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. 
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• 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. 
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• 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. 
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• 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)

Heart Healthy Garlic, Mushroom & Kale soup (with barley)

If you live on the West Coast like I do, it's hard to think of making soup in September, unless you happen to love soup like I do.  Soup is so soothing, and easy to make.  I had gone to Sprouts market and bought some mushrooms and kale last Saturday.  On the bus ride home, I was looking up recipes for kale on the Vegetarian Times website.  They had a recipe for garlic kale soup (different from this) but that's where I got the inspiration for this soup.  It came out great.  I ran the points on the WeightWatchers site and a good size portion, which is about 1.5 cups is only about 3 points...and very healthy for you. Mamajan (my mom) has been staying with us and is always surprised that she doesn't miss the meat, because the recipes are so flavorful.  This is a heart-healthy soup because so many of the ingredients are good for your heart:  kale, garlic, whole grains, mushies!!!  Enjoy! 8 cup(s) vegetable broth                                                                             3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced (I used plain ol' mushrooms, but it would probably be great with a mixture of different types) 20 cloves large garlic cloves , peeled and sliced 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup rice vinegar 2 small red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes 1/4 cup pearl barley 1 bunch baby kale (regular is fine too) Salt and pepper to taste Cook barley in 8 cups vegetable broth and 2 cups water. (You can use vegetable concentrate broth or vegetable bouillon, or broth in a carton) Cooking the barley will take about 20-30 minutes til tender. Cover your pan while cooking and use low heat to avoid bubbling over.  In a nonstick pan, add oil and cook sliced mushrooms turning with a spatula. Cook about 10 minutes until the mushrooms are brown and glazey looking. Add sliced garlic and cook another 10 minutes. Your pan will have all this nice brown sauce stuck on it. Add 1/2 cup rice vinegar, and using a wooden spoon, loosen all that sauce, stirring, and then allow the vinegar to evaporate out.  Add the mushrooms/garlic mixture to the broth/barley mixture. Stir, cover and simmer for about 10-20 minutes allowing all the flavors to come together. Add the chopped kale and cook another 10 minutes until tender. (If you're using regular kale, cook a little longer).  Serve hot. with a little parmesan cheese grated on top.  Add more water if broth absorbs into the barley. Season with salt/pepper to taste. Good with a squeeze of lemon too. Makes 8 good-sized servings. 3 Weight Watchers points plus per serving

Mardi Gras Salad - A festive salad with cauliflower, broccoli, quinoa and garbanzo beans

I went to Sprouts Farmers Market today and they had the most beautiful yellow and purple cauliflower for sale.  I didn't know what to make with it, so I experimented and this is what I came up with.

1 head purple cauliflower, cored and broken into small florets

1 head yellow cauliflower, cored and broken into small florets

1 1/2 cups red quinoa

3 cups water

3 tbsp white miso paste (or any type of broth)

1 large broccoli crown, cored and broken into small florets

1 15.5 oz can of garbanzo beans, drained

1 oranges, juiced

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

2 Tbsp ume plum vinegar

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

2 tsp garlic powder

Blanch the cauliflower seperately, then plunge
in cold ater to stop the 

1 tbsp Trader Joe's everyday seasoning

1 tbsp no salt seasoning

Salt to taste

Cook quinoa in 3 cups water with miso paste added (or you can use 3 cups of any type of broth). Uncover, move to bowl and cool.  You'll be adding this to the vegetables.

Clean both heads of cauliflower and broccoli and cut into small florets. Boil a large pot of water. First, drop in the yellow cauliflower. Boil about 2 minutes til tender but not mushy. Remove with a slotted spoon and put into colander. Run cold water over it to stop the cooking process. Drain and put in bow. Next, do the same first with the purple cauliflower, and then with the broccoli. Combine the cauliflower, broccoli, and drained garbanzo beans, and onion. Add seasonings, vinegar, juice,, stir and chill. Adjust seasoning to taste. Chill.

Note:  If I had lemon, I would have used it instead of the orange juice...but all I had were 2 oranges, and that worked .  I didn't add any oil to save on the points values.

Makes 14-15 cups

Points Plus Value =  4 points per 1 cup serving

I just thought this was pretty 

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Thoughts on Success

Last week, my WeightWatchers leader approached me saying that we were beginning a new unit in our meetings.  The topic for the next month was going to be about Success.  All of the WW's meetings were asking various members to speak on this topic about their own personal success with WeightWatchers and she asked if I would speak at our meeting.  I questioned this.  Surely he had me confused with someone else.  I have been anything but successful with my following plan.  I told her so.   "Why me?  I'm not a success.  I've been here since February, and I've only lost 15 pounds.  I've been up and down for months.  Why not choose someone who is actually successful?"   "But you are successful.  Because you keep working at it.  You keep trying.  You keep coming back."  She handed me a sheet with 4 questions on it and asked me to write down my answers and present them at this past Wednesday's meeting.

I thought about success all week.  I was on the Avon Walk.  I felt that was a success.  I mean how many of my friends can walk 39.3 miles in 2 days?  I thought about the fact that I was walking with my brother, and my sister-in-law by my side...and my sister and my husband were working on crew.  I had success in my family because we all loved one another.  We have close relationships.  I thought of my past history with breast and colon cancer....I was walking and I am healthy.  I'm successful in that way.  So all was good.  

Last Wednesday, I went to my WW meeting ready to speak.  I had answered my questions and was ready.  But at weigh in, I got on the scale and my weight was up 1.8 pounds.  Really???  I mean after walking over 40 miles this past weekend.  After all the training.  I was even careful not to eat too much junk always asking myself through the weekend, "Is it worth it?"  Not only that, but I hadn't been feeling well since Saturday evening and had only eaten a little soup and crackers for the past several days.  And a weight gain???  And then to add salt to the wound, my friend who started the same week as I did back in February, hit her 40 pounds lost...and I just felt so low and defeated.  I have worked so hard to track my food, drink my water, stay active, eat healthy.  And now I'm supposed to get up and speak about success?

So our leader gets up and introduces the new topic.  And she invited me up to speak.  I wanted to share with you my thoughts on Success:

1.  How did you feel before you joined WW?  I had lost a lot of weight in the past.  I used to weigh 60 pounds more than I do now.  But I have been 20 pounds less than I am now as well.   Being that I have always been an emotional eater, when my daughter got married last year, and then after that, dealing with my empty nest, my weight started coming back on.   I was feeling really out of control.  I thought that I had to do something.  And that "something" always ends up being WW because the plan is a lifestyle change.  It's healthy, and it fits in well with my life.  So I re-joined...again...with my friend.

2.  What helped you believe you could succeed?  Believing in success in one thing.  Believing in fighting for what I want is another.   I am a fighter.  I am a 3 X cancer survivor.  I'm all about determination and believing.  This past weekend I walked 39.3 miles in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Santa Barbara.  Training for that walk was all about giving up Saturdays for 12-15 mile walks.  And I made it all 39 miles.  But despite all the training, despite the 39 miles, the scale is not moving.  I have been plateauing for over 4 months.  And it's very difficult to sit here week after week and hear about all your successes when I'm working so hard for mine...and nothing's happening.  (At this point, I lost it and started crying...so embarassing...but it was just all coming out.  I went on.) So when Sandy asked me to speak today about my success, I asked her, "What success?  I'm not a success."  (Then I really start blubbering...and my nose is running...I feel stupid.  I'm standing up there, and I'm looking at my paper.  And I keep reading ). But there are other sucesses that are important too.  And I guess that's what it's about.  I'm like the Little Engine That Could.  I keep saying, "I think I can, I think I can."  It's not easy.  I have a lot of stresses in my life.  Dealing with cancer, follow ups and check ups, family, taking care of my mom, running a homeless outreach, trying to build my own business, holding down a full time job.  (At this point, I look up up, and half the members are standing up...giving me a standing ovation.  Which was so sweet.  Once I saw them and smiled, they started applauding. My leader brought me a tissue.)

3.  What did I accomplish once I started believing success was possible? Again, I'm not seeing the big successes on the weight loss front. But staying on plan has definitely made me feel more in control.  it's definitely curbed the mindless eating.  I am more balanced in the way I am eating.  I'm getting a grip on the emotional eating as well.

4.  How do you keep nurturing that belief so that it stays strong?  Life is short.  I have this image that I keep in my head a lot.  When I was at y heaviest weight, I went in for a stress test.  i did the treadmill and then I got the chance to see my heart on the screen, pumping, with all the infrared colors.  That was my ah-ha moment.  I remember being very emotional thinking that I was looking at my heart...this amazing organ that has been pumping to keep me alive since the day I was born.  And I was thinking about all the abuse I had put it through, through all the mindless eating, fast food, high fat, no exercise...stuff that wasn't good for me.  I keep that image close to me.  

I am on this journey.  The goal is to be healthy.  I know what I need to do.  I need to track, stay on plan to the best of my ability.  I need to move.  But above all else, I need to be honest and take responsibility.  If I can do my best, if I can track and truly know in my heart that I did the best that I could, then I can call that a success.

For me, I wish I could just drop the pounds.  But it's not what my body is doing.  y body has it's own individual agenda.  As much as I wish I could measure my success by the scale, my success has to have a different measure.  It has to be measured in knowing that I am eating right, that I am well for now, that I am being honest, accountable and doing the est that I can on the road to being healthy.

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What are your thoughts on success?  How do you measure your success?  I'd love to hear from you. 

xoxo

Catching up - a Few Month's Worth

Can you see me up there...on my plateau?

Hi Peeps.  Believe me when I tell you that I have been "meaning" to get on here and write, it's just that there's been nothing to write home about.  I just noticed that my last post was from June.  JUNE!!  And here we are at almost September!

"What happened?," you ask.  "The last we heard, you were up and down.  Are you still going to your Weight Watchers meetings?"

And the answer is......::::drumroll::::  YES!  I have faithfully been going to meetings.  But the reason I haven't written or posted, is that I am still just plateauing.  Seriously!!!  And it's very discouraging.  Up one, down one.  Up .4, down .6, up .2.  This is what it's been like.  A couple weeks ago, I had a mini little emotional breakdown at our meeting, and our leader asked me to stay after so we could talk and see what's going on.

Am I tracking everything I eat?  Yes.

Am I drinking enough water?  Yes.

Am I staying within my points?  Yes.

Do I eat my bonus points?  Maybe a couple here or there.

How many bonus points are left at the end of the week?  Around 30 to 35 (out of 49)

Am I getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night.  No.  Haven't done that in years.  In fact, with my life, it's just not possible.

She didn't really say that was the problem, but they did devote a whole meeting to getting enough sleep recently and how that really is conducive to weight loss...and lack of sleep to overweight.  ::sigh::

So anyways she looked at my weight record and guess what she found.  I have been plateauing for FOUR MONTHS.  Ridiculous, right?  I mean, I thought so.  In the meantime, my friend has now lost 35 pounds to my 15.  :::womp womp::::

So what am I doing about it?  Well, this all happened a few days before we left on our vacation to Oregon. So my leader told me to just go and have fun.  Get away.  While on vacation, try to relax and get more sleep.  Don't track, but just ask myself..."Is this food worth it?"  And that's what I did.  

I did make some good choices, and I also had ice cream...even though it wasn't a good choice (but it was good!)  I always asked, "is it worth it.." and if the answer was "Yes" then I had it.  And amazingly, there were times when I said no too.  Well, I got back from the vacation and my first self-discussion:  I'm not going to the WW meeting this week.  I'll wait til next week when I'm back on track and then go back."  I hate when I do that.   But remember when I started WW back in February, I told myself I was in it for the long haul.  So I went.  I had a weight gain of 1.6 pounds after vacation.  And today, one week later...after tracking everything I put in my mouth...I lost exactly 1.6 pounds.  Hello again plateau.

Oh and all this is while I'm walking and training for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which is only 9 days away.  I am walking about 25-30 miles a week.  

Anyways I don't quite know what to do.  Some people have told me to eat more in order to reset my metabolism  (uh, i don't think so).  Other's tell me to life weights...do weight training.  How much weight would I have to lift in order to reap the benefit?  I don't know, do you?  Let me know, please

So this is where I am.  Today at the meeting, the leader passed out a 3x5" card to each of us.  We were to write on there a bit of advice of our weight loss journey to a new member.   I heard from a lifetimer "WW is so easy...and it works." I have to agree with it...the program is easy.  Working, on the other hand...ummm.... I think it works for most.  Surely it worked for me on my first 15 pounds.  So what did I write?  I, on the other hand wrote the following.  "Do not measure your success by someone else's journey.  Everyone is different.  Your journey is different than your neighbors.  And don't listen to other's stats.   It's not a quick fix.  It's a lifestyle change.  Be prepared for the long haul."    So that's it.  That's where I am.  

All I can do is the best I can do.  So I will keep going to the meetings.  I'll keep drinking my water, tracking...and making good choices.  In the long run these are the changes that are going to keep me healthy.  The weight loss is just the icing on the cake!  ::::hmmmm, did someone mention cake?:::::

How are you doing on your journey?  I would love to hear from you.  Or if you have suggestions on how to break the plateau, please drop me a line.

  

Recipe: Healthy Oatmeal Bars

I recently had a bunch of tests run, and despite the fact that I'm a vegetarian, my cholesterol levels came back high.  I was totally shocked by this.  I do eat eggs and cheese, but not in an overabundance.

So my doctor suggested a few things to help me lower the cholesterol.  The first is that I must exercise daily about 1.5 hours.  Doing so will lower my cholesterol 5-10 points.

And the second is to eat oatmeal EVERY DAY!  He said that doing so will lower my cholesterol 5-10 points.  Now that can be as cereal or in the form of a "healthy" cookie.

So I started looking at cookie recipes.  As you know by now, I follow Weight Watchers.  And with only 26 points to eat in a day, the last thing I want to do is waste too many on a cookie.  Most recipes were filled with sugar and nuts.  So I decided to try my own recipe.

This recipe will make about 20 oat bars.  They do NOT taste like your typical oatmeal cookie.  They're not sugary sweet but have a natural sweetness.  Each bar has only 2 points plus.

Healthy Oatmeal Bars

3 cups oats (I used Quaker Oats but any good oatmeal is fine.  You just don't want to use instant.
1 ripe banana (ripe, like yellow skin wih a few brown freckles)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup egg whites (Or I suppose you can use a whole egg or two but i'm tryin to cut cholesterol.
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped unsweetened organic turkish apricots (I bought these at Trader Joe's)
1/2 tsp salt  (I didn't use any, and I felt that it needed it)

OPTIONAL: Now, if you would like to add sugar, I'm guessing that 1/2 cup brown sugar would probably be plenty.  You can also add chopped walnuts.  Because I'm trying to keep these low calorie/low points, I didn't.  But feel free to experiment.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13" baking pan with cooking spray.
Use parchment paper and cut it to the size of the bottom of your plan.  Place parchment in pan.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl until moist.   Pour on top of the parchment and press into the corners, keeping the whole thing even.  Bake for 30 minutes or golden.

Remove from oven.  At this point, I free the whole thing from the pan and remove the parchment backing placing the whole slab onto a cooling rack.  When warm, use a large knife to cut into 20 pieces.  Enjoy.
Cut into 20 pieces - 2 points plus
Cut into 16 pieces - 3 points plus

Checking In: What week is it again???

Hi Everyone!  I haven't been on here for a long time and I guess it's because I don't have anything exciting to report.  I have been staying on plan, but actually plateauing for about 5 weeks now.  I lost 1.8 pounds...and then the following week the scale went up 1.8 pounds (though I have really no idea (honestly) why.  Then the following week I was down .6, and then up .4 and then down .2.  Ridiculous!!

What have I been doing wrong?  And what have I been doing right?
Okay, wrong things first:  So I can't reallly think of anything that I've been doing wrong, per se.  One thing I tried was to cut down on my fruit consumption.  Even though WW says fruit points are 0, the reality is that they still do have calories and carbs...and I started thinking that maybe I was eating too muh fruit.  It's summer, and I love the stone fruits of the season, like peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums.  So I told myself that I would limit my fruit intake to 2 a day. So for that week, I did lose!!!  Woohoo...I thought I had solved my problem.  The following week I did the same thing....and I gained.

Things I'm doing right:  This list is easier:
1.  Showing up to meetings.  Do you weigh at home?  I know we're not supposed to, but I do!! I have to.  So when Wednesday comes along and I don't see that the scale has moved, it's my first instinct to tell myself that I'm not going to the meeting that afternoon.  But I talk myself into it.  it's more than the number on the scale.  This is an investment in my health, in myself, in my progress.  So showing up to my meeting is the first thing I've done right.  I make sure I go.

2.  Tracking.  I track.  I track it all, even when I go over my 26 points for the day. (This is okay because we still have the 49 bonus for the week).  So I do track...everything that I put in my mouth.

3.  Drink!  I lots and lots of water.  Throughout the date at work, I fill my water bottle at least 4 times.  So that's not the problem.

4.  Stay active.  I have the active link monitor...and I am averaging getting to 97% to 100% of my weekly goal.  So that aint it either!!!

But the thing that I'm telling myself is this:  It's all about the journey.  Seriously....this time around it has to be a lifestyle change for me.   I have been to WW so many times in my life.  If I had just stuck with it, I'd be at lifetime.  But no.  I got discouraged.  I stopped showing up to meetings.  I started thinking I could do it on my own.

Sooooo....I'm still here.  And while I'm waiting for that scale to move, I am still going to stay on plan, eat healthy, exercise, and do what's right for me.  I'm still better off that I was 16+ weeks ago!   And I'm enjoying the ride.

How are you doing?