I've lost eight pounds in the first week

Weigh-in this morning shows that I've lost eight pounds in the first week. I'm not going to get too excited about this because the first pounds are the easiest ones. And I'm only expecting one pound per week from this point onward, though I'll happily accept more :)

A couple of observations so far:

Never use American-consumer-oriented cheese in anything

With all due respect to the state of Wisconsin, American-made cheese destined for the typical American consumer is tasteless and lifeless, so you need quite a lot of it to impart flavor on a dish. In contrast, raw milk French and Spanish cheeses impart "les pieds de Dieu" (the feet of God) with only a small amount, so I can get a strong "real" cheese flavor without imparting much fat or calories at all.

I tried shaving some very nice raw milk pecorino onto a salad dressed with nonfat dressing and a few grindings of black pepper, and it was surprisingly delicious. I also made a mornay using my fatless roux technique, some dijon mustard, and some leftover raw milk raclette and another bit of a double-creme whose name escapes me, and it was lovely.

Just say "no" to dead, lifeless refrigerated sterile bland overly-salted American-made cheese.

Weetabix!

Weetabix is a great wheat biscuit cereal you can get in England and Canada, but it's hard to find in the states. I can get it easily because I'm right around the corner from Taste of Britain (see my links), and you can get it from them online, too.

Want a quick nonfat topping for gratins? Finely crumble a Weetabix biscuit over the top during the last five or ten minutes of baking. Smashing!

Refining the Tomato Red Pepper Black Bean Soup recipe

Stay tuned. The new one is even lower fat and tastier! Using San Marzano tomatoes and more and larger bits of black bean, but cooking longer to softer texture. Quite good. And if you want to make a full meal of it you can add grilled chicken or a bit of fresh sausage that's been hot smoked. I render a good bit of the fat during hot smoking, and then still only use a little bit of sausage because it's still fatty. Makes a good mixture with the bits of chicken breast, which can also be hot smoked. I use my outdoor grill with indirect heat and Mesquite wood chips for a Southwestern flavor.

Well that's all for now. KBO!