Test drives: Treats for my sweets

Thanks to everyone who chimed in yesterday for support. I had a little bit of an epiphany last night when I was brushing my teeth (a lot of posts stem from the bathroom around here. Noticed that?). I had watched Real Housewives of New Jersey right before bed (so glad the DVR is back!), and one of the Real Housewife Husbands lost 70 pounds over the course of a year. The thought, "Oh, how I would love to be 70 pounds lighter next year," popped into my head.

And then I suddenly realized, if I keep losing 7 pounds each month (the rate I've been losing so far), I will actually lose more than 70 pounds by this time next year. I swear, you should have seen my face. It was just this "Oh!" moment. Like, hey, maybe things aren't as dire as I thought they were.

So, since you've been so sweet with your encouragement, I thought I'd share a couple of my latest yummy discoveries with you. First, although I still love my homemade dressing, I have fallen hard for the Goddess Dressing from Annie's Naturals. Oh, my lovelies, this is delicious. This is so good, my two-year old now tells me she wants salad. (I'm wondering if slathering it on broccoli will change her tune about that veggie, too.) It's such a nice blend of flavors, with just a slight Asian hint. Give this one a try!

Now, a girl can't live by salad alone. Not even a vegan girl. So, I like to keep these tasty little frozen pies on hand for times when dinner maybe didn't quite fill me up.


(I read once, I think it was in French Women Don't Get Fat, that dessert shouldn't be eaten if you're completely full. But, if you've had a light dinner, and you still aren't quite satisfied, then that's the time for dessert. I thought that tip made a lot of sense, and really, it's counter to the way a lot of us were raised, isn't it? Do you still feel like you need to eat a full meal before you've "earned" dessert?)

A word of caution: Two oatmeal cookies, chocolate, and "ice cream" take a hefty chunk from the calorie bank. At 330 calories each, I try to limit myself to half of a pie (it's really more like an ice cream sandwich). "Try" being the operative word. The store I buy them from sells them individually, so that helps. I only keep one or two around at any given time.

Just in time for warm weather. It's my ideal summer meal -- salad followed by a frozen novelty. Enjoy!

Test drives: Two vegan recipes and coconut milk creamer

The vegan recipes and coconut milk creamer actually have nothing to do with each other aside from the fact that they're all things we've tried recently. But, one of these things is not like the others . . . two of these things are kinda the same. (When did they stop doing that on Sesame Street? I haven't seen it since I had kids. Then again, we're pretty much a Dora household. Elmo's got nothin' on that spunky little Boots.)

Last night's dinner. Aack.
What a big, fat disaster. Actually, it was a big, fat-free disaster. I was so disappointed! I mean, I spent an entire afternoon nap period on this casserole, people! No takin' a load off for this old gal. I was in there chopping and rinsing and layering to the point of exhaustion (that's a total exaggeration, but there was a lot of prep). But I kept thinking how worthwhile it would be when I had a huge pan of Mexican goodness to serve up for not just one dinner, but probably a second dinner and a lunch, too.

So imagine my reaction when I saw that not only was Eloise refusing to put one bite past her lips (not a huge surprise from this particular 2.5-year old), but that Paul wasn't exactly devouring his either. I know -- not every recipe can be a winner. But we made this unbelievably low-fat Chili Mac last weekend, and it was a hit. Paul even took it for lunch for a couple of days. I guess I was expecting continued fat-free success. However, not even my constant reminders of how I used an entire afternoon nap time to prepare it could convince my family that if they really loved me, they would eat this dish. They weren't buying it.

I'm not sure where things went awry with the Mexican lasagna. I did like it (so I'll be the sole recipient of six servings we divvied up and froze individually), but not nearly as much as the online reviewers seemed to. It did seem to be missing something . . . um, fat? That said, I do think you should consider trying it. Especially if your family is a little more accustomed to low-fat dining than mine appears to be.

Coconut milk creamer. Capital D-E-licious!
I've been using the French Vanilla flavor, but they also have Original and Hazelnut. Now. For those of you drinking your coffee with traditional half and half, you're going to notice the difference in taste, of course. However, I like the taste so much more than soy creamers I've tried, and I found my tastebuds acclimated to it really quickly.

In addition to being dairy free, I feel it's a benefit that this creamer is soy free. I read here that some people may want to steer clear of too many soy products because of soy's affect on the thyroid. As someone who deals with an underactive thyroid, this recommendation was not lost on me. Plus it has a short list of ingredients -- much better than off-the-shelf non-dairy creamers I've considered before.

Let me know if you try the recipes or the creamer!

Anyone wanna come by for lunch? I'm serving up Mexican lasagna!