Even if I often tell people that I exercise to feel good there is a much more important reason that makes me able to force myself out of the door. I want to be able to eat whatever I want without it having serious consequences. I am no longer able to exercise often or long enough for this to work, which means that unhealthiness, and kilos have been slowly sneaking their way into my life.

I want to try to turn the trend and invested in one of those fitness bands (Jawbone UP) that are so popular these days. Not that I am silly enough to think I will magically have more time to train or that my hips destroyed by my pregnancy 3 years ago will all of a pull themselves together. So far it is making me take the stairs and put in an extra kilometer or two or so when out running. The statistical nerd in me thrives on seeing statistics!

UP Statistics

It has a neat feature as well that lets me see how much sleep I am getting and how much of it is deep sleep. Not very accurate as it usually fails to register when I wake up and have to tend to my daughter but not sure if that says about the fitness band or the state I am in…

In the light of this new slightly healthier regime I am making today’s recipe my all time favorite salad. I am generally not a fan of salads or at least not the healthier types which this one actually is. If I try to eat them I usually end up starving shortly afterwards and snacking on unhealthy things. I was very skeptical when my fiancé made it the first time. This one however is just filling enough that it feels like a meal and is so good. The strange thing is that it gets gradually better the more you eat. I usually end up scarping up the last bits of avocado, salt, and oil on my plate wishing there was more.

Spanish Salad

We call this a Spanish salad since my fiancés family learned to make this on a trip to Tenerife by some locals. I wont make any claims about its authenticity.

Spanish Salad

2 cans tuna fish in water
1/2 head iceberg lettuce or 2 heads little gem lettuce (or any other green lettuce you like), chopped
1/2 onion in round slices
3 tomatoes cut in slices or boats
3 hardboiled eggs in slices
2 avokados in slices
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt

Extras
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper

Squeeze some lime juice over the avocado and sprinkle some salt over. Let it “marinate” in it for few minutes. Drain the tuna fish of water, rip it into pieces with a fork and put in a bowl. Mix everything in a bowl.

When serving sprinkle some olive oil, salt black pepper.

Serve with white bread (Pide bread is our favorite), aioli and some nice Rioja.

Healthy goodies

Let me make a prediction: There will be lots of lawsuit in 10-20 years against TV producers from people that participated in reality TV. Seriously, some of these young people will grow up, become wiser, and realize that the TV producers deliberately made them look as stupid as possible to make money of them during their wilder years.

I caught about 10 minutes of one of those reality charter trips TV shows that are so popular in Norway. Eventually, I had to zap past it because my jaw kept hitting the floor again and again. It was painful to watch. I sincerely believe that it is not right that TV producers use what are often young naive people in their attempt to create shocking reality shows.

I know it is human nature to enjoy watching something like this because it makes you feel good about yourself. It isn’t right of course but ultimately I think the responsibility lies with the producers to at least protect the younger people against themselves. Anyways, that was today’s rant.

Charter trips are really a special phenomenon here in Norway. People flock to the Canary Islands in the wintertime, drink bunch of cheap alcohol, party like crazy, and go to shitty tourist restaurants that have the menu in Norwegian. The flights there are a delight with all the kids being fed their weight in candy and all spinning out of control…

I regularly go on those charter trips but never really the partying type. I make a point out of avoiding restaurants that have the menu in Norwegian though it cannot always be avoided. Ideally I would like to eat mostly local food but this isn’t really easy to find. Occasionally you find something worth remembering. Like the soup I am blogging about today that we found while on a trip in Tenerife. It was so good that I went through the effort of trying to copy and 8 years later I am still making it regularly.

Rancho Canario it is called and is a hearthy, slow cooked soup with a mild, filling flavor. It is perfect to make ahead or to freeze for quick leftovers later. The authentic version requires a lot more meat but I think it is actually more than enough with few bites of chicken.  It taste pretty good in the vegetarian version as well.

Rancho Canario

The trick is really to cook it for as long as you can until the potatoes start melting into the soup. It shouldn’t be clear as in the picture below. The soup should look cloudy and look more like a thick stew.

Not cooked enough yet

Rancho Canario

Olive oil
2 tbsp cumin
3 onions, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp paprika

250 ml white wine
1 liter water
5 boxes chick peas
10 potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes
10-15 branches fresh coriander, chopped
2 vegetables bouillons
1 chicken bouillon
A pinch of saffron
Black pepper
Salt
1 chicken breast, fried and cut in pieces

Heat olive oil and add cumin to it when it is hot. Let it bubble for few seconds Fry onions until they start to soften. Add garlic, tomatoes, and paprika and fry for a little while.

Add white wine and cook for couple of minutes. Add water, chickpeas, potatoes, coriander, bouillons, saffron and some pepper. Cook for few hours or until the potatoes start to soften and melt into the soup. You know when this is happening when the liquid starts getting cloudy. Adjust the salt according to taste. Then add the chicken and cook for half an hour more.

Serve with white bread and aioli.

Rancho Canario

The busy people trick:
If I don’t have time to wait for the soup to get ready I usually just start cooking it in the morning and then let it sit in the warm pot (removed from the stove) when I need to leave the house. I put it back on when I come home to make lunch etc, and then do the last cooking when I am back home for dinner.

Addition ingredient
I used to add spaghetti at the end and cook it just enough that it was done. I have stopped doing it as it limits the freezing/reheating options a bit. It adds a nice touch though so give it a try as well.