A good pot of lentils...

"A good pot of lentils" is actually the name of the recipe posted on Bon Appetit.  Here's the recipe for your healthy eating pleasure:

2 cups lentils (French green or black beluga)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. kosher salt plus more for seasoning
Optional Aromatics:
1 carrot, peeled; fennel fronds; 3 sprigs thyme; 3 sprigs flat-leaf parsley; 1 medium onion; 1 celery stick; 1 bay leaf; 1 head of garlic (the top 1/3 sliced off), and 1 whole dried chile

Place 4 cups water, lentils, oil, and salt in a heavy large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add any or all of the aromatics and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender and no longer chalky at their core, about 30-45 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Let lentils cool in the cooking liquid. DO AHEAD: Cover and chill lentils in liquid for up to 5 days. When ready to serve, scoop lentils out of liquid with a strainer or slotted spoon.


Recipe source (Clicky)


The picture is the pretty pre-cooked lentils.  For aromatics I used fennel fronds, thyme, baby carrots, a bay leaf, half an onion, and the head of garlic.  The result was delicious.  As my menu stated, I served the lentils with trout and roasted zucchini.  I also threw a salad in there with a quarter of an avocado and the miso-lime vinaigrette.  I don't think it's a bad thing to go overkill on the veggies.  :)

What healthy thing do you enjoy going overboard on?

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

They knew I was on a cleanse!

It's like Raley's knew I was starting my cleanse this week!  I realized that I had forgotten lemons for my trout tonight, so I grumbled my way to the store.  Lemons and limes were 5 for $1!  This is especially great, since I enjoy adding citrus to my water when I'm not indulging in alcohol.  A bag of Cuties were $2.50, and I picked up a couple pears to round out my snacks over the next week.  That is one happy fruit bowl.  I also bought a couple things of grape tomatoes... I know they aren't in season, but at a buck per container I couldn't resist.  Add in some extra garlic and my trip came to around nine bucks.  Not too shabs at all.  

Speaking of great deals, Aveeno is on sale at Walgreens- buy one, get one 50% off.  I bought the skin brightening wash (it's a bit gentler than St. Ives) and the overnight intense relief cream.  I'm a happy camper today!

In related news, I'm procrastinating on working on my support group curriculum... so, uh, what's going on with you guys?

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

WFDW- 2012 Cleanse Edition

How's everyone doing after the frivolities of New Year's Eve?  Kevin and I kept it low-key and stayed home for our celebration, indulging in ribeye steaks, mussels in a lovely butter-wine sauce, garlic bread, Parisian salad, and rosemary-garlic roasted red potatoes.  We watched movies and shared champagne kisses at midnight.  It was exactly what I needed after the hectic Christmas holiday.

Yes, please.

It was a wonderful meal to say goodbye to 2011 and hello to my two week cleanse.  I covered all of the cleanse no-no's yesterday: Caffeine, alcohol, simple carbs, artificial sweeteners, huge portions, and naughty fats.  I look forward to going without after so much delicious indulgence.

Last year I did the Bon Appetit Food Lover's Cleanse.  It was pretty damn difficult- the ingredients were hard to find, the meals took a long time to cook.  There was a lot of preparation that went into everything.  It's hard to plan each and every meal in a day, let alone stick to a dinner plan.  So, this year, I'm using the Cleanse Guidelines as inspiration, and rocking my own menus.

Bon Appetit

Note on the following menu I specifically state the veggies- sometimes I just imply that we're going to have a salad or cook some peas and it never happens.  I'm planning to incorporate vegetables and fruits into each meal, have at least one salad a day, and really stick to the correct portions.

Sunday
Chicken Fried "Rice" (I'm actually using quinoia), Asian Salad with Miso-Lime Dressing, Steamed Baby Bok Choy
Monday
Lemon-Garlic Trout, Lentils, Roasted Zucchini and Mushrooms
Tuesday
Cider-Glazed Chicken Breasts with Apple-Fennel Salad, Brocolli Rabe with Chili-Garlic Black Bean Oil
Wednesday
Pumpkin Shrimp Curry, Leftover Lentils, Leftover Brocolli Rabe
Thursday
Pork Chops with Red Wine-Grape Sauce, Roasted Butternut Squash, Salad with Cranberries and Almonds
Friday
Maple-Cayenne Salmon, Salad, Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Are you making any 2012 adjustments? What are your thoughts on cleanses? 

Mmmmm breakfast

Oatmeal with almond milk, flax seed, bananas, blueberries, walnuts, and just a hint of maple. And my crammed day planner in the background... How appropriate.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Lesson learned: Never complain about boredom at work...

...Because the second you leave the office for scheduled home visits you will be called by a panicking co-worker, telling that there is a gas leak at the shelter home and we need to find a place for all the kids to stay tonight.
The issue ended up being resolved before anyone had to be moved, but there was definitely an "oh shit" moment in there.  So, I'm never complaining about being bored at work again.  I'll do what I did today- clean off my desk, remove old notes from the ol' yellow legal pads, update my calender, and do some filing- but this time I will keep my mouth SHUT!
I was bad this morning.  I didn't have to go into work right away thanks to some late-day home visits. This meant that I gave myself an extra half hour of sleep, plus a couple snoozes. Then, I kinda just meandered around my house while getting ready. Cup of tea here, a snuggle with the puppy there.  And no yoga.  I feel quite guilty about it.  But, I have physical therapy tomorrow and I'm looking forward to burning off some calories.
My menu today was as follows:
Breakfast
Leftover Sweet Potato Hash
Kefir
Lunch
Leftover curried Lentil Soup (Even better today!)
Salad with one of the leftover Salmon Cakes
Snack
2 Trail Mix Cookies
Dinner
Sauteed Mushrooms
Seared Salmon over Greens with Toasted Pecans, Pomegranate Seeds, and Balsamic Vinaigrette (see picture)
Dinner was very tasty- I was pleased. The original plan was to have the salmon over an avocado and grapefruit salad but the dressing didn't look very "Kevin-friendly".  Also, no grapefruit.  Shit happens.
I'm thinking either a truffle with tea tonight or one cookie with some tea, I'll have to do my calorie counting.
Time to go relax- I have an early day tomorrow with PT starting at 8.  Toodles!

Seared salmon on greens with toasted pecans and pomegranate seeds

I didn't think Kevin would eat the salmon with avocado and grapefruit salad that the cleanse called for so I got creative.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Trail mix cookies

Yum! This time I used a woman's blend of trail mix- next time I'm going to try a ginger blend. Serving size is two cookies or one cookie and all the dough you lick off your fingers throughout the baking process.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Almost forgot!

I finally found rooiboos tea! Yum!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Meal planning, chores, cooking smarter

Yesterday was an awesome day.  The Seahawks beat the Saints (the reigning Super Bowl Champs) and I had a date night with Kevin.  I ended up getting a falafel pita for dinner.  It had pickles.  I was pleased.  Then we went to see True Grit, which was quite good.  I avoided the popcorn and snuck in a bottle of white tea.  I ended the date night with a bite of dark chocolate and some grocery list writing.  It's an exciting life I lead.
As previously mentioned, I'm continuing to do the Food-Lover's Cleanse, but as I'm not following it exactly I don't feel right labeling my posts as such.  I'm mixing and matching the combinations of breakfasts, snacks, and lunches I've had in the past to save a bit of money and use ingredients we already have on-hand.
Today's to-do list is long.  This was made more difficult by the fact that Kevin and I seemed to be in a coma until 9 am.  Late start to the day, that's for sure. I started out by doing yoga with Kevin.
The lateral angle pose is giving me trouble.  My shoulder doesn't like to move in that way and my arm gets tired really quickly.  This is what it should look like if you're a pro:

Haughty bitch.

I have anger issues when it comes to yoga.  I regularly think about hurting the people in the yoga videos, usually because they hold the pose longer than I think it really necessary or because their arm/leg/back/whatever is bent in a way that is just not humanly possible.  I think I should get better at yoga before I attempt classes.

(Source)

So, after I finished my yoga and I showered I made the planned breakfast for this morning:  Sweet Potato Hash with Egg.

Oh my gawd.  This is Kev's manly sized portion, btw.

I did make one big mistake.  I missed the line where the cleanse told me to swap out the three tablespoons of butter for olive oil.  So, my breakfast was extra delicious.  Whoops.

The plan for later:

Lunch/Snack (Breakfast was at 11:30!)
Almond-Banana Smoothie (with yogurt)
Dinner
Salmon & Lime Cakes
Curried Lentil Soup
Salad

I also need to do all of the laundry.  I'm glad Kevin and I swapped chores, my hands really used to hurt after doing the dishes.  That being said, I hate doing laundry.  I may have a drink. I'm really relying on that 3-4 drink/week allowance for the cleanse.
I'm also taking the opportunity to get ahead for the week- I'm making trail mix freezer cookies and a nice big batch of my citrus-shallot vinaigrette.  I bought a trail mix that was on sale- supposedly geared towards women (it has some soy nuts in it).  You chop it up and throw it in the batter.  It has regular all-purpose and whole wheat flour.  I'm excited.
Back to work tomorrow.  I'm so energized I don't even dread the approaching work week.  It's nice.
Oh, and GO PACKERS!  If they win the Seahawks have an easy game next week.  Huzzah!

Kara's new diet- Day 1

This cleanse has been really great, the scale says I'm down another half pound this morning.  I'm really shocked.  It seems ridiculous that I've lost that much weight but I do feel really fantastic. I'm going to continue it for the next week but without following it exactly.  It's been pretty expensive to stick to it completely.  I'll keep not drinking a ton of coffee or alcohol.  I think I'll continue some of the recipes I liked more- like the omelet and the salmon dishes.  I think it will be good and a bit less stressful.
 Also, Kevin and I want a date night tonight.  We're going to try out Pita Pita- I'm hoping to stick to a low dairy diet with a small amount of complex carbs.  I think that place will help me stay on track.  I suggested getting sashimi and miso soup but we seem to always turn to sushi for our date nights (not that there's anything wrong with that).  Then the greatest challenge of all: We're going to a movie.  I love movie theater popcorn. Delicious, carby, buttery, popcorn. Nom.


So, today here's the menu I'm going with:


Breakfast

1/2 Cup Yogurt with Toasted Pecans, Flax Seed, 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup, and Blackberries  (From the cleanse.)
Lunch
Leftover Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli 
Tuna on Rye Crackers
Apple
Mid-Afternoon Snack
Almond-Banana Smoothie (No Yogurt)  This was supposed to be Tuscan Kale Chips which sounded gross.

Dinner
Pita Pita.  I'll probably get something with lamb.  If their pitas are whole wheat I'll get a sammich, if not I'll stick to a platter.  The dinner tonight was supposed to be Salmon-Lime Cakes and Curried Lentil Soup.  That will be dinner tomorrow night.

Evening Snack
2-3 Dried Figs, Tea

Day 6- How it actually went.

Yesterday was crazy hectic.  I only had one meeting to go to at work.  So, I slept in an extra hour, did some yoga, and was about to make my poached chicken breast for lunch. Then, I found out that the transportation for my clients fell through and I needed to go pick them up from school.  So my two hour day turned into a five hour day.  I really wasn't able to stick to the diet.

Breakfast

Almond-banana smoothie with kefir and yogurt    The first time I had this smoothie it was just bananas and almond milk.  It wasn't very filling. Thius, the addition of 1/4 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup kefir.

Lunch
Leftover Beet Soup with Avocado  My avocado was disappointing.  The beet soup was "meh".
Rye Crackers with Almond Butter

Mid-Afternoon SnackArugula salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette   I felt like I needed an extra dose of veggies.
Dinner..... The only meal I actually stuck to!
Bulgur Pilaf  This took a long time to make but it was pretty good.  Next time I'm using ground coriander.  The whole seeds were weird to eat.
Poached Eggs    I fried it instead.  I liked it right over the pilaf.
Oven Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower   I just love the simplicity of roasted veggies.

Evening Snack
2 Tangerines and 1 Ounce of Chocolate      Nom.


It might not have been by the book, but I kept it pretty healthy. 

Day 5- Hey! I like beets!

Well, let me be clear: I don't LIKE beets. Bad title.  However, I don't mind them and that's not a great title.  Not that I'm doing Shakespeare or anything.  I actually think I would like them a bit better whole instead of pureed.  
I had my first PT appointment of the new year.  Due to this my life was a little crazy today.  I'm posting my actual menu below.


Breakfast

2-4 rye crisp crackers topped with smoked salmon and yogurt mixed with red onions and chives    What's not to like about anything involving smoked salmon?
Tangerines

Post-PT  Snack
Vanilla-Date Smoothie   Again, delicious.


Lunch
Leftover Endives, Apples, and Grapes   Like I said, I'm done with endives.  I tried.  I will continue to eat them if they are involved with seafood in some way.
Leftover Sweet Potatoes   These didn't warm up well.
I was supposed to have a salad but I didn't have time.  I finally ate lunch at around 3.

Dinner
Five-Spice Beet Soup     Not bad.... Eating it again tomorrow for lunch.  Kevin wouldn't touch it.  
Seared Steak     I was bad.  It was supposed to be hanger steak- I did NY strips.  
Warm Spinach Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette.  This just added Dijon mustard to the citrus-shallot vinaigrette.  Yum 

Evening Snack
2-3 Dried Figs and a Handful of Pistachios... I may have some dark chocolate instead/also.  I'm low on calories today and I didn't have chocolate with my yogurt today.  


Also, I'm drinking tonic water with a lime wedge.  It's my faux gin and tonic.  It's not too bad.  I'm surprised I didn't think of this back in my low carb days.