Tomatillo Salsa

I treat my body as royalty, I deserve the best! I am talking about my food.....So many people buy the cheapest thing they can get, I shake my head with wonder as I listen to people talk about how cheap their tilapia is or their frozen vegetables are. I think they don't even realize that the more alive your food is, the more nutrients and taste it has!

I get a CSA delivery of vegetables and fruit at my office every Tuesday, I get what I get, it's what is in season and I love it! It comes from J.P. Organics, but that doesn't last long so I also go to the Campbell Farmers Market every Sunday too.  

I fell in love with these purple tomatillos from Catalan Family Farm. The taste is sweeter than green tomatillos. Last week I made salsa with avocado for the boys, this week I made some a little different without the avocado, I wanted to control the fats a bit more. I decided to use the sweet tomatillos, shiny chilaka chiles (use pasilla if you cannot find these) and cilantro. 

First I shucked the tomatillos and pan roasted them until they were blistered and starting to bubble inside, some bursting slightly.

I then blistered the chiles on a cast iron pan, I wanted a slightly charred taste to go with the sweetness of the tomatillos. 

I roughly chopped the chiles, then put the chiles, tomatillos, cilantro and a splash of water into a blender and whisked it up. I added some salt and pepper then the juice of half a lime.

It was stunning. It was a party in my mouth! The sweet and tangy tomatillos, the earthy chiles and just a hint of lime.

For lunch I topped my bowl with some, I had 4 ounces sauteed ground turkey breast, cauliflower, 3 ounces rice and green beans. And my party salsa.


This is great because it is packed with flavor, no fat, minimal carbs (and it's not starches anyway, its mainly sugars just like a tomato). A little goes a long way, so adding just a bit adds pizazz to my meal.

For dinner I had Knee Deep Cattle Company vitellone. This is not veal, it is free range,  grass fed young beef. I buy it from Prather Ranch at the farmers market. I cooked it rare (you can see I think) topped it with a couple tablespoons of salsa and had green beans and my favorite, mushrooms.


Try the salsa, it is amazing!

San Francisco Ferry Plaza Market

David and I will drive up to San Francisco to have fish tacos and red wine for breakfast whenever we can. I know that sounds a bit odd, but don't knock it till you have tried it!


We head straight for the Ferry Plaza Market. Saturdays is a huge outdoor market in addition to the regular shops and restaurants. 


The last time we were there was after my last competition in October, 2010, so you can see we are rather busy and don't make it there very often. Lacrosse season in the spring pretty much eats up the weekends....


I am enjoying my red wine in the sunshine, on a glorious day, it's only 9:00 a.m. 

Fish taco on the right there, and we split a quesadilla.  They make their own tortilla's at Mijita Restaurant, and that can't be beat!

We bought fresh oysters and clams at Hog Island Oyster Company.

Bread at Acme, this is where I get my rustic rye and spelt bread.

And I left David at Cowgirl Creamery as he tasted his way through all of the goat and sheep cheese!

Loaded up on pork and beef at Prather Ranch.

Then had a glass of sparkling wine.

We wandered around the outdoor market, sampling wonderful fruits, vegetables, cheeses, oils, nuts, tasty treats from myriad restaurants. 

It's fine to do this, in fact its a healthy way to eat (well maybe not the wine with breakfast), but the point is, you can enjoy life and food without going overboard. You can eat what "normal" people eat and stay lean, you can look great and be healthy. 

Shop in the right paces, enjoy the good foods, splurge on occasion. Enjoy life!

Albacore Chowder

I had this for meal #4 on Sunday and loved it!

Dave's Gourmet Albacore is in Santa Cruz and sells quality products. I first tried Dave's many, many years ago when Dave's wife Krista used to sell their products at the farmers market in Los Gatos.

They have amazing canned tuna, smoked tuna, salmon, fresh tuna, sole, the list goes on and on, check out the link above for a full list.

Dave is a purist, all of the fish he sells is caught "hook and line", none of this garbage where they use huge nets that catch and kill other fish and dolphin  that get in the way. It is the humane way of fishing and allows him to select only the best.

This tuna is expensive, but it is the highest quality and the best you will ever taste. They even have canned albacore with no oil, water, salt, nada!

Dave also happens to be a weightlifter!

I ran into a gal selling his canned products two weeks ago at the Campbell farmers market, it's the one I prefer to go to. Krista is now back at the Los Gatos market too I understand.

I bought this albacore chowder and some clam chowder. What I found intriguing is that she said there were no potatoes in the chowders any longer because she is on a low carb diet, so Dave replaced them with water chestnuts!

I can vouch for the albacore, they weren't potatoes (and it was great anyway!). I didn't follow the directions of adding a can of milk, for two reasons, one, I am lactose intolerant, and two, I wanted less calories. I suppose you can use skim milk if you like though. I added a can of my homemade turkey stock!

Here is the back label:

One can serves two people (don't forget you add a can of liquid).  The breakdown is as follows:

160 calories
4 grams fat
285 mg sodium (ridiculously low for a canned product)
9 grams carbs (see no potato)
0 sugar
9 grams protein

Now this doesn't have enough protein for a complete meal, but you can have a nice salad with it and in the salad add some small pieces of chicken, or a couple hard cooked eggs (toss the yolk).

You can find Dave's at their shop in Santa Cruz, several farmers markets or online and even my favorite grocery store Cosentino's sells some of their canned tunas.