Homemade Croutons and Sugar and Spice Pecans

Went to a friend's for dinner last Saturday and wanted to make a really great salad. We were having pizza, so I knew I wouldn't be adding chicken or shrimp. At Trader Joe's I found a really great lettuce mix that included dill and cilantro. I also bought a really great Manchego cheese, that I sliced thinly down the long side, rather than shredding it. But my two favorite items of the salad were homemade croutons and spiced pecans. I had half of a leftover baguette and thought it would be perfect:

Homemade Croutons
1/4 french baguette, sliced into small chunks
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 Tbls. Penzey's Tuscan Sunset Seasoning
Sea Salt to Taste
Ground Pepper To Taste
1 - 2 Tbls. grated Manchego cheese (or any kind)

Toss all in a bowl. Bake in 350 degree oven for 8 - 10 minutes, flipping one time, until light brown and toasty. Be sure to keep an eye out because they will burn fast.

Sugar and Spice Pecans
1/2 cup pecans (not toasted yet)
1 Tbls sugar
2 Tbls sugar
1 Tbls spice rub (I used TSG's Peppery Herb Rub)

Soak first two ingredients in one cup of water for 10 minutes. Drain pecans. Place sugar and spice in small zip top bag. Add pecans and shake until all pecans are covered. Place in 350 degree oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, until sugar is slightly melted. Be very careful because sugar and pecans will burn quickly.

Ummm, and did I mention that both of these will burn quickly. I pretty darn near burned the pecans, and well, you can see the darker spots on the croutons. But both were yummy - crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Two Types of People

I'm not sure what got me thinking about this today, but one thing is for sure . . . if you're not one thing, you're the other. And if you're the other than the one that you're not, the other than what you are can get on your last good nerve. Here's what I mean:

Those who fill the ice cube tray after taking out one cube. - Those who leave one ice cube in the tray

Those who like to fill the dishwasher - Those who like to fill the sink.

Those who clean up as they go along - Those who clean up at the end.


I'm not going to admit which categories I fall into, but mine is the right way! :) :)

Shrimp and Grits, Y'all

I know my posts are getting far and few between. It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks and I've been cooking just the basics and a couple of things I've already posted. Fridays around here during Lent mean no meat, so I've been saving the little seafood I get here in Chicago for Fridays. A friend of mine was down in New Orleans this past week (without me!!) and had shrimp and grits at Nola's and loved it. To be honest, it is not a dish I grew up with, but have had a couple of times in places more "southern" than New Orleans. I just couldn't get it out of my mind and decided to look up some recipes. I came up with a combination between a Paula Deen recipe and another one I found, but don't remember where. Here's my version:

SHRIMP AND CHEESE GRITS (easily feeds 3 or 4)
3/4 cup regular grits, not instant
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 Tbls. butter
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 Tbls. cream cheese

1 Tbls. oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 lb. smoked sausage (or 1 lb. would be even better), chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
1 lb. raw shrimp, peeled, no tails
2 Tbls. white wine
1 cup cream
Cajun seasoning and hot sauce to taste.

Make grits as directed on box, except use chicken stock instead of water. At end of cooking time, add butter, cream cheese and cheddar cheese. Stir until melted, recover and remove from heat. Add hot sauce to taste (I added three dashes.)

In a separate pan, saute sausage in oil until browned. Add green pepper and onion and saute until veggies are soft. Season shrimp with Cajun seasonings. /Add shrimp and saute 5 - 7 minutes until shrimp are cooked. Remove shrimp, sausage and veggies from pan. Add the wine to deglaze the pan. Add cream and let reduce for a few minutes. Add shrimp, sausage and veggies back into the pan. Add a little more cajun seasoning.

Place grits in bowl. Top with shrimp mixture. Enjoy.
This was really good - the grits were creamy and not fake cheesy. I only used 1/2 lb. of sausage (skinless smoked sausage), but I would use 1 lb. next time, and something a little spicier, like andouille, if you can find it.

One day, I swear, I'll get back to my low-carb diet!!

Pork Roast Stuffed with Olives & Sundried Tomatoes

OK - back to the low carb dinners. Tonight's dinner was very easy and pretty tasty.

I had a pork roast supreme (both white and dark meat), sliced open a whole in the middle, filled it with chipotle seasoned olives, chopped sundried tomatoes, and fresh grated parmesan cheese. I seasoned the outside with olive oil and Penzey's salt-free Tuscan Sunset seasoning. Pretty simple. No leftovers - Mike ate most of it. :)

Before cooking:
After cooking:

Also today:
Breakfast -none
Lunch - Ham, Cheese and Turkey
Snack - Almonds and a couple of almonds.

Truf-FAUX-les

Before jumping on the low-carb bandwagon again, I just had to try this recipe I saw for Cake Balls. I actually saw the recipe in the New Orleans Times Picayune and the balls were on a stick. OK - I can't keep calling them balls, but that seems to be what everyone's calling them. I just keep thinking about Alex Baldwin's SNL skit, Schwetty Balls. Anyway, I just saw a place on the web that is selling 6 for $16. WHAT?? I made over 50 with one box of cake mix, one tub of icing and a bag of white chocolate chips - less that $6.

While I would have made chocolate or red velvet, I was making these with my kids and their friends, so we used a yellow cake mix and vanilla icing. The sprinkles even came with the icing.

1 Box Cake Mix

1 Tub Icing

2 Bags white chocolate chips (melting chocolate would be better)

1. Prepare cake mix as directed. Let cool completely.

2. In a large bowl, crumble cake mix and add icing. Stir to combine. (I used my stand mixer.)Icing will soak into crumbs.

3. Optional: Place cake mixture in fridge during next step.

4. Melt chocolate in a double boiler.

5. Remove cake mixture from fridge. Using a spoon or melon baller, scoop cake mix and form into bite-sized balls. (Put balls on lollipop sticks if desired.)

6. Dip balls in chocolate. Decorate with sprinkles. Place in fridge for chocolate to harden.

I made these with my kids, so they are not perfect, but still adorable and delicious. And way better than paying $16 plus shipping for 6.

Before I get started again . . .

I've been procrastinating starting my low-carb diet again. I've been on vacation in New Orleans for a week and JUST HAD TO eat (and drink) all of my favorite things - crawfish fettuccini, fried shrimp, daiquiris, beignets, more daiquiris. So I've officially started again today, but before I start posting low- carb recipes again, let me get all of the "forbidden stuff."

My favorite New Orleans restaurant is R&Os in Bucktown. It is definitely not a tourist stop. It is located on the other side of the levee that broke during Katrina, so the original restaurant still stands. Actually, the very original spot was next door, but they built a bigger location. My favorite was always the shrimp sandwich - their french bread is actually a more Greek style with sesame seeds, lightly toasted. They always have the most beautiful shrimp - which, at least years ago, they used to catch some themselves. I think now my favorite is the shrimp salad. My dad and I usually split a large one. They hand toss each salad - and I'm not just talking about the salad, I mean the dressing, too. There's no gallon jug of salad dressing sitting in the back - the mayo, vinegar and seasonings are all tossed in when the salad is ordered. There's at least a dozen shrimp in there! This pic is after we ate about 1/4 of the salad.

Next on the list is an old favorite that I don't indulge in every time I visit - beignets (ben-yays). They are french-style doughnuts topped with lots of powdered sugar. The most famous location for beignets are the original Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter. I didn't want to face the crowds and lack of parking during Mardi Gras with the girls, so we went out to their Metairie location. And can you believe my girls would not even touch these! Well, I wasn't going to force them to eat dough and sugar, so I just had them all myself!!

And the last (but certainly not least) of my indulgences is pralines. Pralines are creamy blobs of brown sugar and pecans. After sampling many over the years, we love Loretta's Pralines the best. They used to be available right in the French Market, but since the storm and the renovations, you have to go to Loretta's store on Frenchman and Rampart. I've made pralines that taste the same, but I can't get her creaminess. I brought a few back this time to give as gifts. Her store also serves hot lunch during the week, and has other homemade cookies, candies, ice cream and more. Miss Loretta was nice enough to come out and chat with us. She had met my mom about a year ago at the pharmacy and gave my mom her cell phone number so we could get pralines when I visited even if the store was closed. How nice was that? Only in New Orleans.

Heartattack Chicken

Took a few days off from cooking anything noteworthy. And I've pretty much blown my diet until I get back from Mardi Gras. Nevertheless, I did something creative for dinner tonight that would have been not-so-bad for me had I really been following a low-carb diet.


Bleu Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken - oh yeah, you read that right. I still had a small tub of Bleu cheese butter from the other week that I wanted to use, so I searched around for a couple of recipes and here's what I ultimately came up with.



Bleu Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken


2 boneless skinless chicken breast
4 - 6 Tblspn blue cheese butter
4 slices bacon


Preheat oven to 350. Pound each chicken breast to 1/8 inch thickness (or really thin is what I mean). Place bleu cheese butter at one end of chicken and roll up. Wrap two slices of bacon around each roll. Tuck all edges in. Bake at 350 for 35 - 45 minutes.


To stick with the bleu cheese theme, I served it with pasta in a Buffalo flavored sauce (from Target).

Lessons learned: You probably don't need the bleu cheese butter, regular blue cheese would probably do just fine. It's a little tricky to make sure the chicken is cooked because you don't want to cut it open until you serve it.

Beer Brined Chicken

This post is 24 hours in the making. I was going to make this yesterday, but decided too late to brine a chicken. This was a small roaster that I was just going to stick on the grill, but found this recipe at homebrewchef.com. A friend brought over a bunch of beer we weren't going to drink, so I figured this was a good a way as any to use it. Of course, I had to change it just a little bit because of what I had on hand.



Beer Brined Chicken

1 whole roaster chicken

4 Bottles of Beer (I used Corona)
1 Cup Kosher Salt
1/2 Cup Sugar
4 Bay Leaves
2 Tbls. Dry Oregano
1 Yellow Onion, peeled and chopped
1 Lime, quartered
4Each Garlic Cloves, peeled and sliced

Water or ice to cover chicken



In a large pot, add beer, salt, sugar, bay leaves, thyme, onion, lime and garlic. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat. Let cool in fridge or add ice. Place chicken in pot (or large tupperware) with cold brine and top with cold water to completely cover the chicken. Place in fridge for 6 - 24 hours. Cook as usual.



The beauty about this brine is that you can use just about any beer, herbs or veggies that you have on hand. It is the salt that helps this brine work - but won't make your meat salty. Ask Alton Brown why - I don't know.



I served it with beer bread (none for me) just to round out the night.



Well I got on the scale this morning and it showed that I lost all the pounds I gained over my three day-high carb blowout last weekend (something like five pounds!!). I've been drinking lots of water, and it took everything I had today to pass up that fresh-baked-still-hot-from-the-oven bagel at the deli this morning. Even though I'm way down for the week, I'd like to lose two more pounds before I head to New Orleans next week.

Probably no posts from me through the weekend - dinner at a friend's on Friday and indoor waterpark with the kids Saturday and Sunday. We'll see.

Also today:
Breakfast: Eggs with turkey bacon and cheddar from the deli
Lunch: Hot Dog
Snack: Chipotle Olives, Pepper Jack Cheese, Pecans

Oh, I did have a few handfuls of popcorn - like really good movie popcorn. Couldn't pass up the smell of the kids' bags from Target.

Leftovers and Old Favorites

Short post about yesterday:

Breakfast: Atkins Daybreak Bar
Lunch: Leftover Sesame Chicken
Snack: Chipotle Olives and Pecans
Dinner: Turkey Sausage and Peppers

Turkey Sausage and Peppers
1 Red Bell Pepper chopped in big chunks
1 Green Bell Pepper chopped in big chunks
1 Can Roasted Garlic and Onion Chopped Tomatoes (Red Gold)
1 lb. Hot Turkey Italian Sausage (Jenny O) (which was not spicy at all.
1 Tbls. Penzey's Tuscan Sunset seasoning

Cook Turkey Sausage in 400 oven for about 20 minutes. Slice. Combine with all other ingredients in large pan and cook over medium heat until heated through (about 10 minutes).

Ode to Semi-Homemade

I love that show on the Food Network, Semi-Homemade. I haven't watched it in a while, but I take a look at her recipes quite a bit. -- but I'm warning you, if you open up that page (or any other page on the foodtv site), a video pops up and starts making noise. I HATE THAT. I am going there less and less to find recipes. I don't need web sites talking to me. Anyway, my main course tonight was two simple ingredients - a jar of Spicy Red Pepper Marinara Sauce and a Top Sirloin Roast.





I browned the roast in a cast iron skillet, topped it with the marinara sauce, and let it simmer for two hours. There ya go. A lot of the water boiled out the sauce and it left a very concentrated, fairly spicy. For my husband, I served it with a side of pasta.

Lessons learned: If you want to slow cook a roast, do it in a slow cooker - not a cast iron skillet on low. Maybe add some red wine to the sauce.

Also today:
Breakfast - Two eggs with a tablespoon of Black Bean and Corn Salsa
Lunch - Chicken Salad from the Schmaltz Deli, but I added in some chopped pecans
Snack - more pecans in the afternoon and after dinner

I'm trying to resist getting on the scale, but I'll probably get on tomorrow.

Back in the game

Since I had such a high carb weekend - and the scale shows it - I knew I needed to get back in the game yesterday. I wasn't very hungry until late, so I stopped an picked up an Unwich from Jimmy John's (don't tell the deli). Had a few pecans and almonds for a snack, oh, and a slice of pepper jack cheese. It was a little warmer here in Chicago yesterday so we were finally able to grill!! I grilled some corn on the cob for Mike and the girls, and chicken for everyone. Here's the marinade I used (you know I almost never use a measuring cup):

SESAME MARINADE
Sesame oil
Low sodium soy sauce
white wine
sesame seeds
toasted flax seeds

Mix all in plastic zip top bag with chicken and place in fridge for at least 1/2 hour.

It was really yummy and nutty.

I'm trying to drink lots of water to still compensate for the weekend. And today will be even warmer than yesterday, so after I finish a volunteer project at the girls school, I'm going for a walk.

The High Carb Weekend

Ok, so I'm a couple of days behind in posting. The weekend really got away from me. And I knew I wouldn't be doing low-carb, so I didn't really have much "good stuff" to post. But I threw a little Mardi Gras soiree this weekend and served Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip and King Cake.

This king cake came from www.mannyrandazzo.com. Straight from New Orleans. This is the cheese filled. Now really, was I supposed to pass this up?

I thought my crab dip was amazing. I looked at a bunch of recipes and kind of just threw something together, so to the best of my recollection, here is the recipe:

HOT CRAB DIP

2 Tbls. butter

1/2 cup (or more) "holy trinity" (celery, bell pepper, onion)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese.

1 lb. lumb white crab meat

2 blocks cream cheese

2 teas. cajun seasoning

Saute celery, bell pepper, onion in butter until tender. Over low heat, add cream cheese and stir until melted. Add crab meat, parmesan cheese and crab meat. Stir until all is combined and warmed through. I put mine in a crock pot to keep warm through the party. Serve with crackers.

Sausage and Veggie Frittata

I love recipes like this - I was able to use so many things in my fridge. Like the buy one, get one free dozen eggs. The leftover turkey sausage. The last bit of mozzarella. That zucchini I kept meaning to eat. This was a perfect recipe for a low-carb diet - and would work for breakfast or dinner.



Sausage and Veggie Frittata

1 T EVOO
1T Butter
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup red bell pepper
2/3 cup cooked Italian sausage (crumbled)
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 small tomato, chopped or sliced
8 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 T TSG Over The Edge Herbed Spinach *
1 cup shredded cheese (I used mix of mozzarella, pepper jack and parmesan)
1/4 block of cream cheese



Preheat oven to 400. Heat olive oil and butter in oven proof skillet (I used an 8" cast iron pot). Saute onion in oil and butter. Add peppers and zucchini and saute for a few minutes.



In another bowl, combine eggs, milk and Herbed Spinach seasoning. Add cheese and stir. Add sausage, then pour over veggies in cast iron pan. Remove pan from heat. Dollop cream cheese on top of the egg mixture. Top with slices or chunks of tomato.



Place pot in oven and bake for 25 minutes. (A wider pan would take less cooking time.) Frittata will be slightly brown around the edges and firm in the middle. I also broiled mine for a couple of minutes to brown the top. Let stand for five minutes after taking out of the oven.



Also today:

Breakfast: One of those Atkins breakfast bars. It had peanut butter. Hope I don't get salmonella.

Lunch: Salad with chicken and roasted veggies (not very many) from Trader Joe's.



I didn't even have time to snack today.



Oh, I didn't lose any weight last week. WTF? I weighed exactly the same. And this weekend is not looking good. (Didn't I say the same thing yesterday?)

Probably no post tomorrow - I'm going to a friend's for dinner and I'm not sure if she'd appreciate me snapping a pic of her salad.

* - TSG is going out of business. Can't get TSG Over The Edge Herbed Spinach? Try Tastefully Simple's Spinach seasoning. Or just add some dill, parsley and salt. You can order the TSG items for about two more weeks at http://www.gourmetwithme.com .

Chicken Salsa

Didn't have time to post last night. One of the challenges at my house is making something everyone will eat. With two picky young girls it usually involves one type of meat made several ways. That's what happened last night. The girls had plain, pan fried chicken breast. For my husband and I, I took the same chicken breast, pan fried it, topped it with fresh salsa and mozzarella, then place it under the broiler for a few minutes.Now when I say fresh salsa, I mean the kind I bought in the deli section, not the kind in the snack aisle. Did you think I actually had time to make fresh salsa? Not on a Monday, anyway.

I paired my chicken breast with some Greek salad from the deli. Yum.

Other meals today:

Breakfast: 6 Blackberries
Lunch: Country Club Unwich from Jimmy Johns (ham, turkey, cheese, tomato, mayo wrapped up in lettuce - no bread)
Snack: Slice of 2% cheese, handful of pecans

Trying to drink lots of water, but keep drinking lots of diet coke instead. And, I'm starting to notice that all of my food pics are looking the same. Will try something different. :)

Foodbuzz Sunday - Italian Sausage and Tomatoes

Sunday is the one day a week that I usually have any time to try out real recipes. Every other night I feel like I'm just throwing something together. So I'm trying to make a new Foodbuzz recipe every Sunday. This Sunday I made Roasted Tomatoes and Italian Sausage from The Duo Dishes. If you have a suggestion for my next Foodbuzz Sunday recipe, let me know!!




Let me start by saying that it would help if I would read the recipe closely before getting started. I'm going to give you their recipe and then tell you how a changed it up a little.



Roasted Tomatoes and Italian Sausage
3 cups cherry and grape tomatoes, mixed
1/2 lb. Italian sausage, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 - 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 cup basil, roughly chopped
1/4 cup parsley
Salt, to taste



1. Toss tomatoes with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 5 whole garlic cloves. Roast at 400 degrees for approx. 25 minutes or until tomatoes darken and begin to burst. Remove from oven.

2. Mince last clove of garlic and cook with remaining olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add sausage as garlic sizzles and cook until done.

3. Add cooked tomatoes and balsamic vinegar to sausage and stir to combine. Remove from heat.

4. Top with basil and parsley.

Well, I wasn't going to serve this over pasta (more than enough carbs in the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar already), so I upped the sausage to one pound. Plus, I wasn't paying attention and instead of buying Italian sausage links, I bought bulk Italian sausage. And I bought turkey sausage - so that's all a big change from their original recipe.


Then, I also cut all of the tomatoes in half before roasting them. I probably also used 4 cups or more of tomatoes to compensate for more sausage.


In the end, even if was a little different than the original recipe, it was really tasty. While cooking and smelling the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, I was worried the dish would be too sweet, but it wasn't. The balsamic vinegar added a nice richness to the dish. This was so simple to make!!


So a decent amount of carbs came from the tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. I learned that different balsamic have different amount of carbs. Mine, that I thought was pretty good and aged 8-12 years, had one gram of carb per tablespoon. One that I had the other day had 4 grams of carbs. It was very thick. So all I can say is read the label. ---But like I've mentioned, my diet right now is all about no bread, flour, sugar, potatoes and pasta. I'm not freaking out about the carbs from tomatoes.

Also today:
Breakfast: Scrambled egg with cheddar cheese , two slices bacon
Snack: Almonds

Shrimp with Proscuitto

OK - Quick post tonight. It was a busy day. Made a stop at the grocery to prepare for the weekend. A couple of weeks ago I purchased some procuitto to make a procuitto, goat cheese pizza, but I just couldn't deal with having my delicious flat bread within eating distance.
So tonight I decided to wrap some shrimp in the proscuitto, drizzle it with a little olive oil and bake it. I skewered the shrimp and procuitto, but I'm not sure that was necessary. I paired it with some turkey italian sausage. Low carb, remember!?! I really need to work on some fresh vegetables.

Notes: Proscuitto was pretty salty and dry. The wrapped shrimp were OK alone, but would be better with some kind of creamy sauce to balance the salt. Or maybe use low-sodium bacon next time. But not a bad option for a low carb dinner - and pretty easy to make. Plus, I really miss seafood and would love to make it as much as possible.

We don't have many plans for this weekend, so I'm going to try to do some creative low-carb cooking. Sunday I'll be making the Gimme More Meat recipe from my friends over at The Duo Dishes. I'm sure it will be delicious.

Sweet Surprise!

I just got home from a crazy morning of dropping kids off at school, running errands, getting gas, blah, blah, blah. And when I pull into my driveway there's a box at my door. Imagine my surprise when I find it is full of candy!!

Now, for a low-carb eater like myself, it is pretty tempting - but I have two girls (the youngest is above with the candy), a scout troop and lots of neighborhood kids to share in the bounty. It was a gift from http://www.sweetservices.com/. They were running a little contest on their blog and I applied. They have a great selection of popular, jelly, sugar free, chocolate and nostalgic candy - all at wholesale prices! With Valentine's Day right around the corner, you could give candy to everyone you love!

More Canned Tomatoes

My life is about simple dinners. Now, simple low-carb dinners. Everyday on Foodbuzz I read a ton of fabulous recipes, but I don't happen to have lamb or truffles or pancetta around my house. Now don't get me wrong every special occassion deserves a special recipe. But Thursday 'round my house is just another night. Tonight we have a friend coming over who is doing weight watchers, so I needed to make something low-fat and low-carb. And easy.



So I had two cans of diced tomatoes. The DelMonte brand is made with high fructose corn syrup. Completely unnecessary. I am only using them because I already bought them, but I will not buy this brand again. The Jewel (our store) brand is made with sugar - again, not sure if it is necessary, but real sugar is better than the HFCS. But both defeat my low-carb intentions. Can't wait until summer again when I can grow my own. Maybe I'll learn how to can.

Turkey Sausage, Tomato and Peppers

2 lbs. Lean Smoked Turkey Sausage - sliced
2 medium green peppers - sliced in chunks
2 cans diced tomatoes (mine had garlic and onions, too)
2 T Penzey's Greek Seasoning





In large pan, heat turkey sausage (it is already cooked) until browned on edges. Add green peppers and tomatoes. Serves at least 4 with leftovers.





Other food today:
Breakfast: Turkey
Lunch: Morocan salad from Cosi
Snacks: 2% cheese, olives, almonds

Today's menu - 1/28/09

Boring day of eating, but trying to be really good with low carbs. And note to self: don't be so hungry that you eat everything before you take a picture of it.

For breakfast and lunch I had turkey. Plain 'ol turkey. I had some almonds and pepper jack cheese for a snack.

Dinner: Hamburger patty topped with the blue cheese butter and red wine sauce that I used on the filet the other night.

Yes, I did resist the new batch of Friendship Cake that I smelled all day. I also made pancakes for my girls. Oh, woe is me. Why do I tempt myself so? :)

Crockpot Pork Roast with Giardiniera

So, I've lost a total of 10 lbs. in three weeks and a day. Not bad at all. Losing the carbs is really working and it has not been a bad journey at all. My initial goal was to lose ten pounds by Feb. 20, so I am way ahead of schedule. The weekend of February 7 will be a rough one because we are having a little Mardi Gras get-together and I plan on eating King Cake and whatever other New Orleans food I decide to cook. So I'm trying to be really good this week and next. Soon I'll start introducting whole grain items and a little more fruit.

A couple of quick notes about canned tomatoes. I buy a lot of canned tomatoes - some diced, some with garlic and onion, some with Mexican flavors. When I went to use one brand last week, I noticed high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient. So when I went to the store I searched around and found others with sugar, some with just tomatoes. Even in the same brand, some had sugar and some didn't. So shop around - who needs extra sugar? or high fructose corn syrup?

Here's what was on the menu for today:

Breakfast: Turkey

Snack: Pecans and Cheese

Lunch: Turkey and Greek Salad (cucumber, tomato, olives, feta)

Snack: Spinach and Artichoke dip with green peppers.

Dinner: Crockpot Pork Roast

CROCKPOT PORK ROAST WITH MUFFELETTA GIARDINIERA

1 bottle of Muffeletta Olive Salad or Giardiniera
1 can Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes

1 Pork Roast (1-2 lbs.)

Put all ingredients in crock pot on low for 6 - 8 hours. Serve port in slices and top with giardiniera or shred the pork, mix with olive salad and serve on a bun.