My doctor told me to start eating a Mediterranean diet since I have high triglycerides. I'm a decent cook, but Mediterranean food isn't something I dive into very often, unless it's chicken gyros, so there's going to be a learning curve here, I think. I essentially just Googled Mediterranean diet recipes and pulled a few things that looked appealing and have ingredients I could actually find.
I prepared a shrimp and spinach skillet with peppers, onions, garlic, and lemon as the main dish. For the sides, I made couscous (a first-time attempt), a chickpea and olive salad, and zucchini fritters with feta. Overall, it wasn't bad, but I need to up the spices. The fritters were surprisingly good, and I typically don't like zucchini, but they seemed to work just fine here. I think I'll pass on the chickpea salad in the future. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but it just wasn't my thing.
Going forward, I think my biggest challenge will be actually obtaining the ingredients. I live in rural Northern Michigan, which doesn't exactly have an abundance of things, especially now that the farmer's markets are ending. I'm sure I can figure something out, but I'll probably need to do some more planning for meals. At least fish is readily available, although it's mostly freshwater fish from the Great Lakes.
by Thel_Odan
6 Comments
I guess to satisfy Rule 3:
Shrimp Skillet
– A bag of frozen no-tail shrimp
– 4 peppers
– A package of spinich
– 1 bunch of green onions
– 1 sweet onion
– 3 lemons
– 1 bulb of Garlic
– A smattering of things from my spice cupboard, but I leaned heavily on something called “Greek Seasoning” I have that I use for gyros
The Zucchini Fritters:
– 4 eggs
– 3 zucchinis
– 1 bunch of green onions
– Half a container of bread crumbs
– A couple handfuls of feta
Honestly, I can’t really give anything specific since I’ve never measured anything while cooking. My grandma never measured and it’s just a habit I picked up.
Welcome here 🙂 You did a nice meal, it looks tasty. If you want some ideas, you can check this link, it could be usefull. Thank you for these recipes.
[https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/healthy/g4357/mediterranean-diet-meal-plan/](https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/healthy/g4357/mediterranean-diet-meal-plan/)
Mediterranean diet doesn’t need to be restricted to Mediterranean recipes or foods – just needs to follow the Med Diet pyramid. Might help you feel less restricted.
Couscous is not a whole grain so if you are eating Mediterranean for health purposes you would be better off with brown rice or similar. At least it is just a side here so it is a moderate amount. Zucchini and chickpeas have starch in them so you could have just ditched the couscous.
Looks like a great start! Your recipes look really nice. One thing about a traditional Med diet is to mostly keep it simple. To me this looks like so many recipes to make one dinner — I’d burn out trying to do all of that. Employ the “cook once, eat twice (or three times)” strategy.
It helps me to keep a schedule: Each week, I’ll make 1 recipe from the Green lathera dishes (veggies stewed in EVOO with tomato and herbs), 1 recipe with chicken or turkey, and 1 bean/lentil recipe, so I really only do significant cooking 3 times a week. Each of those recipes will make 3-8 servings. I’ll eat 3-4 portions for dinners/lunches that week and the rest goes into the freezer.
Then my other meals throughout the week are no-cook items like salads (Horiatiki, tuna white bean salad, green salad) or light 15-minute cooking, like grilled salmon or canned sardines sauteed with garlic and oregano, grilled shrimp or seared scallops with whole wheat pasta and veggies, or something like a veggie and cheese omelet with whole grain bakery bread. I have one dedicated night to try new recipes, but in general I keep it pretty simple. And I always have the freezer portions to fill in the gaps as needed.
Breakfast for me is mostly oats with nuts and berries, or yogurt with fruit and honey. I got fancier with brunch on the weekends.
Frozen veggies are generally flash frozen at peak quality and will help you get though winter. And canned tomato.
Nice work. I’m in the same boat… On the Medically prescribed Mediterranean sea.