Giving up alcohol and for myself, choosing to severely limit my carb intake at the same time, seems like a petty challenge. Zillions of people don't drink and plenty more live by the Atkins and South Beach Diet codes. Plenty of people suffer from Celiac Disease (aka wheat allergy) and reguarly eschew the likes of pasta and bread. But when your diet consists mainly of booze and bread, the idea of leaving them be for three weeks seems incredibly harrowing.
A small smattering of good times we've had, brought to you by BOOZE©
To further emphasize how much Spring and I enjoy imbibing, every friend of ours - significant others included - we told about our plan to sober up laughed. Not just a little "hah...that's funny," but a gutteral, snyde "HA!", which translates roughly into, "yeah, that'll be the day." Other comments included "I give it until May 2nd." Et cetera, et cetera.
So I've decided that I'm going to chronicle my month long descent into madness here on my food blog, since one of the biggest hurdles for me will be figuring out what the hell to eat that doesn't involve pasta, bread, rice, etc. I figure quinoa is ok, as it's the "miracle grain" high in protein and low in carbs. I'm not trying to eliminate carbs from my diet, as that's totally impossible, but I'm definitely cutting the amount I shove through my gullet way, way down.
Today I'm optimisitc about what I can make that's pretty low carb. For example, yesterday I had a craving for frittata for breakfast. But since frittata is made of eggs (which I don't like to eat) I figured there had to be a way to make it using tofu. Sure enough, I was right.
Mark found this recipe for Vegan Frittata, the only part of which I referenced was the actual egg-batter substitute part. I should point out that I rarely ever follow recipes to the letter, just use them as a reference for what ingredients should go together and in approximately what ratios.
Frittata goodness...uncooked.
I sauteed the carrots and potatoes until they started to get a little soft, then sauteed everything else together in a separate pan until the asparagus started to be cooked through (since that's the ingredient that would normally take the longest to cook). While sauteing I seasoned them with all sorts of stuff: salt, black pepper, white pepper, chili powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne powder, nutritional yeast. Then I dumped all that stuff into the casserole dish and poured my tofu sauce over the top. (See photos above).
From there, pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour to make sure it's cooked the whole way through and when finished, let cool for about ten minutes so it can really solidify on the inside and presto! A delicious, low-carb breakfast. It has almost the exact same consistency as regular frittata except that it's a little bit more crumbly, and no furry or feathery fauna were harmed in the making of this breakfast. (Don't get me started on how factory farming is the main cause of things like this retarded Swine Flu, Avian Flu and Mad Cow Disease, among a host of other environmental and health-related epidemics).
You know you want me to come over and make you some, don't you?
Mark liked it so much that today he made another one with the left over tofu sauce I'd made too much of and as I'm typing this, he brought me a chunk. Mmmm...still delicious. If you are so lame and scared of cooking that you desperately need a recipe, use this one here.
Then today I decided to whip together a little three-bean and corn mexican salad, which is easy, tasty, protein and fiber-packed (for keeping you feeling full and your colon empty) and quick to make.
Beans, beans, the magical fruit...eating colorful is a great way to stay healthy, people.
Tonight, in a subversive attempt to ruin my diet, Mark suggested we ride our bikes (in the rain) to L&B Spumoni Gardens, supposedly home of the (2nd) best pizza in all of NYC, according to Mark's research. By far the place that is rumored to be the best pizza in the area, if not the country, as some have debated, is Totonno's, which sadly burned down in March. (WTF?? Probably because we decided we wanted to go eat there.) They have several more locations through the city, but the Totonno's in Coney Island near our house is the original, 1st location, where the pizza is probably the best. So I guess we'll have to hit them up after their rebuild.
Now if THAT doesn't look like the best pizza in the country to you, FUGGHETABOUTIT!
I'll tell you one thing, if I'm gonna wuss out on the carb thing, at least I'm going to write a sweet pizza blog about it.
So I've decided that I'm going to chronicle my month long descent into madness here on my food blog, since one of the biggest hurdles for me will be figuring out what the hell to eat that doesn't involve pasta, bread, rice, etc. I figure quinoa is ok, as it's the "miracle grain" high in protein and low in carbs. I'm not trying to eliminate carbs from my diet, as that's totally impossible, but I'm definitely cutting the amount I shove through my gullet way, way down.
Today I'm optimisitc about what I can make that's pretty low carb. For example, yesterday I had a craving for frittata for breakfast. But since frittata is made of eggs (which I don't like to eat) I figured there had to be a way to make it using tofu. Sure enough, I was right.
Mark found this recipe for Vegan Frittata, the only part of which I referenced was the actual egg-batter substitute part. I should point out that I rarely ever follow recipes to the letter, just use them as a reference for what ingredients should go together and in approximately what ratios.
- So what I did was cut up the following into about 1" pieces:
- 1 sweet potato
6 stalks green asparagus (don't forget to cut off about 2" at the end of each piece. Too fiberous to eat, that part.)
1/2 of a small zuchinni
5 button mushrooms
1 carrot
1 small white onion
6 cloves of garlic (these I chopped finely)
1/3 of a head of cauliflower
Frittata goodness...uncooked.
I sauteed the carrots and potatoes until they started to get a little soft, then sauteed everything else together in a separate pan until the asparagus started to be cooked through (since that's the ingredient that would normally take the longest to cook). While sauteing I seasoned them with all sorts of stuff: salt, black pepper, white pepper, chili powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne powder, nutritional yeast. Then I dumped all that stuff into the casserole dish and poured my tofu sauce over the top. (See photos above).
From there, pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour to make sure it's cooked the whole way through and when finished, let cool for about ten minutes so it can really solidify on the inside and presto! A delicious, low-carb breakfast. It has almost the exact same consistency as regular frittata except that it's a little bit more crumbly, and no furry or feathery fauna were harmed in the making of this breakfast. (Don't get me started on how factory farming is the main cause of things like this retarded Swine Flu, Avian Flu and Mad Cow Disease, among a host of other environmental and health-related epidemics).
You know you want me to come over and make you some, don't you?
Mark liked it so much that today he made another one with the left over tofu sauce I'd made too much of and as I'm typing this, he brought me a chunk. Mmmm...still delicious. If you are so lame and scared of cooking that you desperately need a recipe, use this one here.
Then today I decided to whip together a little three-bean and corn mexican salad, which is easy, tasty, protein and fiber-packed (for keeping you feeling full and your colon empty) and quick to make.
- I used:
- 1 can black beans
1/2 can dark red kidney beans
1/2 can organic adzuki beans
1/2 can sweet corn
1/2 green pepper (diced)
1/2 red pepper (diced)
1/2 medium white onion (diced)
1/2 small red onion (diced)
3 cloves garlic (diced)
1 small handful fresh parsley (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon dried cilantro (we didn't have any fresh stuff around)
juice of one small lemon
a few tablespoons of olive oil
a few tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp Secret Aardvark hot sauce
1 tsp cumin
salt, pepper to taste.
Beans, beans, the magical fruit...eating colorful is a great way to stay healthy, people.
Tonight, in a subversive attempt to ruin my diet, Mark suggested we ride our bikes (in the rain) to L&B Spumoni Gardens, supposedly home of the (2nd) best pizza in all of NYC, according to Mark's research. By far the place that is rumored to be the best pizza in the area, if not the country, as some have debated, is Totonno's, which sadly burned down in March. (WTF?? Probably because we decided we wanted to go eat there.) They have several more locations through the city, but the Totonno's in Coney Island near our house is the original, 1st location, where the pizza is probably the best. So I guess we'll have to hit them up after their rebuild.
Now if THAT doesn't look like the best pizza in the country to you, FUGGHETABOUTIT!
I'll tell you one thing, if I'm gonna wuss out on the carb thing, at least I'm going to write a sweet pizza blog about it.
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1 comment:
Kate! I believe in you! I am about to try the flat belly diet for a month. wish me luck. Umm... when are you going to make it out west were the cool kids are?
ok where I am?
lovey dovey long time no see, we should correspond.
M
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