Archive for July, 2008

Diet Without the “Die”?

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

About a month ago, I realized two things.  First, heavy physical exertion was resulting in entirely too much regret and recovery time.  Second, even moderate activity was starting to seem like a chore – as if it was harder than it should be.  So, I dragged out the old bathroom scale.  What I found wasn’t really pretty – I was heavier than I’d ever been by about five pounds.

Ah, then.  A diet, it seems, was called for.

I hate diets.  I especially hate the diets with names, that prescribe exactly what one must eat and exactly when one must eat it.  Besides, I cook not only for myself, but for my wife.  Just because I needed to shed some extra tonnage was no reason to make her miserable in the process.

What to do, what to do?

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Posted in Diet, Food | Tags , , , , , | 1 Comment »

It’s All About What You Do With It

Monday, July 14th, 2008

Die-hard carnivores have some preconceptions about vegetarian foods.  “Bland,” they say.  “Wimpy,” complain others.  It involves all that chopping and weird produce.  However, in nutritional bang for the buck, vegetables provide a filling, healthy meal if you choose wisely, and flavor is all a matter of how you work with them.  Plus, with a few adjustments this dish can go from vegetarian to omnivorous in a flash.

This basic Thai-style vegetable curry takes about 45 minutes from start to the table, mostly because of the number of ingredients that must be assembled.  Don’t be intimidated – it’s a lot of stuff, but it’s prepared very simply.

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
8 oz. frozen, cut okra
10-12 large leafs kale
3 cups prepared vegetable stock
1 13.5 oz can coconut milk
2 cups plain non-fat (or low-fat) yogurt
2 shallots, minced fine
1 1″x1″ knob of fresh ginger, grated fine
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp. ground cumin seed
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
3/4 tsp. grated nutmeg (fresh, if possible)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Salt
Limes

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Posted in Food, Vegetarian | Tags , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Hello world!

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

I’m in the process of completely restructuring my site.

“Eat Free or Die” will be dedicated to a subject about which I have been passionate for some time.  Eating well, eating affordably, and making meals simple enough that they’re feasible in today’s hectic world.

Update:

I was going to hold off until I had completed all the design elements and modified the theme templates before I started putting content up.  However, I realized several things:

1)  I hate “under construction” notices.

2) I had done a disservice by removing (permanently) the previous content.  I had been hoping, at one point, to convert select articles from the old system and re-write them.  I finally got to the point where I was making no progress.  Frustrated with my entire web presence, which had become fragmented and neglected, I dumped everything into the bit-bucket for a fresh start.

The bad thing about that is that a good deal of serviceable information just “went away.”  However, a new take on how to manage the site, and plenty ideas for content based around a theme will give me plenty to draw from as things grow.

Enjoy.

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Posted in Miscellaneous | Tags , , , , | No Comments »