Love that this even exists! Go veg!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Dinner in 1, 2, 3
Sometimes my fiance freaks out when he looks in the fridge and it's not packed full. Because we get our organic produce box delivered weekly, other than the basic mustard, salad dressing, almond milk, salsa and stevia, the fridge can appear to be empty. However, when he mentioned eating out, I had to decline.
What about all those veggies?! We had spinach, sweet peppers, carrots, tomatoes and garlic that were on the verge. We also had a carton full of organic eggs from last weeks farmer's market and those do not come cheap. With those simple ingredients I was able to whip up this frittata like it ain't no thang. I have never made a frittata before, but this was seriously a cinch...other than cracking the eggs, which I just can't bring myself to do. I used the softer tomatoes and quasi wilted peppers for the frittata while slicing the firmer tomatoes and peppers for our weekly salad. Simple.
He has gotten a little more used to the fact that we buy our groceries and run out weekly but how crazy that that is so not the norm and something he actually had to adjust to? Most people's refrigerators are packed to the brim with who knows what, going who knows where; all too often it's straight to the trash.
All in all, zero extra dollars spent, organic produce used, and I was able to prepare our salad using the same ingredients in the frittata along with some green leaf lettuce. Bam!
So here's how it works for the Fancy Fritata:
Preheat broiler.
Spray oven safe skillet with Specturm Organic Olive Oil Spray*
Add veggies- in this case: garlic, tomato and sweet peppers (white onion would have been great) and saute on low for 2 min and season to your preference. In this case: cayenne, pepper, salt, garlic powder and oregano
Then I added the spinach because it wilts so fast
Add a little almond milk to eggs (10 eggs = 1/2 leftover that's 2.5 eggs each, which is a lot, but it was dinner and the last Harvard study said 7 eggs in 7 days is fine. It did not specify 1 egg per day or 2 every other; just 7 in 7) salt, pepper and paprika or cayenne - stir with whisk or fork.
Pour eggs over vegetables on medium heat and let set (firm around edges) about 4 minutes
Oh shoot! Carrots! I don't like cooked carrots and I meant to throw them in with the spinach but this worked perfectly. I slowly slid them off the cutting board evenly on top of the frittata and the pushed down gently into the eggs so they were set but not sunk.
Turn flame to low
Wait a few minutes to really let it set. Use your spatula to check edges.
I was so afraid the bottom was going to burn and dinner would be ruined but with the low flame it was all good!
Turns out what appeared to be our broiler was not getting hot so we put it on the bottom shelf inside the oven. If it's in a broiler it should only take 3 minutes. We baked ours in the oven for 6.
Turns out just like pizza and made plenty of leftovers!
*saves tons o calories from fat and saves you from free radicals - cancer causing cells that steal from other cells creating more free radicals. Do not pour oil into skillet. Ever. It is depleted of it's nutrients and becomes rancid. All you get are the calories and bad rancid fats. Oil should be used raw. Always.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Monday Funday
I try not eat too much on Monday's. It's an eleven hour day at work which helps keep me busy but it's more for cleansing purposes than anything. Usually one the weekend I have a few vodka/sodas and/or wine and eat a little more than a typical Monday through Friday type deal.
Typically on Monday's I bring a couple pieces of fruit, today an orange and a nectarine, which both came for our produce box from Farm Fresh To You. I also brought some raw almonds. Although I was pleasantly surprised about Costco's produce (being from California and pesticide free), their nuts are not so impressive.
I work for a pharmacist who grew up on a farm in Modesto(ish) and said to always rinse almonds. Well, I haven't been because I don't want them to go moldy. In any event, I bought a bag of Blue Diamond raw whole almonds from Andronico's in Palo Alto and was shocked at how fabulous they tasted.
The pharmacist has an affinity for Blue Diamond and when I showed him the bag and how delicious they were, he asked why. I told him they tasted fresher, were crunchier and I hadn't had one bad almond from the bag yet. When I asked about rinsing he said if they are hermetically sealed, such as Blue Diamond with a zip lock, they do not have to be rinsed, but costco or farmer's market style in the plastic, which is more porous, should always be washed. So there you have it. Blue Diamond is now selling one pound bags so you don't have to buy those little tins. Fabulous!
Okay, back to Monday. Two pieces of fruit, some raw almonds and Brackers and a seriously copious amount of water. For dinner, I always want chips and salsa, so while I might have that, I will have broth as well. Now that my fiance is home in the evening I actually have to make something for dinner.
When he is in class and I eat alone, some broth or salad and chips and salsa does the trick. We'll have to work on this. Also, I'm not blaming him, but it's been extremely difficult to get my SF weight off with him home in the evening! I'm down to 130 this morning, which is good, but not 126. I hit 128 on Saturday but a little bit of this and little bit of that, lunch out with friends in town, dinner at the future in-laws and what a fricken disaster. I can't get depressed, just have to keep moving forward. Plus girls weekend is this Satuday and I have to be in a swim suit so hopefully that will help keep me on the straight and narrow. We bought all this wine and don't have a wine rack so we figured the best thing to do is drink it??? Also not helping.
I added a new "thank you" to my evening prayers on Thursday night. I decided I wanted to add how thankful I am that I am not living life daily in pain. Two days later, I tweak my neck. Oh the pain! Thank God for one of the ladies at the pharmacy. I got a rub down, a throw away ice bag that is never going to disintegrate (my co-worker told me it's for emergencies only when I asked her if it was re-usable) and some pain relieving patches that I have to leave on my shoulders for eight hours straight which I am positive are leaking poison directly into my pores as we speak.
I feel a lot better, but dang, what a wake up call about how much pain sucks and how anything that has "active" and "inactive ingredients" helps no matter how much you want to be tough. And this is minor. So I'm still saying my thank you prayer in addition to, "please God, let this end soon." I'm so stiff. It hurts to sit up in bed, turn over, or move in general. The hard part is to not tense up and remember that this is only a small, small dose of what daily pain is like. The temperpedic helps, but yowch. No fun.
Typically on Monday's I bring a couple pieces of fruit, today an orange and a nectarine, which both came for our produce box from Farm Fresh To You. I also brought some raw almonds. Although I was pleasantly surprised about Costco's produce (being from California and pesticide free), their nuts are not so impressive.
I work for a pharmacist who grew up on a farm in Modesto(ish) and said to always rinse almonds. Well, I haven't been because I don't want them to go moldy. In any event, I bought a bag of Blue Diamond raw whole almonds from Andronico's in Palo Alto and was shocked at how fabulous they tasted.
The pharmacist has an affinity for Blue Diamond and when I showed him the bag and how delicious they were, he asked why. I told him they tasted fresher, were crunchier and I hadn't had one bad almond from the bag yet. When I asked about rinsing he said if they are hermetically sealed, such as Blue Diamond with a zip lock, they do not have to be rinsed, but costco or farmer's market style in the plastic, which is more porous, should always be washed. So there you have it. Blue Diamond is now selling one pound bags so you don't have to buy those little tins. Fabulous!
Okay, back to Monday. Two pieces of fruit, some raw almonds and Brackers and a seriously copious amount of water. For dinner, I always want chips and salsa, so while I might have that, I will have broth as well. Now that my fiance is home in the evening I actually have to make something for dinner.
When he is in class and I eat alone, some broth or salad and chips and salsa does the trick. We'll have to work on this. Also, I'm not blaming him, but it's been extremely difficult to get my SF weight off with him home in the evening! I'm down to 130 this morning, which is good, but not 126. I hit 128 on Saturday but a little bit of this and little bit of that, lunch out with friends in town, dinner at the future in-laws and what a fricken disaster. I can't get depressed, just have to keep moving forward. Plus girls weekend is this Satuday and I have to be in a swim suit so hopefully that will help keep me on the straight and narrow. We bought all this wine and don't have a wine rack so we figured the best thing to do is drink it??? Also not helping.
I added a new "thank you" to my evening prayers on Thursday night. I decided I wanted to add how thankful I am that I am not living life daily in pain. Two days later, I tweak my neck. Oh the pain! Thank God for one of the ladies at the pharmacy. I got a rub down, a throw away ice bag that is never going to disintegrate (my co-worker told me it's for emergencies only when I asked her if it was re-usable) and some pain relieving patches that I have to leave on my shoulders for eight hours straight which I am positive are leaking poison directly into my pores as we speak.
I feel a lot better, but dang, what a wake up call about how much pain sucks and how anything that has "active" and "inactive ingredients" helps no matter how much you want to be tough. And this is minor. So I'm still saying my thank you prayer in addition to, "please God, let this end soon." I'm so stiff. It hurts to sit up in bed, turn over, or move in general. The hard part is to not tense up and remember that this is only a small, small dose of what daily pain is like. The temperpedic helps, but yowch. No fun.
Friday, June 3, 2011
MyPlate
My favorite aunt had mentioned that she had extra George Foreman Grills, so when we were visiting we were lucky enough to acquire one. The plan all along was to have Rumil use it to prepare his meat. Well, the day has come! On Wednesday he bought an organic, grass-fed NY Strip and although slightly over cooking it, he loved it.
He also made some fabulous potatoes, sliced like chips, tossed with a new olive/rosemary oil we picked up (as well as a case of wine that we wrapped in our clothing in our suitcases) from Dutcher, a winery in Healdsburg. He added some fresh cracked pepper, sea salt and of course, cayenne and baked for an hour. Voila! Baked potato chips.
I had already prepared the salad fixings for lunch on Tuesday so we were good to go in the vegetable department. That along with a delicious cab from Dutcher Crossing really was a perfect treat...always a little nerve racking after ordering a case and becoming a member while being slightly tossed at the tasting. Now for some new cutting boards...definitely not down with the whole veg/meat sharing thing. Not in the least.
There was something special about Dutcher the moment Rumil saw their website. wink wink. Our friend who was navigating asked Rumil to pick a place to go and after seeing two other websites, he chose Dutcher. I'm not going to lie, we were a bit nervous. Well, it turned out to be a fantastic little winery. Very warm and welcoming with beautiful sprawling vineyards, a lovely little grassy area, a picnic area and a wine dog named Dutchess to boot!
Dutcher Crossing Vineyards http://www.dutchercrossingwinery.com/
The take away:
2 bottles of Sauv
2 bottles of Proprietor's Reserve Cab
2 bottles of Proprietor's Zin
Where not to go: Coppola
Our friend had been wanting to go back to Coppola and from what he says of his last visit, it was a barn. I'm not sure if it was the full service bar next to their day resort pool, the gold tassels on the white uniforms or our sleep deprived server who seemed to be hopped up on something, but it was awful and there was no barn in sight. It was like California Adventure in the middle of Wine Country. The insanity!
The Long Lost Floater
HOW COULD I FORGET TO MENTION THAT RUMIL HAD FLOATERS IN SAN FRANCISCO?
From the beginning this blog was about his first cleanse and I totally spaced he had flipping floaters two days in a row when we were in San Francisco. He text me from the bathroom Saturday morning: Solid Poop.
"Wow!" I responded with a headache and piece of cold pizza in mouth. "Am I eating pizza with meat on it?"
"No. I think it's nuts." He said.
"Are you sure? Cause it tastes like sausage."
I haven't had pizza in a long time. Clearly.
Today, Wednesday, his weigh in was 186.5, about 3.5 lbs heavier than where he wants to be. Although he did get down to 181 on the cleanse, the goal was not to have him wither away. He feels great at 183 and loves his new driver's license =)
Neither of us wants to think about what the scale read yesterday. Good news is, we're both almost back. The sad news is, eating and drinking like that used to be my life when I lived in The City. I had to avoid contact with everyone for a month in 2009 so I could drop 5 pounds for a wedding. In fact, within my first year of living in the city the scale was tipping 160. I had to avoid life in general for a few months to get down to 140 which is a weight I have maintained for three years.
I'm not knocking the city life or saying I've turned my stilettos in for flip flops (which I have but might deny) but my body can't handle it. Even if I did enjoy a nice dinner at home with friends and one night alone by myself, there were still five other nights of the week that I was out at a restaurant/bar. I was cold. And lonely.
All I'm saying is a 16 pound difference (if I ever see 126 again- please God) is huge. It's lighter, it's comfortable and it's way more balanced. I can't believe I was actually 37 pounds heavier at one point. The highest my weight was 163. Don't try to find any pictures of me then; I avoided cameras like the plague; and beaches too. Simple over indulgences. Too much food and too much drink.
Am I lucky the food in Orange County sucks? Maybe. What I'm really lucky for is love; having an amazing partner, warm sunshine, a lap pool, a salt water pool, and of course, Twiggy.
From the beginning this blog was about his first cleanse and I totally spaced he had flipping floaters two days in a row when we were in San Francisco. He text me from the bathroom Saturday morning: Solid Poop.
"Wow!" I responded with a headache and piece of cold pizza in mouth. "Am I eating pizza with meat on it?"
"No. I think it's nuts." He said.
"Are you sure? Cause it tastes like sausage."
I haven't had pizza in a long time. Clearly.
Today, Wednesday, his weigh in was 186.5, about 3.5 lbs heavier than where he wants to be. Although he did get down to 181 on the cleanse, the goal was not to have him wither away. He feels great at 183 and loves his new driver's license =)
Neither of us wants to think about what the scale read yesterday. Good news is, we're both almost back. The sad news is, eating and drinking like that used to be my life when I lived in The City. I had to avoid contact with everyone for a month in 2009 so I could drop 5 pounds for a wedding. In fact, within my first year of living in the city the scale was tipping 160. I had to avoid life in general for a few months to get down to 140 which is a weight I have maintained for three years.
I'm not knocking the city life or saying I've turned my stilettos in for flip flops (which I have but might deny) but my body can't handle it. Even if I did enjoy a nice dinner at home with friends and one night alone by myself, there were still five other nights of the week that I was out at a restaurant/bar. I was cold. And lonely.
All I'm saying is a 16 pound difference (if I ever see 126 again- please God) is huge. It's lighter, it's comfortable and it's way more balanced. I can't believe I was actually 37 pounds heavier at one point. The highest my weight was 163. Don't try to find any pictures of me then; I avoided cameras like the plague; and beaches too. Simple over indulgences. Too much food and too much drink.
Am I lucky the food in Orange County sucks? Maybe. What I'm really lucky for is love; having an amazing partner, warm sunshine, a lap pool, a salt water pool, and of course, Twiggy.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
I left my heart in San Francisco
and my waist in Orange County. Holy hell. When my clients go on vacation for two weeks and come back six pounds heavier, we are surprised and have to discuess their sensitivities. When I go to San Francisco for a long weekend and gain six pounds, I'm offended. Two days later and it's a 4 pound gain but seriously?! Not normal. It was a long weekend, not a two week vacation. Talk about sensitive.
The food, the drink, the ambiance, the company, everything is just so enjoyable in San Francisco. Notice the food and drink were listed first. That's because I'm an addict. To white sugar and high insulin producing foods in general. I love it. Once I have a little bit, I'm like a crack whore in an alley trying to find my next hit. Not that I'm a crack whore or have ever even tried crack, but I think it must be very similar.
The rush, the thrill, the pancreas overworking it's little self to pump, pump, and keep pumping out more insulin, the surge in blood sugar, the happiness, the height, the peak, the moment, the decline. The drop, drop, dropping of the blood sugar goes until the only thing I can think about is another chip or little muffin or perhaps a scone. What the hell, I'm already in the alley!
Getting right with Jesus: While my broth was simmering yesterday, I did all the prep work for salads so my fiance and I could both get back on track. By the time the broth was done I was (or had convinced myself I was) quite hungry and in a moment of weakness thought it would be a good idea to throw some of that left over Persian rice into my bowl with some bok choy. Mind you this is the same rice that turned my stomach into knots the day after the cleanse.
Well apparently now that I'm six pounds heavier and have a stomach of steel (?) I think it's okay to black out and scoop week old left over rice into my soup "just to jazz it up a bit" while I'm trying to get right with Jesus?! WTF. The rice is getting thrown out tonight, I'll tell you that much.
The root of the problem? Pancreatic stimulation. Once your pancreas starts to produce so much insulin, it expects to stay at that level. So if you are used to eating nothing but white flour, sugar, and processed foods and drinks all day, your pancreas is actually looking for the next spike. Or, if you're like me and avoid the white wrath, having even a little bit can make you crazy because you just aren't used to it.
It really is the same as a drug. If you're always hitting the pipe, you're always building your tolerance. And we all know what happens when you avoid the pipe...one little taste and you are feeling goo-oo-ood! So, the reason people have a hard time stabilizing their blood sugar is beyond "will power." It is more physiological than mental. The mental part is huge, don't get me wrong, but if you're constantly amping up your pancreas, it's like your child screaming for another damn french fry. Relentless. So now we know why I put white rice in my beautiful broth and just how easy it is to have momentary black outs, only to resurface minutes later wondering why I would do that to myself.
The worst part? I know better! It's never good when my fiance has to say to me, "It's like when you tell me that it doesn't matter if you eat it or throw it out, it's garbage either way." Thanks for the reminder, Sweetie.
The food, the drink, the ambiance, the company, everything is just so enjoyable in San Francisco. Notice the food and drink were listed first. That's because I'm an addict. To white sugar and high insulin producing foods in general. I love it. Once I have a little bit, I'm like a crack whore in an alley trying to find my next hit. Not that I'm a crack whore or have ever even tried crack, but I think it must be very similar.
The rush, the thrill, the pancreas overworking it's little self to pump, pump, and keep pumping out more insulin, the surge in blood sugar, the happiness, the height, the peak, the moment, the decline. The drop, drop, dropping of the blood sugar goes until the only thing I can think about is another chip or little muffin or perhaps a scone. What the hell, I'm already in the alley!
Getting right with Jesus: While my broth was simmering yesterday, I did all the prep work for salads so my fiance and I could both get back on track. By the time the broth was done I was (or had convinced myself I was) quite hungry and in a moment of weakness thought it would be a good idea to throw some of that left over Persian rice into my bowl with some bok choy. Mind you this is the same rice that turned my stomach into knots the day after the cleanse.
Well apparently now that I'm six pounds heavier and have a stomach of steel (?) I think it's okay to black out and scoop week old left over rice into my soup "just to jazz it up a bit" while I'm trying to get right with Jesus?! WTF. The rice is getting thrown out tonight, I'll tell you that much.
The root of the problem? Pancreatic stimulation. Once your pancreas starts to produce so much insulin, it expects to stay at that level. So if you are used to eating nothing but white flour, sugar, and processed foods and drinks all day, your pancreas is actually looking for the next spike. Or, if you're like me and avoid the white wrath, having even a little bit can make you crazy because you just aren't used to it.
It really is the same as a drug. If you're always hitting the pipe, you're always building your tolerance. And we all know what happens when you avoid the pipe...one little taste and you are feeling goo-oo-ood! So, the reason people have a hard time stabilizing their blood sugar is beyond "will power." It is more physiological than mental. The mental part is huge, don't get me wrong, but if you're constantly amping up your pancreas, it's like your child screaming for another damn french fry. Relentless. So now we know why I put white rice in my beautiful broth and just how easy it is to have momentary black outs, only to resurface minutes later wondering why I would do that to myself.
The worst part? I know better! It's never good when my fiance has to say to me, "It's like when you tell me that it doesn't matter if you eat it or throw it out, it's garbage either way." Thanks for the reminder, Sweetie.
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