Ethnic Post Dining Syndrome or The 'Itis

Why do I fall such a victim to food? I mean I seriously lose periods of my life to the phenomenon that is EPDS or what we endearingly call The ‘Itis. I love to cook. Matter of fact I can cook a variety of cuisines from scratch. Those who have been to my other blog have seen recipes and pictures of my more healthier treats, and those who are REALLY lucky have been to mi casa and enjoyed the finer things in life. Let me take a second to just go off on a tangent about how awesome it is that more and more women these days don’t know how to cook. I believe this is an added bonus on my dating resume. I’m cute, I’m smart, I love sports, and I can cook/bake from scratch. Not to put down my ladies who can’t (keep doing what you do) and not to sound like a woman’s job is to be in the kitchen. I’m just saying that I know the ways to a man’s heart and one of them is through his stomach. Not to mention, I will heavily monitor what my kids eat and the best way to do that is to make it myself. I’d say I’m an above average cooker

I’ve made

• Sauteed Shrimp (in a wine sauce) with Veggies & Rice
• Curry Chicken (complete with rice & peas, cabbage (I make amazing cabbage) and plantains
• Baked Fish stuffed w/Crabmeat
• Garlic Roasted Chicken (the whole chicken) with Risotto and asparagus
• Banana Bread Pudding that you will slap your mother over

I mean the list goes on and on. But there is one thing in common with all of these dishes, it gives me the ITIS. It does not matter what I eat. I will be asleep by the time I put the fork back down on the plate from the last bite. I know, I’ve read about the things in Turkey and poultry that make you sleepy when you eat them (this could explain it, seeing as I don’t eat beef or pork), but honestly, it happens to me no matter what I eat.

You may be thinking, “So? What’s the big deal?”

I’ll tell you what the big deal is. The ‘Itis strikes no matter where I am. Romantic dinner with a potential: sleep. Dinner over at potential’s parents: Sleep. Well I won’t go to sleep, but I’ll be miserable inside (if the food was good) and praying to get home and go to sleep. If I’m eating, I’m sleeping. It’s temporary of course, but I’ll be down for the count. I’ll wake up a few hours minutes later and I’ll be ready to go until 5 a.m. in the morning.

Lately, this has been ruining my life. The KFC free chicken thing put me down for like 2 hours on Cinco De Mayo! Let’s not even talk about what Popeyes did to me. We won’t talk about how I went to happy hour with my friends, but then passed out on their couch for 2 hours during the Celtics/Magic game and all I ate was a few popcorn chicken pieces and a fish taco (amazing by the way!). Eating has ruined my productivity. I believe in part that it is due to the weather change as well and all the things in the air, but something has to give! It’s either stop eating and be productive (yet die) or give in, eat, sleep, and get fat.

Someone help me! What fights the ‘Itis? What gives you the ‘Itis?

Oh and to all my ATLiens tomorrow there is a major ‘itis inducing event taking place at Centennial Park. Free Pancakes! Basically some place Batter Blaster will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for Most Pancakes Cooked in 8 Hours. I don’t really care why, for what, how, as long as I gets me a stack. My roommate will be in the place selling flavored syrups and I got OJ on deck. LOL and I’m kidding. It’s from 9-5 tomorrow, and I’ll be there for as long as I’m awake.

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Day 3: Feelin’ Good Feelin Great!

JG* is a happy camper! Yesterday went much much better. Of course I was hungry, but that’s the point. When I’m hungry, I know I’m hungry for God and that’s a great feeling. I had my usual goodies yesterday in the early half of the day. An Apple and some Puffins cereal. Then I had this AMAZING soup. It was an organic vegetable soup. Tasty! Yum! Loved it. I’m going to try the black bean soup I bought today. Thing is, I HATE beans. But I have to eat ’em. For dinner last night, I whipped up this:

Curried Vegetables over Brown Rice.

When I tell you I ate this plate with complete reckless abandon. You would have thought that I had just gotten out of prison.

Well after scarfing down my dinner, I went to have my soul fed. We have Bible Study on Tuesdays and it was great! It was also lovely to be with the rest of my fasters. The word was amazing, I may start posting online the topics and scriptures we covered. I gotta tell y’all. God is so good!

So I’m feeling great! I’m still struggling with that 6 a.m. prayer only because I absolutely CANNOT wake up. It’s weird. I wake up enough to pray, but I feel like a zombie. And once I’m done, I collapse back to unconciousness. This morning though I had a friend help me wake up by texting me nonstop. Sadly though I was awake, I was completely non-functional. It was a mess. I can stay up all night, and get up when I have to, but I am not an early riser. At all.

Tonight for dinner I’m making veggie chili. I’m really excited about this. I’m also going to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. It’s been forever since I’ve been there and I love love love that place. I’m just mad I can’t get any of the really good stuff like bread, and pasta. That’s killing me too.

But I press on!

JG*

Day 1 of my fast

Well it’s day one of my fast, and I feel great! I woke up at 6 am and said a Prayer and sent it up to my Lord to take care of everything going down on this earth. Last night I went shopping for Fast Foods. Heh. Get it? And I came home with a cart full of great veggies and fruits. I’m going to go by the farmer’s market later in the week and get even more for cheaper. I also picked up some vegetarian goodies since I figured this is as good a time than any to try some of these things. Learn how to cook vegan/vegetarian dishes. I’m always down to learn how to cook something new. I’m pretty excited about this! For some reason, my appetite is really curbed, and I’m feeling fine. I have corporate prayer at 12, and then another personal prayer later on this evening! I’m starting my morning off with some water, puffins cereal (no milk, I was going to buy Almond Milk, but I decided I’d get it at the Farmer’s market) which is whole grain, wheat free, gluten-free, and free of everything else. I bought some apples and a grapefruit for a snack. For lunch I have stir-fried vegetables, and for dinner I’ll be making curry vegetables. Or I may try one of my veggie burgers with my Tapioca Loaf “bread”.

Very excited. Continue to log on to hear my daily fast stories. 🙂

Thanks for your support!

JG*

JG*’s Spiritual & Physical Transformation!

Sorry, I was gone for a minute now I’m back! I had a lot going on last week, from traveling to Chicago, to traveling to Florida, to getting back to GA! 🙂 But y’all pray for me that God shows favor to me in my endeavors.

So next week I will begin the Daniel Fast with the other members of my Church. I’ll be tweeting, and blogging about how it’s going for you guy’s inspiration and reading pleasure.

Here is the breakdown of the fast that my Church has provided us with.

The Passage:

“And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:29 KJV

The Purpose:

• To corporately commit to praying and believing God for:
• Members being ethical
• Member’s employment
• Member’s peace of mind
• Sacrificial Giving
• Members being moral
• Member’s health
• Members spending daily time with God

The Period

The fast will last for 21 days. It will begin Monday, March 16th at 12:01 a.m. and end on Sunday, April 5th at 12:00 midnight.

The Procedures:

The type of fast we’ll be doing is the Partial Fast. This is the fast where you abstain from certain foods and/or thing. You CAN eat fruits and vegetables. The foods that we will not be eating during the fast period are as follows:

• No meals after 7:00 pm
• No meat
• No sweets or sugar
• No white potatoes
• No breads or pasta
• No fried foods
• No dairy
• No beverages other than PURE water

The Plan:

In addition to our food sacrifice, each member is asked to give up a non-food item of sacrifice. For example, you may go on a spending fast, or a facebook fast, etc.

• I am giving up Blackberry applications. While this may seem small, it’s a major sacrifice for me. No more Facebook for Blackberry, no more TwitterBerry, and I’m taking my email groups that I’m a member of off my phone.

The Prayer:

We will use three different prayer times during our corporate fast. Two of the prayer times are set times when all fasters should be praying. 6:00 am (alone) and 12:00 pm (praying with someone if possible) will be the daily set prayer times. The third time will be determined by each individual based on what works best for their family schedule it can take place any time, day or night.

• I will be doing my third prayer at 6:00 pm. This pray is to be for or with your family.

Well, this is the fast, and I would really appreciate everyone’s support. If you are interested in doing this fast as well, please comment or send me an email at jgrunsthecity@gmail.com and I can get you even more information, or answer any questions.

I’ll also be working out during this time, but with some modifications.

JG*

Food time again!

Here is another great recipe that I wanted to share. It was quick fun, and made me smile. 🙂

Look at all that delicious goodness

Bleu Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast, Butter Noodles, and Asparagus

Bleu Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

• 3 Chicken Breasts
• Bleu Cheese or any good creamy cheese of your choice
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Seasoning
• EVOO

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the chicken breasts in half but not completely. Don’t split them. Just enough to open the chicken breast. I then pound the chicken to a little more than a 1/4 inch thickness. Season the inside with salt, pepper, seasonings of choice. Place a few Sun-Dried tomatoes on one of the halves (take the oil off) and then cover the tomatoes with the bleu cheese. Close the chicken and season the outside. Drizzle with EVVO, place in a pyrex dish and cook for about 45 mins depending on the thickness. Do the color of the juices test to determine doneness.

The rest is up to your discretion. The noodles are simple, boil until soft, toss with butter, garlic and seasonings. The asparagus I saute like any other veggie but you can steam them and season.

Let me tell ya, this was a GREAT meal. 🙂

JG*

More Food that makes you go mmm

I’d like to thank my artistic director Julius Dunn, II for staging this shot. 🙂 And my Birthmate Allison Hamilton for inspiring this recipe. So this meal was Glazed Chicken on top of a bed of yellow saffron rice, sauteed zucchini (one of my fave vegetables, and was chosen by the person I cooked for), and butternut squash soup.

Glazed Chicken

• 6-8 Drumsticks
• Honey
• Mustard (regular or spice or dijon again whatever you want to go for)
• Dash of Curry Powder
• Diced Garlic
• Salt, Pepper, Seasoning Salt, etc. Whatever you like.

Preheat oven at 375

Instructions: Season the chicken inside and out of the skin. Sometimes I like to take the skin off. In a side bowl, mix equal parts of the honey and mustard. It all depends on you and how much chicken you want to cover and add the dash of curry. Set aside. Place the seasoned chicken in your dish with EVOO drizzled on the bottom. Sprinkle the diced garlic over the chicken and place into the oven. Bake for about 35 minutes and then spoon or brush the glaze mixture over the chicken. Place back in the over for another 15 minutes and your chicken should be done. Stick a knife in the thickest part of the biggest piece to make sure the juices are running clear.

Saffron Rice

• 2 Cups of Jasmin or Regular white rice
• A little under 4 cups of Chicken Stock
• Tsp Saffron
• Dash Tumeric
• Dash Salt

Bring chicken stock to a boil on the oven. Once boiling, add the saffron and tumeric. Once dissolved, add the rice and salt and bring back to a boil. Once the rice is boiling, reduce the heat and cover with a top that has a vent. Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Turn off the heat and cover for about another 5 minutes. The rice should be fluffy and there should be no more liquid after this. Good to go!

Sauteed Zuchinni

• One Zucchini
• Onion
• Diced Garlic
• EVOO

Chop and diced all the veggies, season with salt, pepper, and a dash of sugar. Sautee in EVOO over medium high heat until translucent.

Butternut Squash Soup

• 1 Large Butternut Squash
• Nutmeg
• Salt
• 1 Stick Butter
• 6 C of Chicken Stock

Cut the squash into cubes and chop the onion. In a pot, sautee the onion in the butter and once they are soft, add the chicken stock and the squash. Cook until the squash is tender. Remove the squash and put into another bowl. You can either mash or puree the squah in a blender. I like mashing it because it makes for a thicker and chunkier texture. Return the squash to the pot with the chicken stock and add salt to taste and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir until it’s all well combined and serve!

Easy as pie right!? Doesn’t take long and looks beautiful!

Enjoy!

JG*

Good Eats!!! w/Pics!

Seared Salmon with Parmesan Risotto and Sauteed Squash, Zucchini, and Onions

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my dinner last night. I’m sure that overall it was healthy, so I’ll share the recipe below!

 

Salmon:

• 2 salmon filets 
• Jerk Seasoning
• Garlic Salt
• Essence of Emeril or Seasoning Salt

Season the salmon about 30 minutes before you are going to cook it. I season a few hours ahead and let it rest in the refrigerator. When it’s ready, put enough Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the pan to cover the bottom of the skillet. Sear salmon over medium-high heat for about 5 to 6 minutes on each side until it is cook through! And that’s it! Throw a little extra salt & pepper on there for added kick and you are good to go!

Sauteed Veggies

• 2 Yellow Squash
• 2 Zucchini
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 1 Teaspoon minced garlic
• Dash of Sugar
• Seasoning Salt

 

Dice the onion and slice the squash and zucchini, then cut the slices into 4 pieces. Effectively, dicing the veggies in large chunks. I then season the veggies and toss in a bowl to make sure it’s coated. I use a little sugar even though the squash is sweet, and it’s awesome combined with the saltiness. Pour some EVOO in the skillet and saute until the veggies are soft with a little bite, and a little translucent. 

Risotto

• 1 3/4 cups uncooked Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 onion diced
• 1 teaspoon saffron powder
• 3/4 cup white wine (I use a sweeter wine, but I think most use dry)
• salt 
• 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

 

Melt half of the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Saute the onion in the butter for about 8 or 9 minutes until it gets a little soft. Then saute the rice in the pan over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes it should start to toast a little. Keep stirring though so it doesn’t get stuck to the pan.  Then start pouring the chicken stock into the pan slowly. Like 1/2 a Cup at a time. Each time, wait until it has absorbed. Do the same with the white wine. Add the saffron, the rest of the butter, and 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 4 or 5 minutes. This is probably the most “unhealthy” part of the dish. 

Pretty much done after that, and you can put the rest of the cheese on top! 

 

Enjoy the dinner!

 

Chef JG*