To Cook or NOT to Cook

It has been a good week this week.  Even my Wii congratulated me on my healthy success.  I worked out seven days in a row and the machine admired my dedication.  I'll take the pats on the back from anywhere I can :)  Other good news is that my blood sugar continues to decline slowly and my blood tests came back from the doctor with some thumbs up.   Cholesterol is awesome (so awesome the nurse questioned if I take cholesterol medication ) Ha HA no!  But I was ready for something to come back good.  I also checked my blood pressure and that is well within a healthy range.  Its nice to get some positive feedback and see true results.  Because on those tough days it is easy to tempt ourselves and lose sight of the goal.  But when results keep appearing it strengthens your resolve and keeps temptation at bay. 

However, temptation still creeps at the edges and sneak surprises us.  I had pizza.  After three weeks of no pizza, no pasta, and a serious decline in bread consumption I gave up the fight.  We had planned squash soup for Wednesday night.  (Remember that excess turban squash?)  We had purchased a beautiful butternut squash.  Color was a beautiful tan with an almost flawless peel.  And butternut squash is by far our household favorite squash - versatile, great flavor with a hint of sweetness, and long shelf life.  Once again I was home with our little one for the day and had plans to peel and cube the newly purchased squash for soup.  The day quickly flew by and by dinner time I was drained.  I had no desire to hack through a squash after my recent bout with the turban squash.  I turned to my hubby and hinted and than downright suggested pizza for dinner.  He hesitantly agreed; excited at the prospect but wanted to be supportive of our new lifestyle.  Easily 3 weeks is the longest we have ever gone without pasta or pizza for a meal.  We switched up our regular order as two pizzas are pretty normal so that we can have at least a breakfast and lunch covered too.  Plus a side of breadsticks (I love to dip!).  But no longer are carbs our friends or at least mine.  New order some wings with one pizza with extra thin crispy crust.  I limited myself to three pieces which is not slices but smaller squares.  And my blood sugar remained right on track.  Obviously not an every night a choice but a treat that didn't bust the bank.  And out of my guilt I prepped the butternut squash that night (and some onions) so there would be NO excuse to make the soup Thursday.  I think I was scared of the squash due to the Turban incident but the butternut was so easy and quickly prepped within fifteen minutes.  We did eat a delicious soup Thursday (still have leftovers - but soup leftover is yummier than the original meal as the flavors deepen and blend). 

Speaking of prepping veggies which helps keep me on track to eating healthier.  The veggie (or I should say fruit) of the week was the graffiti eggplant.  How fun!  Eggplant is delicious produce that I enjoyed stewed, roasted, grilled, fried, and baked. The graffiti eggplant has an interesting outer layer.  The peel is either ivory with purple stripes or purple with ivory stripes.  The texture was super smooth; almost plastic - like.  Otherwise the graffiti eggplant is very similiar to the classic eggplant.  So to test out our new produce we oven roasted the eggplant with onions, mushrooms, and peppers drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  YUM!  We treated it like a salad and let it cool in the fridge as a side to our turkey meatloaf.  The roasted produce had a tangy but sweet flavor with great textures of soft and chewy (eggplant and mushrooms) with a little bite (peppers and onions). 

The moral of the story - a little prep work in the kitchen eases the cooking decision.  I know it sounds like work and it takes a little bit of effort.  But if you can spare that ten - fifteen minutes the night before after your belly is satisfied.  It will save time (why debate the choice if the food is already prepped) and you can do the fun stuff right away (stirring and mixing and cooking) and money is easier to hang unto when you aren't paying someone else to feed you.

May your HealthFULL Journey include treats, wisdom, and effort. 'Til we meet again. . .

Let's Squash our fears about Squash!

First let me start off with my gym count-down....When I visited the gym on Wednesday it had been 114 days between my visits. This time it had been a day. That's right my hubby and I squeezed in a work-out for our Friday night date. To switch things up I didn't head directly over to my friendly Elliptical. I headed to the Ladies Only section and worked the circuit weights. It is set up very much like the Women Friendly gym, with a name that emphasized the womanly shape :) Where you hit a cardio rate because you quickly move from weight machine to the next. When I started I was thinking no way does this count as a real work-out. By my third machine I was pouring sweat and a little wobbly on the legs. So I take back my thinking. It was a work-out and I was ready to be done after only five minutes. But I went through a set. I shouldn't be shocked but did discover that I do not have strong abdominal muscles, if any. There is this crunch contraption where you reach your hands over your head and wrap your legs around a footrest and TOGETHER pull closer, hands down and legs up. When I first made an attempt I thought the machine was broken because nothing happened. I moved the weight to a lower number and this attempt the machine budged. I went to the lowest setting and "crunched". So yeah, anyway I will be working on that muscle and conquering that machine in the not so near future. So let's now move on to the new veggie of the week. At the beginning of the week we enjoyed roasted butternut squash and tonight our entree was spaghetti squash. If you have boiled water, turned on an oven, or used your microwave and combine it with your childhood carving pumpkin skills. You too can enjoy squash. There are tons of options with this amazing vegetable. They tend to keep quite awhile in your kitchen without refrigeration. That is a huge plus for me. They also are quite pretty and add great color to any meal. And do you know what color means in food, (natural color that is, I am not referring to the wonders of food coloring) Color means nutrients, different colors equal different nutrients. To start most squashes the best preparation is to split the squash down the middle and scoop out the seeds. This is when your carving pumpkin skills come in handy. Then for the butternut squash I prepared you take off the peel by cutting away the outside (think cantaloupe) and cutting into cubes. Don't go too small because as the squash heats up it will shrink. Also try to keep the cubes even for an even roast. Then for a quick glaze to add to its natural sweetness (very close to a sweet potato flavor) you melt some butter and either you could add a cinnamon spiced sugar or we used brown sugar mixed with the butter and a pinch of salt and pepper and scattered over the cubed squash. We roasted it for about forty five minutes to let it get tender. Flipping the cubes every ten minutes to make sure the whole bite cooked. This glaze also works great on roasted baby carrots. Voila! Now the spaghetti squash is kind of out there, but super fun. Do the basic cut in half and remove seeds. Then you have two options to prepare it either by throwing it in boiling water for 15 - 18 minutes or placing a little water in a microwaveable bowl and cooking it in the microwave for about 13 minutes. We did the boiling approach. You know your squash is tender when you can prick the peel easily with a fork. Drain the water ( save a little to dampen the squash if needed). Then the fun begins you just use a fork to pull out the squash that breaks up like pasta strips. Then the options are endless. If you like marinara sauce on pasta, go for it on the spaghetti squash. Or keep it simple with either a butter or olive oil, cheese, and pepper and salt. We used a drizzle of olive oil and then used grated Asiago and Parmesan cheese. Mmmmm! See how easy squash is to prepare for a tasty feast. Split in half and remove seeds (with a spoon and both squashes took less then two minutes for this full step). Then pick an easy cook method, boil, roast, or yes even microwave. No shame in any approach. Next you pick out your spices - and decide if you want to go sweet or savoury. Put 'em together and Bon Appetit! Thank you for your encouragement and support. Together we are squashing out fears and fully embracing the HealthFULL Journey! Happy Travels!