GF meatballs

Still on my quest to make easy, yummy meals that my two picky older boys will eat, that are gluten free for the man, and NOW, I have my NEW item to check off: relatively healthy so that I can eat more than a bird's portion. :P

I made some hamburger rolls last night, like sausage rolls, except using ground beef and phyllo pastry instead of sausage meat and puff pastry.  They weren't bad, and although high-ish on the calorie side (450 for 2), I used extra lean meat, and phyllo, so the fat was fairly low. :)  BUT, I did learn that having them directly on the cookie sheet results in greasy phyllo.

Today, after a MAMMOTH amount of exercise (2 hours of wearing my 25lb baby walking around the mall and dancing him to sleep in the passport office and 20 minutes of one of my new FIRM Express DVDs), I CRAVED carbohydrates.  Chippies!  Haven't had chippies in awhile, and they're not too bad. (Baked!)  What can I make that goes with chippies?  Well, I forgot to take meat out, and we have about 20 kg of ground beef left in our freezer.... so, yeah, what can I make with ground beef?  The man was stoked about chippies, and suggested "what about mini meatballs?"

So, using some Victorian Epicure Seasoning for Meatloaf, and Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats, I made me my first meatballs.  Ever.  I've never made them before, really.  :D

Dinnae's Gluten Free Meatballs

1 kg extra lean ground beef
3 large free range eggs
1 cup gluten free old fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp Victorian Epicure Seasoning for Meatloaf
2 tsp seasoning salt

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
If you're able to, put a wire rack over a cookie sheet, so that you can place your meatballs on it, so the fat and juices can drip into the cookie sheet, keeping your meatballs as healthy as possible.
Shape your meatballs in roughly 2-3tsp portions, and place on wire rack.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven, thickness of meatballs, etc.  To check for doneness, cut one of your centre meatballs in half. 

Makes 50 meatballs.

Nutritional information (based on the sum of the ingredients):
Per 8 meatballs
256 calories;  9g fat;  11g carbs;  2g fibre;  31g protein


I served them with homemade GF beef gravy (leftover from roast night last Friday - thickened with potato starch instead of wheat flour), and of course, those carbs, shoestring chippies, and raw veggies and low fat dip.  YUM!  And surprise surprise, my boys inhaled them.  Score!

Reality check

I'm expecting my FIRM Express DVDs to arrive this week, so I thought this weekend would be a good time to take my "before" pics.  Today I got dressed in a sports bra and workout capris, and got dh to take a front, side, and back view of me.

What a reality check. :(

I KNOW that I'm big.  I KNOW that I have more rolls than I ever have.  And I KNOW that I'm actually clinically obese.  (Wii Fit tells me that every time I do my body test. :P )  But to see that picture... that person is ME???  It's humbling.

Today (well, technically yesterday, as it is currently 12.30am Tuesday) is Thanksgiving day here in Canada.  We went to a couple-from-church's house for dinner, and I was very careful with what I ate.  I STILL went 500 calories over for the day, because I allowed myself a butter tart, but I had had a good week DESPITE a trip to Red Robin when one of my BFFs came to town. (ACK! Mesa chicken salad is YUM, and healthy-ish, but 1000 calories!!!)  I felt ok after dinner, not over-stuffed like I usually am at the holidays.

***Note: I'd like to say here that since I am a breastfeeding mama, my daily calorie goal of 1900 might be a bit low anyway, so I'm not HUGELY concerned if I'm 100-200 calories over -- I *DO* weigh 200 lbs.  I read somewhere that in order to maintain your weight with a sedentary lifestyle, your weight in lbs x 10 is how many calories you need.  Add in breastfeeding (200-500 MORE per day), and light activity, 1900 is a pretty low amount. (but still within safe levels for milk supply.)***

Which is good.  VERY GOOD.  Because here I am uploading before pics to my profile on the FIRM Believers Club, and I'm feeling horrendous and disgusting right now.  I'm disgusted with myself mostly that I've allowed myself to get to this point.

Tomorrow I will take my measurements, and I'm sure that will be another reality check too.  The myfitnesspal.com app allows you to custom-pick which measurements you want to track, so I will be putting in the ones from the FIRM's Goal Setting article... and checking those once a month.  Realistically, knowing my history with working out and losing weight, I won't see the scale move as much as I will see those numbers on the measuring tape move, so I need to get those recorded before I start my FIRM Express DVDs.

NO MORE EXCUSES....

Emotional eating

I've always known that I eat when I'm bored. I've ALWAYS done it, I'm a late-night snacker, and I have a HORRENDOUS sweet tooth. (I am very into holistic nutrition, and I have NO DOUBT that I have some bad yeastie-beasties in my gut. :/ )


And, I've SUSPECTED I was an emotional eater, but really haven't taken a close look at when I eat, besides the time of day.


Last week I had a *ROUGH* one. My little one is teething and growing, so his immune system is down, and he caught a cold. Stuffed up babies don't sleep so well. Meaning? Mummies don't sleep so well either. Daddy ended up on the couch for 2 of the nights this week, and me and Ri ended up getting not enough sleep. When I'm tired, I'm grumpy, I'm cranky, I truly am a bear. And I can be mean. It makes me sad and depressed, I feel guilty, and guess what? I eat. :(


As you may know, I have been experimenting a lot with baking bread and snacks for the man. Store-bought bread and snacks that are gluten free are heinously expensive, and usually taste like a$$. We spent $8 on a box of 5 nutri-grain-type bars 6 months ago, and we each took ONE BITE and threw the whole rest of the bar and box in the rubbish - they were THAT BAD. O_o But I digress. 


I had bought a package mix (very unlike me, I'm a from-scratch kinda girl) of brownie mix, by Bob's Red Mill, to bake for him. The brownie on its own is actually very benign, but of course, chocoholic that I am, I HAVE to make the topping. Did you know that sweetened condensed milk is ALSO actually quite benign on its own in moderation? But that chocolate chips are, like, 3/4 FAT???!??!!! Anyway, I had these grand intentions of having one a day, to allow myself something sweet (so I don't binge)... but because of the rough days, I OF COURSE ended up having MORE than one each day. And EACH TIME I had more than one, the 2nd went down the hatch RIGHT AFTER having a blow up at my kids. :(


I bought myself some carrots and some other veggies to snack on, but when I'm sad/depressed/bummed, it's not the actual ACT of eating that consoles me - it's the sugar. It is my only vice. And when I'm down, I need a "hit." (LOL!) I have to deal with my sugar addiction, but... baby steps. In the meantime, I need to think of achievable ways that I can circumvent my cravings, by maybe tricking my body into thinking that I'm having some crazy rich awesomeness. I have thought about buying a flat of coke zero too, but not for an always thing, just for those days of craziness: a coke zero is MUCH better than 640 cal and 14g of fat in brownie.... O_o


Do YOU have a bad sweet tooth? How do you, besides cold turkey, ;) deal with it without going into DETOX? Are you an emotional eater? 

Corn bread and a Kitchen Aid...

So, yesterday, whilst making GF bread for the man, I killed not one, but TWO el cheapo hand mixers.  Yes, that's right.  KILLED 'EM.  (Only one of them was brand new though, and that one I was able to salvage to give away, but the other one?  Had to actually throw it out, it had dough in the MOTOR. O_o)

Covered in dough, LITERALLY from head to toe, I sent the man some pics and attached a message: "if you want to continue eating GF bread, you head on over to Costco and get the KitchenAid mixer that is on sale."

:D

Regular $379, down to $289.  The 575watt motor... hubba hubba.  This Empire Red mixin' machine is HUGE, and oh does it ever work well!

My Empire Red Kitchen Aid 575W Stand Mixer

BTW, the bread I made yesterday turned out okay (millet bread), but I don't know if it fell hugely because of the mixer debacle or what....

So, today, of COURSE I gotta give it a go.  I decided to try this recipe I've used but make some substitutions, and WHOA MAMA... it is SO good!

Corn bread - YUM!

Corn Bread

2 1/2 c corn flour

1/2 c cornstarch

1/2 c tapioca starch

1 tbsp guar gum

2/3 c dry milk powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tbsp sugar

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 c warm water

1/4 c melted butter

1 c warm water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar (although any vinegar would probably work)

3 eggs (preferably at room temperature, or close to)

Combine the corn flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, guar gum, dry milk powder and salt in a mixing bowl.  Mix well.

In a small bowl, combine your sugar, yeast and first lot of warm water - stir to dissolve and let sit in a warm spot for 10 min or so until it gets all bubbly.

In another bowl, combine your butter, the second lot of warm water, and the vinegar.  Add wet to dry, and then add the eggs, 1 at a time while mixing.  Once thoroughly combined, add the yeast mix.  Beat for 2 minutes on high (or about 3 or 4 on a KitchenAid ;) ).

Cover with plastic wrap (I spray with cooking spray first) and a towel, and let rise until doubled (your time will vary).

After the first rise, beat again for 3 minutes (high).

Grease a large loaf pan, and fill the pan about 2/3 high.  Any extra dough, bake in muffin tins.

Put on a cookie sheet (in case of bubble-over) in your oven with the light on, and let rise until just over the top of the pan.  (again, your time will vary, it took mine about 45 min or so.)

Once finished rising, turn your oven to 350 degrees F (do NOT take it out of the oven), and bake it for 30 - 40 minutes.  After the first 10 minutes of baking, cover your loaf with foil, so the top doesn't get burnt.

*** This bread is VERY batter-y, almost cake-like.  Do NOT be alarmed, it rises beautifully, and tastes SCRUMPTIOUS! ***

For those of you NEW to GF (gluten free) baking, corn flour is NOT corn meal, nor is it corn starch.  I get mine at Save-on Foods in the bulk section, for those of you in BC and Alberta. ;)