry noodles, cover the bowl with a tray of some sort, and let steam until noodles are tender.
5. Drain your noodles, and mix the noodles, beef, and vegetables together. Add more soy sauce to taste, and mix well. This will kill your arms. You may have to chop up the noodles a bit in order to be able to stir.

Serve on plates and dig in! This is a wonderful meal for a party because it's pretty cheap and goes a really long way. Plus, it is delicious, and easy to throw together; you really can't go wrong with seasonings. At different times I have sprinkled in tons of different spices, drizzled a bit of molasses, dabbled in some clam juice...anything you have on hand. Take my word for it. 

Try this recipe next time you are having an Asian-themed party or just a great big family get-together. It's delicious, and everyone will want the recipe. Then it will be your turn to tell them you pretty much did it on the wing, because with pancit you can't go wrong. Plus, your figure will thank you for making life easy.

The Shrinkage Diaries: My Version of Working-Out

Dear Figure,

       You have the right to remain silent during this post, because today I'm not talking to you at all (we're not speaking, 'member?) but to the other girls who have been lurking about asking just with what am I battering you into being? In short, what sorts of exercises have I been doing?

Well, there's several levels to this. First off, I'm a firm believer (and have discovered this by trial and error...mostly error.) that fresh air is an important part of feeling fit and fabulous. You can treadmill all day, you can do a Pilates workout, but till you are out in the sunshine and fresh air, you're not gonna feel very energized. So, one of my most common things to do is to take a long, brisk walk outside. Nothing fancy, but I try to keep my buttom tucked and my stomach in. The usual loop I do is about 4 miles. It takes me about an hour...maybe a tidge longer, depending on if my shins are hurting or not. No, don't freak out. I don't have anything wrong with my shins (that I know of) it's just that one of them has been hurting rather a lot and makes it uncomfortable to walk quickly for long distances. (I do it anyway.) One trick I've found to the whole "long walk" thing is this:

When you think you are finished, go a little further.

Passing your house? Take one more quick loop around the neighborhood. I live way out in the country, but there are a few roads that make a triangle, and are each about a quarter of a mile in length. Often I'll add an extra loop around the triangle, adding nearly a mile to my walk just with that little effort. So walking is great for overall health and fitness, but I have major issues with several areas on my body that walking just isn't fixing fast enough for my preference. ;) My bum has shrunk, yes, but other areas I wanted to focus on. (i.e. my non-existant abs and my jiggly arms.)

For a while I was doing some Marine Corps arm exercises that Abigail taught me from her brother's Good ol' days at boot-camp. I couldn't find any instructables for these, so I can't share them here, but they are called "Sungods" and "Chain-breakers" so ask your closest Marine if he knows how to do them. ;) But I was soon rather tired of the monotony of just sitting there, and then my dear friend Julia showed me a series of Youtube videos that I am now a sworn fan of. They are part of a series called "Blogilates" done by a woman named Cassey Ho who is just so peppy and encouraging that you feel as skinny as she is before the workout has even begun. The workouts are balanced, healthy, and fairly easy in a ouch-that-hurts-but-golly-it's-good-for-me kind of way. Some of them are even done to music. :D You can find printouts for lots of her workouts here.

I did some of this one this morning..... Ouch. :D 

My favorite videos (that I've tried) are:

The Official Prom-Dress Workout

(Fairly easy, but watch out for the leg circles. Ouch.)

Call Me Maybe Squat Challenge

(Trying this is just a couple minutes)

That's What Makes You Bootyful workout. 

(Following it up with this if I'm not dead. ;)

I will warn you and say that she wears work-out clothes and some of her outfits (as in the Bootyful workout) are not guy-friendly. I personally don't have a problem working out with these videos as I'm totally dying there on the floor and not even paying attention. But I would advise against doing these while brothers are around. :D  Still, I have found these workouts to be fun, quick, and effective.

Though my arms are still very jiggly, I am already seeing definition between the Marine workouts and these videos. Hurrah! I am adding sit-ups to my routine as well, because I realized yesterday that I honestly have no stomach muscles. Really. It's pitiful. So I am on a roll to change that,  because I consider stomach muscles essential to life as a Mama. (someday)

Another thing Mama does (and that I do rather often as well) are a series by Teresa Tapp called T-Tapp. They are workouts that focus on no-impact strength and core-training, and are really healthy and balanced as well. I love the fact that Teresa Tapp was a physical therapist so she knows what's what and how to align the body correctly and all that. These videos are such stress-relievers, and relatively quick. (Basic Plus takes 15 minutes.)

Basic Plus to Tempo

Step Away

Hit the Floor 

(synonymous with killer pain ;)

You can read up all about T-Tapp at the website....

Anyway, these are some of the things I have been doing and enjoying. We have an elliptical machine as well, but in a lot of cases I'd just rather go on a walk, but it is a great thing to have for rainy days, or the days you don't have enough time to go for an hour walk and have to get it done quickly.

My target-areas to work on in the next while are:

Abs
Arms
Legs

What are yours, and what sorts of exercises do you like to do? Plus, have any of you tried Zumba, and does it actually work besides being fun to do? :D

                     With Definitely Aching Abs and Thighs,

                                                                         Rachel

The Shrinkage Diaries: When the Wallet's Shrinking but you're not

Dear Figure,
       Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
^ Do you hear that? It might look the wail of a small mosquito, but actually, it's the sound I made all this past week as our pantry emptied, we waited for checks in the mail to be able to stock back up, and the choices for healthy eating dwindled. I mean, really. Okay. So I know I haven't been religious in my NOTHING FLOUR and NOTHING SUGAR this past week, but I have been exercising and I have been eating mostly none and none. Yeah. Valentine's day threw me off.
        But anyway, I was sitting on my bed yesterday around lunchtime reading up on Alexsander Solzhenitsyn and generally lost in Communist Russia when Mama poked her head through the door and informed me that she was working on school with the younger ones, and would I be so kind as to fix something alive for lunch because she couldn't eat any more "dead food" if she was a POW in Stalag 13. Or maybe it was "I would throw up if I had to eat any more popcorn." (I've heard it both ways.) I was just stuck in Russia, remember.

"We have...cucumbers, cabbage...some onions...oh! and chick peas."

And then she went downstairs, and Figure? I felt you dancing in high glee because you thought I would have to make something wretched like cabbage soup. I mean anyone who has seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will remember...

"Oh. Well....nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage!"

But if I made something wretched like cabbage soup, it would appear that your bet was winning, Figure, and you were convincing me that eating healthy tasted like...dishwater. Perhaps it was the influence of Communist Russia that sent me to Google, but I sat down at the computer and typed in "raw salad cucumbers cabbage" not expecting anything to come up. But something did. Something from a Russian cooking website (the sterling truth) and I decided to try it...and what came out was absolutely delicious.

But to feed eleven or twelve people off of a cabbage salad while all right for Charlie Bucket & Co. is a little weak and wimpy and giving-uppish. In all my digging I found that we did have some carrots so I thought to myself, I thought: "Aha. Let us make hummus  out of the chick peas. Oh...but we don't have lemon juice, do we?"

No lemons. Not a juice anywhere. Not even lime juice, which works in a pinch. But I wanted hummus. I really wanted it, and I sat there for a moment, thinking rather harder than usual. Then the proverbial lightbulb came one and I decided I'd outwit our pantry.

No lemon juice?

No problem.

Instead I used red wine vinegar and a generous sprinkling of lemon-pepper seasoning. The result was Mediterranean in the extreme, and an awesome coupling for the Russian Cabbage Salad. Lunch was delicious, healthy, and unique and what's even better--built off a pantry and fridge as emaciated as Alexsander Solzhenitsyn after leaving his Gulag Archipelago. Below I've posted the Salad Recipe for you readers who are also standing victorious over your Figures! :) (I would have posted the hummus recipe too, but that'll have to wait for another post because I deleted the picture I took, and I hate "blind" recipes.)

Russian Cabbage Cucumber Salad

• 1 head cabbage
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbs. vinegar
• 2 tbs. olive oil

1. Slice the cabbage in thin slices, then sprinkle with salt and knead (like bread dough) till the cabbage begins to look a little juicy.

2. Slice cucumbers into quarters, then slice quarters. Slice onion into thin slices. Mix into cabbage.

3. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar (adding more to taste if desired) and mix 'er up.

Makes rather a lot 

Things like cabbage and cucumbers are really cheap in the scheme of things. The other day Mama and I were discussing the fact that Hispanic food and potatoes are always really cheap (though not particularly good for you) because the Irish and the Mexican cultures aren't known for having an overabundance of extra money. But you don't have to have a diet based entirely off of cheap corn and potatoes--there are vegetables that aren't exotic (like carrots, cabbage, cucumbers...even some peppers) that will be fairly easy on the budget, and very easy on your waist, so try buying those instead of more potatoes. :P

                

          With a temporarily stocked pantry at last,

                                                                 Rachel

The Shrinkage Diaries: Plateaus and Peaches

Dear Figure,
       Well.... we've had some intense moments of WILL YOU EVER SHOW YOURSELF!? this week, but I know that's just an attempt on your part to hide yourself from me and make me give it up. But know what? I'm not going to give it up because that would be lamer than you being a coward and hiding. I call this stage in Shrinkage the "Plateau". It's the time when you've shrunk along quite well for a week or two and suddenly stop "seeing" the results. You feel great, yes, but the results aren't visible. These are the times that are easiest to revert to your old paths, but these are also the defining moments when you'll see if you have what it takes to rummage up a Figure.

I am determined. Though I did buckle for a couple tiny slivers of Sarah's buckeye brownies, I successfully avoided many things this week that could have totally become snack-time. Including the beautiful, aromatic cinnamon raisin biscuits Dad got up and made this morning. I sat there with my energy bar thinking about you, Figure, and wishing we hadn't toasted the sesame seeds this time because it made the bars taste like savory crackers crumbled in honey.

But I didn't cave.

On Pinterest I saw a list of things called "The Skinny Rules" and one of them stuck out as being a really good piece of wisdom. (something Mama has always recommended, and I follow.) Plan one meal a week that is your fun meal. Have something at that meal that isn't necessarily good for you. It might be some pizza on your family pizza night. It might be a little cheesecake at a church dinner. (*smiles at Julia*) It could be anything, but it keeps you from feeling deprived.

I've been experimenting further with awesome sugarless-flourless desserts, and here is the promised Peach Froyo recipe. I made Chocolate-Banana froyo and the peach froyo, and the peach was by far my favorite. :)

Peach Froyo

• Two cups Greek yogurt
• 2 cups fresh or frozen peach slices
• 2-3 Tbs. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 pinches sea-salt (this is essential, as it brings out the peach flavor!)

The only steps here are to stick it all in the blender and blend it till it's....blent! (And Shakespeare uses that word so THERE!) Then you dump it in a loaf pan, and stick it in the freezer for a matter of 3 or 4 hours. If you leave it in longer than that (and even then) you will want to let it sit for about 20 minutes to be soft enough to scoop. I used a cookie-dough scooper to scoop out the froyo because this is really really rich and you don't want a lot of it! What I served my helping in is a small teacup, and you can see the size-reference from the almonds. :)

So dear Figure of mine, though you're deluding me with thinking you'll never come out of hiding, I am continuing on my exercise regime, continuing on making new and wonderful recipes and living a life of Shrinkage!

For those of you who are already shrunk or already eating healthy, I'd encourage you to send a brief note to a friend who is still fighting for her Figure and for general health and fitness. One of my dear friends Facebook-messaged me just letting me know how proud she was of me and that she entirely supported my fight for a Figure and admired it. That made my week, and I intend to pass the favor on someday. After all, how could she have known that I was having a Plateau Week? You never know when your little message could mean the difference between excellent Peach Froyo or Buckeye brownies. ;)

             Much much determination and tough-love,

                                                 Rachel

Capering and Cookery: Almond Loves--without flour or sugar!

For a long time I've needed to commit to a variety of Shrinkage Plan, but I don't like the idea of dieting. It seems so...pie-crust-ish. You know, easily made, easily broken and all that lovely Mary Poppins stuff. A change to your diet though--now that's different because it means you are actually eating healthy. Not depriving yourself of essential things like natural fats and oils and all that.
That being said, I decided to go off of wheat flour and sugar for a time. I am allowing myself to still eat some honey/agave nectar and that sort of thing, but no traditional cane sugars or wheat flours. :) I plan to depart from this mantra now and again--it's not a forever and always sort of change...just a most-of-the-time one. :)
But I'm a baker after all and it's next to impossible to not want to bake something "sweetbutteryan'delicious" as my little sister would say. I certainly don't intend to deprive myself forever of all things amazing. :D
So I set out to find a recipe that would not take hours of work, and yet would not include flour or sugar. And I found it! They are little macaroon-like cookies called Almond Loves and are perfect for gluten-free people as well as anyone who wants a cookie but doesn't want to get plumpified eating them! :]
I've shared the recipe below and I hope you'll try it out some time and tell me what you think!

Almond Loves

• 1 3/4 c. whole, blanched almonds

• 2 egg whites

• 1/3 cup honey

• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil

• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

• 1/8 tsp. ground ginger

• 1/8 tsp. ground mace  

• A dash of almond flavoring

• 1/4 c. all-fruit jam (I used raspberry :)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat cookie sheets with nonstick spray or parchment paper
2. In food processor or nice blender grind together all ingredients except jam till a smooth (ish) paste forms. (I added a little unsweetened coconut, but that is only optional)
3. Drop teaspoonsful onto the cookie sheets. With a wet spoon make a little "thumbprint" in the tops of each cookie, then dollop the jam inside.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.

Makes about 20 macaroon-sized cookies