Sunday, Dec 10

[Olly]

Morning Fit-Folks..
It's Sunday morning here and I've decided to enjoy a relaxed and quiet Sunday. No gym. No exercise. Veggie lasagna for lunch. None of which will bring me any closer to my being fit dream... but all of which will be slowly appreciated and very much enjoyed!! Tomorrow it's back "to work".
Hope everyone is well and feeling good.
Olly

[capto]

Sunday, Dec 10

Hi Everyone. Capto, :new:

Olly and Lisa, from Monthly Absville, kindly invited me over. At first I resisted, but since exercising has become an integral part of my recovery, I decided that was silly, so here I am.

Also, I see food and cooking is mentioned from time to time. I'm a great cook, though I confess I think I largely cooked to drink. We'll see how motivated I am to cook from scratch now that I have no wine to sip.

In addition to the Pilates training which I had already been doing, I have signed up with a personal trainer at a local gym for the month of December to train 2x per week.

Anyway, looking forward to sharing exercise experiences with you.

Cap
67 yrs young

[Mighty Mouse II]

Sunday, Dec 10

Hi, Capto: Glad you could join us!! I love to cook too! I also enjoyed drinking while cooking and for the first few weeks that I started the program, I intentionally avoided cooking any big projects until I could psych myself up not to drink while cooking (except for the last minute touches at dinner -- I'm a moderation). And it worked, now I'm full force back in the kitchen, and I love it. I make a big pot of iced tea - though in this weather I drink it at room temperature; I pour it in a big wine goblet -- it works well.

Olly, I named the steak dish after you because I was so inspired and really appreciated your sharing the site, but I see you mentioned vegetable lasagne -- are you a vegetarian -- I sure hope I didn't insult you in anyway. I work in waterway clean-up and marine wildlife conservation -- and I know vegetarians can be very sensitive about people who eat meat -- if I did offend you in any way, I truly am sorry and can certainly edit the name. Just let me know.

Hope all of you have a great day!

MM

[capto]

Sunday, Dec 10

Wine Pacifier

Mighty Mouse II wrote: I make a big pot of iced tea - though in this weather I drink it at room temperature; I pour it in a big wine goblet -- it works well.

Mighty Mouse,

Great Idea: Tea in a wine goblet.

Thanks for the welcome.

Cap

[Olly]

Sunday, Dec 10

Hi all,

Mighty Mouse.. heck no, don't change the name! I am SO honored to have a recipe named after me. Wow.
And, no, I am not a vegetarian (although I have friends who are and understand the sensitivity you refer to) I love a great blackened steak! And, I am anxious to try to your recipe. Unfortunately, the beef here in Europe is different, and although very nice, it's not the same "steak" that we have in the US. But, I will try to make it work. I too like to cook and I too liked to drink and cook and I too am putting off any big projects until I've got a little more distance betwen me and a bottle of chilled chardonay.

I made Veggie Lasagna only because I thought it would be a "healthier" option. MY husband is traveling right now so I find it hard to make veggies every day as I normally do... so the veggie lasagna (with zucchini, eggplant, shrooms, tomato, onion, tons of fresh basil and tomato sauce was my veggie serviing for a few days... even if I had to use white lasagna noodle.)

I ended up cleaning my kitchen from top to bottom... 4+ hours, loads of stretching, scrubbing and even worked up a sweat. Ha, managed to get some exercise on my day off and now love my kitchen!!!

Hey Lisa and Capto.

late, Olly

[Mighty Mouse II]

Sunday, Dec 10

Olly, I love you!!! You are so great!!! I would love it if you could share your lasagne recipe. When I was young, the only thing I could cook was lasagne -- I loved it so much, my mom didn't, so I learned to make it -- became quite well known for my lasagne in my social circles. In recent years, I became a messianic jew, so we follow the laws of Moses and cannot have any cheese and meat cooked together. I really miss my lasagne. I now make a mean eggplant lasagne, but am always looking for any type of good lasagne I can get.

Mike Up North, if you are looking in, Stouffers makes a vegetable lasagne that has no preservatives. Since you like frozen dinners, this is a really healthy, deilicious alternative.

Olly, thanks for all your wonderful compliments.

With great love to all,
MM

[KatieSmiles]

Sunday, Dec 10

Hi Everyone!

Please Olly share that recipe! Sounds very yummy!

Katie

[Olly]

Sunday, Dec 10

Gee MM, I wish it was a "recipe" I use for my veggie lasagne...it's actually just one of my experiments that came out good. Basically, it's tomato sauce, mozarella cheese,some fresh paraseam if I happen to have some in the fridge and any veggies I can find (but long sliced zucchini and eggplant make great "alternate" lasagne pasta to cut down on the needed pasta and then loads of fresh basil, fresh garlic, lots of onion and salt and peper to give those very mild tasting veggies alittle "ompf". I use a bottled tomato sauce I can get here which saves loads of time. It takes minutes to slice and layer and then stick in the oven for 90 minutes or so. Gotta love those one dish meals! I should go check out the recipe corner.. haven't been there yet.
Ya know, I am looking for a recipe for Christmas cookies... something really easy as I'm not a baker but my nine year old daughter is begging to bake some this year. Any ideas? I'll catch you over at the Recipe corner.

Hey everyone...

Mike, loved your description of your past life... I can so relate. For me, those Saturdays on the couch also included a billion calories from all the sweet and/or salty and /or crunchy and/or spicey junk food I could lay my hands on. To think, eating a ton of junk food could make me feel "better" gives you some idea of how awful I felt to begin with. Nope, don't wanna go there again.

take care all,
Olly

[Newyear]

Sunday, Dec 10

Morning!

Happy to see you here Cap. Let me know how your trainer works out. I think my gym goes thru trainers rather quickly. I have been working out for about 6 weeks now and just started with my second trainer. Although I think I'm going to like him. I'll be interested to hear how you like yours. I'm also meeting him 2x a week. On my other 3 days I'm doing mostly cardio. Today I made it up to 28 minutes on the eliptical. whew! My trainer had me do the stairmaster machine fr 5 min and I was so surprised how tough it was! I was walking slowly too. It is apparently very good for getting your heartrate up.

Olly-I love veggie lasagne!! I'm bad about not using recipes too. The only problem is that if it turns out well you don't remember what you did. If it's bad..oh well.
BTW--thanks for sharing that site - I took a look at it yesterday and will go back again to check it out some more- looks good.
You know, I've kinda cut down on my cooking too. I think it has to be because of the lack of wine. I used to love to cook, drink and then go on the porch for a smoke while something simmered. Now, no smoking and no drinking.
Although today I'm actually going to make a roast in a slow cooker. Not much prep for that and I love how it smells in the house.

MM- again - thanks for that insulin info on the other thread. I have some reading to do.
Hi Katie - good to see you here too!!

Lisa

[Olly]

Sunday, Dec 10

Hey Lisa,
Yeah, that was my definition of a "really good time"... in the kitchen with a good friend, making a fabulous spread for good friends, sipping the chilled wine together, laughing along the way and then, taking a break to go "enjoy" a smoke. And, by itself, it probably could still be a "really good time"... however, those minority "good times" are so outweighed by the larger than life "awful" times... a few hours later when I've continued to drink too much, start blabbering, slurring my words, looking like I've been run over by a truck, and worst of all, wake up and not remember everything!! YUCK!!

I'm off the alcohol and cigs too (although I only really smoked when I was drinking... I hate cigarettes otherwise... gag, in an elevator with a smoker... ugh)

Okay, gym time... I'll try the stair stepper this morning too.

Olly

[Newyear]

Sunday, Dec 10

Hey Olly......no cigs for me either ...and they really stink to me now. Hey- Please let me know how you do on the stairmaster. I was winded after 5min.

Lisa

[Mighty Mouse II]

Sunday, Dec 10

Hi Everybody. Olly, I love the lasagne recipe!! I can't wait to try it! I too look for alternatives to pastas and rice. I have found that most Italian dishes (like sphagetti and other red sauce dishes) taste great on a bed of romaine or iceberg lettuce as opposed to pasta -- and a lot less calories. This is also true for some Asian/Eastern foods like Thai peanut-based foods, terriyaki-style foods and even black beans over the lettuce instead of rice -- really works for me! Dr. Perricone recommends whole grain pasta cooked al dante (I use flaxseed for that extra nuitrition). He also recommends eating the meat part first to help slow the impact of the insulin (but that can only work if you use the meatballs instead of sauce). I think as long you are eating the sauce and the pasta together, it probably is fine. But these little changes in my cooking have really helped to sculpt my body where I wanted it to go (before I was like a pear!! or an hour glass with all the sand at the bottom!!).

Thanks for sharing everybody!!!

MM