There’s a reason I’m a wannabe foodie. Because legitimate foodies do not go on no-carb diets!!
No sir-ee. A legitimate foodie knows enough to eat everything in moderation so they can continue to enjoy and appreciate all kinds of delectable foods while still fitting into their jeans. Legitimate foodies don’t have to resort to such drastic measures because they succumbed to the temptation of Chex Mix and a bag of Cadbury bars brought back from Ireland.
After a week’s vacation, where I hate to destroy the illusion but calories really do count, and another week of trading in air popped popcorn for Cadbury bars and Chex Mix every night (see last week’s Great Buffalo Experiment), this wannabe foodie is finding her skirts a little too tight. I was hoping the extra vacation pounds would just melt away when I got back to my normal eating habits, but I can’t seem to get back to my normal eating habits. The only way it seems to do that is to give up carbs for a week (or two, if necessary). After that, my normal diet will feel luxurious and I’ll forget about all that glorious Chex Mix. (I finished off the Cadbury bars before I came to this inevitable conclusion.)
The first step of Operation No Carbs was to rid my kitchen of any and all carbs. Bread worth saving was relegated to the freezer, anything else was tossed out. The fridge was cleaned, and the cabinets that were once stocked full of various types of pasta are now empty. Seriously, go see for yourself – all that is left is a can of chick peas, a jar of peanut butter and an envelope of onion soup mix. Don’t worry, I hate to waste food so none of those lovely carbs were thrown away – they have been packed away for future consumption. I didn’t have to get them out of my house, just out of my kitchen.
The next step was a visit to my local farmer’s market. I bought some beautiful lettuce varieties from one farmer (a lovely Korean family, and for the life of me I cannot remember the name of their farm), and then hit my favorite – Freitas Farm. Their produce is simply the best. I’ve bought from the other farms, and Freitas goods are by far the freshest. I filled up my bag with tomatoes, green beans, summer and winter squash. Seeing that I was giving up carbs, I had to turn my back on the cantaloupe, corn and potatoes (at least for this week… we’ll see how it goes and re-visit this decision next week).
Once I got my fill at the farmer’s market, I hit the grocery store for the rest of the items on my shopping list – lowfat cottage cheese, fat free/sugar free yogurt, fish, reduced fat turkey and cheese from the deli, a rainbow of bell peppers, turkey bacon, and a dozen eggs. I ignored the crackers, shunned the chips, and turned my nose up at the cookies. The only thing resembling a carb in my basket was the latest issue of Gourmet magazine.
When I arrived home, I started right in on the prep work. I sliced all the bell peppers into strips and made a white bean dip from a recipe I found to eat with the peppers for snacks. The dip is pretty good – it contains cannellini beans, fresh parsley, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. The parsley makes it an odd shade of green and the garlic is a tad overwhelming, but at least it’ll keep people from bothering me unnecessarily at work. I steamed up some asparagus that I had on hand. I’ll spread a little bit of low fat mayonnaise on a slice of the deli turkey and wrap that around the asparagus with a slice of cheese for another snack (surprisingly tasty). I cooked the entire package of turkey bacon, and hard boiled the dozen eggs (breakfast is served). When I’m craving something sweet, I’ll mix some Splenda and vanilla in with the fat free/sugar free yogurt.
My “at work” dining was now taken care of, but how do I get through the rest of the weekend? Well, my first decision was to wait until Sunday to start the no carb eating plan. That was an easy way to deal with Saturday! (If only I had made that decision a little earlier, I could have grabbed a donut for breakfast instead of limiting myself to plain ol’ yogurt.)
One of my favorite things about fall is watching Sunday afternoon football with the aroma of a roast in the oven – not to mention the anticipation of enjoying the roast for dinner. A Sunday roast is easy enough to pull off without carbs, so to work I went. I had picked up a boneless pork rib roast last week, and decided to open it up and stuff it with fresh herbs, garlic, spinach and mushrooms. I then rolled the roast and tied it, browned it on all four sides before transferring it to the oven, where it joined an acorn squash that had been seasoned with olive oil, Splenda and pumpkin pie spice. Fresh green beans were steamed to add a little color and increase the green veggie intake.
I succeeded in having a carb-free meal, but it wasn’t all that good. It wasn’t bad per se, but it was not nearly as good as I hoped. The roast was cooked perfectly, but the stuffing did not add much to the dish. I like pork, but find that it always needs something else to go along with it. Other than apple sauce (which wouldn’t be allowed this week), I have not been able to figure out a good accompaniment to make it a dish I crave. In any event, the squash and green beans were delicious, and I was able to eat around the stuffing and appreciate the pork on its own.
So, I’ll see how this first carb-free week goes, and hopefully it’s all I need to feel comfortable in my skirts again. Then I can take back my wannabe foodie claim, and re-start my quest to be a bona fide foodie.
For those of you interested in my pork recipe, here it is. I would love to hear your ideas on stuffing (carb free or carb full), or any other improvements I can make to this recipe.
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup each chopped fresh basil, parsley and oregano
1 teaspoon each dried marjoram and dried thyme
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped white mushrooms
2 cup chopped fresh spinach
1-2 lb boneless pork rib roast
Salt and pepper to season meat
Extra virgin olive oil for browning
Preheat oven to 325. Mix together the herbs, garlic, kosher salt, ground pepper and olive oil. Set aside. Saute the mushrooms and spinach, add to the herb mixture and mix well. Trim any chunks of fat from the pork. Cut the top third of the roast almost all the way across, open the roast, and repeat the slice from the opposite side halfway down the remaining thickness. Open the roast flat. Season both sides with salt and pepper, and rub with olive oil. Spread the herb/veggie mixture evenly across the length of the meat. Roll the meat up, doing your best to keep the filling inside but don’t worry if you lose some. Cut 4 pieces of kitchen twine, each about a foot long. Tie the roast snuggly at even intervals. Heat olive oil on the stove in a dutch oven. Brown each side of the roast for two minutes. Transfer to the oven, and roast for approx. 30 minutes per pound. When the roast reaches 160 degrees, remove from the oven, and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice the roast, removing the twine as you get to it. Serve!
No sir-ee. A legitimate foodie knows enough to eat everything in moderation so they can continue to enjoy and appreciate all kinds of delectable foods while still fitting into their jeans. Legitimate foodies don’t have to resort to such drastic measures because they succumbed to the temptation of Chex Mix and a bag of Cadbury bars brought back from Ireland.
After a week’s vacation, where I hate to destroy the illusion but calories really do count, and another week of trading in air popped popcorn for Cadbury bars and Chex Mix every night (see last week’s Great Buffalo Experiment), this wannabe foodie is finding her skirts a little too tight. I was hoping the extra vacation pounds would just melt away when I got back to my normal eating habits, but I can’t seem to get back to my normal eating habits. The only way it seems to do that is to give up carbs for a week (or two, if necessary). After that, my normal diet will feel luxurious and I’ll forget about all that glorious Chex Mix. (I finished off the Cadbury bars before I came to this inevitable conclusion.)
The first step of Operation No Carbs was to rid my kitchen of any and all carbs. Bread worth saving was relegated to the freezer, anything else was tossed out. The fridge was cleaned, and the cabinets that were once stocked full of various types of pasta are now empty. Seriously, go see for yourself – all that is left is a can of chick peas, a jar of peanut butter and an envelope of onion soup mix. Don’t worry, I hate to waste food so none of those lovely carbs were thrown away – they have been packed away for future consumption. I didn’t have to get them out of my house, just out of my kitchen.
The next step was a visit to my local farmer’s market. I bought some beautiful lettuce varieties from one farmer (a lovely Korean family, and for the life of me I cannot remember the name of their farm), and then hit my favorite – Freitas Farm. Their produce is simply the best. I’ve bought from the other farms, and Freitas goods are by far the freshest. I filled up my bag with tomatoes, green beans, summer and winter squash. Seeing that I was giving up carbs, I had to turn my back on the cantaloupe, corn and potatoes (at least for this week… we’ll see how it goes and re-visit this decision next week).
Once I got my fill at the farmer’s market, I hit the grocery store for the rest of the items on my shopping list – lowfat cottage cheese, fat free/sugar free yogurt, fish, reduced fat turkey and cheese from the deli, a rainbow of bell peppers, turkey bacon, and a dozen eggs. I ignored the crackers, shunned the chips, and turned my nose up at the cookies. The only thing resembling a carb in my basket was the latest issue of Gourmet magazine.
When I arrived home, I started right in on the prep work. I sliced all the bell peppers into strips and made a white bean dip from a recipe I found to eat with the peppers for snacks. The dip is pretty good – it contains cannellini beans, fresh parsley, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. The parsley makes it an odd shade of green and the garlic is a tad overwhelming, but at least it’ll keep people from bothering me unnecessarily at work. I steamed up some asparagus that I had on hand. I’ll spread a little bit of low fat mayonnaise on a slice of the deli turkey and wrap that around the asparagus with a slice of cheese for another snack (surprisingly tasty). I cooked the entire package of turkey bacon, and hard boiled the dozen eggs (breakfast is served). When I’m craving something sweet, I’ll mix some Splenda and vanilla in with the fat free/sugar free yogurt.
My “at work” dining was now taken care of, but how do I get through the rest of the weekend? Well, my first decision was to wait until Sunday to start the no carb eating plan. That was an easy way to deal with Saturday! (If only I had made that decision a little earlier, I could have grabbed a donut for breakfast instead of limiting myself to plain ol’ yogurt.)
One of my favorite things about fall is watching Sunday afternoon football with the aroma of a roast in the oven – not to mention the anticipation of enjoying the roast for dinner. A Sunday roast is easy enough to pull off without carbs, so to work I went. I had picked up a boneless pork rib roast last week, and decided to open it up and stuff it with fresh herbs, garlic, spinach and mushrooms. I then rolled the roast and tied it, browned it on all four sides before transferring it to the oven, where it joined an acorn squash that had been seasoned with olive oil, Splenda and pumpkin pie spice. Fresh green beans were steamed to add a little color and increase the green veggie intake.
I succeeded in having a carb-free meal, but it wasn’t all that good. It wasn’t bad per se, but it was not nearly as good as I hoped. The roast was cooked perfectly, but the stuffing did not add much to the dish. I like pork, but find that it always needs something else to go along with it. Other than apple sauce (which wouldn’t be allowed this week), I have not been able to figure out a good accompaniment to make it a dish I crave. In any event, the squash and green beans were delicious, and I was able to eat around the stuffing and appreciate the pork on its own.
So, I’ll see how this first carb-free week goes, and hopefully it’s all I need to feel comfortable in my skirts again. Then I can take back my wannabe foodie claim, and re-start my quest to be a bona fide foodie.
For those of you interested in my pork recipe, here it is. I would love to hear your ideas on stuffing (carb free or carb full), or any other improvements I can make to this recipe.
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup each chopped fresh basil, parsley and oregano
1 teaspoon each dried marjoram and dried thyme
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped white mushrooms
2 cup chopped fresh spinach
1-2 lb boneless pork rib roast
Salt and pepper to season meat
Extra virgin olive oil for browning
Preheat oven to 325. Mix together the herbs, garlic, kosher salt, ground pepper and olive oil. Set aside. Saute the mushrooms and spinach, add to the herb mixture and mix well. Trim any chunks of fat from the pork. Cut the top third of the roast almost all the way across, open the roast, and repeat the slice from the opposite side halfway down the remaining thickness. Open the roast flat. Season both sides with salt and pepper, and rub with olive oil. Spread the herb/veggie mixture evenly across the length of the meat. Roll the meat up, doing your best to keep the filling inside but don’t worry if you lose some. Cut 4 pieces of kitchen twine, each about a foot long. Tie the roast snuggly at even intervals. Heat olive oil on the stove in a dutch oven. Brown each side of the roast for two minutes. Transfer to the oven, and roast for approx. 30 minutes per pound. When the roast reaches 160 degrees, remove from the oven, and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice the roast, removing the twine as you get to it. Serve!
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