Recipe: Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower "Wings"

Saturday night is when I have my cheat meal. Actually, Saturday night is when I pay homage to one of the world's most perfect foods: Buffalo Wings. Needless to say, buffalo wings are some of my favorite foods. Under duress, I may admit to dreaming about them occasionally. Unfortunately, they aren't exactly the healthiest things out there. In fact, with each individual wing clocking in at 3 points, they may be closer to the "unhealthy" end of the spectrum than a lot of other foods -- especially the amount I'd ideally like to be eating!

The good news is, I found a substitution which will allow me to get that crispy buffalo kick I love.

Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower
• Dash of hot sauce
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup water
• pinch salt substitute

To Make:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
2. Mix flour, water, salt, and dash of hot sauce into a small bowl.
3. Chop cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. Dip pieces into batter until coated evenly, then place on a greased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 15 minutes or until batter has hardened.
5. Once cauliflower has completed baking, brush pieces with your favorite hot sauce and continue to bake for a few more minutes, until cauliflower is crispy.
6. Remove from oven and enjoy!!

Serves: 4

Each Serving: 104 calories, 23 g carbs, 1 g fat, 4 g protein, 4 g fiber, 3 WW Pts

Progress on Weight Watchers

Since joining Weight Watchers in June 2013, I have lost:

• 18.4 pounds
• 3 Dress Sizes
• 0.7 inches off my thighs (each)
• 2 inches off my arms (each)
• 3.7 inches off my bust
• 3 inches off my waist
• 3.85 inches off my hips

I'm pretty pleased. Feel free to check out my breakdown of the program here. I'm a big supporter, so if you have any questions, let me know!

Saying "Goodbye" to my WW Meetings for 5 Months

Goodness, it has been QUITE a while since my last post. I am truly sorry, dear readers, for my absence. My situation changed quite a bit.

Just before Christmas, the CEO of my company asked me to transfer to our Israel offices for 5 months to work for the firm's clients from that locale. It was a tremendous opportunity, and I took it.

The next few weeks were a whirlwind of activity. Booking flights, finding an apartment in Israel, sorting out work responsibilities, moving OUT of my current apartment, saying goodbye to everyone. My diet and exercise regiment suffered.

Eventually the days wound down to my last WW meeting, which had become a pretty stable and integral part of my life since the summer. Weight Watchers is an international company, with locations around the globe, but I didn't think I'd be able to keep up with meetings with a more insane schedule, so I had switched my membership over to solely online.

Now in an ideal world, I would've come into this last WW meeting completely confident and ready to tackle this new international adventure with all my weight-loss and healthy lifestyle tricks by my side --- everything that the last few months had taught me. There'd be a great loss on the scale, which would be this fantastic harbinger (SAT Vocab word, y'all) of all the fitness/weight loss success that I'd have in Tel Aviv.......

Yeah, that didn't quite happen.

 My weight was up, and not by .2 pounds, either. And it was tough. The move to Israel was already feeling like an uphill battle --- I don't know many people in the country, I don't speak the language, and I need to be a functioning employee --- and now I need to really concentrate on my weight loss goals.

But putting additional pressure on myself to get "there" by a certain point isn't the way to do it.

Weight loss and the commitment to a healthier lifestyle is ongoing process, and it's not easy. There's give and take, and ups and downs. The most important motivation is remembering why you started the journey at all.

I know I did, but you'll have to keep reading to see my Israel updates!

National Peanut Butter Day

January 24 is National Peanut Butter Day! Peanut butter has long been looked upon negatively as a high-fat, high calorie option -- but it's actually a healthy fat and good source of protein when eaten in moderation. So in celebration of the wonderful invention that is peanut butter, I have compiled the following tidbits of information:

• It takes about 540 peanuts to make a 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.
• By law, any product labeled "peanut butter" in the United States must be at least 90 percent peanuts
• Two peanut farmers have been elected president of the USA - Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter
• Astronaut Allen B. Sheppard brought a peanut with him to the moon
• Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth
• The average American consumes more than six pounds of peanuts and peanut butter products each year
• Peanut butter is consumed in 90 percent of USA households
• Women and children prefer creamy, while most men opt for chunky
• People living on the East Coast prefer creamy peanut butter, while those on the West Coast prefer the crunchy style
• Americans spend almost $800 million a year on peanut butter
• Peanuts have more protein, niacin, folate and phytosterols than any nut
• Peanuts are naturally cholesterol-free

Demon Butternut Squash Soup

I had a horrifying kitchen experience last night. I've dubbed it the "Demon Soup Story".

My dear readers, if anyone EVER makes you butternut squash soup, know that they care about you IMMENSELY. Why, you ask?

Because butternut squashes are asshole vegetables. 

To make creamy butternut squash soup in a relatively short amount of time, one needs to cut the squash into small-ish chunks that cook quickly. THIS IS AN INSANELY LABOR INTENSIVE PROCESS THAT WILL RESULT IN PAIN AND HAND CRAMPS FOR THE CHEF. I'm talking about sawing through this LOG of a vegetable. Oh, and then you've gotta peel it, bulges and all, and then seed it. 

Then, once all the veggies have softened, the chef has to blend batches of the mixture until it is smooth. Now, this seems simple. But, when 100% of the soup is in the pot, and 60% is blended, and 40% is still chunky...... finding the chunky parts to blend ain't. easy. 

FINALLY, at this point in the cooking process, your chef will have to reheat the now fully blended butternut squash soup so that it is the perfect temperature when their loved ones eat it. So he or she will heat the soup on the stove, adjusting seasoning if need be ----- until the asshole butternut squash will refuse to die a culinary death and instead "SPIT" at the poor chef as it starts to boil. 

Now, one might say, why not reheat the soup in the microwave at this point to save some time and aggravation? 

NO. Just. NO. After this poor, downtrodden chef has spent HOURS sawing through squash and no-doubt dealing with blender difficulties, there is NO DAMN WAY that he or she will do something as sacrilegious as putting the soup in the microwave. 

So, long story short, having someone make you butternut squash from scratch (and I mean, cutting up the vegetable and not cheating and using that pre-cut nonsense) is truly the culinary equivalent of someone buying you diamonds, a car, or a yacht and needs to be appreciated. 

The end.

P.S. Mom: You are a butternut squash soup making warrior. I have succumbed to defeat, but your recipe is amazing. I will simply wait til you make it from now on.

Recipe: Creamy Tomato Goat Cheese Pasta with Green Peppers and Mushrooms

This was one of those "on the fly" recipes which turned out surprisingly good. For those who aren't tomato fans, I'll let you in on a secret: I'm actually not a fan of them, either. However, I've found that if I buy cherry or grape tomatoes and quarter them, they cook down and become more of a sauce than actually pieces of tomato.  When the goat cheese mixes in, the resulting sauce is reminiscent in texture and color to a vodka sauce, but its much lighter and has a delightful "tangy" flavor that's absolutely addictive.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz dry pasta
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and quartered
• 1/2 green pepper, sliced into thin strips (or color of your preference)
• 1 cup white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 oz creamy goat cheese (I'm using Vermont Creamery)
• salt/pepper/garlic powder -- to taste

To Make:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Spray a pan with non-stick spray, and saute pepper, mushrooms and tomatoes until tender. The tomatoes should break down. Season with salt/pepper/garlic.
3. Add pasta to pan with sauteed vegetables. Add goat cheese and mix to fully incorporate. 
4. Remove from heat and serve.

Servings: 1

Per Serving: 333 Calories, 60 g carbs, 6 g fat, 15 g protein, 9 g fiber; 9 WW Pts

I Dreamed a Dream.... of Chopped?!

A few nights ago, I had a dream I was a contestant on Chopped. I honestly don't remember what ingredients were in my appetizer and entree baskets, but my dessert needed to include:

• Chocolate
• Mango
• Orange
• Celery

Honestly, if I'd been given these ingredients in real life and told to create in 30 minutes, I don't know what I would do. But in the dream, I decided to make "Dessert Nachos".

First, I went to the pantry for flour tortillas, which I cut up, salted, and threw in the oven to crisp up into chips. Then I chopped up the chocolate and put it on a double boiler to melt. Finally, I chopped up the mango, orange, and celery and marinaded them with fresh mint, tequila, and a bit of rum -- so that the end result was a salsa of sorts. Finally, I took my tortilla chips out of the oven, and drizzled my melted chocolate over the chips. 

Before everyone gets too excited, I woke up before I finished the dream -- so I don't even know if my plates were done by the time the buzzer sounded. I like to think I won, though.

To be honest, I almost want to try to make my dish in real life, just to see how it would've tasted. Any willing guinea pigs out there?