Thursday, May 21, 2009

Fat me wants to slap thin me!

Have you ever wanted to go back in time and slap yourself for something? That's how I feel these days. 

See, I grew up thinking I had a positive body image. I have curves and plenty of them and I was ok with that. I never obsessed about dieting like many of my friends. And this was even before JLo made it cool to have a JLo! See, Hispanic women are supposed to be hippy with a side helping of booty. I patted myself on the back for not turning my life upside down to change that.

It's now, 40lbs later that I realize that I didn't diet back then because I didn't need to, not because I accepted my body for what it was! I wasn't fat, I was a pear-shaped 0,2,4, or later 6. My BMI was well within the normal range and that's what really matters, not the size of the indentation on my fave chair.

Now I am dieting. Doing the Slimfast thing, using SparkPeople, exercising to lose weight instead of dancing for fun. Before I scoffed at diets, how annoying I must have sounded. Yes I am hungry and that does make me a bit edgy, yes I'd be a happier not to watch what I eat and care what the scale said, but I need to be healthy. I'll never look like a fashion model, unless looking like JLo or Ugly Betty (don't get me started!) comes into style again and I don't want to, but I do want to tell skinny me to shut up because she isn't comfortable with her body if she thinks there are parts she has to accept. 

Have you ever wanted to go back in time and slap yourself for something? That's how I feel these days. 


See, I grew up thinking I had a positive body image. I have curves and plenty of them and I was ok with that. I never obsessed about dieting like many of my friends. And this was even before JLo made it cool to have a JLo! See, Hispanic women are supposed to be hippy with a side helping of booty. I patted myself on the back for not turning my life upside down to change that.

It's now, 40lbs later that I realize that I didn't diet back then because I didn't need to, not because I accepted my body for what it was! I wasn't fat, I was a pear-shaped 0,2,4, or later 6. My BMI was well within the normal range and that's what really matters, not the size of the indentation on my fave chair.

Now I am dieting. Doing the Slimfast thing, using SparkPeople, exercising to lose weight instead of dancing for fun. Before I scoffed at diets, how annoying I must have sounded. Yes I am hungry and that does make me a bit edgy, yes I'd be a happier not to watch what I eat and care what the scale said, but I need to be healthy. I'll never look like a fashion model, unless looking like JLo or Ugly Betty (don't get me started!) comes into style again and I don't want to, but I do want to tell skinny me to shut up because she isn't comfortable with her body if she thinks there are parts she has to accept. 

My rice cooker


This goes under a growing list of things I lived without until I got one and now I can't live without. I can make great rice without it, provided I don't get distracted halfway through and burn it (sure it was only one time, but it's a source of Hispanic shame to botch rice!). It's just so easy! And it frees up valuable burner space. Mine even has a steamer attachment so I can steam veggies alone, or while the rice is cooking. Fabu!

Today I embarked into a whole new world of rice cookery. Today I made Quinoa and Lentils! Here's the recipe as I made it up, I even measured (something I don't normally do) so I could record it for posterity.

Into rice cooker went:
1 cup quinoa (prerinsed
1 cup brown lentils
1/4 cup sofrito (frozen)
dash of garlic powder
dash of onion powder
dash of Adobo seasoning (basically pepper, oregano, salt, onion powder, garlic powder & achiote)
4 cups water

After it cooked I served it with 1/4 cup vegetable juice and a little shredded mozzarella added to it. It was delish!



This goes under a growing list of things I lived without until I got one and now I can't live without. I can make great rice without it, provided I don't get distracted halfway through and burn it (sure it was only one time, but it's a source of Hispanic shame to botch rice!). It's just so easy! And it frees up valuable burner space. Mine even has a steamer attachment so I can steam veggies alone, or while the rice is cooking. Fabu!


Today I embarked into a whole new world of rice cookery. Today I made Quinoa and Lentils! Here's the recipe as I made it up, I even measured (something I don't normally do) so I could record it for posterity.

Into rice cooker went:
1 cup quinoa (prerinsed
1 cup brown lentils
1/4 cup sofrito (frozen)
dash of garlic powder
dash of onion powder
dash of Adobo seasoning (basically pepper, oregano, salt, onion powder, garlic powder & achiote)
4 cups water

After it cooked I served it with 1/4 cup vegetable juice and a little shredded mozzarella added to it. It was delish!


Sofrito


Since this is a basic ingredient in Puerto Rican cooking, I thought I'd post it so I can just link back to it later.

SOFRITO


1  whole garlic 
1  green pepper
1  bunch of cilantro
1  yellow onion

Take each and puree/blend in a blender with a small amount of water.  Pour into freezer ziploc bags in small amounts.  Use in rice, chicken/rice, stew, beans, corn beef hash, etc.

(my mom's note) I make larger quantities of this (4 of each vegetable) and this makes about 13 ziploc baggies full.


Since this is a basic ingredient in Puerto Rican cooking, I thought I'd post it so I can just link back to it later.

SOFRITO

1  whole garlic 
1  green pepper
1  bunch of cilantro
1  yellow onion

Take each and puree/blend in a blender with a small amount of water.  Pour into freezer ziploc bags in small amounts.  Use in rice, chicken/rice, stew, beans, corn beef hash, etc.

(my mom's note) I make larger quantities of this (4 of each vegetable) and this makes about 13 ziploc baggies full.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Just what the world needs, another blogger!

I resisted blogging for a long time. I had nothing to say. Ok, anyone who knows me is rolling their eyes and chuckling. I always have something to say, but is it something people want to hear? Or even worse, is it something people will voluntarily read? I never limit my verbal deluge to one subject, something I thought a blog needed to do, address one subject. Some of my favorite blogs to read are ecclectic and I love it! It's what keeps them interesting, fresh, different. I like to think I have a different combination of ecclectic that will make this blog interesting. If not, then I've heard that journalling is very theraputic so I'll save money on therapy later down the line. 

I resisted blogging for a long time. I had nothing to say. Ok, anyone who knows me is rolling their eyes and chuckling. I always have something to say, but is it something people want to hear? Or even worse, is it something people will voluntarily read? I never limit my verbal deluge to one subject, something I thought a blog needed to do, address one subject. Some of my favorite blogs to read are ecclectic and I love it! It's what keeps them interesting, fresh, different. I like to think I have a different combination of ecclectic that will make this blog interesting. If not, then I've heard that journalling is very theraputic so I'll save money on therapy later down the line.