Avenue78

How to be a Big Loser

Get 60 to 90 minutes of activity per day.

Don't worry, we're not talking hard core traditional gym work outs. Rather, try to think of every little step counting as activity: take the stairs rather than the elevator, park further away, take the dog for an extra long walk.

Eat your breakfast every day.

Yes, even if you're not hungry - eat your breakfast. It is important to keep your blood sugar consistent rather than have it going up and down and not eating your breakfast is an example of letting blood sugar go too low. It will only make you crave something sweet and fattening later on.

Weigh yourself often.

If you're trying to lose weight, you need to check out the scale to see where you stand. Weigh yourself once a week at the same time of day.

Follow a low-fat, high-carb diet.

As long as they are the right carbs - fruits, veggies, whole grains - carbs are good for you and important in your diet.  Only 24% of your diet should be fat.

Quash Your Cravings 2

Here's this week's Craving Quashers:

Chocolatey: Chocolate covered graham cracker (2) - 68 calories

Creamy: Cheese melt (1/2 toasted English muffin broiled with 1/2 ounce non fat Cheddar) - 90 calories

Crunchy: Biscotti (plain, 1) - 90 calories

Refreshing: Frozen fruit juice bar - 63 calories

Salty: Dill pickle (1 large) - 12 calories

Starchy: Cooked beans, any variety (1/4 cup) - 95 calories

Sweet: Half a bagel, spread with 2 tsps nonfat cream cheese and 1 tsp all-fruit preserves - 100 calories

Quash Your Cravings

Have a craving? Each week Avenue 78 will feature some craving quashers that are 100 calories or less!

Chocolatey Craving: Chocolate-covered Banana (1/2 medium dippped in 1 teaspoon fat free chocolate syrup and frozen) 61 calories.

Creamy: Artificially sweetened nonfat French vanilla yogurt 100 calories.

Crunchy: Asparagus (raw 6 medium size stalks) 20 calories.

Refreshing: Fat free ice cream (1/2 cup) 100 calories.

Salty: Chicken broth (1 cup) 20 calories.

Starchy: Baked potatoe (medium) topped with a dollop of fat free sour cream 99 calories.

Sweet: Apple sauce (unsweetened 1 cup) sprinkled with cinamon 100 calories.

Kitchen Essentials

Last week I was watching Oprah and Rachel Ray from the Food Network was on. She was talking about how little you need in order to cook whatever you want. Here is her list:

1. ONE good knife (that will chop, dice, cut, no reason to buy a whole set of knives!)

2. One deep sided skillet (to fry and sautee, to make pasta and risotto)

3. One wooden spoon since you will probably be using Teflon pan (check out the Lazy Spoon from Jonathan's on www.woodenspoon.com )

4. One big cutting board for veggies and non meat

5. One rubber cutting board for meat that will go in the dishwasher

6. One bowl for garbage (to make chopping and peeling easier and your counter free of food that is to be discarded)

This is a really great and easy list because it won't overwhelm people who want to start cooking but don't want to go out and buy a whole new kitchen! Happy cooking!

Yummy Yummy Recipe

I love to cook but rarely do it. When I do cook, I like to experiment and try to re-create my favorite restaurant dishes. The other night I made my version of mushroom and goat cheese quesadillas. They turned out to be quite tasty if I do say so myself. My cooking companion loved them too (at least this is what he told me!)

Here is the recipe:

8 Quesadillas

6 portabello mushrooms chopped

4 green onions chopped

8 tablespoons of goat cheese

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper

*Preheat oven to 425 C

*Cut chicken into small pieces

*In a frying pan on medium heat, cook chicken until tender and juicy

*Remove chicken from heat

*In another frying pan, sautee mushrooms and onions until soft

*Add in chicken and cayenne pepper

*Spread goat cheese on one side of each quesadilla

*Sandwich chicken, mushrooms and onions between the goat cheese coated quesadillas

*Put quesadillas on cookie sheet and cook in oven for 10-12 minutes

*Remove from oven and use pizza cutter to cut each quesadillas into 4

These make fantastic appetizers or, if you are like me who only ever eats apps, then they are a great meal!

Let me know what you think once you've tried these... Comments and suggestions are welcome.