I’m not always rooted in rational and linear thoughts.  You know how if you thrust a stick into a spinning bike wheel everything comes to a halt?  Sometimes I need somebody to be a stick.  Take a 4.5 mile walk with a good friend (who also told me to leave figure skating with Scott Hamilton on The List 2.0 - why not?) who thinks you have valuable opinions and perspective on items outside of your own head and I’ll show you how to feel better immediately.  I appreciate all the kind comments after my spazzing out two nights ago.  All of you offered perspective and helped to calm me down as well.

As for taking pictures of food – let me show you what I made for lunch.  Tuesday nights are my longest work out nights.  I do a 30 minute run/walk on the treadmill and then a 60 minute Zumba class.  I try to time it so I can do some arm strength training in the middle of the two workouts.  by the time I get home it’s after 9:30pm and I don’t like to eat dinner that late.  Typically I’ll make a smoothie and just drink a lot of water.  When I can, I make a bigger lunch on Tuesday afternoons.  This gets me through the evening without feeling starved at 9pm.  Todays lunch was salmon and tomato orzo.

I make this orzo all the time.  It’s really versatile and flavorful and is a quick and tasty substitution for time consuming risottos.  I start by sauteing a shallot in a tablespoon of olive oil.  Once the shallot has softened I add 2 cups of vegetable broth.  You can supplement some of the stock with water or white wine if you’d like.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Today I added some grape tomatoes I had in the fridge.  I wanted them to burst while everything cooked.  Here’s the super easy part- bring to a boil, put the lid on it, turn to a simmer and let cook about 10 – 12 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.  No need to drain anything and all the flavor of the stock or wine is in the pasta.  I like to add fresh spinach in the last couple of minutes of cooking and put the lid back on.  The spinach wilts really nicely into the dish.  After it’s done you can add some grated parmesan to increase the creaminess of the dish.

My salmon is super easy too.  Pat dry the fish filet and sprinkle with salt, pepper and dill.  I add two very thin lemon slices to the non skin side of the fish also.

I put my salmon into the melted butter with the skin side down first.  After about 6 minutes I flipped the fish with the lemon slices still in place over.  The lemon cooks and lemon juice steams it’s way into the fish filet.  I just love salmon like this!

There you have it.  How I come back down after a minor meltdown.  Walk it out.  Write it out.  Take pictures of food.  A fairly fool-proof 3 part plan.  Add my favorite work out night to the mix and today is going to be okay.