Posts by luniemoonie

We subsist on a primarily vegetarian diet, but for most of our recipes, you can toss in some roasted chicken breast if you'd like. Here are a few things we like to do:

1. Grilled veggie pasta salad: cut zucchini and/or yellow squash into lengths,  seed and half a red bell pepper or two, clean a handful or two of smaller mushrooms, coat all of the veg lightly in extra virgin olive oil and toss with a pinch of salt and generous amounts of freshly ground black pepper. Grill all veggies over a hot flame until softened and nice grill marks appear. Chop a tomato or two and set aside. Cook a couple of cups of shaped pasta (like rotini, penne, etc--whole wheat is delicious in this) according to package directions. Chop grilled veggies to bite sized pieces and toss, with tomato, with the pasta. We throw in basil and a little more salt/pepper to taste and usually eat it as is, but you could also toss it with a little fat free italian dressing. The way we make it, there are at least as many veggies as noodles, though you can adjust amounts to your liking. It's great the day after for lunch!

2. This is possibly lame as a recipe, but we eat it frequently. A platter of your favorite raw veggies (we include tomatoes, english cucumbers, sugar snap peas, sweet pepper slices, carrot and celery sticks, etc), a bowl of hummus, and a couple of whole wheat pitas cut into wedges. That is dinner for us several times a month, and it makes a nice, light lunch.

3. Chicken Soup with Rice: You'll need a roasted and diced breast of chicken, a can of diced tomatoes with juices (the ones that are chilli ready are great), a can of black beans drained and rinsed, a can each of white and yellow hominy drained and rinsed, two ribs celery, diced, an onion, chopped, two roasted red bell peppers, or half a jar, drained and chopped, a quart or more of chicken broth or water, a cup of cooked long grain white rice, and the following seasonings in amounts that taste best to you: cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt and freshly ground black pepper, and a pinch of either allspice or clove. Saute the celery and onion until softened in a little olive oil. Add the rinsed canned veggies along with the tomato and bell pepper. Add the liquid (it needs to be enough to cover everything). Add the meat and the rice. Simmer over medium low heat until the broth thickens and the flavors have melded suitably (i find that 30 minutes is usually enough). This soup is great the next day.

I have two black cats, one is 3, the other is 2. The eldest, Neko, was being given away in front of the safeway in Ellensburg (where I was attending the university at the time). I fell in love with him on first sight and brought him home to our "no pets allowed" apartment, where my husband, completely shocked to see a tiny black kitten on my shoulder, fell in love with him at first sight. He's very cute, relatively playful, and very social. Most people fall in love with him when they first meet him, even people that don't like cats so much (like I said...he's Very social). He plays hide and seek, and will chase my husband and I around the apartment while we try to hide from him behind doors and walls. (yes, I know, we're very strange over here...)

 My other cat, Cyrus, we got from the animal shelter in E-burg about a year later. Neko was getting lonely, so we started looking around for a "friend" for him. They found Cyrus on the roadside with his sister. When we went into the shelter, they were both so packed with worms that they looked like they would pop if you touched them (bloated bellies). Cyrus started purring as soon as i picked him up, and so naturally, I fell in love with him. He's a very vocal cat, and usually once a day, minimum, he wanders around the house "talking". He likes to play tag (you run away from him, and he chases you, then you chase him, basically), which is sort of weird for a cat. He's very affectionate.

Aside from that, we have a white mouse named Arya who is an expert at escaping from her cage, and two rats, a white one named Lily and a black and white hooded rat named Dr. Girlfriend. But our cats are really our darlings :)

for breakfast cereal, try old fashioned oatmeal. While not technically low cal, it's lower in calories than a bowl of sugary cereal and milk (most people don't eat 1 serving size of cereal).

Try 100% whole wheat bread, or low carb bread. I don't like the way low carb bread tastes, so i eat whole wheat. Whole Wheat bread may not be lower in calories, but it's healthier for you. Also, try reducing your bread in take by half (i've had good luck with that).

Cheese. Sorry, unless you like low fat/fat free cheese, the only answer is to significantly reduce the amount you eat. That's what I do, because i hate fake cheese.

Yogurt: lowfat/fat free yogurt. I personally tend to like lowfat better than fat free because American yogurt is already too watery for my tastes, and fat free yogurt is just that much worse.

Peanut Butter: I think it's Jiff that has a reduced fat peanut butter. It isn't that low in calories, but it is a healthier peanut butter.

Ice Cream Bars/Sandwiches: I like the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches. In fact, I think i might buy some today. I have had the Peanut Butter ones and the Mint ones, and I like both.

Can't help you on the protein bar, sorry :) But i know this, if something is low fat, it's often higher in sugar, so be watching the nutrition labels.

Well, if you're watching Youtube stuff, try looking up Flight of the Conchords. They're pretty silly (New Zealand Comedy Folk group...very hard to explain). I watch them when i'm bored out of my mind.

and Happy Birthday!

Aside from drinking "lite" beer in moderation, you can't. Excess calories doesn't equal weight loss. You're in college, right? Do the math and use some common sense.

as a note on vi_xon's post:

A great way to make sure to get fat out of ground meat (or any meat, I suppose) is to cook it at a lower temperature. It renders more of the fat into liquid, which you can then drain off.