Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Foody-food goodness

Not to take away from the Brilliant Jamie's food blog, but I'm in a non-literary creative mood tonight.

See both hubby and I are trying to be healthy and lose a few pounds. We tend to eat later in the evening than we should, so I have been trying to cook light and low carb, as we head to bed only an hour or so after eating.

When you eat burgers without the buns, it could be lame---or, it could be a tasty, nouveau surprise. :) Tonight's menu is lamb patties with homemade tzatziki* sauce, and a cucumber and tomato salad with fresh mint. Now, I never measure, but I try to note what I've been doing. Season yours with whatever you may have and to taste.

*tzatziki is a Greek chutney made with yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and dill. I add lemon and olive oil to mine. It usually served as an appetizer with pita, or as an accompaniment to grilled meats like gyro and souvlaki.

Lamb patties

3/4 to 1 lb ground lamb
1 egg
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 clove fresh garlic finely minced
1 tbsp or more fresh herbs such as parsley, oregano, or rosemary (easy on the rosemary it dominates.) if you have them.
salt and black pepper to taste.

Lightly beat egg, stir in seasonings, add lamb and mix well to blend. Form serving size patties.
Best cooked on the grill, you can't beat the flame broiled flavor with the lamb meat. Serve with tzatziki.

Tzatziki Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 small cucumber peeled and seeded, then finely chopped or shredded.
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
chopped fresh baby dill

Layer a mesh strainer with cheesecloth, and place the yogurt in it to drain for about an hour. Blend in a bowl with the rest of ingredients. Best if made up to 24 hours ahead.

I have also made Italian meatloaf burgers that came out awesome, but I can't remember what exactly I put into them! *sniff*

As Julia would say, "Bon appetite!"

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Yummy!

Dave Amirault said...

Low carb is a bunch of bullshit. The key to getting fit and shedding a few pounds is not to eat hamburgers...

Good work finding some healthy alternatives. Now the trick is shopping for the healthy stuff and not caving in and hitting the crappy eateries during the lunch hour.

Then again, you can always move the family to Boulder... One of the most active cities in the country. You'd be dropping pounds in no time... He'll, I've lost over 20.

hello jamie: said...

I've been a Nutrition Nazi since I finished Nutrition at school, G. I stopped counting carbs, too, and starting counting fiber. (Well, and kcal, fat, and protein.) But generally speaking, grains that are high in fiber are high in GOOD carbs, and low in fiber are high in BAD carbs. The good carbs (fiber) is what makes you feel full, and generally speaking, you should have at least 25g a day. Harder than it sounds, since your everyday bread/bun/pasta has about 1g of fiber.

My new favorite vehicles are dried apricots (5 have 90 cal and 3g of fiber; great snack with a piece of cheese for protein and fat) and who'da thunk it? Popcorn. I got an air popper for my birthday, and just one serving has 6g of fiber! AND 4g of protein. YAY! Also, Kashi Go Lean Crunch is the my new favorite cereal (8g fiber, 9g protein) and I read in Self that Kashi now makes toaster waffles, which I will certainly be investigating upon my next trip to Whole Foods.

Best of luck - your lamb patties sound awesome and I LOVE tzaziki! I made tuna today with garbanzo beans, dill, garlic, and lemon juice, and I was wishing I had a cucumber.

I know you work in the health field, too, but let me know if you have any questions. I love this stuff.

Anonymous said...

Dave, how could you possibly have lost 20lbs? Jeez dude eat more burgers! Boulder and Denver are actually a couple of the cities in this country that I can get work in my field. Who knows, some day it may happen.

Jamie, interesting concept but I've found that blanket statements about metabolism and diets are generally wastes of time. Everyone's body is different and burns fuel slightly differently.

Don't forget to count those bad carbs too because unless you burn them pretty quick the protien from that cheese probably won't be doing more than sitting in your body turning to fat. The 3g of fibre in the cup of apricots is great but it also comes with net 15g of bad carbs. Also I'd double check the carb count on the popcorn too. To get the 6g of fiber and 4g or protein you're eating 3-4 cups and getting about 17g of the bad carbs.

Along with every gram of good fiber carb comes several grams of bad carbs.

Everything in moderation and keep that metabolism up by exercising.