Travel

Usually I'm pretty good about eating well, but traveling defeats me. My husband and I drove down to Jacksonville this weekend to watch the Florida Georgia football game and I ate like crap the whole time. I had fast food pretty much all weekend. There really just aren't any good options while driving up and down 1-95 (although we did stop at a Moe's and I noticed they are serving pastured beef and chicken and naturally raised pork, but I ruined it by eating rice and beans and corn chips). I always feel terrible when we go on road trips and I end up eating like this, but I have a hard time thinking of solutions. I guess I could pack a cooler, but that still doesn't eliminate the temptation I feel when we go out with friends once we reach our destination.

Speaking of lack of preparation, we got home late last night and were pretty much out of food. I had nothing good to eat for breakfast (so I had some Ready Rice I found in the back of a cabinet) and nothing to back for lunch (what I end up eating remains to be seen). I'm not entirely sure what I have to make for dinner, although I did take some chicken out of the freezer this morning. I hate feeling so unprepared. I like to have a fully stocked fridge and know that I will have good food to eat all week. Also, since we missed the farmer's market I'm going to have to do all my shopping for the week at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. I was really starting to enjoy my increased freedom from the grocery store, but I guess it didn't last long. Anyways, hopefully I can learn from this experience. We're going back to Florida in early December for a wedding, and next time I'll make sure we are stocked up on the essentials before we leave. We are also flying this time, so hopefully less travel time = less fast food.

In any case, here are some pictures from the game:

It was a beautiful day in Jacksonville.

Go Gators!

Nothing is safe.

Wegmans grocery store just issued a recall for pine nuts contaminated by salmonella. This is only months after cantaloupe was linked to outbreaks of listeria. Neither of these things are foods I would ever consider "dangerous" or be nervous about eating. Stories like this make me want to avoid the grocery store even more, it's just scary how unsafe our food is.

I finally made it back to the gym

Last night I made it to the gym for only the second time in over two months. Moving and getting married in August pretty much killed my routine, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. I was lifting twice a week, sprinting occasionally, and walking almost every day. I still walk all the time but I haven't been lifting or sprinting. As of now, I haven't really found a good place to sprint by our new apartment, and I think I pulled my quadriceps last time I tried so that was a wee bit traumatizing. I really need to stretch more I guess.

Anyway, I'm still doing the New Rules of Lifting for Women program. I started in April and I'm only on stage three so you could say I'm taking it very slowly. I actually finished stage three before, but I figured I should do it again since I took such a long break. My only problem right now is that the free weight area in my new gym is truly pitiful. It's tiny and crowded and just doesn't have some of the equipment I like to use on a regular basis. There is no space to just spread out and do your own thing and the benches are so close together you have to be careful not to hit the person next to you with your weights. Of course they have a HUGE cardio room full of brand new machines. They even have a large room completely dedicated to exercising on a Wii and similar game systems. But apparently good old fashioned weights don't merit the same attention. I can see myself avoiding the gym because I hate being crammed into this small space. Unfortunately it's the only one in walking distance of my apartment and I'm much more likely to work out if I can walk there. Oh well, nothing is going to stop me from walking which is really my main form of exercise anyway.

In other news, I have been loving cooking with the fresh herbs in my garden. On Tuesday I used fresh rosemary in the marinade for my skirt steak and sprinkled fresh basil over my zucchini and my caprese salad. Last night I used some parsley to garnish my sweet potatoes. I also make kale chips again, which my husband was less than thrilled with. I don't really care though, that just means more for me!

Here is a picture from my delicious dinner on Tuesday:

This Diet Coke is defeating me.

Seriously. It is so hard to quit. I don't know how I made it so far last time. And I really feel like an addict, because I am I guess. It's really not a nice feeling.

I'm also having a hard time staying motivated this week because my husband and I are driving down to Jacksonville for the Florida Georgia game this weekend. I know the combination of road trip and tailgate is going to make it next to impossible to not drink soda, so that makes it really hard for me to stay strong for the next few days. Hopefully it will be easier after we get home.

Gardening fail

I was so excited about my new little garden, with my organic soil and organic fertilizer to use with all my organic plants.

Well, I just found out the Miracle-Gro Organic Choice soil I bought might not have been such a great purchase after all. Miracle-Gro is owned by Scott's which is pretty much in league with Monsanto, the GMO giant. The desire to avoid GMOs and not send any of my money to companies like Monsanto is a big reason I've decided to make these lifestyle changes in the first place, and even when I try to make the right choices I still somehow end up supporting Monsanto. They are everywhere. It's really kind of scary when you think about it.

Anyway, my soil is still organic, but I will definitely find a new source of soil before I plant anything else.

Another reason to avoid the grocery store...

Rising food prices.

This article from Yahoo Finance says that we can expect grocery stores to pass on the rising cost of food in the next few months. Since the article mostly blames the rising cost of energy and commodities like grain I'm hoping that I can avoid some of the cost increases by shopping local. That way less energy is used to get the food from the farm to my table. In addition, I'm not buying grains, anything made with grains, or anything fed grains (i.e. conventional meat) so hopefully the grain price increases won't affect me too much either.

I'm not naive, I know I'm probably not going to be able to escape these rising costs entirely, but I'd like to think what I'm doing will help ameliorate the higher prices we are likely to see soon.

Chicken fried "rice"

Since I cut grains and beans out of my diet I've been making an effort to try different types of vegetables. Going to the farmer's market encourages me to try new varieties as well. It's just too easy to get into a rut of eating the same 4 or 5 types of veggies day in and day out when you only shop at a grocery store.

Anyway, one of my best discoveries is cauliflower. I had never had it before and now I am obsessed. It is good roasted, sauteed in butter, mashed or pureed, or grated and used as a rice substitute. Last night I used it instead of rice to make my version of fried rice, something we ate fairly often before giving up grains.

A word of warning: I'm not awesome with recipes. I hardly ever follow them exactly and I don't measure anything. I'll try and approximate, but keep in mind these are just guidelines.

Fried "Rice"

One chicken breast
1 1/2 cups baby carrots, halved
1 1/2 cups green beans
1 medium stalk of broccoli
1/2 head of cauliflower
2 TBS butter
2 TBS soy sauce
3 cloves garlic
1TBS chopped cilantro
Salt, pepper and red pepper flake to taste

First I season the chicken breast then put it in a 350 degree oven for about 15 or so minutes. I simultaneously put the broccoli, carrots, and green beans in a pot to steam together.

Next, I focus on the cauliflower. I break or cut the florets away from the head and make sure they are in relatively small pieces. Then I run them through my food processor using the grater attachment. When I'm done it mostly looks like grated cheese.

I take the veggies out of the pan and then add the butter and garlic. Then I add the cauliflower "rice" and let it get a little bit toasty. In the meantime, I take the chicken breast out of the oven and cut it into strips. After the "rice" has cooked a bit I add in the veggies and chicken and season it all with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I also flavor it with soy sauce. After that I just stir everything around until the cauliflower seems cooked through and gets a little bit crispy. I finish it with the chopped cilantro.  

Anyway, while the texture of the cauliflower is different than rice, it pretty much tastes exactly the same. My husband was pretty skeptical about this experiment, but he really enjoyed the results. He even agreed to take the leftovers for lunch, which is a pretty big deal for him. Here is a picture of the finished product:

A note about the soy sauce. I really try to avoid soy as much as I can, but soy sauce is an occasional exception. Since the beans are fermented, they are not nearly as harmful. Also, I only eat it very sparingly, mostly just when I make this recipe.