Saturday, January 12, 2008

New Year's Resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions (I know...don't you just HATE them??!!) is to lose weight. I've been trying (not very earnestly, and not very successfully!) to lose about 15 pounds since SUMMER.

I keep losing three or four pounds and gaining them back. In fact, if I had kept off the pounds that I lost, and not gained any of the "losses" back, I'd now weight approximately 47 pounds. I'm SO not kidding. I think I've lost the same 3 pounds and gained them back about 12 times now...grrr...

This week, however, and the few days of last week that started the year, have been different. EIGHT pounds down since last Sunday, and counting. I CUT OUT eating ANYTHING after 8:00 p.m., and, unfortunately, stopped drinking wine, as well. Those alcoholic calories really SABOTAGE the waistline, I'm finding!

Here's a recipe that I received via e-mail a few days ago from Cooking Light Magazine (one of my FAVORITE magazines!). I tried it today, and it's AMAZING!

GREEK STEAK PITAS WITH DILL SAUCE

Sauce:
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tsp. chopped fresh dill
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Steak:
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (1 lb.) flank steak, trimmed (I used shish kebab meat, already cut up by the grocery store)cooking spray
4 (6 in.) pitas, cut in half
4 romaine lettuce leaves, halved
1/4 cup (1 oz.) crumbled feta cheese

Prepare grill or broiler. To prepare steak, combine juice and next 4 ingredients (juice through steak) in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal.

Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Remove steak from bag; discard marinade.

Place steak on grill rack or broiler pan coated wtih cooking spray; cook 6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness (I pan fried the kebab pieces, with a lid, over medium high heat for 5 minutes, then took the lid off, turned them, and cooked them until they were "done").

Let stand 5 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices. Line each pita half with 1 lettuce leaf half. Divide steak evenly among pita halves.

Spoon 1 tablespoon sauce and 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese into each pita half.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 stuffed pita halves) 386 calories, 10.9 g. fat, 1.7 g. fiber. 8 Weight Watchers points (I ate HALF the serving size, for 4 WW points).

The marinade is SO GOOD on this, that it could be eaten WITHOUT the pita and cheese and sauce (and would be fewer points!). I also made a KFC coleslaw clone (which I got from the Weight Watchers website "boards"). 1 cup is ONE point, and it tastes JUST LIKE KFC's!!
Add a "post" if you'd like THAT recipe!

I guess that's it for now. Hope YOUR resolutions are going well!