I've returned to the kitchen. The last few weeks (2 months) have again been riddled with the worst anxiety I've ever known. I am hoping it is under control now. And when you are dealing with adrenaline coursing through your veins, or where ever it courses, almost constantly, the last thing in the world that matters is how much you weigh. I would have taken 30 extra pounds to have felt better. A side affect of all that anxiety was a complete aversion to food until I had to eat for fear of passing out - at which point I would try to eat something dense in calories like pizza or bread and butter. There was about a week where I was eating nothing until dinner, and even then I was only getting about 800 calories. And I didn't eat a I wasn't cooking, I wasn't preparing lunches, food was a chore, something to be choked down to keep me going.
So, my weight loss has remained steady, maybe down a few pounds. My exercise has mostly been walks with the dog, in between thunder and lightening storms. (We are waiting for one to end now so we can head out.) The dog hates thunder, so she and I have been on a steady dose of
Rescue Remedy. I spray it in her water, and put it in mine.
But today I bought groceries, and cooked them and ate them! I bought kale and froze it since it seems to wilt quickly, and cucumbers, zucchini,
purslane which has more omega-3 fatty acids than any other vegetable, and chicken and bacon and yogurt. I got all the vegetables at the organic farm for $10.00. What a bargain.
These are the lovely pot stickers I made tonight:
The insides are ground turkey, ginger, garlic, egg whites, soy sauce, hot sesame oil, finely shredded napa cabbage (I used the food processor) and a few leaves of kale finely shredded. Broccoli minced in the food processor would be good, too. I got the little pot sticker maker in my stocking when I was young. I thought it was kind of odd at the time, but it turned out to be one of the best presents ever.
Here they are waiting to be put in the pan. The batch makes a lot. More than I can eat at once, so the rest I make and freeze on parchment paper, and then I put them in a zip-lock bag. They can made cooked from frozen, so they are a very easy, fast and healthy meal. And very fun to make.
Here they are sticking to the pan. First they are cooked with a little oil to get brown, then you throw in a 1/2 cup water and put the lid on so they can steam and cook for about 10 minutes, then you remove the lid to let the water all cook off. I just drizzle a little soy sauce on them, but I suppose you could make some sort of fancy dip.
They are one of my favorite meals. Other than the fajitas. But thinking about it, they are pretty similar to the fajita in that they are a meal all wrapped up in some sort of flour based container. And they have kale in them.
I have a feeling the dog and I will be walking in the rain tonight. But there are worse things than rain.
Dinner was leeks, zucchini, chopped fresh garlic, savoy cabbage, shrimp and some tagliatelle that I forgot to photograph before cooking. There are probably 5 cups of veggies which cook down to about 1.5, 4 oz. of shrimp, 1/2 oz grated parmesan and some butter than was left out due to it's lack of photogenicity tonight.
Then all the veggies are added to the pan and cooked until they wilt and look done. Add salt and pepper at this step, too. 
Put in a bowl and eat. If you have the capacity to eat a large volume at dinner (cals are about 600), this will feed 1, otherwise you could add a little more of everything to feed more than one person. I think I had my entire daily allotment of veggies in this one meal, but it was really good. 
This is what I picked up at the organic farm today. Zukes, fresh garlic, scallions and some fresh onions. And 2 bags of baby kale which aren't pictured. I'm wondering what I make for dinner. I have a thawed grass-fed NY strip steak which I think wants to join dinner. I have some small potatoes which could be roasted with the red onions & garlic. 
I think this is the ingredients in the veggie tart: broccoli, onion, zucchini, 1 mushroom.
2 weekends ago in Franconia, NH. The arrival meal - Stacey's Baked Pita Chips, hummus, and a nice cold Rose' wine.
The ingredients in the bacon veggie tart - bacon, red & green cabbage, zucchini, onion. Do you see a theme here?
The view from Bald Peak to the Mt. Kinsman summit. 
I finally made it to the mountains. It rained all week last week and I wasn't going to go to New Hampshire for the weekend because I thought it would just rain up there, but it didn't! It was a little grey and cloudy, but it was perfect hiking weather. 
I decided that the best way to carry my carrots to work was in a little bag with bunnies on it. Thankfully the bunnies did not eat the carrots. And the sandwich wanted to be in a bag, too, so it's in the pretty blue and brown one. I found a little hummus in the fridge to accompany the carrots. Chick peas are much better blended with tahini and olive oil. And it got my fiber intake up to where it needs to be for the day. And it's delicious.
I made about 5 oz. of the steak, 3 of the potatoes and a little more than 1/2 the asparagus. The veggies were drizzled with oil and roasted on high heat for about 25 minutes. The steak was seared on a stove top grill about 3 minutes per side. It is very tasty and filling and goes fantastically with the Sam Adams Scotch Ale. 
And in case any one is interested in the calorie counts: 
This is my trusty little scale. 
And these are the chicks that I went and visited at the feed store. I'm getting 6 (0r maybe 8) in a month or so, so that I can have fresh eggs and cute little friends who run around my yard saying bock-bock. 
Here they are waiting to be put in the pan. The batch makes a lot. More than I can eat at once, so the rest I make and freeze on parchment paper, and then I put them in a zip-lock bag. They can made cooked from frozen, so they are a very easy, fast and healthy meal. And very fun to make.
They are one of my favorite meals. Other than the fajitas. But thinking about it, they are pretty similar to the fajita in that they are a meal all wrapped up in some sort of flour based container. And they have kale in them. 
I went to the carnival last night with the boyfriend and his daughter. She and I went on the Flying Bobs which was one of my favorite rides when I was younger. It was SO MUCH FUN!! And much faster and scarier than I remember. The only downside is that I have felt sick to my stomach since then. But it was still worth it. It felt like we were going to go flying off into space.
Depending on the weather and the tide, I might take a bike ride down to the beach for a swim after work.
...it passes quite quickly from whipped cream into something strange. I think mine skipped the whipped cream phase altogether, or else I blinked and missed it. Then a minute or two later...
...the buttermilk starts to separate out and the butter solids start to clump together. Pour off the buttermilk and keep beating for a while. 
Here's the buttermilk. 
And here's the butter! Then you sort of knead it with a spatula to get more of the butter milk out, and I salted it, too. It has a very strong flavor because it is grass-fed. I haven't tried it on the bread yet, I think I will wait for morning. 
Then I rolled the dough up again, and formed 2 loaves. Most of the nuts and raisins are on the inside, which I think keeps them from burning. Then the loaves sit to rise again. 
Here they are after rising, which some parchment paper to keep them separated. I ground a little flax seed on top for decoration. 
If you like making bread, this is a very satisfying loaf to bake, and makes wonderful toast! And because it is so rich, just a little bit is perfect. 
Breakfast was 2 slices of the whole wheat bread with a little almond butter. I forgot to bring my yogurt. Dinner will probably be some pork, and some more vegetables.
