Thursday, October 19, 2006

Diet Talk

When I announced I was starting my diet on the 10th, I wasn't kidding. So far I have lost 5.5 pounds and here is my secret weapon. Roast Chicken.

I find the largest roasting hen in the meat counter and take her home. A few months ago I bought an oval roasting pan with a pyrex lid and teflon lining. O how I love to use this pan.

Roast Chicken for Dieters

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Wash chicken and insert a half onion in body cavity and surround bird with the rest of the onion, chopped, and several chopped cloves of garlic. If you have celery and carrots laying around, even if they are wilty, toss those in too. Salt and Pepper the bird and if you are feeling French, add some Herbs de Provence. Oui oui. Cover pan.

Pop bird in the oven and go away. Return when the aroma is mouthwatering. The bird is done when the leg bone can be twisted off the carcass leaving the meat intact.

Allow to cool, and nibble only a leg or two, removing the skin of course.

When cool, remove skin and bones and place meat in a Gladware container. I ought to be paid by Gladware, it is so often mentioned here.

I like to add lemon zest and the juice of the lemon to the meat. Cover and refrigerate. The meat will be added to salads for the next four days. This is my main meal usually eaten midday. Protein staves off hunger.

When one roasts a chicken the drippings are rich with fat. I pour those into a small container and refrigerate until the fat solidifies, so it can be removed from the remainder of the drippings. I add the drippings to canned chicken broth for my soup du week. I don't know the French for week. It makes it taste more homemade.

This week it is Leek and Potato soup. I have recently discovered that any homemade vegetable soup is immensely improved by pureeing it in the blender. Yummamente. Soup and salad is diet food deluxe.

Later in the day I'll have baked apples for dessert.
Peel, core and slice two apples. In a small serving dish, arrange artfully and top with a squeeze of lemon juice, or not. Sprinkle with cinnamon and Equal or Splenda, cover with plastic wrap and microwave for two minutes. Top with fat free sugar free vanilla yoghurt. It takes no time and tastes like a real dessert. I kid you not. If you have raisins or walnuts handy add those. Or granola. Too good for diet food.

Dieting like this takes some time in the kitchen. But I have found that being too busy to eat and cook right means eating things that much more fattening.
Dave is on a special diet with his new medication and has to eat every two hours and can't have lots of things. One of them is banana peels! Poor baby. And he is not allowed red wine. This is really helping me stay clear from my chief vice too.
He makes his own food and we don't eat together. This was particulary difficult for me and I had to let go of that 'nurturing thing'.
There have been other changes at Chez Johnson and it is all good. We do have separate bedrooms as noted before in this blog, since he wakes up during the night for meds and has to stay awake for an hour. I love having my own bedroom, but now we have our evenings in his room watching tv in bed and talking late into the night. You'd never know how sweet these moments can be.

12 comments:

  1. Try your chicken with a lemon stuffed inside, it's delish. Poke lots of holes in the lemon before inserting.

    Dieting isn't for sissies, I lost 40# this last year, targeting another 40 this next one!

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  2. Anonymous8:59 AM

    Mel, congrats on the weight loss-and thanks for the tips. I grill chicken and keep in the fridge like you bake it Olive oil has been a good addition too, I seem to lose more when I use it than when I don't.I am going to try the baked apples-sounds yummy!!

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  3. Anonymous9:50 AM

    Wow. When I get back from Fabrications this weekend I am going to try this diet. I am moving into the condo next weekend so will be cooking just for myself and Joey so eating healthy will be a lot easier.

    Hope Dave's new meds work well. My dad found that his new meds really helped him not *lock up* when walking....at least in Nova Scotia...then they went back to FLA and he started having problems. When he saw the doc he asked about it and Dr. Isaacson said it was the change in climate. Dad and Janet are now in Hawai'i (were in the airport in Honolulu on their way to Kailua-Kona when the earthquake hit- they skipped Big Island and are now on Maui) and he finds he is doing better than FLA....Dr. I said humidity can do strange things and this is pretty good evidence (t'aint as humid in the islands....).

    Have a wonderful weekend!!

    teri

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  4. Anonymous10:27 AM

    soup = potage
    week = la semaine

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  5. thank you so much Monika, I am eternally enlightened. I am going to have potage du la semaine for dinner.


    I'll bet that's the wrong preposition to use with la semaine.

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  6. My friend Charlie has one of those rotisserie chicken appliances. He gets a big hen like you do and fills the insides with cut up lemons, salt and pepper and lets it roast till it is "beyond done". Charlie and I like our chicken dry and chewy. It is so GOOD.

    Roast root vegetables ( butternut squash, carrots, turnips, parsnips, carrots, beets and an onion) in some olive oil and s&p-- 400 or 425 until brown and crispy ( 1-2 hours)--I add some pancake syrup (1or 2 T) to the oil. Eat some with the chicken and salad and then blend into a soup with broth added to loosen it up. This will fill you up!

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  7. Uh..it'll be "potage de la semaine". I also make my own vegetable soups, and Leek & Potato (also called Potage Bonne Femme = Good Woman) is one of my favourites.

    I haven't tried apples like that - must do so.

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  8. Anonymous2:28 PM

    I use a stick blender right inside the soup pot because I'm too lazy to clean up the mess I make pouring the soup into the blender and back out again. It gives me good control over how smooth/chunky I want the soup and it's so easy to clean.

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  9. My theory as to why your roast chicken works is that protein speeds up your metabolism. So your system says, "Ah protein, I'm not being starved, I must get to work." I try to start all of my meals with protein and then hide the carbs further down the line, like your baked apple. Sounds delightful!

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  10. It's so nice to imagine you and Dave having those long conversations into the night. It makes me feel cozy just thinking about it.
    I'll be over for dinner tonight...

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  11. Thanks for the great recipe! It sounds fabulous! I'll have to try it. I'm so jealous of your late night talks with Dave. It sounds heavenly. My husband and I are living apart right now and our phone conversations are the highlight of my day. Its a good thing how life can remind us what special people we have in our lives. I hope the meds are helping Dave.

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  12. Thanks for sharing your recipes. I can just imagine how lovely they taste, but just now I have to be on a diet of liquidized food and I'm enjoying baby food and Rusks! But I can have the soups well blended.

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Hello,
So nice of you to drop by. I love your comments, and if you would really like a reply, please email me at fibermania at g mail dot com