We All Have Our Journeys, Am Sharing Mine, Recipe Too!!

Those of you who know me know I am a very private person. Because I have been lax in posting, I want to tell you why. Like a lot of us during covid I gained weight, after all, great food was our comfort amongst other things. Cooking and shopping for ingredients online or out and about was a project. It was a very long stress filled year and the "experts" kept changing what would keep us safe, but food they said was safe, after a bit of course, so a lot of us turned to that.....I am not condemning I was right there with you.... One day I weighed myself and was totally shocked how much I had gained on top of the fact I was overweight to my thinking before Covid....And so my journey to get thinner and healthier began on April 1st. To date I have lost 30 pounds, 18 I gained during Covid and 12 from before Covid. To my mind I still have 10 more to go, fingers crossed!!

I feel the key to my success so far has been cooking my own food, meaning no take out, no prepared boxed delivered meals, no wine and no sweets to speak of, except a piece of dark chocolate once a day, my treat. When you are doing your own cooking, you control the sodium, bad fats and the sugar. Labels are great, if you can trust them. If you work every day, it is hard, but what few recipes I have shared have been quick, healthy, local and low calorie. Now was a great time to start, fresh produce and now even meats and farm fresh eggs are everywhere. Hit up your farmer's markets, small shops, and even stands on the side of the road. If you do like a cocktail, 1 oz of vodka has 63 calories, 5 0z of wine has anywhere from 130-150. Have you ever measured 5 ozs of wine?....Add water and a splash of low cal cranberry or any juice and you can have that treat...I am not saying deprive yourself, I am saying cut back on the calorie loaded ingredients and use a little less.

I will be posting simple, quick low-calorie meals for the next several posts. Starting today, and if you check back through my posts, lately, there have been tips with my recipes.

I have become a fan of zoodles, but if you are not, regular pasta can be used instead. Last time I posted a sauce with shrimp, today I am posting a sauce with bacon, yes, a little bacon adds lots of flavor making you feel like nothing is missing after all. Bonus most of my recipe is made with local ingredients. Don't like zoodles, spaghetti squash works great too.....

Here is what I did today:

Made my simple sauce: fresh local red and orange tomatoes, fresh thin sliced garlic cloves, my own Italian parsley and rosemary sprigs and diced back kalamata olives. Simmered for a bit.

While this was simmering, cooked my local bacon lardons (pieces) in size of choice.

When everything was just about done, simmered my zoodles (made with farm stand local zucchini) in onion powder water (instead of salt, how I do all my pasta, etc.) 3 minutes.

Drained my zoodles well, plated, topped with the sauce, bacon lardons and parmesan cheese. Bacon is one ingredient I find that adds a lot of flavor with a small amount. Parmesan cheese, same, a little adds a lot of flavor. Don't deprive, be inventive.

Have a great week everyone, happy cooking, and be safe!!