ArcaMax

Going International

Things are heating up here at Zola Diet HQ.

Yesterday I was interviewed on a radio show out of Door County, Wisconsin. There are a cluster of radio stations up there that are running commercials for The Zola Diet. On Saturday mornings they have a very successful morning show and they decided to call me and do a short interview. It was quite a fun experience. The guys on the show were sort of arguing about whether it’s a good idea to bring donuts to a meeting. You can guess the kind of sparks that were flying. I told them I’d never listened to a food fight on the radio before.

There’s another group of radio stations in Mankato, Minnesota running commercials. The general manager asked if he could do the diet and his first week has been very successful for him. Yet another radio manager who asked to be put on the diet lost 13 pounds in 11 days. Needless to say he’s happy.

Next week we begin a promotion with a wonderful station out of Berlin, Germany. Jazz Radio. A good friend of mine runs it. If you’d like to give it a little listen you can pull it up on your computer. Julian gave me this link to pass along to you. In German you can listen to: www.jazzradio.net. Or in English www.jazzradioworld.com. Enjoy!

We have our first dieter in Israel. We’re “international” now.

Whew. All so fast.

I am completely amazed at how many people want to start a diet in December. I really thought everyone would want to wait until after January 1. I thought we’d just be gearing up now and not sending out so many materials to get folks started. I can only interpret that as there are way too many people who have decided they need to do something to improve their health and it’s going to start with dieting.

Good for them.

Last night I had one of those kitchen accidents that bring you to tears.

There’s been a casserole dish in my family since before I was born. It’s a rectangular one with a glass top that my mother regularly used to make scalloped potatoes. When my mother died, all of us kids got together and split up the rest of the household items. I got that casserole and have used it just about every day since it came home with me.

It’s just the right size for making so many things for two. It fit two pieces of chicken last night. The night before that it fit the pork chop recipe I am giving you today. It came in and out of my cabinet so many times a week. It was my favorite.

Last night I broke it. Shattered the darn thing. I was so stupid. I had been roasting some poblano pepper strips in it. I had been roasting them at 400 degrees convection. I never should have subjected a casserole that’s probably 60 years old to that kind of treatment. Then I piled dumb move on dumb move and put it in the sink. Some water got splashed in it before it cooled off and snap. Then snap again and it was in about 20 pieces.

My mother’s birthday would have been the day before yesterday. Lousy timing. I burst into tears. I miss her. She was my inspiration to begin cooking. At six years old I asked her to teach me. As one of seven kids my mother didn’t have time to teach me, so instead she taught me how to be more independent. She said “If you can read you can cook”. I climbed up onto the cupboard when she wasn’t looking, opened the door, and pulled down a bag of chocolate chips. I could read the instructions and the rest is history. Sadly my casserole pan is history too. Sniff.

This simple pork chop recipe takes you to another world, half way around the globe (depending on where you live) ? Sometimes you just want something different.

Curried Pork Chops
Serves 2

2, 1-inch thick pork boneless pork chops
4 oz of chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup of thinly sliced onion
1/2 cup of organic chicken broth
Celery salt, turmeric and cumin to taste
1 Tbl of olive oil

Directions:

Put the olive oil in a pan and sauté the pork chops on one side just to brown them. In an oven-proof baking pan add the mushrooms, onions and chicken broth. Lightly sprinkle the celery salt, turmeric and cumin over the onion-mushroom mixture. This won’t take a lot. It’s done to your taste, but if this is your first time, just sprinkle it over like you’d salt your popcorn. Place the pork chops browned-side up on top of the vegetable mixture. Then roast the chops at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until they are 160 degrees on your meat thermometer.

Really simple meal. Serve with a salad to fill out the plate.

Acorn Squash with Pecans
When I’m designing diet recipes I try to come up with ways to give you the experience of non-diet food so you don’t feel like you are missing your favorites. On the ZReboot portion of The Zola Diet you can enjoy this squash and hopefully you won’t even miss the brown sugar in the traditional version.
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash cut in half stem tip to toe. Be careful and use a sharp knife. I just tap the knife into the squash on the top across the middle so it sticks into the squash and then actually lift the squash and knife up together and bring them down with some force onto the cutting board. The knife cuts through the squash, usually at least half way and then I just do that again and I’m through. This way I keep my hands out of the way so I don’t risk cutting myself. Then I use a soup spoon to cut out the seeds and membranes so the squash is nice and cleaned out.
2 Tbl of butter, divided
1/2 packet of stevia sweetener
2 Tbl of chopped pecans or walnuts, divided

Directions:

Place the cut and cleaned squash halves on a cookie sheet. Place the butter inside each squash piece and sprinkle lightly with the stevia. Then add a tablespoon of nuts to each squash half. Roast in your oven at 375 for 1 hour or more. Cooking time depends on how large your squash is. You can test for doneness with a sharp knife. You want the squash to be fully soft for best eating. The squash is naturally very sweet so this dish tastes like a dieter’s treat.

Cheers
Enjoy,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.