Category: Food and Drink
I did a quick check-in with Trish of ProjectTrish fame earlier this week after tallying a few days’ food logs. Turns out, she is quite low on calories and needs to bulk it up. The best way to do this is with well-balanced snacks. For example, don’t just have crackers, have crackers with some light cheese and a fruit, or crackers with hummus and some raw veggies. Heck, if it tempts you, even a half a sandwich, a cup of soup, or a small “chef’s salad” are perfectly-balanced, portable healthy “snacks.” Since I have been keeping my eyes open for “Omnibuses of Snacking,” this one caught my eye- A Month of 100 Calorie Snacks from MyRecipes. (Don’t be fooled by the name- the crap you’ll find in that ever-expanding processed shit aisle at the supermarket has nothing on real, clean “actual food” snacks!)
The larger part of the battle is always being armed with convenient snacks, so I personally plan to spend some time nosing through these recipes.
What is your favorite balanced snack?
An easy one for dinner tonight: I made a quick soak for some nice, lean pork tenderloin-
1 TBS Garlic (I like to cheat and keep the Christopher Ranch stuff in the fridge for quickie marinades)
1/2 TBS Ginger (same deal on the Christopher Ranch, I got sick of never having ginger when I needed it- and I never need more than just a smidge.)
1 TBS Hoisin Sauce
1 TBS Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 TBS Sesame Oil
Pepper and one dried red chili, because that’s just how I roll.
Chopped green onion
I put it all in a bag with the tenderloin and let it soak while I went to get my own tender loin all rubbed up. Came home and threw it on the grill with some sweet potatoes and, eventually, some green beans doused in a little Tony Chachere’s and olive oil.
Easy, balanced, tasty, done with mere minutes of active prep and naught but a cutting board for clean up! Woop!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a dinner because we’ve been out of town. This means lots of eating out, so let me catch you up on the eating-out options I’ve chosen the past few days:
- Friday: Dinner in Tahoe was a cup of chili with the cheese removed and a large garden salad (The Bridgetender garden salad is to die for!) I love their ranch dressing because it is nice and runny, so all I need is 1 tbs and then I splash vinegar on over top to make it go farther.
- Saturday: Dinner back in San Francisco was Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack- a place down the hill from the FitLife compound that, frankly, has been a big dissapointment on all other visits. So much so that we often curse the place for taking up prime and convenient real estate with its sub-par food. This time, we stuck with the core competency- Spaghetti and Meatballs- and it was pretty tasty. The only “healthy” thing that went on with this meal, though, was that I sliced my plate of noodles ‘n’ ‘balls in half and took the rest home.
- Sunday: Tired from a 15 mile run, we went to Tacos Los Altos on Cortland in Bernal. I had the carne asada plate (generally, you’ll get a better nutritional bargain this way than ordering, say, a big-ass burrito, though it can be pricier.) They make their own corn tortillas, which I love. I wish I’d had the energy to make my own chips for this meal, though, as eating fried chips is such a rip-off now that I have perfected the baked chip at home. Still, I counted out my 10 chips and moved them to my plate to beat the mindless hand-to-mouth urge, and used my own light sour cream vs. the full-fat I could have gotten from the restaurant. Some things just aren’t worth the extra fat. (And, conversely, some things are. Figure out which things you must have the full-fat version of, and eat those things in moderation but enjoy every bite. If it doesn’t matter so much, like lowfat vs. full fat sour cream on a plate of full-flavoured Mexican food, opt for the lowfat.)
- Monday: We decided to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather and dine al fresco at Savor. I had the large salad with pears, Gorgonzola, walnuts and roasted red peppers, plus a salmon fillet. The good thing about Gorgonzola and other full-flavoured cheeses is that a little goes a long away! Again, I did the trick of using just 1 tbs of full-fat dressing and then dousing it with plain vinegar.
Despite our tasty outings, I do feel it is infinitely easier to keep an eye on what you’re eating when you cook for yourself, so the rest of the week is strictly homemade!
Man, I love Taco Night. I had a great deal of success a few weeks ago baking my own crispy taco shells using King Size white corn tortillas, some olive oil spray, sea salt and a mini-muffin-tin/butter-knife contraption to hold them in taco shape while they baked. Last night, I nearly burned my face off with my head in the oven trying to replicate, so I think I need to order one of these.
That said, taco night was still a hit. I pounded the heck out of some flank steak (which is a nice, lean cut.) Squeezed a lime over it, rubbed it down with some chili powder and salt. Slopped it around in a few squirts of Agave Nectar (a nice, low glycemic index, natural sweetener) and seared it off to medium-rare. Served in the baked taco shell with lettuce, tomato, lowfat jack cheese, green onion, cilantro and diced jalapenos and a nice spoonful of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt (my favorite fat-free sour cream stand-in.) Rob had light sour cream- Clover or Daisy brand ONLY- with his. And, on the side, black beans cooked with some Tony Chachere’s and slightly squished.
Rob takes his Taco Night with a side of chips- White Corn tortillas spritzed with some Spectrum organic olive oil spray and crunchy substantial chunks of ground sea salt. Bake directly on the rack in the oven at 450, flipping as need be, until lightly browned. They may be a little wobbly when they first come out of the oven, but will crisp up nicely. These fresh, baked chips kick the pants off of any full-fat packaged chip, especially served hot out of the oven with guac!
I realized on the way home from work that I am completely chickened out. So tonight I had a good ol’ fashioned burger. Well, in as much as lean ground beef (check the label- 93% ground beef is just as lean as Jenny-O’s “Lean Ground Turkey”) and Jarlsberg Light cheese on Orowheat Double Fiber Bread is “ol’ fashioned.” Of course, it was loade dhigh with lettuce, tomatoes, red onion and sprouts. I also had some baked sweet potato fries. Yum!
Last night at FitLifeSF HQ, I made one of my favorite meals, but I have to say it didn’t go as well as hoped. This is part of the reason I’m so glad to be committed to this feature on the blog- it forces me to actually make note of what I’m putting in the pot so that I might be able to recreate things with some accuracy. I have several “favorite recipes,” among them Chicken Lettuce Wraps and certain soups and stews that are knock-your-socks-off awesome sometimes, and “OK but not great” others.
As for dinner last night? It was was a Chicken Curry with garbanzo beans and spinach. Usually, I can make a super yummy/spicy “Chicken tikka masala” knock-off. In fact, for the month of October, it was my pre-and-post long run staple. Last night, though, I think a new brand of garam masala and too much tomato puree left me with something not as wonderful as I’d have liked. I am committed to spend some time getting the recipe repeatable for y’all.
In the meantime, here is a recipe from Cooking Light for Murgh Makani, a reasonable substitute, which is a tikka masala-esque Cashew Chicken dish. When I made this recipe, I increased almost all of the spices. (Also, note that this recipe is not nearly as “healthy” or “clean” as the curry I made last night. Hence this one is way tastier, but not exactly cleansing food. As an aside, this is my biggest gripe about Cooking Light magazine– if you really dig into it, the recipes aren’t super healthful, and they shrink the serving sizes to next-to-nothing to make the numbers acceptable.)
As a wonderful balance to our less-than-stellar curry night, we were watching Superstars of Dance last night to catch the Shaolin monks when, much to my surprise, there was my old intern, Mythili Prakash, demonstrating bharata natyam dance for team India!
Simplicity rules the day tonight at the FitLifeSF roost. Rob needed more protein to round out his day, so it’s chicken breasts with Tony Chachere’s and lemon, quinoa (a high protein whole grain), and broccoli with Parmesano Reggiano.
Inspired by a recipe in the Jan/Feb issue of Clean Eating magazine, we had Lemon Artichoke Chicken tonight. Here’s how it went down:
- Prep and steam two artichokes, quartered, with some lemon and preheat the oven to 450
- Pound two chicken breasts thin and set aside with salt, pepper and the juice of half a lemon
- When the artichokes are nearly steamed (About 40 minutes or so), take off the heat
- Dredge chicken breasts in a little whole wheat flour seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano
- Add a 2- second spray of olive oil to an ovenproof sautee pan. When hot, brown chicken on each side and remove from pan (it will not be cooked through.)
- Add one leek, sliced and two cloves garlic, crushed to the pan. Sautee until barely soft. Add about a cup of chicken stock and the juice of one lemon. Place the chicken breasts back in the pan and arrange the artichoke wedges around.
- Sprinkle with about 1/4 cup of Whole Wheat Panko and a handful of capers over everything and pop it in the oven
- Cook for about a half an hour, or until the top is browned
- Remove pan to the stovetop over med/high heat. Remove the chicken and artichokes, add about a half cup of wine, the juice of another half lemon, plus salt, pepper and chicken stock to taste. Once it comes to a simmer, add back in the chicken breasts and simmer for 3 minutes or so until the sauce thickens up some. Serve with brown rice.
I had 4 oz of breast, a whole jumbo artichoke, 1/2 cup of brown rice, and my calorie tracker puts this at only about 400 calories. In fact, I need to research some “clean eating” desserts in order to get to my 1500 cals for the day!
Originally I was going to be the “food maven” here at FitLife HQ, and, I have to admit, I’ve slacked off in my duties (at least as far as posting- I think Rob can attest I’ve been keeping it up behind closed doors.) As both of us are using 2009 as the year we really commit to the “eating right” part of the program, I figured it’s time to step up the food-related content on the site.
Lately, I have had two “weaknesses,” though both are pretty darned healthy when you get down to it. First is a kind of light version of Chicken Tikka Masala with nonfat yogurt, garbanzo beans and spinach, plus TONS of heat. Yum! This has become my total post-long-run craving. I am getting closer to perfecting it and will post a recipe once I am totally comfortable with it.
Second… I was struck with a fierce craving the other day for the kinds of big-ass frozen bananas you get at Disneyland and Magic Mountain. Usually these have a double-layer of chocolate and whole candy bars and Jet Puff’t marshmallows hanging off. I decided to be a bit more conservative in my approach, thus creating the perfect post-run snack. After all, dark chocolate is full of flavinoids and antioxidants. This is so dark that it has cocoa nibs still in it. I want to say it was 80-something percent, simply melted in a bain Marie and smeared on a banana that had been pre-frozen for a few hours. Bananas are a great source of potassium, and walnuts are full of Omega 3 fatty acids. A nice sprinkle of red sea salt serves to bring out the flavor of the chocolate and the nuts, plus salt is a must in any good post-run snack.
