Farmers Market Lunch

Oh how I've missed my weekly Saturday lobster salad. Everything on the plate (except the avocado and pomegranate seeds) is from the Union Square GreenMarket.

The lobster is the best deal in town - $10.95/lb (up a dollar from last year) cooked-to-perfection lobster from the fish stand, PE & DD.

Check out Mark Bittman's NYTimes article about American's consuming less meat and the possible reasons why.

I see many more "meatless anydays" in the future...

Garden Salad

Cremini Mushrooms

Roast Eggplant, Tomato and Artichokes with Garlic and Lemon

Vegetable Saute

Meatless Anyday

I think it's important to go meatless at least one day a week and I often find myself going meatless even more than that without even trying.  I love a good steak as much as the rest of you, but it's important to get variety and not load up on the saturated fat that comes along with most meat.  Meatless Monday has health and environmental benefits, so give it a try.

Here are some meatless anyday recommendations:

• Salad:  This is an easy one.  You can include all types of salads (fruit, quinoa, wheatberry, etc) on your plate.  Here, I made an easy garden salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, and pomegranate seeds; and a roast butternut squash Israeli couscous (also called pearl couscous).  The only dressing I have over the garden salad is fresh squeezed lemon.  If you need more of a kick, any kind of vinegar would be fine, may I recommend the Spectrum pomegranate white wine vinegar, found a Wholefoods.  As for the couscous salad, I bought the Israeli couscous at Trader Joe's and I also bought their precut raw butternut squash that was all ready to go in the oven to roast.  There is even a recipe for the whole thing on the Trader Joe's box.  Including different types of salads on your plate is the best way to get all the nutrients you need and to fill you up.  The veggies have most vitamins (especially A and C) and minerals; and the couscous has the fiber and the complex carbs to keep you feeling full.

I always like to add a little fruit to my garden salads for a sweet touch

• Stir-Fry:  Make the switch to brown rice from white rice.  This way, you gain all the fiber that is striped from the white rice version and you get all the nutrients too.  While you are making the rice, cut up and saute your veggies in a pan.  Use olive oil to lightly coat the pan and veggies.  I like to add broccoli, carrots, snow peas, peppers, and mushrooms the mix.  Once everything is mixed in together, feel free to add a teaspoon of low-sodium soy sauce or other sauce, I like San-J Teriyaki, but only use a little bit because there is a lot of sodium (and added sugar!) in these types of sauces.  If you need more flavor, add garlic to your olive oil when you are sauteing the veggies or try grating fresh ginger over top of the meal.  Again, you have the whole grains for fiber and keeping you feeling full and the veggies for the vitamins and minerals...whole grains have vitamins and minerals too!

For a little protein, try adding an egg

• Pasta Primavera:  This is also an easy one...I mean, who doesn't have a box of pasta sitting in their cabinet?  I often make this when I have a bunch of veggies that I need to use up sitting in the fridge and I'll just throw in whatever I have.  Use wholewheat pasta, of course, and steam or lightly saute some veggies.  Here I had steamed some kale, chopped up some raw yellow and red bell peppers, and sautéed some crimini mushrooms.  Other good things to add are artichokes, tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, swiss chard, even a little avocado would be nice creamy touch.  Feel free to add any herbs, like basil or oregano, for some added flavor.

Any shape of pasta will do, just use your favorite

30 Healthiest Ingredients

I found this list from a Real Simple magazine which states "Stock your pantry and refrigerator with these nutritious, expert-recommended foods."  I don't know who these experts are, but this list sounds pretty good to me and I already buy most of this stuff on a weekly basis.

Try adding 1-2 of these ingredients to your shopping cart each week.  While you're at it, as you add one of these items in, try to take out something not as healthy; perhaps a heavily processed item or something high in sugar or fat?  Give it a try and see how it goes.  Soon you'll be eliminating the unhealthy and enjoying the healthy.

1. almonds
2. avocados
3. barley
4. black beans
5. blueberries
6. broccoli
7. bulgur
8. chard
9. chicken breasts (skinless)
10. edamame
11. eggs
12. extra-virgin olive oil (may I recommend finding one that contains olives grown and bottled in Italy...be weary of ones that just say "bottled in Italy" as those could be olives from anywhere).
13. kale
14. kidney beans
15. kiwi  
16. lentils
17. mushrooms
18. oatmeal (steel-cut or old-fashioned)
19. oranges
20. peanut and almond butter (all-natural)
21. pumpkin
22. quinoa
23. sardines
24. skim milk
25. spinach
26. sweet potatoes
27. walnuts
28. wholegrain pasta
29. wild salmon (aim to get sockeye or Alaskan salmon, try to avoid Atlantic salmon, which is basically synonymous with farm-raised.
30. yogurt (nonfat Greek)

Quinoa + Salad

Lobster Salad Lunch

My new favorite thing is going to the Union Square farmers market on Saturday mornings.  I pick up fruits, veggies, Ronnybrook skim milk in their adorable glass bottle (though I wish they were dark glass bottles to prevent the loss of the light-sensitive B-vitamins), various multigrain seeded breads, and fish and shellfish from the friendly folks at the PE & DD fish stand.

Their fish/shellfish is so FRESH and you better get there early if you want some.  The past couple of times I've gone, the bluefish is gone by 8am.  A few others sell out by 9am and most all of the stuff is gone by 3pm or so.

I have been picking up one freshly cooked lobster (chilled) and a pound of cod or flounder.  Next time I will not pass up on the tuna steaks-- they looked absolutely amazing last week.

The lobsters are about a pound and a half and PE & DD charge $9.95/lb.  I do not own lobster crackers (they're on my list to pick up sometime soon), so I've been enjoying watching my boyfriend go at it with a hammer in our kitchen.  We keep the lobster wrapped in a plastic bag and use folded up paper towels as a buffer in between the hammer slams and the lobster.  It's worked very well so far :)

I grew up in Massachusetts and spend every summer vacation in Maine, so I am very familiar with good lobster.  This is some of the best lobster I've ever had.  They cook it perfectly.  Normally I'm the type who loves warm lobster with dripping hot butter smothered over it.  These chilled lobsters over a salad is my new favorite dish- the lobster is soooo tasty without anything on it.  I don't even use dressing on the salad, just a touch of lemon squeezed over it.

The tail is easy to get out, no use of the hammer here.  Simply twist and tear it away from the rest of the body.  Use a sharp knife and cut a line down the center of the underside.

Pull the sides apart like so...

And pop the meat out from the shell.

 Viola!

I simply cut up the meat and put it atop all my fresh veggies from the market: organic fresh greens, organic snap peas, organic tomatoes, avocado (bought at Whole Foods for $2.50), organic pear (bought at Trader Joe's for .49 cents), radishes, and organic bean sprouts.