A Few Realizations

Eating for One Now

If you're considering getting a lap band, here's something you should consider as well: though you won't be able (theoretically) to eat a whole lot, and you (we hope) won't be very hungry, you'll still WANT to eat. Get ready to use some self control!

Pureed Meal Recipe: Filet Mignon and Mashed Potatoes

Tonight I made myself a pureed meal. It was my first try at this type of meal, and it came out well, maybe too well.

First I bought some filet mignon. (When buying beef, remember that the darker red it is, the less marbleized it is. Marbling is the amount of fat in the meat.) I bought some very dark red filet. This is an expensive cut, but don't worry, you're going to get several meals from one steak. At least 3, maybe 4, because you just don't use that much.

Filet mignon is the tenderest part of the cow, as well as being extremely low in fat. Filet is usually cut quite thick, and this piece was about one and a half inches thick. I heated my pan up very hot and seared the meat on both sides and on the edges, then turned the heat down and cooked the meat through, turning it once. 

You can tell a steak is done when it is firm to the touch. Press firmly into the center of a steak. Soft is very rare, barely discernible resistance is rare, definite resistance is medium rare, firming up medium. You want your steak to be about medium. Don't cut into the steak to check for doneness, cutting it makes the juices run out, and dries the meat out.

I use a Calphalon Contemporary Nonstick 11-Inch Square Grill Pan when I grill steak, fish, or chicken, as it adds frond to the meat, which is the brown crust that tastes so yummy. You'll be amazed how much better your meat and chicken tastes using this pan! It's also non-stick, which is great when you're trying to save calories and fat.

In most cases, you would not want to cook filet to more than medium rare, since it dries out due to the low fat content. But for this recipe, I was going to grind the meat up and wanted it cooked medium. I didn't add anything to the beef at all before cooking.

After the meat was cooked I put it in the Magic Bullet Complete 21 Piece Mix and Chopping System
(an indispensable tool for pureed meals) and chopped it up on "pulse". I added a little fat free beef broth to the beef in the bullet to keep the meat moist. It only took a couple of pulses to grind the meat up into very small pieces.

Then I made some mashed potatoes, using those steam and eat potatoes from ore-ida. I used 1% milk when I made the potatoes.

Then I took 3 tablespoons of the chopped up beef and 3 tablespoons of potatoes and mixed them together making 6 tablespoons of food. (That's all we are supposed to eat at one meal.) I added salt and pepper and a tiny bit more of the beef broth.

Oh. My. God.

Then I ate it VERY slowly. It was SO delicious! I'm so tired of blended soup and broth I was in heaven. This was a great meal, and it filled me up for about three and a half hours, which was fantastic. But I have to admit, I wanted more! I wanted to taste it more, chew it more, etc. So that is going to be a battle. It made me realize that in the past I have eaten so much food when I'm not hungry. I don't think I even noticed that I was eating when I was full. This is going to be an ongoing issue, I'm sure. It will take a long time to get used to not feeling like I'm about to burst after eating a meal. That super full feeling has been a part of my life for a long, long time.

Uh Oh! Eating too much is fun!

Thinking about this took me back to our family dinner table. My mom always cooked enough food for leftovers, and I have always done the same. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've never cooked a meal for my family that didn't have leftovers. I have always had a huge fear that I won't make enough food for my family or guests.

At parties I put out a tremendous bounty, and people love to come to my house for that reason. I've always seen cooking and entertaining as a generous activity, and actually think negatively of people who throw out a veggie tray from the supermarket and call it a buffet. In fact, I am realizing that I've always considered it rude, miserly and even low class! (Glad I'm not too judgmental!)

Cooking too much just naturally leads to eating too much, at least it has in my case. Having all that food around has made me feel safe, like nothing bad can happen. When the cupboard is bare, I feel anxious, worried, even scared. And I did not live through the Depression!

Facing Facts

When I have a lot of food on the table, I feel happy, that's all there is to it. So this thing of eating 4-6 tablespoons of food is going to be interesting. And cooking for my family is going to be interesting, too. Another slew of habits I need to try to break. There are so many! But here's the thing, I intend to break them. Tomorrow I'll let you know how the pureed meals are going, share another recipe, and some more products to make life easier. Oh, and I've lost 7 pounds!

PS - Forgot to tell you, the protein supplement in the soup was... not great. I'll try to figure out something else.

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