Food

Somehow I never managed to diet.

 Not an actual diet diet, as in one of those eating plans with rules, that somebody wrote a book or at least an article about … and was discussed on television as either the best thing since the last diet or another big con.

 Not that I credit myself with avoiding that latest diet plans because I’m so wise. I’m one of those who lost weight in my twenties by just not eating. My most successful “diet” was simple — nothing by mouth except for coffee and boiled eggs. For the one and only time in my life I almost achieved Audrey Hepburn levels of slimness. Until I had a sudden episode of a-fib and wound up in the hospital. Too much coffee will do that to you.

It was hard to avoid articles about the dangers of yo-yo dieting in the years after that. I tried fasting now and then, which resulted in losing and regaining the same five pounds over and over. I know that extreme diets don’t work, you invariably gain the weight back. I know people who’d been on the far side of substantial who’d manage to become if not slender, attractively average, trading into their plus sized wardrobe for misses sizes thanks to Weight Watchers.

   I have friends who never touch sugar (poison!) or go on that (Adler) diet that’s all protein where you can stuff yourself with eggs and bacon and steak but no leaf of lettuce dare pass your lips, which has a certain appeal but just the thought makes me crave asparagus and spinach. Over time – and many Facebook videos of adorable, frolicking cows and surprisingly snuggly pigs – I’ve worked up a good, solid guilty conscience about eating meat. (For a while I didn’t feel too bad about chicken, but then that pesky Farm Sanctuary started showing videos of hens being quite sociable — perching on a human’s lap, seeming to stroke beaks against cheeks. Seeming actually affectionate. Argh.

 But, so far, haven’t quite taken the plunge. Learned to live with the guilt.

 I’d kind of fast for a day – though always ended up with a little something as Pooh would say. At various times, I would try skipping lunch, having just black coffee and a piece of toast for breakfast, a few nibbles of something in the evening. I’d lose five or so pounds in a weekend. And then it came back again almost as fast.

 And I did need to do something.  I’d managed to stay fairly slender (though not quite as Audrey Hepburn-ish as I’d like) up until my mid- thirties – and started life as a married woman. Then the pounds started to creep on.  At first I was horrified by each and every one. Or five to be honest.

 The waistline started to expand … but incrementally. To the ramparts though – like most women I fought it with a new enthusiasm for exercise. I dug out some Jane Fonda videos and worked out with her religiously (without the warmers though) and did slow but steady laps in the pool.

 So far so not-so-bad.

 Then, I got pregnant. Despite my horror at my condition being dubbed “elderly primogeniture”(ELDERLY! How dare they!? I wasn’t even 40 yet!) I sailed through the process.  I only had morning sickness for about two weeks and the rest of the time I felt fine. And very hungry. I thoroughly enjoyed eating for two. My doctor encouraged gaining as much weight was I could. That was the thing of the moment.  Pregnant women shouldn’t worry about gaining weight, all the better for baby.

   Craving peanut butter? Go ahead dig in the jar, eat it with a spoon. We went out to the local outdoor restaurant and the historic market and I dug into the piles of pancakes with sausage. I hadn’t touched pancakes with syrup for years. Gorged on stews and comfort foods — and peanut butter at home. All fine. I had a couple of exotic caftans a friend had brought back from Saudi Arabia and a fairly comfy pair of pregnancy jeans with elasticized tummy panel that did begin to feel a bit snug but not really uncomfortable.

  I did feel a bit of a twinge every time I got a scale, but told myself it would all evaporate somehow, miraculously, evaporate as soon as the baby was born. Or sometime soon after.

  Turned out – not quite. Mind you, she was quite a big baby. Nine pounds, nine ounces. But that was a drop in the bucket of the 30 or so pounds I’d put on.

 I’d meant to get back to some serious exercising …of course I did. But the only exercise I managed was walking the baby, at first in a snugli, then in baby carriage loaned me by one of our very generous neighbors, then in the stroller. I walked for miles – it was the only thing that kept Kate quiet at that stage in the afternoons. That was in the spring and fall, when the weather was lovely.

 Anyway, over the years, not only did I not lose the baby weight, I managed to add more than a few pounds. There was the medicine I took for years before I found out that one of the side effects was  weight gain. There was the depressing period when I became a single mom and struggled to restart my career and deal with a reduced income. Turns out potatoes and other calorie laden foods are cheaper than fruits and veggies.

  So.. eventually I’d ballooned up by fifty pounds and I was still not on an official diet.

  In a rare moment of negativity, my mother told me it broke her heart.

 So. Enough.

 No, I didn’t ever find the diet I’d follow. But I did find another way. I decided to follow rules for healthy eating. Eat the vegetable and fruit servings required in the rules of the food pyramid.  Which came to getting in eight servings of the plant based foods a day. And cut way down on red meat. More fish and chicken. White meat chicken only, not a sacrifice since that’s what I liked. No white stuff – only brown rice, whole grain pastas and whole grain breads.

 And I really hadn’t been binging on chocolates or sweets.  I loved cheese but didn’t really gorge on pounds of it.

  Just a few too many snacks.

 Anyway it took quite a while,  I lost weight slowly, as the experts recommended but most of us don’t have the patience for. I didn’t cut out red meat totally, but it turned into a rare treat. I wouldn’t refuse a really special dessert if I was at a friend’s, but I didn’t have any on my own. When at a restaurant with a fabulous dessert, we’d get one serving to share and I’d take a spoonful. Or two.

 Focusing on getting in those fruits and vegetables filled me up more than I’d expected and I didn’t obsess over foods I wasn’t eating.  I still allowed a couple of small, red-skinned potatoes with certain dinners, used butter as well as the olive oil, had a couple of spoonfuls of sugar in my morning tea, but in small portions. 

  I came across Mireille Galliano’s book Frenchwomen Don’t Get Fat, which brought back memories of discovering the wonders of vegetables as a starter course and fruit instead of pies or ice cream for dessert.

 It’s not been a miracle cure. I’m nowhere near that Audrey Hepburn ideal of slimness or even my own once slender self. But I teeter on the margin of a healthy weight, have lost and kept off about 40 pounds over the last several years and hope to get a little more firmly below that dividing line between overweight and a healthy weight.

 So, I will be including some menus and recipes for the meals I’ve been eating just for those who’d like to try some different meal plans. It’s definitely not a diet-die and no miracle cure.

 As Ms. Galliano says, you can allow yourself the occasional treat. But that small piece of chocolate doesn’t need to evolve into a whole bag or that small serving of ice cream shouldn’t turn into a binge of the whole carton.

 I’d already discovered the importance of portion size. I had a set of china – 70s vintage Dansk –that has both generous dinner plates and what’s called luncheon plates.   I live alone so I simply serve all my meals on the luncheon plates.. with most meals divided into meat and two veg portions.. My ideal was to start with one of those vegetable starters that I’d had in France (carrote rapee, mushrooms a la greque, asparagus vinaigrette, celeriac rapee) but I have to confess I rarely bothered. I also aimed for a light green salad with or after the main course, but have trouble eating salads these days so not getting that in as often as I’d like. 

  If  not the standard meat and two veg, I have a couple of soups or stews I make on the weekends and dine from for several nights during the week.  I’ve gotten used to eating much smaller portions than I used to, savoring the food as Ms. Galliano stresses (somewhat.) But she insists everyone eat at a table savoring each bite, and I wonder at the thought of all those French women sitting at a table slowly savoring each bite of their food. Nope.. I eat in front of the tv, enjoying my dinner but not deliberately savoring each and every bite.

 And when I’m out, I don’t make a production of eating so carefully. I pick whatever sounds healthy on the menu, keep my observations on the lack of appealing veggies on most American menus, eat as much as I’m comfortable with and freely leave what’s left on the plate.   

   Not a diet, a different way of eating. That should be for life.  So … take a peek at the recipes when you’re in the mood.

 Also will post some pictures. Including some that show the difference in today’s idea of the size of your dishes versus the size of the dishes just a couple of decades ago. If you’d dishing your ice cream into an enormous bowl, you’re going to have a hard time stopping before it looks reasonable full. If you use one of the older or European sized bowls it’ll be much more natural to stick to those smaller portions you’re aiming at.

Recipes for Everyday, Quick Healthy Dinners

Chicken Piccata 

• 1 lb. chicken breast, cut into scallopini (1/4-1/3 lb. per person)
• 1 or more Tbsps of cornstarch (or flour if cornstarch isn’t available)
• Pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp. butter or a mix of butter and olive oi
• l1/3 cup each white wine (or dry vermouth{) and beef broth
• Juice of one lemon 
• Pinch of parsley
• 1 tsp capers (or more, to taste)

Cut boneless, skinless chicken breast into scallopini (flat, thin pieces about the size of a fillet, a little larger than your palm.)

  Put enough cornstarch or flour in a flat dish to coat the scallopini. Sprinkle the cornstarch with a generous amount of pepper Dip each scallopini into the mixture, coating each lightly but thoroughly.

Heat butter and oil mixture in a skillet, add the meat ,turning to brown both sides, cooking quickly (this will take just 2-4 minutes.)  Transfer to plates (or serving platter.)

Add the wine, beef broth and lemon juice, to the pan drippings, turn the heat up and reduce the sauce, stirring well to incorporate the drippings. Add parsley and capers. When the sauce is reduced to a near syrupy consistency, spoon over the scallopini, coating the meat. 

  This recipe serves four, but I find if I make it for one (which I do regularly,) I still want this much sauce just for myself, so adjust the ingredients to taste.  

 Lemon broccoli (recipe below) makes a perfect side dish, along with brown rice or a small side serving of pasta.  Serve with a fruit for dessert (fresh berries, poached pears, grapes, whatever suits you. 

 

Chicken Marsala

This is different from most chicken (or veal) marsala recipes I’ve seen — it’s actually kind of a stir-fry with marsala sauce. It’s another light dish that’s turned into a staple for me — and helped me lose weight, while feeling like I’m eating very well. Like the chicken piccata,this recipe is flexible — can be part of an easy dinner for one or for four.  And can be ready to serve, including vegetable side dish, in 45 minutes or less.  

• 1/4 lb. white, button mushrooms (or a good-sized handful)
• 1 Tbsp. butter or a combination of butter and olive oil
• 1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast per person, cut into 1-1 1/2 inch wide strips 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup marsala
• 1 tsp. beef stock granules, dissolved in 2 Tbsps. water
• 1 Tbsp. minced or chopped parsley 

Thinly slice the mushrooms.  Heat half the butter in a skillet with lemon juice. Saute the mushrooms until glazed and very lightly browned.

 Toss the chicken strips in cornstarch (or flour,) mixed with salt and pepper until each strip is very lightly coated.  Melt the remaining butter and add the chicken strips, browning, in batches if needed, turning as they cook to brown evenly on all sides. 

 When a nice, golden brown, remove the strips and mushrooms to the plates. Add the beef stock and marala to the skillet and boil on high heat for a minute or two. Return the meat and mushrooms to the pan, tossing to coat thoroughly with the marsala mixture  When the sauce has thickened and the meat and mushrooms are well coated, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately. 
  This is very good with a side dish of glazed carrots and simple peas or sauteed spinach. No starch required.  

 Salmon with Tom Douglas’ Rub

 Most of my once weekly everyday meals featured chicken – for obvious reasons. Chicken is inexpensive, easy to find at my supermarket and very versatile.  Chicken can masquerade as a very gourmet meal for one or more – several of my regular meals (chicken piccata, marsala and saltimbocca) are based on recipes that were originally for veal. Chicken almost always works just fine.

 But even I don’t want chicken every night of the week.  The standard weekly meal plan includes some fish dishes, an omelet, sometimes other vegetarian or meat dishes. 

 One of my regulars is salmon with rub, derived from a slightly more involved recipe from Seattle’s iconic restaurateur/chef, Tom Douglas. Douglas’s version was intended for an outdoor barbecue, the recipe is for grilling salmon with not just the rub but a special mushroom garnish.

  I’d had that version – and loved it. But not for one of my every night suppers for one.

   So, I figured out how to cook it at home, in my kitchen after a day at work.  Douglas’s rub is available for sale in his restaurants and various shops around Seattle – or online. I started out using rub I’d bought on trips to the Northwest.

  Once I ran out, I found a recipe online and discovered it didn’t was easy and quick enough to throw together or a last minute meal (though I could make batches ahead to have ready when I felt like salmon for dinner.)

   So, here’s the shortcut version of salmon with rub.

• 3 Tbsps. firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbsps. paprika (preferably smoked)
• 2 Tbsps. kosher salt
• 1 ½ tsps. Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
• Olive oil
• 1/3 lb. salmon fillet (per person) with skin removed

     Mix the rub ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring well

  Place the salmon fillets in an oval baking pan or flat jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper.

 Pat the rub on to cover both sides of the fillets. Then use a pastry brush to pat oil over the rub, just enough to moisten it thoroughly. Some of the rub will slide off spread it back on if possible.

 Bake the salmon in a 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the salmon is light on the inside, monitoring it carefully so that the sugar in the rub doesn’t burn. Transfer to plates and serve hot. Boiled new potatoes with peas, or brown rice with broccoli make good accompaniments. A green salad works well too.

   If you are having a gathering with several guests, you can look up Douglas’s grilled salmon recipe. We’ve also just bought a whole salmon (without the head though) and made enough rub to bake it for a crowd.  It looks impressive served on a platter surrounded by new potatoes and parsley sprigs.