Having Fun with Food

One of the best things for me about trying to eat healthy is creating new recipes.  One of the reasons that I weight ###lbs is that I love food.  I love the whole experience of food: scanning the Internet for recipe ideas, planning my twist on the recipe, making it, smelling it, seeing how beautiful it looks, and lastly savoring the tasting experience.  I even have a little food dance that I do when I eat something really yummy.  I didn't know that I did this until my husband pointed it out to me. (Evidently this is one of my endearing qualities as far as Eric is concerned.)  This is part of the reason that losing weight is hard for me.  I love food. 

All of those thin people out there think of their food as fuel.  They eat something to nourish them whether they find it tastes fabulous or not.  I like to make food that is rich and yummy with things like butter and bacon fat and all things artery clogging.  I like to make food that is so amazing that I want to swim in it. Unfortunately, my life is hectic and so I also really like eating out.  Again at places that cook those amazing yummy foods with butter and bacon fat and that come with five carbohydrates on a plate.  Now that I want to run out and eat something a shouldn't, let me tell you the reason for this post.  I am experimenting and creating some healthy flavorful dishes, because if it doesn't taste good I'm and not wasting the calories eating them.

White Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad

1 can navy beans, drained and rinsed

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 small Vidalia onion or 1/4 large

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 lemon

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1.  Chop onion and juice the 1/2 lemon onto the onions. (This is supposed to take the bitter edge off of the onion.) Add the rosemary, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to create a dressing.

2.  Add the beans and the cherry tomatoes and mix well.

3.  Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the flavors come together before eating. (I left mine overnight in the fridge,  and it was excellent the next day.)

I created this recipe for a Fourth of July cook-out.  It was a hit with the healthy eating crowd as well as others  I brought healthy dishes to pass so I could make sure that there was something there for me to be able to eat.  I was very prepared and proud of myself.  I brought a gallon pitcher so I could make sugar-free raspberry lemonade.  I made the White Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad and a Chicken Cabbage Salad, the recipe will be posted soon.

I am having so much fun coming up with new foods and flavor combinations.  When I made the decision to eat healthier I took my family along with me.  My son Joshua has come along kicking and screaming.  It's not quite that bad, but for the first time that I can remember, he ate salad the other day for dinner.  He also informed me that my new recipe endeavour: a chicken breast, tomato, onion, and mushroom concoction made in the slow cooker (not a great recipe name) was awesome.  I try!

Enjoy the video below.  I couldn't get it to go away so I guess it is meant to be here.