It must be the time of year, or maybe it is because I am bored, or maybe it is because I am stressed, or maybe it is because I am trying to loose weight...but I keep thinking about food. I look on Pinterest and see all the yummy things they come up with and I look on Facebook everytime someone has a menu to share...I am dwelling on food. The other day after we were finished cleaning my friend and I went to the Amish Market and I bought boiled chicken potpie, two baked chicken pot pies, smoked turkey, rice pudding and sticky buns and corn bread. Does that sound like someone who is trying to loose weight?

I actually bought the chicken pies for my kids to bake when he returned from the hospital and the boiled pie for another meal for them to make it easier since we did not know what to expect. I shared the sticky buns and corn bread also. I gave my SIL the rice pudding for his special treat.

I got up this morning and could not wait to eat the rest of the sticky buns. Oh how good they are warm with butter. Now they are gone and I am sad. Today I am going to try and not cook anything that is not healthy. When it rains and I am confined to the house I always seem to think about food and start to cook. Soups, salads, anything I can think of just so I can eat. It is a wonder I don't weigh a ton.

Now that I got that off my chest I will finish my coffee and head for the kitchen. Have a good day. Am I the only one who suffers from this awful problem?

Well, I did it. I cut up red and green peppers, celery, olive tomatoes, carrots,broccoli and then added cooked medium shells. Added the Wish Bone red wine vinaigerette and mixed it all together and stuck it in the refrig. That is how I clean out my veggie drawer and my kids love it as a side dish or a snack. You don't even need to use any seasoning. It is all in the vinaigerette (that is how they spell it???). Back to the kitchen.

Pasta salad! I love it! Haven't made pasta salad in ages.

@JB, I'll think of you this afternoon when I am making twice-baked potatoes for my cousin's birthday dinner.

OHHHHH I love them and never make them because I am too lazy. I eat them before they get baked the second time.

I'll save you one, okay?

JB said: Am I the only one who suffers from this awful problem?

Nope, you are not, JB. We are only in the low 60s right now--which isn't cold, by any means--and it rained overnight, is still overcast and damp feeling. After the ongoing 90 or better we've been experiencing, it sure does finally feel like Fall is coming! I trundled down to the store this morning and got a 10 pound bag of chicken leg quarters. Have four boiling in a pot with seasoning, celery, and carrots. Three are seasoned and in the oven baking. The rest were divided up for the freezer. Going to make chicken and dumplings; have the oven-baked with potatoes and mixed vegetables--Bird's Eye makes a Normandy mix that has broccoli, cauliflower, yellow squash, zucchini, and carrots in it. Good for all kinds of uses. Also going to make beer cheddar bread. Going to make Cake Mix Cookies this weekend, too.

I think our bodies know we need more fuel in cold weather!

well, I just had a huge bowl of ice cream and am now trying to restrain myself from making another trip to the kitchen! :-D

As soon as the weather starts to get chilly, I start making roasts...roast chicken, roast pork....anything in the oven. A big pot of chicken corn chowder last week. But comfort food for me is "ethnic food" the stuff my mom cooked: Stuffed cabbages, pierogi, "leather ears"....that's chicken broth with ham chunks in it, and homemade noodles cut very thick and very wide.... Now I'm hungry. *LOL*

But at least as gardeners, we burn off the calories working outside! I figure weeding (no matter what size) is worth oh...let's say 500 calories? And pushing a wheelbarrow....that's gotta be worth 1000. So, see, you can eat anything! (this is what i tell myself. That and "that darn scale is broken again!")

mmyumm, corn chowder and pierogis!

Annie, my mother was Polish. Stuffed cabbages, and soups with homemade noodles were all on the menu for cold weather. While I liked eating those noodles, I HATED having to sit at the table with a butter knife and cut bazillions of them BEFORE I could eat 'em.

okay, I just put the ingredients for a corn chowder onto my grocery list!!

We are going to have stuffed baked pork chops with potatoes baked with the chops already pealed , a salad and a green veggie. I am only in charge of the meat and potatoes. My daughter is trying to keep my SIL from doing everything he usually does and has very little time to cook, so that is my job. Plus taking care of the animals and birds. We had roast chicken last night so chicken salad today for lunch.

Yum!

sounds yummy, JB! How is your SIL doing?

He is constipated...aren't you sorry you ask? He is a man in pain.............he wants to get out and do things and of course he is not allowed. My Daughter and I are worn out just keeping him busy so he does not go out and mess around in his work shop and get into trouble. I just keep on cooking and she keeps on finding things they can do together like scratch off lottery tickets. I am about to get him on the computer casino. He loves poker and plays online alot but he hurts when he sits too long at the computer. Poor guy is a great patient but he is not used to being one. Thanks for asking.

Oh, I used to make something called "cabbage cake." Can't remember what ethnicity it's from, but it involves layering cabbage leaves and ground beef in a big stock pot, cooking them (I guess we must have added a bit of water?) and then holding a plate over the layers while turning the "cake" upside down to drain out the excess liquid, then pouring a white sauce over it.

I knew how to make it so well, I decided not to save the written recipe, and now I haven't a clue! Could probably find it on google but it wouldn't be the same.

Last night I made twice baked potatoes and they were a big hit at the birthday dinner for my cousin. I use lots of cheese in those, and I also mince a bit of onion, fresh parsley (now that Killer isn't eating it all!) and carrot and mix that into the stuffing.

Hmm. I think there is a half of one left. BRB.

Kyla, that's like my grandmother's noodle recipe--a German dish called 'shoup noodles' or something like that. It didn't exist in written form and when she described how to make it, it was 'a pinch of this', a 'little of that'. Sadly, no one has been able to really duplicate it.

I found this thread just as I was upset with myself for eating brownies at 5 this morning, after I promised myself to start dieting so that I can lose some weight before my January hip replacement. JB, I wish there was a way that we could watch and encourage each other all day. When I lived very near to my best friend, we did manage to lose weight by shopping for food together and then keeping a close eye on each other.