I'm excited too re winning the battle of the bulge

Battle of the Bulge by
Lynee Follow That Girl who could write a book about jeans; styles, length, what shoes and tops to wear.
She says about me (generously) "My boss has this friend from Australia, Clara -who coincidentally writes a blog called "Fit in Your Jeans Cuisine". How perfect.
The photo's of the finished recipes are gorgeous and mouth watering."
Thanks Lynee, for your kind words. Can't wait to hear how you went and what you were wearing when you cooked your meal.
Clara

It's getting to that time of year. You know, THAT time of year. It's when my husband watches in disgust as I jump, lay on the floor, do a dance routine, lunges or cry to get on my skinny jeans. After I painstakingly inch the zipper up and nearly lose a nail buttoning them, I promise myself that "Today, I'm only eating water." The next thing I know I'm eyeing up something that looks like this...

I am announcing today that I will wear my skinny jeans with comfort all year around. And no, I cannot survive only eating water.

So what am I going to do? I'm going to actually follow Clara's recipes, and make sure I only eat my small portion! I'm excited, and so is my husband. You see, I'm not a very good cook. I screw up scrambled eggs, burn the toast, overcook the noodles and dry out the chicken. So, I plan to write about my "Fit in your Jeans Cuisine" diet once a month, my wins, my failures... my poor husbands love while he eats it even when it's awful (of course I'll throw in what awesome outfit I'm wearing from Next Door while I slave away in the kitchen). Are you excited? I'm excited!

Lynee

Click on 'comment' at bottom of page to have your say or email clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Leafy green vegetables - the 'little black dress' of the vegetable world.

Hi R
Back on track with green leaves which we need to eat heaps of since we are grazers.

Leafy green vegetables are like the 'little black dress' of the vegetable world. They go with just about everything and they’re appropriate for every occasion.  Green leaves are perhaps the most anti-ageing of all foods and since I am passionate about my greens, once I start on them I seem to need to give all the good news. (below)
Hope you and Roberto are eating plenty of fresh green leaves.
Clara

Obviously, the best way to eat greens is uncooked, fresh from the garden, with Spinach or Rocket being my favourites because of their versatility. They can be stir fried in a little olive oil, wilted by steaming for a very short time, but I love them when added to cooked vegetables, at the last minute for extra colour and super nutrition.

'Eat More Green Leaves' because we are grazers

Sichuan Style Spinach or Green Leaves
30g peanut oil
20 black peppercorns
4 dried red chillies
2 garlic cloves
2 bunches English spinach
Sea salt
30ml chinese wine
Dash sesame oil
Heat oil over medium heat, add groundpeppercorns and chilli until fragrant. Remove, add garlic, then wine, salt, spinach and cook until wilted and liquid nearly evaporated. Add seasoning, and chilli.



It was common for our ancient ancestors to eat up to six pounds of leaves per day, ie a grocery bag full of greens each and every day? Calorie for calorie, they are perhaps the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food. They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, can help prevent age-related cognitive decline and may also reduce your risk of skin canceramong many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fats.
Almost Carb-Free, with the carbs that are there packed in layers of fibre, which make them very slow to digest.


Perhaps the star of these nutrients is Vitamin K. A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of Vitamin K, and even a couple of cups of dark salad greens usually provide the minimum all on their own. Recent research has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important functions.
Vitamin K
•Regulates blood clotting
•Helps protect bones from osteoporosis
•May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthritis.
Fat-soluble vitamin, so make sure to put dressing on your salad, or cook your greens with oil.
Quick-cooking Greens
These greens can either be eaten raw or lightly cooked. Six cups of raw greens become approximately one cup of cooked greens and take only a few minutes to cook. Spinach, Chard, Rocket, Beet Greens, Dandelion greens, Sorrel and Cabbage belong in this category.
Greens should be dry or almost dry, after washing; store in a bag with as much of the air pushed out as you easily can. I like to put a barely damp paper towel in for just the right amount of moisture. Then, put them in the vegetable drawer of your fridge.



Click on 'comment' at bottom of page to have your say or email clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Pears offer elegant tastes and textures

Corella pears look attractive as a table centre

Hi R
The first day of Spring today.  The early spring garden players are there - fragrant Jasmine, orchids, magnolia and wattle.  Not much in the garden to cut for indoors,  but I love the look of fruit and vegetables as much as all their other benefits.  Pears, pomegranates and quince are my favourites because of their shape, with oranges and lemons for their colour.

Pears are in season at the moment with many varieties to choose from - taste being the best test.  I don't know why the saying goes, 'Everything went pear shaped', with a negative connotation, since the shape of a pear is beautiful.  So many beautiful old paintings feature pears see below  and one day I want to use pears as a subject for printing or pastels. 

Of course, the best way to serve pears is raw, perhaps cut into 4 and served with almonds, but 'Pears in Red Wine' is an elegant, relatively healthy dessert so long as the cook doesn't drink the rest of the wine! 

Clara

Pears in Red Wine
6 large brown pears
250 ml / 1 cup good quality red wine
150 grams / 5oz - sugar
cinnamon stick
orange and lemon rind

Method
Wash the pears and core, leaving on the stem
Place upright in a baking dish into which they fit tightly
Sprinkle with sugar, add cinnamon and the orange and lemon rinds and pour over the wine
Bake in 190 degrees C (375 degrees F) oven until the wine has almost evaporated. Baste during the baking. Serve with indulgent yoghurt.


Right - 'Pears in Art'

.

Click on 'comment' at bottom of page to have your say or email clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Sweet and sour pork gets a universal tick

Hi there from Milwaukee

My last dinner here, so what could be better than a Sweet and Sour pork with pineapple and basil, to satisfy Aussie and American taste buds; sweet and sour adored by Americans combined with Asian spices, embraced by Australian cuisine.  This all-in-one version of the dish gets the tick for Fit in your jeans cuisine, since it's not cooked in batter nor is it too sweet. 
Clara
ps -Today  I took my very own photo of 2 friendly deer in the back yard.  Lucky we hadn't chosen venison for our meal tonight!


Sweet and sour pork with basil
600g (1 1/2 lb lean pork fillets)
2 tbsp curry paste (In Australia we can readily buy this, but we made our own - recipe below)
2 tbsp oil
1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1 red onion  (cut into wedges)
250g  (a good  1/2 lb) green beans - topped
250g cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp fish sauce
1tbsp brown sugar
lrg handful basil leaves


to serve
Steamed rice


Stir curry paste with pork.
Heat a wok or heavy pan over high heat.  Add half the oil and heat until hot.  Stir- fry pork in batches for 2-3 minutes until cooked through and golden. Remove from heat.  Caramalise pineapple by stir-frying for 1 min then remove.


Reheat wok to high and add remaining oil.  Add onion - stir-fry 2 mins until golden.  Add the beans and 2 tbsp water and stir-fry 1-2 mins.  Add tomatoes and stir-fry for 1 min.


Toss together pork and pineapple. add lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and basil leaves and stir.  Serve straight away with rice.

Thai curry paste was unavailable so we made our own then left out the fish sauce and sugar from the recipe above.

Thai curry paste
1-2 red chilies (or substitute 1/2 to 1 tsp dried chilli)
1/2 to 1 stalk lemongrass, minced (or substitute with 1 tsp lemon zest)
2 shallots, sliced (or 1/3 cup onion chopped)
1 thumb-sized piece of galangal, or ginger sliced
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp fish sauce
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp tomato ketchup (or substitute tomato paste plus 1/2 tsp sugar)
Blend until smooth. Can be kept for 2 weeks in airtight bottle, or  can be frozen.


Click on 'comment' at bottom of page to have your say or email clara@babyboomerconnections.com.au www.babyboomerconnections.com.au

Vietnamese Lunch for Wisconsin Long Long Summer

Hi R - To go well with Crunchy Vegetable Salad. This dish is tasty, easy to prepare and can be made a day ahead.

Lemon Grass and Ginger Pork - Thit Lon Rim
2 tblsp  peanut oil
1 large onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tblsp grated ginger
2 teasp finely chopped fresh lemon grass or 2-3 strips lemon peel as a substitute
1 cinnamon stick
1 or 2 small fresh red chilli, (hot!!!!) finely chopped
1 kg (2lb) pork neck (or leg or
2 cups water
2 teasp beef stock powder

Method
Heat oil in pan or wok, add onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, cinnamon and chilli, stirfry for 1 min.
Add pork (in 3cm / 1 1/2 inch pieces), in batches until browned.
Add water and stock powder, simmer uncovered, about 1 1/2 hrs or until pork is tender and almost all the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally.  (or alternatively cook for 1 1/2 hrs in a medium oven).  Remove cinnamon stick .  Serve with rice or noodles and garnish with coriander or mint.

We finished off the meal with an old favourite of mine because it is light and fresh.  The zesty sauce makes a great base for fresh or poached fruits.
1x 565g (20oz) can lychees
i punnet strawberries, hulled, halved if large
4 just-ripe kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
Ginger Lemongrass Syrup
Drain lychee juice into a pot, add 1tsp minced fresh ginger, 6 stalks lemongrass, cut in 3cm (1in) lengths, and bruised with the back of a large knife, 1/4 cup palm sugar or brown sugar.   Simmer 5 mins, cool.

Mix syrup through fruit, chill for at least an hour before serving. Garnish with mint and  serve with indulgent yoghurt.

Wishing you a long hot summer - you deserve it!  It always amazes me that your winter can be so frigid and yet summer is quite hot.  Sydney's cold is your autumn.

Clara

Leafy Greens - the little black dress of the vegetable world

A weed is no more than a flower in disguise...April 9th
Pewter Cuff on Canadian Thistle

It's a beautiful day up here on the top of the world. The sunshine is back and the snow gone. There's a light frost on the ground which made this gigantic thistle glisten. I am going to protect it and watch it grow into a beautiful flower for the butterflies. A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.  My first post on the grannycirlcle blog. Love, R.



Clara - Beautiful cuff - adore your pewter work. 
I don't know if you can eat thistle leaves  - I know as children we would carefully pull apart the fibrous top to reveal a nut which we ate; but I am feeling passionate about leafy greens. Leafy green vegetables are like the 'little black dress' of the vegetable world. They go with just about everything and they’re appropriate for every occasion.

Obviously, the best way to eat greens is uncooked, fresh from the garden, with Spinach or Rocket being my favourites because of their versatility. They can be stir fried in a little olive oil, wilted by steaming for a very short time, but I love them when added to cooked vegetables, at the last minute for extra colour and super nutrition as with Roasted Vegetables


Quick-cooking Greens

These greens can either be eaten raw or lightly cooked. Six cups of raw greens become approximately one cup of cooked greens and take only a few minutes to cook. Spinach, Chard, Rocket, Beet Greens, Dandelion greens, Sorrel and Cabbage belong in this category.


Sichuan Style Spinach or Green Leaves - Serves 4 as a side dish

30g peanut oil (slurp)
20 black peppercorns
4 dried red chillies
2 garlic cloves
2 bunches English spinach (or baby spinach leaves)
Sea salt
30ml chinese wine (slurp)
Dash sesame oil
Method - Heat oil over medium heat, add ground peppercorns and chilli until fragrant. Remove, add garlic, then wine, salt, spinach and cook until wilted and liquid nearly evaporated. Add seasoning, and chilli.


More about the little black dress of vegetables and why I am passionate about them, apart from their help with Fitinmyjeans. Green leaves are perhaps the most anti-ageing of all foods and once I start on them I have to give you all the good news. Love C

It was common for our ancient ancestors to eat up to six pounds of leaves per day, ie a grocery bag full of greens each and every day? Calorie for calorie, they are perhaps the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food. They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, can help prevent age-related cognitive decline and may also reduce your risk of skin cancer among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fats.
Almost Carb-Free, with the carbs that are there packed in layers of fibre, which make them very slow to digest.
Perhaps the star of these nutrients is Vitamin K. A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of Vitamin K, and even a couple of cups of dark salad greens usually provide the minimum all on their own. Recent research has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important functions.


Vitamin K
•Regulates blood clotting
•Helps protect bones from osteoporosis
•May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthritis.
Fat-soluble vitamin, so make sure to put dressing on your salad, or cook your greens with oil.


Storing - Greens should be dry or almost dry, after washing; store in a bag with as much of the air pushed out as you easily can. I like to put a barely damp paper towel in for just the right amount of moisture. Then, put them in the vegetable drawer of your fridge.