Cauliflower....the often overlooked vegetable!

Hello everyone. Hope this fine fall day finds everyone happy and healthy. It's a blessing to be on vacation, but then you have to go back to real life. In real life breakfast buffets don't automatically show up on my counter, and no one is waiting to pour me a glass of fine California wine while I peruse the crudite table at 5 PM. But there is something nice about settling back into the old routine, sleeping in your own bed, and cuddling with your pets while you watch TV. Even getting  back to a normal routine of eating is good for me. I put on a few lbs while vacationing, but I recommited myself as soon as I returned. For me that means writing down and measuring everything that goes in my mouth. The funniest thing is, what's in my memory, often isn't what went in my belly! I found this out by tracking. Turns out I am most likely eating more than I thought. Imagine that?

So I have been hearing all of this talk about cauliflower pizza crust and mashed cauliflower. I decided to make a mashed version the other night. I used a food network recipe, but of course I was missing ingredients, so I modified it. I topped it with a delicious recipe for seared sea scallops that I have. It was gourmet restaurant quality yummy, if I do say so myself! Here's the cauliflower recipe with some adaptations that I made. The scallop recipe with my adaptations is below. If you like scallops I think you will really love this recipe. It felt really sinful to eat and was comforting and delicious. Cauliflower you are my new veggie hero!!!

Mashed Cauliflower

• 1 medium head cauliflower
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

 Bring a stockpot of water to boil over high heat.

Clean and cut cauliflower into small pieces and add to pot. Cook in boiling water for about 6 minutes, or until well done. Drain well; do not let cool.

In a food processor, puree the hot cauliflower with the cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic, butter, salt and pepper until almost smooth.

So if this wasn't good enough, I topped this with a wonderful seared scallop recipe that I have.

Seared Scallops with Bacon and Spinach

1. 2 slices of bacon chopped
2. 1 small onion or 2 large shallots finely chopped
3. 3 garlic cloves chopped
4. one large container of baby spinach, chopped
5. 1-2 tsp soy sauce ( I used 1)
6. salt and pepper
7. 1 lb large sea scallops - dry, not in preservative
8. extra virgin olive oil
9. 1 tbs butter
10. 1 medium tomato seeded and diced

In large skillet cook bacon over moderate heat until crisp, about 4 minutes. Spoon off all  but about 2 tbs of fat.  Add the onion or scallions to skillet and saute until softened and slightly brown. Add the garlic and stir until tender, about 2 minutes, but not brown. Add the tomatoes and cook until soft. Add the spinach and toss with the mixture. Cover and cook over very low heat until the spinach wilts. Add the soy sauce and cook a few minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and keep warm.

Remove the side muscle from the scallops ( this is what they attach to the shell with, and it is tough. Just peel it off with your fingers). Make sure the scallops are very dry ( pat with paper towel if needed). Season both sides with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet with olive oil just till smoking hot. Add the scallops and reduce the heat to moderate. Don't touch and let the scallops cook about 3 minutes until golden seared on the bottom. Flip over in pan and cook on the other side. Add the butter at this point and spoon some butter over the tops while they are cooking for approx 3 more minutes.

Spoon a nice mound of the cauliflower on a plate. Top with the spinach mixture and then with the scallops. Bon Appetit!

Thought for the day: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

~ Dr. Seuss

Hello....my name is Pattie, .......and I'm a carbohydrate addict!

Good morning everyone! Thanks for all the great comments you leave. Don't you wish that like facebook, when someone leaves a comment, you could comment back and they would know that you did? Sometimes I leave a comment under the comment on the blog, but always wonder if anyone goes back to read those. If I've confused you totally, sorry!

So today is a rainy Tuesday here in the Northeast. Yesterday was beautiful, and as funny as it sounds, I would rather drive into work on a sunny day than on a rainy day. We were busy in the office yesterday, and it was a long day. We have so many patients with wonderful personalities, and it is nice to chat with them and meet new people. Even so, these 12 hour days are tiring. So today I work from home, handling most of the business stuff for the practice. There are checks to deposit, charges to mail out to our billing company, letters to type etc., etc. I spend most of the day in my home office, or as I like to call it "my woman cave!"

My woman cave!

Working at home can be great, but also a pain in the neck too. I can throw in a load of laundry or run an errand, but the downside is my work is always there looking at me every time I walk by. Ok, enough of the complaining. This week I have a goal to put an ad on Craigs list to find some part time office workers. It's either that or I'll be blogging from a mental health rehab center soon!!

So I have a confession.....I'm a carbohydrate addict! Are you surprised? Are you one too? The most challenging part of the belly fat cure plan for me is watching those carbs. Surprisingly the sugar limit is working just fine for me. I would have never thought it to be so. For most of my life,  I was the one running to the snack drawer foraging for something sweet to eat. It wasn't beyond me to eat a sweet in it's frozen form. Those extra Christmas cookies, wrapped snuggly in their little foil packet in my freezer, turned out to be a lovely cold, chocolate snack.  Who knew? I thought I had a sweet tooth. I couldn't resist sweet treats, nor could I control them. But I lost my taste for them somewhere along the way on this plan. Sometimes I can't believe it myself. I do enjoy my dark chocolate nut clusters ( see recipe on a prior blog) and I still like a daily sweet. But the difference is the control I have now. One or two pieces of chocolate is enough. Saturday I tasted a bite of my husbands apple tarte at little french bistro we like to dine at. It was good, but sweet, and one bite was definitely enough. Ok, sugar under control! Check off list. I got that one down.

Now let's talk about those carbs. This is where I struggle. Even with the whole grain BFC approved carbs, it's hard for me to limit them. I still dabble in the white stuff too. You know the ones that start with enriched white flour? Don't hate me, this is a confession after all!! Did I mention that little french bistro has the most amazing, hot, crusty, french rolls, served with chilled butter? My husband and I always turn away the bread basket when we eat out. The bread at most restaurants isn't usually worth it we say. But here, it is most definitely worth it. So, I mustered all the self control I had, and then I decided to have half of one. They are small rolls,  about the size of  a tennis ball, so it was two bites. I gave in, I caved,  but also did it the 'Kay way'. This is not a technical term, but if you follow my friend Kay's blog, she talks about not being BFC perfect, but cheating in a controlled way. Kay is at her goal and this has worked for her. I am not even close to goal, so maybe I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm looking at it in a positive way. In the past I would have had 2 whole rolls.I did it, it's over and I'm not proud. But at least I minimized the damage. Baby steps!

So I'm trying to really watch the  carbs this week. I have the new Fast Track book on my IPAD, and I'm trying to follow along with the menus. This morning I got up at 5 AM, went to the gym, stopped at the market, came home and walked and fed the dogs, and then made breakfast. I will be in my woman cave most of the day today, so I wanted to get a jump start on the day. While at the market I picked up a pack of canadian bacon. If I'm giving up the grains for breakfast, I need to add some substance.  Canadian bacon is lower in fat and a little healthier for you. I found this nutrition infor about it on the web.

Canadian bacon vs. bacon

Regular old bacon comes from the belly of a pig and is streaked with fat. Canadian-style bacon is taken from the back of the pig rather than the belly and is much leaner. Here's a comparison of the nutritional contents - comparing one ounce of each. So ounce per ounce, Canadian-style bacon has only 1/3 of the calories, a fraction of the fat and less sodium, making it the healthier choice. Here's an article explaining Canadian-style bacon, if you're interested.

Sources: Linked, and http://origin.www.nutritiondata.com/ for the nutrition facts

Canadian bacon, topped with cheddar cheese, chia seeds,
poached eggs and chives

So I warmed up the two thin slices of bacon in a non stick skillet, poached two eggs (see how to do this in a prior post). I topped the bacon with some reduced fat cheddar cheese, some chia seeds, the two eggs and some fresh chives. I missed my ezekial bread to sop up the yolks, but guess what? This was really good. Filling too. Try it. And for those of you who don't use fresh herbs to jazz up your meals, it is a really good thing to do. The flavor is subtle, but really enhances the dish.



That's all for today. Thanks for listening!

Thought for the day:   "When in doubt, tell the truth."  Mark Twain