Another Day in the Country
Changing things up
© Another Day in the Country
This morning, I discovered someone had written yet another book on making resolutions.
This one surprised me because the name of the book was “Eat More Ice Cream,” by Ezekiel Emanuel.
The author came up with six tips for getting healthier and increasing longevity. A couple of the tips surprised me.
One of the points, which did not surprise me, was how absolutely vital exercise is to keeping your body healthy and your mind cognitively sound.
If exercise is not a habit with you, now is the time to start. You’ve got to make it a habit, not just a whim or even a resolution.
Several years ago, my sister and I joined a health club over in Abilene.
Jess always has been what I would call a serious exerciser. She’s very disciplined, loves to challenge herself by doing things that are difficult, and enjoys the routine of exercising first thing in the morning, consistently.
Not me. I get bored with repetitive things. First thing in the morning, I’m doing good to get dressed.
I’ve seldom stuck to an exercise routine for longer than a month or two. What I have working for me, on the plus side, is that I do like to work in the yard. And, for years, I’ve made it a rule to not sit around and watch television during the day.
If someone asked me whether I liked exercising, I’d have to be honest and say “no.” But for quite a few years now, I’ve been going at least twice a week to Abilene to exercise.
One of the things that spurs me on is the people I’ve met. This past year, we’ve joined friends at a coffee shop after we exercise. It continues to be a great motivation for getting up, getting dressed, and driving all the way to Abilene.
In Emanuel’s book, he surprised me by stressing how vital social interactions are to our well-being.
I knew he’d stress exercise, but I wasn’t expecting social interaction to rank just as high, if not higher.
This is probably why he says in the title to eat more ice cream. It’s good for you, so long as you are doing it in good company.
One of his rules, in the list of six tips is, “Don’t be a schmuck.”
That’s a rather broad category. He means don’t be ignorant or dumb. Stop doing things that you know are bad for your body — smoking and drinking alcohol for starters.
Surely by now, we also know that eating highly processed food, or “fast food,” is not good for our bodies. We know about portion control and that we should eat our vegetables. However, sometimes our food choices get repetitive. We eat the same things over and over.
I decided that my New Year’s resolution this year was to find at least one new recipe that was healthy and would add variety to my diet every month. And, of course, I’d make it from scratch.
When was the last time you tried cooking something new that you’ve never tried before?
This is where all those magazine subscriptions that I have will come in handy.
I’m 80% vegetarian in my diet, and it used to be that finding vegetarian recipes was impossible. Now I see them in magazines all the time.
On Sunday afternoon, a friend invited us over to play games and said, “Why don’t you come for lunch?”
She said she was trying a new recipe for peanut soup. I know that Michaela is a good cook, but peanut soup sounded a little strange to me.
I tried to envision what it might look like and taste like, and I had to stop thinking about it because my vision was not particularly appetizing.
I love peanut butter, peanut clusters, and even boiled peanuts — like they serve in the South, once I figured out what they were.
I enjoy shelling and eating peanuts raw, and I absolutely love peanuts in a can of Pepsi. But I’ve never tasted peanut soup.
I don’t know that I would have picked that recipe out of a magazine and said, “I’ve got to try that; it sounds good.”
In fact, it didn’t sound all that good to me, but was I ever wrong.
As it turns out, the soup is a soft orange color because there also are carrots, onions, and sweet potatoes in this pureed soup, served on a bed of rice with garnishes: green onions, fresh parsley, crispy peanuts, avocado slices, and lime wedges to drizzle juice over it all.
It was flat-out delicious.
Rice bowls are a trendy option in restaurants in the big city these days, and peanut soup served in Lindsborg at Michaela’s table was, in essence, a yummy rice bowl.
Just in case you are brave enough to challenge yourself with a New Year’s resolution of trying out something new at least once a month, I’ve another suggestion for a healthy rice bowl.
Have you tried basmati rice? You should! It’s delicious, and it smells good cooking. The best comes in bulk, straight from India. That’s my hot tip.
Cook some lentils by adding salt and a small onion to the water. Bring it to boil for a few minutes with a lid on and then shut off the heat and let the lentils just sit there and absorb the water so they are just cooked but are not mushy.
Serve them over the rice, add chopped romaine lettuce, green onions, diced tomatoes if you like, and a little feta cheese crumbled. Season with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic salt.
We call this dish mejadra. Its origins are in the Middle East.
If you like lentils, you’ll love this. It’s absolutely scrumptious! And it’s good for you on another day in the country.