Bright’s Northfield Restaurant Blog

1.  I won’t eat mindlessly.   If I am watching tv or listening to my fav music or texting my friend, I am not paying attention to my food intake and will forget all about it later on and will want to eat again and again until I satisfy my senses.   I resolve to smell  my food.  Savor the flavors in my mouth.  And use the important digestive juices in my mouth to begin the break down of my food.  If it doesn’t smell or taste or feel good, chances are it’s Cheetos and I might want to drop it off the grocery list.

2. I will not eat after 6PM unless a very special occassion calls for it.  Eating only a few hours before bed means I will be awake half the night digesting and churning out the calories at a time when I need them the least.  Don’t Eat after 6PM I reiterate to myself daily.  I do like a handful of grapes at 7 or 8PM and will allow for that as they do metabolize quickly and keep me from going to sleep too early.

3. Instead of eating half junk, half organic veggies, grains and fruits like I now do, I will step up my game to 25% junk, 75 % good for me food.  See  how that goes. It means I will have to pay even more attention to my food at first, but once I get the hang of it,  it will go better.  See, just as I was typing this I thought, let me put it into calores.  I can do 400 calories of junk per day, which is pretty good.

4. Take another close look at the food I am eating and what is out there and how can I prepare food differently to keep the old tried and trues more interesting.  Where can I substitute, what can I keep on the menu and what’s new at the grocery store???

5. Note to self: Indulge in a egg (yolk for oily skin and whites for dry)and honey with lemon facial.  Blend one yolk or egg white with a teaspoon of honey and a squirt of lemon and place on areas of the face that need exfoliating and drawing out of impurities.  Leave the mixture on for 12-24 minutes, depending on how strong the texture of your skin.  Rinse off gently with slightly warm water, then cool water until all the traces of the mixture is gone.  Do this once a week.

No joking around. After many years of practice I have finally and finely perfected my technique of doing all of the above title actions during one session in the kitchen.

First rule, always cook twice as much pasta or rice as you and one more person will need. Eat half, refrigerate or freeze half. This saves time and energy because 4 cups of pasta or rice cooks almost as fast as 2 cups.

1.Start out with 2 cups of leftover pasta or rice dish from last night or the night before…no more than two days in the frig. Set that aside to warm up a bit.

2. Take a onion, a small pat of real butter and sautee’ cut up pieces of onion, any way you wish, sliced or diced, into a non stick open frying pan over medium heat.

3. Meanwhile take one green pepper and slice or dice half to all of it and throw that all into the pan with the onion. The onion takes longer so be sure to put that in first.

4. Toss in some garlic cloves, one or more to taste. I usually go with 3 to 5 cloves, it’s so good for health and taste.

5. Now here comes the fun part. If you have eaten out the night before and have some leftover meatball sandwich, Chinese egg foo yong, or tacos, take that out of the frig, cut it up into unrecognizable chunks and toss it in the pan, taco shell, hot peppers and all. Mix it all up and warm it thoroughly but don’t kill the flavor by overcooking.

6. Now, take the rice or pasta, put that in a bowl so that you can scramble in one or two raw eggs. Once all the pieces are covered with good for you, good tasting eggs, toss it in the pan. If you have a big pan, you can separate it from the earlier ingredients if you want.

7. Place two slices of your favorite melting cheese, I use provolone for the low fat content, over the gathered mix of food and place a lid over it so the cheese will melt within 4 or 5 minutes over very low heat.

8. Serve the mix over the rice or pasta on a bed of fresh greens on a pretty plate and wahlah! add some sour cream or drizzle a little olive oil on the dish and you can claim Iron Chef awards from your self at least.

Okay, I guess you are saying, well what about the other things? The exercise, the saving money?

Just do three or four knee bends between each step of cooking or while you are waiting for something to heat up take that moment to bend side to side, put your hands on the sink edge and do some push ups, or raise up on your toes five times. Before you know it, you will have put in five minutes of exercise. Over a week that’s a over a half hour of exercise, and you wouldn’t even miss it. Plus you have used up that extra food you would have forgotten about and thrown out or wouldn’t take the time to heat up, but that would make the special little difference in the dish to send it over the top. Before you know it, you’ll never stand idly around again, you can always work in a mini work out and over a day that can burn up 2 or 300 calories. Good for you!

If you need a name for this recipe, I call it Bright’s Marvelous Brunch Dish, but you can add your own name. and your own variations.