“BREAKFAST”

I wasn’t hungry and this orange was the only thing I really wanted. It tasted like a juicy heaven.

LUNCH

A little while later I thought it was time to have some real food, so I reheated some leftover Cuban braised beef with peppers, avocado and cilantro over ww couscous

Adam really hates cilantro but I purchased it for myself since this dish and another one I plan on making later this week called for it. I realized how in love I am with cilantro. It really made this meal extra special. Yum!

All messy…

MID-AFTERNOON SNACKS

Another juicy orange…

A caramel oikos

And 3 cookie dough servings…

After polishing off these babies, I looked up Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution online and decided to watch the first 2 episodes of his show. Within the first 5 minutes, it made me sick thinking about the fact that just I fed myself cookies that I didn’t even bother baking. Sure they don’t have junk ingredients but that’s not exactly nourishing food either. Ten minutes into the show, I realized that I’m a far cry from the people in Huntington. I wonder how a culture where majority of the population consumes over-processed unidentifiable food forms. Sure pizza, burgers and fries taste good but I truly had no idea that some families’/entire cities’ worth of people’s diets mainly consisted of these three “food groups.” It made me sick seeing children being fed pizza for breakfast and chicken nuggets with mashed potatoes (out of potato pearls – WTF is that?!!) for lunch, but the most shocking scene was when Jamie Oliver asked the kids to identify some fresh veggies he brought in. The kids didn’t know what a tomato looked like. Seriously – a tomato??!!! This is not exactly advanced stuff here. Out of 20+ kids, not even one could properly name a fruit or a vegetable. I think someone guessed an eggplant was a pear. They were basically just naming random fruit and veggies they’ve heard of but clearly have never seen in their natural form. This makes me sad, very very sad.

I did not grow up in this country. I can’t remember what our cafeteria served at school (Innz, mom, dad – any clues?). I know it wasn’t anything to write home about either, although I’m pretty sure it was still all made from scratch. To be honest, I think it wasn’t because our food culture was superior – this was just what was available to us and I wonder if chicken nuggets, burgers and pizza are now part of the cafeteria repertoire at my old school.  All of our food at home was also made from scratch, and it was good food despite the fact that food was limited in quantity and things like sugar and flour were bought with food stamps and meat was purchased when my parents were lucky enough to “catch it” at the store (likely after standing in line for hours). Every weekend we went to the market to get fresh produce. Sometimes we’d be treated to a snickers bar or something like that. One weekend I recall we got lucky with a whole bunch of strawberries. I think I ate a whole bucket full of them and broke out in hives. It was just such a treat that I went overboard and my body freaked out. My memory is definitely spotty about all of this.

I shouldn’t really compare myself to the kids in the show but at the same time I can’t really help it. I am not judging, it’s just interesting. How did all this technology and food availability contribute to complete lack of food education? Could you identify a tomato at the age of 6? What about broccoli or cauliflower? Too advanced? I really wonder what schools around Boston serve. I believe that Huntington is not a true representation of every school in America. At least I hope so…

DINNER

It’s CEiMB Thursday and tonight’s dish was hosted by Veggies and Valentino. She picked Ellie Krieger’s miso glazed cod which has been on my to-make list for ages. I even bought the miso paste about 6 months ago to finally make it but never did.

The cod was phenomenal! It was so flavorful and tender – I swear this week’s dinners have been the best I’ve made in ages. Every night I am just astonished at how easily I am able to feed my family (of two) such quality food. Adam said this was restaurant quality! We love, love, loved it!

Can you identify this vegetable?

I steamed this asparagus and then stir-fried them in some EVOO, soy sauce, balsamic and S&P inspired by this recipe from Good Things Catered. Simple ingredients, tons of flavor! That’s a meal I am proud to eat and serve to my loved ones.

Have you had a chance to catch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution yet? Do you remember what your school served? What role did food play in your childhood and what kind of food was it?

We’re going to have 70* weather all weekend. I hope I am able to recover asap so that I can enjoy some of this beautiful weather.

I kept the rest of my toenails in tact, with some pilates and nutritious eats

BREAKFAST

Egg whites, cheese and bacon on a FFL english muffin + coffee

[308 calories]

LUNCH

Ellie Krieger nutty sweet potato soup

[290 calories]

Eaten while on a conference call to make sure I have enough fuel for pilates.

SNACKS

[280 calories]

[120 calories]

+ a Hershey’s chocolate almond bar (unpictured). I don’t know why, but these are my guilty pleasure. I really wanted chocolate so I hit up the vending machine. I hope to keep these incidents to the minimum. [210 calories]

DINNER

We have a few more days with our old kitchen so we’re trying to use up everything we have in the fridge that we won’t be able to cook once construction starts. Today’s dinner was easy and super delicious!

Nuovo portabella & fontina ravioli with peas and vodka sauce + roasted cauliflower

The ravioli was delicious! I love fresh made pasta. These were not only yummy but very pretty – great for a meal for company that can be made in less than 10 minutes! (the ravioli took 4 minutes to cook once the water boiled).

The roasted cauliflower was pretty awesome too (even Adam loved it even though he wasn’t excited about this addition to dinner beforehand). I roasted it for about 20 minutes at 450*. Easy peasy

[~350-400 calories]

Then the snacking began I swear, every time I watch the Biggest Loser, I eat! How screwed up is that?!! I had a packet of almonds and 4 squares of chocolate. I wanted to continue going but realized that there was absolutely nothing I was craving and that I wasn’t hungry, so I forbid myself from going back to the kitchen. Crisis (kind of) averted.

Total calories consumed: over 2,000. It’s still a work in progress, obviously. At least my workouts have their luster back

Have you ever had exercise related injuries… or lost soldiers?

The post today is a little bit more “serious.” Naturally with the year nearly ending I’ve been doing lots of reflecting. Yes, I’ve grown a lot over the year, but I’m not finished yet. The holiday season set me back once again (I talked about it here, did better the next day, and went back to my old bad habits the day after that). I just haven’t been very happy with myself lately and I know the reason is too many mindless bites (that I cannot seem to avoid no matter how hard I try or how motivated I am!) which often lead to sub-par workouts (or none at all if I’m too full – today was exhibit A of such behavior). So for one millionth time this season I mentioned it to my husband. He can tell I haven’t been myself/100% happy, even if I try to hide it. It’s hard because usually there isn’t much he can say to “make it better,” but for some reason today his suggestion worked (at least in theory). So here it is… I didn’t want to do this, but I’m desperate and I think this will do the trick – I’m temporarily going back to calorie counting. I know I can eat intuitively and maintain my weight, but for some reason I’ve gotten way off track and can’t bring myself back to only eating intuitively (and not stuffing my face with chocolate and random snacks). Calorie counting will be a bit of a shock to my system, a shock that I think I very much need. It won’t be about severe restriction, although I will cut down a bit since those 6+ holiday pounds I’ve gained must go! I will try this for the month of January, and see if this is enough to get the old Elina back.

Now let’s see what today’s eats looked like…

BREAKFAST

1 FFL english muffin with Barney Butter and 1/2 banana + coffee

I woke up starving but for some reason this breakfast really filled me up. I was actually sick for hours after eating it as if I went overboard at an unlimited food buffet. Not sure what’s up with that but it was not a good time

“SNACKS”

1 real snack – this orange was beyond sweet and juicy. Yum!

And then the junk food raid began… (there is a limitless supply of cookies and chocolates in my office so when I get a craving, it’s way too easy to satisfy it!)

I will say these were very yummy

LUNCH

I ended up having lunch at home, which is always fun. Did I ever show you guys where I often take pictures when I’m home? Yep, that’s our back yard. The lighting in our condo is terrible so when it’s light out (and I decide to brave the cold), I go outside and snap a photo there. Pretty scenic, no?

Brie + green apple and dijon mustard panini + salad with mixed greens, remaining apple and Annie’s goddess dressing

Mmm, melty brie…

Dessert – an almond stuffed date

DINNER

Dinner was definitely a “man meal.” We were able to get some grass fed beef at WF on Sunday, so Adam requested that I cook some sirloin tips for dinner and make fries. Here is what we got…

Grass fed sirloin tips, marinaded in EVOO, balsamic vinegar, garlic and brown sugar (used an Ellie Krieger recipe) for a few hours and grilled for about 10 minutes.

For the fries, I following this recipe for garlic fries from Cooking Light, using fresh thyme instead of parsley (Adam doesn’t like parsley). The fries were beyond amazing! I wish we had more than 1 potato so I could have had more than just a few of these.

Of course veggies are a must. I deviated from my tried and true recipe for parmesan brussels sprouts (from 101 cookbooks) and tried the roasting method by following this recipe from Cooking Light (originally found through A Better Bag of Groceries). Looking good my little babies…

Unfortunately this recipe cannot even compare to our beloved parmesan brussels sprouts, even after I added some shredded parmesan. I think cutting them in half really helps with the texture + brussels sprouts on the stove top take way less time. Heidi’s version definitely wins!

My plate (I only had a few fries so Adam could have them but we had a baked potato in the fridge so I had some of it instead):

Oh yes, while cooking dinner I snacked on some (unpictured) somersaults, fresh cauliflower and roasted almonds which definitely spoiled my appetite! I had maybe 3/4 of the steak…

4 fries + maybe 2 bites of the baked potato

and about 3/4 of the brussels sprouts

What I really wanted was Adam’s fries. SO good!!!!!!!!

The decision to resume counting calories was made after dinner because I was upset with myself for overeating right before it (this has been happening a lot lately). I hope you guys support me in my journey back to what I know has worked in the past and hopefully will work again. My first day should be interesting