Fast(ing) Food - Citrus Kale Salad

Day 133, Feast Day #76 - Quadruple Feast

I just hate when the end of the summer starts approaching. Especially in Seattle where there are really only two seasons: a dry summer, and the wet, cloudy season. That 8-9 month wet season can be rough. So I wanted to make a salad that reminded me of the fresh, colorful months of summer.

Tastes like summer.

Citrus Kale Salad (Yields 2 servings) ~ 360 kcal/serving
Takes 5-10 minutes

This salad also is packed with vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and a bunch of fiber. I also have a tough time resisting avocados.

Citrus Vinaigrette

• 1 tbsp olive oil oil ~ 125 kcal
• juice of 1/3 navel orange ~ 13 kcal
• juice of 1/2 lemon ~ 4 kcal
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar ~5 kcal
• 1 tsp honey ~ 20 kcal
• kosher salt to taste (I used 1/2 tsp)
• pepper to taste

Salad

• 2 cups kale (3-4 leaves), just the leafy parts, chopped (I used purple kale) ~ 66 kcal
• 1/3 onion, diced (I used a red onion) ~ 15 kcal
• 2 carrots with tops, the root slice thin and the greens chopped ~ 81 kcal
• 2/3 navel orange, peeled and wedges separated~ 46 kcal
• 1 small avocado, pitted and chopped ~ 250 kcal
• 2 tbsp unsalted sunflower seeds ~ 95 kcal

To make sure your citrus fruits are juicy, roll them against your cutting board with a little pressure. Squeeze the needed parts for juice in a large bowl. Save your half lemon and use it for something else yummy, like a baked fish fillet. You'll be using the rest of that orange shortly.

Add the olive oil, vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper into the large bowl with the juice. Whisk.

Now go ahead and add the rest of your orange, kale, onions, carrots, carrot tops, avocado, and sunflower seeds into the bowl. Mix and eat!

Fast(ing) Food - Honey Bean Salad

Day 67, Feast Day #35

I have been struggling to eat a decent amount of iron lately without eating a good hunk of beef or a bowl of steamed clams it seems like. Due to the constraints of my time and my income, I can't be eating steaks or mollusks weekly. It also appears that Zach and I didn't buy enough iron-rich veggies this week.So I whipped together a more primal version of a classic potluck dish, a marinated three-bean salad, in hopes of getting a little more protein in my diet on the cheap. I substituted refined sugar for honey and avocado oil for vegetable oil  Canned beans are not an ideal food for both primal (stricter people do not condone eating legumes) and non-primal reasons (the can), however, they are cheap. Zach's got to finish his doctorate degree before my pantry lacks cans of beans in it.

Note: Avocado oil is not cheap normally, but remember, I basically got this avocado oil for free. Olive oil is a cheaper substitute that you are more likely to have on hand. Also, I don't consider myself a 100% primal eater, I just have aspirations to transition to a more primal diet.

Marinated bean salad preferences are very prone to individual tastes (like meatloaf, barbecue sauce, and grits recipes). So feel free to adjust the salt, vinegar, and honey to whatever combo of sweet, sour, and savory floats your boat. Add in bell peppers or celery. Go crazy.

Honey Bean Salad (Yields 6 servings) ~153 kcal/serving
Takes 5 minutes
*BONUS* Cost me 50 cents a serving

• 1 can of beans, drained and rinsed (I used light red kidneys) ~385 kcal
• 1 can of green beans, drained and rinsed ~70 kcal
• 1 can of wax beans (sometimes called butter beans), drained and rinsed  ~70 kcal
• 1/4 of a large onion, chopped (I used a yellow one) ~15 kca
• 1/2 cup of vinegar (I used white, white wine or red wine would also work well) ~11 kcal
• 2 tbsp of honey ~120 kcal (if you aren't a big vinegar fan, you can go with even more honey, or less if you want a more sour marinade)
• 2 tbsp of avocado oil ~240 kcal (olive oil would work too)
• 1/4 tsp of celery seed ~2 kcal
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme ~1 kcal
• kosher salt to taste, I used a bit less than a tsp
• black pepper to taste (I used 1/4 tsp at about ~2 kcal)

Mix up the vinegar, honey, oil, celery seed, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl, creating the marinade. 

Plop the beans and onion into the marinade. Mix. You can eat it immediately or chill in the fridge until your potluck or picnic.

Fast(ing) Food - Spicy Pan-Fried Shrimp & Tex-Mex Rice with Corn and Beans

Day 17, Fast Day #9

Sticking to 800 calories for my mother's birthday dinner didn't really worked out like I had imagined it to in my head. I ate more like 1,100 calories on Saturday. This is what happens when a loaf of fresh, crusty bread gets put in front of me when I haven't eaten in 20 hours. To be fair though, I would have eaten way more than 1,100 calories without any restriction.

I also went a bit overboard yesterday on my feast day since it was a good friend's birthday. We took her out to a hard cider bar in Portland and then to one of our favorite 24-hour greasy spoons at midnight. Eggs benedict happened. Then Zach's mother made us an apple pie (which one cannot say "no" to) so we ate a slice of that for second breakfast. Then actual lunch time rolled around and we had yet another breakfast. This time I had french toast. Zach's wonderful mother also made me a chocolate cake for my birthday, since my actual birthday is Wednesday. Did I mention there was a potato salad snack? There is a reason I had a mere salad when we got home for dinner. So I ended up slightly surpassing 3,200 calories yesterday.  Yikes.

As you can imagine, I really did not want to step on the scale this morning. Especially since I peeked at the numbers midday on Sunday after I had eaten and I had gained 5 lbs. Well the good news is that I gained no net weight this weekend and am still at a total of 9 lbs lost. I made no progress, but I also did not gain anything.

Today's fast day is already starting out pretty brutal since I am going back to 500 calories today. However, I have a yummy lunch to look forward to. These recipes are also very easy:

Spicy Pan-Fried Shrimp (Yields 3 servings) ~181 kcal/serving

Takes 70-75 minutes (if marinating for 60 minutes)

• 1 lb of shrimp (this will taste better with raw shrimp, but I was cheap, lazy, and tired when I made this at 10pm last night) so I got the pre-cooked, deveined, no shell medium-sized shrimp) (~308 kcal)

Marinade:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (~120 kcal)
• the juice of one large lime, you can substitute with a couple tbsps of lemon or lime juice out of the bottle (~15 kcal)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic, or a few fresh cloves minced (~15 kcal)
• one half of a 7 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (this is normally found in the "International" aisle of my grocery store), chopped, include the sauce in the marinade (~60 kcal)
• a handful of chopped cilantro, no stems (I love cilantro) (~3 kcal)
• 1 tbsp paprika (~20 kcal)
• a dash of cayenne pepper (~1 kcal)
• a dash of pepper (not even a calorie)
• a pinch of kosher salt (not even a calorie)
• a couple dashes of red pepper flakes - optional (not even a calorie)

If you are using frozen shrimp and do not know how to thaw them, look at my last shrimp recipe. Thaw shrimp and start any shrimp prep first.

If you have a low tolerance for chile spice, feel free to ease off some of the marinade ingredients or marinate for less time. I like my food spicy.

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Toss in defrosted and towel dried shrimp.

Let the shrimp get happy in the marinade for an hour or two in your fridge. (This will still taste good if you can only afford 30 minutes of marinade time.)

Heat up a frying pan or skillet on medium-high to high heat (my oven burners are powered by devil fire, so I use medium-high). Toss shrimp in hot pan. Cook and stir until shrimp are opaque. If you are using precooked shrimp like me, this will only take a couple minutes.

FOOD SAFETY TIP: Raw shrimp can carry salmonella like raw chicken. If you intend to use excess marinade it is very important to make sure your marinade reaches a boil in the pan for a bit and is reduced before using. You can also not use it.

Tex-Mex Rice with Corn and Beans (Yields 8 servings) ~103 kcal/serving

Takes 25-30 minutes.
This recipe is also SUPER cheap. About 50 cents a serving.

• juice of one small lime, you can substitute with a couple tsps of lemon or lime juice out of the bottle (~10 kcal)
• 1 regular-sized can of black beans, drained and rinsed well) (~385 kcal)
• 1 regular-sized can of corn, drained (~210 kcal)
• a couple dashes of ground cumin (not even a calorie)
• a handful of chopped cilantro, no stems (I love cilantro) (~3 kcal)
• Mexican-style hot sauce to taste,Tapatio or Cholula works well - optional (not even a calorie)

Rice Prep:

• 1 regular-sized 8 oz box of yellow rice (I used Zatarain's) (~98 kcal)
• water for rice prep (2 1/2 cups for Zatarain's, but use the amount of water on the box)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I substituted the butter in the directions for olive oil) (~120 kcal)

Boil water and olive oil in a medium to large pot with lid. Add rice. Lower burner to a low-medium heat (3/10). Cook for 20-25 minutes.

It is important not to peek on the rice while it is cooking. Otherwise it will take longer because it needs the steam it has built up in the pot. When the rice is done, the water will be absorbed.

Fluff the rice (aka, stir it up, especially on the bottom and sides of the the pot where it sticks). Dump the corn, beans, cumin, cilantro, and hot sauce in the pot. Done.