Today is weigh-in day and I have weighed in. Does it seem like a lot longer than a week since I realized I am a large flightless bird? It does to me. That was a very long week, it seemed like it lasted 9 or 10 days as opposed to the standard 7. It was probably a week in bird weeks. I weighed myself and I'm still a large flightless bird but a large flightless bird that weighs two (2) lbs less than I did last week!
Yay for me!!!
I have also moved on to Step 2 of my Sparking. I graduated from Step 1 a week early according to the Sparkpeople computer who (that, which?) informed me that I had earned 25 points and moved on to the next level which is all about diet and portion control. If you control your portions, they really aren't very big. That may seem elementary to my fives of readers but news to me. I recently learned that butter has 100 calories per tablespoon. 100 Calories!! What the hell? No wonder I'm so fat, I had no idea. I figured it was bad but I didn't realize it was that bad. Last night I bought "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter..... Lite". Sigh.
Sparkpeople sends out a lot of email. Some I read, "7 Comfort Foods that are Good for You." Others, I don't read, "The Winter Workout Guide" (actually I did check that one out and it tells the reader how many calories can be used up making snow angels. Living in Portland, I would end up making dirt angels which probably doesn’t use up as many calories and I probably wouldn’t look that fun or darling or festive doing it. “Oh no, who’s that chunky middle aged woman flailing on the ground? Kids get back over here, leave her alone!”)
I was intrigued by the good news about comfort foods being good for me because I figured that macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pies, and chocolate chip cookies were not going to be a part of my diet. I eagerly clicked on the article to discover the magic behind the 7 Comfort Foods that are Good for Me. Um...ehemmmm, the title says, "Comfort Foods."
Get ready for the 7 “Comfort” Foods:
1. yogurt with fruit
2. fruit smoothie
3. chicken noodle soup
4. angel food cake
5. oatmeal
6. vegetable juice
7. crockpot food
Comfort Foods? To comfort what??? Those ain’t no freakin’ comfort foods. OK, chicken noodle soup is a comfort food, it is good for one’s soul and soup is good food but that is the only item on this list that in ANY way resembles a comfort food. I don't know what to think about the crockpot food. I have crocked once and it was chicken that wound up looking like stewed brain. I gave the crockpot away and have never crocked again.
Comfort foods are warm and cheesy and buttery. They are thick and saucy, just like me!! (Hahahaha Stop it Maggie you are too, too!) Comfort foods inspire reminiscing about your childhood, cool fall days and grilled cheese sammiches and tomato soup, Campbell’s Tomato Goddam Soup! Vegetable juice doesn’t conjure up any childhood memories for me other than my dad sometimes liked V8 or Clamato with a beer on Saturday mornings.
Comfort food is stew or meatloaf, chocolate chip cookies from scratch, mashed potatoes, my Mother’s spaghetti sauce which she always swore was no big thing but I’ve never been able to recreate it, my Mother’s minestrone soup for that matter, also incredibly good. But not my Mother’s fruit smoothie, not my Mother’s plain yogurt with berries in it. What in the name of God are the Sparker’s talking about???
I did some research of my own and found many, MANY lists of comfort foods from websites on Home Cooking, from Countryliving.com and foodnetwork.com, Wikipedia! And if it’s on Wikipedia, it’s true. All of these lists include many of the same foods. Comfort Foods, REAL Comfort Foods are things like:
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Meatloaf (I will post my sister’s amazing meatloaf recipe in next post)
- Macaroni & Cheese (with real cheese and ½ and ½
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Chocolate Cake
- Chili
- Brownies
- Lasagna
- Applie Pie
- Risotto
- Fried Chicken. (Interesting aside: I work with a woman from Italy who went to Friar Tuck’s in Portland for Fried Chicken. Friar Tuck's is YUMMY fried chicken. She didn’t like it and gave it to me and I ate it, stopping short of sucking the marrow out of the bones. Here’s the interesting part, she’d never had friend chicken before! She’s in her 30s and had never had friend chicken! It seems that Italians don’t make friend chicken. Those people have a lot to learn about good food. So it wasn't an interesting aside but it was an aside.)
- Tuna casserole
I could go on but I’m getting hungry. I’ll go eat a portion (bad word!) of fruit. How comforting.
Lastly, I entered to win a $1000 Amazon Book gift card. Fingers crossed because if I win, my friends are going to be getting book presents from me for a long time.
Lastly, lastly…it was 9:15-9:30 this morning when I realized I was walking around with my jeans completely unzipped.
Super lastly, someday I'm going to figure out the layout of this page and have the photos match up with the appropriate posts. This will require the help of Super Trisha, the most creative person I know. And the best cook, talk about comfort food. Everything she makes is the best comfort food ever, pork wrapped pork, not kidding and I want some. See her stuff at www.abodedesign.net.
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