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Well here I go again experimenting :)  My house smells like cabbage rolls, cuz I made a cabbage roll casserole today.  Haven’t tried it yet, so I’m not sure how it’s gonna taste, in the end, but it smells yummy!

 Anyway here’s what I did:

 1 medium cabbage, chopped up
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice, cooked
1 block firm tofu, crumbled
1 can low-sodium tomato juice
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small (1 litre) bottle Mott’s Garden Blend juice
seasonings to taste

OK, so while the rice was cooking I crumbled the tofu, cut up the onion, mixed it into the tofu, and mixed in about a cup of the Mott’s juice to the tofu (so the tofu could suck up the tomato flavour).  Then chop up the cabbage.  By the time I was done this the rice was done, so I mixed the tofu/onion/juice mix into the rice, along with some Mrs. Dash and about 2 tbsp of brown sugar.  Then I got my big big roasting pan, layered in some cabbage and the remainder of the Mott’s.  Then I layered on some of the rice/tofu mix, then another layer of cabbage, then another layer of rice/tofu, then some cabbage on top.  Then I poured the entire can of tomato juice (we’re talking one of those big, 1.5 or whatever litre ones) on top, then I topped the whole thing off with the can of diced tomatoes.  It’s in the oven at 400F for 1/2 hour (oooh I should turn that down) then another hour or so at 350F to cook. 

 Let’s hope it works!

Well, I managed the Aquafit (soooooo fun and I feel so good after!) and the 20 minutes of exercise each day - but breakfast every day was a fail, mainly because I’m on vacation and if I sleep in til 11:30 I just go straight into making lunch.  Or brunch.  heh.  Will have to re-set that goal for next week since I’ll be back at work and actually getting up in the mornings… 

Overall it’s been a positive week, I hope everyone has had a good one too!

OK, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from a blog I read :)  She mentioned that having a list of specific goals for the week listed out there where everyone can see, makes it more accountable, somehow, than having internal goals.  Made sense to me anyway so, here are some goals I have for this week coming up:

 1. I will go to both Tuesday and Thursday of Aquafit this week.

2.  I will eat breakfast every single day.

3.  I will do 20 minutes of exercise video every day.

 OK, so it’s a short list - but it’s something I can look at and say, yup, I did that. 

Well, I had to update my start weight on my weight tracker today, because I finally found a scale that can weigh me.  My original ’start weight’ was a guesstimate extrapolated from my last weigh-in in February at Weight Watchers…  and I guesstimated too low, I guess.  So the good news is, now I can keep track of my progress, the bad news is, there’s more to lose than I thought/hoped.  I look at the numbers and wonder, how did I let it get this bad?  I tell myself that at least now I’m doing something positive for me, but at the same time, it’s pretty overwhelming.  How do you guys stay motivated?  I’ve seen some people with some amazing results on this site, and that has helped motivate me, which I guess is part of the point, heh.  Anyway, if anyone has any motivational tips/tricks/advice I’d love to hear it :) 

 One good thing I’m looking forward to - Aquafit starts Tuesday!  yay

So, I’ve discovered that I actually LIKE tofu.  Never thought I’d say that…  heh.  Anyway I made the yummiest tofu strips yesterday and I just have to share my new recipe.  I made it up myself using hints in the new 1-2-3 Tofu cookbook I bought, but the ingredients are mine

 So, here goes:

 1/2 block (block was 350g) low-fat extra firm tofu, pressed
3 squirts toasted sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil
1 tbsp (approx) tamari (or soy sauce)
2 tsp Mrs. Dash Original

To press tofu (gets the excess water out), put it between layers of paper towel, and then put a cutting board and a heavy book or something heavy on it for about 15 minutes.  While the extra water is coming out (this lets more flavour soak in)…  Mix the seasonings and oil in a ziploc baggie (or a shallow dish, I find the baggie works better). Once the tofu has been pressed, cut it into strips about 2″ long by 1/4″ thick (thinner tofu = crispier).  Put the tofu bits into the ziploc baggie marinade, and carefully coat the strips (tofu is fragile it will break).  Leave in the fridge for a couple hours for more flavour (you can cook it right away but, I find it tasted better when I let it marinate for abotu 2 hours). 

To cook:  heat a non-stick pan and then place tofu in the pan in one layer, flat side down.  Cook on one side til crispy (about 4 minutes) and then flip (this takes a while cuz they’re small strips) and crispy the other side for about 4 minutes.  Serve with a side of your choice (I made tomato and spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette) and enjoy.  Best served piping hot.

Well, I did it, I tried making tofu burgers the other night!  And while I couldn’t get them to be actual clumpy burgers (more small chunks as they slowly fell apart lol), the end result tasted pretty darn good.  I was surprised and pleased.  I think maybe they didn’t clump because the low-fat tofu is drier than the regular one…  I will be experimenting for sure.  I went out and bought a couple of tofu-specific cookbooks to have an idea of what else to do with tofu :) 

I’m lucky I happen to like them I guess ;)  Lentil and tomato salad is so yummy.  Sadly, other beans/legumes don’t do it for me - ugh.  Well, I’m managing with some of the veggie alternatives (fake chicken burgers FTW!) although I had to make fake eggs for dinner tonight after not being able to take the taste of the tofu dogs I bought.  Hehehe.  Some things are not meant to be fake.  Going to try the soy dogs tomorrow and see if they are any different - different brand might mean different seasonings/textures. 

I did good at lunch today but bad after work - even with milk I think the iced capp is a no, but …  I’m working on my willpower.  It’ll get there!  In my head a ‘treat’ after my first day back at work sounded good while I was driving past Tim Horton’s… now that I’m writing this I’m like, you dummy, drive the other way home tomorrow!!

 Wednesday is going to be my first real tofu adventure - I found a ‘burger’ recipe I want to try, it sounds both easy and yummy and doesn’t have to be fried in more oil than my cholesterol level can take (which so far I find most tofu recipes call for WAY too much oil). 

 Aquafit starts in three weeks at the Y - yay!

OK, so I cleaned out my cupboards this morning and got rid of all the stuff I’m NOT supposed to eat (food bank is gonna love me!  LOL).  Then this afternoon, it was out to the market (yum fresh Ontario apples!) and off to the grocery store, to get the things I need to kick start this whole diet adventure.  The doctor was recommending that I try the vegetarian route, so I hit the vegetarian section of the store.  So many choices!  Did I want tofu dogs or soy dogs?  Veggie chicken burgers?  Veggie breakfast links?  Needless to say I picked up all of the above - I already knew I liked the chicken burgers from previous attempts at dieting.  Then it was on to stuff I hadn’t tried before - now there’s firm and silken tofu in my house.  My next job is gonna be to google ‘tofu recipes’.  Hah.  I picked up some soy milk to try also.  The diet I’m on doesn’t recommend rice or almond milk cuz of the high GI rating, but I can have skim milk if I want so it’s all good - I just figured I’d try the soy stuff to see how it was. 

 Many thanks for the encouraging posts to everyone who commented on my first blog entry :)  I was like, wow. 

Well, a friend of mine told me about BuddySlim and since I’m at that point in my life where I have to do something to help myself, this seemed like a great place to start.  I’ve struggled all my life with my weight, but this past winter I’ve been sick and I’ve gained more weight than I like to think of.  The doctor recommended a diet for me so today, it begins.  Literally just bought the books at Chapters for the G.I. Diet (which the doctor recommended) and have a couple other things on order.  We’ll have to see how it goes