Pantry Ponderings

I went to drop off food at a church’s pantry center this week for the first time, following a commitment I have made to donate on a regular basis. I entered the church to inquire about handing over my canned goods (vegetables, pasta sauce and chilli beans), pasta, and mashed potatoes, and it was truly a beehive of activity. Volunteers were manned at several tables, with each table standing in for a grocery store aisle, featuring similar kinds of items. At the entrance, several volunteers were on hand to get newcomers started and to inform them of other useful services. There was steady foot traffic in and out of the pantry the whole time.

After a couple of volunteers helped me empty my car of the items, I went to inquire about what kinds of nonperishable things the pantry needed, so I could be more helpful in the future. The most sought-out items were canned meats (chicken, ham and tuna), peanut butter, crackers, juice (100% juice was stressed, with disdain for plying kids with sugary beverages), spaghetti, and spaghetti sauce (canned or in plastic jars).

I am glad to have their recommendations, and I will definitely use them to shape what I bring the next time. It will also challenge me to think up other shelf-stable items I can buy in large quantities that help nutritionally more than harm.

It saddens me to think the number of people who need this kind of assistance seems to be on a steady increase during this volatile economic period, but it encourages me that the assistance is available, and that there is a preference for items that fill stomachs and are the best choices for meeting nutritional requirements. I know from stocking up for last year’s rare Midlantic-touching hurricane and from reading about the recent poverty awareness challenge that many nonperishables are not necessarily at the pinnacle of healthy eating, but I believe there are decent options, with a little detective work and an open mind.

I’ve been concerned lately about healthy food options for people of all socioeconomic levels, and I will keep thinking along these lines, to inform what I write about on this blog, and what I end up donating. Healthy food should not be exclusive to the tables of people of means.

Yogurt-Marinated Lamb Kebabs

I wanted to make a different recipe to share for my kebab commitment this week, but I guess it’s good that I ended up making this instead, because it demonstrates how fast good meals can come together.

It also demonstrates money-saving, as the meat is coming from a leg of lamb I bought on sale, cut into multiple meal parcels myself, and tucked away, into the freezer.

Recipe

• 1 lb. lamb, diced into chunks (again, I cut mine from a bone-in leg of lamb, but you could also go with boneless.
• 1/2 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1-2 T Shan Seekh Kabab spice mix
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 large onion

It’s actually for ground meat, but it worked fine for my purposes!

Mix the meat, yogurt and spices together and let them marinate for several hours. (I marinated them in the morning and grilled at night.)

When you’re ready to grill, thread the marinated meat, tomatoes, and onion onto skewers (tomatoes whole, onion quartered), and grill over medium-high heat until the meat is cooked through.

Notes: I served this over whole wheat couscous, with a hunk of lemon on the side. I spritzed my

couscous with lemon recently, and found it to be quite tasty, so I said why not do it again? Topping with a bit of fresh chopped cilantro is another thought.

I bought the Shan spice mix at an Indian market, but if there isn’t one near you, you may find something similar in the international aisle of your grocery. Or, buy an Indian cooking sauce to mix with the yogurt–I’d say using equal parts yogurt and sauce.

Consider marinating other meats in yogurt, too. It’s a common choice in Indian cooking, but I think it could be useful with anything. For example, I’d try it as a stand-in for buttermilk in oven-fried or regular fried chicken.

Whole Foods Kale Salad Copycat: Take 1

When I go to Whole Foods, one of the things I always pick up is their marinated kale from the salad bar. My body is a big fan of leafy greens like spinach and collards, so this salad, with a nutty, tahini taste, black sesame seeds, and carrots and red peppers for color contrast, hits the spot. Kale has been getting its time in the spotlight recently, thanks to its super nutritional profile. This article from WebMD, which calls kale “the queen of greens,” says the vegetable is resplendent with calcium (15% of the daily requirement!), vitamins A, B6, C, and K, as well as magnesium, copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

With Whole Foods prices being what they are, I decided to experiment with making it myself. This is what I did on my first attempt (note that I completely forgot about the carrot and pepper!), with ideas to refine it for the future.

• 16-oz bag of cut, prewashed kale (You could also buy a bundle of whole leaves; I just didn’t find it in my grocery store.)
• 8-10 T hummus (Go with your favorite brand/flavor, but my suggestion? Roasted garlic.)
• 1T olive oil

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• Lemon juice to taste (I used half a large lemon.)

What I did was to rinse the leaves again for good measure, then mix u the other ingredients. (I ended up mixing with my [extra clean] hands, because raw kale leaves are no match for any kind of spoon.) But in the future, here’s what I’d recommend:

Don’t forget the carrot and red pepper like I did! Buy a bag of shredded carrot, or shred your own. Slice the red pepper into thin strips. It’s less of a priority for me to have the sesame seeds, but add them if you want (toasted?), to taste.

Do a little more prep of the kale leaves. Most important: remove the stems. Also, chop the leaves a little more. I wouldn’t want them to be super finely chopped, but I would recommend chopping them into more bite-sized pieces.

Mix the other ingredients together as a dressing. I’m guessing on my next go-round that it’ll be much easier to mix the kale and the tahini, oil and lemon if I have mixed them together first. I’d also add a little water to the mixture, to thin it out, as the Whole Foods original dressing has a slushy consistency.

After the fact, I noticed there are others out there who share my love of the Whole Foods kale salad. Here are some of their recommendations, shared on a Whole Foods message board for another kale recipe. I like the suggestion of pairing chili powder and mango with the kale.

Do you like raw kale? How do you prepare it? What are your tips for making the tough leaves tender and tasty?

The 10-lb. Ham Challenge: Two Days, Seven Recipes

Around Easter time, I learned that I qualified for a free ham from my grocery store. But I had no plans to cook it for the holiday, so off it went to my freezer.

Every market day since then, I found myself staring at the 10-lb. ham in my freezer when I went to store other items, marveling at how much space it was taking up. This past weekend, I vowed to do something about it. I brainstormed and made a list of recipes, gathered some necessary groceries, thawed and boiled the ham, and made these items. (Note: If you don’t happen to have a 10-lb. ham lying around, don’t eat ham, or want to make these dishes a little lighter, you could substitute in turkey ham instead.)

About 2lbs. of the ham have been accounted for at this point.

Split Pea Soup

I made the soup to the specifications of my recipe using turkey ham, just substituting in a pound of the ham and using the water from the ham in place of water or fat-free chicken stock. (Next time I think I’ll do half ham water, half regular water, or just the chicken stock, to lessen the fat content.)

Ham and Apple Salad

• 2-3 oz. ham, diced
• 1 oz. of a smoky and/or sharp cheese–I went with gouda
• 1/2 Granny Smith apple, diced (Go with your preference for peeling. I kept the skin on.)

Add the ingredients on top of a bed of spinach (as I did) or lettuce. I ate it without dressing, but if I had it handy, I would’ve used low-fat honey mustard dressing. Thinly sliced red or white onion also would’ve been a nice addition.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

This one also uses the recipe I usually use for turkey ham. The only substitution this time was using the ham.

Ham and Pineapple Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This is similar to an earlier recipe I posted, with bacon and fat-free American cheese. This time, I’ve used the ham instead and given a foodie-worthy upgrade to the other fillings.

The before pic.

• 2 oz. ham, thinly sliced
• 1 light hamburger bun
• 1 slice smoked cheddar
• 2 thinly sliced pineapple rings
• 1T I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Light

Preheat a nonstick pan to medium-high. Separate the bun halves. (You’re going to use the bun inside out, so the butter toasts the bread better.)

Add the slice of cheese. Top with a pineapple slice. Add the ham, then the other pineapple slice, and close the sandwich.

Spread 1/2T of the butter spread on one of the buns (again, on the white side, not the brown side). Add the sandwich to the pan, butted side down, pressing down on it a bit. Add the rest of the spread to the unbuttered bun half at this time. Flip the sandwich when the part that’s cooking is brown enough. Repeat with the other side.

The after pic.

Notes: The only thing I’d change with this would be to let the pineapple get to room temperature. Mine came from the fridge and it didn’t get warm, even though the cheese did melt.

Jerk Ham and Pineapple Hash

• 1lb ham, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• Approximately 2c diced pineapple (fresh or canned in juice and drained)
• 4-5T jerk marinade
• 4-5T apricot preserves
• 2T balsamic vinaigrette

Heat the onion in a pan (with or without oil) until it’s translucent. Add the ham; heat through.

Mix the marinade, preserves and vinegar together while the ham and onions are heating. Add the pineapple to the pan once the ham mixture is heated through. Pour the jerk mixture into the meat mixture; heat everything through.

Notes: I used the vinegar because I didn’t have a full bottle of jerk marinade. But if I did, I would’ve used two more tablespoons of the marinade and omitted the vinegar. (The vinegar didn’t dramatically alter the taste of the sauce, though.)

Serve the hash over brown or white rice or whole wheat or regular couscous, or as is, with a starch vegetable. Another interesting idea: Serve it as a burrito/wrap sandwich, with black beans and rice or arroz con grandules.

Creamy Spaghetti With Ham and Garlic Peas

I was inspired to make this by a gigantic pasta cookbook I got as a wedding present. Pasta with ham, peas and a heavy cream sauce or a boatload of parmesan cheese seems to be a beloved Italian meal; this is my attempt at making something skinny and also quick to bring to the table. (Again, using turkey ham instead of pork would lighten things up a bit more.)

• 1/2 lb. of ham
• 1 package Birds Eye Steam Fresh Garlic Baby Peas & Mushrooms
• 1/2 jar light Alfredo sauce (I went with Classico, but Ragu makes it, too.)
• 1/2 package whole wheat spaghetti

Cook and drain the spaghetti. Heat the vegetables in the microwave according to package instructions, then heat the ham in the microwave in a microwave-safe container.

Mix the pasta, ham, vegetables and sauce together. Voila!

Note: I typically don’t cook with Alfredo sauce and I was a little afraid scorching it, so I didn’t heat it up. Feel free to heat it if you’d like. Also, in researching it a bit, many recipes I’ve seen use a chunky pasta, like shells or bowties, or fettuccine over thin spaghetti; you can always go with your favorite pasta shape.

Epilogue: After making these recipes over the course of two days, I set aside a pound of ham for miscellaneous use (including omelets and other salads), and I gave the remainder to my mother, along with some of these things I made. In the future, before freezing the ham, I think I’ll cut it into 1-lb. and 1/2-lb portions, using my food scale as my guide.

I doubt I’ll find myself in this predicament again, but at least I know there are simple ways for me to make a ham disappear!

Tightened Wallet, Tightened Belt: It Can Happen

There are a couple of things going on in the news right now that raise good questions about the costs of healthy eating. First, the organization Live Below the Line recently completed a challenge asking Americans to try out living on $1.50 of food each day for five days. The significance of the figure is that this is the American equivalent of the extreme poverty line. (In reality, 1.4 million people around the world live below this line, according to Live Below the Line, an initiative of the Gobal Poverty Project.) The challenge was intended to make people aware of the difficulty some people face in finding nourishing food on this income, and to raise money for various organizations that fight poverty and hunger.

Also in the news is research from PruHealth in the UK reporting that Britons are less likely to spend money on healthy food in the down economy. The report uses data acquired this year from 2,000 respondents; compared to a similar study undertaken in 2008, the number of people who say they find it challenging to eat five fruits or vegetables a day increased by 12 percent. 75 percent of people said they have changed their eating and shopping habits, and 85 percent attributed this behavioral shift to rising food prices and the recession.

It’s not a secret that the cost of living has been on the rise for quite some time, but the challenging of eating healthy on a tight budget may come as a surprise to some of us. Notice I said challenging, but not impossible.

It concerns me that people think healthy eating is the province of the wealthy. But the reality is that one doesn’t have to shop exclusively at Whole Foods or some similar upscale store to become or remain trim and fit. Eating healthy for less does require a shift in where we shop and possibly what kinds of foods we buy, however. And for some, it most certainly requires better access to affordable, healthy foods–as this article states, the 6,500 “food deserts” that exist across the country pose a big problem to making this a reality. If the best deals at the corner store are on processed, prepackaged foods, and quality produce is a long commute away, it’s clear why some people will not or cannot spend time or effort on identifying the places where the best, budget-friendly  food can be found. I applaud the organizations that try to address this problem, and I hope that they will continue to make it easier for abandoned populations to get convenient, affordable access to nourishing foods.

During the course of my weight loss journey, I have come to shop more at discount stores, often reserving my traditional grocery shopping for things that simply aren’t carried at discount stores, like turkey pepperoni or light hot dog and hamburger buns. (I’m happy to say that the list of things I can’t find at discount stores has gotten shorter over the years; for example, Aldi now offers Greek yogurt, reduced fat cheese, and good knockoffs of Kashi cereals.) I put together meals every day using these items. There are viable healthy alternatives to be found with an open mind and a little ingenuity, and in my opinion, there is no need to halt your weight loss momentum if your take-home pay comes under siege by rising gas prices, health insurance premiums, or increased costs for any other necessity.

In the near future, I hope to complete a book on this topic, to share some of the things I’ve learned during my weight loss journey that have helped me to be successful while still being frugal. But in the meantime, I’ll say that research is key–knowing what’s in your local market, knowing when there are sales on things you actually buy, knowing how to combine meals for nutrition in a way that does not waste your purchases.

Yes, sometimes I round out my discount purchases with things like salmon or sirloin. Yes, things will be more challenging for someone who lives at or below the poverty line. But I believe that healthy eating is (and should be) possible at any income level, something that is vital for longevity and attainable for all.

Are you a frugal “big loser,” or are you struggling to lose weight and stay within your budget? Share your story here.

Kitchen Gadget Wizadry

Whether you find yourself cooking things you’ve never cooked before, or you’re getting more familiar with your kitchen now in the pursuit of weight loss or maintenance, you’ll be using a bunch of kitchen gadgets to accomplish your goals.

Gadgets seem to have a way of begetting other gadgets, If you’re not careful. I try my best to make do with what I have, so I’m not buying things that will ultimately collect dust. Here are a few ideas I have for getting double duty out of kitchen items, to save on space and money.

• Meat tenderizer as potato masher. This one happened for me out of necessity, as I had a meat mallet on hand for flattening chicken breasts, but I had a hard time finding a potato masher. I place white or sweet potatoes in a bowl, skin on or peeled, and a few minutes later, I have a side dish ready to go.
• Apple slicer as potato slicer. I saw this one on Pinterest. I had the slicer as an easy way to make a snack out of an apple. (My son prefers the apples seeded and sliced, and I don’t turn them down when they’re prepared that way, either.) Using the slicer on potatoes is a great idea for making oven french fries.
• Roaster lid as grill topper. This is something that I get on my soapbox about: having an electric indoor grill–an open design, rather than a hinged Foreman grill style. If you buy an open grill, the roaster lid makes the perfect grill lid.
• Rice cooker for seasoned sides. I can’t point to a date on the calendar, but one day I decided to use my rice cooker for more than just plain old white rice or brown rice. I moved on to seasoned rice mixes, rice and beans mixes, you name it. I’ve also made rice with chopped vegetables in the rice cooker as well (onion, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic). Any device that allows me to set it and forget it is a friend of mine!
• Zester for squash scraper. I used the zester maybe once or twice. But a lightbulb moment kept it from being an extraneous item: I use it to scrape seeds out of fresh squash. Yes, you could use a simple spoon, but the handle on the zester made it a little more comfortable for me to use on something as big as a spaghetti squash or butternut squash.

Do you have any kitchen gadgets that do double duty in your house? Which ones? How?

Papaya and Lime: Perfect Together

When I go to Whole Foods, I always buy the container of cut-up papaya and lime wedges. I don’t know who decided to pair papaya and lime together, but I thank that person from the bottom of my heart. I like the delicious tang that a spritz of lime juice adds to the buttery, sweet chunks of papaya. The combination makes a good snack, dessert, or side to a breakfast or brunch.

Not only do papaya chunks taste good, though; they have a good set of nutrients–vitamins C, E, A, folate and potassium, as well as fiber and papain, an enzyme that aids in digestion.

As much as I enjoy my special treat at Whole Foods, I figured I could find a cheaper way to make it myself. And I did.

Here are instructions on how to cut a papaya. I found the instructions after the fact, though; this is what I did instead:

1. I cut off the ends,
2. cut it in half width-wise,
3. peeled the halves by standing them up and running a knife down the sides,
4. cut them in half,
5. scooped out the seeds, and
6. cut it into chunks.

I put the chunks in a Ziploc bag, then followed with two limes cut into eight wedges each.

If you’ve never had this tropical treat, I encourage you to give it a try!

Things I Learned From a Month of Salads

My 2012 started off with me stocking up on lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, red cabbage, peppers, and other kinds of raw vegetables to turn into salads. In the month of January, I embarked on a challenge to eat a salad a day.

I was sick and missed dinner on Day 7, and on Day 26, the realities of salad fatigue had set in. But after those two missed days, I ate two salads on the following days. So I eventually crossed the finish line into February, today, with 31 bowls of veggies and proteins having made their way through my body in the month before. Someone figure out how to turn a radish into a medal for me!

I am happy to have completed my challenge with minor hiccups. I will be glad to get back to not having to limit my food options, but I think I will incorporate more salads into my life in general. I came up with a bunch of tasty ideas that I won’t let go to waste!

Besides filling up my mental recipe box with ideas, I learned a bunch of other things about salads and their place in my life. Here are 10 of those things:

10 Things I Learned About Weight Loss From NaBloPoMo

Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo blogging for me. One month ago, I started blogging daily. It was a good experience. I developed 30 days’ worth of topics, but somehow I only use about two-thirds of them. Instead, I wrote on whatever other ideas came up that seemed interesting.

Harder than coming up with ideas was finding the time to write them out. At the beginning of the month, I was a day ahead with developing blog posts. This week, some of the posts didn’t go live until 10 our 11 at night or so. (I hope to get back to posts going live at 6:30 a.m. by next week. And rather than a 3- or 7-day schedule, I’ll be blogging five days a week–during the weekdays.)

Despite the challenges, I had fun, learned a lot about myself (all good) and my tolerance for blogging (thankfully, quite high). I also “met” a bunch of wonderful people on the BlogHer site, and I got to reconnect with some friends on the blog. Thank you, all of you, for regularly visiting the site!

Aside from what I’ve mentioned so far, here are 10 things I learned about weight loss during this period.

1. There are still dishes to be cooked. I posted a number of recipes, but I’ve been inspired to keep experimenting. You can definitely expect more spice alchemy from me!
2. It’s been a month with a lot of ups and downs. I’ve eaten well, and I’ve eaten poorly. I’ve been content with love, and I’ve lost loved ones. I’ve met family members, and I’ve battled isolation. The things that I’ve experienced will help me to find balance in life and in eating, even when things aren’t going smoothly.
3. It’s been helpful to open up with talking and writing. Reaching out to others has made a difference in many ways.
4. I’m (slowly) learning to adjust my eating better. There have been times during the past month when I’ve not tracked my eating, or when I’ve eaten more than I normally would. But, in a small slice of intuitive eating, I’ve tried to balance out these negative behaviors by adjusting my eating when possible.
5. Physical activity isn’t so bad. I wrote on Monday about run/walking up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and I have to admit that I enjoyed it! Even though I became winded, I was proud of myself, for someone who doesn’t exercise regularly.
6. You really can eat what you want and lose weight–with modifications. For this, I’m reminded of what I learned from Oldways’ African Heritage Pyramid Diet, that many “soul food” dishes can still be enjoyed, with a few tweaks.
7. What I’ve learned about weight loss carries over into other areas of my life. The problem-solving I’ve used to eat better and stay on track can also help me to deal with complex emotions.
8. Read labels! I consider myself a careful label reader, but I was aghast to learn about the filler-filled hamburgers. Those burgers will make me read labels a little more closely.
9. The month wasn’t a failure. Despite eating with lax discipline, as of this morning, I am about 45 lbs. down.
10. A lot of people have the same challenges that I do. Being an introverted person, I tend to think that what I’m going through is different from what others in the same position are feeling. But it’s not true. Many people struggle with weight loss or with damaging self-talk, and they all need advice as much as I do. I would like to continue with this blog to give us a chance to talk through our fears, frustrations and challenges (and to also celebrate victories).

Thank you again for visiting my blog, and thank you for venturing through the wilds of the words I’ve posted, from easy recipes to trying to refocus myself away from negative behavior. I will have to take the daily blogging challenge again someday!

My Fast Food Favorites

It’s true that takeout is not off the menu for me; similarly, I still eat from restaurants with trays from time to time. Here are things that I eat that are reasonable meals or are moderate splurges.