yeah, uhm, I hardly need anyone to twist my arm.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Monday, May 05, 2008
more on the diet
Okay, so I had some success with the diet last week, but I'm unsure whether it was due to the diet, per se, or to last week's committment to getting some exercise every day. For now, I'm going to presume it was both. It's not going to kill me - I mean, after all, a diet that requires me to eat things like this for a snack:
yeah, uhm, I hardly need anyone to twist my arm.
yeah, uhm, I hardly need anyone to twist my arm.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Dietary Dilemmas
My husband and I decided that my health really isn't very good right now, and that changes are most definitely in order. So, I took advice from here and from there(i.e., from my mother and other well-informed sources), and upon some recommendations I obtained this book through the interlibrary loan service.
I read through the book with the intention of being objective. I found the style repetitive, and the author beats around the bush for far, far too long. However, when it comes down to it she seemed to purport a logical, philosophically supportable approach to food, diet and lifestyle. That is, "moderation in everything" - not all carbs, not all proteins, no neverending regimen of rigourous exercise, but a balance of all good things. I handed the book over to the ever-skeptical-of-anything-that-smells-of-nutrition weirdos/chiropractors-and-all-such-hocus-pocus-son-of-an-M.D.-husband, and he likewise thought it sounded promising. We had two misgivings, however.
1) God did not create supplements. Why on earth would it be necessary for me to take 12 different kinds of them every day, and several of them multiple TIMES per day, just to keep my health in good order?
2) We are wary of organic food pushers. For all we can tell, organic food is just an excuse to charge a heckuva lot more money for a "specialized product". I mean, when we ask for a solid account for organic food as a necessary expense, we always end up getting a reply including something about factories and spillage, a depleted ozone layer due to out-of-control 80's hairspray, or something of the like blah blah blah, and the resultant bad soil, bad air {insert hand waving here} - and therefore POOF, the nutrients - ALL GONE. Factory spillage? All over the midwestern breadbasket, eh? Must have missed that for all the purdy sunflowers . . . (Needless to say, we're not convinced. Yeah, I know, I'm such a stubborn little skeptic.)
Nevertheless, we put these misgivings aside and sallied forth to the health food store, thinking we'd give this lady's diet thingy a week-long trial in the "all i's dotted" format, and tweak it from there if we thought things were a little over the top.
Now, we fully expected it to double our weekly grocery bill.
However, we never expected it to triple it. Yes, TRIPLE. The hubby has been having little seizures ever since.
So . . . we're going to go back to eating Cheetos and TV dinners, okay?
Oh for goodness sake of course I'm just kidding. I was raised by a nutritionist, so I could never eat that way in good conscience, let alone feed it to someone I love. All-in-all I'm actually quite good at serving up very healthy, balanced meals - the food just isn't "USDA certified organic" from the local upscale food market.
Now, how precisely my health got to be the way it is right now is probably due to a confusing conglomeration of several factors - things like moving, undergoing major life changes, liking my own cooking a bit too much and a complete lack of social outlets. (It's not because I eat like Bubba Jenkins.)
However, I must admit that I've been disgusted all week with the fact that someone finds it justifiable to charge someone that much money for rather basic food. We're definitely going back to "normal" food - I'll just make the necessary, non-organic substitutions and we can keep ourselves out of the poor house. If there's one thing I hate it's stores that sell things at higher prices than they should simply because they can get some idiot to pay that much. Well, that idiot is not going to be me. Nope. NOT ANYMORE. They're just going to have to find another idiot to pick on.
Another thing that was not made immediately apparent to us in our original read through of the above-mentioned book is that this diet requires us to eat a heckuva lot more food than either of us are accustomed to eating. I mean, just look at this plate (click on photo for mouth-watering, full resolution):
that's a LOT of food.
(Wait, you're thinking. Isn't that STEAK? What do you mean BASIC FOOD? - - Okay, so this was our one splurge item. It was allowed by the diet and BOY did it look yummy - and moreover we only bought one of them, and we split it. Although I have to admit that steak is a LOT more affordable when it's not sold by a "natural foods market". On sale at Publix is the way to go.)
To be honest, though, I'm not sure if I can keep eating this much. Mind you, a ton of it is vegetables. My refridgerator was positively CRAMMED with veggies when we came back, much to my husband's delight. (In fact, he's been very pleased with this change altogether (excepting the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ part), which is great - I like the fact that he's so supportive he doesn't even have to try. . . . I would sure appreciate it if he'd up and dislike that gol-derned goats' yogurt, though. Talk about naaaaaaaaaaaaaaasty . . . ) However, the fact of the matter is that I'm not accustomed to being full when on a diet. That seems downright weird.
Moreover, one other thing that's bothering me about this diet thing: in the past, I've always had a spiritual, sacrificial approach to my dieting ("offering it up", if you will), along with a philosophical adjustment that involves reassessing food according to its most proper end (i.e., "I eat to live, I don't live to eat"). This diet, however, demands that I spend a huge portion of my not-working life prepping, cooking, eating, and cleaning up afterwards. As I sit here now I should be back in the room properly cleaning up after a fresh, beautiful, and very messy dinner. You see, evidently leftovers more than a day old are a big no-no, and you're supposed to rotate your food so that you never eat any one thing more than once every three days. Now, this presents something of a difficulty with the whole, "I eat to live, I don't live to eat" mantra, as that's hardly what my life looks like right now. I mean, for all I can tell, since starting this diet I live to chop, sautee, simmer, broil, scrub, and drink water - that's about it. :-/
Oh, and another thing I dislike, according to this lady, all alchohol, no matter what quantity, no matter what kind, classifies as a "toxic chemical".
FIE, I say. FIE FIE FIE. I will not tolerate that kind of slander for an instant.
Oh, and also, did I mention that I'm hungrier than usual all of a sudden, between meals? I don't know if the diet/piles of supplements has already succeeded in boosting my metabolism or what, but I'm positively starving these days. Whussup with that?
Maybe I should take that as a sign and go back to the diet that I used to lose 40 some-odd pounds way back 7 or 8 years ago, huh? . . .
I read through the book with the intention of being objective. I found the style repetitive, and the author beats around the bush for far, far too long. However, when it comes down to it she seemed to purport a logical, philosophically supportable approach to food, diet and lifestyle. That is, "moderation in everything" - not all carbs, not all proteins, no neverending regimen of rigourous exercise, but a balance of all good things. I handed the book over to the ever-skeptical-of-anything-that-smells-of-nutrition weirdos/chiropractors-and-all-such-hocus-pocus-son-of-an-M.D.-husband, and he likewise thought it sounded promising. We had two misgivings, however.
1) God did not create supplements. Why on earth would it be necessary for me to take 12 different kinds of them every day, and several of them multiple TIMES per day, just to keep my health in good order?
2) We are wary of organic food pushers. For all we can tell, organic food is just an excuse to charge a heckuva lot more money for a "specialized product". I mean, when we ask for a solid account for organic food as a necessary expense, we always end up getting a reply including something about factories and spillage, a depleted ozone layer due to out-of-control 80's hairspray, or something of the like blah blah blah, and the resultant bad soil, bad air {insert hand waving here} - and therefore POOF, the nutrients - ALL GONE. Factory spillage? All over the midwestern breadbasket, eh? Must have missed that for all the purdy sunflowers . . . (Needless to say, we're not convinced. Yeah, I know, I'm such a stubborn little skeptic.)
Nevertheless, we put these misgivings aside and sallied forth to the health food store, thinking we'd give this lady's diet thingy a week-long trial in the "all i's dotted" format, and tweak it from there if we thought things were a little over the top.
Now, we fully expected it to double our weekly grocery bill.
However, we never expected it to triple it. Yes, TRIPLE. The hubby has been having little seizures ever since.
So . . . we're going to go back to eating Cheetos and TV dinners, okay?
Oh for goodness sake of course I'm just kidding. I was raised by a nutritionist, so I could never eat that way in good conscience, let alone feed it to someone I love. All-in-all I'm actually quite good at serving up very healthy, balanced meals - the food just isn't "USDA certified organic" from the local upscale food market.
Now, how precisely my health got to be the way it is right now is probably due to a confusing conglomeration of several factors - things like moving, undergoing major life changes, liking my own cooking a bit too much and a complete lack of social outlets. (It's not because I eat like Bubba Jenkins.)
However, I must admit that I've been disgusted all week with the fact that someone finds it justifiable to charge someone that much money for rather basic food. We're definitely going back to "normal" food - I'll just make the necessary, non-organic substitutions and we can keep ourselves out of the poor house. If there's one thing I hate it's stores that sell things at higher prices than they should simply because they can get some idiot to pay that much. Well, that idiot is not going to be me. Nope. NOT ANYMORE. They're just going to have to find another idiot to pick on.
Another thing that was not made immediately apparent to us in our original read through of the above-mentioned book is that this diet requires us to eat a heckuva lot more food than either of us are accustomed to eating. I mean, just look at this plate (click on photo for mouth-watering, full resolution):
that's a LOT of food.
(Wait, you're thinking. Isn't that STEAK? What do you mean BASIC FOOD? - - Okay, so this was our one splurge item. It was allowed by the diet and BOY did it look yummy - and moreover we only bought one of them, and we split it. Although I have to admit that steak is a LOT more affordable when it's not sold by a "natural foods market". On sale at Publix is the way to go.)
To be honest, though, I'm not sure if I can keep eating this much. Mind you, a ton of it is vegetables. My refridgerator was positively CRAMMED with veggies when we came back, much to my husband's delight. (In fact, he's been very pleased with this change altogether (excepting the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ part), which is great - I like the fact that he's so supportive he doesn't even have to try. . . . I would sure appreciate it if he'd up and dislike that gol-derned goats' yogurt, though. Talk about naaaaaaaaaaaaaaasty . . . ) However, the fact of the matter is that I'm not accustomed to being full when on a diet. That seems downright weird.
Moreover, one other thing that's bothering me about this diet thing: in the past, I've always had a spiritual, sacrificial approach to my dieting ("offering it up", if you will), along with a philosophical adjustment that involves reassessing food according to its most proper end (i.e., "I eat to live, I don't live to eat"). This diet, however, demands that I spend a huge portion of my not-working life prepping, cooking, eating, and cleaning up afterwards. As I sit here now I should be back in the room properly cleaning up after a fresh, beautiful, and very messy dinner. You see, evidently leftovers more than a day old are a big no-no, and you're supposed to rotate your food so that you never eat any one thing more than once every three days. Now, this presents something of a difficulty with the whole, "I eat to live, I don't live to eat" mantra, as that's hardly what my life looks like right now. I mean, for all I can tell, since starting this diet I live to chop, sautee, simmer, broil, scrub, and drink water - that's about it. :-/
Oh, and another thing I dislike, according to this lady, all alchohol, no matter what quantity, no matter what kind, classifies as a "toxic chemical".
FIE, I say. FIE FIE FIE. I will not tolerate that kind of slander for an instant.
Oh, and also, did I mention that I'm hungrier than usual all of a sudden, between meals? I don't know if the diet/piles of supplements has already succeeded in boosting my metabolism or what, but I'm positively starving these days. Whussup with that?
Maybe I should take that as a sign and go back to the diet that I used to lose 40 some-odd pounds way back 7 or 8 years ago, huh? . . .
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Quiche
So, I've been less motivated to cook and clean lately. Not really sure why, but it's indeniable - I just don't want to do it.
I'm not sure what the solution is to the cleaning problem, but as for the cooking problem, I decided that it might be a good idea for me to take some photos of my meals so I can show them off here. :) I'll include recipes with them, too, so that you can make them yourself.
(Proviso: I am not an experienced cook, but I have gathered that I'm, nevertheless, more experienced than some, if only by exposure to food that tasted really good in my youth. Hope this is useful for someone.)
Quiche is a little time consuming in the beginning, but all the steps are incredibly easy. Moreover, it tastes wonderful, and it's the only egg-dominant meal I know of which still tastes great as a leftover (in fact, you don't even need to bother warming it up, because it's great cold - - unless eating cold food gives you the heebie-jeebies, that is. I know some people who are like that.)
First, here's my grandmother's pie-dough recipe (which I'd thought was my father's recipe, as he was primarily the one who make it). NOTA BENE: Measure everything very carefully - - this is one of those recipes where the ratios have to be just right or weird things happen.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
- - - cut shortening into flour with pastry cutter or knives used scissor-fashion (you know the drill), until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Beat 1 egg in bowl
Add 1 T. vinegar
then add 5 T. water
- - - add liquid mixture to the flour mixture. I recommend digging in with your hands instead of attempting to use a spatula - it mixes it better, faster.
Roll out the pie-dough on a VERY well-floured surface (I prefer to use a pastry cloth) until it's as thin as your tastes prefer. Roll the pie-dough up around the rolling pin carefully (I prefer to lift up the edges of my pastry cloth to support the dough and keep it from tearing) - - as if the rolling pin were a spool and the pie-dough a cloth. Then roll it back out over your pie or tart pan.
I've found this to be the most reliable way to keep anything from tearing. My mother-in-law taught me how to do it, and says she learned it from a Sissy Spacek movie. *shrug* Go figure - movies CAN teach you useful things.
This recipe makes enough pie dough for 2-3 quiches. Pie dough saves well - just put it in a ziplock and throw it in the fridge. Allow the leftovers to "thaw" a bit before trying to roll them out.
Now for the filling:
4 eggs
1 cup milk (evaporated milk or light cream works even better)
spices
- beat well -
Now, those are the only essential components of the filling. What else goes in is entirely up to your discretion, and often you can just grab whatever leftover bits of meat and veggie you have in your fridge, using spices that fit them.
Now, first, bake your pie-crust at 475 for 5 minutes (this helps make it flakey), then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and add your ingredients:
For the Quiche pictured above I added the following:
generous sprinkling of garlic powder (using the sniff-test to determine whether it was sufficiently garlic-ed) - - added into the egg/milk mixture, of course
three slices of hickory-smoked ham, diced
about 1/8 of a green pepper, diced
1 roma tomato, diced
a palm-full of mushrooms, diced
a generous amount of asagio, parmesan and romano cheese
- - - You sprinkle the latter group of incredients into your hot pie-shell and then pour your milk/eggs/spices mixture over the top.
It should bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, give or take, depending on your oven. The quiche will stop "jiggling" and a knife inserted into the center will come out clean when done.
Other ingredients I have used:
baked turkey
ground mustard
bacon
swiss cheese
red peppers
onion/onion flakes
spinach
feta cheese
chicken breast
P.S. - obviously, from the picture, I like serving this with white wine. This is highly recommended. ;)
I'm not sure what the solution is to the cleaning problem, but as for the cooking problem, I decided that it might be a good idea for me to take some photos of my meals so I can show them off here. :) I'll include recipes with them, too, so that you can make them yourself.
(Proviso: I am not an experienced cook, but I have gathered that I'm, nevertheless, more experienced than some, if only by exposure to food that tasted really good in my youth. Hope this is useful for someone.)
Quiche is a little time consuming in the beginning, but all the steps are incredibly easy. Moreover, it tastes wonderful, and it's the only egg-dominant meal I know of which still tastes great as a leftover (in fact, you don't even need to bother warming it up, because it's great cold - - unless eating cold food gives you the heebie-jeebies, that is. I know some people who are like that.)
First, here's my grandmother's pie-dough recipe (which I'd thought was my father's recipe, as he was primarily the one who make it). NOTA BENE: Measure everything very carefully - - this is one of those recipes where the ratios have to be just right or weird things happen.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
- - - cut shortening into flour with pastry cutter or knives used scissor-fashion (you know the drill), until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Beat 1 egg in bowl
Add 1 T. vinegar
then add 5 T. water
- - - add liquid mixture to the flour mixture. I recommend digging in with your hands instead of attempting to use a spatula - it mixes it better, faster.
Roll out the pie-dough on a VERY well-floured surface (I prefer to use a pastry cloth) until it's as thin as your tastes prefer. Roll the pie-dough up around the rolling pin carefully (I prefer to lift up the edges of my pastry cloth to support the dough and keep it from tearing) - - as if the rolling pin were a spool and the pie-dough a cloth. Then roll it back out over your pie or tart pan.
I've found this to be the most reliable way to keep anything from tearing. My mother-in-law taught me how to do it, and says she learned it from a Sissy Spacek movie. *shrug* Go figure - movies CAN teach you useful things.
This recipe makes enough pie dough for 2-3 quiches. Pie dough saves well - just put it in a ziplock and throw it in the fridge. Allow the leftovers to "thaw" a bit before trying to roll them out.
Now for the filling:
4 eggs
1 cup milk (evaporated milk or light cream works even better)
spices
- beat well -
Now, those are the only essential components of the filling. What else goes in is entirely up to your discretion, and often you can just grab whatever leftover bits of meat and veggie you have in your fridge, using spices that fit them.
Now, first, bake your pie-crust at 475 for 5 minutes (this helps make it flakey), then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and add your ingredients:
For the Quiche pictured above I added the following:
generous sprinkling of garlic powder (using the sniff-test to determine whether it was sufficiently garlic-ed) - - added into the egg/milk mixture, of course
three slices of hickory-smoked ham, diced
about 1/8 of a green pepper, diced
1 roma tomato, diced
a palm-full of mushrooms, diced
a generous amount of asagio, parmesan and romano cheese
- - - You sprinkle the latter group of incredients into your hot pie-shell and then pour your milk/eggs/spices mixture over the top.
It should bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, give or take, depending on your oven. The quiche will stop "jiggling" and a knife inserted into the center will come out clean when done.
Other ingredients I have used:
baked turkey
ground mustard
bacon
swiss cheese
red peppers
onion/onion flakes
spinach
feta cheese
chicken breast
P.S. - obviously, from the picture, I like serving this with white wine. This is highly recommended. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
