From the Archives: Our Unhealthy Attachment to Volume

Maintaining a healthy weight is, for the most part, about what you eat. Yes, working out and being active definitely helps; but, for most people, food is about 80% of weight maintenance. Unfortunately, we’ve developed a really unhealthy relationship, as a country, to food.

From the post I wrote in May, 2011 to kick off my “Back to Basics” nutrition series.

“We’ve been mislead about how to have a healthy relationship with food. For some reason, we’ve been taught to think that “good” or “healthy” eating and nutrition is about getting the largest volume of food into our stomachs with the least amount of calories. I am not sure where this trend started, but it’s definitely perpetuated in our food marketing, media, and a lot of nutrition advice.  Our society’s idea of nutrition has become about how much sheer volume we can pack into ourselves without “exceeding calories.” Read More…

On the Menu: A Change of Diet

Regular readers will probably notice a few oddities in the next few weeks, both on the OtM features and the “What I Eat” features. I don’t really want to get into why, but you’ll see kind of a cyclical eating paradigm going. The big changes will be that for some weeks in a row, I’ll be totally off meat (fish will still appear) and dairy. Peanuts will also no longer make an appearance (that’s not cyclical, it’ll be ongoing).  I’m not going to be all crazy about these things, but it will make things look a bit different around here.  Since my activity level will remain high,  I still need to make sure I am getting good quantities of proteins and complex carbohydrates. You can read this as: legumes, legumes, legumes!

The changes should mean a lot of new, creative recipes, too, because I am easily bored.

DINNERS:

Monday: Falafel with mujadara. We need to do this more often, it just kind of gets put to the side. Later in the summer, when cucumbers and tomatoes are in, you’ll likely see side dishes such as fatoush or tabouli, as well. We’ll be eating this with pita bread, and I’ll be skipping the yogurt sauce.

Tuesday: Sardines and avacado in lemon sauce, over udon noodles.  Thadd is out at a work function, so I’ll be having a  for-one dinner tonight. This is easy, quick, and full of protein and good Omegas.

Wednesday: Coconut braised spinach & chickpeas over sweet potatoes. An Indian-inspired dish.  Despite the cut in meat and dairy, we don’t intend on adding a lot of simple carbs back into our diet. We still do rice, potatoes, and pasta once in a while, but we don’t want to make it more frequent. So, we’re using sweet potatoes here instead!

Thursday: Bean & butternut squash burritos. We’ll be using guacamole and salsa as condiments, and I’ll skip the raw-milk cheese this round.

Friday: Leftovers, as always.

Saturday: Black bean & banana empanadas. There’ll be a double-batch of these so we can put some in the freezer!

Related articles

• On the Menu: April 1-7th Edition (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• On the Menu: May 20th Edition (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• Falafel (veggiezest.com)

From the Archives: Your Body Isn’t a Game

No matter how hard you try to crunch those numbers, eating a salad doesn’t make that ice cream have less calories.

“So, stop trying to min-max your diet like it’s a character sheet.

I can’t tell you the number of questions I get about random, weird “diet tricks” and nutrition. These things pretty invariably come from people who want to keep eating an unhealthy diet while griping that they can’t lose weight and keep it off.  Truth for those people: you know what you need to do, so stop trying to play the numbers.” Read More…

What I Eat: June 6

Breakfast: Two farm-fresh eggs fried in 1 tbs coconut oil over portobello mushroom.

Snack: fennel & pea salad. Raw milk cheddar cheese. Banana. Hummus with carrots & celery.

Lunch: Leftover grilled pork loin, sautee’d spinach. Apple.

Dinner: Catfish with couscous and broccoli.

On the Menu: June 4th-10th

Monday: Salisbury steak with garlic-flower whipped potatoes and buttered peas.  Garlic flowers are a culinary win any way you look at it.

Tuesday: Grilled Mojo pork loin, with fennel & snap pea salad and charred sweet potatoes. We’ve got lots of snap peas (Seed Savers was not kidding when they said “prolific producers” on the English peas description), and I love fennel. Hopefully, I’ll get pictures of this. We’re using the grill tonight, and we always stack on stuff for later in the week to make the most of the charcoal.

Wednesday: Catfish with seasoned brown rice and steamed butternut squash. This is the perfect way to use the leftover squash from the Moroccan stew I made. Squash keeps great in the refrigerator produce drawer.

Thursday: Fajitas. These will be made with the grilled steak, peppers, and onions from Tuesday’s grilling marathon.

Friday: Leftovers. Cleaning out the refrigerator.

Saturday: Thai salmon patties with beluga lentils. I’ve been dying to use these lentils, which I’ll be braising in coconut milk and spices.

Sunday: Sauerkraut and sausage. One of Thadd’s favorite go-to meals.

Related articles

• On the Menu: Week of April 15th (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• On the Menu: April 1-7th Edition (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• On the Menu: Week of April 8th (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)

Menu Plan: May 28-June 2nd

Monday: Vegetable stir fry over rice. We had an abundance of snap peas in the garden, which were perfect in a stir fry!

Tuesday: Charred eggplant, red pepper, and portobello mushroom sandwiches with hummus and greens on jalapeno bread. The hummus was made fresh with lots of garlic, and will be a great replacement for dressing on the sandwiches. Making hummus is easy, and so much cheaper than buying it pre-made. Also, I get to control what’s in it, from extra flavors (this one’s roasted garlic!) to ingredients (I like to use a mix of extra-virgin olive oil and grape seed oil). The greens are the last from the garden, at least for now, as the weather has just gotten too warm for them.

Wednesday:  Chard and Spinach Frittata with roasted red pepper soup. The final bits of chard and spinach from the garden will bulk up the frittata.

Thursday: BBQ beans with sausage and squash, with snap peas. We needed an easy crock-pot meal.

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Thai drunken noodles and beluga lentil coconut soup. Both of these are pretty spicy dishes, but they’re light for summer. I’ve been wanting to do the beluga lentil soup for quite a while!

Related articles

• On the Menu, April 22-28 (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• Garden in May (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• Healthy Hummus Recipes for Your Dipping Pleasure (leggotunglei808.wordpress.com)
• Green Hummus (lostgardenblog.wordpress.com)

From the Archives: Uncomfortable Truths

“There are things people just need to be told, and that get danced around too often. Some of these are uncomfortable, some “gross,” some thing you just don’t talk about in polite society. Unfortunately, these silent issues are hurting our national health, our individual health, and most especially our kid’s health.

This is going to be unpopular. ”   Read More…

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Squash Seeds

I’ve had lots of people tell me they don’t like vegetables, particularly Brussel Sprouts and broccoli. As it turns out, most of them just don’t like the limp, flavorless vegetables they remember from their childhood. I can’t tell you how many converts I’ve made with one simple technique: roasting.  You can roast almost any vegetable. It’s easy, it enhances flavor, and it retains far more nutrients than boiling or even, in many cases, steaming. Overall, it’s a far more appealing texture to most people, as well.

While I adore almost anything roasted, one of my favorites is roasted Brussel Sprouts. Most people remember their parents trying to get them to eat this veggie as a kid and hating it. I can’t blame you. Typically, it was boiled, bitter, mushy on the outside and weirdly firm-but-squishy on the inside. Not a recipe for loving a food. If you think you hate Brussel Sprouts, give this a try and see if it changes your mind.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Fresh Brussel sprouts

1/3 cup raw squash or pumpkin seeds (I was making squash that night, so just rinsed and dried the seeds)

A few pinches salt and pepper (optional)

Olive Oil to coat, about 4 tbs.

Directions: Preheat oven to 375. Cut bottoms of sprouts, and remove loose or brown leaves. Rinse (use a vegetable cleaner if not organic), and dry with a lint-free towel or paper towel. Toss all ingredients, including sprouts, in a large bowl until sprouts are nicely coated with olive oil. Pour into glass baking dish in a single layer, spreading sprouts apart a bit (I used a 9×13, but you can use anything that will allow the sprouts to be in a single layer).

Roast until outer leaves start to brown and crisp, and a fork can pierce to center of sprout (about 40 minutes), stirring twice to turn sprouts over. Serve.

On the Menu: May 6-12

This is the proposed menu plan for this week. I say proposed because I am fairly sure that, while all the meals will happen, they are very likely not to happen in the order we’ve planned. It’s a crazy week with many graduations, Thadd’s end of term, and preparation for a few other things. So, this is the loose idea:

Sunday: Seafood and almond casserole with fresh steamed asparagus. This happened as planned. The asparagus was delicious! There is just nothing like seasonal veggies.

Monday: Barbecue pork sandwiches with baked beans and spicy slaw. As always, Mondays are a late dinner. This was quick and filling.

Tuesday: Black bean and banana empanadas. We’re going to make a double or triple batch so some can be frozen for quick lunches, but it’s looking like it won’t get done today, after all. So this might be switched with tomorrow.

Wednesday: Carna asada tacos with fresh avocado and homemade salsa. 

Thursday: 3 Sisters Casserole. Based on Native American cuisine, this particular version of the casserole is a new recipe. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Friday: Leftovers, as always, since Thadd leaves for work in the afternoon and doesn’t get home until sometime the following day.

Saturday: Thai Peanut noodles. Thadd’s first night to cook this week! We’re going to be wine tasting for most of the day, and this dish will go together quickly when we get home.

Related articles

• On the Menu, April 22-28 (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• On the Menu: February 12-18th (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)
• On the Menu, Feb. 4th-11th (eclecticedibles.wordpress.com)

What I Eat: May 2nd

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with cheese and jalepenos. Homemade whole wheat bread.

Lunch: Half sweet potato & black bean burrito.

Snacks: Banana. Peanuts and raisins.

Dinner: Fideua.

Beverages: glass of red wine, glass of milk (our cow is being freshened, so this isn’t raw, but it is grass fed and low-heat pasteurized.