Kindred Food Spirits

(Roasted Veggies with Smokey Salmon Salad – pic by Charlie)

Futzing with our format for easiest access…we are now direct-linking our recipes from their home locations. And Jamie has added approximate cost-per-meal plan as well, along with her weekly article! Don’t forget to drop in and read Charlie’s latest one as well!

Meal Plan – Week #16 (Written by Jamie)

Cost: $175 week for 3 people // $2.75/serving

Meal Plan Diet Categories: Gluten-Free, Lactose/Dairy Free, Diabetes Diet, Low Fat/Low Cholesterol, Cardiac Diet, Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian

Meals: (Click on the names to go to the recipe) (1) “Buffalo” Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries / (2) Pork Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Turnip Noodles / (3) Roasted Veggies / (4) Green Salads with Variation 3: Lemon Chicken Salad /Variation 4: Seared Ginger Chickpeas / Variation 5: Three Bean Salad / Variation 6: Smokey Salmon Salad / Variation 7: Spicy Broccoli Dip

Snacks:  Chopped Veggies (for dipping) / Balsamic Herb Dipping Sauce / Egg Whites / Naked Popcorn / Salad Variations (above) as sides or snacks

---

Launching into the final week before Charlie’s first scheduled health panel with her Doc since our mission began, we are itching to get at the stats, while trying to help balance out nerves. The Accidental Nutritionist team has learned an immense amount since this challenge first began, and we are extremely proud of how far we have all come together with zero prep time, and so much on the line. We know the numbers will be a solid turn in the right direction after these past four months, and are eager to get at the next steps of our mission.

Meanwhile — launching our new recipe section last week made Jamie n’ me homesick for some Nigella Lawson, which we happily soaked up via YouTube this weekend over dinners.

Jamie had never heard of Nigella before I intro’d her a couple years ago as my absolutely top favorite fellow foodie of all time. The ease and way she presents and describes the food as she cooks is the most eloquent food pornography ever put on paper or film. I could say “innocently,” but it isn’t innocent – it is unabashedly rhapsodic and very purposely naughty, in all the ways it can be. It is exactly how I think about food. How MOST “foodie” people think about food.

…And it is freakin’ fan-tastic.

From Nigella’s “lets-not-be-too-precious-about-this” time-saving tips, her ball-park approximation of measuring ingredients, her side stories that start with things like, “when I was an Italian chambermaid–“, to her totally indelicate giant bites and side-glances at the camera after the dish is done. I’m just saying — indulge if you haven’t already. (Or revisit her if it’s been a sec.) She’s just as delish on the 5th, 10th, or hundredth viewing. Also, she’s on tour again. (Still waiting for the damn Seattle tix to drop!!!)

…Anyway — putting our recipe page together last week reminded me of Nigella, because how she cooks is so in alignment with how Jamie does. She too loves to read cookbooks like novels, and any magazine with a recipe in it, but she reads them for inspiration, not the “rules to follow.” Like Nigella, Jamie takes a piece from this, a piece from that — and by necessity — adapts where needed, to adjust each meal to whatever Charlie can consume in full.

This general “feel” for food is (I think) how Jamie has been able to successfully adapt and build options so far beyond the average person’s ability to think of maybe 5 kinds of chicken, 2 kinds of pork, and 2 kinds of salmon on never-ending repeat, in a set of meal plans as restricted as we are dealing with. Her sense of adventure to mix and match flavors over here with those over there is what has made this blog more than just the story of Charlie’s eating mission. It is an experiment on how many different ways you can meet a challenge looking from almost infinitely creative points of view.

…I think if Nigella knew about it, she’d give a hearty wink and huzzah.

Cheers to two kindred spirits, in explorations of infinite “Yum.”

~D

P.S. If you’d like more fun content, don’t forget to join our Twitter! We RT lots of other healthy recipes, motivational fun, and Jamie recommendations of books, cooking tools, and more!