That old cookbook workhorse that keeps on giving

Anybody have one of those? It’s nothing special. It’s probably never been reviewed by anyone. But it’s the gift that keeps on giving. Mine is America’s Favorite Brand Name Light Cooking. Copyright 1998; I probably found it on a sale rack at Borders about 10 years ago. My mom has always said that if you get one good recipe out of a cookbook, it’s a success. This one has... Read More

The Perfect Scoop is Perfection

The reason I adore Weight Watchers so is because it really acts as a decoder ring for me to figure out exactly how much I can eat of what I really love. And something that I really love is ice cream. To be sure, there are some really delightful flavors of “1/2 the fat” varieties of Edy’s ice cream and I have found that a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich really hits... Read More

Camping or The Weight Watcher in the Woods

Bonus (activity) points to anyone who caught my 1980s Disney horror flick reference, BTW. All pop culture references aside, I did, in fact, go camping with my boyfriend for the first time 4th of July weekend. The time before that, we went car camping in Malibu, which wasn’t exactly Bear Grylls territory. The surrounding wildlife included a posse of drunk 20 – 40 something-year-old... Read More

A K-Hole of Infinite, Spicy Proportions

At practically every meal in my house growing up, there was a dish of kimchi on the table. The accompanying bowl of rice was never too far. It’s definitely where I started loving hot, spicy, uh oh, I-think-I’m-sweating kind of foods. But unlike where I grew up in West Virginia, the spicy Korean pickled cabbage isn’t hard to find here in LA. There are whole entire factories... Read More

Wine Tracking

If you like to drink wine like me, then you know that this elixir of the grape gods can be the bane of any diet. Wine = EMPTY CALORIES, even though it comes from 0 points grape land. So unfair. Incorporating alcohol into any diet is rough. Most of the time, the rule is to eliminate drinks all together. For me, that’s ended in accidentally polishing off a bottle when I intended... Read More

Sticking to the Plan While Fighting a Cold

You might have noticed that my entries lately have been behind schedule. That’s because I’ve been fighting some kind of bug since Memorial Day weekend. Secretly, I blame the lady sitting on the plane next to me, who we’ll just call “Coffy.” But really, it could have come from any number of places. Whenever I get sick, I know I should be including lots... Read More

A recipe to scratch an itch…

I’ve been dying for some carrot cake, but not for the calories that usually come with it. I recently remembered a recipe I’d tried a few years ago and enjoyed, and tracked it down in “Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2004.” (The Cooking Light Annual, by the way, is a great compilation of the entire previous year’s magazine recipes, sans ads and superfluous articles.) In addition... Read More

Hollywood Bowl Time! (AKA the fancy picnic)

In Los Angeles, Hollywood Bowl season is upon us–when hoards of Angelenos dust off their wine backpacks and head out for nights of music under the stars, to hear everything from classical music to jazz to rock to “The Sound of Music” sing-alongs. And aside from a beautiful natural setting right in the middle of Hollywood, enjoying the lovely LA evening weather and hearing... Read More

Weight Watchers is for Lovers … of Cooking

Consumer Reports just published its rankings for weight-loss programs for the third year and the magazine named Jenny Craig number one. This ranking is primarily based on a 2010 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which discovered that 92% of the women studied managed to stick with the Jenny Craig program for two years. In addition, the average... Read More

Dodger Disaster?

The other night, I went to my very first Dodgers game. It was great. Can’t say the same for the outcome of the game (Cubs won) but I had a blast with friends – in the ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT section. No, I didn’t buy the tickets. My friend did. Somehow, for a mere $6 more, you, too, can land yourself in this section to enjoy a never-ending supply of Dodger Dogs, nachos, peanuts,... Read More