The Fish Dilemma

Week 2 definitely proved to be a little tougher than the first one. When I first decided to do this diet I was debating about how best to quantify how many meat meals I was able to have.  At dinner with Ana and Gabrielle, friends from Nielsen, we decided that determining a # of meals per week and sticking to that would be the best, vs. only weekends (which is mostly eating out) or certain days of the week.  I did it that way because I thought that eating out would be easier than cooking vegetarian because I could eat seafood or fish.  The unexpected twist in all of this is that the Sustainable Fish list that I am going by is very specific about where the fish needs to be from or how it is caught, and I am too shy at this point to ask at restaurants "is your salmon Alaskan wild or Atlantic farmed".  Not to mention, I think asking that might limit who is willing to go out to dinner with me :-)


So, with that said, here's the tally:

• # of non vegetarian meals for the week: 3 - one was a work lunch where it was pasta or fish (and I definitely wasn't testing asking the question at a work lunch), so I opted for the fish, the second was dinner brought in at home and we had roasted chicken ( I can't remember the last time I had poultry - I think it was in 2010) and the third was Rathbones and you can't go there and not get the wings and turkey burger.  I did have one meal at a restaurant where I ordered the striped bass, but since you can eat farmed or wild, I figured it was safe no matter where it was from.
• Interesting recipe of the week: Potato Leek Soup - was really yummy!  here's the recipe:

3 tablespoons butter
3 leeks, thinly sliced
1 medium or large onion, chopped
6 – 8 russet potatoes, thinly sliced (skin optional)
4 cups chicken broth (or enough to barely cover potatoes)
1 1/2 cups fat free milk
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

1) Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat then add onions and leeks. Cook, stirring, until onions are limp and just slightly brown.

2) Add sliced potatoes to saucepan then pour in enough chicken broth to just barely cover the potatoes. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Using an emulsion blender, blend the potatoes until desired consistency is reached (I went pretty chunky, probably would have gone a bit smoother next time). 

3) Add milk and salt and black pepper to taste. Cook 15 minutes more over low heat, stirring frequently, then remove from heat and serve.  Garnish with scallions.

I have plenty of leftovers if anyone wants to swing by for some soup and crusty bread!!  

Oh, and # of fights with Blaine about food: Zero!!  But this week I have to do some serious thinking about how to limit the carbs cause pasta, bread and pizza have become my staples...so, expect the fight tally to go up in week 3!


P.S. The base of this recipe came from another blog called PinchMySalt.com, with a few variations from me