Just an example

So I'm not exactly saying this is a personal recipe, because it's not at all original or made from scratch. But let me show you an example of one of my favorite meals and how I made it a little bit healthier....

First of all, it's homemade pizza. Second of all, I bought the dough...doh! It is one of those premade pizza doughs they sell either in the freezer or deli section of most supermarkets. It is whole wheat, and I did figure it into the final calorie count at the end. Oh yeah, and I had David roll it out for me. I always seem to end up with a giant hole in the middle of my dough!
So let's check where we're at so far...switched up from regular pizza dough to whole wheat. Don't think it makes a whole bunch of difference calorie wise, but always choose whole wheat if given the option!
Next for the toppings...
I used the really finely shredded mozzarella and pepperoni. I used a fairly good amount of cheese, but probably less than a serving size from the nutritional info on the package. Good news. You don't have to eat just plain cheese pizza for the rest of your life. I used turkey pepperoni, and each slice (serving) has approximately 2 pieces. Very minimal on calories and fat :).
Then for the tomato sauce, I always have those small cans of plain tomato sauce in my cabinet. They are perfect for just this occasion. I simply pour it into a bowl and mix in the spices I want. A little garlic, oregano, red pepper, etc. I used about 2, 2.5 tablespoons for the entire pizza.
One more side note, I use a pizza stone, so there is no need to add any oil to the bottom.
I'm sure there are more places where I can still cut down calories, but not bad for a quick meal requiring very little thought and ingredients.
And the total calorie count per slice of homemade pizza: 208. Keep this in mind, Papa John's slice of pepperoni pizza: 330.
Enjoy!

Pizza stone :)

http://www.pizzacrustyeast.com/Detail.aspx?id=8abc6c42-6877-4d25-9254-99ada3ddf285I found a great dough recipe. It is pretty darn easy. And I usually just switch at least a cup of the flour for whole wheat flour.

New Blog...

Oh boy! Where to start?
So this is kind of a long time coming. I've always loved to cook, and I've always been preoccupied with my weight. Until recently, the two have not gone well together. But through many inspirations, I have been able to learn how to combine the two obsessions into something, well, quite wonderful and enjoyable.

So why am I doing this blog? Because David said, "Why don't you write a blog?" Ha ha, just kidding. I mean, he did say that, but there are numerous other reasons. One, my current profile picture shows this wonderful recipe book I found in a thrift store. It has recipes and newspaper clippings dating from the mid-sixties to seventies. Awesome! In looking through it, I kept thinking, wouldn't it be nice if I could replicate these recipes, but with a modern and healthier twist on them? So then I began searching the internet for updates to some of these recipes. Then I began recreating not only the recipes from the book, but also from these wonderful blogs and sites.
The more recipes I tried, the more excited I got. And the more often David asked, "Why don't you write a blog?" So, why not?
So here's the deal, I'm going to try to post one new recipe a week. I'll post them, good or bad, as long as you follow me along this journey. I'll also post links from some of the sites I get my inspiration from.
Some of the things I'm going to try to do:
Find the closest recipe I can to my grandmother's sour cream coffee cake and put a new "Chefster Shelly" spin on it. But that will probably have to wait until the weather cools down, as will most of my baking ventures.
I want to make the healthiest,  best tasting mac and cheese ever.
I want to make a low-carb grilled cheese.
Healthy fried chicken, anyone?
Basically, I'm going to start by revamping some of my favorite foods :)
In the mean time, please let me know if you have any requests or recipe ideas, or just any comments in general. Feedback is always welcomed and appreciated.