Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken separated into 8 pieces 
  • 3 tbsp olive oil 
  • 1 large onion sliced 
  • 3 garlic cloves minced 
  • 1 red bell pepper sliced 
  • 1 yellow bell pepper sliced 
  • 3/4 c chicken broth 
  • 2 tsp vinegar 
  • 1 ½ cups crushed tomatoes 
  • 1 tsp dried oregano 
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes 
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. 
  2. Add olive oil to a large high sided sauté pan or heavy-bottomed pot and place over medium-high heat. 
  3. Add chicken, skin side down and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. 
  4. Flip and cook until browned on the other side. 
  5. Move chicken to the side of the pot. 
  6. Add the onions and garlic, and cook until soft. 
  7. Add the bell peppers and sauté for a few more minutes. 
  8. Season with salt and pepper. 
  9. Add the chicken broth and vinegar and simmer until reduced by half. 
  10. Add tomatoes, oregano, red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. 
  11. Partly cover pan and simmer for about 35 to 40 minutes. 
Submitted by Sue Zuron
August 11, 2016
Ingredients
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
  • 3 large handfuls lacinato kale, torn into shreds
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Directions

Preparing to Bake
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°
  2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  3. Combine the salt, smoked paprika, and garlic in a small bowl.
  4. Wash the kale. 
  5. Rinse the kale leaves, then put them in a salad spinner and spin until the green becomes a blur. Round and round, spinning and spinning — let the kale dry.
  6. After removing kale from spinner, dry it even more with paper towels. Those leaves should be bone dry.
Oiling the Kale
  1. Put the kale leaves in a large bowl.
  2. Drizzle over 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
  3. Massage the oil into the leaves. You might need more. You might have larger hands than I do. Use your judgment.
Bake the Chips
  1. Arrange the kale chips onto the sheet try and slide it into the oven. 
  2. Bake until the leaves are crisp to the touch but still a dark green. When they turn brown, they turn bitter.
  3. Check at the 12-minute mark, to be sure.
  4. Remove them from the oven. 
  5. Sprinkle with the garlic smoked paprika salt.
  6. Let them cool a bit. 
  7. Eat.
Play with the spices to your liking. I like to add a bit of lemon juice to the oil.

Recipe submitted by Doryne Pederzani-Dinneen
August 11, 2016
Steak with Mushrooms
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil 
  • 3/4 pounds skirt steak, cut into 4 pieces 
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt 
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 5 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and quartered 
  • ¼ teaspoon cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves 
Directions
  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. 
  2. Season the steak with salt and pepper and cook, 3 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, reserve the skillet drippings.
  3. Let steak rest for 5 minutes before slicing. I removed all the fat from the steak before serving.
  4. Add the mushrooms to the drippings in the skillet and cook, tossing occasionally, until browned and tender, 3 to 5 minutes. 
  5. Add the balsamic vinegar, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced and syrupy, 2 to 3 minutes more; season with salt and pepper. 
  6. Top steak with the mushroom sauce and sprinkle with the parsley.
August 06, 2016
In mid-July I was on my morning walk when I realized: this road isn't taking me where I want to go! My morning walk literally leads to a dead-end. As I walked, I wondered: what other paths do I take throughout my day that don't lead to where I want to go?
Is the road you on taking you where you want to go?
This realization felt symbolic of where I was on my weight loss journey: at a dead-end. I started to think about the food choices I'd made that led me to gain weight instead of reaching my goal size. What foods was I justifying as okay, when in reality they were keeping me from reaching my goal? Why was I choosing to stay on a dead-end road?

Here are some of those non-key foods my self-talk justified as okay:
Why not have cheese? At least it's not sugar!

 Yes, I'll have corn tortillas with my eggs. At least it's not bread!

I have 20 minutes before my students arrive and it's just me and a tray of Girl Scout cookies. Who's going to know?
This was the wrong way of thinking! I realized I needed to start making different choices. Each time I justified eating non-key foods, I was choosing a dead-end path that led to weight gain instead of weight loss. I started asking myself: is this food going to take me in the direction I want to go? If the answer was no, I made a different choice.

Weight loss is all about choices. Weight gain is also about choices. We have the freedom to choose which direction we want to go: up or down in clothing size.

I've been struggling on my weight loss journey for the past year. In the past six months I've gained weight and my clothes are too tight. Over a month ago I decided it was time to get back on the right road again.

One of the things I did was to look back through my weight loss journey photos and that's when I had a big AH-HA moment!
There was a time when I was excited and proud to be the size I am today. Why can't I allow myself to feel good about being this size today?

I haven't gained all my weight back and I choose to stop feeling horrible about my weight gain, because all that negative self-talk from my inner-critic (Little Mean Girl) wasn't helping.
I've always advocated of taking photos while on this weight loss journey and taking them often. New discovery: this is a good idea when you are struggling as well.

This first of August I took a few photos of myself, including an OMG side profile. I'll take more photos in the same outfit at the end of the month. I'll repeat this every month for the rest of the year. Those photos were a big reality check for me. I had to hush my Little Mean Girl, and I'm not ready to share them, but I look at them daily, to remind myself of where I am today and to help me make healthy choices.

I encourage you, whether you're On or OFF program or somewhere in between, to take a photo of yourself today. Mark your calendar to take another one in 30 days and repeat each month. You don't have to share the photo today (or ever), but do this for yourself. Hush your Little Mean Girl if you don't like what you see and use that photo to motivate you to make healthy choices.

I'm editing a video about a place in New Hampshire that was called Freedom Acres; it closed decades ago. The interviewer asked the woman telling the story "why do you think they named the place Freedom Acres?

"Because it gave them the freedom to do whatever they wanted," she replied.

We have the freedom to choose whatever we want too: to continue on our weight loss journey or to call it quits. I'm choosing to stay on my journey and I'm going to use Freedom Acres as my metaphor of where I want to live.

My Freedom Acres doesn't have dead-ends, it has fields of unlimited possibilities and gardens full of unseen spirits that guide me when I need it. In my Freedom Acres my body is free from stress and struggles, because I'm connected with my life purpose and I choose to live my best life every day. I'm relaxed, calm, peaceful, and I choose to eat healthy.
My Freedom Acres
Where are you on your weight loss journey? Are you on a path that leads to a dead-end? Is it time for you to get off that path and onto one that leads you to success?

You have the freedom to choose where you're going - where do you want to go?
August 06, 2016