Let’s start out by finding out who won the Rocco DiSpirito’s Now Eat This Diet Books!  I had to throw in the “Winning” Charlie Sheen reference – that guy is anything but a winner.

First winner:

I’m all about mushrooms so this recipe is a must try for me!

What’s my motivation to lose weight?
I would have to say my motivation to lose weight is hands down to be there for my family. I started a blog myself a couple of months ago to record my progress & failures. My first post briefly explains how I became an orphan – aka no Mom, Dad or even Brother at the age of 32. I see myself following in my Dad’s footsteps – he passed away due to complications of his weight – which included heart failure, high blood pressure & type 2 diabetes. Most, if not all could have been preventable if he took control, but it seemed like he never tried. I was 20 weeks pregnant with my Son when my Dad died. It was the day before we found out he was a boy. At the time I was pregnant I had gestational diabetes, so I knew I was at an even higher risk for type 2. Now that my Son is here…all I can think about is making sure he & my husband have me in their lives for a long time. I would hate for my son to watch his Mommy sit on the sidelines instead of running & playing alongside of him. So with this I joined WW and started running. Hoping to be a better example and be around for a long, long time to come.

Second winner:

Sharon Kramer says:

I want to lose weight cause I am tired of being overweight. I started 2 years ago and have lost 54 pounds and kept it off through portion control and changing my habits a little. I have recently incorporated chair yoga (I have knee problems) and walking.
I saw your book but could not afford it. I found the website and have been using the receipes there for about a week. My husband is diabetic so the receipes are friendly to his diet too. Some I adapted a little to accomodate our family but everyone has been raving! I intend to keep cooking, losing and walking until I reach my goal. I have about 120 ponds to go but I am sure that I can do it!

Third Winner:

As a I motivation to lose weight I want to stay healthy and look good. The older you get the harder it is to lose weight, especially for women. Also I don’t want to get diabetes. We cook too good and our food taste so wonderful, so it’s hard to stop eating. Perhaps if we didn’t cook so good………

Fun question and great give-away.
Sam

And the final winner:

Shirley says:

This sounds like a great giveaway.

My motivation for losing weight is primarily that I’m diabetic and need to be more health consious. I also have joint issues that losing a few(many) pounds would help take some of the pressure off of.

Congratulations! Please send me your mailing address to mybizzykitchen@gmail.com and I will forward it to the publisher so you’ll get your books.  😀

So remember how Tony sent me an email with a suggestion for dinner Friday night?  Um, pretty sure he had an ulterior motive – i.e., if he suggested a different dinner . . . he wouldn’t have to have party pizza Friday.   I am sure Helen’s husband is saying “WTF?” as he would enjoy party pizza Friday every day of the week!

But don’t worry!  I still got my pizza on. 😀  Saturday Tony and I went to lunch and a movie!  We saw Win Win, which was excellent – if you have a chance to see it, we highly recommend it.  So there was no grocery shopping on Saturday.  What do I always have on hand?  Flour, yeast, salt . . . i.e. PIZZA DOUGH!

But I made it a bit differently.  I made another batch of Schiacciata and decided to use the 00 flour in my pizza dough.  I thought it was delicious!!

  • 2 cups 00 flour
  • 1 package yeast
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup warm tap water
  • Mix well and knead for a few minutes – this was enough dough to make three individual pizzas

My pizza:  kind of “leftover” pizza – I had two meatballs, jalapeno, yellow peppers and a blend of colby jack and cheddar cheese on top.  My pizza comes in at 18 points – totally worth it – thanks flex points! 😀

So I’ve decided that I am going to do an Italian themed Easter this year.  I am going to be doing a wedge salad with brushetta and balsamic dressing, a soup course, homemade bread and pasta and braciole.  I wanted to do a test run of the braciole beforehand though.

First I started out with a simple tomato sauce:

  • 1 tsp. olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 2 (28) oz. cans of Italian plum tomatoes
  • 4 basil leaves
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons butter (you add this at the very end to even out the sauce)
I pureed it after the vegetables cooked down after 30 minutes

The filling:

  • 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 ounce shaved Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Mix the bread crumbs through olive oil and spread across your 1.5 pound round steak.

Then layer the chopped eggs:

Then roll up and tie to hold it together.  Heat a tsp. of olive oil and Pam over medium-high heat.  Sear the meat on all sides.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Add the seared meat to the tomato sauce, and cook for 90 minutes, turning the meat every 30 minutes.

The meat is so tender, and the sauce thickened up while it cooked down.  The only thing I would do differently is season the meat more liberally with salt and pepper.

My dinner comes in at 12 points 😀

Check out the BSI – salsa round up!