A tiny glimpse...

I can't eat for how long???!!

So yesterday was my first foray into the world of Intermittent Fasting (IF).  I am trying to loose weight that has somehow appeared onto my body over the past 15 years out of nowhere!!  Well, maybe not out of nowhere - 2 babies, less activity, and a deeper love of cooking and baking!  I have done pretty well since Christmas losing about 25 pounds so far.  Unfortunately I have hit a sort of plateau recently and my husband suggested that I participate in a 24 hour fast that he and some friends were doing.  I thought it sounded crazy and impossible - I mean how do you go without eating all day I have never done that before!  I was hesitant to say the least and decided to just wait and see how it goes.  I ate dinner with the family on Tuesday and then went to bed at the normal time.  In the morning I had my coffee and started to see how long I could go.  I did pack a lunch and had it at work with me, but before I knew it it was three o'clock and I still hadn't eaten!!  I had some ice tea and water during the day and just kept going.  I was actually surprised by the  fact that I made it and it wasn't that bad.  Nothing blew up in the lab and everyone is still talking to me so apparently I was not a raging loon and I didn't black out!  Now I am hopefull that this will jump start my body into losing some more weight and gear me up for the next time!  Oh yes, there will be a next time! 

Fall

There are many things that I like about Fall, but I think the best part is changing over from our summer supper menu to our wintry menu!!  I really love to cook and try new recipes.  This year I have seen so many new recipes for soups and stews!!  Can't wait to get cooking and now since the weather has started to turn colder it is time. 

I started our fall cooking festivities with the cooking of our pumpkin seeds after we carved our pumpkins for Halloween.  I usually just pull off most of the chunks and cook them in the oven with some butter and salt, but this year I was looking for other pumpkin recipes and found that there is another step.  There was a thread that suggested boiling the seeds in some salted water for about 10 minutes before toasting in the oven which would allow the salty flavor to infuse into the seed some.  I tried this with our seeds this year and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  The rest of the family thought they were excellent too and they were not around long!  So here's to starting off a fall of new culinary adventures.....I think we should have roasted chicken tonight!

A renewed love for my crock pot!!

    I have found a renewed love for my crock pot!!  We have always been close in the winter months when you need a warm friend all day long, but everything was always comfortable and the same, there was no excitement anymore.  I had tried to spice things up this winter and do new things, but after a few mediocre results where the ingredients were different, but the outcome tasted about the same I had almost lost all desire - And then it happened I was looking for a new recipe for the crock pot and happened across the most wonderful site ever created with much love for the crock pot...  Wait for it.....A Year of Crockpotting by Stephanie!!!!  This is one  of the most novel and helpful sites I have seen.  I love the format. 
    Everyday there is a picture of the final product with the title, then a little blurb about what is going on and if there was a specific recipe or taste desired, a picture and list of the ingredients along with some nutritional information specific for Stephanie's family and my favorite part - The verdict!!  I love to try new recipes and I can usually read a recipe and figure out if it is going to be something that we like, but not so much with the crock pot.   I guess you add a whole new dimension to a recipe when you cook it for 8 hours all in the same pot.  It is great to read that it was really good, spicy, can be dry if you use certain meats or you could substitute other things if that's what you have on hand and most importantly what the kids thought!   
    So if you have a desire to heat up your relationship with your crock pot I highly recommend you visit Stephanie's site and browse around her "cookbook" for some recipes!
     P.S.  We had company last night and made the chimichangas from day 102 and they were fabulous!  We have also made the apricot chicken and the seasoned leg of lamb.  All fabulous!!!

Oh my good Lord!!

    This is one of my fine fine Christmas presents that I have received this year.  I have been wanting one of these for quite some time now, but could not justify spending the money so it went on the wish list.  A couple of my girlfriends have counter top ice cream makers that they use all the time and based on their input and internet reviews I settled on this one.  One big bonus of this one is you can easily purchase additional freezing cores in order to make multiple batches in one day.  Bonus! 
    We have an old school electric maker (older than me) that my parents passed on a few years ago and it works really great, but since it uses the ice and salt freezing method it has to be done outside and is kind of a pain if you are in a hurry.  We will probably take it to the farm house in Iowa and just leave it there for summer use.
    Anyway, I made my first batch of ice cream today, the basic vanilla recipe that came with the unit, and it is awesome!!  I used cold ingredients and mixed it in a metal bowl with my mixer.  Based on recommendations I put the whole bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so then stirred it up and poured it into the machine.  Within 20 minutes I had ice cream!!!  I can not wait to try out many different kinds and this could be detrimental to the whole lose weight idea!  I guess if I make kinds with nuts and lots of chocolate (both of which I don't eat much of) then it will just be a problem for others and I still get to play with my Christmas gift.