Book Review: Simply In Season (World Community Cookbook)

Simply In Season by Mary Beth Lind

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


We received this as a wedding gift and I love it. It is divided based on the growing seasons and also the kinds of meals one enjoys eating during the seasons (cool salads in summer, heavy soups in winter, etc.) I like to take it out before I hit the farmers market. It would be a great gift for a gardener.

I have found that many of the recipes can be adapted for our goal diet or that they inspire me to improvise.



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Macro Awesome!

Ok, so we have practically no food in our house. Honestly. Where does all the time go?

I'll tell you what, eating healthy takes time and budget management, so I am floundering right now. I hope to get my kitchen act together.

I have been trying to bring my own lunch, which is wonderful on so many levels, but I had to buy my lunch today and I bought Macro Vegetarian Thai Dumplings at the little store by the post office in Coffman Memorial Union.

Macro Vegetarian Thai Dumplings are not pictured here, but this is what their friends look like.

What a happy plate! Yum! Flavorful, hearty and smells delicious too!

Happy plate decoupage from this etsy shop.

Plus the dish is macro-biotic and vegan with pretty great nutritional value.

Healthy! And I have been weighing myself everyday for the study, it is odd to do.

The drag is that the meal cost $5.99. Not something to get everyday, but perhaps inspiration for meals to prepare at home. I guess that is less than the awesome salad bar at Coffman costs.

One other bonus is that if I took the stairs up and down to the East River Road to get to Coffman I burn some calories and build some muscle. How much money is that worth?

Soon these steps will be closed for the winter and I will watch people try to walk or slide cautiously down them from my office.

Goodreads review that I wrote pasted here for you!

The No-Salt, Lowest-Sodium Cookbook: Hundreds of Favorite Recipes Created to Combat Congestive Heart Failure and Dangerous Hypertension by Donald A. Gazzaniga


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My 37 year old husband has had a rough year. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and then had a very damaging heart attack. Like the author of this book, he was told he may need a heart transplant. Of course he/we have been eating better and trying to find the most flavor bang for our buck AND sodium count. We love to eat out and try all kinds of foods and we wanted to keep that as a part of our life. I have loved this book because it reads like more than a cook book. I enjoyed sitting down and reading it, I looked forward to going back to it despite the fact that I was so bummed about NEEDING it in my life when I picked it up. I cannot say that about many of the chronic disease diet books I have been browsing!

In addition to the recipes, the book gives a great primer on low-sodium eating, where sodium is found, what it is used for, and how to live low-sodium all the time. The author goes to great lengths in his own life to be at around 500mg of sodium a day, super low, and it is inspiring to read his commentary. I also like the board of people he used to help write the book. Even better, my husband and I have enjoyed all of the recipes we have tried so far. I like how the recipes are not bland and all areas of dinning are covered (comfort food, holidays, potlucks, light snacks, dressings, salads, sweets). The nutrition information on each dish is included, which is helpful for other areas of diet that we are monitoring.

The book has me excited because it is helping me adapt my cooking and shopping to what I was hoping: that being low-sodium does not mean flavorless and boring.

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Pacled love and voodoo diets

Ah. Monday.

I lurched myself awake and then worked and worked, I enjoyed the sun and had a healthy homemade lunch:


Not my actual dish, but you get the gist.

Basmati rice
tomatoes
garlic
jalapenos
green peppers
onions
red pepper flakes
chili powder
shredded chicken
black beans
corn
cilantro

I cooked them all up in my lobster pot and made 12 prepacked meals for my honey and I. Yum.

The I ate a crappy stale store bought brownie. Oops.



So not worth it.

Did I ever tell you that I once had an obsession with Little Debbie Brownies? I craved them everyday! They were hard to kick because a box of 10 cost like $1.50 and you could also get them at the corner store by my office for 25 cents.



I was embarrassed by my habit, but I let people know about it too. A friend of mine made a Little Debbie Voodoo doll for me, it really did the trick!

Product Review: Weight Watchers Smart Ones Santa Fe Chicken somethin' Somethin'

I used to get a non-diet version of this meal a lot when I was in college. Frankly, I could not tell a difference in taste, so that is something, right?

Todd and I pledged to bring our lunch to work this week (and hopefully more weeks), so I grabbed a couple of these in case I was too lazy to make my lunch (which I WAS on day1!). As a back-up plan this worked well and it was on sale for like $2.50 at Super Target.

I thought this was satisfying and maybe a little salty. It smelled of garlic while it cooked, to the delight of my office mates. I did not taste the garlic as much as I smelt it. I could easily make something similar at home and leave off the "cream sauce" and cheese. I might add some baked chicken too if I felt wild!

Tonight I will be making some pasta up and packaging it for the rest of the week. I got some ground turkey, spinch, broccli, green peppers and onions for that. Oh and garlic! Yum. I usually make pasta without meat, but it is just that meaty time of year.

C and K are back from India, I hope they will let me buy the bike and I hope that they will help encourage me to get to the gym too! I am way off on that goal.

Seasonal, healthy and hearty recipe

Red Chard, Potato, and White Bean Ragout



I am stealing this from the New York Times "Recipe for Health" section. I feel like I am being lazy with my sources, but I thought this looked delicious, nutritious, and filling.

Plus it is fun to say ragout!

Hold the mayo!

Here is a delicious looking, leaner version of tuna casserole from the New York Times.



Of course it leaves out my favorite ingredient: mayonnaise- but that is not shock.


From here.

Mayonnaise is no friend of leaner living.