Category: Health

Meet Blobfish

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I originally saw this in the NYT about a year ago, but an old coworker re-sent me the article recently because she said it reminded her of me (uh…thanks?)  Turns out sad old Mr. Blob here is on the verge of extinction due to overfishing by trawlers, which is too bad, especially because the blobfish is drawn up with other fish and thrown away, not eaten.

Though it’s debatable if Blobfish looks that way because of its current plight or if we should just let things continue down their current path and put this fish out of its misery, overfishing is a problem.  While out to dinner with some friends last week one of them pulled out their iPhone and pulled up the Seafood Watch App from the Monterey Bay Aquarium to help him decide what he was going to order.  The app allows you to look up the best choices (in terms of ocean-friendly fish) in your area, good alternatives, and fish you should avoid.  Andriod has similar Sustainable Fish and Overfished List apps, though they are a little less user-friendly.  Seafood Watch also has a mobile website with an online pocket guide.   Kind of cool.  Save the blobfish.

Up and at ’em

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Breakfast, as my father used to remind me every morning, is the most important meal of the day.  It is also a meal I have yet to address in my (limited) food posts.  This is probably because most mornings I am up at 4:45 and out the door by 5am to coach.  No time to cook.  What to do?

Meet the Pursuit of Healthfulness blog and this recipe, which is a step up from a Luna bar.

Ingredients:
1 container non-fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 C oats
cinnamon
vanilla
1 apple
1 T peanut butter

Directions:
Night before:  Wash and dice the apple. Place in microwave-safe bowl and mix with sprinkle of cinnamon and dash of vanilla. Microwave for about 2 minutes, or until apple is at desired tenderness. Allow to cool slightly.
In another bowl, mix yogurt and oats. Stir in cooled apples. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Morning:  Remove oats from refrigerator, stir in peanut butter and sprinkle with a bit more cinnamon.  The peanut butter and oats give it some weight, it’s a nice pasty, filling combo.  Two thumbs up.

A DC Thanksgiving

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Thanksigivng this year was fail on my part…I made one of the three dishes promised (pumpkin bread).  Fortunately for me and the rest of my family, Thanksgiving was a home run for Joe, who basically cooked the whole feast by himself.  But food aside, we did get to spend some time with extended family which was wonderful, and two friends from grad school joined us for dinner, which was just the icing on the non-existent squash pie I was tagged to bake. 

Next year will be better, nowhere to go but up.

Breaking up the long runs

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My colleague and I are a little less than 3 weeks out from our NASCAR half marathon in NC.   We’ve both done a decent job of staying on course with training.  Two weekends ago I did an 11.5 mile run, so this past weekend I was planning on going for a full 13.  The Friday morning prior to my run one of the Masters swimmers (who also coaches triatheletes training for the Ironman) suggested that instead of a straight 13 mile run, break it up: 6.5 miles Saturday night, 6.5 miles Sunday morning (the day you would normally take off).  Though probably more appropriate for individuals training for a full marathon as opposed to a half, it’s a good way to keep your mileage up while giving your body a little bit of a break. 

So I took his advice and on Monday, my knees and shins felt just fine.   Ready for the post-Thanksgiving dinner 13 miler coming up this weekend.  Ug.

Sidenote: Congrats to Joe on breaking 4 hours in the Philly marathon!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

~ meh ~ 3 Comments

This past month I stumbled upon a group of girls who, like me, are new to Kentucky and, also like me, have few to no friends.  So by default we’ve started hanging out together and, I think to make things feel more official, someone decided it would be a good idea to start a Book* Club.  (We don’t really read books…usually just drink.  And sometimes read an article.)

For last week’s Book* Club meeting I decided it would be a great idea to make these Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies that I found on Orangette (thanks to Vanessa), adapted from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.    Changes I made included:

  • All white sugar (we didn’t have any brown sugar…I was told that if there was vanilla in the recipe, it shouldn’t make that much of a difference.)

That’s pretty much it.  I used cold butter and chilled the dough before baking.  According to the reviews, these cookies are AH-MAY-ZING.   The first batch came out…eh.  OK.  Really crunchy.  Not awesome.   The second batch I burned (Paul ate all of them anyway.)  So, in a nutshell…fail.

I don’t know why they weren’t as delicious as everyone else seemed to think they were…but I’m pretty sure it was my fault.   Plus, I forgot to bring them to Book* Club, so odds are I’ll be giving them another chance soon.

Chipper Pumpkin Loaf

~ meh ~ 7 Comments

I got this recipe from an old coworker, who got it from another coworker, who got it from his mother.  It came out gooey and heavy and good.  (Let it sit for a few hours before you cut it.)  I feel bad posting the whole recipe online for the world to see (the world being the one…yes, literally, I have one…subscriber to this blog), but I’m going to.  Because things this good should be shared with the world.  Just be sure to credit Mama G when you make it.

INGREDIENTS:

1&3/4 cups of flour                                                     GLAZE

1 tsp baking soda                                                 ½  cup powdered sugar

1 tsp cinnamon                                                     1 tablespoon milk

½ tsp salt                                                               1/8 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp nutmeg                                                         1/8 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

¼ tsp ground cloves

½ cup margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup pumpkin  (approx. ½ of a 15 oz. can)

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease & flour 9×5 loaf pan.  Combine dry ingredients.  Cream margarine and sugar; blend in eggs.  Add dry ingredients alternately with pumpkin, beginning & ending with dry ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Bake 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool 5 minutes.  Remove from pan.  After cooled, drizzle on glaze.  Let stand 6 hrs. before slicing.

Garlic + Bacon = Love

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Last night in our fridge we had: turkey bacon, cheese, and 2 eggs.  We also had some garlic and a bag of tortellini in the cupboard.  Paul is a master at finding or creating recipes using whatever we have around.  And this night he came up with  Tyler Florence’s Spaghetti alla Carbonara (or some variation of it…Tyler Florence is Paul’s go-to online chef.)   Changes to the recipe include:

  • Turkey bacon torn into pieces (unfortunately it doesn’t really crumble) instead of pancetta
  • One egg instead of 2
  • Tortellini instead of spaghetti
  • No parsley
  • A little less cheese
  • Add a side of cauliflower and broccoli

Voila.  It was actually really, really good.  Quick, easy to make, and delicious.  Nice work Paul.

This week’s recipes

~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Monday

  • BBQ sandwiches

I can’t take credit for this one really, Paul came up with a recipe and it rocked. Instructions (straight from Paul):

1. get crock pot
2. get pork tenderloin
3. put pork tenderloin, some onion, garlic and bbq sauce in crock pot
4. cook for 6-8 hours on low

Scrumptious.

Tuesday

I had a meeting that ran until 7:30pm, so left over barbque sandwiches it was.

Wednesday

I stole this recipe from my friend Vanessa (and her friend Samantha’s) blog (located on my blogroll).  Paul was kind enough to go pick up some ingredients for me, which resulted in a few changes to the recipe:

  • Brown instant rice instead of white regular rice
  • Linenkugel’s Oktoberfest beer instead of Stone Pale Ale (I asked him to get KentuckyAle, but that somehow got lost in translation)
  • 1 cup chicken stock, 2 cups beef broth (instead of chicken broth…misunderstanding, these were all left over from previous recipes, Paul thought we had a lot of chicken broth, but we didn’t)
  • Chicken breasts instead of chicken legs
  • Low sodium tomato sauce (didn’t matter at all, there were so many other spices in there)

Turned out pretty good, as Paul will attest to.  Lots of leftovers.

Thursday

A pretty good, apparently French salad

Changes included using turkey bacon, no croutons, and a little less swiss cheese than recommended.   Also a delicious chicken noodle soup…from the can.  And some fresh potato rosemary bread from the bakery.

Heading out of town to Michigan again this weekend for a football game with an old coworker from California, so…

Friday

…will probably be Taco Bell on the road.  Yum.

We’ll fire up the stove again on Monday.

Go Blue.

Fighting the Cult

~ meh ~ 4 Comments

Today I was reflecting on the content of this blog, which started off as a guide to navigating the wild backroads and busy streets Northern California, and I noticed that the past 10 posts are comprised of:

  • cooking (4)
  • the dog (3)
  • the weather (1)
  • felt trees from Pottery Barn (1)
  • octopuses (2)

I told myself that the move to Kentucky would not turn me into a housewife whose favorite topic of conversation is the weather, but looking at that list…isn’t encouraging.

This week’s recipes

~ meh ~ 2 Comments

Fail.  I think I cooked twice this week, and by “cooked” I mean made sandwiches.  I blame this on the fact that I started a new job, which threw off my schedule. 

Off to another wedding this weekend in DC, picking up the spatula again when I return on Monday.