Lentils, wow!

Our dinner tonight was surprisingly delicious. I say 'surprisingly' because I cooked it and I have to admit, up until now I haven't been known as the greatest cook. I found this dahl recipe on thimble and it ended up being easy and delicious (my favourite combination). I added some fresh baby spinach underneath mine to give it some colour and ate it along with some naan bread. Yum.

Lentils are superfoods, let me tell ya. One serving (1/2 c. cooked) yields a magnificent 8 grams of fibre and 9 grams of protein with only 115 calories and zero fat. One serving also provides one fifth of your recommended daily intake of iron. They're very filling (thanks to all that fibre) and relatively pain free to cook. And they're cheap!


Recipe for Red Lentil Dahl (from here)

• 1 cup orange lentils
• 2 cups water
• 1 large onion
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp garam marsala (I didn't have this, I think it would have worked fine without it. Instead I used a 1/2 tsp of some tandoori paste we had on hand)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup yogurt (I only used 3/4 of a cup because that's all I had)

Simmer lentils in a covered pot in the water until well cooked. In a separate frying pan or wok, saute onion in oil until translucent. Add spices and coconut and cook for a few minutes more. Lower the temperature to minimum, and add cooked lentils and yogurt. Stir until well mixed and heated through (5-10 minutes).

I also spent the day making even more macarons. This time I made chocolate macaron with chocolate ganache filling. I found the recipe here and it was a breeze to make. I'm a little dissatisfied with the little tips on top of my macarons, but the batter was a bit thicker than usual today. They still taste great!

These are definitely decadent. Unlike lentils, they are not super for anyone watching their caloric intake.

Here's the recipe for the filling:

• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 5 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used about a cup of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips)
  
• 1/2 cup (4oz) unsalted butter, diced

Bring the cream just to a boil in a medium saucepan (or in the microwave). Remove the pan from the heat. Add the chocolate and butter and whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate covered, for at least 30 minutes, or until the filling is firm enough to hold its shape when spread.

Tomorrow I'm off to my parents on Vancouver Island, after a shopping trip with my good friend to Superstore to pick up some (hopefully) new jeans. I'm hoping to buy some nuts and use my mom's food processor to make my own almond meal (to save some money during my macaron making endeavours).

I need smaller clothes.

Losing 30lbs. Definitely satisfying. Not being able to buy smaller clothes, but feeling frumpy in my now-too-big clothes. Definitely unsatisfying! I am hesitant to go shopping not just because of my current financial situation but also because another 30lbs from now I'll need another round of smaller clothes. However, with 60lbs to go it feels unlikely that I won't buy anything new for the next 8 months. I can't wear my size 18 jeans forever.

Joe Fresh Style Fall '09

I guess this calls for one of my favourite things: compromise! And what better way to compromise than to shop at Superstore for clothes. Doesn't sound too glamorous, I know. But Superstore has the most amazing line of inexpensive clothing and I'm looking forward to my trip there on Saturday. My ideal wardrobe for when I am at my goal weight would consist of 8 to 10 carefully selected high-quality pieces. I am definitely into the idea of owning less and having the things I own be high-quality. This ideal will have to wait however, as the clothes I will be buying over the next 8 months will not be investment pieces.

Joe Fresh Style Fall '09

I also thought I would post another recipe. Tonight we had steak (mmm!) and couscous salad. I love couscous salad because it is easy to make, low in calories and high in protein.

Couscous Salad

• Couscous, follow the instructions on the package and make as many servings as you need.
• Tomato
• Zucchini
• Red Onion
• Light Feta Cheese (1/4 c. per serving)
• Fat Free Kraft Italian Dressing

So you'll cook the couscous (which is insanely easy) in advance and let it cool in the refrigerator, chop the zucchini, tomato and red onion (if you want to lessen the bite of onion, soak them in cold water for a bit prior to making the salad). Once you have everything ready, combine all the ingredients. You can add the dressing to taste, it's only 5 calories per tablespoon, so you can go nuts with it -- if you feel so inclined.

I also made chocolate chip cookie sandwiches today with the leftover buttercream I had from my Tuesday macarons. I ate too much cookie dough (I anticipated this), but felt okay about it because of my hour of cardio at the gym. The remaining cookies will go to work with B tomorrow. Let them get fat.

Weigh-In Wednesday

Well well well. It was a surprising week. In the past 12 weeks my losses have been between 0.5-2.5lbs never more, never less. This week I thought for sure it'd be on the lesser end because I didn't work-out for three days and ate pretty much whatever I felt as I was on a trip to the Okanagan. But surprise! I clearly have boosted my metabolism from working out so much and I lost 4lbs! What makes this news evening more exciting is that I now weigh 199.4lbs, under 200. Woohoo and such!

For the past couple weeks I've been experimenting with the amount I work-out and the amount I eat. Technically weight-watchers suggests I should be eating 26 points (about 1300 cal) per day. Weight-watchers also offers activity points which are calculated on the amount you exercise as well as "flex points" which act as about 30 extra points (or 1500 cal) to be used however and whenever during the week. I haven't included either activity or flex points into my calorie-consumption because I felt like it was redundant to burn off the calories just to eat them right back.

However because I find myself working out at a high intensity about 6 to 7 hours a week that I can eat significantly more and still lose weight. For the past two weeks I've consumed between 30 and 50 points (1500 - 2500 cal) per day, exercising for an hour each day. I find this works best for me as I really do like to eat and I do like to exercise! Keep in mind that I do write down everything that I eat along with the amount of calories so I can keep myself in check and still have a good understanding of what I consume. Also the food that I eat is still reasonably healthy. I try to load any meal up with vegetables. I start almost everyday with a spinach smoothie (1 banana, half cup unsweetened almond milk, 1 cup spinach and ice). I find this smoothie starts me off "healthy" for the day, as I am less-inclined to indulge on foods high in sugar and carbohydrates as the day progresses.

I also thought I'd share one of my favourite dinners with you.


Shrimp Caesar Salad (with homemade dressing and croutons)

We use this recipe for low-fat caesar dressing from here:
• 1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste (you can buy this at the grocery store, its pretty cheap)
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard (we use just a bit of whatever regular mustard we have)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

(B usually does 1/8 c. regular mayo and 1/8 c. fat-free as a compromise)

I then chop up some romaine lettuce (a lot of it) and some green onions. We buy pre-cooked frozen salad shrimp which are easy to defrost (just run under cold water in a strainer). We make croutons in a frying pan with 1 tbsp. olive oil and seasoning salt with whatever bread we have on hand (last night we used foccacia, yum!). Mix it altogether and toss on some asiago cheese and you've got a well-rounded, satisfying dinner in 10 minutes max.

I am going to write a book.

Chocolate macarons with mint butter cream and vanilla macarons with strawberry butter cream.

I think I will write a book called "How to build self-confidence through baking french pastries". Anyone think they'd read it?

I'll give you all a glimpse into my post-graduate life. I usually wake up (very briefly) as B leaves for work bright and early at 8:30am. Now if I'm feeling particularly motivated I'll get up when he leaves and get on with my day. In reality I usually pull myself out of bed around 10:00. Because I'm unemployed and I don't want to fall into a slump of eternal laziness I try and set at least one goal to accomplish each day. This goal is in addition to my one-hour work-out goal, keep-the-apartment-tidy goal and search-for-and-apply-for-as-many-jobs-you-can-find goal. Its usually something creative (like sewing bags for stores or making my necklaces). For the past three days I have tried my hand at making macarons (see: yesterdays post). The improvements I've made each day have really lent themselves to boosting my can-do power! That is, I can-do, anything I want-to. Teach that to motto to your kids. The macarons today were fantastic! And I feel great about it - thus the prompt to right book (see: above)

In other news I have postponed my second Grouse Grind hike for a couple of weeks. Last Wednesday I did the Grind (2.9km hike up Grouse Mountain) for the first time. Although it was hard, like people warned, my sister and I managed to do it in a fairly respectable time of 1.5 hours. Its something I'd like to do at least once a month, improving my time as I go. My usual day-to-day work out usually consists of 60 minutes HARD on the elliptical trainer and then some less-intense half hour physical activity. I find this method works for me as I am able to eat more (see: macarons) throughout the day. Yet, I get bored of it and doing activities like the Grouse Grind (and hopefully Booty Camp in September) keep me interested in working out.

My 12 week weigh-in is tomorrow, so I'll be sure to post about that!

The Macaron Saga Begins

So for anyone who frequents the design side of the blog world, you might have noticed a trend in posting about beautiful and delicious french macarons. There are bakeries all over the world (particularly in Paris) who offer these delicate morsels to local inhabitants (see: Paulettes in Beverly Hills), but Vancouver seems to be lacking. Thus in the luxury of all my free time I decided to make them myself. Let me tell you, what seemed like a fairly easy baking venture has turned into quite the baking 'AD'venture.

In preparation I used what meager funds I had to acquire an electric hand mixer, a sieve, a rubber spatula and a piping bag (of very poor quality I might add). I would like to thank my local Wonderbucks for providing the latter three at such reasonable prices, and also the men at the local hardware store for being so patient as I decided which mixer to buy. I googled for recipes and found several helpful sources (see: A La Cuisine and Serious Eats).

On Saturday, my sister (who is quite the baker see: The Cupcake Chair) was in Vancouver so we set out on our first attempt. The results were dismal. The first batch, which had the look of a macaron, were hollow instead of chewy on the inside. The second batch were runny and basically boiled in the oven. So into the garbage they went. Lucky garbage!


On Sunday I made sure to follow the recipe exactly and did all my prep in the evening to prepare for Monday morning. The egg whites are supposed to sit at room-temperature over night to allow them to thicken and I sieved my icing sugar and almond meal.


So this morning, I got up and gave it a go and found...success! They tasted good and looked right (if not a little oblong). They didn't look perfect though so I am going to make another batch tomorrow and then another batch and another until they're perfect and I rule the macaron world (the french will not be pleased). I sandwiched half the batch with orange buttercream and the other with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam. Yum! I used yellow food colouring to colour the cookie part, but it made them look a little too much like hamburgers for my liking.


Let me note that this is definitely not a low calorie snack. It consists of a lot of sugar, almond meal and butter (And egg whites, thank the calorie gods). I definitely used up a large handful of calories today in making (and sampling) them. I promise to exercise better self control tomorrow.

That being said, anyone in the Vancouver area who wants to eat what I create, raise a hand and leave a comment and I would be more than happy to pass it your way!

Post Grad Hair Cut and Everything Else I Accomplished After Graduating

Well hello.

I've started this blog to help me (and maybe others) charter through the unfriendly waters of post-graduate life. Five years ago I embarked upon a process of education that I expected would bring me clarity both in my professional and personal life. Upon completing this process I can officially say: no clarity achieved. From losing health benefits, to having to find a "real" job and (worst of all) having to pay regular fare prices for public transit it sometimes feels like once I got my $20,000 piece of paper (enclosed in a 20 cent plastic duotang) I was thrown into the deep sans water wings before finishing my swimming lessons (phew, dig that metaphor).

My blog name comes from this ritualistic pattern I noticed among friends and other ladies upon completing their undergrad. This pattern involved cutting off ones longish type hair style into some degree of a more mature shorter haircut. I think this ritual is symbolic of the beginning of identity creation in post-grad life. I was a student for five years. I lived like a student and identified as a student. Now that I'm no longer a student the identity-forming process begins all over again! Having graduated in May I resisted the ritual for as long as I could, but the urge took over. Now what used to be past-the-shoulder length hair is now above-the-shoulder length hair. And it feels good! Post-graduate choice number one = success!

I intend this blog to document several things. It's main purpose is to act as a journal of my post-grad life including accomplishments both small and large, frustrations and mindless entertaining drivel. This will specifically include:

Details on my quest to lose 90lbs. In June 2009 I started to change my lifestyle in attempts to lose weight. In three months I've lost 30lbs and will post more about what I learn along the way.

Around the same time I started applying for "career" type jobs. Sad to say, I'm still sans employment.

However this gives me a multitude of time to do all the creative things I wanted to do but couldn't due to lack of time while completing my degree. These creative things include, continuing to grow my bag-making business (www.sammade.com), jewelry-making, fancy pastry-baking, soap-making, garden-growing, clothes-constructing, party-planning, dinner-cooking, house-cleaning, etc.

So here goes!


My Post Grad Hair Cut