Playin’ The Edge

Repeat after me from the Wild Rose food chart that’s probably taped to your fridge ”Fish (eat all you want even if over 20% of total diet)”.   I absolutely love salmon so that’s what I used, but these would likely work well on any fish fillets.  Here are three options to keep it interesting.

I usually schmear sweet stuff on my salmon, maple syrup or something like mirin wine if I’m doing an asian version.  The sweet stuff makes a nice glaze on baked salmon and of course it tastes great.  So what can I use while detoxing?  I found dried plums on the list, so I came up with this one and it turned out well:

Glazed

3 T olive oil

3 dried plums cut into pieces

fresh ginger (a slab the size of a quarter, peel and cut into chunks)

1 garlic clove (cut into chunks)

Throw all in blender or processor and blend until smooth.  Goo it onto the fillet.  It’ll go on thick, or cover two fillets so you have one for a friend or lunch the next day.  Bake at 425 for 15 or more minutes depending on how done you like it. 

And spices are our friend on this detox, so try this one for good flavour:

Indian style

2 T olive oil

1/4 t each of cumin, curry, chili powder, tumeric, salt

good shake of pepper

This is actually enough for 2 fillets, but i don’t have a measuring spoon smaller than 1/4 t. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or more depending on how done you like it. 

Keep it simple but tasty with this option:

Simple Asian Style

1 T sesame oil

1 chopped up green onion

 1 garlic clove squeezed through garlic press

1 quarter size slab of ginger squeezed thru garlic press

good shake of sea salt and pepper

Mix and smear over a salmon fillet. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes or more depending on how done you like it. 

Go-withs

Baked Potatoes - Since you’ve got the oven heated, it’s a good opportunity for bake potatoes.  I started 4 potatoes in the microwave (5 minutes) and then finished them in the oven with the fish.  Bake extra when you do potatoes, they’re good leftovers.

Millet - Also let’s talk millet.  It’s an odd grain that you don’t see around very often, but if you like a good texture, try it.  It has a mild taste that goes great cooked in organic chicken stock.

Creamy is a texture I miss on this diet, and that’s why I like this soup.  It’s got great flavour and freezes well too. 

Corn Chowder

1 chopped onion

1 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves

3 c organic chicken stock (check the ingredients, but organic brands usually have the ingredients you can eat on the detox)

2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch or so bits

2 c frozen corn

salt and pepper and any other spices you like

Instructions -  fry the onion in the oil for a couple minutes and add the garlic.  Then add the stock and potato bits, bring to a boil, and then simmer until the potatoes are starting to get soft.  Add the corn and other ingredients.  Add any additional seasonings (I like heat so I added alot of pepper and a bit of chipotle).  Simmer for 5 more minutes.  Then throw half of the soup in a food processor or blender and blend it up.  Add it back and check the seasoning.  Makes 4 servings.

Variation: if you’re going for the “eat all the fish you want” challenge in the detox, throw in a fillet of fish cut into pieces and simmer in the last 5 minutes.

Here’s a real easy throw-together meal option:

Throw a 14 oz can of rosebud beets into a lunch container.  Cut the big ones in half.  Add 1/2 c of your favourite beans (I used chick peas for crisp texture but might try lentils next time).  Add a cup of chopped up salad veggies (I used cuke, green onion and a bit of lettuce), add 2 Ts of chopped up fresh herbs (I used cilantro).  Slosh a bit of olive oil overtop.  Sprinkle with pepper and sea salt.

The beets are so sweet (and good for you!), I love ‘em.  This recipe has good texture and fillingness. 

Tip: beans are really freezable, so if you open a can for this, throw the rest into a baggie and freeze it flat so that you can just grab a few to add texture to a salad or pasta anytime. 

Remember when gym class was fun? When you were running and jumping and playing with your friends? You were moving your body just for the fun of it in your baggy t-shirts and shorts? Before you got self-conscious and started pleading “cramps” to your male gym teacher any chance you could so that you could sit out?

Well I found that kind of class at the Metro Karate Training Center. It’s an hour long workout class at 10:00 a.m. each Sunday. The time is spent doing drills, nothing longer than a minute so it really flies by. You run and jump and toss medicine balls at your buddy. Leave your $500 technically advanced workout gear at home. This is a barefoot low-tech workout that kicks your *butt*. I’m still sore and it’s Wednesday.

Ron Fagan, proprieter and Sensei, told me that it’s in support of their “stay sober Saturday night” efforts. (My friend Jo Ann who took me said “I didn’t know that! And hey it works! I always go easy on Saturday night because I have class the next a.m.!” That sneaky Sensei ). You pay 2 bucks and the money goes to charity, they sponsor a family at Christmas. The people are really down to earth and have alot of fun. I didn’t feel self conscious at all. Ron will never hear me plead cramps for that class.

I normally do this detox in the spring and figure I should eat alot of fresh fruit and salads. And at that time of year - bring it on! But because it’s fall I want food that’s warm and filling. And looking at the food lists, you’re *supposed* to eat lots of onions, garlic etc. etc. So I asked myself - what do I like to fry up with onions? So I made this.

Chick Pea Tomato Stew

1 T olive oil
1 medium onion
3/4 lb of ground turkey or chicken
3 garlic cloves
1 big can of ground tomatoes (28 oz or 796 ml)
2 t of chipotle or a small chopped jalepeno
1 t cumin
1 t rosemary or oregano
1 19 oz (540 ml) can garbanzo beans, then fill the can twice with veggies. I used one of matchstick cut carrots and one of frozen corn.

Fry onion in oil, add ground meat and garlic. Cook until meat is cooked through. Add other ingredients, cover and simmer, stirring once in a while until veggies are cooked to your liking.

This is good by itself or over brown rice. Made about 4 servings.

The key to feeding yourself during this detox is to make brown rice for a couple of meals each time. There are lots of inventive things you can do with the leftovers for your next meal.  Here’s an example:

Salmon Rice Salad

I threw stuff in a container for lunch, so the measurements are rough - be creative and use what you love!

Start with leftover brown rice (around 1 c)

Add:
1/2 c or more of chopped up cuke, tomato, grated carrot or whatever salad veggies you have on hand
1 sliced green onion
a sprinkle of fresh cilantro (2 T)
a handful of arugula torn up (I love that stuff but add any green salad stuff you like)
dump a can of drained salmon over top
slosh some olive oil overtop
squirt some lemon juice over that
sprinkle well with pepper

Mix it up and enjoy.

I’m doing a detox again and I do them because I’m a Foodie. I need to reset my taste buds and habits back to “clean” every once in a while. I need to remind myself that even though red wine goes with everything, that doesn’t mean it has to. I need to remind myself that veggies and brown rice are good.

But it never fails, I open up my kit, find the list of OK/verboten foods and feel that sinking feeling. Column 1 you can only have 20% of, so your eyes slide hopefully over to Column 2 and 3 where you see in the recommended list that you’ll be living on brown rice and leeks with a nice big glass of water - for TEN DAYS. It’s not very inspiring. For a Foodie it’s a little terrifying.

But look down column 3 a little farther and notice with me that you can eat butter and any oil that isn’t peanut. How did I miss that before?

I still have holdover habits from the ol’ low fat days. And I rationally know that the body needs good fats, but it was a big epiphany for me the day I read that the fat soluble vitamins in veggies *need* some fat to help your body absorb them. Yes, that means butter on your veggies, celebrate with me. Or olive oil, or sesame oil - you get the picture.

So for tonight’s meal I did this:

Threw some brown rice into the microwave rice cooker for 20 minutes (with some butter ). Put a good puddle (maybe a tablespoon) of sesame oil in the pan and heated ‘er good. Threw in a quarter-size slab of fresh ginger. Cut carrots into matchsticks and threw them in the puddle. Cut thin slices of red and green peppers and a couple stocks of bok choy. Added and tossed it all around. Added a sprinkle of Chinese Five Spice. Sprinkled with sesame seeds. Tossed until the carrots were done enough. Loaded up my rice and enjoyed.

The veggies had good flavour. I use a non-stick pan so that I don’t *have* to use oil for stirfrying. But I found the oil gave the meal the staying power to get me through the evening without racing for the rice cakes and almond butter (my snack stand-by during detox).

Day 1 and I’m a happy Foodie. Stay tuned and I’ll tell you what else I make.

I’ve been trying to spend more time on creative pursuits lately and discovered that the one thing that always gets in the way is “doing stuff”. I discovered you need to slow down to be creative. You need noodling time. And “just thinking” time. And that doesn’t exist when I’m racing against the clock totally stressed. So I’ve been trying to slow down in my life. I’ve figured out that it isn’t about doing a lot less, but having a different perspective about it. Here are some strategies I’ve found that work:

1. Get it out of your head. When your head is a-swirl with all the things that you’d like to get done, write it down. And leave it in a place where you might do something about it. I leave myself voicemail at work for things I can do at lunch and send email home for stuff that needs to be done there. And yes, I write stuff on my hand for things that need to be done in between. I can forget about it, because I know I won’t *completely* forget about it.

2. Get your yah-yahs out. Whether it’s hiking up a hill, doing Sun Salutations until you can’t, talking through your issues with a life coach, ranting to your girlfriend or writing in a journal - it really helps to get your yah-yahs out. We all know what little pressure cookers can we turn into when everything is locked in tight inside. Get it out and feel less intense afterwards.

3. Let some to-do’s go. Sometimes the to-do list is huge, but really the items belong in roughly three buckets. Stuff that needs to get done for survival. Stuff that will feel really good to get done. And third bucket is things that *should* get done. Can I let things in the third group go? Or at least put them off another week or two? You bet. I give myself permission to procrastinate that stuff until they get to bucket 1 or 2.

4. Give yourself putter time. I often get just as much done puttering aimlessly doing things as they occur to me as I do when I work through a list with militant precision. Puttering is a lot more fun (and creative).

5. Watch the self-talk. Ever notice what you say to yourself when you’re stressed? Being aware of my own self-talk reminds me of that saying “with friends like that who needs enemies?” Sometimes things get pretty nasty in our heads and we’re the worst for laying the guilt and stress on ourselves. Try replacing it with reminders to slow down. My faves are: “That can wait”. “I need to do it this in my time” ie. not rush to the perceived beat of someone else’s drum. “It’ll all get done”. And “First things first” when it feels like there are a million things that need to be done first.

6. Exchange Perfect for Good-Enough. We all have high standards about certain things that make our lives miserable. Which ones can you let go of? What *needs* to be Perfect for you? If I invite friends for dinner I inevitably start making mountains out of molehills. What am I trying to prove? They love me already. I could probably feed them stuff from a can and they’d just be happy we’re together sharing some wine.

7. Get outta town. The Brits have a term I like - “mini-breaks”. Sometimes getting away for a weekend or afternoon can make a huge improvement in resetting our pace and renewing our perspective. This is a good time of year to skip town and enjoy nature. Find some colored leaves. Find the perfect pumpkin in the field where it grew. The snow will fly and we’ll be into the holiday crazies before we know it. Practiced slowing down now.

8. Take mini-breaks during the day. Have a non-work conversation during the work day, take a lunchbreak, get outside, find a corner to do a yoga pose. I find it’s a practice thing. If I *practice* taking breaks I feel less stressed out and can see the difficult things with a little detachment. With some detachment I’m better able to be calm when things get nutty.

9. Get out of your head. Rather than obsessing about *your* stupid boss, or *your* cold-congested head, or the traffic jam *you’re* stuck in - get out of your head. Can you do something for someone else? Say thanks for 5 things you’re most grateful for? Do something charitable, no matter how small? Take 5 of your favourite yoga breaths?

Those are a few strategies I’ve found so far. I’m no expert on slowing down yet, but until then, I’ll be practicing puttering in a pumpkin patch.

So we all know stress is bad right? It makes you fat. It makes you eat more at night. And now they’ve found it helps brings on Alzheimer’s!

There was a good article in the Globe about taking lunch. Since the link will die shortly - I’ll summarize it here. A recent U.S. study reports that 75% of workers eat at their desks at least three times a week. I was surprised it wasn’t higher actually. So the Nova Scotia government is encouraging their 10,000 employees to take lunch - to leave the office, do something, *eat* lunch, take a break. I understand this was based on a project done at the University of Toronto and now is garnering interest from around the world. The article didn’t have much to say about improvements that were expected etc. but I think we all know that taking a break is useful right? We all know that getting away from the grind and eating lunch guarantees we’re more energetic in the afternoon.

What I did apreciate about the article is it talked about the corporate culture that has taken away any sense of entitlement we have about taking a lunch break. “People feel guilty for taking lunch,” it said. “I talk to so many people for whom it’s not part of their office culture. If their boss doesn’t do it, they won’t either. There’s a real guilt thing going on.

Don’t let it happen to you - get out there and have some lunch!

I was reading Gluten-Free Girl’s blog posting, food blogs being my fave after yoga blogs. She’s getting a book published (yaye GFG!). And she included a bit from her book proposal about real food and how the current generation think that packaged pudding and boxed cereal are real. It took her realizing she’s sensitive to gluten to start making *real* food from fresh basic ingredients. Now she’s a better, happier person - with a book deal.

It was the pudding comment that twigged me. I’d googled homemade pudding recipes a couple weeks back because I thought the toddler in my house would like it. I don’t want to feed him the mush in the plastic containers with the unpronounceable ingredients (shiver). I’d found a bunch of interesting recipes and then promptly forgot about them.

I know, you’re saying “Corilee I only eat raw broccoli - pudding? are you crazy??” And I hear ya’, it’s good to eat healthy food, but sometimes you need food that’s gonna feed your soul too. And Luna bars and hard cold raw veggies sometimes just don’t. So read on.

Making pudding from scratch didn’t just occur to me out of the blue. My Mom is a great baker. When I was growing up we had dessert after dinner probably more than half the time - can you imagine? And I started baking with her from the time I could stand on a stool and get my finger into a bowl for a lick.

Puddings were part of her repetoire too. She had this great little paperback cookbook, I think from one of the food companies, published in the sixties. It had great stylized illustrations of women baking with big hair and high heels. Yeah, that was life at our house too - not!

Last Saturday was damp and dreary. I tracked down the recipes and made Banana Pudding. It’s ridiculously easy. You just need to keep an eye on it while it thickens so the milk doesn’t burn (you don’t need a double boiler). A little burning actually adds some flavour so no worries. It’s vanilla pudding and when it was done I put it into bowls and sliced a banana into it. The banana bits get soft in the pudding. We each ate a bowl of it warm, with digestive cookies. The toddler ate *all* of his *and* could say the names of the ingredients. Yeah it’s made from milk and eggs and sugar, but it’s real food. And it was the most satisfying thing I’ve eaten in a long time.

Next I’m trying chocolate.