In winter time it is hard to imagine anything better than an nice hot bowl of soup. This is a great recipe that can be made in advance and eaten for as long as you still have a hankering for it. This started out as a recipe I found online. It had WAY too much thyme and not nearly enough other good things. So I had to improvise. This is the result. I hope you enjoy it. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb leek (3-4 large). You can also use celery. Use about 1/2 the amount of the leeks.

• 2 lb baking potato, do no peel, just get the eyes out, and leave the rest of the skin. Cut into small chunks (6-8 medium total potatoes)

• 2 Tsp. salt

• 2 tsp. Fresh oregano (is best). But you can use dry oregano if needed. It takes about 2x as much dry as fresh 

• 1/2 Tsp dried thyme

• 1/2 Tsp ground black pepper

• 1 clove garlic

• 2 bay leafs

• 1/2 cup onion

• 3 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbls butter

• 2 Tsp soy sauce

• 1 quart home made chicken broth

• 1 quart half-and-half 

• 2 tablespoons green onions (thinly sliced, green part only)

• Fried Onions

• Ham (optional)

Directions

1. Remove the roots, and cut off the dark green part of leek. Basically if it is tough, remove it. Cut it into small slices for stir frying. Be sure to remove any dirt.

2. In large saucepan, combine potatoes, salt, oregano, thyme, pepper, bay leaf, half of leeks, and 3 cups water; cover and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 until potatoes are very tender – your going to have blend them up, so you will want them very soft. Discard bay leaf when it is all done.

3. Once you get the potatoes and such boiling start on step 2. Heat the oil and butter. Then stir fry the other half of the leeks, garlic and onion in the oil until soft and starting to brown. Then add the soy sauce. Once these are done, and the potatoes are soft – add them together. 

4. If you have a hand blender use that to puree the potato mixture in the soup pot. 

5. Stir in half-and-half. Heat soup over low heat just until heated through, stirring occasionally (do not boil). Sprinkle soup with sliced green onion to serve.

6. Sprinkle with the green onions and fried onions. ENJOY!

   BE HAPPY – ENJOY LIFE!

Matthew Stearmer

This was really tasty! I found a base recipe online and then had to modify it of course. Here is the final delicious result. Even Janille – who is not a squash fan – ate it and said it was good. And unlike some of my soups that you must eat in moderation if your trying to watch your weight this is one you can pretty much just indulge in.

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, chopped, about 2 cups
• 6 small clove garlic, minced
• 3 small carrot, thinly sliced so they will cook quicker. Shredded is fine to.
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 4 medium zucchini, diced. You do not have to remove the seeds
• 2 apples, peeled, diced
• 5 cups chicken broth made with bay leaf
• 1/4 cup curry powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• salt and peper, to taste

In a 8 qauart saucepan, melt butter over low to medium heat; sauté the onion, garlic and carrot slowly until onion is clear and the carrots are soft Add zucchini, diced apples, chicken broth, and curry powder. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 20-30 minutes. When everything is mushy – then you’re done.

If you have a really good hand blender you can use that. Just be forewarned that they do not chop the seeds very well. So if you only have a hand blender you may want to remove the Zucchini seeds before cooking. Add Sugar, salt and pepper to taste. To make it a little fancier you can add a spring or two of parsley on top.
Serves 8 to 10.

This is the image from the original recipe. I did not take my own photo this time.

And  a Swedish Chef video for the heck of it.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

I’ve been working on my Baba Ghanoush for a little while now and I think that I’ve hit a home run now. Even the teenagers I tested it out on loved it (well most of them any way).

But 2 nights ago I tested it on some very refined pallets (some of whom had actually eaten real baba ganouche in the Middle East) and they said mine was as good as they had ever tasted. So there you go. A little shameless bragging and a great recipe.

For those trying to add more vegetables/fiber to their diet this one is great. It is a little heavy on the fat, and not so good on the protein, but as I have said before a little fat goes a long way to filling you up. It just needs to be done in moderation.

A word of warning, this is meant as an appetizer, or as a filler, not as a whole meal. If you eat this until you are full – well, that would be a caloric disaster:)

So I’m going to include 1 other recipe as well, and an idea on how to combine them for a very healthy complete meal.

Baba Ghanoush Recipe

First, take your Egg Plants (you’ll need 1 eggplant for every 5 people if it is an appetizer and every 10 if you are going to use it in the sandwiches I’m showing you here). Put the Egg plant in the oven set on 350 degrees. Cook it until the skin is almost black.

Second, while the egg plant is cooking, you have to make your own tahini sauce. This is the key to really good baba ghanoush in my opinion.

Take 1 cup of fresh sesame seeds (this will work for 1-2 egg plants), put them on a pan and roast them for about 10 minutes. Once they start turning brown you can pull them out.

Put the seeds into a blender with about 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 Tbls of lemon juice and 4 cloves of garlic Blend them together adding more olive oil and lemon juice as needed for the mixture to be a little runny. It should be shake like in consistency.

Now, set a side.

Your egg plants should be read now. When you pull them out they will be very plump, take a hot pad and hold them by the stem, and run the plant under cold water quickly. This will cause the skin to contract and it will make getting the flesh part out very easy.

Now cut it into quarters and don’t breath! Maybe it is just me, but I do not like the smell of plain egg plant. Trust me, if you can get past that part, the rest is worth it:)

Use a knife to separate the flesh part from the skin. Discard the skin (that is the stinky part), and dice up the rest of the flesh into a bowl and mash it as best you can.

Now, take the tahini sauce you have made, an add about 1/2 cup for every 1 egg plant that you are using.

Use a blender to mix them well. Now add salt to taste 1-2 tsp  per egg plant will probably do it.

Now for the final preparation, If you are going to use this as an appetiser, take a red pepper, chop about 1/4 of it into small pieces. Then take the rest and slice it into strips.

Take a serving bowl and place the baba ghanoush inside, and make a swimming pool. You’ll want an edge you can put the garnish on, and a pool in the middle. Put the chopped peper in the middle, and pour olive oil into the pool. Then sprinkle with red peper flakes.

Now on the edges arrange the slices and some fresh parsley in whatever manner seams pleasing to you.

And you’re done! Get some pitas and enjoy.

Now, if you are going to follow my advice and use this as a sauce, here is the rest of what you want to do.

Middle Eastern Tomato Salad

Take 2 parts tomato and 1 part cucumber (increase or decrease the amounts depending on how much you need). Chop the tomato into chunks. On the cucumber slice off some of the skin on 4 sides. Then dice it into quarters and then into smaller chunks. I personally do not like too much of the cucumber skin. And I think that it looks nicer to have the light and dark combo on the cucumber.

Now add about 3 cloves of garlic for ever 2 large tomatoes you use.

And about 1/8 of an onion (diced) for every 2 large tomatoes.

lightly cover in olive oil and a little lemon juice. And mix it all together.

Ok, your just about ready to eat now.

If you are going to go Vegetarian style you can make up some couscous, if you are like me and enjoy a little meat you can use a nice marinated stake with this. Or do both!

On both of those, just make them as you normally would.

Now take a pita, put in some couscous. Then a layer of baba ghanoush, now the meat if you are going to do that. Now add the Salad, and then top with some more baba ghanoush.

Now you can really enjoy it!

If you are using this recipe as part of weight loss regime, then 1 half of a pita stuffed full of this good stuff will be enough for a small meal. If you are like me I find that I lose weight the best when I’m eating smaller more frequent meals, and when those meals are very filling.

This recipe if full of fiber and a healthy dose of olive oil fats. It will keep you full for a few hours for sure. And then if you’ve not had enough you can eat it again the next meal. And the next. And the next!

It is a great recipe that can be prepared ahead of time and eaten for several days. In fact it is often better to let it all sit for a few hours just to let the flavors mix better together.

Be Healthy – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

Today I’m supposed to post a recipe – but I feel awful… Two nights ago I only got 4 hours of sleep. Yesterday I drank some hot chocolate to try and stay awake and it is killing me. I only got 3 hours of sleep last night. Frankly I just don’t feel like eating. Yuck! However, normally I post recipes on Wednesdays, and then show the pictures of the end product, but I’m not feeling good enough to want to eat any of it, so I’ll just post the recipe today and then I’ll have to fix it another day and post the picture. This is a very easy one, but very very flavorful. Cut up a bunch of fresh green beans and cook them till tender. Just enough for the number of servings you want While that is cooking put a little olive oil and butter in a pan and saute some mushrooms, garlic and bacon together. I go heavy on the mushrooms and garlic, light on the bacon (just a strip or two depending on the number of servings I’m trying to make). It will add more than enough flavor with just a little in there. basically just follow your taste buds on this one. There is not a right or wrong amount here. Once those are done cooking, mix together and top with parmean cheese and your done! Simple as that. I hope you will enjoy it. I know I wish I could right now! Be Health – Enjoy Life! Matthew Stearmer

Here is my biggest problem with weight loss diet recommendations. They always include a “great tasting health shake for breakfast”. Shakes can taste great, although I do not think that most of them do, and it is a great way to get nutrients – and it a perfect solution to eating several small meals a day since none of us have time to fix full blown meals all of the time.

But I have a problem with shakes. I like to chew. There is just something about having mandibles that makes me think God created us to chew things:) Bottom line I will not want to drink a shake all of the time so if I want to ensure that I will stick to my weight loss regime then I need to have a solution for those mornings that I just need to bit into something.

Here is a great recipe that can help.

Fortified Cream of Wheat with Grape Nuts

3Tbsp – Non instant Cream of Wheat. It has more fiber so it is better for you and it is not that much longer to fix.

1-Cup of Water

2 Scoops (approximately 40-50 grams) of your favorite protein powder. I use Isagenix.

Cinnamon to taste

Sugar Substitute to taste

Milk as needed

Vanilla to taste

Sprinkle of Grape Nuts

Butter buds

All right, mix the Cream of Wheat, water and protein together. And cook according to the direction on the box. If you are smaller and do not need as much protein you can reduce the powder by 1/2 and the water to about 3/4 cup.

You will need to watch it because it tends to boil over. I put a sheet of wax paper under the bowl to catch anything that spills. If it starts to boil over just open the microwave and give it a good stir.

Once it is done cooking add the other ingredients to taste and then top with grape nuts.

The flavor is great. The meal is very filling and nutritious and the grape nuts give me something to chew on. Some days I just need that!

Be Health – Enjoy Life!

Matthew Stearmer

I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend!

This was a great weekend for several reason. First off it was General Conference for my church. I honestly wish we could do that more often than twice a year. I certainly need the upliftment and encouragement more often, but I supposed absence makes the heart grow fonder in all sorts of odd ways.

I also got to sleep! I got about 8 hours each night and I even managed a few naps. I hope I do not have to wait another 6 months for that to happen.

I was able to get in some exercise as well and the food was great!

I still had to work in between all the sessions, so it was not as relaxing as it could have otherwise been, but all things considered it was very very nice. I’ll just have to make up for now – since I’m a little behind where I wanted to be.

Shrimp Scampi: This is the recipe that I’ve been writing about. This is the final result. I really think that making it looks nice makes it taste better. Not sure why – but it does to me! And for a weight loss recipe you can hardly beat it. I’ll save extolling its virtues again – you can just read the post if you want to see it. But trust me. It will help you lose weight and you will love every bite of it!

Perfected Pork: This one – well it will not help you lose weight, but it is the most delicious pork I have ever had. I know – shameless self bragging, but there are many independent taste buds that will verify this opinion for me!

And this is what the kids think of it

Super Salad: I truly believe that salad should be required by law to taste delicious. I vary my salads all of the time, but this is one of the combos that I like. I’ve included the food picture below so you can see it as well if you want it give it a try. I’ll include it as one of my recipes one of these Wednesdays.

Ingredients

How’m I looking? I’m down 70 lbs of fat here. I lost 2 lbs from Friday to Monday. I was not really expecting to make any progresses because I really kind of over indulged, But I did try to get rest and some extra exercise to make up for it as well. It just goes to show that if you take care of your body that you can enjoy some of the finner things in life and still lose weight. This is a picture after one of my workouts this weekend.

I’ll include some of the before pictures in another post. You can see some of them from face book. It was only 3 months ago that I was over 270 lbs! It has been a long time since I wanted any pictures taken of me at all. Generally I tried to avoid them at all cost.

Now, Well – I can tollerate them. And I hope to enjoy them again some day.

Matthew Stearmer

Shrimp, ad fish in general, have many health benefits that we should give serious consideration to if we trying to become healthier.

Shrimp are exceptionally nutrient dense. It is an excellent source of selenium, vitamin D and vitamin B12 (which all promote weight loss) and unusually low-fat, low-calorie protein. 4 ounce servings of shrimp will give you almost 24 grams of protein for a mere 112 calories and less than a gram of fat.

The one concern is that they are high in cholesterol. For which some people avoid them. But all studies done to this point indicate that the eating of shrimp does not contribute in a significant way to an increase in internal cholesterol.

“In a peer-reviewed scientific study, researchers looked at the effect of two diets, one which contained shrimp and the other eggs, on the cholesterol levels of people with normal lipid levels. In this randomized crossover trial, people ate either 300 grams of shrimp per day or two large eggs. (A randomized crossover trial is one in which groups cross over, trying out both possible protocols.) The shrimp diet did raise LDL levels (bad cholesterol) by 7%, but also raised HDL levels (good cholesterol) by 12%. In contrast, the egg diet raised LDL levels by 10% and HDL by 7%. The results then showed that the shrimp diet produced significantly lower ratios of total to HDL (“good”) cholesterol and lower ratios of LDL (“bad” cholesterol) to HDL cholesterol than the egg diet. In addition, in people who ate the shrimp diet, levels of triglycerides (a form in which fat is carried in the blood) decreased 13%.” Quoted from The World’s Healthest Foods.

It has also been shown to help health eaters in serveral other ways including

1) Shrimp Provide Large Cardiovascular Benefits

2) Protection against Fatal Heart Arrhythmia

3) Help Prevent and Control High Blood Pressure

4) Cancer-Protection from Selenium and Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Omega-3-Rich Diet Improves Mood, Reduces Depression)

5) Protection against Alzheimer’s and Age-related Cognitive Decline

Headlines quoted from source above.

How can you beat all of that!

So here is a simple recipe I’ve come up with that will help you enjoy not only the benefits – but all the flavor as well. This is for 4 servings approximately.

You will need the following

1lbs – Shrimp

2 Tbsp – Olive Oil

1Tbsp – Real Butter (or to reduce the calories even more use 1 Tbsp of the butter buds below)

6 cloves of Garlic pressed

4 servings of pasta – be sure to watch this one – you can really pack on the calories here. So make it a sensible serving. We tend to always over estimate pasta servings.

up to 6 Tbsp – Butter Buds (these will become one of your best friends

8 Tbsp Chicken broth. I like to take a chicken bolion cub (which makes a cup) and put it in 8 Tbsp of water. So it is extra dense in flavor. You can also use white wine (the “real” way to do it). But I honestly prefer the chicken broth

Black pepper to taste

Lemon Juice to taste

Green onions

Tomatoes – if you want to. It can add a nice color and flavor to them as well. It distracts from the shrimp a little too much personally, but if you’re going to presentation it is nice. You can put the slices on the side to keep the flavor more clean. Sliced avocado also provides a great toping to the side and the flavors mix well together

Start the pasta at the very beginning

Then heat your oil, butter, and garlic over medium heat (too hot and your burn the garlic and damage the shrimp).

Now add Shrimp. If it is not pre-cooked do this for about 2 mintes then add broth/wine. Cook for 4 more minutes. If it is pre-cooked add them all together at the same time, and only cook for 2 minutes if they are thawed. 4 if they are frozen.

While that is cooking you can slice of the green onion and tomato.

Your pasta should be done now. Drain and arrange. Now enjoy!

I like to add some of the butter buds to the pasta to give it a stronger butter flavor.

It will take 15-20 minutes especially if you have a little help on the slicing. It almost takes longer to cook the pasta than it does to get the rest of it ready.

Enjoy!

Matthew Stearmer

This is not exactly a health food. This one is just for fun. I’ve been talking about this cheese dip for a few days now and how it has plagued my diet goals a little. I’m exaggerating a little I know. I did good on my weight loss over the weekend. This is more just a symbol of things are can be distractions if we are not careful.

It is my firm belief that moderation in all things can allow us to have a healthy relationship with food. It will allow us to lose weight, allow us to feel good about ourselves, and it will allow us to live a comfortable life that does not outlaw food simply because it is not the most health around.

I do think that we have to be careful of these foods. I for one have had to avoid them for a while in order to develop more control over them. I still over indulge on the crunchy and salty items. I just cannot get enough chips! So dips are dangerous ground for me. Now that I recognize that I can plan for it and mitigate the potential atom bomb that this can be to a diet

The first line of defense is portion control. The recipe will be for just 2 servings. I don’t know about you, but if I have more lying around after my first serving – I will inevitable eat it. This is what I call the Second Law of Weight Loss Dynamics: You will eat whatever is on the plate – so control the plate.

The second line of defense. Modification. I will give you two recipes below. If you want to full flavor and calorie version you can do that. You can also add the substitutes and enjoy basically the same food with almost 1/2 the calories.

Low fat Velveeta Cheese: 1 oz (about 1 Tablespoon) – double it for the full recipe (62 calories)
Fat free Cream Cheese: 1 oz (about 1 Tablespoon) – double it for the full recipe (14 calories)
Low Fat Cottage Cheese: 1 oz – omit for full recipe – (20 calories)
Frozen Spinach: thawed. – put in an equal option to all the cheese combined (14 calories)
Canned tomatoes and green chillies – about 2 Tablespoons (5 calories)
Some bacon bits – omit for the “healthiest” version (25 calories)

Now, mix it all together in a small bowl and microwave until it is warmed and throughly mixed together. Be careful not to let it boil over the sides while microwaving. Which it will have a tendency to do.

Now, grab an hand full of chips. A bunch of celery stalks, and enjoy. Per serving this dip is just under 70 calories. It will be the chips that will kill it now. 1 oz will be about 140 calories (typically about 16 or so chips). So you can see how that adds up.

But if you’ve controlled the portions from the start there will not be as much dip to eat to begin with, and if you add celery, there are even fewer to consume. Anyway, you can end up with a 200 calorie snack easy enough. Just make sure it is a snack! As a full meal this would move from just scrumptious to sinful:)

Enjoy!

Matthew Stearmer

At tastes as good and as fancy as it sounds. This is the French for Water Soup with Vegetables and Pesto

I made it just before this post and I’m still licking my lips and I’m going to get seconds as soon as I’m done writing.

This is a great weight loss recipe that is very flavorful, very quick and easy to make and goes a long way. My wife even ate it and enjoyed it – mostly:)

Here is what you do. Chop the following vegetables up before doing anything else

Onion: 6 slices, then diced

Carrots: About 1 dozen baby carrots

Zucchini: 1/2 of a smallish one

Yellow Squash: 1/2 of a smallish one

Celery: 4 stalks

Red Cabbage: 1-2 hand fulls depending on how much you like it.

Garlic: To taste.

Salt: A larger pinch

Now put enough olive oil in a stock pot to cover the bottom. Put in the vegetables and stir on a medium high heat until the veggies start to brown. In between stirring you can chop the following

Parsley – just the leaves. You need a fair amount about a 1/4 bunch

Corn: 1-2 ears of corn with the kernels cut off

Beans: About 1/2 lbs of thin fresh beans. Chop off the ends and then quarter them

Tomatoes: Dice into small bites

Once you added all of these, and they have heated through pour enough water to make it soup like. The more water the more soup, less water – well, then you have a stew.

Let the water boil and it is ready to serve. Dish it up, stir in a pesto sauce (you can just buy it in practically any store) and a little Parmesan cheese and your ready to enjoy!

bon appetit

I am soooooo glad to be eating food again. 2 days is a long time to eat a few veggies and water. I fixed the Chick Pea recipe posted here on the blog and ate that several times. It makes 4 servings and I ate it all over the weekend. Besides that, it was all ice water.

I drank a little over 3 gallons of ice water (16 – 24oz bottles of water: which adds up to almost 400 extra calories burned heating the water). I was peeing like a racing horse. I’m sure you wanted to know that!

With the workouts that I did, lots of yard work, a little walking, and a half hour on the stair climber mode of my elliptical I burned a total of 1800 calories over the weekend.

I consumed approximately 600 calories each day with the Vegetables. The Isagenix Cleans drink and the Isagenix “snacks”.

I’m not 100% sure what my stable metabolic rate would be, but the FDA estimates that the average body needs 1800 calories each day. I think that I need less than that because of my sedentary life style in front of a computer all day. But we’ll go with 1800 for arguments sake. So, that means that I was short 1200 calories each day that my body needed to get internally instead of from food, and that tallies 2400 short fall over the weekend.

So, total calories expended is

400 – water heating

1800 – workout

2400 – diet shortfall

4600 – Total Calories burned over the weekend.

That means I should have lost just 1.5 lbs. And just about any one would tell you that most of what I would have lost over that amount would be muscle or water.

Here is what happened to me.

I lost a little over 8 lbs and the body fat measurement dropped by 2%.

Basically my body was able to give up more fat than the standard mathematics would have otherwise suggested would have happened. To me this is further proof that one of the many reasons we have a hard time losing weight is because of toxins in the body that the fat is required to store away to protect us. As we cleans our bodies of the toxins our bodies are able to release more fat simply because it is not needed any more. I highly doubt that it was water weight give the total amount of water I ingested. I could be wrong, but I would have had to peed about 11 gallons of water over 2 days. That seems even less realistic to believe possible than just losing 8 lbs over the weekend.

Now, I’m not a doctor so I cannot give an official position or recommendation on this, but it sure works for me and it makes sense to me.

I also found that despite the very hard weekend (stress wise), I was able to stick to the cleans a lot better because I knew I was going to have to report it today. So thanks for your help! You kept me honest.

To our future success.