And I don't even make New Year's resolutions!
But I have some extra incentive to eat healthy this year - -
When June rolls around, I don't want those "forever" pictures to show the worn out, tired, barely healthy mother-of-the-bride that I'm sure to be.
After all, my next deadline is June 1st, and I have a book release for "Hannah's Choice" and the final edits for "Mattie's Pledge" between now and then.
My goal is to keep myself healthy so I don't become worn to a frazzle. :)
So I bought myself a new cookbook,
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| Go here to order the cookbook |
My experience with the THM plan over the last couple years has taught me to expect "healthy" rather than "trim" from this eating plan, at least at my age. And that's fine. If I have to choose, I'd rather be healthy than trim any day!
Here's a salad from the book. It's filling (lots of protein), gives you a sweet/spicy punch, and goes well with a few crackers (on plan crackers, if you're following THM, of course).
And like any THM recipe I share, feel free to adapt it to your tastes and eating plan. But this is so good, I don't think you're going to be making any changes!
Waldorf Cottage Cheese Salad
makes one serving
ingredients:
Topping:
2 teaspoons finely chopped nuts (I used pecans this time)
a sprinkling of cayenne pepper
a dusting of salt
Salad:
1 medium apple (I used Honeycrisp)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 cup cottage cheese, 1/2% to 2%
For the topping, mix the nuts with a little cayenne pepper and salt and toss in a small dry skillet over medium heat until the nuts are brown and crispy - about 2 minutes. Watch them closely so they don't burn! Set them aside.
(You can make a larger amount of these spicy nuts ahead of time and use them wherever!)
Dice the apple, put it in a medium bowl, and toss with the lemon juice. Add the celery and cottage cheese and mix well.
Top with the spicy nuts. I even added a sprinkle of hulled hemp seeds. :)
Isn't that a great healthy lunch?
Oh yum! A crunchy salad. There's something so satisfying about the crunch. :-) I rarely make a salad that includes fruit -- usually it's a combo of strawberry and spinach if I do. Clearly I need to branch out.
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats again on the great wedding news. I bet this winter will just fly by with all the preparations.
The crunch is wonderful, but I was surprised at how filling this was the first time I made it! I never feel a need to fill up the corners with crackers or something else.
DeleteAnd I love spinach in a salad. The problem this time of year is getting it fresh and decent quality (we live away from the "salad bowl express" route that takes the produce from California and Mexico to the east coast). So I use frozen spinach in omelettes and soups instead. But once spring rolls around again....mmmm.....!
Sweet, crunchy, spicy... What's not to like? Sounds like a win-win to me. Jan, thank you for turning me on to THM almost two years ago. It has changed my life and the way I look at food. Did I splurge over the last two weeks? With a vengeance. But I'm not too worse for the wear. Still, I missed my smoothies and was ready to get back on plan and eat healthy again. Going to the gym never felt so good as it did this morning.
ReplyDeleteWhat a year you have ahead of you. So many good things to look forward to. Savor every moment.
Savoring as we speak! :)
DeleteThis sounds wonderful!!! I use chopped apple and cottage cheese for my lunch (this is going to sound BORING...) almost every day, but this adds a bit of pizzazz to it!
ReplyDeleteI love the healthy nutrition of the apple and cheese curds and this will be tried this week, although I need new celery because my celery is dotted with brown spots...
And a hint of slime, not lime or lemon.
Time for new celery at Ruthy's!!!
Jan, mother-of the bride... I learned so much. My first wedding, I wore a really, really awful (and pricey) top and skirt and it looked hideous.
Second wedding: Really cute, relatively inexpensive sale rack flowy-dress....
Third wedding.... a formal I got on sale at Bridal Hall when I worked there, loved it, and a church dress for the afternoon.
Fourth wedding... recycled second wedding dress, still love it, blue and white flowy floral, and worked for both weddings.
But if I could go back and change that first wedding, I would because it was just bad, bad, bad.
But the bride was glorious and the wedding was fun and no one was looking at me, so it's all good!
I'm laughing at your wedding dress saga! Wait, not wedding dress, dresses for weddings. Let's be clear here! Ruthy has NOT been married four times!!!
DeleteI did learn one thing about MOB dresses from my mother. She bought her dress in the late winter/early spring, and loved it then. High collar, long sleeves, teal, and polyester (it was the early-80's). But when was the wedding? The hottest, most humid July day you can imagine.
My poor mom. In her long sleeve polyester dress. And no air conditioning.
To quote my brother-in-law: "We sweated like pigs!"
So I'm not choosing my dress until the winter stuff in the stores is replaced with spring fabrics and designs!
And yes, you definitely need to get some new celery! Slimy celery with brown spots goes to the compost pile, or the chickens. Not in salad!
I love this, Jan. I'd have to leave off the nuts for lunches at school because of the nut allergies in my class, but I could definitely do the hemp seeds or even sunflower seeds.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with all the others - love that crunch!
Oooh, that looks so good!! I definitely want to try it!
ReplyDeleteYou know, anytime I roast or toast nuts, I ALWAYS burn the first batch!! So I always have extra on hand. LOL
I love waldorf salad an nver thought of putting spices in it. Hmmmmm....
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to make waldorf salad all the time but not the THM kind. She was always trim though in spite of all the oils she used cooking. And Mayo. But this sounds good also.
ReplyDelete