A Plan

I don't faithfully set New Year's Resolutions, but I have this year.

1. Continue with Weight Watchers.

I have gotten off track, unsurprisingly, during the holidays and am now back on the wagon. I need to start exercising again, too, as I haven't done anything at all since the 5K. I keep reminding myself that this isn't really new; it's just continuing something I did last year after a short holiday break. No problem.

I am going to take a minute and plug Weight Watchers. I have only been on it since July, so I can't say that this is the plan that will enable me to both meet my weight loss goal and keep it off permanently, but I think there's a pretty good chance that it is. There's nothing magical about it, and it's not easy. I can't eat as much as I'd like, period. However, there's a Plan and Rules, and I love both those things very, very much. If I follow the Plan and the Rules, then I lose weight. So far, and this could change, there seems to be a very clear cause and effect in play. I know that people have a more difficult time as they get nearer to their healthy weight, but I am optimistic. It helps me, honestly, that it's NOT easy. It's hard work, and my hope is that if I'm willing to do the hard work, then I will succeed. Perhaps it's unduly optimistic, but there are worse things to be. At any rate, I've lost over 30 pounds and have less than 15 to go, so something is working.


2. Cook 25 new recipes.

This doesn't sound like a lot, but I really don't cook much and I become overwhelmed easily. This sounds like a doable goal, and if I meet it and want to do more, then so be it. I was given three awesome vegetarian cookbooks for Christmas--Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, Weight Watchers Versatile Vegetarian, and Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

I started reading the Bittman book, and after a short period of being completely overwhelmed and going through my cabinets with a yardstick trying to figure out what pots I owned, I skipped ahead to the soup section. I may start in that book with their vegetable stock recipe. It makes 3 qt., so I can use it for a bunch of other stuff, and making good vegetable stock seems like a useful skill to have. There are three different vegetable stock recipes in there (not including mushroom stock, etc.), and I've decided to do the one that takes the most amount of time. It uses roasted vegetables, and I do love a roasted vegetable.

That may not be my first recipe, but it will definitely be in the first few. Right now I'm trying to find an interesting way to use a ton of apples. We bought a bunch of fruit from a cousin for a fundraiser, and we need to be purposeful about using them. I already make good baked apples, so I'm in the market for something that uses a lot of apples, has low WW points, and is tasty.

I'll let you know. I am sure you await with bated breath.

Here's to 2010. It's going to be a good year.