Let me introduce myself....and today's recipe is Quince-Essential Crumble, by the way....

Hello, world....This is my first entry so I'll start at the top and tell you what I'm going to do here...

*sigh* Let's start at the beginning...

I've struggled with my weight since I was about 20 or so, 15 long years ago. Up and down, mostly up...draggy metabolism, 2 kids, office job for a while, and sheer unadulterated laziness coupled with a 'I feel like crap so I'd best eat some" philosophy...a series of unsatisfying relationships on top for a perfect parfait of pitiful pathos!


What I have found this time around is Tosca Reno's Eat Clean program...what a joy...all she wants is for you to eat fresh produce and lean meats, whole grains, and eat more often...she used to be a big girl when she was in an unhappy marriage and when that didn't work out she got busy and made herself look unbelieveable and her outlook on life is awesome...I feel like I can relate to her and she just turned 50 this week...you would not beleive this woman's visible health and vitality....I have the journal book also which is awesome, you don't have room to write down "3 oz. fish, 2c. spinach leaves, 1 tbs dressing" etc, which I tend to do and then give it up, you have no room...you can just write something like 'tilapia, spinach salad, asst.veg'....just the personal accountability and a memory tweaker without the sordid details...I have been doing this since November 20 and I can NOT believe how amazing I feel...I'm down 12 pounds so far

I took a night off from Clean Eating and ordered chinese food with a friend and I felt like GARBAGE all the next day, like a junk food hangover...upset stomach, headache, draggy, horrible.....I drank tons of water all day, went to the gym, had a smoothie and some salmon and a big spinach and fruit salad and by the next day felt great again...

(My smoothies consist of frozen berries, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder and orange juice )

So anyways another thing Tosca said in her book is that to keep things interesting, try some fruits and vegetables that are in season, things you've never tried before....I've always considered myself to be fairly adventurous in a culinary sense so off we went to Produce Depot and we tried several new things...

Cactus Pears - interesting, a little bland flavourwise and watch the tiny white spines! But really nice in a fruit salad if you put something else on the spoon with it, like kiwi or a piece of orange...it's colour is just gorgeous, like deep raspberry...really pretty inside...

Dragonfruit - possibly the coolest naturally occuring fruit ever, it's just a work of art on the outside, pink with artichoke-like protuberances...and you would never ever guess from looking at the outside,what the inside is like...it's got no core, no sections, no visible divisions inside, it's a big round ball of white flesh peppered with tiny kiwi-like seeds...you cut it top to bottom into two halves and scoop out the inside with a spoon...it's so cool!! then you just eat it...it tastes a bit like a cross between a kiwi and a Bosc pear...not too sweet...and it looks awesome in a fruit salad....

Quince - that's today's experiment...you have to cook it, you can't eat it raw...( I looked up each of these new fruits before I cut into them...) and apparently the yellow flesh turns crimson when you cook it...so I'm going to make a Quince and Fuji apple crumble, Eat Clean style...there are better 'versions' of a lot of things in the Eat Clean cookbook, you use different flours, grains and sweeteners than Grandma or even Mom did, so you don't get the Junk Hangover...

Wow, this went on much longer than I thought it would...

This week? Vietnam! I'm going to make Bo nuong xa, a skewered and grilled beef dish with Lemongrass, served on Romaine leaves...awesome....indoor grilling is a problem, I can't seem to find a grill that gets HOT so we'll just bundle up and grill outdoors for this one...

I'll post again when I make it and put a picture up....

Have a wonderful day, and if anyone at all besides me reads this and has a suggestion for an unusual fruit or veg, or a country to try, please do let me know...

I'll put up the recipe for Quince-Essential Crumble when I've figured out what's in it!!

Have a wonderful, wonderful day...

Amy