This is sort of a follow-up to a previous post about Free Food at work. One of the ladies here at work is retiring at the end of March, and Friday is her last day. They had a luncheon for her yesterday which was very nice. From my understanding, she's been with the company over 30 years!
The luncheon was catered from a local place called The Pasta House. I went there years ago with my parents and Memere (grandmother for those non-french people) and remember it being ok. Apparently is has new owners, and the food yesterday was amazing. They had rolls, a salad with oil/vinegar dressing, delmonico potatoes, chicken/pasta with a red wine sauce and mushrooms, chicken/pasta with a clear sauce, baked scrod, green beans almondine and some kind of beef.
I had brought my lunch yesterday because I didn't know if I would want to eat the food that was provided. I decided to play it by ear and eat when I got hungry....if that was at 10am, I'd eat what I brought and enjoy people's company at the luncheon....if I didn't get hungry before the luncheon then I would make good choices at the luncheon knowing I had food at my desk if I didn't want to eat what was provided. I got hungry at 11:30, lol, and since we were heading upstairs for the luncheon at 11:45 I chose to latter route.
I did not take any salad or roll, I don't really like either one. I passed on the potatoes. I did not know what kind of potatoes they were at the time, but they were in a creamy white sauce and I decided I probably wouldn't like them anyway (not big on sauces). I took a small amount of each chicken (4-5 2-bite pieces of each) and approx 1/4-1/2c of penne pasta. I took a serving of the fish and scraped the breading off of it, and took some of the green beans even though they were quite shiny! I passed on the beef - it looked dry. I took my time eating what I chose and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was quite surprised when I was finished that I was not still hungry.
There was, of course, cake and desserts also. Since I am not a big sweets eater (and the more often I eat them, the more often I crave them), I passed on both the cake and the desserts. The cake did look nice and moist though.
I figured I'd be hungry later since it didn't seem like I ate a lot of food for lunch, but to my surprise I did not get hungry until about 4:30!
There was a ton of food leftover from yesterday's luncheon, so the R&D team heated up the leftovers in the kitchen upstairs and brought them down to the small kitchen we have downstairs in the office. The receptionist sent out an email about the leftovers being in the kitchen and a wave of people descended on the kitchen. Please don't assume I sit and watch the kitchen all day long - I don't, I just happen to notice these things.
I brought my lunch today, as usual, and have been enjoying the food I brought from home. I woke up with a sore throat this morning so have been sipping hot peppermint tea (with some water flavor sticks added to it) all day in an attempt to soothe it. It may or may not be working, we'll see, lol. Taking the Mucinex, however, usually kills my appetite and I was pleasently surprised when I got hungry at 9:30!
I ate a smaller breakfast than normal today, so that may be why also. I usually cook up three eggs and put them in my travel mug with some potatoes or black beans. There were two eggs left in the carton this morning and I was too lazy to get the other carton out, so only cooked two eggs, lol. I'll try to remember to take a picture of my mug with eggs in it. :)
I am going to a middle school band concert tonight (after work) that my friend Muffin's son is playing in, and I don't know when I'll be eating a normal supper, so I brought a ton of food with me today:
2 cup container of sliced spiral ham
2 bananas
2 chobani yogurts
2 apples
1 cup container of sliced frozen peaches
2 servings of baked oatmeal
various GNU and Thatsit fruit bars
gallon bag of air-popped popcorn (sprayed with olive oil and dusted with cheese flavoring)
The bars I will bring in to the concert with me in case I get hungry while I'm there. We're getting there at 6:30 and it starts at 7. I suspect it will get over sometime between 8 and 9.
~Chelle
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Being sick....and traveling.....
So, the last few weeks I've been fighting a sinus/allergy thing that popped up when I forgot to take my allergy meds for an entire weekend (couple that with very limited sleep and the outcome is never good). This confirms that most of my sinus issues are a result of allergies. I have been taking Mucinex and ibuprofen for a little more than a week, and have even started drinking peppermint tea because it is supposed to be good for clearing out sinuses.
Last week I felt absolutely HORRIBLE. So horrible in fact, that I ended up eating Kraft Mac & Cheese (and only M&C) for dinner two nights in a row. It was the only thing I even remotely felt like eating. I went away this past weekend to a cake show, and was supposed to leave Friday morning. Thursday afternoon at work I was so icky and sick feeling that I left early (3-ish) and went home and slept for a few hours. I woke up feeling much better and was able to finish my cake entry and still get to bed by 10pm. Good thing, cause I was up at 5:30 to get ready to leave to go pick up a friend that was going with me.
I continued taking the meds and drinking liquids over the weekend and felt like a new person by the time I got home Monday night. Then I FOOLISHLY thought I didn't need the meds anymore. Stopped taking the ibuprofen and only took the Mucinex at night. Big mistake! I woke up this morning with a sore throat that I am hoping will go away. I am back to Mucinex and ibuprofen per the label instructions. Yes, I know I should go see a doctor, but the reality is that I just don't like them, lol. I will go if it gets bad enough though. I've had enough sinus infections to know at what point the doctor (and antibiotics) are needed.
I was down to 179.2 at last week's weigh-in, but was not diligent in tracking/making good choices over the weekend at the cake show and am back to 180.2. I am not really that dissappointed. I knew the consequences when I was making the choices (and yes, not making good choices was a choice I consciously made). To date I have lost 87.4lbs, so I'm still pretty excited and happy with myself.
I won't lie though...I am totally looking forward to hitting the 100lb mark again. I was cleaning things out a few weeks ago and ran across the 100lb certificate I received the last time I followed WW. It's even signed by the same leader I have now! I put it in a safe place and am going to bring it to show her when I hit 100lbs again, lol. It's probably goofy, but I find it pretty cool.
I have some cool pictures of foods I've been eating that I'm going to try to remember to upload to the blog sometime in the next few days, so stay tuned!
~Chelle
Last week I felt absolutely HORRIBLE. So horrible in fact, that I ended up eating Kraft Mac & Cheese (and only M&C) for dinner two nights in a row. It was the only thing I even remotely felt like eating. I went away this past weekend to a cake show, and was supposed to leave Friday morning. Thursday afternoon at work I was so icky and sick feeling that I left early (3-ish) and went home and slept for a few hours. I woke up feeling much better and was able to finish my cake entry and still get to bed by 10pm. Good thing, cause I was up at 5:30 to get ready to leave to go pick up a friend that was going with me.
I continued taking the meds and drinking liquids over the weekend and felt like a new person by the time I got home Monday night. Then I FOOLISHLY thought I didn't need the meds anymore. Stopped taking the ibuprofen and only took the Mucinex at night. Big mistake! I woke up this morning with a sore throat that I am hoping will go away. I am back to Mucinex and ibuprofen per the label instructions. Yes, I know I should go see a doctor, but the reality is that I just don't like them, lol. I will go if it gets bad enough though. I've had enough sinus infections to know at what point the doctor (and antibiotics) are needed.
I was down to 179.2 at last week's weigh-in, but was not diligent in tracking/making good choices over the weekend at the cake show and am back to 180.2. I am not really that dissappointed. I knew the consequences when I was making the choices (and yes, not making good choices was a choice I consciously made). To date I have lost 87.4lbs, so I'm still pretty excited and happy with myself.
I won't lie though...I am totally looking forward to hitting the 100lb mark again. I was cleaning things out a few weeks ago and ran across the 100lb certificate I received the last time I followed WW. It's even signed by the same leader I have now! I put it in a safe place and am going to bring it to show her when I hit 100lbs again, lol. It's probably goofy, but I find it pretty cool.
I have some cool pictures of foods I've been eating that I'm going to try to remember to upload to the blog sometime in the next few days, so stay tuned!
~Chelle
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Post tooth-extraction update
So....the last time I posted I mentioned I had a tooth pulled. Let me tell you.......things are certainly much better when you're a kid! I don't remember anything about having teeth pulled for braces. For a good 4-5 days last week (post extraction) it felt as though there was a huge gaping hole in the back of my mouth. It wasn't until the weekend that I was comfortable trying to chew on the side of my mouth. I did manage to graduate to firmer foods though, lol.
It is doing much better, and I have been trying to chew with that side to get used to it again. I ended up having Mac & Cheese again for dinner last Thursday, lol. I tracked everything all week, including the weekend (went to a cake show in NJ with friends). I ended up gaining .4, but figure that's not bad considering I hadn't eaten nearly the amount of fruit I was used to (didn't eat an apple until Monday!), and like muscles retain water to repair themselves I figure my gums may be doing the same. No idea if that's true btw, lol.
I am still in the tracking challenge on the WW Message boards, so yay!
~Chelle
It is doing much better, and I have been trying to chew with that side to get used to it again. I ended up having Mac & Cheese again for dinner last Thursday, lol. I tracked everything all week, including the weekend (went to a cake show in NJ with friends). I ended up gaining .4, but figure that's not bad considering I hadn't eaten nearly the amount of fruit I was used to (didn't eat an apple until Monday!), and like muscles retain water to repair themselves I figure my gums may be doing the same. No idea if that's true btw, lol.
I am still in the tracking challenge on the WW Message boards, so yay!
~Chelle
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Journaling, Tracking, etc......
Surprise surprise - it really DOES work! lol!
When I first re-joined in Dec 2010 I was all gung-ho and joined one of the challenges on the WW message boards. It was the All Day Every Day (ADED) Challenge. It was monthly, and in order to remain in the challenge you had to track everything you ate every day, and not go over your WPs. I did well for a few months, then got lazy about checking in all the time and forgot to continue signing up every month.
Well, I've been having some issues with tracking since I started SFT in December. I found the challenge again and decided to join for March to keep me accountable for tracking and not going over the WPs.
Last week was the first full week in a few months that I actually tracked EVERYTHING that I ate. Ya know what....I lost 2lbs last week! I had been losing and gaining small amounts each week, but this was great! It certainly helps to keep you motivated to continue tracking. To date (3/7/12) I have lost 87.4 lbs. I am on track for tracking so far this week also. I think being accountable to someone else (the Challenge) certainly helps. Hopefully I am rewarded for my efforts next week. :)
The last few days have been sort of a challenge of their own, as will the next few. I found a cracked tooth last week and made an appointment with the dentist. My appointment was yesterday, and the tooth ended up being pulled out. It was a wisdom tooth and it made more sense to pull it rather than fill it. I was lucky as a kid/young adult - all four of my wisdom teeth came in straight - no need to have any pulled. It was one of those teeth that was pulled yesterday. So, for yesterday and the next few days it's soft foods and no straws. I drink everything through a straw - so that's a big change. Also, most of what I eat on SFT is not really soft foods, so I ended up counting PP+ for yesterday and didn't even eat all my points, lol. I even had 2.5cups of Kraft Mac & Cheese for dinner - one of my favorite foods! Today I had eggs for breakfast and have oatmeal, yogurt and bananas for lunch. Dinner just might end up eggs again, lol. The dentist told me that after Saturday I can eat whatever I feel comfortable eating.
It's nice that the SFT and PP+ options are so flexible and that you can choose to do either one on a daily basis. I normally do SFT but yesterday (and probably the next few days too) I did PP+ because I wasn't eating nearly all PFs. So, the plan certainly is flexible!
~Chelle
When I first re-joined in Dec 2010 I was all gung-ho and joined one of the challenges on the WW message boards. It was the All Day Every Day (ADED) Challenge. It was monthly, and in order to remain in the challenge you had to track everything you ate every day, and not go over your WPs. I did well for a few months, then got lazy about checking in all the time and forgot to continue signing up every month.
Well, I've been having some issues with tracking since I started SFT in December. I found the challenge again and decided to join for March to keep me accountable for tracking and not going over the WPs.
Last week was the first full week in a few months that I actually tracked EVERYTHING that I ate. Ya know what....I lost 2lbs last week! I had been losing and gaining small amounts each week, but this was great! It certainly helps to keep you motivated to continue tracking. To date (3/7/12) I have lost 87.4 lbs. I am on track for tracking so far this week also. I think being accountable to someone else (the Challenge) certainly helps. Hopefully I am rewarded for my efforts next week. :)
The last few days have been sort of a challenge of their own, as will the next few. I found a cracked tooth last week and made an appointment with the dentist. My appointment was yesterday, and the tooth ended up being pulled out. It was a wisdom tooth and it made more sense to pull it rather than fill it. I was lucky as a kid/young adult - all four of my wisdom teeth came in straight - no need to have any pulled. It was one of those teeth that was pulled yesterday. So, for yesterday and the next few days it's soft foods and no straws. I drink everything through a straw - so that's a big change. Also, most of what I eat on SFT is not really soft foods, so I ended up counting PP+ for yesterday and didn't even eat all my points, lol. I even had 2.5cups of Kraft Mac & Cheese for dinner - one of my favorite foods! Today I had eggs for breakfast and have oatmeal, yogurt and bananas for lunch. Dinner just might end up eggs again, lol. The dentist told me that after Saturday I can eat whatever I feel comfortable eating.
It's nice that the SFT and PP+ options are so flexible and that you can choose to do either one on a daily basis. I normally do SFT but yesterday (and probably the next few days too) I did PP+ because I wasn't eating nearly all PFs. So, the plan certainly is flexible!
~Chelle
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Free Food
Why is it......when there is free food available, people descend upon it like vultures??
I see it mostly at work, as I sit in view of the entrance to the kitchen. This afternoon, someone brought in a box of cannoli's (a dozen I believe) - you should have seen the wave of people heading into the kitchen! I swear it took less than 5 minutes for everyone to have gotten a piece of cannoli and head back to their desks. It was unreal.
This happens everytime food is brought in, whether it's sweets or lunch, or whatever. I just don't get it. Plus, they all talk about how they need to eat better/lose weight/etc... and then descend upon the sweets like vultures. Often times, samples of the product that the company makes are put in the kitchen and the same thing happens (fried fish mostly). I have always politely declined saying I can't eat fried food because I'll get a stomach ache (which is sort of true), I just tell them I don't like something that's in the sweets, or I just don't want it. If there's something I *really* want to try, I take a little bit, eat a bite and then toss the rest in the trash at my desk.
I very rarely eat anything at work that I haven't brought from home. Mostly due to WW and the soy-free eating. Probably because I am so conscious of what I'm eating, I always wonder what's in the food and if it contains something I don't want to eat (like soy for instance). Also, there's a person here at work that just has gross hygiene habits (if any) and I would not eat ANYTHING that person prepared or brought in.
~Chelle
I see it mostly at work, as I sit in view of the entrance to the kitchen. This afternoon, someone brought in a box of cannoli's (a dozen I believe) - you should have seen the wave of people heading into the kitchen! I swear it took less than 5 minutes for everyone to have gotten a piece of cannoli and head back to their desks. It was unreal.
This happens everytime food is brought in, whether it's sweets or lunch, or whatever. I just don't get it. Plus, they all talk about how they need to eat better/lose weight/etc... and then descend upon the sweets like vultures. Often times, samples of the product that the company makes are put in the kitchen and the same thing happens (fried fish mostly). I have always politely declined saying I can't eat fried food because I'll get a stomach ache (which is sort of true), I just tell them I don't like something that's in the sweets, or I just don't want it. If there's something I *really* want to try, I take a little bit, eat a bite and then toss the rest in the trash at my desk.
I very rarely eat anything at work that I haven't brought from home. Mostly due to WW and the soy-free eating. Probably because I am so conscious of what I'm eating, I always wonder what's in the food and if it contains something I don't want to eat (like soy for instance). Also, there's a person here at work that just has gross hygiene habits (if any) and I would not eat ANYTHING that person prepared or brought in.
~Chelle
Monday, February 20, 2012
Traveling
I get asked quite often about traveling and staying on plan with WW. I travel A LOT, or at least more than the average person does. I'd say at least a weekend (or long weekend) a month (and some months it's every weekend) and a few weeks a year (maybe more, I'm not really sure). The biggest question I get is how do I plan for it. Most of the people asking me know that I plan everything that I possibly can - that's just how I am and it keeps me sane.
There is a fairly simple answer to this - I pack food. I pack a lot of food sometimes, and it's usually more than I end up eating. I try to anticipate what I'll be doing each day and the possibility of the availability of reasonable food. Let's take, for example, a trip I went on last summer.
I am a cake decorator and belong to a national cake decorating organization. They have an annual convention in the summer, and the location varies every year. Last summer it was in Charlotte NC. I packed an insane amount of food to bring with me. It helped tremendously that I was driving down.
There were a couple of meals they were providing for us (breakfast two days and dinner one night), but for the rest we were on our own. I was unable to determine beforehand what the lunch options would be to purchase lunch, and also to purchase breakfast (I have to eat breakfast every day). The uncertainty of all of it started to make me a little anxious at first. Then I decided, the only way to curb some of the anxiety was to plan and bring what I could. I HATE HATE HATE not having any other option when it comes to food I don't want to eat.
So, I started planning. I decided to bring breakfast for myself for the days it wasn't provided. I packed food for lunches in case I didn't like the offerings available at the Convention. I did not pre-plan anything to do with dinner - I figured that was enough of a variable and decided to leave it.
For my breakfasts I brought a Chobani yogurt and a Carnation pre-mixed breakfast drink for each day. I don't normally drink the carnation drink (I MUCH prefer skim milk) but with the uncertainty of a refrigerator this was the best option. I did have a cooler that I transported food down in, and though it would have been fine for the yogurt, I am very picky about my milk. For lunches I brough a package of Thomas Hearty Bagels and packets of peanut butter. I also brought a box of Special K and my food scale. I believe that I also brought some protein bars also. Every night before going to bed, I would weigh out two servings of Special K, and pack up my lunch bag for the next day. I was able to relax and enjoy the Convention knowing that when I got hungry, I had food I wanted to eat and didn't have to rely on buying food there.
As it turns out, I was VERY glad I had brought food for lunches. The only options for lunch were an italian place and BoJangles (which is basically fried chicken). I hate fried food and never would have been able to eat that for lunch for 5 days. Blech!
I make smart choices at dinner and had a great week. I even lost weight when I weighed in after returning home. Oh, and a friend brought me a box of real belgian chocolates from belgium, and I had one every night (and shared with everyone too).
I am heading out on Wednesday morning on a trip, and this time I'm flying. I knew I couldn't pack all the food I wanted to bring in my suitcase (precious precious weight in my checked bag!), so I wrote out a list of what I wanted to bring, and packed up a box of food and mailed it to the hotel I'm staying at. I again packed the carnation drinks, oatmeal packets, peanut butter packets, cinnamon (for the oatmeal) and GNU Bars. I don't normally eat bars, but these are filling and make a great snack when I can't eat. The trip I'm going on is mostly for meetings, and there are set times for lunch break. I normally eat lunch at 10am and 2pm, so I need something to get me to noon when our lunch breaks are going to be. Breakfast is not being provided, so I am packing the oatmeal to make for myself for breakfast. I am also going to go to the store when I land and get apples, bananas, grapes and yogurt. I am bringing my lunch bag and freezer packs (we have a fridge w/freezer in the room) so that I can pack my day of snacks every morning and know that I won't be starving by lunchtime. I only shipped the food I know will get eaten while I'm there. I am bringing some "maybe" foods in my luggage.
I am also packing my own snacks for the plane (apples, bananas, bread, peanut butter packets, and a few GNU Bars.
I hope that is helpful to someone! I know I wouldn't be as successful on this plan if I didn't plan ahead for trips.
~Chelle
There is a fairly simple answer to this - I pack food. I pack a lot of food sometimes, and it's usually more than I end up eating. I try to anticipate what I'll be doing each day and the possibility of the availability of reasonable food. Let's take, for example, a trip I went on last summer.
I am a cake decorator and belong to a national cake decorating organization. They have an annual convention in the summer, and the location varies every year. Last summer it was in Charlotte NC. I packed an insane amount of food to bring with me. It helped tremendously that I was driving down.
There were a couple of meals they were providing for us (breakfast two days and dinner one night), but for the rest we were on our own. I was unable to determine beforehand what the lunch options would be to purchase lunch, and also to purchase breakfast (I have to eat breakfast every day). The uncertainty of all of it started to make me a little anxious at first. Then I decided, the only way to curb some of the anxiety was to plan and bring what I could. I HATE HATE HATE not having any other option when it comes to food I don't want to eat.
So, I started planning. I decided to bring breakfast for myself for the days it wasn't provided. I packed food for lunches in case I didn't like the offerings available at the Convention. I did not pre-plan anything to do with dinner - I figured that was enough of a variable and decided to leave it.
For my breakfasts I brought a Chobani yogurt and a Carnation pre-mixed breakfast drink for each day. I don't normally drink the carnation drink (I MUCH prefer skim milk) but with the uncertainty of a refrigerator this was the best option. I did have a cooler that I transported food down in, and though it would have been fine for the yogurt, I am very picky about my milk. For lunches I brough a package of Thomas Hearty Bagels and packets of peanut butter. I also brought a box of Special K and my food scale. I believe that I also brought some protein bars also. Every night before going to bed, I would weigh out two servings of Special K, and pack up my lunch bag for the next day. I was able to relax and enjoy the Convention knowing that when I got hungry, I had food I wanted to eat and didn't have to rely on buying food there.
As it turns out, I was VERY glad I had brought food for lunches. The only options for lunch were an italian place and BoJangles (which is basically fried chicken). I hate fried food and never would have been able to eat that for lunch for 5 days. Blech!
I make smart choices at dinner and had a great week. I even lost weight when I weighed in after returning home. Oh, and a friend brought me a box of real belgian chocolates from belgium, and I had one every night (and shared with everyone too).
I am heading out on Wednesday morning on a trip, and this time I'm flying. I knew I couldn't pack all the food I wanted to bring in my suitcase (precious precious weight in my checked bag!), so I wrote out a list of what I wanted to bring, and packed up a box of food and mailed it to the hotel I'm staying at. I again packed the carnation drinks, oatmeal packets, peanut butter packets, cinnamon (for the oatmeal) and GNU Bars. I don't normally eat bars, but these are filling and make a great snack when I can't eat. The trip I'm going on is mostly for meetings, and there are set times for lunch break. I normally eat lunch at 10am and 2pm, so I need something to get me to noon when our lunch breaks are going to be. Breakfast is not being provided, so I am packing the oatmeal to make for myself for breakfast. I am also going to go to the store when I land and get apples, bananas, grapes and yogurt. I am bringing my lunch bag and freezer packs (we have a fridge w/freezer in the room) so that I can pack my day of snacks every morning and know that I won't be starving by lunchtime. I only shipped the food I know will get eaten while I'm there. I am bringing some "maybe" foods in my luggage.
I am also packing my own snacks for the plane (apples, bananas, bread, peanut butter packets, and a few GNU Bars.
I hope that is helpful to someone! I know I wouldn't be as successful on this plan if I didn't plan ahead for trips.
~Chelle
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Bread
I have never been a bread-lover. I could not eat another piece of bread the rest of my life, and I honestly would not miss it. In my quest for a soy-free diet (by choice, you can read about it here), I have been on a search for a bread made without soy. I finally found one a while ago, from Whole Foods, it's their 365 Organic brand Early Bird Multi Seed Bread. I, unfortunately, can't find a webpage that shows it (and don't have a picture of it). It's a wheat based bread and has sunflower, pumpkin, sesame and poppy seeds in it. It's sooo good, I love it! I do not eat it a lot, mostly because I have never been a big fan of bread, and also because each slice is 4 PP+ per slice. The slices are a good size, and I usually cut one in half and make a sandwich with the two halves of the slice.
I usually buy two loaves at a time and freeze them in four slice packages. One four-slice package usually lasts over a week - that's how seldom I eat bread. I defrost one package in the refrigerator, then put it in the bread box until I eat it. I have yet to have any go bad (yeah!). When I eat the last slice of bread in the bread box, I put another package in the refrigerator to unthaw.
I went to pull another package out of the freezer the last week and noticed that there was only one left in the freezer, and it was time to buy more bread. About this time I had been browsing the King Arthur website. If you are a baker, this website is like baking porn!! Anyway....I happened upon a recipe for Molasses Multi-Seed Bread on their website. It sounded really good and intrigued me. I spent a few weeks thinking about it, and finally decided to try making it for myself.
So, I bought the ingredients I needed, and instead of the seeds in the recipe, I used the ones in the Whole Foods bread that I like. I also used slightly less than a quarter cup of molasses, and made up the rest with honey (I like a slightly sweet bread). I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to mix up the dough, and switched to the dough hook to finish the job. I then kneaded it a few times by hand. The recipe makes two full loaves of bread, so I decided to do some experimenting. After the first rise, I split the dough in half and formed one half into a loaf (sort of....didn't have an actual loaf pan). And the other half I split in half again. I made 9 dinner rolls and 5 hamburger buns from that half.
The dinner rolls were put into an 8" square pyrex dish and allowed to rise again. The hamburger buns were put on a cookie sheet, and the "loaf" was put into an 8"x12" pyrex dish. They all went back into the oven (gas oven w/pilot light) to rise a second time. Gotta love pilot lights!!
Once they were risen, I proceeded to bake them. The first ones I baked were the hamburger buns. Here's what they looked like when they came out of the oven:
Once the hamburger buns were cooled, I cut one in half to see how it looked and tasted. It was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! I've never tasted bread so good in my life!!!! I literally ate the entire bun in less than a minute.
The hamburger buns were HUGE! They clocked in at 6 PP+ per roll (yikes!).
The dinner rolls, on the other hand, came out to 3 PP+ per roll - a much more reasonable amount of points for bread (at least in my opinion). I think I may try making the dinner rolls in a slightly bigger pan, to yield slightly bigger rolls and use those as dinner rolls and hamburger buns. I don't like huge hamburger buns (the ones in the store are even too big for me). Here are what the dinner rolls looked like when they came out of the oven:
And after pulling them apart:
I can't wait to eat one and see how it is!!!
Here is the "loaf" of bread that I baked. It's not quite loaf shaped, and I wasn't quite sure how to cut into it, etc...... so I gave it away to Muffin's family!
My plan is to buy this Pain de Mie pan from King Arthur, and make my own sandwich loaf bread!
So...I may have to retract my "I'm not a bread lover" comment and replace it with I love certain kinds of bread. It was truly scary how excited I got over the home made bread!!!
~Chelle
I usually buy two loaves at a time and freeze them in four slice packages. One four-slice package usually lasts over a week - that's how seldom I eat bread. I defrost one package in the refrigerator, then put it in the bread box until I eat it. I have yet to have any go bad (yeah!). When I eat the last slice of bread in the bread box, I put another package in the refrigerator to unthaw.
I went to pull another package out of the freezer the last week and noticed that there was only one left in the freezer, and it was time to buy more bread. About this time I had been browsing the King Arthur website. If you are a baker, this website is like baking porn!! Anyway....I happened upon a recipe for Molasses Multi-Seed Bread on their website. It sounded really good and intrigued me. I spent a few weeks thinking about it, and finally decided to try making it for myself.
So, I bought the ingredients I needed, and instead of the seeds in the recipe, I used the ones in the Whole Foods bread that I like. I also used slightly less than a quarter cup of molasses, and made up the rest with honey (I like a slightly sweet bread). I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to mix up the dough, and switched to the dough hook to finish the job. I then kneaded it a few times by hand. The recipe makes two full loaves of bread, so I decided to do some experimenting. After the first rise, I split the dough in half and formed one half into a loaf (sort of....didn't have an actual loaf pan). And the other half I split in half again. I made 9 dinner rolls and 5 hamburger buns from that half.
The dinner rolls were put into an 8" square pyrex dish and allowed to rise again. The hamburger buns were put on a cookie sheet, and the "loaf" was put into an 8"x12" pyrex dish. They all went back into the oven (gas oven w/pilot light) to rise a second time. Gotta love pilot lights!!
Once they were risen, I proceeded to bake them. The first ones I baked were the hamburger buns. Here's what they looked like when they came out of the oven:
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| Don't my buns look good?!?!?!?!?! |
Once the hamburger buns were cooled, I cut one in half to see how it looked and tasted. It was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! I've never tasted bread so good in my life!!!! I literally ate the entire bun in less than a minute.
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| Mmmmm......lots of seedy goodness!!!! |
The hamburger buns were HUGE! They clocked in at 6 PP+ per roll (yikes!).
The dinner rolls, on the other hand, came out to 3 PP+ per roll - a much more reasonable amount of points for bread (at least in my opinion). I think I may try making the dinner rolls in a slightly bigger pan, to yield slightly bigger rolls and use those as dinner rolls and hamburger buns. I don't like huge hamburger buns (the ones in the store are even too big for me). Here are what the dinner rolls looked like when they came out of the oven:
And after pulling them apart:
I can't wait to eat one and see how it is!!!
Here is the "loaf" of bread that I baked. It's not quite loaf shaped, and I wasn't quite sure how to cut into it, etc...... so I gave it away to Muffin's family!
My plan is to buy this Pain de Mie pan from King Arthur, and make my own sandwich loaf bread!
So...I may have to retract my "I'm not a bread lover" comment and replace it with I love certain kinds of bread. It was truly scary how excited I got over the home made bread!!!
~Chelle
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