#made raw carrot salad. bought some salad mix

[fernspirals]

Trying to take care of myself this week.

[yrbutchgf]

2 6 10 12!

2. What's your top 5 songs at the moment and why?

OOOH okay okay... i think first i'm gonna go white ferarri, been on a bit of a frank ocean kick again lately and i just love that song by him. all the background vocals make it feel so atmospheric and between that and the melancholic lyrics, it feels like being hugged very gently in a cold room. in our lifetime by texas is also up there for sure; i forget what mutual put it on my dash a few weeks ago but i've loved it since. about by another michael bc. well. i envision music videos in my head. unholy ghosts by david keenan is just generally one of my favorite songs and i'm always surprised it hasn't gotten as much play as i think it has. lastly, desert scene by uncle chris, one of my current fave long songs. makes walking home feel like a movie.

6. Describe one of your favourite people.

kinda tall, but it's easy to forget that when you're around him for some reason? he's nearly 6ft but he has 5'6" energy. really funny, great sense of style. has been working on being more earnest w himself lately.

10. Share a recipe you love.

винигрет!! it's a russian beet/root vegetable salad. learned this my sophomore year of college because my professor brought some in for a lesson on food culture. i'm gonna put it below the cut, but it includes beets, white potatoes, carrots, pickles, white onions (optional), and dill (garnish). some people also put peas in it. served cold. i've made this for other people a ton of times and i always love it. it's my go-to meal-for-friend.

12. What's your favourite season and why?

i've said this before, but i think every time a new season comes around, i end up loving it just before it ends. i don't really like summer as a weather pattern, but by the time summer's ending, i realize i'm going to miss it, for example. but i think if i had to pick, i'd go winter. as long as i get snow, at least. i like bundling up, being chilly, coming in from the cold. lovely.

ok recipe time

винигрет - ingredients: beets (whole/raw or canned/boiled, not pickled), carrots (whole), white potatoes, white onions (optional but recommended), dill pickles, fresh dill (optional but recommended, NEVER dried), white vinegar, oil (optional). may add green peas.

wash and clean your veggies. don't bother peeling.

bring a large pot of water to a boil. if you bought your beets raw/whole, boil those first, as they'll take the longest time to do so. otherwise, start with the white potatoes.

while your beets are boiling, take this time to start chopping* your dill pickles and white onions. i personally don't think you can go overboard with pickles in this salad. i've used a whole jar to make a couple tupperwares of this before. as you chop, add your ingredients to a large mixing bowl.

once your beets/potatoes finish boiling, use a set of tongs to transfer them to a large bowl of cold water/icewater. the temperature shock will make the skin of the veggie very easy to remove. this is especially satisfying for the beets lol. canned boiled beets are way more convenient time-wise but i recommend boiling the beets yourself at least once because it's just so satisfying.

in the same pot, begin boiling your potatoes/carrots. meanwhile, chop* your beets/potatoes and combine them with your pickles and onions in the mixing bowl.

do the same for the carrots.

mix everything together. at this point, you can add white vinegar and oil to taste. fair warning, have a light hand with the oil, i've learned from experience that too much oil is WAAAAY way worse than too little, and frankly this salad is delicious with none at all too.

at this point you can add some fresh dill on top for added flavor, throw in some green peas if you'd like, then cover and throw in the fridge for a few hours/overnight. serve cold.

TL;DR, boil & chop up beets, white potatoes, and carrots. chop dill pickles and white onions. combine. add white vinegar and vegetable oil to taste. add green peas, fresh dill if desired. allow to chill.

notes: you can very much just eyeball the proportions, but i will say a few things. 1) you always need less potato than you think but boiling extra potatoes is never a bad thing because potatoes are a lovely little snack. 2) the beets are always going to be the star of the show, this is a beet salad. the end result should be mostly red. 3) you can never have enough pickles in this. like, to me the two non-negotiable ingredients in this are beets and pickles. not for nothing the whole flavor profile is dill. 4) white onions are optional and so is the oil but the white vinegar absolutely is not. trust. it doesn't take much either a tablespoon will bring you so far.

if you're nervous about getting the proportions right, just google винигрет and take the image results as references.

*russians can be very particular about the way you chop things for винигрет. good knife skills are everything if you want to impress with this. the idea essentially is to cube everything (fresh dill and white onions notwithstanding). to be honest, as long as everything is relatively the same size, it'll be just as good.

can be served by itself as a hardy salad, as a side dish, or with rye toast. lovely any time of the day. couldn't tell you how long it lasts in the fridge or whether it stands up to freezing (though i imagine it would) because whenever i make it, it always gets finished too quickly to say.

[darsa81]

Sprouts Salad

Sprouts Salad

Sprouts salad made with Darsa organics mung bean sprouts, fresh veggies, herbs and lemon. This 10 minutes super quick protein packed and delicious plant based sprouts salad is nothing less than a power house of nutrition. It is refreshing, juicy and has lots of flavor & crunch. If you love making nourishing dishes that are super easy and delicious this sprouts salad is going to be your best friend! It is loaded with nutrient-dense foods that are very good for our body. More importantly this sprouts salad is vegan and gluten-free.

Prep: 5 mins | Cook: 1 mins | Total: 5 mins | Servings: 1

A sprouts salad can be made with many kinds of sprouts like Darsa organics mung bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, moth bean sprouts, horse gram, Darsa Organics whole masoor (red lentils) and black chickpea(kala chana) sprouts. In this post I show how to make the sprouts salad with mung beans.If you want to make this salad with other kind of sprouts, read my pro tips section below where I detail the process.

My Recipe

My recipe to make sprouts salad uses raw homemade mung bean sprouts, onions,tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, green chilies (or black pepper), little fresh ginger, lemonjuice and coriander leaves. To finish off sometimes I add a handful of cornflakes orroasted homemade Poha chivda, for an added crunch. This is totally optional but you willlove that if you are too bored with the basic version. On occasions I also add some chaat masala or fresh grated coconut. Even more, a lot oftimes I have made a sprouts chaat too with sweet Tararind chutney and Green Chutney.  . It tastes amazing!

Ingredients

(US cup = 240ml )

3/2 cup Darsa Organics Whole Moong Dal for Sprouts

(sprouted green gram)

1 table spoon onions fine chopped

1small tomato fine chopped

¼ cup cucumber finely chopped

1small carrot chopped or grated

1small green chili (deseeded & chopped) or crushed black pepper

2 table spoons coriander leaves or celery chopped finely salt as needed

1table spoon lemon juice or 1 tsp apple cider

¼ teaspoon chaat masala for flavor (optional)

½ cup cornflakes or wheat flakes (optional)

1table spoon coconut fresh, grated or finely chopped

¼ inch ginger grated (helps in digestion)

2 to 4 fresh mint leaves fine chopped (optional, aids digestion)

Preparation

Rinse the store bought sprouts. Bring 2 cups water to a rolling boil and add the sprouts. Turn off the stove and mix well.Drain them to a colander and rinse with 2 cups of drinking water, not tap water.Shake the colander well and let them drain fully until you prepare the rest.

Rinse all the vegetables, herbs, ginger (optional) and green chilli. Peel the carrotsand ginger Grate them.

Fine chop onions, tomatoes, cucumber, coriander leaves and green chilli. Cut thelemon.

How to Make Sprouts Salad To a large mixing bowl.

add the sprouts. Make sure there is no excess moisture.Add the prepared vegetables, ginger, green chilies and coriander leaves.

13/17 Sprinkle salt and lemon juice Toss them well.

Transfer to serving bowl and top with cornflakes or roasted poha chivda

If you want you may sprinkle chaat masala andblack pepper.

If you want you can also add chopped mint leaves and fresh coconut. Serve sprouts salad immediately.

Notes

To use other kinds of sprouts, cook them until tender. Cool and use in the recipe. Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe. For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above therecipe card.

[hecckinfood]

lesson 1: salads

I know, I know, just go ahead and lower those torches and pitchforks please.

The first moment food made sense to me was when I had almost nothing in my house but some wilty lettuce, bacon I had swiped for free from the kitchen at work, and a bottle of strawberry vinaigrette I had bought on a whim because I had a couple extra dollars to spend on something frivolous that day. I threw it all in a bowl with some of that pre-mixed salad garnish, said screw it, good enough and sat down to watch Friends for the umpteenth time.

For the first time in a month or two of figuring out this "healthy eating" thing, I felt like I had made a breakthrough.

Anything really can be a salad if you try hard enough. Lettuce isn't always necessary. In my opinion, as long as it contains a protein, a vegetable, and some sort of dressing (adding a starch is good for energy and feeling full, but not necessary), it counts.

My biggest tip: rotisserie. chicken.

Costco is famous for its $5 chicken, and I'm fortunate enough to have a membership through my job that I can use for personal purchases, but honestly most rotisserie chickens are pretty affordable, and for the volume of food you'll get off of it, it's 100% worth it.

So far, some of my most memorable attempts at salad-making have been:

Pre-cooked potatoes and chicken, raw spinach, with a dressing made from shaking together buffalo sauce, mayonnaise, balsamic vinegar, and salt in a tiny mason jar, then microwaved enough so the spinach gets wilty.

Butter lettuce, bacon bits, heaps of shredded cheese, leftover hamburger, with some random creamy dressing I found that looked halfway decent

Fruit salad. Just. a whole bucket (and yes, I do mean my big popcorn bucket) of fruit salad. Pineapple, pears, apples, grapes, oranges, whatever I could find that was either small enough to be bite-sized to begin with or that I could find pre-cut and canned. Thrown together with a bit of lime juice and honey.

Some ingredients that you can try but I've found to be either disgusting or just not worth my time/budget:

Quinoa. This stuff is great and nutritious in theory, easy to find pre-cooked, but the taste of it is weird and bitter and is so strong it ruins salads for me

Bottled dressings. Yes, they're great. But they're often full of sugar and other preservative crap. And the things I've been able to do with separate ingredients is amazing and (in my opinion) more budget-friendly. For example, I keep on hand balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar (which is also great for a heap of other things), mayonnaise, olive oil, hot sauce, and basic dried spices and herbs. You can get spices in those 4-way containers from Aldi that don't take up much room and have incredible flavor profiles.

Frozen vegetables. Again, great in theory and convenient for some, but my lazy ass would rather consume an entire jar of pickles or a can of green beans before I cracked open that bag of spinach in my freezer. Veggies are veggies, and as long as you're getting something high in fiber and dark in color, it doesn't really matter how it's stored. Canned mushrooms, green beans, carrots, kidney beans, etc. All amazing additions to a dish (doesn't have to be a salad, sometimes canned foods in salad can get a little weird) with lots of nutrition for cheap.

Anyways, that's lesson 1 on salads!! tune in next time for more of Katie's Some-Nonsense Guide to Food When You Can't Cook

[1010ll]

do you have any new recipes that you've learned recently? i remember you wrote something a while ago about carbonara and i tried it out for myself it was really fun!!

i love this 😭 im gonna write way too much idec! something that has changed since that post: my kitchen is worse. i have a horrible combi oven which has resulted in me accidentally eating raw chicken, because it had been in there for more than 2 hours at supposedly 230 °C and i was really hungry and thought it HAD to be done by then. also i have less time and less money lol. it has made me a bit sad, and less motivated to cook nice things but i also love food! which means these tips/recipes are gonna reflect that and might seem a bit dull but probably also relatable for a lot of people.   i’ve definitely made spaghetti carbonara a bit too much because it’s simple and require few ingredients! will still vouch for that one tip about substituting the bacon with roasted veggies and other types of meat.

last week i made risotto for the very first time, i think? which means i might be assuming a bit too much, but i think it’s a great dish that you can almost make with whatever you have in your fridge. i made it with roasted beetroot(needs A LOT of time to soften, lesson learned), carrots and parsley root or parsnip(idk the difference), dried rosemary and thyme, garlic and onion. i had some leftover sushi rice, which is great for risotto apparently(love versatile ingredients), roasted them in some oil and then added white wine and chicken stock and actually added a leftover parmesan rind i had in the fridge to give the ‘stock’ some flavour, a bit of nutmeg and then in the end some shredded gouda lol… it was surprisingly delicious and i didn’t even really care to cook the rice perfectly. it also tasted delicious 3 days later, which was a nice surprise. i bet there are tons of risotto recipes online, but as long as you have rice, some kind of flavoured water, i guess you could kind of add whatever you want of veggies and top with whatever herb you have around.

another type of porridge i consume a lot these days is hot oat porridge, which i’ve eaten since i was little and it was the first ‘dish’ i learnt to make myself and it’s cheap. some people really dislike the consistency and look but i don’t. it’s also very easy to customise. i put in whatever nuts and seeds(which are often cheaper than nuts) i have around: flaxseed, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds and sometimes a dollop of peanut butter. i let them simmer along with the oats. i like adding those elements because it gives it some texture and it keeps me more full throughout the day. it’s very important to me because i hate spending money i don’t have on fast-food when i’m not home and i hate being hungry. dried raisins, cranberries for a bit of sweetness and if i’m treating myself i’ll add some fresh apples cut into small pieces or some homemade berry compote(i use frozen) or brown sugar. if i had more money i’d use maple syrup but i don’t at the moment. i also add a bit of cinnamon and cardamom, dried ginger etc, whatever you feel like. some people also add milk afterwards but i’d rather spend my milk on my coffee.

a small tip: making chili flake / garlic oil. it’s really delicious, you could put it straight on pasta with some parmesan and pepper and it would be a filling meal. either chop the garlic really fine, grate it, microplane it, smash it to pieces. heat some olive oil until it’s quite hot, then remove from heat and add the chili flakes and garlic. if the oil isn’t hot enough you can just put the pan or pot back on the heat but be careful you don’t burn the chili flakes or garlic, as it will make it bitter. the longer it will toast, the less pronounced the raw garlic flavour will be, so when it smells toasted enough for your taste, take it off. i store it in a tiny glass jar and add it in stews, sauces, toasts, pizza, sandwiches etc. the flavour is very strong imo and everything it touches will smell like it. something to drink: i like strong foods and i like sour foods, which is why i like lemon/ginger based drinks. to make it even more winter friendly and easy to make, i like to grate unpeeled ginger(i hate slices of ginger, they do nothing for me and seems like a waste of ginger), lemon zest, lemon juice and mix it or blend it with some water/apple juice and honey and strain it afterwards. if you have a really nice blender you can just add all of it together with some ice. i’m basically making a large amount of ginger shot mixture. then when i feel like it, i can take some of the mixture and either drink it as it is, add more apple juice if i need a refreshing beverage or add hot water and more honey for when im cold. you could also add turmeric, chili, use less sweetener and other sorts of healthy stuff but i honestly do it for the taste so i don’t care about that that much.

something sweet: i posted earlier about cakes and someone mentioned swedish kladdkaka, which is a super delicious, cheap, brownie-like chocolate cake that is easily customized and hard to fuck up which is why i’ve made it since i was very young and is a go-to and i didn’t even know it was a swedish thing. if you like airy, light cakes this is not for your. this is sticky, sweet and almost like confection. you can add nuts, swirls of peanutbutter, tahini, actual pieces of chocolate, replace the white sugar with brown sugar, the butter with oil(you can be fancy and use a bit of olive oil) or use a mixture, brown the butter, you name it. the recipe i use is this: melt 100 g butter and let cool. mix 2 eggs + 3 dl sugar in a bowl until fluffy in one bowl. mix 1.5 dl flour, 4 tbs cocoa, 1 pinch of salt in another. mix the dry with the wet mixture and add the cooled, melted butter. this is the point where you’d add chopped nuts, chocolate etc. pour the batter into a cake tin lined with parchment (i use one that is 16 cm in diameters i think). bake the cake for around 30 mins at 150°C - 175°C degrees. check on the cake using a cake tester or a a knife. if the knife is clean after … stabbing it, it’s done! the cake will change it’s texture after cooling. this is a cheap cake, and if you like cake dough you might want to give it less time in the oven for a more fudgey texture. make it your own! there are no rules. last time i made this, i left it in for too long in my opinion but it was still delicious. also i literally have a shit oven with a round oven rack that goes in circles no matter what due to the microwave function, and the only ‘mixing’ equipment i have is a whisk and a spatula. no need for kitchen aids or  even electrical hand mixers.

something else i’ve been eating a lot for lunch is simple open faced sandwiches, and something that can really elevate those is: making your own mayonnaise(and toasting the bread). it can be challenging, but it’s really worth it imo and i can’t remember the last time i bought it in a store. i have a small plastic bowl, whisk and 1 egg yolk. something i can really recommend is buying pour snouts for bottles. i transfer my oils from their plastic bottles to smaller, old soda bottles because im cheesy like that and it’s really handy especially when making mayo. constantly whisking the egg yolk by hand and then adding the NEUTRAL oil ever so slowly. don’t be fancy and use cold pressed stuff or extra virgin olive oil because it will taste weird. i only ever fail when i try to use immersion blenders for some weird reason but i find it rewarding to do by hand anyways and i think it might be easier to make smaller portions that way. mayo needs acid and you can get it by adding regular vinegar, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice, pickle juice, citric acid dissolved in water etc. it’s really easy to customise! when im making banh mi, i add some sesame oil, soy sauce for saltiness and use lime as the acidic element. for more regular use i add a bit of mustard(also helps with the emulsion), for fries, i like adding some fresh garlic. something as simple as mayo, tomatoes, flaky salt and pepper topped with chives is really nice. i also really like using slices of boiled potatoes or boiled eggs(idk if that’s only a thing where i’m from), mayo and the chili garlic oil. it’s also great for making tuna salad. yesterday i made a really simple sandwich with a very simple tuna salad(tuna, mayo, yoghurt, lemon and pepper), arugula, basil, the garlic/chili oil, cream cheese, pickled jalapeños and onions, green peber, cucumber and tomatoes. you could leave out everything but the tuna salad and it would still be a great little meal.

another nice condiment that beats the supermarket stuff by far is homemade ‘pesto’. when i buy parsley from my local grocery store, it’s a gigantic amount that i in no way can consume in a week. first of all when buying fresh herbs i really recommend washing them, wrapping them in a damp towel and keeping them in a closed container. it will prolong their lifetime from lasting a day to a week(change the towel if it seems too wet). i once had some cilantro in my fridge for several weeks and still be fresh. anyways, when i buy that much parsley, i like to remove the tougher parts of the stem(which i use in stews/sauces! chop it up and sautee it along with garlic and onion), add literally just olive oil, water, pepper, garlic, and a bit of acid and then blend away! it keeps for a long time in the fridge and is also delicious beneath tomatoes/potatoes/cheese on open-faced sandwiches. if you want to be fancy you can of course add some type of hard cheese, nuts, seeds, dried tomatoes, whatever.

i know this is the longest text post ever, but as a last reminder, i really recommend watching pasta grannies on youtube. really simple recipes with focus on few, good ingredients that just takes some time and love.

[love-takes-work]

Salad That’s Mostly Cheese

Dude, I would have absolutely stayed for dinner to eat Barb’s cheese salad

You don’t need instructions on how to do this dudes. But I got some pictures if you want to watch me make the unseen “salad that’s mostly cheese” as described in “The Big Show.”

See more SU food tutorials!

In the episode "The Big Show," Sadie's mother dropped a line that got my attention:

A salad THAT'S MOSTLY CHEESE? What a great idea, Barb!!

Now, normally I do not make food that has only been MENTIONED. I like to see it in the show and create it with similar presentation. But since the kids did NOT stay for dinner, we never saw Barb's incredible salad. How rude!

Time for me to get busy rectifying this.

To make the Salad That's Mostly Cheese, first you need a ginormous bowl.

It's a salad, and most salads will start with some kind of lettuce or leafy green. I had some huge spinach leaves so I decided they could be my base. Washed 'em and threw 'em in.

What other yummy salad things could I make? Oh, I know: I have some raw mushrooms that need to get eaten up. Let's add those.

And how about baby carrots? I still have lots of carrots from my last bag.

And I don't know about y'all but I LOVE sunflower seeds on a salad. (Don't judge me for my bag of seeds. They have a bow because my sister put that in my stocking at Christmas. We don’t really understand stockings. We’re Jewish.)

So. Here is the very small salad base before the cheese influx begins.

For cheese...let's start with four types.

I don't wanna just throw cheese in and call it a recipe, so I think I should get creative. Let's start with some artistic strips for the Cheddar cheese.

Next, I want my Swiss cheese to be in triangles.

My next type is Laughing Cow creamy Swiss. I was originally planning to cut these, but they're very soft, so I'm just going to literally throw in entire wedges.

And finally, the Parmesan I bought was already shredded, so all I need is a sprinkle.

And salads should ideally be dressed, so...what better dressing for a Mostly-Cheese Salad than BLUE CHEESE??

(I just used a dry mix and made it in a bowl.)

Blorp.

Here is the salad now.

Time to toss the salad!

Hmm. Messy.

I added a little more Parmesan.

Looks pretty.

Now here is a single serving in a salad bowl.

It was a delicious dinner for me tonight and I have more for another time stored in the fridge!

THANKS BARB!!

See more SU food tutorials!

[ja9doeswhole30]

Best laid (meal) plans

Hi friends. 

I’ll be honest. Sitting down to meal plan was way more stressful than I anticipated.

As I’ve indicated before, I consider myself a pretty capable cook. That said, I’ve never been a follow-the-recipe kinda gal. Instructions are important insofar as oven temperature and cooking times, to make sure the food gets done properly, but I’ve always viewed seasonings and other minor ingredients as mere suggestions. At the same time, however, I’m in a position now where I need to cook plain main dishes so as to avoid the wrath of my children. (Heaven forbid 5yo see an herb in her food. If only she knew that I marinate meat before cooking it.)  

Thus, looking through Whole30 cookbooks for meal ideas proved entirely overwhelming. At first glance, I wanted to plan on making alllll the delicious food, but the more I looked at recipes the more I felt so daunted by the long lists of ingredients and instructions. In addition, inventing a boring/plain version of each dish seems both challenging and counterproductive.

Furthermore, despite my prior insistence that I’m always in the kitchen, I do a lot of dinner-cooking in advance. For example, on Sunday I’ll make enough main dish food for that night as well as Monday and Tuesday, and however many sides (e.g. roasted veggies & quinoa) as I can manage. On Tuesday I make main dishes for Wednesday and Thursday, as well as more sides, and so on. Not cooking from scratch every night is the only way I can actually get the daytime dishes done before dinner, and therefore we don’t have to spend as much time cleaning up the kitchen after putting the kids to bed. Also, by Thursday or Friday we're usually just reheating everything, which is a nice reprieve at the end of the week. 

I had been hoping to follow the Whole30 7-day meal plan for the first week of the program, but looking at it more closely nearly sent me into a panic. While the plan builds in space for leftovers, and following it would mean a pre-set shopping list and therefore less thinking, the above issues made me realize that it’s not feasible in my situation. If I was cooking for myself, I might be able to manage it, but given how many meals I need to make in a week, and the other factors involved in feeding my household, the pre-set plan simply isn’t feasible for me. 

This realization was somewhat liberating, but it created a subsequent panic a la “okay, now I need to plan a whole week of meals from scratch AND make up my own shopping list.” 

After pouting to myself for roughly three minutes, I made a plan and got started. First, I looked through the books and picked out main dish (a.k.a. protein-based) recipes that mimic those I usually make. Then, plotting out four meals per day, I came up with a main dish schedule for the first five days of the program. I had to factor in the best way to cook them in advance and re-use them for multiple meals, while being mindful that I can’t plan to cook meat on Sunday and plan to eat it - safely - on Friday. I also tried to mix things up so that I’m not eating the same protein twice in the same day. 

As for the other parts of the meals, the Whole30 overlords advise filing the rest of your plate with vegetables. This is what I usually do anyway, so for now I’ve decided to eschew any overly ambitious side-dish recipes and simply prepare my usual slew of roasted vegetables to compliment the proteins. And, because I don’t want them to hate me, I’ll also make the kids some noodles or quinoa. 

They also tell you to mix in a side of fruit twice per day (easy enough), and add a healthy fat to each meal. That last part felt strangely intimidating as well because many of the approved fat sources are items I don’t normally have around. Hence, my first grocery store excursion on Thursday was Trader Joe’s, where I picked up some coconut oil, black olives (their brand seems to have less sodium than others), sunflower seeds, and raw cashews. We normally get Costco’s brand of mixed nuts, which are roasted in peanut oil and therefore not compliant. Also, whereas I originally planned to clarify my own butter, I also sprung for a small container of ghee. Lastly, I went down the freezer aisle and grabbed a few packages of frozen chopped spinach and riced cauliflower, just to have in case of a vegetable emergency. 

Next, I made off for the produce market. Seeing that it was Thursday afternoon, I did so realizing that I’ll probably need to go back on Monday or Tuesday to replenish certain items (mainly fruit). Further complicating the issue is that we don’t plan to be home much over the weekend, meaning I needed some veggies to cook for Thursday and Friday dinner, and some to prepare on Sunday for that night and the beginning of the week. 

With those considerations in mind, I filled my cart with our usual haul of grapes, apples, oranges, bananas, pineapples, a cantaloupe, zucchini, and brussels sprouts. I also added in several sweet potatoes, a few beets, a spaghetti squash, an acorn squash (all of which used to be in the rotation but got away from me), a big bag of white potatoes, three pints of grape tomatoes, and two bags of mini sweet peppers. I skipped eggplant, since I didn’t anticipate cooking it before it went bad, and kirby cucumbers, because I still have a few from last week to finish before they spoil. We also have onions and carrots left over. And I didn’t get a butternut squash because, in anticipation of Whole30, I recently made a big pot of squash soup and froze individual portions of it - enough to get me through the first two weeks of the program, at least. 

Friday, I set off for our usual chain supermarket to purchase all the meat needed for those first few days of the program - 3 lbs. ground turkey, 5 lbs. beef brisket, and 10 lbs. of chicken breast (some of which I’ll freeze for later). We already have numerous wild salmon filets in the freezer from a previous Costco run, so I didn’t buy any fish aside from a can of tuna as a backup last-resort protein. I also grabbed some apple cider vinegar, called for in a balsamic chicken recipe I plan to make, and some compliant salad dressing. 

Friday evening, I roasted some chicken thigh fillets I bought earlier in the week, leaving a few in the fridge to have for Sunday and Monday. On Sunday, I’ll make balsamic chicken and turkey meatballs, along with the spinach frittata for breakfast and a bunch of veggies. I’ll probably cook the brisket in the slow cooker on Tuesday, but for dinner that night I’ll make salmon, saving the brisket for Wednesday’s dinner. Since the main dish will already be done, Wednesday will be a good time to cook additional veggie sides. 

This is what my meal plan looks like so far. Each night, I’ll probably fill in the next day’s side dishes, to avoid any surprises or aimlessness the would come from being unprepared, and because I can never let well enough alone I’ll probably adjust some of the proteins as I go along. Regardless, it definitely does feel good to have a plan. 

[lowcarbnutrients]

21 Ways to Get More Protein In Your Diet

As among 3 macronutrients, healthy protein actually forms the foundation of our bodies. A few of its roles consist of producing and also repairing tissues, improving energy, regulating hormonal agents, as well as guarding a strong body immune system by warding off illness and also condition. However, for a few of you, it can be challenging to obtain more healthy protein in your diet.

With numerous crucial roles to play, discovering simple and stress-free means to obtain more protein in your diet plan can be key.

21 Ways to Obtain More Protein in Your Diet Plan Daily

Flavour your meals with hummus: wonderful on salads, in stir-fries (as the base of the sauce), as a drizzle over soups, or the classic combination dipped with raw carrots, cucumber or various other veggies.

Use unsweetened nut butter as a spread on tortillas, salad wraps or sandwiches in location of butter or margarine.

Try mixing hemp hearts, which are a total plant-based protein, into healthy smoothies and other drinks. I am fairly partial to my much-loved scrumptious, healthy, dairy-free Matcha Tea Cappucino.

Mix grass-fed collagen powder right into your full-fat coconut, almond or various other dairy-free yogurt.

Top your salad or smoothie mix dish with chopped nuts or seeds of your choice.

Supplement your normal food selection turning with fresh or plain tinned fish. Sardines, mackerel, salmon, herring as well as anchovies are superstars when it concerns omega-3 fatty acids as well as easy-to-digest protein.

Keep homemade path mix in your desk at the office. I advise one that is heavier on the nuts with limited dried out fruit, specifically if you battle to fend off sugar cravings.

Love lentils! They come in all colours and can be utilized in everything from your major meal to treats, morning meal or treat. Try them in this salad or this no-meat "meat" loaf. You can also utilize them in baked items - like these butternut squash and lentil muffins.

Experiment with pizza crust made from veggies and almond flour or an additional nut-based flour. These can be a protein-packed alternative to conventional gluten-free pizza crusts (which are often starch-based). Get a tutorial regarding just how to make healthy pizza here.

Whip ripe avocados up right into delicious chocolate pudding. At concerning 3-4 grams of protein per avo, they create a yummy healthy and balanced snack or dessert.

Throw some hard-boiled agitate your lunch salad. (Leading pointer: my much-loved method to prepare "hardboiled" eggs is not by steaming in any way, but by steaming!)

Replace your rice with quinoa, another total plant-based protein.

Stick with the standards: grass-fed beef, or pastured chicken or turkey are constantly high-protein alternatives yet rather of consuming them plain, try wrapping them up! Lettuce or high-protein wraps made from nuts, seeds or vegetables can supply easy-to-digest healthy protein AND ALSO extra veggies (with all-important mini- as well as phytonutrients). You can also serve them in among these 6 gluten-free options to bread.

Enjoy edamame in salads, soups and snacks. Like hemp as well as quinoa, it's a complete protein and it supplies 18-22 grams of protein per cup.

Add homemade fermented nut or seed cheese to anything and everything! Seriously, if you are dairy-free (and also if you're not, but you just want to try something brand-new), nut cheese will certainly become your new BFF. It's SO good.

Enjoy chia seeds in puddings or parfaits. The possibilities are endless due to the fact that these protein-rich seeds require to any flavours you can toss at them.

Toss your home-popped popcorn with dietary yeast, a cheesy alternative for milk that uses a remarkable 8-10 grams of healthy protein per 2 tablespoons.

Blend plain bitter healthy protein powder into soups, smoothies, granola bars and even iced coffee. Both plant-based (vegan or vegan) and also animal-based powders can offer usable as well as versatile protein.

Sneak spirulina into your smoothies. Although for some it has actually an obtained preference, at more than 60% healthy protein for its weight, spirulina provides an impressive variety of minerals and vitamins, along with its important plant-based protein.

Replace store-bought chips or crackers with roasted chickpeas. They are likewise stellar on salads, soups and also stews!

And lastly, consider exactly how you might pack protein into every treat, meal or flavour-boosting clothing - also sauces! This Cashew Catsup is loaded with flavour and like a little black dress, it goes well with practically everything. And also you'll wish to dollop this Maple Tahini Drizzle on your meals with abandon.

How do you sneak added healthy protein into your day?

[kriskebob-blog]

Day 2: In which the real challenge is, can she keep it to one post this time?

Hello again friends. I have buddies who have been writing partners with me over many years, some spanning back to freshman year of high school. Any of them can tell you that I tend to provide a LOT of background information and context when telling a story. If you’ve made it with me this far, you too are now beginning to understand my verbose tendencies. But I’m really going to try to keep Day 2 contained to a single and readable blog post. Let’s see if I can pull it off. 

To my pleasant surprise, I sprang out of bed at my 6am alarm with no problem in spite of going to bed a bit late. I was excited to get this burrito bake thrown together and ready for Sam. Since I had prepped all the components the previous night, it didn’t take much time at all to assemble the burritos. I did have to get out the bullet to crush up some pumpkin seeds, which Dr. G advised me would make for a pleasant crunchy topping. I winced as I hit the pulse button a few times, hoping I wasn’t waking Sam. 

Once more I was assembling wraps. Here’s how they looked before I folded them over: 

Please note I prepped them literally on my stovetop because I HAVE NO COUNTER SPACE. 

Anyhow. They were definitely super full but since they only needed to be gently folded over and then placed seam side down, I got them into the baking dish no problem. Topped them with a few scoops of salsa and the pumpkin seeds and into the oven they went. Once they were out, they also got topped with some avocado. 

Here’s a few pics of the finished product. Please forgive the fact that I know nothing about photography, especially food photography. Like, does the rule of thirds still apply? I’m thinking no...

I proudly told Sam breakfast was ready and we devoured these. And... I have to say... it needed salt! Does this Dr. Gregor guy really know what he’s talking about? I couldn’t help but wonder. Sure, he knows about medicine and nutrition and stuff, but food needs salt, and nutritional yeast is a pretty unconvincing substitute on the palate. Hmmm. I decided I might have to do some further digging on this guy and his philosophy. I’d bought his cookbook pretty impulsively, after all. Don’t get me wrong - there were a lot of tasty things going on in this recipe, but I definitely felt like it needed more seasoning. Even a bit of hot pepper flakes or something would probably have helped distract my mouth from the lack of sodium it’d become so accustomed to. 

Sam went on his way to work and I settled in to relax with some trashy TV for a few hours. I felt like I’d earned it after all my running around yesterday, dang it! (Parents everywhere roll their eyes... I know, I know.) I got hungry around 10:40 and ate a banana and felt like I deserved an award for my healthy choice. When lunchtime rolled around, I didn’t really feel like assembling another wrap and we had a lot of shredded lettuce left over, so I put the chickpea mixture on top of that and had a salad instead. I realize I never actually commented on how the curry chickpea wraps came out last night. They were delicious! The sweetness of the apples and raisins helped distract me from the lack of salt, hah. Honestly a really nice combination of textures and flavors, and easy to make. I’d make it again.. probably with more salt but anywho...

Lunch was over and this was around the time I’d normally indulge in some chocolatey granola. I could feel the craving for chocolate kicking in, hard. Alright. Time to put together these no-bake brownies. This was another recipe that was super simple so long as you had a food processor or some kind of chopper - you literally just pulsed chopped walnuts with a handful of pitted dates, then added in a bunch of cocoa powder, and boom. “Brownies.” Dr. G. advised I use parchment paper to press this rather crumbly mixture into a square baking dish, so that it wouldn’t stick to my fingers as I evened it out. Worked like a charm. I pressed some chopped pecans into the surface, covered the pan in foil, and put it in the fridge. Dr. G. said it would need an hour to set before eating. Sigh. That was a long time to wait when I wanted chocolate now. I settled for some strawberries instead for the time being and began looking at the recipes I’d be cooking that night for dinner.

And thank goodness I did, because there were several things I needed to start prepping early. I would be making zoodles with a cashew cream sauce, which meant I needed to put the raw cashews in water ASAP so they’d have enough time to soak before dinner. Took two seconds, but you can see that you need to really plan out your meals and read the recipes well in advance if you’re going to cook this way. I also would need 1.5 cups of homemade vegetable stock or  water. Okay, I definitely didn’t want water in place of that much stock. I flipped to the vegetable stock recipe. It looked very simple to throw together, but it would need an hour and a half to simmer. I looked at the clock. About 1:20. I could’ve started it then, but I really wanted to get to the library. 

See, I’d done a little research after lunch. I wanted more detail about Dr. G’s nutritional philosophy than this cookbook alone could offer me. Nikki had told me about the book he’d written and I had seen it on Amazon. But I didn’t really want to pay for it, and also I wanted it now. It wasn’t available at my local library, but luckily a quick search of their databases revealed that the next town over had it. 

I drove on over to Tolland Public Library, feeling like an interloper with my Vernon library card, but it didn’t matter. I walked out triumphant and more surprised than I should have been at how huge the book actually was. I got home and got to work on throwing the veggie stock together.

This is before I added parsley and some other seasonings, but you get the idea. Took probably ten minutes tops to throw together. I set it to simmer and settled into my armchair to start reading Dr. G’s book. 

I was hooked. A professional sharing their expert knowledge on the science behind living a longer and healthier life is like catnip to me. I was thoroughly bummed by this part, though: To see what effect an increase in meat consumption might have on disease rates, researchers studied lapsed vegetarians. People who once ate vegetarian diets but then started to eat meat at least once a week experienced a 146 percent increase in odds of heart disease, a 152 percent increase in stroke, a 166 percent increase in diabetes, and a 231 percent increase in odds for weight gain. During the twelve years after the transition from vegetarian to omnivore, meat-eating was associated with a 3.6 year decrease in life expectancy. 

Damn it, Dr. G. You’re telling me I can’t eat a burger even once a week without being way more likely to die a prolonged and terrible death one day?? I hemmed and hawed as I read on. Eventually my stock was ready to take off the burner and cool. The next step was to put it in the blender and liquefy it. It made so much I actually had to do this part in batches. Dr. G. also directs you to take out a small amount and mix in 2 tablespoons of miso, which helps add some sodium but in a healthier way, since soy is good for you or whatever. Awesome. My stock was done. I put that away and went back to reading for a little while. 

Alright, still with me? We’re almost there! Just gotta get through dinner. According to Dr. G’s meal plan, this dinner should contain two parts: a huge salad, and also the zoodles with the cashew cream sauce. I honestly wasn’t sure where to start and decided to make the cashew cream sauce first. It was pretty easy - mostly ingredients I already had on hand at this point, such as the stock, blended lemon, yeast, miso, etc. I just had to chop up half an avocado and toss it in and boom, I had my cashew-cream sauce. The next part of this dish was to spiralize the zucchini and steam it lightly. Once that was done, you would combine it with the cashew sauce and some chopped grape tomatoes in one big pot just long enough to heat it through. “Avocado-cashew alfredo” is what Dr. G called it. He also suggested you sprinkle it with “nutty parm” when it was done. Turns out nutty parm is a big heaping handful of nutritional yeast blended with a few handful of nuts. It does not taste nearly as good as actual parmesan cheese, but you knew that already, didn’t you? 

The salad was pretty simple too. Chop up a bunch of lettuce, mix in some baby spinach, some shredded carrot, more grape tomato, etc. The only part that took any extra work was making the dressing. I was really skeptical of the dressing because it had no oil in it. Just water. As a woman who married into an Italian-American family, the lack of love for EVOO in this book hurts my heart a little. But again, no half-measures! The dressing’s base consisted of water.... and then you add raw garlic, yeast, some almond butter, blended lemon, our old friend miso, fresh parsley, turmeric, the savory spice blend, and “salt free stone-ground mustard”. I don’t know what magical land Dr. Gregor lives in where he can purchase salt-free condiments - I stopped at the health food store on my way back from the library and even their condiments still have some salt. I just used the coarse-ground mustard I already had on hand. Finally, the salad also called for a healthy sprinkling of hemp hearts. 

Here are the finished products:

The verdict? Delicious!! Both dishes! I think it helped that I used normal-people mustard for the dressing, and I also added a healthy sprinkling of red pepper flakes to the zucchini dish while it was heating through. And honestly, apart from having to make the stock and be sure to remember to soak the raw cashews early in the day, this really didn’t take more work than a lot of other veggie-forward dishes I’ve made from omnivore recipe books. Less, even, because I didn’t have to worry about handling or cooking meat safely. 

I warned Sam about 5 times that there was dessert “but not like, a normal dessert. Don’t get too excited. It’s a healthy one.” We each took a tiny brownie square (Dr. G advised cutting the already small pan into 16 “brownies”... hilarious) and munched on it, eyeing one another as our respective brownies crumbled between our fingers. “Well?” I asked. “It tastes healthy,” he nodded. “Ha. Sorry,” I said. “No, it’s not bad. I do actually like it, but it’s kind of hard to eat without an egg to hold it all together,” he told me. I’d have to agree. 

And that’s a wrap on Day 2, guys! Since I didn’t have my lascivious FRIENDS luring me out of my healthy haven with their Cheetos and Harry Potter games (love you Tina :* ) I was able to grab some unsalted peanuts when I got my late night snack craving, and that was that. A day of fully whole-foods, plant-based eating, and it wasn’t that hard at all honestly. See you on the Day 3 post! 

 Gadget rec of the day: A spiralizer! You can get one for like 20 bucks on Amazon and turn vegetables into long ribbons that can almost trick you into thinking you’re eating a tasty bowl of pasta. 

Music rec of the day: “Entropy” by Grimes