Garlicky Eggplant and Garbanzo Bean Skillet

This recipe happened.  I came home from work.  I didn't have a plan for dinner, but I had two eggplant.  I looked up vegetarian eggplant recipes and I found one that looked good but it involved lentils.  I didn't have lentils, but I did have garbanzo beans.  And that worked.  I had made bulghur pilav for mom the night before, so we heated the leftovers up and served this over it.  It's a quick dinner.  Start to finish takes about 30 minutes.
 I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 large Japanese eggplant, cut into 1/4" sliced into wedges (cut eggplant lengthwise, and then cut each half lengthwise again...then cut the wedges into 1/4" slices

1/2 cup water

1 Tbsp Herbs d'Provence (or Italian seasoning)

1 15.5 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

pepper to taste

Salt to taste

1 15 oz can diced tomato (with basil)

1 tsp paprika

a PLOP of greek yogurt to top off each bowlful

Directions: 

I use my wok for this, but a large nonstick pan would be great too.

Satue the onion in the skillet until it goes translucent.  Stirring.  Add a pinch of baking soda and your onions will start to brown.  Add the minced garlic and cook another couple minutes.

Add eggplant, water, seasonings and cover.  Let the whole thing cook down for about 10 minutes.  Stir frequently.  Eggplant should be soft.  Add all the rest of the ingredients .  Cover and cook about 15 minutes til the eggplant is saucey.  Add salt, pepper.  

OPTIONAL:  Add a heaping tbsp of greek yogurt on top of each bowl.  Serve on top of brown rice or bulghur wheat pilav.

Serves 5-6

Vegetarian Stuffed Eggplant with Rice, Tofu, Onion and Sprouted Adzuki Beans

On Thursdays in Downtown L.A., right in the plaza of my work place, they have an organic farmers market.  It's always great to see what's fresh, and I get to pick and choose a lot of great produce.  Today, I found these beautiful mini eggplants, about the size of a navel orange.  I bought three of them and spent my commute home thinking of ways to stuff them.  With what?

I had about 3 ounces of silken tofu in the fridge.  I've always got rice, onions, and the sprouts for the this week were some experimental adzuki beans that I started on Saturday.  So here's what I did:

Ingredients:
3 small (orange size) eggplants
2/3 cup basmati rice
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
3 oz silken tofu
1/2 cup sprouted adzuki beans (or any other type of bean sprout)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bottled reduced fat spaghetti sauce (or you can use tomato sauce)
salt and pepper

Instructions:

• Use small eggplant - the size of a navel orange. Wash and cut the top off and discard top. Using a spoon, hollow out the eggplant. Keep the insides and put in the bottom of a large pan. Once eggplants are hollowed, add a little salt on the inside and set aside and allow to weep. 
• 
  
• In a bowl, add 2/3 cup basmati rice (rinsed), 1/2 medium onion finely chopped, 3 oz silken tofu, 1/2 cup sprouted Adzuki beans (or other bean sprouts), minced garlic, and mix together. 
• 
  
• Rinse the salted eggplant and dry. Fill with the rice mixture. equally among the 3 eggplant. Stand the eggplant in the pan with the eggplant insides (the parts you removed) on the bottom. Spoon about a tbsp of the sauce on top of each eggplant, pour the rest of the sauce over the eggplant. Put an inverted plate over the eggplant to keep them from floating. 
• 
  
• Add water to the pan to about 1/2 way up the side of the eggplant. Cover the pan and cook on the stove under medium low flame for about 45 minutes. You can serve with plain yogurt on top (but count those points). 1 eggplant = 1 serving  About 8 weight watchers points plus per serving (without the yogurt)

Checking In: Week 9: I Did It!!

I did it!  I met my first mini goal!  10 pounds lost!!

Well, it finally happened!  You know how it is when you get up first thing in the morning, go about doing your morning "stuff" and right before you get dressed for work, you hop on the scale for your weigh in.  Well, for the past week, I have more than hit my 10 pound mark, but weigh in is not until 12:30 p.m.  And in that time between 5:30 in the morning and 12:30, there a lot of life that goes on:  There's the morning coffee, a little something for breakfast...some water...you get the idea.

So if you read my post last week, I had 1.4 pounds to lose to make it to my 10 pound mini-goal.  And come Wednesday morning, I didn't think it was going to happen because my home scale had not moved significantly enough from the week prior.  So it was totally unexpected when I went to my meeting and the leader said, 'Oh, good, you lost again...."  The loss was EXACTLY 1.4 pounds making my grand total loss in 9 weeks to be 10 pounds!  Woot!!

So what did I do differently this week than last?  Want to know?  The answer is NOTHING.  I did nothing different.  I stayed consistent.  I tracked, I stayed within my points and I walked (and walked and walked...and still did my bathroom counter pushups).  (I'm averaging about 70 pushups a day now!!)

My friend Karen and I (the one that's lost 18 pounds in 9 weeks, thank you) have been doing what I call the "Green Light Walk" on our lunch break.  We walk until we hit a red light.  And so we have to turn and follow where the green light takes us. Anytime you stop at a red, you must change direction and go to the green.  I work at 7th and Fig.  This week we ended up taking Hope all the way down to Pico, and then walking all the way around the Convention Center and back to work.  It was a 3.6 mile walk. 

So I'm happy. One mini goal down, and the next mini goal is set.  Losing another 10 is already under way! 

What's working for you?  Let me know how you're doing.  I'd love to hear from you.

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Do you use a pedometer? It's fun to see how far you're going.  Pedometers have come a long way and you don't need anything fancy.  Here's a basic one from Timex, but nowadays, if you carry your phone with you, there are pedometer apps that keep track of your miles and calories burned.  Still, if you don't want to carry your phone with you, the classic pedometer will clip onto your waistband.     

Week 8: Impatience!

YAY???  Another .6 down.  :::grumble:::
8.6 down in 8 weeks.  Did I mention
being patient is not my best virtue?

Yesterday was my WW meeting and weigh in.  I worked hard all week.  I made sure I reached my 100% activity goal every day sometimes surpassing it up to 125%.  I earned 17 activity points for the week (2 a day was the target).  I tracked, a drank.  In the morning, when I woke up, I did my usual hop on the scale.  I read it, rubbed my eyes and read it again.  I actually hit my 10 pound mark and surpassed it by .2 of a pound.  YAY.  But my excitement was shortlived.

On came the clothes for work.  And remember, weigh in is not til lunchtime...and before then there's the morning coffee...and a little bit of breakfast (I get up at 5:00 a.m. so not eating til 12:15 can be done, but not a good idea).  Okay....so, weigh in time comes, I get on the scale.  "Oh good you lost again.  .6"  Yep..."point six".  :::sigh:::  

Okay, that makes the total in 8 weeks, 8.6 pounds. Which is good...but it's not commensurate with the amount of work that I feel like I'm plugging in, y'know?  And okay, I know I wrote a thing about not comparing and such, but REALLY???  I won't go there.

So anyways, I'm reveling in the fact that I DID see the number on my scale yesterday morning.  And I'm willing it to hit it by next week!!  

Goals for the week:  Drink, drink, drink more water.  Use my 5 pound weights at least 3 X this week to work on my arms.

How is your week going?  I hope you are having a good one.  Wishing you all a very happy and blessed Easter!!

  

Anush's Sprouted Lentil & Garbanzo Bean Curry with Ginger/Cilantro/Lemon Sauce

I have been having a lot of fun sprouting my own sprouts.  On Friday, I started my first batch of sprouted lentils.  The sprout really quickly, and "GROW" (from 1/4 cup dry to 2 1/4 cups in just 3 days).  So once I had the sprouts, I needed to figure out what to do with them, so I started searching the web.  I found the basic idea behind this recipe at www.thenourishinggourmet.com, and though I did modify the curry recipe, the sauce - which is what makes the recipe - came from the Nourishing Gourmet site.

2 1/4 cups sprouted lentils (sprouted 3 days) - tails are about 1/2 " in length)
1 - 15 oz can garbanzo beans
1 tsp. Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp. red pepper paste (you can purchase this at the Middle Eastern store)
2 tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp allspice
3 large cloves garlic (pressed)

Sauce:
1 bunch cilantro leaves (removed stems)
1 clove garlic
Juice from one medium lemon
salt, to taste
Fresh Ginger, peeled and grated to a heaping 1 Tbsp

I started out sprouting 1/4 cup dry lentils (for 3 days) creating 2 1/4 cups of fresh sprouts.  Rinse and drain sprouts.

In a wok, or deep nonstick pan, add 1 tsp olive oil and saute the chopped onion.  Stirring, cooking about 4 minutes.  Add chopped or pressed garlic.  Add curry powder, allspice and 1 1/2 cups water.  Mix and cook about 2 minutes.  Add the sprouted lentils and one can of drained garbanzo beans.  Cook stirring every few minutes to get the flavors to mix.

In a food processor, process one bunch of cilantro, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tablespoon or more of fresh grated ginger, salt (to taste) and the juice of one medium lemon.  If you like spicy food, I added about 6 fat slices of jalapeno slices.  Process the whole thing.  It's going to be very pungeant, tart, tangy, garlicky...but a perfect combo to the creamy lentil/garbanzo texture.  Serve on top of your bowl of curry.  You may want to make extra of this sauce because i

One serving - 1 2/3 cup = 7 points plus (I know it seems like a lot of points, but it's very satisfying.).
Makes 3 servings

Serve with a salad.
Please let me know how your recipe turns out.  I'd love to know if you liked it as much as I did.
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I found this interesting:  There are so many different types of garlic presses.  You don't need anything fancy, but you do need something good and sturdy.  I have one I picked up at IKEA....uh, not too good...but then again, it was only $3.  I'd be more inclined to get the one of these on the left...the one on the righ looks a little nut crackery, and the ones in the middle?  too hard to clean.  Click if you're interested in seeing more.

Checking In: Week 7 - Activity

Ta-Da!  Lost a full pound this week!
8 pounds in 7 weeks total!

We're at week 7 of following the Weight Watcher's points plus plan.  This week, I had a lot of fun with my ActiveLink monitor.  It's addicting.  It kept me pushing myself throughout the week.  Walking to and from the bus stop is gets the monitor to about 23% of my daily activity each way....so if I did only that, I'd be close to hitting 50%.  But it takes into consideration your walking around, daily activity, etc.  So I've been upping that.  Instead of getting up from my desk and walking straight to the kitchen or bathroom, I've been taking the "scenic route" and walking all the way around the office floor (we occupy the entire floor).  I've seen people I never see on that side.  And yes, you say, but that takes a lot of time.  The way I think of it is that if I were a smoker, I'd be able to take a couple breaks throughout the day at 15 minutes a pop, so why not a walk around break?  I've also being doing push ups using the counter at work in the bathroom (when no one is there...sshhhh!)  I'll do a quick ten before heading back to my desk.  My friend that I'm doing the program with, says that all if this sounds like extra pressure to her, (says the girl who loses weight like crazy, right!), but everyone is different....and for me, I'm going to need the activity to get the weight off and keep it off.

One of the fun things that we got back into doing, because of all this activity stuff, is the WiiFit.  We had bought the system a couple year's back when my daughter was at home.  And we did it for a while.  Well, Friday evening, I was still only at 75% of my daily total...so I asked Neddy if he'd be up for a challenge.  We had a lot of fun playing all the WiiFit sports together.  We were hoolahooping imaginary hoops, dodging soccer balls, pandas and shoes, and skiing down hills.  A fun way to get off the couch.

So even though it wasn't anywhere near going to the gym and doing intense work out, it was just about upping my daily activity and getting more active.  Moving. The challenge on the activelink this week and last was to earn 2 activity points a day...and I met that goal with 16 points last week, and I'm good so far for this week.

Oh, and on a different note, I have some great recipes coming this week: Golden beet salad with fresh ginger dressing and  Vospov Kufte (Armenian Red Lentil Kufte).  I just need the time to post them.  Hopefully tonight!

Yesterday was weigh in, and guess what?  I actually lost one FULL Pound this time.  Another 1. pound closer to my goal.  Grand total:  8 pounds in 7 weeks!!   Yay!
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Today is Thursday, and the day I read my weekly blog entry on ePostle's weekly podcast, the Next Step with Father Vazken.  I'm doing a weekly reading from my other blog - This week's topic "The Journey Continues" -  www.pomegranateandeye.blogspot.com  Take a look, or a listen!

     
Here's the Wii fit bundle.   And the console.  It may seem costly for "games" but there are other programs that go with it that you can use to up your activity.  I do have the Just Dance disks which are really fun, and the Zumba as well.  It's good for someone like me that doesn't have time to get to the gym.

Week 6: There's No Comparison!

Ta-Da, another .8 pounds down
Week 6 total lost: 7 pounds

There's something that needs addressing - WITH MYSELF - about this whole thing about weight loss, getting healthy.  And that "something" has to do with comparisons.  When I first started this journey 6 weeks ago, you heard me.  I was all gung ho about embracing every ounce, and sticking with it and blah, blah, blah.   I'm not throwing in the towel by any means.  I'm still in it for the long haul - BUT - would it be so hard if the scale dropped a whole pound instead of ounces?  Really?  This week's weigh in brought me .8 (that's 8/10th's) of a pound closer to my goal.  Okay that ALMOST a whole pound, but not quite.  Still, it's a movement in the right direction, and I am grateful, don't get me wrong.  But still......

Okay, here's the big picture.  The truth of the matter is that doing this with friends is great (i.e. great to have a buddy to share the journey with), but on the other hand, I'm constantly comparing my loss with hers.  She started a week after me and has already lost 13 pounds!  I am at 7 pounds in 6 weeks.  She is not exercising nor active.  I, on the other hand, have been doing my ActiveLink challenge since I got it and always pushing myself to reach 100% of my activity goal.  We both track.  We both drink our water.  So how come the scale is moving for her and not as much for me???  (Can you hear me whining?)

This goes back to something I taught my daughter when she was but a baby birdy in the nest.  "LIFE IS NOT FAIR!"  That's it in a nutshell.  But stepping back to the bigger picture in hand is the reality.  Why should we compare ourselves to one another?  Not just in weight loss but in everything?  God has created us uniquely.  Different bodies, different metabolisms, different strengths and weaknesses.  When I think of it this way, it seems silly to compare.  I am who I am.  And I am good as I am...I just want to be better.

When it comes to my friend, the reality is that she is younger than me (faster metabolism).  She is a totally different build than I am...she's a head taller than me and a muscular build.  I've had endless surgeries (cancer(3x thank you) gallbladder, salpingo-oophorectomy (look that one up) and have had more things removed from my body than have been left in (or so it feels sometimes).  So OF COURSE my body is going to react differently than hers, right?  

I have to say that another thing that's  helped me put this in perspective is the WW site and my eTools.  Because I've been tracking my intake and my weight, it produces progress reports for me.  And when you look at the big picture, I have been averaging a 1.2 pounds loss per week.  So all those 10ths are adding up.  And 7 pounds in 6 weeks is pretty good.

So I am plugging right along!  It's lunchtime and I have already hit 50% of my activity level for the day.  I am walking home from the bus stop this afternoon with Farmer's Market groceries in tow...that ought to give me a few extra calories burnt.  And this weekend, I'm hoping to do either a hike, or digging up the garden.  We'll see.

I hope you are all having a great week.  I'd love to hear from you. Let me know what's working for you, and what isn't.

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Check this out right here.  It's called a Weight Watchers Body Analysis Scale.  I have never seen it, nor is this something they weigh you on at a WW meeting, but it looks like it measures all sorts of things from your weight, body mass, fat, bone, etc.  Who knew?  I'd want to know that info...but I don't think I'd want to know if every time I hopped on the scale.  I'm already obsessed with the numbers as it is  : )

Week 5 update: Getting moving

Week 5: Another .6 pounds down!

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with my little weight loss this week.  I did follow plan but the scale only showed a
.6 loss.  But that's okay...it's going in the right direction, AND I'm appreciating every ounce lost this time around.  Still, it's natural to get a little disappointed when others are losing so much faster.  This time around, I'm understanding this a little better though.  Case in point, I am going to WW meetings with two of my coworkers.  My one friend started a full week after me and met her 10 pound mini-goal this week!  (in 4 weeks).  And that was after spending the weekend on vacation and eating.  But the reality is that no two people are alike.  There are other factors too:  the amount of muscle mass, age, height, metabolism.  We're all different, so why should our weight loss be the same?  6.2 pounds lost so far.  Woohoo.

On Wednesday (weigh in day), I completed the 7 day assessment wearing my ActiveLink monitor, and I've started this week, trying to meet my daily challenge of earning 2 activity points.  The way it works is this:  I wore it for a week and it assessed my activity (or lack of).  Now that I'm in the actual challenge portion, I wear the monitor every day and it counts all the activity I do.  I can check where I am throughout the day.  It lights up when I place it on the counter. Each light lit is 25% of my activity goal for the day.  So this has gotten to be "fun" for me as I try to make my monitor go up to 100%.  So I'm doing all sorts of things to up the activity. This evening, I was only at 75% of my goal.  So I asked Neddy if he'd like to play with me...and we hooked up the Wii and did Wii Fit for an hour. It was fun!  (Yep, you heard me!  Activity was fun.) I have surpassed my goal today...I'm at 111%

So that's it for this week.  I'm going to continue on with my activity and tracking and we'll see what Wednesday's weigh in brings.

Hope you're all having a great week!

Vegan Mini Kufte Ball Soup

Last week Ani came over for an impromptu visit since Eric was working late.  We were thinking of going out to dinner, but decided to cook together instead.  This is a fun soup to together. The broth has a nice tomatoey, lemony, minty base. It's pretty simple.

Kufta Balls:

1 cup of Cream of Wheat

1 cup of fine bulghur

1 Tbsp mint finely rubbed between your palms (I like it minty, but you can use more or less depending on your own preference )

2 heaping Tbsp of tomato paste

1 cup of water

1-2 tbsp of roasted red pepper appetizer…I used it cuz I had it in the fridge.  You can use Ajvar, or red pepper paste..or more tomato sauce. 

Add salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together and let it stand a few minutes and then knead it into a dough.  Roll it into small balls, like marbles (maybe a little larger) I counted that it made 108 balls.  Wet your hands if the dough starts sticking to them.

Put these balls in a pot of boiling water and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Remove after 15 minutes and transfer into the broth.

The Broth:

You’ll need another can of tomato paste

A can of garbanzo beans – OR – about a cup of small pasta

Garlic

Dried mint

1-2 lemons

One big onion and some olive oil

Brown one large onion in some olive oil.  Add enough water to make broth for the family ( I did about 8-9 cups for our batch).  Add a can of tomato paste plus whatever tomato paste you have left over from the kufte balls.  If you have red pepper paste add some of that and a couple tablespoons of mint powder.  Simmer about 10 minutes this and adjust the seasonings.  Add about 3 big cloves of mashed garlic, one can of garbanzo beans (or you can sub out for some small type of macaroni).  Add the cooked kufte balls, and the juice of one or two lemons and boil for another 5 or 10 minutes.

Checking In: Getting Healthy One Ounce at a Time

Ta-Da!  Week 3 brings me a little
closer to my goal with a .8 pound loss

I realized that I reached the end of the work week and I never checked in.  So here I am.  I went to my weekly meeting with all these high hopes for a good weight loss, but alas, the scale went down only .8 ounces.  A half a pound.  Hey, at least it's movement in the right direction!  But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.  I have been tracking my intake, staying within my allotted points and trying to get "some" exercise by walking - but, I also have to be honest.  I did manage to lose a half pound while still having a normal life: "normal" meaning that I wasn't on some freaky fad diet.  I did enjoy going to happy hour with friends, I did cook for my family and enjoy eating the same food that they did (just not in large portions).  So I'm on the right track.  It's a lifestyle change.

But just to pump myself up a bit, I started thinking of all the times that I had started Weight Watchers in the past, and then got discouraged because I lost .4 ounces here, and .2 ounces there...and then "just 1 pound"...and then stay the same, and then .2 ounces.  Okay, well, y'know, if I'd have just stuck with it, I would have been at my ideal weight, right?  And so let's say that I continued to lose .8 ounces a week.  That would be a loss of 26 pounds in a year.  So you say, a whole year, to lose just 26 pounds?  Excuse me?  JUST 26 pound?  Losing 26 pounds without killing myself doing it would be pretty awesome.  And hopefully there will be weeks where I lose more :::HOPEFULLY:::  So anyways, you get the idea.  I'm keeping the bigger picture in mind.  This is not a race. This is my life here...my beautiful life that I intend to enjoy!

And.....I have lost now, a total of 4.2 pounds in 3 weeks.  YAY!!  Hopefully this week I will lose another .8 and hit 5 pounds in a month! (5 pounds in a month is 60 pounds in a year!) Wait, did I just say that?  (hoping for a .8 pound loss...hmmm, I must be learning something!)

I will get there!  Even if it's one ounce at a time!

My Big Batch Mushroom & Barley Soup

This is a big batch soup recipe.  Enough for you to have some for dinner and freeze some for later.  OR, you can feed your family.  It's a vegan recipe, but it has a nice rich flavor because I used wine in the broth.

Serving size: 1 1/2 cups    Serves 9

Weight Watchers Points Plus Value:  5 points

Ingredients:

1 cup barley

8 oz. crimini mushrooms, washed, trimmed and sliced

3 - 32 oz cartons of organic vegetable broth

1 pound of carrots, sliced  

1/2 cup. red wine (I used a cab that I had in the fridge)

2 large onions, chopped

2 Tbsp. olive oil (because I'm counting points, yes, I measured)

8 oz. chard, washed and chopped

5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

                                                                Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions: 

In a large soup pot, add the olive oil, chopped onion and sliced carrots.  Cook on medium heat around 10 minutes until the onions and carrots start to soften.  Add 1/2 cup red wine.  Continue cooking the onion/carrot mixture.  Add vegetable broth, barley, sliced mushrooms, garlic and chard.   This has to cook until the barley is soft and tender.  It's going to take about an hour.  Stir occasionally.  I added another 4 cups of water at this point because I like my soup brothy, but if you like you soup more stewy, you can leave it as is.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

NOTE:  I would normally have added chopped celery hearts to the onion & carrot mixture.  I just didn't have any to add.  

                                                         

My Diet Friendly Cilantro Hummus

I tried something new today.  With lent starting on Monday, I needed some good protein alternatives that wouldn't rob the Points bank.  Instead of using a base of garbanzo beans as in traditional hummus, I substituted one can of garbanzos for a can of Cannelini beans (white beans).  This cut the calories and fat.

I also opted to NOT add olive oil, since the tahini already has enough fat.  Do I have your curiosity? Okay, let's go:

1 - 15 oz can garbanzo beans drained
1 - 15 oz can white cannelini beans, not drained
1/4 cup sesame tahini (I measured for sure!)
Juice of one lemon
About 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, washed and removed from stems
salt
garlic powder
cumin
cayenne pepper

In the food processor, combine garbanzo beans (drained) and white beans and their liquid.  Add 1/4 cup sesame tahini and lemon juice.  Add cilantro and spices and blend til smooth. Adjust the salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

This recipe makes 3 1/2 cups of hummus.
If you're on Weight Watchers and following the Points plus program, I calculated this through their recipe builder.

Serving size:  For 1/2 cup serving = 3 points (you can dip all kinds of veggies (0 points) and have a 3 point lunch or snack.

OR - if you just want a 1/4 cup serving, there is just 1 point.
I have it all divided up in little containers to "grab and go" for lunchtime! Give this a try and let me know what you think.  I would love to hear from you!

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Here's a pretty cool spice rack  if you're looking for one.  I like the bottle shape and overall design. And here's a "Practice Makes Hummus" tshirt.  : )