Lunch Upgrade

I went through a phase a while ago where I was trying to convince myself to stop thinking of food as cuisine and start thinking of it purely as fuel for my body. I figured if I adopted the "food as fuel" model 90% of the time that I'd stop thinking of food and want to eat less. Man, I was dead wrong. In reality, I was still hungry and I was hating my meals. I'd gone straight from a "lifestyle change" philosophy to a "diet" and I was torturing myself.

It was about that time that I saw Supersize Me (excellent movie, but that's a different post). Watching that made me want to adopt more whole foods and less processed foods. I wasn't going totally organic, but my standard fare could definitely be improved. See exhibit A:

This is an example of a "food as fuel" lunch. It's a can of soup and a small bag of Doritoes. At 7 points total (4 for the soup, 3 for the Doritoes), it's about the right size for lunch. Since it's only fuel, who cares what it tastes like, right? Well the bowl I eat out of is stained with the remains of dozens of cans of microwaved soup and resembles a dog bowl than a proper utensil. And while those Doritoes might be good enough for Saddam, they're terrible for my digestion - despite the appetizing "Now Better Tasting!" label on the front. I actually had to eat this meal to get the picture for this post, so you guys owe me one.

Certainly this meal can be improved upon. See exhibit B:

This meal is 9 pts. in total (4 for the sandwich, 2 for the bean salad, 2 for the banana and 1 pt. between the sugar-free Jello with peaches and the homemade pickles). Instead of eating the product of mass industrialization, I'm eating a whole lot more "real" food.

This kind of lunch requires a small investment in time the night before, but the results more than speak for themselves. It's a delicious and filling meal, and it's far and away more nutritious.

I've been much more successful with my weight loss when I've taken the time to make appetizing food, even if I have to have less of it. If you have to hate food to lose weight, what's the point?

Fajita Chicken Tacos with Hot Salsa

We had a friend over last night for dinner, and I decided to take a cue from my recent trip to southern California and make a fresh MexiCali dinner. I didn't make my skillet lasagna as I'd planned. I never look back, it distracts from the now.

I took a cue from Wahoo's and added shredded cabbage to my tacos instead of lettuce. I love this addition, because cabbage has so much more bite than lettuce, and it doesn't water down the flavors. To save time, I bought a bag of finely shredded cole slaw cabbage (in the prepared salad section). It costs 8 times as much as a head of cabbage, but it was a lot easier, cabbage isn't expensive anyway and I had no use for 20 gallons of shredded cabbage.

I served my tacos on Mission low-carb tortillas (fajita size, 1 pt. each) with Kraft 2% Fat Shredded Mexican Cheese. On the side I made Zartarain's Spanish rice mix (4 pts. per cup) and a light spinach salad. I didn't bother making the rice from scratch. I had enough to cook as it is!

The cast iron skillet is key to making the salsa, since I wanted some nice browning on my ingredients. The chicken would have been much better grilled, but I don't have one. I'd also pound the chicken into 1/2" thick cutlets so they cook evenly.

This recipe can be multiplied easily! Have a fiesta!

Fajita Chicken Tacos

8 oz. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Mojo Marinade (look in your supermarket's ethnic section)
4 Low-Carb Fajita Size Tortillas
1/2 cup 2% Milkfat Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend
1 cup of Hot Salsa, see below
Shredded White Cabbage
1 tbsp. Olive Oil

Marinade the chicken with the Mojo (pronounced Mo-ho) for 1 hour. I use a zip-lock bag to marinade in. You use less marinade this way.

Grill the chicken or brown it in oil in a cast iron skillet. Slice the chicken into strips.

For each taco, put 1/4 of the chicken, a couple of pinches of cabbage, 1/4 cup of salsa and 2 tablespoons of cheese.

Each taco is 5 1/2 points. Makes 4 tacos.

Hot Salsa

1 cup Frozen Corn
1 pkg Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 cups Vidalia Onions, diced (about 1 small)
1 handful Fresh Cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp. Lime Juice
1/4 tsp. Tabasco
1 1/2 tbsp. Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

In a NASA-hot cast iron skillet sprayed with olive oil, toss the corn until it starts to brown and remove. Re-spray with oil and char the tomato halves, being careful not to mash them up too much. Re-spray and cook the onions. They should pick up a lot of color from the leftover bits in the pan.

Toss with remaining ingredients and serve hot! The whole batch is 7 points.

Update 7/4/05 - The first picture in this post was entered in "Does My Blog Look Good in This? #7", an online food photography contest!

Save Susannah Locketti!

I hate to admit it, but I like to watch a little reality TV now and again. If I can make an excuse to justify this abhorrent behavior, it's that I like to watch reality shows with some kind of educational content, like the Amazing Race, Frontier House and Food Network's latest special, The Next Food Network Star.

Jenny and I watched the entire series of the Food Network's series start to finish last night, and I couldn't let the results go without taking a stab at saving an awesome personality from the chopping block! Save Susannah Locketti!

In case you didn't watch the series, the Food Network had 8 finalists compete for a shot at their own cooking show. Susannah's concept/style was to introduce a series that focused on healthy eating. Yes, I know that FN already has Juan Carlos Cruz, but frankly he's annoying and more than a bit creepy. She was fresh, lively and given a little more coaching I think she'd make a great host. Maybe I'm a little biased since our goals are similar. But I can't hide the fact that this once-fat-guy-now-almost-thin-guy would love to see a show that could give me new and fresh ideas for enjoying food and keeping the lovehandles corralled.

I feel that there's a true need for something better than the Calorie Crummando. If the Food Network knows what's good for them, they'll not be facist and give her a shot at her own show anyway. In my opinion, she was the true first runner up in the competition.

I hope someone at the network is reading this (probably not). You've got one viewer lined up for "Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Thinner."

Update 6/30/05 - Susannah apparently is the host of a local weight loss show in the Boston area. You can look here for more information.

Every Little Bit Helps...

I'll be the first one to admit that both my lifestyle and this blog are light on exercise. I make as many excuses as I can, but more often than not the real reason is general laziness and a lack of time. I've been trying over the last few years to condition myself to move around more.

Various sources have long touted the benefits of daily exercise. But for those lacking in motivation or time, every bit helps. I've made a concerted effort to convince myself that even 5 minutes of solid walking is better than nothing. I tend to be an all-or-nothing sort of person when it comes to getting my body moving. It's much easier for me to commit to hiking 20 miles in one day than to walk for 10 minutes 5 times a week.

This is a shot of me on my way to the plane to Los Angeles. Atlanta has a gargantuan airport with multiple concourses extending out from the main terminal. Most people ride the convenient and speedy shuttles between the concourses, but I try whenever I can to walk the half mile or so to my gate. I've found that it's much more relaxing than cramming yourself into a subway car, and it's great for stretching your legs before a long flight. Did you know there's an excellent gallery of African art between the security checkpoint and concourse A? Bet you didn't...

There are tons of other opportunities to get in a bit of exercise, like parking in the back of the lot and walking to the store or work (also better for your car), taking the stairs, etc. With the difference between a successful week of weight loss and a failed week being small fractions of a pound, this little bit of work can really make a difference.

Skillet Lasagna and a New Magazine

I made this for a dinner guest who never arrived because I forgot to check my calendar. I made the meal a week early, so Jenny and I will be enjoying it for days to come!

This recipe was made from the June/July 2005 issue of Cook's Country magazine. I followed the recipe for the most part, substituting 1 lb. of hot Italian turkey sausage (removed from casings), cutting back the red pepper flakes to a pinch and replacing the ricotta with fat-free ricotta. By my calculations, this came out to be 9 points per serving (1/6 of lasagna). Jenny and I agree that you could cut back the noodles from 10 to 8, and the parmesan cheese back to 1/3 of a cup without losing any flavor. This would drop the points to roughly 8 per serving.

Cook's Country is a fantastic new magazine from the publisher of Cook's Illustrated. I've widely recommended these magazines to people who aspire to true mastery of the culinary arts. They don't accept any advertising, and are filled cover to cover with awesome analyses, equipment and ingredient tests and other tips for cooking. It's the only magazine I get that I read cover to cover.

Cook's Country differs in that the recipes are more homey, with an emphasis on meals you'd actually cook and eat regularly. It's my first food magazine subscription in years, which speaks to how much I liked the first issue I read on the way home from California. I read Food and Wine on the way out, and almost left it in the seatback of the 737.

Either of the Cook's magazines are worth checking out. I give them the (almost meaningless) NTSC seal of approval!

Odds and Ends

We've all got leftover foods in our fridge. I find it an interesting challenge to try and use up as many bits and pieces in our fridge as possible while still delivering something tasty. In Boy Scouts we called this hobo stew, where each scout would bring a can of something and we'd mix it all together in one pot. There was always some idiot who'd bring sauerkraut, but I digress.

Yesterday I combed the fridge for ingredients and came up with the last of a bag of frozen chicken tenderloins, fresh baby spinach, half an onion, some cherry tomatoes and a bit of chives.

I've always tried to think of a meal in four parts: meat, carbs, seasoning and veggies. Ideally, you'd have a bit of all four. To complete my meal I reached into our pantry and prepared a box of couscous.

I simply seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper and browned it in a non-stick pan. I sauteed the onions with a bit of minced garlic and added the spinach to wilt in the juices in the pan. I finished it by chopping the chicken and tossing in the tomatoes (halved) and the chives. Let it heat up until the tomatoes have started to get cooked and serve it up. No sweat, done in about 15 minutes.

Besides preventing the waste of good food, doing the leftover shuffle also finds new flavor combinations. Sometimes it turns out pretty bad, but learning by experimenting is part of cooking.

Southern CA Munchies

One of the best things about traveling is that you get to experience new tastes, sights and lifestyles. I'm as guilty as the next guy of getting into too much routine. That's why I relished the thought of spending last weekend in Los Angeles visiting friends. Southern California is different from Atlanta in almost every conceivable way!

I had excellent hosts who went out of their way to show me the area. Most of my time was spent in the beach communities of El Segundo, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach. My buddies took me to Wahoo's Fish Tacos in Manhattan beach. I was pretty full after a large breakfast, but I had to have one of their signature fish tacos.

The taco was some kind of grilled fish (very light and flaky), with salsa, a bit of finely shredded cheese, shredded cabbage and cilantro served on doubled corn tortillas with lime on the side. Apparently this is typical of Mexicali food, the west coast version of Mexican that has more fresh vegetables and less fatty beans and cheese. The tacos tasted very light and fresh. All the elements blended together fantastically, with lots of subtle flavors. This is definitely a meal I'll look to replicate at home!

We also went to Back Home in Lahaina, a Hawaiian joint. While there was much to comment on there, my favorite treat was the Spam Musubi. You heard me right, Spam. Normally I'm not a fan of the canned goo that passes for meat, but in this case I'll make an exception.

This is a surprisingly tasty dish! This appetizer further advances my theory that anything tastes good rolled in nori with sushi rice. This also seems like a great "starter" sushi to make, since you don't have to worry about finding sushi-quality fish. All Spam is sushi-quality.

My quick scan of the internet revealed lots of recipes, which is not really necessary since Spam Musubi is just any method of making Sushi with Spam. Most call for frying the spam before rolling. None of the recipes mentioned the brown gelatinous sauce on top, but it seems like there's considerable latitude for experimentation.

I've got a few more tidbits from my trip, so stay tuned for more!

Update 4/17/06 - I made spam musubi at home, and it was fantastic!

Making Ciabatta

I'd been staring eagerly at my stand mixer for weeks, and I decided it was time to make a real loaf of bread. Quick bread recipes are great, but I longed for the taste of a real yeast-leavened bread.

I've always had a thing for sourdough bread, especially for the hard crusted Italian version, ciabatta. I wanted to create the kind of bread you wait eagerly for, mouths salivating, when you sit down at Luigi's for dinner. Connoisseurs will immediately understand. Good ciabatta has a chewy, hard outer crust that protects a soft, slightly sour inner sponge.

Doing a quick search for ciabatta, I came across this recipe. It looked rather difficult, but I knew that there was no quick way to make a real loaf of homemade bread. Growing up, my family had a bread machine. We'd use it to make strangely squared loaves of bread that were excellent for sandwiches and general snacking. But in this instance, I wanted to do it the old fashioned way and produce a "real" loaf of bread. It's the same kind of impulse that gives me a sense of guilt when I grill burgers over propane instead of lump charcoal.

Ok, so I did cheat and use modern mechanized mixing and kneading technology. You see, unlike Auntie Sophia, I don't have arms like a rounded Italian farm wife. My appendages are more akin to a T-Rex's - short and relatively useless.

After making the starter, I prepared the rest of the recipe in my stand mixer. I should note that I measured the flour by weight and not by volume. It is downright impossible to accurately measure flour by volume (I've found that a "cup" of flour weighs 135 grams), and I don't know why the world hasn't completely switched over. I mean, all of you have electric scales to measure your food, don't you? The dough turned out very runny and very sticky. I was a bit worried, but these fears turned out to be unfounded.

My oven and baking stone were heated thoroughly to the near NASA-hot 425 degrees, and I plumped my loaves on their parchment mats onto the stove. I took the added step of spraying the inside of the stove with water every few minutes to keep the humidity up, but I think next time I'll just sit a baking dish full of water under the stone.

In a short 30 minutes (longer than the recipe, but I was opening the oven regularly), I was rewarded with 2 beautiful loaves of bread. 1/4 of a loaf is about 3.5 points.

Each loaf turned out perfect. The hint of olive oil played merrily against the subtle sourness of the starter and milk. The bread was soft, but a little chewy with a happily firm crust. Just do yourself a favor and use a sharp, high quality bread knife with a sawing (not chopping) motion. That way you won't crush the airy interior while trying to hack away at the outside.

Was it an efficient use of time? HECK NO. It took me hours to make enough bread to feed my family for 10 minutes. But as with so many things in life we do them because we have to. If we don't, then the old ways will fade away, never to be eaten again.

We'll miss you...

Thursday was a sad day in our household. After 2 years of delicious cooking and eating, Jenny and I have finally exhausted our supply of Tuscan extra virgin olive oil. Jenny purchased 2 bottles from the Altesino winery in Montalcino, Italy when we visited with a group in 2003.

The oil is a very deep, dark green and tastes like you dreamed olive oil should. We've been using it to drizzle on salads, to saute veggies, and in a million other applications. Frankly, I could drink the stuff. Because of its chemical makeup, EVOO is supposed to go rancid relatively quickly. We didn't notice any change over these few years.

I guess we're going to have to get used to the normal supermarket brands since we're not going to Italy anytime soon. Maybe that's why it's so hard to throw the bottle away. It's not so much the end of our gourmet olive oil supply, but the final chapter in one of the best experiences of my life. Reaching for that bottle, even when making ordinary dishes, took me back to Tuscany, where the food was awesome, the scenery perfect and the love was certainly in the air.

Goodbye, old friend.

Few Pounds to Go

I came home from work Monday to this delightful notice on my refrigerator.

Jenny's getting really close to reaching her goal weight, and she wanted to motivate us to go the distance. 15 pounds may seem like a lot to most, but to me it's very achievable. After all, it is only a small fraction of what I've already lost.

I need all the motivation I can get. Lately my motivation to really concentrate on losing weight has been waxing and waning.

I'm truly blessed to have a spouse that supports and encourages me. Losing weight is so much easier when you have a buddy to participate with. Jenny has been a long time companion on my weight loss journey and I can't wait till we both get where we want to be.

Quick Veggie Plate

Every so often Jenny and I get the urge to eat a fresh, light lunch instead of our usual fare. Recently we threw together a quick lunch of cooked veggies - roasted asparagus, cooked (frozen) string bean mix and a batch of our almost fried green tomatoes. The results were so good that I decided to snap a photo and post it here.

It only took about 20 minutes to prepare. We were planning on going out to dinner that night, so we wanted something really low point, but flavorful and filling.

The asparagus was tossed with a little salt, some olive oil and a couple of pinches of thyme. We cooked it in a glass dish in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Over the course of our weight loss, my wife and I have really come to love vegetables. We're increasingly forgetting to eat meat. We're by no means going vegetarian, but we've come to appreciate a good veggie plate as a meal in its own right.

Whitefish Sandwich with Garlic Aioli

Ooooh...fancy. Not really. This dinner was Friday night special at our house two weeks ago.

Aioli is a homemade garlic mayo that is just the most incredible sauce or condiment for anything. I made a batch and have been enjoying it on everything for the last few weeks. I could drink the stuff. My garlic aioli was adapted from this recipe, except I substituted lite mayo for the real mayo, spicy brown mustard for the Dijon, and omitted the chipotles. I know you're supposed to make the mayo from scratch, but I didn't feel like dirtying my food processor and Jenny was hungry. Sue me.

Whitefish Sandwich

2 whole Whiting Fillets (or equivalent), halved
Flour
Olive Oil
1 Light Baguette
1 clove Garlic
1 med Onion
1 small Yellow Pepper
Salt and Pepper
Romaine Lettuce (we used bagged salad cuts)
Lite Garlic Aioli

Sautee the onions, peppers and garlic in a non-stick skillet sprayed with olive oil from a spritzer. Set aside.

Lightly coat the fish with flour and shake off excess. Spray a non-stick skillet with olive oil and heat until the oil starts to smoke. Pan-fry the filets until golden brown and delicious. Hot and fast is the key.

Split the baguettes and scoop the bread from the center to create a deep trough. Serve up with the fish, lettuce, aioli, and sauteed veggies. Serves 2.

We found some lite baguettes in the bakery section of our supermarket. They weren't marketed as such, but Jenny read the labels and found a good loaf. This brought our sandwich points value to 8, but you'll have to figure yours out on your own!