Dear Figure,
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
^ Do you hear that? It might look the wail of a small mosquito, but actually, it's the sound I made all this past week as our pantry emptied, we waited for checks in the mail to be able to stock back up, and the choices for healthy eating dwindled. I mean, really. Okay. So I know I haven't been religious in my NOTHING FLOUR and NOTHING SUGAR this past week, but I have been exercising and I have been eating mostly none and none. Yeah. Valentine's day threw me off.
But anyway, I was sitting on my bed yesterday around lunchtime reading up on Alexsander Solzhenitsyn and generally lost in Communist Russia when Mama poked her head through the door and informed me that she was working on school with the younger ones, and would I be so kind as to fix something alive for lunch because she couldn't eat any more "dead food" if she was a POW in Stalag 13. Or maybe it was "I would throw up if I had to eat any more popcorn." (I've heard it both ways.) I was just stuck in Russia, remember.
"We have...cucumbers, cabbage...some onions...oh! and chick peas."
"Oh. Well....nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage!"
But if I made something wretched like cabbage soup, it would appear that your bet was winning, Figure, and you were convincing me that eating healthy tasted like...dishwater. Perhaps it was the influence of Communist Russia that sent me to Google, but I sat down at the computer and typed in "raw salad cucumbers cabbage" not expecting anything to come up. But something did. Something from a Russian cooking website (the sterling truth) and I decided to try it...and what came out was absolutely delicious.
But to feed eleven or twelve people off of a cabbage salad while all right for Charlie Bucket & Co. is a little weak and wimpy and giving-uppish. In all my digging I found that we did have some carrots so I thought to myself, I thought: "Aha. Let us make hummus out of the chick peas. Oh...but we don't have lemon juice, do we?"
No lemons. Not a juice anywhere. Not even lime juice, which works in a pinch. But I wanted hummus. I really wanted it, and I sat there for a moment, thinking rather harder than usual. Then the proverbial lightbulb came one and I decided I'd outwit our pantry.
No lemon juice?
No problem.
Instead I used red wine vinegar and a generous sprinkling of lemon-pepper seasoning. The result was Mediterranean in the extreme, and an awesome coupling for the Russian Cabbage Salad. Lunch was delicious, healthy, and unique and what's even better--built off a pantry and fridge as emaciated as Alexsander Solzhenitsyn after leaving his Gulag Archipelago. Below I've posted the Salad Recipe for you readers who are also standing victorious over your Figures! :) (I would have posted the hummus recipe too, but that'll have to wait for another post because I deleted the picture I took, and I hate "blind" recipes.)
Russian Cabbage Cucumber Salad
- 1 head cabbage
- 2 cucumbers
- 1 onion
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tbs. vinegar
- 2 tbs. olive oil
1. Slice the cabbage in thin slices, then sprinkle with salt and knead (like bread dough) till the cabbage begins to look a little juicy.
2. Slice cucumbers into quarters, then slice quarters. Slice onion into thin slices. Mix into cabbage.
3. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar (adding more to taste if desired) and mix 'er up.
Makes rather a lot
Things like cabbage and cucumbers are really cheap in the scheme of things. The other day Mama and I were discussing the fact that Hispanic food and potatoes are always really cheap (though not particularly good for you) because the Irish and the Mexican cultures aren't known for having an overabundance of extra money. But you don't have to have a diet based entirely off of cheap corn and potatoes--there are vegetables that aren't exotic (like carrots, cabbage, cucumbers...even some peppers) that will be fairly easy on the budget, and very easy on your waist, so try buying those instead of more potatoes. :P
With a temporarily stocked pantry at last,
Rachel
Sounds delicious, and very very good, I am suddenly starving for some. :D I am glad you didn't make them eat Borscht, the one I had in Russia had cabbage in it. Needless to say I ate sparingly - apparently beets and I don't get along like best of friends...but the cabbage was good...where I could find it at least.
ReplyDeleteI love reading your Shrinkage Diary posts, Rachel! A year ago, I would have told you that I was in need of inspiration concerning weight. That is, until I got allergies. Turns out, when you cut soy and chocolate out of your diet, you can lose up to 30 pounds! I wouldn't recommend it for everyone (let me tell you, sometimes it's awful to live without chocolate), but I guess that was God's way of telling me to lost weight. Actually, it's amazing how much better I feel now, considering soy is the chemically altered and all that rotten stuff that acts as a filler in processed foods, which is not so very good for you anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, hope you didn't mind me just dumping here in your comment box. :)
I've tagged/awarded you at Lianne Taimenlore!
http://liannetaimenlore.blogspot.com/2013/02/ags-and-tawards-i-mean-tags-and-awards.html
Like I said - so spunky. Your determination and pluck is inspiring, Rachel!! Keep up the wonderful work and have fun on this journey to your figure. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I will definitely let you know how I liked the "prom dress workout" after I try it this afternoon. :)
I tried Russian food once, it didn't go over so well. Good idea stalking google, and being able to come up with something that didn't taste like POW food. (Not that I'd know what that tastes like.)
ReplyDeleteAnd I got your Psych reference. (I feel like Rodgers whenever I see a reference I get, and then must proudly announce, "I KNOW! I...understood that reference.")