High Tea

9:40 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



I had the pleasure of going to High Tea last weekend with my Mother. High tea is a big treat for me. I have many fond memories of when my mom and I both worked in San Francisco and we would save up all our breaks and take a long lunch. We would walk to one of the most exclusive hotels and be waited on hand and foot for an hour. I do not know if I enjoy it just a little bit extra having had high tea in beautiful cottage towns in England but it is a wonderful experience for anyone.
It was a wet, cold, rainy day in San Francisco. The bf was kind enough to chafferer us into the City and right to the doorstep of the hotel. I love the City, even when it is raining, specially if I am not the one driving in it.

San Francisco in the rain.

There are several places to have tea in San Francisco. There are some that are just like an English tea room and there are some that are a lot fancier. We were going to the latter. If you want to have a more sophisticated tea your best bets are The Garden Court at the Palace Hotel, The Lobby Lounge at the Ritz and the Laurel Court at the Fairmont.

Garden Court at the Palace Hotel

Tea at the Ritz

The Laurel Court at the Fairmont

High tea usually includes tea (of course) and three layers of things to eat. I call it layers because it is often served on a three tiered serving dish. First you eat the savory sandwiches. This particular time we had five different sandwiches. There was a smoked salmon on pumpernickel pinwheel, a crab salad in a hollowed out corn muffin, a traditional cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, a curry chicken salad and a fillet mignon sandwich.

Our sandwiches.

The next layer is usually scones. In our case, we had one huge scone each. They had yummy, chewy dried cranberries in them and came with clotted cream, lemon curd and pears in vanilla syrup. We asked for extra clotted cream because it is so tasty!

Our tea's second and third layers

The third layer is where you will find the sweets. We were given five different confections. I was so full after eating the other two layers that I was unable to sample the third but the bf said they were the best sweets he has ever had.

0 comments:

Food, Glorious Food!

7:22 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 1 Comments

Hawaii is in 29 days and I am nowhere near where I wanted to be weight-wise. But for some reason this really doesn't concern me this year! Yes, I would rather be instantly 10 pounds less but I am not sure if I would trade it for the wonderful food I have been eating! I thought that rather than condemn myself for my eating without abandon I would celebrate it by sharing some of my meals in this blog.

Let's go back to mid-September. I was in the middle of the end of Harvest so still eating my wonderful free pizzas and chili rellenos. The bf and I are huge sushi lovers and we go out for sushi often. Our favorite place to go is SushiHolic in Novato where they have the option of whole grain rice instead of plain white rice. Great place. When we go to sushi we like to get some sake with it. We were reading a bottle's label when we discovered there was a sake brewery right here in the Bay Area. We decided to take a tour. It was fantastic! The Takara Sake company is just off the freeway in Oakland.
The front door

They have a lovely tasting room, a 20 minute video that is quite interesting and informative as well as a free museum. The tasting is $5 and for that you get to try SEVEN different sakes and flavored wines. Since the bf was driving I got a little more than that.
Some of what you can taste

It was so fun and I highly recommend a visit there. We were inspired after to grab some sushi at SushiHolic after. Did I mind gaining a little weight after that? Not at all, besides, sushi is good for you, right?

A few days later my parents threw me a birthday party with an Oktoberfest theme. We had giant pretzels, spaetzel, and three kinds of sausages among other German fare.
Giant pretzel

Sausages and sauerkraut.

And of course, beer, lots and lots of different beers as well as Gewürztraminer and Riesling. My birthday cake was a fabulous homemade Black Forest Cake made using the recipe used by the original creator of the cake whose grandson my parents encountered in Germany and retrieved the recipe from. Did I do a long work out after this wunderbar evening? Nein, unless you consider the Chicken Dance a workout. It can get pretty intense!

Just a couple days following the Oktoberfest party my company treated me to a Masters of Wine Champagne tasting in San Francisco. This is a rare event where you are allowed to taste the top of the line champagnes out there.
One of hundreds of champagnes

I walked around the room with my glass and poured myself sips of the most expensive wines on the market for three hours. Afterwards we were all treated to unlimited oysters, grilled cheeses, wine and chowder at Hog Island Oyster Co. How can anyone pass that up? It was a beautifully balmy San Francisco evening and we ate outside within the view of the Bay Bridge. Do I regret gaining a pound that night. No way, Jose, this stuff was too good!!

Next came my actual birthday and it was a great one. First, because I work with several different departments I got a cake from each one. I ended up having FIVE cakes that day.
One of my five cakes

When I was young there was this Moroccan restaurant near where I lived and I thought it was the greatest place in the world. It looked like you were in a tent when you entered with fabric on the walls. They seated you on cushions on the floor and washed your hands with warm, scented water. You ate with no utensils and shared your food. That place realized how great it was and moved to the city and since gained a Michelin Star.
Mansour Resturant

I recently found a restaurant that was similar to the one from my youth. I made reservations and me and ten of my friends celebrated my birthday there. It was the best! There was a belly dancer who taught my bf to dance, there was a guy who poured mint tea from above his own head and the food was insane good.

Chicken stuffed pastry. Nom.

Lamb with honey and almonds.

I think I gained a good two pounds that day but that must be the cost to relive a childhood memory.

Then it was my dog's birthday and he got a cake too. Carrot cake.
Doggy birthday cake

Next came my family's annual fancy dinner excursion. Every October my father goes on a fishing trip and my brother, mother and I go out to a nice dinner at a restaurant. This year was Acquerello in San Francisco. Sure the bill just for my dinner alone was $200, it was worth every penny. With the amuse bouches we had about 8 courses. I had beef cannelloni, truffled steak tartate, Italian cheeses, Kobe steak, oxtail stuffed squash and two desserts. I also enjoyed three different delectable wines. The dinner and service were well worth the money and the extra ounces I might have gained.
One of the desserts

The very next morning my friends had stayed the night so we went out and got Denny's breakfasts. This one, I am not so sure I don't regret but it was fun at the time! Grits are delicious when they are smothered in cheese.

Denny's

So as you can see...I simply do not have the time to diet!

1 comments:

Spice up your Metabolism

9:08 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



Harvest has ended. I did not do the things I said I would do as far as trying to lose weight during that crazy time. I am not saddened by it though because I managed to maintain the same weight when I usually gain a few pounds. I hope to be back on track starting now and heading forward. I would like to start losing weight again. Hawaii is in 39 days so it's time to suck it up and get serious.

I have not had much time to do research or make a plan but I learned some more tips on how to increase your metabolism by adding some spices to your diet. Below is a list of yummy spices you can use in your recipes to add flavor and to boost your metabolism.


Cayenne Pepper:
I have mentioned this spice before. It has actually been proven to help boost your metabolism by heating up your body and increasing your circulation. Cayenne has a chemical in it called capsaicin which is known to be a thermogenic chemical. It speeds up your metabolism and decreases your appetite for up to three hours after ingesting it. Cayenne is known to also help maintain a healthy blood pressure, increase your blood flow, promote a healthy digestive tract and can even increase your sex drive. Hey-O! Why would you NOT increase your cayenne pepper intake?

Have about a teaspoon a day. You can get capsules if you do not like the spice. You can also mix one teaspoon with one glass of water and drink it once a day. I like to just add it to one of my meals because I love spicy foods anyways.


Cinnamon:
This is a versatile spice because you can add it to your sweet or savory foods. Cinnamon is known to reduce your blood sugar and promote the processing of carbohydrates thereby boosting the body's weight loss ability. It is also thought to be good for arthritis, heart health, type 2 diabetes and blood pressure.

Have a half to a whole teaspoon a day. You can mix it into your oatmeal or some unsweetened applesauce. You can even sprinkle it on ground turkey for an exotic flavor.

Ginger:
Ginger contains a substance that stimulates the gastric enzymes which can boost your metabolism. Ginger is also known to help lower cholesterol and improve gastric mobility. It is very good for digestion which can soothe your stomach when you are trying to diet. It keeps uncomfortable gas out of your body and reduces the acid in your stomach.

I like to use fresh ginger in my dinners or you can use it in powdered form. There are also supplement pills and ginger teas you can take to get more ginger into your diet.
Mustard Seed:
Mustard, like cayenne, is a thermogenic spice that can increase your circulation and boost your metabolism. Mustard is packed with nutrients like iron, manganese, zinc, protein and calcium.

You can get more mustard seeds in your diet by eating more mustard. You can also sprinkle the seeds on salads. Mustard powder can be used in many recipes as well.
Green Tea and White Tea
These teas have caffeine in them which is known to boost metabolism and calorie burning. Then why not drink coffee instead? Coffee has the caffeine but it lacks the antioxidants that tea has. It is the antioxidents WITH the caffeine that really gives your metabolism a kick in the pants. Most people know about how good green tea is for you but I am also mentioning white tea. White tea has as much as three times the amount of antioxidants in it than green tea but it has less caffeine. This makes white tea a fantastic alternative for people like me who are sensitive to caffeine.

These spices and herbs are all great for giving your metabolism a good boost but, of course, they will not do it alone. You must combine these supplements with a healthy diet and some exercise for them to work. Otherwise you are just left with your mouth on fire and funny smelling breath.

0 comments:

P90X and Me

8:40 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 3 Comments


We have pulled in nearly 90% of our expected grape tonnage at this point. I am exhausted. I have not had time to blog, obviously. Not that there are people hanging on my every blog but I like to keep consistent. All my plans for being healthy for harvest flew right out the window. I have actually gained 5 pounds.

The bf has started P90X. It has been just over a week. I have been doing the diet and exercise with him and have gained three of the five pounds in the last week that I have been working out. If you know me then you know that I am not a good worker outer. I believe that losing weight can be done by changing your diet. I do try to get little bits of exercise into my daily routine but I rarely spend an hour doing cardio.

P90X!!!!!!

The P90X diet is extreme, as the name eludes. It is based on a very high protein regimen and bolstered with some fruits and veggies. I have done the push ups, the pull ups, the curls, the squats, the lunges, the yoga and the cardio and all I have felt from it is sore muscles. Some say sore muscles is a "good" kind of pain. I say, what the??? There is no GOOD pain!! But I am going to keep with the workouts because it has to be good for me somehow. What blows about working out to a video is that there is no instructor there to tell you that you are doing it wrong. I must have been doing something wrong because last weekend my back went out.

There I was in the bra department of Macy's bending down to examine the bottom rack and 'whoops' my back gave out. My wonderful mother had to carry me, my bags and my purse to the car where she rushed me to her house. My dad gave me some muscle relaxers and I tried to wait it out. Of course, I had a late night concert to go to which became a comedy as I tried to rock out while leaning on the stage and flopping my relaxed muscled arms around. It was a fantastic show by the way.
Kele of Bloc Party


This week I need to really be careful not to further injure my back while doing the exercises so now I have to tone it down. But hey, working out is working out, right? As far as me gaining three pounds in a week, I chalk that up to the crazy protein diet. I am not working out like Mr. P90X man on the tv screen so I don't think that protein is going to my extreme muscles. More likely, it is turning to carbs and sugar as I try to fit all that food into my body then fall asleep because I am so tired from working 14 hours a day, 6 days a week.
PROTEIN!!!!

So now I am going to go back to my own diet. I am not on P90X to make muscles anyways. I know that the more muscle you have, the higher you metabolism is but if you calculate the ratio of time spent working out to just eating less I think you will find it evens out.
Simple, healthy diet

My diet is the usual: Whole grains, lean protein, tons of fruits and vegetables. My protein will be the real stuff too. What the heck is that powdered stuff anyways? Looks unnatural to me. I will be eating every three or four hours which adds up to about 5 times a day. I can not avoid the burritos I get for free from work on the weekends. So be it. I will still work out but I am going to have to tone it way down to save my back and my sanity.

Let's hope I can undo what the P90X has done to me in the last week.

3 comments:

First Week of Harvest 2010

7:52 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



As the title says, today marks the first completed week of Harvest for me. This year has been pretty crazy. This year in California has been what they call a La Nina year. A summer in a La Nina year is really mild or even cold. This kind of year always follows a year that is called El Nino. An El Nino year has extremely wet and rainy winter. The combination of these two years caused this harvest to act a little funny. Not to get all scientific on you, what has happened is the grapes developed late and now, all of the sudden, they are all ready to be picked at the same time.

The most grapes we have pulled in in a day is 225 tons. This week we have pulled in over 200 tons EVERY DAY! What does that mean? It means long, hard hours at work. It means I am not blogging as much and I am certainly not eating healthy. I am trying. It is on my mind - sometimes. But I don't know when I am going to have time to eat. I don't have time to cook. I don't have time to sleep. I don't even have time to drink my 2 liters of water, let alone go pee as often as I would have to if I did. (I also don't have time to write this blog, but shhhh).

I may not have mentioned this, but I was very recently promoted to Manager. This has had an impact on the amount I am working as well. I have much more responsibility which keeps me at work much longer than I normally would. It also means more meetings. All this is fantastic. I am thrilled. But there is absolutely no room for a weight loss plan. That is, none that I have fabricated before.

My company is the best company to work for. They know we are all working hard and they know we need fuel so they provide us with food. That food is in the form of all you can eat pizzas on one day, all you can eat Mexican food on another day and super burritos on yet another. They also provide us with cheese, chocolate and tons of cakes. I think half the company must have birthdays in August and September or something. To make matters worse (if you even consider all this a bad thing) is that on my one day off a week, we are still hosting pizza and bad movie parties at our house. There are days when I am eating pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
This must stop! What do I do??? I need to pause and regroup. That is the purpose of today's blog: to take a minute to try to organize a plan. It is 21 days to the beginning of Fall, 36 days to my birthday, 59 days to Halloween and 78 days until I go to Hawaii. I need rules and I need to stick to them. The rules must be reasonable or I will not follow them so here is my attempt.

Rule 1: Drink as close to two liters of water a day as possible
This is free and the easiest thing I can do if I am committed. I am going to keep a 500 mL cup on my desk and drink four of them in a day.

Rule 2: Eat a large breakfast
Even though I don't have time to cook in the morning I bought a giant box of instant oatmeal packets that come in five different flavors to keep me from getting bored. The highest calorie packet is the chocolate chip one that is 170 calories but it also has 3g of protein and 5g of fiber. I also will try to eat left over dinners for breakfast.

Rule 3: Eat as much fruits and veggies as possible.
I already use the Vita Mix to make smoothies at night to enjoy at breakfast. I use great fruits like Acai berries, Goji berries, Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries and whatever else I have laying around the house. I buy large, frozen, unsweetened bags of these fruits so they never go bad and are always on hand to make a cold smoothie. I buy unsweetened cherries in a can to save me the time of taking the pits out. (you can buy Acai juice and Goji berries in the freezer section of Whole Foods). Additionally, I find it very easy to grab random fruits and veggies I have from my delivery box to bring for lunch. I keep some olive oil at work to add flavor.

Rule 4: Eat less pizza.
I am going to eat the pizza. It is free and it is delicious. What I need to do is decrease the amount I eat. How to do this? I am not sure yet. Perhaps by making sure I am not hungry before I get my pizza. Or by only grabbing two slices, not eating the crust and deffo not loading ranch onto it. I think a combination of the above will help.

Rule 5: Eat a light dinner.
This will the the most difficult of all. Normally I would also say to eat early but I do not have that option because I get home at 8pm, a half hour before I need to go to bed, anyways. So the next best solution would be to eat light. This will be hard for me because the bf wants a big meal and he is the chef at the moment. To help with this I will treat it similar to the pizza problem. I will make sure I am not starving before I get home, perhaps by eating an apple during my drive home or just before I leave work.

Rule 6: Get sleep.
I will try my best to get 7.5 hours of sleep a night. Even if it means I am just laying in bed, not ready to be there.

Most of this stuff I can do at work because most of my time will be spent at work. What I will do is make reminder notes and put them where I can see them. On my desk I will have a note that tracks my water intake and my meals. I will also have a reminder to eat less pizza. Let's hope this works because I have not budged on my weight for the past two weeks.

0 comments:

Good Start

11:33 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments


I thought I would drop a wee note here because I wanted to share my good start. I feel that if I share it, it inspires me to continue. Perhaps, it inspires someone else too but who am I kidding, I am pretty selfish. I will blog if it makes me thin whether or not people are reading this...even though it would be nice if people read it.

Here is why I am dropping a wee blog today. I have been sticking to my plan. For the past few days I have been eating a relatively large breakfast with carbs and protein. There is a reason that eggs are known to be a breakfast food. They are great! For lunch I have been eating farm fresh lettuce salad with cherry tomatoes. How easy is that to make in the morning to bring to work? Once at work I add a little olive oil and vinegar and season with a little salt and pepper. As a morning and afternoon snack I have peaches and plums even though I have learned I do not like plums.
Evil Plum

Rant:
How did plums become a fruit anyways? I love prunes but I do not understand how they come from plums because plums are watery, flavorless balls wrapped in a sour skin. Am I eating them wrong? I don't know.

Last night I made a meal that used up my celery. I dislike celery as well. I decided to make a soup. I plopped some potatoes, an onion, the whole giant thing of celery and some garlic in a pot. Then I added some broth and a little soy milk. I added a bit of salt and pepper. Then I went into the refrigerator and found a few things I wanted to get rid of and tossed them in too. What the hell, right? I added two peaches, one plum and an anchovy. I cooked it all up, put it in the vita-mix and blended it away. It was pretty good.

This week I have gotten myself back into a situation where I need to lose a pound a week for the next 13 weeks. We'll see how much junk food I can avoid this weekend.

0 comments:

Rotisserie Flavor from Healthy Skinless Chicken Breasts

9:26 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 14 Comments



The chilly, foggy weather we have been having this summer made me crave something hearty for dinner. I went to my freezer and routed around for some ideas. I came across the bag of frozen chicken breasts. I began to crave rotisserie chicken. It has to be one of my favorite aromas. When I go to the store and they have those whole chickens for sale I stick my nose up to the little slots that let air out and I inhale deeply. I made the decision to attempt to get that rotisserie aroma and flavor out of my skinless, boneless, frozen chicken breasts with out adding a ton of grease or butter. It is a strange combination of things and I didn't measure anything but the result was so fantastic that I am going to attempt to share what I did here with you.
Make this....
...taste like this!

Healthy Rotisserie Flavored Chicken Breasts

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (defrosted if frozen)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 tbsp dried Sage
1 tbsp marjoram
1 tbsp thyme
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp honey
sprinkling of seasoned salt and pepper

1. Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts and place into a casserole dish so that each breast lays flat

2. Coat each chicken breast with the olive oil and herbs, rotating the breasts to cover both sides.

3. Squeeze juice over and top with the honey. Season with a light dusting of salt and pepper.

4. Bake, uncovered, in the oven at 320F for 10 minutes then use a bulb turkey baster to cover the breasts several times with the juices in the pan.

5. Repeat this every 10 minutes for a total cooking time of 40 to 45 minutes or until the center is not translucent.

6. Remove from the oven and baste one more time. Cover the breasts with tin foil and let sit for 10 more minutes to allow the juices to settle.

The aroma and uber-juiciness of the chicken will blow your mind. I think I huffed the tinfoil after lifting it off the casserole dish. Serve with a side of your favorite veggies and enjoy!

All photos from wikimedia

14 comments:

Let's Try That Again...

8:34 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

I have changed my weight goals. I always have aimed for a particular goal weight my whole life. Today I have decided to LOWER that number. I may sound crazy but here is my reasoning. I have never reached my goal. Well, not since I was 20. I am always two pounds away. I have lowered my goal weight by three pounds in hopes that I trick myself into at least reaching my original goal. It may sound silly or petty but I figure, if you want to hit hard, you have to aim beyond your target. That is a little lesson I learned from a self defense class years ago.
As you may recall from a couple weeks ago I am already counting down to my next trip to Hawaii. I am taking it pretty easy on the diet front, trying to just stay healthy more than lose weight but I have failed miserably. What is it about this time of year that makes me crave junk food?? In the past two weeks I had planned to lose two pounds. Instead I lost a half a pound. This is amazing considering the fact that in those two weeks I had a pizza and cake party two nights, ate at A&W two nights, had Taco Bell and Chinese take-out and went to a 5 course fancy dinner on a train.
I ate a lot at Taco Bell

I ate a lot at A&W

And what is the point of going to A&W without getting a Root Beer Float?

I am astonished I managed to lose any weight at all but what I am really unhappy about is how I feel. Junk food makes you feel crappy. Period. I am not sleeping well AT ALL. I am grumpy, lethargic, irritable and I still feel hungry only hours after gorging out.

So I am trying again. Luckily, I have a long time before my trip to start over. I still have no plan other than to eat healthy, drink water, TRY to get a lot of sleep, do some mild exercise and control my portions. I got my veggie box yesterday and I took only fruits and veggies for lunch today. For breakfast I had a protein and carb packed meal of eggs and rice with truffle oil and a baked hash-brown patty. For dinner I am having a peach, toasted almond, feta and chicken salad.

My new goal is to lose around a pound and a half a week. Let's see how that goes.

0 comments:

Recipe: Asian Style Lettuce Wraps

8:05 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments


In my veggie and fruit box this week I got some lettuce, among other things. There are lots of easy ways to use up lettuce, specially in mid-August. But because this year's mid-August has been so cold and gloomy I wanted to make something that was a little more "stick to your bones" than the regular summer salad. The box from Farm Fresh To You always comes with recipes and one of them was for the Swiss chard I was given that involves stuffing the chard with meat and cooking similar to how you would make stuffed cabbage. The idea of stuffing the lettuce came to mind. My mind then wandered to the idea of making lettuce wraps.

I had the ingredients laying around my house so I figured it would be a good semi-summer meal. I looked up about a million recipes but in the end I ended up winging it to give it the flavors I like the best. The recipe is below.

Asian Style Lettuce Wraps

1 cup dry brown rice cooked in 2 cups water or broth
3 or 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger, ground or minced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 pound ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 fresh hot pepper, or two dried hot peppers, or 2 tsp chili paste
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp fresh basil, shredded
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 head or bunch of lettuce

1. Heat the sesame oil on medium-high heat and add the garlic, ginger and coriander for one minute.
2. Add the turkey and onions and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the hot pepper, honey and soy sauce and stir in until the turkey is cooked.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the basil and sesame seeds.
5. Remove individual leaves from lettuce head, wash, dry and lay them out
6. Fill each lettuce wrap with the turkey filling and wrap
Taken with my phone at work, sorry for the poor quality.

I like to serve with a little siracha sauce but it is pretty spicy on it's own. Makes 4 servings.

Per Serving: Calories: 292, Fat: 11g, Fiber: 3g, Protein: 27g


0 comments:

Too busy to be healthy?

8:26 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments


I have been thoroughly enjoying summer this year despite it being the coldest year on record for the past 60 plus years. My life is like my job, split up into different phases throughout the year. I have different focuses for different purposes. I am in a transition right now. I am heading out of summer and into Harvest. Because of my job, I have to cut my summers short. I begin a crazy work schedule that is dictated by the ripening grapes and fermenting juices that are constantly coming into the winery. Harvest is a two to three month period of total chaos and the most important part of the year for a winery. If we mess up here, we ruin the entire year's worth of wine. It is long hours. I work at least six days a week, I am up at 4am and I get home around 8pm. It is so busy I have little time for thinking about anything else like eating, sleeping, drinking, friends, family...you get the idea. It is a bit like the military I guess...eat when you can, sleep when you can because you don't know when the next chance you will get will be.

Immediately following harvest is my favorite time of the year, Autumn. It begins with my birthday in October, then about 5 of my friends and family have their birthdays, then Halloween, Thanksgiving and my annual November trip to Hawaii.
One of my favorite views.

Vacations: my raison d'être.
As I have mentioned before, I enjoy having something to look forward to, to plan. This year I am going to try to keep a healthy lifestyle through Harvest using Hawaii as my light at the end of the tunnel. It is going to be difficult. Very difficult. I will have absolutely no time to cook a proper meal. I will be provided with lunch at work but that lunch will be a greasy burrito or pizza as it always is. I am looking at this as a challenge. I need to find a way to continue on a healthy track when I will mostly be eating cheesy, oily foods, have no time for exercise and will be running on 6 or less hours of sleep a night. Pretty big challenge, yes?

The Plan
I have no plan. Not yet anyways. I do, however, have a bit of guidelines laid out in my head. You see, tomorrow is exactly 15 weeks from when I leave for my trip and it just so happens that I would like to lose exactly 15 pounds. That comes out to a pound a week which seemingly isn't a very difficult goal. From my experiences though, I usually gain a couple pounds during Harvest and then a couple more during the multi-birthday month of October.

Learning to adapt will be the key. This will be a whole new experience for me. Some ideas I have are to make large batches of fruit and veggie smoothies which I can easily grab as a breakfast on my way to work. I can also set out to find some pre-packaged, easy to prepare foods.
My Goals:
Exercise - Get as much physical activity as I can while working
- Get as much exercise as I can BEFORE Harvest hits (about two weeks)

Nutrition - Fit as much fruits and vegetables in my diet as I can
- Continue to avoid overly processed foods and trans-fats
- Find a way to make meals in advance
- Find natural, healthy, pre-packaged foods that are easy to prepare
- Continue to drink two liters of water a day

Tomorrow is the beginning of the first week. I will weigh myself and every Thursday after to see if I am making progress or if it is getting fat as usual.

0 comments:

Radishes - Taco Salad

9:52 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



Radishes are my veggie of the week

In my box this week I had a bunch of fresh radishes. Another vegetable that I have never cooked with. I wasn't even sure if I liked radishes or not. I was uncertain of how I would feel about them so I decided to use them in a big, fresh salad where they could either hide among the other ingredients or they could be little shining stars. Turns out I love radishes and they went so well with this dish that I wished I had put more in. I also got to use up other vegetables from my box like a stray carrot, onions, tomatoes and lettuce.

I wanted to make sure the dish stayed healthy so I used ground turkey instead of beef and yogurt instead of mayonnaise or sour cream. I used feta as the cheese not because it is healthier than cheddar but because it was all I had in the house. And my taco salad was born:

Healthy Taco Salad with radishes

1 pound ground turkey
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp lime
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 clove garlic

1 bunch of lettuce, chopped
3 small tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 onion, diced
1 can of kidney beans, drained
1 avocado, diced
1 carrot, diced (optional)
6 small radishes, sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

For the dressing:
1 cup plain greek yogurt
Juice of 1 lime
zest of 1 lime
1 pickled jalapeno, chopped finely
Hot sauce to taste

1 cup of tortilla chips, crushed.

1. Add turkey, cuminm chili powder, salt, lime, cayenne, paprika and garlic to a frying pan and heat on medium high until the meat is cooked through.

2. In a large salad bowl combine the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, beans, avocado, carrot radishes and cheese.

3. Top salad with cooked meat mixture.

4. For the dressing, combine the yogurt, lime juice and zest, jalapeno and hot sauce in a small bowl and blend.

5. Top the salad with the dressing and gently mix the salad until every thing is covered.

6. Add the crumbled tortilla chips and blend one more time. Serve.

creamy taco salad

This salad is great to have on a hot or cold day. It is easy to make and is packed with vegetables and lean proteins. The radishes added a nice, cool, sweet crunch to the salad. I am hungry just typing about it!


0 comments:

Cauliflower, potatoes and pea curry

8:03 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments




In my veggie box this week I got a whole head of cauliflower. I do not like cauliflower so it was a particularly exciting challenge for me. The bf loves the veggie and wanted to make something with it that his mother used to make for him. From past experiences with his family recipes I have learned that the food is very tasty but FULL of butter, cheese, grease and fat. All things I love but it sort of defeats the purpose of having a box of veggies sent to me every other week. After a brief explanation of my thoughts on the subject the bf conceded and allowed me to make up a recipe for the cauliflower.
As I said, I do not like cauliflower so I had to come up with a dish that masked the flavor and perhaps the texture too. I can see how cheese and butter would make that happen. I decided that I did need some sort of fat and if I also added some spice I could mask the vegetable pretty well. I also figured a cooked cauliflower florete might have a similar texture to a potato. I looked on line and found the perfect idea. A potato curry! A traditional cauliflower and potato dish in Indian and Pakistani cuisine is called Aloo Gobi. I took the idea and made it in more of a Thai curry way. I cooked it in about 15 minutes so this is a very easy dish to make. The recipe is below:

Cauliflower, Potatoes and Pea Curry

7 or 8 small potatoes
1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
17 ounces of light coconut milk
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tbsp Mae Ploy Green Curry paste (or other curry paste)
1 tsp Turmeric
1 handful basil, chopped

1. Cut the potatoes into 3/4 inch squares and boil until slightly tender, about 5 minutes
2. Sauté onions on medium high heat in olive oil until onions are tender then add the coconut milk, peas and cauliflower.
3. Stir in the curry and turmeric and cook until cauliflower is tender, about 5 minutes.
4. Add cooked potatoes and stir until blended.
5. Top with basil and serve
Makes 4 large servings. Per serving: Calories: 510, Fat: 20g, Fiber: 11g, Protein: 15g

My secret ingredient that makes this dish so simple to create is the Mae Ploy curry paste. I love this product because it is packed with spice and flavor and it costs next to nothing. One little package of it can last months and months or more depending on how often you make curry. All you need to do is all coconut milk and you have an instant Thai curry dish that tastes like it is from a local restaurant.
Another good thing about this meal is that it is a vegetarian dish. The protein from the potatoes make it a well balanced meal. There is a higher amount of fat than I usually allow to have in my dishes but the coconut milk is so delicious and adds that creamy texture I wanted in this dish.

0 comments: