Blogs

February 27th, 2008

Pretty dull food day yesterday, mostly leftovers. One thing I find interesting: I ate considerably fewer calories on Wednesday than I did on Tuesday, about 800 calories less. I've seen this pattern several times. What this tells me is that my body is maintaining a long-term balance in food intake; if I eat a little more one day, I automatically eat a little less the next, because the food I eat actually quells my hunger. This happens automatically for me, so long as I keep my carb load low. Pretty cool.

Breakfast:

??How did an Irish Catholic holy day, dedicated to the 5th century bishop who Christianized the Emerald Isle, become a big American secular celebration? How did we end up with parades, paper shamrocks, dopey hats, and the Chicago River dyed green? More to the point, how did Americans of every ethnicity find themselves feasting mid-March on potatoes and green beer, higher carb than which it is hard to get?

This week's "Star" has a picture of little Suri Cruise on the cover, with a big splashy headline about "SURI'S STRANGE LIFE!" Withholding all opinions of Tom Cruise and Scientology, the first weird thing they list on the cover is "NO TV! NO HAPPY MEALS!"

Hear that, gang? If you don't buy your toddler fast food junk (and let them watch lots of video programming), you're weird enough that the tabloid press will write about it.

Next thing you know it will be "THE HEARTBREAKING ABUSE! SURI MADE TO EAT HER VEGETABLES!"

Just a "Whither are we drifting?" moment.

February 26, 2008

Breakfast:

Leftover meat loaf with two fried eggs (YUM!)

Lunch:

Another slice of leftover meat loaf
Leftover green beans

Snacks:

Sugar free dark chocolate
Raw carrot
Cup of leftover Sopa Azteca (Mexican chicken-and-vegetable soup) with shredded Monterey Jack and a little diced avocado

Dinner:

Roasted chicken
Cole Slaw

Beverages:

Tea
Sparkling water
Dry red wine

Daily Totals: 2398 Calories; 145g Fat (61.2% calories from fat); 138g Protein; 69g Carbohydrate; 27g Dietary Fiber, 42 grams usable carb

About a million years ago, I wrote a Lowcarbezine! article about the concept of "fun." I had been to visit a friend whose husband bought up overruns and closeouts, and sold them to places like Big Lots and the dollar stores. He had offered me a big tub of cookies he'd gotten a good deal on. I had said thanks but no thanks, I didn't eat sugar. His response was, "What, you never have any fun?"

We're just a few weeks out from Easter, and you know what that means -- eggs are going to be cheap. Religious holidays aside, late winter/early spring is always a great time for eggs -- that's why they became a symbol of this spring religious festival. I have occasionally seen eggs as cheap as 4 dozen for a buck -- these were medium-sized eggs, to be sure, but still, at that price they might as well be giving them away. At prices like that, we can eat a lot of eggs.

I am, as we say in our house, "baking a beet loaf" -- making a meat loaf. It's similar to the recipe for Philippa's Meat Loaf in 500 More Low-Carb Recipes, with some substitutions based on what I had in the house. I combined:

2 pounds ground chuck
1/2 cup fine bread crumbs, from stale low carb bread
1/2 cup half-and-half
2 eggs
1 big onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1 scant tablespoon Vege-Sal

Daily Menu February 21, 2008

Breakfast:

Leftover Shepherd's Pie, warmed up and topped with two fried eggs (this was soooo good!)

Lunch:

Sliced cold lamb
Half a ruby red grapefruit

Snacks:

Spiced peanuts
Sugar-free dark chocolate

Dinner:

Oven-barbecued Pork "brisket" -- the edges cut off of spare ribs.
Cole Slaw

Beverages:
Tea
Sparkling Water
Dry Red Wine

Daily Totals: 1689 Calories; 94g Fat; 108g Protein; 48g Carbohydrate; 15g Dietary Fiber

As mentioned in the Daily Menu, I roasted a leg of lamb Sunday evening. It had been in the freezer, vacuum-sealed, for over a year; I'd bought it on sale at $2.99/lb, and been waiting for an occasion when there were more than the two of us in the house. After all, it was almost 10 pounds!

This soup is amazing. It's my clone of a soup I tried at the Ellicottville Brewing Company in Ellicottville, New York. If you're ever in western New York (or even western Pennsylvania) the EBC is well-worth a trip out of your way.

Like all soups, it's best made with homemade broth. I'd just made broth Saturday, so soup for supper seemed mandatory.

African Peanut Soup

1/2 large onion -- chopped
1/2 cup diced celery
2 teaspoons butter
1 1/2 quarts chicken broth -- or three 14 ounce cans
1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cubed

Daily Menu February 18th, 2008

Breakfast:
Jalapeno jack omelet with salsa

Lunch:
Leftover African Peanut soup (This is too good. I'll post the recipe separately.)

Snack:
Sugar-free dark chocolate

Dinner:
Roasted leg of lamb (let it marinate for an hour or two before roasting in garlic olive oil and lemon juice)
Turnips roasted in the pan around the lamb.
Roasted asparagus

Beverages:
Tea
Sparkling water
Dry red wine

Daily totals: 1809 Calories; 101g Fat; 101g Protein; 58g Carbohydrate; 18g Dietary Fiber, 40 grams usable carb

I'm home! I'm home! I got in in the middle of the night Wednesday, and spent a few days recovering. I'm still tired and achy, though I've started cooking again.

To address a question that came up since I've been away:

Yes, I've tried shirataki, both the "traditional" and "tofu" varieties. They've earned a place in my fridge, though I use them probably once a month or less.

Finally checking in. I've been in San Diego since January 30th, and haven't had a quiet moment.

Well, finally! Somebody answered the question "What is a calorie?" I was starting to wonder if it was just a slow day on the internet, or what...?

Got the answer right, too -- a calorie is a unit of energy, though I prefer to phrase it a "measurement of fuel." Just as we buy fuel for our cars in gallons (or, in the rest of the world, in liters) we buy fuel for our bodies in calories.

Daily Menu, January 24th, 2008

Breakfast:
Monterey jack omelet topped with salsa

Lunch:
Leftover rotisserie chicken, wrapped in romaine lettuce leaves

Snacks:
Sugar-free dark chocolate
Sugar-free Reese's peanut butter cup
A raw carrot

Dinner:
Curried Chicken Salad -- the remains of the rotisserie chicken diced and mixed with diced celery, a couple of sliced scallions, half an apple, also diced, toasted sliced almonds, and light mayo seasoned with curry powder and garlic.

Beverages:
Tea
Sparkling water
Dry Red Wine