Day 221 - Thanksgiving Inspiration

So... I have been rebounding from the rich and indulgent food I ate over the last 3 weeks while trying to tame my creative juices (Thanksgiving menu planning). I am haunted by one particular dish that I enjoyed in a rather animated fashion while at Oregon Culinary Institute--prosciutto wrapped fig.

(yes, i know this looks like a delightful little bacon roll-up, but i swear there is a black mission fig inside...)

Prosciutto = amazing ham/bacon/pork/dry aged/smoked yumminess

fig = fresh fruit that usually becomes a "Newton"

Prosciutto + Fig = amazing sweet and salty love child. Nestled delicately upon a scant bed of arugula drizzled with balsamic vinegar, I could have eaten plate after plate. I'm thinking of recreating it for bite sized side dishes next Thursday. I think I'll broil them, but maybe I'll throw one or two into the sautee pan. Yum.

And at if you use super thin prosciutto (which is the only way to use it really) you can have 2-3 of these beauties for only 1 PP (Weight Watcher's). Now try to argue... See, you can't. : )

I think this will be the first of my week long set of posts musing about delicious, flavor packed Thanksgiving dishes that are figure friendly. Sounds good to me!

Day 159 - Weigh In and Figs

Another loss! -1.2 pounds this week. Not as much as I was hoping for, but a loss is a loss. Clearly I need to begin to readjust my routines, I need to get physical activity back into my daily habits: my rate of  loss has slowed over the last couple weeks (due to a bunch of mitigating factors). I'm thinking of beginning to use the gym at school. They have ellipticals and I LOVE ellipticals!


On a different note...

 Meet the Black Mission Fig!

Black Mission figs; whole and cut

A gal on the boards over at Weight Watcher's mentioned that she has never had fresh figs and asked about them. Well here they are! I love fresh figs. My grandfather had fig trees in his back yard growing up and I remember my father bringing a handful home for me each Friday when they were in season. I greedily ate them all myself.

Black Mission Fig

These scrumptious bite sized deep purple gems of the late summer/early fall are sweet with an edible skin. Pick them by color--look for ones with no light yellow or light green near the stem at the top. The darker, the sweeter and juicier. The insides a a warm pink with little pods that are soft in texture.

Did you know:

• Figs are believed to have been cultivated by humans up to 1,000 years before wheat and barley
• Turkey and Egypt grow the most figs in the world
• They have one of the highest plant sources of calcium and fiber for our dietary needs, especially when dried
• Fig Newtons are not to be considered a viable source of the fruit's best nutritional qualities when dried ; )  Sorry.

Tomorrow: A mouth-watering and healthy use for that 'too small to serve' bit of Riesling at the end of the bottle. Beware- your mouth will crave nothing else after this!