Today was unbeliveably hot and muggy. I spent quite some time working in the yard, clearing an area which used to be beside the garage, before I moved it. The work was hard as there were maples that had been allowed to grow somewhat. Taking them out means digging the roots out and it is no small job. Then I leveled it, put garden fabric and then crushed stone. It will be nice when it is ready.
At lunch hour I was too hot and tired to do much. Luckily I had one big vine tomato and some bocconcini. Sprinkle some dried oregano, get some fresh basil leaves from my mini herb garden above, and voilá, that was my lunch! After that I had some Coconut Cream Pie ice cream which in the opinion of yours truly, is out of this world.
13 comments:
Enjoyed looking at your yummy tomatoes for lunch. Sometimes the most simple of foods that are thrown together are the best. I've been dieting very successfully as I've been extremely motivated.
I haven't been eating any breads cheese's or pasta's, and everything fat free, also I've been eating alot of fruits and veggies. If you know of any tasty diet recipe sites, would love to learn of them. Thanks in advance if you do know of any sites.
The tomatoes look great - one of my favorite light lunches is tomatoes with goat cheese rolled in dried Italian herbs and drizzled with rice wine vinegar.
Kudos for doing all that work in this heat - I, on the other hand, hid out in an air conditioned movie theater.
Thanks for adding me to your blog links. You've been on mine for a while.
Ana,
your salad looks wonderfully summery. I love fresh tomatoes. They are worlds away from anything that you can get in the grocery store. I'm jealous!
Thanks Ruth and Liz. Well Ruth, I wish I were in the air conditioned to, but my AC has not been working. Last Sunday, I went to see Star Wars at the noon showing. I'll do that from now on. I cannot work at noon because it is too hot and being in the cool theatre is a double whammy. You are comfortable and entertained.
I just finished writing a comment back to you about our diet. And I pushed the wrong key and lost it all.
I was 80 pounds overweight, have lost 40 so far.
It helps that it's just my husband and myself now so we only have foods allowed on our diet in the house. When out at restaurants that's a toughy, I try to get everyone to go to restaurants that have foods on the menu that I can have and not be too far off my diet. Fast food restaurants are horrible, the salads can be more calories than the burgers. I have found however that Subway restaurants allow you to buy the grilled chicken with all the veggies in a bowl for $5.00. Watch the movie "Super Size Me". One of my jobs I'm a nurse, I love my job and other nurses, as I have been there 27 years. BUT, these nurses love to bring in donuts to work and have yummy potlucks very frequently. I have started a diet club kind of. If we do a potluck, I've asked that we have a salad potluck. Where everyone brings one salad item and it works great, it was a real hit. Getting exciting recipes to share at work would be a wonderful thing, and we can bring them in for potlucks.
I make myself drink alot of water, if you wait until you're thirsty you're already dehydrated. Your body works more efficiently at getting rid of fats if you're properly hydrated. I don't allow myself to eat breads (except for fat free tortillas and fat free croutons), cheese, gravies, and of course sweets. What I do allow myself are the following; I eat alot of rice. In soups that I make, with baked chicken (grilling it dries it out too much and I don't want to need a sauce to moisten it). I've found that the eggs in a carton have only 30 calories, sauteing mushrooms and onions with Pam, microwaving things instead of frying. This doesn't heat up the kitchen either in the hot summer time. The rabbit foods and fresh fruit are life savers too. I don't eat a whole plateful of food either at a sitting. A meal will be one food item maybe with another, but I never eat a vegetable, meat, fruit or rice all at one sitting. I have bananas and orange juice and fat free popcorn readily available. If I get hungry, it helps to munch on healthy stuff rather than be tempted with cheat foods. One favorite of mine has been, rice with soy sauce and put fresh avocados on top, very good. Avocados are high in fat but natural fat, I've found this makes a big difference.
When I had gained all of this weight my knees had started hurting and I found myself taking motrin everyday. Since I'ver lost some weight my knees stopped hurting, so it's been easier to push away from the cheat foods. Currently I'm on a reducing diet, I look forward to being on a maintenence diet when I get to my ideal weight. But plan to weigh myself every day so if I start going up I can catch it in the bud. I've only dieted once before in my life, and lost all of the weight only to put it back on again. I will not allow that to happen again. Since we've been dieting, we've been feeling better too, I started noticing that I have more energy. I was in an accident last year, I'm fine, but am still on oxygen at night and to exercise has been hard. I get winded very easily with stairs and the like. But I find that walking works for me very well. So I've been walking several times per week. Now that I'm in my 50's, I guess I've been paying more attention to being healthier. I want to be around and not just around but enjoy living and look forward to our retirement.
Sorry for this being so long, thanks for your suggestions of the various sites, I will check them out this afternoon. It's been hot here as well, but our Colorado weather usually gives us a thunderstorm mid afternoons to cool things off a bit. Maybe with my having more energy I'll be able to work outside in our yard more.
I look forward to visiting your site in the future for more meal ideas. Jan
Janet: good for you! I hate low-fat and cannot stick to it for too long so I have to find another way to loose my pounds. Tried the Atkins too but miss my carbs...life is never easy in the weight control department
Amy: Thanks a lot. I loved your site too. Your template is terrific.
Becky: Thanks. I love my garden and wish I could dedicate more time to it. The house is cute but it is a work in progress (aren't they all?)
Ana,
If you're still updating the "history of the cookbook meme", I just posted mine and tagged 3 food bloggers and 2 non-food bloggers.
http://thehungryrose.blogspot.com
Your research is really amazing. It was great to go through the list and see who wrote about books and how the meme evovled. I really enjoyed it.
Rose
Yum, I love tomatoes and bocconcini.
I wish we were having a hot summer over here--I doubt I'll be getting any red tomatoes from my plants this year. Our summer has been too wet and cool so far for vine-ripened tomatoes, especially the Beefstake variety which takes more days to mature.
-Christine
Looks delicious (as always). What's the white stuff?
I was so excited to see the bolo de mel post...and so sad to learn that Antonio (TPMIM) doesn't like it. What could be bad about honey and cake???
Hi Portuguesa Nova: The white stuff is the bocconcini cheese. It is basically fresh mozzarella and it is delicious.
Un beau lunch tout frais. Et quel joli potager.
T
Ah.... reminds me of our time in Italy last year. On our return we ate like Italians for a couple of months. Thanks to that picture ( I can taste it!) I think a return to the vida Italia is in order. I'm hitting our Italian market tomorrow for some buffalo mozz!!
hiya, that caprese looks really lovely...perfect hot weather food...cheers,j
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