30 Days is Now 60 Days

I'm still eating mostly grain-free. In the past two months, I've cut out most grain (except the occasional wheat tortilla for work lunch), potatoes and pasta. The only rice I eat is a serving of no sugar added rice pudding, which I have every work day at lunch. It took a little getting used to, but it's not that bad. I've discovered that I actually like sweet potatoes.

The result to my weight has been fantastic. I've lost 18.4 pounds since November 4. I'll admit to under-eating a few times, but I usually make up for that on weekends when I eat out. My calories average somewhere in the 1500s, which is what the dietician at the local hospital recommended for me. I'm not very active right now, which I hope to change once winter is over.

I'm cooking more than I had been. It's hard to cook for just one person. I end up with lots of leftovers, which I get tired of after the 4th or 5th serving. Some recipes I've tried and liked are:

http://www.livehealtheasy.com/2013/09/fall-apple-stew-with-pork-onions-sweet.html

http://www.livehealtheasy.com/2013/12/sweet-potato-meatloaf.html

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/creamy_sw_taco_soup.html

http://www.paleoplan.com/2009/11-22/zucchini-and-ground-beef/

http://gutsybynature.com/2013/09/23/sweet-potato-apple-pancetta-hash/

I'm hoping to continue losing weight in January. I'm also hoping to add to my collection of healthy Paleo recipes. I'll report back on my progress after 90 days.

 

30 Days of (Mostly) Grain Free Eating

I've put weight back on that I don't want. Twenty years ago, it would have been easy to take it off, but after menopause, I'm finding that it's nearly impossible. So it's time to try something different. I'm trying a modified version of the Paleo diet.

The Paleo diet doesn't include grain and dairy products. I can give up the grains pretty easily, but I can't drink my coffee black, and I like having a little cheese every day. My daily 'treat' is a no sugar added pudding. The concession I'm willing to make with dairy is to use unflavored creamer or half and half in my coffee. I'm also trying to significantly lower my sugar intake.

What does this look like in a daily menu? Here is a sample day, aiming for a calorie range of 1,600-1,700 calories per day.

Breakfast: apple; scrambled egg substitute cooked with chopped onions and peppers; chicken sausage; coffee with unflavored creamer and Nectresse

AM snack: 100 calorie pack of almonds; hard-boiled egg

Lunch: tuna with mayonnaise and onions; carrots; no sugar added rice pudding

PM snack: string cheese; rolled-up lunchmeat with spicy mustard

Supper: grilled chicken; baked sweet potato fries; mixed vegetables

For this first week, the two meals I'll vary a little are breakfast and supper. For week 2, I'll change my lunch protein, possibly to hamburger and taco spices with tomatoes and onions on a bed of lettuce.

This may or may not work, but I'm willing to give it 30 days.

An Apple a Day...

My second visit to the Easton Farmers Market happened on Saturday, October 12. That was the date of the Apple Jam, another popular themed celebration I discovered on their calendar of events. Being an apple fan, I was excited to sample various types of apple desserts.

Ironically, I didn't actually sample the desserts nor attend the pie eating contest. I would have, but maybe we were there too early and nothing was set up yet. It was too bad since the desserts on display looked delicious. Instead, I found myself at a long table filled with plates of apples sliced for sampling. For a $1 donation, festival attendees could try 25 different varieties of apples.

All of the apples on the sampling table were also being sold at the Apple Jam. I discovered that I actually have a new favorite apple: the humble winesap. It's not a pretty looking apple, but it's firm (my biggest requirement in an apple) and it has a tart taste that's a welcome change from my other favorites, the honeycrisp and suncrisp.

In addition to the apples (suncrisp and winesap) I purchased, I also bought an apple scone from one of the vendors, and satisfied my immediate hunger for something containing apples by eating the best apple fritters I've ever had. Instead of a doughnut, these apple fritters were the sweet version of an onion ring, dusted with powdered sugar.

Entertainment at the Apple Jam was provided by a band, but I was more interested in seeing the old fashioned apple cider press. It's always nice when local celebrations remind us how things used to be done. It was as just fascinating as the Moravian cooking demonstration at Burnside Plantation's Blueberry Festival.

There's one more special event at the Farmers Market for this year: Baconfest, on November 9. It's hard to resist the lure of bacon.

Ate, Drank and Stank

Up until this fall, I'd never been to the Easton Farmers Market. Parking in the downtown area is not always readily available. It took getting a friend who lives in Easton to guide me before I was finally able to enjoy the outdoor market that boasts being America's "Longest Continuous Running Open-Air Market." Not surprising, given that the market was established in 1752, the same year the city of Easton was founded.

Pictured: balloons at entrance to Garlic Festival
My introduction to the market was at the 2013 Garlic Festival, held this year on October 5-6. The market was filled with the smell and taste of garlic in so many different products, it was difficult choosing which ones to try. I attempted to be adventurous and sampled garlic shortbread cookies, roasted garlic dipped in chocolate, garlic nut tossie, garlic and sugar coated popcorn, garlic lolipops and garlic ice cream.

Pictured: garlic lolipops
I couldn't pass up a garlic filled lunch from Cook's Corner. A small cup of garlic chowder paired perfectly with a garlic kielbasa and sauerkraut sandwich. Sharing (with my husband and friend) an order of pierogies cooked in butter, with onions and fresh garlic, topped off the hearty meal.

Pictured: pierogies with garlic, garlic chowder, garlic kielbasa with sauerkraut
In addition to all of the garlic related products, the farmers market also featured fresh produce from local farms, cooking demonstrations and live musical entertainment. I'm already looking forward to eating, drinking and stinking again at the Garlic Festival in 2014!

Dusting This Thing Off

I've gotten out of the habit of blogging. I still post pictures online, but I do it at my website (http://sharonexner.com). I don't take as many photographs of food as I once did. Instead, my subjects tend to be local festivals, where I can enjoy the fun things the Lehigh Valley has to offer.

So far this year, my husband and I have gone to Bethlehem's Celtic Classic, Oktoberfest and the Harvest Festival. We've also attended a couple of fun celebrations at the Easton Farmer's Market: Garlic Festival and Apple Jam. We hope to go to Baconfest at the Easton Farmers Market, Christkindlmarkt and Peeps Fest, before the year is over. Missing from our list of activities this year are Burnside Plantation's Blueberry Festival, the Historic Bethlehem Partnership Reception (this year, held in conjunction with the reopening of the Kemerer Museum) and Musikfest. A combination of summer hot weather, general disinterest and movies that we wanted to see kept us from attending.

The main vacation my husband I took this year was a one-day bus trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, and the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ. With both of us working every weekday (and me not having vacation for the first six months of my new job), it's been hard to get away except on weekends. Hopefully, that will change in 2014. A local bus company has a week-long trip to New England that I would love to take.

Maybe I'll post a few of my favorite pictures from this year, just to catch up a little.

2012 Historic Bethlehem Partnership Reception

Wednesday, November 14 was a night for celebrating another year of membership in the Historic Bethlehem Partnership. For Jay and I, this was our second annual reception. For the partnership, it was the sixth one that they've held. In 2011, the event was held at St John's Windish Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 2012, we had the pleasure of visiting St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in west Bethlehem.

The evening began with an opportunity to view vespers, which is the evening prayer service. Following vespers, guests were treated to a buffet of Greek hors d'oeuvres. These included pita bread topped with hummus and taramasalata (caviar dip), feta cheese, meatballs, sausage, stuffed grape leaves, tiropites (phyllo pastry filled with cheese) and spanakopita (phyllo pastry filled with spinach and feta). While everyone was enjoying their food, we were entertained by a speaker who explained the process of creating Greek iconography. We also took a few moments to celebrate Bethlehem being designated as a historic landmark, which is a fairly rare designation in the United States.

Pictured: Greek hors d'oeuvres

Pictured: Greek hors d'oeuvres

Pictured: process of creating Greek iconography
Guests were invited to visit the cathedral to learn more about the faith and the church. Father Nicholas Palis made everyone feel very welcome as he explained all of the imagery within the cathedral. He informed us how the topmost images on the ceiling told the life of Christ, while the images beneath them related to St Nicholas. According to Father Palis, iconography in earlier times served the function of teaching religious stories to people who couldn't afford a Bible or who couldn't read.

Pictured: image of Christ in dome

Pictured: sanctuary behind the iconostasis

Pictured: chapel iconography
The final treat of the night, after a brief visit to the small chapel adjacent to the cathedral, was the dessert table. Of course, there was baklava. Other desserts included karythopita (walnut cake), katafifi (a nut-filled pastry that looks like shredded wheat), galatopita (baked semolina pudding), kourabiethes (sugar almond cookies) and koulourakia paschalina (Easter cookies). We listened to another speaker telling us about the history of the Greek Orthodox church.

Pictured: Greek desserts

Pictured: Greek desserts
It was the perfect conclusion to a wonderful evening. We're already looking forward to next year.

More photographs from the evening can be found on my webpage dedicated to 2012 events in the Lehigh Valley.

Colors of Fall

I love the maple tree in my front yard during the month of October. The tree looks its best in fall, when the leaves start changing color. Not even the terrible pruning job done by the township can diminish its beauty. In fact, it almost makes the tree appear to be two trees instead of one.

Pictured: maple tree
The pathway between the front yard and the side yard doesn't look as clean as it did in summer. I picked leaves out from between the stepping stones this weekend, but more have already fallen since then. The magnolia on the side of the house still has plenty of leaves yet to drop.

Pictured: pathway along side of house
The lilac tree has been dropping a lot of leaves, but so far the dogwood has just been changing colors. It's too close to the house and should be removed, but I'll get as much enjoyment out of it until that happens.

Pictured: dogwood on side of house
The colors of fall never cease to impress me. It's a shame that the colors don't last longer, but it gives me a reason to look forward to next fall.

2012 Oktoberfest and Bethlehem Harvest Festival

Last Saturday, October 13, was a busy day in Bethlehem. Oktoberfest was still going on at SteelStacks, and the Bethlehem Harvest Festival was in full swing on Main Street. It was a great opportunity to sample a lot of different foods. I was a little limited in my choices, since I'm still eating a meatless diet, but I still managed to enjoy myself.

We started our afternoon at Oktoberfest. While Jay was eating a hotdog, I had a childhood favorite prepared just the way mom used to make it: pierogies with butter and onions.

Pictured: Jay enjoying a hotdog at Oktoberfest
We left Oktoberfest and walked from SteelStacks to Main Street, via the Fahey Bridge. After walking all the way up to the Sun Inn, we stopped long enough for me to get one last ear of roasted corn for the season from Aw Shucks.

Pictured: eating Aw Shucks corn at Harvest Festival
After walking back to SteelStacks, we stopped back into Oktoberfest long enough for Jay to get chicken bites and for me to get funnel cake. It's the only time I've had it this year, and after walking 6 miles for the day, according to my Fitbit, I didn't feel guilty for the indulgence.

Pictured: funnel cake at Oktoberfest
For pictures of the actual festivals, I have additional photographs on my 2012 local events webpage. It really is nice to combine the two festivals on one day out. They're so different from each other, but they both have a lot of great aspects to enjoy.

The Last Couple of Months...

It probably seems like I've abandoned this blog, but I haven't. I've just been busy the last couple of months with family issues. Specifically, with my husband's health. Jay was hospitalized twice in August. The first time was due to gastroenteritis; the second time was due to another stroke.

Jay's doing better now. He's back to work as of today, and I can see the improvements he's made since August. The only bad news is that he can't drive until at least January, which means we won't be going many places since I'm not fond of driving.

Also of note, I had poison ivy for three very long weeks. I've had to take over all the yard work while Jay has been recuperating. This is the first time I've had a reaction to poison ivy since I was a teenager. I hope I never have to deal with it again.

One place we did go before Jay got sick was Musikfest. We only got to go one day, but it was enough for me to discover a new love: Aw Shucks roasted corn.

Pictured: enjoying Aw Shucks corn
It was the best corn on the cob I've ever tasted. I can't wait for summer of 2013 so I can have it again!

Upcoming Events in Late Summer/Fall/Winter 2012

There are a lot of fun festivals in the Lehigh Valley beginning in July and lasting until the end of the year. In order to keep track of them, I'm posting a list (with links, where possible) here.

AUGUST-SEPTEMBER

Musikfest (August 3-12)
Muhlenberg Hospital Festival (August 15-18)
VegFest (September 8)
Celtic Classic (September 28-30)

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OCTOBER

Oktoberfest (October 5-7 and October 12-14)
Easton Garlic Fest (October 6-7)
Fall Foliage Festival (October 6-21, weekends)
Bethlehem Harvest Festival (October 13)
Just Desserts (October 19)

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NOVEMBER-DECEMBER

Christkindlmarkt (November 15-December 23)
Christmas City Village (November 23-December 23)
Peeps Fest (December 31)

2012 Burnside Plantation Blueberry Festival

One of my favorite local events to attend is the annual Burnside Plantation Blueberry Festival. I love blueberries, plus I like supporting an historical site in the Lehigh Valley. It's also fun going there to remind myself of the happy years I spent working at Martin Tower, which is now used as a parking area for visitors to the festival.

There seemed to be more Moravian-inspired demonstrations at the 2012 festival. My husband and I saw women cooking, a man making beer and a blacksmith. It's possible that we just missed them in previous years. We also happened to be at the festival when a group of young Irish dancers were performing.

Pictured: Moravian women cooking

Pictured: Moravian beer maker

Pictured: fresh local produce for sale

Pictured: mosaic artist

Pictured: concession stand
Besides walking around and looking at the various crafts, we bought a few blueberry pastries and enjoyed cold smoothies, which were a welcomed treat on the hot day. My favorite pastry was a soft pretzel from Stations Cafe that had blueberries baked into the dough. It was a yummy treat that wasn't super sweet.

Congratulations to the people at Burnside Plantation who made this festival possible. It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I hope to see even more crafters and local produce sellers there next year.