Monthly Archives: January 2015

Dena Day 19- Dining and Going Out

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While doing this month long detox, Cliff and I have taken the extreme by cooking and preparing all of our meals at home. It definitely requires some effort on our part but I think we have finally figured out a rhythm that works for us.  Since many social engagements revolve around food and drinks, I have to admit, I decided to make some adjustments like sticking to drinking only water at birthday parties or going to a museum instead of brunch. Look at that, I am staying hydrated and being more cultured!

I am not saying one can not go out to eat and order something healthy that is on the detox plan, but it is much harder to control what restaurants are putting in the food that you order.    Since I have food sensitivities to gluten, dairy, eggs, and yeast, at this point of the detox, I rather make my own food so I can avoid cross contamination.  However, this will not always be the case!  I absolutely love going out with friends to grab brunch or dinner. Whether you also have food sensitivities or have chosen not to eat certain ingredients, I thought I would share a few things that I have learned over the years and share some stories.

  • Don’t assume a dish is safe and free of your allergies. Make your waiter aware of your food allergies.  They can often guide you to what you can eat on the menu or tell you what changes need to be made to a meal you are interested in. I used to think if I ordered grilled chicken and vegetables, I would be safe. But unfortunately, they may use flour as a thickening agent or cook their vegetables in butter.  Also, I love Thai food and especially love curry. Years of ordering curry and feeling sick afterwards (I contributed this to overeating) but turns out, curry may be used with fish sauce or soy sauce that contains gluten.  The good news is not all curry has gluten in them. You have to ask though!
  • Some restaurants are more understanding of food allergies than others. It is such a treat when a restaurant has a menu that marks food allergies like gluten, dairy, what’s vegan or vegetarian, etc. I have had both positive experiences and negative experiences at restaurants.  My favorite was when I was ordering a salad at Chipotle and asked if their meats were gluten free and the woman immediately threw out my lettuce and changed her gloves as she sternly explained to me: “We take food allergies VERY seriously here. EVERYONE in here has touched a tortilla. EVERYONE!” Even though I was ordering ingredients that were themselves gluten free and dairy free, she was concerned with cross contamination. Her gloves had been handling flour tortillas and then were handling my lettuce.  I know you may think that this is crazy and that it’s probably such a small trace, but if you are sensitive to something, your body sure does react!  On the contrary, I once went to a restaurant in Brooklyn and told them my allergies and the waitress seemed annoyed with me as she responded,  ” weeeell, how allergic are you?”
  • Not all waiters understand what gluten is in or what has dairy. I once went out for a friend’s birthday brunch and let the waiter know my allergies. He was the nicest guy but thought that French Toast would be okay for me to eat.
  • Be “that” guy. Be picky! It’s perfectly okay to be picky and change your order to accommodate your personal needs.  My friends may be sick of me when we go out (hopefully not), but it’s my body and I do not want to feel ill from a meal.  An example of this:  “Hi.  I am allergic to gluten, dairy, and eggs. I would like the Chicken Cobb Salad, but without the blue cheese and the eggs.  Also, instead of the dressing, can I please have olive oil and lemon on the side?”
  • Check the menu ahead of time/Call ahead.  For me, If I am trying a new place out and I know where I am going, I check out the menu first. Also, I often call ahead to inquire about the menu to make sure there is something I can eat there.
  • Do the best you can. That is all you can do. The good news: It seems that more and more restaurants are getting on board with acknowledging food sensitivities and food allergies.  When I first found out I had these sensitivities in 2006, I had no idea what gluten was and I never heard it being talked about!

Below is an image of a menu where the waiter kindly told me what I could and could not have on their menu by crossing out everything but three items. I could have the oysters, pickles, or the Roasted Mackerel.  I had the Mackerel and it was delicious 🙂

IMG_5507 (1)

-Dena

 

Cliff Day 16: Green Curry Shrimp

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I have been craving Green Curry since we started this detox.  I also see everyone else making it so I thought why can’t I?  I had the day off, and I had the apartment all to myself.  Normally, this means a day of couch lounging and video games, but in the spirit of being less lazy, I went on a journey to create an amazing green curry sauce and overload it with shrimp.

I used the following recipe with a few minor tweaks:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/thai-green-curry-shrimp-recipe.html

I cut out the Eggplant, Shrimp Stock (replaced with extra coconut milk), and added some jalepeno.

After journeying to 4 different stores to find everything I needed, I began cooking.  A short 20 minutes, a can I had to stab with a knife to open, and a huge mess later, my masterpiece was finished. I may not be as eloquent a cooker as Dena, I managed to keep her from seeing the mess I made, but we end up in the same place.  You can pretty much use whatever vegetables you want and make sure to get gluten free/wheat free fish sauce (I used Thai Kitchen).  Dena came to the rescue with what we should eat this over, as she made her wonderfully delicious cauliflower rice.

I want to add I recently purchased an amazing knife that made cutting the vegetables a hell of a lot easier (my hand disagrees) :

Try it out.  Best knife I have ever used.

We have some more Pork Loin in the fridge, along with some lamb loin, so I am excited to see what we do with it next.

As for my weight progress, I have steadied off and I am now 140 even.  I feel and look skinnier, and my former gut is calling me every day upset that every day we drift apart more and more.

mmmm Green Curry
image2 (2)image1 (1)

Dena Day 17- Well isn’t that sweet…

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DID YOU KNOW…

  •  In a 2009 study by Dr. Serge H. Ahmed it was proved that sugar was eight times as addictive as cocaine?
  • Brain imaging studies in humans find that eating-or even seeing pictures of-junk and processed food lights up the brain like heroin?
  • Calorie for calorie, sugar is different from other calories that come from protein, fat, or non-starchy carbs such as greens? It scrambles all of your normal appetite controls. As a result, you consume more and more, driving your metabolism to convert it into belly fat.
  • Artificial sweeteners trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way?  This causes your body to pump out insulin, the fat-storage hormone, which leads to more body fat.

Dr. Hyman’s book” The Blood Sugar Solution-10 Day Detox Diet addresses the above facts and further explains just how addictive sugar really is. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to find packaged foods without sugar in it! The bottom of this post has a list of names for sugar that you can look for on labels and should avoid while detoxing. Even items that you would never expect to have sugar in them, have it! During this detox, Cliff and I searched high and low for chicken broth, as well as diced or crushed tomatoes without sugar added. We finally found what we needed! For chicken broth, Imagine has an organic free range chicken broth and Muir Glen has organic diced tomatoes. Your best luck is to find these items in the organic or health section of your grocery store.

The good news is that once you eliminate sugar from your diet, you no longer crave it.  I used to have cravings for something sweet after every meal–especially at night.  The first day where I attempted not to have sugar was the hardest. The cravings were so intense that at night I used my yonanas machine to make “ice cream” with a frozen banana and nut butter! I just needed something sweet. For me, I would say it took 3 days for the cravings to go away.  The best part of this detox has been that I now feel in control on my eating!

Today, Dr. Hyman posted on his blog “10 Ways To Ditch Your Cravings for Sugar, Salt, and Fats”  Check it out! http://drhyman.com/blog/2013/08/10/10-ways-to-ditch-your-cravings-for-sugar-salt-and-fats/

-Dena

List of Names of Sugar

1. Barley malt
2. Barbados sugar
3. Beet sugar
4. Brown sugar
5. Buttered syrup
6. Cane juice
7. Cane sugar
8. Caramel
9. Corn syrup
10. Corn syrup solids
11. Confectioner’s sugar
12. Carob syrup
13. Castor sugar
14. Date sugar
15. Dehydrated cane juice
16. Demerara sugar
17. Dextran
18. Dextrose
19. Diastatic malt
20. Diatase
21. Ethyl maltol
22. Free Flowing Brown Sugars
23. Fructose
24. Fruit juice
25. Fruit juice concentrate
26. Galactose
27. Glucose
28. Glucose solids
29. Golden sugar
30. Golden syrup
31. Grape sugar
32. HFCS (High Frustose Corn Syrup… Very Bad!)
33. Honey
34. Icing sugar
35. Invert sugar
36. Lactose
37. Malt
38. Maltodextrin
39. Maltose
40. Malt syrup
41. Mannitol
42. Maple syrup
43. Molasses
44. Muscovado
45. Panocha
46. Powdered Sugar
47. Raw sugar
48. Refiner’s syrup
49. Rice syrup
50. Sorbitol
51. Sorghum syrup
52. Sucrose
53. Sugar (granulated)
54. Treacle
55. Turbinado sugar
56. Yellow sugar
Bonus (Fake Sugars):
Splenda
Aspartame

Cliff day 14: Another Pound Bites the Dust

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And Another pound gone and another pound gone, another pound bites the dust. Weighing in around 140 and down 7 pounds, woot woot!

Our approach to this detox has been much different on the second go around. The first time we did it, I was pretty miserable. We were incredibly strict, had 0 slip ups and it just wasn’t fun. The point of all of this, is not just to eat healthier, it is to lead a healthier happier life. I used to hate the shakes I made, they were bland and not the sugar filled ones I was used to. The thing is, I like peanut butter as much as I like sugar (mmmm Reese’s, my old go to treat). So even though peanut butter was not part of the original plan, it has allowed me to look forward to my morning shake instead of dreading it. My shake is now banana, unsweetened almond milk, strawberries, hemp protein, flax seed, and just a touch of vanilla extract. If there is one lesson you take from this blog, it is you have to do what makes you happy. That hypothalamus needs to be kept satisfied in some way. Did you know broccoli doesn’t stimulate it one bit? Shocker. So, if you’re having issues adjusting to all this, throw in something you love, whether it is a fruit or something you can’t live without (NOT CANDY!)

As for how my detox is going, I slipped up a little bit, although I’ve said from the beginning it would happen. I went out with coworkers on Friday and I had a scotch, it was glorious. I was proud I was able to stick to just one. While I was worried it may affect the detox, I didn’t regret the decision. I woke up yesterday below the 140 mark and Today I am 140.4. The weight is melting off as I guess my old metabolism has decided to emerge from its hibernation, realizing I’ve taken a break from abusing it. As of now, I consume 1600-2000 calories a day but I would like to up that after this month to stimulate the muscle growth (Did someone say second lunch?!). I’ve also decided to introduce a healthy electrolyte drink in the morning, as I have been a tiny bit shaky and this should help.

Enjoy the long weekend everyone!

Dena Day 15/ Cliff Day 13- Weight is just a number, but…

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I am quite shocked actually just how much weight Cliff and I have lost in such a short period of time.  In about two weeks, I am down 6.2 pounds and Cliff is down 7 pounds.  I mean, I can more understand Cliff losing weight because he loves his sugar, triple espressos, bagels, and sandwiches.  So, if he is eliminating added sugar, processed foods, caffeine, gluten, grains, and dairy, it makes sense for the scale to move, right? The good news is he’s been eating real food and is not hungry. We will see what he introduces back after this month and see how it affects the way he feels.  Me on the other hand, I was already avoiding gluten and dairy (my allergies) and aware of my added sugar…Maybe I was eating too many grains and complex starches for my body? Maybe I was eating too late at night? Maybe I was getting cross contamination of gluten from eating out which was causing inflammation?  Everyone is unique and reacts to foods differently and food sensitivities can play a major role in inflammation and weight gain.  I do know that cooking at home for the past couple of weeks has really helped my digestion. I can be 100% sure what is in my food.  Of course, after this detox, real life will continue and I will have to do my best when going out to eat with friends and find a nice balance.  Until then, I am definitely excited to see how far this detox will take me.

-Dena

IMG_7445

By the way, Seamless just sent me an e-mail about how they missed me. HAHA

Dena Day 13- Finding Balance

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I am learning that the hardest part for me of this detox process has been finding balance…especially now that I have introduced going to the gym! For the first week or so, I had found my rhythm and was doing really well on prepping meals.  If I didn’t have the groceries I needed for dinner, I had plenty of time to swing by the grocery store, meat or fish market, and eat at a decent hour. But, it was time to get sweating (and not from the oven while cooking up a storm). Two nights ago was my first day back into the gym and I had planned to go straight after work since I am not a morning person.  My first set back was when I ran out of time in the morning and did not pack my gym bag.  The truth was…I had no idea where my gym bag even was! No problem!  I’ll just swing by my apartment after work to change and head on to the gym! Well do you know how cold it was that night?!? And my apartment was soooo warm.  I convinced myself that I HAD to go since I failed the night before but I will only do a quick workout. After all, by the time I got home it was around 6pm and I also needed to run to the meat market to pick up ground turkey meat for the cauliflower pizza crust I wanted to make that night, and the meat market closed at 7pm.  So…I never made this recipe before, but how much trouble could it really be?  The funny thing is that I had no excuses not to go to the gym in the cold. I was going to walk to the meat market and the meat market is literally a block and a half away from the gym.  After the gym, the meat market, and the vegetable market to pick up the cauliflower, I was finally  home!  It is now a little after 7pm.  My advice to you is to: A- read the entire directions of a recipe beforehand and/or B-try more complicated dishes on the weekend if you are pressed for time during the week.  This meal was delicious do not get me wrong and I will definitely make it again. However, It just took longer than I expected! By the time I finished cooking, it was 9:15pm.

Lessons Learned (sort of)

The next day I made sure to bring my gym clothes to work in my recently found gym bag. Also, we had leftovers of pizza we were able to bring for lunch which was nice. Cliff was going to be at a comedy show at night so I did not have to worry about eating together and what I was going to make. But, I realized that we needed food for the next day’s lunch and dinner since we were going to see a show after work.  For some reason after work, I was really hungry so instead of going straight to the gym, I decided to go home and eat something small, digest a little bit, then go to the gym, then cook meals for the next day. Finished up at 10:15pm and I was exhausted!

Lessons Learned 

  • Plan meals ahead- decide what you are going to eat for the week or at least a few days at a time
  • Spend some time on the weekends going food shopping and gathering all of your supplies.
  • Cook a bunch on Sunday to get you through the beginning of the week
  • When possible, make extra food and freeze it for emergencies or when you do not feel like cooking. This works great with burgers!
  • Stock your cabinets with proteins like canned salmon, and sardines.  This can easily be added to a salad to create a quick meal.

-Dena

Almond-Flax Crusted Chicken Wings

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Looking for a great recipe for Healthier wings during the NFL Championship games this weekend?  Check out this amazing meal!

Almond-Flax Crusted Chicken Wings

Almond-Flax Crusted Chicken Wings

We adapted Dr. Hyman’s delicious recipe for chicken breasts and applied it to chicken wings when entertaining guests at the apartment to watch football.  These were definitely a hit!  For me, my goal is always to make things that taste delicious even to people that are not detoxing. For this recipe, I omitted  the onions that are listed in the recipe and create 2.5x the liquid mixture that was covering the chicken wings in order to cover all the surface area. We had a lot of wings (approx 24)!   Also, we did not let the chicken marinate 1-24 hours prior to making the dish to enhance the flavor.  There were some hungry  mouths to feed!  We ended up cooking these for 10 minutes and flipping them and cooking for an additional 10 minutes on the other side. I suggest purchasing a meat thermometer to double check the internal temperature of these. In general, for chicken you are looking for a final internal temperature of 165º F for white meat and about 180º F for dark meat.  (USDA recommendations).

Enjoy!

-Dena

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/18/recipe-almond-flax-crusted-chicken/

Cliff Day 10: I pick things up and…

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I put them down.  My first trip back to the gym was a good reality check. I had dreams that I had not lost that much in the months while I was healing, but I was so so wrong.  I did a basic chest workout to get my muscles into the groove of things and nothing seemed to go right.  I was constantly worried about my elbow and I’m not even going to discuss how little weight I could do.  I have always been a skinny guy, and while this has its perks, it also has its downfalls.  Building muscle has been a huge challenge throughout my whole life.  I have tried many different supplements, and nothing has ever gotten me to the point I’ve dreamed of.  I am avoiding any until this detox is over, but I will list out my favorites at some point.  When I have ever come close to a muscle-building goal, I have sustained some sort of injury.  I mean once I had to  take a 4 month break from working out because I hurt my wrist while playing soccer.  That’s right folks, I hurt the thing you are not even allowed to use in that sport.  Now that I am fueling my body with the good food it can actually use, my hope is my gains will go up up and even more up.

NOW, onto the good stuff.  If I told you, you could make pizza out of cauliflower, would that be something you’d be interested in?  WELL, thanks to that magical girlfriend of mine, we had exactly that last night.  Not only that, due to Dena’s allergies, we had to substitute eggs in it with a flax-seed mixture.  It took a LONG time, a bit of “bickering”, and a huge mess in the kitchen, but after all was said and done, it came out great.  I’ve also learned, to never tell anyone I was a dishwasher in High School because my mom’s favorite line, and now Dena’s is…”But we need a professional to do the dishes!”  But I digress.  We used Tomatoes, Basil, and Ground Turkey as toppings.  While i would not call it your every day pizza, it certainly was pretty darn close.  And the best part was we had leftovers.  I haven’t been this excited for lunch since yesterday’s lunch of leftovers!  My weight has grown stagnant, which I am okay with because I am still looking and feeling better every day.  The world needs to understand weight is just a number, and that it is about how you feel, how you look in your eyes, and how you’re treating your body (although I wouldn’t object to weighing 170 built of pure muscle). Napoleonic Complex much?

Dena-Day 11-Time to Move!

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I am not going to say that binge watching 7 seasons of Dr. Who this past Fall caused my weight gain, but there was sure indeed a correlation! While Cliff was going to physical therapy for his Tendinitis, my workouts went from hour long intense gym classes with Cliff at a new gym we were trying out (Epic Hybrid Training) to sprinting several blocks to catch the morning subway as I saw it approaching the station. When Cliff’s elbow starting bothering him, I thought he only needed to rest up for a couple weeks and I saw this as a little break for my muscles! But that turned into three months of physical therapy.  I know I could have gone to the gym by myself, but I was in a serious rut and I was secretly enjoying my evenings alone watching Netflix.  I could not wait to get home from work, make or order dinner, lay my expanding buttox on the sofa and watch some eps!

Everyone goes to the gym for different reasons.  For me, it’s not only for weight maintenance, but it really helps me with my moods.  In addition, I have loose ligaments (perhaps from doing years of dance and gymnastics as a child?) and it is important for me to keep my muscles strong around my joints or else I suffer from subluxation-mainly in my shoulders   (This condition is known as shoulder instability and may result in the upper arm bone (humerus) moving partially or completely out of the socket during certain arm movements).   Since I stopped working out, I have experienced a multitude of issues with my shoulder.  But for some reason, it was just sooo hard for me to get back into my routine.

As the new year approached, of course one of my goals was to get back to the gym. The idea of a packed gym filled with people beginning their New Years Resolutions was a bit daunting to me. On top of that, the first week of the detox left me pretty exhausted and I could not get up the motivation to get to the gym.  After about a week though, I began sleeping better and my energy went way up (especially at night for some reason). This combined with the numbers decreasing on the scale has given me that extra boost of motivation to get back to the gym!  I only did a quick work out today but I am on the right track to getting back in a routine

-Dena

 

Cliff Day 8…Sandwiches I Miss You

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Sandwiches….All I can think of are sandwiches.  Sandwiches in the morning, sandwiches with bacon, and sandwiches inside even bigger sandwiches.  I want to take a bunch of ham add some american cheese and put it on a fabulously delicious French Baguette.  As you may be able to tell, the weekend was a rough one.  Dena and I went to hang out with some cats at Meow Parlour, a fun cat cafe, and I got Decaf coffee for the first time in my life.  If you have never had Blue Bottle Coffee, I highly recommend it because even their Decaf was great.  Earlier in the day I was not all that hungry for lunch so I had a small piece of chicken (big mistake).  By 3 P.M. I was starving, so I did the only logical thing and got Katz, just the pastrami, no bread.  Now, this technically falls under the allowed foods on the Detox, since it is just meat and spices, but I felt it was a bit of a cheat.  I really did it to try to satisfy this sandwich craving.  While amazing, the craving for a sandwich is still there.

Not surprisingly, Sunday was the first day my weight had not gone down at all, in fact it had gone up a little.  I attribute this to more water retention from the Katz.  Watched football all day while Dena made me almond crusted wings (absolutely amazing, Recipe to be posted).  For dinner we had turkey meatballs over spaghetti squash in a home-made tomato sauce.  If you really want to detox, I highly recommend just getting an awesome girlfriend that knows how to make yummy healthy food, makes it much easier.  Weight this morning was back down to 142.2 and my stomach is looking better every day.  This is day 8 now and we will begin our gym routine but this shows that just by changing your diet you can start melting off the weight, even without steady exercise.

For now, I will be overindulging in vegetables and listening to Galavant on repeat to drain away the pain of the Dallas Cowboys Loss.

-Cliff

Dena-Day 7

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Starting a new plan and way of eating can be very daunting and appear to require too much work and effort on your part.  Last March, when Cliff and I did Dr. Hyman’s 10 Day Detox Diet, I stressed way too much over having to be perfect and I did not want to stray too far from the dinner recipes given in the book.  The best part of following the book’s recipes was that I learned many new recipes and found some new favorites which I have continued to make regularly.  If this is your first time trying to detox, I HIGHLY recommend following Dr. Hyman’s plan and trying as many recipes in the book as you can! They are super yummy! However, instead of following one of these recipes, Dr. Hyman does say that you can opt for choosing a green to steam or lightly saute such as broccoli, asparagus, arugula, spinach, kale or chard, and combine it with 4-6oz of protein such as chicken, turkey, salmon, shrimp, grass-fed meat,canned salmon, sardines or herring, hard boiled omega 3 eggs,tofu or temph.

So this time around, in order to save some time and relieve stress, Cliff and I are trying to make dinners so we have leftovers that will last us.  My favorite thing to make is a roasted chicken.  And by my favorite thing to make…I really mean my favorite thing I eat that I make Cliff make.  It requires very little effort to cook one of these and in my opinion, you get the most bang for your cluck…I mean buck. Now we have left overs that are versatile and can go in many dishes.  I was able to add some chicken to my salad I had for lunch today and Cliff and I had some for dinner tonight and there is still a bunch left!  Another cooking time saver I have discovered is roasting vegetables.  Drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper over your veggies and pop them in the oven. I make sure I make extra so I have those leftovers.  Tonight’s dinner included chicken, left over broccoli and mashed garlic cauliflower (another one of my favorite sides!)
Chicken
ChickenDinner

Day 4 Cliff

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cropped-cliffcarrotpic3.jpg

^—I may have taken the whole eating “as many vegetables as you want” too far.

The worst part of this whole Detox is the amount of times I now have to go to the bathroom every day and throughout the night.  Trying to do the whole 7-8 glasses of water every day has been a huge challenge.  No sugar, easy!  No caffeine, easy! (okay, easy after some major headaches) but battling a full bladder, harder than ever imagined.

I am looking much less bloated and my weight has been steadily declining:

  • Day 1: 146.8
  • Day 2: 145
  • Day 3: 144.2
  • Day 4: 143.4

As I am writing this, a coworker just sent my team a box full of cookies and muffins, time to test that self control of mine.  Forming a habit takes 21-66 days, so I can’t go breaking now, even though they look so damn delicious. (I’ve hidden some away until February)

Sleep has been another problem.  I have gone from 5-6 hours a night of sleep to 7-8 hours of sleep.  While I do feel more rested throughout the day, my nights are much more restless and I wake up numerous times throughout the night.  Could it be my body craving all those sweets?  Guess we’ll have to wait and see if it improves.

Today my meals are:

  • Breakfast
    • Strawberry Banana Peanut Butter Protein Shake (forgot the hemp protein, oops)
  • Lunch
    • Almond Crusted Chicken
    • Asparagus
    • Okra
  • Dinner
    • Salmon with a red onion marmalade
    • Whatever vegetable side I decide on

-Cliff