Welcome to the Family!

I've been slacking on the blog posts, but I came here to announce the newest addition to our family:  The Vitamix 6300!  It's only been a day since the new bundle of joy joined our family, but she's already become part of the daily routine.

To start, a little about the Vitamix 6300:  All Vitamixes are high-powered blenders.  While normal blenders fail at crushing blackberry seeds, grinding ice, or removing celery fibers the Vitamix does it all.  Specifically, the Vitamix 6300 is a Costco exclusive--it's the rebranding of the Pro 500 for Costco with a price savings of $100.

So what have I done with the Vitamix so far?  I was lucky enough to score a GIANT watermelon in my co-op share this week, so I decided I needed to use this asap.  This morning, I enjoyed a whole fruit smoothie including watermelon (seeds and all), cucumber, marionberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  Thirty seconds in the blender and I was left with a smooth, refreshing summer smoothie.

And now, as I type, I'm enjoying a serrano-watermelon daiquiri.  Daiquiri's are normally rum-based, but in this version I'm using my serrano infused vodka.

Recipes:


Serrano Infused Vodka (serves a bunch)

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle of vodka (use any mid-range brand, the serranos are the main event here)
• A handful of serrano peppers, chopped

1. Dump chopped peppers into vodka bottle. (Note: You might have to use some of the vodka to make room for the peppers.  Hard work, I know!)
2. Wait for two weeks to let the peppers infuse the vodka.
3. After two weeks, use a coffee filter lined strainer to strain all sediment from the vodka.

Serrano-Watermelon Daiquiri (serves 2)

Ingredients (measurements are approximate)

• 1 cup of watermelon, chopped (seeds are fine)
• 1 whole lime, peeled
• 2 tablespoons simple syrup
• 3 ounces serrano vodka
• 1.5 cups of ice

1. Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.  

VOILA!  One day in the family, and already earning her keep.  I'm excited to see what else I can whip up with this weeks co-op share:  celery, apples, kale, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, oranges, okra, and bananas.  

Portion sizes and weight loss

Well folks, I seem to have failed at this blog.  I left a job, joined a new company, and just got all tied up in life.

I will say that I haven't stopped thinking about food.  During this whole time, I've been thinking about it constantly.  The idea of eating healthier has been consuming my mind, so "A" and I started in January on a prepared meal plan called My Fit Foods (www.myfitfoods.com).  You can think of it as Nutrisystem, but fresh and healthy.  We both lost a lot of weight (I lost 4% body fat!), but perhaps the biggest thing we gained (pun intended) was a lesson in portion sizes.  No matter how many times I've been told that a serving of meat is 4 oz, or the size of a deck of cards, it never really stuck with me.  I only just now learned this with practice.  Through the meal plan, these ideal portion sizes were reinforced every day.

With this increased interest in portion sizes I decided to buy a food scale.  I can't tell you how much this has helped.  Food labels are confusing, not to mention often inaccurate.  Example:  I was portioning out almond butter earlier, and the label indicated that the serving size was 2 tablespoons or 32 grams.  I set a little container on the food scale, zeroed the scale, and put about 32 grams of almond butter in the container.  Surprisingly, 32 grams = only one full tablespoon!  I felt cheated!  All this time,  I thought I'd been calculating my calories correctly, but a simple slip up like this can add 190 calories to an otherwise innocent snack!  No wonder I've been running into problems. 

So now I've started weighing everything.  The scale can be a little funky as the object's weight approaches zero.  Apparently, a potato chip has zero calories, so go ahead and eat all you want!  :-)

I hope to bring you new recipes soon, and with better calorie information thanks to my new scale.  Stay tuned!