by Sam Tackeff | May 3, 2014 | Fitness, Meal Planning
Last week I neglected to meal plan, which pretty much meant that most of our meals were odd combinations from the pantry, or take out. And truthfully, with a dead microwave, freezer meals take longer than they used to, so we ate a few extra meals out than normal. I still managed some good home cooked dinners – the lamb chops, baby potatoes, and salad; grilled chicken + broccoli; and roasted chicken with tomatoes were standouts – but I do wish that I had just sketched out a few extra ideas before the week had started! I really do feel for people who are trying to meal plan but can’t quite get into the habit – sometimes it’s hard for me to do, and it’s one of my favorite weekly activities!
In fitness: I’ve been ramping up my active time these past two weeks – CrossFit, indoor cycling, lots of walking, and a little bit of running – and I’ve been trying to get outdoors as often as possible now that we’re experiencing some real spring weather! A few weeks ago my Jawbone UP died, and I finally got a replacement, and have been working my way back up to a daily ten thousand step goal. On weekdays this is usually the walk to and from work, and a brief walk at lunch. Weekends are tougher – I have to resist the urge to melt into the couch. Today I walked around Fresh Pond for the first time this season (pictured above), and got my fix of cute puppies and a beautiful view. To work up some motivation, I signed up for a spring DietBet to help get into optimum racing shape, and registered for the B.A.A. 10k for an easy goal to work towards!
Week of Saturday, May 3rd
Cook Smarts was having another “favorites week” and everything looked good to me! Four meals (listed below) with Cook Smarts, and the rest are pantry meals/out. This afternoon I shopped at two stores: Trader Joe’s and the new Wegman’s in Chestnut Hill. For non East-coasters, Wegman’s is a chain of supermarkets with a cult following, and they’ve just opened their first location in the Boston area. Think Trader Joe’s meets Whole Foods meets Costco – bonus points for lots of organic produce and meats, a phenomenal hot bar, and a closing time of midnight.
Saturday: Spinach salad, with cheeseburger and egg. I went to a blogger lunch at a steakhouse this afternoon, and a surprise burger came out after we’d had dessert. Everyone else went in for photos, but nobody was eating it – clearly the blog crew is different than my CrossFit people – that meat would have been GONE… So with glee I had it wrapped up, and took it home to make dinner with leftovers!
Sunday: Eggs, basil pesto sausage, and salad. I like having eggs in my back pocket as an any night of the week meal. The sausage is smoked chicken and turkey from Trader Joe’s – a favorite of mine.
Monday: Cook Smarts Meal #1. Thai tacos with mango salsa. For me this will be Thai Taco Salad – featuring marinated beef, mango cucumber salsa, and a Vietnamese nuoc nam sauce with lime and fish sauce (I love Red Boat). Green beans on the side.
Tuesday: Cook Smarts Meal #2. Shrimp vermicelli bowl with cucumber, mint, and carrots. I make a version of this Vietnamese salad every few weeks, but I wouldn’t have sprung for shrimp on my own – but somehow with it “on the meal plan” I felt justified this time around.
Wednesday: Cook Smarts Meal #3. Pesto pasta with peas and fennel salad. Easy comfort food, and noodles are an excellent vehicle for pesto. For this meal I sprung for a fancy pasta from Formaggio kitchen, but will gladly make this with zucchini noodles once they are plentiful and in season. Cook Smarts had paired this with a strawberry fennel arugula salad, but I can’t bring myself to purchase out of season strawberries, so plain fennel salad it is!
Thursday: Cook Smarts Meal #4. Chicken with honey lemon butter and roasted potatoes. This was a winter favorite, but it’s spring time! I dropped the parsnips because I’m tired of roots now that spring has sprung, but the original recipe with parsnips was definitely delicious!
Friday: out.
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Apr 20, 2014 | Fitness, Meal Planning
Today we took a long drive West. I’m always up for a road trip, and this was a particularly beautiful day to meander through small towns, past gentleman farms, and out into the country – or as much “country’ as you get out here. We did manage to see some animals – cows at the Tufts Veterinary campus in North Grafton, and a few llamas in someone’s yard. Being an impromptu trip, I left without a camera and with a minimally charged cell phone, so most of the trip I just looked out the window and admired the scenery. One amusing point of note: at some point we’d noticed we’d been driving through farmland for miles and decided to take bets on when we’d see the next Dunkin’ Donuts. Devon bet ten minutes, and I bet four. Given that it’s New England, we essentially both won. There are approximately three Dunkin Donuts establishments per capita around these parts.
When we came home, I spent an hour in the evening writing in longhand on crisp white paper – making lists and scratching out fragments of ideas with one of my trusty Pilot G-2 pens. They are my favorite pens these days – the right shape, and with good ink. During the week I spend so much time tethered to my computer and my phone, that words flow differently when I can use my whole hand and my body to get something out onto the page.
This week was lovely and full – I found myself marveling that all the things that happened could have possibly fit into a mere seven days. At work we launched our new step tracking app, Breeze, which makes your iPhone 5s essentially the equivalent of a Jawbone or a Fitbit, except with the added benefit of guided coaching and a beautiful user experience. The team started working on Breeze not long after I started at RunKeeper, and it feels good to be working with such a creative group of folks and seeing a product created from idea to launch.
Another major thing of note is that I received a package in the mail from Ten Speed Press, with a copy of my friend Karen’s new book Asian Pickles. The book is coming out this spring, and would be a lovely resource for dealing with abundant produce – you can pre-order it here! I’m looking forward to working my way through her recipes.
The week in food began with a Passover seder, where we observed Sephardic Moroccan tradition of Bibhilu – circling the seder plate over each persons head, singing a short passage – Bibhilu yatsanu mimitsrayim – “In a hurry we left Egypt”, and tapping the head with the plate before moving on to their neighbor. It’s a lovely mystical experience that makes the meal even more special. We read the four questions, we sang songs, and ate whole eggs to symbolize life and the possibilities of the future. There were mini meatballs, matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, my aunt’s Tsimmes (braised beef, carrots and sweet potato), and my grandmother’s potato pancakes. My mom made my favorite charoset – an apple chutney studded with dates and walnuts, and our hostess Roz made the most incredible frozen lemon torte. I’ve acquired the recipe and will likely be making it again this week – it has about a dozen egg yolks in the recipe, so I may have to scale it down.
In fitness and health news, I had a fun day lifting on Wednesday – practicing push jerks and split jerks, went to the Marathon Expo on Friday, went for my first run in weeks on Saturday – two short miles and then about three more walking ones, and have been working through Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra’s 21-day Meditation challenge. I’ve a slight tendency towards attention deficit symptoms when I have a lot going on in my life, and meditation is an excellent way to calm my mind and give it a rest. Even 20 dedicated minutes without distraction is rare around here, so I’ve been enjoying each guided practice immensely. This coming week I’m looking forward to spending some time outside logging some miles, doing nightly planks to work my core with FitFluential’s #FFAprilAbs challenge, heading to CrossFit for Oly Lifting Clinic on Wednesday, and hopefully squeezing in a yoga class.
Here’s what’s on tap for our meals:
Week of Sunday, April 20th
Sunday: Whole Foods Hot Bar. In honor of Marathon Monday, Whole Foods was offering 50% off hot bar from 4-7 pm this weekend, so I took full advantage of the deal and ended up going home with some chicken, mashed potatoes, and their Italian zucchini, tomato and garlic.
Monday: Roasted Mediterranean Chicken, Turkish green beans, and sweet potatoes. For two of us I’ll roast a tray of chicken thighs, or in this case, a half a chicken with herbs rubbed into the skin. If it’s really nice out, I might barbecue it.
Tuesday: Tropical Taco Lettuce Wraps with tomato and avocado salad. I saw Mel posting a tropical taco recipe today that included some chopped mango and allspice (which I can’t get enough of lately), so I’ll be doing something similar here over salad.
Wednesday: Jerk pork tenderloin and brussels sprouts. Again with the allspice – I can’t get enough of it – it’s one of the real stars of jerk seasoning. I’m a fan of Lucinda Scala Quinn’s basic jerk chicken recipe, which I’ve adapted over the years to go with chicken or pork.
Thursday: RunKeeper Night of Awesomeness Barbecue. Once a month a RunKeeper coworker is in charge of planning the festivities, and this month Doug, our VP of Engineering, has invited us to a barbecue at his house in Somerville.
Friday: Out.
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Apr 13, 2014 | Holidays, Meal Planning
Last weekend I started sneezing. It’s just allergies! I was excited for allergies, because a little sniffling is better than the food poisoning and subsequent stomach virus I was fighting for the few weeks previous. Alas, it turned out that I had developed a cold, and worked through all of the natural remedies I could think of – ginger, lots of tea with honey, all of the liquids that one can humanly consume, lots of gut-building fermented food – sauerkraut anyone? – sambucus, and more. It could have been worse. Co-workers were experiencing the same “joyous” stomach bug I had previously suffered through, everyone seemed to have a sick kid, and another was laid up with pneumonia. I at least feel like I’m on the mend.
Yesterday I went to the store armed with my meal plan, and realized in about three minutes when I saw the matzah pyramids at the end of the aisle that I’d have to rework my plans to fit in the seders and passover friendly foods. Fortunately for my sanity, what for years was a real struggle each Passover season – what, you mean I can’t eat corn and soy and leavened wheat products and WHAT WILL I EAT?? – has now become fairly easy with my newfound Paleo-esque diet tendencies. Passover dietary restrictions are pretty much “primal-style”, and excuse to do a Whole7 reset if you forgo the permitted dairy and matzah. Who like matzah anyway? I know, I know, there’s all of those matzo crack recipes, and matzo balls, and every non-flour-based dessert known to man, but I probably shouldn’t be eating that all stuff to begin with.
Two weeks in a row without a strict meal plan and I’m feeling a little bit frantic, but this week is dedicated to spring, seder leftovers, and ancient reminiscence, so I’m trying to go with the flow.
This week I will be eating, in no particular order:
chopped liver // charoset (fruit chutney) // omelettes // tomato chicken // roman braised artichokes // egg lemon soup // brisket // roasted chicken // chocolate covered apricots // sephardic date truffles // asparagus
Are you celebrating Passover?
What’s on your table this week?
Matzah, Matzo or Matzoh?
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 23, 2014 | chicken, Meal Planning
Before I get to my meal plan, I have to share with you the best dinner that I made last week – the one that hit the spot in every which way. It ended up feeling a little bit Mediterranean, and a little bit Scandinavian, light and fresh and springy.
Balsamic chicken and potatoes with cucumber, avocado and dill salad. For this one I preheated the oven to 450 Fahrenheit, grabbed some chicken thighs, and seasoned them with salt, and a generous sprinkle of Italian seasoning (from the bulk Frontier spices). I made a dressing that was one part balsamic vinegar, and two parts olive oil – about 1/3 of a cup for about a pound and a half of chicken thighs – and coated the chicken in the dressing in a bowl. I set that aside while steaming some halved new potatoes in the microwave for 10 minutes, then layered my 12 inch skillet with the potatoes and chicken, gave everything a good mix with my hands, and then nestled the chicken thighs on top of the potatoes, baking for about 15 minutes, flipping the chicken, and cooking 15 minutes more. Once the chicken was cooked, I took it out of the oven, and let the potatoes cook for another 15 minutes until golden and a little puffy. Once they were done, I made a very quick salad – just a chopped cucumber, avocado, handful of fresh dill, olive oil, and a little salt. It was one of the first meals that I’ve eaten in my kitchen while sunlight was still in the sky! Welcome spring!
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For the past few days I’ve been in Washington D.C. on a little vacation, although tragically I came down with a pretty awful stomach virus (or food poisoning, can’t be sure), and haven’t been very interested in any food. But, I knew that I’d be feeling better soon, so I decided to outsource my meal planning to the lovely Jess of Cook Smarts, and try out the service! (Yep, that’s an affiliate link – I get a small cut if you buy a plan yourself, but I purchased the plan with my own hard earned moolah!) Cook Smarts has a four day meal plan that is released each week (and access to the archives if you subscribe – plans are currently $6-8 a *month* depending on if you buy monthly or yearly), and after looking through the sample meals, I decided to bite and try things out. The meals are all quite adaptable, with substitutions for paleo, gluten-free, and vegetarian, and I’ve made my own little tweaks with vegetables that we prefer at home.
Week of Sunday, March 23rd
Sunday: Eggs, a tiny bit of cheese, and scoop of raw sauerkraut. I’m still trying to get back to a happy tummy, so I’ve been chowing down on sauerkraut, and other gut-building foods for the past day. I do well with full fat dairy, so I added a little bit of special cheese to make myself feel better.
Monday: Cook Smarts Meal #1. fish sandwich with kale chips. For me this will be fish salad with greens, and with a homemade tartar sauce.
Tuesday: Cook Smarts Meal #2. classic tacos with iceberg lettuce and avocado salad. Another slight modification as taco salad, and I’m guessing that we’ll both be enjoying this one! I’m not sure if I’m going to do iceberg or romaine.
Wednesday: Cook Smarts Meal #3. skillet chicken with chard and salsa over roasted potatoes. Chicken and potatoes never let me down, and I always gravitate towards these simply homey recipes in cookbooks when I see them. Sometimes it’s the meals with the least ingredients that can really shine. (I’ll report back.)
Thursday: Cook Smarts Meal #4 breakfast burritos with spinach and tomato salad. This will be a breakfast omelet for me – but I like that it uses some of the leftover potatoes from the previous night’s meal to put together something quickly! Economy and leftovers are key in my kitchen!
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 9, 2014 | Books, Meal Planning
I follow Food52’s ‘Tournament of Cookbooks‘ – The Piglet – with the same fervor that I follow my Boston sports teams. Every year there are excellent selections, usually books that I have and cherish, and a handful of new ones that I have yet to explore. The judging is done by the culinary elite, professional chefs, food writers, and a few wild cards – this year I grinned excitedly when I saw Josh Malina’s name on the list. The reviews are always thoughtful, the judging is taken very seriously, and most of the time I find myself nodding along as the rounds progress. (One noted exception would be the upset when Burma lost last year, grumble.)
This season I had some favorites: Nigel Slater’s Notes from the Larder (i.e.: Kitchen Diaries II), which has a perpetual home on my coffee table and makes a weekly appearance on meal planning day for inspiration, Megan Gordon’s Whole Grain Mornings, because I hope to have a first cookbook as lovely as this one, and Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy – just a great overall work. The winner, as it turns out, was also one of my favorites: Louisa Shafia’s ‘The New Persian Kitchen’.
I’ve had a copy of Louisa’s book for nearly a year now, and I’ve cooked out of it many times. The seared chicken with peaches (and saffron, turmeric, and cinnamon) became a summer favorite. Her flavors are reminiscent of my own familiar Turkish and Jewish culinary roots, and Sara Remington’s photographs are stunning – especially the ones of Louisa herself. In honor of the win, several of my meals this week are inspired by her recipes, specific recipes with page numbers listed below.
Week of Saturday, March 8th
Saturday: Teriyaki Chicken Legs, broccoli, and mashed potatoes. This is my comfort food. The mashed potatoes in small quantity acquired from the Whole Foods salad bar.
Sunday: Vietnamese takeout. I’ve been meaning to try the Vietnamese restaurant inside the Super 88 – and I have a Bodypump class at Commonwealth Sports Club right next door late Sunday afternoon. Perfect!
Monday: New potatoes with dill and lemon (p. 29), brussels sprouts and pancetta, with some olive oil poached fish (p.93). In my childhood home, there was a line down the middle of our table between the dill lovers (my mom and I), and the dill loathers (the men). I think my brother has now moved into “ambivalent” range, thank goodness.
Tuesday: Creamy beans and chicken/turkey sweet basil sausage, salad. The sweet basil sausages are from Trader Joe’s, and they are excellent! (I like all of their chicken sausages really.)
Wednesday: Lamb meatballs with mint and garlic (p. 88) and cucumber salad. Her version of kufteh is very similar to the Turkish Köfte I make quite often.
Thursday: Turmeric chicken with sumac and lime (p. 103).
Friday: Out.
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
