Week 1: Goals

To help me track my progress without tracking every bite of food I eat, I've decided to set a weekly goal and then report weekly results.

This week, my goal is to eat my 3 servings of dairy and to drink 64 fl oz of water, every single day.  The dairy will most likely come in the form of yogurt, either:

Yoplait Greek 100

or Fage Total 0%

I'm not officially sure if either of these are considered Simply Filling, but they are Simply Filling enough.  I don't mean to start off this project by making substitutions, but this yogurt is good for me, and that is really important.  Their non-flavored counterparts are on the SF list, and the fruit flavoring on both is made of sugar, fruit, water, and preservatives - no corn syrup, nothing weird.  Since I know I would never eat plain yogurt, this is going to work for me!  I'm happy that we have a fridge on vacation, too, so that I'll always be able to have a few containers of yogurt on hand for a protein-packed snack.

I'm also starting off with only 64oz of water, since that seems managable.  I think I'm supposed to be drinking like 100+ or something, but that's out of reach right now.  I'd like to start with goals I think I can really be successful about!

Simply Filling

I've decided to embark on a journey.  I'm having a tough time tracking my food on the WW Points Plus plan, so a great compromise is the Weight Watchers Simply Filling Plan.  

I made sure that this is something I can see myself following - I've spent time eating mostly this way, as well as following some blogs to see how other ladies incorporate the restrictions into real life.  I'm proud of the improvements I've made when it comes to stopping before I'm stuffed.  I no longer find a comforting feeling knowing I've conceived a food-baby every night.  Day.  Morning.  Whatever.

The great part about me starting this program now is that I've come to love most of this food, and regularly go for extras of the good stuff before more pasta or sweets.  I don't even really like desserts as it turns out!

This plan also allows for some leeway.  You still get your 49 PPV weekly for items of your choosing, which you can either consume or not.  It lets me still enjoy vacation next week, still drink my weight in Miller 64.  Ha!

So here's to a mostly-the-same new lifestyle choice.  I think I can pretty easily get Pat on board, too.

Food: The easiest steak and cheese ever

1/2 lb - 1lb shaved steak

mushrooms - fresh preferred, but canned are fine, too!

3 cloves fresh garlic

salt, pepper, onion powder to taste (don't overdo it because

you'll be adding twice!)

tasty bulky rolls or subs

4 slices American cheese

KETCHUP (optional ;-))

I don't know if the title to this post is silly, because I'm not sure that there is a steak and cheese that's hard to make.  I also know that there aren't any pictures in this post (or a lot of my posts) because I don't know anything about photography and I also don't usually have anything by my iPhone handy.  I'm asking for a real camera for my BIG present this year, but I do have a small point and shoot that I'm going to try to have around.  Do any of the decent rookie-range DLSR's have Wifi or Bluetooth capability?  Seriously - that's the reason I don't use a real camera.  Because I have to use a cord.  Pa-the-tic.  But I digress.

The other day, we were wandering through Dave's and came across some very thinly shaved steak on sale for a great price.  (Seriously, $3.49 for a pound of ANY cut of beef is a good price in my book).  We snatched up the last package because I had it in my head that I could make a French Dip out of it.  Uh, duh, Codi - that's roast beef.  So, back to the drawing board I went and the beef stayed in the fridge for a few days while we made some other goodies (and not so goodies) for dinner - posts to follow ;-)

I ended up going with something I had never made, and honestly never really enjoyed, either.  Shaved steak sandwiches.  I figured, what the heck, it's going to be easy.  And it was.  But GOOD too!

I started out with a hot pan (about 3/4 heat), some oil, salt, pepper, onion salt, and garlic.  I added fresh mushrooms and kept adding just a little bit of olive oil to them to keep them coated as they cooked.  As the mushrooms finished up (neither of us is a huge fan of peppers or onions, traditional Cheesesteak additives), I simply moved them to the side of the pan and dumped in the steak.  This steak was sliced thin enough that it was almost stringy, great for this application.  The heat went down to about 1/2 heat on our hot burner.  A little more onion salt, garlic, salt, pepper, and oil was thrown on top so that all of the beef was coated in the same mixture of spices.

After only about 6 minutes of semi-constant moving with the tongs, the steak was browned throughout and there were a few crispy pieces.  I mixed the mushrooms throughout the meat at this point and simply laid a few slices of American cheese over the mix.  When it started to look gooey, I used tongs to mix everything up and then dump a scoop directly onto the bottom half of a bulky roll.  I like mine with ketchup on the side to dip in  :-)

These were seriously the tastiest steak and cheese sandwiches that I have ever eaten.  The amount of flavor in the beef was phenomenal, with a mix of spices that I probably won't be able to duplicate.  A cheese with a little salty tang like American is really nice with these, but you could use almost any kind of cheese that you had on hand, sliced or shredded.  Good quality bulky rolls rounded out the meat by giving you a little bit of starch.

Overall, we would definitely have these again!!

Baking vs Cooking

I like to think that I'm a fairly good cook.  At least, Pat eats everything I make for dinner.  That might be because he knows how sensitive I can be and he doesn't want to lose his backrub privileges (no, that's not code for anything else).  But even I like 99% of the food I make.  Cooking, to me, is fun, and is all about taste.  It's become more of an experiment since Pat and I have lived together and I like challenging myself to be more adventurous and better than the last time around.

Baking and I have always had trouble, though.  Baking is chemistry.  And not the easy-high school-Mrs. Kilmartin-goof off while taking tests-kind of chemistry.  No, baking to me is the really tough-gotta take it during the summer because I failed it in the spring and the summer teacher is easier-better study and bring the teacher coffee-ORGANIC chemistry.  I like to think I'm on the road to getting better since as a 23 year old aspiring housewife (just kidding), I finally learned that over mixing makes things SUCK (gluten and whatnot).  My last homemade boxed pumpkin bread came out fantastic and I credit it to NOT overmixing.  Feeling confident, I decided to take on cheesecake.

What?!  Cheesecake?!  I don't even LIKE cheesecake.  The boy does, though, and in honor of my birthday (...?) I decided to make him a fall treat - pumpkin cheesecake with an Oreo crust.  So, the other night at work I printed out a recipe and of course forgot to bring it with me when I went shopping so I got the ingredients by memory.  Yesterday while I was refusing to get out of my pajamas becauseit'smydayandIdon'thaveto, I started to mix things together and realized that I was missing 1/3 of my cream cheese and so instead added a yogurt.  Does this make sense to anyone but me?

I mixed what I was supposed to mix and set the timer for 60 minutes like my recipe said and settled down onto the couch for the next hour.  I decided to Google cheesecake baking tips and realized that there was not a single one that I followed because my "Super Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Recipe" from about.com did not mention any of them!

• I didn't originally know that my springform pan was going to leak, so I warmed up the butter for the crust in the stove and now our kitchen smells like burning vegetable oil.
• I knew nothing of a water bath instead of direct baking and of course have huge cracks in the surface.
• I took the cheesecake out of the oven at 60 minutes instead of leaving it inside to slowly cool.
• I used the wrong ingredients (see above).
• I may have overmixed.  I thought I was safe because this is a gluten free desert, however eggs hold air.

You know what, though?  Pat thinks it tastes great.  I still don't like cheesecake.

From about.com:

This dessert is super-easy and makes a really impressive presentation. Plus, the whipped cream topping will hide any "cracks" in the cake's surface. There's no way you can mess it up, so give it a try today!
Note: This is a great recipe for making the day before a big event, such as Thanksgiving. Just be sure to allow yourself plenty of time to make the cheesecake and allow it to chill for several hours or overnight.

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs A bunch (12?) of Oreos smashed up
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter Original 1/2 stick plus another 1/4 after it all leaks out into your oven
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened 1 lb spreadable cream cheese, fridge temp, plus 1 serving of Oikos honey flavored Greek yogurt
• 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 14-oz. 15-oz can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon However much cinnamon you eyeball because the pouring spout really sucks
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup confectioner's ("powdered") sugar Haven't added the whipped cream yet but I will before I bring it to work!

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F.
2. Add the 4 tablespoons of butter to a 10-inch or 12-inch springform pan and place it in the oven to melt.
3. Add the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Stir.
4. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and 1/2 way up the sides.
5. Bake at 350º F. for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, yogurt and sweetened condensed milk. Beat at medium-high speed until well combined.
7. Add the pumpkin puree, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves.
8. Beat at medium speed until smooth.
9. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat again until the mixture is completely smooth. This may take 1-2 minutes.
10. Pour the mixture into the prepared springform pan.
11. Bake at 350º F. for 60 minutes.
12. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. Run a knife blade along the rim of the springform pan to release the edge of the cake; but do not remove the outer ring of the springform pan just yet.
13. Leave the cheesecake on the wire rack until it is completely cooled.
14. Remove the outer ring of the springform pan and place the cheesecake in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours or overnight.
15. Shortly before serving, prepare the whipped cream. Simply beat the whipping cream and confectioner's sugar until stiff peaks form.
16. Spread the whipped cream over the cheesecake. This will hide any "cracks" in the cake's surface, too!
17. Chill again until you're ready to serve.

All in all, I'm feeling less intimidated by baking.  Two successful projects in a week, one of which should have been a complete disaster, and two pumpkiny desserts (breakfasts).

What about you?  Are you a baker, or a cooker (cook?  chef?)?