Lightweight Eats

We were very behind on our FoodGawker favorites (we've got hundreds of recipes to cook), so we decided to dig into the archives for inspiration this week.

1. Salad with spring mix, lettuce, carrot, avocado, beets, roasted mushrooms, bottled dressing
2. Spaghetti with edamame, green onions, cilantro, olive oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, rice vinegar, broccoli
3. Carrot casserole with onion, parsley and tofu
4. Thai peanut slaw salad (peanut sauce, shredded cabbage, red bell pepper, green onion, cilantro, mint, green peas, roasted peanuts) in rice wraps
5. Quinoa salad with roasted delicata squash, roasted cauliflower, mmmm sauce
6. Red Lentil Soup (onion, oil, garlic, cumin, coriander, curry, canned tomatoes, red lentils, veggie stock, pepper, cayenne, lime, cilantro, green onion)
7. Lentil loaves (green lentils, stock, oil, zucchini, fennel, onion, garlic, carrot, flour, quinoa, parsley, paprika, celery, soy sauce, miso paste) with avocado-tahini dressing (avocado, tahini, stock, garlic, soy, parsley)

Breakfasts: Vanilla-Honey polenta with blueberries, bananas and almonds; 6-grain hot cereal with apples, raisins and cinnamon

Lunch ideas: Protein smoothie with spinach; roasted sweet potatoes with mmm sauce; sunflower seed butter and jam sandwich; pasta with kale, sun-dried tomatoes and olives

Snacks: Pita, baby carrots, hummus; cereal; instant oatmeal

We also have a house guest staying with us for a few days, so some of these dinner options might be amended with salads, or combined into larger meals.

What's on your menu for the week??

Over the past few weeks, Dan and I have started to plant our garden. Our new place has a yard!

In the back, it's mostly covered with a concrete driveway, but has 2 feet of edging extending along approximately 75 feet of fence. There is also a small patch of grass (~20'x10'), half of which is taken over by the orange tree. All of this will get fantastic year-round sun.






Our front yard is really just a tiny patch of forlorn grass and wet dirt. I don't expect it to get much sun, making it a prime candidate for a lemon tree--in NorCal, they produce so much fruit that poor growing conditions are probably a good thing.

Getting the garden planting ready has taken quite a bit of work, not all of which is completed. The edging was completely overrun with weeds. Although the soil was otherwise in excellent condition (it appears some previous owner had lots of roses and cared for the soil), some of the weeds had deep roots. There were also a few plants with extensive bulbs.

Weeding was cold work--I wanted to get the beds ready for planting as soon as possible. Most seeds say plant 6-8 weeks before the last frost. I'm guessing the last frost just happened; last year, we planted in December and things just kept on trucking through winter. This year has been unusually cold, but the ground should be ready.

In already are carrots, peas, cabbage, Chinese cabbage and our pepper plant that successful overwintered. Inside, we have cilantro, basil and tomatoes starting in pots. Outside, we have spring mix in a pot; I'm hoping to plant radishes and beets shortly as well.

We have big plans for watermelons, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, blueberries and stone fruit. We may also grow some green beans and a few other vegetables, depending on how much space we've got once everything goes into the ground. It's awesome having so much room to play!

Our seeds aren't certified organic, but they will be grown in a pesticide-free environment. I expect that the harvest will reduce our food costs by 10-15%; already having oranges on our tree has helped our food budget significantly. We'd like to keep that savings with the addition of vegetables and more fruits.

This past week, California Rowing Club has been hosting a lightweight women's camp: several athletes and the coach from a program in Connecticut made their way across the country to enjoy California sunshine and liquid bodies of water.


This is my first time sculling with other lightweights. (At Princeton, we rowed sweep--one oar per person.) It's been an absolute blast.

Highlights so far:
- lifting weights and not having to re-rack 45 pound plates before every lift (the men lift a bit more than I do...)
- battle paddling in doubles
- rocking the quad in the midday sun, wearing shorts and a sports bra (summertime, here we come!!!)

The first one heads back tomorrow, but we'll still be three through Friday, and two through late next week. It's been a great change of pace, and an awesome kick in the pants to snap me out of winter hibernation.

Things I need to work on? My squat--these girls kicked my butt! I also clearly need to improve my self-motivation--it's been much easier to get down to the boathouse twice a day and to get my heart rate up with some teammates around.

Vegan sandwiches are difficult. Of course, there's the quintessential combination of avocado, sprouts and chopped veggies piled high on whole wheat bread. Two problems: first, that gets boring pretty fast; second, sprouts don't keep particularly well.

(I know, I know, I should just grow my own sprouts. In due time.)

So, for your eating pleasure, I'm hoping to come up with some great topping ideas to either add some sandwich to or remove some animal from your lunchbox.

January's sandwich idea:
Pita pocket or whole wheat bread

Our roommate has a Vitamix blender. It took us a week or two to use it, but we've since jumped onto the smoothie bandwagon. Since the beginning of December, I've probably made 2-3 smoothies a week--and it's winter!

Here are some of my favorite things to do with a smoothie:
1. Add fresh ginger. I often find that smoothies get a bit too thick and sweet; ginger helps brighten them back up a bit. Eating more ginger is also part of my new year's resolution list--this one is practically already checked off just from smoothies! Adding lime juice, apple cider vinegar or other acidic foods/liquids also works.

2. Use up veggies. All those veggies we chop on Sundays for the week? They mostly get eaten, but eventually, they start to look a little bit sad. When they are getting too squishy or dry to gobble up on a fresh salad, I throw them into my smoothie. Last spring, I also threw pea pods into a smoothie--this is probably best reserved for high powered blenders, though.

3. Round it out with fat. I try to throw in one source of fat into each smoothie. My go-to sources include: chia seeds, flaxseed meal, nuts/seeds and nut/seed butters, and avocado. These, and olives, are the main sources of fat in my diet, and I have trouble getting enough. (Too little fat can increase risk of injury.)

4. Make it a protein smoothie. I hate protein shakes--who doesn't? So I throw my protein powder into smoothies, and the sweet fruit masks the flavor and, more importantly, the texture of the powder. Perfect! It also gives the smoothie a bit more staying power.

5. Add oats. Speaking of staying power, I find that a handful of baby oats helps me stay full for longer. This may be a placebo affect, but I'll take it.

Some combinations I'd like to try:
- banana + cocoa powder + instant espresso (or real espresso)
- kiwi + raspberry/strawberry
- vanilla + ginger + pear
- pumpkin + spices

Pantry, to be more specific.

We've tried to commit to eating primarily non-packaged goods. It's cheaper and healthier. It also makes me appreciate the food I'm eating a bit more--for example, we just ground our own sunflower seed butter. The works that goes into it (admittedly not much) makes me think twice when I grab a giant spoonful.

We'd fallen off the bandwagon a bit, though. We hadn't gone to buying chips, crackers and sodas again, but suddenly jars of peanut butter, bags of crystallized ginger and chocolate covered cherries found their way onto our shelves.

So last weekend, we raided our pantry and tossed almost all of it. The dried fruit went into a cabinet for treats if we are having a particularly difficult week, along with the honey. But the brown sugar and the JIF peanut butter got the axe.

The original plan was to use and not replace, but I've found myself to be more of a cold turkey kind of girl, rather than gradual changes. I'm sure we can find a hungry stomach to consume these for us.

Our pantry is back to its original intention: whole grains, legumes, and a few nuts and seeds to snack on. The rest of it lives in the fridge--fresh fruits and vegetables, cooked grains and beans, roasted veggies for snacking, condiments/dressing, tofu, non-dairy milk and the occasional egg.

For now, we've kept the sliced bread in our freezer. We still have vegetable and olive oils, both of which come in packages. And we are working our way through our collection of cold cereal

I would like to commit as strongly as possible to only buying non-packaged goods. This might mean bringing my bulk containers with me to the Food Mill to stock up on grains. It will probably also mean grinding our own nut and seed butters; maybe even making our own hummus and salsa.

I think, for now, I am ok with canned goods--tomatoes and corn, especially--as I'd rather eat a healthy meal with canned beans than go buy burritos from the store. Our limited freezer space also makes canned soup incredibly convenient--there just isn't enough space to store frozen meals. (Perhaps taking the sliced bread out of the freezer and baking our own would help...)

Have any of you given up packaged foods? How far should we go? What about flours and rolled oats? Cold cereal? Hot cereal?? Where do we draw the line on "acceptable"? And how do we draw a line that makes the choice at the grocery store easier?

1. Turn off the thermostat. California is pretty temperate--and we pay for that in cost of living. So we might as well save where we can: by turning off the thermostat as much as possible (especially when we aren't home). As long as the temperature falls between 55 and 80 degrees, we can stay comfortable by layering up or layering down. Our windows are also fairly well-sealed, but strategic opening and closing of blinds makes a huge difference.

2. Sign up for email lists. I'm on the emails lists for companies that I shop at on a regular basis: Peet's Coffee, GNC and Walgreens to name a few. Peet's offers cheap or dramatically reduced in-store beverages on a fairly regular basis; I use these when I need to go get work done in a cafe. (See #3)

3. Take full advantage of what you're paying for. When you buy a coffee at Peet's for $1.80, you are paying for the cup and the service (although most stores will give you 10 cents off if you bring your own mug!). But you're also paying for the space, the WiFi, the marketing, the promotions, and even the electricity charging some other dude's laptop. So take advantage! If you're going to buy a coffee for $1.80, charge your computer, sit in the cafe and use the internet. (You might as well hit the restroom, too.)

4. Eat at home. We menu plan and purchase all of our own food. When you eat at a restaurant, you are paying for the ingredients, the water, the gas for the stove, the heating, use of the linens, the labor, etc. For us, we can save a significant amount of money by doing it all home. If you get paid a high hourly rate, though, and you could be working instead of washing dishes, it might be to your advantage to buy pre-made food. Dan also takes advantage of free lunch at work usually once a week.

5. Demand quality customer service. Our french press broke, due to faulty construction; so we contacted the company and they replaced the faulty piece for free. The same thing has happened with Dan's kick scooter. I've purchased clothing and had it wear out sooner than I had anticipated or was reasonable--I returned it and got a full refund. Again, that's part of what you are paying for.

6. Shop sales. This one requires some patience, and willingness to get by in the meantime. Some of my favorite clothing I've gotten at 10% of the original price because of sales. Awesome! We also got the aforementioned french press on sale. Obviously, don't buy anything you don't need or wouldn't have been willing to pay full price for.

7. Telecommute. I know this isn't an option for everybody, but at the very least look into all of your commuting options. When I coached in SF, I carpooled with one of my co-workers. Dan takes advantage of pre-tax commute dollars to save some money on his BART ride. We use autoload high value tickets to get a 6% discount on every trip. I also work from home most days.

8. Find free or low-cost entertainment. There are tons of ideas out there. I like to garden and read blogs. Dan likes to take photos and read about scuba diving. These are things that I always wish I had more time to do, and not paying to see concerts and movies or go out to bars gives me that time. (You can also invite friends to join you!!)

9. Speaking of gardening, grow your own food! This probably isn't cheaper if you don't have a yard. If you do have a yard and some spare time, I'm a big fan of cucumbers, radishes and carrots. Fruit trees are also really easy--our orange tree suffered some serious neglect and still produced hundreds of oranges.

10. Stay as healthy as possible. Washing your hands more means getting sick less; fewer illnesses mean fewer cold medicines and tissues consumed. Obviously not everything is preventable, but medicine is expensive and the more you can do to prevent illness before it happens the better. I'm a big believe in fruits and vegetables, plenty of sleep and regular exercise.

Any other suggestions? We've saved a lot of money with each of these items and many have improved our quality of life rather than detracting from it. We're always looking for similar ideas!