Going over to the dark side...

I have always loathed exercise in almost any form. There, I said it. It is now out there in the cosmos just floating around waiting for anyone to absorb it. Today, I go over to the dark side... to exercise.

I have finally come to the realization that just losing weight is not enough. And anyway, weight is not the primary consideration here. Health is my prime focus. There are so many things I want to do, besides just fitting into smaller pants. I want to go hiking... I want to be able to walk around New York City all day noticing everything but not obsessing over my aching back and feet. It is not just about building muscles but strengthening my core. I am tired of muscle spasms.

So today, I go in for my first personal training session. Its pricey but it is important that I learn to do this right. I signed up for 3 months, mano a womano, 2 times a week. I am looking forward to lots of ibuprofen and sore muscles... but also a sense of satisfaction. I am going to stick this out. I am going to show my daughter that fitness is something better accomplished early but I won't let a little thing like age stop me.

And better late than never... wish me luck!

Fall has fell...

Yay!  I don't need to pretend any more!  Fall is here!  Living where I do (Tacoma/Seattle area) many years we need to pretend it is summer.  We gamely wear our shorts and shortsleeved shirts while secretly freezing and wishing we could put on a purple and gold Husky Sweatshirt (University of Washington, for the uninitiated).  We bear the rain and use the grill while someone holds up a golf unbrella.  But it is September now so I don't need to tell myself it is warm enough to wear my capri pants.  I can hide my flabby arms under long sleeves.  Yay!

And with fall comes my favorite time of year to cook.  The fall vegetables are in, like squashes of every kind and the end of the corn season.  Eggplants and tomatoes and zucchini and garlic... oh yes.  I can make soups and stews and cook them a long time in my slow cooker.  My idea of fall food is spicy and warm, filling and satisfying.

My first instinct is to serve a lot of these stews and fricasees and whatnot over rice.  I always like to have something to soak up all the good juices.  Bread is important, too, excellent for dipping and sopping up extra sauce.  So I am in a quandry.  I eat neither rice nor bread.  I took a bunch of different ideas and devised my own recipe for short ribs which develops an amazing sauce.  Do I serve it in a bowl or just let the juice spread out all over the plate?  Do I lift the plate and slurp it that way?  No, it would end up all down the front of me, not to mention, it would be a terrible example for my daughter.  What to do?

I was saved by my sister.  We were talking about that very thing last weekend.  She has gone on a Paleo type eating regimen that disallows most carbs and dairy so she is in the same boat.  She found a recipe for "cauliflower rice."  Basically, you chop up cauliflower really fine then saute it in a pan with a little olive oil.  It is a blank canvas.  You could add all kinds of flavors: sesame oil for Asian, curry powder, parmesan cheese.  It could be a foil for all your stew or braise type recipes.  My daughter sucked it up without any prompting (amazing) but my husband was freaked out by the texture.  That's okay though... more for us!

Short Ribs
Serves 4

2.5 lbs short ribs (not flanken cut)
Olive oil
Olive oil spray
1 large onion, chopped into 1" chunks
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
3 TB red wine vinegar
1 cup dry, red wine
1 14oz can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
Cauliflower "Rice"

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a tsp or two of olive oil in a oven-proof dutch oven over medium high heat.  Sear all 3 meat sides of the short ribs until they are crusty and brown.  Remove the ribs to a plate.  Pour off all the fat from the dutch oven, leaving nothing but some brown bits in the bottom.  Spray some olive oil spray onto the bottom to grease it up just a little bit before dumping in the chopped onion.  Toss those around until they turn translucent.  Dump in the carrots, garlic and herbs.  Continue to toss them around until the carrots are just barely starting to soften and the brown bits have come up off the bottom of the pan.

Pour in the vinegar.  Toss around until all the vegetables are covered and the vinegar is almost evaporated.  Pour in the red wine.  Simmer for 5 minutes until the wine reduces a little  Pour in the tomatoes, incorporating all the ingredients.  Put the short ribs and accumulated juices back into the dutch oven.  Cover and place in the oven.  Check it after 2 hours.  The meat should be meltingly tender and falling off the bones.

This part is optional.  I made the short ribs early in the day.  After it was done in the oven I left it to cool.  After it got to almost room temperature, I lifted the meat and vegetables into a bowl, covered and refrigerated it.  I poured the sauce into a separate bowl and refrigerated that, too.  Before reheating, I was able to lift the fat from the top of the sauce, as short ribs are pretty fatty.  I find it hard to lift the fat off when it is still hot.  If you are worried about extra fat, you might consider this method.

Serve over cauliflower "rice."

Caufiflower Rice
Recipe from Paleo Plan
Serves 4 (I also used half the oil than in the original recipe)

1 head cauliflower
1 Tbs coconut or olive oil
Sea salt, garlic, ginger, coconut aminos, curry, garlic or freshly ground black pepper(optional seasonings)

Place the cauliflower into a food processor and pulse until it has a grainy rice-like consistency. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Saute the cauliflower in a medium hot saute pan with oil and any additional seasonings desired (sea salt, garlic, ginger, coconut aminos, curry, or just freshly ground black pepper).

Couldn't be easier, more delicious or make a better base for my fall food!

Mama Moira's Kitchen...

Just to set the record straight, like it matters, is that I am neither Italian nor Jewish. I must admit, I steal from their heritage kitchens all the time.

There is nothing more therapeutic than a good chicken soup. One of these days, when I can consider eating even a modest amount of carbs again, I would like to learn to make matzo balls. There is something so soulful about the combination of a rich chicken stock combined with bits of chicken and sauteed vegetables. I also love, love Italian food. Pasta is right out for me, of course, but I can still enjoy that mind numbing joy of tomatoes, garlic, onions, fennel combined in a slowly simmered sauce... Huh? Oh wait. Where was I?

When I was in the airport in Atlanta not long ago I bought a mess of cooking magazines (including one of my top favorites, Saveur) to read on the plane. Since we are all poor during this recession I hardly ever buy cooking magazines any more (even though I used to be addicted and had subscriptions to at least three of them). I can look at them online but it isn't the same. I love the glossy pages and lovely, professional pictures of foods I will most likely never make.

Some of my favorite recipes are for foods with which I am not familiar; like, I love the recipes for Italian Christmas Eve dinner with all the myriad seafood dishes but the one that caught my eye this time was the recipes for Sukkot, the Jewish holiday of celebration and thanksgiving. The recipe in Saveur calls for some traditional ingredients like raisins and honey, rice... and a couple of other things I can't have because a) I am a low carb kind of girl and b) if I put fruit in a meat dish I think my husband might divorce me. I compromised by making it more Sephardic (which for me is just a fancy way of saying I substituted a bunch of ingredients to make it more Italian and less fruity). My kitchen is now filled with intoxicating scents and I am about to float away on them.

Holishkes (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls ala Cathy)
Based on a recipe found in Saveur
Serves 4

1 large head of cabbage, cored
Olive oil
2 small onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 TB fennel seed
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup red chard, sliced into thin ribbons then chopped crosswise
1 32oz can pureed tomatoes
1 lb ground lean ground chuck (or ground lamb would be delicious, too)
3 TB beef stock
1/3 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp paprika or smoked paprika (my personal favorite)
1 egg, lightly beaten
Salt and pepper

Bring a large, deep pot of salted water to a boil over high heat, add the head of cabbage using a giant fork and cook, pulling off each leaf as it cook with some tongs, about 2 minutes per leaf until you get 9-10 leaves. Let drain and cool on some paper towels.

Heat a tsp or two of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add onions and celery. Saute but do not caramelize. Add the fennel seeds, garlic, chard and the pepper flakes. Continue to saute until both the onions and celery are translucent and your kitchen is fragrant. Add the tomato paste and stir until incorporated. Add the tomato puree. Stir then simmer until the sauce starts to reduce, thicken and again become very fragrant, about 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ground beef, beef stock, carrots, paprika, egg and salt and pepper. Don't over-mix or the stuffing will be tough. Lightly stir using only your fingertips until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Lay out your cabbage leaves like little green dishes. Divide the filling between all the leaves. Fold the leaves up one by one by folding in the sides, then rolling the other way into a tidy ball. Place the rolls into an 8"x8" (or 9"x9") baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray. Once all the rolls are in there, cover with the tomato sauce. Bake until the filling is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

If you don't care much about being Kosher, you could sprinkle the top with feta cheese or Parmesan as an added touch. I don't use cheese as there is so much flavor already I don't think it needs it.

Mazel tov, amore!

Vegetables on the brain...

I have vegetables on the brain. It's weird... since starting this low-carb lifestyle I have learned to love and even crave vegetables. I eat them all the time. I saute them in the morning and add eggs to make a frittata, I pile them in a bowl with protein of some sort to make a salad for lunch. I was never a big vegetable girl but now I just can't seem to get enough.

I made Costco salmon patties for dinner last night. Mmm, they are so easy and delicious and they don’t have a lot of crap in them besides salmon. I was trying to think of what I should serve with them. I am bored with zucchini and asparagus right now. I wanted something different.

I usually put low-sodium soy sauce on my salmon patties which gave me an idea. I made something up on the fly and it ended up tasting like spring roll innards or something. Delicious. Both my husband AND my daughter ate it up, yum.

There are usually bags of shredded vegetables that I get at the grocery store in my refrigerator. They come in very handy for my lunch salads. If you get the vegetables pre-shredded this dish is a snap.

Spring Rolls without the Roll

½ tsp sesame oil
1 big handful of shredded cabbage
1 big handful of shredded broccoli slaw mix
1 big handful of shredded carrot
½ large onion, slivered
Low-sodium soy sauce
Toasted sesame seeds

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Throw in all the vegetables. Boil for 3-5 minutes then drain really well. Heat a non-stick pan coated with olive oil spray over medium high heat. Add sesame oil and roll it around to get good coverage. Once the pan is good and hot, throw in the drained vegetables. Stir fry until heated through. Splash with soy sauce to taste and sprinkle on sesame seeds. Toss around another minute then serve.

My daughter actually told me it was delicious and ate every bit I gave her without argument.

A miracle.

In search of vegetables and their goodness...

I'm back! Bet you didn't even know I was gone. I spent the week in Atlanta doing business-y things. I actually lived in Atlanta for 5 years. Many people I love live there and if I didn't love home (Washington State) and my family so much I would probably still be living there.

The American south is the home of the fried food. If it can be fried, it will be fried. Some seriously delicious food comes from down south: chicken fried steak, fried chicken, barbeque (which is a noun, not a verb), coleslaw, macaroni and cheese. These are common foods that can be found everywhere. I wondered how I was going to fare, you know, being a low-carb girl and all.

It is hard eating on the road, at hotels, at the airport, at Atlanta Braves games, at restaurants. I ate a lot of protein and not a lot of vegetable matter. My body was seriously disturbed by this turn of events and punished me by giving me intestinal distress. Then when I did get vegetables it turned on me again in an opposite but equally disagreeable way!

We went to a barbeque restaurant. I thought, okay, I can have the smallest portion of ribs, the fresh vegetable of the day and the fresh fruit. Sounds good, right? Uh, no. The fresh fruit was watermelon (all water and sugar, no fiber) and the fresh vegetable of the day? Fried green tomatoes. I couldn't win.

Anyway, now that I am home, my body is screaming for vegetable matter. It is a constant battle coming up with ways to get my family to eat vegetables. My daughter immediately freaks out if I put anything green on her plate and my husband will eat vegetables but only certain ones. There are ways to seduce them however. Seduction ingredients include things like cream and cheese. Good thing I can substitute with things like Greek Yogurt, skim milk and parmesan cheese (parm isn't low fat but but because it is strongly flavored you can use less).

I found this recipe in Saveur magazine as something to do with summer vegetables... for those that are ambitious and grow bushels of vegetables in their gardens. I am anti-ambitious, buying my vegetables at the store or the farmers' market but this recipe still works. This is delicious, using only a judicious amount of cheese and added oil.

Summer Vegetable Tian
(based on a recipe from Saveur)
Serves 6

1 medium eggplant, peeled
salt
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (I used 5 cloves 'cause I loves some garlic)
Extra virgin olive oil (The original recipe calls for a 1/2 cup but I drizzle it sparingly and don't notice the lack)
2 medium zucchini, sliced diagonally
2-3 medium tomatoes, sliced
3-4 sprigs fresh herbs (I use thyme, you can use oregano or rosemary or even basil)
1/2 shredded or grated fresh parmesan

Cut eggplant into 1" cubes, place in a colander, sprinkle with salt. Drain for 30 minutes, then pat dry.

Cook onions and garlic in a tsp or so of olive oil in a skilled over medium heat until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a medium baking dish (sprayed with olive oil spray). In the same skillet, toss the eggplant cubes until slightly browned, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper but not too much because the eggplant already has salt on it. Stir into onion mixture.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss half the parmesan cheese in with the onions and eggplant. Arrange the tomatoes and zucchini in overlapping layers over the onions and eggplant. Tops with herbs, drizzle with a little oil. Bake 30-40 minutes. After about 30 minutes sprinkle on the rest of the cheese and return to the oven. Let rest for about 5 minutes then serve.

Delicious and cheesy, a perfect mix of fresh summer vegetables that your body will come to crave and NO FRYING involved.

Flexibility and tacos...

A post 2 days in a row! I'm en fuego!

Going low/no carb is not always easy when you are trying to feed yourself and feed your family satisfactorily. Usually I will make a soup or a stew or a protein/vegetable combination. Usually they are happy with that... unless my husband is yearning for tacos. He would not be happy with merely a taco salad. That just wouldn't be fitting.

I also like easy and fast. I mean, I have enough to do without making my own tortillas and cunningly fashioning them into a magical Mexican dinner, especially if I don't get to eat them. I cheat and buy grocery store taco shells. I also buy pico de gallo, pre-shredded cheese and bottled hot sauce. I know, I know! But remember this dinner on the fly, in a hurry, one that doesn't come out of a box or a drive-thru.

So, my family happily crunches away on their tacos and I get taco salad. We eat a lot of tacos since it is one of my husband's favorite dinners. I don't mind since it really is easy and pretty nutritious; however, I tire of the same old taco salad sometimes. Occasionally I will mix it up, using shredded cabbage instead of lettuce. Cabbage has a lot more going for it nutrition-wise than regular lettuce. Sometimes I shred up some chard or use shredded broccoli that you can get in bags at the grocery store. However, last night I did something delicious... I caramelized 2 peppers (1 red, 1 green) and an onion and used that as a base for my salad, sprinkling some shredded cabbage on top for crunch. It turned a mere taco salad into something decadent and divine. With some of the taco meat, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, hot sauce and a dollop of fat-free Greek yogurt, I felt like I was eating something amazing.

Sometimes it takes a little imagination, a lot of flexibility and the willingness to try something a little different. It is what keeps me going and (somewhat) sane.

Mixing it up and milestones...

Today, I have officially lost 50lbs! Yay me! I've averaged about 10 lbs a month so far. I feel much better, too. I was forced (against my will - who wants to buy clothes while losing weight?) to buy new clothes this week for a business meeting. Depending on what it was and the manufacturer, they were 1 to 3 sizes smaller than before. Now that is something I can get my head around a lot more easily than merely counting pounds lost.

People always say it is so hard to lose weight. It is. I know. I've been trying to do it for 30 years and just now I am experiencing some success. Something clicked inside... I don't know if it is because I have a child or if I am feeling my mortality but I know that now is the time; I ain't got no more time to waste. The regimen I have been following has not been a hardship. Maybe it is different this time because my attitude is different. Would I have been able to follow this routine 10 years ago?

The most important thing is to not allow myself to get bored. I hate those "eat nothing but bananas and chicken broth for 7 days and lose 20 lbs!" type diets. I guarantee, by day 3 you'll be off that diet because you can't stand to even look at another banana. BECAUSE BANANAS EVERY DAY ARE BORING. And not good for you. The body needs variety and a certain combination of nutrients to stay satisfied, happy and healthy.

So what's my point after rambling for 3 paragraphs? Mix it up. Eat healthy with variety. You won't get bored. You will lose weight.

This recipe is a mashup of at least 3 different recipes and my own imagination. There is ZERO added fat in this recipe but a ton of flavor and goodness.

Greek-like Stuffed Peppers
Serves 6-8

1 lb ground beef (or lamb, I like lamb best)
Large handful of greens (spinach, kale, chard, parsley) roughly chopped
1 medium zucchini (or carrot, or summer squash), coarsely grated
1 small onion, chopped small
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3-4 any color bell peppers (I like red, my husband likes green), halved and cored, ribs removed
2 14.5 oz fire-roasted diced tomatoes (low sodium if you can get it)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
2-3 TB chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl combine the meat, vegetables, garlic, egg, oregano, salt and a couple of grinds of black pepper. Combine, but don't over work it or the filling will be tough. Set bowl of meat aside.

Arrange the pepper halves in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Salt them lightly with a tiny bit of kosher salt. Fill each pepper half with some of the meat mixture. Pour the tomatoes over them. Sprinkle with the feta cheese. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 25 minutes longer, until the meat is completely cooked and the peppers are tender. Serve with a sprinkling of parsley.

Everybody loves this dish. Including my husband and daughter... no drama, just yummy noises. Mama is happy because it is something a little different from the normal and it doesn't taste like bananas.