Happy National Hot Chocolate Day!

I seem to be the Queen of the overhead shot these days!

If there is a list out there of these food commemoration days, can someone please point me to it???

Thankfully, if you use the handy search box to your right, you search any ingredient, dish, keyword your heart desires and if it's on BF, the search box will find it!!!

Anyhoo...I thought in honor of this day I'd make you aware of BF's Cocoa Offerings.

So in no particular order, please feel free to try:

• My Thin Mints for Grown-Ups hot protein drink: Rich chocolate, a hint of mint. Nom, nom, NOM!
• Salted Caramel Protein Hot Cocoa: and this recipe is even easier now that Torani has made sugar-fee Salted Caramel syrup!
• This was originally a cold shake but I now drink it almost exclusively hot - Chocolate with Spiced Cookies protein drink!
• Autumn's Salted Peanut Butter Cocoa: a Foodie-submission!
• BONUS for my Foodies on #teamvanilla: The Hot Blondie! The vanilla-lovers answer to the Hot Chocolate.

So there you have it folks! My offering to National Hot Chocolate Day.

I can't wait until it's National Buffalo Wing Day, personally. :)

BF Review: Lean Cuisine Salad Additions

It even happens to me, dear Foodies. I wake up late, get out the door late, get the kids to school and..."Oh crap! I forgot to pack lunch!"

Thankfully there's a supermarket between the diva's school and my job (I only work about 3/4 mile from their school!) so I headed there to see what they could offer me. And I came across this:

Lean Cuisine Salad Creations (Southwest-style chicken)

• Simply add your lettuce!
• 260 calories
• 9g fat
• 26g carbs (probably from the beans and tortilla strips)
• 4g fiber
• 18g protein

So I decided to give it a whirl! I like a salad and I'm an adventurous gal.

So the box gives three easy prep steps:

Step one: Put your dressing in a cup of room temperature water to thaw. Yeah. My office doesn't do room temperature. It does hot. So I worked with it.

Step two: Microwave chicken & veggies in the steamer pouch for 2.5 minutes on high.

Step three: Assemble your salad by putting lettuce on a plate or bowl (yes it really does say that), followed by chicken & veggies, dressing, then tortilla strips (I'm a rebel. I did strips then dressing).

Firstly, this is the MOST work I've ever done for a frozen meal, ok? This better be good cuz this is almost as much effort as making my salad from scratch. Well not really, but still.

So I taste and...

• Um...the star of this salad is definitely the dressing. The corn lends a lot of flavor and I am amenable to the texture of black beans but the dressing popped. Wasn't too spicy. It was just right.
• The chicken, however, was a wee bit...bland. But it's only got 590mg sodium (which is paltry in terms of frozen stuff) so what can we expect?
• I wish I'd let the chicken cool a little bit more before I put it on my salad. It made my lettuce a bit wilty (and it was already wilty cuz it took me until 10:30 to put the bag of salad mix in the fridge).
• Some might question my decision to use the tortilla strips. My pouch, my choice. They do separate them out so there is nothing stopping you from tossing them if you are deathly afraid of tortilla strips. I like the crunch.

Final verdict: I actually liked this. I think if I was better prepared I would not have found the steps quite so labor intensive. But then, isn't the point of frozen meals that you don't HAVE to be prepared? That's a debate point I'll leave to you, dear Foodies. Long story short, I think it's a good option, especially on those days when you want a salad and can't/don't want to go out and procure one. 

And lookit! I even found you a coupon so you can try it for yourself! Squee!

Let the Countdown Begin!

Less than a week until the Bariatric Foodie Pledge starts! I've gotten a few process questions. Once it all begins I think it'll become very easy to follow but I thought I'd give you a blueprint of how this all happens.

Basically here’s how a Pledge Week goes (and as you're reading this keep in mind that I post a RIDICULOUS amount of reminders for all this stuff!):

Sunday: (except for week 1, which starts on Saturday, February 2) I’ll call for pledges (goals) for that week and I’ll also announce that week’s prize. At that time you’ll come here to the blog to submit your pledge. You will have until Monday at  noon to pledge (even on the first week!).

All week long: You work on your goal. And don't forget to keep up with Bariatric Foodie on Facebook and Twitter for encouragement!

The next Saturday: You need to check-in, or say how you did. You’ll do that by answering three very simple questions. Did you achieve your goal? What challenged or inspired you? How will you keep this goal going?

Sunday evening: Once you’ve checked in, I’ll announce a winner I picked by using a random name generator and I’ll also put out the call for the next week’s pledges. Again, you’ll have until midday Monday to submit them.

Monday evening/Tuesday morning: I will publish a list of the pledgers for the week (first name, last initial) and announce it. Please make sure you’re on my list for the week! Once the list closes (24 hours after I post it), that’s the official Pledger list for the week. If I don’t have you down for all four weeks, you won’t be eligible for the kick arse grand prize!

The last week of the Pledge is Grand Prize week. I’ll ask eligible grand prize Pledgers to share a bit of information about themselves (nothing too personal). And it will be up to the Foodie Nation to vote for a grand prize winner.

Once we get into it, it will become a natural rhythm. And if this year is anything like last year, you won’t want the Pledge to end! (Although it will because…much as I love you…all good things must come to an end!)

And I don’t want to sound like a broken record (yes I do) but please, please, please show love to our grand prize sponsors by liking them on Facebook or following them on Twitter and shooting them a note of thanks. They are:

•  Torani Syrups (Facebook, Twitter)
• Celebrate Vitamins (Facebook, Twitter)
•  Chike (Facebook, Twitter)
• Kay’s Naturals (Facebook, Twitter)
• Kalorie Box (Facebook, Twitter)

Showing our prize sponsors love helps me help YOU get better prizes. Thank you for thanking them!

Foodies who participated in last year's Pledge: please chime in that this is all very simple and FUN! I think the most common piece of feedback I've received is disbelief that all you have to do to get these great prizes is work on your goals...but it's true!

So…let the countdown begin! 

Baked Cheese Crisps

Cheez-Its. They are my kryptonite. Can anyone relate?

Baked cheese is not my invention but I appreciate it, as I do snacks like "Just the Cheese." But...I'm a single mom with two kids, a dog and a cat to feed all on one meager salary so...sometimes a Foodie's gotta do what a Foodie's gotta do.

So here's how I get my Cheez-It fix on the cheap. This is the simplest thing I've probably ever posted on this blog. There are two ingredients. Cheese and cheese.

So here's how it goes down.

Step One:

The beauty of these things is they work with a variety of cheese qualities. Here, as you can see, I've used budget ingredients ;)

Choose your cheese(s). You can use one type of cheese or several. You can also add things in. I like spicy stuff, so I've done Mexican blend with a pinch of ground Chipotle pepper in it. I've done Parmesan/Romano (with a teeny bit of mozzarella) with a pinch of Italian spices. Let your imagination go wild! Here I did Colby Jack and Parmesan. It's an unlikely combo but then I'm an unlikely girl :)

I use full-fat cheese. I suspect this will still work with low-fat cheese but the cook times might be longer as reduced fat cheeses don't tend to melt as fast as full-fat. I do not know about fat free cheese because, frankly, it frightens me. :)

If you are using one cheese, measure out a serving of it for each person who will partake. If you are using more than one cheese, use equal parts of each.

Step Two:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. While it's heating up, line a baking sheet with parchment paper (not aluminum foil, not non-stick cooking spray on the cookie sheet...parchment paper). Lay out your cheese however you want. I like to mix mine up a bit. You may like it layered. It's yo' thang. Do what you wanna do!

You can also do one big cheese crisp and break it up or do little rounds (I'm showing both ways in this post). Or heck...get creative. Make cheesy hearts if you wanna!

Step Three:

This is where the journey gets highly personal. When I researched how to make this, most sources said bake for 5-7 minutes or until the cheese is very browned around the edges and lightly browned in the middle. In my oven, however, this took more like 13 minutes. Your mileage may vary. I'd say start checking on it at 7 minutes and let it go until it looks like this:

Or like this if you are doing rounds:

I love you too  much to lie to you, Foodies. The rounds got made because I made the big one...and the kids ate it before I could take a final pic!!!

Step Four:

This is, by far, the hardest part. Turn off the oven and walk away! The cheese crisps will continue to cook a bit on the hot cookie sheet but that will just contribute to them being crispier. But they MUST cool to be crispy. So you want crisps? Walk away!

Step Five:

When you come back you should have little pieces of cheesy heaven! And one note: If you overcook the cheese, no worries! (Unless it's burnt black...that tends to be...yucky...). When trying to get down exactly how long it took for these to cook I overcooked quite a few batches and both the divas and I still loved them!

Now, since you've only used one portion of cheese (which is what I'd use in any recipe where I  use cheese) to me these could be a snack. But most of the time, in my eternal weirdness) I find myself doing other things with them. Like dipping them in Greek yogurt ranch dip. Or crumbling over a salad. Or tossing atop a bowl of soup (that didn't work out so well for me by the way).

Whatever way you choose to do it, this will definitely give you your cheesy fix. Enjoy!

Nik's Portable Egg Scramble Kit

Do you have a default food? It seems to me that most weight loss surgery post-ops do. A default food is that food you're almost always in the mood to eat, if all else fails. I have several. One of my default foods is eggs.

But eggs aren't the most portable food in the world, especially for our rearranged digestive systems! If you cook them ahead and reheat them they can take on a rubbery texture. Or...your pouch/sleeve/____ (whatever you call that thing that receives food) can reject them for absolutely no good reason.

This is more a methodology than a recipe. You can do these "kits" any way you want using any ingredients you want. Microwave scrambles aren't an original idea of mine. I first heard about them through Hungry Girl. BUT hers seem more suited to scrambling at home. I wanted to scramble at work. So...here's how I do it.

Nik's Portable Egg Scramble Kit 
(Let's call this one a "whichamacallit" scramble)

Components:

In a small plastic container I put 3 oz. of liquid egg substitute. (Use however much you think you can eat in an appropriately sized container).

In a larger, microwave-safe plastic container I put:

• Diced veggies (I used diced red and green bell peppers, onions and tomato)
• Diced meat (I had a package of Turkey Lil' Smokies hanging out in the fridge so I sliced a few of those up)

In a snack-sized baggie, a put a bit of shredded cheese (I used an ounce. Your mileage may vary).

When it came time to cook it up (at work), I simply added my egg substitute and cheese to my veggies and microwaved on high for a minute at a time, stirring after each minute, until the eggs were cooked. This is where the veggies came in handy. The water they release helps keep the eggs soft and agreeable to my pouch. And lookit:

A yummy egg scramble lunch (or breakfast, if eggs for lunch isn't your thing), just for me!

This, of course, comes with a caveat. If you aren't good with eggs, don't try this at home! And not everyone is good with microwaved food, no matter how it's prepared. If that's you, proceed cautiously.

But for those who, like me, have a "pouch of steel" this is a great way to have breakfast for lunch (or dinner) when away from home!

BF Top 5: Portion Control!

Whether you are a weight-loss surgery patient or someone simply looking to eat a healthier diet, portion control is always a concern.

One great tool I've found is...ramekins! Instant portion control. They come in all sorts of sizes to meet various needs.

Keeping that in mind, here are a few of my favorite ramekin recipes (click the title for the recipe!):

Nik's Reuben Ramekin

Since the publishing of this recipe, a Foodie suggested adding some caraway seeds to this and I tried it. Oh. My. YUM!

Nik's portion-Controlled Cheesecakes

Because I heart cheesecake. But I do not heart overconsumption of cheesecake, otherwise known as "gut death." That's all I have to say about that.

Nik's Lil' Baby Pot Pies

Aren't they so cute! I love pot pies but when you're new out my family-style pot pie recipe can be a bit overwhelming. These guys are a bit more approachable.

Nik's Ramekin Peach Pies

Take a trip to the Peach Pit! (Beverly Hills 90210, anyone?). YUM!

Nik's French Onion Soup Ramekin

Yeah...I think I need to actually make this. Pronto! By the way for the fam, with the addition of a roast beef sandwich on REALLY crusty bread, this doubles as a French dip ramekin! (Just sayin')

Those are my five faves. Do you use ramekins? If so, I'd love to hear what you put in yours!

Salted Butter Toffee Protein Oatmeal

It's been all about oatmeal around here, hasn't it?

We've had high-protein baked oatmeal, scrambled oatmeal...well this morning I just wanted a plain bowl of oatmeal. But for me it has to have protein. Why? Because in my old bariatric age (just turned 5 years post-op), I seem to be developing blood sugar control problems (I refuse to call it hypoglycemia yet) and so starch has to be accompanied by protein!

S'anyway. I have a good bit of leftover sugar-free Torani English Toffee syrup from the Protein Shake Sample Kits so I decided to see how that would work in my protein oatmeal.

Nik's Salted Butter Toffee Protein Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. quick oats (That's what's in the above. I realize that might be WAY too much for some of you, so if need be, cut down to 1/4 c. I'll give modification directions with the other ingredients.)
• 1/4 c. Torani sugar-free English Toffee syrup (or use 1 tbsp. for every ounce of oatmeal)
• 1 scoop of your favorite protein (I used Any Whey unflavored. If you are using less than the 1/2 c. serving, use a 1/4 scoop of protein per ounce of oatmeal. So 1/4 c. would be half a scoop of protein).
• 1 c. skim milk (use twice the amount of milk than oatmeal)
• A small pat of butter or low-calorie butter substitute
• A generous pinch of salt (this works especially well if you have large-crystal salt)

Directions:

In a bowl combine your oats, protein powder and syrup until thoroughly mixed. 

Then add syrup until a coarse, thick paste forms.

Add your milk and stir it in thoroughly.

Pop it in the microwave for about three minutes but stop half-way through to stir.

It is done when the oats have absorbed all the liquids. You'll need to stir again to incorporate the protein all the way.

Top with your pat of butter and your pinch of salt and...

NOM!!!! I think I found a new favorite oatmeal flavor!

Brandi's Oatmeal & Egg White Scramble

I love it when a Foodie starts their message to me about their recipe with, "I know this may sound strange but..."

Isn't that a condition of post-op eating? I mean, we do eat pretty weird stuff, at least according to the non-op world. I personally eat REALLY weird stuff (for instance, my favorite dinner is simply cottage cheese with...you guessed it...peanut butter!). 

I know I'll get comments from folks who are hopelessly normal. But you know what? That's fine too. My point: Bariatric Foodies do it THEIR way. So whatever your "thang" is, I always love to know about it! 

Here's the recipe Brandi sent me.

Brandi's Oatmeal & Egg White Scramble

Ingredients:

• A 500g carton of egg whites (or about a dozen eggs worth of egg whites)
• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats 
• 2 tbsp. vanilla extract (or she likes to use Davinci's sugar-free cookie dough syrup)

Nik Notes: Brandi didn't specify if she uses any additional sweetener. I probably would. Between 1/4 -1/3 c. for the entire recipe (remember, when you heat things with sweetener you up the sweet factor. When you chill things with sweetener you dull it). And I'd also put in a "splick" of salt (again, don't ask me how much a splick is...it's a splick!). Salt and sweetness work well together in oatmeal (as in most places, actually). 

Let all ingredients sit together in a bowl for 30 minutes.

Scramble together in a non stick frying pan until cooked. Usually takes about five minutes, sometimes less.

Each batch makes 6 servings of 1/2 cup with 160 calories and 12 g of protein (See? Brandi is even nice enough to give you stats!). She adds one tablespoon sugar-free blueberry jam and one tablespoon sugar-free breakfast syrup as well (she said this is included in the 160 calories).

Her verdict? I'll let her tell you:

"I find it super filling. I nuke my portion in the microwave for 90 seconds in the morning. It's easy to grab especially on the mornings I run before I go to work. I know it sounds and looks odd but I swear by it!"

Considering I got away with inventing something called an "Eggchilada" I think you're good, Brandi. Thank you for sharing your kitchen inspiration with the Foodie Nation!

Do you have a great recipe to share? Email it to bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com.

Malia's Peaches and Cream Protein Baked Oatmeal

But first...a public service announcement.

Yes, I will sound like a broken record but the 2013 Bariatric Foodie Pledge is coming! I want you guys to be up on what it is so you can all participate. The exciting thing about this year is that there is more than one grand prize! As a reminder, the grand prize is drawn from people who pledge goals and check-in on those goals for all four weeks! And I have some great stuff lined up. On Facebook I've already announced TWO grand prize sponsors:

• Torani Syrups (check them out on Facebook or @Torani on Twitter)
• Celebrate Bariatric Vitamins (check them out on Facebook or @CelebrateV on Twitter)

Be sure to like or follow them both and write a note of thanks for supporting the Foodie Nation. Showing our appreciation helps me get more companies involved in future giveaways!.More prize announcements to come!

Ok, back to business. So...Malia is a fellow Foodie who claims she doesn't cook much. But after getting pics of how she was playing with her food it became apparent to me that while she might not cook frequently, she does cook well!

Here's her recipe for Peaches & Cream Protein Baked oatmeal. She also sent a recipe for chocolate chip that I will post later this week.

You may notice I've suggested some modifications to Malia's recipe. You are welcome to make the original recipe or use my suggestions. Either way, it's good!

Malia's Peaches & Cream Protein Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 1.5 c. quick oats
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/3 c. no-calorie sweetener (Malia used Ideal Brown Sugar Substitute)
• 2 scoops protein powder (Any powder, any size scoop, doesn't matter. Malia used this. I would use this.)
• 1.5 c. milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 bag frozen peaches (Or the equivalent of one frozen peach, sliced. But my suggestion would be to instead drain 1-2 no-sugar added cups of diced peaches and use those instead.)
• 1 oz. cream cheese, cubed (Malia didn't specify but I suggest Neufchatel cheese, or 1/3 less fat cream cheese)

Streusel topping:

• 3/4 c. Ideal Brown Sugar substitute
• 3/4 c. flour (see my note below)
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1.5 tbsp. cinnamon
• 1.4 c. butter, softened

Nik Note: Much as I loved me some Streusel back inna day, I'd probably skip the topping. I'm not opposed to indulgence (have you read this blog???) but I am opposed to blood sugar crashes. For those with reactive hypoglycemia (which is becoming increasingly common with post-ops) the topping with the oatmeal and the fruit might be problematic. But, as always, use your best judgment! If anyone is willing to experiment with streusel using Atkins mix, I might be willing to provide said Atkins Mix...leave a comment if you're interested. Just sayin'.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a bowl, mix together oats, salt, sweetener and protein powder.

Add milk, then cubed cream cheese, then the peaches and mix well. 

Pour into a casserole dish (8 x 8 shown here) and bake for 12-15 minutes or until set and edges are browned. 

Cool completely before cutting. When refrigerated, these turn into great breakfast bars or you can pop them into the microwave for 15 seconds or so to warm them up. Malia likes to eat hers on the go!

Other Protein Baked Oatmeal recipes:

• Nutty Apple 
• Fall Harvest
• Cinnamon Raisin

Nik's Recipe for Goals that Succeed

Today I have a recipe of a different sort.

So the 2013 Bariatric Foodie Pledge is coming. Need info? Click that link and read all about it. I’ll wait.

You good? Ok, lovely!

You ever make a goal and it didn’t quite work? Were you left wondering why? I know I have been. But did you know there is actually a “recipe” for effective goals?

Many of you may have already heard of S.M.A.R.T. goals but I wanted to go over the concept so we’re all on the same page. I’d LOVE to see lots of SMART goals during the Pledge because that means you’re making goals in a way that sets you up for success!

S.M.A.R.T. goals are:

Specific: Which, of course, is the opposite of vague. So:

Bad = “I will eat better.”

Good = “I will eat a protein forward diet with plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates.”

Measure-able: Because unless you draw a finish line for your goal, how do you know if you’ve crossed it?

Bad = “I pledge to eat less carbs and more protein.”

Good = “I pledge to eat less than Xgrams of carbs per day and more than Xgrams of protein”

Achievable: This is where most New Years Resolutions go wrong. Too lofty.

Bad = I want to weigh 75 lbs.

Good = I want to reach a healthy weight according to the Body Mass Index.

Realistic: This one often confuses people. I am a big believer in long vs. short range goals. Long range goals are made up of a bunch of short range goals. When looking at your short range goals, it can be bad to bite off more than you know you can chew, so:

Bad = I want to run a marathon this summer (when you’ve never run before).

Good = I want to complete the couch to 5k program and jog my first 5k by this summer.

Timely: Open-ended goals are goals that stand a very high chance of never getting achieved. Make yourself accountable to the goal by either setting a due or benchmark dates.

Bad = I’m going to lose these last five pounds someday.

Good = I want to lose this last five pounds within the next four months.

The examples I gave are exaggerations, of course, but there are many ways you can incorporate the SMART goal mentality in your personal goals and to your pledges. By following this simple template you do more than just make goals you can achieve — with each small goal, you build momentum to take on bolder goals. Before you know it you’re doing things you never thought you could do!

So…start thinking about it. What might some of your SMART goals be for the Bariatric Foodie Pledge?