With the holidays and the new year's transition behind me, my daily challenges have been reduced to these: remembering to date my checks in 2002 and keeping my new year's resolution to lose weight.
If there is a woman or man on the face of the Earth who can avoid the dietary excesses of the holidays, I would like to like to meet this person. At this moment, as I squirm inside tight-fitting clothing, I envision such an encounter as the overeater's equivalent to a visit with the Dalai Lama.
I'm not sure what wisdom this model of healthy living would impart, but I suspect that such a person would speak of practicing moderation and avoiding temptation, two things that have proved to be very uncharacteristic for me for the last six weeks of every calendar year of my life.
Self-denial always seems so uncivilized during that part of the year when sharing food with friends and family is a major communal event that reaffirms our humanity. It also seems totally unlikely when so much holiday food is prepared with butter, sugar, chocolate and other ingredients that conspire to melt any resolve I might have. For this reason, I suspect that anyone who doesn't overeat during the holidays simply doesn't like food.
The trick now is to make a break with holiday eating habits and replace them with more intelligent menu choices. Unfortunately, we have to do this at a time of year when our options are somewhat limited.
For example, a salad, the mainstay of many diets, is a dreary and depressing thing in January. Not only are salad vegetables utterly bereft of flavor right now, but in cold weather our bodies are programmed to want denser food. Trying to eat salads often enough to make a difference seems like too much of a compromise and is likely to drive a sane person straight to chocolate cake.
The dieter's frozen entrees that go on sale this time of year, the ones that give you a complete meal for less than 400 calories, are a good supplement for people who can microwave their lunch or dinner, but they won't fill you up and are counterproductive as a substitute for every lunch and dinner.
Assuming that some form of exercise is part of a weight-loss plan, there's no reason that we can't incorporate reasonable portions of real meals into our diet. The challenge is to combine ingredients in ways that don't add up the fat and calories yet leave us feeling full.
The following recipe, adapted from one that appears in this month's Bon Appt, is a place to start. The original recipe called for dark-meat chicken and 2 tablespoons of oil. I substituted chicken breasts and you can cut the oil in half by using a large nonstick skillet or stew pot. If you eat the vegetables with the sauce that's created by the chicken broth and paprika, and don't add butter when the food is on your plate, you have a sensible, filling meal.
Chicken and Vegetables
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved
8 boiling potatoes, peeled
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup canned chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Sprinkle chicken on all sides with paprika, salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sautntil brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to plate. Add vegetables and stir 2 minutes. Sprinkle vegetables with flour and stir to coat.
Gradually stir in broth and wine, bring to boil, stirring frequently. Return chicken and any juices to skillet; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low.
Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley.
Makes 4 servings.
When she's not writing about foods and gardening, Gwyn Mellinger is teaching journalism at Baker University. Her phone number is (785) 594-4554.
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