A Week Without Fiber

Fine, maybe I'm being melodramatic with this post title, but Passover started on Monday night, and I'm already feeling that major lack of fiber in my life.  For those of you unfamiliar with the holiday, let me just say that matzoh is not known for its digestive benefits.  It's more like eating glue in cracker form.  Actually, I kind of enjoy the taste, especially egg matzoh and, well, chocolate-covered matzoh, but I've already got a hankering for oatmeal and BREAD.  I mean, toast is probably my favorite food.

As many of you know, this blog started with a challenge.  I think it would be fair to say that keeping Kosher for Passover is a food challenge in and of itself, so I am returning to my roots to bring you a week(ish) of daily posts about my Passover meals.  I hope that this can be some inspiration to those of you keeping Kosher, and a glimpse into the holiday for the rest!

I spent a couple of days at my parents' house for the start of the holiday and our "seder" (I use the term loosely), so I was well-fed and have leftovers that will make an appearance in a later post.  Score!

My biggest problem during Passover is usually breakfast.  That and protein.  Beans and all other legumes are out, which means protein has to come from nuts, dairy, eggs, fish, and meat.  You've probably noticed I love me some legumes (peanuts, lentils, and chickpeas, oh my!), and they tend to be the basis of my diet.  So I've had to adapt, mostly by way of yogurt, fish, and mooching brisket from my mama!

On day 1 I had lemon yogurt with banana, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries at home.  I missed having some crunch, but the variety of flavors helped.  I've had some variation of that breakfast for the past 2 days also, just with plain yogurt.  Yesterday I added trail mix, and today I added flax seed, which I contemplated for a while, deciding finally that it's probably kosher.  I went against my seasonal shopping rules and bought strawberries because they were on sale and I thought I deserved it.

Whilst at home, I also employed my brother to make macaroons with me.  These were a cinch, and so delicious!  I literally just used the first recipe I found online for almond macaroons, but it was a success.  I mean, the recipe is from Gourmet, after all.

Almond Macaroons

from Gourmet magazine

Ingredients:

1 cup blanched whole almonds (I used slivered, since I was grinding them up anyway)

2/3 cup sugar (I used somewhere between 1/2 cup and 2/3)

1 large egg white

1/4 tsp almond extract (we didn't have that, so we used vanilla)

confectioners sugar for dusting

16 whole almonds (to press into the tops... I tried a couple with the slivered almonds but gave up)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. and lightly butter a baking sheet.

2. In a food processor pulse 1 cup almonds with granulated sugar until ground fine. Add egg white, almond extract, and a pinch salt and pulse until combined. Roll mixture into 16 balls, about 1 inch in diameter, and arrange about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Slightly flatten balls and dust lightly with confectioners' sugar. Gently press 1 almond into each cookie

3. Bake macaroons in middle of oven 10 minutes, or until pale golden (more like 15 mins). Transfer macaroons to a rack and cool completely. Macaroons keep 4 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

All right, so I'm good with breakfast and dessert.  Now on to lunch!

Canned salmon!  I was really glad I thought of this one.  It's such a fast protein.  I mashed it up with some canola oil mayo, dijon mustard, horseradish, diced carrots, celery, red onion, and green bell pepper.  Over spinach, with mushrooms, avocado, and a homemade vinaigrette of olive oil, balsamic, and more mustard.

When I was home, my mom and I made chicken salad with mayo, celery, walnuts, and dried cranberries (if you're looking for more ideas!).  Will blog some leftovers later!

Another Day, Another Challenge

Sorry for the negligent blogging.  I've actually been cooking up a storm lately and have many exciting meals and healthy musings to share.

As for my newest challenge(s), after careful consideration, I have selected my month-long feat to complete: fast-foodless.  The description here gives you a fair amount of leeway, which I appreciate, because I think the idea of slow vs. fast foods really lies on a spectrum.  There's slow food, as in the slow food movement, which implies local, homemade, and farm fresh cooking (to me, at least).  And then there's fast food, as in McDonald's.  But if we're going to be realistic about today's food environment, there's also slow food that comes from reliable grocery stores and large corporate brands, as well as fast food that comes in the form of a salad.  In other words, slow is not synonymous with health food, and fast is not synonymous with junk.  Like the site says, eating slow(ly?) is about honoring the food.

And so, since I think this challenge fits best with my food philosophy, it won my vote.  Others that I was considering include vegetarianism (been there, done that), veganism (will never see the point), and not snacking after 9pm (sometimes I don't eat dinner until after 9pm!).  I think I am going to set the following rules:

- no pre-packaged meals (this includes pre-made salads, sandwiches, and sushi)
- veggie burgers, frozen veggies, frozen fruits, packaged Lara/Luna bars: yes
- frozen burrito: no
- Pax salads ????  (I wanted to say yes because I design the salad, but now I'm not sure.  What about Whole Foods salad bar?  I think yes.)

Pizza?  That's probably a no, unless it's like Otto or something.  I was going to say no chains, but that knocks out something like Whole Foods... thoughts PLEASE!

I may think of it as eating with brain-involvement.  I need to make active choices about every element of what I'm choosing to eat, and at the very least thinking about where it came from.

Turns out I forgot my camera cord, so I can't upload photos of what I ate recently, but I will do this later!  Sorry for the lack of photos!