(no subject)
Once again, I have become a health nut. That's what happens when you get gall bladder surgery apparently. You stop drinking alcohol, you start taking your coffee half decaf, you start worrying about preservatives and salt, and you start eating off the New York Times all important foods list.
I was going to have a steak and sweet potato with brown sugar and butter tonight. And a glass of red wine. Instead the butter and sugar and wine and red meat sort of psyched me out and I ended up at the sushi place next door for a salad, (very light on the dressing, I wanted to shake their chef's hand), spicy tuna roll and miso soup. And 4 glasses of water.
I'm not like 100% off bad things. I bought a cinnamon banana walnut muffin the other day that I ate in sections and it was delicious. Mom got all these crackers while I was on bland doom diet and I can't seem to throw them all away, but at least I don't eat the box.
I do start my morning off right. I have a bowl of the Kashi go lean cereal with 2% milk and probably a banana and definitely a glass of V8 low sodium. I take that multivitamin and calcium tablet even though I don't think they do anything. (Recent studies support me on this, at least in terms of cancer.) So I'm set until lunch! Which lately I've been making at home because I have enough of a break. So I'm doing better with money lately. Thank god since I went broke over that car.
The other day I made a fantastic soup! I baked 2 sweet potatoes and boiled 3 large beets, and then combined them with the sauteed mixture of chopped onion, apple and ginger. I added a whole bunch of cumin/curry/turmeric/cinnamon plus black pepper and cooked everything awhile longer in chicken stock. And then everything went into the blender. I thinned it with milk/water/chicken stock and the whole thing looks a tad bit like the results of a horror film but it is SO DELICIOUS. And good for you. That NY Times best foods article suggested that I eat swiss chard. Having eaten the beets and turmeric it recommended, swiss chard may be next!
And yes I bought a whole bunch of brussels sprouts for my favorite brussels sprouts and bacon recipe. I fuckin love those things.
Next week I hope to start exercising again. Like if I can keep eating like I am AND improve on my cardio life I should really not have a hard time getting back to where I was. I miss my old muscle mass dammit. (Wanting to get with someone I charitably call Black Heroin Chic is good impetus to lose weight. It's not that he cares how big I am, it's that I'm afraid of crushing his fragile frame.)
I grant you, not drinking is probably cutting down on the calories pretty considerably. I don't know how many calories are in a manhattan but they're sure not good for you.
I bought a Women's Health magazine, and I grant you the magazine is a mixed bag. For instance, I would never take their sex toy recommendations seriously, nor do I believe that I can see results on an abs workout in 8 days. 8 days is how long it takes a new routine to stop HURTING. However they sometimes have good exercise routine recommendations, ideas for foods, or just motivating talk. Reading Women's Health makes you want to work out. And hey, this is the special Get Back in Shape issue. It's what I want to do! (Maybe I also want ot know Michelle Obama's 7 secrets of a sexy marriage. I doubt it, but maybe!)
I have to get beyond the walking I'm doing right now. I do a lot of it, for sure, but it's not going to take off my belly or build my legs back to where they were. Oh running. I'm coming for you.
I could swear I have kosher salt. I could swear I've bought it like 10 times. Why can't I find it?
I'm looking through my favorite cookbooks thinking about what I will make. The zucchini vichyssoise recipe is always a big treat for me. Maybe traditional potato leek is slightly better but barefoot contessa is right. The lightness of the zucchini adds something different and it's healthier.
She has this lentil sausage soup recipe that would be healthy if it didn't have a pound of kielbasa in it. I bet I could use chicken sausage and still make it tasty. Then it would just be lentil soup. And the recipe makes 4 quarts. I'd eat forever.
Soup is such an easy out for me. It keeps, it's hard to do wrong, you make it in huge portions and it's fucking cold outside. I'll keep making it until I'm tired of it, can't imagine when that would be. It makes me feel uncreative, but I'll live.
I don't seem to believe in steaming things. This might be something I eventually have to get over.
Barefoot contessa would also recommend that I roast/bake a whole bunch which seems like a pretty good idea. A couple different things I've meant to do lately, (for instance, roasting the beets instead of boiling them and creating the effect of a murder scene stove) have called for aluminum foil, which I don't have in my house because I'm not a real person. Katya suggests Kale Chips. Good idea!
I admit, I have these recipes that I like to make, but I feel weird making them for myself. I cook 'for' people. For myself, it's stir fry and random crap and the lean cuisine I mix frozen veggies into. When I have a microwave my ass is gonna get even lazier. But it's weird to end up with this dish that serves 6 to 8 only it's just for you. I could cut it, but when you buy food you have to buy so much anyways (note carrots) and also it takes no more effort to make the full recipe than the half so I might as well make everything. Plus going to the grocery store is actually a big deal so when I go dammit I better GO.
Moroccan Couscous. I will also make this. I happen to know it is fantastic, although I replace the saffron with spices I like better. (I think I did the last couscous with fresh sage? I don't like saffron. I'm the only one.) I've also made this with quinoa before and I wouldn't be surprised if I do again, although the last time I went to buy quinoa it was so expensive I couldn't afford it. 12 bucks for like a 16 oz organic bag. WTF.
I don't get my mother. Who says she has "gotten fat" which would be true for a 30 year old but maybe not someone in their upper 50s. Yes she's a lot bigger than she was 5 years ago. It doesn't surprise me in the least that her body is all screwed up when she either eats like a bird or bakes a cake. I couldn't figure out what she was eating when she came to stay with me. I was recovering from surgery and I ate more than she did. I also just didn't see her get enough nutrients. Me, it doesn't matter how much crap I'm eating, I still put a vegetable on the side. I'm a believer in getting something out of your food. Also in being full.
Dear mom, two glasses of white wine and plain chicken wings is SO NOT A MEAL. Seriously, the frat boys do better than that. Beer at least has carbs. Can't starve on beer.
Man I love Barefoot Contessa family style. It's a pity I can't make most of the recipes in there for myself.
I'm going to go to that NY Times article I referenced earlier and buy myself some new cookbooks. I love cooking out of Barefoot contessa but I'd like a cookbook a little healthier and vegetarian friendly.
I would swear by the way that some of my shit is still missing. And does anyone for some reason have my Rachael Ray cookbook? Seriously?
OK, I"m done. I'm going to pop a movie in and pass out because I've been up since before 5. Not to mention that if I know I have to get up at a ludicrous hour, I tend to wake up every two or so to check the clock. Meh. Hope everyone's had a good week!