Things I ate this weekend (spoiler alert: steak)

Posted on May 5, 2014 by hautepasture

It’s boring to read about what other people ate. But since many of you aim to eat real food and avoid gut-irritants like I do, maybe this will be interesting despite being about what someone else ate. Also, steak!

So, without further ado, here are some things I ate this weekend.

Overnight no-cook refrigerator oatmeal. I love this easy breakfast and adjust it in the following ways:

I multiply the recipe x 1.5
I use half coconut milk and half water for the milk portion
I don’t add sweetener. It doesn’t need any!
I chop up whatever fruit I have and pack it in (or throw in frozen chunks), and add chopped walnuts or pecans

Yum.

Adult smoothie with frozen berries, coconut milk, and Malibu.

adult smoothie

Blend up a few cups of berries, a glug of coconut milk, and a few glugs of Malibu, and enjoy!

Avocado tuna salad. This is quick and easy and, like the oatmeal, you can toss in whatever you have on hand. I don’t bother with the fancy leave-some-avocado-in-the-shell part, but it would be impressive for company. I’ve added combinations of the following to great effect:

chopped onion
chopped celery
chopped hard-boiled egg
chopped tomato
chopped walnuts

Seared scallops over zoodles

This dish will be going into the HP household rotation. It seems sophisticated, but is easy to make with great flavors and textures. I don’t know that I had ever cooked scallops before; here’s a useful tip if you’re a scallop newbie too: put the scallops in the pan and don’t mess with them until it’s time to flip them. I’m a compulsive over-stirrer/poker and probably would not have gotten such a lovely sear if I hadn’t read that tip.

Local ribeye steak from The Organic Butcher, with Mustard-Garlic Brussels Sprouts

I wasn’t crazy about this steak, but Mr HP, who knows better, was. It was too chewy and fatty for my redeveloping meat tastes, but the flavor was good. Mr HP salted the steaks and threw them in the freezer for a bit before grilling on high heat to crisp up the outside while not overcooking the inside. The Brussels sprouts were phenomenal. They were both savory and a bit sweet (due to roasting), healthy, and incredibly simple to make. YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE.

A Paleo Frittata

This recipe is designed for leftovers. I planned on using leftover steak, but we ate it all for dinner, so I used onions, avocado, tomato, and spinach. It was a fun change from scrambled eggs, but it did involve me spending a considerable amount of time staring at the frittata in the oven to see when it was cooked enough but not too much. Presumably I will have to watch it less as I get more frittata experience.

Please share your favorite healthy, easy, tasty recipes with me!

Reflections on a Juice Cleanse

Posted on April 16, 2014 by hautepasture

Hello friends. As you may know, recently Mr. HP celebrated a milestone birthday, and with that came a month-long food and drink binge for the entire extended family.

Add to that the horribly depressing winter weather we had until early April in Virginia, and you get a few people in a state of suboptimal health.

Accordingly, in late March, the ever-adventurous Cheenius, always-obliging MrDr Cheenius, and I decided to do a juice cleanse after the final birthday party to kickstart a new era of good feelings. Fortunately for us, Charlottesville is home to The Juice Laundry, an organic, cold-pressed juice company that offers several types of cleanses to the Central Virginia area. We chose a medium-strength 2-day cleanse, but a wrench was thrown into our juicing plans by a nasty snowstorm that interrupted juice production, delaying juice delivery by a couple days. The new schedule didn’t suit my plans, so the Cheeniuses forged on alone.

Day 1 for the Cheeniuses was a bit rough as their abused systems angrily complained, but by Day 2 they were flying high. I believe the word “magical” was used when they raved to me about feeling the toxins leaving their bodies, and they plan to do a reset cleanse quarterly. Based on their reviews, I eagerly scheduled my cleanse for the following week. Below are my notes.

WHAT

The Juice Laundry 2-day “Normal Wash” cycle. 6 juices + 1 NOMÜ nut milk drink per day. I chose the Creamy Cashew NOMÜ.

Normal Wash juices are:

Gentle Green: kale, spinach, cucumber, grapefruit, apple
Red Load-ed: red pepper, carrot, celery, cucumber, lemon
Rinse + Refresh: cucumber, grapefruit, pineapple
Green Agitator: kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, apple, parsley, ginger, lemon
Rinse + Recharge: filtered water, lemon, pineapple, maple syrup, cayenne pepper
Gentle Green: kale, spinach, cucumber, grapefruit, apple
NOMÜ: Creamy Cashew: filtered water, cashews, Medjool dates, cinnamon, vanilla bean, Himalayan pink salt

A cup of black coffee is allowed, but I abstained during my cleanse for the full detox effect.

WHY

From the Juice Laundry’s site:

Juice consumption allows your overworked digestive system to devote more energy to detoxifying, cleansing, purifying, and healing your body and strengthening your immune system.

The Juice Laundry cold-presses and doesn’t pasteurize its juices in order to maximize nutrients and beneficial enzymes and microorganisms.

This cleansing argument resonated most with me, based on my post-celebration physical state:

A cleanse is as much about what you’re leaving out of your body as it is about what you’re putting in.

Also: 2 lbs of produce in each juice!

Also: Why not? Sure, there are plenty of nay-sayers out there, but when it comes to nutrition nobody agrees on anything anyway. If something sounds interesting, the only way to know if it’ll work for you is to try it yourself.

HOW DID IT GO?

Day 1

Juice 1: Gentle Green. Smells highly vegetal but has a sweetish taste from the apple. Actually very good. Finished it around 10:30. Am not hungry now, but keep thinking about food, probably because I know I can’t have any.

Juice 2: Red Load-ed. Smells like red peppers, and I’m not a big fan of red peppers. The carrots are the main flavor, and I do like carrots. Overall not bad.

Mid-morning: Feeling totally distracted from work (even more so than usual).

Lunchtimeish: Freezing (even more so than usual). Not sure if it’s related to juicing.

Juice 3: Rinse + Refresh. Yum! Fruity! Finally! Pineapple is the main flavor. Crisp though, not too sweet.

2pm: Starting to wonder how I’ll get through all 7 bottles in 1 day.

Juice 4: Green Agitator. Ingredients are intimidating. Also, starting this one at 3pm, feeling a bit of time crunch. Smells very kale/spinachy. No me gusta. Must power through. It’s easier if I do a big exhale after swallowing and don’t breathe in the odor.

5pm: Feel kind of sad. I miss food.

Juice 5: Rinse + Recharge, a little after 5:00. Sweet and refreshing, with a sneaky cayenne burn. Less burn w/ the same exhale through the mouth trick as used for #4.

Juice 6: Gentle Green again. It’s fine. I’m cranky and irritated. This cashew milk had better be amazing.

Juice 7: Cashew milk blend. Yummmmmm. Can take big sips happily. It’s sweet, hearty, comforting.

Bedtime: Stomach started growling as I tried to fall asleep.

Day 2

Morning: Unfocused, blue, blah. Not physical, just mental. Hard to blame it completely on the lack of food since the weather is crap and work is dull. Need to drink faster today to be done with everything by 7:30 for dance class. I miss food. Constraints make me angry.

Mid-morning: Working on #2. Feeling cold and distracted again, but it feels more like my normal levels of cold and distracted.

Early afternoon: The agitator wasn’t as bad today. About to start the cayenne… also less offensive. Huh.

Late afternoon: Mood is unmotivated, blah. Physically a little tired. Really looking forward to eating breakfast tomorrow, and I’m daydreaming about what I should make.

Evening: Finished #6 early, at 5:45. Got a little mood lift late in the afternoon, maybe from a walk? Still not very productive at work.

Day 3

Soooooooooooooo excited to eat. Made spinach and eggs.

In a fantastic mood today. Could it be the weather? It’s still cold and blustery out, but today is the turning day. The past 2 days I didn’t want to interact with anyone at work, felt bristly and irritated and sulky. Today everything is funny, I can’t keep my mouth shut in meetings, I’m singing stupid songs, etc.

Lessons learned: The lack of food forced me to examine my relationship with food, and I want to start cooking more, like I used to. I also want to try adding meat back in, starting with cow. That’s kind of a major realization. I didn’t feel the magical physical changes that the Cheeniuses did–and I was jealous of them for that–but the psychological effects were interesting.

Will I do it again? Maybe, but I’d probably sub in the beet juice for the agitator, or try the Light Rinse cleanse just to make the experience a bit more pleasant. I imagine the terrible mood I experienced on Day 2 would be lessened a bit next time knowing how happy and energetic I’d be feeling the next day.

Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely. It’s all about self-experimentation, and everyone’s mileage will vary.

Brussels sprouts love (?!)

Posted on December 16, 2012 by hautepasture

Quote of the Day

Are Brussels sprouts different here? — Mr. HP

Scenario

I was eating amazing mixed veggie dish #2 in Halifax. First amazing dish was veggie curry at the Monkey. Second amazing dish was veggie curry at Jane’s on the Common. Both dishes included Brussels sprouts, which Mr. HP and I usually avoid; however, these sprouts were amazing–possibly the best part of each dish. I raved at the Halifax Brussels sprouts phenomenon while eating the sprouts at Jane’s, and Mr. HP begrudgingly had a taste, which prompted the Quote of the Day.

Morals

If you live in Halifax, eat your Brussels sprouts!
If you, like me, think you’re not a Brussels sprouts person, give them another shot! Try roasting them for a simple, tasty intro to the world of enjoying this strange little cabbage.

How to work quail eggs

Posted on September 16, 2011 by hautepasture

As the proud new owner of quail eggs, I was excited to try them out. How do they compare to chicken eggs? At the risk of overwhelming the eggs’ flavor, I scrambled 3 eggs to mix in with my regular egg-and-roasted veggie breakfast. Getting the eggs out of their shells was no easy feat. I wish I could have taken pictures of that process! I tried cracking Egg 1 like a chicken egg, but the shell smashed and splintered while the membrane stayed intact, and I ended up squeezing the innards out through a small hole. Egg 2 I opened with a combination of banging to crack the shell, and poking with a fork–still very messy. But by Egg 3 I was a pro. Here is my advice: hold the egg in one hand and a dinner knife in the other, and in one quick motion, cut the egg in half with the knife. The clean cut doesn’t pulverize the shell, and the knife breaks the membrane easily. The quail eggs were lighter in flavor and color than chicken eggs. Perhaps in a dish that highlights eggs more than my breakfast slop I would have appreciated them more, but for this meal, it’s a lot easier to use a single chicken egg than three quail eggs. Even if I do know how to open a quail egg now.

Integral Yoga Natural Foods

Posted on August 30, 2011 by hautepasture

On Sunday I needed to restock my produce bin with a week’s worth of local veggies, and since Relay Foods has bumped their minimum order up to $50 (sigh), I headed up the street to Integral Yoga Natural Foods. They have a wide range of local produce, tofu, bread, and other products, except for meat–it’s a vegetarian store. The vegetarian cheese counter puts Whole Foods’ to shame.

I tried to take a picture of the cheese display, but it didn’t turn out. If you want non-standard cheese varieties made using vegetarian rennet, go to IY.

When I got home, I cooked up a few days’ worth of roasted local squash, zucchini, onion, and sweet potato.

Buy local produce!

Haute Pasture

raising awareness of farm animal welfare

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