Improv

Regarding my last post, "Ahead of the Game", I had promised some of my friends that I'd make sure to post some of the things that I actually did with the food, this weekend.  It's not even the weekend, yet.  But I've been at it since Wednesday night.  I want to post before, what's in my head, disappears into a time-space warp.

On top of that, I thought of a lot of useful tips for weight management while I was cooking.  I even wrote notes so I wouldn't forget.  I'm going to break it down in a few segments.

IMPROV
Zucchini, what can you do with zucchini.  You replace your pasta with zucchini.  Driving home from work Wednesday, the light bulb went off, "I'm going to make spaghetti out of zucchini."  I'm gluten intolerant, it's brilliant.  I made an alfredo sauce with some left over cream that was bought over the weekend (not an item we usually have in the fridge).  We had chicken leftover, that was used to make the broth for the dressing.  I added some mushrooms, onion and garlic.  I'm being vague, I pretty much just put the sauce together on the fly.  I think I got a little confused, because I added lemon juice, too.  I think that's for scampi, but, whatever, it tasted good. The important thing to know is that I peeled and shredded the zucchini.  I blanched it, but I think next time I'll steam it.  Ultimately, Javy's satisfaction is the true test and he loved it.

Chicken Alfredo

shredded zucchini

Successful Dinner!

Still, even after this wonder meal, my zucchini still runneth over.  Zucchini lasagna was the answer.  I'm not sure what the real definition of lasagna is, or if it really is Italian.  I suppose I could Google it, but I don't want to ruin the mystique.  I imagine it to be a very romantic term for layering stuff with damn good cheese.  I consider myself to be a fanatic of cheese and that will probably be the last thing to go before I become a vegan.  Baby steps, I say.  Like the chicken alfredo, this recipe was totally improvised.  I used the mushrooms as my meat.  I sliced the zucchini with a cheese slicer and added a little eggplant-just because it was there.  I had tons of fresh basil and a little bit of my homemade tomato sauce left over, too.  I just started layering all that with some mozzarella.  I bought some of those aluminum pans from Costco and made two pans.   I froze one pan and we ate the other one.  

alotta sliced zucchini

In true lasagna style, one pan is a little bit short.
Just wanted to make sure I had enough stuff.

Not as enthusiastic about this one, but he tolerated it.  There was cheese.

Tip #1: Here's the thing, eating pasta, or any grain, with a meat, is a complete calorie killer.  If you use an App, like Myfitnesspal, you'll see that your total daily calories disappear when you combine those two.  So replacing your grain with a vegetable is a good way to cut back on the caloric intake and it provides so many more nutrients.  See how I balanced out the rich chicken alfredo with something light.  And it works vice versa, don't eat meat if you want to enjoy some pasta or rice.  

A Tale of Two Stocks

Besides the lasagna on Thursday, I also worked on making two stocks-vegetable and turkey.  The turkey is for the gumbo that I made tonight.  I'll address that later.  The vegetable, just because I did have so much leftover basic veggies like carrots, celery and yes, I threw in some zucchini, stuff that was gonna go bad in a few days.  Vegetables stock is got to be the easiest thing in the world to make.  You pretty much just sautee' the veggies in some olive oil and add water, then simmer that for about an hour.  So easy, but will be the base for a lot of good things to come.  

The turkey stock was made with the turkey carcass.  Now it may be the Irish in me, but I love Thanksgiving because its the one time of the year that I can use the phrase turkey carcass without seeming like a freak.  The Chieftains use this term so melodically in their song, "St Stephen's Day Murders", "The carcass of the beast, left over from the feast, can still be found haunting the kitchen."  Ahhh, the Irish!  Okay, slight digression, thanks for hanging with me.  My recipe for the turkey stock can be found in the gumbo recipe I used from The Homesick Texan, which I will provide the link for in the next segment.   

And besides the two stocks, I made buckwheat pancakes, which I topped with the leftover homemade cranberry sauce.  They seemed to be pretty righteous.  Unfortunately, I was unable to partake since the buckwheat (not wheat, by the way) mix had wheat in it.  The cranberry sauce was super easy and delish!  It's from the Pioneer Woman's website.  thepioneerwoman.com

buckwheat pancakes with cranberry sauce

My gluten free breakfast-raw grapefruit and orange juice.
No Grey Goose, actually, I just pretend.

Yummy satisfaction!

Tip #2: Never underestimate your leftovers.  Before you dive into the fresh stuff, use what you got.  And don't be afraid to think about the future.  I froze 3 quart size bags of the vegetable stock.  After I used what I needed for my recipe, I still had 2 quart size bags of turkey stock that I froze.  Future heartaches have been averted.  

Making a roux, checking it twice

Turkey gumbo!  That's what it was all about, tonight.  I got this recipe from the Homesick Texan, who I am a big fan of.  Not because I am a homesick Texan, er no, but because I think she could be related.  She seems to understand the food culture from whence I sprouted.  She even has the recipe for King Ranch Chicken, which I actually believed for a very long time had been invented by my Aunt Dru.  But gumbo is not one of those things that I actually grew up with.  I'm from south Texas, not East Texas. But she posted it and I accepted the challenge.  Mostly,  because I had all the ingredients and I got to use my turkey CARCASS.  homesicktexan.com is her blog, check her out.  For me, it was delightful!  And I'm happy to say there will be plenty for me because I was the only one who thought so.  

Shunning the gumbo

Tolerating

No!

Javy got a bowl of rice and a hotdog, but he tried it, at least.  I am looking forward to tomorrow, so that I can eat some more.  It was very rich, so I only ate one small bowl.  

Tip #3:  Please don't underestimate yourselves.  I hope no one thinks that I am posting all this stuff to brag.  Like look at me, look at all I did.  I'm not like that.  I've worked really hard these last two days.  If you knew me before, you'd know how lazy I could be.  I was a work 40 hours a week, kind of gal, who only thought about the immediate future.  I don't know exactly when it clicked inside my head, but to have a successful healthy lifestyle, you got to utilize your time wisely and plan ahead, especially meals.  In addition to all this stuff, I caught up with all the yard work, got the Christmas tree out, performed various homemaking functions, and took care of admin stuff.  I used to be the great procrastinator, now I'm getting it done.  A very wise person told me recently, "You gotta make hay while the sun is shining."  So if you're like I used to be, just start with small changes and see where it goes from there.  Your quality of life will be so much better.