Category Archives: Food

Ceci ‘wing’ bowl

This is a relatively fast, moderately healthy, and delicious meal that has a ton of fiber and taste.

If you are craving Wings, this may help hit the spot.

This quantity will serve about 4 people.

4 cups prepared bulgur*

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Toss these together.

2 carrots, cleaned and diced

3 scallions, diced

2 large celery stalks, diced

Mix all of these together in a bowl and remove about 1/3 of a cup for an end garnish.

Cook the rest in about 2 1/2T of butter, with salt and pepper for about 3 minutes. You want these lightly cooked, not soggy.

Toss the cooked veg with the bulgur and portion into 4 bowls

3T butter

2 cups (a bit more than 1 can) ceci/chickpeas/garbanzos/chana
1/4 tsp salt


In the same pan you did the veg in, melt the butter and add the ceci. Stir it up.

3 Tablespoons Frank’s (or other good hot sauce you like to taste)
1T white vinegar

Add to the ceci

Top the bulgur with the ceci. Then add the reserved veg.

3T blue cheese crumbles

Add to the bowls. Serve with blue cheese dressing.

* bulgur is amazing. Think of it as a whole grain minute rice- it’s cracked and steamed wheat that you basically just have to either pour water over in the morning and let it soak while you go about your day, or bring it to a boil and let it sit for about 15 minutes while you get the rest of your meal on. And it’s delicious- creamy and nutty and a whole grain that is just perfect for getting your fiber up!

My eating hobby: Step 1

I follow diet and nutrition trends as a hobby. I love learning about it and talking about it. I am NOT an expert and am NOT qualified to professionally chat about diet and nutrition (although for 12 weeks and $600 I could be, so should I crowd source that? LMK 😉 )
All this is is me collecting my current personal thoughts into one place. This is not health or nutritional advice, I am not a medical professional, talk to your doctor before starting anything.
If you have ever felt shame when eating, hidden eating (not including a bag of chips when the kids are about), or feel that your body will never be ‘enough’, or ever used food ((or exercise) as a reward or punishment, SEE A DOCTOR to rule out an eating disorder.

Ok, that is going to start every page of this series of summaries if what I like and I think works for eating plans.

I love reading up on diets and food plans. I love watching the changes over the decades of what is healthy and what is thrown out. And I love all the parts of our diet— not the ‘weight loss diet’ that is what everyone thinks of nowadays rather than ‘diet’ meaning the food you eat as part of your culture and your personal taste. Most ‘diets’ to read about are for weight loss. So, I read about paleo and low carb and keto and all the like just because I get pleasure from it. Most all the ‘diets’ are garbage. I recently read the Noom book, and in discussing it, some people mentioned being interested in a low stress low energy way to look at food to eat healthier. So that’s what spurred this series.

Most (weight loss) diets come down to the same thing: calories in have to be less than calories out. No matter the gimmick, no matter the formula, no matter the way it’s presented, that is the *only* way to lose weight. So many plans dress that up and make it uselessly fancy, but that’s it. There is no magic bullet that will help you lose weight, no one change that will make it work and keep it working except that. So the basic plan for any weight loss program is to help you understand how to eat, and how to think to keep at a healthy weight for a long time.

So here: Step 1 to Gina’s self plan for eating to a healthier weight: breathe.

Breathe. We (yes, I will use the editorial we for this) have this. We have a body that is working for us, doing what it’s supposed to be doing, and we are going to show it the love and care it needs. It’s important to love our bodies because any depression or hate going into this relationship will throw up boundaries.
So we’ll think of three things we love our bodies for RIGHT THIS MINUTE and give our bodies a hug.
It’s a good body. It’s a good home, and it deserves to be praised for all the work it does.

See you on the next step.

My mom’s (sort of) burgers

Previously, I posted my mom’s amazing steak marinade. While we were eating it last time, we were talking about how it made the steak so so good, and then wondered— could we use it in burgers?
So I boiled the leftover marinade instead of tossing it, and froze it.
Tonight, I experimented.
I took 1 # ground beef and gently tossed it with the marinade. I did our usual ‘make a burger’ cooking style (cast iron pan, preheated, salted with kosher salt, and formed patties and tossed (I am overusing that word!) them in. Sliced some red onion, tomatoes and put some fresh spinach on the buns I made yesterday (upcoming blog!) with mayo, and then put the cooked burgers on top.
They are every bit as awesome as we thought they would be.
mmmmmmm

My Mom's steak burger, baked beans and slaw...