Obviously, it’s no secret that I like to cook.  Cooking for me brings a level of comfort that is hard to explain.  I love the whole process of meal planning, grocery shopping, chopping vegetables, etc.  I have often said that I don’t feel like my day really starts until I get home from work and get my hands Bizzy in My Kitchen.

So when I was contacted to check out an eBook called Modernist Cuisine at Home, I was immediately intrigued.  I soon realized that this e-publication is an off-shoot of Modernist Cuisine:  The Art and Science of Cooking that was published in 2011.  This is THE cooking encyclopedia – six jam packed volumes, but also at a steep price: $475!

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While I am sure that is any chef’s dream to own that set of books (all 2,438 pages!), it just doesn’t work for me, because there are lots of things I don’t cook with and I don’t bake very much.  And as much as I do read cookbooks as a novel, that would be like ready The Harry Potter of all cookbooks!

So what is the Modernist Cuisine at Home all About?  It’s an award-winning eBook by Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet.  As an interactive eBook on Inkling.com, it features 1600+ beautiful photos, 416 recipes, and easy step-by-step guides to creating wonderful dishes you and your family will enjoy.  “Not to mention, this is the only digital version of this title. To give folks a taste test, there’s a free section that includes a chapter and some tools unique to the digital version (the print version retails at $140+).”

You can view different chapters, and if you decide to buy it, it’s yours for only $4.99.  Step-by-step instructions and beautiful photography.  Check out this mac n cheese!  And you can also check out all their other food category eBooks here.

And I love the way the recipes are laid out – you can scale a recipe, it has instructions in both metric and ounces.  Um, turns out math isn’t my best subject, so this alone is extremely helpful to me!  And you can add the recipe to a shopping list – you can just “undo” any ingredient you have on hand to have a customized grocery list – how cool is that?

Did I mention the photography was amazeballs?

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I was just telling Tony that while I loved getting magazines in the mail, I can almost always find everything I need online – so these eBooks may fill my food magazine obsession – only in electronic form! And at the cost of slightly over 1 cup of Starbucks coffee (um, unless you are like my boss who gets FOUR extra shots of espresso in hers!) the small cost for recipes you’ll use is totally justifiable.

Alright, here’s a quick recap of yesterday before I head out to the gym.  Can I just say I am happy that it’s 3 degrees this morning! 😀  Yesterday’s start to the day was just a tad chilly!

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Yesterday was back and biceps.  I did a 15 minute warm up, then the workout took me 25 minutes, then I finished with 25 minutes on the treadmill at 8% incline.

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I had this balance bar as my pre-workout meal – holy cow is this one delicious!

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I ended up making a couple more whole wheat pastry flour pancakes for breakfast – this time I added a bit of poppy seeds.  While I don’t think this breakfast is as filling when I have egg whites and more protein, the Balance bar is so filling, I didn’t end up eating this until nearly 10:00 a.m.

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When my Mom and I were out and about last Friday, I picked up this container at Goodwill for only .49 cents.  I love it!  This normally retails for $8!

 

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It has an inside container too:

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When we were at Mariano’s, I saw this Asian broccoli kale salad that looked so good.  I am trying to give kale another try.  Turns out that I’ve been eating the center part, which I guess is where all the bitter flavors are.  This had dried cranberries, a zippy Asian dressing – so good!  I need to see if they have a recipe for it on their website.  I felt like Roz with my bento type lunch!

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Dinner was one of Tony’s favorites – Zataran’s red beans and rice with smoked sausage.  So simple, all cooked together in two cycles of the rice maker.  Dinner was ready when I got home – loved it!  I did add baby spinach to mine, and of course, some hot sauce!

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I finally watched last week’s Biggest Loser – I think makeover week is my favorite episode!  I think Rachel is going to win it all – although David is a close second.  I didn’t even recognize him without his beard!

Stats for the Day:

  • 1485 calories, 62 fat, 162 cars, 79 protein, 22 fiber
  • 42% of calories from carbs, 36% from fat and 20% in protein
  • 40 minutes cardio before work
  • 25 minutes back and biceps
  • 30 minute swim at lunch
  • NO WINE
  • average blood sugar 112

Time to get this show on the road – make it a great day!