RR, I know several people who lost weight on Weight Watchers but I'm not one of them. I also stayed the same on the first two weeks of that South Beach atrocity that Amanda wanted me to try with her. As someone who lost a LOT of weight and has managed to keep it off so far, the only way I found to lose weight and keep it off was to eat anything I want. I just eat half of it. Since our American portions are so over-sized, it got me into the habit of just eating less. At Christmas I baked cookies with the grandkids. I ate them too, but just one that day they were freshly baked with a cup of tea and I kept a couple for snacks the next couple of days. I still eat anything I want, including pancakes or bread or dessert, but I only eat half. I have one of those contentious personalities that require me to always want what I'm told I CANNOT have. If I can have anything I want, I can practice enough restraint to just eat enough to satisfy me. I also have to point out that we take in a lot of calories in drinks. Wine has about 100 calories per 5 ounce glass, that's not very much wine. Beer is about the same and a 3 ounce margarita has 170. Have one glass of wine every day and you'll gain a pound a month without doing anything else differently. Fortunately I like vegetables and I love beans, so I eat a lot of those. I eat whole grain bread and pasta occasionally. I don't care much for fruit, so I'll eat apples, pears, occasionally oranges and tangerines, sometimes grapes, but I can't count on those as an afternoon snack, it's more likely hummus and celery for dipping. Eating out adds a LOT of calories, but I'm sure you knew that! Here's one of my favorite recipes, from Cooking Light (who has a great website with lots of recipes, BTW). The same brine works well for chicken too: APPLE CIDER BRINED PORK ROAST 3 cups apple cider 3 cups water 1 bay leaf ¼ cup salt 1 tbls black peppercorns 1 tbls coriander seeds 1 2 lb. Pork loin, trimmed 2 cups cider 1 ½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary 1 ½ tsp chopped fresh sage 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper Combine the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Remove from heat, cool, and pour into a Ziploc bag or container big enough to hold the pork loin. Add pork, seal and let marinate 8 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350, bring 2 cups cider to a boil over medium high heat. Boil until cider is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 15 minutes. Set aside. Remove pork from bag or container and discard brine. Place pork on broiler pan or baking dish and lightly coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining herbs and bake about 1 hour, until pork is done, basting twice with the reduced cider in the last 20 minutes of baking. Remove from oven, baste with remaining cider reduction. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 8 200 calories per 4 oz. Serving, 6 grams fat Good luck, I want to lose a couple of pounds in the next 6 weeks too, I'll have to wear shorts in Texas.... Annie

Big windstorm with fallen branches and leaves covering the neighborhood. I stayed in and made comfort soup. Cauliflower cheese. Turned out nicely. Here is the recipe, very simple. Half an onion, diced. Melt in a big knob of butter. Four or five smaller potatoes, cubed. A large head of cauliflower, or two small heads, broken up. Set aside some of the prettier florets, toss them in oil and salt and broil them until lightly browned. Meanwhile, add about 2 qts of stock, just enough to cover the solids. Simmer until the potato and cauliflower are soft. Stick blender until smooth, it will be a little grainy. Add about 2 cups of cheese. I used half goat cheese and half sharp cheddar. Blend again until cheese is melted in, the soup is now creamy, not grainy. Season with salt, herbs of your choice - I included plenty of sage. Add turmeric to warm up the color - otherwise the soup may look kind of gray. Add a few drops of hot sauce, some white pepper. These cream soups need a tiny bit of heat and bite, the sage also helps there. Serve soup with the broiled florets.

I make beef barley/mushroom stew also. I use whole foods recipe as a launching point. I didn't know you had to soak it first. I always just add it at the end and wait a bit before serving. A word of caution: add less barley than you think you should. In the case of the following recipe, 1/3 cup goes a l-o-n-g way. Here is a link that might be useful: beef barley stew

Thanks, luckygardnr. That's quite a list--and one we can all use! I have some quinoa that I need to use so I thought I'd try this recipe. I love the taste of curry! I will use chicken breast instead of thighs, though. CURRIED CHICKEN QUINOA WITH PEAS 1 Tbsp olive oil About 1 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces 1 small red onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes 1 Tbsp curry powder 1/2 Tbsp chili powder 1 tsp nutmeg 2 cups water or chicken broth 1 cup quinoa 1 12 oz. bag frozen peas Salt and pepper to taste Add the oil, chicken pieces, chopped onion and garlic to a Dutch oven. Saute for about 10 minutes, or until chicken pieces are mostly cooked. Add the diced tomatoes, undrained, curry powder, chili powder and nutmeg. Stir until combined and let cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the water and bring to a bubble. Stir in the quinoa, bring to rolling boil and then reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for 20 minutes. With about 5 minutes left to cook, stir in the frozen peas. Turn heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve. Makes 4 adult portions.