Owie ow ow

I was 24 when I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel and moderate arthritis.

It's something you expect to hear some time in your life, but usually not in your 20s.

They both do run in the family, but I still got it younger than most. It's a lovely combo of the symptoms from my dad's side of the family, and contributing factors from my mom's side. I got all the bad, and apparently my brother got none of it since he's still fine.

I can deal with the carpal tunnel enough, it's the arthritis that gets me. On a day like today, when a storm front comes through and the air pressure goes tens kinds of whacky, I'm about ready to chop my hands off.

When the carpal tunnel is the main problem, it's easy enough to fix. Wear my wrist braces and do all the things I should be doing all the time. When it's the arthritis, I'm just screwed. The braces only squeeze my hands and make it worse, and it's getting to the point where even Alieve won't do much good.

And I'm always amazed on nights where my hands are this bad when I don't slice off a finger getting dinner ready.

Tonight was the Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza With Mushrooms, Peppers, and Onions, which I've made before and I love. I am pizza-crust challenged and I usually just use a pizza crust from Trader Joes. This time, I pulled my crusts outta the freezer, and even after six months they were still decent. I usually do one pizza for me, and one for the hubby (he likes the whole "sausage patty" on his).

I should have checked my cabinets before I started. I forgot I threw out my cake pans about a year ago. I ended up using two pie plates, which worked well. I might do that from now on, in fact. I *know* I have a hunk of mozz cheese in my fridge that went invisible while I was looking for it (I'm sure it will turn up now that I don't need it anymore). The pizzas did get done, mostly because I was NOT running out in this cold, crappy weather to get take out. And they were good, as usual.

The week of "veggie" meals has gone well. I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how tasty some of the veggie stuff has been, even with most veggies out of season and not in their prime right now.

I'm already excited for spring... placed an order for gardening stuff and already got my Wall-o-Waters in the mail. Yay!!! Is it 6-8 weeks until planting season yet???

Nachology

Who doesn't love nachos??

That is what we had for dinner tonight. The hubby was very happy.

Nachos for dinner or a late-night snack started when I was a kid and I'd thwap slices of Velveeta on chips and melt it in the microwave. As my tastes grew, and the access to Mexican products in the grocery store was increased, it was always common to have cheese, chips, refried beans, salsa, pickled jalepenos and other tasty morsels around when the urge hit.

The first time I had the hubby over when we started dating and he mentioned he was hungry, I asked if he wanted some nachos. He expected melty cheese poured out of a jar on top of chips. Ten minutes later I came out of the kitchen with tortilla chips piled high with beans, meat, salsa, cheese and sour cream. It might have been one of the first moments he fell in love with me.

So, tonight it was nachos for dinner.

But hey, aren't you supposed to be dieting???

Nachos aren't hard to make "friendlier" when you're doing them in your own home.

Start with a single layer of chips.

See? Not too bad. It's not that many chips. And I usually only eat about 1/4 of that plate, leaving the other 3/4 for the hubby. Have I mentioned yet that I'm often baffled that I'm the one with the weight problem, and not him???

And that is my "nacho baker"... a must if you're going to do them in the oven (even though I don't). But also nice if you nuke them since it keeps them warm longer.

On top of that, some ground lean meat (and I will admit, I use a taco seasoning packet and have no shame about it, I only like the Lawreys one) and beans. Tonight was beef, but I often do chicken or turkey and it's all good. I also had a glut of green onions in the fridge, so I chopped up some and threw them on.

Hungry yet??

About 4 ounces of cheese, some salsa, and some chopped pickled jalepenos. YUM.


Who wouldn't love that??


I did go with full-fat cheese, mostly because I've got tons of it in the fridge. I have done reduced fat cheese, not that bad. But any time I'm trying to have reduced fat cheese as the "melty" top layer in anything, I find it works much better in the microwave where the moisture helps keep the cheese from getting all rubbery and dried out.


Three minutes in the microwave, and it's melty goodness.


If I've thought ahead to have an avocado, I'll dot guac on the top. I'll usually mix a little sour cream with some milk (to thin it out) and go all Jackson Pollock with it over the top (less calories than blops, and better coverage).


The tummy is happy tonight. I did miss my excercise window because the hubby wanted to watch Life on Mars and tape something else, but no bigger. I might recover and get it my excercise on Thursday.

(insert title here)

One of the nicest things about not doing the "official" Weight Watchers program and doing it totally on my own, is not getting yelled at for loosing weight.

Yes, ladies and gents, Weight Watchers occassionally yells at you for loosing weight. Well, at least the online program does.

If you have a loss of more than a couple pounds, you get a little slap from them saying you're loosing weight at too quick a pace. It's REALLY annoying. I know they do it since they're trying to promote healty weight loss, but big losses happen sometimes. And so do small losses or no loss. Can't they plug in some code to only yell at you when you're continuously loosing 4 to 5 pounds a week? That was one thing that really turned me off the "formal" Weight Watchers. Can't you let me have my great loss in peace and happiness??

This would have been a "yelling" week for me. I couldn't trust last week's number after my scale snafu, but this week, I was down five pounds. Nice.

Not usually for a "first" weigh in, and I do know better than to expect it to continue like this.

Last week's "No Fries" went well, obviously. Other than a run in with a very disappointing beef sandwich. For the upcoming week, it'll be focusing on vegetarian options, which are usually good options. This week might even get me to veture out to the one Thai place I've seen around work.

I did end up kinda blowing it on Saturday. I was out shopping with my mom and we did a sit-down Mexican place (I had a chicken toastada and a beef flauta, sent the cheese enchilada home with Mom) and after I got home and passed out cold on the couch, hubby "surprised" me with Culvers for dinner. Oh well. 'Tis the way life goes sometimes.

Tonight for dinner it was veal parmesan ala the "Lighter Chicken Parmesan" from America's Test Kitchen. Yum. Worked out very, very well. And actually easier without all the frying. But I still have to run the dishwasher twice tonight, especially since watching too much of "How Clean Is Your House" on BBC America today had me instantly toss my grungy sponge in the garbage, not knowing I didn't have any backup sponges.

For the week, I've got the following lined up:

• Nachoes (yes, I do manage to fit nachoes as an entree in to my diet, and I'll go in to more detail later in the week)
• Proscuitto-wrapped shrimp (made this before as an appetizer, very tasty)
• Chicken something-or-other
• Pork tenderloin something-or-other

Not sure about the "something-or-others". The hubby always groans about anything pork, but I love it, so I'll make him suffer. I'll probably hit the Everyday Food magazine back issues for some chicken ideas. Or I might mix up a garlic chicken marinade I got out of one of their mags and do it under the broiler, since I have yet to get a new gas tank for the grill.

Would you like fries with that?

No.

It's kinda disturbing, what the average American thinks is a "balanced meal" these days. The standard takeout lunch of a burger, fries and a soda really isn't. It might have been at one time, when the fry size is small and the burger is the size of a small cheeseburger.

There is a reason your mother didn't serve french fries with every meal. It ain't healthy!

One reason I actually like Lean Cuisines is that they kinda give you an easy lesson on what a portion size is supposed to be. No pounds of pasta, no Godzilla-sized chicken breasts. A Baconator is not a "single serving." It's several servings. Don't kid yourself.

I'm not saying that fast food doesn't have its place. I love fast food. But I also go in knowing darned well what is not so bad and what is very bad. I do think most fast food places are doing all they can to make us forget what a healthy portion size really is, but we're also not trying to fight it. They may ask if you want fries with that... but it's your right to say "No."

I had to run to the bank at lunch today, and the options near there are a hotdog stand, Wendy's or Mexican place I have yet to check out. I figured my best option was the hotdog stand. Grilled chicken sandwich, no may. Loaded with lettuce & tomato and a little ketchup. For salty "bites" on the side, I ate some pickle slices.

Will I still have burgers and fries occassionally? Heck yeah, as long as the fries also involve chili and cheese. But, I'll let those be rare occassions, and not the norm.

I can't think of a creative title. Bleeh.

Don't know it it was the "come down" from the holidays or what, but by yesterday, I was so ready for the week to be done.

Cooking not going how I wanted, constant technical problems coming at me from all sides, bleech. Cold, cold weather.

Thankfully, the weather has warmed, it's a new weekend, and time for me to get things back in order. It might even be the general dissary of the house that kicked my booty this past week.

NYD food report..... the pickled cherries are to DIE for with duck. Yum. Fourty thousand kinds of awesome. And I did end up doing more of what every young chef seems to call "melted leeks", aka the leek mixture from the lobster dish, and just mixed it with some buttered spaetzle for a very yummy pairing with the duck.

Diet: With it cold this week, eating lunches out was easy. Go for the food that sounds best in cold weather: soup. Or chili. A cup of chili is usually a pretty good food choice. High in protien and fiber, usually made with a tomato base - both good things. Soups are usually good if you look for ones listed as "low fat", vegetarian, broth-based, or just avoiding ones that have "cream", "cheese" or "bisque" in the name.

Wednesday was a cup of turkey chili at Einstein Bros. bagels, Thursday was a cup of chili and a side salad from Wendy's. Friday I went out to Roly Poly and got a chicken popper (yum!) and had planned on a nice bowl of soup for a side. I figured either the veggie soup, or the mushroom bisque if they had that again. I was well aware of the nutritionals of both. Which meant all they had on the menu was chicken soup, potato soup, and a tomato & roasted garlic soup. I went for the tomato & roasted garlic, thinking it couldn't be *that* bad. Um, yeah. It's one of their higher calorie soups, and I learned when I got back to work and looked it up on my Palm. Ooops. Lesson learned.

Next week's focus is getting back on the excercise track. Still unsure if I'm going to start dragging myself to bed at a reasonable hour so I can get up earlier to work out in the morning, or if I'm going to make myself get my workout in during the evening, no matter what else is happening. In any case, I know I've got to do a better job of planning meals for the week. When I don't do that, it kicks my ass, every time.

Happy 2008, everybody!!

Easy day here in the casa de Hausfrau.

Further reflection on yesterday's eats.... I think the parm custard technique would be a lot better, for me at least, with a cheese where I love the creamy texture, like blue cheese. Hmmm. Might have to find a reason to try that......

Woke up, had some coffee, threw some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the oven.

Watched some TV, played around on the 'net. Downloaded some additional stuff to add to my Palm when it arrives tomorrow (yay!!).

Duck is currently in the oven. Recipe I'm using (a low & slow roasting technique to melt off some of the duck fat) calls for a 5 pound bird, and mine was closer to six. I might leave it in on the low temp for an additional half hour, especially since I just looked at it and it's not progressing like it should. I might blanch some more leeks ala the lobster recipe I did yesterday to have with the duck tonight, just sounds like a really nice combo to me. And I still have about two cups of brunoise in the fridge.

Might also throw together some black eyed peas and tomato to throw on the leftover crostini from yesterday.

Diet lesson for the day: On special, once-a-year occasions, don't sweat it. No one can be expected to not eat cake on their birthday or to change tradition and remain successful on their diet. So today, I will happily eat my duck, but I will keep track of it and compensate later in the week. It drives me nuts when I hear people complaining that they can't eat their own birthday cake, or go to their favorite restaurant for some special occasion because they're on a diet. You can. Learning how to balance the moments of insensibility with sensible eating is what makes something a true change in how you look at the food you put in to your body, overall.

Today's food: Coffee, 1 Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Roll, Mutter Paneer & Naan, Black Eyed Pea & Tomato costini, duck, buttered noodles, pickled cherries. And might crack open the chocolate stout I got in a Xmas gift exchange.