Trim Healthy Papa

 I just noticed that my last post was in December, 2019.  Who could have guessed what would follow in the year to come?  Throughout 2020, I've been posting plan photos on my Instagram account, but somehow this blog has fallen by the wayside in the midst of that chaotic year.  

Anyway, this post has been floating around in my head for a few months now, so here goes:

In September 2020, my hubby began noticing a chest pain every time his heart rate went over 100 (thanks to his Apple watch, which is a veritable bastion of both useful and non-useful information).

This pattern continued until late October, when we finally decided we had better go check it out.  (Generally we avoid doctors, no offense intended toward any doctor who might be reading this.)   So off to the ER we went.

Long story short... his widow-maker artery was 95% blocked and they inserted a stent.  His blood sugars were about 300 when he went in, his blood pressure was high, and his weight was 187. Thus began a hard-sell (by the well-meaning medical establishment) of a whole litany of drugs.  Blood pressure meds.  Statins.  Blood sugar drugs.  Anti-platelet drugs.  Seriously, it felt like sitting through a timeshare presentation, but with a whole lot of fear thrown in and no free dinner at the end.

We considered this colorful array of pharmaceuticals, and politely said no thank you to all but the anti-platelets so his body could get used to the stent (but only temporarily). Hubby agreed to fully follow THM to see if it would make a difference.

He had been inadvertently following it, of course, when I cooked for him.  However, his work requires travel, and therefore he ate many restaurant meals.  And he always kept a stash of ice cream sandwiches in our freezer to accompany that which I prepared for him.

We dove in.  I taught him the E's, the S's, and the FP's of the plan.  I traveled with him and coached him on how to navigate restaurants.  On his own, he developed a taste for stevia (which he had previously declared he hated) and now travels with packets of it in his jacket pocket.  

The results of this experiment:

• He has dropped 20 pounds
• His blood pressure has normalized
• His blood sugars have dropped down to near-normal readings (slightly high, but manageable)
• Amazing bonus:  he has stopped snoring!  This is huge! In our 28 years of marital bliss, he has always snored like a jackhammer.
• More energy!  (We recently discovered pickleball and we both have the energy for it! Yay!  And while I can claim energy for it, I cannot claim athletic acumen and prowess for it, unlike hubby, who can.)

This plan works, and not just for mamas! I am so grateful for it.

Hawaii, February 2020
(Green Sand Beach... my favorite spot in Hawaii, BTW)

Florida, March 2020
20 pounds lighter and a whole lot healthier

Lotsa Latkes! Happy Hanukkah!

Just a quick post here to share how I made on-plan latkes tonight.  It was the first night of Hanukkah, and since we have travel coming up this week, tonight was the night.  I seasoned them two different ways, and both types turned out fantastically!



I made them with sweet potatoes and yellow summer squash - completely on plan and barely a crossover!  Let me share the recipe as best as I remember, because I totally winged these.  I used the fine shredder blade on my food processor for the veggies.

Ingredients
3 small/medium sweet potatoes, peeled and finely shredded
Mineral salt
1 small onion, finely shredded
1 cup egg white
1/2 to 3/4 cup baking blend (honestly, I didn't measure)
Seasonings (see below)

In a bowl, combine shredded sweet potato and squash, salt generously, and combine well.  Let sit a few minutes, dump the mixture into a towel, and squeeze out all the liquid (I was amazed at how much came out!).  Return mixture to bowl, season with pepper, and add the shredded onion.  I drained off most of the onion juice but kept some of the liquid in for flavor.

Now, divide the mixture in two.  To the first mixture, I seasoned it with a clove of minced garlic, along with thyme and Herbs de Provence (because this is what I had in my cupboard - you can use whatever herbs you want).  I used a large cookie scoop to portion out my latkes and formed them into balls and flattened them.  I fried this batch of latkes in a combination of refined coconut oil and olive oil (for taste and for the spirit of Hanukkah, during which a small amount of oil is said to have lasted eight days.  Normally I do not cook with olive oil, and you don't have to.)

Keep these warm on a plate in the oven while you work on the second batch.

I went Indian flavors with the second batch.  I added a combination of vindaloo spice and garam masala (they are nearly the same thing but vindaloo has heat to it). You could use your favorite curry powder instead if you want.

I fried this batch in straight up coconut oil.  This entire recipe made 30 latkes that were about the size of sand dollars.  I ate four of them, which adds up to less than a half a sweet potato.  I call this a crossover because these latkes like to absorb oil, and my oil use was generous.  I served them with tenderloin steaks and mushrooms fried in butter.

My hubby asked for applesauce, so I ran down to my root cellar and fetched a jar of Mother Fletcher's Homemade Applesauce (that I canned about five years ago. Shows how much I eat applesauce).  I took a small spoonful myself for dipping.  My, my, these were simply delicious!

Happy Feast of Dedication/Hanukkah/Festival of Lights!

Thanksgiving Travels and a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It has been awhile since I have posted, and for that I apologize.  There has been a bit of a change to my online presence.

Last year, I became a certified Trim Healthy Mama Coach, and maintained my certification for a full year.  When the time came to renew, I decided not to pay the renewal fee because I did not charge one single person for my services.  I taught and encouraged folks, both in person and online, but I just could not bring myself to charge people for it.

I plan to continue doing just what I have been doing, just not as an "officially certified" THM coach.  (Shameless plug:  check out my Instagram page @trimhealthylittleredhen).

Ok, that's done.  Moving on.

Last week, my hubby and I headed south for Thanksgiving with his mom in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  It is oh-so-convenient that my adorable granddaughter - and her dear parents, of course - live in Nashville, which also happens to be the halfway point on our journey south.

Gratuitous photo of granddaughter Everly enjoying an S meal. 
This girl ADORES blueberries... AND food in general, just like grandma.

Anyway, it is also very convenient that my halfway point of Nashville is home to the Trim Healthy Mama retail store. And since I did not pre-plan any Thanksgiving menus to cook at my mother-in-law's house, I simply picked up some THM baking blend and Gentle Sweet, fully intending to wing it with desserts.  But then later, I realized that I did not bring my beloved Trimstastic Holiday Pumpkin Roll recipe with me.

Ugh.

Serene and Pearl to the rescue.  While checking my email in the car, I received a link to their quarterly E-zine, which features 85 holiday recipes, including the pumpkin roll.  (God bless those ladies!!)

Not only was I able to make the pumpkin roll, but I also made the green bean casserole and the cranbrerry upside down cake.

Here is a link to all eighty five of those glorious holiday recipes.  Enjoy!

However, it is confession time.  I had to make the cranberry cake twice, and here is why.

On my first attempt, for some reason I used a springform pan.  And for some reason, I didn't put that pan onto a baking sheet, even though I meant to.  When the cake was done, I opened the oven and was treated to billowing smoke and a puddle of burnt butter on the bottom of the oven.

Attempt number one:  Great Smoky Cranberry Raspberry Upside Down Cake

The cake tasted good, although it had an essence of smokiness to it.  But all the guests were polite about it and ate it without complaining.

Today, however (Sunday) was a day for redemption.  I had some fresh cranberries that still needed to be used up, and I was determined to make that cake again, only with more success.  I used a regular cake pan so that none of the buttery goodness would leak out and burn all over the place.

Let me tell you that the smells coming from that baked cake were simply divine.  We will not be digging into it until tonight, when we get home from the new Mr. Rogers movie.

Attempt number two:  Cranberry Pecan Upside Down Cake.  Jackpot.

It is now Sunday evening.  We are home from the movie, which I absolutely LOVED.  I cried all the way through it.  All of our remaining Thanksgiving leftovers are currently heating in the oven, preparing to be devoured.

I hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday, and I wish you peace and joy during the rest of this season.  Watch for more seasonal goodies soon (especially Hanukkah - my favorite December holiday).

Fooled Ya Frittata!

Once again I find myself in the position of getting ready to head out of town, and needing to clean out my fridge in order to eliminate waste.

Before bed last night, I noticed a carton of egg whites that was about 1/4 full.  And my veggie drawer was filled with garden goodies.  With these things fresh in my head, I believe I dreamed of preparing this morning’s Fuel Pull Frittata.

For the frittata, I chopped up onion, jalapeno, zucchini, garlic, and okra and sauteed them in a teaspoon of butter in my cast iron pan, seasoning all with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, I added a little scoop of turmeric to the carton of egg whites, and shook the carton like mad.  When the veggies were nice and softened, I poured the now-yellow egg whites over all the veggies.  After a nice crust formed on the bottom of the pan, I finished the frittata in the oven. 

Frittata with inflammation-fighting turmeric

Out popped a golden yellow egg and veggie dish, which I admit was a little bland upon first taste.  So I sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese, nutritional yeast, Italian herb seasoning, and a little more salt and pepper.  Yum! Much better!

Fuel Pull Frittata

This frittata can be tweaked in so many ways. Use whatever veggies you'd like!  Add some feta, kalamata olives, pepperoncini, and sun dried tomatoes for a Greek style S frittata.  Throw in some salsa, black beans, corn, and taco seasoning for a south of the border E frittata.

To keep this breakfast in Fuel Pull mode this morning, I topped off my brunch with a Triple Berry Triple Zero Greek yogurt.

And now for a travel tip:  I filled the empty egg white carton about 7/8 full and threw it into the freezer. I did the same with an empty coconut milk box.  Voilà! Handy disposable ice packs for my cooler while traveling! 

These egg whites freeze well. 
I buy a case at a time and thaw as needed.

Welcoming Fall with Versatile Chili

All pumpkin spice hype aside, nothing says fall to me like a warm vat of chili. (Confession: I threw some frozen pumpkin into a batch of chili last week to use it up. But not today).

I love how the onset of fall also happens to yield a plethora of chili ingredients from the garden. 

Coincidence? I think not.

Today, I needed to use up a bunch of produce before leaving for our vacation in a few days. I came up with a great fuel pull chili that you can easily make into an E or S meal, as described below, following the main recipe.

This recipe is flexible depending on what you have on hand. What follows is what I threw into my electric pressure cooker.

Garden Veggie Chili
1onion, chopped

6-8 assorted peppers, chopped (you choose the heat)

4-6 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped 

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 6-oz can tomato paste

1 pound lean venison or turkey (ground or cut into small stew meat)

1-2 T. chili powder

2 t. cumin

1 t. mineral salt

1/2 t. black pepper 

*1 cup kombucha (optional)

*1 cup water (or 2 if not using kombucha)
*See note below

Ready to zap!

Cook in your pressure cooker using the stew setting. Allow to de-pressurize naturally. Taste and adjust seasonings.  I added a doonk of stevia at the end to balance the acidity.

Enjoy as is, or add a nice dollop of nonfat Greek yogurt and some chopped jalapeños. At this point, the chili is still in fuel pull mode.

*Note:  My chili turned out a bit runny, but I was ok with it.  For a thicker chili, reduce liquid to 1 to 1 1/2 cups.

You can keep this fuel pull chili in your fridge, and doctor it up depending on your mood.

For a yummy E chili, add black beans and/or frozen corn to the above and heat through.

For a rich S chili, use beef instead of turkey or venison if desired, and top with sour cream (or stick with the yogurt) and shredded cheddar. 

My second bowl of S chili

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, this can easily simmer in your crock pot all day.

Happy fall!

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie... in Reverse (How My Morning Was Hijacked)

I love those childhood stories where one thing leads to another.  The mouse and the cookie.  The moose and the muffin.  They really capture how my mind works!

Except this past weekend, I had the reverse happen to me.  Let me 'splain.

Saturday morning, I woke up with the intent of making my weekly batch of Trim Healthy Mama E pancakes.  (These are my favorite way of getting my E meals in, by the way.)

My carton of egg whites were thawed and ready.  My oats were ready to grind.  My brain was awakened  by coffee.  Let's go!

Ahhhhh!  I was out of cottage cheese... the one thing that I had forgotten in my previous day's Costco run.

So, if you take from a mouse her cottage cheese, and said mouse really needed to come up with an E meal, our mouse decided to make granola!

And if mouse is making E granola, why not come up with S granola at the same time? So with a little help from Pinterest, I was off and running.

My pancake morning morphed into a granola morning.  So let me share my recipes, which you can tweak to your heart's content.  Both recipes contain egg white, adding that protein element.

Oatmeal Cookie Granola  (THM E)
3 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup egg whites (or 3 egg whites)
1/2 cup THM Gentle Sweet (or your favorite on-plan sweetener that is double the sweetness of sugar)
1 T. melted butter or coconut oil (I did half of each)
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. mineral salt

Mix all ingredients well. Spread onto  a large cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Nuttty Granola (THM S)
1 cup almonds
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup pecans
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup flax meal
3/4 cup egg whites (or 3 egg whites)
1/2 cup Gentle Sweet (see note above)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 t. mineral salt

In food processor, pulse the harder nuts (almonds and hazelnuts, in this case) until well-broken up.  Add pecans and coconut, pulse further until nice and crumbly.  Pour into a bowl, add remaining ingredients, and mix well.  Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, stirring often.

Because these recipes include egg white, I am refrigerating my granola in glass jars, labeled E and S.

E on left, S on right

The next thing I had to do in the kitchen was make something for the church picnic that was happening the following day.  My intention was to make the Trimtastic Holiday Pumpkin Roll (Trim Healthy Table, page 393).  I even had my shredded yellow summer squash ready to go for it.  But then something changed in my brain (I'm not sure what), and I decided to make my favorite pre-THM cookie recipe instead:  molasses spice cookies, which I Trim-Healthy-Mama-fied.  Here is the result of my efforts.

Molasses Spice Cookies (THM S)
3/4 cup coconut oil
*1/2 cup Gentle Sweet (or sweetener that is 2x sugar sweetness)
1 egg and 1 egg white (or just use 2 eggs)
2 T. molassas
2 doonks pure stevia
**1 1/2 cups THM baking blend
2 t. baking soda
1 T. gelatin
***1 t. cinnamon
***1/2 t. each of cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and mineral salt

Melt oil and cool slightly.  Add sweetener, egg, and molassas and whisk well.
Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add wet ingredients and mix well.  Form balls, roll in a little bowl of Gentle Sweet, and press them down slightly onto a baking mat or parchment.  Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes.

* For a homemade Gentle Sweet recipe, click here.

** For a homemade baking blend recipe, click here.

***I love these cookies so much that I mix up a batch of the spice blend, and use 1 tablespoon of it for this recipe.  Two parts cinnamon, and one part each of cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

These cookies were Left Behind and never made it to the church picnic.

(O the rebel in me - I was assigned a side dish, but one does not simply go to a church function that contains no dessert that one can eat.  So my side dish was cookies.)

Another note about those cookies - the molasses.  Molasses contains about 15 grams of carbs per tablespoon.  Used mostly for color in this recipe, which makes about 15-17 good-sized cookies, the molasses only adds just under 2 carbs per cookie.

And one more note (the last, I promise) on these cookies.  My friend Vicky suggested adding gelatin to my recipe, and it worked wonders!  It made the cookies soft, chewy, and not as crumbly as my original recipe.  The only other change I made to the recipe was to add the egg white, because the addition of the gelatin made the dough a little too dry.

I know you are thinking, "but what about your thawed summer squash?"  Or maybe you were so enthralled by the spice cookies that you have forgotten  all about it.  But I had to deal with the thawed stuff, so I squeezed out the water, threw in some baking blend, salt, pepper, Trader Joe's 21 Spice Salute, salt, pepper, and egg whites.  Then I made little patties/blobs and fried them in some butter and coconut oil for a delicious S lunch side dish - Fritters!  They were delicious and even my hubby loved them.

My veggie-heavy garden season lunch.  Fritters are on the left.

Pizza and other Italian Delectables

The other night, I was hungry for the flavors of Italy and it was getting late.  So I ventured over to Pinterest to find a low-carb pizza that I could throw together quickly for dinner.  I found several pins that seemed to fit the bill, so in my usual manner, I morphed together several ideas into my own recipe.

For the crust, I combined 2 cups shredded mozzarella, 1 cup shredded cheddar, and three eggs.  (The next time I make this, I am going to reduce the fat content by using 3/4 cup egg whites instead of whole eggs.)

After combining well, I spread the mixture thinly and evenly into a rectangle on a sheet pan that was lined with a silicone baking mat. It baked for 10 minutes at 450 degrees.  When done, I allowed it to cool a bit.  You can also use parchment paper, but keep the temp at or below 425 degrees.

While it was baking, I prepared my other ingredients.  Since they wouldn't be in the oven long, it was best to pre-cook them.  I cooked up some bulk Italian sausage, zucchini noodles, onions, and peppers, which I then sprinkled onto the slightly cooled crust.  My daughter is going through a vegetarian phase, so her half didn't get any sausage.  Her loss. I didn't even use tomato sauce for this pizza (because I didn't have any on hand), but of course, you can.  I added thin slices of fresh tomatoes instead. I sprinkled a little more mozzarella over the toppings, and put under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes.

Look at this thing! A delicious S pizza!

As my daughter was eating it, she told me that it tasted better than any of the junk food she could get at our local convenience store.

Um, thanks - I think.

The following day, I had some leftover cooked sausage, so for lunch I sauteed some peppers and onions, added the sausage to reheat, threw in some chopped fresh basil from my garden, and then topped this concoction with mozzarella cheese.  Into a 375 degree oven went my pan until the cheese was all melty.  My side dish was a salad of halved cherry tomatoes that I sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and basil. 

Delicious and filling! It was like having an Italian sausage with peppers and onions at Boston’s Fenway Park, only without the bun. 

Buon appetito!

*Update: The crust made with cheese and egg whites turned out beautifully!

What's In Your Fridge?

Planning ahead has never been my forte.  Some people prepare menu calendars for the week or the month.  The Lord bless them!  I have tried this, but have never had the stick-to-it aptitude that is necessary to make it work.  So I try to stay prepared in other ways.

For example, today I came home at midday, and had nothing prepared in advance.  So I came up with a meal based on what I pulled out of the fridge.  I had some thawed dark meat chicken, so I knew this would be an S meal.  I also had some little beef kielbasa sausages that needed to get used.  I then pulled out hot peppers, roasted red peppers, olives, salsa, and cheddar cheese and proceeded to have a chop-and-shred fest in my kitchen.  (It really helps that I find chopping food to be therapeutic.  I have a friend who feels this way about pulling weeds... which makes me shudder!)

A meal waiting to materialize!

After my chop fest (which took about 8-10 minutes), I threw everything into a bowl and mixed well.

A meal in the making

All of this got thrown into a casserole pan.

Looks messy but stick with me...

That chopped mess went into a 350 degree oven until I could smell it.  It came out all melty and delicious!  I could have spooned this into a low carb tortilla, but I had some romaine to use up.  I garnished it with Frank's hot sauce and a squeeze of fresh lime, and voila!  It became a yummy salad.  

From fridge to plate in about 30 minutes.

This would not have been possible without just a little planning ahead.  It is a good idea to always keep proteins thawed and ready in your fridge.  In this case, I had pre-cooked chicken and little sausages that were ready to go.   I used those up in preparing this dish, so I went to my freezer to grab a frozen chuck roast and a package of frozen ground turkey so they could begin thawing for later use.

You always want to be conscious of what proteins are in your fridge and how soon they should be used.  Proteins tend to be the most expensive part of the meal, and it is a shame to throw away food that has gone bad.  "Waste not, want not," my frugal mother always said.  Don't thaw (or buy) too much at once. 

And even when pulling meat from the freezer, it is good to be conscious of how long something has been there.  Try to use the older items first.  Freezer burn also wastes food.

Also, sometimes life just gets busy and I forget to thaw meat.  This is why I always keep eggs, cheese, and vegetables in the fridge for a quick omelet.  And when we leave home for vacation, fried eggs are my go-to for a quick meal upon our return. 

Summertime Salads and Berries

Ahh, summertime!  I eat salads all year, but the ingredients that are available in the summer are just so fresh-tasting!  I have a small garden right outside my house, so I take advantage of that as much as possible.  I am also a member of a CSA and get fresh veggies every other week.  And I also have a neighbor who is more than generous with her sizable garden.

Salads are easy to throw together.  Today, I want to share with you a few of my recent inspirations.  (For more salad and salad dressing ideas, you can view a previous post here.)

First up:  BLT salad with Caesar dressing.  This S salad consists of mixed greens, tomatoes, turkey bacon, parmesan, and homemade Caesar dressing (recipe in the above link).

BLT Salad

Here is another quick salad I came up with when I was particularly hungry - an S Greek salad.  It contains chopped romaine, cucumbers, yellow peppers, roasted red peppers, green olives, pepperoncini, sun-dried tomatoes, chicken breast, and then sprinkled with feta.  My Greek salad dressing contains red wine vinegar, olive oil, black olive tapenade (because I had some in my fridge), fresh minced garlic, a smidgen of Dijon, and cracked black pepper.

Hearty Greek Salad

Right now, strawberries are in season near me. Berries can brighten up many a salad!!  The following salad luncheon (S) contains some of that leftover Greek salad, along with a sweet and sour spinach, strawberry, and cashew salad. For the dressing, I simply combined lime juice, stevia, and olive oil.  (Keep reading for information on that smoothie in the photo).

Colorful Salad Lunch

This next yummy salad came about last night, when I arrived home at 9:20 pm after an evening of Uber driving.  I know it was late, but I was hungry.  So I dug through my fridge and came up with this S salad/late night snack:  Chopped hard boiled eggs, yellow and red peppers, olives, feta cheese, pepperoncini, sprinkled all over with fresh lime juice.  (Boiled egg time-and-sanity-saving hint:  I buy the ready-cooked two-packs of organic hard boiled eggs from Costco. So convenient!)

Late-night salad/hearty snack

Before I go, I want to share about an ingredient I discovered this week:  honeyberries (also called haskaps).  My generous neighbor has bushes that are full of them, and she let me come and pick.  The name is somewhat ironic, because they are quite tart.  I blended some of them with the limeade that I keep in my fridge (in my adorable new lemon/limeade bottle that I brought home from Israel) for a refreshing beverage that you can drink with E, S, or FP meals.  If you don't happen to have access to honeyberries, you can substitute any berry of your choice.

For the lemon or limeade, squeeze 4-5 lemons and/or limes into a bottle (I think my bottle is about a liter).  Add 4-5 doonks of stevia, fill with water, and store in the fridge.  Add fresh mint if desired. 

Honeyberries, and a smoothie made with limeade from my fridge.

THM Traveling: Israel

Eating in Israel is an experience!  Everything in the produce section of the grocery store is fresh and in season, because it comes from right here - this tiny little country that can fit inside Lake Michigan.

Is there anyplace else on earth like Israel?  A tiny little country - and yet it grows both apples and bananas, which require different climates!

Anyway, I digress.

I just spent two weeks in an apartment with four other ladies, and we were located just steps from a grocery store, where we were frequent visitors.

Meat, chicken, and fish are expensive here, which is partly why Israel has the highest number of vegetarians per capita behind India.  The other part has to do with the rules of kashrut (kosher food).

Meat and dairy do not mix here, so we would either choose to have a meat meal or a dairy meal.  Our kitchen had separate dishes, utensils, and sinks for each.

We pooled our money and enjoyed several meat meals, but I have to say that dairy was queen when it came to protein.  Israel makes the most delicious cottage cheese I have ever tasted.  And I found Triple Zero yogurt in that nearby store!  O joy!  Cheese has been another big ingredient, and I confess that I brought two bricks of Costco cheese with me, because deciphering the Hebrew in the cheese section has always perplexed me.

Eggs are reasonably priced and are considered pareve (neutral) and can pair with either meat or dairy.  I made a dish called shakshuka at least three or four times.  Basically, it is eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, which doesn't really sound very exciting, but let me tell you... it is delicious!!! Here, let me give you a quick recipe (which can be widely varied):

Shakshuka
1 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 hot pepper, chopped (more or less or none depending on your desired heat level)
Butter or olive oil
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 little smidgen of stevia (cuts the acidity of the tomatoes)
Salt and pepper to taste
Eggs
Shredded cheddar

In a frying pan, sautee onions and peppers in butter or oil until lightly browned.  Add tomatoes and spices.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Crack eggs (as many as you need or whatever will fit - I usually did 6-9 for our group). onto the top of the tomato sauce, season with salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer until the eggs reach your desired done-ness.  Turn off heat, top with cheese, and cover pan again so the cheese melts.

Variation:
One day, I added a can of black beans and a little BBQ sauce to the basic tomato sauce and eliminated the cumin.  I also added a little Trader Joe's 21 spice blend.  I skipped the cheese on this version.

Every time I made shakshuka, I asked myself why I never make this at home.  The answer is that I don't think about it.  Well, I'm thinking about it now, and plan to make this regularly!

Wonderful shakshuka

Ahh, the veggies!  Berries from the shuk.  Eggplant. Peppers. Cabbage.  Sweet potatoes. Not to mention tomatoes and cucumbers for classic Israeli salad.  There was never a shortage of salads at our house.  I buy fresh lemons for dressing, and I travel with a small olive oil.  Those lemons also got squeezed into my water bottle, along with a little stevia for a refreshing beverage on these hot Israeli days.

This billboard from Ben Yehuda Street pretty much says it all.

When I stay at apartments while traveling and do my own cooking, I bring my own culinary kit - because you never know what the place will have.  One year, before I started doing this, all I found in that apartment were salt, pepper, and rosemary.  I got so tired of flavoring everything with rosemary that I went to the Arab market and got ripped off buying spices.  I have learned a lot since then.

My current culinary travel kit contains the following:
1 small bottle olive oil
1 small container Now brand pure stevia
1 bottle pepper and Celtic sea salt mixed together (I used to carry each separately, but since I always use them together, it made sense to combine them)

1 bottle Trader Joe's 21 Spice Salute
Cinnamon in a baggie (not needed this time because the apartment had it)
1 knife with a sheath and a sharpener

I used to carry many little jars of different spices until I discovered the Trader Joe's 21 blend, which I absolutely love (introduced to me by my friend Lynne).  I try to bring as little as possible in my culinary kit for the sake of efficiency.

I am considering adding a small bottle of red wine vinegar to the mix if I can make room for it.  We bought a huge bottle, the only size available, and barely used an eighth of it.

My Mount Hagen organic coffee sticks travel with me in a separate little bag, along with  individual THM packets of sweet blend.  Then I grab half and half and almond milk from the store.

And now I must make a confession:  bread.  There is nothing like Israeli bread.  The pitas are so soft and delicious. they are like eating a baby seal.  (Note:  I do not actually eat baby seals.  I am being facetious).  The bagels, covered with sesame seeds and zaatar spice, are heavenly.  Challah bread on Shabbat.  Yes, I have indulged in much bread.  I believe they treat their wheat differently here, because one of my friends who cannot eat the wheat from the US has no problem here.

With all these crossovers, I have been careful to pair them with exercise.  This is not difficult to do here.  Jerusalem is a city of many hills, and walking is one of my main forms of transportation (along with a bus card for when I am just too weary, too hot, or need to be somewhere quickly). 

Last night was a fun night out with some good friends of mine who live here in Israel. We went out for sushi. It was delicious, and they brought their one-year-old baby who got to taste sushi for the first time. He enjoyed himself tremendously, and had a sticky rice spa treatment in his hair.  Isn't he just adorable?

Israeli sushi - so good!

I probably could have kept this sushi meal in E mode, except for those delicious tempura ones that pushed me into crossover territory.

This post has been a work in progress for several days now, and this morning I had the courage to step onto the scale at my apartment, (since today marks one month away from home in my current travels). I was pleasantly surprised! I am up only about a pound since the last time I weighed, which was about six weeks ago.  Traveling and THM really can work together!

I am wrapping up this rather long post from my favorite coffee shop in Jerusalem - Etz Café (my daughter had her first official date with her husband here). I'm enjoying a late-morning E+ smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, spinach, almond milk, and honey. (I just made that up... E+ due to the honey).

In two days, I'll be on a flight back home so that I can catch my breath before my next journey to visit my kids.

Shabbat shalom and blessed Shavuot (Pentecost) from Jerusalem!

Traveling THM: Alaskan Cruise

I’m sitting here in the colorful international terminal at Chicago O’Hare, preparing to transition from 10 days in Alaska to three weeks in Israel. It is going to be a 40-degree temperature swing, so that should be interesting.

This post is going to talk about Alaska, and more specifically, navigating the food on a cruise ship with minimal cheats.

If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you know that food - and lots of it - is generally available to you 24/7. But with a little determination, you can disembark without lugging 5 or 10 extra pounds home with you. And you won’t feel deprived!

For me, the biggest challenge was getting those E meals in. So several mornings, I enjoyed oatmeal, along with fresh fruit and smoked whitefish for protein. I also had a pineapple and cottage cheese plate one afternoon for a snack. That same night, I enjoyed an E meal of wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, and rice.  Here are a few photos:

E dinner:  Poached wild cod over warm lentils.  Confession:
I gave away the potatoes and ordered a second plate.  Yum!

E dinner of salmon, veggies, and rice.  The sauce was an
herb butter sauce but I only ate a little bit of it.

Afternoon E snack.  I couldn't find any protein for this one.

Another afternoon E snack.  Found the protein!
Cottage cheese and salmon, to accompany the
pineapple and roasted sweet potatoes. Yes, it was a big snack.
 I was hungry after kayaking on the ocean.

E breakfast:  oatmeal, veggies, fruit, yogurt, and
smoked whitefish with capers.

But honestly, most of my other meals ended up as S meals. There were salads galore, and every kind of protein you can imagine. My S breakfasts included things like made-to-order omelets, smoked salmon, veggies, and breakfast meats. S lunches and dinners included lots of delicious salads and proteins. 

S buffet dinner with a lamb chop, cheese, brussels sprouts
(from the kid's section - LOL, what kid loves brussels sprouts??)
 and the ship's amazing Caesar salad.

A light S meal of fish, beef, veggies, and salad

By the end of the week, my S buffet plates all starting looking the same.

A common denominator the whole time in Alaska as wild caught salmon. What a superfood! I tried it in so many different ways, each more delicious than the next!

A fuel pull meal of wild smoked king Alaskan salmon.
The accompanying plate of veggies did not make the photo.

The hazelnut crust on the salmon made this into a crossover.
However, my rice-loving hubby was happy to take most of my rice.

A shore excursion with a wilderness chef had us enjoying wild salmon
and wild halibut many different ways.  

There were two things missing on the cruise that surprised me. Berries (boohoo, how I missed them!), and stevia. Fortunately, my hubby found me some Truvia packets at our first stop in the tiny town of Hoonah, which had one grocery store.  The ship had every other form of sugar and chemical sweetener, but not stevia.  My evaluation at the end pointed out this fact to them.  

Finding stevia was a lifesaver.

On the boat, I allowed myself 1-2 small desserts per day. To counteract them, I climbed the five floors up to the restaurant buffet deck and back down instead of using the elevators. I went on excursions that kept me moving (biking, hiking, and kayaking). And I made good use of the walking track around the ship on the Promenade deck. I tried to stay as active as possible, because I know I ate a much larger quantity of food than I normally do. (Someday soon I will wrote a post on the other E - exercise!)

Once we left the ship, my hubby and friends enjoyed two nights in an Airbnb and a trip to Denali. A quick grocery store run equipped us with all my THM favorites - veggies, Greek yogurt, cheese, smoked salmon, meat, and BERRIES, lots of them!

I didn’t weigh myself before I left, and I am not weighing myself between trips. I know where my weight was a few weeks ago, and I hope to be somewhere around the same after returning from the Middle East.  Thankfully, my clothes feel pretty much the same.

My next post will explore the vast THM possibilities of the Middle East. Mediterranean cuisine, here I come!