homemade herbs de provence and seasoned salt

I have a big love for seasoned salt, especially Borsari.  It makes grilling meat so simple:  just shake it on and then grill.  It gives the meat a ton of flavor and people will think you used some Jedi mind trick to concoct a complicated spice rub.

I went to Whole Foods this weekend to get some more Borsari salt, but I just about fell over when I saw the price:  $8.99!!  I checked the Borsari website before I left the house.  Their price is $4.99, plus about $6.00 in shipping (I put two in the cart).  Last time I bought it at Whole Foods I remember it being $6.99, so I was pretty shocked yesterday to see $8.99.  Needless to say, I came home salt-less and sad. Instead, I bought some sea salt at the discount store and decided to make my own salt.

I found a recipe for Herbs de Provence seasoned salt, which calls for lavender (yes, I actually have that!), Herbs de Provence, and salt.  Of course I didn't have Herbs de Provence, so I found Emeril's  recipe online and made my own.  It didn't call for lavender, but I added it anyway since most Herbs recipes call for it. I then just added two tablespoons of the herb mix to 1/2 cup sea salt.  Viola! Seasoned salt.

Herbs de Provence (my version)

2 TB dried savory
2 TB dried rosemary
2 TB dried thyme
2 TB dried oregano
2 TB dried basil
2 TB dried marjoram
2 TB dried fennel seed
2 TB dried lavender

Put it all in a bowl and mix.

Herbs de Provence Seasoned Salt

2 TB Herbs de Provence
1/2 cup sea salt

Mix together in a small bowl.  Store in an airtight container away from moisture. Sprinkle on meats before grilling.

tonight's dinner: steak and mushrooms

Tonight I made rib eye steak on the grill, along with sauteed mushrooms.

Normally I don't buy rib eye.  I find it too fatty tasting for me.  Plus, it's usually more expensive than my preferred cut, the leaner strip steak.  But I got it for half price at the grocery store and it's been haunting my freezer for a few weeks.

I threw some Borsari seasoned salt on it and then grilled it.  I made sauteed mushrooms for my side dish; Bob got Mexican rice and corn. I sauteed the mushrooms is some olive oil, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little Worcestershire sauce.

This is the whole steak, which I didn't eat.  I was able to eat the left side of the steak and a few mushrooms.  Bob got the rest of my steak.

I really need to liven up my dinner plate with some color.  It's just a big plate of brown.

my "me" weekend

This past weekend was all about me.  Mostly.  After visiting the dietitian last week I went shopping to get some items that I need to keep me on track as I try to refocus and lose the last of the weight.  I stocked the freezer, even pulling out the big guns:  the Food Saver.  Bob and I went through the freezer and rearranged it, as it was just a big jumbled mess. We also moved the older stuff to the regular freezer and the newer stuff to the deep freezer.  I found a few things I forgot were in there, so those got defrosted and cooked, and were then put in the Food Saver and frozen for quick meals later on.

So, here's all the stuff I've bought over the last few weeks.  I included my vitamins and calcium.  I actually bought three months' worth, but I only included one month in the picture.  I bought lots of protein bars, some sugar-free syrups for shakes and slushies, shake mix, wheat berries and Bulgar wheat (no idea why I got that, I must have seen a recipe somewhere), and a new lunch box and additional containers.  As you can see, these items are Tiffany-approved.

Bob and I had to go to Bed, Bath and Beyond because the Keurig died.  I ended up buying a steamer insert for my pot.  It was on sale and then I had a 20% off coupon, so I was a happy camper.  I decided to buy the steamer so I can make fish fillets.  I've used the Ziploc steamer bags, but it seems like such a waste...and an expense I don't need.

I did lots of cooking this weekend in preparation for the upcoming weeks.  Lately I've been buying a lot of discounted meat.  I get to the grocery store around 8 am on the weekend, as that's when they mark down meat that has a "Use By" date within the next two to three days.  I started doing this last year when we went through hell, and a lot of expense, evicting our former tenants.  Plus, the price of beef was outrageous.  When going through the freezer this weekend I realized I have a bit too much meat, so I took out some split chicken breasts.  I removed the skin and bones, which I then used to make chicken stock (back of the stove).  I grilled the breast meat with Borsari seasoned salt.  One chicken breast had a homemade seasoned salt I made from sea salt and the Tawa Fry Masala spice blend I bought at the Indian grocery last week.  I also made a big batch of hard boiled eggs; a bunch of sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches for Bob; and cut up a bunch of celery and cheese for snacks. I also made a batch of barbecued chicken legs for my friend.

It was a very productive weekend, and I was spent on Sunday night.  But now I have two organized freezers, a lot vacuum-packed meat, a bunch of food all ready to go for the week and beyond, and I'm focused again.

last night's dinner

Last night was boneless pork on the grill, along with a little Rice-a-Roni.  Bob also had vegetables with his. 

I used my favorite seasoning, which is Borsari Seasoned Salt (typically sold in Whole Foods or online).  I'm so happy this stuff exists!  I don't have to look online for different concoctions that call for herbs and spices that I'll likely only use once and will cost an arm and a leg. I used to do that, until I ended up throwing away about 95% of my herbs and spices when I moved to the new house in 2014. I had to go out and buy all new stuff.  This time I was smarter about it, though.  I bought the items I use the most and bought the Badia brand when I could. Badia brand is much less expensive than buying the top brands, such as McCormick; most herbs and spices cost under $2.00 each and they're just as good.

I still have a few unusual spices in my cabinet, like lavender and savory.  I bought those in order to make my own Herbes de Provence.  Not sure why I decided on that particular herb mix.  I'm thinking I had found a recipe online using it as an ingredient and then I just never made the recipe--I do that a lot.  I guess that will have to be one of my missions in the next few months:  find a recipe using Herbs de Provence.

Any suggestions for an herb or spice I can try that's outside of the mainstream?  Do you have a favorite?

rice cake du jour: tomato, ham, and goat cheese

Another rice cake experiment this week:  grape tomatoes and a slice of deli ham on a base of goat cheese.  I topped it with some Borsari seasoned salt (I LOVE this stuff!) and fresh ground pepper. i then popped it into the toaster oven to warm up the tomatoes and cheese.

It was pretty good.  The cheese was warm and the tomatoes were really sweet and juicy.

So, what should I make next?

my post-op shopping list

Just in case there are any pre-ops, or post-ops, reading this blog, I figured I'd post a list of the things I buy to support my lifestyle.  Some other bloggers I read have done this and I find it helpful.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but this is the bulk of what I buy.

Shake Ingredients
PB2 (powdered peanut butter)
Torani Sugar Free Syrups (I find these to be the best-tasting; very concentrated)
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Almond butter

Snacks:
Pork rinds (lots of protein, no carbs, and filling; these things have staying power)
Cheese sticks:  mozzarella, Gouda, cheddar (preferably low fat)
Nuts:  peanuts, pistachios, almonds
Celery and Hummus (I think I'm addicted to this stuff)
Strawberries
Watermelon
Fuji apples

Meats:
Chicken:  boneless and skinless thighs and breasts; Perdue Shortcuts Southwest flavor
Beef:  strip steak, ground beef
Canned tuna
Lunch meat, such as turkey and roast beef or low sodium ham (I try to buy nitrate-free, easier on my tummy)
Eggs

Protein:
Ready to Drink:  Premier Protein (I buy at BJ's Wholesale; 30g protein)
Bariatric Advantage Meal Replacement bags (27g protein; thick like a milkshake if you use the blender and some ice)
Bariwise Diet Hot Chocolate (15g protein)
Body Tech Whey Isolate Isolate (pretty thin, but lower in calories)
Syntrax Nectar (pretty thin, but lower in calories)
Quest protein bars (very occasionally)

Dairy:
Dannon Light & Fit Greek yogurt (half the sugar of other Greek yogurts!)
Fairlife Skim Milk (ultra filtered milk; half the sugar of regular milk)
Cheese:  pepperjack, muenster, feta, goat, cheddar, Swiss
Cottage cheese, low fat
Ricotta cheese, low fat

Miscellaneous:
Arrowhead Mills Multigrain Pancake Mix
Unsweetened fine coconut (usually Bob's Red Mill brand)
Crystal Light drink mix (Grape or Strawberry Watermelon)
Small flour tortillas (for the occasional "pizza")
Borsari Seasoned Salt

eat through the kitchen progress

I didn't get a chance to post much last week.  I was busy with the doctor, the dentist, and a few other things.  I was still cooking, though.

I'm doing pretty good with my Eat Through the Kitchen Challenge.  I've gone to the store a few times, but just to get stuff like milk, yogurt, and veggies.  I will confess that I bought one package of chicken apple sausage, but it was because they were on sale really cheap.

This was Monday's dinner.  We had steak on the grill.  Yup. We have two feel of snow on the ground and I was grilling.  Bob was nice enough to dig the grill out for me.  Anyway,  steak with asparagus, mushroom and onion saute for me.  I bought the veggies in a single pack at Trader Joe's and sauteed it with olive oil and a little butter, then finished it with Borsari seasoned salt.  Bob had Rice-a-Roni and carrots with his steak.  So, the only thing I bought for this dinner was the saute pack. 

This is about 4 ounces of steak and about a 1/2 cup of veggies.  I didn't eat much of the asparagus, because there were a lot of woody pieces in it. Yuck!

This was Wednesday's dinner. It probably looks like a big portion, but this is a salad plate.  It was about 4 ounces of chicken, a handful of beans, and a scant 1/4 cup of rice.  Teriyaki chicken breast on the grill, green beans, and white rice with butter and Parmesan cheese.  When I brought the chicken home from the store I separated it into Ziploc bags, poured in some bottled teriyaki sauce and stuck it in the freezer.  All you do is defrost and cook.  No need to wait for the marinade.  (This night is when I discovered that I had nothing left to make side dishes with.  Guess I'll have to get creative.)

tonight's dinner

Tonight's dinner was pork chops with green beans and pasta with butter.

I had a 5.5 oz chop (bone-in) , about 1/4 cup of beans and 1/4 cup of the pasta.  I was able to finish it all but one bite of the pork.  I let George and Max have a few nibbles of the last piece.

I'm not a big pork eater, so I decided to put some Borsari seasoned salt on the pork chops and then grill them.  Out in the dark.  With no porch light.  In 30 degree weather...

turkey medallions with carrots and rice

This was last night's dinner.  Turkey medallions wrapped in bacon (from Aldi), fresh carrots, and beef flavored Rice-a-Roni.  I know, it should have been chicken flavored, but that's what I had in the house.

I've never been a big fan of these turkey medallions.  Even though they're wrapped in bacon, I always found them a bit bland.  But I guess turkey is naturally bland anyway. I decided to sprinkle some of my Borsari Seasoned Salt on them before putting them on the grill.  That made all the difference!  So much better.

I added some fresh carrots, which I steamed in the microwave, and made some Rice-a-Roni.  I've really missed Rice-a-Roni so it was nice to have a few bites.

I finished most of the plate.  If I had to guess, I'd say the turkey was about 3 ounces cooked.

today's breakfast and lunch

My weight has been holding steady lately.  Not a bad thing, but I'm missing the fast weight loss.  It's mainly due to the move, lack of preparation, and not keeping a food journal.  So, I am going to change that this week.  I spent some time on Sunday cutting up cheese, measuring out peanuts, and just getting back into the post-op frame of mind.

One of the most important things to do is to measure my food.  That's something I've been getting cocky about lately.  Lazy, too.  I figure, "I've lost 115 pounds so I must be doing something right!  I know how much I'm supposed to eat and I know what a portion looks like!"  Not really.  I'm better at guesstimating than I was pre-op, but I still find myself thinking that 1 ounce of peanuts fills a sandwich bag.  Uh, no. Not even close.  Then I think, "But I don't want to pull the scale out and measure!  I'm too busy watching TV/sitting on the patio/staring at the wall!"  That's getting me into trouble.

The other issue is preparing ahead of time, which I've been really bad about since moving.  Probably because I don't feel fully settled yet and have some kitchen storage issues.  I know.  Excuses, excuses.  Having to eat Walmart egg rolls for breakfast twice in one week clued me in to the fact that I've been lazy.

So here's today's breakfast and lunch, which I measured AND entered in my food journal.

Upper left, pink square:  1 ounce dill Havarti cheese

Upper right, purple rectangle:  3 ounces grilled chicken (Perdue Short Cuts) with Borsari seasoned salt (LOVE this stuff!)

Lower right, pink square:  1 ounce of dry roasted peanuts (definitely doesn't fill a sandwich bag)

Lower left, pink rectangle:  1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese, 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 TB unsweetened coconut

the multi-purpose roasted chicken

Now that I need to eat better, and WANT to eat better, I figured whole chickens would be a good thing to have on hand in the freezer.  I could roast one and get quite a few meals out of it.  So, awhile back I bought several 3- to 4-pound chickens and stuck them in my deep freezer.  I waited until I was visiting my dad up in New Hampshire, because food tends to cost less up there.  Every time I go to a store around here, a small chicken costs about $6 or $7.  The bigger chickens can be more than $10.  Since I'm the only one that eats chicken on the bone (Don't even get me started on that one!  Bob will eat boneless only.), I refuse to pay $10 for a chicken.

Tonight I decided to roast one of the chickens.  My plan is to use one breast for either chicken salad or slice it up and dip into light mayo; use the second breast to cut up and put into "protein packs" (a container with some chicken chunks, nuts, and some cheese); eat the wings for dinner; give the legs to a friend; eat all the breast skin immediately (done!); and, if I'm ambitious enough, make stock out of the carcass.  I've made homemade stock before and it's so much better than canned.  As you can see, there's lot one can do with a roasted chicken.

So, here's my pretty chicken.  All I did was rinse it, remove the giblet pack, pat it dry, and then add Borsari seasoned salt.  I stuck it in the oven on 350 for about an hour, then jacked the heat to 450 for about 10-15 minutes in order to brown it more.  Then I turned off the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  During the cooking time I added a glass of water to the pan and basted several times.

homemade chicken fingers

Last night I made chicken fingers and, boy, were they good!  I just seasoned some flour with my new favorite seasoned salt, A.A. Borsari, and some pepper.  I dredged the tenders in the flour, dipped them in egg, then back into the flour.  Then I fried them in vegetable oil for a few minutes on each side.  I served them with Ken's Honey Mustard Dressing and Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce, two of my favorites.  I was only able to eat 1 1/2 tenders; they were pretty big.

I just realized this looks like two eyes with eyebrows. LOL

my first steak dinner!!

Tonight I decided to have my first piece of steak since my surgery.  I haven't had steak since the beginning of December and that's a real feat for me.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE steak!  I would choose steak over most foods, with the exception of maybe bagels.

Whenever I eat steak at home I make strip steaks.  (And, believe it or not, I get them at Aldi.  For some reason their strip steaks are so tender and flavorful.  Reasonably priced, too.)  When I eat out it's either a strip or prime rib.  Once in a great while I'll eat ribeye, but I find it to be a little too rich.  But my nutritionist said filet mignon is better for WLS patients, because it's much easier to chew thoroughly and goes down easier.  So, I splurged and bought some filet a couple weeks back.  I figured I would try that first and then work my way up.  I'm not a big fan of filet, though; it just doesn't have the "steak" flavor I like.  But tonight I went with the strip steak.  Given that I had both the strip and the filet in the freezer, I just couldn't resist the allure of the strip steak:  the thickness, the light marbling, and that nice ring of fat around the outside.  (My favorite part is when I burn the fatty edges on the grill.  YUM!  Yes, I'm my father's daughter.)

Normally I don't put anything on my steak except salt and pepper.  I believe good steak doesn't need any seasoning to make it taste better; however, I decided to use a meat rub (A.A. Borsari Seasoned Salt), which I bought at Whole Foods last month.  I'd heard it was really good so I figured I'd try it out.  It said to rub the meat with olive oil and then rub the seasoning in.  I then put it on the grill.  On the side I made sauteed mushrooms (for me; Bob is a mushroom-hater), baked potatoes, and buttered corn.

To sum up my first steak dinner since December in one word:  HEAVEN!  I was on cloud nine when I bit into that steak.  I can't even describe the utter joy I felt.  So juicy and tender.  I just sat there, savoring every chew.  And the steak rub made it even better.  It was delicious and I would definitely use it again.  The mushrooms were great.  I sauteed them in olive oil with some salt and pepper, and then added a little butter and Worcestershire sauce at the end.   The baked potato was good, too.  Just better, salt, and pepper. Normally I put french onion dip on my baked potatoes, but I didn't have any.  (Yes, that sounds weird, but it's great!  It's like having seasoned sour cream on your potato.)

So, here's my dinner:  2 oz. steak, a little over 1 oz of mushrooms, and 1/2 a baked potato (3.5 oz) with butter.  And I was able to eat 95% of it.  Obviously, the steak went first.