Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I can hardly believe how long it’s been since I last posted in this blog. Since my last recipe commentary, Robin Ellis has published a follow up book, which I will buy and use and blog about.

So much has happened in the last few years. I had to retire on disability due to mental and physical problems that keep me from maintaining a work schedule. I ended my three-decade plus marriage for the sake of my overall health and well-being, and moved from Michigan to Maryland almost a month ago. The life I imagined living until I died has crashed and burned, but God has given me beauty for those ashes. I haven’t moved into my own residence yet, but I know it’s in store for me, and I am grateful to be a temporary member of my mother’s household for the time being.

My stuff, including all my kitchen necessities and THE cookbook (along with a few others) are waiting for me in my PODS unit near my hoped-for residence. I know that before long I will be in my very own kitchen with fresh new spices and foods and a new container herb garden started. I will be cooking, photographing, eating and blogging about my favorites and especially untried recipes, and although I don’t have much a** left to cook off, I will happily be maintaining a healthy body.

I’ve already mentioned in the beginning of this blog that I was formerly a Type II diabetic and also unable to tolerate gluten. A new twist in my cooking is “paleo” adaptations. I will document my ups and downs in eliminating grains and most dairy, and incorporating more fermented food and drink in an effort to improve my general health and note whether my symptoms said to evidence “leaky gut” syndrome abate. I don’t have a solid POV about this, but based on reading about paleo and leaky gut, I am willing to give it a shot. I invite reader input about this as I go along.

I may go further into my changing reality in future posts. For now, I’m just happy to be out of a situation that was killing me inside and out, and sharing how faithful God has been in giving me a new start in life.

Rub the right way

Last night, dinner consisted of  lovely bone-in center cut pork loin chops on the barbeque.   I like a rub on my pork, but most are made with tons of sugar and a little more salt than I like.  I looked around at my spices and decided to try this:  freshly ground black pepper, lemon pepper seasoning, a judicious dash of hickory smoked salt, and smoked paprika.  I gently rubbed them into the meat, on both sides, and just before grilling, basted them with a bit of olive oil to keep them from sticking to the grill.  So good, I had to share.

Speaking of eliminating sugar, check out Robin’s blog today.  He’s got some great information on there.  I found it encourages me to cook more from scratch.  That way I am sure of what’s in my food!

Mind-blowing and Meatless

Clockwise from left: Rice and Spinach Torte (p. 34); Cucumber and tomato salad; Sauteed Mushrooms with Parsley and Garlic (p.78).

I did it!  I pulled the trigger and prepared a full vegetarian meal!  And it was GREAT!!

The main course was Robin’s Rice and Spinach Torte, on page 34 of the cookbook.  I have to admit I was skeptical about how this would be.  I was afraid it would come out bland and unappealing.  I’ve eaten a lot of spinach and a lot of brown rice in my life, and I like each as a separate thing, but never thought combining them would be very interesting.  All I can say is that I lacked imagination — it’s the seasoning and the method in the recipe that makes this a satisfying, stand-out vegetarian entree.  My crumbs were gluten free and corn-based, which is why they are so yellow, but they worked wonderfully with the rice and spinach.   The textures of this dish surprised me — an almost meaty center with the wonderfully crunchy “crusts” gave it substantial mouth feel.  The husband is as much a carnivore as I, and he really enjoyed the torte.

The mushrooms seemed a natural accompaniment to the spinachy main dish.  Although the recipe calls for “field mushrooms,” I am not a mushroomer and would certainly end up with terminal liver failure if I tried to be.  Thus, using the old standbys, white and brown mushrooms,  I prepared the recipe as written, but at the last minute threw in a dash of sherry to deglaze the pan, which is a trick I learned long ago and do automatically.  The savory mushrooms complement the torte just as well as they always have done with steak.

Fresh cucumber and tomato salad, dressed simply with olive oil, lemon juice and ground black pepper, provided a cool, snappy counterpoint to the rich, umami flavors of the other two courses.  Dessert was a simple frozen strawberry fruit pop, since I didn’t have any fresh berries.

There was plenty left over of the torte, also some of the mushrooms and a little snack of salad.  This will make a nice packed lunch for my commuting day on Friday.

My Perfectly Vegetarian Plate

I can already feel the difference on my insides of dispensing with meat for the evening meal.  I am fully satisfied, yet my digestive system seems — what should I say — “calmer” might be the word.  And I have noticed that my blood sugar did not spike afterward and then crash.  I sort of expected that to happen, because it seems to, no matter what the meal consists of.  Not this time.  It’s about time for me to turn in, but I don’t feel like I have to crash out, if that makes sense.

So, now that I’ve made the torte, I see what a surprising and impressive dish this would be to serve guests.  I can imagine how good it might be with a bowl of freshly cooked tomato-basil soup and maybe some fennel salad on the side.

And I always thought I had to roast a bird, or throw a steak on the grill for company . . .  Well, the times, they are a-changin’!

Get Me to the Greek

Greek Chicken with Rosemary-Olive Oil Sweet Potatoes

Here’s one of my favorite chicken recipes:  Greek Chicken, done on the grill.  It shares the same flavors as several of the Delicious Dishes recipes:  Olive oil, lemon, garlic and pepper.  I have oregano growing wild in my yard, so I often go out and pick a handful or two and crush the leaves a bit to release the aroma and flavor.

For four chicken breast halves, I zested and juiced 2 lemons, finely sliced 2 garlic cloves, coarsely ground black peppercorns (probably a couple teaspoons’ worth), and threw in my couple tablespoons of bruised oregano leaves.  Into a one-gallon size zip bag it sat, marinating the poultry for an hour or so.

I heated my grill to high and put the breast pieces bone side down, making sure each had a fair amount of marinade atop it.  After a couple minutes, I turned the heat down to medium-low and let them go until I judged them ready to be turned, maybe 20 minutes.  A word of caution:  I am cooking on a gas grill — charcoal is a whole other trip and bears much closer attention.  A second caveat is that every grill is different, so you really have to use your own judgment and know your grill if you plan to walk away from it during the cooking.

If you can’t grill, the traditional way is to bake a split whole chicken in the oven.  The upside of this is it makes the house smell fantastic!

When I turned the chicken to skin side down, I moved it to the upper rack and turned the heat to low.  Before flipping it, I graced each piece with a few drops of EVOO so the skin wouldn’t permanently bond to the grid.

Another 20 minutes or so and I took them off the grill, fairly confident they were cooked through.  As it turned out, they needed another 10 minutes at least.  But hey, that’s why God made microwaves.

Speaking of the microwave, I had some frozen cooked sweet potato chunks, so I plopped them into a bowl, dressed them with EVOO, fresh rosemary, and freshly ground pepper, and ten minutes later I was enjoying the best sweet potatoes I’ve had in a long time.  And that includes the addictive sweet potato smash fries at Smashburger.  I actually like my un-fried version far more.  One less reason to go off the reservation next time I get that craving.

I also served fresh asparagus with the chicken and sweet potatoes, but inadvertently steamed the spears past pretty so they are not in the photo.  They sure tasted fine anyway.

We had a couple of other family members at dinner, and they all declared the meal a success.  The cats are enjoying the scraps as I type.  The dog is jealous but at least he’s not choking on chicken bones.

I truly am going to do a vegetarian dinner using Robin’s recipes, hopefully to be cooked and blogged on tomorrow.  If you haven’t checked out Robin’s blog lately, click the link now.  He’s posted some exciting news in the last day or so.

Roasted Red Peppers on the Grill

It was a lovely evening to grill out.  I’ve been waiting for a break in the spring rains to try my favorite recipe from Delicious Dishes, page 95, cooked on the gas grill with a new variation,  This time around, I used queso del caribe and a bit of smoked salmon and fresh rosemary on the luscious tomato-stuffed red bell peppers.

Roasted red peppers stuffed with tomato and cheese, from p. 95 of Delicious Dishes for Diabetics, cooking on the grill.

Lentils, prepared as on p. 164

Dinner is Served! Red Peppers Stuffed with Tomatoes, Queso and Smoked Salmon, Comfort Lentils, and Mediterranean Vegetables

It’s been a while since I cooked lentils, so I used the recipe on page164 to make a spicy side dish.  I just had regular green lentils, but they are very good this way.  As with several other dishes in the book, the main flavorings are onion, coriander and cumin seeds, crushed in a mortar, and chili pepper,  I also used a small clove of garlic, chopped fine.  I confess to cooking them a little too soft, so that they tended to mush up like refried beans when I spooned them out of the pot.  Mashed or not, they tasted great with the peppers and the Mediterranean vegetable mix I used to round out the meal.

The husband says he can’t decide between this evening’s version or the original with chevre as his preference so far.  He really liked the smoked salmon, as did I.  It just added to that grilled-outdoors flavor that’s really the point of using the barbeque.  I used a foil-lined pan this time, but I may get more adventurous and use one of those grill-top baskets or perforated pans next try.  I have a lot to learn about grilling vegetables, so it’s all going to be experimental cooking for a while to come.

I bought a bunch of fresh veggies on the weekend, and some Beano 😉 so coming up, we will be trying recipes for cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant (aubergine) and the spinach and rice torte.  I’m trying to take the focus off meat as the main dish of the meal and use it more as an occasional luxury food.  Food prices have gone up so much in the last few months, I’m looking forward to a good garden to feed us toward the end of summer.  Until then, I am practicing on store-bought produce and soon, the farmer’s markets as I find more Delicious Dishes to explore.

Sometimes You Want It All

White Bean and Parsley Soup with Steak Salad

This dinner reminds me of the punch line of an old joke I once heard — “When you’ve had steak for a long, long time,  Beans, beans, they taste just fine.”  Well, I had not had steak for a long time, but I couldn’t resist the promise of Robin’s White Bean and Parsley Soup.  So I found a way to have both.

Both dishes are simplicity itself.  The steak was marinated London-broil style, in lemon juice, red wine, garlic, freshly-ground black pepper, a touch of Wright’s Liquid Smoke, and a splash of flat ginger ale to cut the acid.  When the time came to cook it, I heated my trusty old cast-iron grill pan to smokin’ hot, having sprayed it with olive oil.  In went the thin steak for a minute on each side to get nice grill marks, and a minute a side again to finish the cross-hatch pattern.  Not that it shows when it’s all sliced up, but that’s how I like to do it.

The salad bowls just contained mixed red and green lettuces and a few thin slices of red bell pepper.  I could have made it more elaborate with more veggies, but this was a hurry-up meal.  After the steak was sliced and placed on the bed of lettuce, with the pepper arranged prettily on top, I dressed it simply with a reduction of pan juices and sherry and a shot of EVOO and black pepper.

The soup is just as simply elegant as the other soups I have made from Delicious Dishes.  Two cans of cannellini, rinsed and drained, warmed in a pot where the chopped garlic clove and chopped parsley have been gently sauteeing in olive oil.  When the beans have been stirred up thoroughly with the seasonings, I put in the vegetable broth and took my stick blender and pureed about a quarter to a third of the beans to thicken the base.  I served it up with a drizzle of EVOO and Voila!  Dinner is served.  After feeding the two of us,  I still have enough soup left to take to the office for lunch tomorrow.

The husband pronounced both courses “great!,” so this meal’s a keeper.

*****

I had a conversation with my insurance “health coach” recently, where I was asked about my health goals and what I was doing to achieve them.  I told her I was adopting a new way of eating Mediterranean-style, using Delicious Dishes for Diabetics  by Robin Ellis as my guide.  I told her I had lost weight and if she had other clients who needed help with diabetic diets, she might want to mention this book to them, and Robin’s blog.  I also told her about this blog.  So in case she’s had time to take a look — hi, Sarah!

Curry Favorite

Now that my school semester is done, I can get back to cooking and blogging!  Oh, joy!

Tonight I threw together a favorite dish in a new way.  I roasted a chicken a couple of days ago and decided yesterday that the best way to use the remains from the first meal was to reformulate my old standby, Curried Chicken Salad, in a healthier way.

Curried Chicken Salad on Spinach and Radicchio

Taking a cue from Robin’s book, I used about 80% plain Greek nonfat yogurt with the remaining 20% Hellman’s mayo, which used to be the entire dressing for the chicken.  The rest of the ingredients are pretty much the same as always:  red onion and celery, raisins and nuts (this time walnut pieces, since that’s what was handy).  Seasonings are curry powder, turmeric, garam masala, lemon pepper and a sprinkle of onion powder and smoked paprika, and a new twist, lime zest and juice.  And, of course, the chicken, in a medium dice.

I let the flavors meld overnight and then it occurred to me that it would be beautiful and nutritious to serve a scoop of this magical mix atop the organic spinach salad I bought, and to garnish it with my favorite Cherry-Berry-Nut snack mix.  The only problem with this meal is wanting more simply because it is so insanely delicious!

Curried Chicken Salad has been my go-to selection for special luncheon fare, and this will be a great improvement.  Serving it with some nice whole-grain crackers and hummus on the side, and iced raspberry tea in tall glasses . . . well, it makes me want to call some girlfriends and plan a ladies-who-lunch party!

Since I am not big on measuring things, except for baking, where one must be precise, if you want to try this yourself, just combine ingredients by taste.  If you aren’t used to some of the flavors I use, add them gradually and taste as you go in order to get something that pleases your own palate.

Anyone out there have a favorite chicken salad they’d like to share?  Feel free to comment.

Feasting without Meat

How is it possible for a carnivore to feast without meat?  I’m finding out.  We had Red Peppers Stuffed with Tomatoes and (instead of chevre, which I honestly just don’t like) Marinated Fresh Mozzarella.  A sumptuous meal, paired with a small side of gluten-free mac and cheese.  It looked beautiful and tasted even better.  So good, in fact, that we devoured it before I thought to take a picture.  (My post “Keen on Quinoa” has a picture if you want to see how they look.)

And the aroma!  The peppers, tomatoes and garlic, with the herbed cheese and olive oil, will undoubtedly scent my dreams and I will probably wish I had leftovers for breakfast.

Possibly the best fast food I’ve ever had — I prepped the peppers at lunchtime and still had time to eat my lunch.  I called the husband when I was ready to head home from school this evening, and he obligingly preheated the oven and put the peppers in to cook.  Only a few minutes after arriving home, I was enjoying a nutritious dinner.  The only one who missed having meat was the dog, and he was more than happy to lick up some melted cheese.

It feels sensational to be well fed and satisfied with a vegetarian meal.  I don’t think I will ever be a full-time vegetarian by choice, and certainly not vegan.  I do like meat, fish and poultry too well to totally abstain, and I have no moral qualms over it.  But I am learning to enjoy vegetarian dishes, and I expect to reap the profits of that in lower food costs and lower numbers on the scale when I weigh in.  I have noticed my energy levels come up as well.

The more I explore the pages of Delicious Dishes, the greater my gratitude to the author.  I can’t say enough about the positive change in my life as a result of adopting this new way of eating.  I highly recommend it.

Easter Feast

Pork Loin Roasted in Balsamic Vinegar; Fennel, White Bean and Parmesan Salad; Brussels Sprouts and Shallots

Easter Sunday — I made a special meal for this special day.  Each dish was simple to make, and delicious in its simplicity.

The Pork Loin Roasted in Balsamic Vinegar was a revelation.   I wouldn’t have thought to combine the two, and wondered if I’d have pickled pork at the end of it.  Served with the sauce, made of pan drippings, balsamic vinegar and reduced with red wine, the pork was rich and mild on its savory bed of onions and rosemary.

I did have issues with the timing given in the book and the amount of balsamic to be used.  This might be due to the fact that I used a deep casserole-type pan rather than a shallow baking pan, because I don’t own a baking pan that can be put on a flame for the initial browning step and the finishing sauce reduction.  The balsamic I started with never boiled away, so I didn’t use the other half in the recipe directions.  This, despite the fact that the cooking time was almost double the directed time, and still produced a roast with some pinkness left in it.  I do need to invest in a stainless steel open roasting pan so I can repeat this recipe as directed.

The Fennel, White Bean and Parmesan Salad was another riot of sharp and savory flavors that balanced the rich meat entree.  Dressed simply with lemon juice and olive oil, this would make a light lunch on its own, as suggested in the recipe.  I put this together first and let the flavors meld  in the refrigerator while the remainder of the meal was cooking.

Serving Brussels Sprouts and Shallots with the pork was almost automatic for me.  They seem to have a natural affinity, and I was surprised to find fresh sprouts in the store this time of year.  The method of sauteeing the vegetables in olive oil and  butter,  finishing it with a little steaming with broth made for a much more satisfying vegetable dish than my usual trick of microwave-steaming and dressing with the usual butter and dill.  That’s also very tasty, but it was good to mix things up a bit for a special meal.

The picture just doesn’t do justice to the meal, which leaves me with a perfect excuse to upgrade to a new camera.  Trust me — the meal was worth the time and effort and it’s one I would proudly serve guests.

I hope you all had a blessed Resurrection Day and didn’t get too sugared up with Peeps and chocolate bunnies.

Sockeye to Me!

After watching Robin’s cooking segment for Chicago TV, I knew it was time to make his salmon fishcakes again.  I had some frozen salmon filet and thought I’d use that, when I happened upon fresh wild Alaskan sockeye in the local grocery store.  I snapped some up and brought it home where tonight it met its ultimate destiny.

In his cooking demo, Robin chopped up the salmon with a knife rather than tossing it in the food processor.  So I wielded my mighty cleaver and minced up my fish by hand.  Having prepared the recipe before made it go so much more quickly this time.  With TV magic, Robin had done the entire dish from raw fish to cooked dish in about two minutes.  Mine took maybe half an hour in real time, due to the fact that I had no magical elves to chop and measure ahead of time.

But oh, was it worth it!  At the end of the cooking time, we had fish cakes that actually tasted like real salmon, and the flavors of the dill and mustard came through just enough to brighten it, while the lemon juice made it less “fishy” tasting. They were just what I anticipated from the first time I read the recipe through.

The yogurt-dill-mustard sauce is far superior to the tartar sauce I used to have with fish.  This time around I was more generous with the mustard — I do love me some Dijon whole-seed mustard — and graced it with a few drops of lemon juice.  Perfect accent to the robust salmon flavor!

So here’s what I’ve learned so far about salmon fishcakes:  If you love the taste and texture of salmon, use wild sockeye if you can get it.  If, on the other hand, you are serving people who don’t like fish (like little kids who only eat chicken nuggets), go ahead and get the frozen keta salmon and they’ll never know they’ve eaten fish until after they ask you what made them so good.