The Biggest Loser
It’s official. I
broke the 30 Lb. barrier, my total weight loss since January is 31.8 Lbs. To coin a phrase from a friend of mine, I
made Weight Watchers my Bitch. It is
simply a mental commitment to eat less and exercise more. And tracking points works for me.
During the winter I had cabbage & vegetable stew either
for lunch or dinner almost every day.
And when I went out for lunch, I usually had a salad and most times only
eat half of it. And I switched from blue
cheese dressing to vinaigrette and cut out the bread and butter. Now that it’s getting into summer, I eat a
spinach salad almost every day. I think
Popeye had the right idea. I’m looking
forward to our summer tomato pie, only this summer, I’ll have to make it
without the crust. And the topping, shredded
cheddar cheese and mayonnaise will have to be light and sparse.
My favorite summer dinner is a generously seasoned and
grilled steak with tomato pie and a bottle of Le Cuvier Cabernet Sauvignon or
Zinfandel. The tomato pie is only worth
cooking in the summer when tomatoes are vine ripened. I have found that the summer fruit stands and
farmers markets are the best places to find good tomatoes if you can’t grow
your own. And the vine ripened Roma’s
are excellent because there is less juice and more flesh with richer flavor for
the tomato pie. Here is our receipe:
Tomato Pie
Start with a pie crust in a pie dish. Brush it with egg yolk and bake until the crust
is partially cooked, about 15 minutes at 350.
The egg yolk will be fully cooked.
This seals the crust from getting soggy with the tomatoes.
Meanwhile, par boil the tomatoes (usually 5-6 medium) enough
so that the skins can be removed (you’ll know when the skins crack). When the tomatoes have cooled, remove the skins
and squeeze out as much juice as you can.
Take the crust out of the oven and sprinkle with fresh
chopped basil and green onion tops. Slice the tomatoes into the pie shell and
fill the pie crust. Add additional
basil, green onion, salt and pepper (a little oregano is good also) on top of
the tomatoes.
In a separate bowl, shred
a ½ Lb. of cheddar cheese and mix in a ¾ cup of mayonnaise. (This mixture also makes a great dip for
crackers and makes killer baked cheesy bread on a French roll) Cover the top of the tomatoes with the cheese
mixture. Press with your fingers to seal
the top of the pie to the crust. Bake
for about an hour until the top is browned and bubbly. It’s best to let it sit for a while to cool
as the melted cheese and tomatoes hold the heat and can cause 3rd
degree burns in the mouth. Blistered skin
in the mouth takes away from the enjoyment of the steak and the wine. The Tomato pie is actually better the next
day. Reheat it in the oven not the microwave. I like to reheat it on the top level in the barbeque.
One of my favorite places for lunch is Tahoe Joe’s. They have killer salads for $10 that includes
lean steak or chicken and a nice light vinaigrette dressing. The last lunch I had at Tahoe Joe’s I tried
the seared Ahi tuna appetizer. It had a
generous portion of tuna and a small bit of greens. It costs $10 and is a delicious plate of
protein. I tried the same thing at The
Padre Hotel in the bar at happy hour.
The portion of tuna is half the size, but the salad portion is
larger. The price at the Padre is
$13. And at happy hour we had that, 3
slider burgers 2 glasses of wine and a margarita. It wasn’t much to eat and cost $46. However, we made up for it at the Fox Theater
for Flicks at the Fox and had a large bag of popcorn. The bar at the Padre was really noisy that
Friday night and was not a great happy hour experience for me. I much prefer Café Med for happy hour. The Padre has the 2nd floor rooftop
lounge that is open at 6 PM and during the week has good deals for drinks and
food, And if you can catch a night when
they feature Jazz singer Candace Freeman, that is a real treat worth
attending.
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