Day 12 of 30- Salmon salad

This past weekend I made the commitment to join a yoga studio.  After the 20 dollar unlimited week, I decided that the people there were awesome.  The studio is great and the atmosphere is fantastic. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it felt like a huge commitment and a huge step forward in one of my resolutions.  Tomorrow is Ashtanga Tuesday, so we'll see if there's any improvement since last week :-)  I'm pretty excited.  I feel like this is a lifestyle that's been waiting to be embraced, and I hope that I can improve myself and let that improvement help others around me.

In addition to the yoga studio, I feel like my colleagues and I have accomplished an incredible feat this weekend and into today.  We began our surgery interest group tutorials this past weekend, and it was such an amazing experience.  Talk about curriculum development, preparation, and execution-- I think we managed to nail it.  We were able to integrate functional anatomy with embryonic development, gut rotation, physiology, nutrition, radiographs, clinical correlates, and demystify inguinal hernias.  The students loved it and really truly appreciated all the neat clinical cases and presentations related to their anatomy class.  Honestly, it is such a rewarding experience for those who participate-- the students and the peer educators both.  I hope it continues to go on as a successful venture and will also cross over into future years.  It's been a challenge trying not to step on toes, cross lines, and keep things under the radar, but in the end, we are students helping students help students... and nobody should try to stop that.

Meals today were pretty interesting.  And it was a fanatasically whipped up delicious treat, especially after a really long day.  Many thanks to D! Just look at all those beautiful colors!

Salmon Salad over a bed of lettuce with sliced carrots

Oven baked chicken coated in mustard and spices on lettuce with baked yams, oil and vinegar dressing

Today's is a variation of the crab salad recipe..... but made with SALMON! and much tastier :-)

Salmon salad

Ingredients

1 can salmon (remove bones etc.  removing skin gives you a prettier colored salmon salad)
1 lemon's juice
celery, chopped
green onion, chopped
dill
curry powder
2 hard boiled eggs
MAYO.

1.  Hard boil eggs.  Remove bones and all things ugly from the canned salmon.
2.  Break up salmon and eggs into small pieces and mix with lemon juice, mayo, green onion, and spices.  Salt and pepper to taste.
3.  EAT.

This salmon salad is deliciously simple and very tasty.  The tang from the lemon, crunch from the celery, flavor from the curry and dill.  it is perfection.  Serve a dollop over greens and make it a satisfying salad!  like I've said before, don't be afraid to be creative!  explore flavors!  textures!  colors!  As much as I complain about wishing I could eat that snickers bar or munch on some salt and vinegar chips..... this challenge has really forced me to TASTE my food and MAKE IT TASTY (not that it wasn't tasty before ;-D)

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!!!!!

Days 9, 10, and 11 of 30- Sweet potato chorizo scramble, Crab salad endive boats

We're 1/3 of the way done!  how fantastic! I think one good thing about this 30 day venture is that the cost of eating out has been dramatically reduced.  i have "eaten out" a grand total of twice..... to get coffee.  I am buying groceries and produce more frequently and in greater volume, and according to my budget, spending a little more as well, but it's definitely way less than what i'd spend if i had eaten out for lunch and/or dinner throughout the week. Increase in grocery spending could be due to a number of things:  1.  midwest in the winter = expensive produce, minimally local and all the local stuff is hella expensive.  really?  8 dollars a pound for brussels sprouts?  2.  my garden is not producing (duh...) so i am not making as much of my own food as i do in the summer.  3.  produce just doesn't create as many meals per dollar as other processed foods.   ex:  5 dollars of avocados will not go anywhere as far as as lets say 5 dollars of box pasta.

I've been wanting to have an indoor greens garden in my garage, and have self watering canisters set up so i can have fresh veggies throughout the winter.  the awesome thing about my garage is that it's cool enough in the winter to grow leafy greens but it's not so cold that everything dies.  If i also throw in the vermicomposting, then hell.  i might as well be my own local food source.  this may be my chance.  but i'm too afraid and poor to try.  but maybe if i save enough from these 30 days, then i'll give it a shot.  I have a drill and everything.  all i would need are the boxes.  and the dirt.  and.... the mental power to start.  SHOWING UP, BEING THERE, and taking the first step is always the hardest part.

Anyway, I think if am ever to do this again, I would change a few things:  namely- plan meals better.   Here's the great thing about a chicken breast.  you can cook it up in any way you want and it'll just take on the flavors of whatever sauces you douse it in.  but here's the great thing about a whole chicken.  You can cook up the meaty part in any way you want and it'll just take on the flavors of whatever sauces you douse it in.  AND you can take the remaining bones and make a rich  broth with which you can make a chicken soup or you can reserve some of that rich hearty broth and make other kinds of soup!  I want my food to go a long way.  I made a pot of chili on the first day.  and of course, i get bored of eating chili for dinner every day.... so chop up some veggies and throw in some kale, cook down the chili and throw in some eggs.  voila!  BREAKFAST CHILI SCRAMBLE! lucky for me, my stomach, heart, and brain are so easily tricked by small changes in the way foods are presented to me.  that old gross chili suddenly became a novel and exciting meal item.

Scrambling scrambling scrambling!

The great thing about weekends is that I allow myself much more time to be creative with my cooking.  ESPECIALLY with breakfast. i LOVE breakfast.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  It's fascinating how i've been forced to be creative with the way i assemble my meals, how i substitute things, and what flavors mix together well.  This morning, i was feeling rather adventurous.  so i made breakfast chorizo muffins.

Chorizo sweet potato muffin

 For something quick dirty, and delicious, check out today's recipies! 

Sweet potato chorizo scramble

Ingredients

2 medium sized Japanese sweet potato
chorizo (please check ingredients)
onion
swiss chard
3 large eggs

1.  Cook the sweet potato til almost tender to fork
2.  Add the raw chorizo and cook until done
3.  Add chopped onion and chard and cook until onions are slightly translucent and chard is wilted

(the breakfast muffin version is similar but you cook the veggies first, and in a large muffin tin, press the chorizo into the well until it forms a cup shape.  Press the chorizo all the way up to the brim because when it cooks, it will shrink. Fill the chorizo cups with the cooked vegetables, make sure to press it in and pack them in there and spoon egg over the vegetables. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 min.  Pop them out of the muffin tin and there you have it- a savory breakfast muffin sitting in a cup of chorizo!  it was amazing btw)

be creative.  it's pretty fantastic.

Crab Salad endive boats

Ingredients

Lump crab ~8oz
2 hard boiled eggs
Mayo
onion
salt
pepper
curry powder
Belgian endive leaves

1.  Hard boil two eggs and peel
2.  mash together lump crab, onion chopped finely, hard boiled egg and mayo
3.  add salt, pepper, and curry powder to taste!

Crab salad endive boats!  yum!

Til next time-- EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!

Day 8 of 30- Squash soup

Food is so delicious, it makes me so sad when it doesn't agree with my stomach.  Today has been kind of an off day, and I have a strange suspicion that it's roll over from yesterday.  maybe it's that massive broccoli salad i had for lunch and my stomach couldn't handle all those raw veggies.  I had not felt this much nausea since..... i dunno.  

I downloaded an app called "sleep time" and it's supposed to somehow track your night's rest.  What the app does, is uses the accelerometer built into your iPhone or iPod and tracks your movement and activity during the night.  It's a little awkward because you have to set your iDevice near you on the bed so if you roll around a lot, you might find yourself sleeping on top of your iDevice.  I was a little skeptical at first because I doubted its abilities.  but lo and behold, it looks like neat sleeping patterns!  I'm excited to try it out tonight to see how it compares to last night.  I think i was exhausted last night because i hardly remember waking up.  Most nights, I wake up frequently and have trouble falling asleep.  Maybe the firmness of my bed made my movements less notable.  who knows.  I will attribute this night's rest to a good night of candlelight flow yoga, exhaustion, and journal club the next morning. look at that!  90% efficiency.

 

sleep records!

So, today is day 8.  I thought I had been doing fairly well.  However, today's trip to the grocery store was immensely difficult.  Their open salad bar, aisle after aisle of healthy nuts and snacks and fruits,  cereals, bins of grains and beans, and yogurts and cheese galore made me weep inside a little.  A woman can only take so much temptation!  I was on a mission to find some meat to add to my squash soup, so i headed to the meat section, slowly meandering through the aisles of cereal and granola.  Even finding meat products that have been unadultered by preservatives and sugars was really hard.  I bought a pack of chorizo from an award winning local farm and i'm pretty excited about that.  I also found sausage patties that have been seasoned with only salt and pepper.  That had me absolutely thrilled until I realized, I really didn't want to eat them.

I searched more and found these fantastic chicken sausages..... seasoned with all these amazing spices and herbs.... with NO added sugar and NO wheat or soy, NO hormones, NO antibiotics..... win?  i don't consider it a win because 4 links (yeah they were about the length of my hand and as girthy as a johnsonville brat) cost me a steep 7 dollars.  NOT COOL.  these sausages better be damn tasty.

I opted to cook up some brussels sprouts and the remainder of the broccoli to pack for lunch with slices of the sausage.  Lets see how it goes.

But anyway, ridiculous cost of food aside, here is a recipe for the amazingly delicious squash soup i made.  I'm really enjoying the flavors of the foods that i'm eating with very little additives and sugars. For example, despite the trauma the broccoli salad inflicted on my tummy, the orange peppers were so sweet and crunchy, the raisins so sweet and chewy, the broccoli..... i still don't really enjoy raw broccoli.  but yeah it was all really tasty. 

Squash soup

Ingredients

maks 6 ish servings-- depending on what you call a serving

2 small-medium sized squash (similar to acorn, my mom got them from some asian grocer)
1/3 can coconut milk (what i had leftover)
1 c bone broth that I made from a previous meal
1 c water
pepper
dash of salt
seasoning*

I wish i had roasted the squash because i think it would have brought out the sweet flavor of it, but the way i made it, it still came out really well.

1.  Cut squash in half and remove seeds and butt ends
2.  Cook squash until soft and tender to fork pokes.  (i started this in a slow cooker and then got impatient so i just steamed them with some water and then added more water and broth when they were almost done)
3.  Puree in food processor or blender, adding coconut milk or broth to get a nice consistency (my processor couldn't hold all the pieces at once so i just scooped in a couple wedges at a time with some scoops of broth). I kept the skins on my squash.  it was just easier that way.  don't mind the strange color of the soup!
4.  Cook pureed squash, adding pepper and maybe some salt if you need it (my bone broth must have had a lot of leftover salt and pepper on it because the soup was seasoned so nicely). 

you can crumble on some bacon over the soup and enjoy!

*Some options for other ways to season it would be to just do salt and pepper for a more savory pumpkin soup, usually i toss in ginger and cinnamon, sometimes some nutmeg to give it a nice fall flavor.  You can probably get really creative here, making a curry squash soup or crumble in some sausage and add italian spices.  it's a really versatile base, esp with it's thick and subtly sweet flavor.  I can't wait to eat more of it tomorrow. 

Til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!!

Day 7 of 30- Salmon patties

It's been a week!  How do you feel?  I feel tired and hungry :-(  Today was a largely meat free day.  And I think a combination of ultra mega yoga yesterday + stressful day today + meager meatless meals has made me hangry. I realized I'm doing my eating wrong-- especially with my workouts. 

The idea for active individuals is to keep you fueled for performance and recovery without weighing you down with a huge meal before your exercises.

Preworkout: a small protein dense snack should be consumed anywhere from an hour and 15 min, to 15 min before your workout.  *this.  i have not been doing.  fail on my part.

Postworkout:  protein dense and starchy vegetable (like sweet potato) meal 15-30 min after you work out.  *this.... i probably also failed to do.

I think I should plan this a little better so that next time, I'm prepared.

Salmon patty

Ingredients

Canned salmon (remove juices and all bones as necessary)
1 egg
handful of finely chopped onion
dill
cayenne
black pepper
garlic powder


1.  Mash all together, mixing the egg in completely, making sure that the salmon pieces are broken up and evenly mixed
2.  Scoop a handful of salmon mix and pack into a ball, pat down to about 1" thick on a flat surface
3.  Fry up on a skillet and eat with fantastic brussels sprouts

chop onion, quarter brussels sprouts, sautee with some ghee and salt and pepper.  when cooked to satisfaction, add a splash of vinegar and eat with salmon patty.

My first patty did NOT hold together well so it became a crumbled mash of deliciousness.  the other patty.... i'm eating it for lunch with my pretty awesome broccoli salad.  Helloooooooooooooo mayo!

crumbled salmon patty with brussels sprouts and onion

Til next time, eat well and be well!

Day 6 of 30- Tuna salad with avocado

Today is day 6 of the challenge, and i must say, today has definitely been challenging.  It started with the refrigerator- it was not cold this morning.  it was cool, but not cold. so of course, I, being the food monger than I am, spent a good 20-30 min trying to move the fridge, checking it up and down and moved food to the garage instead of eating breakfast, making my coffee, and packing a lunch.  luckily, i moved all the important things to the garage and managed to throw something together really quickly.  thank goodness for leftovers.  The rest of the day seemed to progress in a similar fashion:  one thing beginning with chaos, ending in a relative state of OK..... leading to another thing that began with chaos and ended OK...... ending with the ultimate test of fat metabolism to kick in. 

I recently signed up for a week of unlimited yoga to test out a new studio.  Today, I dared to challenge myself to back to back classes:  slow flow, and the Ashtanga primary series.  together, these classes are about 3 hours of yoga-- bending, folding, breathing, stretching, balancing, sweating, and finding myself within my mind.  This is a great idea to me, however it fell at a critical time in my day!  DINNER TIME!  what is a yogi to do???  I decided to brave the classes without eating, and probably for the better.  I have no idea how i would have completed the primary series (link to the craziness HERE .... srsly it's cray) if I had eaten before class.  so of course, it meant that dinner would not happen til after class.

By the time I grabbed some groceries and got home, it was after 9, almot 9:30 and it had been...... 7.5 hours since i completed my lunch.  can you believe that???? 7.5 hours.  WTF.  that blows my mind.  how did it happen?  I HAVE NO CLUE! but it did.  and strangely enough, I was fairly OK after biking back home after 3 hours of yoga.  In an act of desperation, I poured myself some almond milk from the new container i bought and one thing really struck me-- why was this milk so sweet?  the brand was the same. the box was the same so i thought maybe they had changed something and surely enough, one of the ingredients was evaporated cane sugar.  seriously, after not consuming any artificial sweetener and not adding ANY extra sugar and only relying on the sugars of my food, that extra added cane sugar was a punch in the taste buds.  I was so torn.  Do I pretend like the cane sugar doesn't exist in that milk?  or do i go and buy another almond milk?  I caved and bought another one.  I realized that there's an "unsweetened" version that the first store didn't carry.  so that sweet delicious carton of almond milk will have to wait.  All in all, I am feeling less hungry between meals.  The habit of wanting to snack is still hanging in there, looming over my head, and I guess I do have more energy.....

Anyway, here's the dinner I shamelessly whipped up while in starvation mode:

Tuna salad with avocado (like, literally)

3 ingredients:  canned tuna, mayo, and avocado. 
mash it all together.  eat.  haha.  mayo is A-OK to eat because it's just whipped up egg whites and oil, so that was a life saver for me.  (no picture..... i ate it way too fast... oops)

Inspired by the rediscovery of mayo, i decided to prepare lunch for tomorrow: a broccoli salad

Broccoli salad

Broccoli (lots of it), orange bell pepper, sundried tomatoes, raisins, carrots.  Fried up some bacon and crumbled it in there to add some salt.  and MAYO!!!! my life saver for the day.  I'm not too sure what the deal is with bacon.  if it's OK or not for the challenge.  so to deal with that, i only put in a little and will have to research more tomorrow. 

til next time, EAT WELL and BE WELL!!!

Day 5 of 30- Moroccan inspired pork

Mondays are a strange kind of day.  The week is starting and people dread going back to work, but it's always another chance to start fresh.

It was a deligtfully warm 20 degrees F outside today with some headwinds for the entire bikeride in.  It's one thing to be a little tired when faced with this high resistance situation, but it's another to be out of breath, huffing and puffing, and sweating in this weather becaues of the wind.  Not to mention it was the day after a pretty intense weekend of yoga.  winner.  but the sun was shining and the streets were empty, and all you had to do was take a deep breath of the cold crisp morning air and life was ok again.

Today is day 5 of the 30 day challenge.  So far, it has not been difficult to keep up with the limited diet.  It's making me realize that I don't really enjoy meat all that much.  Occasionally, it's the perfect solution to the day, but to have it every day is just too much.  Maybe it's because I'm shifting from a largely meat absent diet to a largely meat present diet.  I'll be honest, the meals are tasty and they fill me up and keep me full longer, but there's an adjustment period and my body is not happy with the sudden onslaught of animal proteins.

My vegetable consumption hasn't changed much in quantity or variety, which is nice.  The hardest things have been giving up the grains (i looooooooooooooove rice..... and all grains) and exchanging my beans and legumes and dairy as a protein source for meat.  There's major temptation to just grab a bowl of rice and devour it, mixing it up with that delicious Moroccan sauce..... and eating it with the chicken and the salad.... but that'll have to wait.

In the mean time, here's a delightful recipe for last night's simple and easy to make Moroccan inspired dinner

Ingredients

Pork chops (1 serving = palm sized piece)
Coconut milk
Chicken broth
1-2 small handfuls raisins
1 small onion, chopped
Cumin
Cinnamon
Salt
Pepper

Since measuring equipment was not available, eyeball it to your hearts content and adjust to taste.

1.  Slice pork chops into strips, 1/2"-1" in width.  Salt and pepper the slices and cook fully in a cast iron skillet.
2.  Deglaze the pan with enough chicken broth and coconut milk.  Toss in a handful or two of the raisins, and the onions and let simmer for a bit.
3.  Add cumin and cinnamon.  Stir some more until the onions are translucent and fully cooked and raisins are soft.
4.  Toss the strips of meat back into the skillet and coat the meat in the sauce.

Serve with a side of some tasty vegetables.

Porky strips of deliciousness

enjoy.

til next time, eat well and be well

Looking forward

I'm trying something new.  well, i'm trying a lot of things new.  some of it scares me and it's out of my comfort zone.  we'll see if i can keep them going.

the first thing-- vermicomposting.  worms freak me out.  they're gross and scary and when they're in a huge pile they make this weird noise that sounds like death crawling under your skin.  i also don't like the way they frantically crawl up onto the cement gasping for air whenever it rains and the soil floods.  they squish under my shoes and bike tires and it makes me sad that i killed something.  but i think i need to do this.  both for myself and for my garden come spring. 

I generate a lot of organic waste.  tons of scraps from fruits and vegetables, grains, egg shells, coffee grounds you name it.  and it fills my garbage can and it made me so sad to see all that good stuff go.  I'm getting some worms from a friend and i'm excited to see how it goes.  i will ahve to touch worms.  i might throw up, but whatever.  there are grosser things in life. 

the second thing-- the whole30.  food, eating, and nutrition and have always been a passion of mine. i will admit i love food and i love eating it and making it and looking at it.  i have a strange emotional attachment to the things i make, watching people eat, the action of eating, and i love food for the flavors of it.  last semester, i was talking to a colleague about nutrition and she suggested i read this book.  "it starts with food."  i'm giving it a whirl because why not.  i should give it a try before i bash it.  if you google "whole30" usually what comes up is a lot of paleo recipes and foods.  but rather than think of it as a diet, i think about it as a means of building a healthy relationship with eating and helping my body manage its insulin spikes, reduce cravings for processed foods and sugars yadda yadda.  i don't want to think of it as some weird pretentious diet even though some may think it is.  "it's just 30 days" is what i'm telling myself.  i'm on day 4.  and so far, it's going ok. 

i think the most difficult thing so far is the fact that as an ovolacto vegetarian for nearly 7 years, processing and digesting meats these past couple days has been a little hard.  also, the whole 30 recommends that for the 30 days of metabolism managing, you should avoid the following:  snacking, gluten, grains, dairy, added sweeteners (like sugar, honey, syrups, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeterns....basically anything that's sugar or tastes sweet), beans and legumes, alcohol, and obviously drugs.  at first this was a huge pain because beans and rice were a large part of my diet.  i also love to bake which makes it hard for the gluten and sugar part.  i also love to drink and snack.... a lot.  so................. yeah.  complete overhaul.  after your body adjusts to this basic diet, they say you can begin to add things back to see how you respond to stuff.  so if dairy doesn't bother you, then go for it.  if grains don't make you feel terrible, then go for it.  and drinking in moderation is A-OK! 

these restrictions on what you can eat and when you can eat (three meals a day spaced like, what.....4 hours apart?) it seems like there would be nothing to eat at all, but the idea is to have a protein source and build your meals around that using vegetables and some fruits.  fats are encouraged in moderation and many recipes seem to love the coconut milk which is cool with me.  i'm just wondering when it'll get boring and/or frustrating.  but there are a multitude of tasty vegetables out there.  and tons and tons of different herbs and spices..... and a variety of animals that i am readjusting to eating.  i also have tons of chips, crackers, cheese, wine, candy, chocolate, jams, jellys, sauces, and everything around my house.  and maybe i just i want to eat that one piece of dark chocolate raspberry frango..... but i walk away. 

they say it's going to help you feel more energized, you'll go longer without feeling hungry because you're forcing your body to switch to fat metabolism over sugar metabolism, and they say you'll sleep better and your skin will clear up and whatever ailments you have will somehow become more manageable.  i can see how this would be helpful for a lot of people who have autoimmune, food sensitivities, weight problems, and insulin resistance.... i'm curious to see how it'll work for a relatively fit younger individual. 

i really believe in the words of hippocrates:  “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.” so i'm game to give the challenge a chance.  maybe it'll be life changing. or maybe i'll hate myself forever.  who knows. only time will tell.

the third thing:  yoga. i've been practicing for a couple years, but never really pushing myself to make it a lifestyle.  it was fun and exciting and then it plateaued to just the standard routine.  a few months ago, i started attending classes with a different instructor and man, she really pushed us to our limits mentally and physically.  and it was a fantastic change of pace.  i feel like i've grown a lot since then and i'm ready to make it a regular part of my life.  i just need to build more confidence in my body and the way it carries itself.  i want to be more comfortable doing inversions and i want to be more limber and more calm and more balanced.  so here's to a new mind body relationship.  here's to more confidence, strength, and will power.  i'm also excited to have befriended some fantastic yogis around town who i'm sure will push me to limits i have never imagined.

the fourth thing:  languages.  i just want to learn languages.  i think languages are fascinating and i wish i was better at them and knew more.  i want to brush up on the spanish and korean.  learn some german, some french, and....... maybe italian.  but we'll see how that goes.  here's to being more worldly.

the last thing:  read more books!!!!!!  i love reading.  this just gives me a reason to put down my computer and all electronics (except maybe the kindle) and let my imagination take me somewhere away from science and classes and research.  i've always been happier when i've had time to unwind, when i get caught up in a fantastic book, and when the fantastic books always lead to more fantastic books. 

yes..... i was that kid who would never leave the library or the book store...... and yes, i *might* have cried a little when borders died. 

and in the mean time, i think i'll write about my journey with food for the next upcoming weeks.  we'll see how a life without baking treats me. 

til then, happy eating.