Food blogger raids the fridge

Even a food blogger gets tired of cooking sometimes.

At 26, I figure that "board studying" will be my last legitimate opportunity to move home and have my parents take care of me, so here I am. My dad has been doing all the cooking, while my skills have been relegated to dessert. And what better time to apply my creativity to leftovers?

The routine is I come down, raid the fridge, then retreat to my room with the spoils. On Friday night my dad made buttermilk fried chicken from scratch; underneath the batter, the leftover chicken is juicy and briny. Leftover chicken is perfect for Asian-style salads: served cold with sesame noodles or over spinach with a simple dressing.

Leftover chicken salad:

• piece of cold chicken, skin and bones removed, cut into bite-size pieces
• chopped fresh spinach
• chopped radishes
• toasted sesame seeds
• dash or few drops each of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce

Toss and enjoy!

Study set-up

Staying fresh in December

It's that time of year when the heavy comfort food is getting old, the number of layers one needs to wear to stay warm indoors sizeably increases one's bulk, and the necessity of end-of-year productivity limits physical activity. In addition, I'm on a running hiatus right now not due to weather but due to exacerbation of an old injury -- I don't want talk about it.

So how to eat in a way that helps you to feel fresh, despite the chronic dry skin and static? I think citrus helps, but I'm not yet ready to bid goodbye to apple season. So I tried this quite simple salad, which is not exactly seasonal but is also not too appallingly unseasonal either (no miserable unripe tomatoes!).

Fresh winter salad:

• butter lettuce, arugula, or both
• radishes, quartered
• toasted walnuts*
• goat cheese (optional, I skipped it)
• juice of half a lemon
• olive oil

Toss all together and dress with lemon and olive oil. Serve with a hard boiled egg, cheese on toast, a yogurt, etc. for a more substantial meal.

*I've been craving walnuts since their health benefits were all over the yuppie and medical news last week.

Another exam week

Do we eat poorly because we're stressed out, or are we stressed out because we're eating poorly? I think both. Today, I treated myself to a decent lunch to trick myself into feeling relaxed for the upcoming test. It actually took only a few minutes, and was made entirely from ingredients I had lying around.

I stopped buying cheese for a long time because it's not very good for you and it's too expensive for my budget, but I recently bought a couple of "sampler" pieces from the co-op for $2-3 each. They're actually much better suited for one person. The following recipes are heavy on veggies, light on cheese.

Mushroom toasts (my dad makes these all the time):

• 5-6 small mushrooms, sliced or finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 onion, finely chopped
• ~1 tsp olive oil
• 2 slices toast
• few slices hard cheese
• black pepper

Saute garlic and onion in the oil until translucent, then add the mushrooms and saute until they've shed their water. Spoon onto lightly toasted slices of bread, add cheese, and broil in toaster or oven until the cheese melts and bubbles. Add black pepper to the top.

Meanwhile...

Salad with goat cheese and radishes. Simply toss together:

• chopped romaine, arugula, salad mix, etc.
• small handful of almonds or other nuts, toasted and chopped up
• 2 radishes, sliced thin
• small piece of goat cheese, crumbled
• balsamic & olive oil

I'm feeling better already.

Why exercise?

It seems that no matter what's wrong with you, a doctor will recommend exercise as part of the cure. I always thought this made sense in that exercise --> weight loss --> better health. But then I learned that exercise helps independently of weight loss! For cardiovascular disease this makes sense, but why would it be the case for diabetes?

To set the scene: in type 2 diabetes, patients develop insulin resistance: they still make insulin, but cells stop responding to it. After a meal, instead of transporting glucose into cells, glucose remains in the blood. Patients become hyperglycemic, which over time damages organs.

It turns out that everyone has "non-insulin-mediated glucose uptake" transporters that take up glucose from blood regardless of insulin. Because many of these transporters are in skeletal muscle, working that muscle (i.e. exercising) improves the number and efficacy of these transporters. This provides an alternate way to take up glucose even in patients with insulin resistance.

Pretty neat, huh?

This salad is the edible equivalent of the neon gear that runners love so much, and I bet it has a low glycemic index to boot. It's vaguely reminiscent of an "Asian chopped salad." Simply mix together:

• 1 clementine, sectioned
• 2-3 radishes, sliced or chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• handful of roasted almonds, chopped
• sliced grilled chicken, optional
• romaine or butter lettuce
• balsamic vinegar & olive oil