Gremolata with Almonds!

It's me and the Food Network. We're gremolata buddies.

Actually I just started making "pesto" with cilantro or parsley and almonds and garlic and lemon zest...and it turns out that the recipe for gremolata (with almonds) was lodged in my brain. It's my new Everything condiment, and a replacement for oil in my diet. I've literally gone nuts for nuts. Ground almonds and cilantro, peanut butter with trail mix and chocolate chips (why eat a Cliff bar when I can make the same thing without the flour and added sugars?!), avocado or peanut or macadamia oil in small amounts...and there's the coconut craze, as well. Coconut oil, coconut milk, coconut milk ice cream = THE BEST. I've been eating these frozen bars called Larry and Luna's Chocolate Bliss, and they have excellent creamy texture. It's a fudgesicle, basically.

I like how all this plant fat means I don't get hungry immediately after I eat something, and that I don't have a huge sugar crash. Fat slows digestion down, keeps you full. You don't want to eat a giant handful of nuts right before running several miles, of course. But a quarter cup, with some chocolate chips...pretty good, actually. No problem.

This morning I ran 6 miles - with lunges and interval sprinting uphill - after having an early morning protein smoothie and then a late morning hardboiled egg, followed by a blob of peanut butter with chocolate chips and dried fruit. No problems. Oh, and a double espresso was also involved. I was zipping along like lightning. I wanted a really hard workout to justify my rest day tomorrow. And then, on Saturday and Sunday and Monday, more hard workouts! And Tuesday is my second day of rest. SECOND DAY OF REST. Amazing. I feel so lively! All this resting is going wonders.

Lindsey's Almond Gremolata (goes great on grilled zucchini, grilled chicken, tomatoes...EVERYTHING):

2 cups roasted unsalted almonds
2 bunches cilantro or parsley (you could do 3 bunches, no one says you can't)
fresh garlic cloves to taste
generous helping of lemon zest (I zested the entire lemon, plus the juice)
lemon juice

Throw all that in a food processor and make a paste. Thin it out with more lemon juice or even some kind of oil, if you need to. If you're not like me and you still think eating salted food tastes good, then by all means use Tamari almonds or something salty like that. I'm sure it would be delightful. If only I could still eat salt without getting monster tongue burn.

I slathered it on grilled mushrooms and steak today. Maybe it was actually an almond-infused chimichurri sauce today.

It's funny how margarine used to be healthy, and now it's the worst thing you could possibly eat, aside from straight up Crisco. Hydrogenated, trans-fat! Now the best kind of fat you can eat is coconut, avocado, nut butters, or pasture-raised meats. All high in Omega-3's (as opposed to the more common, less helpful, less anti-inflammatory Omega-6's - read your labels!). Especially pasture-raised beef. Go figure. The right kind of steak is much better for you than the wrong kind of margarine.

And eating too much tofu will mess with your hormones. True of all unfermented soy products - anything outside of tempeh, natto, and soy sauce. Too bad. Soy burgers will eventually join margarine in the land of Too Good To Be True Processed Foods.

And eating too much salt will give you high blood pressure.

And eating too much white flour and sugar destroys all the good anti-inflammatory, heart-healthy things that those Omega-6 fatty acids have done for you.

Everything gets so complicated. But!

Simplicity is key. Cows that eat grass. Chickens that eat bugs. Fruit not sprayed with too many pesticides, or grown out-of-season and all flavorless and expensive. Like those hard nectarines they're trying to sell right now.

Yep.