by Sam Tackeff | Apr 20, 2014 | Fitness, Meal Planning
Today we took a long drive West. I’m always up for a road trip, and this was a particularly beautiful day to meander through small towns, past gentleman farms, and out into the country – or as much “country’ as you get out here. We did manage to see some animals – cows at the Tufts Veterinary campus in North Grafton, and a few llamas in someone’s yard. Being an impromptu trip, I left without a camera and with a minimally charged cell phone, so most of the trip I just looked out the window and admired the scenery. One amusing point of note: at some point we’d noticed we’d been driving through farmland for miles and decided to take bets on when we’d see the next Dunkin’ Donuts. Devon bet ten minutes, and I bet four. Given that it’s New England, we essentially both won. There are approximately three Dunkin Donuts establishments per capita around these parts.
When we came home, I spent an hour in the evening writing in longhand on crisp white paper – making lists and scratching out fragments of ideas with one of my trusty Pilot G-2 pens. They are my favorite pens these days – the right shape, and with good ink. During the week I spend so much time tethered to my computer and my phone, that words flow differently when I can use my whole hand and my body to get something out onto the page.
This week was lovely and full – I found myself marveling that all the things that happened could have possibly fit into a mere seven days. At work we launched our new step tracking app, Breeze, which makes your iPhone 5s essentially the equivalent of a Jawbone or a Fitbit, except with the added benefit of guided coaching and a beautiful user experience. The team started working on Breeze not long after I started at RunKeeper, and it feels good to be working with such a creative group of folks and seeing a product created from idea to launch.
Another major thing of note is that I received a package in the mail from Ten Speed Press, with a copy of my friend Karen’s new book Asian Pickles. The book is coming out this spring, and would be a lovely resource for dealing with abundant produce – you can pre-order it here! I’m looking forward to working my way through her recipes.
The week in food began with a Passover seder, where we observed Sephardic Moroccan tradition of Bibhilu – circling the seder plate over each persons head, singing a short passage – Bibhilu yatsanu mimitsrayim – “In a hurry we left Egypt”, and tapping the head with the plate before moving on to their neighbor. It’s a lovely mystical experience that makes the meal even more special. We read the four questions, we sang songs, and ate whole eggs to symbolize life and the possibilities of the future. There were mini meatballs, matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, my aunt’s Tsimmes (braised beef, carrots and sweet potato), and my grandmother’s potato pancakes. My mom made my favorite charoset – an apple chutney studded with dates and walnuts, and our hostess Roz made the most incredible frozen lemon torte. I’ve acquired the recipe and will likely be making it again this week – it has about a dozen egg yolks in the recipe, so I may have to scale it down.
In fitness and health news, I had a fun day lifting on Wednesday – practicing push jerks and split jerks, went to the Marathon Expo on Friday, went for my first run in weeks on Saturday – two short miles and then about three more walking ones, and have been working through Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra’s 21-day Meditation challenge. I’ve a slight tendency towards attention deficit symptoms when I have a lot going on in my life, and meditation is an excellent way to calm my mind and give it a rest. Even 20 dedicated minutes without distraction is rare around here, so I’ve been enjoying each guided practice immensely. This coming week I’m looking forward to spending some time outside logging some miles, doing nightly planks to work my core with FitFluential’s #FFAprilAbs challenge, heading to CrossFit for Oly Lifting Clinic on Wednesday, and hopefully squeezing in a yoga class.
Here’s what’s on tap for our meals:
Week of Sunday, April 20th
Sunday: Whole Foods Hot Bar. In honor of Marathon Monday, Whole Foods was offering 50% off hot bar from 4-7 pm this weekend, so I took full advantage of the deal and ended up going home with some chicken, mashed potatoes, and their Italian zucchini, tomato and garlic.
Monday: Roasted Mediterranean Chicken, Turkish green beans, and sweet potatoes. For two of us I’ll roast a tray of chicken thighs, or in this case, a half a chicken with herbs rubbed into the skin. If it’s really nice out, I might barbecue it.
Tuesday: Tropical Taco Lettuce Wraps with tomato and avocado salad. I saw Mel posting a tropical taco recipe today that included some chopped mango and allspice (which I can’t get enough of lately), so I’ll be doing something similar here over salad.
Wednesday: Jerk pork tenderloin and brussels sprouts. Again with the allspice – I can’t get enough of it – it’s one of the real stars of jerk seasoning. I’m a fan of Lucinda Scala Quinn’s basic jerk chicken recipe, which I’ve adapted over the years to go with chicken or pork.
Thursday: RunKeeper Night of Awesomeness Barbecue. Once a month a RunKeeper coworker is in charge of planning the festivities, and this month Doug, our VP of Engineering, has invited us to a barbecue at his house in Somerville.
Friday: Out.
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Apr 13, 2014 | Holidays, Meal Planning
Last weekend I started sneezing. It’s just allergies! I was excited for allergies, because a little sniffling is better than the food poisoning and subsequent stomach virus I was fighting for the few weeks previous. Alas, it turned out that I had developed a cold, and worked through all of the natural remedies I could think of – ginger, lots of tea with honey, all of the liquids that one can humanly consume, lots of gut-building fermented food – sauerkraut anyone? – sambucus, and more. It could have been worse. Co-workers were experiencing the same “joyous” stomach bug I had previously suffered through, everyone seemed to have a sick kid, and another was laid up with pneumonia. I at least feel like I’m on the mend.
Yesterday I went to the store armed with my meal plan, and realized in about three minutes when I saw the matzah pyramids at the end of the aisle that I’d have to rework my plans to fit in the seders and passover friendly foods. Fortunately for my sanity, what for years was a real struggle each Passover season – what, you mean I can’t eat corn and soy and leavened wheat products and WHAT WILL I EAT?? – has now become fairly easy with my newfound Paleo-esque diet tendencies. Passover dietary restrictions are pretty much “primal-style”, and excuse to do a Whole7 reset if you forgo the permitted dairy and matzah. Who like matzah anyway? I know, I know, there’s all of those matzo crack recipes, and matzo balls, and every non-flour-based dessert known to man, but I probably shouldn’t be eating that all stuff to begin with.
Two weeks in a row without a strict meal plan and I’m feeling a little bit frantic, but this week is dedicated to spring, seder leftovers, and ancient reminiscence, so I’m trying to go with the flow.
This week I will be eating, in no particular order:
chopped liver // charoset (fruit chutney) // omelettes // tomato chicken // roman braised artichokes // egg lemon soup // brisket // roasted chicken // chocolate covered apricots // sephardic date truffles // asparagus
Are you celebrating Passover?
What’s on your table this week?
Matzah, Matzo or Matzoh?
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 31, 2014 | Meal Planning
Today I bought a pineapple, mostly because I like how they look. It was a toss up between daffodils or the pineapple, and the pineapple won out. At some point I’ll get to eating it, but for a few days at least it’ll be decorative – they are just such cheerful looking fruit. (On a side note, I’ve always been a fan of that Williams-Sonoma golden pineapple emblem. I’ve considered stealing it and making it my own, but I don’t really have any connection to the pineapple other than a passion for its spiky top, patterned body, and golden flesh.)
This afternoon, we experienced a minor kitchen tragedy: our microwave bit the dust. The control panel turns on, but the microwaving doesn’t actually happen. I suspect a fuse has blown, or something has burnt out, but you can’t really go and tinker with a microwave, lest you’d like to risk going back in time or exploding into a million small particles. (So I’m telling myself.) I suspect we’ll be living microwave free for quite a while. I’ve gone years at a time without one, and while they are very useful for steaming vegetables and reheating coffee, I find that I eat better when I don’t have immediate magical cooking rays at my disposal – mostly I end up snacking on things that I’d probably be better off not. I’ll have to figure out this coffee re-heating business though. If you have any brilliant suggestions, do let me know.
Week of Sunday, March 30th
Last week I tried out Cook Smarts, and enjoyed the relief of not having to make any meal planning decisions, but this week I was eager to mix it up a little bit and get inspiration from some of my cookbooks as well. Instead of the menu of the week, I wanted to try some of the Cook Smarts “favorite” week recipes, or at least use them as a starting point for my own meals.
Sunday: Maple-dijon salmon with asparagus. The maple dijon salmon was a Cook Smarts “favorite” pick that caught my eye – users rate the dishes they cook, and write short reviews – so I decided to try it out. For some reason Whole Foods had king salmon (I’m assuming it was frozen), and I decided to splurge in anticipation of salmon season starting at the end of spring. King salmon is hands down my favorite salmon.
Monday: Pork chops with balsamic brussels sprouts and orzo. Another Cook Smarts “favorite”, although I’m skipping out on the red onions because we’re ambivalent about them in this household.
Tuesday: Cumin-spiced lamb meatballs with shepherd’s salad + hummus. One of our favorites around here, I’ll be making Turkish köfte. I also picked up some roasted red pepper hummus, and will serve it all as one big salad.
Wednesday: Chicken thighs roasted with grape tomatoes. I try to operate under a meat and veg or two veg or three veg policy, but sometimes I just want a big bowl of slow roasted tomatoes with chicken. Does this make me weird?
Thursday: Salad plus fixins’. The truth is, I went to the store and the last few meals on my list weren’t sounding so good anymore. So I bought extra romaine lettuce, and I’ll crack open the pantry and the freezer and round out a good salad with all the fixins’.
Friday: Out!
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 23, 2014 | chicken, Meal Planning
Before I get to my meal plan, I have to share with you the best dinner that I made last week – the one that hit the spot in every which way. It ended up feeling a little bit Mediterranean, and a little bit Scandinavian, light and fresh and springy.
Balsamic chicken and potatoes with cucumber, avocado and dill salad. For this one I preheated the oven to 450 Fahrenheit, grabbed some chicken thighs, and seasoned them with salt, and a generous sprinkle of Italian seasoning (from the bulk Frontier spices). I made a dressing that was one part balsamic vinegar, and two parts olive oil – about 1/3 of a cup for about a pound and a half of chicken thighs – and coated the chicken in the dressing in a bowl. I set that aside while steaming some halved new potatoes in the microwave for 10 minutes, then layered my 12 inch skillet with the potatoes and chicken, gave everything a good mix with my hands, and then nestled the chicken thighs on top of the potatoes, baking for about 15 minutes, flipping the chicken, and cooking 15 minutes more. Once the chicken was cooked, I took it out of the oven, and let the potatoes cook for another 15 minutes until golden and a little puffy. Once they were done, I made a very quick salad – just a chopped cucumber, avocado, handful of fresh dill, olive oil, and a little salt. It was one of the first meals that I’ve eaten in my kitchen while sunlight was still in the sky! Welcome spring!
————
For the past few days I’ve been in Washington D.C. on a little vacation, although tragically I came down with a pretty awful stomach virus (or food poisoning, can’t be sure), and haven’t been very interested in any food. But, I knew that I’d be feeling better soon, so I decided to outsource my meal planning to the lovely Jess of Cook Smarts, and try out the service! (Yep, that’s an affiliate link – I get a small cut if you buy a plan yourself, but I purchased the plan with my own hard earned moolah!) Cook Smarts has a four day meal plan that is released each week (and access to the archives if you subscribe – plans are currently $6-8 a *month* depending on if you buy monthly or yearly), and after looking through the sample meals, I decided to bite and try things out. The meals are all quite adaptable, with substitutions for paleo, gluten-free, and vegetarian, and I’ve made my own little tweaks with vegetables that we prefer at home.
Week of Sunday, March 23rd
Sunday: Eggs, a tiny bit of cheese, and scoop of raw sauerkraut. I’m still trying to get back to a happy tummy, so I’ve been chowing down on sauerkraut, and other gut-building foods for the past day. I do well with full fat dairy, so I added a little bit of special cheese to make myself feel better.
Monday: Cook Smarts Meal #1. fish sandwich with kale chips. For me this will be fish salad with greens, and with a homemade tartar sauce.
Tuesday: Cook Smarts Meal #2. classic tacos with iceberg lettuce and avocado salad. Another slight modification as taco salad, and I’m guessing that we’ll both be enjoying this one! I’m not sure if I’m going to do iceberg or romaine.
Wednesday: Cook Smarts Meal #3. skillet chicken with chard and salsa over roasted potatoes. Chicken and potatoes never let me down, and I always gravitate towards these simply homey recipes in cookbooks when I see them. Sometimes it’s the meals with the least ingredients that can really shine. (I’ll report back.)
Thursday: Cook Smarts Meal #4 breakfast burritos with spinach and tomato salad. This will be a breakfast omelet for me – but I like that it uses some of the leftover potatoes from the previous night’s meal to put together something quickly! Economy and leftovers are key in my kitchen!
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 15, 2014 | Meal Planning
That light is coming back to us – the kind that feels restorative, and lasts past 6 in the evening. It’s sweet relief after this brutal winter, although I won’t presume that we’ve seen the last of the snow in New England! My meal plan this week is short, as I’ll be flying to the nation’s capital on Wednesday for a re-charge with Wellesley friends. I’m looking forward to lots of fabulous meals, and hopefully some real spring-like weather!
Simple meals this week, mostly built off a protein and a vegetable – the kind of dinners that come about when I shop without a grocery list. I decided to swing by the market *before* making my weekly meal plan today (usually my planning is an elaborate affair of my own volition where I surround myself with my cookbooks and get lost in them for hours) – so to avoid over-purchasing, I simply picked a few random proteins, vegetables I know we’ll both eat, some extra lettuce and spinach for salads, and hightailed out of there before I spent a paycheck on chocolate covered potato chips, matcha powder, fancy olives or some other superfluous treat.
Week of Saturday, March 15th
Saturday: Eggs, brussels sprouts, pancetta and a little bit of cheese. When in doubt – eggs for dinner. I think I might make a regular habit of a weekend egg dinner, instead of an extra meal out that too often occurs when I’m tired from batch cooking.
Sunday: Chicken thighs, brussels sprouts, and new potatoes. A variation of what I go to week after week. I picked up a few new cookbooks this weekend including Anya von Bremzen’s The New Spanish Table and David Leite’s The New Portuguese Table, so I’m guessing we’ll be having some seasoning from that general region to spice things up – maybe a large dollop of homemade mayo to bring it all together.
Monday: Marinated Pork tenderloin and broccoli. A little boring. I’ll be coming home from an evening yoga class, so I needed something quick and relatively hands off.
Tuesday: Vietnamese-ish beef and carrot salad with mint. My everyday favorite: ground beef with five spice, and a carrot and mint salad with a basic Nuoc Cham, a dressing of fish sauce, a little sugar, and lime.
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Mar 9, 2014 | Books, Meal Planning
I follow Food52’s ‘Tournament of Cookbooks‘ – The Piglet – with the same fervor that I follow my Boston sports teams. Every year there are excellent selections, usually books that I have and cherish, and a handful of new ones that I have yet to explore. The judging is done by the culinary elite, professional chefs, food writers, and a few wild cards – this year I grinned excitedly when I saw Josh Malina’s name on the list. The reviews are always thoughtful, the judging is taken very seriously, and most of the time I find myself nodding along as the rounds progress. (One noted exception would be the upset when Burma lost last year, grumble.)
This season I had some favorites: Nigel Slater’s Notes from the Larder (i.e.: Kitchen Diaries II), which has a perpetual home on my coffee table and makes a weekly appearance on meal planning day for inspiration, Megan Gordon’s Whole Grain Mornings, because I hope to have a first cookbook as lovely as this one, and Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy – just a great overall work. The winner, as it turns out, was also one of my favorites: Louisa Shafia’s ‘The New Persian Kitchen’.
I’ve had a copy of Louisa’s book for nearly a year now, and I’ve cooked out of it many times. The seared chicken with peaches (and saffron, turmeric, and cinnamon) became a summer favorite. Her flavors are reminiscent of my own familiar Turkish and Jewish culinary roots, and Sara Remington’s photographs are stunning – especially the ones of Louisa herself. In honor of the win, several of my meals this week are inspired by her recipes, specific recipes with page numbers listed below.
Week of Saturday, March 8th
Saturday: Teriyaki Chicken Legs, broccoli, and mashed potatoes. This is my comfort food. The mashed potatoes in small quantity acquired from the Whole Foods salad bar.
Sunday: Vietnamese takeout. I’ve been meaning to try the Vietnamese restaurant inside the Super 88 – and I have a Bodypump class at Commonwealth Sports Club right next door late Sunday afternoon. Perfect!
Monday: New potatoes with dill and lemon (p. 29), brussels sprouts and pancetta, with some olive oil poached fish (p.93). In my childhood home, there was a line down the middle of our table between the dill lovers (my mom and I), and the dill loathers (the men). I think my brother has now moved into “ambivalent” range, thank goodness.
Tuesday: Creamy beans and chicken/turkey sweet basil sausage, salad. The sweet basil sausages are from Trader Joe’s, and they are excellent! (I like all of their chicken sausages really.)
Wednesday: Lamb meatballs with mint and garlic (p. 88) and cucumber salad. Her version of kufteh is very similar to the Turkish Köfte I make quite often.
Thursday: Turmeric chicken with sumac and lime (p. 103).
Friday: Out.
What’s on your table this week?
–– Sam
