ArcaMax

Why NOT to Renew Your Gym Membership This Year

1. Exercise really doesn’t help you lose weight; unless you do a LOT of it.

You almost have to be a professional loser. One study showed that women over 40 years old who do moderate exercise 60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, will maintain their weight but they won’t lose weight.

2. Exercise makes you hungry.

An hour of cycling on an exercise bike for a 190 lb person will burn off 689 calories. Get off that bike and hit the nut bowl and you’re doomed. One cup of cocktail peanuts will set you back 828 calories. People have a tendency to munch when they are done exercising. Even one of those little teeny chocolate covered peanut butter power bars will have over 200 calories and after a tough workout most people don’t grab that as their reward treat. And don’t get me started on quenching your post exercise thirst with a beer.

3. You can get just as much benefit from doing short sprints in your driveway.

The PACE Program written by Dr. Sears suggests that short sprints that work your heart are much better for you than running at a moderate speed all over the neighborhood...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

My Best Ever Stuffed Mushrooms

Just in time for football season. These won’t last long on your platter. Might consider a double batch. They are that good. BIG YUM!

Servings: One batch will make 12 to 18 mushrooms

Ingredients:

6 strips of bacon. I use uncured bacon without nitrates.
1 lb of button mushrooms. You can use the large ones for this dish.
1 Tbl of butter
¼ cup of minced shallots or onion
8 oz of cream cheese, room temp and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese
½ tsp of garlic powder
½ tsp of Italian seasoning
grated sea salt and pepper to taste
a whisper of cayenne or to taste (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

While your oven preheats, cook your bacon until it is nice and crisp. Then chop or crumble it into little pieces and set it aside.

Take the mushrooms out of the package. Remove all black material on the mushroom caps or the stems. Don’t wash your mushrooms or you make them mushy but you want to get the black bits off. Use a damp paper towel to remove that stuff. Then twist and remove each stem. Cut off the dry ends of the stems and finely dice the stems. You’re going to use them in your mushroom filling. Don’t dice the mushroom heads; set them aside.

Melt butter in a medium saute pan and add the shallots and mushrooms stems. Cook on medium until they are soft. Stir often. Add the cream cheese and keep temperature on low to melt the cream cheese. Stir often so it doesn’t stick. When it’s hot and melty, add the cheddar cheese, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and cayenne. Then add the bacon and stir. Let the mixture cool a bit so you don’t burn yourself while you stuff your mushrooms.

If you have mini muffin pans they will come in handy. If you don’t, you can use a cookie sheet.

Spray the insides of the muffin containers or the surface of the cookie sheet with olive oil spray.

Fill your mushrooms with mounded portions of the filling. Set them in the muffin tin depressions* or put them on the cookie sheet. You might have some filling leftover; depending on the size of your mushrooms. (I suggest you make an omelet with that on another day).

Sprinkle the tops with parmesan cheese. Press the cheese lightly with your fingers so it sticks.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. The cooking time depends on the size of your mushrooms. With a variety of medium and large shrooms 20 minutes was enough for me.

Carefully remove your mushrooms from the pan to cool. I use a fork on one side and my finger on the other to take them out. Be careful. They will be pretty hot and you don’t want a steam burn!

I served my mushrooms warm but they would be just as good as they cool on a buffet.

*The reason I suggest the mini muffin tins is because mushrooms give off a fair amount of liquid while they cook. This way the liquid stays in the bottom of the depressions.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola