Strata

Last night, as I was trying to decide what to do with a bag of frozen broccoli florets, I came across a strata recipe.  I had a half a loaf of Spatz bread that I needed to use up and some chicken sausage links.  I decided to adapt the recipe and make a Broccoli Sausage strata.  Of course, because of the size, much of it will travel with me to Troy tomorrow for my husband to enjoy.  But I get to enjoy some myself!

Broccoli Sausage Strata
Adapted from: http://culinarilycourtney.blogspot.com/2012/01/broccoli-and-bacon-strata.html

• 6 slices dry Spatz bread 
• 1 16-oz bag frozen broccoli florets
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 cup colby jack cheese
• 3 links chicken sausage (I used Aidells Roasted garlic & Gruyere cheese smoked chicken sausage)
• 7 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups 1% milk
• salt, garlic powder, onion powder and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Grease a small roasting pan (or 9" x 13" x 2" pan).  Place broccoli florets in a steamer and steam in microwave for 6 minutes.  Drain broccoli and set aside.

Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and place in pan.  Sprinkle with half the cheeses.  Cut sausage links into 1/4-inch rounds; sprinkle sausage and broccoli florets over bread. 

Whip eggs with milk and seasonings.  Pour over fillings; sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours (or overnight).

Allow pan to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes, until a knife inserted near center comes out clean.

First Chili of the Season

It has been somewhere between 13 and 25 degrees for the past couple days, so I got a taste for chili.  I had to sing this morning at church and then we had our last class for our India students, so I wasn't able to make it until after I got done with all of that.  On the way home from school, I stopped at Jack's and picked up a sweet onion and 2 lbs of ground round.  From that, I used what I had in my pantry and put together a 2-bean chili.  Since I roasted a spaghetti squash last night, I decided to serve it Cincinnati-style in the only way that I can eat it these days (pasta and I are not friends anymore).

2-Bean "Cincinnati" Chili

• 2 lbs ground round
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cans Rotel tomatoes with chiles
• 1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups fresh sweet corn
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
• Roasted spaghetti squash
• cheddar cheese

 Heat EVOO in a heavy Dutch oven.  Add onions and saute until they start turning translucent; add ground round and cook until meat is no longer pink.  Add next 9 ingredients, bring to a boil.  cover and lower heat until simmering.  Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Heat squash, spoon chili over squash and sprinkle with cheese.

Kheer

For this final meeting before our study abroad to India, we are going to treat our students to dessert.  Kaustav started this trend at the first meeting by suggesting we bring different foods for our students to try before they are immersed in it in India.  It took us all week to make a plan because this was the last week of regular classes AND it's Christmas party time.  But we finally figured it out and I decided to give Kheer a try.  If you don't know what Kheer is, it is Indian rice pudding.  It is made with basmati rice and flavored with cardamom.  I thought it interesting that Rama said she doesn't really like cardamom.  I love it, especially in kheer and tea.  Here is the recipe that I used:

Kheer

• 1/2 cup Basmati rice
• 6 cups whole milk
• 1 Tbsp ghee
• 10 Tbsp sugar
• Pinch saffron
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds + extra for garnish

Soak rice in water about 1 1/2 inches above rice for 30 minutes.  Drain rice thoroughly.  Heat ghee in large skillet.  Add rice and saute until translucent.  Add milk and simmer until milk is reduced by half (about 30 minutes on my stove), stirring frequently to prevent burning.  Add sugar and saffron; cook until sugar is dissolved.  Add cardamom and 1/2 cup almonds. Simmer for a few minutes.  Remove from heat and cool.  Pudding will thicken as it cools.  Garnish with additional slivered almonds.

Baby greens

I found a bag of baby spinach, kale and chard at Kroger and needed to use some of it up.  I cooked some bacon, cut up some artichoke hearts and used a mix of goat cheese and Italian cheese and, voila, quiche!  This one is not only pretty,  but tasty.

Baby Greens Quiche

• 1/2 bag baby greens (spinach, kale, chard)
• 4 slices thick-cut bacon
• 6 artichoke hearts, quartered
• 4 oz 6-cheese Italian blend
• 2 oz crumbled goat cheese
• 5 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• sea salt
• Italian seasoning

Wash greens and dry between paper towels.  Cook bacon in microwave oven (1 minute per slice); cool.  Quarter the artichoke hearts.  Place greens, crumbled bacon and artichokes in bottom of casserole.  Sprinkle with cheese.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs with milk.  Season to taste.  Pour carefully over the fillings.  Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 35 minutes or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean and top is browned.

Bean Soup

I finally managed to do some cooking today.  I actually remembered to soak beans last night. So today, I made 15 bean soup.  I had chicken leftover, so chose that as additional protein and used vegetables that I had as well. This is a rather Italian style soup (I used Italian seasoning), so I also decided to garnish with parmesan cheese.  Very nice combination!

Italian-style 15-bean Chicken Soup

• 1 lb 15-bean soup mix
• 2 cups leftover rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 cup mixed sweet peppers, diced
• 1 cup fresh corn
• 1 can roasted tomatoes
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes with chiles
• 32 oz chicken stock
• 1 bag mixed baby greens (spinach, kale, Swiss chard)
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• Sea salt to taste

Soak beans overnight in about 6 inches of water.  Drain and discard soaking water.  Combine all ingredients except greens in Crockpot.  Cook on High for 3-4 hours or until beans are cooked.  Service with parmesan, if desired.

Changes

I don't think I mentioned on my blog the "difficulty" I had this summer when I drove out to Boston to visit my best friend from grad school.  Because Boston is basically due east of MI, I always drive through Canada to shave time from the trip (it saves almost 3 hours time).  This trip, as I entered Canada, they didn't blink an eye.  However, when I got to the bridge back to the United States in Niagara, I was asked for extra identification.  At first, it didn't occur to me why they would be asking me for additional I.D., but as I turned to hand my drivers' license to the officer, it dawned on me: my passport photos is 6 years old!  Since I had surgery in March of 2012, that photo definitely wouldn't look like me.  The trouble is, my driver's license picture was at least 80lbs heavier as well!  So as I handed my DL to the officer, I said "Oh, yeah, I've lost a LOT of weight!"  His response was "Yes, you have.  Have a nice day."

On the return trip, the same thing occurred, but I was ready this time and had everything available.  It occurred to me that I should probably replace my passport despite the fact that it is still good for another 3 years since I am heading to India on the new year.  I went and picked up an application, but decided to check with the program coordinator before I spent the money and time.  She told me that we have to get a Visa, so it wasn't necessary to replace the passport.  And besides, by that time, I would have my new drivers' license.

Today, I went to get the photos to get my Visa for India and comparing the photo in my passport to the one taken today, it is clear why they felt the need for additional ID on that trip.  It is remarkable how different I look now.  And I never really felt like I put that much weight on my face.  Clearly, I was wrong!

This is how much difference 140 pounds makes!

Bariatric Blog

I know that I have been remiss in blogging anything in the bariatric side of this blog.  Mainly because my weight has been stable for so long now (since March).  With everything in my life that has changed, I feel blessed that I have managed to maintain my weight loss, but now that I am starting to plan for knee surgery next May, I feel like I need to reassess and regroup.  To that end, I would like to talk about things that I can do now that I SHOULDN'T take for granted. 

First, I can stand ever so much longer than I could before.  I still can't just go and stand for an hour or two, like most of my friends can, but that has more to do with my knees than my weight.  When you have no cartilage in your knees, they just start hurting after standing in one place for a long time.

I can, and just did, do my yardwork again.  This is something that was a really uphill battle for me before surgery.  I could work for 5-10 minutes, but then I had to sit down and then getting back up to work again was near impossible.  I just took a whole yard of leaves and pushed them into the road (for pickup this week) in about a half hour and didn't even get winded!  It's a nice feeling to be able to do these things for myself again!  See the before and after pictures below!

This picture was taken at night, but you get the idea!

All pushed into the road!

BTW, for those who are curious, I have lost 140 lbs since having the surgery on March 27, 2012.  I have been maintaining at 220 since March when I started traveling and then moving and starting a new career.  I need to lose about 50 more pounds to get to goal and would love to do so before they start replacing my knees.  I have started with personal training sessions which are helping me feel more comfortable and confident with my movement.  So now I need to figure out that magic formula with the food again so I can get this moving in the right direction again!