THE SIMPLE LIFE - Vegan Potato Hominy Chowder

This is the kind of food I want on damp, fall days like today.  It's hearty comforting food.  This is a simple recipe with simple ingredients; perfect because I didn't want to spend my day in the kitchen.

1/2 lb. Hominy

3 lb. white potatoes, cubed

2 onions, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 Tbl. minced garlic

2 containers vegetable stock

In medium pot Boil hominy for 2 minutes; let sit for one hour.

Put all ingredients into large stock pot.  Simmer for one hour. 

 Golden Hominy Corn is a new ingredient for me.  I haven't used it before.  I saw it at the grocery today and decided I'd try it.  The kernals soften and become creamy.

I used white potatoes that don't need to be peeled.  

They become very creamy when cooked.

 I forgot to pick up the vegetable stock at the grocery so I used a vegetable soup mix that I had in my pantry.  That's what you see floating in the top of the pot in the above photo.  It turned out very well so either will work for this recipe.

 I used a hand mixer to blend up some of the potatoes.  This makes the chowder thicker.

The Simple Life - Breaking Through my Plateau

 We did a hike at a local park today and here are a few photos.

This morning I weighed 139.  I've finally made it through the 140's.  It took me two months and a whole lot of hard work.  I credit my plateau breakthrough with the "make me skinny" salad that I posted about last weekend.  I'm not eating 2 pounds of vegetables every day.  To that I add my starches; hummus and a lentil/rice/mushroom mix.  Vegetables are so low in calorie density that it creates a calorie deficit and thus, weight loss. 

One of things I've been looking for was a fat free, sugar free topping for my salad.  I do heat my starches and dump them over the salad most of the time, but sometimes I want to eat them separate.  I can use salsa and I have, but that's not my favorite topping.  It's best to use a topping that's made from vegetables so that the whole dish is vegetables.  Well, I found these:

Wickles Spicy Red Sandwich Spread - it's made from roasted bell peppers and chilis and onions.  It's fat and sugar free; the perfect topping.  I also found Chow Chow.  I remember my grandmother making it during my childhood.  It's cabbage based.  It's also fat free and very low in sugar.  I've already tried it and I love it.

I'm thrilled with the loss and to be back to actively loosing weight, but this is a whole new ballgame.  Eating that amount of vegetables every day takes a lot of food prep and time.  Because I'm using fresh greens I am making my salads the night before.  I don't really want to do food prep every night but it is what it is.  If this is what it takes then so be it.  "No matter what".  That's my mantra with diet and exercise.  I will get down into the 120's and I will maintain it, no mater what.  If I have to eat like a rabbit the rest of my life to stay within a healthy weight range then so be it.  There are enough different vegetables and enough different ways to prepare them that I'm confident I can come up with a short list of ways that I enjoy to eat them.  As long as I have a little bit of variety I can do it. 

I have changed up my exercise a bit.  I go really hard on my weight bearing exercises three days a week.  the other two days I still do them but not as hard to give myself a little bit of recovery.  I also decided to stop wearing the weighted vest.  It was causing me lots of shoulder pain.  If I were younger I'd probably push through but at my age I have to think about staying physically fit as long as possible.  So, I've gone back to my walk/jog routine.  I still do 3 miles every morning but without the extra weight.  My shoulder pain has disappeared.  I may alternate days with it because it really intensifies my workout but for now I'm letting my shoulder completely heal.

I'm thrilled with where I am and where I'm headed.  This has been a long year filled with the hardest work I've ever done on my own health.  I'm determined to stay the course.  The holidays are coming.  It's going to be challenging but I won't give up territory that I've won. 

The Simple Life - Make Me Skinny Chopped Salad

I recently learned about this salad from one of my favorite youtubers; The Butterfly Effect.  She is a spectacular lady who has lost 300 lbs.  She eats salads similar to this every day.

This salad has everything in it that you need in a day of eating.  I divide this into two meals.  It's filling enough that I could eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner, but I just eat a little fruit in the evening and fast through until the next morning.  So this salad gives me two very large meals that contain everything I need.  It's also delicious!  It ticks all my boxes; crunchy, sweet, spicy and hearty.  Here's what's in it:

 I use two things for dressing; hummus and salsa.  I like to make my hummus from scratch so that it's completely fat free.  I put one pound garbanzo beans into my medium sized crock pot and eight cups of water.  Cook them on high for about 4 hours.  Scoop out a cup and put it in a food processor until smooth.  I have a Ninja Fit that I love and use every week.  Add some lemon juice and garlic and blend again until smooth.  I buy my salsa because it's easy to get fat free.  I use a cup of it on the salad.

 You need some starches.  This week I chose a brown rice/wild rice mix.  To that I added two cans of sliced mushrooms.

 I cooked some dry lentils.  This is two cups of lentils cooked in eight cups of water.  I added two onion dry soup mixes.  Once the lentils and rice was cooked I combined them and put a cup of the mixture in my salad.

 The foundation of the salad is one pound of greens.  Today I'm using baby spinach and kale with half a head of lettuce.  I chop this up very well.  Chopping the salad greens make it easier to eat and mix with the other ingredients.

 I put two cups of shredded carrots into my Ninja and processed them down to the minced state.  On top of that I added my cup of homemade hummus.

 Next I add one cup of salsa and 1/4 chopped onion.  I use a medium spicy salsa because it adds some zip to the overall taste of the salad.

 I slice up 1/2 a can of beets and add that.

 This is 1/2 can of chopped hearts of palm.

 This is 1 tablespoon flax seeds.  From now on I will ground them before adding.  I just became aware that is the best way to get the nutrition from them.

 I chopped up three servings of dried pineapple.  It adds sweetness to the salad.  You can add fresh fruit too; go with your favorite.  Next I put on one cup of the bean/rice mixture.  It's creamy and hearty and brings up the salad to a whole other level of goodness.

 Then I just toss everything together until it's all combined.  I divided this into two large servings for my lunch and dinner.

The Simple Life - A New Month A New Challenge

 This is me this morning, October 15, 2017 at 142 lbs., and the one on the right is me at the beginning of January of this year, at 181 lbs.  It's where this journey began.  I hate that right photo and I hate having to look at it.  But right now I need it.

Anything worth having is worth working for.  Loosing weight in my 50's is challenging on all levels.  It's not impossible but it's very difficult.  Last week I celebrated reaching my goal of loosing 40 pounds this year.  A week later I've gained back a pound and I'm strategizing about how I will not only not gain back any more weight but how I will loose another 20 pounds.

I've decided that I need to make my weekends more like my week.  I've spent this year going hard for five days and then relaxing for two.  I don't have any exercise plan for the weekends and I don't stick to any eating schedule or plan.  I'm still vegan Saturday and Sunday, but I tend to snack alot.

So, starting with this weekend I've tried to stick to no snacking.  I made a big salad yesterday and that's what I had for lunch and dinner.  I had some of the soup I ate all week left so I ate that Saturday and today for breakfast.  When I felt like I was going to snack I ate only fruit.  I paid off because this morning I was almost back down that pound I gained last week.

It's no fun having to be strict every day with no break but if that's what it takes then so be it.  I began this journey with "No Matter What" as my mantra and I just need to push forward and continue to embrace that theme.  No Matter What.  It's the only way I'll get where I want to be and stay there. 

Here's what I ate this last week:

 Breakfast this last week was soup.  It was delicious and I posted the recipes in recent posts.  Unfortunately, I loved it so much that I think I overate.  These soups are very thick and rich and I shouldn't have eaten more than 4 cups. 

 Monday - Wednesday I had salad.  This is really the perfect lunch because I can pack in the greens for very few calories.

Upon arrival at home after work I had pears with a dollop of vegan mayo and some shredded vegan cheese.  I should have just eaten the fruit and not added anything.  I'm gong back to that.  Fruit is very low in calories but when you start adding things the calories can shoot up quickly.

I ran out of salad fixins so for Thursday and Friday I took a combo of mixed veggies, rice and vegetable broth.  Very good and very light in calories.  I liked it so much that I'm taking this for my lunches next week.

THE SIMPLE LIFE - POTATO CORN CHOWDER

This is the kind of comfort food that I love.  It's creamy, thick but still chunky and it contains potatoes.  I love potatoes in any dish, but especially soups.  They add substance and creaminess.

This is another of my recipes that don't require any measuring.  You really can't do this recipe wrong.  The ingredients are simple and easy to find and prepare.

The Simple Life - Mexican Veggie Soup

This soup is perfect for Fall mornings.  I eat it for breakfast and I love it.  Pair it with some vegan, fat free cornbread and you've got a meal.

 

All instructions are in the video.  This soup is easy to make.  You don't really have to worry about measuring anything.  Just put lots of the ingredients listed in your biggest stock pot.  This soup freezes well so you can make extra to eat  a later time.

The Simple Life - Weekend Hike

I'm trying to incorporate some exercise into my weekends.  It's not something I really want to do  because I spend all week exercising twice a day.  But, it's one of my goals to do some sort of exercise Saturday and Sunday.  So far I've been able to accomplish it on one or the other but not both.

Today we went for a hike over at an area that's located in Polk county, between Winter Haven and Lakeland.  I took mostly pics of flowers and a few of the lake that we walked around.  I find that photography takes my mind off of the exercise.  It makes the task more enjoyable.