Zola

Say Cheese!

Getting your information from the internet can give you scary results. What do I mean by ‘scary’? I mean false. There are things published on the internet that are patently wrong. Reader beware.

On the other hand, the internet is the biggest source of information on the planet. I remember the days when that shelf that held up the encyclopedia set in the hallway outside my bedroom was my biggest source of information; that and our local library.

So much has changed.

The science has changed and so has the delivery mechanism. The entire world of libraries now sits on my desk. The internet can be just as much your friend as your foe. I, for one, cannot figure out how I ever lived without it.

In designing Plan Z, I spent countless hours on the internet doing research. I spent 18 months just researching homeopathy to design the ZR50 Reduction formula that helps dieters diet comfortably. Some things require countless hours because they are complicated; like homeopathy. Others take countless hours because you have to keep finding more and more references that support an idea you are considering. I give a ton of credit to Chris, VP Anger Management for doing so much research on the things in our Plan Z coaching. He’s a lifelong learner and possesses endless curiosity.

As part of Plan Z we launched an effort to unwind over 50 years of dieting misinformation and get you proper information backed up by today’s science. Some of the things we learned about dieting are so ingrained in us after so many years, it’s hard to believe they could not be true. We all believed things like:

"Fat makes you fat."

No it doesn’t. Carbohydrates do.

"A calorie is a calorie; whether you get them from carrots or cookies, they're all the same."
No again. Check out Dr. Lustig, a major contributor to the science that proves our bodies process calories differently. It depends on what we're eating.

"Calories in and Calories out. Eat less than you burn and you’ll lose weight."
Tell that to any post-menopausal woman and you’ll see flames coming out the top of her head from her frustration of trying to lose weight as she ages. It’s not how much you eat. More so, it’s what you eat.

So, I get to my question of the week. One of our dieters astutely asked that if I am suggesting adults should not drink cow milk, then why do I suggest cheese and yogurt are okay. They are all forms of dairy. It was a GREAT question, and if I didn’t have this little piece of information in my back pocket, I would have started to second guess myself and go do more research. I think you’ll find this interesting. I’m from Wisconsin, The Dairy State, and I found it fascinating.

So there you have it.

I liken this piece to an entertaining delivery of good, hard science. I’m sure the American Dairy Association doesn’t agree with a word of it, and my heart goes out to dairy farmers across the nation. I’m sure they could all send me to information that would refute this presentation. Then again, it’s like the guy in the video said…it’s all lobbying.

My husband often quotes Socrates in his speeches. Socrates once said, “I cannot teach a man anything. I can only get him to think.”

This whole cheese thing might need more research, but five years ago I gave up my gallon a day milk habit of cow milk and switched to coconut milk or almond milk, yet I still eat my share of cheese and yogurt. Pretty much daily. And I still think cows are cute.

Cheers,

by Zola

Porterhouse Primer

As one of 7 children, I didn’t eat a lot of steak as a child. There were just too many mouths to feed and we couldn’t afford it.

I do remember when most of the older kids had left home, my parents took to serving fondue on Sunday evenings. There were just 2 of us kids of steak-eating-age at the time, so we were allowed little bits of steak that we could cook in the boiling oil of the fondue pot. Truth be told, we had more chicken bits to put in the pot than we did beef cuts, but we were allowed a little bit. We knew it was a fancy deal.

Fast forward to my young adulthood. I went on a trip to New York City where I saw my first dry aged meats hanging in the famous Gallagher Steak House. That was about 40 years ago, but Gallagher’s still exists. In this picture you can see the dry aging room.

That evening I had my first T-Bone Steak. BIG YUM. I was hooked.

I have grown more fond of eating beef tenderloin now, rather than any other cut. I really think it’s because I find the tenderloin of a manageable size. If you want a hint of what tenderloin to order from your butcher, ask the butcher for 6-8 oz size and “center cut”. That’s the important bit. A center cut steak won’t have any of those strings holding wobbly bits together. A center cut steak is the most prized and comes in one piece.

Whenever I start to gain a few pounds I do a modified version of a steak day that is offered as part of Plan Z. What that means is, I eat lightly through the daytime; maybe just a salad. Then when dinner comes I have an 8 oz beef tenderloin with sides of veggies. Honestly, I wake up two pounds lighter each time I do it.

Tonight I’m cooking up my modified steak day plan and I’m going to be inventing a new porcini mushroom sauce to go with it. Truly decadent. I ate very lightly today and I’m starving so I’m ready for my steak. So very ready!

I thought you’d enjoy this little lesson on the Porterhouse steak. A porterhouse includes the tenderloin section.

There are informational pieces in this Porterhouse Primer that I didn’t even know and I’m a pretty big student of the steak. So I hope you take a look, a listen and pass it onto other steak lovers.

http://www.eater.com/2015/6/19/8813249/everything-you-need-to-know-about-americas-most-iconic-steak

Enjoy!
Cheers,

by Zola

Gobble Gobble

The avian flu outbreak across the country has already taken a toll. The price of eggs has jumped a minimum of 13% but in some places has risen as much as 50%. That’s a lot of yuk to the yoke of your budget.

The price of eggs on the wholesale level has risen, too. That affects other things you buy in the grocery story like mayonnaise or even the price of a cake mix. Anything that has eggs in it.

But it’s not likely to end there. Some expert prognosticators are looking ahead to Thanksgiving.

The early data says we will have enough turkeys. That’s step one. The next issue is what will that turkey cost? Some say that as long as gas prices and other production factors stay low, the price of a turkey won’t rise much as the holiday approaches.

Others are not so positive. Some are recommending you buy your frozen turkey now and make room for it in your freezer. Those same people are saying that the retailers are likely to take advantage of the situation and cause a media frenzy which always drives prices up - to the retailer’s advantage.

I’m not a big fan of buying a frozen turkey. I prefer a fresh one, but this whole issue got me to thinking.

I know turkey is a staple at most Thanksgiving feasts, but if we were forced to think outside the turkey barn, what might we come up with?

Besides, the whole purpose of Thanksgiving is to get together with friends and family and feast. Combine that with making an effort to be thankful for what we have, as well as those we have around us, and we have the makings for the Thanksgiving holiday.

I don’t see the word turkey in that whole last paragraph. Do you?

I’m always open to trying new things; especially when they involve food.
So if you decide to go turkey-less this year, what else might you do?

First thing I thought of was standing rib roast. My mother used to save up the budget to get a rib roast for Christmas. We didn’t have turkey. We didn’t have turkey at Easter, either. We had ham. So even a bargain-priced roast beef might be in order. Go red meat.

My next thought was to have a chili cook-off for the feast. Each family segment could bring their favorite chili recipe. You could to blind taste tests. You could have prizes. You could have a garnish-making exercise with the whole group chopping tomato, onion bits, jalapenos and more. What would you put on your chili? This might be a whole lot easier to clean up than the traditional turkey fixins.

On Christmas Day my mother often made up a big batch of sloppy Joe’s for lunchtime. We called them Spanish hamburgers. That kind of meal would be just as much fun to eat while you watch football. A change of course. Speaking of change of course, how about breakfast for dinner? So many people tell me how much they love brunch and they’d rather eat that than any other style of meal.

I’m just trying to get you to think creatively. Maybe this year you’ll do something else different for the big turkey holiday and if the clean-up is fast and easy, those of you that want to get to the mall can get there faster.

Whether you have this for your holiday meal or just a Saturday lunch, this freshly made sloppy joe is a big hit. I even eat it with no bun.

Enjoy!
Cheers,

by Zola

The Party Report

I think you all know we had a big party here at Plan Z HQ. It was a Saturday night blow out. For those of you who could not make it, or would just like the live vicariously, I’m going to lay out a few of the highlights of how it all came together and how it went during the night.

I knew I was going to have about 90 people in attendance, so I started prepping for the party early. This was probably the earliest I have ever done that. On Wednesday I rearranged the furniture in the area where the buffet was going to be set up. I decided I could tolerate having that room look a bit disorganized for a few days instead of doing it at the last minute. I got out all the platters the food would be served on and placed them where they would sit during the party. I even put little notes on each platter of what was going to be served on that dish so I could visualize how the colors and textures of the food would look that night. That way anyone helping me could just put the food on the designated plate, and in that place, without having to ask me, “Where does this go?” That’s an idea I will take forward. It worked great.

I got the bar setup that night, too. My menus were all prepared in advance and I got my grocery list together 2 days ahead. I always print off any recipes I’m going to use and keep them in a folder so I have them handy or I can hand one to someone helping me cook, and they can go to town without having to handle an awkward cookbook.

Friday morning I bought all of the food and Friday afternoon my colleague Grace helped me start cooking. Grace is a culinary school graduate so that sure came in handy. I gave her two of the more complicated dishes to cook. She was able to follow the recipes and hardly had to ask me anything. I was able to concentrate and get a few other things prepped and off to the refrigerator in the garage. Because this was a summer party, almost everything we cooked was going to be served cold. I wanted to be more hostess than caterer so if the food is set out ahead I can spend more time with guests than in my kitchen.

We cooked until about 6PM Friday and took a break. We were being so efficient I didn’t need to worry. My Saturday prep list was ready to go. Saturday morning, two friends volunteered to come over and help. One was a cooking kind of guy and the other one was more of a cleaner/handyman. My husband teamed up with him and they got the front porch spotless and did all kinds of tidying up in the garden and around the house.

Allen was helping me in the kitchen. He and I knocked out the rest of the cooking along with Jennifer, and we were all done by noon. I HAD to be done by noon because that’s when the video crew and the band showed up. The band was there to set up their equipment and test their sound system. The video crew was setting up to tape 3 of our dieting celebrities. We spent the afternoon interviewing them and recording their responses. They did an amazing job. Someday I’m sure you’ll get to see some of the production. I have never had to sandwich a video production in between pre-party prep. It was a very tricky thing to try to pull off, but whew! That worked, too!

At 7PM, guests started to arrive. I hired my favorite bartender to take drink orders and my cleaning lady Coco was ready with her sister to help in the kitchen. They do a great job of walking around a party doing what we call ‘groom the room.’ They pick up empty drink glasses and dirty napkins. They keep everything tidy on the party floor. If anyone spills anything they are right there to clean it up. In the kitchen they help with any last minute food prep and they wash and dry dishes that come off of the buffet table as they are finished. There was one warm dish that had to be baked during the party so Coco and I teamed up to prep that, but otherwise I was able to circulate amongst the guests all night long.

The band started playing at 8:30. Our living area floors are poured concrete. Very industrial. I actually took sidewalk chalk and drew a dance floor border on the floor and wrote the word “DANCE” in the middle.

The serious blues fans were able to listen to the Will Tilson band at little club-style tables, and the dancers could cut loose on the floor. Those that just wanted to chat outside in the garden could still hear the band but it was quiet enough that they could carry a solid conversation.

The band was amazing. The food was delicious (even if I do say so myself!). I didn’t get to eat any of it, but the compliments kept rolling in so I think my guests liked it. If I could put sound and smell-a-vision in this column I’d give you samples of both.

I know the food was a success because we cooked enough for 110 people, we had 90 in attendance, and the food was wiped out in two hours! All I had left at the end of the night was a pile of sliced red onions that were a garnish for a little beef slider sandwich. Everything including the Peanut Butter Dream "shots" was gone. PBD is a great teeny dessert for a buffet. Buy those little plastic shot glasses at the party store. Make enough Peanut Butter Dream for the crowd and then use a little ice cream scoop to serve it in the shot glasses. I even found teeny tiny spoons that were very inexpensive at the same party store, so everyone could spoon their mini-dessert. There were also baby cupcakes, dark chocolate peanut clusters and more to have as sweet treats.

One highlight for me was the introductions time. I didn’t want to do a big Plan Z commercial or anything, but I wanted to introduce the three special people we had brought in for the party. Harry O came in from Mason City, Iowa. Biggie came from North Carolina and Alyssa came from Wisconsin. Harry has lost and kept off 175 pounds. Biggie has lost over 120 pounds and little Alyssa has lost over 255 pounds. The crowd cheered louder and louder as I introduced them.

I expected people to politely clap but I did not expect people to be jumping to their feet from where they were sitting. It was all very exciting.

I directed the audience to be able to go over to a TV where we had prepared a video show that displayed before and after pictures of dieters from all over the US and beyond. Everyone marveled at the transformations these dieters have gone through. There was no sound. It just played on a loop and the band played in the background. People were gathered around all night and smiling as they watched the show. They were genuinely happy for all involved.

The record-setting driving distance came from the Wilkinson’s. They drove all the way from North Carolina to meet me, dance at the party and generally celebrate their achievements. They have both lost considerable weight and are very proud of their accomplishment. And they should be proud. They were so happy, they did this really cute thing where they pinned “before” pictures on their outfits so everyone could see their personal transformations, too. Besides that, these folks were a hoot! I was so happy to meet them.

I think everyone had a good time. The last guests left at 2:30 AM. Another sign of a good party.

Cheers,

by Zola