tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57969676149296544902024-03-14T14:14:43.874-04:00Kat foodKathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-69548671717938989972008-11-18T21:20:00.003-05:002008-11-18T21:33:05.343-05:00The Green Tea Chicken ExpirimentThis was my second attempt - to be honest, it came out only about as well as my first. <div><br /></div><div>My neighbor told me that if you throw some chicken in on a bed of uncooked rice + water, you'll have a yummy dinner. Well, I don't much care for white rice, so I never bothered. But then one day I saw a lemongrass chicken dinner that I couldn't eat somewhere, and thought that maybe using green tea + brown rice, I could make a yummy "one dish" meal. Well, I'd need vegetables (a nice steamed asparagas would go well). </div><div><br /></div><div>So, my theory was good - I brewed about a cup and a half of a lemon-grassy green tea, added it to 3/4 cup of my favorite short grain brown rice, threw some frozen chicken on it + threw it in the oven at 350F for about an hour. The chicken was overdone and the rice was underdone. And I had WAY too much liquid. And too much rice. </div><div><br /></div><div>Tonight I tried it again. This time it was 1 cup of tea to 1/2 cup rice, and I tried to thaw the chicken while pre-cooking the rice for about 20minutes. Unfortunately, I think my still-mostly-frozen chicken kept some of the rice from cooking all the way through, even though I mixed it up a bit half way through. The rice was still a little underdone, when the chicken was done, and there was still too much liquid even though I cooked it with the lid off for the last 20 minutes. </div><div><br /></div><div>The flavor seems pretty good though - even with the thighs I used this time. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think the brown rice is really the difficult bit here - it takes much longer to cook than white rice. But I also think it's soo much yummier that I'm keeping it! </div><div><br /></div><div>Next time - 2/3 cup tea, 1/2 cup rice, cook for ~20 minutes while thawing the chicken ENTIRELY, cook another 30, stir (leave lid off if needed), cook at least 20 more minutes. </div>Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-87075509805449368012008-11-05T20:17:00.004-05:002008-11-05T20:47:50.671-05:00American chop suey and other beef thoughts<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I tend to eat moderately seasonally, but often the day-to-day menu items are so un-noteworthy that I come around to the same season again and think "What DID I eat last Novemeber?". </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tonight, I'm eating my take on:</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">American Chop Suey</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">~ 1 T garlic</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">~1/2 cup of chopped onion</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">~ 1lb ground beef</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">~1/2 box of whole wheat elbow macaroni (ziti works, too)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">~ 2/3 c of tomato sauce*</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Optional:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">~ 1/4 c chopped celery</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">cheese</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Start water boiling for macaroni. Saute the garlic, onion + celery in a large cast iron frying pan until the onion is translucent. Add ground beef. When the water is boiling, add the pasta + cook according to manufacturer's directions - err on the side of underdone. When the ground beef is done, add the sauce, pasta and cheese + mix. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">*I use so little sauce in large part because sauce without vinegar and/or black pepper is REALLY hard to find and canned/jarred tomato products are a mold hazzard. So, I'm working off a relatively small stock of frozen sauce that I made when the tomatoes at the cheap farm stand near work were at their peak. Next year, I want to hold a tomato sauce canning party... </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In other news, running into an old friend on </span><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ravelry</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> got me thinking about </span><a href="http://www.steadylanefarm.com/index-2.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">higher quality meat</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. Supposedly, grass-fed beef is higher in omega-3, which I hear rumours is good for allergies. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I usually buy the family pack of whatever % is on sale of ground beef + freeze it in roughly 1lb chunks. Today, I thought I'd buy the higher-quality grass-fed stuff - but it was 9$/lb!! For ground meat! And apparently, that's a fair price! I bought the 3lb family pack of conventional for about 9$ total, instead. Of course, it looks like my co-op has antibiotic/hormone free ground beef for $2.99/lb this week - I should stock up. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I also looked into meat CSAs in my area - </span><a href="http://www.chestnutfarms.org/index.php?&MMN_position=1:1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Chestnut Farms</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> has a meat share that starts at 10lb/$80/mo for some regular and some high-quality cuts. That's currently a bit too expensive for me, but it's better than $9/lb for the cheapest cuts! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Oh well - that part of dinner was a little light on the vegetables, so I'm going to go have a "second course"!</span></div><div><br /></div>Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-24453295047606159172008-10-30T20:40:00.004-04:002008-10-30T21:04:25.190-04:00Apple Pear Crisp and other fruit news.I've been bad at keeping this up, once I got the OK to eat a wider variety.. but tonight was the second or third attempt at the perfect crisp, and that's the other thing I started this for - keeping track of what I did on various iterations of a recipie so that I don't have to start from the beginning each time! <div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Apple-Pear Crisp</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>3 apples (2 Macouns and a McIntosh)</div><div>1 pear (bosc?) </div><div>1/3 + 1/6 cup of ww flour</div><div>1/3 + 1/6 cup of white flour</div><div>1/3 cup of sugar(I know....)</div><div>6 T butter</div><div>2 t cinnamon</div><div>3/4 t ginger</div><div>nutmeg</div><div>clove</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Cut up fruit into 1 inch chunks and put evenly into a 8x8x2 pan. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Add 1/3 cup of white + WW flours, 1 t cinnamon, scant t ginger, sprinkle of nutmeg + dash of clove to bowl. Using a pastry knife, cut 3 T of butter into the mix. Sprinkle over fruit, tapping dish to settle the mixture. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Do the same with the remaining ingredients - covering the previous set. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Bake at 350F for 45-50 mins. (or until the fruit is mushy and bubbling, and the top is slightly browner)</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>This was based of The Joy ofCooking's apple crisp recipie - I don't use as much fruit (how would it fit?!?!) , I've cut down the butter and sugar, added some whole wheat flour and some more spices. The "crisp" layer was too sugary and too thin for my taste, thus the layer with more flour than sugar (well, it was supposed to be, than I forgot the sugar all together... oops). </div><div><br /></div><div>We've liked this with plums, but I ran out. Crisps, I've decided, are the perfect way to use up that fruit that you *thought* you were going to eat, but is now a little overripe. </div><div><br /></div><div>In other news, I've been eating apples at work - raw!! I'd noticed that I didn't usually have my "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome">Oral allergy syndrome</a>" reaction at Samhian - which makes sense combined with the theory that it's a cross-reaction from tree pollen. So, I decided to put it to the test - and it seems that I CAN eat raw apples in October!! I'm excited. </div>Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-18078695511517489182008-02-24T15:46:00.006-05:002008-02-24T16:08:06.494-05:00Hole Mole, Frijoles?!?Sometimes, I stumble on a recipe so weird I just want to try it. That, coupled with a strong desire to raid the Hostess cart for the past week or so, led to me trying <a href="http://www.mothering.com/sections/recipes/brownies.html">this recipe from Mothering.com.</a><br /><br />Of course, I had to edit it some. I reduced the maple syrup, for one thing. The first time, I added the amount of "coffee substitute" in real instant coffee. And finally got to sleep at 4 a.m., with the distinct sensation of my skin vibrating. (That batch is in a freezer marked "ZOOM brownies"!) The second batch, I forgot the coffee altogether, which is probably good, because I'm not supposed to have it, anyway.<br /><br />These aren't low in fat or calories (about 160 kcal for 1/16th), and at $5.65 a pan they aren't overly cheap, either. But, they're really, really, really good. And only one (teeny) brownie will fill you up + satisfy the worst chocolate craving! They also happen to be gluten-free. You'd never know. I also have a sneaking suspicion that they'd work with Splenda or Stevia instead of the maple syrup, because the flavor is so intense + a little bitter.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br />Fudgy dark chocolate brownies</span><br /><br />1 can (~15 oz) of black beans, 1/2 to entirely drained<br />4 squares of unsweetened baking chocolate<br />1/2 c. (= 1 stick) of butter<br />1/2 c. maple syrup<br />4 eggs<br />(optional - 1 t (+?) of Stevia-lactose blend)<br />(optional - 1 T of instant coffee (or more, if you need ZOOM))<br />(optional - 1 C. of chopped nuts, if you eat them...)<br /><br />Preheat the oven to 350F. Melt the butter and the baking chocolate on low heat, stirring regularly. Grease a 8x8 or 9x9 pan with the butter wrapper. Puree the can of beans in a blender or food processor. Beat the eggs and the maple syrup together (and the stevia). Add the melted chocolate and butter. Add the pureed beans. Add any "optional" ingredients. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the middle is entirely "set" and a small dent remains when you press on it - do not overbake!<br /><br /><br />Other advantages? They're high in protein, at least for something that small! And if you're a student (or, say, a pagan keeping a Yule vigil..) they'll keep you up all night WITHOUT the blood sugar drop crash that regular brownies would.<br /><br />The best part is that I liked it and DIDN'T want to eat the whole pan at once! It also gets the husband seal of approval, which means that "regular people" will enjoy eating it, too.Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-89013349535835658222008-02-06T20:41:00.000-05:002008-02-06T21:25:57.414-05:00Fettuccine alfredo?A little while back I noticed Hodgson Mill now makes <a href="http://www.hodgsonmill.com/roi/673/Organic-Pastas-w-Flaxseed/">whole wheat lasagna and fettuccine noodles</a>. I picked up some of the fettuccine a little while back because I prefer my pasta thicker, and I noticed that they had a recipe for an alfredo I could ALMOST eat on the back! This was my variation, and it was SUPER yummy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Fettuccine Alfredo with Spinach and chicken</span><br /><br />1.5 T butter<br />1 T Whole Wheat flour<br />~1 t minced garlic<br />1 medium egg<br />1 c whole milk<br />~ 1/4 cup of Farmer's Cheese<br />1/2 t dried tarragon<br />1/2 t salt<br />1/2 c frozen spinach<br />2 c cooked chicken<br /><br />Cook and drain about 1/2 box of Fettuccine noodles.<br /><br />Melt butter in a small to medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic. Add the flour, stirring constantly (I love my silicone spatulas for this!), until you have a paste. Add the egg and the milk, keeping up the stirring. Add the tarragon and the salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens slighly. Add spinach, cheese + chicken, and continue to cook until the mixture is hot again. Add to pasta. Done!<br /><br />This made about three "lunch" sized portions. It would have made a "dinner" with a veggie on the side. Don't mistake the spinach for a whole serving of veggies - if you're like me, any spinach you ENJOY eating is a wonder, but it really only breaks down to about 1/6 of a cup per meal. Maybe next time, I'll see if the recipe can absorb 3/4 or maybe even a whole cup?Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-50743980589307653362007-12-22T14:19:00.000-05:002007-12-22T15:03:50.042-05:00Oven-baked "French Toast"Sometime in the past decade or so, a new family holiday tradition snuck up on us - oven-baked pancakes on Christmas morning. My Dad found the recipe somewhere (probably in the hunt for the elusive Finnish Pancake Recipe) and it was good enough to "stick". The original oven-baked pancakes are a fluffy, eggy dish with no sugar in the actual recipe - just in the sauce. They puff up in the oven and are really a sight to see! And all the fluff is caused by the eggs - no yeast, and not even any corn-tainted baking powder.<br /><br />Here's my first attempt at a revision that might make this even friendlier.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Oven-Baked French Toast</span><br />3 lg eggs<br />1/2 c. whole wheat flour<br />1/2 t salt<br />1 t ground cinnamon<br />dash of ground clove<br />1/2 t ground nutmeg<br />1 t Torani Sugar-free vanilla syrup<br />1/2 c milk<br />2 T melted butter<br /><br />Pre-heat oven to 350F and grease a medium cast iron skillet or a 2-3 qt casserole. Beat the eggs. Add the flour to the eggs slowly. Add the remaining ingredients. Pour into the greased skillet/casserole and bake for ~ 20 mins, or until the sides are high and brown and the center is puffy and cracked.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Sauce</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">2 T melted butter<br />2 T warm orange juice<br /><br />Combine melted butter and orange juice.<br /><br />To serve - cut at least in halves, place on plates or in bowls, top with sauce.<br /><br />Assuming two servings (I ate the whole thing myself this morning- yum!), this contains about 450 Kcal, 15g protein, 28g carbs and only 5g of sugar - including the sauce! I might try this with less flour or another egg next time - most of the carbs are from the flour, and the texture might be better with less flour, anyhow.</span>Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-30250511762960039222007-12-09T18:01:00.000-05:002007-12-09T18:58:39.932-05:00Almost entirely unlike cookies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqliMCKPDc-2EYix-1cFIySnxlQd4i3VhceU5FxEhHNp72di16WhnqmUEAZQ-n4zYwBbtBliuy8tqFxkM0udzR76XhLS20sCdV7H4LJ2ULlJd-kUmj_WXZLwxH7I6WqCpVQ25bdpNownS/s1600-h/HPIM0486.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqliMCKPDc-2EYix-1cFIySnxlQd4i3VhceU5FxEhHNp72di16WhnqmUEAZQ-n4zYwBbtBliuy8tqFxkM0udzR76XhLS20sCdV7H4LJ2ULlJd-kUmj_WXZLwxH7I6WqCpVQ25bdpNownS/s320/HPIM0486.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142112689073664210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />It's the holidays.<br /><br />Holidays are *hard* with allergies. Anything social that involves eating is hard. And almost everything social involves eating or drinking!<br /><br />I attempted several "dessert" recipes around Thanksgiving. You never heard about them because they didn't work. And I am STILL trying to get merainge off of the cookie sheet. The pumpkin custard never got off the drawing board, but the pumpkin + flour added to the merianges that never fluffed up made very good french toast! (Not very good pumpkin bread though - it didn't have nearly enough sweetener in it)<br /><br />So this was another attempt at sugar-free cookies. Sugar-free Sugar Cookies, actually. I pulled the original recipe out of Diabetic Living, but what I'm posting here has been edited heavily - first to make it "cheat" less, then because the actual recipe doesn't seem to have had NEARLY enough liquid to actually make it work.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sugar-Free Sugar Almost Cookies</span></span><br /><br />1/2 c. butter (1 stick, softened)<br />1/2 c. sugar substitute - <span style="font-size:85%;">or, in my case, 1 t. stevia blend, 4 t. maple syrup. I should try at least 2t of the stevia-lactose blend next time.</span><br />1t baking powder<br />1/4 t salt<br />1/3 c. canola oil<br />2 eggs<br />1 t. Torani sugar-free vanilla<br />a few drops of orange flavoring<br />1<span style="font-size:78%;">3/4</span>c white flour<br />3/4c whole wheat flour (the magazine suggests "white wheat" flour)<br /><br />Beat butter for about 30 seconds on high. Add sugar substitute, baking powder and sale, beat until fluffy. add eggs oil, vanilla + orange flavor. Beat in flours. Divide in half, cover, chill for 1 to 2 hours.<br /><br />Preheat oven to 375F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters, arrange on cookie sheets.<br /><br />Bake for 6-8 minutes or until firm, cook on wire racks.<br /><br /><br />I had more luck if I left the dough a bit thicker - probably because it was still too dry (I've uped the butter and eggs in this copy). They *look* like cookies, but mostly taste like a maple whole wheat biscuit. My housemate insists they taste like nothing at all.<br /><br />We both agree that they might work as "sugar cookies" if they had sugar or frosting on top of them. They also might make a good "graham cracker" crust for, say, a pumpkin custard pie....Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-1781509939227002672007-11-12T23:34:00.000-05:002007-11-12T23:49:33.859-05:00Why I've lost 15 pounds since I started learning to cook:Tonight I tried another recipe, this one called for 2 cups of tuna, but noted that other fist would work fine, too. Tuna is just fine, but wild salmon contains less mercury, so when I saw cans of it, I grabbed a few! (I also always worry about getting, say, snowed in with no power. Cans of fish will keep for longer than the meat in the freezer...)<br /><br />There are many differences between canned tuna and canned salmon, but tonight I discovered the only one I really cared about.<br /><br />Canned salmon has <span style="font-weight: bold;">BONES</span> in it. Ew. <br /><br />Ew. Ew. EW.<br /><br />Not just a few virtually-nonexistent ribs, either. <span style="font-weight: bold;">VERTEBRAE</span>.<br /><br />Now, I used to be a vegetarian because I didn't like the idea of eating things with spinal columns. Yes, I pulled them all out, but... ew.<br /><br />It took me an hour after I took my finished fish patties out of the oven to actually eat them. And then I could only manage one. The rest will go into the freezer for some time when I'm less grossed out.<br /><br />Ew.<br /><br />I'm telling you - the greatest glory of civilization is that we don't have to eat the icky bits. Or at least, we don't have to *know* that we're eating the icky bits!!!Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-60719235302080485792007-11-12T07:18:00.000-05:002007-11-12T07:29:25.182-05:00Breakfast GranolaI mentioned a few posts ago that breakfast first thing was MANDATORY. And that I'm not trusted around sharp knives or hot things in the morning. Now, if you've gone looking recently, you know that there's a real lack of sugar-free, corn-free cereals. Mostly, my options are oatmeal (not really enough "stick with"-ness") or mini-shredded wheats. So, I try to usually make my own granola. It involves an oven, but only in the evening!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kat's Granola</span></span><br />2 c. old-fashioned oats<br />2 c. puffed rice<br />2 c. puffed millet, or any other handy puffed cereal (wheat, etc.)<br />2 T. of each"small stuff" - flax seeds, wheat germ, wheat bran, hemp protien, for example)<br />2 t. of cinnamon, and possibly maple syrup if I'm feeling decadent<br />~ 2 T. sugar-sweetness equivilant of stevia<br />~1/2 t. of nutmeg<br />a dash of ground clove<br />1/2 c. water<br />1/4 c. oil<br /><br />Mix together. Spread on a cookie sheet so that it's no more than 1" deep, put in a 350<span style="font-size:85%;">F</span> oven for 30 mins, stirring half way through. Let cool before storing - best if stored in the fridge.<br /><br />I really do mix in whatever's handy, too - the end of a box of "Woven Wheats", matzo crumbs, cereal I tried but didn't like - it all goes in the mixing bowl!Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-83872663372270008352007-11-10T15:44:00.000-05:002007-11-10T16:30:57.445-05:00Treats - fluffy Ginger-maple banana muffinsSome cravings are harder than others to ignore. Sweets I've mostly stopped craving, partly because my palate has shifted a bit, and partially because I've got sugar-free Wether's for when they get bad (yes, sugar-free stuff generally has crap in it that's worse than sugar in many, many ways. But sometimes, it's that or a coke....). The cravings that really get me are pizza (?) and fluffy pastries. The Fluffy Pastry's modern incarnation owes much of it's texture to bleached white flour, white sugar, and soy shortenings - all forbidden foods. This weekend's food experiment was to create a Fluffy Baked Good with none of those things.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Fluffy (Ginger-Maple) Banana Muffins</span><br /><br />2 bananas (my freezer is full of the damn things..)<br />1/4 c. canola oil<br />1/4 c. (that's 1/2 stick) of butter<br />3 eggs<br />1/2 c. water<br />1 c. of unbleached, unenriched whole wheat four<br />1/2 c. of unbleached, unenriched whole oat flour<br />1/2 c. of unbleached, unenriched white wheat flour (yes, it's cheating. A little.)<br />2 t. Trader Joe's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia">stevia</a>-lactose blend (sweetness ~ 2 T sugar)<br />2 t. baking powder<br />1 t. baking soda<br />1 t. salt<br />(1 T. of minced ginger)<br />(1 T. of real maple syrup, also a small cheat)<br /><br />Pre-heat your oven to 325F. Put muffin cup liners in 12 muffin cups (I like the "If You Care" brand. The muffins never stick to them!).<br />Thaw your bananas, if they're frozen. Peel and mash the bananas. Melt the butter - if your bananas are still very cold, heat both (and maybe the water and oil) in the microwave or in your pre-heating oven. Use a blender to mix these and the eggs all together - don't worry if some of the butter re-solidifies, as long as it's flecks all throughout and not one big clump. If you are adding the ginger and the maple syrup, do that now, too.<br /><br />Add the dry ingredients. I recommend blending in no more than 1 cup of flour at a time, and saving the baking powder and baking soda for last (their chemical reaction causes some of the fluffy - but it's only temporary. You want that reaction to peak as close to when the oven starts to solidify the mix as possible!) .<br /><br />Pour/scoop your mix into your waiting muffin tin. I have to admit that I filled the cups all the way, and almost had extra! You could probably even use this recipe to make a few more muffins, but you'd need more muffin tins because you don't want to wait for the first batch to come out before cooking the second - remember that chemical reaction!<br /><br />Bake at 325F for about 30 mins, or until the tops are slightly brown + a toothpick comes out clean.Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-25567087633082004972007-10-30T18:26:00.000-04:002007-11-10T16:27:38.007-05:00Old friends are new again - tuna fishAs a teen, I remember making a can of tuna into salad and just eating the entire thing. I wasn't at all into fish, but tuna was different...<br /><br />In the intervening years, I've gotten to like (some) cooked fish. And raw fish. But with that my palate was less and less interested in tuna-from-a-can.<br /><br />Friday, however, I got stuck out and a little desperate. I was leaving for the whole weekend, and all I had with me were wraps, rice cakes, matzo, hummus and butter. This wasn't going to work on my low-carb diet.<br /><br />Not only that, but I was getting hungry already. And late. I still needed to drive for two hours, and by then my blood sugar would no doubt have dropped past any reasonable point for me to be driving!<br /><br />In desperation, I searched Walmart's aisles for *anything* I could eat. All I could find were little single-serve shelf-stable tubs of (plain) tuna and salmon. I looked for the "kits" (you know, the ones with mayo, relish, crackers + a breath mint?) before I realized that I couldn't eat them.<br /><br />At that point, I would've eaten the dog food if I wasn't allergic to it.<br /><br />So I munched down the (plain) salmon on some Triskits (a bit of a cheat, probably, but the Trader Joe's and Nature's Promise ones are just wheat and salt!).. not easy in the car (and the cats did love me when I arrived!), but possible.<br /><br />For lunch I had a hummus and tuna wrap. It wasn't half bad!<br /><br />Tonight I had another tuna wrap, with a little lemon instead of the hummus. It did leave me grumbling about how even ATKINS let you have CHEESE, but it was pretty good.<br /><br />I think I need to remember these!<br /><br />(In other news, we located a chinese restaurant right near my husband's house that not only *said* they'd bring me steamed chicken + veggies with no sauce, but actually DID! I was thrilled. I ate it twice that weekend. )<br /><br />(ETA: Canned tuna usually contains soy. Luckily, I'm not so allergic that I need to avoid these trace amounts. )Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-63826931007127572122007-10-21T02:26:00.000-04:002007-11-10T16:24:27.593-05:00A different lesson in care and feeding of Kats...The Morning is crucial.<br /><br />I'm super stupid in the morning. So stupid that I recently ate almost an entire bowl of granola before realizing that it tasted like sour cream. That kind of stupid. Sometimes people suggest I make eggs for breakfast for the protein. These are never the people who've seen me first thing in the AM - people who've seen KNOW that I can't be trusted with hot things (or knives) early in the AM!.<br /><br />I have to eat FIRST THING. Alright.. I can pee first. But that is IT. I get up, pour a bowl of non-sugared cereal (usually bite size shredded wheat or granola), and eat.<br /><br />If there's adrenaline involved (if I say, wake up 15 mins before I'm supposed to be AT work..), I can get away with a bit more, but I'll still feel "off" all day.<br /><br />I usually get up around 7 am. Today my housemate woke me up at 12:40, because she knew I needed to eat. I'd needed the sleep, and my body would have gladly slept another 2 hours (I'd already slept at least 10..), but I got up. And it was already too late. I had shredded wheat immediately, struggled to open a window, then HAD to make myself eggs because I could already feel the blood sugar plummeting. Two hours later, I was overdue for food again.<br /><br />So, in addition to losing several hours to "over" sleeping, I lost about 3 to the general fatigue etc. of low blood sugar.<br /><br />I suppose it's a bit of a blessing that I have to be out of the house by 10 tomorrow AM - It's already late enough that I suspect I'd gladly (if stupidly) sleep until noon again!Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-53919174582910436862007-10-17T22:30:00.000-04:002007-11-10T16:30:36.582-05:00Adventures in MexicanWednesday is my "off" day during the week, so I try to do more than just microwave dinner. Tonight's attempt was Mexican, sans cheese, pepper (black and bell) and corn.<br /><br />I really should have done more research first, but I think "tacos" was one of The Meals that my Dad deemed workable in high school. You fried some ground beef with The Seasonings, chopped up a tomato, opened some salsa, pulled out some cheese and lettuce and you were golden. Maybe some sour cream, if you'd remembered while at the store.<br /><br />No Seasoning Packet. No cheese, no sour cream. No taco shells. (and no lettuce, but that was purely because I don't eat it fast enough to keep around)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Mexican not-tacos.</span><br />1.3# ground turkey<br />2 pods of onion& garlic in bacon fat (or some chopped onion and garlic and oil)<br />cumin<br />salt<br />1 tomato<br /><br />Melt pods of onion + garlic in pan over med heat, add turkey. Add spices. Move turkey around in pan until brown. Add chopped tomato.<br /><br />1 can Azuki beans (organic! Already cooked w/ the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombu">kombu</a> in them!)<br />1 cup rice (from the freezer, I made rice on Saturday and froze to use whenever)<br />cumin<br /><br />Put in pot together. Cook over low/med until warm.<br /><br />Makes 4 servings<br /><br />1 <a href="http://www.wellnessgrocer.com/food-for-life-tortillas-brown-rice-p-3967.html?=">Food for Life</a> brown rice tortilla per serving.<br /><br />Each serving was about 490 calories, 37 grams of protein and about 50 g. carbs. The brown rice tortilla is about half that, and I actually would have been OK without it.. they taste a lot like corn (if you haven't had it in years) , but they crumble too much to actually use as wraps. I meant to try to make corn-free corn muffins from millet, which seems to have a similar consistency.<br /><br />Other notes - 1.3# of ground turkey should either be thawed for more than 12 hours in the fridge OR cooked in a larger frying pan OR covered. Hard to split it apart and flip it in my standard cast-iron fryer.<br />Two onion/garlic pods were maybe not enough.<br />What else is in "Mexican Seasoning", anyway?<br />Cardamom... not really right.<br />Azuki may be a little sweet for this application<br /><br />Overall... I think it came out pretty good, if a little bland (er, which translates to VERY bland for the rest of you..). I'll have to try it again sometime.Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-39058823493418082452007-10-16T21:52:00.000-04:002007-10-16T22:02:17.592-04:00The problem with corn.The problem with corn is it's ubiquitousness. Between 2000 and 2006 it had re-insinuated itself into my diet so successfully that I was surprised when it showed up on a test. It was so hard to avoid that I just...stopped.<br /><br />If you've ever tried to avoid corn, you have an inkling how hard it is. If you aren't allergic, it's damn near impossible...mostly because it's impossible to tell when you've failed. Corn goes beyond "high fructose corn syrup" and into things like "food starch" or "sugar" (and I bet you thought "sugar" meant it was from sugar cane, didn't you?)<br /><br />Driving home from dance class tonight, I heard a <a href="http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=07-P13-00041&segmentID=4">bit on the radio</a> about a movie called <a href="http://www.kingcorn.net/">King Corn</a>. Which is yet more about how ubiquitous corn is. Here's the scary part though:<br /><br /><cite>CHENEY: Yeah, Steve Macko is a professor at the University of Virginia and he had been testing his students and coming up with some pretty startling results. And we sent him some of our baby hair and some of our adult hair and he noticed a difference, actually, between those two samples. He noticed that our adult hair was made out of carbon that seemed to be coming from corn. Corn—the way it photosynthesizes carbon—leaves a kind of a signature that he could trace with his maspectrometer.</cite><br /><br />Creepy, huh?Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5796967614929654490.post-4800010909681338622007-10-15T18:31:00.000-04:002007-10-15T18:47:42.267-04:00Difficult food time - the pre dance-class rush.Tonight I actually sampled one of the spinach Croquettes that I made on Saturday.. it was alright. I made a mock egg <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Florentine</span> (or is it <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Benedict</span>?) with an egg and a croquette - I was good and left out the bread altogether.<br /><br />I reheated the croquette at the same time as I was making the egg - it's a big pan after all! And even then, the two looked like teenagers on a first date. Lonely and unsure.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yEBf504zn7lvPp3SCCf2fBoWXPwkMydrgXLHI5gRBoLmbzjJvvfQHg5E7xTfTDmqTv_gCsKtlZTTd83UBUXzMpREGYbT9y9dmtMRDb2DUtzZmua0FkEXjK4By2iKlTZ1oRSAOMs4QL69/s1600-h/HPIM0380.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-yEBf504zn7lvPp3SCCf2fBoWXPwkMydrgXLHI5gRBoLmbzjJvvfQHg5E7xTfTDmqTv_gCsKtlZTTd83UBUXzMpREGYbT9y9dmtMRDb2DUtzZmua0FkEXjK4By2iKlTZ1oRSAOMs4QL69/s320/HPIM0380.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121697447194868994" border="0" /></a>Also, the croquette was a little chilly inside when I finally ate them. Perhaps I should have put it in the pan earlier?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtpZ6TOMm5BtaonpC1Eeki7FsWjaRw9FRjDLNhvi_hfAY0wQiC6l8T_kWsfMQ7eYbuI97t6WFjeS5Esnhr5WqqVmRIBBUeboV14RwxvRt5uswDd4_OENq9X1TQgb0oVym7jTOd0dqnq1G/s1600-h/HPIM0382.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPtpZ6TOMm5BtaonpC1Eeki7FsWjaRw9FRjDLNhvi_hfAY0wQiC6l8T_kWsfMQ7eYbuI97t6WFjeS5Esnhr5WqqVmRIBBUeboV14RwxvRt5uswDd4_OENq9X1TQgb0oVym7jTOd0dqnq1G/s320/HPIM0382.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121697460079770898" border="0" /></a><br />Before this wacky diet, I would've scarfed down a grilled cheese sandwich, or maybe a quesidilla - this didn't take much more prep time, and I'm sure it has more protein, more vitamins and probably less fat.Kathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13489214729844908432noreply@blogger.com0