Labneh Wa Za'atar

So after the labneh has drained for 24-36 hours, you make it into balls and put in the refrigerator to dry for another 24 hours.





Then roll in za'atar until covered and place in an airtight storage container.


  pour in olive oil jar.  Store away from light but not in the refrigerator.  I have read it will keep for over a month but I am expecting them to be gone by then!

making labneh....yogurt cheese

So, I have made yogurt cheese dip before (see my post Sundried Tomato dip)  but I didn't know about Labneh. It is a Lebanese yogurt cheese made with whole milk yogurt.  It is pretty easy to make but takes a couple of days.

Draining yogurt

This the whey that drains from the yogurt.  You can save and use in other recipes.

This is the recipe I am using.

But I am going to roll the balls in this!

Za'atar to roll the cheese balls in when done.

I will post again when they are done.

pizza

New Hair

I have been wanting to change my hair for a few months but waited until the weather cooled down because I wanted bangs.  I love Zooey Deschanel's hair and am luckily enough to have a sister that is a stylist.  Thanks Sister!!

24lbs down on The 17 Day Diet

So I had my daughter take my photo this morning.  Partially to show my weight loss and partially to show off my sweet new pencil skirt.  I recently started watching Mad Men and love the retro clothes.

SIZE 6!!!

Just a short note today.  I am so excited that I have bought 3 pairs of size 6 pants this week and none of them are tight!! Thank you to The 17 Day Diet!

Camping on the 17 Day Diet

We just got back from 11 days on the beautiful Drummond Island off the east end of the upper peninsula of Michigan.  We try to go every year but were unable to do so last summer.  We camped at the Township Campground which is right on the lake shore.  I was so afraid to get on the scale this morning but was happy that I only gained 3 lbs!!!!! We tried to eat well but of course had alcohol and a lot of carbs.  But w also did a lot of hiking on gorgeous mossy trails like this:




and kayaking on glassy water, which killed my arms and I am sure burned a lot of calories!!

I made a bunch of hard boiled eggs prior to leaving and brought yogurt and fruit, low carb bread and wraps, turkey sausages, veggies, and of course stevia, which all helped us stay on the diet.


Here are a few of the recipes I made while camping.

Camping Asian Slaw



one medium head of Napa Cabbage, shredded and put in a zip lock bag
1 medium sweet onion halved and sliced
1/4 cup of soy
10 drops of stevia extract
1/4 cup of white balsamic vinegar.



Put all ingredients in the zip lock and shake until well coated.

We had these with Hebrew National low fat hot dogs in 1/2 piece of Flatout bread with a pickle!!  Yum.






Irish oatmeal with apples and cinnamon

Make oats according to directions but during the last 20 minutes add one apple  and one teaspoon of cinnamon per two servings.  Top with agave nectar and fat free milk.



Grilled Chicken Breasts and Ancient Grains.

I brought premade ancient grains cooked in chicken broth and reheated them on the camp stove and tossed in some chopped yellow squash with it.  I cooked the chicken breast over the fire.




We also had to have s'mores.  This time I did chocolate graham crackers and jumbo marshmallows with dark chocolate.



Drummond Island is so beautiful.  Here are couple of more photos.  The last is us crossing the Mackinaw Bridge on our way home yesterday.

Mr. Caterpillar. 

Love for DI.

Braised Chicken with Kohlrabi Greens and Zucchini Mock Spaghetti Cycle 3 recipe

As I mentioned in a previous post, we received Kohlrabi in the CSA last week.  Lucky for me, some of my coworkers didn't want theirs so I had a ton of greens.  I couldn't find a lot of recipes so I decided to make up my own!. 



The Kohlrabi greens are very pretty with deep green leaves and purple veins.  To prep wash and cut out the hard stems.  This is easy if you hold the leave in half on the stem and then just slice down the edge of the stem.  Then coarsely chopped your greens.  I ended up with about 8 cups but you can use less.

Braised Chicken with Kohlrabi Greens and Zucchini Mock Spaghetti

4-8 cups of coarsely chopped kohlrabi greens, kale, or spinach or combination of them
1 medium sweet onion chopped
3 minced cloves of garlic
4 tbsp of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1-2 tbsp of basil ( I use basil paste)
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
4 oz of mushrooms coarsely chopped (optional)
1 medium to large zucchini, julienned
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts


heat oil over medium-low flame in a large chicken fryer skillet or large heavy stock pot ( like a Le Crueset).  Had onion and saute until translucent.  Add greens and garlic and saute for about 15 min.  Add mushrooms and saute for about 5 more mins.  Add tomatoes and basil and heat until simmering.  And chicken breasts and simmer for approximately 20 minutes to 1/2 hour.  Check with thermometer the internal temp of chicken is 160 degrees. 





This is what the zucchini will look like


In a bowl or on a plate, place zucchini noodles.  You can microwave them for a min if you want to warm them up but usually the heat from the sauce is enough.  I also cut up the chicken after it was done and add back to the sauce but you could just ladle the sauce over the noodles and place a chicken breast on top. 

Enjoy!

Greek crab salad

This was super easy.  I mixed onion, 1 package of artifical crab,  celery, and dill.  For dressing I pureed 1 medium cucumber, 1 cup of yogurt, dill and old bay seasoning.  Served over a bed of greens topped with tomato, feta, and olive tapanade.  Sorry I didn't measure this time. 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): Kohlrabi? What is that?

This will be our 3rd year participating in a CSA through Edible Acres.  I love having to use what is in season and try new veggies.  This year, the new one is Kohlrabi, the purple one pictured above. (That is an 8-Ball Zucchini next to it.  Wonderful sliced thickly and grilled.) It also comes in green.   Kohlrabi is a close relative to broccoli and has a very subtle broccoli-cabbage-like taste.  I have only tried it peeled and sliced on salad so far and it is yummy!  The leaves are also edible and can used like kale.  Here is some more information on Kohlrabi.  Please be adventurous and try some.

Girls Weekend and Bean Salad Cycle 2 or 3 recipe

I had an awesome weekend with 3 of my girlfriends.  It was filled with beach, swimming, wine, food, chocolate, manicures, Grease, magazines, more wine, and no kids or husbands!  We relished laying on the beach, not having to keep our eyes on the water.    We went shopping in Saugatuak and I fell in love with Spice Merchants and with the kitchen pantry store next door (I forgot the name).  I have been wanting a retro apron for a long time and I found this one and had to buy it!

Well all the cheating over the weekend cost me a 3lb weight gain but it was worth it.

Getting back on track today but this week is going to be hard as we are going camping for 5 days starting on Wed.  I am bringing cauliflower crusts for sandwiches for sure.  I was thinking yesterday of making a cold bean salad for the trip.  I used to work in Hudson's at Woodland mall, years ago.  Their deli had this awesome tortellini salad with tomatoes, onions, and black olives in a balsamic dressing.  This inspired the following bean salad recipe.

1 can of diced tomatoes including liquid

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup of coarsely chopped marinated artichoke hearts

1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tbsp of dried basil or 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil

3 tbsp of prepared olive tapenade (I used Trader Joes)

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan

4 cups of Navy, Cannellini, or Great Northern beans.  I cooked dry beans.  If you use canned, use 2 15oz drained and rinse well.

Just mix all together in a large bowl and chill.  Serve over a bed of greens.  

Trick for Cauliflower Crusts

The past few times I have made the crusts I have done them like the photo below.  I pressed the "dough" in the pan with my hands so that it is even.  A trick for flipping it over is to put another piece of parchment on top and (with oven mitts on) put your hand on top and flip in over gently onto the counter.  Then you can pick it up holding the paper and put it back in the pan.  I use the same technique with the rack when they are done.  See below.  

I like using this type of pan to make them because you can cut them into bread size pieces with kitchen shears or a pizza cutter.  I loosely wrap them in wax paper and either wrap in foil or store in a partially open zip lock baggy in the fridge.  They will keep over a week but we end up eating them all before that.

ready for the oven

Summer time!

I feel really blessed this week. I not only had a beautiful bike ride on Wednesday with my two best friends but we had perfect weather.  It was sunny but not hot.  We rode the Musketawa Trail from Marne to Conklin.  You can smell flowers, hear birds, and see rabbits and deer along the trail which is an old railroad route that is paved. Not only is it a very picturesque trail, but it leads to the best Irish Pub in Michigan, Fenian's Irish Pub.  On Wednesday nights, a bunch of local musicians come to the pub and bless the patrons with beautiful Irish folk music.  They even do sing-a-longs.  You can get Irish beer, whiskey and hard cider and they have incredible burgers (beef and salmon).

My bike!

Jen

Add caption

The Queen

Abandoned House on the trail. 

Here are a couple from the same ride in 2009.

Group ride 2009.

Me and my bicycle.

Last night I made this wonderful salad,  I took chicken and cut it into nugget sizes, dipped in egg whites and then a mix of Parmesan, garlic powder, panko bread crumbs, Italian seasonings, and red pepper and fried in two tbsp of EVOO on a cast iron skittle with greens and radishes from our CSA, marinated artichoke hearts, blanch local asparagus and tomatoes.  Delish!! 

Fashionable without trying

I slept like absolute crud last night.  For those of you new to my blog, I had a hysterectomy due to endometriosis a few years ago.  Because of this I am on hormones and for some reason, they are off right now.  I must have had at least a dozen hot flashes last night.  So it is fan on and covers off and then I am freezing. So not much REM sleep for me or my poor husband  Which leads to the "fashionable without trying" part.  As I crawled out of bed, one eye open, after hitting snooze at least twice, I meandered over to my closet and grabbed the first thing that caught my eye.  It is a dress I hardly ever wear because I think it is too dressy for work.  Apparently, I was wrong because I have been getting compliments left and right.  This also surprises me because I came in with no make up, hair a mess, and minimally applied some and threw my hair in a bun in the bathroom at work.  One coworker stated I look like a flamenco dancer!  I am thinking, I need to change my morning routine and just go with the first thing that catches my eye every morning.

Michigan tomatoes and asparagus with marinated artichoke hearts top with blue cheese egg salad

This was simple and yummy.  I just took a bunch of Roma tomatoes, blanch asparagus, and jarred marinated artichoke hearts and tossed them with some dried basil (I can't wait for fresh!!) a little EVOO and white balsamic vinegar.   Put that in a bowl and lay a few leaves of Boston Bib lettuce.

The egg salad is easy

6 hard boiled eggs
1/4 of low fat or fat free blue cheese crumbles
1/4 cup of fat free sour cream
2 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar

cut eggs in half and put yolks in a bowl.  Add to other ingredients to yolks and mash up.  Chop egg whites and then add to yolk mixture.

Spoon on top of lettuce.

Salt and pepper to taste!

Enjoy :)

chocolate cheesecake low fat low carb

< 1 package of graham crackers crushed 1/4 cup of butter melted 1/4 cup of stevia 2 tap of coco powder Mix together ans press into bottom of tart dish and chill while prepping filling 1 15oz container of low fat ricotta 1 brick of fat free cream cheese 1/3 cup of fat free sour cream 1/3 cup of fat free milk 1 package of fat free sugar free chocolate fudge instant pudding Mix in a bowl with a hand mixer until well blended and spread over crust layer. Dust with coco powder and chill for at least am hour



Per request, here is the nutritional information.  You could cut the calories, fat and carbs even more by using low fat graham crackers and a butter substitute.  or cutting out the crust all together!

Low carb Low Fat No Bake Cheesecake

I made this for a surprise for a co-worker.  I will post a photo this afternoon.

Bottom Layer
1 package of graham crackers
1/4 cup melted fat free butter substitute I can't believe it's not butter melted
1/4 of Stevia In The Raw
2 tsp of coco powder

put crackers in a food processor until crumbs add other ingredients until mixed, spread in the bottom of an 8"x8" glass cake dish or other dish of approximately same size.

add layer of Fresh Strawberries cut in halves


Filling

1 15oz container of low fat ricotta cheese
1 brick of fat free cream cheese
1 envelope of fat and sugar free instant vanilla pudding
1/4 cup of fat free milk

Mix all with a hand blender until smooth and spread on top of strawberry layer.  Add another layer of halved strawberries and refrigerate overnight. 

Drizzle with chocolate syrup or dust with chocolate shavings and serve with Fat Free Rediwhip.