A Confession

Bless me Father, for it’s been 40 years…no wait. Not that kind of confession.

It’s this: For the past six months I haven’t felt like cooking.

For a person obsessed with food like me, it’s a little weird. Usually, all I have to do is smell, hear about, or see something and I’m inspired. I even subscribed to the New York Times Food section for inspiration, but it’s left me feeling pretty meh, until this past weekend. I saw a recipe for Carmelized Shallot Pasta and I thought – YUM!

Part of the reason I’ve been so lackluster is because I recently got my blood tested and it came back in the pre-diabetes range. So, of course, I’ve been trying to figure out how to eat better. I’ve read you should exercise every day for a half hour.

You should also avoid too many carbs and lose weight. Both really easy things – if you’re locked in an empty storage unit. But if you live in LA, a food wonderland, and work in a place where, every day some new delicious, melted cheese food temptation shows up, you’re totally screwed.

Plus I’m trying to eat less red meat and meat, in general because it’s not good for the environment, so there’s that. So, I’ve been buying things like quinoa, sweet potatoes, nonfat Greek yogurt, blueberries, blackberries and avocados because that’s what all the experts say to eat. I think this means I’m turning into a Californian.

The silver lining is this: Anything that forces you to get healthier is a good thing, even if you have to be dragged into it by your hair. So, over the weekend I made toasted quinoa, (I like the flavor better when you toast it) roasted broccoli, roasted Brussels sprouts, a baked sweet potato and experimented with a very delicious Carmelized shallot mixture that can be used as a sauce or topping. It’s really good and I didn’t even follow the recipe properly! That’s in my next blog post.

So, for lunch today, I put about 3/4 of a cup of toasted quinoa in a bowl, topped it with some roasted broccoli, roasted Brussels sprouts, a quarter of a baked sweet potato, added a little avocado, a few grates of lemon rind, then drizzled a little teriyaki sauce on top.

I ate it cold, which was delicious, but it would have been great warm too. (I just didn’t have the heart to warm Brussels sprouts and broccoli in the microwave at work – the smell makes you eye your cubby mates with suspicion.)

I hate to admit it, but those healthy people are apparently right. I wasn’t hungry all day. That’s never stopped me from eating, but I suspect paying attention to actual hunger, instead of eating out of boredom or frustration at work, could possibly be helpful with that whole weight loss thing. I hate it when common sense interferes like this.