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March 28, 2005
Easter Dinner
Last night we went over to the home of the Parents of MR for Easter dinner. Mother of MR had decided to cook CR food for us, and we had an absolutely delicious Indian shrimp dish that combined flavors in a way that was totally new and exciting to me. First, we sauteed garlic and a whole whack of spices: curry, cumin, coriander, cilantro, tabasco sauce, and should have had tumeric but we couldn't find it, in some olive oil. Then we stirred in red onion. Next we added chopped apples: granny smith and braburn (sp?). Then we added plain yogurt and let it sit for about five minutes with the heat on low. Then we added shrimp and cooked that for about ten minutes. It was heavenly! The yougurt calmed down the spices, and the apples contributed a fascinating sweet/tart taste that interacted brilliantly with the shrimp and curry flavors. I foresee a lot of cooking with apples, plain yogurt, and spicy spices in my future! MR's mom also made my cauliflower soup, which turned out much better this time than when I made it for MR and ended up putting in tomato sauce and turning the whole thing a sickly shade of pink. We were amazed that the entire batch of soup, at least 5 cups, was only 150 calories, total! It tastes buttery and creamy, and yet has neither fat nor oil. For those of you who weren't around when I first published the recipe, it's just a head of cauliflower thrown into the food processor with four cups of chicken broth and approx two cloves of garlic. Blend until smooth, then cook on the stove in a large pot, adding half-salt and pepper to taste. If you wanted to you could add a bit of lemon juice but we didn't. You could also stir in other veggies, like broccoli or asparagus. Delicious! It doesn't get much more low calorie than that.
For dessert, MR's mom made a creation that is an example of extreme creativity making CR not just possible but fun. She whipped eggwhites into a meringue (did I spell that right?) using Splenda as the sugar substitute. Then she baked them for I think an hour and a half, until they turned into these amazing cookielike objects that tasted like a decadent dessert but were actually almost pure protein! Talk about a CR friendly dessert! It was hard to believe there were eggwhites! I may invest in an electric mixer so I can make them at home. Apparently it takes quite some time to beat the eggwhites into stiff peaks, but the results are unbelievable!
As we were leaving, MR's mom observed that this was the first time in about ten years that MR had eaten with them and eaten the same food as the rest of the family. He's been doing CR for about seven years, and before that was a vegetarian so has eaten different foods for a long time. We all ate the same thing last night because Mother of MR went to a great deal of trouble to make a meal that fit within our nutritional and calorie requirements -- a gesture that we both really appreciated. It reminded me of how important food really is, and how the experience of sharing a meal is so deeply imbedded in the idea of what it means to be a part of a community. It's no surprise that CR can result in social struggles. It's wonderful when we can share a meal that is both delicious and healthy -- there's no trade off between doing what we need to for our health and being part of the family or community.
One of the central challenges of CR is fitting it into family and social life. This is an area where we all come to our own compromises. It's so much easier when the people you're around are supportive and willing to play along, even if they don't practice CR when you're not around.
Being with MR really brings home to me the importance of food in a relationship -- whether we're cooking together, chattering in CR babble over the dinner table, or celebrating my CR birthday, it's clear that food is an important and positive part of our relationship. So many couples and families use food to nurture each other in ways that are ultimately unhealthy -- making high calorie "comfort food," pushing children to clean their plates, indulging in family trips to the corner ice cream shop... so much so that food in families has almost become synonymous with eating gak. Just think about what the term "kid food" brings to mind: chicken nuggets, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, french fries. I read somewhere once that a parent who would throw himself in front of a moving bus to protect his child thinks nothing of going through the McDonald's drive-thru for happy meals, even though teaching those bad food habits almost guarantees a heart attack later in life. When MR expresses concern over something I'm eating (like when I was eating salt instead of half-salt), I know he's not trying to be a pest or control me in any way -- it's the equivalent of grabbing my hand to prevent me from walking into an oncoming car that I didn't see but he did.
I'm in trouble if he finds out that I still talk on my cell phone while I drive.
Posted by april at March 28, 2005 08:05 AM
Comments
Ymmmm. I can't wait to eat some of this good food. VSM
Posted by: Marti at March 28, 2005 09:50 AM
Thank you for your compliments, April! What a grand & healthy time we had! The whole meal was very easy, in fact. The Indian Shrimp dish is from The Zone Cookbook and the Meringues can be found on the Splenda website. The only change I made was that I used straight Splenda (and less than suggested), rather than the Splenda/Sugar blend in the recipe.
The social aspect of sharing food is huge, at least in our family. As for "kid food", what an awful concept that has become! My mother's idea of "kid food" was a big bowl of homemade soup and some whole wheat bread! The reason MR has always been as healthy as he is, is because there wasn't much "kid food" as it is now defined consumed in our house. McDonald's & its ilk was a treat or somewhere we went when there wasn't time to prepare a decent meal!
Posted by: Judith at March 29, 2005 04:17 PM