French Women Don't Get Fat

One of the things I love about Kindle is that I can sample anything. After a chapter or two, I sometimes wind up liking books I wouldn't have thought I'd like, or not liking something that I was sure I would. It's opened me up to books I would normally not order, such as this: French Women Don't Get Fat. 

This is not a diet book, per say, more of a commentary about the differences in eating and lifestyle between the typical French and American families. It's a story beginning with the author coming to American and quickly gaining weight, then struggling to lose that weight again when she went home. She presents how she manages to navigate maintaining an ideal weight with eating a luxurious diet. It's a lot of common sense, but may have some things that never occurred to you.

We managed to incorporate some of her rules into our eating style, mainly the idea of having a menu of small courses in dinner every night, instead of a huge main dish. It's enabled us to have much more variety, no leftovers - which also means no second helpings, and not ever get that uncomfortably stuffed feeling, while still being completely satisfied. We've also been eating all fresh foods, going to the market and planning meals, and even cooking together. We've also been eating with the nice cloth napkin every night and having a glass of wine with dinner.

I was absolutely sure that I would be gaining weight from eating like this, but after a week I've actually lost about two pounds. Crazy. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to enjoy food more.

And now onto some of the recent meals, at lease the ones I stopped to take a picture of. 

Avocado and butter leaf salad (the bacon bits obviously weren't on my, but I did mention that I started eating things with no brains, right?), sauteed brown mushrooms with yellow squash and sweet potato, and fried pears with blue cheese:

Avocado and baby greens, grilled cheddar and tomatoes with basil, and more pears for dessert. Hubby actually participates in the cooking a lot, which is so fun. These grilled cheeses were all him, and the best I've ever eaten by far:

Avacado and tomato salad, steamed clams with white wine sauce, and strawberries with sherbert:

Spring mix with tomatoes, gorgonzola, and a dressing mix of pomegranate balsamic and lemon olive oil (fresh from the Farmer's Market! We finally went!), seared sea scallops with a side of Italian farro with cranberries and pistacios, and more strawberries for dessert.