A Tale of Tat Soi

Last Saturday, with warm weather still lingering in Middle Tennessee like a summer cold, I was on a mission.

My goal: to find some summer-y type produce at the West Nashville Farmer's Market.

Parsnips, turnips, and butternut squash just don't have much appeal for me when the temperatures are still in the 80s.

I wanted tomatoes! Corn! And I was craving watermelon, but I knew that wasn't gonna happen. The best I could hope for was a few straggly tomatoes, I knew...and then I checked my Facebook before heading out.


There it was, a post from the Farmer's Market. They really know how to reel you in with tantalizing descriptions of kettle corn and homemade marshmallows, but what intrigued me was their comment about Delvin Farms' purple-green tat soi. www.delvinfarms.com

I'd never even heard of tat soi--yet, even though it wasn't a summer vegetable I was still intrigued.

So once at the market, I headed straight to Delvin Farms' booth.

And there it was...tat soi. It was indeed purply green, and came in huge bunches with spoon-shaped leaves of varying sizes. I asked the worker about it--could I cook it like kale?

Her answer was yes, so I bought a double bunch for a mere $3. That seemed a small price for something so intriguing, and suddenly straggly tomatoes weren't so appealing anymore.

Once home, I decided to search the internet for recipes using tat soi and came across this gem at http://foodblogga.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-is-tat-soi.html, a recipe for gingery sauteed tat soi with tofu steaks. The recipe was simple, sounded tasty--and, I happened to have all the ingredients on hand.

A bit more research uncovered the facts that tat soi can be used as a salad green, that it is highly nutritious, and also that it can grow in temps down to 15 degrees and harvested in the snow--what could be more perfect since next growing season I will be in Chicago?

Here are a few pics of the tatsoi and the dish. I loved the zing of the lime and the zip of the ginger, and the brown sugar cut the saltiness of the soy sauce. All in all, it was a perfect healthy meal.
And now the temperatures are cooler, so I feel more inclined to cook with homey (and homely) root vegetables and make comforting soups. When I go back to the market on Saturday I am purchasing more tat soi and will try it in soup.

I Know My Own Strength

For whatever reason, I was a total dunce at PE when I was in school.

I was a pretty solid A/B student except for math and PE, and as challenging as math was for me, I'd definitely pick it over PE.

PE really wasn't too bad until 7th or 8th grade...until then it was more like playing.


But in 7th grade our teacher instituted President Kennedy's Physical Fitness program and PE became a state of torture for me.

There was a thing called the 600-yard run/walk...and I and our class "fat kid" Tommy were always dead last. I remember panting, groaning, sweating...OK, there are other activities in which panting, groaning, and sweating can be fun but this was not one of them. It was humiliating.

I was searching the 600 yard run/walk on google the other day and found someone of my generation who also had to do it; he was a football player and said he had trouble with it, so I felt somewhat vindicated. But back then, definitely humiliating.

Then, in high school one of my PE teachers was also the basketball coach...she wanted to use the PE time to get in extra practice, so she told me if I would sit on the bench the entire class, she'd give me a B. So I did, and she did, and my parents actually paid money for me to go to this school.

As far as other sports, I had a horror of volleyball because I was afraid of getting hit in the mouth, or of my glasses breaking.

Volleyball became like a form of bullying to me. I felt absolutely hopeless and helpless when it came to catching a ball or hitting a ball. I actually kind of liked soccer but didn't have much chance to play.


In college, I took tennis. That wasn't so bad, because the summer between 8th and 9th grade I took private tennis lessons. I wasn't good in college, but at least I had some idea of what I was doing.

Ten years later when I returned to college to get my journalism degree, I had to take another PE class. I took folk dancing, and guess what--I never went and never dropped it. Only F I ever made in my entire life!

But somewhere into my 40s I decided I wanted to be an athlete as well as lose weight, and now I am doing it!

Steve practices catching with me and once he told me to focus on the object, hey...I can catch! I am pretty darn good. In fact, when we move to Chicago I am going to try out for the Cubs and take them to the World Series!

And I am pretty good at running, too. The first time my mother saw me running in our yard a few months ago, she asked Steve if it was me! Yes, it was and I love it. No more huffing and puffing, just a feeling of coming into my own skin.

I love feeling strong and empowered from running, from yoga, strength training, and even catching.

I wish I could have experienced this feeling when I was younger, but for whatever reason I didn't.


This is what I call growing old gracefully!

Next up--kickboxing...I wanna punch something!!!

Best Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe

The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook

I love Jillian Michaels' new Master Your Metabolism cookbook! The recipes are fresh, delicious, easy to prepare, and also contain information about how the veggies, fruits, and herbs in the recipes will benefit your health.

For example, Jillian's Simple Marinara Sauce is anti-cancer, heart healthy, boosts immunity, and boosts metabolism. She also notes that making marinara sauce at home is cheaper and allows you to control all the ingredients--no high fructose corn syrup.

I was so glad to have found this recipe, because as I eat cleaner and healthier, jarred pasta sauce (which I always used because I did not know how to make homemade) just doesn't taste right.

So here's the recipe in all it's simplicity and beauty! I've used it as a sauce for pasta, and today had some as tomato soup and it was fabulous. It freezes really well. I'll be making more again soon.

1 TB olive oil
1 cup finely chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 fresh or dried bay leaf
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, low sodium
1 TB fresh chopped parsley or 1 tsp dried
1 TB chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried
1 TB chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

In a large skillet heat olive oil over med-low heat. Add onion, garlic and bay leaf, and cook, stirring, until softened and just beginning to brown, 6-8 min.

Push the onion and garlic to one side of the pan and add the tomato paste to the cleared spot. Cook about 2 min. Stir onion and garlic into the paste and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the paste is darker in color, 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the crushed tomatoes, parsley, oregano, basil, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer 15 min. Remove and discard bay leaf.

If a smooth sauce is desired, transfer to food processor or blender and process till smooth.

Store in refrigerator 4 days or freeze for up to 6 months.

Enjoy!

It's Summer, and I'm Holding

Several days ago I was thinking back to my childhood, and realized that the only season I really remember is summer.

Sure, I remember the Halloween when I was 12 and dressed up as a gypsy; the Thanksgivings when we had a pop-up, cutout centerpiece of the Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving (it's still down in the basement, a wonderful vintage reminder of times past); and of course, there's Christmas...

But other than that, all my memories are centered around summer: fishing at Audubon Lake, picking blackberries at my grandfather's farm, my grandmother's blackberry cobbler, homemade peach ice cream at the church ice cream social, the church picnic at the Marsh's house on Coro Lake, running through the sprinkler, swimming at Maywood--I could go on and on.

Summer was my favorite season then, and it's still my favorite season--or at least, until the world started getting hotter.

I love homegrown tomatoes, I still love blackberry cobbler, homemade peach ice cream, swimming, picnics and all the other stuff that goes along with summer, but the intense heat we've had in Tennessee this summer does not agree with me.

I abandoned my running schedule in June when we had three weeks of 90+ temps. Then, I ran a couple of times in July when the early morning temps were in the 60s, but once they got back into the 70s even at 5:30 a.m., I have trouble breathing.

I feel lethartic and lazy, not motivated to exercise even indoors. And I've been eating a bit more. The plus side of that is that I am not hungry all the time. And, also on the plus side is that I haven't gained any weight--I've maintained for the past month.


So at least I know that I know how to maintain! That is something I was wondering about and unsure about, because I've never been able to do it in the past.

I've had some wonderful summer meals, too. We've grilled out a lot: chicken, beef, veggies. I got some pretty darn good frozen peach yogurt at Kroger, which replaces the homemade peach ice cream, and I am trying out a new recipe for lemon-macerated okra that is marinated with Kalamata olives. And I have a few heirloom tomatoes left from my Farmer's Market foray on Saturday. I also found out that heirloom tomatoes are really, really good with pulled pork. They make a nice, low-calorie sub for slaw, which I don't care for anyway because I don't like mayo.

So all in all, it's been a good summer despite the heat. It's not even August yet, and I feel sure we have at least another 4 weeks of temps over 90.

As long as I keep maintaining, squeeze in a few yoga workouts, and maybe even go to the swim beach at Old Hickory Lake, I will definitely be able to say it was a good summer, maybe even a memoriable one!

Oh, and I'll be putting up recipes later this week...I can't wait to try that marinated okra; it has to sit for 48-72 hours and I just prepared it this morning.

Can (Insert Name Here) Come Out and Play?

Today I did something a little bit scary and very exciting: I started a "Fit Over Fifty" meetup group in the Nashville area.

So if you're in the area, and over fifty...go to www.meetup.com and sign up! It's for women and men.

We'll support each other on our fitness journeys, share information, and hopefully even take some field trips like hikes, grocery/pantry makeovers, and more.

I realize I need to engage in life more, and interact with people. Living where I do, outside of Nashville in a rural area, is isolating for me. I need to receive support from others as well as give it.

Hopefully, we will be able to meet at Whole Foods in Green Hills when we are not out on field trips.

Hopefully, those of you who live nearby will be able to "come out and play"! I want this to be fun.

How Do You Handle a Hungry Man?

Manhandlers!

Anyone over 40 probably remembers that back in the '60s Campbell's introduced a line of Hungry Man soups with that jingle, implying that a hungry man was a force to be reckoned with...and I have to agree!

When I began losing weight and exercising last September, Steve got on board, too.

However, my usual lunch of spring mix, a few pieces of roasted chicken, fruit, and balsamic dressing just doesn't fill him up.

By default, he landed back into the world of a couple of hot dogs for lunch, and since after all, he IS from Chicago, that's a pretty normal lunch...and filling...but not healthy.

So, we've had several conversations lately about what he could eat that would be filling, healthier, and not the same old, same old.

We drew a blank.

Then, my mother, in an effort to keep the kitchen cool, made some tuna salad for her nightly meal. So that gave me an idea.

Now...I have never, ever in my life tasted tuna. This is because I was diagnosed with a seafood/fish allergy when I was around 4.

So I have never made tuna salad, but since Steve loves it I decided to give it a whirl.

I turned to one of my favorite recipe sources, Taste of Home Healthy Cooking, which features recipe makeovers. http://www.tasteofhome.com/Healthy-Cooking-Magazine

Sure enough, in the spring issue there was a tuna salad recipe.

Kroger had tuna on sale, so we snagged three cans and this morning we made tuna salad. I handled chopping the vegetables and adding the seasonings, and had Steve drain and flake the tuna and then mix it in so I would not have any sort of reaction.

He had two sandwiches at lunch, and loved it!

The recipe makes 5 sandwiches so that will hold him for another day.

Here's the recipe:

drain and flake 3 cans of water-packed tuna

chop 1/4 cups each of carrots and celery

add 1/2 tsp onion poweder and 1/2 tso garlic powder

add 1/4 tsp dill (I used some fresh dill I had bought at the Farmer's Market)

mix in 3/4 cup low-fat mayo (I used Hellman's low fat olive oil mayo http://www.hellmanns.us/products/mayo_olive.aspx)

My mother makes what I guess is a more traditional tuna salad; she told me she uses celery, chopped apple, hard boiled egg, and little green onions + low fat mayo.

I feel good about either recipe since they contain plenty of veggies and in my mother's case, the egg adds extra protein and B vitamins and lutein, while the apple adds extra fiber as well as taste. I think I will try that next time.

My mother eats hers with iceberg lettuce, but Steve put his tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread.

How do you handle a hungry, wannabe healthy man at your house?

Being Seen, Part II

Well, the irony is not lost on me that I created a post called Being Seen, and then put a picture of a model wearing the top I bought this weekend, my first regular-sized top in about 8 years.

How much do I REALLY want to be seen?

Well...I did wear it to church yesterday, and I did wear my sundress on Saturday.

I always hate the way I look in photos.

More work to be done, as Jillian would say!