A winter meal in the middle of summer

A couple of months ago, I had DBF buy lamb shanks for the purpose of braising them in my dutch oven. I got it for christmas, and aside from a couple of soups, I really have yet to break it in. I thought a nice braise would be a perfect way to test out that cast-iron beauty. Keep in mind, it was still 30° outside. DBF was supposed to add the ingredients to the pot, toss it in the oven, and do homework until I got home to finish up the meal. But he got wrapped up in his homework and forgot to even come over to my apartment. He didn't show up until I got home, and at 8 p.m., it was too late to start a braise.

So, the shanks have sat in my freezer for at least 3 months and were starting to look freezer burn-y. We had a cool snap of 70° weather, so I put it all in my slow cooker and used the recipe for Braised Lamb Shanks with Garlic and Rosemary. DBF really liked it, but I thought it was just OK. I've never had lamb, so maybe it was just because shanks are a very fatty meat. Or, maybe because we were eating wintery comfort food in June. Who knows.

Busting out the slow cooker

In a previous post I mentioned I am the new proud parent of a 6-quart Crock-Pot. The mother of all Crock-Pots, this thing has a digital timer, and can be programmed. It was my Easter gift from my mom this year. She knows me so well.

I've already made the Roasted Lemon Chicken that I posted about a week or so ago. My latest was a lentil soup. I made soup this week for lunch because I worked all weekend and didn't have time to make something fancy for lunch. I liked that I could chop a few things, toss it in the crock Sunday night and by lunchtime the next day the soup was ready to eat. Even the maintainance man (who came at 8:30 ish when I was in the shower!!) said it smelled good.

It's pretty good. Not the best lentil soup I've ever had, but it does the trick. If using the ham, I would definitely put it in only to warm it up. I put it in at the very beginning and it's like eating dried pellets of ham. Not that appetizing.

Why blog?

I was lurking on a food-related message board yesterday afternoon and came across a thread on food blogs. People were discussing whether it was just a passing craze of if some people were in it for the long haul. Not every blog gets a ton of hits and most don't get paid to do it, so why blog?

I created a food blog to combine two of my passions in life. Writing and food. I'm a professional writer and I love food. My love for food in all of its forms is what brought me to WW in the first place. I love food a little too much and it didn't really love me back. Or more accurately, it picked a fight with my pants. And of course, my pants won because, above all, I'd like them fit. Muffin tops are so 10 years ago.

The other reason? To maybe show some that being on a "diet" doesn't have to mean 100-calorie packs, light bread, fat-free cheese, and products with artificial sweeteners. I saw one poster on the WW boards say that dieting isn't exciting and that boring is OK. I beg to differ. I constantly challenge myself to recreate old favorites, change up my menus, and experiment with new vegetables. WW is about learning a better way to eat for life. So if you lose by eating boring foods, you'll just gain the weight back when you start incorporating "exciting" foods again. Every meal should be delicious and fulfilling. Because no matter how you try to ignore it, food is more than fuel and always will be. It should as good tasting as it is good for you.

And as for trying new veggies — I tried my hand at Curried Squash and Apple Soup. Although super easy (it's a slow cooker recipe), the flavor seems slightly off. And I put too much curry in it. Maybe it's not that the flavor is so much off as it is that I might not be a fan of butternut squash in general. I made a pasta dish with it a couple of years ago and I didn't really care for that either.

I'm Officially Sick of Chili

Today's Menu

So Friday is a chili cook-off at work. I'm entering a "meatless" chili. I put it in quotes because, well, I used beef broth and a little bit of bacon grease for flavor. It's decent, but not fantastic. I think I'm going to add some tomato sauce and cut back on the beef broth. It also has beer. Yum. Booze cookery. Anyhow. I've been eating it for lunch so far this week. And it's already day two, and I'm sick of it. It's going to be a long week. Friday I will not be eating my own chili.

Tonight's dinner is Jerk Pork Tenderloin with Fresh Pineapple Chutney and Skillet Onions, Peppers, and Garlic with some Green Rice. My Green Rice is just rice cooked in chicken stock with a little bit of butter, and then I add green onions, cilantro and a little bit of fresh lime juice. I love it and make it all the time.

I'll have pictures of that tomorrow.