Bloggers for Health, Week 3: Recipes and Progress

I haven't been doing the best with sticking to my goals this week, which has been a rough one in terms of stress and body aching (due to weather changes). Let's review!

1) I will do yoga twice a week, instead of once. Thus far, I did yoga only once, although I intend to do it tomorrow. (Sunday counts as the end of the week in my mind because it happens on the weekend, or the end of the week.) I did a class at the gym. After a few minutes in that class, I remembered why I stopped going to it when the instructor changed--her version of yoga involves lying down a lot. We seriously laid on the floor with a rolled-up blanket under various parts of our bodies for about ten minutes. By the end, I felt well-rested, but not stretched or worked out or anything. I did not sweat even a drop in the class. I'm better served doing it on my own, since my yoga goals are increased flexibility and better balance, which won't happen when I'm lying there with a rolled-up blanket under my knees.


2) I will do more pleasurable exercise, like bicycling and dancing. I did do this! I took the Brazilian Movement class at my gym, and this is my response to my first time. I loved it! I'm taking a samba class outside of the gym, now, too. Yay for dancing!


3) I will eat out only once a week. Technically, I achieved this, since I only went to one restaurant this week. However, I did buy a slice of pizza to go when I went to the grocery store, and I did buy a cheese and grapes cup at an on-campus cafe when I realized that my fish was too fishy to eat. Those were small (and cheap) infractions, though, and they were in response to (1) hunger that could not wait post-workout and (2) too-fishy fish.


4) I will not eat sweet treats every day. I think I managed this one day. Then work got very busy and I suddenly had stacks of papers and short writing assignments to grade. Enter the Twix, with its stress-snapping crunch. I tried to fend off the sweet treat urge by eating the olive oil and salt Triscuits--more cost-effective for me, and full o' fiber--but they made my tongue hurt. Then, I bought a Twix anyway. I will do better with this! I think I will bake whole-wheat low-fat low-sugar cinnamon raisin bread and bring slices of that with me. Toasted, it will have some crispiness and sweetness without all the binders, sugar, and fat in processed candy.


5) I will write daily. I also have not done this. I wrote one day. The rest of my time has been spent cleaning, cooking, planning, and knitting. I do need to take at least five minutes every day to do this. Five minutes isn't much and it would have so many benefits.

On to recipes! I spend a large chunk of my day thinking about what I'd like to make next. I love perusing recipes online and in the few cookbooks I own. However, I generally wind up making the same workhorse ad-hoc dishes over and over again. I'm going to share them with you. They're more like templates, really, so feel free to substitute like items. The most important part is making sure you're including a variety of food groups in your meal: a protein source, a serving of vegetables, a serving of fruit, and a serving of complex carbohydrates is my starting point. 


Before I get to my recipes/templates, let me tell you about Cheap, Healthy, Good. That blog has so many good, cheap, healthy recipe ideas--the name really does say it all. Also, there's a regular series of posts featuring vegetarian meals, so there's something for everyone. I get a lot of inspiration from that site.

A Typical Lunch

My lunches are modular: everything goes into 1-cup Pyrex containers, unless it's whole fruit. These containers go into a washable insulated lunch bag, along with a cloth napkin and regular silverware. I ate this meal this week.

• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• Small dollop of honey for the yogurt (can go into a condiment container)
• 1 cup roasted mushrooms with garlic and seasoning, halved
• 1 cup sauteed spinach with garlic and onion slivers
• 1/2 cup brown rice (I really like the Cajun jasmine brown rice available at the Hollygrove Market--it cooks up plump and toothsome, not weird like cheap brown rice--which I also eat-- can)
• Three clementines

I heat up the vegetables and the rice in the microwave, then I mix the vegetables in with the rice a little bit at a time, since the cups aren't so big. I have no idea how many calories this meal is, but it's satisfying and it is comprised of mostly fruits and vegetables.

A Typical Dinner

Dinner is focused on the same balanced meal principles as lunch, but it is focused on things that taste better right after they've been cooked. Also, in the winter, sitting in the kitchen and getting warmed by the stove as it roasts your food is so pleasant.

• 1 piece of thin white-fleshed fish (tilapia or catfish for me, usually) either sprayed with olive oil (using a spray bottle) and dusted with Shichimi Togarashi (by House Spice, a Japanese seasoning mix that is super delicious on just about anything) or lightly dotted with unsalted butter and dusted with dill, salt, and pepper and baked at 450 degrees for 4-6 minutes
• OR, instead of the fish, one egg fried over easy (cooked on both sides with a runny yolk), seasoned with salt, pepper, dried parsley, and garlic powder
• 1 sweet potato, scrubbed and cut into wedges, seasoned with Shichimi Togarashi or with paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper, tossed with olive oil and roasted at 400 for 40 minutes, flipping the wedges at the 20 minute mark to ensure crispness on both sides
• 1 or 2 handfuls of spinach (or similar tender green), sauteed in a pan lightly misted with olive oil using a spray bottle
• optional: a piece of whole-grain toast or untoasted bread (to dip in egg yolk, for the egg option)

If you do the egg option, place the egg over the spinach upon plating your food; break the yolk so that it runs over the spinach, and toss it a bit so the yolk is distributed evenly.

This dinner will only dirty two pans/sheets, the cast-iron skillet and the cookie sheet for roasting, if you organize the cooking of things just right and don't mind slightly cooled spinach (which gets cooked before the fish or the egg, which gets cooked in the cast-iron skillet after the spinach has left the pan). If you put foil in the cookie sheet for the roasting, clean-up basically involves rinsing the sheet off for stray crumbs after throwing away (or washing off for reuse, for those of you who do that) the used foil. I am all about some efficient pan usage.

Timing: Sweet potatoes go in first at 400. When they are done, take them out and turn the oven up to 450. While it's heating up, cook the spinach. That takes, like, a minute. Then, be sure the (oven safe cast-iron) pan is free of spinach, spritz it with olive oil if necessary, slap that fish in it, then stick it in the oven for its brief baking. If you're doing the egg option, lightly spritz the pan with olive oil post-spinach-sauteeing and fry that egg.

I hope all this was clear! I'm a little wordy, so let me know if anything's unclear. Also, let me know if you try either of these dishes and how you like them!


For more information on Bloggers for Health, or if you'd like to join, visit Endear (where the prompts are!) and Unladylike! I'm loving this supportive community. :)