Fish with Tarragon Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
1 lb Mahi Mahi Fillets
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
14 oz diced tomatoes, no salt added
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1 T dried parsley
1T dried chives
2 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions
Simmer all but fish for 15 minutes. Add fish, cover, simmer 10 minutes more, turning fish once.

Number of Servings: 4

Calories: 161.2
Total Fat: 1.4 g
Cholesterol: 106.7 mg
Sodium: 468.7 mg
Total Carbs: 9.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.7 g
Protein: 28.2 g

Because Jami asked.... low carb evening snacks

You pretty much need to pretend you are on the Atkin's diet from the time you finish dinner until an hour before you go to bed. After that, don't eat at all. See previous entry about eating at night for more details.

I have cut out evening eating completely. Works for me. HOWEVER, I happen to have some friends who love their evening snacking and must have SOMETHING after dinner. I did some research and here is a list, followed by some recipes:

• Celery with tuna salad
• Celery with natural, unsweetened peanut butter
• Cucumber with vinegar and olive oil
• Hard boiled eggs
• Deviled eggs
• Dill pickles and cheddar cheese (no kidding, it’s a great combo)
• 1/4 cup berries with 1/3 cup cottage cheese
• Nuts
• Sunflower seeds (get them in the shell so it will take longer to eat them)
• Other seeds
• Jerky
• Cheese sticks, such as string cheese
• Cheese with a few apple slices
• Smoked salmon and cream cheese on cucumber slices
• Lettuce Roll-ups –- Roll meat, egg salad, tuna or other filling and veggies in lettuce leaves
• Spread bean dip, spinach dip, or other low-carb dip or spread onto very thinly sliced meat (find a low sodium kind) or lettuce and then roll it up
• Raw veggies and spinach dip, or other low-carb dip
• Mushrooms with cream cheese spread inside
• Low-carb snack bars (watch out for sugar alcohols, especially maltitol)
• ½ cup strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
• A slice of watermelon
• A slice of honeydew or cantaloupe
• Veggies with hummus
• Broccoli with melted cheese
• Sliced tomatoes with cubes of mozzarella with vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper
• Leftover meat

Low Carb Smoothie
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1/3 cup frozen berries
• 2 Tablespoons Flax Seed Meal
• 1/2 - 1 cup water (less if you want it thicker)

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth

Bean Dip
1 ½ cup cooked beans
4 oz fat free cream cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
¼ cup salsa

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.

Spinach Dip
• 1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 1/2 cup of low fat or fat free sour cream
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon some kind of powdered herb, such as Greek seasoning

If you're using a food processor, pulse the spinach alone a few times. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. If not using a food processor, stir to combine the ingredients in a bowl.

Cheese Crisps
These are an oven-baked version of the Italian frico. It's just basically thin rounds of baked cheese. One of the cool things about it is that they are moldable when still warm. If you drape them over an upturned glass, they will form a cup that you can fill with anything you like. It makes a really nice presentation for a party.

• 1 cup cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Note on type of cheese: You can use any kind, really, but the results will be different. Hard cheeses, such as Parmesan, Romano, Asagio, etc, will make a crisp "shell," whereas cheddar will be more chewy and "lacey" (the fat separates out), though still firm. Softer cheeses such as mozzerella will not work well.

Toss cheese with any seasonings you'd like -- garlic powder (about half a teaspoon for a cup of cheese), hot pepper powder, even cinnamon. Or leave plain.

Pile 1 to 4 Tablespoons of cheese (depending on the size you want) on a baking sheet covered with a silicone mat or parchment paper oiled on both sides. Flatten the tops so they are in more or less an even pile. There should be at least two inches between smaller mounds, 4 inches between larger ones.

Bake 5 to 6 minutes until they are a light golden brown (they will be a little darker at the edges). It happens fast, so watch carefully.

If you want to mold them into a shape, you want to "drape" them while still warm. You can make cups over an upturned glass, or "taco shell" shapes by draping over any cylindrical object that is at hand (rolling pin, side of glass)

A non-environmentalist's take on helping the environment.....

You know, when we were kids, we were taught "Give a Hoot; Don't Pollute." I still believe that, but I don't group myself with the environmentalist movement. Things have gotten out of control. The term "environmentalist" has left a bad taste in our mouths because of the crazies. As I've been really paying attention the the food that goes into my body, however, and have begun to see results, I am thinking more about things like organics and natural products. I haven't thought about them in terms of saving the world but in terms of doing what it takes to make sure that the mechanisms of my body work their best.

I have learned that if it didn't have a mother or grow from the ground, I shouldn't eat it. Why put fake food in my body? My daughter asked me why we didn't have Tang anymore. I told her, "because Tang is just a fake version of orange juice and orange juice tastes better." I am on a mission to eat REAL food, not FAKE food because I am beginning to recognize that my body functions best this way. I sleep better, and I don't need naps. I am not depressed. My periods are normal for the first time in 10 years. I like sex more. Because the systems of my body are not confused by foreign stuff, they function like they should

So if I won't eat FAKE food, why would I want to eat real food with fake stuff all over it? Why would I want to contaminate my home with cleaners and sprays with perfumes and dyes and other harsh chemicals that will enter my systems and make them confused? I wouldn't want that at all, so I'm slowly making some changes.

Organic foods are expensive. I can't take the plunge and go completely organic, but there are many things I CAN do to keep those system-confusing contaminates out of my home and out of my diet:

1. Make sure the dairy I buy does not include growth hormones (rbgh or rbst). Many non-organic ones have a label on them that tell you this.

2. Wash my produce thoroughly, especially peaches, nectarines, apples, peppers, celery, berries, lettuce, and grapes.... these are the worst.

3. Encourage my husband to hunt and fish. We currently have a freezer full of elk meat that we bought from a friend who hunts. The elk lived in the woods behind a farmer's alfalfa field. It is lean and tastes fantastic. It isn't "gamey" at all and I KNOW it was never given shots or steroids or synthetic food. It ate alfalfa all its life. Wild game is healthier than store bought meat. We live in Montana so, when in Rome....

4. Plant an organic garden and use the produce from it, or buy locally raised produce from farmers markets. The fresher your produce is, the more nutrients are available for your body. This also prevents the food from having to be shipped in big exhaust-producing semi-trucks, trains, or planes. Good for you.... good for your world.

5. Buy cleaners without dyes or perfumes. Go easy on the bleach, ammonia, Pine Sol, and stuff like that.

6. Avoid the use of #3, #6, and #7 plastics, especially with hot foods, and never put these in the microwave or dishwasher.

7. Go to www.safelawns.org to find ways to treat my lawn and garden without using harsh chemicals. Weed and feed makes me sick. It really does. I have previously used it 3x a summer to keep my lawn pretty. I need to find another solution. Haven't done this yet, but I need to.

Sodium, the Silent Saboteur of Skinny

Watch this video. Jillian says what I would have said, only she's hotter than me, and has visuals and stuff.

http://video.aol.com/video/jillian-michaels-america-takes-it-off-2008-jillian-michaels-sodium-tips/2040026

If you ever wonder why you gained a pound without doing anything "wrong" or you lost a bunch of weight fast, without doing anything particularly "right," it is probably the result of sodium.

About eating at night...

I just learned A LOT from Jillian Michael's new book Master Your Metabolism. She confirmed quite a bit of what I already knew, and have been teaching you, which was a big confidence boost for me. However, there were many new ideas in her book, which I'm going to share with you here. First, she explained WHY eating at night (especially carbs) makes you gain weight. I've always heard that, but never understood why.

I didn't know any of this....................

1. You have a hormone, called Cortisol, that tells your body to store fat. Your body makes less of it in the morning than it does in the evening and night time. So eat your carbs in the morning and eat fewer as the day goes on, and NONE at night.

2. Your gastric emptying rate (or the rate at which food leaves your stomach) slows down at night.

3. Your ability to process glucose (sugar) is best in the morning, slower in the evening, and almost nil when you sleep.

4. About one hour after you fall asleep, when you are sleeping hard, your body releases its largest pulse of growth hormone for the whole day! Growth hormone builds cells and burns fat!!! Insulin slows growth hormone production. You know what makes insulin, right? Sugar (aka carbs). Carbs at night = high insulin = low growth hormone = less restoration for your body and less fat burned!!

5. Deep sleep is best achieved when your hunger hormone, Ghrelin, is high. All foods that make you full depress Ghrelin, of course, but carbs depress it more than any other nutrient.

So...... we need to be in a semi-fasting state when we go to sleep, so we can fall into deep sleep sooner and make the most of the most beneficial hormone release of the day!

DON'T eat carbs after dinner. If you MUST eat, snack on leftover lean meat or non-carb veggies. Carbs will make your insulin high and your Ghrelin low, which will limit your production of fat burning growth hormones!

DON'T eat anything in the hour before you fall asleep. You need to be a bit hungry (high hunger hormone, Ghrelin) to fall into deep sleep.