Take my advice

First of all - where did Blogger put the spellchecker in the new editor???

In the past few weeks I've noticed a really peculiar phenomenon. People keep telling me they took my advice and it worked.  I usually don't even remember giving them advice in the first place. I think these food topics fly out of my mouth so often that I don't even hear myself. Or I think they're well known tips and don't really consider them advice- like substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream or steel-cut oats for sugary instant oatmeal or eating eggs or exercising most days a week or not eating dessert (mostly).

Every time I hear someone say, "I tried making the big batch of oatmeal like you suggested and reheating some each morning and it's really keeping me full," or "I'm adding in whole wheat toast to my lunch so I don't get too hungry in the evenings," or "You're right, I was addicted to sugar." I just get a warm feeling in my stomach. To think that anyone would listen to my ideas and then actually find them helpful is quite heartwarming to me - and the fact that it's about something as silly as oatmeal matters not! It is still fun.

Why are so many people taking my suggestions? Why would anyone listen to me? Maybe it's the "I'll have what she's having," phenomenon.

Despite my complete lack of formal training, I suppose the very fact that I took off 45 lbs basically on my own, and am keeping it off, makes people think my ideas have some validity. I guess I'm approachable, as I was never an overachiever, everything is perfect, straight-A kind of person. My flaws were always on my sleeve so to speak. I didn't discover anything new of course(eat less, exercise more).

I must also be exuding some kind of confidence with how I say things. Because I do feel like a bit of a know it all. I can tell in 30 seconds is someone is serious or not when they ask me for help.And I have taken the attitude that I will not push hard on them (they are usually friends, if I were doing this professionally with strangers I would push back more). In the back of my head I know that on some things it's my way or the highway. You have to exercise. You can't eat a lot of sugar or alcohol. You have to eat whole grains. You have to eat small portions. You have to track what you're eating. You need to eat a lot of protein. These are well-known truths that I did not discover. But to know something and to have lived it are two different things. Maybe we need two different verbs for 'to know' like the French.

I started this endeavor 49 weeks ago, so as I approach the 1-year mark I'm really thinking about how differently I feel and what a big change I made - let's call it my reflective period. Due to the combination of my one year anniversary of my start date and all the people asking me for advice recently I'm working on some longer posts about what worked and what didn't and I'm going to try and increase viewership. You know posting to Facebook more - maybe starting a Twitter feed-yuck. So feel free to forward the url to anyone you want!

Me, an inspiration?

Last night I went to a lovely party at a friend's home. It was an all-ladies, mainly neighborhood party. The mood was elegant but delightfully low-key, if that is possible. It was interesting for 2 reasons. First, the hostess is someone who is health conscious and just lost a bunch of weight herself. She says I was her inspiration but obviously she did the work herself. It was interesting to attend a party thrown by someone trying to be healthy.

The second reason it was noteworthy was the reaction my weight loss still seems to garner. I must have heard, to my face, and overhead at least 4 times that I was "an inspiration." I couldn't believe it. I mean, it's been months since I reached my goal weight, and now that it's cold if I am outside at all I'm bundled up in a down puffy coat. Why are people still talking about this? I don't take it pesonally. I've just come to realize that watching your average pudgy mom turn into a trim, toned woman is compelling. It happens to be me but that's incidental. I view myself as a living "before and after" example at this point. Who doesn't love looking at before and after pictures? People gasp when they hear I lost 45 lbs, even though they can tell I look really different. It's a big number.

The food was delicious and healthy. Turkey breast, with cranberry sauce and mustard for condiments, a veggie plate with hummos, a blue cheese ball (not low-fat but it was the only cheese there). The hostess took some roasted pears with procuitto out of the oven while I was standing in the kitchen.

"See Jenna, healthy," she showed me proudly.

Oh my God am I the neighborhood food Nazi? But like I said she just lost a bunch of weight and she said it in a very happy way, like, "look, I'm serving healthy, delicious food and after all, why not?" She's right, why not? Parties do not have to be greasy meatballs.

Despite the yummy pears, the star in my opinion was a beautiful, old fashioned Julia Child salmon mousse, complete with olive eyes and scales made out of a creamy coating (not the one pictured above but close). It was delicious and adorable. The hostess told me she covered the salmon in Greek yogurt instead sour cream because of me. I guess I suggested Greek yogurt as an alternative earlier in the year. It absolutely shocks me that people listen to my suggestions so readily - even if it's just about yogurt. But anyway the food was tasty and it was all really healthy. There were 3 little plates of dessert - 2 kinds of small home made cookies and a little bowl of truffles. It was just enough sweetness and the configuration meant you could have treat like a small Mexican chocolate cookie, or a little truffle without having to negotiate controlling yourself with a big slice of cheesecake on your plate. Party foods can be special without being gratuitous. Perhaps the sweetest thing there were the candy cane martinis. I stopped after 2.

Tried this and loved it...

Very hard (with 8 lb weights), I like Bob's demeanor, he has a different way of doing things from Jackie and Jillian - more work on balance and core. I didn't love the band part for the last 10 min so switched to dumbbells instead. Usually the tubby Biggest Loser contestants bother me but this time they had the winners doing the workouts, so they were pretty inspirational - I mean not super-hot like the Jackie and Jillian's trainer buds, but not bad. They were holding big weights which inspired me to do so also.

There are so many Biggest Loser workouts, including a weight loss yoga DVD. Might be a good thing to request for holidays. I also tried Power Sculpt, which I did not like nearly as much, although now I can't remember why. Partly I like having a whole Bob DVD. He's upbeat and encouraging, not mean, but tough also.

Wardrobe contents

I have talked about buying a new wardrobe and how hard/expensive/time consuming/unpleasant it is. I think I'm done - as of today. I need some tights and a couple pairs shoes, but done for now. Everything bought was on sale or from discount store. A couple mistakes but not bad. I did lots of discount shopping but it's still expensive to start from scratch - even my underwear doesn't fit. And this is JUST winter items except the undergarments. I just did a little quick math in my head. This is well over $1k. I felt like I was mainly getting bargains at the time, with a few splurges, and I don't think I have a big wardrobe (9 pairs long pants for work/weekend/workout combined?) but it all adds up so quickly.

Virtual What Not to Wear...Contents of my winter wardrobe are as follows:

• 2 pairs jeans Lucky brand via Filene's Basement, $30 each.
• 1 pair tailored pant-like denim big cuff pants - kind of springy weight actually but I like them. Anthropologie,  $50
• 2 pairs cords, black, brown Benetton, $55 each
• 1 pair tailored black work pants DKNY via Filene's Basement $25 - great bargain.
• 1 pair tailored tan work pants Benetton $55
• 6 or 7 long sleeved nice t-shirts mainly Gap/J.Crew. nice may not be totally accurate.$10-15 each. Overall winter wardrobe plan was buy lots of t-shirts and a few nice cardigans and have a mix/match collection. Broadcloth shirts too expensive/annoying to iron/not necessary when working with scientists.
• 1 long camel-color cashmere cardigan with ruffle. Filene's Basement $80
• 1 long black cardigan from previous wardrobe- must replace and throw out paid $75 7 years ago!
• 1 cotton/rayon knit dress Boden $128 - complete waste, now on sale, worn once. I hate dresses!
• 1 black suit with skirt DKNY outlet store $100 plus tailoring
• 1 gray sweater vest Banana Republic $39
• 1 multi color sweater vest Boden $37
• 1 long denim skirt Boden $39
• 1 tailored denim blazer Calvin Klein outlet forget price, maybe $50, multi-seasonal
• 1 pair nice boots Ugg $200 - crazy!!!
• several old crappy shoes that should be thrown out - i have very oddly shaped feet and have trouble buying shoes
• 1 light gray silk sweater my mom bought me at Lord and Taylor about 15 years ago. Still beautiful. Used to be a set, but tank part got stained.
• 1 Target/Loehman's tunic/leggings outfit experiment that went awry. I'm too old. $50 for both items
• a couple new overcoat type things one down, one more sweatery, one old Benetton long wool overcoat. Athletica, Lands End, may return, some haven't even arrived yet.
• many pairs Lucy yoga pants in shorts, capris, long lenghts. paid about $30-60 each, always on sale but still overpriced. Use mediums for sleeping/lounging and smalls for actually working out. Pretty good value considering how much they're worn. I have no other pajamas.
• new underwear! even that is too big
• 1 Spanx bra $62 and 4 athletic bras, $15-25 each I think-obviously this is a problem. 

One day I can do a virtual fashion show but that will be very time consuming. No photos for now. I also have a few items that I bought that no longer fit or items still in the basement closet from before - size 12s. Not counting those! For spring I have 3 pairs capris, a few skirts, nice t-shirts, 2 bathing suits.

Interestingly, even 45 lbs thinner pants still don't fit properly - I'm a 4 in the waist and a 6 in the butt/thighs. Only liposuction can solve that problem and that's not for me. Tops are also a problem as I'm narrow but very long-waisted and long-armed. Tall-sized tops work well but are hard to find. I guess one solution is to buy larger sizes and have them tailored down. All the What Not to Wear people suggest that. But that's expensive.

Not sure of my point here - I guess it's that a new wardrobe is quite an undertaking mentally, physically, economically, no matter what. Thank God I'm done shopping.

White chicken chili a hit...great winter dish

I can't believe this is getting mentioned a third time, but the white chicken chili was a huge hit and super-easy. I read a bunch of recipes and this is what I did. Sorry, guessed at quantities but ingredients are bolded. Supposed to have fennel seeds too but I forgot.

-brown 2 packages boneless chicken thighs (could use breasts too) in olive oil with dried red pepper flakes, oregano, cumin. Don't worry about cooking through - just get it browned and yummy.
-take out, set aside and then brown onions - cooked in pancetta oil, which may be one reason the flavor was so strong and good.
-chop up chicken really small while onions cooking.
- also while onions cooking, take one cup or so white beans and put in blender with a tad water or stock.
-add 3/4 cup or so chicken broth, deglaze pot.
-put chicken back in, add 1.5 bags frozen sweet corn, more oregano, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper
-put white beans in and bean puree. I probably used 4 cups total.
-put in two small cans mild green poblano peppers from TJs.
-try and have equal parts chicken bits, beans and corn/peppers with a thick sauce from the pureed beans. (I would say about 3 cups each and a 4th cup beans pureed)
-simmer for 30 min or so.
-good with rice or barley or really well with nice savory corn bread with red pepper bits in it if you're so inclined to bake (I'm not).
-definitely squeeze fresh lime juice - serve with lime wedges and let each guest do it themselves.

I was worried I put in too much cumin, which I believe I did. Dave ate a bunch of bites when it was still on the stove and declared it the best white chili he'd ever had (not sure how much of a compliment that is based on small sample size). I asked if it had too much cumin but he said he didn't know what cumin tasted like. My mom came for dinner and also loved it, and she is quite an accomplished cook so that's high praise. I liked it too but all in all I'm not a huge chili fan. I make it because it's a crowd (husband) pleaser and easy.

Weekend cooking

I'm always talking about bulk weekend cooking. Here is a sample. I made the white chicken chili which is in the square pot. Also seen are beet greens with beans, pancetta onions and peppers, which is the pink dish on the left. I also roasted cauliflower and green beans and some eggplant. Then I realized after all this that I had nothing for the kids to eat so I browned some ground  turkey breast meat - for some reason they love it. They got little burritos with turkey meat, Dave and I had the chili, which is a bit spicy, and the rest is for later in the week.

White chicken chili

Just curious - does anyone have a white chili recipe they like?
I found a few, including this good-looking Giada recipe,  but I'm open to other ideas...

I think no matter what I'll use diced chicken or turkey meat instead of ground....heartier that way.