I have really been putting in an effort to source as many locally produced raw ingredients as possible. I very rarely eat restaurant food and almost never pre-prepared food-like items that have been manufactured by the industrial system. There are family members that have digestive issues, so the only way to manage them is by doing meal preparation at home. When these family members are careless with take-out meals, their bodies very quickly let them know they’ve misstepped.
One of the things that has always been beneficial for us is fermented oatmeal where whole groats and freshly flaked oats are soaked in water for a couple of days before they’re cooked. The lactose intolerant one has them with a large handful of frozen wild blueberries, maple syrup and a pat of butter. I like them with sheep milk and a whole host of other toppings.
If you limit your added sugar and hyper processed foods, almost everything you prepare yourself can be classed as healthy.
If the need for lower sodium is related to blood pressure, there may come a time (about 10 years for us) when you still need the help of medication. Until then, have you looked at creating homemade/no-salt versions of seasoning mixes/blends - Taco seasoning, Greek seasoning, Italian seasoning? These are frequently in recipes I make and starting with a salt-free version allows me better control of final levels.
This farro beet pistachios skillet now gets made here with canned beets and low/no salt shelled pistachios. I cook up farro in larger quantity, and bag / freeze it in 1-2 C portions.
The Wildfire salad is, indeed, a long ingredient list which is what makes it interesting and satisfying. The most-limiting factor for storage is the avocado, so I usually dice, toss in lime juice and store separately, adding to each serving. I also use separate batches of warmed tortilla chips to top each serving. We like ours with cheddar rather than blue cheese. We typically finish a double batch in 3 days – I don’t know how long it might otherwise store.
Not to trivialize what people are experiencing, but really shouldn’t be that hard to eat for your health (not “healthy” just for your health, which is not so subjective).
Three basic rules to follow, in my opinion:
Try to eat whole unprocessed foods as often as you can.
Don’t eat too much.
Understand that’s it’s ok to eat anything, and everything. But keep in mind Nos. 1 and 2, above.
Even if one makes “healthy” dishes (such as, salads, low sodium, low fat this or high protein that or whatever), a person can still overeat, which would defeat all of that “healthy” food that was eaten.
Heck, even if you ate 100 pounds of celery, which is purportedly a “healthy” food, it would still not do any good for your health, and your toilet will never forgive you.
I’ve been using a diabetes prevention program for years, that includes monitoring if things like activity (and weight, but not sure that’s good for most folks), lessons, discussion, recipes, etc.
For years the app asked if a meal or snack was small, medium, or large, and healthy, somewhat healthy, or not very healthy.
They recently added whether the meal included whole grains, lean protein, fruit/veg, and/or healthy fats.
I am currently around a 16 or XL in 2024 sizing, which would be equivalent to a 1990 size 20.
I was a size 12 in 1992, which would be a 6 or 8 in most 2024 sizing. I remember owning pants from the Gap that had been a size 12 in 1998, that had the same waist band as size 10 Gap pants I bought in 2002.
While I don’t necessarily like the existence of 00s and 0s, with the average woman weighing over 160 lbs in North America in 2024, and sizes at most departments stores ending at 12 or 14, I’m glad standard sizes are cut bigger than than they once were.
While plus-sized clothing is an option for people who are around a current size 18 and up, for women in the middle, who are somewhere between a current size 14 and 18, the plus size clothing often doesn’t hang right. I have not found any plus size clothing that fits me properly, even the smallest plus size clothing.
I prefer the European sizing system. Even with those European sizes, I know I’m usually a 52 in Spain or Italy, a 48 in France, and a 46 in Austria, Switzerland or Germany.
Bean and vegetable soups and stews as main course are a fall and winter staple here. I like being able to cook once and produce more than one meal. Lately I have been omitting salt during cooking. Instead we use finishing salt if desired at the table, like Maldon, for a flavor boost.
But I do find that soup needs zhuzing up to serve as a complete meal that satisfies us. The ideas of a food writer at The Boston Globe, Sheryl Julian, have been a big source of inspiration throughout my cooking years. Here’s a recent how-to that I appreciate: “In your kitchen, you’re the boss of the soup.” (Gift link not possible, but if you clear your cookies I think you can read one Globe article for free.)
Inspired thusly, later I am going to my kitchen to boss around a pot of lentil soup. It’s gonna get leeks and carrots that need using, and maybe a stray parsnip. Green lentils (Bob’s Red Mill) because I prefer them for soup rather than brown lentils. Aleppo pepper, cumin, sumac, and jarred sweet red pepper paste for seasoning because that’s how I roll.
This is the squid stew I made last night. I think it qualifies as healthy
Ingredients
3 T. olive oil
1 medium carrot, diced
2-3 celery stalks, diced
1 large shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
Pinch kosher salt (or more, as needed)
Black pepper, to taste
1 child de arbol, crushed
15 oz. canned diced tomatoes, drained with the liquid reserved
1 t. dried oregano
12 oz. yellow potatoes, chopped
1 c. white wine
½ c. chicken broth (use BTB or a good base if you have it)
2 bay leaves
1 lb. squid, bodies cut into rings and tentacles cut in half
Fresh basil, julienned (however much you like), to garnish
Procedure
Sweat the carrot, celery, and shallot in the olive oil over medium high heat. Add garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook 30 more seconds (until fragrant). Then add the tomatoes. Cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add crushed chile and oregano.
Add the wine and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by half (~5 ish minutes). Add the reserved tomato liquid, broth (between the reserved liquid and the broth you should have about a cup of liquid - add water if you need to), potatoes and squid. Turn down to simmer, add the bay leaves, and cook for 50-60 minutes. Check to see if it needs more salt or pepper. Serve, garnished with basil.
Note: you can do the 50-60 minutes of simmering in a 275F (250F convection) oven.
Serves 3-4 people.
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CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
35
Good thread - I hope to learn a lil’ sumpin’-sumpin’ from it.
I should do more, but rarely intentionally try to cook healthier meals. Frankly, a lot of my stuff is pretty fat-laden. I do make a fair bit of multi-bean soups, but they always have pork hocks in them, too. It helps when my gluten free and (mostly) vegetarian daughter is visiting because she’ll steer me toward more veggie and leaner stuff.
In the past week or 10 days I’ve made a couple of dinners that were pretty healthy, though (lower fat and not my staple “red meat”). Baked salmon one night, Italian-style baked chicken breasts the other, both served with our kind of “standard” roast veg mix - usually onion/broc/cauli/carrot/mushroom & sometimes tomatoes and baby taters (this last pre-steamed to get done in a similar time as the rest).
But in between those I did a meatsa-meatsa pan pizza, 2 racks of pork back ribs, and pulled pork shoulder, with the first dinner having no side dishes and the latter 2 being all carb-fat heavy sides.
So I’ve got some work to do… probably also could lay off the salt.
Yes, both unfortunate and intentional I think. Plenty of people out there who benefit from women taking up as little space as possible. And with no self esteem to boot.
While this article is about steak, the science is the same for salmon - letting it rest outside of the fridge for 30-60 minutes won’t warm it much and patting it dry to remove excess surface moisture will have more benefit.
