Sunday, February 28, 2010

Wacked Diet

No more meaty plates at home for a couple of weeks. The result of a yoga diet/cleanse in place. As interpreted by the cohabitant, that means no meat (fish is okay), no dairy, and no "processed" foods.

But before the diet commenced, it was lamb chops (Great American Lamb), with a red wine/creme fraiche/butter sauce. And mashed potatoes. And salad. For what it's worth, I couldn't believe how good that lamb was. First time I bought from those folks.

For better or worse, these days dinners are looking more like this:

On the right, a fake Waldorf salad. Apple, pear, celery, walnut, banana, a little salt, and honey. Bananas--better than marshmallows. This will be a go to thing for potlucks where honey is acceptable, but meat products aren't.

To the left, sauteed Brussels sprouts. Sliced thin and cooked over high heat. Once they were good and sauteed, the heat went off and in went some orange segments w/ a bit of juice, honey, and sunflower seeds. Salt and pepper too. A quality, bacon free way to enjoy sprouts.

And this. Farro, cooked and then combined with sauteed carrot, onion, and celery. Lots of cilantro and lemon juice stirred in at the end. Also some flounder. Seasoned with salt, pepper, and coriander. And more lemon. The farro wound up being a nice risotto-like side.

It's a crazy time to have veggi-centric eating rules in place--there's a borderline freaking blizzard outside. Plus I'm normally pretty religious about the local, seasonal thing when possible, and hate buying things we grow here in the summer out of season and from lands far away. My visits to grocery stores are generally limited. But this is a whole new way of looking at food for me. Focusing on organic over local, staying away from flour (although I'm not quite sure why), and no dairy. At some level it feels good to give the local fanaticism a rest, if even only for a short while. It's just too easy to become a fundamentalist about that kind of stuff, and for me, fundamentalists are usually scary.

Either way, I'm looking forward to becoming a scary fundamentalist again one this diet thing is over.

10 comments:

Dine O Mite! said...

I have yet to buy anything from Great American Lamb. It always seems like every time I think of getting something the schedule doesn't work out. I'm encouraged by the fact you liked it.

Nancy Heller said...

We've bought from GAL and their products are very good. If you have a freezer, a half or whole lamb from Kathy Breychak is even better.

The CFT said...

It was good stuff Cal. I passed by many times and finally pulled the trigger. They're sorting out their merguez to be all French style with pork fat--not sure if it's available yet but I like the non-kosher merguez.

Thanks Nancy. I split one from Wayne county with a friend last year and it was nice to have around. I'll have to give the Breychak stuff a try.

Unknown said...

are you doing the vegan/raw/juice/vegan cleanse? did it last year with the wife (minus the yoga for me). raw week sucked, but the vitamineral green smoothie became a daily practice for us that we continue to this day.

i've got a food dehydrator to help you get through raw week if you need. good luck.

The CFT said...

The rules of this diet are kind of fluid Stephan. No juice requirement or raw or vegan commands, although with the exception of fish, it's been pretty vegan. Thanks for the offer on the dehydrator--I'll let you know if we need it. At this point I'm just counting down the days. An cheating like hell when I'm out of the house.

steve said...

Hey Tomato, My first comment on this is a song is going thru my head, "The things we do for love". Second is that lamb chop looks great. We spoke with another person last night at a Slow Foods event at the Happy Dog who is doing the same "diet" for yoga. Hope to see you soon.

Unknown said...

got it. it just seemed so coincidental that it was the same time last year we did ours. the dehydrator was just a way to cheat on the raw diet. look into fruit/power smoothies for breakfast though, it's amazing how long they hold you and how much nutrients you can jam in one.

between the smoothie and steel cut oats later in the morning, i'm usually set until the late evening for dinner. i know the trials of living with a vegetarian (15 yrs.)and loving to cook ALL things meat. i'd probably weigh 400 lbs. otherwise if my diet wasn't 90% veg.

alton brown also has a pretty interesting diet/eating lifestyle in the works that i'm looking into.

best of luck.

The CFT said...

Steve, I've been going to the Dog more than I'm proud to admit.

Thanks Stefan, it's almost over.

Lizzie Ackerman said...

It's not a diet it's a cleanse. :-)

Adam said...

Real good looking veggie dishes. I'm going to have to give them a try, especially that waldorf salad.