How are you doing with the Fat Smash Diet?

I am going strong, and hopefully you are still with me.

We are into the first week of Phase II, so additional foods are being introduced back into our daily menu.

Since I already have a very descriptive post of all these foods, you can just click on Phase II of the Fat Smash Diet to check it out.

Remember:

• Watch your portions
• Keep up with the physical activity
• Drink enough water
• Take your vitamins
• You will continue to drop pounds and inches.

If you need additional motivation, check out these super weight loss quotes.

You are doing great!

Hang in there, and please drop me a note about your success.

I love the traditions associated with Ukrainian Easter, and especially the Blessing of the Easter Basket, which contains all the food items used at Easter Brunch.

The Easter Basket of special foods (described below) is arranged on Holy Saturday, and taken to church, where a special blessing ceremony with prayers and sprinkling with Holy Water, is performed by the parish priest.  Some churches perform their basket blessing on Easter Sunday, after the Morning Liturgy.

Besides the special foods, the Easter Basket is also decorated with greenery and flowers, as well as colored eggs, and beautiful Pysanky.

Each basket is covered with a hand embroidered cloth cover, with Easter motif of pussy willows and Easter Eggs.

This blessed food may not be consumed until after the morning Resurrection Liturgy on Easter Sunday.

The food in the basket is the only food being consumed at the Easter Brunch, which breaks The Great Lent fasting.

After Easter Brunch, the Easter celebration continues for the rest of the day, with family and friends visiting, and enjoying many other foods and desserts.

Today I will describe all the different foods used to fill the basket, and their Christian symbolism.

Paska - Special Easter Bread (sweet yeast bread, rich in eggs, butter, etc), takes the center stage in the basket.

Symbolic of Christ, who is the True Bread to Christians. Paska bread is always round in shape, and decorated with a dough braid around the perimeter, and a ornamental cross in the middle.  The Cross reminds Christians that Christ died on the Cross for their salvation.

Baked Ham – very popular meat for the Slavs as the main dish, because of its richness.  It is symbolic of the great joy, and abundance of Easter.  Some prefer Lamb or Veal.

Kobasa - a spicy, garlicky, smoked pork sausage.  Indicative of God’s favor and generosity.

Red Beet Vinaigrette (with Horseradish), or plain Horseradish, is symbolic of the Passion of Christ still in the minds of Christians, but sweetened with some sugar, because of the Resurrection.  The bitter-sweet red colored mixture is a reminder of the sufferings of Christ.

Salt is also included in the basket, necessary for flavor, and as a reminder to Christians of their duty to others.

Butter - A favorite dairy product, is usually nicely displayed and decorated with a cross made out of cloves, or allspice grains.  Some prefer to mold it into a shape of a Lamb.  Butter is symbolic of  the goodness of Christ, that we should have toward all things.

Cheese - Creamed cheese, or “Hrudka”, a sweetened cheese ball, decorated with same herbs as butter, indicative of the moderation that Christians should have in all things.

Eggs - are another very important food item in the Easter Basket.  All eggs are hard boiled, and kept in their shell. There should be at least one or two hard boiled eggs per person, for the Easter Brunch.  One of the hard boiled eggs is peeled, as it will be cut to as many pieces as there are attendees to the Easter Brunch, and shared with everyone, accompanied by salt and horseradish.

Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Easter!!

If you would like to put together a meal that is easy to prepare, but looks complicated, you will love this recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu.

You can use plain chicken breast, but I prefer a more flavored taste, so I marinate it for an hour, or overnight, in an Italian Salad Dressing.  For simplicity and ease, I also use Campbell’s Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom soup, for the sauce.

4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 slices of smoked ham(Ham of the Bone, or Smoked Virginia Ham, from the Deli)
• 4 slices of Swiss cheese
• 2 tsp of deli mustard
• Italian Salad Dressing
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder
• Flavored breadcrumbs
• Oil for frying
• 1 can of Cream of Chicken soup (or Cream of Mushrooms)
• ½ cup of heavy cream, or whole milk
• ¼ cup of white wine (optional)
• Italian seasoning
• 4 toothpicks, or string

Directions:

1. Trim off all fat from the chicken breast.
2. Spread the breasts on a cutting board, cover with clear plastic saran wrap, and pound with a meat mallet to a ¼ inch thickness. (I like to place the chicken with the clear membrane side down, to keep it intact during this process).
3. Place the chicken in a large enough container, and pour the Italian Dressing, or marinate, over it.
4. Move the chicken around, to coat all pieces evenly.
5. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for an hour, or overnight.
6. Lay each piece of marinated chicken on a work surface.
7. Place one piece of ham and one piece of cheese on top of each breast (you might fold the ham and cheese in half for a better fit).
8. Spread ¼ tsp of deli mustard over the ham/cheese slices.
9. Roll up from the widest end towards the opposite end.
10. Fasten with tooth pick, or a string.
11. Dredge the chicken in flour seasoned with garlic powder.
12. Beat one whole egg with a tablespoon of water, salt and pepper.
13. Dip the floured chicken in the egg, then coat with flavored breadcrumbs, set aside.
14. Heat the oil in a frying pan, place the chicken roll ups in the hot oil and fry to a golden color, turning gently.
15. In a casserole dish, pour 1/4 cup of water on the bottom, and arrange a single layer of the browned chicken rolls.
16. Remove the toothpicks, or cut off and remove string.
17. Mix the Cream of Chicken soup with the sweet cream (if you are using wine, add the wine, and mix well).
18. Pour the sauce over the chicken.
19. Sprinkle with pepper and Italian seasoning.
20. Cover the casserole dish tightly with aluminum foil.
21. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F, for 45 minutes.
22. Remove from the oven, let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Tip: I like to serve this chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, and cooked green vegetables.

If you love mushrooms, you can saute some mushrooms with onion and garlic, and place them on top of the chicken rolls before baking, or even just before serving.