Cooking Spree

by | Sep 18, 2012 | Challenge

Today’s Happiness Booster: The Email Opt-Out. In the spirit of the new year (Rosh Hashanah!), I’m going to be focusing on one new happiness booster each day. These are the little things that I try to identify and implement – consistently making my bed, going to sleep with the sink empty of dishes, 10 minutes of exercise, etc. – that when performed every day, add up. Today, I focused on the email opt-out.

A few months ago I started using unroll.me, a site which actually automates the process of clearing and archiving your inbox. It archives mail into a daily roll up, and lets you choose whether you want future mail from the sender or to unsubscribe. While this was convenient, I realized that I needed to do it myself for prime satisfaction. So each email, I’ve started taking 2 seconds to ask myself: Keep? Or Unsubscribe. I’m reaping the benefits already.

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Breakfast this morning was a leftover slice of roast beef tenderloin, and a sliced tomato from Volante Farms.

I then headed out to a morning meeting with a friend at Formaggio Kitchen. George Howell coffee, black. I’m getting quite used to coffee with nothing in it, but it certainly doesn’t hurt that this is some of the best coffee in the city.

Resisting the urge to buy everything, I left with eggs from Silverbrook Farm. Farm fresh eggs are my vice. Lately I’ve tried Chip-In, Eric’s, Red Fire Farm, trying to determine which I like best. I admit it, I was swayed by the blue box.

Late in the afternoon, I set about doing some prep cooking, to help reduce time spent actually cooking during the week. This entire prep took just shy of 45 minutes, but it’s a definite head-start to the week! [Yep, 4 different things, 45 minutes.]

I started out with a batch of homemade olive oil mayo. It has a whole egg, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of mustard. A minute with my stick blender and done!

I then set about making some Coconut Chile Beef from Melissa Clark‘s ‘Cook This Now‘. Love, love, love this cookbook. Beef, coconut milk, chile, and lots of lime, cooked down into a sweet, tart, and savory sauce. The prep takes 12 minutes, and then you put it in the oven to braise for a few hours.

Because I always aim to maximize the work my oven does, I quickly chopped up the last of my Volante Farms eggplant and popped it in the oven as well to roast for an hour.

And then, on a roll, I decided to quickly brown the ground pork I had with some Italian Seasoning. I’ll use this with eggs for breakfast, or on leafy greens, or to add some depth to soup. I might also add some sauce and serve it on spaghetti squash. We’ll see. It helps to have it on hand.

Finally, I made myself a quick lunch before sitting down to work at the computer for several hours! Chicken soup with homemade stock, the last of the roasted chicken, a large handful of kale, and a good squeeze of lemon.

As if all that cooking wasn’t enough, tonight was our very first benchmark workout of the challenge at my gym! The challenge is 8 weeks, so we’ll likely do this at the end again to see how far we’ve improved.

The WOD: (Workout of the Day)

It’s split up into two parts – a strength workout, and then a workout set.

Strength:  Back Squats – 6 sets of 3 @ 80% of  your 1 rep max*, rest 2:00 between sets*If you don’t have a max, take the time to get one. I didn’t have a max, so I worked to get one today. I ended up hitting 85 lbs. for 3, and then 95 I managed to eek in 2 lifts. (85 is 20 pounds heavier than last time, so I’m feeling pretty good). 95 next time!

Benchmark WOD 1:  “Fran”

21-15-9 reps for time:

Thrusters 95/65

Pull-ups

The prescribed weight for Fran for women is 65, but I’m still working up to full capacity. I eeked things out in 9:40, using 45 pounds. And I wanted to puke. But, that’s 10 pounds heavier than I did it last time. As for the pullups, well, jumping for me. This looks easy. It is not! I’m looking forward to what two months more of progress will bring me to.

When I got back home, I walked to the store to pick up a few vegetables, and set to work making a crunchy salmon salad. I was happy to have leftover grilled salmon on hand from last night, so it came together quickly. I’ll definitely be making this again soon with some of my frozen Copper River salmon – although you could also make it with a high quality wild canned salmon.

Just like tuna, but with salmon! I served it with a half an avocado, and two small tomatoes.

Crunchy salmon salad
serves 2 with leftovers for lunch

This recipe has a lot of mayo – but I make mine fresh, with good olive oil and a fresh egg, and it makes all the difference. You can reduce the amount you use to your taste, but it tastes better with more. Note, you can (and probably should) make this an hour or so before you eat it, and let the flavors meld in the fridge.

2 cups leftover cooked salmon (preferably wild)
2 hard boiled eggs
1 shallot
juice of a lemon
salt
1 red bell pepper
1 cucumber
1/4 cup homemade mayo
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon dried dill
salt and pepper to taste

Mince your shallot, and place in a small bowl, adding a pinch of salt and the juice of a lemon. Let sit while you prep the rest of the salad. This tempers the shallot so it won’t have such a bite! In a large bowl, flake your salmon with the two hard boiled eggs.

Prep your vegetables – peel and dice the cucumber, and dice up your red bell pepper. Add to the salmon and egg mixture, and stir to combine. Add about a quarter cup of homemade mayo, and the cayenne, celery seed, and dill. Stir gently, add the lemon and shallot mixture, and stir again. Taste, and season with a little bit more salt if need be.

You can eat this right away, but it tastes a lot better if you give it an hour or so in the fridge. (Well learned lesson from my dad, tuna/salmon/crab salad master.) Serve as is, on lettuce, or a soft bun.

Happy New Year!

by | Sep 17, 2012 | Challenge, Holidays

Happy New Year!

No, I don’t have my months mixed up, tonight is the very first night of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. Where my Jews at?! Challah back, y’all. Alrighty, that’s out the way.

Today started out the way all good days start. With coffee. Zabar’s. I went a few weeks ago with my mom to New York, and picked up some Blue Bottle Giant Steps, freshly roasted. Once I finished that, I stole one of her (10!) pounds of Zabar’s coffee she picked up. It runs in the family.

I spent my morning devouring Gretchen Rubin’s new book, Happier at Home that Crown sent to me.  It may just be my very first give-away on the blog. After two hours of reading in bed, I hopped up to make myself breakfast: warm roasted eggplant and zucchini, topped with a fried egg seasoned with salt and bourbon smoked paprika.

I then set to work on some of my “make the house a home” projects, including clearing off the coffee table in our bedroom, and hauling it into the living room. (The living room I cleared of the metric ton of cardboard two days ago.)

This was a difficult task that required lunch not too long after: leftover cold roast chicken, a chopped tomato sprinkled with salt, and a spoonful of mustard.

That’s some gorgeous light filtering in our ancient windows.

And this is my snack: banana with almond butter. This stuff never gets old.

In the evening we headed over to my aunt and uncle’s house for Rosh Hashana dinner. My aunt took over this year from my grandmother, who has been the queen of the holidays for the past fifty years, and frankly deserved a break.

My aunt is an awesome hostess, who plans perfectly down to the tiniest details: roses, name cards, and little chocolates at each sitting? How cute is that?! (Devon got my chocolates, alas.)

Admittedly, I had been worried about dinner, but I shouldn’t have been. I skipped out on the challah and the kreplach soup (think Chinese wonton soup, minus the pork), but filled my dinner plate with grilled asparagus, roasted parsnips, baby onions, carrots, red peppers, beef tenderloin and salmon! We know how to feast!

After dinner, I had a cup of decaf coffee. I did not partake in the crack-brownies (from Shirley Corriher’s BakeWise), or the luscious lemon mousse, or the sugar dusted strawberries, or this gorgeous carrot cake. Excuse me while I head to bed and weep, just a little bit.

Curry in a hurry.

by | Sep 15, 2012 | Challenge

Weekends are a glorious thing. My perfect weekend I wake up, sip coffee in bed for hours reading, and do nothing. It doesn’t usually work out this way. After a year of fast-paced weekends, I’ve been taking things back slowly one weekend day at a time. Today, admittedly, I had planned to wake up and head to the track to meet up with folks to run. But when I woke it was raining, and I didn’t feel like driving the 20 minutes groggily avoiding angry drivers only to get soaked. I’m easing into running, I haven’t yet reached the run or die mentality. Will it come?

Instead, I made my coffee and curled up with the new issue of Edible Boston. Edible magazines are put out all over the country, and you can pick them up at fine food establishments for free!

Breakfast came in the form of this Andy Warhol-esque banana. Sweet goodness. Admittedly small, but I was planning a large brunch for myself, and this did the trick.

After leisure-ing as long as I could, I set to work on my resolution to make my house more of a home. Today I tackled a few boxes of clothes that were sitting in the corner of our room. I unpacked them, put away the ones I wanted to keep, and scheduled an appointment to consign some pieces that I don’t wear anymore.

Then I set to work clearing some clutter. The hardest thing to do was get rid of these guys: my trusty bird salt and pepper shakers, who had suffered through a few too many flight attempts off the stove. I’d been hanging on to these for some time, until I remembered one of the useful tricks from Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project – take a picture to remember the sentimental item, and then toss.

Lunch today was a simple Mexican pork stir-fry.

Devon had a burrito from Chipotle, but I decided to come home and make my own. I think it was a good choice. I did however pick up some of their guacamole, because it’s delicious, and saved me from having to pick up an avocado at the store.

I seasoned some of the freshly ground pork that I picked up at M.F. Dulock with some salt, pepper, cumin, and Rancho Gordo Chile powder. I then added some of the vegetables I had roasted yesterday, and a juicy-ripe chopped tomato. On the right there is the little piece of lamb liver I picked up, seasoned with some salt and pepper. A treat!

In the afternoon we did a bunch of errands, including two Target runs, and by the time we were home I was exhausted. I decided to put together a superbly easy dinner – Thai Red Curry Chicken Soup with Tomatoes.

This dish has four ingredients: Thai red curry paste, full fat coconut milk, homemade chicken stock, and chopped rotisserie chicken.

I cooked about two tablespoons of the curry paste in the coconut milk for just a few minutes over medium heat until well combined. I then added a few cups of chopped chicken, and about a cup and a half of chicken stock. I let the dish simmer for fifteen minutes, and then added three small chopped tomatoes and their juice. I seasoned with a bit more salt (although the curry paste is salty, so you don’t need much), and that was dinner.

Had I been slightly more prepared, I would have squeezed in some lime and added some chopped cilantro. Alas, I was out, so this is what we got.