Cooking with vegetables

As I blogged about a couple weeks ago and as I will continue to blog about, I've been getting into vegetables lately. As I mentioned in that first blog entry, there was a time when I wouldn't get anywhere near a vegetable, much less get into one.

So when I took a look at everything I purchased at the grocery store today:



I couldn't help but think to myself, but in all caps, "What the fuck?"

Sorry about the f-bomb. I considered creating two versions of this entry; one PG and one f-bomb laden. Because when I think about these changes I'm witnessing in myself, it makes me want to drop a bunch of them. One after the next. Because of all the f-bombing things I ever thought I'd be f-bombing cooking, and then eating, it sure the f-bomb wasn't anything that looks like this:



That is Garbanzos Kon Spinaka, Sephardic Spinach with Chick-Peas from Greece, that I found in my copy of The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. The recipe involves spinach, onions, chick-peas, dill, and lemon juice. Served over steamed white rice, the dish is pretty good. But I must say, the more rice, the better. Of the recipes that I've tried in this cookbook so far, about half have come up on the side of too bland. This is one of them. I'm still learning what magic I can create with spices to improve blander dishes.

Setbacks like the odd bland dish don't discourage me. There are plenty more vegetarian dishes to taste, and I've already found some winners that I'll be cooking again. Some aren't strictly vegetarian, either; my goal is not actually to remove meat from my diet. The goal is just to seriously UP the veggies. And I've found that the more front-and-center vegetables are in the dishes I prepare, the more I learn to appreciate them. A filet mignon with a side of green beans just does not do the trick. Though it is tasty. Much tastier than Garbanzos Kon Spinaka.

My first five-point day

If you scroll down to the bottom of the right sidebar, you'll see a little graph titled "Joe's Goals." Underneath the graph you'll see that it is personalized for me: "Jen's Goals." Joe's Goals is a web site that helps you keep track of, you guessed it: your daily goals. You create an account, sign in, and set it up to meet your specifications. For instance, my daily goals involve my work productivity, my diet, my exercise regimen, whether I walk the dogs or read, whether I overeat ... you get the idea. I assign a certain number of points (positive or negative) for each goal. At the end of the day, the more points I have, the more goals I reached that day.

The highest number of points I can get is five, and the lowest is minus two. Usually I come in around two or three ... actually, the graph will tell you that over the past 30 days my average is only one point. That sounds rather sad, but over the past 30 days there are days when I didn't log any goals, and sure, I've had some bad ones too. But the idea of displaying my "Jen's Goals" graph for everyone to see (including myself) is that it will drive me to improve.

And some days, improvement really shows. Yesterday I hit my first five-point day! In other words, I completed every task that I hope to do on a daily basis, and didn't do any of the things that I try to avoid. It is a really good feeling. The taste of five points for the first time is very sweet, and it makes me want to come back for more.

I really don't know who this Joe guy is, but this web site of his is pretty slick. Thanks, Joe.

A tree of lemons ... someday

When I first got the idea in my head to start a vegetable garden, it wasn't about the horticulture, it wasn't about honing a new skill, nor even about looking for a new hobby. Really, I just got this idea in my head that I could live more sustainably. Having started cooking with many more vegetables than I used to and having become more interested in conservation and sustainable living, I thought that starting a vegetable garden would be a positive step.

Even in the past, before I did anything resembling what most people would call "cooking," I have tried to grow herbs such as parsley and basil in my kitchen. For the rare occasion when I did try to make something fancier than a peanut butter sandwich, it always seemed that I was making a trip to the store to spend $4 on a tiny packet of herbs. So sometimes I brought home a plant of herbs instead. I tried several times to keep herbs alive in my kitchen, and failed each time. On the last occasion I ended up moving a pot of flat-leaf parsley out into the yard to soak up some of the summer weather, and the pot ended up blowing over and crumbling into some ground cover, where I think a sprig of parsley lived peacefully for a few weeks. But that was the end of its indoor use.

So when I decided what seeds to buy for the garden, it was based upon what I knew I'd consume. The stuff that it seemed silly to go buy all the time if I could grow my own. And one of those things that it always seems I need are lemons. It turns out that lemons don't grow within 4-6 weeks of plopping a seed into the ground; you have to grow a tree.

So my most expensive purchase thus far in my quest for cheaper, more sustainable living, is my new lemon tree. It doesn't look much like a tree. It looks more like a stalk. With no lemons. And, who knew that lemon trees were full of thorns?

But I'm trying to take good care of it, providing it with sun and humidity. When the weather is appropriate I'll find a place for it on my back patio (where it won't blow over) and perhaps in a year or so it will reward me with lemons. Oh please, life, give me lemons.

Free stuff rulz

For a few months I have been subscribed to FatWallet.com's Free Stuff RSS feed. If you're new to FatWallet, just a quick glance at their home page will tell you that the site is about big fat deals, hot deals, and thousands of deals at hundreds of stores ... it's safe to say that the site is about getting you a deal. After fiddling around with the site for a couple days, I personally decided that free deals are what I will spend my time on.

So every day, a dozen or two deals turn up in my RSS feed. Some of it is spam. A lot of it is crap. But there are a few diamonds in the rough, and when I discover one, I sign up for it right away. Since this is still relatively new to me I've been wondering if the effort will be worth it, as I do believe that time is money. (At least, time expressly devoted to saving money is money. If that time is lost, then it's money lost.)

As it turns out: it's worth it! The free booty has been turning up in my mailbox every few days. It feels a bit like what I always imagined the riches of a pyramid scheme would feel like, except totally legal. Items that I signed up for 4-6 weeks ago, previously lost in my memory, are materializing on my front porch. Things I had forgotten I even wanted ... now owned. It's like pennies from heaven.


Look at this photo of what I just received the other day. Some pet effects. A gym bag. And a bottle of Febreze Pet Odor Eliminator. Free. Delivered right to my house for no good reason apart from my having asked. Did I mention, for free?

That's not all I've received. Of note, I've received some yummy garlicky oil and some feminine products. All have already been used and enjoyed.

So if you can take a few seconds to sort through the crap, I highly recommend FatWallet.com. Any ounce of garlicky oil enjoyed for free is an ounce of garlicky oil earned, after all.

Green onions win!

I have been carefully monitoring my vegetable seedlings this week, as this is my first experience with such a project. Few instructions came with the seedling starter trays I purchased, so I turned to the internet for (what turned out to be scant) advice. How wet do I keep them? Should the covers always be steamy, or is the presence of water droplets enough? I turned to my mother at one point and she advised me that the steamy look is not necessary. She further advised me to not keep the seedlings too wet once they start to sprout, as they mold very easily.

So every day I check on the trays for moisture content, mold, and signs of life. And today is the day! Today a whole section of green onions decided to poke their heads out and take a look around the first time. Welcome to the world, onions.



Upon closer inspection I noticed that several of the tomato eggs are beginning to hatch as well.



The responsibilities of veggie motherhood are upon me. I haven't even prepared a bed for the new babies yet! I hope I don't run out of time.

My first fitness reward

This road to weight loss is going slowly, and I think that's the best way for me to do it. (Not surprisingly, others agree! The theory is particularly glorified in the blog Get Fit Slowly, which is a part of my daily reading list.) In the past, I typically got so charged up when starting a new fitness plan that for the first several days I'd eat very little and end up losing 5 or 6 lbs. almost instantly, only to be faced with a frustrating plateau and a grumbling belly. Now, I'm just exercising and eating sensibly. I don't have a calorie deficit every day, but as long as I hit a deficit more days than not, I'll eventually get to where I want to be. Wherever that is.

Back in February I began this journey to fitness, and you'll recall that I set up a rewards system for myself. The system was to be one of the more tangible motivators for my fitness regime. The system is: for every 4 lbs. I lose, I get to spend $50 on exercise apparel for myself. You see, most of my workout gear dates back to my college days (which were quite a while ago) and need to be updated for ... many reasons. I'm quite utilitarian and I run all my clothing into the ground before discarding it. (Unless it no longer fits or is 100% out of style, in which case I donate it. What lucky recipients.) But it's getting to the point where some items are going to need replacing soon. So! Out with the old, and in with the rewards system!

And now ... it's time for my first reward! I've officially lost my first 4 lbs., and I've visited Road Runner Sports and purchased a basic little outfit that I'm quite enjoying.

The Shirt:


The Shorts:


Both items are currently on sale for many, many dollars off.

So, here are my stats:
Beginning weight: 154 lbs.
Current weight: 150 lbs.
Goal weight: 138-142 lbs. (negotiable, depending on how I feel.)
Height: 5'9"
Gender: Female

I keep track of both what I eat and when I exercise using FitDay. It helps me keep my good days good. I can look at a day and say, "OK, I've eaten my goal number of calories and I feel pretty good, so I really don't need to eat this extra blankety-blank." I still have bad days when all bets are off (due to stress or social functions), but I figure if I can keep my good days good, and have fewer bad days, that will help my reach my goal.

I still don't know exactly how far I will want to go with the weight loss. I think I won't be satisfied until I drop a pants size, and then that will be enough. Right now, I just have my eye focused on the next 4 lbs.

A garden of greens for St. Patrick's Day

A very happy St. Patty's Day to you! I hope you have a very lucky, very green day, and that you have a beer for me if you can find it within the goodness of your heart.

On to today's topic: my new vegetable garden! I've never had a vegetable garden before; in fact, before my current health and fitness kick, I've rarely had a vegetable. Really, it has historically seemed to me that all the oil and junk you have to add to vegetables to make them actually palatable negated any health benefits of them, so I haven't seen the need to bother. (I still do feel that way about chicken. I can't abide the slaughter of millions of those poor, idiot birds, to have to deep fry them to make them worth eating. A blander meat I've never tasted.) But since I began my health and fitness kick last month I've been making great efforts to cook more healthy foods, and it turns out there are a few things that grow in the ground that I don't mind ingesting. Fantastic!

(I'm going to start posting recipes and my cooking results here soon, too, but that's for another day.)

So as the weather has been warming here in suburban Chicago I've been thinking about my future few months working in the soil on my property, and I got this idea in my head that I could convert one of my garden beds to a vegetable patch. I hope to grow some often-used items, and either use or freeze my entire yield. I have yet to prepare the garden (it's 37F today ... not even all the snow has melted yet and we may still get more) but the area is about 15' x 5'. I may go wider and end up with closer to 20' to work with. This won't be a colossal garden, but it will be more than enough for me to manage. I tend to get really excited about an idea and then burn out on it as it is executed, and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

My current list of vegetables of interest is as follows: arugula, strawberries, cantaloupe, eggplant, yellow onions, green onions, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, cubanelle peppers, spinach, tomatoes, parsley. This is sure to change over time, depending on what I find.

Even though today the weather permitted me to do very little in the yard (I dragged out my compost tumbler, picked up some branches, and started pulling up some garden lights that I'm going to replace this year), I was able to take a huge step in preparation for the new garden:

I bought seeds and seed starter trays! Today I started eight veggie varieties in my dining room. I started with this:


Which after adding water, became this:


Then I added some of these:


And then I had this:


And now I have this:



With luck, the several hundred seeds I planted today will sprout soon, and most of those seed trays will live in my dining room for the next 6-8 weeks. After it's time to remove the lids, I need to devise a way to keep my cats from eating the seedlings.

The tomato seeds are my favorite of the bunch. They look like little white candies:


There are a couple more varieties of things that I also want to start indoors, so I need to find the seeds ASAP. (A lavender variety of eggplant and some golden cherry tomatoes, at least.)

Mmmmm ... now I have a craving for tomatoes. But I have to wait so, so long to harvest my own.