All About the Grill

That's tonight's dinner.  I defrosted some grass-fed tri-tip and decided today was a good day for the grill.  I also took a couple of onions and 2 lbs of zucchini and give them the same treatment.

We don't have a lot of experience grilling meat, and yes, the tri-tip was a tiny bit overcooked (still figuring out the meat thing AND the grass-fed thing.  Most recipes are written for grain-fed meat.)

The marinade was pretty simple.  I have a Williams Sonoma grilling cookbook that I received as a birthday gift from my great neighbor.  I didn't have the beer it called for, so I used red wine vinegar.


Grilled Tri Tip:
2-3 lbs tri tip (we had two small roasts at about 3.2 lbs): $38.20 (this IS grass fed)
2 T. olive oil: 0.22
2 T. red wine vinegar: 0.15
2 cloves garlic, pressed: 0.10
2 tsp oregano: 0.10
1 tsp cumin:  0.05
2 tsp chili powder: 0.10
Total: $38.92 for about 7 4-oz servings, or $5.56 each.  Grass fed is pretty lean and does not shrink down much.  Mostly our servings come out to be about 3 oz each, cooked, so it would be a tad bit cheaper.  But I ate 4 oz tonight.

On the side you'll see some quinoa cooked in the rice cooker with a veggie bouillon cube (no MSG, thanks! No sodium either.)  Topped with some salsa and diced avocado.  And of course, the slightly charred zucchini and onions.

My lunch today was a Hugh Jass salad.  Lettuce, black beans (canned), corn (canned), radishes, cucumber, goat cheese, salsa, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and about 4 blue corn chips crushed on top.

I think I will be eating a lot of salad this summer.  I am really trying to lose these stubborn 15 lbs that have found me in the last 9 months as a result of turning 40/ being injured and not able to run/ becoming a supervisor to 3 people/ having a spouse who suddenly started traveling 2x a month this year.  The only way that I've successfully lost weight is Weight Watchers (counting works!), and oddly, it generally only works for me if I have at least 15 lbs to lose.  I guess I need to get into a long term habit.  Interestingly, once I LOSE the weight, I am generally able to maintain it for a few years without counting.  Go figure.

Anyway, yesterday's workout was a long 1000 yd ocean swim plus a 2.5 mile run.  It was noticeably colder than last week, and it was choppy.  I just couldn't get my rhythm, so I resigned myself to feeling uncomfortable, slogging through it with frequent breaks, and coming out of the water nearly dead last.  The run was okay though.  I think I kept a pace of about 10:30, thanks to my friend Whitney who stuck with me and chatted.  And the knee held out.

Today I went for what was supposed to be a 3 mile walk/run, which turned into a 6 mile walk/run (half and half).  Followed by some time in the pool with my family where I squeezed in 400 yds of laps in bits and pieces.