A debate on food culture.

Earlier today, I indulged in an awesome meal: Shrimp and grits from a small resteraunt in town.  It was absolutely delicious.  There is a certain art to the food culture of the south, based in strong flavors, large chunks of vegetables, meat, a good strong sauce, and a solid starch to pair it with.  It's something that I've always loved about the way that Southern cooking is -- it's home.  The best kind is when you can tell that a person actually prepared the meal instead of cutting open a package and putting it in a pan to warm.

Ignore my foot, I was eating sitting down.

But my love of grits sparked a moment between R. and I -- he being a good California boy who swears that the California border is covered with checks to keep people from bringing in contraband grits.  Obviously, he's not a fan.  I believe his words to describe grits is that they are "just like undercooked oatmeal sans any flavor, necessitating smothering with butter and cheese. The butter and cheese are what people like."  (Personally, my favorite grits dish is simply cooked plain with a swirl of good maple syrup.) 

Shrimp and grits vary from place to place in the south, with the versions as wide ranging as the land mass you cover seeking out the variations.  I love seafood, but I admit to being a snob and not really willing to eat it unless I know it comes fresh.  Having grown up watching seafood walk off the boats and into resteraunts, it's difficult for me to accept frozen seafood that has been trucked in.  The shrimp I had tonight were HUGE, and being as I see shrimping boats heading out each morning as I go to work, I know they're fresh and local.  The vegetables were chunky, and there was even a gratuitous chunk of andouille sausage floating in the sauce.  Mixing the thick gravy with the cheesy grits made it perfect for eating with a spoon.

Someday, I'll get R. to understand.  Grits are an acquired taste, and are only really good when they're made from scratch, not instant.  It's the same thing with oatmeal -- if it comes out of a little paper package, it's not going to be good.  My favorite breakfast these days is to make a half cup of oatmeal, then mix it with a cup of greek yogurt for protein.  I love how creamy it makes the oatmeal, and I get a great dose of fiber and protein which keeps me full until my lunch break.  The same thing works with grits -- I've been known to mix my grits with scrambled eggs in the mornings and eat them all together.  I don't think cream of wheat really works the same way, since it tends to be a bit thinner, but I do love the creamier texture some days.  It works really well with sweet toppings like strawberry jam, or Grandma Jelly.

That reminds me to do a post later this week on Grandma Jelly.  I went over to my Grandma's house earlier today and found a big bucket of ripe juicy figs from the tree in her back yard ready to be made into jelly, and a few new jars already sitting on the counter.

I missed summers at home. I'm glad I get to spend some time here, with the food and family that I love.
-A

There is an art to eating well.

I know that I promised I wouldn't turn this blog into something that is all about my journey to eating well, and losing weight.  But I think this post needs to be done -- and simply because it flies in the face of everything the weight loss advertising executives want you to think.

You don't need a fancy program in order to control your eating habits and lost weight.

There. I said it. 

I have problems with eating.  It's a battle for me, my relationship with food.  I know that you have seen through pictures my large portion sizes (I promise, I didn't eat the whole half of the pizza that R. and I made, and I couldn't finish the salad since I had accidentally doused it with too much dressing.  My portion sizes haven't become that skewed), and I admit that I grew up eating way too much food.  If you didn't have a heaping plate at family functions, then there had to be something wrong with you. Was there something wrong with the food? Here, have something else to eat.  Catch my drift?

I was on Weight Watchers for the better part of two years, and I lost nearly 70 pounds on it.  One thing that I will say is that WW taught me how to take the food available to me and turn it into something I can lose weight with.  I was living in the dorms, in my first apartment, and my food availability was rather limited, especially with the dining hall situation.  I could eat what I wanted, learned to track what and how much I ate, and soon began making better choices food wise.  But it didn't stick.

My vow from now on is to make it stick.  But I'm not going to shell out money that could very well be spent elsewhere (as my grandma pointed out -- don't spend the money on a weight loss plan, because it takes away money you could be spending on healthy food options to replace the bad ones) on paying monthly fees to WW again.  Especially since in this day and age, there are hundreds of free tools that allow you to do the same thing, just without the handy (and pain in the ass) Points system.

I track what I eat these days through My Fitness Pal, which comes in both an App form and the website.  I use the App for tracking when I haven't planned ahead, following the calorie goal that's calculated for me healthily based on my weight, height and activity level, and the website when I have the ability to plan ahead.  I like planning.  I can set what I'm going to eat, so I'm not rushing around, or craving something and give in (I'm lookin' at you, bag of Toll House cookies...).  When I plan, I know I have something easy to pick and make, so I'm obviously not going to starve.  I usually give myself a couple hundred calories of leeway, in case I do feel the need to have something sweet.

There is no need for a miracle weight loss plan, or to pay all kinds of money for people to do the work for you, or for supplements that don't really do much of anything (or are horribly dangerous to your health!) in order to lose weight.

Burn more calories than you take in.  It's that freaking simple.  If it's not that simple for you, then consult your doctor. When I talked to mine, we ran a blood test and found out that I'm borderline hypothyroid, so yes, losing weight is a bit more difficult for me, but it's correctable.  If I had continued to have trouble after following a strict diet, my doctor said we would look at medications, but she didn't think it was necessary.  I started working out regularly (sometimes, I even made it to religiously!) and doing strength training - the extra lean muscle was just the boost my metabolism needed to balance out my thyroid.

Ask questions. People want to help you. Find a friend to keep you accountable, but don't find that friend who will nag you about every little thing you put in your mouth.  My best friend and I went through WW together, only in the sense that we had our individual Points, we didn't nag about what we ate on a daily basis - and we cheated like hell together.  We literally had a weekly trip to Marble Slab as our one indulgence.  It kept the guilt at bay, and we lost all the more weight because of it.

Losing weight is hard.  It's not SUPPOSED to be easy, because you're SUPPOSED to be changing your lifestyle FOREVER.  Not until you hit your weightloss goal, spend two weeks in your skinny jeans as you revert to your old habits, and find yourself with all the weight back six months later.  If you're going to lose it right, you're going to lose it forever.  End of store.

I love the honesty of Fabulous Lorraine in her weight loss journey.  She works her ass off, and she knows why she's stalled -- because she's not eating right.  It's a balance. A sucky terrible balance.  But one you have to fight your way through.

I fought my way through once, and I slipped. My lovable R. is supportive of my efforts to get myself back under control, but reminds me constantly that he loves me any way that I am, even if I stayed the same.  I need that support, because it means that I'm not changing for what I see as the most important opinion outside of my own: his.  He loves me.  I am not my weight. But I need to lose my weight, because otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to be around for him to love, or that I will be limited in such.

I'm doing this for me. I'm fighting my urges, drowning my cravings in water, and taking long walks around my bad days.

And finding fabulous ways to cook through it all.  Here we go, guys.  Here we go.
-A

The art of packing lunches.

I have these memories of packed lunches from being in school.  Admittedly, the packed lunch phase only lasted about until middle school, and a few sporadic attempts in high school, but there's always that sense of going to school and having a packed lunch when I think of going to school.

While my school days are over (for now, at least. Here's hoping for good applications in the fall!), I am beginning a new job where the days are long, and my current finances don't allow for eating out every day.  I also don't want to risk all of the calories that come with eating out - I am trying my best to get into the whole eating well groove again, and cutting excess calories out of my life.

Tomorrow is my first 9:15-6:15 shift, with an hour for lunch, so I decided I would pack a lunch to go with my big ol' bottle of water that I bring to work, since the store is inside of a fort and it gets really hot sometimes.  I made a turkey sandwich on Arnold's Sandwich thins, with deli turkey, spinach leaves, a slice of pepperjack cheese, and some spicy brown mustard.  Combined with a handful of tortilla chips, a banana and an apple, it should be more than enough to get me through the day, given that I plan on eating a good breakfast before I go to work.

It's going to be a long day spent on my feet, but a good lunch makes the prospect a little brighter.

Lunch is just as important as breakfast,
-A

Eating Out: Applebee's.

My family has always had the tradition that when it was your birthday, you got to choose where to go out for a special birthday dinner.  My sister's birthday was last week, and we put off having the birthday dinner until tonight, and she chose Applebee's.  Now, I had a rather jarring awakening this morning at the doctor's office when the scale told me that through the stresses and pains of the my last year of college, I managed to gain back a large chunk of the weight  I lost when I spent two years on Weight Watchers.  It hurt to see those numbers.

So I decided, for about five minutes, to return to WW.  Then I realized that really, I didn't need it.  I had spent long enough on the program that I knew quite well how to eat healthy, monitor my portions, and with technology today there are so many free websites and iPhone apps that can help me track everything I eat and keep me on the right path.  I promise that this revelation isn't going to turn this blog into a diet-crazy-health-nut-food-blog, since I do love to eat.  One of my favorite things that WW taught me is that I am allowed to eat whatever I want -- I just have to eat it in moderation.  It's a good life rule, but I spent the past year seeking comfort in food, and I didn't bother to practice the portion control side of it.  That begins anew now.

Back on topic, at Applebee's they recently debuted a new menu, with items that were all under 550 calories.  I wasn't feeling particularly hungry (a side effect of the antibiotics I'm on.  I have no appetite until I'm so hungry and weak with low blood sugar that my body has no choice but to tell me to eat, but I don't really want to even then.), so these options looked good.  You can see the entire menu on the Applebee's Website.

Today I chose the Asiago Peppercorn Steak, which was really good.  The peppercorn gave the smaller serving of steak a lot of flavor.  The "seasonal vegetables" was rather sad, as it was just a giant clump of overly boiled broccoli, and some potatoes that had no real flavor.  I found myself running the broccoli and potatoes around the bottom of the plate in hopes of picking up some of the leftover juices from the steak to help them out.  Of course, that might just be a shortfall of our particular Applebee's, and not one that everyone would encounter. 

I would recommend the menu for people who aren't looking to overindulge, and it takes the guesswork out of the portions, since we all know that restaurants over-serve with gusto.  The main part of the meal, the steak, was pretty tasty, with a nice crunch and crust from the peppercorns, and the melted asiago cheese satisfied my indulgent side.  I might opt for a different side next time, like a small salad, just to make it seem a little less sad on the plate with the vegetables.

Here's to good eats, and healthy futures,
-A

This isn't a full post.

I was supposed to have a job interview today, which I was very excited about, but instead I landed in the Emergency Room.  I had my gallbladder taken out almost two years ago, and there was damage to the Common Bile Duct, and a stent placed.  Now it seems the bile duct is malfunctioning and the stent is nowhere to be found, and it resulted in me having a sudden attack of sever pain this morning.

Honestly, I don't feel like writing about food tonight.  I feel like curling up with ice cream and a good book and ignoring the world, because I'm still hurting, and worrying about my interview tomorrow (the lady was very understanding, and willing to let me interview even though I bailed moments before I was supposed to be there.  With the amount of pain I was in, I would have made more of a fool of myself trying to get through it than I would by canceling).

But I will leave you with a few links, some favorites of mine:

The Hyppo Gourmet Popsicles : Created by Stephen Dimare, a family friend who I grew up with.  His pops are truly amazing and wonderful.  I highly recommend Peanut Butter Pie, Champagne Mango, Riesling Pear, and Strawberry Datil.  They're so creative there!
Tiny Urban Kitchen: Che shares the same struggles that I do - small kitchen, limited cooking space, and the saddening lack of fresh ingredients available to most urbanites.  I love the anecdotes! The restaurant stories are great, and give me loads of ideas of places I'd like to visit.  I've been the bakery mentioned in the most recent post in NYC - I can vouch for the baked goodness!
80 Breakfasts: We've discussed my addiction to breakfast foods before. This should be rather self-explanatory. There are some amazing recipes here that have nothing to do with breakfast, though, and I love the writing style.

I'm going to go back to my book now, and hope that the freak incident today was a one-off... I really want this job, so I can start gathering my ingredients and cooking again.  To share it all with you here, of course (and mail treats to the baked-goods-from-girlfriend-deprived-R. in California, of course).

I think there is some Peppermint Mocha Java Chip Frapp ice cream in the freezer calling my name...
-A

A busy week.

I feel bad for not posting anything last week, especially since it was a pretty busy and wonderful week food-wise for me. R. and I were packing up to leave and head back to my hometown for a few days before he left to go back to the golden coast of California to visit his family, and I'm preparing to move back home for the foreseeable future.  It was busy, hectic, but we finally made it, and now I can sit and recount the meals we shared that were memorable.

The week started out with our monthaversary, and R. decided he wanted to do something "special" for dinner, and that "special" turned out to be something that fit our personalities and relationship really well -- homemade BLT sandwiches and a Star Trek movie marathon.  The BLTs were made with Publix bakery italian bread (Thick, delicious, squishy slices of heaven), crispy oven baked bacon and nice in-season tomatoes sliced thick.  I put a little spicy mustard on mine, and R. ate his plain.  With a pasta salad, we had our meal that we enjoyed curled up on the couch, watching Picard and Kirk, debating the strengths and weaknesses of our favorite Captains.

A real challenge for us that week was eating everything we had in our fridge, and to cook without really making leftovers. Our solution was chicken sandwiches one night, with a side of the leftover pasta salad, and to make another pizza the next.  Between that and omelets galore, some pancakes and biscuits with chili, we managed to pretty much clear out both of our freezers and the perishables from our pantries.

My favorite way of making chicken breasts is a pretty simple one.  I hate, hate, hate, hate dry chicken breasts.  Even grilled chicken breasts lose their appeal to me when they're dry and chewy.  That's saying a lot, because chicken is one of my favorite proteins, serving as a lean source of protein that can be low in calories, and perfect served complexly or simply.  I love chicken (remember the Never Fail Chicken Chili?) and I've gotten pretty good at cooking it.

Here's what you need to make great moist chicken breasts (or strips, or tenderloins.  I haven't tried it with anything with the bone in, but consulting your handy-dandy cookbook like the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook for cooking times, you can use this technique as well):

• 1 deep baking dish, either metal or glass, line with aluminum foil for easier cleanup.
• 1 can (or more, depending on how much chicken you have) low sodium chicken broth
• Chicken!
• Spices such as salt, garlic, pepper, chili powder.  Whatever floats your chicken flavoring boat.

I place the chicken in the foil lined pan, and season well.  I rub the seasoning thickly on the chicken, because it's going to come off with the broth poured in, but still seasoned.  The seasoned broth leftover from this is pretty wonderful for uses in sauce as well.  I cover the chicken with another layer of foil, creating a type of packet that will keep the steam from the broth in.  Into the oven it goes, at about 450 degrees.  The time depends on how much chicken you have, but for three or four chicken breasts I have found that 35 minutes or so works well enough to cook the chicken through.

When the chicken is done, it's great for eating plain with a side of vegetables or starch, or using in sandwiches like R. and I did, or in chicken salads, on top of salads, etc.  Whatever your favorite use for chicken, this gives you good moist chicken to use.  R. and I topped the pizza we made with the leftover chicken, some mushrooms, and other vegetables and meats we had leftover, smothered it in cheese and called it good.  It went through basically the same process as our previous pizza adventure.

Now I have to come to terms with the fact that R. is three thousand miles away, and relearn how to cook for one person, and adapt my parents' style of eating to one that will help me stay on the healthy eating train.  Here's to steam pack vegetables and chicken breasts!

... putting that in writing just makes it seem worse, after all the culinary fun I've been having for the past few weeks. Sigh.

Still cookin',
-A