My favorite neighbors from Charleston are visiting New York this weekend! We went to see a very weird show last night called Sleep No More. It's one of those shows that is getting a lot of word-of-mouth buzz, and it's been sold out for months. Since it's been about 12 hours since we finished, I am still mulling over whether it was the most insane or the most brilliant thing I've ever seen. As my friend Catie said, "Why can't it be both?" I guess it can. (But I'll post more about this slightly terrifying adult haunted house with MacBethian & Rebeccan themes separately if anyone is interested in hearing more.)
On the other hand, having good friends in town usually means food & drink, which can easily derail someone's detox dieting efforts. I'm happy to report, I only steered wrong slightly. I did not drink any alcohol, although I suspect it would've helped assuage my fears slightly if I had partaken. But for dinner, we wandered around a dead zone in Manhattan while the temperatures dropped considerably, and finally settled upon a sports bar near Madison Square Garden where I wanted to order a BLT or a turkey club wrap, but I didn't. I went with the veggie wrap instead, which had mushrooms, arugula, and feta cheese. I had asked for the feta to be on the side, but they did not get that right. At 11:30pm, when our meals finally came to the table, I was starving and didn't have the willpower to send it back. So I ate that wrap, and did not feel guilty about it.
I'm only focusing on the wins right now. Win #1 - I avoided alcohol all evening! In a social setting where everyone else was drinking! Win #2 - I did not order the bacon-laden sandwiches I was really craving. Win #3 - I'm starting Day #5 of this thing.
And my final thought for today is to share a recipe I made yesterday for lunch that came out quite nicely. I took a picture, but since I'm no food photographer, it came out looking kind of gross in the photo. So I'm not going to post it here. Sorry!
Arugula Pesto Risotto
-1/2 cup cooked brown rice
-1/4 onion, chopped
-3 cremini mushrooms, chopped
-1/2 cup frozen vegetables (I used peas & carrots b/c that's what I had at home)
-2 tsp olive oil
-2 tbsp arugula pesto
-salt & pepper, to taste
Directions
Heat oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat and saute the onions and mushrooms for about 3 minutes, or until they soften. Then add the frozen veggies and saute them till they thaw a bit (about 3 more minutes.) Add in the brown rice, and keep stirring for a few minutes till the rice heats through. Add 2 heaping tablespoons of the arugula pesto, and a touch of water as well, if needed. I lowered the temperature to a medium-low and simmered the whole concoction for about 5 more minutes to take the edge off the arugula. Add salt & pepper as needed.
The result
A creamy, delicious pesto-risotto delight with mostly vegetables and no cheese. This made enough for two portions, as it's quite filling. I ate half yesterday for lunch, and I'll eat the second half today for lunch.
Showing posts with label arugula pesto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arugula pesto. Show all posts
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Diet, Day 3. Recipes!
Instead of posting mundane lists of what I've eaten every day, I've decided to post recipes that have potential. I've realized very quickly that I can succeed at this, but only if I'm diligent and slightly creative about preparing foods ahead of time. To that end, I made my second visit to Trader Joe's this week and stocked up on those Snickerdoodles (for my daily treat), some hummus & carrots (for snacking because it seems like eating nuts for a salty fix probably isn't a good idea in large quantities), and quinoa (adding whole grain variety to the brown rice of which I'm bound to quickly tire.) Now onto the good stuff. Recipes!
Breakfast or anytime snack salad (without lettuce!)
-1 cucumber, seeded & chopped
-1/4 cup TJ's rosemary-flavored dried cranberry & pecan mix
-1 can of beans (I used wax beans for variety, but easily black beans, chickpeas, etc. would work)
-1 Bosc pear, chopped
Vinaigrette:
-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 tsp tarragon mustard (any mustard will work, this is what I had at home)
-salt & pepper to taste
Directions: Whisk the dressing ingredients together, then add all the chopped goodies into it and mix it all up.
Surprisingly, this salad keeps really well. I had it fresh yesterday for breakfast, and then again today. I was expecting a watery mess in the plastic container when I opened it up this morning, but it was all in there, looking pretty and pristine. The pecans got a little soggy, but the rest of the salad actually tasted better today than yesterday! I have a little bit left, and I'll probably eat that tomorrow for breakfast. I should also give a shout-out to my sister-in-law, because she makes delicious, creative salads like this all the time, and yes, I was actually paying attention.
Arugula pesto
-2 bunches fresh Arugula, washed and roughly chopped
-1/2 cup walnuts
-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
-1/2 lemon
-1/4 cup olive oil
-salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Put the arugula, walnuts, & garlic into a food processor or blender, add the olive oil and whir away. Once it's processed into a coarse paste, add salt, pepper, and lemon juice to your desired taste, and blend together once more to incorporate all the ingredients.
I made a mistake with this one - I didn't want to add too much oil, so I started with some water, but as this particular leafy green is pretty viscous on its own, I realized that I didn't need to add anything at all. Next time. Otherwise, it came out really well, and I am quite happy with the results. This made a big batch of pesto, but I plan to use it pretty much the way I would use regular Genovese pesto. I like to stir it into soups for added flavor, and I'm planning to stir it into some brown rice or quinoa tonight for dinner with some sauteed green beans. Should be pretty tasty. Another word of warning, this pesto may taste a bit raw depending on the greens you use (rocket salad mix uses baby leaves which aren't so pungent - I had grown-up arugula leaves), so it's probably a good plan to put it into something towards the very end of the cooking time to take the edge off.
PS - I'll try to post some pics in the next edition to make this blog a bit more interesting! I just can't believe I've made it to Day 3 without having any major set-backs.
Breakfast or anytime snack salad (without lettuce!)
-1 cucumber, seeded & chopped
-1/4 cup TJ's rosemary-flavored dried cranberry & pecan mix
-1 can of beans (I used wax beans for variety, but easily black beans, chickpeas, etc. would work)
-1 Bosc pear, chopped
Vinaigrette:
-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 tsp tarragon mustard (any mustard will work, this is what I had at home)
-salt & pepper to taste
Directions: Whisk the dressing ingredients together, then add all the chopped goodies into it and mix it all up.
Surprisingly, this salad keeps really well. I had it fresh yesterday for breakfast, and then again today. I was expecting a watery mess in the plastic container when I opened it up this morning, but it was all in there, looking pretty and pristine. The pecans got a little soggy, but the rest of the salad actually tasted better today than yesterday! I have a little bit left, and I'll probably eat that tomorrow for breakfast. I should also give a shout-out to my sister-in-law, because she makes delicious, creative salads like this all the time, and yes, I was actually paying attention.
Arugula pesto
-2 bunches fresh Arugula, washed and roughly chopped
-1/2 cup walnuts
-3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
-1/2 lemon
-1/4 cup olive oil
-salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Put the arugula, walnuts, & garlic into a food processor or blender, add the olive oil and whir away. Once it's processed into a coarse paste, add salt, pepper, and lemon juice to your desired taste, and blend together once more to incorporate all the ingredients.
I made a mistake with this one - I didn't want to add too much oil, so I started with some water, but as this particular leafy green is pretty viscous on its own, I realized that I didn't need to add anything at all. Next time. Otherwise, it came out really well, and I am quite happy with the results. This made a big batch of pesto, but I plan to use it pretty much the way I would use regular Genovese pesto. I like to stir it into soups for added flavor, and I'm planning to stir it into some brown rice or quinoa tonight for dinner with some sauteed green beans. Should be pretty tasty. Another word of warning, this pesto may taste a bit raw depending on the greens you use (rocket salad mix uses baby leaves which aren't so pungent - I had grown-up arugula leaves), so it's probably a good plan to put it into something towards the very end of the cooking time to take the edge off.
PS - I'll try to post some pics in the next edition to make this blog a bit more interesting! I just can't believe I've made it to Day 3 without having any major set-backs.
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