Hold the Butter

To Sean's immense happiness, we've rung in 2009 by bringing back the carbs. Last year, we dabbled in the 'low-carb' lifestyle with some success, but Sean loves his bread and pasta, so we're trying a different way of eating healthy.

We're watching portion sizes, eating more fruits & veggies, whole grains, leaner meats and healthier oils. Sean's happy, and I'm adjusting.

I thought I'd found a really good cookbook to try called 'The Food You Crave'. I brought it home, and have tried a few recipes, but they haven't turned out as promised. Obviously, you really can taste the missing butter & cream! With a few tweaks though, I think we could have some fun with it. 

Here's what we're trying:

Turkey Pot Pies with leeks, green beans & peas in a thin crispy phyllo dough. (I put some asparagus in mine, yum!) The 'pastry' was really nice, but the inside was a little underseasoned. Okay, I can sub 1% milk for cream, but for the love of god, don't make me go low sodium!

Portabello Mushroom Lasagna Roll-ups, with whole wheat noodles, mushrooms, spinach (I used kale), ricotta (I used 1% cottage cheese), & homemade tomato sauce. What a disaster! The taste was ok, but I'd never stand the 'tubes' up vertically again. What a pain in the ass. Lots of hidden veggies in this one though, mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!

In other unrelated news, the Patullo bridge is back in business after having caught fire last week. What a week! Took 2-3 times as long to get to work in the morning (and Sean & I both have a 45min-1hr commute). Very hellish, but I managed not to kill anyone by employing audiobooks & strong, overpriced coffee. Mmmm...

In even more unrelated news, we've started to watch a really weird new show called 'Pushing Daisies'. Well, technically it isn't a new show, it's an older one we've downloaded, but it is quite weird. Basically, it's about a guy who can bring the dead back to life with his magic touch. Trick is, if it stays re-animated for longer than 60 seconds, something or someone else has to die in it's place. Kinda quirky, with crazy over-the-top characters and intensely colourful sets & costumes. It's almost like watching a fairy tale... of the grimm variety.