A break to talk about food

I've been trying not to post until I finish up the Paris, Prague, Rome narrative, but I'm tired of torturing myself.

Lately I've been scouring the web for either Weight Watchers or gluten-free recipes. On the WW site I found a recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Paprikash that was excellent -- I made a batch last weekend and served it with brown rice. For tonight I picked out an Artichoke Chicken recipe. Looks delicious. Chicken is defrosting in the refrigerator now.

Years ago I received a Zojirushi Fuzzy Rice Cooker as a present and it's perfect for cooking brown rice. I just love it -- two cups water, 1 cup of rice using the little plastic cup it comes with, and about an hour later you're in business.

This is new: Once a week Jer and I are playing in a Dungeons and Dragons game (real people with dice and rules and everything), and I've been stretching my cooking imagination by volunteering to bring a gluten-free dish. Last week I made Buckeyes, which turned out very rich and very tasty and very not WW-approved. (They are cold balls of peanut butter, butter and powdered sugar, dipped in chocolate. You can't fail unless you're allergic to peanuts or hate fun.)

I increased the PB to 2 cups and reduced the sugar to 4 cups. Please note this especially if you are me from the future attempting to recreate the magic. Hello, future Christy. I also used MaraNatha creamy organic peanut butter with a hint of sea salt.

In making this recipe I learned 1) it is easy to melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave, assuming frequent stirring. 2) Using an ice cream scooper to dip the PB balls in makes it simple not to drop the thing you're dipping into the hot chocolate soup.

Next week I'm thinking of making these pumpkin muffins if I can figure out where to buy all of the ingredients and assuming I don't have to spend $100 to make 12 muffins. I am however excited to learn about the existence of Bourbon Vanilla extract.

I am down a total of 13.8 pounds since I started WW on August 3. Three months, already? Geez. At my 19 pound loss I'll get a decorative keychain. My secret I will share with you is that I am kind of excited about that.