Quiche à Odette: The Easiest Quiche Ever

Quiche à Odette -- the world's easiest quiche

Last year, for pi day, I decided to make genuine quiche -- from scratch. We didn't eat until close to 8:00 p.m. (Dinner at our house is usually around 6.) It was delicious, but definitely not worth the time and effort, especially when compared with this super-easy, crustless option.

An Old Dog Learning New Tricks

Whole almonds and pumpkin seeds, packaged into measured snack-packs.

One of the things I have learned through dog-training is that you can't simply stop one behaviour without concurrently installing a new behaviour. You can try, but the drive to follow through on the dangerous or maladaptive behaviour will still be lingering in the animal's mind unless you give it a new direction.

Food Guides

The recipe for this delicious salad is here.

One of the great joys of retirement has been that I have the luxury of time -- and energy -- to prepare a healthy and tasty meal. When I was working, I would consider mealtime to be just another box to tick before everyone could get to the real purpose of the evening: R&R.

Slow and Steady

Tortoise by Pearson Scott Foreman, Wikimedia Commons

Every weight-loss program I've ever tried proposes a "reasonable" goal of 1-2 pounds per week. To do this generally means a net reduction of (at least) 500 calories a day, either consuming 500 calories less than you need or burning 500 more than you've eaten (or a combination of these).

Weight-Loss: The Plan

Christmas 1988 | A little Flashback Friday fun for you, huge shoulder pads and all.
I weighed approximately 110 pounds in this picture and was 26 years old.

Like many of you, I've struggled with my weight since my early 20s. I've done Weight Watchers (three times), Diet Center (twice), and Nutrisystem (once). Each diet worked, in the sense that I lost weight. I got down to either too slim (105 pounds) or a weight that I was happy with: 110-130 pounds. That's a 25-pound range, which reflects both the social pressure to be thin and the range of starting points.