The Determined Chef Chronicles

Sad to say, this is my before photo. I look like I'm pregnant (and I'm not!) My hind quarters are huge as well. Not my favorite photo, but I need to look at my progress which requires needing a before photo. I started exercising on March 7th, when I weighed in at 310 lbs. I weighed myself yesterday and I weighed 314 lbs!!!! What is going on. I'm supposed to be losing, not gaining. I keep telling myself it must be muscle developing from my fat burning exercises. I can feel myself getting stronger. I'm going to trust that that is the reason for the weight gain and also it could be water weight as well. Whatever the case, I am determined to lose the weight. I just started having 2 boiled eggs, whole grain toast and Greek yogurt for the last four days. I am hoping that things get better and I start losing rather than gaining, which is no fun. The scale is not my friend right now. I've included a photo of me with my daughter from last year. I want to focus also on...

This salmon cake is made from canned salmon. If it was made with fresh salmon, chopped up and formed into a patty, it would be considered a salmon burger. I have both recipes, but the one in the picture is of a salmon cake. It's not the easiest to make when you brown them on the stove and then finish them in the oven because the cake is very fragile at first. Once you flip it over and put it in the oven it finished just fine and gives you a nice golden brown sear on the other side. (in case you're wondering, I used a medium cast iron pan, which I could then put directly in the oven). I melt Havarti cheese over the cake and finish it with avocado and chipotle mayo. No bun this time. But as far as what's in the cake,  I made it with cream cheese, lemon juice and zest, fresh garlic and a few other ingredients (like one egg - which you need to bind it together, along with oats). I just gave you my secret ingredients, now you can try it at home. Please do and let me know what y...

This soup was made with red peppers that were charred on the fire on the stove and then put in a brown paper bag where they could steam. This made it easier to peel the outer layer off before being chopped. There's chicken broth, tomatoes and onions in the soup. I blended it using an immersion blender (it looks like a wand with a blade at the end, which you stick into the soup to puree it). The hot vegetarian is made with mushrooms, green pepper, onion, celery and melted provolone cheese on a whole grain bun. So yummy!

This chowder was created with a friend of mine, Glenda Nordstrom, who is helping me with the cookbook. We always have a great time cooking in the kitchen together. This chowder starts off with the basics of making a bechamel sauce, without the pique (onion/clove). So start with your flour and butter, adding milk, chicken broth, potatoes and cheese. There's a few other ingredients, one of which i will share...bacon cut into small bits. You may notice there s a cheesy biscuit in the corner, made by Glenda. For the purposes of this cookbook, and my desire to eat less carbs, I am not including the biscuit.

Okay, so one of my first recipes is this Tuna Pasta Salad served cold, with Sauteed Veggies. I used gluten free pasta, which you really couldn't tell the difference. The veggie combo had asparagus,  purple cabbage and squash. I included the avocado to give me some of that good fat. Portion size is about 1 1/2 cups of pasta and 2/3 cup of veggies. I included the photo of just the veggies so you could get  better ideas of size and ingredients. I included a special ingredient in the veggies, which you will find out about in the book! I can't reveal all my secrets just yet.  ;) Try it and let me know what you think?!

Hello Everyone!  Welcome to my new blog, the Determined Chef Chronicles. I am on a journey over this next year to lose 100 lbs and create 100 healthy new recipes that I will use to help me with my goal. I will chronicle my journey and share the ups and downs, as well as any books that I use to help guide me through this process of losing weight. I will weigh myself once a month, maybe twice, to track my progress. I will also post photos showing my transformation. I started working out March 7th using the Easy Workouts app, which has me doing crunches, push-ups, leg-up crunches, squats, high knees, lunges, bicycle crunches, and plank with leg lifts. I should mention that I do the girl push-ups and I know I don't do the planks the way they do, but it still works my glutes, which is what matters to me. My hope is that as I get stronger I can graduate to getting to do those two exercises the way they show it. As much as possible I work out every other day. In addition to the fat burni...