For the birds! (Cooking)

[thistlechaser]

A while back, when I gave up meat, I still had hamburgers ("hamburgers") -- I'd order it with everything I wanted on it, just hold the meat. At the time I said I didn't miss it, that I hardly noticed the change in flavor at all. People scoffed at me, but it was true.

So it shouldn't have surprised me that, when I tried my first turkey burger today, I enjoyed it. Shouldn't have surprised me, but did. Not only did I enjoy it, it was probably the best burger I've had all year. I would never have guessed it was turkey. I'm trying to cut my consumption of red meat down to 1-2 times a week, so that I like turkey burgers is a great discovery.

Because cutting back on red meat isn't fun enough, I'm trying to cut back on sodium, too. (And add to that that I need to be low carb as well, and it becomes a great puzzle on what in the world I CAN eat.) So tonight I cooked. And, mind bogglingly, it came out well. Simple as pie, too!

Marinate a chicken breast in the juice of a lime, some olive oil (I used EVOO, if it matters), and garlic. (You were supposed to use black pepper as well, but somehow I forgot that. Clearly a recipe with five ingredients is just too challenging for me!) Leave it marinating in the fridge for a couple hours, then cook however you want (I baked it). Amazing. Not a single grain of salt on it, and it tasted really good. Somehow the lime took the place of salt and made it interesting. I used to salt everything, and I didn't miss it at all here.

I'm not aiming for 100% perfect all the time (for me, that's a recipe for failure), and there is a lot of give-and-take (turkey burgers are likely high in sodium), but there are lots of little changes that are easy enough to make. Little steps all add up.

PS: French fries with no salt aren't too bad if they're very hot out of the fryer. It breaks my heart that ketchup is very high in sodium, because I swear I could drink it straight from the bottle. Those things together mean it's easier to get fries and eat only a couple.

Comments

[gconnor.livejournal.com]

I don't usually suggest cutting out meat as a way to improve one's eating plan. For most people it seems to lead them to have more grains, which doesn't seem to improve outcomes in my experience.

But, I also applaud folks who are taking the vegetarian path for moral reasons. I believe it's possible to eat vegetarian and still get appropriate amounts of fats and proteins, and avoid having grains at every meal. Much much harder, but possible. If you're taking such a path to improve the state of the planet, you are a braver person than I.

I think the "casual" vegetarians are the ones setting themselves up for problems later. Those are the vegetarians who don't actually eat vegetables (much) and survive (for now) mostly on grains. But since you used the code words "low carb" and "EVOO" you are probably not in that category. Keeping one eye on carbs is a good way to avoid falling into the trap of breads/refined starches/sugars etc.

You are probably aware of good veggie-friendly fat soruces and aren't afraid to use them. Olive oil is one, avocados and nuts are the other well-known ones. You may also want to try out coconut oil or macadamia nut oil.

Do you use any kind of app to keep track of your foods? I've been using Lose It for a year and a half now and it's great... it's not just for counting calories but also counts carb/fat/protein balance. I have found it a valuable tool for checking out my diet and seeing if the changes I'm making are taking me where I want to go.

Anyway... I love that you are willing to share your experiences. Thanks for that. Good luck and good health wishes to you.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I was originally in the "casual vegetarian" group, and it lead to a lot of my current problems. I didn't want to eat meat, but there's not a single vegetable I like, so I was basically eating an all-carb diet.

I'm not trying to cut out all meats now, just reduce red meat.

And thanks! I'll keep posting about it when there are interesting things to share.

[loup_noir]

Ground turkey and chicken can also make good chili. If you like Indian cuisine, get a boneless breast or thighs, cube the meat or just score it deeply, and marinate in plain yogurt with some masala or tandoori rub/paste overnight. If you have a grill, grill the meat, but if you don't, broiling it will work, too. Serve over rice or with some naan or some veggies.

The really easy way to marinate chicken is to get some Newman's Own Italian salad dressing. Put the chicken in a ziplock, add just enough salad dressing to coat thoroughly, zip it up, and leave it overnight.

Good thing I just ate breakfast, or I'd be hungry.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the ideas! The dressing one especially -- nice and easy!

[teaandfailure.livejournal.com]

Veggie idea for you!

Twice-baked zucchini. Have you ever had a twice baked potato? It is like that, only with zucchini. Take a big zucchini, cut it in half, then cut each half in half so that you have four zucchini boats. Brush with EVOO, put in oven on 350 until they get soft.

Take out, let cool. Scoop out guts. Mix guts with WHATEVER THE HELL DELICIOUSNESS YOU WANT. I like to use goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, a little sausage or turkey... whatever you have on hand that is reasonably healthy. Stir all that up and stuff the zucchini boats with it.

Bake for a little longer. You can dust them with parmesan cheese if you so desire. I sometimes so desire.

THEY ARE DELICIOUS.

You can also get some veggies by grating zucchini or cabbage and mixing it in with ground turkey to make a turkey burger. I do this all the time too.

You can also bake fries and they are not so bad that way. I have been trying to switch to sweet potatoes since they are so much better for you, but I still sometimes get after some russets.

I have also been trying to cut down on the grains, which is not so hard except for rice. OH GOD, WHY DO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, RICE? WHY?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that sounds interesting! Thanks!

And yes, rice is so wonderful and good. WHY ARE YOU NOTHING BUT CARBS, BELOVED RICE?

[halogin.livejournal.com]

http://food52.com/recipes/18226-ketchup maybe for ketchup? I mean, it does have some salt and canned puree'd tomatoes (though if you can do your own that might work, idk), but still probably has less sodium than Heinz or whatever. I haven't tried the recipe yet but I want to, perhaps after we move. :)
http://food52.com/recipes/18345-brown-beer-mustard is the recipe for the mustard in that pic too, incidentally. Something else I'd love to try making someday.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh that looks interesting, thanks! I never thought of making it myself.