steak and eggs, tuna lettuce wraps.

I may be many things, but I’m rarely a myth debunker. For instance, I’m all for perpetuating that Walt Disney had his head frozen. It’s kind of fascinating to imagine, and I’d be all for him returning if he weren’t such a racist and likely anti-Semite. There is one myth that I’ve recently proven to be untrue, though, so I have to share. It’s such a myth that vegetarians are healthier than everyone else.

Since crossing over to the meaty side, I’ve realized that I have shedloads (British for “shitloads”..I wanted to class it up a bit) more energy and am eating far less processed foods to compensate for the frequent hunger common to many-a plant eater. I’ve also – gasp – lost weight since I’ve integrated meat back into my life. It’s as if my more balanced meals are giving my body what it needs for fuel, and I have little use for carb and sugar fat.

I’m also leaner these days since I’m training for this half marathon, so I’ve been doing bi-weekly morning runs through the streets of the city. Though I inhale my fair share of cigarette smoke and burnt Halal food on the way, it’s doing wonders for my stamina. It doesn’t hurt that I run with a group of, like, statuesque gazelles, so I’m trying like hell not to be the token straggler.

I often worry that I look like this:

Luckily, the gazelles don’t seem to mind.

I made an easy dinner the other night that I was absurdly proud of. It’s absurd, because on the list of impressive dishes I’ve made it would rank something like 213th. It was just tuna salad in lettuce cups, but I’ve never before made it so delicious. I had to share.

tuna lettuce wraps

Ingredients:

1 can tuna, drained
2 tbsp Grey Poupon mustard
1 tsp Cholula hot sauce
Romaine lettuce hearts
1/4 c golden raisins
1/2 avocado, cut into chunks
1/4 yellow bell pepper, cut into chunks
juice of a lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

I drained the tuna and mixed in the Grey Poupon and Cholula. I mixed in about half of the lemon juice. I chopped the avocado and bell pepper, and added those to the tuna mixture. I mixed in the raisins, salt and pepper, and filled the lettuce wraps with equal amounts of the mixture. I then topped with the rest of the lemon juice, and devoured. Though unimpressive, it was a cheap, easy and healthy meal that I threw together in like five minutes. Highly recommended.

This new-found meaty love has prompted me to rediscover my girl Giada’s cookbooks, so I dug up the old “Giada at Home” cookbook and found a recipe I was interested in. I made her “Grilled Tuscan Steak with Fried Egg and goat cheese” last night:

role model

Ingredients:

1 boneless ribeye steak
salt and ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp herbes de Provence
olive oil cooking spray
1 tbsp goat cheese crumbles
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley
2 c arugula
1 egg

She actually called for four servings, but I quartered the recipe knowing I could stretch it into two meals. Although I’ve realized I love beef, I don’t care for massive servings of steak. I’m a 4 oz at-a-timer, I’ve realized.

You start by heating up the grill, so I plugged in my Panini Press and sprayed both sides with the olive oil spray. Sprinkle both sides of the steak with salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence. Grill 6-8 minutes for each side, and the steak is cooked medium rare. Remove from the heat and allow to rest.

Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat, and then add the egg. Season with salt and pepper, and cook until the egg whites are set, 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve the steak atop arugula. Top steak with the egg, and crumble goat cheese and the parsley on top. First off, I am very pleased that I was able to cook the steak properly. It remained reddish pink in the middle, and it actually bled on my plate! This was thrilling, especially considering how greyish it appeared when I likely overcooked it in my last attempt. Secondly, the yolk, goat cheese, and juicy steak made for an incredible tasty combination. This just may be my new favorite meal. See below:

Grilled Tuscan Steak with Fried Egg and Goat Cheese

linguine with clams, veggie sandwich.

I just reached a major culinary milestone. In a lady-balls-to-the-wall moment, I approached the seafood counter at Whole Foods with nothing but bivales on the brain. After probing the seafood man for his expertise (Clams or Cockles? Jersey clams or Maine clams? Boxers or briefs?), I walked away with two pounds of Littleneck clams and a totally unnecessary and premature sense of accomplishment.

I’ve had no experience with clams save for a few encounters with clam chowder, so I was pretty glued to the recipe I found on Epicurious. It was meant for cockles, but the Whole Foods man said he favored clams (they’re sweeter and less briny, apparently) and steered me in that direction. It called for:

linguine with clams

Ingredients:

12 oz linguine (I used whole wheat)

2 tbsp butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup dry white wine

2 tbsp tarragon

1/4 tsp saffron

2 pounds cockles ( I used clams)

It also requested I add whipping cream, which I excluded because I can. I love exerting my power over dairy. You start by cooking the linguine as the box instructs, and melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic and sautee for a couple of minutes, and then add the wine, half the tarragon and the saffron. Bring to boil, add the clams, and cover the skillet. They took about 8 minutes to cook, and suddenly all the clams pop open and, like, all but unhinge! It looked just like the Reach toothbrush cartoon, but an edible version. Side bar: what happened to Reach? Anyways, you toss the cooked linguine in with the sauce, season with salt and pepper, and then top with the clams. I added some crushed red pepper flakes for some spice, but the tarragon and saffron did a pretty good job of seasoning. I really enjoyed the whole clam experience.

In sweaty news, I’ve been going at this whole workout thing with a new perspective. Harder, faster, stronger, if you will. I used to be all “treadmill for 20 min a day? Done.” Now I’m all, “Treadmill for 20, Cybex for 30, Stair master for 15? Done,” or some variation of that. It’s swimsuit season much too soon, so it’s go time. I will never stop wishing there were pools in the city, though, because I loooove to swim. I also enjoy that whole “fetus in the womb” feeling of floating around and doing somersaults and whatever. Also, it’s sweatless exercise. Something to think about, NYC.

While looking through my repertoire of recent eats, I realized that my most photogenic recipe was another from Epicurious. Is there such a thing as a recipe app addiction? If so, I suffer from it.

I want

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise

1 teaspoon finely chopped canned chipotle chile with sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

8 slices whole-grain bread

2⁄3 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta

1 medium avocado, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tomato, cut into 8 slices

You start by boiling 1 cup water with vinegar in a small saucepan. Add onion; turn off heat; let sit 30 minutes; drain. I love red onions more than life itself, and this was a delicious way to prepare them. They’re almost pickled. Epi then wants you to puree beans and cumin in a blender. Mix mayonnaise, chipotle (I used a jalapeno) and lime juice in a bowl, and spread on 4 slices of bread, which I toasted. I’m normally not a mayo fan, but I figured it was alright to include as long as lime and jalapeno were involved. Top remaining slices with bean puree, onion, cheese (I used goat cheese due to the overwhelming absense of feta in Whole Foods that week), avocado, cilantro and tomato. I’ve made my fair share of well documented veggie paninis in the past, but this was by far the most hearty. It’s also arguably the prettiest, and I’m showing it here in all its openfaced glory. See below:

black bean and veggie sandwich with pickled red onions and jalapeno mayo

shrimp tacos.

I’m leaving on a jet(Blue) plane first thing tomorrow morning, so cue a straight week of eating my face off and watching 19+ hours of “Days of Our Lives.” It happens. I’ll try and work in the occasional lake run, but I can’t make any promises. Until then, I’d like to live off my recent accomplishments. Indulge me.

To begin with, I’ve been running every single day. I look like her, except turn the intensity waayyy down. I’m all for rock running, but I’ve been sticking to my diluted version with the treadmill and some “Lady Gaga” on Pandora. I cut out the elliptical for good, which seems a little finite considering how good it is to my knees. I’ve never been that impressed with the results, though, so for now it’s over between us. On Saturday, I ran two miles, and then I walked an entire mile by bringing the incline gradually up to 10, and then back down to one. Then, I ran two MORE miles. How serious am I? Not as serious as this girl, but I’m at least halfway there.

On the food front, I’ve been making delicious stuff lately that is just not so photogenic. I’m too honest and law abiding to superimpose one of Giada’s recipes on one of my plates, so I’ve decided to leave them out of this. One was pretty clever, though, so it’s a shame. My friend and I had brunch plans last Sunday, so I was up and doing my morning gymming when I got a text from that friend. He was all, “Can we do a cheap-ass diner instead?” which I read as “dinner,” and immediately started making my own brunch. Once I realized my mistake, I had an over easy egg just hanging out with nowhere to go. I tupperwared it and met my friend for brunch.

Later that night, I was considering making a carbonara to make use of my egg. I don’t eat bacon, I’m mostly off cheese, and the egg was already in a phase not compatible with carbonara, so I had to nix that idea. I made a pasta and my own sauce out of tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, onions and garlic, and at the last minute I threw the egg in there to heat it. I ended up eating it altogether, and it was pretty amazing. Seriously. Just not so pretty, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

I love a good taco, so I decided to make some shrimp tacos on Monday. I started with some pre-cooked and frozen shrimp, which I ran water over and then heated with some butter. I toasted a low-carb wrap (obvs), and then heated some black beans alongside my shrimpies. I have this delicious corn-chile salsa from TJ’s, so that became a pretty serious part of the meal. On the side, I chopped tomatoes and fresh cilantro. Not only were they delicious (roommate-approved!), but they’re so easy on the eyes. See below: