In Which There Is Steak Salad

There's a certain self-congratulatory pretentiousness inherent in calling oneself a foodie and so I'm reluctant to use the term, but I do love good food. The problem with loving good food is that it tends to get expensive and so if one has a weekly grocery budget to which one likes to adhere, one must stretch those ingredients however possible. And when one of the people one feeds is a 6'5 man with a proportionately large appetite, that can take work.

Last night we had steak salads for dinner. Salads are one of my favorite things to eat because of the fact that they are bulky and filling without being heavy. They're endlessly variable and provide an excellent way to make the most of pricey and/or calorie-dense foods. Steak salads are a always a hit around here and they are a great way to showcase some really high-quality ingredients. No dressing needed. All items shown were purchased at Wegman's

The components of last night's salads were Wegman's organic spring mix, Wegman's perfect portions of organic grass-fed sirloin, sauteed mushrooms and red onions, St. Agur (one of my absolute favorite blue cheeses), walnuts, and dried cranberries.














To begin, I sprinkled the steaks with kosher salt and seared them on the grill. While they were cooking, I sliced the mushrooms and red onions, then cooked them until caramelized in a pan sprayed with Pam.















When the steaks were done to our taste (we eat them rare at the Marzipan household) I let them sit for about 5 minutes, then sliced them.















Assembling the salads was a snap. Bed of lettuce, saute mix and steak so the juices would run down, then top with cheese, nuts, and cranberries.














Detail of the tastiness:














For dessert, the kids had some Pocky that I picked up from Han Ah Reum and Mr. Marzipan and I had rock glasses full of Traderspoint Wildberry Yogurt. It is amazingly creamy and rich and heavenly, and contains only a few more calories and far less sugar than that godawful stuff stabilized with cornstarch and gelatin. And such lovely packaging! It's in a glass bottle with this pretty label.

In Which I Return To Virtue

Because I have decided to lose 9 pounds by our Florida vacation in May, I am back to being virtuous even though there are donuts from my son's class party and these little chocolate covered toffee things my daughter likes and a 5 gallon drum of crack-laced Goldfish and so on.

Trader Joe's is my primary source of groceries. I went grocery shopping on Saturday and obtained an enormous amount of delicious and reasonably priced foodstuffs. When I was a kid I had these fantasies where I'd grow up and eat Easy Cheese directly from the container for dinner and follow it up with a half-gallon of ice cream and, I don't know, gin. Just because I could, I guess. But the fact is that while I enjoyed that in college for a brief stint, in general I feel so good when I eat well. I feel happy and healthy and in control and the fleeting deliciousness of half a bag of Doritos never comes close to the high of the impressed look on my husband's face when I demand that he poke me in the obliques. (That sounds naughty, doesn't it?)

For breakfast today I had a Dannon Light and Fit cherry vanilla yogurt into which I stirred 1 sliced banana and 1/4 cup of Trader Joe's Organic Morning Lite cereal. I had a glass of V8 and a glass of water with this. I always like to eat my meals on actual china, sitting at the table, reading a book or listening to music. I love food and even with two small children, I try and take the time to enjoy my meals. So my yogurt gets dumped into a bowl and I set everything on a place mat. I like taking time for myself. Anyway, breakfast was:

293 calories
1 gram of fat
9 grams of protein.

Went to the gym and did 30 minutes of weights, 10 minutes on the Stairmaster at 72 steps per minute, and 30 minutes on the elliptical at a burn rate of 800 calories per hour. Took some time in the sauna, then had a Pure Protein chocolate peanut butter bar. I had about 50 ounces of water during and after my workout. The protein bar contained:

190 calories
6 grams of fat
20 grams of protein.

Lunch was a magnificent salad, made entirely of ingredients from my beloved TJ's. 2 cups organic heirloom lettuce, 1/4 cup shredded organic pea shoots, three breaded chicken tenderloins (in the frozen section), 1/2 red pepper, 7 stalks blanched asparagus, 1/2 of an avocado, 1/4 serving Crunchy Curls, and 1 serving Parmesan ranch dressing. Is it not beautiful?




395 calories

15.5 grams of fat
23.65 grams of protein



I feel amazing and focused and back on track It's wonderful. When I treat myself well in this way I feel clean inside. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

In Which I Kill Fish And Share Recipes (Unrelated Events)

Item the first: My kids have been begging for a fish tank for over a year. We finally broke down and got a 10-gallon setup despite my feeling that fish are pointless and hateful pets. So today, we merrily (some of us, anyway) trooped off to the Aquarium Depot where we obtained two balloon mollies and two spotted platies. By 6:00 they were happily swimming about. AlmondGirl named them Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, and Danielle.

At 6:15 my dad stopped by and noticed the filter wasn't pumping very well.

At 6:16 the filter ejected a mangled but twitching balloon molly.

Which the children watched in horrified fascination.

Which I scooped into a plastic bag, took outside, and killed to end its suffering.

AlmondGirl played a dirge for the dead fish (Danielle) on the piano while AlmondBoy wandered about saying how sad all the other fish must be.

Turns out the filter was missing some kind of piece it needed, which my dad and I MacGyvered from a piece of mesh onion bag and a rubber band. So I'll need to go get that tomorrow and a replacement molly and...just...ARGH.

Item the second: The food consumed during this tragedy was tasty. I was going to take pictures, but what with the impromptu mercy killing I didn't get around to it.

Anyway, my friend Annelise shared with me the Cooking Light recipes for Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches and Tangy Apple Slaw. We ate them on Trader Joe's whole wheat hamburger buns and found them quite delicious. I do prefer a more vinegary sauce, however, and made one on the side of brown sugar, cider vinegar, and corn-syrup-free ketchup. I liked it better than the one in the recipe. The kids both loved the sandwiches, but AlmondGirl didn't care for the slaw. AlmondBoy ate two helpings of it. I did too. Mr. Marzipan isn't home yet, but I believe he will be a fan of the leftovers.

Dessert was Cooking Light's Strawberry Buttermilk Gelato. It is scrumptious.