Foodie Friday -- Fiesta Corn Casserole

This summer has been fantastic! The weather has been hot, but not drought/desert heat of the previous two summers, which makes it enjoyable to lay outside and read. And I have been reading lots and lots of books. Bliss!

Along with reading, we've had a couple of pool parties. I've tried a couple of new recipes, and have tweaked, a few of those recipes. This recipe is for a 13 x 9 inch pan, but it needs to be very deep (3-inches) pan instead of the normal 2-inch deep pan. Of course, you can cut the recipe in half or even one quarter of the amounts given here. Be sure to check out the tips and tricks at the bottom of the recipe.

Fiesta Corn Casserole

4 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. salt

1/2 jar (2 oz.) chopped pimentos, drained

1 7 oz. can green chilies, drained

1 poblano chili, seeded, deveined, chopped

2 Serrano chilies, seeded, deveined, chopped

3 jalapeno peppers, seeded, deveined, chopped

2 36 oz. packages frozen corn, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Spray oil in 13 X 9 inch pan. 

Thoroughly mix softened cream cheese with spices. Taste for flavor. One ingredient at a time, add the next five ingredients, mixing in thoroughly until incorporated. Mix in corn. Place in a corn mixture in prepared pan, smooth top. 

Bake for about 45-60 minutes until hot and slightly brown on the edges. 

Enjoy!

Tips & Tricks

• You could probably use the 1/3 less fat cream cheese. Let me know how it works. 
• All the spices can be adjusted to your family's personal tastes. I would probably add a touch more salt to this mix the next time I make it. 
• I added only a half jar of pimentos because that was all I happened to have on hand. A 4 oz. jar would add a bit more red color to brighten up the mix.
• I seeded and deveined the peppers because I didn't want the casserole to have too much heat. In hindsight, I probably would add the seeds and leave in the veins of one Jalapeno to give it a little more kick. 
• If you decide to half this recipe, don't forget to decrease the baking time. I'd start checking on it at the 30 minute mark.  

Later, Peeps!

Summer Halfway Over

Wow, it's hard to believe but summer is halfway over! School is set to start on August 14th and then we'll be in the swing of all things school.

I had intended to be more present on this blog over the summer, but I'm taking a bit of a break, too.

Other than being chauffeur mom and driving the kidlet to swim practices--the killer one starts at 5:45 across town--I've been reading voraciously!

I just started Jim Butcher's Dresden Files book #9, White Night. I have/had most of these books in paper format, but made the mistake of lending the first five out to someone I trusted.

Yeah, I never got the books back.

So, like when I collected records, and recollecting everything when the industry went to CD's, and now recollecting again on IPod or in the cloud, I'm repurchasing the entire Dresden series on my Kindle. Luckily I happened to catch the first seven books on  a $0.99 cent sale in June.

Who is Harry Dresden?

He's a wizard. Chicago's only wizard in the yellow pages. Each urban fantasy book is stand alone, since Mr. Butcher does a wonderful job of weaving in the pertinent backstory when needed, but reading them in order provides an overall arc of the characters.

Reading also has made this writer realize some of the errors of her ways.

Not in a bad way, but in a "holy cow, i'm an idiot" type of way.

In fact, one of my epiphanies happened when I was reading the comics.

What? Don't you read comic strips? You should. They are probably the shortest flash fiction you'll ever read. In their one, two, or three cels they paint a picture for the reader. These stories have a beginning, middle and end told in a very concise way.

This was when I finally realized that my picture book, GO AWAY, PIPER! is actually multiple stories in one book. Oops!

I didn't continue the theme of the original story all the way through to the end. In my typical fashion, I took a right turn about 2/3 of the way through the story.

Plus it's wordy, way, way, way too wordy.

It isn't too surprising considering I was just typing my picture books on the computer. Oh, I could visualize the pages, BUT I was writing what I saw instead of letting the images do their job.

So, I bought a small journal. I counted out my 32 picture book pages and now I will see how well my story fits in that parameter. Plus, I'm going to draw/jot notes down about each page scene.

Oh, yeah, I can't draw. So we're talking stick figures and general scribbles.

I hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday -- Figuring it out . . . Again

I managed to stay the same weight at this week's weigh-in! YAY! 

One of the disadvantages of having a big weight loss one week is the chance that you might rebound and GAIN weight the next week. This has happened to me on more occasions than I care to admit. Staying the same is perfect. Now I have a focus to lose before next week's weigh in.

This last week was fairly challenging in all aspects, but the fact that I managed to keep status quo on my weight and sanity is definitely a plus.

A reminder--This blog will remain sporadic over the summer until school starts on August 14. 

With getting up at 5 to get my daughter across town to a 50 meter pool to swim for 2.5 hours (I walk during this time), doctor's appointments, and then swim in the afternoon for 2.5 hours (I sit and watch Judge Judy). I'm busy chauffeuring the kidlet all over the place!

And to top it all off, we found out that the kidlet needs braces. This was a bit of a shocker because when you look at her smile her teeth are perfectly straight. Well, it turns out that her upper jaw is narrower than her lower jaw, resulting in what is called a cross-bite, which means her back teeth don't really close. This has caused her some pain, so we checked it out. Now there are numerous orthodontist appointments added to the queue for the summer.

In my world, summer has very little structure, which can cause a huge impact with one's ability to lose weight. Movies mean popcorn. Hanging at the house might cause grazing the pantry. Doctor's appointments might mean a quick detour to the local Starbucks for a frappa-lappa-ding-dong coffee.

On the plus side, there are more fresh fruits and veggies available, and grilling proteins tends to be lower in calories than casseroles, stews, and soups.

And then there are the vacations or staycations. I've already pointed out the grazing issue if you happen to spend vacation time on the home front, but don't forget the adult beverages that add a gazillion calories to your day.

If you go away on vacation, it gives you a chance to try new foods, enjoy frou-frou cocktails you would never have at home, or simply snack more because it's available. BUT there is usually more activity in the form of sighseeing, playing on the beach, or walking around an amusement park.

So how do you need to approach the unstructured summer?

With a plan!

• One--you know that the summer is crazy, so take that into account when you think about your daily meals.
• Two--only on the rare occasion will the whole day go craptastically. Usually you know what is going to happen: doctor's appointments, library day, free movies, window shopping at the mall, etc.
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• Take my yesterday, for example: 5 AM get up to take kidlet to swim. . . .actually 5:12--because kidlet and I slept through the alarm. 5:30--leave house. 6--kidlet swims and I walk. 8:40 --head home. I have 40 minutes to shower and get a package to the post office, and then to my 10:00 Weight Watcher meeting. 10:16 -- leave WW to go home to pick kidlet up. 10:30--Both of us have a hair appointment--cut and color for me, highlights and cut for her. 12:45--Pick up kidlet's friend to go to mall. Eat at mall (grilled chicken wrap from Chik-fil-A). Hang at mall for a couple of hours. Bring friend home. She stays for dinner . . .must plan a meal for dinner. Originally hubs and I would have gone for a walk and had a smoothie for dinner, but not any longer. Cook burgers on the grill, in which I proceeded to burn my arm on the hot grill lid (don't ask). Though the day hadn't gone as I had planned. I still had a plan in place. If I had eaten poorly at lunch, I think I would have over eaten at dinner. 
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• Three--plan for the unexpected. You know what your day will entail, even if it is simply "go to the library". The key is to think your day through before you start to know how you are going to attack it. If you'll be in the car for a long time, take a mini-snack to tide you over. 

Vacation is different, but also the same. If you do manage to go on vacation, then you are already making daily plans. You don't have to eat out at every meal, or go nuts with the selections. Go to the store and stock up on yogurt, or fruit, or healthy snacks. 

If you do eat out at every meal, don't make all of them point-heavy. Pick an appetizer for your meal. Eat a salad (but watch out for those 'hidden' WW points--bacon, cheese crumbles, pre-dressed salad, etc). Ask for a half plate. Share your meal. Take some home, if you can, for another meal. 

And remember, that it's OKAY to leave food on your plate. This is a biggie for me. In a world where every meal is super-sized, we feel like we should clean our plate. That was the way we were raised, but that was also a time when serving sizes were more appropriately portioned. Many times restaurants serve meals that are 2-3 times LARGER than a 'normal' serving. 

Don't get caught in the hype. You don't have to finish it. Yes, it's a waste of food and money, and there will always be starving children, but you eating all the food on your plate won't help them. 

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday-- I AM the Queen of Justification

I have had serious issues over the last eight months with my weight. I would simply justified my my weight gain, my lack of point counting, my ability to eat more carbs than any person should, etc.

I managed to eat my way 18 pound heavier than my goal weight. No, it wasn't the ugly weight I was previously at, but it is still too much for my height to carry easily.

So, I refocused.

It also helped that I was unable to drink any alcoholic beverages for about 10 days due to some meds I was taking.

--I find it interesting that enjoying certain items--alcohol, bread, easily digestible foods, etc. seems to make you crave more of the same, which in turn, makes you eat more. Wonder if it's due to those darn flavorists??

Anyway, in the past when I was on plateau, I discovered the Simply Filling technique. Using this method helped me lose those first 50 pounds. If I focused, I knew I would lose this newly added weight.

Well, my friends, I managed to lose 4.8 pounds this last week!

And before you take a breath and say that it's just water weight, or I'm losing too quickly, or whatever. Let me just say that I worked HARD to lose this weight and I will NOT let anyone belittle my efforts!

I walked at least 4 miles a day, but on five of those days, I also walked in the evening with my hubby, at least 2 miles. And when I say walk, I mean WALK. Strolling is not in my vocabulary. In fact, on Monday, my daughter missed her early outdoor swim practice due to rain and she couldn't keep up with me. She would lag behind and have to jog past me, then I would catch up with her, she'd lag behind and jog past me. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In other words, I kicked her booty when we walk. This is the ONLY advantage I have over this kid. Heck, I even lose that advantage when we go to theme parks because my hubby and kidlet focus on rides and leave me in the dust--I have little short legs, while they simply open their normal stride.

When I do WW Simply Filling, I have to break it down into the very simple and basic of food. I have to be very, very strict to force me NOT to fudge the 'points', because with simply filling you don't count points. And when you do eat something with points, it's easy to keep track of them, since I still get the 49 extra weekly points.

But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy some nummy food last week. Yes, I had 0% FF Greek yogurt with fresh fruit for breakfast, sometimes with a hard boiled egg--0 points if I pop out the yolk and don't eat it. 2 points if I eat it. I also drank my coffee with a tablespoon full of cream (1 point).

Most lunches consisted of Fat Free cottage cheese and a tomato, but it filled me up! Love love love this lunch. It's weird, but I do.

My snacks were baby carrots, an apple (sliced--there's something about the ability to consume the 'entire' thing), mini bag of popcorn, or even a small 3-point serving of almonds.

Dinners were smoothies for the most part, but don't think I denied myself, I didn't. One meal was a homemade hamburger (bun included!) and fresh corn.

Another meal was a small serving of sausage tortellini with my homemade marinara sauce and a large Caesar salad.

Or on date night, I had a pistachio-crusted Chilean sea bass, with 3 scallops dripping in a lemon butter sauce, one slice of rosemary bread, olive tapenade, and 2/3 of a beer (I couldn't finish it!)

So, while I might be the queen of justification, this queen has faced the devil weight and will force him to go down in flames . . .

Because, my friends, I have my weight-loss mojo back and I'm here to make a difference.

Later, Peeps!

It's All About Context

Earlier this month my hubby and I were at monster-sized garden center about 25 minutes from my house, out in the middle of the boondocks, when a young man approached me and said, "Hi, Margaret."

Stunned that anyone would a) recognize me, b) actually say hello, I simply said, "Oh, hi!" And slid away, wondering if I had a stalker that I didn't know about.

When I met back with the hubby I told him about his encounter, and he asked if it was someone from my old job at the hospital.

Hmm, it could be.

But I left nine years ago. People change in nine years. Plus they wear lab coats and scrubs. This young man was in jeans and a t-shirt wearing glasses. I had no clue who it could be as he didn't identify himself.

Or it could be one of the bikers I say hi to on my walks.

No clue because bikers wear skin-tight biker shorts and shirts along with a helmet, and sunglasses.

Or it could be someone in my Weight Watcher meeting . . .nah, it wasn't one of them.

So I had two people that it might be, but I still have no idea who this person was--because I didn't have context, an indicator as to who this person was or where I might know him from. This person saw me at a place I to go once or twice a year, but I had no idea where I knew him from since I saw him out of the context of how I knew this person.

The other side of the topic was when I saw a former neighbor at the grocery store. She had moved out of the neighborhood to a new build about a mile away.

This is how the conversation started:

ME: "Becky?"

Becky looks up from the bananas she just put in the cart. A slightly confused look on her face.

ME: "Hi! It's Margaret Golla."

Her face clears up as she puts the face to the name and we chit-chat for about fifteen minutes. If she hadn't recognized my name, I had a few other indicators in my arsenal: the name of the neighborhood, living diagonally across the street, etc.

I gave her context to figure out who the heck I was.

The same goes for writing.

You wondered where this blog was going, didn't you? See, I finally got around to the topic. 

As you might realize, I have judged many, many contest entries over the last 10+ years. And one of the biggest problems is either too much back story (95% of the time) about a character or too little. I don't care about a character's history, how they got into their predicament, or what they ate for dinner the previous night . . . unless it has to do with the timing of their death and who the possible suspects are.

As a reader, and a contest judge, I want to feel the character's emotions, or see their actions, that tell me who they are. But the character's actions HAVE to make sense to the reader.

For example:

Centuries ago I judged a historical contest entry. The heroine started to berate her husband about how he treated his Calvary horse--he was basically abusing the horse because the horse wasn't listening.

(FYI: as a former horseman, this is usually due to the rider giving the horse conflicting signals.)

Are you kidding me?

This story took place in the mid-1700's, what woman would actually yell at her commanding officer hubby, in front of his men, no less? It didn't make sense. And yes, I dinged her for it.

Through the message boards, I saw the contest entrant rip me a new one with the score I gave her. It wasn't a bad score, it simply wasn't enough for her to final in the contest, which pissed her off.

Anyhoo, I discovered after the fact that this author had deleted a section of the story that mentioned how she was raised: On a breeding farm that supplied Calvary horses.

This was much needed information that was callously deleted because it was "back story".

But then again, the reader had zero context as to why this character was acting so weird for that particular time period.

This could have been easily fixed in a bit of narrative when the heroine sees this abuse.

For example, something as simple as this. . . 

How dare he spur Sultan until his sides were bloody? She'd raised that horse from a foal, training him to respond to the most minute cues. Blah, blah, blah. . . 

That little bit was all this reader needed to figure out why she was 'acting out of character' for the time period. It would have answered a lot of questions.

Like . . . who the heck was that young man at the nursery place??

Later, Peeps?

Weighty Wednesday--I Got This

It has been a long time since I wrote a Weighty Wednesday blog post. Most of my gems of wisdom are posted under the Weighty Wednesday tab. Click there to find anything and everything I've posted on the topic of weight loss from dealing to exercise to cravings to plateaus.

Weight loss journey is constant, because once you've reached goal then you have to maintain, which is in essence, a plateau . I've gained weight. I'm striving to return to my goal weight.

As much as I want to get to goal weight again, I haven't had the motivation to try.

I've grown complacent, comfortable, and fat-and-happy in my padded flesh.

Three things have happened recently that have spurred me back into weight-loss mode.

1. I'm taking a course of antibiotics that seriously stress--NO ALCOHOL or any food that might contain alcohol. 
2. My daughter is away at swim camp.
3. I put on my bikini--no, I don't wear it in public, but I want to look good in private!

After we dropped our daughter off at camp, my hubby and I had 4 hours to discuss this coming week. We decided to make a point of walking every evening (This goal failed last night as it decided to rain, so he fixed the toilet.) If we eat dinner, then it will be something simple, like salad with grilled chicken.

1. I will say that I enjoy an adult beverage, but will admit that the 'occasional' glass of wine, ounce of liqueur, or beer had become more than occasional. So with the horrible side effects stated on my medicine, I decided to cut out any and all alcohol. Once the habit is broken, then it is easier to keep it from being a 'daily' instead of occasional. When one is trying to lose weight, alcohol is a point-laden pit that adds up quite quickly. 
2. With my kiddo at swim camp, I don't need to fix meals for dinner. Smoothies and salads work better for me, plus the hubby usually eats a pretty good lunch. Eating too much at night only makes me crave more food throughout the evening. Last night, I was hungry about six, but we were at Lowes buying parts for the toilet. By the time we got home, and I kept the hubby company upstairs while he fixed the toilet, I stopped being hungry. The one thing that I need to remind myself is that you don't have to eat--no matter what the clock says--if you aren't hungry.
3. I like wearing a bikini by my pool. I hate the fact that most one-piece swimsuits have a high back or high front. This make it hard to get an even tone to your body when you have different styles of shirts to wear over the summer! 

With these three items in my arsenal, I also attended my WW meeting yesterday, after missing the previous two weeks, where Julie talked about 'anchors'.

To me, an anchor is something that weighs you down. While the WW definition, an anchor is meant to keep you from 'drifting' from the program, the reason you keep focused. 

It's all about semantics. 

Since my interpretation is different than the intended WW use, I've been having a tough time finding a reason to focus on my weight loss again. 

So I will focus on an event, or a date, or something that works with me to get me back into the right frame of mind. 

What happens after that particular event takes place?

Well, I'll find another goal. And another goal. And another goal until this lifestyle becomes a habit. 

Because, I got this. 

Later, Peeps! 

Rescue Hero

After the Saga of Goldie, one would think I was finished with the wild critters in my yard.

And you would be wrong.

It's not like I live out in the country. I don't. I live on the edge of the city where my backyard backs up to an elementary school. We bought the house new in 1996. The only thing this house had were two trees in the front yard (covenants rules) and a sodded backyard.

My hubby and I did, or paid someone to do, everything you see in these pictures.

We built the lower deck, the brick stairs (2), and brick walkway.

Hubs dug the hole for the pond, along with laying all the rock, twice.

I convinced him to make the side yard a garden bed, because the grass didn't grow very well. The plants are thriving.

Of course, we didn't build the pool or deck. Hubs wanted to build the fireplace, but that summer he didn't have the time. In hindsight, the yahoo who did build the fireplace took as long as it would have taken the hubby to build it on nights and weekends. 

But this blog isn't about my yard other than to show we seem to be a small wildlife sanctuary.

Two days ago, I posted these pictures on Facebook.

One . . .

Two . . . 

Three . . . 

Four . . . 

And five . . . 

Yesterday, I rescued one bunny from the pool skimmer. The poor little thing was still breathing, but tuckered out. I pulled him out of the skimmer and grabbed a dog towel to gently dry, and to see if I could get him to make a noise to verify that there wasn't water in his lungs.

Normally, I don't like to hear bunnies scream--it's heart wrenching--but I was glad to hear the bunny scream yesterday.

After about an hour, he was still shaky, but he jumped right after I took this picture.

We still have five baby bunnies in the side yard. Another one went venturing by my rose bushes along the fence and I worried that he would be another victim in the pool skimmer, so we chased him back to the side yard.

Hubby wants to take the bunnies and relocate them to one of the wilder park areas/green belts/hubby's brother's farm, but I'm not ready yet.

I take my job as a Rescue Hero very seriously.

Later, Peeps!