What's on my plate?

Every Sunday I collect my fruit and vegetables from my CSA (community supported agriculture). It's the cheapest way to eat healthy in the city. For 5 months for $420 I receive 2-3 bags of local and organic vegetables. While I don't know what's being delivered from week to week as it comes direct from a farm in upstate NY (and there is a tiny 2 hour slot to collect the produce), it's radically changed the way I shop and cook. If you don't have a CSA, get on the program next Spring as they sell out quickly. See www.justfood.org for more information.

Here's what was in my goodie bag this week:

Nectarines; peaches; plums; pole beans; fairy eggplant; heirloom tomatoes; cucumbers, basil and cabbage. All seasonal and all organic, what more could one want? Simple recipes to make ends out of the unsystematic array of fruit and vegetables. I love to cook, so meals come instantly to me, but I'm aware that's not the case with all of you. So here's what I did for Sunday lunch and dinner.

Moroccan eggplant with bison meatballs (lunch) and nectarine and heirloom tomato salad with bison meatballs (dinner). While variety is key, let's be practical here, I live in NYC and I'm utterly time pressed. Cook once, eat twice is my motto!

Moroccan Eggplant and Bison Meatballs
-7oz of grass-fed bison
-pinch of cumin (x 2)
-coconut oil
-2 fairy eggplant, thinly chopped
-water
-pomegranate molasses

Add ground cumin to bison. Roll into tiny meatballs (about the size of a quarter). Heat cast iron pan, add coconut oil, then add meatballs and cook until browned. Rest aside.

Add eggplant to pan (no need to wash it, let the eggplant soak up the juices from the meatballs); add water to stem the eggplant; once the eggplant has started to turn golden add the pomegranate molasses for a hint of sweetness and to caramelize the eggplant. If you don't have pomegranate molasses, balsamic vinegar will do the trick. Cook until a deliciously golden brown. Add cumin for a hint of spice. Simply serve with 1/2 bison meatballs layered on top. Save remaining meatballs for dinner.

Nectarine and Heirloom Tomato Salad
3.5 oz Bison meatballs
1 x nectarine
1 x heirloom tomato

Got to love simple food. Slice both the tomato and nectarine, crack some pepper, add some sea salt and top with bison meatballs. I had some basil so added that too. Just perfect for a Sunday night dinner.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Two years ago I started a blog...continued it for two months then gave up. Too overwhelmed with running my practice and keeping up to-date with nutritional science, I protested I didn’t have time, and since I gravitate toward perfectionism, I feared it would take too long to get the posts out. I just couldn’t commit.

Ironically, I was expecting full commitment from my clients. If you want a hotter body and sharper mind, you'd have to spend some time thinking and preparing what to eat. After espousing this advice to my clients, it dawned on me that I wasn't applying those principals to my own business. I needed to walk the talk not only nutritionally but with other aspects of my life.

So my commitment to you - fresh and practical nutrition advice; culinary ideas; what's on my plate; exercise tips; and nutrition in the news - initially once or twice a month. The frequency may increase once I get warmed up, but for now, I'm following my own advice, starting small and slow but being consistent. My goal is to make the posts short, interesting and informative. If I miss the mark, please let me know. If I hit the mark, please forward the posts to your friends or family members who may benefit from them.

So with my inaugural blog post, I'll ask you a few questions: What is something you have been meaning to change in your life? What’s holding you back from fully committing to that change? And if you don’t make that change, what does your future look like?

Now you've got your answer, time to action it. Okay, enough of the psychology, here is my first "What's on my plate" post.