Housewifery

So, for whatever reason, I can't make comments on previous posts today. Can y'all? Anyway, I'll make them here real quick.

Tracy, I wasn't sure if you were doing South Beach, but I thought you had before and might have tricks to share here on the blog. Are you doing it again?! Our family is seriously too much alike! I need to find a picture off all three of us together for over there. --->

Mom, (who is both Mom and Aunt here now!) thanks for the shrimp shell tip! Too bad I already bought the pre-shelled kind. I'm making "Big Easy Shrimp" tonight! You know... we're not supposed to have cocktail sauce. :\ But there's a recipe for a South Beach version. Maybe I'll make that tonight too and blog the results. Anyway...

Peanut Butter Stew

I can't find the recipe on the South Beach website, because I'm not a member, but some lady posted it here. Please ignore her awful spelling: http://www.bigoven.com/169219-Peanut-Butter-Stew-recipe.html

I wish I had made much, much more of this. It was soooo good! Like everything else, I didn't really follow the recipe. I forgot that I was saving my tomato paste for this soup and used it instead in the Indian Tomato Soup. So with none of that reserved, I decided to just add the ITS leftovers to the browned steak, onion, peanut butter, bay leaf and water.

I could eat my quickly waning weight in this stuff! I love that natural peanut butter. Btw, when you're buying nat nut butter, make sure to read the label. I found three that had sugar in them to keep them from separating. Sneaky.

The Politically Correct Indian, Indian Soup

So, I guess we missed out on archiving our Rachel Ray recipes! The only one that has survived in my house is the cheese-burger-bell-pepper-meatloaf thing. I change that recipe every time I make it, but basically, line pie plate with roasted bell pepper then fill it full of a hamburger/cheese/salsa/cracker crumb mixture. Bake at 350. It needs some work.

Anyway, so now that the whole family is successfully doing South Beach (and now that I'm down to such a weight that my wedding dress falls off of me) I figure it's time to start blogging again...

From the South Beach Cookbook I bring you Indian Tomato Soup severely altered:

In a soup sized pan heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add minced garlic; one medium onion, finely chopped; three or four roasted red chilies; and three or four chipotle chilies with some of the adobo sauce. Brown or sauté or whatever.

Add a can of fat-free chicken broth, two cans of tomato paste and one can of stewed tomatoes (with juice). Add another couple three cans of water until it looks soup like.

Add two teaspoons of curry powder. See the Indian? Salt and pepper liberally.

Pour eight ounces of white wine in a fancy wine glass. Pile up on the couch. Simmer until the husband gets home. (The soup, not you.) Try not to think about garlic bread.

South Beach Survival Note: Sugar free candy in the diabetic section of Wal-Greens is pretty dang good! A lot more appetizing than that ricotta cream crap they suggest in the book. (Not that they're a trade off, but I can't seem to give up chocolate.)