~ iron loaf ~

One of the many virtues of the internet is its facilitation for an individual (someone with absolutely no medical training or expertise) to engage in self-diagnosis of one illness or another. Such was the case this weekend, when I diagnosed myself with anemia, though it's possible that I simply was pooped after my bike race. At any rate, I had been feeling fine and good until about last Thursday when I suddenly, and rather inexplicably, bonked. It was so bad that I actually had to take off Friday afternoon from work - - my symptoms included total loss of appetite (which for me means that something must be REALLY wrong) and extreme fatigue and lethargy (not just, "oh, I don't have a lot of energy," but "oh lord, just sitting here doing nothing is so taxing that I think I may have to fall onto the floor because it's not possible for me to hold up my own weight"). It pretty much ruined my entire weekend because even though the sun was shining and I was spending the time relaxing and doing things that would normally give me a lot of joy (ie, having coffee and treats with Josh, watching a movie, and knitting), there was no joy in mudville because all of these activities involved me sitting in an upright position, and I didn't have the strength for sitting.

At sometime during Saturday afternoon, I diagnosed myself with anemia and determined that the best treatment regimen would be to eat a lot of red meat. For dinner, I had a large portion of grass fed organic beef and it seemed to be exactly what the "doctor" ordered (at least, despite having no appetite, I was able to wolf it down).

My main difficulty with meat, however, is that I don't know much about how to cook it. Growing up, my exposure to meat was enough to make me give up eating it altogether. Not only did I not approve of the American Meat Industry, but it was always prepared in a manner that either tasted flavorless or really grossed me out. Since being adult enough to prepare my own meals, I have relied heavily on the Moosewood style of vegetarian cooking. Yum! In the past few years, however, I have slowly rediscovered my carnivorous side - - not only for nutrition but also for taste, and have begun pumping my dollars into the local organic ranchers. The only problem with becoming a carnivore (or rather, an omnivore) after years of vegetarianism is that my plethora of vegetarian cookbooks offer no insight into the preparation of meat. Hence, there have been disappointments.

On Saturday, the process of wolfing down a large quantity of red meat took place at Josh's residence while watching an action film. When I arrived, Josh and Eric were enjoying Iron Chef, which I proceeded to enjoy with them while the food was cooking. And, like so many before me, I found it inspiring. And so, I decided right then and there that it was high time for me to develop some meat-preparation skillz. The timing was ripe, as I happened to have a gift card to the ginormous book store, to which I took my person on Sunday to select my very first non-vegetarian cookbook. I spent over an hour on Sunday spilling over cookbooks and I finally chose this one because it contained recipes for meat, meat, poultry, seafood, and more meat. And, it has lots of photos! I've always wanted to be a good person and feel satisfied by all of my veggie cookbooks that are completely devoid of photos, but at the end of the day, I'm a visual person and photos of amazing looking dishes inspire me to make those dishes.

I don't know if this hunk-o-meat looks appetizing to anyone, but it resembles the photo remarkably well! I'm calling it "Iron Loaf" - - not only because it's an Iron Chef recipe, but also because it's full of iron (which is essential for someone like me, suffering from anemia!). I made two modifications to the recipe: (1) utilized buffalo instead of beef, and (2) subsituted brie for one of the cheeses that I was unable to find at any of the three stores that I went to. Yet, this is unlike any meatloaf I have ever before sampled. It contains the following ingredients: buffalo, pork, eggs, bread crumbs, rosemary, salt, pepper, spinach, carrots, brie, romano, and prosciutto. It is delicious! And, as I can attest right at this very moment, it reheats very well.

Incidentally, I woke up this morning with my anemia completely cured! I was able to get up on time, I feel awake and energized - - I feel absolutely wonderful, in fact. Someone had actually suggested that, rather than suffering from anemia, I was suffering from post-bike race bonk. This person, a runner racer, said that the post-race bonk usually hits six days after the race. Whatever it was, it's gone and my Iron Loaf leftovers are great.

Posted by jennifer at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)