Category: food

I read an interesting article called Unhappy Meals recently.

Do you eat real food? When is the last time you chopped up a bunch of veggies on a bed of dark greens and sliced some tasty protein source over that (eggs, beans fish, meat)? Little olive oil, some garlic, OM NOM NOM NOM NOM…

Breakfast? Did you eat it? It’s a good time to get some whole grains in.

Now, I eat five small meals a day. It’s what works for me, but I’m not saying everyone has to do this for optimum health. (In fact, I’m quite a fan of the sensibleness of the No S Diet).

So, this is a fairly normal day for me:

Breakfast: Cottage cheese pancakes (1/2 c. cottage cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 c. raw oatmeal. Whizz it in a blender, cook it like a pancake). It’s a good pre-workout meal. Some people mash a banana on it. I could see doing that if you like bananas. I don’t. I actually salt them, rather than add something sweet.

Second Breakfast: Apple, 1T natural peanut butter.

Luncheon: Dark lettuce leaf salad with red peppers, mushrooms, carrots, celery, 1T chopped bacon, 1T olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing and 2 boiled eggs.

Tea: A dip made from 1c cottage cheese mixed with 1/4 c. chopped olives and some soy sauce. 1 whole sliced red pepper as dipping veggie. (Could be anything, but it’s what I had on hand that sounded good. It’d be tasty with almost any veggies).

Dinner: 2c. Homemade chicken soup (chicken carcass soup. Leftover chicken carcass cooked all day with water in a crock pot, take the meat off, toss the bones, then add some carrots, celery, garlic, fresh ginger, and salt) and a small sweet potato with a pat of butter. I could have added some brown rice to the soup, but was craving the sweet potato.

(A large male should probably add “Supper” and eat like a real hobbit. I’m just five two, so five meals is plenty for me).

Yesterday was heavy on the eggs and cottage cheese. Some days it’s tuna — depending on my mood. But the point is that it’s “real” food. Obviously, I don’t exactly believe in going hungry and because I lift, I try to get some protein with every meal. The apple and peanut butter weren’t ideal, but not bad, either. I was having a sweet craving.

My basic nutrition plan is to make sure I eat five small meals a day and have some protein and really complex carbs with either veggies or fruit for each meal. (Breakfast was a fail for this day). My complex carbs tend to be things like oatmeal or brown rice or sweet potatoes. (Nothing wrong with white potatoes in moderation. I just happen to like baked sweet potatoes a lot). <grin> It’s a reasonably easy way to get your “five a day”, if that’s what you’re shooting for nutrition-wise. I also, you notice, do not do as many weight lifters do and use MRP (Meal Replacement products) very often. Oh, sure, I’ll chug a protein drink on days I teach just because it’s not practical to stop the class to sit down to a salad at Second Breakfast. But, I consider that sub-optimum.

I think real food is best. I think it satisfies better than the plethora of low-fat, low-carb “products” out there. I also think starving yourself is unhealthy. I think shopping the outside aisles of the grocery store is a good habit. Obviously I hadda go down the cereal aisle for the oatmeal. But I think that trying to make sure that most of what you eat is stuff that grows, rather than has been processed all to hell is a good idea.

When you want a treat (I have one about once a week), have something “real” again. Go ahead and buy a freshly made doughnut. Have a serving (1/2 c. by the way!) of Ben and Jerry’s. Have the really good chocolate truffle. I had a wonderful cannoli on Sunday as my treat, as well as a glass of wine with dinner and it was delightful! Life’s too short to eat crap food.

Mom and Dad have the kids (and brought my nephews up) this week.

After they picked up the children and we had a bit of a visit, I went grocery shopping. I’m back to low carbing and there wasn’t a veggie in the house. I don’t so much count carbs as just… eat meat and vegetables when I’m trying to clean up my diet. As long as I’m not eating the “products” in favor of say, salad greens and bell peppers, we’re all good.

Found some whole chickens on sale for .79/lb, so snapped them up. simplykimberly, I know you’re really busy with school and all, but any time you wanna do a video on how to debone a chicken fast, I’m all good with being an eager student.

I also splurged and got some portabella mushrooms caps (I bake them with a slice of tomato, some mozzarella cheese, olive oil, seasoning and salt) an artichoke and some macademia nuts. I’ll keep the last in my purse for when I am teaching so as not to be tempted by the donuts bought for the students.

I was passing through one aisle and saw these vitamin water thingies. A couple was debating the health properties of the various brightly-colored water in plastic bottles.

IT’S VITAMIN KOOL-AID, PEOPLE!

Now, before you think I am on a high horse here, allow me to point out that I did buy some flavored seltzer water, so I was basically paying for some carbonated water with a little lemon in it. I’m aware of it. I just don’t feel virtuous for buying a health drink.  I bought it for fun and to splurge on something tasty and enjoyable to me.

I mean, you want kool-aid with vitamins in, go for it. It’s probably marginally better than kool-aid alone, but you’re paying a lot for a marginal health benefit that would do you better if you’d eat a bloody apple or a damn carrot.

It’s a goofy peeve, I know. It goes along with the people who say they have to eat unhealthy because they can’t afford to eat healthy. Ummm… chicken… $.79/lb. Better for ya than Ramen. Oh, you don’t want meat? Beans, equally cheap. I can make a kick ass bean soup for about $.50/hearty serving. (Actually for those of you who like to eat low-fat, riverspirit54 has a recipe for an absolutely fantastic chili heavy on the veggies. I’ve never priced it out, but it wouldn’t be expensive at all to make.  It’s very tasty, especially over rice).

I think the thing that bothers me is something of a philosophical thing about food and nourishment.   I find a well-prepared meal, nutritious meal a nurturing thing — whether cooking for myself, or if it’s shared with people.  The dieting philsophy that food shouldn’t be a replacement for love (true enough) should never have been taken to mean that good meals, carefully and lovingly prepared, shouldn’t be expressions of love or nurturing.  When we’re eating badly, we’re probably eating mindlessly.  When we’re eating well, we’re probably giving the food focus and attention.

You couldn’t call me a full-blown foodie. I will use the occasional preprocessed ingredient in my cooking. Canned, crushed tomatoes? Bring ’em on. Minced garlic in a jar? In a pinch. (A fresh-chopped clove has a better flavor, though).

I when I travel, I do my very best to try the “local” food. I’ll hold off on trying a dish at all until I can have it where they make it right. I didn’t try clam chowder until I went to Boston, and I’m holding off until I visit New Orleans to try gumbo. I don’t even bother to eat crab cakes up here in New England, preferring to eat them on dockside restaurants on the Chesapeake Bay.

Now, I’ve enjoyed pasta dishes well enough, but the only one I got really excited about was when I was in EPCOT center a couple of decades ago and went to Alfredo’s there. Of course I had the fettuccine Alfredo.

Even though I learned to make a decent Alfredo sauce (cream, garlic, and Parmesan cheese), I was never quite able to get the umph of the dish, and remained an indifferent pasta eater. To me, eating pasta was what you did when you were exhausted and didn’t feel like a creative meal.

A friend of mine gave me one of those hand-cranked pasta makers for my birthday, then taught me how to use it. Ignoring my mother’s rule (never have a new dish or cooking technique when you have guests coming over), I made home-made pasta (with copious help from my friend) and we had fettuccine Alfredo for dinner.

I feel totally in love with homemade pasta that day. Oh sure, it’s delicious — and that’s the point of food.

But it has an added element.

Making homemade pasta is just fun. My friend says that homemade pasta was a treat in her household, and if they’d been good, they’d be allowed to turn the crank on the pasta machine to roll out sheets or to cut the dough. I’ve made it with my kids a few times, too. It’s a fun way to have ’em in the kitchen and have a good time when you’re getting a meal together.

The funny part is that making pasta really isn’t all that hard or time consuming. Now, I’d be unlikely to make it after a long day on my feet, but just for a regular meal? Sure.

Lately I have been keeping boxed noodles in the house, so when my kids want to cook, their basic staple when cooking for themselves is gone. Perhaps I oughta teach ’em how to make it themselves, huh?