First Century Dinner!

We got invited to a little dinner party, a different type, but it will be interesting I think. It's a First Century Dinner, using recipes from first century AD, somewhat like the last supper. The hostess sent out the recipes so if we wanted to bring something we could. I chose to make stuffed carmelized dates and pomegranate glazed tilapia!

I looked all over town for the dates and pine nuts and ended up getting them at Sam's Club when I went for the tilapia for 26 people!

I slit open the dates and removed the seed and I saved them (more later on that!) I stuffed them with pine nuts and smoothed them shut, rolling them in a ball and sprinkling with sea salt. Then I fried them in a pan with honey until they were nice and caramelized. I put several in paper muffin cups for individual servings. Of course we had a few left over so we taste tested them.......yummy, just like candy!

The glaze for the tilapia called for pomegranate syrup and of course I couldn't find it and had waited too late to order it so I made my own! 2 cups of pomegranate juice and 4 cups of sugar in a saucepan, brought it to a boil and then simmered for about 15 minutes to reduce it. I let it cool overnight.

I mixed 1/2 cup of the pomegranate syrup with 1 1/4 cups olive oil and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar. Then I minced several (ok 6-8!) cloves of garlic and used the immersion blender to mix it up. The tilapia has been dried and lying in the pan to go over there and meets it's fate with the glaze and the grill! Then I'll garnish it with pomegranate seeds.

The others are bringing lentil soups, fava bean salad, rack of lamb and of course red wine!

I have a feeling this is a non-diet night!!!

Green Smoothies!

I have been on a different mission for food for Alex. He has gained sufficient weight now even without his feeding tube and we are actually concerned that he is gaining too much weight. If he gets too heavy, it will make physical therapy difficult for him and moving him from wheelchair to bed and back more physically demanding for us. So I guess the McDonald's milkshake era has come to an end, except for special treats!

Smoothies have taken over! They are lower in fat and calories and sugar and I try to make them healthier for him by adding spinach and cranberries since they are such good anti-oxidants. Since Wilson's is a liver disease, I am doing all I can to make his diet liver-friendly to repair the damage done by the copper. They are all natural too and he seems to really like them!

1/2 cup 2% milk
1 6 oz container vanilla coconut lowfat yogurt (Light and Lively)
1 scoop Visalus protein powder (not too much copper)
1 big handful fresh spinach leaves
1/2 cup cranberries (ours were frozen)
3/4 cup frozen strawberries

I am sure there are many variations of this that we will try.......I am thinking bananas, mangoes, fresh mint leaves, blueberries, apples...........just keep the spinach and it makes it green and good. My daughter Jenni, makes these for Tipp to sneak in veggies!!

Blend it in the blender!! This is Alex approved!

Dusting Off the Treadmill!

I really don't enjoy running on the treadmill :(

But, I need to do more running and it's cold, it gets dark early and I want to run another half marathon in May! Add to that I am recovering from an ongoing foot/heel injury and just need to work through it.

I ran about 3 miles on the American Tobacco Trail with Jenni yesterday and realized how I have really missed those long runs with her. I couldn't keep up with her and need to get back to my same level of fitness.

So the goal for today is to get it to a place in my house where it can sit without me having to fold it out everytime I use it and then fold it back up. Put it in a place where it is out of the way of everyday life, yet highly accessible. The holidays are over, so I won't be entertaining anytime soon so I think the living room/dining room area fits the bill. If family comes over, they will just have to overlook or step around it.

The goal for next week, 3 nights of run/walking for 30 minutes and I'll do my long runs outside on the weekends and at the beach!

Divas, here I come!

Two Pot Coffee Kind of a Day!

It's Sunday! The first one after New Year's, so we are just having a relaxing weekend doing NOTHING! We brought Alex home for the weekend and he has enjoyed just doing nothing but relaxing at home. After 3 trips to the Emergency Room and 1 surgery later and a trip to Nashville to see the neurologist and a trip to the beach with Christmas jammed in there somewhere, we just all want to chill out.

The weather is even decent with 56 degrees, not bad for January. But I stayed in my jommies til noon and we are on our second pot of coffee!