A New Post?

Well, it turns out trying to eat like a personal trainer on a tight schedule results in not-so-pretty meals. And even the pretty ones aren't that novel; once you've seen one spinach-based grilled-chicken salad, you've seen them all.

But! This morning I'm having something quite attractive, I think. It's an egg/eggwhite omelet with curly kale, raw almonds, less than a teaspoon of canola oil (I made a big batch for several meals, with a total of 2 teaspoons of oil for cooking), plus a side of pinto beans with a glob of red ajvar on top.

Delicious. I love a good kale omelet, and the almonds really add some excellent crunch and flavor.

In Uncharacteristic Defense of Ground Poultry

Turkey, to be precise. Lean ground turkey, apparently "raised in humane conditions" if I am to trust the packaging. I have been mad for turkey zucchini loaf - or turkeyloaf - to which I add grated carrot, diced mushrooms, and heaps of chopped parsley. Delicious. And very portable for work. Easy to crumble a slice into rice and beans, or over quinoa with veggies.

So now I've decided to take the turkey even further. I want to increase my protein intake from both animal and vegetable sources; I still wish to be muscular and lean, in spite of my current interest in candy bars. O, futility! (But mini candy bar sizes are helpful for calorie control, and crispy bars are often lower in fat than solid bars.) This is what I tell myself.

Back to the turkey. Tonight I made turkey chili with three kinds of beans and fresh parsley, grated carrot, and...well, I forgot the stewed tomatoes, so I used a jar of mild salsa instead. AND IT WORKED. I took the suggestion from this online recipe for Mom's Chili Beans. I used dry beans bought in bulk, and I soaked those suckers and cooked them for a good while. Plus some garlic, my turkey, my lovely parsley. No chili powder - which I dislike - so I used cajun seasoning for color and slight flavor. And it's a pleasing, filling, high-protein low-fat final product. Also, pinto beans are amazing.

Need to figure out how to work in more veggies, though. Perhaps I can serve my chili over diced zucchini and mushrooms and brown rice. Hmm.

The only question left is, what is the side effective of excesssive turkey tryptophans? HA. My second cup of tea every day is preventing me from getting the afternoon sleepies, so I think I'm set.

I'm also trying high-intensity interval training (all kinds of ridiculous modified squats and lunges and pushups and planks in my living room), and am walking longer distances with Aster. Plus all this eating of high-protein low-fat food. Along with the candy. THE CANDY.

Omg, side planks and full planks are my new best friends. I can almost see myself with a flat stomach. Almost.

Candy Bar Crazy

So I'm reading a book called The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars. And it's great! Good journalism here, and the author was not lying about the "secret world" part. Confectionary espionage at every turn! Very exciting, as well as mouth-watering. I am getting a mini-history of many candy classics, like M&M's and the Milky Way, and also the KitKat.

Okay, so. I love crispy chocolate things. Nestle Crunch was one favorite when I was a kid. The other favorite was KitKat. I am sitting here with a mini KitKat chopped into chunks, in a tea cup by my keyboard. As I type, I lift the cup and sniff it, then put it down. The smell is sweet milky chocolate, and an addictive toasty caramelized sugar note. That comes from the wafers. Amazing. Feeling a little high off of it.

Here's a sample of what Cybele - proprietrix of CandyBlog - has to say about KitKat:

"Japan is known for cars, Japan is known for electronics. Japan is known for cute. Japan is also home to some of the best KitKats in the world (okay, and some of the worst, but this is the price of innovation and an example of the bell curve)."

For example, some of the Japanese KitKat flavors are red bean soup, yuzu citrus, vanilla bean, strawberry banana yogurt, white chocolate, bitter chocolate, and green tea.

I just tasted an American peanut butter KitKat a few days ago. (Reading the book is driving me wild. I have so far sampled a Snickers, a 100 Grand, a Babe Ruth, two varieties of KitKat, Lindt 85%, 3 bags of almond M&M's and a very compelling Milky Way.) Who knows what bars I will ingest before the book is finished. I am reading at a feverish pace to conclude this unusual mouthwatering-ness.

In short, books really can be dangerous. CandyBlog had an article about Venezulan Chuao chocolate laced with crunchy sea salt granules and Japanese panko flakes. OMFG. My next book will be about something inedible. Perhaps it will be The Pursuit of Perfection, by Rothman.

Turkey Meatball Madness

Normally not a fan of meatballs, but I do enjoy a very portable shape to my protein. Poached chicken slices have been my go-to up until this point. Now I have discovered baked turkey meatballs made with shredded veggies and breadcrumbs (for structural integrity - I found this out by not having any breadcrumbs the first time around). Recipes online abound, in many permutations. So far, my recipe involves diced crimini mushrooms, chopped parsley, garlic, and shredded zucchini/carrot. And an eggwhite - buying eggwhites in a carton for use in low cholesterol omelets has proved a very useful thing to have in the fridge. So yeah, these meatballs. I see that I could use coarsely chopped dry bread instead of pulverized bread crumbs, too. Very tasty and wickedly easy. Quick. Fun to squish up the mixture with my hands, too. I'm thrilled to have another easy, tasty, low-fat protein source. Gobble gobble.

Ketchup Couverture

What happens when you combine ketchup with unflavored cocoa-butter? Omg, ketchup-dipped cold fried chicken bonbons. I must try it. Even though I think ketchup is The Worst Condiment. Maybe I'll wait until they make mustard couverture.

Ketchup Couverture, which I discovered first on Neatorama.

Salad Orgasm 2010

Haven't eaten a salad in a long damn time. Fond of stews and poached things and potatoes and collards, I guess. Eggs. But a person needs some crisp greens and crunchy radishes/cucumbers/red cabbage, fo sho. I had a serious, serious craving. All this heavy winter food, I need a SALAD.

So I bought some stuff and made one: bib lettuce, baby spinach, fresh radishes, English cuke, red cabbage, red bell pepper. Homemade vinaigrette made of blood orange juice, maple syrup, mustard, basil, olive oil, garlic. Ate this delicious salad with some sourdough slices, and a zucchini/potato/garlic pattie made with egg and a little flour as a binder. Melted muenster on top of that. Griddled with Pam spray.

A. Mazing. Best meal I've eaten in a long time, and my jaws are actually tired from crunching up all that fresh crispy roughage. Salad dinner rocks.

Demoralized by Oatmeal

So I made this breakfast instead. Extra large foached eggs on wholegrain toast, with mango and kiwi. YESsssssss. Kiwis at 3 for a $1 are not a bargain, being very...woody when eaten. However, I waited a week for the 2 for a $1 mangoes to ripen, and finally hit the jackpot with the second one. SUPER. I am craving protein. Time again for beef stew, I think.