30 June 2010

Profile of a Healthy Eater: Masha

What do macaroons, Stephen Colbert, and protein bars have in common? Read Masha’s awesome profile to find out!

1. What’s your foodie style? Emphasis on vegetables, meat, beans, rice and eggs. I go for simple preparations of high quality, fresh ingredients. Lots of diversity and novelty. I like to cook, and I am constantly trying something new. And Mexican food is definitely home-base for me.
2. Something people consider “healthy” that you think is anything but? Protein bars. Chock full of calories, utterly un-fulfilling. And have you noticed that people rarely actually eat them after a workout?
3. Favorite food/health blog? So many! I get a lot of good food ideas from The Kitchn.
4. Your go-to five-minute meal? Beans and rice. These are usually in my fridge and just need to be nuked. I am likely to add a smidge of cheese, salsa and cut up a tomato. If I have the greens, I might skip the rice and make a salad of it — but then that is more like 7 mins.
5. Perfect last meal? An 8-course gourmet french prix fix menu with wine pairings. Do not f**k around, put yourself in the hands of the experts.
6. Favorite method of cooking and why? Grilling. I like how it amplifies the essential character of the food. Also, easy.
7. Craziest diet you’ve ever tried? Never really tried any crazy diets. I once did a Ramadan fast (no food/drink sunrise to sunset for 14 days) because I had a crush on a boy. That was definitely crazy — but not so much for dietary reasons.
8. Restaurant you’d go to every day if you could? Palace Kitchen in Seattle.
9. Food/dish you’ve always wanted to learn how to cook, but haven’t? Macaroons. What are you going to do with a whole batch of macaroons? In fact, there is a whole class of fancy-pants pastries that I would love to learn to make, but don’t because I’d just end up eating them.
10. Dream dining companion? Stephen Colbert. Doesn’t he seem like someone who knows how to enjoy a good thing?

14 June 2010

My Weekend in Food: THE ITIS

I just tweeted about coming down with a case of the Itis. The Itis is a phrase from one of my favorite episodes of The Boondocks in which Granddad opens a restaurant serving heavy but delicious food (including The Luther: “A full pound burger patty covered in cheese. Grilled onions, five strips of bacon, all sandwiched between…two Krispy Kreme donuts.” The Itis comes after the meal, when you literally feel incapable of doing ANYTHING. As Urban Dictionary puts it:

[The Itis] is the general feeling of lethargy and well-being experienced after eating a satisfying meal. This phenomena is particularly triggered by foods high in carbohydrates and meats containing the amino acid tryptophan.

Though I do love all kinds of food, I’m a Nutritionista at heart. That means too much good, but non-nutritious, food can definitely do me in. This weekend was one of those times. Totally worth it, but I’m paying for it now. Tune in later this week to find out good ways of dealing with the Itis!

So which foods led me down the Itis path? It all started at dinner on Friday with an impromptu trip to my favorite BBQ joint in Detroit, Slows. Even though in my mind, I can’t get enough of this place, it would probably be a bad idea to go more than once every couple months. It’s a fast trip to Itis-ville! But I still feel good about indulging in their fare: All their meats come from Niman Ranch and everything they make is very high-quality and delish.

I chose The Big Three: a tasting of Slows’ pulled pork, pulled chicken, and sliced brisket. For my sides, I chose their rightfully infamous mac & cheese and green beans (which they cook with onions and coat in a spicy mustard sauce).

They make their own BBQ sauces — all FIVE! There’s North Carolina, Spicy, Sweet, Apple, and Mustard. I usually try a little of each. I topped off the perfect meal with a Celis White beer, which is definitely my new summer go-to brew. So light and fruity!

To continue with the weekend Itis, I headed to Rachel’s on Saturday to see her compete in a stand-up competition (she took home second place, but she was funnier than all of her competition!).

I can always count on a good meal at Rachel’s. She asked me to bring some fun beer, and I couldn’t resist this guy I spied at Whole Foods.

Banana bread beer?? Don’t mind if I do! I loved the subtle banana flavor of this — definitely not too overpowering.

For our meal, Rachel cooked chicken thighs with a ranch rub from Wiliams-Sonoma that I’m sure she’ll write about soon. (Stay tuned dressing lovers! I have another ranch-related post coming up later this week.)

Along with the chicken we had greens with pine nuts and dates, along with some polenta. The feast:

Perfect light summer dinner!

I completed my Itis-inducing weekend with a trip to Beans & Cornbread on Sunday. I didn’t take any pics, but just assume that fried chicken, catfish, and sweet potato muffins were consumed in large quantities. My gluten-hating stomach is none too pleased. Oh well.

Once in a while, the Itis is 100% worth it. Did anything give YOU the Itis this weekend? Leave a comment here or on Facebook!

7 June 2010

Gettin’ Jolly at the Jolly Pumpkin

There’s a new brewery/eatery in town, and of course I had to check it out.

The Jolly Pumpkin Cafe & Brewery’s menu is “driven by fresh seasonal ingredients collected daily from local markets. With avant-garde aspirations in both taste and presentation, our passionate culinary experts are constantly revising traditional dishes to mindfully reflect a variety of organic regional flavors.”

What could be more me? And who better to try it with than Rachel? Her friend Tracy also joined us. I liked Tracy right away because it was clear that a) she likes good food and b) isn’t afraid to eat it. If you appreciate good food, you’re okay in my book. We got a choice seat on the rooftop patio, which is super cute and perfect for summer dining.

The menu was just great all around. I love when it’s clear that people took time and care creating the menu. It wasn’t massive, but I wanted everything, which means it’s good. They mostly have bar & grill-type food — sandwiches, granite-baked pizza, fries, nachos, etc.

But everything is elevated to another level. The nachos come with “red chile marinated chicken, pickled red onion, black beans, avocado, and artisan jack.”  The fries are “truffled, fried crisp, with truffle salt and fresh rosemary.”

Oh, you can bet we ordered those. They were heaven.

For my entree, I wanted something light but hearty. Steak salad sounded perfect. I also tried one of their beers.

The Bam Biere was light, balanced, and flavorful. The Prime Steak Salad with basil vinaigrette was… nothing short of perfection on a plate.

We’ll be back here many times this summer, I’m sure.

28 May 2010

Ask It: Never Satisfied

Anonymous asked: i’m a seventeen year old mostly-vegan, and i’m beginning to have a hard time knowing what to eat… i feel like i am never satisfied by what i eat, i always want to eat, and i can’t go without snacking/sabotaging any diet i put myself on, and i binge-eat a lot. i don’t know if i’m sporting vitamin deficiencies or it’s all psychological. i guess i am writing all this to say that i am rather desperate, and i’d just like to know if you have any advice for finding satisfying vegan food that will stick with me and keep me from binging on candy at the end of the day.

I hope the person who wrote this is out there reading, because I really feel for her (I edited the question a bit, but she made it clear she’s female). I know that desperate feeling of not being able to be satisfied by any food and feeling totally desperate.

This young woman sounds like the typical vegan sugar addict. I’ve known many of them in my day. Sure, it’s sugar in the form of agave and rice syrup, but it’s sugar nonetheless. But you don’t have to be vegan to be a sugar addict. I’ve said it many times before, but I’ll keep saying it: WE ALL HAVE TO GET OFF THE SUGAR ROLLERCOASTER! Eating sugar leads to sugar cravings which leads to eating more sugar. I have more anecdotal evidence of this than I even care to admit! We get off the rollercoaster by being very mindful of the foods we’re eating that contain sugar (even fruit) and keeping our total intake low.

Vegans also tend to severely lack fat. If you don’t eat enough fat, I promise you, you’ll be hungry all the time. Coconut is a vegan’s BFF. Everything you eat should be slathered in coconut oil or milk. You NEED to get that fat, otherwise you’re going to end up desperate! Other great vegan sources of fat: avocado, olive oil, nuts/nut butter, seeds. Of course, protein also needs to be in the mix. Tofu, tempeh, beans. THOSE things are going to be satiating!

So, to sum it up: ax the sugar, up the fat (and don’t forget protein), and prepare to finally feel satisfied!

19 May 2010

Profile of a Healthy Eater: Laura

Laura is pretty much the coolest person ever. Check it: “I blog about food, fitness, and fashion (I sew and make most of my skirts and dresses) in my corner of the Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago) on Adventures in Tralaland,” she says. She lives in the Carribean, she sews, AND she loves food? My mind is blown. Anyway, read her profile below for more from lovely Laura!

Laura in her Carnival getup, “stuffing [her] face full of fried bread and curried chickpeas.” Who else could pull that off?!

1.  What’s your foodie style? Mostly fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, with meat or fish occasionally.  Dairy free (sigh, lactose intolerance, sigh), not the biggest fan of sweets; corn tortilla chips are my kryptonite. 
2. Something people consider “healthy” that you think is anything but? Most cereal—it’s full of wacky unpronounceable ingredients and sugars.
3. Favorite food/health blog? Rachel’s —hers was the first blog I read and, most importantly, her meal examples got me to change my eating habits for good.  Plus I want to be her!
4. Your go-to five-minute meal? Western omelette (peppers, onions, possibly ham) with a green salad and a glass of red wine.
5. Perfect last meal? Cuban black beans and rice (made by my mama) with plantains on the side.  If she’s in a foul temper and won’t cook for me, then I’d have pasta with mussels and white wine.  Either way, there’d be guava-filled jelly-roll for dessert. 
6. Favorite method of cooking and why?  Stir-frying in garlic and olive oil—I could eat all my food that way and never get bored.
7. Craziest diet you’ve ever tried?  I’ve never been on a diet, but I did contemplate  one of those soup diets where you eat the same soup for two weeks… thank goodness I never tried it.
8. Restaurant you’d go to every day if you could? Al Shami lebanese restaurant in Oxford.  I lived an hour away by train, but I still went there every chance I got when I lived in England! 
9. Food/dish you’ve always wanted to learn how to cook, but haven’t?  Malaysian fish sambal/stew so good, but so many hard-to-find ingredients!
10. Dream dining companion?  My dad.  He passed away ten years ago and loved food like it was his job.  Every time I scarf an amazing meal I think of him.