This salad is super easy to prepare, very inexpensive and delicious.
Ingredients:
1 cup Brown rice or a mix of brown and wild
1 cup French green lentils
1 ea Pomegranate, seeded
1 clove Garlic
2 ea Carrots
1 stalk Celery
1 ea Shallot (or a 1/2 of a red onion )
A few sprigs of thyme and/or rosemary
Olive Oil, Vinegar, salt and pepper to taste
Crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Method:
Place the lentils, 1/4 of the onion, the herbs, garlic and the peeled carrots in a pot, and cover with water. Add a generous pinch of salt and bring to a boil, then turn down and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender but still have a little bite to them.
Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the bag instructions, or, if you'd prefer, you can bring water to a boil, stir in the brown rice, add some salt, and cook at a low simmer until the rice is done. Strain and reserve.
Once the lentils are done, slice the carrots, and discard the garlic clove and the onion and herbs.
Dice the rest of the onion, and slice the celery. While the lentils are still warm, season with olive oil and vinegar to taste. Don't be afraid to be generous with both of these. Add the rice, celery, carrots and the rest of the onion, diced. Finish with the pomegranate seeds. Mix well, taste, and re season with salt, pepper, vinegar and olive oil to taste. If using the feta cheese, mix in now.
If you'd like a little extra flavor you can add some chopped cilantro or parsley. Once cool, label, date and refrigerate. This salad will hold in the fridge for 5 to 7 days.
Let come to room temperature or heat before serving. You can always add a little lemon or lime juice right before consuming.
Monday, October 10, 2011
I just don't have the time!
Whenever I am talking to a friend about eating healthy, or preparing foods at home, or anything on the subject, it seems as if the common response is always: I just don't have the time!
I used to think that too. Restaurant jobs (or at least kitchen ones) are unfortunately not very "life" friendly. Meaning, they don't usually leave that much time for your actual life. So I used to not cook at home that often, and sometimes weeks would go by without me cooking anything at all other than at work.
That all changed when I broke my leg, and couldn't go to work for a few months. In order to not loose my mind, and to cope with the limitations from my injury, I would cook and I would bake.
As a result, there were always leftovers in the fridge. There was always food ready to go.
I definitely got used to it, and so did my body. I had more energy when I ate my home cooked meals than when I ate at work or bought random sandwiches or salads. I felt better.
Shortly after my injury, I completed a yoga teacher training program, and in an effort to take better care of my body and myself, I stuck to my new found habits of always having home cooked meals in the fridge for a quick reheating. It has been four years since then. We have moved four times, to four different cities, I have had at least six different jobs, and three periods of unemployment, but I have kept on with the lifestyle of mostly consuming meals that I have prepared for myself.
It hasn't always been easy. It has been a long process of working out the kinks and figuring out what the best way was for me to be able to prepare my meals every week, while maximizing my free time.
These days however, it is just a part of my life. Like practicing yoga, or having my coffee every morning.
If you have at least one day off a week, you can do this too.
Here are the steps that I have set up for myself to make it work:
1) Set aside one of your days off to cook all your meals for the week.
2) Ideally, go shopping the day before, either on your other day off, or before or after work one day, so that on the day of cooking, you don't have to worry about having to go to the store first. Everything is already there.
3) Prepare two large dishes, that will last most of the week, for your dinners. Preferably one pot meals that have several different "food groups" like a casserole or a stew.
4) Prepare 2 or 3 different salads for your lunches, based on whole grains or beans, that can be eaten either cold or hot, depending on where any given work day might take you.
5) If you are not a morning person, make a large fruit salad, that you can just add a little yogurt and nuts to in the morning for breakfast. Try to get seasonal fruits, so that you switch it up every months, that way you will have less chances of getting bored with it.
If you follow these steps, you might spend a few hours of your day off cooking, but you will be rewarded with ready to go, amazingly delicious food, for every meal of your week.
Try it out and see how you feel. You might even come up with more ways to simplify the process,
and you will definitely gain energy from more nutritious foods and a more balanced diet.
Good luck, and let me know how it works out for you!
I used to think that too. Restaurant jobs (or at least kitchen ones) are unfortunately not very "life" friendly. Meaning, they don't usually leave that much time for your actual life. So I used to not cook at home that often, and sometimes weeks would go by without me cooking anything at all other than at work.
That all changed when I broke my leg, and couldn't go to work for a few months. In order to not loose my mind, and to cope with the limitations from my injury, I would cook and I would bake.
As a result, there were always leftovers in the fridge. There was always food ready to go.
I definitely got used to it, and so did my body. I had more energy when I ate my home cooked meals than when I ate at work or bought random sandwiches or salads. I felt better.
Shortly after my injury, I completed a yoga teacher training program, and in an effort to take better care of my body and myself, I stuck to my new found habits of always having home cooked meals in the fridge for a quick reheating. It has been four years since then. We have moved four times, to four different cities, I have had at least six different jobs, and three periods of unemployment, but I have kept on with the lifestyle of mostly consuming meals that I have prepared for myself.
It hasn't always been easy. It has been a long process of working out the kinks and figuring out what the best way was for me to be able to prepare my meals every week, while maximizing my free time.
These days however, it is just a part of my life. Like practicing yoga, or having my coffee every morning.
If you have at least one day off a week, you can do this too.
Here are the steps that I have set up for myself to make it work:
1) Set aside one of your days off to cook all your meals for the week.
2) Ideally, go shopping the day before, either on your other day off, or before or after work one day, so that on the day of cooking, you don't have to worry about having to go to the store first. Everything is already there.
3) Prepare two large dishes, that will last most of the week, for your dinners. Preferably one pot meals that have several different "food groups" like a casserole or a stew.
4) Prepare 2 or 3 different salads for your lunches, based on whole grains or beans, that can be eaten either cold or hot, depending on where any given work day might take you.
5) If you are not a morning person, make a large fruit salad, that you can just add a little yogurt and nuts to in the morning for breakfast. Try to get seasonal fruits, so that you switch it up every months, that way you will have less chances of getting bored with it.
If you follow these steps, you might spend a few hours of your day off cooking, but you will be rewarded with ready to go, amazingly delicious food, for every meal of your week.
Try it out and see how you feel. You might even come up with more ways to simplify the process,
and you will definitely gain energy from more nutritious foods and a more balanced diet.
Good luck, and let me know how it works out for you!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
It all started...
...this morning.
My husband and I recently quit our jobs to embark on a wonderful new adventure with some friends who were opening their own restaurant.
For countless reasons that I will not bore you with, we both knew that it was the right decision. However, we also knew that in leaving our very stable source of income (and by ours I mean his), we were taking a giant risk.
A few months later, we are in the dreaded period of: business is not that great yet, but we love being a part of this project, but we are not making enough money, but this is my favorite job I've ever had (and it's in my line of work), what the f.... are we going to do?
I've never been one for wondering, so I did what I had to do: I got another job to supplement our income.
I am a few weeks into that new job, and once they paychecks start coming in, we will have a little more breathing room.
Meanwhile, the last couple of weeks got me thinking about other times in our lives when we weren't very financially stable. One particular time came to mind, late fall, early winter of 2008. We had just moved to Boston, after traveling and spending time with our families for six months. When we rented our sublet, we had enough money left for first and last month, and that was about it. I got a job as pastry cook at "one of the best restaurants in Boston" where I was under payed and overworked (both of those are understatements) but I would be actually making money, so it was better than nothing.
Needless to say during those first months in Boston, we were in a very tight budget. As a cook, who is also very interested in nutrition and in sustainability, feeding myself and my husband is at the very center of my existence. So, I got creative and figured out how to get delicious and nutritious meals on our scarce budget. I often think of one of the dishes that we ate so much that winter, because of how tasty and heart warming it was. It was a beautiful stew of tomatoes (canned), garbanzos (canned as well) and squash (very abundant in the winter in Massachusetts). On good weeks, I would add some sausage to it. On other weeks, kale or spinach were the new ingredients. We would eat it over brown rice, and in that bowl, we were getting a complete meal, or as my husband likes to say: food groups.
Inspired on that dish, and by a dear friend who is a single mother of a lovely three year old little girl, I decided to try to document all the wonderful meals that I have come up with that fit the label of cheap, delicious and nutritious.
When we can, we get our fruits, veggies, meat and eggs at the farmers market. But when we can't, we shouldn't compromise our taste buds or our health.
My husband and I recently quit our jobs to embark on a wonderful new adventure with some friends who were opening their own restaurant.
For countless reasons that I will not bore you with, we both knew that it was the right decision. However, we also knew that in leaving our very stable source of income (and by ours I mean his), we were taking a giant risk.
A few months later, we are in the dreaded period of: business is not that great yet, but we love being a part of this project, but we are not making enough money, but this is my favorite job I've ever had (and it's in my line of work), what the f.... are we going to do?
I've never been one for wondering, so I did what I had to do: I got another job to supplement our income.
I am a few weeks into that new job, and once they paychecks start coming in, we will have a little more breathing room.
Meanwhile, the last couple of weeks got me thinking about other times in our lives when we weren't very financially stable. One particular time came to mind, late fall, early winter of 2008. We had just moved to Boston, after traveling and spending time with our families for six months. When we rented our sublet, we had enough money left for first and last month, and that was about it. I got a job as pastry cook at "one of the best restaurants in Boston" where I was under payed and overworked (both of those are understatements) but I would be actually making money, so it was better than nothing.
Needless to say during those first months in Boston, we were in a very tight budget. As a cook, who is also very interested in nutrition and in sustainability, feeding myself and my husband is at the very center of my existence. So, I got creative and figured out how to get delicious and nutritious meals on our scarce budget. I often think of one of the dishes that we ate so much that winter, because of how tasty and heart warming it was. It was a beautiful stew of tomatoes (canned), garbanzos (canned as well) and squash (very abundant in the winter in Massachusetts). On good weeks, I would add some sausage to it. On other weeks, kale or spinach were the new ingredients. We would eat it over brown rice, and in that bowl, we were getting a complete meal, or as my husband likes to say: food groups.
Inspired on that dish, and by a dear friend who is a single mother of a lovely three year old little girl, I decided to try to document all the wonderful meals that I have come up with that fit the label of cheap, delicious and nutritious.
When we can, we get our fruits, veggies, meat and eggs at the farmers market. But when we can't, we shouldn't compromise our taste buds or our health.
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