I Had Real Food for Dinner

Most of the day was decaf coffee with half and half and black bean chocolate-orange cake, but I had one protein shake and one real meal today. Here's the real meal:


It's just a simple, lovely Farmers' Market salad. All but two of the components are from the White House Farmers' Market.

From the Market, there are delicious dijon-tasting mustard lettuce leaves, sweet purple bell peppers, mildly peppery French breakfast radishes, tart green tomatoes - all veggies but the lettuce lightly sauteed - and medium rare bison ranch steak ("ranch steak" is from the shoulder, so it's a lean and less expensive cut that you must be careful not to overcook.)

From my home kitchen/leftovers, there are blanched/sauteed brussels sprouts and South Carolina mustard bbq-based vinaigrette. Yum.

The Angel and the Devil

The Angel: No sugar added, flourless, low-carb chocolate-orange cake with chocolate ganache

You know the drill. Pretty much every chocolate cake I make these days is a spin on the black bean chocolate cake. This is that recipe with the zest of two oranges mixed in. I had to go to the regular supermarket instead of Whole Foods this week, so the ganache is made with Hershey's sugar-free chocolates (usually I'd prefer CarbRite or one of the Belgian versions. But with such a thin layer, it's nice this way too.)

The Devil: Full sugar almond sour cream pound cake with plum-balsamic glaze and almond brown sugar crunch topping

The pound cake base is a twist on Paula Deen's Almond Sour Cream Pound Cake recipe. It's a little too sweet for my liking, but the plum-balsamic glaze (just plums, both granulated and powdered sugar, water, and balsamic vinegar) does a lot to counteract that. I would never make this cake without an acidic component.

Fortunately, I'm not really a sour cream pound cake fan, so the Devil is not so tempting. The Angel looks kinda devilish, with the whole black and orange motif, while the Devil looks pure, sprinkled with white sliced almonds. Yeah. And it's Halloween. That's where that title came from . . .

Recipe in Progress: Sardine Mousse with Indian-Spiced Eggplant Pancakes

I've been wanting to play with sardines. I discovered via Obesity Help that they are actually a great post-RNY food. For some reason - I guess because I associate them with my grease-lovin' late granddad - I assumed the canned version was terribly unhealthy.

I couldn't have been more off-base: 1 2-oz. serving of Wild Planet sardines canned in spring water is just 73 calories, 13 grams of protein, no carbs, and just 2 grams of super-healthy Omega-3 fat. In a word, stellar.

Plus, I recently read on Susan Maria Leach's blog that women often reap more benefits from food sources of calcium than from supplements. Sardines are a terrific source of calcium and Vitamin D, among other nutrients. But, to receive all of the benefit from eating sardines, you gotta eat the skin and the bones. [Cue the "ews"]. Susan Maria linked to her blog post on her Before and After Help message board, and both her and one of the moderators were hatin' on sardines.

Because I'd been wanting to try them again anyway, I took their disdain as a challenge. Last night, I made this:

My plating left much to be desired, but the flavors were amazing. The mousse itself is ridiculously easy to make. No heated cooking required!

However, this recipe isn't perfect. It's in progress. I think next time I will add some avocado, tofu, and/or fat-free cream cheese to stabilize the mousse a bit more and to raise the creamy factor. Fresh basil would probably be really good instead of the dried. I could also add some unflavored gelatin and mold it to make something really fancy. But I want to put the idea and flavors out there now, and I'll tweak it when I decide I want sardine mousse again.

SARDINE MOUSSE

What you need:

• 2 oz. canned sardines in spring water, with skin and bones (I used Wild Planet wild sardines from The Fresh Market)
• About 20 grams onion, lightly sauteed in nonstick spray to dull the raw flavor
• 1 garlic clove
• Juice of 1/2 small lemon
• 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika (if you don't have smoked paprika, try adding 2 tsp. Liquid Smoke and 1/2 tsp. regular paprika)
• 1/4 tsp. table salt
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tbsp. Splenda
• 1/4 cup pasteurized egg whites, like All Whites [Note: even though they don't whip as well, you definitely need to use pasteurized whites because this is a no-cook dish].
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• Food processor
• Hand mixer

What to do:

1. Place all ingredients except the egg whites and cream of tartar in your food processor. Puree until smooth.
2. In a clean bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and whip to soft peaks using the hand mixer.
3. Very, very carefully fold the sardine puree into the egg whites until well-combined. Voila! Keep chilled until ready to serve.

EGGPLANT PANCAKES

What you need:

• About 20 grams yellow onion, diced (any kind of onion would work, but would add a slightly different flavor)
• About 100 grams eggplant, diced small, skin-on
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garam masala
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. curry powder
• 1T apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. Splenda (or 3 packets)
• 1/4 cup pasteurized egg whites (like All Whites)
• Nonstick spray
• Parchment paper (optional)
• Food processor (or you can finely dice the eggplant by hand)

What to do:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Saute the diced eggplant in nonstick spray over medium heat just until they are translucent. While the onions are sauteing, salt the eggplant and let the salt pull out some of the bitterness.
3. Once the onions are soft and slightly browned, add in the eggplant. Stir in the garam masala, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, and curry powder. Let it cook down until the flesh is softened and there's some "stuff" sticking to the bottom of the saute pan.
4. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar (add water too if needed), and stir in the Splenda.
5. Chop the eggplant mixture in the food processor. Don't puree; just chop finely. Put in a bowl. Stir in pasteurized egg whites to make pancake batter.
6. Portion out the pancake mixture on a cookie sheet coated with nonstick spray or lined with parchment paper. (I made 4 pancakes). Bake in oven at 350 until cooked through and brown around the edges (about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven). Enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
This entire dish, which I designed to make one serving, contains approximately 223 calories, 26.7 grams of protein, 17.1 NET grams of carbohydrate (not including any fiber grams), and 2.2 grams of fat. Note that these are very generous estimates, including calorie and macronutrient counts for all of the spices, the vinegar, and the Splenda.

The sardine mousse contains 138 calories, 19.4 grams of protein, 8.7 NET grams of carbohydrate, and 2.2 grams of fat.

The eggplant pancakes contain 85 calories, 7.3 grams of protein, 8.4 NET grams of carbohydrate, and 0 grams of fat.

You should be eating more sardines. In addition to the calcium, Omega-3 fats, and deliciousness, they are also one of the most "green" seafood choices. Read the labels for sodium content, but other than that, you can't go wrong with 'em.

What I Cooked! June 19, 2010

Since January, I've been preparing one meal a month for my mom. They are always multiple courses, but WLS-friendly. (Even though my mom is a non-op, I refuse to cook foods that I can't eat.)

This month, I sort of went with a summer solstice theme. Here's what I served:

Course 1: Watermelon Three Ways

Right: Frothy cucumber-watermelon gazpacho with lemon.

Center: Salad of baby arugula with caramelized watermelon, warm almond-crusted goat cheese medallions, and orange-infused balsamic reduction.

Left: Spicy watermelon salsa with thinly sliced summer squash. The salsa contains watermelon, jicama, tomato, avocado, red onion, jalapeno, basil, and a little salt, vinegar, sucralose, and red pepper flake.

Course 2: Biscuits & Jelly

Clockwise from the top: (1) Jalapeno-cheddar Carbquik biscuit; (2) Tomato gazpacho aspic with cucumbers, bell peppers, and red onion; (3) "Candied" turkey bacon (made using Nature Sweet brown); and (4) Hard-boiled egg. This was sort of a deconstructed thing. It's designed that you take a little of each thing and eat it together. Both my plating and photography were particularly bad - sorry!

Course 3: Poached Halibut with Summer Bounty in Lemon-Chamomile Broth

"Summer Bounty" is just another word for summer vegetables, and this version contained asparagus tips, golden beets, kohlrabi, and hen-of-the-woods mushrooms. The halibut is sprinkled with a few crushed pink peppercorns. Unfortunately, with all the craziness going on, I think my halibut was slightly overcooked. That was a practically criminal mistake considering how expensive it was!

Either way, I loved this dish. It really tasted like summer with the floral aroma of the chamomile, the brightness of the lemon, and the light feel of the entire dish.

Kohlrabi is a particularly welcome new discovery. Steamed simply with salt until fork tender, it tasted like potatoes - but check out these fabulous stats. This summer veggie could open up a whole new world of culinary possibilities.

I think this might be my best plating for any entree thus far. My entrees usually look like a mess, but I thought this one was quite beautiful.

Course 4: Red Velvet Pancakes and Reese's Cup Protein Pie

Top: Chocolate peanut butter fudge frozen protein pie. Check out the recipe from Bariatric Foodie. Unfortunately, I ate almost the entire pie by myself, so I don't think I'll be making it again unless it's for a party where lots of people will eat it. Very yummy! One small change I'd suggest is using much less crust than the recipe calls for. I'd cut the crust recipe by a full 2/3.

Bottom: Red velvet protein pancakes with (sugar-free, fat-free) cream cheese sauce and toasted chopped pecans. This was so, so, so, so good. Mom gobbled it right up. The cream cheese sauce made all the difference.

I followed the basic protein pancake recipe from Maria Health blog, but used chocolate protein and cocoa instead of vanilla, tripled the amount of baking powder, and of course, added red food coloring.

I had fun. It sent me on a bit of an eating spree, but it is always fun to brainstorm and prepare these meals.

Before Photos. Way Before.

I'm not super keen on putting pictures of myself on the Internets, but I still want an easily accessible receptacle for a few photos of me at my highest weight. At least for now, I'm posting them here.

These photos are mostly from Fall 2001, at the beginning of my junior year of college. I know this because of the particularly bad weave, which deserves its own post. (I could keep a whole blog on my lifetime of hair issues. There's a reason I cut it all off.)

Anyway, as I've mentioned numerous times in the past, my highest measured weight was 338 in or about May 2002. I'm pretty sure I weighed a bit more than that in these pictures, maybe 350 or so.

At lunch with a couple girlfriends.
I loved this sweater! I had another one in gray and orange that I used to wear with a bright orange bubble vest (yup, don't hate.)

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At the Fall 2001 FUSAB retreat. I miss retreats.
This is another sweater that I adored. Unfortunately, I usually wore it with a gray skirt made of some weird polyester material that felt like vinyl. Pickings were slim; what can you do?

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At my 20th birthday celebration.

More explanation is probably needed on the birthday photos. We went to Steak 'n Shake, painted ceramics, and hung out at the apartment. My friends baked red velvet cupcakes for me, my favorite. The photos are in chronological order: The first, the Steak 'n Shake photo, is what I like to call my "ultimate fat pic." Not only does it feature me at my highest weight, it also shows how I got there! (See the empty chocolate malt milkshake glass, the cheese fries, the bacon cheeseburger so big that it hangs off the plate.) The second is me with my cupcakes after dinner. The third is after all the eating. I had "the itis." It was a fun birthday.

I'm not sure how long I'll leave these up here, but I like having something easy to refer to. Please pray that I never go back to being this obese!