Hunkering down for winter...

The lack of posts doesn't indicate that I have fallen off the wagon, though I will say I'm hanging over the tailgate a wee bit. I've had a death in my family and been diagnosed with a new disorder (well new to me) called Trigeminal Neuralgia. This has meant not having much strength or energy to care about, much less pursue good food. If I were more established in eating good food it wouldn't be less crucial that I be well, as what I eat and how to get it all together would be more ingrained.

Though Fall is my favorite season and Winter a close second, I am finding it doesn't scream "eat yummy real food" quite like the bounty of summer did. Thankfully there are the good soups and whole grain breads which do fit right into the landscape of wholesomeness as well as hot breakfast cereals and the like. Perhaps I can add a muffin or two to my repertoire? The proverbs 31 woman is supposed to have no fear of winter (I console myself that it was referring to clothes for her household and then I remember I am still wearing sandals to the store) This woman is needing to get back to her focus on good eats before she starts slipping back to old habits. I haven't lost my taste for the good stuff but I have once again eaten the odd commercial candy bar and in doing so know that it could spoil my taste for better things. Mama was right when she said some things "spoil your appetite" but I know she didn't mean it the way I do.

I'll try to start posting again more faithfully about foods for winter and foods made from winter's bounty. We did enjoy turkey this thanksgiving though it was our first year going back to commercial injected and frozen. The hormone free etc birds we've had these past two years have just been dry and less than yummy, that and 37 cents a pound called to us economically. One does what one has to. We've enjoyed yummy winter squash, pumpkin pie, and favorite soups thus far this winter and Glenn has made some stellar bread, both whole wheat and white.

Pray for me if you think of me, that I am able to continue to learn how to love eating food that is nutritious AND satisfying, especially amidst a fair amount of pain and meds that are almost as bad as what I'm taking them for.
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If you want to think about food...

This series, I believe has 7 parts, is thought provoking regardless of where you are coming from on the food topic. It has a most unfortunate painting behind the podium which one is forced to look at the whole time, and the youth in it take a good while to settle down, but once the video series gets going it's worth a look and discussion.

And then there was pie...

How yummy are field fresh Strawberries? I happened to be at the Co-op when these were brought from the back room and put out for sale. I could feel the warmth of the sun on them. Do you know who grows what you eat? It's a lovely feeling to know where, really WHERE your food comes from. (As opposed to sorta where, ie the name of the store.) Even if you get food at a stand, if there is a farm name, take a moment and notice this and rejoice that there are people who will bring this fresh local food to market.

I have eaten many a piece of strawberry pie in my day, most of them yummy. The Amish Market in Annapolis comes to mind for decent Strawberry pie. That said, some strawberry pies have seemed unnaturally brightly colored or overly filled with gel by comparison to the actual strawberry. I had to look around for a while to find a recipe that didn't call for gelatin or food coloring. I was very pleased with the taste but found the pie was not as pretty with the gel. I'd like to continue my search (and please recommend a recipe if you have one)and find a recipe that will gracefully and completely fill in the spaces between sanding strawberries without glopping over them, sort of like I picture the gel in a fruit tarte, something prettier. I did cheat (no wonder it was easy to make) and baked a frozen Marie Callendar brand pie crust. I think I have decided they are nicer than the off brand if you are using it for a desert pie. For quiche, I go with cheapest.

That said, I was amazed how EASY it was to make a fresh strawberry pie. I know the season is pretty much past so you'll have to come back to this next summer, but think about making one yourself. It takes very little time to make, though you need to allow the pie to cool in the fridge for a couple hours. Share with me any experiences you have had with this wonderful food of summer. And yes, we had real freshly whipped cream, which for some reason wouldn't stiffen up much.

Call me Popeye...

Ok, I know I'm going to lose some of you on this one, but I love Spinach. Always have done. In bad IBS years it was not so easy for me to tolerate but I'm doing better with all that these days.

Even as a child, when my Mom would take me to the Hot Shoppes Cafeteria at Tyson's or Landover (a long gone chain for you young folk) I always asked if I could just get mashed potatoes with gravy and steamed spinach. She'd raise her eyebrows at my choices but she let me and I was in hog heaven. I'd usually get one of their scrummy white cloverleaf dinner rolls as well. What REAL foods did you love years ago that you may have left in the dust of memory? Can you try to rekindle what it is you liked about it in order to make something like that as a gift to yourself and your family now?

As an adult I discovered how yummy creamed spinach is and there was a brand I can't recall, that used to make quite good frozen creamed spinach. Seabrook? something like that. I think Birdseye made a similar thing. A couple years ago when Glenn and I went out to dinner at the Cottonwood Grille, I had a lovely cream of spinach soup there. With this in mind I went off to foodgawker and hunted away. I settled on a recipe by Mark Bittman from the New York times. Made as it was, I found it a bit thin, so I made a roux with butter and flour and added this, which made it more like I had in mind. To be fair, it's probably not an issue with the original recipe,I may have accidentally had thinner soup due to having to halve his recipe. Anyway it's good to know if you want it thicker you can make it so. I also might try it with some Parmesan cheese added.



This one is a keeper! And it made a great companion to the Bagel chips.
(Take two bagels, slice across so you are left with circles, sprinkle up to 1/4 cup of oil-I used olive and if you like sprinkle them with some garlic salt. Bake on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan at 300 until lightly brown, check every 5 mins so they don't burn, this made enough for soup and a snack the next day.)

That Barefoot Contessa...

Never seen her, never watched her, but her name comes up in recipe recommendations from my daughter. Took out one of her cookbooks months ago and didn't find anything that sounded like I'd make it, so I must have gotten the wrong book because the few things I have her recipes for look and taste wonderful.I've not been able to find this recipe exactly under her name, so this may be an adaptation. I am quite pleased with my substitution of Bob's Red Mill Large Flake coconut. I love coconut but don't miss the sugaryness of the old fashioned kind. Also the large flake is pretty. Bob's also makes a small traditional grated unsweetened. Many grocery stores are carrying Bob's products and they are also easily available online.



My hubby loves this. I find it a bit too sweet, so I'm going to tweek it for my own taste and I'll get back to you. I think the sweetness I find too much isn't in the base, that's perfect, it's the cranraisens.

Homemade Granola

makes 12 cups

4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut(some folk omit, or use just a handful to omit calories...I substituted unsweetened large flake coconut by Bob's Red Mill)
2 cups sliced almonds
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup good honey
1 1/2 cup of cranraisins
1 cup of golden raisins
any other dried fruit that you would like (I like a cup of Pecans)


preheat oven to 350 degrees
Toss the oats, coconut, and almonds together in a large bowl. Whisk together the oil and honey in a small bowl. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all the oat mixture and nuts are coated. Pour into a 13x18 inch baking sheet.(What is called a Jelly Roll pan, improvise as needed) Bake, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the mixture turns a nice even golden brown about 45 minutes. (you need to check this frequently as you don't want it to burn)

Remove the granola from the oven and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. Add the cranraisins, golden raisins and pecans. Store the cooled granola in an airtight container.






If you have never tried Greek Yoghurt please do so for me, just one little thing, pretty please? I don't like regular yogurt very well, but the greek, yes indeedy. AND it's better for you. It is a bit thicker than the American style, not as tart, and nicely creamy. I believe it is lower in fat and higher in protien as well.
Even though this was too sweet (just a bit) It was glorious soon after cooling with my greek yogurt. I find it in regular grocery stores now, but if not, try health food stores or ethnic markets if you have such.

Roasted Veggie Pasta

Even though I do not like Raw tomatoes, I do like this dish quite well using the tiny grape tomatoes. The one's I got at the co-op were a gorgeous assortment of 4 varieties including an almost purple heirloom tomato. I'd eaten this at my daughter's house and enjoyed it, even though I did let my 2 year old grandson eat many of the tomatoes off my plate. They get to a consistency I can appreciate and lose that raw taste. I leave out the basil of this recipe because for my taste, as Fabu as basil is, it can overpower. Here's the link to the recipe at Everyday Food, a favorite site and magazine... with pictures following.I have Rebecca to thank for my making this as I'd not likely have tried the recipe without her having fed it to me first.

Roasted Summer Vegetables with Pasta.

Veggie Before and After. Do watch them closely after the first 10 mins or so. I cooked them until there were some veggies blackening as it tastes best that way and I like my veggies softish. I also used more yellow squash and less zuchinni as the recipe calls for. The later is prettier I think but I don't fancy zuchinni as much as summer squash. You can really splash out and do what you want with this. In face I only made a half recipe and it was enough for the three of us for one meal.



This is a very satisfying and yet healthful dish. I ate mine as was, hubby wanted a lot of black pepper and some parmesan on his. To each his own!

First a trip to my Beloved Boise Co-op

Lately, my cooking begins with thinking about what is in season and then web browsing for food that looks good, usually via FoodGawker Then comes the inevitable trip to the Boise-Co-op. On this day there were lovely figs and the marvelous strawberries grown by Farmer Richardson.

What you've missed...

If you had been visiting me (please do but call ahead!)or if you'd been a fly on our wall (oh no, not flies)here are some snaps of what you'd missed. Alas, the last two weeks have not had any photos, I'm "unwell" again, but have still been trying to eat as well as I can given my inability to shop or cook for myself.

This has meant sometimes I've just had to open a can of split pea soup and call it a meal, sometimes I've had Alexia brand Frozen organic waffle fries (great after a migraine or when one is coming on) and yes, one time I was so weary and hungry and hurting I had my dear man bring me a McDouble with fries. Oh well, I made a point to try and eat even those, with gratefulness and awareness and it does make a difference. It turns a desperation dinner into food to although inadequately, nourish the body for that moment in time, it does not a lifestyle make, and that is "ok."

That said as a person who has always loved a home cooked meal (even better when someone else has done the cooking)it makes me very sad to think many children in particular, have gone from McD's being a rare treat as it was in our childhoods, to being a way of life.

Photo's below.

"Really" enjoy your food!

Cinnabon....

Makes me really want one, sadly. We haven't any here in Boise, which is I'm thinking, a good thing. Though seriously, one or two halves a year, is enough for anyone.

Migraine days...

I was going to take a picture of a bottle of pain medicine, an ice bag, gingersnaps and coffee to sum up my migraine days, but I happen to have this accidental shot of my living room and it seemed to say "yeah, that's about how you've been feeling" The light too glaring, the images fuzzy, the overall feeling nauseating.

I've been hording up food experiences and pictures but now I've gotten so far away from their occurring that I have little to say about them.

I have gone from women's "issues" to migraine days without much in between. I have had maybe 3 whole good days in the last two or so weeks. They have been glorious giddy good days, the kind where the absence of pain feels so euphoric. I have not forgotten to eat well or real, but I have not done wonderfully either, I've just existed with my new consciousness intact. No pans of brownies have been scarfed down, though last night I will admit to eating a good 500 calories of "Dirty Chips" (a brand, not my judgement of them) in a middle of the night gotta have it, binge. The first thing remotely resembling a binge of any type since I've started this new way of looking at food and of choosing what is "good." That said, they were part of the former weeks "allotment of dirty chips" yet uneaten, so I won't feel too bad about it, and for extra good measure I'll skip buying any more for another week. Maybe I'll just buy two of the small bags instead of three as well. I don't want to buy just "one" cause that will feel punitive and make me think I'm suffering and then I'll do myself more harm than good with ensuing obsession about lack of chips.

I do best when I have plenty of what pleases me around and instead just show moderation. I have a person in my life, I'll call her my "friend" who is slim and has an opposite view. She has to keep the things far away or she'll eat them all, say, for example Entienmen's chocolate iced donuts (and to be critically fair, they don't keep well and they do seem to taste better eaten in multiples of two or three) Maybe my "friend" has a point, given that she is slim, she must know what she's talking about. Or maybe it's just a particular food that would affect one so. I'm not going to scarf down three bags of reflux inducing mouth burning salt and vinegar chips in the middle of the night, so I'm reasonably safe. Let's face it, if one is in a scarfing down mood, one will likely find "something"....I had a friend who used to re-constitute cocoa powder with butter if she was in a pinch. Never tried it myself but I've kept it in the back of my mind, just in case.

All that said, I am in a strange place with relation to food right now. When I am in a lot of head pain, I don't eat anything, or at least I used to not eat anything. Of late I've been more nauseous with migraine and so I've followed a friends suggestion and laid in some ginger snaps to help with that. (I suppose I could get some kind of ginger capsules to do the same thing but these are "health food" section, rock hard, reasonably low fat and calorie ginger snaps so I think, ok, they will do) I have wondered if I might make my own low fat/cal gingersnaps as part of my real food effort(Honestly I wonder if they are EVER high fat cal , I think the dry hard beast is itself, lean. You can tell I don't think of ginger snaps as a serious snack contender.) I doubt I could pull of baking with a migraine, not without serious collateral damage to Lord knows what, the kitchen, myself (I envision burns on arms, flour fluffed into my eyes, turning beaters on with my hands in the bowl?) so for now, the pre-made things seem a reasonable stand in.

Ok, where was I....food, migraine...yes...so I don't eat when I'm in the worst of it. I don't move when I'm in the worst of it, and talking is nearly out of the question as well though I manage to moan fairly well. Something about the sound of certain notes hitting some spot inside my head as it vibrates....When my migraine is abating, as it is now having gone from a 9 to a 5, food can be glorious. It can't take much by way of effort and there is no telling what I might desire, though it is not a bad guess to say it will be starchy.

I careened toward the kitchen a while ago intent on cooking an evil box of mac and cheese deluxe (something I've not had or desired whilst on my real food path, if I wanted mac and cheese I'd be making it from scratch) and while it was boiling, my eye lighted upon a bagel I'd bought intending to make chips for soup (an entry I haven't made that I photog-ed last week) and remembering I had fresh cream cheese in the fridge, scarfed it down while waiting.

I must tell you, it was seriously the best bagel and cream cheese I've ever had in my life. If I bought a dozen of them and ate them every day for a week, I'd surely not have another that came close, it would at least pail by comparison, likely to the point of grave disappointment. It was a flavor I don't normally buy (Fred's had none of the bins labeled,oddly enough) I am not sure what flavor it was, I could detect poppy seed but when I bought it I was thinking it could be a so called "everything" bagel. It was not a proper chewy one like you'd get in a real deli back east, in fact it was wrongly soft, but my teeth were glad for that fact as I noshed through it, thinking as I did that the Yiddish word Shmear would NOT apply to the amount of cream cheese I put upon it. It was a simple pleasure, the kind that remind me how good it is to be hungry, to have an appetite, how the laborer sleeps best and what grace there is in being able to joy in real food.

A visual feast.

I adore the website Tastespotting. You can put any food item you are looking for into the search engine, and then peruse the yummy pictures that come up. Click on said pictures and you'll be taken to the recipe. Yum Yum Yum!!!


A similar site I quite like is called Foodgawker.

Enjoy!

Headache...

Dear Gentle Readers,
I am writing to assure you that I have not gone "off the wagon" and am still in search of real food. However I am having a battle with a migraine, one that neither of us are winning, the kind where a level 4 headache just stays and stays not going, not coming. This does not endear me to writing or cooking, it endears me to my bedroom with the shades drawn.

We ate the "papertowel" soup, indeed Laura ate it. I don't think it was a hit, too spicy for me, but I shall try it again with a fractional amount of spice, or I shall try carrot in general because with an immersion blender it is easy enough to make, provided one can actually follow a recipe and doesn't add ingredients not called for. (towels to be exact)

I have eaten snack chips now, some number of days, over 13, I had Laura pick me up Dirty chips from the Co-op. 3 Bags of 5.5 oz to be exact. I am pleased to say that was last Friday and I have only eaten 1.5 of those bags over the last 7 days and in a controlled manner, ie, one measured bowl with a movie and so on. That said, I am truly becoming as happy to eat my celery with almond butter for a snack as the chips, and may even try Becca's childhood favorite, celery dipped in olive oil and vinegar. I like the crunch of celery.

I also had Laura pick me up three Dagoba bars. I have just now after 7 days finished one bar, (250 calorie bar) and I enjoyed it over about 4 different times of breaking off just a tiny bit and found it perfectly fine for taking away any sweet interest. I have not had any other "junk" except my homemade blondies, which take us a good while to eat the 9 bars it makes. If I have one, it is usually with coffee, eaten slowly and chewing lots. I'm thinking next time I make them I'll add more nuts, that's my favorite bit. I might also add some raisins. I've just learned dried fruit is higher in iron than some other things and anemia girl loves her iron.

I am finding it difficult this very moment when I cannot get to the store and when Glenn has been too busy to go for me, and when I have reached a brick wall of fatigue all the sudden (yes, I know I'm always fatigued, so you can imagine how much more this is!) and I need more to live on than almond butter on celery or rice cakes. I need protein as well as fresh foods. I have fallen back on something I hated my whole life but have learned to make peace with as an adult, EGGS. Oddly one egg I did like as a child is verboten now by health police, the soft boiled or poached egg.

The simple humble egg, does have going for it that it is fast to make, has protein in it, iron as well (yolk) and is somewhat able to be made with variety. This week breakfast has consisted of eggs with whole wheat toast one two occasions, farina on two occasions and cold cereal with milk on others. I've discovered that I get bored pretty quickly. I need to make Becca's granola recipe as well as one I want to make with pumpkin seeds and molasses (for iron) but again, no way to get the ingredients. I don't think Fred Meyers has delivery and even if they did, I'm guessing bulk bin purchases wouldn't be included.

It's 6 pm and I've only eaten farina and coffee, and 2 blondies cause I've not left my room. Glenn is bringing us home real burgers from kahootz, which are not light in calories but which I will enjoy given my painful state and lethargy. I'm hoping afterwards I can find it in me to do a little survey of what I have here I can eat and make quick and easy. Which reminds me, it's going to be hard for me when my friend Laura moves the 18th of September, as she was such a help to me in so many ways, but we are rejoicing with her in her new adventure amongst the Norwegians in Minnesota.

Please keep my efforts and better eating in prayer. So far I have been mercifully untempted even in my low moments, to just give in and eat junk, because junk just isn't appealing.

Well the food is here, I am hoping it revives me. Keep eating real my friends!

No. 1 Carrot Soup attempt.

Well, it started out looking ok. Here I am playing Jenga with carrots. Who needs real toys?

The recipe calls for baby carrots from the store. I recently found out that baby carrots are just adult carrots cut by a machine into uniform shapes and I am not going to pay extra to have them lie to me (-: I cut my own carrots thank you very much, and I didn't ask them how old they were. They are organic at least.

The recipe also calls for two to three cans of chicken broth (easily subbed with veggie broth for the vegetarians amongst us) Well silly me, who is still unwell and has no business operating sharp, hot, heavy or electronic machinery much less my brain, grabbed two Swanson cans off the shelf, noting to self I need to stock up on the pacific organic at Costco, and proceeded to pour right on in. To my horror one of them wasn't chicken but beef. Call me OCD but I don't like to mix my food/meat families. The Chinese make Happy family and the Cajuns make Jambalaya but seriously, I think it's something that might have been addressed in Leviticus, I've just not found it yet!!!

Oh and it DOES get worse my friends... at some point during the process of boiling said carrots in aforementioned perverse liquid, I went to lift the lid to check for doneness again and somehow, low and behold there was a paper towel boiling happily in the surface. Alls (sic) I can figure is that the hot steamy lid I set to the left of the stove somehow was set on a paper towel which clung surreptitiously to the inside of the lid and then fell in the pot. There was nothing in the recipe about adding a paper towel! And I don't think my mind is that lost yet. Now what to do. What was on said paper towel before it's immersion? It was likely the paper towel that Glenn uses over by the coffee grinder to wipe up grinds, but that he fails to throw away cause it still has some good wipes in it. (and it might make a tasty fiber addition to dinner?) Do I toss the whole effort, now done and ready to puree? I get on the phone to ask hubby what exactly the history of said towel is, he's in a pastoral meeting but I just can't go on without some type of towel provenance. He affirms that yes that's his coffee grinds towel, like that makes everything all better. I've had friends who have confessed to washing steaks that fell on the floor, so how bad could this be? It was boiled? Grant it the towel wasn't very attractive as it came out the saffrony color of curry, but I shall try to wipe this image from my mind if I decide to eat it. (The soup, not the towel.)

On a side note, I have spices in my Indian spice tin that I have failed to label. I am not sure if I have 1/4 tsp of cayenne or of chili powder in this soup. It also has 1.5 tablespoons of curry in it. See the big bottle of milk there? Well that is out because after tasting said powders with my finger on my tongue, I couldn't tell you what was what (I thought maybe I'd some how instinctually know which was which) what I can say it my tongue is still recovering.

Well, the soup is finished and I will tell you that if you are going to make a soup, regardless of the notoriety of the chef online, don't do as I do and just follow it without reading the comments. 9 out of 10 posters liked or loves this soup, but most all of them said too SPICY!!!! duh, there was part of me that did question 1.5 tablespoons of curry powder. So I have now added a scoop of brown sugar and I think as per the comments now read, I will add about a cup of half and half or cream to "cool it down" a bit. My missionary friend Laura (who I don't know in real life but like lots online!) told me she got a carrot soup in South Africa that was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center. I think that sounds just like what this soup needs!

So for now, as I hold a tissue to my dripping nose (from the SPICE) I can recommend this soup for it's ease IF you have an immersion blender, and with some changes. Do not spice it as it calls for, start with half and work up, you can always add more spice to taste after pureeing. I also recommend you check your can labels before you add anything, and check under your pot lid each time you pick it up, you never know what might be hiding there.

Small Changes...

I don't know if I've said this already, but one reason I think I decided to eat better is because due to my health issues right now and the ensuing inability to "do" much of anything for myself or others, choosing better foods is one thing I can (or thought I could) aim at.

I'm thinking aloud here...what changes can I make/have I made?

1. Enjoy what is left of the summer's gorgeous harvest. Here in Idaho that is Corn, Beans, Organic Strawberries, peaches etc.

2. When possible, buy organic butter, Milk and dairy without hormones and anti-biotics, and eggs from happy chickens.

3. I've long since sworn off anything that says partially hydrogenated anything. I've also long since avoided bleached white flour, unbleached only. I don't know who out there is still buying bleached.

4. Now swearing off as many things as possible that have high fructose corn syrup in them.

5. Though it is no healthier per say, I'm trying to prefer the taste of natural sugars, honey, molasses, maple syrup, and raw sugar, though I still use white in baking, and to use a little less of them.

6. It's a little thing but I don't prefer to use bleached filters for coffee.

7. Another small thing, is learning to prefer high percent cacao dark chocolate. I'm trying to stay about 70%. My thinking on this is, in part that I'm finding dark high cacao chocolate (esp if mixed with some type of dried fruits) does a fine job to take away sweet cravings and does it in smaller doses. It could be just me. Also high percentage dark is known for some added health benefits, such as being possibly a good cough suppressant, having some anti-oxidants etc. As well as organic I'm glad some of the brands I like claim to be from places that are not involved in human abuses in getting said chocolate. The leading manufacturing countries for chocolate are places of great human suffering. Now that said, I'm willing to consider some good eating "meat offered to idols" i.e it is not always possible to know the source nor the conditions one's food is grown in unless one grows it oneself (an excellent plan where doable) and I think it would be too easy to forgo good eats in search of "perfect" eats. As it is said, the perfect is often the enemy of the good.

8. I want to explore ethnic cooking that depends on my variety in each dish, is veggies and meats and grains and is high taste via spices. I'm thinking boredom is also the enemy of good real eating.

9. Even my "evil" snacks, I want to be the best they can be, ie, meeting above criteria. If it means paying more for good snacks and eating less snacks, then that sounds like a good idea to me. I know everyone says it is expensive to eat well but it is also expensive to eat badly. Have you priced Potato chips lately? Or store bought cookies? I'm sure my blondies cost less than any store bought cookie.

10. A little more whole grain, a little more fiber. I've got IBS and as such have a hard time with a lot of fibers, but I can at least be doing more of the soluble fibers such as steel cut oatmeal. If you only eat rolled oats, or quick oats, you don't know what you are missing. Steel cut is fabu and good for you. I'm also going to try adding just a tiny bit of whole grain flours to my cooking, be they wheat or not. Wheat isn't the only game in town.

11. Avoid feedlot beef as much as possible. Buy Grain fed beef w/o hormones and anti-biotics.

12. Prefer Local and Seasonal eating. Choosing minimal packaging.

13. It's going to take a heap of experimenting to get where I'm going...Does this sound like a lot at once for you? If so, just pick one thing...do that this month. Maybe next month, you'll try another substitute, change, replacement.

Passionate about Life 'n Spice...: Aloo Lobia & A Quick Note on RCI

Ok, I may have to find a good online Indian Ingredient market and I might just have to buy a pressure cooker!


Passionate about Life 'n Spice...: Aloo Lobia & A Quick Note on RCI

Carroty sunshine

Carroty sunshine

Pasta-a-wandering

In my current state of unwellness (bleeding) I can't shop for ingredients, nor cook, but I can dream. Is the fact that I am dreaming of cooking a good sign for my journey? I hope so. I've been down a blog hole the last hour, which started with vegan/vegetarian sites, which led to vegetarian Indian food sites, and that is where I am happily hanging for now. I found two recipe's at this one ladies site that I want to try, this one and another I'll link in a minute for carrots.



Pasta-a-wandering

Still out of sorts but...

Well, somehow I have managed to not do too much damage to my healthy eating efforts in my poor mood. Some of that success may come from the fact that I don't have much by way of damaging food choices around. I think I could happily have crunched my way through a bag of my favorite new chips had I had a whole bag around, but alas and alack, I only had about 150 calories worth in the house, and I did nosh on those (trying to focus on enjoying each bite as I went.) In the time it took to devour those, I thought through what I was really "feeling like" food wise and decided 1) hungry 2) wanting physical comfort. I decided that perhaps I might have Glenn make his wonderful baked potatoes today. They are nothing magical, just some olive oil rubbed on their skins and course kosher salted, but there's something about them coming out so pretty. I don't even eat the skins but it brings them to a whole new level of classiness. Hopefully, there's some comfort in that. Dear man brought me home some chocolate as that and periods go together like love and marriage, but oddly, I just don't desire it, it's not what I'm looking for. I think I'm looking for real food or maybe just health, but I figure the real food can't hurt.

On another totally crazy note, something I may be the only one to think, but having had rice cakes years ago, of the run of the mill variety from say, Quaker or some such, and having today broken out my "Lundberg Brown Rice cakes" which are not particularly "real" or healthy in that I think it's just empty calories (70 per) but which I bought as a crunchy vehicle for other good eats, like my almond butter or anything else I can use it to carry (idea's anyone?) I must say WOW, those are a far far cry from the nasty one's that taste like packing peanuts. These Lundberg thingy's, (and I don't know if it's just their brown rice one's or not) are terrific. Each bit of a kernel kind of falls into your mouth, not needing to be wrestled off like the one's of my memory, and has lots of personality and pop to it. I'm serious, if you've not tried the Lundberg, get them! Not much in flavor mind you but the texture is FABU! Let me know what you think if you compare them to your experiences. I wouldn't have thought any difference in rice cakes was to be had. That said, I love the Lundberg company, their brown and wild rices are wonderful.

Not giving up, but a bit dull...

Well, I'm not giving up by any stretch, but I feel rather limbo-ish. I'm having "female woes" again and I'm getting tired of this whole unpredictability business. I feel like I need to have a good sulk, or a party, or something!!!

I made a good stab at dejunking yesterday (before waking up with the "woes") and true to Suze Orman's belief that one finds money when one organises, I did manage to collect some change (a few dollars worth) and also found a utilities refund check we never cashed that has expired. Glenn had said long ago if I found it and got the money I could keep it. I've got it packed up and ready to mail so we'll see if that happens.

So in my limbo state, I told Glenn I wouldn't be upset if he went to the chocolate bar in downtown boise and got me some chocolate and caramel covered pretzel rods. I guess that isn't so bad if I manage to have some real food otherwise. I'm getting a bit out of sorts because it turns out I planned a couple meals and Glenn had already without telling me laid in some ground beef to make meatloaf with so we are over meated and neither of us wants to freeze what we bought. (I bought steak to make marianted kebabs) Meanwhile with my women's woes I'm not feeling able to run around and buy fresh veg.

What will become of the cold turkey? Hopefully still in search of real food, just a tad apathetically today. Pray I am able to rebound and if you think of me, pray for my weariness with the whole peri-menopausal thing. TTFN, sorry for the whinging post, and yes I'd like crackers with that.

An Ingredient based Recipe Search Engine - Recipe Puppy

An Ingredient based Recipe Search Engine - Recipe Puppy

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This could be a very handy tool. Also might be helpful when you have ingredients on hand but aren't sure what to do with them.