Magenta-ish colored oat & fruit pudding-like thingy w/ Cool-Whip

That's a good name, don't you think? I'll think of a shorter name later, like Purple Oat Passion or something. I dunno. Meanwhile, this is what I did.

I put some oat milk in the Vita-mix blender. To that I added some oats. Blended about thirty seconds till fairly smooth. Added pecans. Blended as before. The result at this point was something that smelled and tasted very much like bread dough. It smelled and tasted as if I could've just added some yeast and with a little baking I'd have had a loaf of bread. I think that at this point, though, I added grapes, blackberries, and blueberries. Grapes tend to add a lot of sweetness (which they did); the blueberries add great flavor and color; and I just needed to eat the blackberries. [insert shoulder shrug here--it's like why they climb mountains]

Anyway...I blended the whole thing until it was creamy smooth. And you know what? It was pretty darn good. I added a big dollop of Cool-Whip to the end result and, if nothing else, it looked awesome.

It was good enough that in a couple of days, when I can have oats again, I'll likely try it again. I want to work a bit more on the no bake cookies, though, and I can only eat so much. We'll see.

Effervescent Cooking ~ Best Oatmeal Ever!

I know it doesn't look like much, but my oh my does the picture fail to do it justice. We're talking--bam!--really good oatmeal.

No seriously. Really. I made it like this:

I put steel cut oats and oat milk (yes, that's right: oat milk) in a stainless steel sauce pan to soak overnight. In the morning I mixed it all together well, then lit the burner and brought the mix to a boil. Then I added vanilla, brown sugar, and a pinch of sea salt. I mixed all that together well, then simmered until the desired consistency. The end result was nothing short of amazing. Smooth, creamy, slightly sweet, but not too sweet.

I'm telling ya...it was good. Can't wait to repeat. This is another keeper.

Effervescent Cooking ~ Turkey w/ bok choy

[See other posts w/ pix below this one.]
[And if you can eat (or enjoy dreaming about eating) regular flour, you might enjoy this post: Lord Vitamix Seizes Weight Gain Initiative]

Today's protein choice was turkey.
Today's lettuce was leaf.
Today's grain was amaranth.
Today's fruits and nuts included peanuts, raisins, grapes, cranberry, mango and (I'm hoping this is okay) pear.
Today's cooking oil is olive.
One of today's condiments was cinnamon.

I cooked a turkey burger low and slow in olive oil. I added sage and some white pepper to the meat while cooking. Meanwhile, I put some amaranth on the adjacent burner in some water to boil, then simmer.

After cooking the first side of the turkey burger, I turned it over and, when it was just a bit cooked on the new side, cut it into chunks. I added some diced bok choy (just the white part first) and added a bit more olive oil, then turned up the heat some more. Once it started sizzling, I added the bok choy leaves and some peanuts. I cooked it a little while and called it done.

After you bring the amaranth to a boil, you let it simmer, covered, until most of the water is absorbed by the amaranth. Then it's done. It's almost like grits or Cream of Wheat or something. It's a base kind of thing that you can modify as desired. If you want something spicy, add spices. If you want it sweet, add sweet stuff.

I had the amaranth as a side with no seasoning except for the last couple of bites of the amaranth, to which I tried adding cinnamon. I think that might be a good combo if I also added a sweetener like xylitol or agave nectar. Next time.

The turkey and bok choy were great. A definite repeater. I really liked the added peanuts.

For juices today I had a mango/pear combo, then tried a cranberry lemonade. Quite nice.

No bake oat/peanut/coconut cookies ~ A work in progress

Third Try
Success is near. I can taste it! Thanks, Mom!

Okay, I messed around with the proportions and added a key ingredient: cocoa. Here's the scoop:

So far, I've been using peanuts. Not peanut butter, but the nuts. Using peanut butter alters the equation, but for the fun of it, I made peanut butter. All I did was put about half a cup of honey roasted peanuts in the Vitamix, then added a bit of safflower oil until I got a nice consistency. Seemed to take about 1.5 tsp. Mixed for consistency and I had peanut butter.

Safflower oil is basically tasteless. If I had peanut oil, I would've used that. But at any rate, now in this recipe I have peanut butter instead of peanuts. And peanut butter is moister than the peanuts alone.

To the peanut butter I added about half a cup of the oat milk and blended until the combo was smooth. The taste at this point was great. In fact, you could just stop right there if you'd like to have a sort of peanut butter cream--maybe a topping for ice cream? Really good stuff. Based on the end result of the cookies, though, I think a bit less milk would work fine. I might go back to about 3/8 cup and keep the rest mostly the same.

To the above mix I added the usual 1/4 tsp of vanilla and blended.

Then I added the coconut and the agave nectar (next time I'll add just a bit more agave), then blended. At this point, the mixture needed more thickening so I added the secret ingredient: about a teaspoon of cocoa (thanks for the tip, Mom!). This changed the color, the taste, and the texture. I wanted it a little bit drier, a little bit clumpier, and I got it. I still needed a tad more body, so I added another quarter cup of oats and another quarter cup of peanuts. The end result? A slightly drier version from last time, with the slightest taste of chocolate added in. However, I don't think you'd know it was cocoa unless you were told in advance. I think I'll make one more attempt with this experiment and then it oughta be done.

And by the way, I think this made about ten cookies.


Second Try
Okay, I found some oat milk and it's really, really good. I used it to make the best oatmeal I've ever tasted this morning. Now I'm using it again on my No-Bake Cookie effort. Using the oat milk is more in line with my dietary plan as I have a "milk of the day" now for each day: rice, oat, and coconut. Moving on to the second try...

I had several issues with the first try I'm trying to resolve:

1.) Quantity was a little small for blender use--the ingredients were below the blades.
2.) The first run was a little too sweet.
3.) I was using rice milk which was not "authorized" for the rest of the day's items.
4.) The cookies were not quite dry enough to eat neatly with your fingers.

Here's today's combination:

1/2 cup oat milk (Pacific Natural Foods Organic)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
Approx. 1/2 cup whole grain oats
Approx. 3/8 cup honey roasted peanuts

Results: I really like the flavor. I like it a bit better now that it's not as sweet, but that's easy to adjust--a little more or less sweetener as desired would be fine. I messed around a bit with the amount of oats and peanuts in an effort to make the consistency a little drier. I wanted to be able to make the whole thing in the blender, but think I'll end up mixing most of it in the blender, then mixing the last part by hand. This batch, however, was all done in the blender. I have three small batches now "setting" up: one batch is at room temp, one is in the fridge, and one is in the freezer.

Room temp batch: I can pick it up with my fingers, but it's droops when you lift.
Fridge batch: Firm enough for most folks. A little tacky.
Freezer batch: Good and firm--cool of course--but firm enough that it does not droop. Not super tacky, but you'll want to lick your fingers when you're done. ;-)

Research continues...


First Try
I'm working on my own recipe for some no-bake cookies that use foods on my approved or "non-reactive" list. The first run was pretty good. I found some ideas online, noted that they all contained stuff I couldn't have, and modified them for my own use. This is what I have tried so far:

1/4 cup rice milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes
3/8 cup oats
1/4 cup Planters Honey-roasted peanuts

Mix it all together in a blender (I put in the milk first, then the peanuts, then blended for a while before adding the rest). Once mixed to your satisfaction (add more milk if it's too thick, more oats if it's too thin), then put cookie-sized dollops on wax paper or your plate or whatever. I suspect it might set up even better if you then set the cookies and wax paper in the fridge for a bit.

Pretty good stuff for a first run.

Notes: Other recipes use cow's milk. I am avoiding cow's milk and rice is an "authorized" grain, so I used rice milk. Also, since I can't do cow's milk, I can't use butter. I can't use soy, so I can't use margarine. What to use?

Well, one time I had some great coconut syrup in Hawaii and it was incredibly buttery tasting. I made some coconut syrup here recently and it was very similar to what I had in HI. Would coconut flakes work in this recipe above as a substitute for butter? Turns out the answer is yes.

I'm also trying to find substitutes for processed sugars. They're allowed, but I'm still experimenting. Since I love agave nectar and it has a lower glycemic value, it seemed a good match for this recipe and it also worked.

Research continues.

Effervescent Cooking ~ Chicken w/ herbs

If you'd like to know why I'm cooking this way, see my cleverly titled post: Why I'm Cooking This Way...

We cooked the chicken breast on the skillet in extra virgin olive oil.
We seasoned the chicken w/ herbs de provence and nothing else.
That's bibb lettuce you see.
I added peanuts, raisins, and cranberries to the top of the salad.
Those are pear slices you see around the sides.
...and filtered water to drink.

Good stuff.

The Three-day Food Plan

Ideally, I should have broken my allowable foods into four day groupings. However, I just couldn't figure out a good way to do that, so I'm going with three. Here's how it looks:


[If you open the image above in another tab, it will enlarge for easier viewing.]

As an example, on day one, my protein choices throughout the day are either chicken or turkey. My veggie choices include asparagus, mushrooms, parsnips, and leaf lettuce. And so on. Then on day two I would not be able to eat any of those items I ate on day one. I can only choose from items in the second column. Make sense?

Here's the tricky part. I want to keep things interesting, but I can only choose from the items on the list. Do you see eggs? No. Do you see potatoes (sweet, yellow, or white)? No. And keep in mind that if you try for an egg substitute like ENER-G's egg sub, it contains potato starch, making it a no-no. Do you see soy? No. Do you see onions or garlic? No. Seems like everyone on the planet uses onions and garlic to season their meats. So...the plot thickens.

That leads me to try goofy things that others might not try. And that's where I need your help. If you've got an idea, let me know.

Why I'm cooking this way

Imagine going through your whole life thinking that you have no food allergies or reactions to anything you eat. You don't even sweat when eating spicy foods that have your buddies mopping their brows. You travel completely around the globe on a regular basis, eating whatever you like with no problems whatsoever. Life is good. But then, on almost a whim, you decide to check your blood against a slew of food items just to see if maybe you have some food sensitivities and lo and behold: your blood reacts to a bunch of them! Surprise! Now what do you do?

Well, here's the plan the lab might give you. Avoid all the foods your blood reacted to for three months. Eat only the foods the lab work says you did not react to for that same period. Rotate the foods you do eat so that you don't eat the same foods two days in a row--actually they want four days--and then slowly start re-introducing the reactive foods to see how your body reacts.

During that 90-day period your body gets to recover from constantly fighting the allergens and, in layman's terms, your body gets back to "normal". If you keep a food, mood, and general health diary, you may find that you never want to go back to the old way of eating. You may lose weight. You may become taller and more attractive. Okay...well...maybe?

If it sounds straightforward and easy, I've not told the story well. It can be straightforward: eat only these items on this schedule. But it is not easy. It takes a great deal of organization, discipline, and creativity.

And that last part is what this blog is all about. I hope to chronicle my efforts at making this an adventure. I hope to make this something fun. Maybe even something that might help someone else who's working with allergies or food sensitivities. I welcome your comments, suggestions, and recipes.

Come and join the fun.

Effervescent Cooking ~ Mystery stir fry

This is a modification of an idea sent from my wonderful Mom.

The protein of the day was supposed to be fish or shrimp, but we got busy and I didn't thaw any out. Plus, Mom had sent me this interesting idea involving spinach and bacon. Hmmm...

The oil of the day was safflower. My veggies of the day included beans, peas, and spinach. A nut of the day was pistachio. The grain of the day was rice. Hmmm...

So I cooked the spinach* in the safflower oil, added some basmati rice, some sugar snap peas, and called it done. Tasted it. Pretty good. Added pistachios. Nice. Decided it was good enough after one serving to cook up the whole thing again. This time I added the nuts when the rest of it was cooking on the stove.

Ahhh...very, very good.

*I'm trying to remember if I added any seasoning to the spinach as it was cooking and I can't remember for sure. I'm trying to avoid using salt and pepper all the time. However, there's a chance I added a tiny bit of sea salt and white pepper. I'll make it again and experiment because it sure was good. The pistachios added their own salty flavor, so I may not have used anything else.