Diet of a Decade
This side of my blog has been slumbering a while, but I think I’ve got a handle on how to keep the more personal stuff separate from my “official” posts now.
So without further ado, here’s what I ate for dinner: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
My eating habits have undergone a revolution in the past decade. I took classes on nutrition at Methodist Hospital and learned how to count calories according to the American Dietetic Association guidelines. (Deal-A-Meal, anyone?) I tried the South Beach Diet with George and learned about the importance of fiber and the glycemic index. It also opened my eyes to the overwhelming majority of processed foods that incorporate some form of sugar. Reading In Defense of Food last year, I learned even more about the dangers of processed foods and the deceptiveness of food labeling. And of course, the numerous E. Coli outbreaks over those years made me deeply suspicious of conventional farming and meat production. Tools like FitDay and BodyBugg keep me honest and aware of everything that I put into my body and how my habits relate to my goals.
Back to the stuffed cabbage. My German ancestry is far enough removed that I didn’t grow up eating this. I was actually inspired to make this because it was my favorite Lean Cuisine. Obviously I no longer eat Lean Cuisine.
With no German or Polish grandmother’s recipe at hand, I turned to the internet, and decided on a Wolfgang Puck recipe from Food Network. I like this site because the recipes are typically well-tested and the community reviews often include practical tips.
Cabbage is supposed to be in season, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture (another reason I chose this particular dish), but Whole Foods didn’t have any in stock yesterday. Not the ordinary green kind, anyway. Neither did they have Savoy cabbage, which is preferred in the recipe. All they had was $5/lb organic Napa Cabbage imported from California. I bought two heads. This morning I found myself at the downtown farmer’s market, and the only vegetable for sale at all was “Copenhagen” green cabbage. Ah well.
The Napa cabbage had significantly smaller leaves than the recipe called for, so I used 21 leaves instead of 12, and still had enough meat filling left over for four more rolls. I was out of leaves, and they wouldn’t have fit in the pan anyway. I liked the flatter rib of the Napa cabbage, which I didn’t remove. The sauce was more watery than I expected, so next time I’ll cut back on the chicken broth. I should also baste the rolls halfway through cooking or use a lid, because the tops were beginning to scorch in the 400º oven.
I let George choose the type of meat for the filling. Puck suggests a three-meat blend, which unless you’re making a double batch, would be a pain to procure in the proper quantities. It would try the butcher’s patience if I asked for 8-ounce portions of ground lamb, pork, and chicken. George picked an extra-lean (96/4) grass-fed beef. Can you tell he’s also read Pollan’s book? We also watched Food Inc last week on Netflix Instant via his new PS3.
Delicious! The inclusion of milk-soaked bread kept the meat filling moist, despite the low fat content of the meat. I halved the amount of olive oil in the sauce with no ill effect. Three cabbage rolls came to a grand total of only 250 calories and 10 grams of fat.