cutting the cord...

hi everyone! i had a long talk with myself the other night, and i'm making it official: as of next week, i'm cancelling my recurring order with bistro MD. this means that i lose the free-shipping promotion i've had going for a few months now, which probably means that bistro will be priced beyond what i can reasonably justify. which means that i'd be cutting the cord, most likely for good. i get this little jump of fear just typing that...even though i'm getting better at making my own meals, even though we've got about 2 dozen bistro meals backed up in the deep freeze, even though there's another week still coming, i have this completely irrational feeling that there's some magical powder they put in their meals that make me lose weight, without which i'll stall out permanently. i'm also just a little freaked out by the prospect of REALLY having to cook. with all the experimenting, i've been spending upwards of 4-5 hours a week on food prep, which is lots more than i wanted. i know that it's ramp-up time on the learning curve, but i hate the idea of having to do it forever. so, maybe, that's what i'm really afraid of. having to do more work to make on-plan food the easiest thing to eat. it's gonna happen sooner or later, so i guess i ought to suck it up and call them to cancel.

in other news, i may have found a ready-made substitute for the pasta. the nutrition profile for mama rosie's low fat ravioli (http://www.mamarosies.com/products.php) looks like it could do the trick. if not, i'll try penne lane (http://www.pennelanepasta.com/) before attempting to make it myself. does anyone know what brand of spaghetti sauce bistro uses? i love it and haven't found one i like quite as much. i hope they don't make it themselves. it seems that there's not really that much that they do, which is both wonderful and a little disheartening, given the cost.

my fabulous in-laws are taking el nino for most of the weekend, so i'll be bagging and tagging some BBQ pork with corn and green beans, and doing a trial run of my indian meal - chicken vindaloo (store-bought sauce, hopes not incredibly high), curried spinach, and basmati rice with peas. i'll definitely start the timer on this one, since i'll need to seal a TON of bags to get everything together. should put some serious hurt on the cheapie foodsaver - we'll see how it holds up!

have a great weekend, everyone!

the pasta challenge

so, the bistro MD cheese-stuffed tortellini and ravioli are two of my absolute favorites. i've been all over the web trying to find substitutes, and no dice. (unless someone out there reading this knows something i don't - PLEASE TELL ME!) because otherwise, i will have to...deep breath...make my own pasta from scratch.

heading deep into PITA territory here. or at least i think so...maybe it won't be that bad?

this will involve:

1. finding a good, whole-wheat pasta recipe
2. buying and working in a small percentage of inulin (more about that later)
3. making the cheese filling
4. finding a sauce that's as good as the bistro vodka sauce (any ideas on that?)
5. making the pasta, stuffing, cooking and bagging (not bad)

i've got a great KA mixer with a dough attachment, and a hand-crank pasta roller, so steps 4 and 5 should be fairly low-impact. and i guess that steps 1 and 2 only need to be performed until i get it right, and then they're done. so, okay. i could use some clarity on recipe amounts v. actual cooked portions in terms of calories, because i have no idea how much cheese mixture i should make, and how much you actually put in a piece of ravioli. i guess i'll figure it out, though, huh?

for the pasta recipe, i've found a bunch online, and will work them out. the thing though is that i also came across a fiber supplement called inulin, which is made from chicory root, and is supposed to lower significantly the GI rating of pasta. it's also a pre-biotic, and i quickly got in over my head since i am neither a nutritionist nor an applied chemist. i will, however, buy some at the hippie food store near my house, and see what happens. my real hope is that i once i get a good formula, i can make freakin' boatloads of stuffed pasta dinners so i don't have to go to all this trouble too often.

also had a serious "doh!" moment making white chicken chili yesterday. figuring out what a portion weighs is tricky indeed. my kitchen scale only measures up to 11 lbs, and a full crockpot weighs way more than that. i may try weighing uncooked ingredients before putting them in the pot, but i don't know how to account for water loss, and the bits and pieces that get stuck to the pan or the spoon, or get a little burnt, or eaten by my kid when he's "helping" me cook. maybe i'm just being too anal... the chicken chili is probably somewhere in the 10-11 oz per serving area. here's what i threw in the crockpot:

• 48 oz jar of great northern beans, rinsed
• 3 lbs diced boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 16 oz jar medium salsa
• 4 oz reduced-fat pepper jack cheese
• 12 oz 50% light cheddar
• 16 oz fat free sour cream

incidentally, this recipe ROCKS and i have it courtesy of my former roomie and beloved friend liz. thanks again, liz! nutrition as follows for 12 servings:

• calorie: 346
• fat: 4 g (saturated 2 g)
• sodium: 550
• carbs: 33
• fiber: 6
• protein: 43

nice, huh? and pretty easy. sorry if i mentioned this before - but i'm really learning that it's worth the time to flash freeze liquids like soups and stews. i tried to sidestep this and put some stirfry sauce at the bottom of a bag, and attempted to load strips of beef on top to sort of "seal" it from getting sucked by the vacuum, and it kinda sorta worked. i'll probably do it again. but not soups - for sure freeze it in plastic gladware-type bowls and THEN seal.