I'm a little late getting started this year, so I will excuse myself from talk of resolutions. However, a particularly festive and overbooked January had me thinking about balance. Then I came across this article at Yoga Journal. It suggests that post-holiday burnout comes from the clashing of winter yin and summer yang energies; people start eating iceberg for lunch and running around town for dinner out when they might be better off embracing the season's inherent qualities.
What I take from this theory is that the trick to staying healthy and happy in the yucky months is to find healthful choices in tune with, not fighting against, the winter yin. That is, don't think "I should have salad but I crave mac-and-cheese," but rather find a way to work with the blahs and incorporate winter elements -- spice, warmth, flavor, comfort, slowness -- into a healthy routine.
I tried this by adapting a recipe from She Simmers, with mixed success. I tried to embrace Leela's playful approach by applying her Beet-Vodka Sauce with Sriracha to lean fish rather than chicken thighs. Combining two of my favorite ingredients (beets and the beloved "hot cock"), her recipe sounded so weird and perfect yet easy to make that I had to try.
Verdict: I got a little overzealous with the sriracha, and I think the sauce definitely needs the fatty chicken skin to cling to (and so it crust over like it does so enticingly in Leela's photo). If I insisted on fish again, I might try salmon or something with a higher fat content that could stand up to the strong flavors. But I definitely accomplished my goal of whipping up a fast, lean dinner with loads of flavor.
The breakout performance of this dish, however: a yummy cabbage salad (from Ellen Bursteyn, of all people). J loves making big batches of red cabbage slaw to keep in the fridge as something to nosh on before dinner is ready, but I haven't been able to get on board until now. The sunflower seeds and raisins (plump them in a bowl of water for 20 minutes to an hour if you have time) are a really nice texture and flavor contrast to the cabbage. The cilantro keeps it fresh, but the garam masala puts it firmly in the yin category.
The chard photo up top is from another night, when I made another big batch of my absolute favorite all-weather staple: barley salad with beets, chard and feta. Let's not forget that winter produce can be just as pretty and colorful as its summer cousins.
