I’ve decided next week will be food week around here. Just because I have lots and lots of recipes in my head I want to share. And also because when I’m cooking, that’s when I’ve ever felt the most creative in my life. So it just made sense to me.
So look for lots of fun and new pescatarian recipes next week! (I’m looking at you, Doniree, even if you are having a blast at SxSWi)
So, lent is upon us. For those who don’t know, I’m a non-practicing agnostic Jew who dislikes everything about religion. For the most part. While I do have a deep appreciation for people who do find faith and solace in practicing religion, and I see how it brings people together in a community (and I can’t knock that). But in my experience and what I know to be true, it brings added separation to our world. Keeps individuals from connecting with other individuals and communities from connecting with other communities. And to me, that is bad.
That said, I think the practice of giving up a vice for lent is valuable, no matter your beliefs. But I was curious about the history and the WHY. Good old Wikipedia says:
Lent, in Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations.
So, while I’m obviously not preparing myself, the [?]believer, I think the practice giving something up to increase your focus [be that on God, charity or relationships], is valuable. Or at least worth a shot.
Inspired by my friends Liz and Doniree, I tried to be a for-real pescatarian last summer, but it didn’t last. I decided on Ash Wednesday to participate in lent because it was lunch time and I hadn’t eaten any meat yet. So, I wanted to see if I can really do this thing.
My boyfriend is definitely a steak person, so it’ll be interesting figuring out dinners that work for both of us … recipes forthcoming!
There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigour during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbour). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to God, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations.[7]
I guess I can’t be awesome at everything all the time. While work like went swimmingly, I was a total loser last week about my resolutions. I failed last week because:
I really wanted to put this out there right now, because if I wait until March 1, I’m leaving the rest of the month open to remain noncommittal with my goals. And then it’ll be even harder for me to press on. And I really think I can do this. If one month is still to long for me, I’ll do it in weeks. So here’s to a week of much healthier eating.
What did you resolve to do at the beginning of the month or year? How is it going? What helps you stay on track?
photo credit: weheartit
If I’m not careful, this blog could easily turn from a biking blog to a cooking blog. So, I promise I’ll be careful. But healthy cooking and eating is a big part of living an active lifestyle, so I’m making it fit into this blog. So deal w/it 
So, I know this amazing lady, Nancy. She has this amazing restaurant/catering company called Dish. She also writes this amazing blog where she shares recipes, and little bits of her life that go along with them. I have been lucky to meet her through my former ( 
) coworker, Katie. They’re sisters, and you can totally tell. These two women are some of the sweetest, most inspiring, genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. And if you know either of them, I know you’ll agree. If you don’t, pop into Dish to say hi. Or if you happen to be in South Bend, Ind., look up Katie. The good thing is, seeing Nancy is like getting to spend time with a little piece of Katie, who is very missed here at this office.
Anyway!
I’m only slightly more experienced at cooking and recipe-inventing than I am at cycling (both couldn’t or wouldn’t have been done without Brad). But it has been a longtime quest of mine to find yummy, easy, healthy meals, and lately I have been inspired. Okay WE have been inspired. (Although I think summertime lends itself to easy, yummy recipes, given the abundance of produce and lack of willingness to spend time in a kitchen with hot appliances.) So, although this has very little to do with any adventures on my bike (except for the fact that I rode my bike to the farmer’s market to get many of the ingredients), per Nancy’s request, here are some recipes from some recently devoured meals.
Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m dabbling in pescetarianism (actually, lacto-ovo-pescetarianism, but that’s besides the point), so coming up with really yummy meals that satisfy both my steak-loving boyfriend and me has been an extra challenge.
Garlic Lime Shrimp Salad
This dinner was a salad-conversion of something we normally make as tacos.
some homemade margaritas, too.
Ingredients:
Defrost the shrimp (if frozen) with some cool-ish water (not warm or hot, cause it’ll cook em!) and then soak them in a bit of lime juice, garlic and olive oil and S&P for just a few minutes before cooking. We grilled them in our grill basket like this one, but you could saute them just as easily if you prefer. We tend to grill just about everything though because it doesn’t make the kitchen hot, won’t make the house smell and makes cleanup A LOT easier. Anyway, however you cook them, cook them until they’re pink and completely opaque.
For the dressing, combine your chopped up herbs, some more oil, lime juice and zest and S&P to taste.
That’s about it! Assemble your salad and enjoy!
Variation:
For the tacos, we’ll usually cook the shrimp the same way (or talapia works nicely with the same marinade), replace lettuce with cabbage, use the same fixins and nix the dressing. Best served with FRESH corn tortillas from King’s Ranch.
Asian-ish Salad with Fish and Peanut Dressing
Okay, so the name sucks, but it was still really good. And all of these ingredients either came from the local farmer’s market or from our own garden.
i'm no photog, but this lighting is not showing the dish to its full potential
Ingredients:
We seared the fish in a pan (make sure you’re using sushi-grade fish if you opt to leave it a little raw) but I don’t think we’d do that again for two reasons: 1) the opah had a funky texture raw (however forms a really nice crust on the outside) and 2) two days later, our kitchen/living room still smells like fish. It’s dense, so it’s a good fish for grilling, I think, but of course we’d say that. Either way coat it with some olive oil and salt and pepper before you cook it and you’ll get that nice, crispy crust.
For the dressing, combine peanut butter, a TEENSY bit of sesame oil, salad oil, herbs and S&P to taste. It wasn’t an exact science, we just put stuff in til it tasted good.
Then, assemble your salad and drizzle with dressing. Super easy, and it only took about 10 minutes to prepare.
So that’s it! Try them out and let me know what you think. And, Nancy, if you come up with an improvements, please let me know!
Now … does anyone have a good, easy recipe for eggplant?
Just had to issue fair warning. In fact, this post should actually be in my BFF’s blog. So just pretend it’s a guest blog on her site. But it’s here instead. So I guess that means I am guest blogging on my own blog. Yeah, you read that right.
I am hoping that if I put this in writing, maybe I’ll make a genuine effort.
Somehow, in all of my bike-riding glory, I made it up in my head that I don’t have to eat right. I do this all the time. When I was swimming twice a week, those were the days I was allowed to indulge. For some reason in my head it’s always either exercise or eating right. Never both and I have no idea why.
Overall I am a generally healthy eater. Lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein like fish or chicken, etc. etc. When family comes to town, it’s license to eat like shit. In fact, family gatherings of all kinds tend to revolve around food. I don’t think all families are like this, but mine definitely is. Not that this is a bad thing.
So, after talapia tacos on Thursday night (a la me, so they were pretty healthy); Bully’s on Friday night; burgers, brats, pasta salad, cookies, beer and various other BBQ staples on Saturday; Nu Yalk Pizza on Sunday night; Panda Express on Monday night; and Capriotti’s [insert Homer-Simpson-drooling-over-food sound byte here] last night, I feel like I should be eating salads for every meal for at least two weeks.
But I know I won’t do that. There is some kind of “well I have already screwed up for the week” mentality which keeps me eating that way for several days. And yes, I am VERY aware of the shocking amount of junk food I just described.
Somehow the days always start off well. Breakfast is easy: honey bunches of oats with light soy milk and a banana or some combo of fruit and fat free yogurt.
Lunch is easy most of the time, too. A Lean Cuisine and some carrots or bell pepper. Unless someone mentions lunch out. It’s dinner that gets me in trouble. I am weak. Boyfriend mentions [insert terribly high-calorie fast food here] and I’m all over it.
Just need to get it through my head that my three miles a day on the bike is NOT a substitute for working out! Don’t get me wrong. I am thrilled with myself for riding to work all the time (rode three days in a row and it’s not even Bike to Work Week anymore) and totally loving it! But that should not give me permission to eat whatever I want. And from this point forward I need to have the will power to keep that in my mind. We’re cooking dinner tonight, dammit.
The worst part: I actually really like healthy food. Vegetables taste GREAT! Fruit is like one of my favorite things to eat. IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS HARD.
I’m going to an Aces game tomorrow night (yes, my first) where I will probably have a hot dog and a copious amount of beer. I will plan for it. I will not make that let me eat junk today. Already had my healthy breakfast and have a Lean Cuisine in the freezer for lunch. I can do this. I can be someone who eats right and has an active lifestyle at the same time.
