Mar 7, 2012
Becky is much more motivated in the morning than I; I have a hard time carving out time to cook in the AM. Her breakfast post from last week gave me hunger pangs, but alas, my go to breakfast over the past couple of years has been a lowly smoothie, with ingredients chosen to maximize your nutrient intake. I really like being able to knock out breakfast in 3-5 minutes, cleanup with just hot water, then carry it with me to have at my desk at work.
Note: If you have a body composition goal that involves losing weight, you might want to avoid smoothies for breakfast and stick with a whole food alternative**
OK, without further ado, my smoothie:
(1) Cup Whole Milk Yogurt –OR- for those who want to reduce the carb load and/or do a paleo version: (1) Cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk
(1) Cup mixed frozen berries, I use half strawberries and the other half a blend of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. Berries are packed with nutrients and especially nice because of lower fructose content. I buy both in bulk at Costco, VERY cost effective.
(2) Organic Free Range eggs… the great thing is you can’t taste the eggs but it adds a wallop of healthy protein and fat! Quality eggs are key for food safety. I’ve done this five days a week for two years and never gotten sick 🙂
(2) Handfuls of Baby Spinach.. for the nutrients!
(1) Half a Banana or a small amount of raw honey… this is the sweetener. If you left this out and went with the coconut milk you would have a VERY low glycemic smoothie, but it might not taste that great. I would just try to keep the sugar content as low as possible while retaining palatability.
And if you are adventurous: (1) Tbsp of Cocoa powder. I keep reading about all the health benefits of chocolate, so I figured this would be an easy way to add it to my diet. I would try the smoothie without this first because I still haven’t decided if I like how it tastes.
Hit puree and you are done.
I usually double this and save one for the next day; I’ve found it keeps fine in the fridge.
A couple of tips: I find it easiest to put the yogurt/coconut milk in first to measure, then push the berries down into the yogurt to then measure up to the 2 cup line in the blender. Then add the eggs and start blending. Once it gets going then I start dropping in the spinach and whatever else.
Smoothies are like DJing, the more you mix things up, the more interesting it gets. I developed this over the course of three years, if anyone improves on it, please let me know.
**The prevailing wisdom is that liquid food is a slippery slope for those trying to shed body fat. Even a comparatively protein rich and low glycemic smoothie like this will cause a much more pronounced insulin response than the same food eaten whole.
And we should all know from reading the insulin article on Wikipedia that (oh, of course you have!) insulin causes “Decreased lipolysis – forces reduction in conversion of fat cell lipid stores into blood fatty acids; lack of insulin causes the reverse.” That sentence is borderline over my head, but I am 90% sure it says that insulin makes you store fat, and that the lack of it makes you release fat for energy. A bit of a digression from my smoothie recipe but it’s something that I think is worth getting out there.
Feb 29, 2012
When I find something I like, I’m a creature of habit. Nearly every morning for the last few weeks, I have been eating sauteed bacon, onion, and cabbage topped with two runny fried eggs. It is warm and slightly salty with the chewy bits of bacon, and I love the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the softened crunch of the cabbage. Try it and see how you like it!
Ingredients (for one):
- Bacon, 1-2 slices depending on your whims
- ~1/4 onion, coarsely chopped
- red pepper flakes (optional)
- chopped green cabbage, 1-2 cups
- small bit of butter
- 2 eggs
- sea salt and black pepper
1. Set medium size skillet over medium heat and fry bacon. When most of the fat is rendered and it is slightly crispy, remove bacon from pan. Add onion and red pepper flakes (if using) to the bacon fat.
2. Cook onions for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly brown and starting to soften. Add cabbage and stir to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Crumble bacon in and cook a few minutes more until cabbage is softened to your tasting. [Sometimes I add in a dash or two of turmeric at this point, totally optional]. Pour cabbage mixture into a bowl.
3. Add some fat to the pan and fry your eggs to your liking. When done, place on top of cabbage mixture and season with salt & pepper to taste.
Feb 22, 2012
Think you don’t have enough time to have a filling breakfast each morning? Having trouble getting more protein into your diet? With a little planning and preparation, you can stock your fridge with high-protein grab and go breakfasts for 3-5 days. Some suggestions:
1) Scotch eggs (hardboiled eggs wrapped in sausage; how could this go wrong?) + a side of cooked veggies (maybe cabbage, my personal favorite) or some fruit
2) Make a giant frittata or egg bakes and parcel out the pieces to grab in the morning. The great thing about these is that you can work in just about any vegetables and meats you have in the refrigerator and play with seasonings to vary the flavor profile.
Mark’s Daily Apple has some great “on the go” breakfast ideas, as well.
Do you have any favorites?
Feb 7, 2012
The great thing about this recipe is it is a lot like Dorie Greenspan’s “Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good“: eminently adaptable to your pantry and taste preferences. You have plenty of time to make the sausage and filling while the squash is roasting.
Sausage & Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash
Serves 4
Adapted from here and here
Ingredients
- 2 acorn squash, halved and seeded
Sausage
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit or increase depending on your spice preference)
Filling
- 1 small onion (or 1/2 large), chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 small fennel bulb (or 1/2 large), chopped
- 2 apples, cored and chopped
- a few tablespoons almond meal and/or coconut flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- salt, pepper, and ground sage
1. Line a large pan with aluminum foil and bake squash, cut side down (and sprinkled with a little water), at 400 degrees F for 45 min to 1 hour, until it is tender but retains its shape.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Fry pork for 1-2 minutes (until the pan has some grease) and then mix in the minced garlic, sage, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Continue cooking until sausage is browned. Drain pork as you remove it from the skillet, leaving the drippings in the pan. Place cooked pork in a large bowl.
3. Add onion, celery, and fennel; saute 6-8 minutes, or until onion begins to soften and become slightly clear. Stir in apple and saute 2 more minutes. Pour all contents in bowl with cooked pork.
4. Combine pork, vegetables, apples, and almond meal/coconut flour. Check for seasoning and add salt, pepper, or sage if necessary.
5. Stir in the egg to combine.
6. Turn roasted squash cut side up and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a touch of sage to taste. Fill with the stuffing – pat down and make a mound to get it in there! – and loosely cover with aluminum foile.
7. Return stuffed squash to oven to bake (at 400 degrees F) for ~20 minutes or until egg is set.
Jan 19, 2012
Torn from a magazine a few months ago, this recipe had been languishing in my “to try” pile until last weekend. With cold temps descending on Charlottesville, this flavorful curry warmed me up and put the squash and potatoes from my Horse & Buggy share to good use. The flavors melded over time, making leftovers even better than the first bowl. It is in my “to repeat” pile now; let’s see if it makes it to yours!
Curried Chicken
slightly adapted from Saveur
Do the day before:
- 1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1.5″ pieces
Marinade
- 1 Tablespoon curry powder
- Juice of 1 lime
Combine chicken, curry powder, and lime juice in a bowl. Toss to combine. Refrigerate overnight.
Day of cooking:
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 scallions, chopped
- ~1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1/4-1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 1 white potato, peeled and cubed [substitute sweet potato here if you don’t do white potatoes]
- 1″ piece ginger, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 habanero chile, cut slits in sides
1. Heat coconut oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. [NOTE: do not throw away your marinade after you put the chicken in the pot!] Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to pot to cook, stirring, until golden brown (about 8 minutes). Once browned, return the chicken to the bowl with the remaining marinade and set aside.
2. Add allspice, garlic, scallions, thyme, carrots, squash, potato, and ginger to the pot. Sprinkle with curry powder (I went light, but feel free to jazz it up). Cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to lightly caramelize (about 6 minutes).
3. Add chicken, remaining marinade, coconut milk, and chile to the pot; stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through and sauce thickens up (probably about 30 minutes).
Serve with a salad, or just enjoy plain!
Note: This might also make a delicious side dish (minus the chicken) to a pork chop or a grilled steak.
Jan 17, 2012
Michael Pollan, in In Defense of Food:
“There are in fact hundreds of foodish products in the supermarket that your ancestors simply wouldn’t recognize as food: breakfast cereal bars transected by bright white veins representing, but in reality having nothing to do with, milk; “protein waters” and “nondairy creamer”; cheeselike food-stuffs equally innocent of any bovine contribution; cakelike cylinders (with creamlike fillings) called Twinkies that never grow stale. Don’t eat anything incapable of rotting is another personal policy you might consider adopting…
…Very often food science’s efforts to make traditional foods more nutritious make them much more complicated, but not necessarily any better for you. To make dairy products low fat, it’s not enough to remove the fat. You then have to go to great lengths to preserve the body or creamy texture by working in all kinds of food additives. In the case of low-fat or skim milk, that usually means adding powdered milk. But powdered milk contains oxidized cholesterol, which scientists believe is much worse for your arteries than ordinary cholesterol, so food makers sometimes compensate by adding antioxidants, further complicating what had been a simple one-ingredient whole food. Also, removing the fat makes it that much harder for your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins [A, D] that are one of the reasons to drink milk in the first case.”
Are you eating food or food products?
