Shavuot Menu, Keeping it Easy

Maybe someday I'll still do it. A number of years ago, I started writing a cookbook which I named:

The Lazy Cook Cookbook

For some strange reason, people told me that the title is awful. Am I the only person who looks for easy ways to prepare food? I don't like recipes that have too many steps and too many ingredients. Those of you who have seen my recipes already, must have noticed that they're pretty minimal.

Those of us who live very Jewish lives, according to halacha, Jewish Law, will be celebrating the Shavuot Holiday immediately after Shabbat. That means that since it's forbidden to do any preparation, whether cooking, setting the table or even cutting a salad on Shabbat for the Holiday, even the fanciest balabustas, Jewish housekeepers, should keep it pretty simple. The family and guests, if you have any, will want to eat as soon as possible, no doubt.

That's why I decided to serve me and my husband cream cheese, lox and salad. That's not something we have frequently or at all. I may serve a dairy vegetable kugel, which should heat up pretty easily, but I still have to make it today. With the added treat of ice cream for dessert, we should be ready on time to go to a Torah class. Neither of us learn all night anymore. We're not as young as we used to be.

For Shavuot "lunch," after synagogue, I'll make a version of my "one pot baked fish and vegetables" in advance. We don't have any guests for that meal either, so I can cook exactly what we need to eat.

Ever since we both began to "diet," I try to serve us only what we need. The only "unlimited" foods I have on the table are salad and low carbohydrate vegetables. We've never been on "starvation diets." Just the thought of one makes me gorge on forbidden foods. When we have guests, I put out more food, but many of our guests are "repeats" and have the same food preferences as we do.

I bought a couple of special cheeses as Shavuot treats, besides the ice cream. We won't starve for sure.

Soon I'll go to our local swimming pool, and then after breakfast I'll cook, Gd willing.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Shavuot Sameach To All

Appetite in Flux, Suddenly Needing Carbs

About a decade ago, I radically changed my eating habits, reducing carbs and grains drastically. The result was a fifteen 15 kilo, thirty 30 pound weight loss, which, I've pretty much kept off all this time. The key was to increase cooked vegetables, especially, squash, cabbage and carrots. I found them most satisfying. I made this change, which I tried not to call a "diet," because diets are temporary and I knew that the weight would pile back on with interest if I reverted back to my old eating habits.

At the time, we weren't at all in a good place financially, so I also had to find low cost foods. That's when I discovered that a couple of spoons of sesame paste, the stuff you use to make techina at home, is a fantastic and filling low-cost protein. It also keeps well for meals to go, when paired with cooked vegetables. That was my "take to work meal," sauteed onion, carrot and squash topped with sesame paste.

Recently, maybe because I have fewer scheduled things to do this year, I've begun to crave carbohydrates. I still stay away from pasta, which has always been a "control" problem with me. When I need something quick and easy to "fill" me, I take oats, not the super instant, and just add some boiling water and cover, until they are edible. I don't add anything to it, no milk, sugar, cinnamon nada. And shockingly, I've even started buying/eating the rice crackers, though I had always considered them terribly addictive. When I eat them, I follow the rule of never eating from a package. I set up a plate and only take out one or two at a time. When I need a very filling snack, I'll spread some of my sesame paste on a couple of them.

The most difficult thing in recent months, or longer, is that I can't find a breakfast that satisfies me. No matter what I prepare, whether it's a muesli of oats, goat yogurt and fruit, or an omelette with lots of vegetables, I want something more.

I used to eat the same exact breakfast pretty much every day for years, and now that just doesn't work for me. Maybe I just have to schedule in variety and have my breakfast suit pre-breakfast activities and also where I am. I usually sleep out once a week.

The Diet Saga is never over. For those of us who have been obese, or very overweight, keeping control of our weight is a lifetime sentence/job.

Diet Tip: Banish "The Clean Plate Club"

One thing that has been consistent in most of my life is that I was a founding member of  "The Clean Plate Club." That was even before the "baby nurse" my parents had hired after my sister was born introduced the name to our lexicon.

I almost never left food on my plate. I can't remember ever being served something I didn't like, even vegetables.

That may have made me into a "good eater," something praised by my family, especially because I wasn't a fussy eater. And since desserts were rare, candy forbidden, and we had lots of freedom outside to play, I wasn't fat as a child.

Dieting is a losing battle!

But as I got older and bigger, so did my appetite and at some point I was overweight, even mildly obese. For the past ten years I've been working hard at getting weight off and keeping it off.

First I cut out carbohydrates to almost none, and I also limited my protein portion. By doing these two simple things, I was able to lose about 30 lbs, or close to 15 kilogram. And I've kept most of it off.

To be honest, as time went on I've become less strict. One of the reasons is that research has shown that varying your calorie count, including having one day "off" a week actually speeds your metabolism. That helps the weight stay off.

About a year ago I discovered that five kilo had snuck back.  I've spent the last year fighting to get them back off. A month ago I succeeded, but now after some holidays and a hotel vacation a couple just crept back.

The good thing about having the weight off for so long is that my body has adjusted to the lower weight, and frequently, I realize that I'm "full," when there's still food on my plate. That is a new phenomena for me. So, as quickly as I can, I "clean" my plate by either packing away some of the food or throwing it in the garbage.

It's not a waste to throw out food. It's a waste to add it to your waist!

Breakfast Tweak Prevents Sugar Craving

Reporting on how my switching from a nice full vegetable omelet to fruit and goat yogurt has affected my food cravings. A few months ago I found myself craving sweets and fruit at best after eating a nice big vegetable omelet. And I also couldn't get the 3-4 kilo which had snuck on back off. So I decided to change my breakfast to fruit and goat yogurt. In the beginning I sometimes even added some oats.

apple, peach, ginger slivers and goat yogurt

Well, the results are even better than I had expected. I no longer crave something sweet, eat less fruit during the day and I lost the few kilo, thank Gd.

There are times that we must listen to our "cravings" and then use them as guides. If you find a way to prevent them, you gain control and can even lose weight.

Have you any easy diet tips like this one?