Sunday, July 27, 2008

A Return to the Kitchen

I've returned to the kitchen. The last few weeks (2 months) have again been riddled with the worst anxiety I've ever known.  I am hoping it is under control now.  And when you are dealing with adrenaline coursing through your veins, or where ever it courses, almost constantly, the last thing in the world that matters is how much you weigh. I would have taken 30 extra pounds to have felt better.  A side affect of all that anxiety was a complete aversion to food until I had to eat for fear of passing out - at which point I would try to eat something dense in calories like pizza or bread and butter.  There was about a week where I was eating nothing until dinner, and even then I was only getting about 800 calories.  And I didn't eat a I wasn't cooking, I wasn't preparing lunches, food was a chore, something to be choked down to keep me going. 

So, my weight loss has remained steady, maybe down a few pounds.  My exercise has mostly been walks with the dog, in between thunder and lightening storms.  (We are waiting for one to end now so we can head out.) The dog hates thunder, so she and I have been on a steady dose of Rescue Remedy.  I spray it in her water, and put it in mine. 

But today I bought groceries, and cooked them and ate them! I bought kale and froze it since it seems to wilt quickly, and cucumbers, zucchini, purslane which has more omega-3 fatty acids than any other vegetable, and chicken and bacon and yogurt. I got all the vegetables at the organic farm for $10.00.  What a bargain. 

These are the lovely pot stickers I made tonight:
The insides are ground turkey, ginger, garlic, egg whites, soy sauce, hot sesame oil, finely shredded napa cabbage (I used the food processor) and a few leaves of kale finely shredded. Broccoli minced in the food processor would be good, too. I got the little pot sticker maker in my stocking when I was young. I thought it was kind of odd at the time, but it turned out to be one of the best presents ever.
Here they are waiting to be put in the pan. The batch makes a lot. More than I can eat at once, so the rest I make and freeze on parchment paper, and then I put them in a zip-lock bag. They can made cooked from frozen, so they are a very easy, fast and healthy meal. And very fun to make.

Here they are sticking to the pan. First they are cooked with a little oil to get brown, then you throw in a 1/2 cup water and put the lid on so they can steam and cook for about 10 minutes, then you remove the lid to let the water all cook off. I just drizzle a little soy sauce on them, but I suppose you could make some sort of fancy dip.
They are one of my favorite meals. Other than the fajitas. But thinking about it, they are pretty similar to the fajita in that they are a meal all wrapped up in some sort of flour based container.  And they have kale in them. 

I have a feeling the dog and I will be walking in the rain tonight. But there are worse things than rain.  

2 comments:

Heather said...

Beautiful Potstickers!

Megh said...

Oh, my goodness, those look good! I'm totally making those tonight!