Tag: diet

Mushroom Meatballs

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Meatballs were a favorite of mine growing up.  Just the other day, Heather and I realized that we have never actually made meatballs and pasta (zoodles or otherwise).  Having been together almost 3 years, I immediately found this unacceptable and wanted to make things better.

We probably all have a family version of meatballs, usually including some combination of ground beef, lamb, veal, or pork, but as I’m trying to make 2013 less meat-focused, I added mushrooms.  I “hated” mushrooms as a kid until I realized that I didn’t automatically hate everything my dad did (sorry, mom).  You’ll enjoy these meatballs with marinara, on their own, or in the traditional sense with the “noodles” of your choosing.

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Jawbone UP: A Review

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Since dialing in my diet, and finding what works and what doesn’t in a pretty large magnitude, I’ve been trying to take care of the other essentials of health: sleep and movement.  This could be considered a tool that falls within the quantified self movement, and while I’m not ready to go as far as Kamal Patel over at PainDatabase (though I love reading his material, I just know right now I’d drop the ball in terms of follow-through), this is a good start at being able to quantify your habits in order to enact change.  Working two jobs, I often spend a lot of time in front of a computer during the day, or up too late working.  It’s not always a perfect life, but I’m trying to be more aware of the time I spend idle, and the times when I don’t get enough sleep.

Since purchasing the Jawbone UP, I’ve been able to track how late I stay up and whether or not it has any tangible affect on my sleep quality or my overall mood over the next few days.  The UP is a really cool product that has a bit of a tarnished history because of it’s first generation attempt about a year and a half ago.  It had a great debut as a wearable fitness band, well before the Nike FuelBand, but the resulting product reliability took things downhill.

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Steamed Mussels

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Mussels are something that I’ll get occasionally at a restaurant, but rarely have we made them at home.  Especially since changing my eating habits, I’ve found that mussels are rarely super contaminated with sugar, grains, or legumes, so they’re a standard go-to if we’re out to eat at an Italian restaurant.  What I never really connected the dots on was how easy they are to make at home.  I make littleneck clams for my mom and me on the grill, but this was my first attempt at mussels at home.  This will be a more regular thing from now on.

If you’re on the fence, know that this went from start to finish in under 30 minutes.

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Spicy Curry Chicken Wings

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Brent loves buffalo wings, and while I love his Zesty Buffalo Wings, I’ve always preferred wings with other flavors—sweet barbecue, teriyaki, honey barbecue, jerk, spicy barbecue… (Hi, my name is Heather and I have a problem: I love barbecue.) So, with all the big football games lately, I’ve been itching to experiment with the wings.

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Creamy Cucumber Salad

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I’ve been trying to incorporate more greens into my diet lately–I love my chili and ribs, but I often find myself short on the green stuff.  This was somewhat inspired by the traditional American macaroni salad, but came out much creamier and sweeter.

As an added bonus, this shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to make if you already have mayonnaise on hand; add another 5 if you need to make some.  I think you’re going to like it.  It’s light enough to go with your grilled or baked meats, or just on its own as a great snack.

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