A fairly healthy Friday supper:
Maple ginger salmon, basmati, ginger garlic green beans, and eggplant.
Meal sounds delicious.
Very clever eggplant idea, topping with tomatoes and a sprinkle of cheese!
Thank you! It hit the spot and I’m back on the Health Wagon. LOL.
I bake the eggplant halves upside down at 375 or 400 until soft, squeeze out the liquid by pressing on them with a slotted spoon, flip them over, and top with roasted tomatoes or jarred tomato pasta sauce and cheese, and bake it a little longer. The method came from this papoutsakia recipe. Sometimes I go through the effort of a béchamel.
Coming back to this 6 months later, courtesy inspiration from some other threads (like this and this).
Some recent efforts:
– Adding a salad at the start or an extra vegetable to the mealitself even when I’m not inspired to, to make it a force of habit (Salad of the Day thread was for both inspiration and some accountability / guilt). I might switch to a small bowl of vegetable-heavy soup when I’m not feeling a salad.
– Adding legumes / beans, cooked with an added vegetable where possible (this was one of the things I remember from Always Hungry / David Ludwig – legumes / complex carbs for long-term satiety; the other is that fat is the only thing that fools the brain & resets the dastardly set-point). I ate beans for breakfast/brunch yesterday for the first time, and enjoyed it. But it could also be a bowl of soup
– Cutting my carb portion slightly, but, more importantly, pre-cooking & refrigerating most carbs for the boost in insoluble starch.
Good luck and keep at it (to everyone trying to eat more healthfully for whatever reason!
One thing I’ve been doing lately is having simple fruit salad prepped in the fridge. I make enough to last 2 or 3 days. I dress it with lemon juice and a little sugar.
I’m hoping to get organized enough to make egg bites or frittata in advance, for savoury breakfasts on the go.
Looks and sounds delish.
Do you follow the cook-and-cool rice method that reduces the starch? This is now pretty much the only way I’ll cook rice.
I haven’t tried that technique. I might look into that next time.
Tonight, I rinsed the basmati in about 8 rinses of water. drained it, toasted it in butter, added some water and a pinch of salt. I guess it sat 20 minutes before dinner.
About half is left over, so the leftovers will be lower glycemic index.
I bought cottage cheese to make cottage cheese and egg muffins (savory) for breakfast and snacking, but (a) I’ve been feeling lazy and (b) I haven’t been hungry for breakfast or snacking. But they’re tasty and convenient.
Cook and refrigerate all your carbs (pasta, potatoes, rice, whatever) a day earlier or in bulk, that’s all, nothing complicated. For rice, the studies addded some fat, but I think the resistant starch increases either way (parboiled rice was the primary rice eaten in South India for centuries, without us knowing the science).
I ended up having the rest of my take-out syrniki for breakfast today, which are farmers cheese, quark, or cottage cheese pancakes. I have only had them twice, from 2 different Ukrainian restaurants.
They are substantial. I think the cheese makes them more satiating than a regular pancake, and they’re a little less carby then regular pancakes.
I haven’t tried making any yet.
I dug up the cottage cheese muffin recipe I used to make regularly:
For 6 muffins:
Cottage cheese - 0.5 cup
Eggs - 2
Almond meal - 0.25 cup
Flour - 0.25 cup (or replace with more almond meal)
Baking powder - 0.5 tsp
S&P
Savory additions:
Herbs
Chopped vegetables (or bacon/sausage/smoked salmon)
Parmesan cheese - 2 tbsp
— Blend cottage cheese, and eggs
— Mix in dry ingredients and additions
— Bake at 400F for 10-15 mins
You can tweak it for sweet muffins if you prefer.
Thank you!
In a way, baked Syrniki (much less common than fried, which is traditional), is like a flatter.relative of the cottage cheese muffin!
I understand from reading online that some syrniki are savoury, some are swee,t and some are a bit sweet and salty.
Somehow this got deleted.
I’ve noticed a reduction in my desire to snack, especially at night, which is a forever issue with me as I am a night owl, and of late also working across multiple time zones.
Also overall appetite has dulled (which also happened with intermittent fasting in the past).
I’ve been starting my day with hot water, lemon juice or cider vinegar, and honey, and drinking hot water throughout the day. Seems to have mostly killed my desire for tea and coffee as a knee jerk habit at certain times of the day, but I do have a cup when I want the drink for the drink.
The cottage cheese muffins are meant to be low carb and high protein, then you can dress up the flavors to suit your palate.
When I or various family members have been low carb over the years, I / we experimented with different swaps for easily batch cooked, stored, and transported items (school, work, etc). These muffins were one of our favorites, and there was a sweeter, denser version with nut butter, coconut flour, and bananas that those with a sweet tooth preferred. I also experimented with some Indian favorites that worked remarkably well in higher protein versions – idli / dosa made with mostly lentils (little or no rice) for eg.
I’m not low carb right now, but past lessons stick with you.
Lemon garlic basil shrimp, using this marinade
Brown rice and orzo pilaf
Also, coleslaw, and romaine salad.
-Eating mostly fish and seafood, veg, and a carb for dinner
- Generally bringing a legume and brown rice for lunches
- Mostly keeping alcohol consumption to the weekends (with occasional weeknights if the work day has warranted it)
- Walking for 40 minutes in the morning before work most days (weather permitting)
Had a win at my annual physical yesterday: My blood pressure in office (after some wait time) was 126/80. This is huge! Yay! Still on meds, but my doctor seems to have chilled out a bit. I’ll take it.
Like “cult”!
I did the same, followed by small group fitness classes, some 15 years ago to strengthen my wrists after an overuse injury. I haven’t had a problem with my wrists since. I mixed that with different styles of yoga classes, and Pilates mat and barre instruction at various times. Let me emphasize: Nobody would ever confuse me for an athlete.
The investment in training with attentive instructors is still paying off for me all these years later.
I was taught how to move in ways that don’t injure my body. I learned about keeping up my core strength and balance, which are super important as I get, um, older. So far, so good. 
I also took group weight training classes at the gym for a couple of years. Those classes were the most inexpensive but not attuned to what my body needed.
