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January 18, 2007
Cauliflower Mash
I thought I would entertain all of you with tales of my CR newbie days, complete with links to my old blogspot blog. I'm so impressed with the newbies' efforts at designing their own quotidian diets, and I am amazed at how much better they are than I was when I was new! I had all these funny stories chronicled in old blog entries... but blogspot is being dopey at the moment and I can't connect to anything! I just barely managed to catch up on our newbies' blogs!
Everyone is doing so well, and I am so proud. It's just wonderful to see people using software, focusing on health and nutrition, and losing weight and feeling better in the process! I loved Chris' piece on the beauty of megamuffins today, and Christina's story about the Wellness Test. And Deborah's insight about babies! It's just fantastic to see this supportive, non-judgmental community forming around our blogs!
My day was pretty good. Regular old breakfast, followed by the two and a half hour drive to Scranton. Upon arriving in Scranton, I realized that while MR had packed my lunch salad, megamuffin, green tea and almonds, I had no yogurt. Hmmmm. So I ate the salad with a bit of cocktail sauce that Luke had in the fridge and the almonds. And some disgusting flat diet Coke that I threw out after realizing that it had been in the fridge since an October open house.
Then Luke was hungry (he had responded to my memo by eating all the Swedish fish... it would have been quite sufficient to have just stashed them in his desk drawer, but whatever!) so we went to a new sushi place. Lacking my yogurt calories, I decided to eat a little sushi, which is one of my favorite foods. I had a Philadelphia roll and a clear broth soup (just chicken broth with a mushroom.) It was fantastic sushi, and I enjoyed every bite! Since lunch was doubtless a bit over my normal lunchtime calories, I had a light dinner: just a serving (85 cals) of MR's world famous mashed cauliflower, a teaspoon of flax oil, and the second half of the megamuffin that I had started to eat at lunch and never finished, and a pint of grape tomatoes. Glass of wine, of course.
Since I had sushi out, I can't be sure how many calories I ate today. I doubt that it was over 1300, but I may go a little low tomorrow just to be sure.
This morning I decided that I would really like some of MR's amazing cauliflower mash. So while he was making tea, somewhat out of nowhere, I said, "That would be wonderful honey!"
"What would be wonderful?" he asked, perplexed, but used to being perplexed (he has lived with me for a year and a half now, after all!)
"If you made me some mashed cauliflower tonight like you were thinking of doing!" pronounced I, as if it were a fait accompli.
"I was thinking of making you a cauliflower mash?" he asked. The boy is a bit slow at times.
"Well, I just figured that you were contemplating what to make for your own dinner tonight since I'll be out of town and unable to make your dinner, and you were probably thinking 'Gee, we have a lot of cauliflower' and remembering 'A few days ago, April said she'd like some cauliflower mash.' So you no doubt concluded that you should surprise me with my favorite mashed cauliflower! Thank you honey! I can't wait!"
Sure enough, tonight when I got home about fifteen minutes before dinner, my mashed cauliflower was ready to eat, topped with delicious buttery flax oil, and cruciferous as ever.
MR steams cauliflower then mashes it with a potato masher along with nonfat plain yogurt and dried parsley flakes. I add a touch of fresh pepper and half salt at the table. We top it with flax oil and it's better than mashed potatoes!
Soon I'm off to bed, visions of megamuffins and cauliflower mash (and the occasional sushi roll!) dancing in my head...
Posted by april at January 18, 2007 9:46 PM
Comments
Save even more calories at the sushi bar: Order Sashimi (raw fish, no rice). Who needs white rice anyway, what a useless waste of calories.
p.s. I am getting ready to schedule some vacation time, how is Philly in the Spring? (C.R. girls week-end anyone?)
Sheila (the blogless one)
Posted by: sheila at January 18, 2007 9:01 PM
Hi April, I ran across an article titled, Problem Of Protien In Proper Perspective. It says that a man weighing 70 kg.(or)154lbs needs to eat only 35 grams of protien a day. It says, that the minimum daily requirement of protein is not one gram per each kilogram of body-weight, as text-books have all along maintained, but only 1/2 gram per kilogram body-weight. Now I'm not sure what to think. I don't know if I should be concerned about getting 70 grams of protien at this point. But I do think higher protien makes my skin feel softer. This is the site: http://www.healthlibrary.com/reading/reverence/chap3.html. Oh and I saw you on tape at the CR conference, (as I was surfing around) and u were giving a great plug for CR while holding your mega muffin up for all to see. You looked just lovely and were cutely animated as well.
Posted by: mamamia at January 19, 2007 4:10 AM
I not sure I completely understand your nutritional intake, but I make an old Italian favorite of cauliflower in marinara sauce. Make your favorite marinara (garlic, a little olive oil, canned tomatoes, seasoned to taste with some red pepper for heat). Then boil one potato (just for favor, I don't eat it). Cut up the cauliflower and potato, and cook for at least a hour in the sauce. One head of cauliflower makes 10-12 servings. It's extremely tasty, and satisfying (and filling). I don't know the nutritional values, but it's better than just about any other meal (or side dish). And it taste better the next day when you reheat it. I've lost 70 pounds now, eating this and other correctly portioned food.
Posted by: Portion Power at January 19, 2007 5:23 AM
Portion Power --
Sounds like a great cauliflower recipe... thanks! and wow, congrats on the 70 pounds! Love your blog!
Mamamia --
You can eat less protein and still avoid kwashiorkor, but it's been my experience and that of many others that eating more protein leads to better mental focus and to feeling satisfied with fewer calories. I ate a very low protein diet for nearly ten years as a low fat vegetarian and vegan, and I struggled to maintain my weight at anything less than 120. Now I maintain 104 with very little effort, and I'm only hungry right before meals. The change that made the weight start falling off and the calories numbers easy to drop for me was increasing my protein. It's up to you to decide what you think is best for you... your experience may be different.
Shelia -
Good tip on the sushi bar! I'll do that next time we hit this spot! I also drank a ton of green tea and thought of Robin!
Lots of love everyone... thanks for the comments!
a
Posted by: April at January 19, 2007 5:53 AM
Sushi rice is not always just a "useless waste of calories" if it brings much pleasure. I think of sushi as a treat, and therefore if it were me, I'd probably go with a plate of sashimi and one small roll, so I could enjoy the sushi rice in a small portion (only about a 1/2 cup) and still get all the great protein and fat from the fish. It would be relatively easy to balance those "useless" calories elsewhere in one's daily food, at least for me. Of course, I realize it may be more difficult for a small person eating fewer calories.
Posted by: Chris at January 19, 2007 9:20 AM
Wow! What fun! I want to come! I'll clean, set the table, play sous chef, act as chauffeur, pour wine, run errands, etc ..... Now if someone would just pay my airfare .... JD ;-(
Posted by: Judith at January 19, 2007 9:29 AM