Planning to Lose

The Diet continues.  As mentioned in my Facebook page, I'm down 17 pounds from the beginning of the year (with a few side effects--the benefits of a more vegetable-based diet).  That's the easy weight, however.  The real challenge begins now.

This is good.  I'm establishing the habits of awareness and am far more cogniscent of what I put into my body.  I've always taken pride in cooking from scratch and using whole foods as much as possible, but now I also look at quantity and diversity of what I eat.  Whereas, in my previous diet, I would eat all of the whole grains (quality carbs) and proteins (primarily lean meats) I wanted, now I eat a tremendous quantity of leafy greens.  Kale is my new BFF.  Lentils, other legumes and beans provide complex carbs, proteins and iron.

My plate and my biological functions have become more colorful.

Now I'm adding exercise.  Like budgeting for money or calories, budgeting time is also a challenge.  The question of how to spend a limited resource forces one to cut back in some areas to make room for something new.  Unlike money or calories, however, additional time cannot be created.  (You can take on another job or work extra hours for more money.  Exercising burns calories that are then available for extra gluttony.)  The time budget is therefore essential.

One thought: multitasking.  I am essentially a lazy person who loves his leisure time.  I'm not a huge TV watcher, but I love movies.  I can easily combine many calesthetics and simple weight training with movie watching time.  I am walking my dog a little more than 3 miles during lunch. (Added bonus: I eat less during lunch and have smaller healthy snacks throughout the day.)

Overall, however, I think I will have to make some time for concentrated, focused exercise.  30 minutes a day?  45 minutes?  I'm not sure yet.  I'll keep you posted.

For snacks, try these nutritional delights:

Baked Kale Chips
This is an adaptation of a recipe suggested to me by a very good friend.  Thank you SO MUCH.  I love this. 
zest and juice of one Lime
Salt (I prefer Table Salt, here)
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 bunch of Kale

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie with parchment paper.

Seperate the leaves from the coarse and fiberous, stem-like midrib.  Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces.  Wash and use a salad spinner to dry.  Toss with olive oil (a little goes a long way--2 tablespoons works well), zest and sqeeze of 1/2 of a lime (a whole lime maybe needed if it's not very juicy).

Lay the leaves out flat on the cookie sheet.  Be sure they don't overlap much.  Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until dried and crispy.

These will keep in a well sealed container in a cool location for up to a week.  You'll eat them in an afteroon.


Granola Bars
These are delicious, easy and cheap.  You can vary the ingredients to your heart's desire. 
3 cups Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Sliced Almonds
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Dried Apples, diced
1/2 cup Dried Banana Chips, crumbled
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 cup Wheat Germ
1 cup Honey
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Margarine or Vegetable Oil (or a combination)
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the oats, almonds, sunflower seeds and wheat germ evenly on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until arromatic and toasted.  (Stir occassionally to keep from burning.)

While the dry ingredients are toasting, heat the butter, salt, honey and brown sugar on medium high heat until it starts to bubble.  Then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Again, stir.  This time constantly until the brown sugar is completely melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.  Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Stir until well combined.  Pour the mix out into the baking pan.  Using the back of wooden spoon or a heavy flat spatula, press the mixture as flat in the pan as possible.  It needs to be densly packed to hold together.

Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes.  Cut into sections (I got 15 pieces).  Let cool some more, then remove from the pan, separate the pieces from each other and place on waxed paper.  After an hour or so, wrap in waxed paper for individual treats and place in a cool dry place for up to a week.

They make a great breakfast treat or quick snack.


Fruit and Nut Pizza
I tend to have pizza dough on hand. It keeps in the refridgerator for a while, but it tends to ferment--like sourdough.  Use what you need and keep the rest for later.  Just let it come (mostly) to room temperature before using it. 
Pizza Dough
4 1/4 cups Bread Flour, plus extra for kneading
1 teaspoon Salt
2 packages Yeast
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
1 1/2 cups Warm Water (think bath temperature)
1/4 cup Olive Oil

Filling
1 tablespoon Raisins
1 tablespoon Sunflower Seeds
2 teaspoons Wheat Germ
1 teaspoon Kasha (roasted and cracked buckwheat)

Toppings
Honey
Cinnamon and Sugar
sliced Apple (Granny Smith)
sliced Banana
sliced Almonds

To make the dough: stir the yeast and brown sugar into the water until disolved.  Let it foam up (about 10 minutes).  Combine the flour and salt in a stand mixer with a dough hook.  Start on the lowest speed and pour in the wet ingredients.  Mix until it comes together in a ball.  Turn out onto a floured counter and knead.  Place in a warm, still location and let rise for an hour (or until doubled in volume).  Punch down.

(If you've been refridgerating the dough, let the dough warm up and start from here.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Tear off a hunk of dough about the size of the palm of your hand. That's good for 1 person.  Flour the counter top and spread the dough out from the center until it's rather flat.  Sprinkle the fillings into the center and knead.  The fillings will fall out and push through.  It's ok.  Keep kneading and incorporating what falls out.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out turning and flipping to try and keep a round shape.  Transfer to a dusted silicone cutting mat.  Dock the dough (poking it all over with a fork) to keep it from poofing up too much.

Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and sugar.  Arange the apple, banana and almonds.  Drizzle with a little honey and sprinkle with a little more cinnamon and sugar.

I use a pizza stone, but if don't have one, use a cookie sheet.  Transfer the pizza to either the stone or the cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. 

Dinning at The Fort

We recently celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. In a brilliant moment of foresight, we planned our wedding so that our anniversaries might correspond to Denver's 5280 Restaurant Week. Never mind that we got married 9 years before the promotion started, and that it was the first date the church was available --this is our week.

For those who live outside of Colorado (or perhaps under a Colorado rock) 5280 (pronounced "Fifty-two Eighty") Restaurant Week follows the restaurant promotions of other cities but we are one mile above sea level: 5,280 feet = one mile, representative of the Mile High City. Get it? Here the restaurants feature multi-course dinners for the low, low price of $52.80 per couple (or $26.40 for a single person or a third wheel) and according to VISIT DENVER, the Convention and Visitors Bureau 281 restaurants participated this year.

We chose The Fort for our dining experience. Known for it's gourmet treatment of game meats (Venison, Bison, Quail, et al), and its tagline "Food and Drink from the Early West." I can't confirm that my cocktail was from the early West, but it was damn good. "Traders Whiskey." Fine bourbon, red chilies, tobacco and black gunpowder. Served neat, in a cordial glass. (OK, we did look it up. Find more, here.)

For the 5280 promotion, The Fort served a prix fixe menu of house salad, choice of Bison Ribs or Bison Brochette, with a quail and sides of corn with Lima beans, and mashed potatoes. Peach cobbler for dessert. They also gave us sourdough rolls and pumpkin muffins (with little apple pieces baked inside--delightful!) We ordered nothing more, and we were stuffed to the gills. Generous portions and delicious food! Because it was our anniversary, we also had our picture taken in authentic headgear (actually, I think mine was a hardhat with some buffalo fur scraps from the souvenir counter taped to it.) And although we didn't eat it that night, they gave us an additional desert of Chocolate Chili Bourbon Cake.

The picture probably would have been better served before the gluttony, but c'est la vie.
I sincerely recommend scheduling some time next year to take advantage of 5280 Restaurant Week. With nearly 300 restaurants participating in every neighborhood and small town in the Denver Metro area, everyone can find something to suit their tastes, and this is a great way of trying something new. The dates are not announced very far in advance but for scheduling purposes, please consider that no restaurant wants to lose its Valentine's Day revenue, nor try to work around the St. Patty's day hullabaloo. I don't know what the dates will be next year, but I know when they WON'T be.
For breakfast this morning:
Brule Bananas, Oven Bacon, Eggs over Easy and freshly baked Bread
Brulee Bananas

Slice bananas lengthwise and rest on a wire rack, on a cookie sheet, over a non-flammable surface. Sprinkle very liberally with white sugar. Don't substitute here! Nothing else will burn in quite the same way.

Grab your best blow torch. (Side note: do NOT spend the extra money on a "brulee torch." They are too small, are over-priced, and you have to spend extra for fuel refills. Instead, go for the small propane bottles, and a $6 screw-on torch.) Patiently melt the sugar, holding the torch relatively still until the sugar begins to burn, turns deeply golden brown and bubbly. You can refrigerate for a few minutes, but do not cover or the crispy shell will liquefy.

Bread

2 cups Bread Flour (more gluten than All Purpose Flour)

2 tablespoons Yeast

1 1/2 cups warm (110 degrees F) Water

2 more cups Bread Flour + more for kneading

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 stick of unsalted Butter, melted

The night before, combine 2 cups flour and yeast in a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the water stir until everything is well mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and let it do it's thing. In the morning it will have tripled or quadrupled in size.

Add 2 more cups of flour, salt and butter and mix until it comes together in a shaggy mass. Turn out onto a floured kneading surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until it's smooth. Return to the bowl, cover with a warm damp cloth and let rise for 1 hour. Punch it down and let rise in the same way for another 45 minutes.

Shape the loaf on a piece of parchment paper let rise while the oven preheats. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes (or a little more). Slice and eat it while it's warm.