Seasonal Meal Plans

I read about this idea somewhere (probably a blog, if it's you, I'd love to give you credit) and thought it was basically ingenius:

The idea is that you lay out basically a month's worth of meals that you know your family likes, create shopping list for each week, and then you can just print off (or create in a cool iPod app) that week's list when it's time to go shopping.  It eases weekly shopping and planning.  We just switched from our winter plan to our spring plan, and it was an exciting change.

Because we only ate each meal in the grid once a month, I didn't really get sick of them.  I did notice, though, which ones weren't actually my favorites.  I made a note on them to sub them out for something different next year.  I also modified this grid by adding more room for trying new recipes, and left space at the bottom to log recipes we wanted to try and the locations of those recipes, so they'd be easy to find when it was time to make that week's list.

I have been really pleased with this system and how much it has automated an area of my life where I used to spend quite a bit of time on a weekly basis.  I know that once we have a year's worth of meals and we are just tweaking and adding new recipes, it will work even better.  Now, if I could only make myself follow this same sort of plan for cleaning...

Greek Yogurt is Yummy.

Confession:  I didn't make it a whole month.

J.'s family Christmas celebration was January 24th and 25th, and the cheesy potatoes and sugar cookies did me in.  I did have smaller portions (only 1 cookie, if you can believe that!) because I was concerned about how my body would react to the dairy fat after so long without.  After that weekend, I started using butter and cheese in recipes again.  I also imbibed in some adult beverages last weekend, though again, very moderately.

I have to say that the detox was a good experience overall, even though the main benefit was different than the one I anticipated.  I anticipated that I would feel better and feel good about readjusting to better habits than I had in January.  That certainly happened.

I didn't anticipate how delicious everything would be once I started consuming it again.  It had only been 3 weeks, people!  Cheese is so rich and salty.  Wine is so fragrant and warming and complex.  Because I had deprived myself of the things I love, I genuinely appreciated them so much.  I feel like I still have that attitude today, even though I've settled into my pre-December eating habits.   I don't think I'll need to experience such a formal deprivation period again for a long time, but it was a great experiment for mindful eating and gratitude for food that I love.

Speaking of which...  my new obsession:

This obsession just started yesterday.  I'd only had Greek yogurt in small spoonfuls on sample day at the grocery store, but I must be reading about it on blogs or something, because I decided to splurge on some in celebration of dairy being back in my life full force.  I bought honey-flavored because they were out of plain, and some frozen berries because fresh were too expensive, and my oh my.  So delicious.  Thank you, cows.

Vegan Baking and Other Musings

This is a picture of a delicious cookie I made yesterday.  Please excuse the poor photo--J. is a much better photographer than I am, and he often takes the pictures of food that end up looking really great.

One thing that this vegan experiment has done is pulled me away from random treats.  I actually would suggest eating vegan as a way to curb most mindless snacking--without feeling like you're counting calories, blah blah blah, because SO MANY treats have animal products in them.  Eggs in desserts, cheese products in chips, etc.  I have found that I don't really miss the random sugar cookie that someone brings in to work, but I do miss sweets.  So I've baked two types of vegan cookies.  Both involved chocolate.  Here is the recipe for the cookie I made yesterday.

Not eating random treats has been good for my body, I think, but it has made me think about food and connections to other humans.  Over the weekend, I was offered pizza after judging an awesome lego robot tournament.  In that moment, I was prepared to pick off the cheese and call it good.  I was also able to make light of my eating choices, attributing it to a "crazy vegan-for-a-month experiment," which didn't require too much explanation or defense.  It made me think about what I would have done if actually was a vegan.  It made me think about how personal our food choices are, and how we balance our eating principles with our connections with others.

I believe that sharing food is a way to connect with others.  I know that people can connect without eating, but man I love to eat.  And try new food.  And compliment people on food they make.  And cook with people.  And learn about people's cultures through food.  The list goes on and on.  To me, some of those connections can be made difficult or impossible if I make stiff rules about what I will and won't eat.  So I generally make loose rules that I break for a variety of reasons.  In my mind, I can justify all the rule-breaking by thinking that my principles are still met by using loose guidelines.  But these two weeks (and two weeks to go) have made me think about this a little more, and it makes me wonder if I'm actually compromising my principles with such loose guidelines.

These are the two main principles I use to make decisions about what I eat:
1.  It is best for my body to eat very little meat.  I've known this for a while.  My digestive system works better and I have more energy when I don't eat meat.  This may not be true for others, but it's true for me.
2.  Much of the meat produced in our country is bad for the environment. I like this article as a resource to explain some of the issues involved, even though it's now a couple years old.  I know there are other foods that are produced that are harmful for the environment as well, but this seems like a conscious step I can take that doesn't require much thinking.
3.  I have concerns about the way meat is industrially produced in our country--hormones, antibiotics, etc.  I don't want to be putting these things in my body on a daily basis.

I have been an on/off vegetarian for the last 8 or 9 years, with varying degrees of strictness.  The last time I started up again (it's been about 2 and a half years), I decided that I would approach my eating with more flexibility, in an effort to sustain my diet and not feel deprived.  Thus, I would say 98% of my diet is vegetarian.  However, I:
1.  maintain a don't ask, don't tell policy with broths and other flavoring agents when eating out or in the homes of others.
2.  sometimes buy beef or other meat from our local dairy, which supplies meat from other small local farms, for special occasions or if I am really craving it (I sometimes think my body is lacking something it needs when I have very strong cravings for meat). 
3.  try food if I want to, even if I know it has meat in it and I don't know where that meat came from.  For example, we went to our neighbors' house for a cocktail party and they had a delicious appetizer with prosciutto and pears and cheese and I had one.
4.  eat seafood once in a while (probably less than once a month) and try to pay attention to the seafood sustainability list.  

These four exceptions/policies have made me feel that I am never deprived of things I want to eat or try which makes my diet really easy to maintain.  If I look at reasons 2 and 3 above, this will be much better for the environment and my health in the long run than if I go back and forth every couple of years.  In terms of how I feel, well, the quantities of meat I eat are usually so small now that I don't feel affected.  This is how I justify keeping loose principles about my eating choices.  I feel able to meet my major principles while still connecting with others over food.

Sometimes, though (and this month, especially, while I use more restriction), I wonder about my little justifications.  I think I could probably have very similar connections with people even if I made stricter rules for myself.  I might not feel deprived if I changed my mindset.  I guess what I am trying to say, in this long-winded post, is that this weekend, and this month in general, has made me think about the balance between principles with eating and human connections--if I should really feel okay about justifying as much as I do with my eating.  I don't feel I've articulated my thinking very well today, even though I've revised and written two drafts, so this may be something to come back and explore more.

I miss cheese.

Actually, the detox plan is overall going well.  I am feeling healthy and strong and sleeping well, which was the whole point.

I am realizing how rich cheese is, though, and how much I love it.  Last Thursday I made a pizza and put cheese on J's half.  Some sneaked onto my half.  I probably had, in all, one bite of cheese, and it was heavenly.  I think a side effect of the month of detox could be a decrease in the quantity of cheese consumption after January is over. 

And... while popcorn with butter is delicious, popcorn with olive oil is also delicious.

Today I ate:
Breakfast: coffee, cereal with blueberries and soy milk
Lunch:  veggie chili mac (my veggie chili, "tofutti" (a soy cream cheese substitute), and elbow macaroni... I made the chili too spicy over the weekend, and sour cream and cheese can really help out with that.  I had to find an alternative so we could finish the pot.  It's actually pretty good.
Afternoon snack:  almonds and green tea
Dinner:  Spaghetti squash saute (with chickpeas, tomatoes, and herbs) and a chocolate raspberry vegan cookie I baked over the weekend. Water.

Next goal for the week, more water.  My skin is super dry, and while the cold weather isn't going away anytime soon, the least I can do is combat it from the inside out.

A Month of Vegan

I mentioned in my never-ending posts of yesterday (that were really just my personal journal--sorry!) that I had a health goal in mind as the year began, but I don''t really count it in my New Year's thinking because it's more of a post-December detox than a planned lifestyle change.

I eat vegetarian most of the time, and I would say that over 50% of the meals I eat are vegan or are made with very little dairy.  I also generally eat pretty healthfully, and I usually feel like I'm on the right track for sustainable healthy eating.

December took a toll on me, however.  I was eating cookies non-stop and drinking more than usual.  I was also mostly eating high-fat dairy like butter and cheese.  For the first time in my life, I developed consistent heartburn for almost a week straight.

When I became a (mostly) vegetarian the last time, I decided to be less strict with my eating habits so that I could sustain it long term.  I don't generally think that being restrictive is helpful to my health because my self-imposed restrictions just make me want what I can't have.  But the way my body was feeling at the end of December was a catalyst for a drastic shift, at least for a few weeks.

So, I'm going vegan to see how my body feels.  I'm also not drinking for the rest of January.  I'm on my first day of veganing and my second day of teetotaling.  I ordered my favorite herbal tea from Gong Fu Tea so I would not feel like I was missing my liquid treat.  I'm trying to be more routine about taking my vitamin as back-up, and I found this article really helpful to examine the different amino acids I'll be getting.

Here's what I ate today:
Breakfast:
Cereal (did include honey, but it was on sale!) with blackberries and soy milk
Coffee

Lunch:
Leftover french lentil soup recipe from Veganomicon
Homemade wheat bread
Apple

Afternoon Snack:
Green tea
Almonds

While preparing dinner:
A pear (usually I am drinking wine and/or eating crackers and cheese)

Dinner:
Curry Noodles with Tofu and Veggies

After-Dinner Treat:
Herbal tea (I was really looking forward to it--I love this stuff!)

So far I feel great.  It's early on so I'm not yet missing some of the things I know I eventually will.  I'm definitely going to have to try some vegan baking to satisfy the sweet tooth I know will arrive.  I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel.  I was even considering (gasp!) weaning myself off coffee and toward green tea for the month to see how my body is impacted.  I suppose there's no time like now if I'm going to deprive myself of other things I love.  Maybe next week...

Indian-Inspired Potatoes, Kale, and Chickpeas

So creative titles apparently aren't my strong suit...

This is a makeshift recipe with things we had in the house added to our fresh share of CSA veggies, which this week included: lettuce, kale, green beans, hot peppers, sweet peppers, potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, basil, and tomatoes.

We whipped this up for dinner and served it with some basmati rice. I think it would be even better with coconut milk in place of the cream, a more flavorful curry powder, and some fresh ginger thrown in the mix.

Yield: About 3 servings, with 1 scant cup uncooked basmati rice
Ingredients:
2 T. peanut oil
1 lb. potatoes, sliced thinly in bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup diced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1 small bunch kale, tough stems removed and sliced
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2 T. curry powder
1 t. garam masala
1/4 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. water

Procedure:
1. Heat peanut oil in large skillet. Fry potatoes and onion in oil until they are almost soft. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper.

2. Add the kale and the garbanzo beans and cook for 3-4 more minutes.

3. Add the curry powder and garam masala, mix thoroughly, and cook for a minute or so. Then add the cream and the water, thoroughly mix, and cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened to taste and the potatoes and kale are tender to your preference. Before serving, taste for salt and add some if necessary. I garnished with fresh basil because it smelled so good in the car on the way home.

Red Curry Rice Noodles with Veggies

This was dinner tonight. We needed something quick, because I was working on my room at school until after six. I love curry anything, and we needed to use the veggies that were crowding the fridge (what a great problem to have!), so this seemed like a good solution.

Servings: 5
Time to Prepare: 20-30 minutes, depending on veggie chopping time

Ingredients:
about 4 cups fresh veggies (We used carrots, bell pepper, kohlrabi, zucchini, tomatoes and yellow squash from our CSA.)
1 1/2 T. red curry paste (I used Thai Kitchen.)
1 14 oz can coconut milk (I used regular, but I think light would work okay.)
4 T. soy sauce
1 1/2 T. brown sugar
7 oz. package thin rice noodles

Procedure:
1. Chop all the veggies into bite size pieces. We made the carrots, kohlrabi, and bell pepper a little smaller so we could throw in all the veggies at the same time.
2. Soak the rice noodles in hot water for ten minutes.
3. Simmer the coconut milk with the curry paste for about 5 minutes, so it will thicken a little.
4. Throw the veggies in the sauce with the soy sauce and brown sugar. I also added about 1/2 cup of water because the sauce was thickening too much.
5. Simmer for about 3 minutes, then add the noodles to the mixture. It turned out the noodles were really long, so you might want to cut them up a little before you add them to the pot.
6. Heat for 2-3 minutes more, or until the veggies are tender-crisp and the noodles are the texture you like.