Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Honey Mustard Dressing

I got to have a day out with two of my sisters and my mom on Friday. It was a great day and I had a lot of fun. While we were having lunch we talked salad dressings. They were all interested in the honey mustard dressing I use. So Mom, this is for you:

Alton Brown's Honey Mustard Dressing

5 T honey
3 T Dijon mustard
2 T mild vinegar (I like white wine vinegar, but plain white distilled works fine)

Wisk all the ingredients together. Makes about 2/3 of a cup of dressing.

That's it. I like to make it in the small bowl on my food processor. A blender would do a nice job with it as well. It's really quick to whip up and it works for just about everything. Alton recommends plain Dijon, but I found that grain mustard makes a delicious change. I bought a squeeze bottle to hold it for a buck that's perfect for drizzling a little dressing on my salad.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

One goal down

I've been trying to get healthier and loose weight for a long time. This spring, my friends and I stepped it up in our walking routine and we've been moving faster. I've done a few little things here and there. I haven't seen a lot of progress.

Steve says my stomach is smaller, which is a good thing. I don't really see it personally.

The really nice thing is that the scale told me today that I have officially lost ten pounds. It's taken me since early April to lose it, but it's gone. Maybe because I've done it so slowly it will actually stay off this time.

All I know is that it's very hard for me to lose weight. I know I can't do things drastically because it all falls apart after a few weeks. Then of course all the weight comes right back. My body seems to want to stick at a certain weight and stay there. As I've lost this weight, it's been done in very up and down, stop and start increments. It's like my body is slowly picking a new favorite weight each time. It's frustrating beyond belief to watch my weight fluctuate by five pounds over the course of a week. Slowly, however, I've made progress.

I don't actually expect my weight to stay at this ten pound loss for the rest of the week. I expect it to go up and down again. But a new low is a good thing. This means that eventually this will be my set weight and I can work from there.

I'm trying not to think about my ultimate goal weight. When I think how long it's taken me to lose 10 pounds, I just want to cry and give up to think of my weight loss journey lasting years and not months.

So I think a pound at a time. One new set weight. One pound more eased off. The next ten pounds by Christmas.

Wish me luck.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

A Young Tim Burton

Joshua's good friend introduced him to stop motion animation the other day. They used Lego people and a camera to make their films. Josh came home from his friend's house all fired up to make films of his own.

Thankfully Windows Movie Maker software is pretty easy to use. He spent an hour or so putting this together today:



Hopefully this new obsession will get him through the late summer boredom stage. I can't wait to see what the ogres do next.