Giving Up (Soda)
I’m no Catholic, but I try to give up something for Lent every year as a personal challenge. Last year it was fast food. This year it’s soda. This might be the hardest challenge of all — I have a serious love affair with Pepsi :)
Read More »A Month Without Red Meat
At the beginning of November, I decided to go a month without red meat. Well, now that month is over!
So how did it go? It actually went pretty well. Aside from Thanksgiving, there wasn’t really a time I craved red meat, and I made and ate some new chicken and fish dishes that I will definitely have again (like that Ahi plate from Grylt above). The only thing I wish I had done differently, though, was measure my cholesterol at the beginning and end of the month to track the effect.
But I wasn’t entirely successful, there were three “incidents” lol!
- I got my usual chicken salad at my usual salad place and got almost all the way through it when I realized there were bits of bacon in it.
- I went out to lunch with some friends and shared an appetizer that had bacon crumbles. It looked so delicious I gave in and ate it. And ordered a second plate.
- I had a few pieces of ham on Thanksgiving.
So far in December I’ve had red meat twice. I had Vienna sausage with breakfast yesterday and a spam musubi at lunch on Friday. Other than that I’ve still be sticking to chicken, turkey and fish, and will probably continue that way for the most part. Especially since I’m playing “The Biggest Loser” with my family starting tomorrow!
I wanna know, what have you challenged yourself to do lately? What are you doing to eat healthier?
Bon appetit,
Tiera
No (Red) Meat November
I’ve been wanting to work on cutting red meat out of my diet for a while. And it’s high time I do something about it for goodness sake!
My family cooks and eats a lot of red meat, so I grew up eating it all the time and still eat it pretty regularly. While my love for all things poke has catapulted fish to the top of the list of “meats” I eat most, chicken and beef are probably tied for second place, with turkey and pork rounding out the countdown at third. And though I’ve gone a few months at a time without red meat in the past (or with very limited red meat; there are just some things my mom cooks I can’t bear to pass up!) I’m going to try it again for the month of November.
Cutting out or back on red meat can help lower your intake of saturated fat (yay!), but more importantly lower cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease. High cholesterol and heart disease run in my family, and people of Hawaiian ancestry are at an especially high risk for both, so it’s important I do what I can to keep both of those things in check. Plus (and I admit this could possibly just be in my head) I tend to get an over-full feeling from eating red meat that I don’t get when eating fish or poultry. It’s like eating exhaustion, lameballs!
Anyhow, so that’s what I’m doing (or challenging myself not to do) this month. And if I happen to whip up any meatless deliciousness, I’ll be sure to share :)
I wanna know, what are you challenging yourself to do this month? Got any good no read meat recipes to share?
Wish me luck,
Tiera
Cookbook: Lately
It’s been ages since the last time I worked on a cookbook post :( And while I don’t have a specific recipe to share, here’s a look at some of the simple home cooking I’ve been whipping up in the kitchen lately.
- Lemon Shrimp over Caesar Salad
Part of a feast my cousins and I cooked up one night. We sauteed the shrimp in a butter and lemon and mixed romaine hearts, croutons and parmesan cheese with a creamy caesar dressing, then served the shrimp over the salad and squeezed fresh lemon over the whole thing. - Ahi Burgers over Arugula & Shiitake Mushroom Salad
Arugula is my new favorite green, and I made a salad with it and shiitake mushrooms and a ginger-miso dressing (I got it from Whole Foods, but I’ll try to come up with my own recipe soon!). The ahi burgers (which I did buy) were simple patties of ahi, onions, limu and breadcrumbs. - Beef Luau Stew
My mom and I helped my Uncle Zack make these while he taught us to use a pressure cooker. Luau is a Hawaiian dish that’s made with steamed luau leaves (the top of the kalo/taro plant, from which poi is made) and coconut milk. It’s often served with squid, but it’s also served with beef, like ours was. - Pork with Onions & Cabbage and Misoyaki Sauce
I started off browning pork chops and pork belly, sauteeing one onion, and adding in misoyaki sauce (mine was from a bottle, but most include miso, shoyu, sake, mirin and sugar). I braised Chinese cabbage in some chicken stock, then added it and some of the stock to the pork & onion mixture, and let everything finish cooking together for a few more minutes.
So simple, right?! Quick and easy things like this are really helping my achieve my goal of eating out less and cooking more :)
I wanna know, what have you been cooking lately? Got any recipes to share?
Cheers!
Tiera
Farmers Market Food: Joe Aloha
The Makiki Farmers Market hits so many high notes, but most importantly there is a variety of fresh food and produce and it’s five minutes away from my house :) I wanted to grab dinner before I headed home the other day so I called my friend Bobert (who lives even closer than I do) and we scored a table and found some food.
I was torn between the Thai food (which I’ve been wanting to try for a while now) and a booth I’d never seen before, Joe Aloha Catering & Food Truck. We both went with Joe Aloha — Smoked chicken & fresh ahi (above) for me and smoked ribs & chicken (below) for Bob.
I asked for seared ahi, so it was still pretty rare in the center — perfect! The chicken was juicy and even the skin was good (have I mentioned that Thursday is my new cheat day?!). The ribs had a lot of meat, and a little bit of a char siu flavor. Overall both were delicious, and at $10 for each combo plate, I’d say we made out well with really good (and more than enough) food!
Next up on the MFM checklist: Thai food, organic & grass-fed beef, and fresh fruits and veggies :)
Makiki Farmers Market – The Parish of St. Clement, 1515 Wilder Ave. (at the corner of Wilder Ave. + Makiki St.); 4:30-7:30pm every Thursday
I wanna know, do you frequent your local farmers market? What’s your favorite thing to buy or eat?
Xoxo,
Tiera