Crab Salad

The weather is warming up and I'm trying to think of ways to avoid cooking.  And eat real foods.  And incorporate more veggies.  And here is success #1!

• A package of crabmeat or imitation crabmeat,
• 2 tablespoons of mayo,
• maybe 2 cups of cooked pasta shells,
• a few generous dashes of dried dill (I love dill, I'll put it in anything), and
• salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over a bed of fresh kale and enjoy. 

I tried to make little wraps with the kale but ended up making a mess instead, so I advise sticking to traditional salad presentation :)

Pineapple Angelfood Cake With Strawberries

Who doesn't love angelfood cake topped with strawberries?  This recipe uses pineapple to pump up the fiber content of one of my favorites, the angelfood cake.  I think this is one of those ww food-hacks that have been around forever, but I could be wrong. 

It's pretty simple: mix an 8 ounce can of crushed pineapple (juice and all) with one angelfood cake mix.  I stirred it by hand just until it came together and there was no dry mix left in the bowl, then spread it in two loaf pans. 

The instructions on the mix said not to grease the pans but I couldn't help myself; I prepared the loaf pans with non-stick spray.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes, until deep golden brown.  Mine took about 35 minutes.  Then I set the pans on their side on a cooling rack.  Once they cooled completely I ran a knife around the edges; the loaf-shaped cakes came free easily.  That's a relief because they are sticky; I was afraid I'd be scraping them out of the pans!

They didn't rise very much but I didn't expect them to since I didn't beat the batter for the fluff-factor.  I topped them with strawberries I had sliced, sprinkled with sugar (2 Tbs sugar on a pound of strawberries, so not alot of added sugar), and set aside earlier.  Awesome!  It doesn't have as much of the light, spongey texture of regular angelfood cake, but it still has the fabulous burnt-sugar tasting crust.  I had some trouble cutting it without the crust breaking in the wrong place, but that didn't change the taste.  I could see the pineapple bits but I didn't really notice them when I ate it.  Probably because of all the strawberries!

I would make this again, definitely.  And in my opinion it's good enough to serve to company.  Or keep for yourself...

Random Fat Thoughts... Or Thoughts On Fats And Weight Loss

I'm not a fan of artificially low-fat foods.  I was pleasantly surprised when I read Eat Fat, Lose Fat, which promotes using real fats in your diet like butter, coconut oil, olive oil and avocados, and says you can lose weight while doing so. 

And I was really excited in January when I had more free time than usual... I spent alot of time working out and was losing weight.  I was also eating about 25% more than my allowance of ww points and sort of lost faith in tracking foods and sticking to the points allowance, since I was losing weight and getting stronger and smaller while eating more.

After January I didn't have that spare time for extra workouts anymore, but I didn't go back to the more restrictive way of eating, and I continued to enjoy healthy fats and unfortunately, some serious fast food.  I had some starts and stops with weight loss and now have pretty much gained all the weight back.   

I have two thoughts here.  One is that cutting fast food out of my life is not realistic.  As much as I would like to be a healthy super-woman, if I draw the line and mandate "no more fast food, never again" then with deprivation on my mind, I am even more likely to say "honey, how about Hardee's tonight?" and say it often.  The other thought is that I would like to accomplish weight loss while incorporating real, healthy fats into my diet.

I'm going to have to start planning meals again, writing down dinner for the whole week and shopping accordingly.  And planning out breakfast, lunch and snacks.  And to do it the way I want to, I'm going to have to figure out how to eat real foods and real fats but keep the total fat and calories down to a reasonable level to allow for weight loss.  And plan for good choices with the occasional burger joint take-out: maybe eat half the burger and a small order of fries, for starters.

Sheesh, it all sounds so complicated.  Maybe I will just concentrate this week on doing SOME planning, SOME exercising, making sure to eat fruits and veggies and get plenty of water.  Back to baby steps, people.

Have a fab day.