Author Archives: jackmansjourney

Something You Won’t See in Ontario

24 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in baking, miscellaneous

≈ 5 Comments

Most of you know that I lived in Ontario for the past 9 years (I moved back to the Maritimes in August, 2011).
While I was there I might have had one medium size carton of Molasses that lasted me for a while.  I do love Molasses, especially on homemade bread!  Delicious!  The thing was that it is not that popular in Ontario.  Not in the K-W area where I was, anyways.

No one shared my love for Molasses, so I didn’t have it that often.  No going into a restaurant for breakfast and finding some Molasses (Yup, I know of some places here in the Maritimes that have it).
No one eats it for pleasure on bread or licks the knife after spreading it on the bread, or some even lick the plate clean (please only do this in the privacy of your home!).  “What? You use molasses for more then just cooking?” would be a question I have gotten in the past.  That’s if people even use it for cooking.  To my recollection I don’t remember having many homemade molasses cookies while I was there!

One day while getting groceries at Price Choppers (who can tell by the picture above that’s where I was?) here in good ‘ol Nova Scotia, I was checking out what was in the isle when I found Molasses – a ton of Molasses.  Not just a few cartons, like you would find at a Price Choppers in K-W but a whopping 6 – 7 different sizes and even a couple different brand names.  My favourite is the jug of Molasses on the left side of all the wonderful options of the goodness.

I remember my first week at ADC, where I’m studying, when a fellow student said, “Oh, I wish I had some Molasses.”  Another student piped up and said, “Check the fridge, I think I saw some in there.”  Music to my ears.  Where else would you find Molasses in a student lounge other then at a Maritime college.

If you have never had Molasses besides in baking go out and by yourself a nice fresh loaf of bread (or better yet, make your own), slather on some butter and load it with Molasses.  Sometimes it is nice dipping the bread in the molasses too.  Be sure to have enough bread so you can get the extra that drips from the bread.

Do you like Molasses?  If so, what’s your favourite way to eat it?  I’d love to hear what you think about the stuff!  Leave me a comment below.

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Dukan Diet: Not Quitting, Just Moving On

20 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in Dukan Diet, Self Improvement

≈ 5 Comments

Wow, is the Dukan Diet ever hard to stick to!  This week I want to quit.  The funny thing, that’s what Dr. Dukan said might happen.  He gave advice for those who were able to stick to the diet because of motivation.  He also gave advice to those who have a hard time sticking to something like this. The Advice: Move on to the consolidation phase now!
So that is what I am going to do.  On Saturday I will start on the consolidation phase.  I’m supposed to stay on that phase 5 days for every pound lost.  For me, that’s 50 days (5 days x 10lbs = 50 days).  Maybe you are thinking, “Well she couldn’t stick with this phase, what’s to say she will stick to the next one?”  I can’t guarantee that I will stay on the next phase that long.  I really want to get to a point that I can say NO to certain foods and be ok with that and be able to have just one of something and not go back for more.
What’s in the consolidation phase?  Basically it is eating healthy.  I’m allowed to incorporate 2 starchy meals per week – for example I can have pasta, rice, potatoes, and beans.  I’m not interested in the others on the list, so I will stop with these.  I need to maintain 1 protein day a week.  I can have 2 celebration meals a week (basically eating whatever I want).  I can have 1 serving of fruit a day (I’m excited to have this – can’t you tell by the picture of the apple?).  I am also allowed 2 pieces of whole-wheat grain bread a day.  Other than that I keep eating the protein and veggies I have been eating.
Why the change to the next phase?  I am having ridiculous cravings. I’m hoping this will help by being able to have a few more of these things, but still leaving out chips, French fries, sugary sweets/candy, and white flour.  Basically this plan is healthy eating, so it should work for me.  I also will step up my exercise routine as well. 
I think that if you have a big goal that you are fighting to complete and you have tried a lot of other things to loose weight but haven’t been successful then this could be a diet for you.  I’m motivated, but I am going skip to the Consolidation phase and hope that I will loose those last pesky 10 pounds that way. I am learning that I can say NO to food.  I don’t see this as a failure but as a small achievement towards my true weight. 
If you don’t quite achieve your goal, but have gotten a good start at it do you think of yourself as failing or as achieving something?  What is that you achieved?  Let me know by leaving a comment below.

[This is part of the Dukan Diet series.  Check out the rest of the posts by clicking HERE.]

Fried Cauliflower

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Cooking, recipe

≈ 3 Comments

I learned how to make this delicious food from an Albanian.  I don’t know if people make it around here, but it was the first time I heard about it.  I don’t have a recipe written out, as I learned Albanians don’t go by “recipes”.  They cook and bake by how it looks, feels, and tastes.

That was something new for me who typically needs to follow the recipe – especially when baking.  I’m a little more flexible when I cook.  I am going to attempt to write out a recipe for you incase you are so inclined to try cooking these up yourself.  They are definitely worth a try.


Ingredients

Chunks of cauliflower
2 – 3 Eggs beaten
2 – 3 tbs flour
pinch of salt
Vegetable oil (or Olive Oil)
Directions
1.  Cook the cauliflower in boiling water until tender.  They taste much better when this is done, I know from experience of forgetting to cook them first!
2.  While the cauliflower cooks, beat the eggs and add some flour and salt to make a light batter.  You should have more egg then flour.  It is not a thick batter.  
3.  Drain cauliflower and take the bite size pieces and coat in batter.  It should look like a think layer on the cauliflower – just enough to coat it lightly.  
4.  Heat enough oil in a pan so that when you place the coated cauliflower in the pan, the are mostly covered.  Once oil is heated, place as much coated cauliflower as the pan will allow.  
5.  Turn over when batter begins to brown.  The batter should fluff a bit.  
6.  Remove from oil when they are a golden brown (see picture above).
7. Serve warm and enjoy!  
These are best eaten fresh, although they can be saved for the next day.
The last time I made this I served them with salmon, beats, beat greens, and roasted sweet potato.  It made for a delicious meal!  Since they are fried, I don’t make them often, but they are a nice treat to have once in a while.  
Do you have any fun recipes from other cultures?  I would love to hear about them.  Let me know if you try this recipe by leaving a comment below.

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Dukan Diet: Cruise Phase Week 1

13 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

The Cruise Phase.  It’s been good.  No complaints besides the couple of times that I craved chips and cookies.  But that was won over!  I enjoyed eating veggies.  It was hard to go back to eating protein the next day after eating veggies.

During my attack phase and my first week on the Cruise phase I have lost 9.6 lbs.  I will continue on the cruise phase, but I am going to move to the 2/5 rhythm.  If you recall from my earlier post about the Cruise Phase this is two protein days and five protein and veggie days.  This is recommended to be followed until I reach my true weight.
 I have 15 more lbs to go.  Then it is the Consolidation Phase.  A much more fun phase to be on then the Attack or Cruise phase!  I’m excited to get there.  That’s when I can start bringing other foods back into my healthy eating.

I had my first dinner invitation to a friends for supper on Wed night!  Yikes.  What was I going to do?  I asked her if she didn’t mind me bringing my own meal.  It was weird to do since I really wanted to try her lasagna since I heard such great things about it.  I can say it was definitely different eating something else while everyone ate they delicious looking lasagna.  Oh and did I mention garlic bread and caesar salad.  I could have had the salad if there was no dressing, croutons, and it was fat free cheese.  But that is ok!  I learned that I can go out and still enjoy a meal together with friends and it is ok to take something with me.  Most people are not going to mind.  I had a turkey casserole – turkey, cottage cheese, and a variety of veggies.  It was layered like a lasagna but named it a casserole since there was no pasta in it!

I wonder what next week will bring on this crazy diet!

If you are interested in learning more about the Dukan Diet and recipes that go along with it, visit my friend’s blog Life As a Suitcase

Do you have suggestions for when I end up getting an invitation to eat at a restaurant?  Leave me a comment below.

[This is part of the Dukan Diet series.  Check out the rest of the posts by clicking HERE.]

Dukan Diet: Candies, Cookies, and Chips. Oh My!

13 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in Dukan Diet, Self Improvement

≈ 4 Comments

I love candy.  I enjoy a good cookie.  I crave chips!
Don’t you?  I know some people who have no problem saying “NO” to these goodies, but for some of us it’s nearly impossible.  The past 2 weeks is probably the first time in about a year that I have said “NO” to all of these tasty junk foods.  That’s probably the main reason for my weight gain and now the realization that I need to get control of it so I can feel better physically and about myself.

Do you see those Toblerone?  One of my favourite chocolate bars!  I like having suckers around while I study.  The only candy that was left in the candy dish when I started this diet were the suckers and some candy kisses (the ones that only come out at halloween).  Guess where the leftovers are now?  Not in this body!  They are in zip lock bags out of sight waiting to be given to a 16 year old who can freely eat what he wants.

What about the cookies left from New Year’s Eve?
In the freezer for the guy in the house that can eat them.  Out of sight, out of mind!  That’s one way to deal with cravings.  Get it out of sight or out of the house!  Be lazy.

What?  Be lazy?  Yes.  Be lazy.  When you get a craving and you don’t have that candy or chips or whatever is your down fall in the house, be lazy and don’t get in your car to drive to the store to buy it.  I’ve done that before.  It helps that I live up on the mountain and it takes a bit more effort to get to the store.  But I have in the past craved chips and got in my car and drove to the store to get some.  I usually bought the small size because then I felt like I was eating less, but sometimes I would buy two bags of the small ones and eat them both.  That way I could get two different kinds.  I was probably better off getting one large bag and spreading it out over a few days.

So far to recap: Out of sight out of mind.  Be lazy!

I mentioned I crave chips.  When I went for groceries or gas I would normally get chips.  This past week was the first time that I went to the grocery store by myself while I was on this diet.  I could have cheated without anyone knowing, but I’ve boughten and eaten in secret too many times to do that again.  I walked passed the chip isle, witch isn’t that bad because you don’t have to go down the isle or even look at it.  Then I was standing in line waiting to pay.  And there it was.  The rack of chips!  Mmmm…. Doritos and dill pickle chips.  That’s what I would have chosen.  Instead I took a picture of them and said a big “NO”.  I was very happy with myself.  Win!  As hard as it is, just say no and walk away.

Cookies!  I love the ones from superstore.  You know what I am talking about.  The Ultimate chocolate chip or chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies.  I went to small group and they had them there.  So delicious looking and tempting.  Again, I managed to say “NO”.  It helped that I had someone who is very encouraging by my side.  I also felt full from supper and realized I didn’t really need the cookie anyway, no matter how good it looked.  If you feel full don’t eat it.  When I am hungry, that is when I am tempted the most to eat cookies, or candy, or chips.  I need to make sure that I am getting enough good foods to fight the bad ones!

How am I fighting the cravings?

Out of Sight and Out of the House
Be Lazy
Just Say No and Walk Away
Eat Enough Good Foods to Fight the Bad Ones

… and lots of prayer!

How do you fight your cravings for the bad foods?  Let me know by commenting below.

[This is part of the Dukan Diet series.  Check out the rest of the posts by clicking HERE.]

Spinach Dip

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Cooking, Dukan Diet

≈ 2 Comments

Hot-Out-of-the-Oven Spinach Dip

I had a few friends over for New Year’s Eve and I decided to make a spinach dip.  I have a little recipe book that I write my favourite recipes or ones that look really great that I want to try one day.  Finally I tried the spinach dip.  It turned out amazingly good!  We had crackers, purple corn chips, and veggies to eat it with.  I preferred the purple corn chips, but it was nice with the others too.

Next time you are having some friends over or going somewhere that you need a finger good to take, I highly recommend this appetizer!  You can even make it fancy by cooking it in pumpernickel bread.  That is how it is originally suppose to be done, but of course I left it until the day off to find bread and I wasn’t going to drive 20 minutes just for one thing.  So as you can see it can also be made in a dish suitable for the oven.

The Recipe:

2 pkg (250g) cream cheese softened
1 C                grated cheddar cheese
2 tsp              dill
1 C                mayo
1/4 C             diced onion
1/2 C             bacon bits
1 pkg             chopped spinach
1 large round loaf of pumpernickel bread

1) mix cream cheese, cheddar cheese, dill, mayo, onion, and bacon bits together.
2) Put spinach dip in the pumpernickel bread (with a knife cut out or pull out a majority of the centre of the bread and cube the leftover bread for later).  Wrap in foil.
3) Back at 325 for 1 hour.
4) Serve with leftover cubed bread or any kind of tortilla or corn chips, or crackers.

Note: If you do not have pumpernickel bread, place into a casserole dish or other oven safe dish.  Do not cover and keep same cooking temp and time.

Unfortunately I can’t have this recipe again for another few months because I am following a new dieting program (Follow my series starting with Dukan Diet: Intro and Attack Phase)  But we can actually have most of what is in the recipe during our second phase with some modifications.

Things that need to be modified:
The cream cheese needs to be fat free.  We have been finding it difficult to find no fat cream cheese in Canada, but they have it in the States.  We are heading there at some point before our third phase so we will definitely be picking some up while we are there.  We could use light cream cheese, but fat free would be better.

The cheddar cheese also needs to be fat free or maybe by this phase we can have low fat or regular cheese (I’ll have to double check on that one).

We are not allowed to have mayo (I don’t even think in the third phase – another thing to double check) but Greek yogurt is a great substitute for mayo or there is a recipe for Mayo in the Dukan Diet book.

Bacon bits are a no because we can’t have real bacon!  But we could make our own bacon bits with chicken or turkey bacon, which we are allowed to have.

No pumpernickel bread on the second phase, but we can have some whole wheat grain bread on the third phase!  But the dip is really good with veggies anyways which we can have after we are done the first phase.

Things we can have without modification:
Dill, onion, spinach.

I think on the third phase we can have this without as much modification, but I would have to check on that.  For sure I will be able to eat it on the fourth phase, because that is the phase for life.  You will hear all about it when I start it.  But not until then… except for maybe some hints here and there!

Don’t worry, eventually when I get into the other phases my Tuesday post won’t revolve around the Dukan Diet.  I don’t want you to get sick of hearing about it!  If you want to hear about it then look for my Friday posts, which will be a weekly update on my progress of the Dukan Diet.

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