Internet Chili & John's salad

Internet Chili is what we call Lisa Fain's Seven Chile Chili, which is by far the best chili recipe I've ever made. It's great, but definitely not diet food. Of course it's great—it's a bowl full of spicy meat. No beans, no tomatoes, just beef and peppers. The recipe says it serves 8 (about 500 calories per serving), but I usually can't even finish half of a half serving. Here's a terrible picture of this fantastic chili (served with avocado, lime, cilantro, sour cream, and my favorite tortilla chips):


There's also some salad there. I love salad. Unfortunately, salad is a sneaky jerk of a food that seems like it would always be a low-calorie choice, but often isn't. John came up with this recipe for a light vinaigrette that can dress enough greens and vegetables for 2 huge salads. Easy on the salt; the fish sauce (which I know sounds like an odd choice, but adds rich, non-fishy flavor) is pretty salty.

John's Salad Dressing

1.5 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar (or another vinegar you like)
3/4 T mild fish sauce
2 T lemon juice
1 t Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
Black pepper & salt to taste

Put all that in a jar and shake it up. I like to cut up all my non-lettuce salad vegetables and pour the dressing over them in the salad bowl to let them soak in it for a while before I toss it all with lettuces.

Serves 2
About 110 calories per serving

I'm back. I think. We'll see.

I haven't posted in what, a year and a half? Great.

Since my last post in April 2010, I dropped 5 more pounds to 143, the lowest since I started trying to lose weight. And then a miracle happened! I found out that I am a champion weight gainer! With almost no effort, I was able to gain more than half of what it took me a year to lose—in just a few months! My clothes don't fit and I don't feel healthy.

I'm not into resolutions, but this seems like as good a time as any to get back to the annoying and tiresome business of working toward my goal weight (135, though 140 would suit me just fine). I forgot to weigh myself today, but will try to get back into a daily habit starting tomorrow.

The other daily habits I need to start are counting calories and exercising. I don't like either of those things (especially days like today where I'm so groggy and crabby that I just want to go home and crawl into a bottle of wine). And right now my kitchen is overflowing with high-calorie leftovers and meat. So much meat, in fact, that a bunch of it is currently in a cooler on the floor because I ran out of room to cram it in the fridge and freezer.


(That's actually a photo of my old freezer, in a similar state to what is going on right now. Just mentally jam a huge standing beef rib roast in there too and you've got the picture.)

Weekly menu

148 today. Down a total of nearly 20 pounds...just 15 left to go!

Breakfast all week:
J: Egg sandwich on English muffin
M: Steel cut oats with banana and soy milk

Monday
Lunch
Turkey sandwiches with sprouts & cucumber
Carrots & celery
Sautéed chard

Dinner
Chicken soup with avocado
Sweet potatoes

Tuesday
Lunch
Turkey sandwiches with sprouts & cucumber
Carrots & celery

Dinner
Radish & cucumber salad with tzatziki
Couscous with greens, squash, & chicken

Wednesday
Lunch
Leftover couscous & radish/cucumber salad

Dinner
Baked potato topped with turkey chili
Green beans

Thursday
Lunch
Chili
Greens

Dinner
Asian noodle salad
Greens

Friday
Lunch
Asian noodle salad

Dinner
Turkey sloppy joes
Green beans

Saturday
Lunch
Whatever's in the fridge

Dinner
Spiced red lentil dal & brown rice

Sunday
Lunch
Probably some kind of picnic, it's May Day!

Dinner
Kumquat lamb tagine
Spiced roasted carrots

Weigh in

As of yesterday, I'm at 154. 13 pounds down since January 10, and only 4 lbs away from having lost 10%. After that goal is reached, I would like to lose another 10 or 15. We'll see.

Someday, I will catch up on updating...

This is how we do it.

Def Jam. A mere 15 years ago, back in the day when R & B videos were relatively tasteful.

A couple of times this week, I've gotten asked, "How do you do it all?" "It" being, cook 3 meals a day for 2 adults, 7 days a week.

To me, it doesn't seem like it's a burden or a giant chore. But we all decide what our priorities are, and that's what we make time for. You might make time for exercise, or knitting, or watching football, or playing music. Eating well is important to me, so that's what I make time for. And I enjoy spending time in the kitchen.

Even doing all this food prep, I don't spend more than an hour in the kitchen a day, and most of the time, less. The biggest time saver is planning. I plan for a week at a time, figure out how I can use leftovers, what I can cook a lot of at once, etc. We try do a single shopping trip a week, first stopping at Cub, then at the co-op (we buy all meat, dairy, and a few other things at the co-op exclusively). We spend about $100/week for the 2 of us; I'd like it to be less, but fresh produce in the middle of winter and responsibly raised meat aren't cheap. In the summer, we'll spend far less thanks to the St. Paul Farmers Market.

From now on, each week, I'll post our weekly menu. It's not set in stone; once in a while I go out for lunch at the last minute, or we decide to go out for dinner. Often, I miscalculate exactly how many servings something will be, or how much of it John will eat. I think you'll see a lot of repetition here; it helps that we don't mind eating the same thing for breakfast every. single. day...I hope this dispels any myth that I'm some kind of super-homemaker.

My calorie intake is typically between 1000-1300/day; John's is more like 1700-2000.

January 25–31, 2010

Monday
Breakfast
John: Yogurt, banana, granola
May: Breakfast sandwich (English muffin, egg whites with vegetables; I cook a big egg white omelette on Sunday & cut it up into 5 pieces for the week)

Lunch
Cabbage rolls with tomato sauce (left over from last week); green beans (left over)

Snack
Carrot sticks; celery; wasabi peas

Dinner
Ginger scallion noodles; steamed bok choy; flank steak

Tuesday
Breakfast
John: Yogurt, banana, granola
May: Breakfast sandwich

Lunch
Pita sandwich (turkey, sprouts, tomato, cucumber, mustard)

Snack
Carrot sticks; celery; wasabi peas

Dinner
Mushroom soup; steamed bok choy; green beans

Wednesday
Breakfast
John: Yogurt, banana, granola
May: Breakfast sandwich

Lunch
Pulled pork sandwich (left over from last week); green beans

Snack
Carrot sticks; celery; wasabi peas

Dinner
Flank steak; sauteed kale with garlic; roasted cauliflower

Thursday
Breakfast
John: Yogurt, banana, granola
May: Breakfast sandwich

Lunch
Fattoush

Snack
Carrot sticks; celery; wasabi peas

Dinner
Chicken breast; spinach & sauteed mushrooms; Brussels sprouts

Friday
Breakfast
John: Yogurt, banana, granola
May: Breakfast sandwich

Lunch
John: lunch out (Wienery, if I had to guess)
May: Chicken breast; sauteed spinach & mushrooms

Snack
Carrot sticks; celery; wasabi peas

Dinner
Lemon chicken; pea pods; roasted cabbage

Saturday
Breakfast
Toast; poached eggs; bacon or Polish

Lunch
Lemon chicken; pea pods

Dinner
Short ribs; grits; collards

Sunday
Breakfast
Poached egg & lardon salad

Lunch
Whatever leftovers are in the fridge

Dinner
John: Probably more leftovers
May: Dinner date with a friend

Asian Cabbage Rolls

These are a bit of work, but quite good. I might try other kinds of cabbage in the future, or even collards or other kinds of greens.

About 20 large outer leaves of a Chinese cabbage (plus a few extra in case of rips)

Filling:
2 T unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 or 3 scallions, finely chopped
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, finely chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 T fish sauce
1 hot sauce, or more to taste
1 T soy sauce
Chopped herbs (I used about half a cup of basil & cilantro, combined)

Tomato sauce:
1 T olive oil
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
Herbs to taste (I used more basil and cilantro)
Salt & pepper to taste

Bring a large part of water to a boil. Submerge cabbage leaves until soft and pliable (just a few minutes); remove. You may have to do this just a few leaves at a time.

Sauté the garlic & scallions in the butter just until softened and beginning to turn golden. Combine with the rest of the filling ingredients.

Lay a cabbage leaf out in front of you, stem end farthest away from you. Be careful not to tear the cabbage leaves. If you get a tear, rip a small piece off of an extra one to use as a patch.

Place about a quarter cup of filling near the end closest to you; begin rolling the cabbage leaf around the filling away from you like you would a burrito, first rolling the end over, then folding the sides in, then continuing to roll to the stem end of the leaf.

Set aside, seam side down, and finish with the rest of the rolls.

Place rolls in a steamer and steam in a covered pot for 10-15 minutes.

While they're steaming, make the tomato sauce: sauté the garlic in the olive oil, then add the tomatoes, herbs, salt & pepper. Heat to a simmer.

Serve cabbage rolls hot with some sauce. Parmesan on top is nice, too.

40 calories per cabbage roll
30 calories per 1/3 cup of sauce

Fig & Bacon Salad with Parmesan

I ate this for dinner the other night, along with half a baked potato topped with a parsley-kind-of-chimichurri-sauce.

Salad:
Big, big handful baby greens or cut-up lettuce
2 figs, fresh or dried, cut into quarters
2 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
Parmesan shavings

Dressing:
1 T olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar
Dab of Dijon mustard
Juice of a quarter lemon
Salt & pepper to taste

Combine the dressing ingredients and toss with the lettuce. Top with the figs, bacon, and Parmesan.

1 serving
320 calories