LJ, Fount of All Knowledge

[neadods]

Mini trampoline: Good low-impact workout, or disaster waiting to happen?

Also, I am in the market for a good, general cookbook (think "Joy of Cooking") for:
- Mediterranean Cooking (esp. Greece and Italy)
- Recipes for Lent
- Jewish cooking

Any recommendations?

I am trying to deal with the incredible paucity of fish and bean recipes in most "generican" cookbooks. Vegetarian cookbooks are slightly better. Slightly.

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

I could kiss you!

You said "Fount"! So many people say "Font" and it drives me bonkers because it's wrong...

I am trying to deal with the incredible paucity of fish and bean recipes in most "generican" cookbooks. Vegetarian cookbooks are slightly better. Slightly.

Well true vegetarians don't eat fish...

[cedara]

Well true vegetarians don't eat fish...

Yes. It always irks me when someone says they're vegetarians and eat fish. If you're vegetarian, the only animal products you eat are eggs and/or cheese/milk products and/or honey - that's why they're called ovo-lacto vegetarians or lacto-vegetarians.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Font? But I'm not asking LJ to print anything for me...

Well true vegetarians don't eat fish...

:P~ I meant the beans part there. There's pretty much one bean recipe in America: Baked beans. Which are good, but there must be more you can do with them.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

I have an automatic twitch when it comes to any kind of trampoline, as my second cousin fell on a regular trampoline decades ago and broke his neck. Ended up quadriplegic for the rest of his life.

If you go with one, just be careful, please.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That is an extremely persuasive vote against! Although the one I was thinking of has a handlebar, which should help.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

I ahve all manner of fish and bean recipe books - but sadly they're published on the wrong side of the Atlantic and are couched in strange UK quantities.

You might be able to find a copy of Claudia Roden's 'Mediterranean Cookery' which is one of my staples.

Though as Claudia was born to a cosmopolitan Jewish family in Cairo you might find some of her online recipes the answer to all your needs...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Don't start me on weird UK quantities. I still haven't forgiven the cookbook I have for having cups, teacups, spoons, dessert spoons, ounces, and grams in it.

Do you have a link to the online recipes?

[kefiraahava.livejournal.com]

These are all ones I have and like, though obviously mileage varies with cookbooks:

Mediterranean: Joyce Goldstein, The Mediterranean Kitchen

Jewish: Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food; Rose Levy Beranbaum has a number of cookbooks, but specifically Jewish recipes are scattered throughout them and mingled with other cuisines.

Italian: Patricia Wells' Trattoria; Lynne Rosetto Kasper, The Splendid Table; Viana La Place and Evan Klieman, Cucina Rustica and Pasta Fresca.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[cedara]

Don't do the trampoline - what if something goes wrong? You could end up with horrible injuries. There should be safer ways to get a workout.

*hugs*

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Terri's got a particularly good argument against it upthread.

It's just this damned knee! All sorts of standard workout moves will cripple me; I thought the trampoline would be easier on it than the treadmill is.

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

If you mean one of those mini trampolines that are about 5 inches high and a yard across - I've never used one, but a friend of mine has done regularly for years & thinks it's been good for her. The kind with the grab bar in front look the safest to me, but that may be because I don't trust my balance on a bouncy thing.

For cookbooks, 3 that come to mind are Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love and Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

If you mean one of those mini trampolines that are about 5 inches high and a yard across

Yes - it looked like a good way to get in some of the harder impact running/twisting moves without knocking my bad knee out of commission.

I'll check out the cookbooks, thank you!

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge fan of trampolines. Anything that involves bouncing has to be better than other, non-bouncy forms of exercise.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought, but Terri's got a pretty compelling argument against!

[maypanic.livejournal.com]

I know many people who sustained serious injuries from regular trampolines, but never personally heard of anyone on a mini-tramp getting worse than a stubbed toe when they stumble across it heading to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

My doctor thinks they're wonderful, stimulate the lymphatic system which aids general health - but my arthritic joints didn't like the bouncing motion. They tend to show up super cheap at Goodwill and yard sales quite frequently, you could try a cheap one to see if you like it before you invest in something nicer.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

but my arthritic joints didn't like the bouncing motion.

Really? Because the attraction to me was to save my knee - one of its several problems being arthritis.

[melusinehr.livejournal.com]

I second the recommendation for Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish Food. Not only does she have some great recipes, but it's a really enjoyable book to just read.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'm terrible about reading cookbooks like novels. Right now I'm going through Cooking With Jane Austen.

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

am trying to deal with the incredible paucity of fish and bean recipes in most "generican" cookbooks. Vegetarian cookbooks are slightly better. Slightly.

Have you looked specifically for bean cookbooks and fish cookbooks? There are lots of them around.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Recommendations? (Particularly for recipes, but also for books.)

[jennetj.livejournal.com]

If you're trying to be kind to a knee, then brisk walking on your treadmill (I'm right in remembering you have a treadmill, yes?) would be better than jogging on a tramp, methinks. One of my favorite low-impact gadgets is a Bosu ball. Not cheap, but excellent for balance, and you can use it much more gently than a step, because it's squishy.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have a treadmill. My long-term hope is to treadmill 2x, strength train 2x (I just bought a balance ball), and ... something... 2x. One of my friends at work says Bosu kicks her ass, so it was something I was thinking about.

The knee problem is simple, but surprisingly restrictive... it will not bear weight while bent. No squats. No lunges. No biking. No jumping jacks (torque) or water exercises (same). It will take quite a pounding, as long as the weight is hitting it straight up and down.

And as long as I don't ask it to bear weight bent, I'm in no pain and can walk normally. Ask more out of it, and I limp; ask more than that and it's prone to give out without warning.

So what the knee wants, the knee gets.

Trampoline

[olivia-sutton.livejournal.com]

Trapoline - bad idea. In a word, don't.

Out of curiosity, why would an Athetist need recipes for Lent?
But, left to my own devices what I did was: no candy (or chocolate), no pop (soda), fish or vegetarian every Friday, AND vegetarian one other (flex) day a week. Do that for six weeks and you will lose weight. Or at least I did, usually 5-10 pounds. And since Lent's in the Spring, that meant getting rid of Winter pudge.
Recipes:
I LOVE poached fish in wine. Take your basic white fish (like Tilapia, or whatever you have). You can rub the fish with spices if you want. Put some olive oil in a frying/saute pan, put the fish in the pan, add WHITE wine. I use semi-sweet white, but whatever floats your boat. Make sure there's enough wine to reach half-way up the side of the fish. Halfway through cooking, flip fish over. Cook until done. (Fish should flake with fork). (If wine completely boils off - finish by deglazing pan with more wine and pouring sauce over fish.)
NOTE on cooking with any type of alcohol, only use stuff you like to drink. If you don't like the flavor of a wine or liquor in your glass, you won't like it in your food. (for ex. I don't like rum, and I REALLY don't like rum balls.)
You can also use a mix of crushed corn torillas and spices on the fish (prior to cooking in the pan).
Another good thing to do with fish is just cook it in a frying pan or saute' pan with olive oil, butter, dill (or chives), and capers.
Then there's your basic fried fish and chips. I can't make it - I always buy it by the bucket at a fried fish specialty place.
And don't forget about pasta!!! Vegetarian pasta, or a seafood pasta is wonderful. (I make a good seafood alfredo, but it's not exactly light on calories).
You might want to try any Weight Watchers cookbooks - the recipes are actually good, easy, and they have lots of fish and vegetarian recipes because their entire program is kinda' "low meat/high fiber".
Good luck!
--Olivia

Re: Trampoline

[neadods.livejournal.com]

*Not* for religious reasons! It's the discovery that the Greek Orthodox spend about half the year fasting - not in the "eat no food" sense, but in the sense of having no meat or dairy, and right now I'm very much in the market for time-tested recipes that avoid butter and animal products. If there are cultures out there who've been making tasty food like that for centuries, I have no problems coming from behind and gleaning the results.

I love fish poached in wine. Salmon, heavily covered in dill sprigs and poached in May wine? YUM!

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

i am deeply suspicious of trampoline work out things, as it seems to me that balance would be a requirement, and i dont have that much...


i may HAVE some good Kosher cookbooks i havent given away yet.. want me to look?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

YES, please!

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

I bought a mini-trampoline a year ago from a thrift shop, hoping to get around to using it.

And it has sat in my garage.

Want it? $5 to the MS Society and it's yours. Then you can find out for low cost. :)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Done. Shall I send it directly to them or give it to you as a walk pledge?