The Mother Load

The picture's not the best because I took it with my cell phone mere seconds before devouring this bowl full of deliciousness.  A few bites as I made this soup told me I'd done very well, so I had no desire to leave the table and track down my digital camera.  I did, however, have a desire to share this recipe with you.  Feel loved.

This soup is heavier on the carbs than dinners I usually make, but I figure that it's a fine meal for every now and then. Cheese and milk add protein.  Fresh veggies would round the meal out nicely.  My family decided they were happy to chow down on slices of the homemade bread the kids and I had made earlier in the day, and Richard had great pleasure in dipping his bread in the last of his soup (both last night and again today, for lunch.)

This is an improvised recipe.  I knew I would start it with a white sauce base, and online recipes called for cans of creamed corn to add to it.  I'm not a fan of canned vegetables when I can avoid them, so I made my own creamed corn in the blender.  Where the recipes called for cream, I substituted skim milk without any problems with flavor.  In a perfect world, I would have sauteed onions and garlic together before adding them to the soup.  I was short on time, and I have a daughter who is rebelling against onions, so to keep the peace, I settled for garlic and onion powder instead. 

The soup is super easy to make and quite tasty.  

Ingredients:
32 oz bag of frozen corn
Water
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
5 tablespoons flour
6 cups skim milk
onion powder
garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
6-8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

Submerge frozen corn in hot water and heat on low until corn is no longer frozen. Drain.  Place half the corn in a blender and reserve the rest. Add just enough water to the blender to cover corn.  Blend to the consistency of creamed corn, about a minute.  Melt butter in large pot, add flour and mix over medium heat.  Add milk and whisk well while heating over medium to high heat.  Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until sauce starts to bubble and thicken. Reduce heat to medium low.  Add creamed corn, reserved corn, and cheddar cheese. Add spices to taste stir until cheese is melted.  Serve hot.  Makes about 6-8 servings.

These may not be low in carbs overall, but they are certainly made up of much better carbs than the pancakes one can make from a mix, and they're free of the preservatives and lard you also find in those mixes. Our dinner tonight consisted of these, low fat vanilla yogurt, and a serving of poached eggs for each of us. I meant to add oranges to the spread, but forgot. No one minded, as these pancakes are pretty satisfying on their own.

I topped my pancake with my yogurt and a drizzling of honey. The kids finished off the last of the store bought syrup, and we won't be buying more. (The cheap person in me overrode the anti-HFCS activist, so we didn't just throw out the rest.) From now on, I'll be making my own syrup for the family.  This is super simple to do.  Just combine a cup of brown sugar and a cup of white sugar and dissolve them in a cup of water in a saucepan on the stove. Add 1/2 teaspoon of maple extract or imitation maple flavoring.  Heat the mixture to a low boil and boil and stir for 3 minutes.  Let it cool a bit before you serve it.  Store it in your cupboards like you would any other syrup.

The recipe for the Multigrain and Flax Seed Pancakes is one I adapted from The Joy of Cooking cookbook's "Four-Grain Flapjacks" recipe.  Mine works better for me, as I've replaced the cornmeal with cracked wheat and the eggs with flax seed.  This reduces the overall fat and cholesterol content of the pancakes and gives them the healthy omegas found in flax seed.  I've also omitted the sugar in the recipe, allowing the honey to do the work of sweetening the pancakes.

As an aside, milled flax seed can be used as an egg substitute in just about any baked dish.  One tablespoon of flax and three tablespoons of water are equivalent to one egg.  With our new commitment to buying better ( and therefore more expensive) eggs, I'll be using the flax substitute in all my baking and reserving eggs for main courses.

On to the recipe!

Combine the following dry ingredients in a large bowl (Spice amounts are approximate. I probably use much more because I'm a big fan of this trio.)
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1/3 cup cracked wheat
1/4 cup rolled oats
3 tbsp milled flax seed
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger

Combine wet ingredients in a smaller bowl
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
9 tbsp water

Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and cook on a griddle.  Serve on a plate, then snarf responsibly. :)

Like most American families, pizza is a favorite in our house.  But with my need to eat a diet lower in carbs in order to control my PCOS, it's not really the best option.  What's a pizza loving girl to do?  See above...and below.

This low carb pizza alternative is the new favorite of ours.  The crust of the pizza is the most important difference.  We use low carb wraps instead of making a thicker crust ourselves.  This also makes the pizza super easy and fast to cook, and that, readers, is pretty cool.

Any variety of low carb, high fiber wrap will do for this recipe.  We use the Flatout Light Italian Herb Wraps we find in the bakery section of our local Wal Mart. (Yes, I know I said Wal Mart.  I hated them, and then they decided to make a commitment to stocking healthier food, so we have a truce for now.)

Each person in the family gets a wrap on which to create their perfect pizza.  Because pre-made spaghetti and pizza sauces have high fructose corn syrup in them, and because I don't believe for a second what the condescending new ads about this stuff say, I choose to make my own sauce for the pizzas.  I keep it simple.  For a family my size, I use one 8 ounce can of tomato sauce and one 6 ounce can of tomato paste.  I add garlic, oregano, basil, rosemary, and marjoram and heat it up in a skillet until it's bubbly and tastes just right.

The pizza you see above has turkey pepperoni, Canadian bacon, fresh tomatoes, fresh onions, and fresh spinach for toppings.  The cheese is part skim mozzarella, and you can see I've used a lot less than my local pizza place would.  I like to sprinkle a little oregano and basil on before I bake mine.  It gives it a little extra kick. 

We bake these at 400°F for 10 minutes.  Since there are a few of us here, this takes two pans, so I make sure to open the oven at the five minute mark and switch the pans, so neither of them has to spend the entire time close to the heat.  The pizzas come out crispy and delicious every time, and we get to indulge without the worry of unhealthy eating.

If you've been missing Mother Unload posts, rest assured that it's not because I've given up the fight.  I'm just busy!  And I've discovered Hulu!  This is very bad. The good news is that Celebrity Apprentice ended last night.  (Shhhhh...don't tell. I'm watching the episode as I write this!)

I'm up to 24 pounds in my total weight loss efforts, and I think I'm finally willing to say how much I actually weighed when all of this began.  I threw around the 230 number because that's the weight I've generally settled at for the last 7 or 8 years, but the truth is that when I began working on my weight, I was actually 245.  That is, of course, and all time high for me.  Today, I'm at 221.  My goal is 140, so I'm still 81 pounds away from that, but I'm feeling really good with my progress.

Wanna see what 24 pounds of weight loss looks like?  Check out these pictures taken December 2010.





And now look at this picture from earlier this month:




So, the feature...

"Look at My Dinner" refers to my efforts to drive my online friends crazy with obnoxious pictures of my healthy dinners.  In order to keep them as friends, I've decided YOU GUYS get to partake of my obnoxiousness!  Aren't you happy?  (Don't answer that.)

I love cooking. I love sharing my cooking.  I love that that cooking is now leading to a smaller, thinner, healthier me.  Some of you are also trying to lose some weight, and I realize you might be on the lookout for tasty and healthy dishes you can make for your families.

The "Look at My Dinner!" posts will feature a picture of my dinner (the better for you to look at it) along with information on how to make it yourself.  Sometimes, that will be a link to the page where I found the recipe.  Sometimes, that will be a "recipe" of my own design.  I put that word in quotes because I like to improvise in the kitchen and rarely measure spices and other ingredients.  I'll be giving you the foundation, but it's up to you to make it yours.

Ready to be driven crazy? Let's do this!