End o January Success!
Even though there has been a lot of posturing and apologetic posts circulating around the food-blog world lately about weight loss/gain, I really don’t think I’m going to engage in that discussion. If someone chooses to read my blog, they should realize that I’m trying to lose weight. Not for vanity, but for health. And I will continue to recite this until it hurts me: everyone is different, so what’s working for me may or may not work for someone else.
In any case, I’d like to use the blog as a way to chart my progress and keep me motivated. Maybe even catalogue some of the tricks/things that are working for me in case I should ever need them again. So without further ado: with the last week of my January training coming to a close, I’ve not only met my goals (1 lb per week) but surpassed them! YAY! I credit Lindsey’s killer interval workouts and weight routine for a lot of the changes. But I also think the diet changes I’ve made in pursuit of a clean report card from Lindsey each week have also been really key.
My salads are still mainstays in my diet, which is unsurprising since I’d never give those up if you tried to pry them from my cold, dead hands. I NEED that hour during lunch at work where I zone out and pick over different combinations of veggies on my fork, buddy. NEED. Anyway, I’m only here to share:
Brussels Sprouts made a return last week sometime with…
Saucy Lemon Brussels Salad which featured spinach, cucumber, grapes, blueberries, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, chicken and steamed brussels sprouts topped with a lemony-mustard dressing that joined 3 tsp mustard with lemon juice and agave nectar to taste. It was pretty stellar. I actually think I left out the brussels until lunch hour, choosing to let them marinate with the dressing for awhile; it was a really really good choice.
Fugly Fruity Salad: So this may look like I was desperate, and that’s because I was. I realized halfway through that I hadn’t added any kind of protein to it, which basically meant that it would go straight through me and I’d be guaranteed to be hungry 30 min later. Consequence? Fugly turkey crumbles traversing the humble, fruity terrain of my salad. Thankfully, I really like ground turkey.
(FYI: I had originally purchased the ground turkey in pursuit of April’s Turkey and Zucchini dish with taco seasoning that was AWESOME. I had it back-to-back for three nights. If you haven’t checked out April’s site, you really should, if not for her amazing cooking/quick-low-carb baking recipes, then to admire her AMAZING arms! I covet her shoulders and triceps.)
Anyway! The salad had spinach, cucumbers, broccoli, apples, blueberries, onion, avocado, leftover spaghetti squash thrown in with apple-ginger dressing. It was great, but the dressing was the best part (mix apple cider vinegar, fresh minced ginger, lemon juice, s&p, and agave)
Cashew Curried Cauliflower Conundrum Salad: I wish I could come up with more C-words for that title. This salad was inspired by Heidi Swanson’s Cashew Curry recipe, which I’m positive is delicious if you go by the recipe, but way way out of my caloric price range.
What’s a girl to do? Adapt. Instead of 1 cup whole coconut milk, I decided to go halfsies: 1/2 cup lite coconut milk, 1/2 cup almond milk. Instead of 1/3 cup cashews, I chopped up about 12 grams. I subbed chicken for tofu, not for any particular reason other than I didn’t have any tofu on hand. I also added a few red bell pepper slivers, because they needed to be used. Bottom line: even with the most uncompromising of recipes, you can make some simple switches/compromises and still have something worth eating for pleasure. And I looooove curry! Mmmm, the untouched spinach perfectly balanced out the heat of the curry too – so, so good.
Dressing-less Tilapia Salad: I had wanted to try a recipe I found in the latest copy of Oxygen magazine, where I’ve been finding a lot of my “extra” strength moves from, for Tilapia with Tomatoes and Capers. This was very simple, delicious and surprisingly low-calorie. After sauteing the tilapia in a skillet (seasoned with salt, pepper, basil and a liiiil Old Bay) with just olive oil spray and lemon juice, I took it out and put the eggplant and onions in. I always cook my eggplant and onions earliest, I have no idea why. After they started to soften, I added red bell peppers, yellow squash, capers and more fresh (freeze-dried) basil with a Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. After a few minutes, they were done too. I artfully plunked everything on to a bed of spinach (as I’m apparently unable to avoid) and called it a night. This salad made me swoon with its pretty colors though. I hope I’m not the only one that has momentary swoons over color pairings/combinations in food.
Which makes me wonder, how do most other people judge a good salad and/or meal? Do you go by the taste? The inventiveness? The colors or aesthetic qualities?
I think I tend to choose one aspect and let that be my guide for the creation of most things I make. Works for me!
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