I don’t cook!

Okay, maybe I actually DO cook, but I don’t know Spices.  I don’t know which spices go with what foods . . . . so I experiment.

My ex was a cook; in fact, all my ex beau’s were cooks, but my ex-husband hated when I experimented.  Every now and again, he’d take a bite of something and say,

“You weren’t experimenting in the kitchen again tonight, were you?”

“Sure I was, why?  Tastes just fine to me.”

“What did you put in this?”

His expression or remark were along the lines of,

“Ewwww!  Don’t do that anymore, okay?”

See?  I cook, but . . . .

Well, I’ve tried several different weight loss programs throughout my adult life; not much has budged off my body. Sure I lose 10-15 pounds, quit, and it slowly creeps back on. Maybe it’s my age, maybe it’s the T2D or the meds I’m on, maybe it’s because I don’t move as much as I should . . . .  Lots of maybe’s there . . . .

I don’t watch TV; I get my news online daily and was reading an article about a guy who lost over 100 pounds. I like to know what they’re doing correctly [in hopes it’ll help me in my weight loss journey].  Afterall, you lost a 100 pounds, I want to know “how”. 

The man said the KEY for him was, “If you want to lose weight, you’ve got to cook.”  ‘Aha!  I can cook!  Sort of . . . I mean, it’s not rocket science . . . just follow the directions.’  It’s when I stop following the directions when things tend to go awry.

My step-Mom is an awesome cook [bordering on Gourmet]; we do Christmas in January at my home as we’re all pulled in a zillion different directions during the actual holidays. Flight prices are cheaper the 3rd week in January and no traffic on the highways either. PLUS, if it doesn’t need to be returned, you can catch the after the Holiday Sales too.  

ANYWAY . . .  the Family was here and I was going to ‘roast’ the brussel sprouts; I hate brussel sprouts, but I heard they’re good for you and I tried the roasted ones at my step-brother’s home the prior year’s Thanksgiving and kind of liked them, so I started making them for myself. BUT, just to reiterate, I HATE Brussel Sprouts so they can’t actually “taste” like brussel sprouts for me to eat them. 

I was gabbing away with my Step-Mom about the guy who lost 100 pounds, blah, blah, blah . . .  I told her how I thought Italian people know their spices, so I decided to add them to my brussel sprouts.  

I was adding garlic powder, parsley and basil to the bowl with the brussel sprouts and the olive oil in it. She was looking at me weird and finally said, “Have you done this before?” 

“Yes.”

“And you’ve eaten them?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve liked them?”

“Yes.”  I could see she was thinking along the same lines as my Ex.

Reminds me of an old cereal commercial with Mikey in it.  Remember the LIFE commercial where three boys are sitting at a Kitchen table, two older, looking at the cereal box on the table? 

One looks at the other and says, “What’s this?” 

The other one says, “Some new cereal; it’s supposed to be good for you.”

“Did you try it?”

“I’m not going to try it.”

The other one pipes up and says, “Hey! Let’s get Mikey to try it!” 

“He won’t like it, he hates everything.”

So they pour him a bowlful, add milk and wait.  Mikey starts munching away. 

Mikey likes it!

In the end, she raved about them; said they were the BEST brussel sprouts she ever ate!  Even went back for seconds.

---

A few days later, I decided to add Apple Sauce, Onion, dried Parm Cheese and Cinnamon to my Chicken dish:

Chix a la Apple Sauce ~

I had three strips of chicken from a previous night that didn’t fit in the pan. I noticed my chix were getting dried out after a few days in the fridge and then re-heating them in the micro for lunch so I tried something new. You’re going to think this is really weird, but it was DELICIOUS!

I added some olive oil to the pan, put it on medium-to-high heat, added the chix strips; then added some dried parmesan cheese and flipped the chix a few times in it; then added some of the onions I had left from the other day. This is where is gets weird . . . I needed to add something to keep them moist, so I added one of my Musselmann’s Apple Sauce 1/2 cup containers to it, then I added another 1-1/2 of them. I then sprinkled some cinnamon over the top (more came out than I actually planned to use).

After all the additions, I cut the chicken up into chucks and turned the heat down to medium and let the chix chunks cook, turning frequently.  I made a sweet potato too.