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{WIAW, food} What I Ate Wednesday, CSA Chat

I belong to a CSA – the 92nd Street Y CSA – and each week we get a shipment of fresh, organic, local vegetables from a farm just an hour or two north of the city.

This means that I tend to eat similar foods week to week, because the CSA sends me foods that are in season. It’s great when we get my favorites, like squash – but it can sometimes be overwhelming in the summer when I’m getting pounds and pounds of greens.

This CSA is organized by volunteers, so each member has to volunteer to man the pick-up table at least one. Last week was my week (Thursday). I got sent home with about 4 full bags of veggies and I could barely carry it the 2 long blocks to my apartment. In the bags I got:

  • many pounds of beets (and then more again this week!)
  • broccoli and cabbage (and more again this week)
  • butternut squash (the allotment was 1, but since I was volunteering I was able to take home many of the extras at the end)
  • tomatoes, eggplant, & shallots
  • basil & hot peppers
  • 3 dozen eggs (I gifted 1 dozen to a friend; I will probably gift another dozen because I get 1 dozen each week and I can barely finish them)
  • peaches, plums, and nectarines
  • 2 loaves of raisin bread (brought 1 to work and it was demolished), 1/2 loaf of whole wheat bread, 1 piece of focaccia

I have been trying to use all of that up this week. Here are some of the beautiful squash:

I think I could eat squash until I turn orange.

What I Ate Wednesday

  • breakfast was coffee and a medium-sized chunk of raisin nut bread toast with butter
  • lunch was 2 scrambled eggs and roasted veggies (beets, broccoli) for lunch
  • a large-ish nutty biscotti (grabbing coffee with a friend)
  • went to a yoga class at 6pm (had to sneak out of work early! I made up for it later in the evening)
  • dinner was a tuna salad sandwich on focaccia from a nearby restaurant (Cavatappo Grill) that came with a side salad
  • dessert was a cup of greek yogurt (0%) with cinnamon, stevia, and PB2
  • and I ate a few roasted veggie pieces as I was putting them in tupperwares (I tend to make roasted veggies at night, before I go to bed – then I eat them the next few days for lunch)

I don’t actually have any pictures, but I do have a picture of my coffee.

How To Make Coffee with a French Press

  • boil water
  • 2 heaping spoons of freshly ground coffee goes into the press (the spoon is a coffee spoon – I want to say it’s 2 tablespoons – so 4 heaping T’s in total)
  • pour the hot water over the grounds, let sit
  • after one minute, give it a stir and put the top on (don’t press down yet)
  • wait 4-5 minutes, then press down
  • put your milk and sugar in your cup first, then pour the coffee over
  • amazing!

That’s all I have. What did you eat Wednesday?

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Simple Lunch Stirfry Recipe and Siggi’s Probiotic Breakfast Review

i made this stir-fry for lunch yesterday (Tuesday, 1/24):

I decided to bring my lunch to work this week. We do have a cafeteria at the office, but it’s not that healthy. This stirfry is made up of:

  • broccoli + broccoli stalk (you don’t have to throw that part out – it’s great sauteed)
  • red pepper
  • can of tuna
  • frozen corn
  • fresh cilantro
  • garlic + chili powder
  • cooked in bacon fat (I save this each time I make bacon)

I had a sesame bagel alongside the stirfry.

I also vowed to bring breakfast. I normally shy away from drinking my calories, but I have found several drinks to be quite delicious as of late, in particular:

This is Siggi’s probiotic drinkable non-fat yogurt in plain (it also comes in strawberry). I don’t like siggi’s greek yogurt (too thick) but I did find this drinkable yogurt to have a good consistency (not too thick, not too thin — just right!) and flavor. I added some cinnamon to mine before drinking up. Only 45 calories in this small bottle which leaves plenty of room for other breakfast goodies like no-sugar scones.

What do you put in stirfrys? Do you drink your calories or save them for chewing?

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3 Steps to Intuitive Eating – Marriage and Food Intuition

Intuitive Eating and Marriage. That sounds like a rather odd combination? Surprisingly, it’s not. I just got back from my 2-week long honeymoon (it was absolutely amazing) and I am pretty sure I have discovered what might just be the ticket (or at least my ticket) to being an intuitive eater for good.

How I Got Married and Became an Intuitive Eater

I married an intuitive eater.

When we first started going out, I mostly ate just like Bobby (my husband) – but it can be hard to keep up with a 19-year-old boy, not to mention the fact that it’s not that good for your waistline.

For the next few years I tried to eat intuitively, and eventually something stuck. Creating good new habits takes work. But sometimes you can get a kick in the pants, or find motivation that will get your butt in gear. Here are the three steps that helped me (finally!) truly embrace eating intuitively:

  1. Name your flaw: I have an odd relationship with food. I knew that I did not eat intuitively. Lots of oatmeal does not a dinner make. For years I berated myself for not being able to “just snap out of it”, which many people seemed to think was good advice.
  2. Reframe the flaw: I have two glorious weeks to be completely free around food. Before I left for my honeymoon, I decided that it didn’t matter how much weight I gained while I was gone; I wanted to enjoy myself and I wanted to have fun on my honeymoon! (It turns out that I didn’t gain a pound – in fact, I lost 1-2.) Maybe your reframe could be, “I have a chance to completely change the way I eat,” or “I love eating locally and organically,” or “I am a great role model for my children,” and so on. This should be a positive statement about YOU that has at least a remote connection to that initial flaw you named above.
  3. Own it! I am an intuitive eater. This one is all about the power of positive thinking. “Fake it ‘til you make it.” Focus on your successes. Keep going. Push through. Pretend. If you can’t be an intuitive eater just yet, pretend you are anyway. Just don’t give up.

Why did it work for me this time? Because I keep trying. And because I followed all three steps, not just the first one. I’d named the flaw before (over and over again) but I never turned it into something positive. I think (hope) that everyone who tries to quit something fails the first few times (if they don’t fail, they are either lying or superhuman). If you quit smoking successfully, you probably “quit” several times before you succeeded. (Note: I do not smoke, but this is a good common example.) It’s the same with food – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

An Intuitive Eating Dinner

Open-faced tuna melts. Mine (2 slices of whole wheat bread, tuna salad, tomatoes, and melted cheese):

Bobby’s (sesame seed bagel, tuna salad, cheddar cheese):

My easy tuna salad recipe. Dessert was tart frozen yogurt (shared) from Trader Joe’s. Then wine – a mix of Trader Joe’s wine (Dr. Beckermann Auslese Rheinhessen – it’s a white wine and it’s fantastic – sweet and refreshing) mixed with seltzer:

Are you an intuitive eater? Why or why not?

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Healthy Eats for a Busy Life

This week has been very very busy. I’m trying to get as much as I can out of this free Equinox pass (for the intenSati Warrior Challenge) and work is pretty crazy and I’m also trying to have a social life. Is that impossible? I wish I didn’t have to sleep.

I have eaten some very yummy things, though. These are steamed Japanese sweet potatoes:

jan 15 2010 001

I just cut up a humongous ‘tater and steamed it for about 6-7 minutes. The chunks were small enough that it cooked quickly. Tasted kind of like a ripe kabocha, but not quite as good. I miss kabocha squash – I should definitely make an effort to get some. I think I had this sweet potato with some maple syrup. Those are paint chips in the background.

AM New York (a free paper that I get going in to the subway) has had coupons recently for $5 off at Energy Kitchen. Energy kitchen is a fast food store that only sells dishes that are under 500 calories! I love it. I got this total tuna sandwich the other day:

jan 15 2010 002

It has 290 calories. Obviously you can’t just have one dish from there, because it wouldn’t be much food – but if you get a sandwich and have something extra like an apple, it’s a really yummy, healthy, satisfying lunch. I wish I had pictures of the other things I’ve tried: the veggie egg wrap with broccoli and onions (274 calories), the ostrich (!) burger (271 calories), the steamed broccoli side (kind of boring), and the sauteed mushrooms and onions side (very good!). My coworker likes Energy Kitchen too – his new year’s resolutions had to do with being healthier and eating less meat, so we like similar stuff!

Last but not least is this great salad I had a few weeks ago when I was in NJ for new year’s:

jan 03 2010 022

It’s called the Whole Earth Salad (named after the Whole Earth Center in Princeton, where my dad and sister got it). I wrote down what I think is in it so that I can try to recreate it: kale, almonds, rice/bulgar, cabbage, carrots, sesame seeds, marinated firm tofu, and a lemony dressing. It’s vegan (and vegetarian).

Off to snuggle. What are you doing this weekend?

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Salad, yoga, & shopping

Salad of the day:

12-wednesday-salad

  • 1 romaine heart base
  • toppings: veggie “kinpira” of carrot, mushrooms, peas, cinnamon, sugar, & chili powder (sauteed in sesame oil)
  • protein: 2 tablespoons parmesan
  • dressing: annie’s lite honey mustard vinaigrette (new!)

Yoga of the day:

The other day I mentioned that my favorite dressing is newman’s own lowfat sesame ginger.  Whole Foods didn’t have it today, so I got some others to try – annie’s lite gingerly vinaigrette, annie’s lite honey mustard vinaigrette, and whole foods organic ginger soy vinaigrette.  So far I’ve only tried the honey mustard; it’s delicious.  It’s not as good as newman’s own though.

lite-gingerlylite-honey-mustard

I got this interesting jerky made by SnackMasters – Ahi Tuna Jerky!  I hope it’s good.  Bobby and I both love tuna.

ahi-tuna-jerky

I’m headed off to yoga in about 10 minutes… What’s your favorite new/recent product discovery?  I’m actually not sure what mine is.  I have been loving dairy, and I just found Wallaby’s organic lowfat yogurt.