Effervescent Cooking

Great Tomato Soup

2009-09-19T10:09:00.003-08:00

I made this soup for two (ate it all myself, though) a couple days ago and am going to make it again in just a few minutes. It's very good and lends itself well to adding a variety of spices. All the ingredients I used are shown in the picture above.

1/2 can of tomatoes (a fresh tomato would be even better) drained
1/2 can of chicken broth (I need a homemade alternative)
1 Tbsp of tomato paste
1/4 cup or so of cheese

I put the above ingredients into my uber blender, the Vitamix, and blended till smooth. If I had had an onion, I would've thrown that in there as well. I could've been done at that point, but I had other plans.

I had cooked some rice in a heavy sauce pan before making the soup. When the soup mixture was smooth (and warmed from the blending), I added it to the rice. To this mix I added some rotisserie chicken and then simmered for a while.

The soup has a nice flavor prior to mixing with the rice and the chicken. I would happily eat that alone without adding any other spices, but adding the soup to the rice and chicken diluted the flavor, so add'l spices are then needed.

Quick and EZ salmon

2009-08-26T14:52:00.004-08:00

I have been way too busy this summer, fishing and biking and hiking and generally just enjoying one of the nicest Alaskan summers I can remember, to spend much time on the computer. But I just wanted to add a quick note to my EZ salmon recipe you can find somewhere else on this blog...

I've slightly changed the way I quickly and easily throw together my "smoked" salmon. The difference is I now omit the water from the brine "marinade". So the big picture idea is this: You put some coarse sea salt, some liquid smoke, and some brown sugar in a ziploc-type bag along with your salmon. Leave it in there for a while to soak up the brine. Then cook it in the oven till it's done. When you remove it from the oven and it's safe to handle, remove all the bones, crumble up the salmon and leave it in a glass bowl overnight in the fridge.

The next day you can enjoy it cold or re-warmed.

I had previously added a little bit of water to the mix because I was in a hurry, but if you have a bit more time, omitting the water works just fine. The salt, liquid smoke, and sugar will combine along with the fish to create a liquid that soaks into the fish. I think omitting the water makes for a slightly stronger taste and creates a slight glaze when you bake it.

I'll leave you with an image of a skate. Yes, there are some weird-looking creatures on the sea floor.

Tortilla Pizza Stuff

2009-04-18T13:05:00.002-08:00

I'm pretty much gonzo over these tortillas browned in olive oil. They're just so...perfect. It seems that there are no bad combinations when you start off with that lightly browned, nice and warm, deliciously flavored tortilla shell as your base. With that in mind, here are a couple more quick ideas.

BBQ Chicken

Lightly coat the tortilla in olive oil, then warm both sides in your skillet. Season as you like, but I'm pretty happy with basil, oregano, and garlic salt.

This stuff cooks pretty fast, so if you add meat at this point, it probably won't warm up very much as the tortilla is otherwise heating, so I use the microwave to help. As soon as you turn your tortilla over (you're heating both sides), heat some rotisserie chicken in the microwave, then add BBQ sauce to taste. Stir the mixture well.

While the second side of the tortilla is browning in the skillet, add thin slices of Colby cheese so that the cheese will melt on the tortilla. Now dump the BBQ chicken mixture on top of the cheese-covered tortilla in the skillet.

If you do all this quickly enough so that the tortilla is still pliable at this point, you can actually roll the tortilla over so that you make a burrito. I do this by rolling about 1/3 of the tortilla over on top, sort of lightly mash it down for a few seconds, then roll the whole thing over on top of that remaining 1/3, then mash the whole thing down a bit. After a few seconds, you can turn the whole thing over one more time and you've got a burrito. You could also just fold the thing in half.

Now, if you generally like a little bit of sweetness to spice up your meals, I have a really kinky option for you.

When I made my seconds and thirds of this BBQ burrito, I added just a few raisins (some of you are saying, "Ewww...", but bear with me) to the top of the chicken once it was on the tortilla and let them heat up along with everything else. The end result was that, as I chewed the incredibly delicious burrito, I didn't really notice that I was biting into raisins. Instead, I just got these light explosions of chewy sweetness every now and then that was a very nice offset to the tangy and otherwise sort of salty flavor of the rest of the meal.

It was truly incredibly awesome stuff.

Ranch chicken mushroom tortilla burrito/pizza awesomeness

Same concept as above except...

I sauteed (we never say 'fry') some chopped 'shrooms in butter on the skillet. When those were done, I removed them to a plate.

Then I started warming the seasoned and lightly oiled tortilla. After I flipped the tortilla over to warm the other side, I microwaved some chicken.

While the chicken was heating, I added my cheese to the tortilla.

When the chicken was ready, I added the chicken, the 'shrooms, and a little bit of ranch dressing.

I timed it such that I could fold over the tortilla into a burrito and gave it a whirl. Very, very good stuff. I forgot to try the raisins. Next time!

Two qualifiers:
1.) My son thinks anything--even road tar--would taste good with ranch dressing.
2.) My wife thinks I adore the tortillas so much I'd find any combination that includes them delicious. She might be right. ;-)

Pizza redux

2009-04-01T15:59:00.004-08:00

Our nearby volcano, Mt. Redoubt, was contentedly puffing away today, like a giant dragon dozing in the sun. Meanwhile, here in Anchorage, it was alternately snowing and cheerfully sunny. If I had gone out running around (say, to the store for some groceries) when it was snowing, I would likely have had to use my windshield wipers. If there had been ash in the snow--a distinct possibility--that ash would have crazed my windshield under the sweep of the wipers. Time for lunch, what to do?

I decided to make pizza again, although this time about the only thing I could find to put on the pizza was mushrooms and cheese, so that's what I made in the photo shown below. I made two of them. They were good.

I think about the only thing I did different this time was to use shaved slices of cheese rather than the chunks the original recipe suggested. And with the 'shrooms, I sliced those two ways, so they ended up as small chunks. I lightly sauteed them in the olive oil, then set them aside. I warmed the tortilla a bit, as I seasoned it, then added the cheese, the 'shrooms, the sauce and the parmesan on top.

Good stuff!

Really Great Pizza for One

2009-03-28T23:24:00.002-08:00

I'm going to run through this one quickly, then add the links for the credit at the end. Ready? Okay, here's a recipe the way I did it.

1.) Heat your skillet to medium or so. I used my cast-iron-like skillet.
2.) Put some olive oil in the skillet and let it warm.
3.) Coat both sides of a flour tortilla with olive oil. You can either coat it and then put it in the pan or you can flop the naked torilla in the pan and swirl each side in the olive oil until it's lightly coated.
4.) Season your tortilla with spices. In a pinch, you could probably make due with salt and pepper, but I used basil, oregano, and garlic powder.
5.) Pile some cheese (I used Colby) in the middle of the tortilla.
6.) Add other ingredients that sound interesting. Timing is pretty important here. I just added orange bell peppers today. Those can be eaten raw, so heating them was not important. If you use something that actually needs to cook, I'd probably bake the pizza rather than use this method.
7.) Watch the bottom of your tortilla closely. I slightly burned my first one (I ate it anyway and hardly noticed). If your timing is really good, you can add some tomato sauce (I used Prego spaghetti sauce because I love it) while the tortilla is in the skillet. I wasn't that good, so I removed the tortilla from the skillet, put it on a plate and then added the Prego. I topped the whole thing with some parmesan cheese and put it in the microwave for about thirty seconds.

Ooh la la.

Let me say that again: oooh la la.

8.) Eat it while its warm, then do the whole process again because it's so darn good.

This is definitely two tomato-y thumbs up!

Oh yeah. The credit for the recipe goes to www.cooks.com. Here's another link for homemade pizza that sounds good. If you try it, let me know. This gal actually bakes her pizzas: homemade pizza.

Gluten free brownies - a product review

2009-03-19T08:46:00.001-08:00

I have to start this post with a confession: I've blown off my diet. I maintained the food sensitivity diet pretty well--even when eating at restaurants in the US--for about a month. While stringently maintaining the diet, I noticed that I had a bit more energy and noticeably less sinus drainage, so I can now see the cause and effect behind my body's reaction to eating certain foods. Before this experience, there were too many variables associated with my fairly minor symptoms. Was my nose running because of an allergic reaction to something in the environment? Was it acid reflux? Was I coming down with something? Or was it something I ate? Would my nose really run because of something I had eaten several days in the past? Now I have a much better idea.

That knowledge was worth the effort. But with my international travel schedule, maintaining that diet on the road, in so many places where the food preparers and servers do not speak english, was not worth the effort. Here in the US, I now eat pretty much whatever I want, but I minimize my consumption of the reactive foods. It seems to be a nice compromise. I live an active, healthy lifestyle, and eat foods in a combination that seems to be working very well. Given a choice between eating 'reactive' foods and non-reactive foods, I'll choose the latter most of the time and I'm fine. It's working for me.

With that confession/discussion out of the way, I'll move on to my latest product review, another great product from Juli at The Cravings Place. You can see another of her products that I reviewed in this post.

I'm running out of time so I'm going to make this a quickie...

I used her Ooey Gooey Chocolatey Chewy Brownie Mix to make brownies and, despite the fact that I messed up, made some great brownies. My mistake? I used the wrong sized pan. Apparently it makes a difference! Who knew? She calls for a 9" x 13" pan and I used a smaller glass dish. I ended up cooking my version for about five minutes longer than prescribed in order to get them "done". When we ate them while still warm, they were pretty good, but the taste was different from what we expected. Had we had vanilla ice cream to top them, that would've been great and we wouldn't have noticed, but the taste was just a tad "off". Then the next day, I had some more and the taste grew on me. I put the remainder in a Ziploc bag and took them on a trip with me. The more I ate, the more I liked them. If you had never had the conventional kind--the kind made with eggs and all the conventional stuff--you would love this stuff. As it was, for me it took a little transition period, but now I do like them very much.

Inside the box you find two bags. One bag has the powder mix; the other bag contains chocolate chunks. Those chocolate chunks taste pretty much just exactly like the dark chocolate I used to love buying in Germany. I dumped it all together in the mixing bowl, mixed with oil and water as described by the directions and found it all very easy and (now) very tasty. I'd definitely do it again.

It doesn't get much easier than this to make and, after my adjustment period, I give it two chocolate-covered thumbs up.

Blog problems

2009-03-15T09:38:00.002-08:00

Hey Folks-

I wanted to post some pix and some other stuff, but Blogger--the outfit that created this blogging system--is having difficulties. In fact, it looks like they've been having intermittent problems the past several months. I cannot post pix for the time being. More to come later.

EZ Salmon Recipe by the Numbers

2009-03-10T21:05:00.005-08:00

Step One: Go to Alaska

Step Two: Catch your salmon (this one's a Humpie--can you see why they call it that?)

Steps three, four, and five might be: Clean your fish, freeze your fish, and smoke your fish, but this is getting out of hand, so I'm going to skip to the recipe...

Okay, here's the scoop...

I basically marinate my salmon with a salt/brown sugar/water mixture. Then I cook the fish in the oven (375 - 400 degrees) and that's it. I can be done. Serve it with rice or steamed veggies or whatever. It's good. But what's even better is to make tortilla wraps with it, using rice as a filler. This is a straightforward process that's pretty easy. But for me, it takes about three days of planning because I thaw the fish in the fridge (day one), cook the fish (day two), then put the fish back in the fridge for a day to lock in the flavor (day three) before eating.

I usually prepare about a pound of fish at at time with this recipe. If you figure 1/4 pound per serving, that's about four servings. I usually fillet my own fish and freeze the fish, storing it in one pound or half pound sizes. The nice thing about freezing the fish is that the freezing process will--or some I'm told--kill any kind of critters that might be living on or in the fish that might harm us. I've also eaten the fish I've caught right away and that's nice too. So far so good. ;-)

So I thaw my pound of fish in the fridge the day before. In the summer, I smoke my own fish once it's thawed, but in the winter, with tons of snow in the yard, that's not something I try. Instead I use Wright's All Natural Hickory Seasoning Liquid Smoke. Now I have to take a detour for a second.

If you follow that link, you'll see that Wright's is a product from the B & G folks. These are the same folks I talked about in my Cream of Rice post below. Interesting. Like I said, these folks make all manner of stuff we use all the time, but most of us have never heard of them. Anyway...

Getting back to the liquid smoke, a couple of warnings are in order. For starters, I'm just beginning to figure out this liquid smoke stuff, so I'm experimenting with the quantity. It takes very, very little. Seriously. The cap on the bottle is about the size of a woman's pinky finger. I use about half a cap. We're talking just a few drops. And this stuff is runnier than water. It's like anti-viscous. And it stinks! Use the stuff as required, then put the lid back on right away or your house will smell like smoke right away.

All right, so how do I use the liquid smoke and all the rest? Well first, I get a gallon sized Ziploc bag. I put the following ingredients in the bag:

Brown sugar 1/2 cup
Coarse sea salt between 3 tsp and 1/8 cup
Water 1/8 cup
Liq smoke 1/2 capful

If you use regular salt or something that's not coarse, you'll need to use a lot less salt. If you're a smoker, you'll probably use closer to 1/8 cup of the coarse sea salt. If you're not big on salt, you'll use about half (Google tells me 1/16 cup is about three teaspoons) of your 1/8 cup. I use something in between. You can always add more salt later, so err accordingly.

Once you put all that stuff in the bag, you can sort of slosh it around to mix it all together. It will seem like there's not enough, but it seems to work with a big ole slab of fish. And speaking of which, the next step is to put your fish in the bag.

You're basically going to marinate both sides of the fish in the ingredients for about half an hour per side in the frig. Once that's done, put the fish in your pre-heated oven (depending on thickness, I've had good luck with 375 to 400 degrees F) and cook until it flakes. It's probably going to take about fifteen minutes.

Now here's the weird part. While you can eat the fish right away (I have and I like it), I actually like to crumble the fish, removing all the bones I might've missed, and put it into a glass bowl which will go (covered) into the fridge. I let it sort of setup overnight. It seems to lock in the flavor and tastes a little gooier. I don't know a better term right now. I just like it better after it's been in the fridge overnight.

The next day I like to make salmon tortillas with wasabi paste and mayonnaise. The problem in preparing this is that I tend to eat the salmon while I'm fixing the tortillas, so I'm stuffing my face when I'm supposed to be preparing the food. At any rate, what we do is we put some mayo in a bowl, then add the wasabi to taste. We mix that up real well. Then take your tortilla shell and put it on a skillet (no oil required) and just heat it up a bit. When your tortilla is warmed, put your wasabi and mayo on the shell and then add the salmon (and if you have it, rice). Fold the tortilla and feast.

I'm weeping as I think about it. It's so good.

That's for you, Mom!

EZ Salmon Recipe

2009-02-17T11:17:00.000-09:00

Hey Gang-

I'm going to post my no-fail salmon recipe soon. Really!

Pecans might replace meat with your pancakes

2009-01-23T21:16:00.004-09:00

Whenever I eat pancakes and nothing but pancakes for a meal, I sort of feel...I don't know...like the meal is incomplete. Like maybe I still need to eat a bunch of protein. It's a relatively unsatisfying meal. If you can eat eggs, those are a great addition. So is a hunk of the meat du jour. But what if you want protein satisfaction without that hunk of animal flesh?

The last time I had pancakes, I added cranberries and pecans to the mix before cooking on the skillet. Much to my delight, not only did it taste good, but adding those items "beefed up" the pancakes (I guess there might be a pun there) enough to curb the protein craving. I added zero butter and used strawberry jam as my sweetener.

Mighty fine if I do say so myself.

So if you're trying to avoid meat, that might be the way to go. While my experiment above worked great, I must say that I do savor the thought of a side order of reindeer- or caribou sausage. Now that, my friends, would be awesome.

That's the quick cooking update for now from Hong Kong...

Product Review ~ Cream of Rice

2009-01-10T16:00:00.002-09:00

The quick summary:

Pros
Quick and easy to make.
Tastes great with some seasoning (dash of salt, brown sugar, fruit, etc.).
Simple ingredients that work on my diet: granulated rice, some vitamins & minerals.
Seems to hold me over longer than some other grains.
Nice and warm on a cold Alaska morning.
Easy to use as a side with other meals (a potato replacement, for example).

Cons
Not many...tastes boring solo, but that's an easy fix.

Summary
Two forks up! Will eat regularly.

*******************************************

Now, for a little side story...

It's difficult to determine just who makes this product. I did figure it out; it's just not an easy thing to do and that's surprising. Here are the results of my initial search.

For nutritional information on this cream of rice product, you go to the cream of wheat website. Funny.

If you carefully study the Cream of Rice box, you'll find that, if you have questions or comments, you can visit www.bgfoods.com. No brand claim of ownership, just go to that site (or write to a P.O. Box). Hmmm... Once at the web site, you'll see that a company called B & G Foods makes and distributes a ton of very recognizable products. How come I've never heard of these guys? I've eaten their products for years.

I didn't have time to do a full background check on the various companies that were in place before they all merged into B & G Foods Holdings, but that company (B & G) was apparently incorporated at the end of 1996. By contrast, the Cream of Rice box says "since 1893". And I know I've been eating a bunch of their other products my whole life.

So who actually created the product that I now enjoy? Don't know, but it might make for interesting study.

Another time perhaps. Meanwhile, enjoy your Cream of Rice.

Want juicy chicken?

2009-01-09T14:12:00.003-09:00

If you're struggling to create chicken that's moist and tasty, try this:

Heat your skillet on low heat for thirty seconds or so, then add about a Tbsp of olive oil. Work the oil around the skillet, then add either slices of skinless, boneless chicken breast or chunks of the same. Throw on some herbs de provence and cook till done. You might need to increase the heat slightly. You'll know it's done when you can use your spatula to pretty easily cut the chicken pieces in half. Check the insides for your desired doneness.

We've made this several times and it always turns out juicy and tasty.

You could also add in some chopped mushrooms or asparagus or whatever and let that cook alongside the chicken.

Good stuff.

Stir fry is easy!

2009-01-07T13:40:00.009-09:00

I've always liked fried rice. Now I make it about every fourth day and find that I'm having a ball making it with a bit of just about anything I can find. I spend a ton of time in Asia and love Asian food. I am especially fond of how Asian cooking in particular seems to provide a whole variety of tastes in every bite. You can have sweet, spicy, mild, hot, etc. in every bite. It's great. I cannot eat pineapple right now, but my favorite combo is probably pineapple fried rice--some spicy stuff at one end of the spectrum and the sweet pineapple along the way. Good stuff.

Here's an example of something I threw together at home. I'm pretty limited right now regarding the spices I can use, so I'm trying to make the food taste as good as I can even without using any additional spices at all. For example, pre-salted nuts or meat can provide all the salt the meal needs. Throw in some raisins or other fruit along with the milder or salty flavors and it works great.

Anyhow, here's a simple stir fry that worked for us:

First make the rice. For this batch, I used chicken stock instead of water, just to check it out. I made the chicken stock myself by boiling down the carcass of a rotisserie chicken.

The next part allows for a great deal of creativity. I opted to begin with spinach. Set the heat to low. Put about a Tbsp of your desired oil in the pan. Add a ton of spinach. The spinach really cooks down a lot as you'll see in the next photo.

As you can see, it cooks down a lot.

My next bunch of ingredients: carrots, sugar snap peas, rotisserie chicken, and salmon. I end up adding additional oil as necessary as I go along and adjust the heat up or down along the way too. I don't have the other ingredients lined up for a pic, but I ended up adding pistachios and raisins. Just keep tumbling the food around so everything gets warm and nothing burns.

The end result. My son and I ate almost all of this in one sitting (and I'm a skinny dude!). There was a small serving leftover and it reheated perfectly fine in the microwave.

A bizarre combo that actually worked - salty and sweet

2009-01-03T20:49:00.003-09:00

Frito-Lay makes a terrific product called Natural Tostitos Brand Tortilla Chips - Made with certified organic corn. And it's blue corn at that. The ingredients are: whole organic blue corn, expeller-pressed sunflower oil, and sea salt. No preservatives.

Since I can eat corn, sunflower, and sea salt, these wonderfully yummy (and salty) chips are A-okay with my diet. I eat them on the days I can eat corn. And I love them. They're great.

I mentioned in a previous post that I have leftover coconut syrup that I made to go with my pancakes. I like foods that are both sweet and spiced, so I figured what the heck! and spread a little of that syrup on the chip. I made sure no one else was watching and took a bite. Guess what? It's pretty dang good. At least I thought so, but I needed someone else to try it. Who would try such a strange thing?

I quickly scanned my environment, my mind quickly and effortlessly evaluating and eliminating my options like some well-trained spy on a secret mission and decisively settled on the ideal choice. My son is here on break from college, so I asked him if he was up for a bizarre taste test. The only other choice was my wife and I won't quote what her answer would've been. With the great trust of a son in his father, and with an iron gut that is sometimes a nearly bottomless calorie-burning abyss, he readily agreed. I waited breathlessly for this independent review, carefully scrutinizing his face for feedback as he munched away. Would there be ridicule or praise, a thumbs up or down? I could hardly stand the suspense. The verdict? "Can I have another one, Dad?"

Mikey likes it. Hey Mikey!

Does anyone else remember that commercial? Neither of us is named Mike. See there were these three brothers eating "healthy" cereal and...oh never mind.

But I got to thinking and, despite the danger in that activity, wondered what if I added just one more item? Hmmm...

Now here's a side note that deserves a post of its own (maybe later): you can be sensitive (or allergic I suppose) to certain proteins within a food, but as long as that protein is removed, the rest of the food is okay. A case in point involves the proteins whey and casein. They're both in cheese during the cheese making process, but the hard cheeses like cheddar, provolone, Colby, etc. have the whey removed. I'm sensitive to the whey (as in no whey, Jose, but not the casein (see why I highlighted the words 'case in'?).

So today was a day in which I get to eat corn, certain cheeses, and coconut (among some other things--and by the way, the bison cheeseburger was awesome), so you can see why I was trying the coconut syrup with the Tostito. So after the chip and syrup went over well, I added a slice of Colby cheese to the Tostito with the same devil-may-care attitude as before, recklessly spread some syrup on top and quickly stuffed it in the pie hole before anyone could stop me.

Chomp, chomp, crunch, crunch...mmmm...swallow. Hey, that was good too.

So there you have it. That simply has to be an original. Go ahead and try it. I dare ya. ;-)

Gluten free pancake mix review

2009-01-03T20:04:00.003-09:00

The other day I made pancakes that were gluten free, wheat free, nut free, egg free, dairy free, and bean free. They were excellent and couldn't be easier to make. The product I used is made by The Cravings Place.

I used their 'All Purpose Pancake & Waffle Mix'. I love the instructions. Basically all you have to do is add water to the mix until you get your desired consistency. Then scoop the batter onto a hot griddle and cook. My kind of instructions. I've had them twice so far and both batches have been perfect. I'm thrilled to be able to have pancakes despite my many restrictions and even more thrilled that these turn out so well.

Since most of us like some kind of...something...to go with our pancakes and we usually like it sweet, I decided to make coconut syrup. I got the coconut syrup recipe from allrecipes.com. I'd copy it here, but I don't know what the copyright laws say about that, so I'll just direct you there. It's a great website that I frequently peruse. I found that what they call one serving was more than enough for two and we actually had a little bit left over. I used that extra in a creative way I'll discuss in another post.

Again, go visit Juli Walton at The Cravings Place. We can actually buy her products in the store here in Anchorage, Alaska and I'm really glad we can. I have a couple more of her products on the shelf that I'll try soon.

One day this diet will end and then I'm going to AZ

2009-01-02T14:15:00.005-09:00

A short commercial will run before the video...

Watch CBS Videos Online

Side note: the journalist, Bill Geist, you see in this video did a similar kind of video for my buddy, Heff, who also has the above video on his blog. Meanwhile, enjoy.

Gluten free product review

2009-01-01T22:23:00.002-09:00

Think: MACARONI AND CHEESE

My wife found an interesting product for me to try. Made by a company called Namaste Foods, the product I tried is called Say Cheez - A delicious cheese flavored pasta blend. It comes in a paper bag and the bag says it's an all natural easy to prepare pasta mix. The mix is supposed to be free of: gluten, wheat, potato, nuts, soy, corn, dairy, and casein. The ingredients listed are: Brown rice pasta (brown flour, water), shelled hemp seed, natural non-dairy cheddar seasoning, rice milk powder, sea salt and paprika.

I think this product is probably okay for my dietary restrictions so I gave it a shot on my rice day. It was pretty darn good. It's quite a bit different from the standard Kraft mac and cheese that my son can eat by the wheelbarrow full. Although the cheese mix smells quite good, and smells rather spicy while it's heating (more on the cooking in a moment), it's a little bit on the bland side when done unless you add something. I added Parmesan cheese, rotisserie chicken, and some pistachios. That combination was great.

This product comes packaged in a little paper bag, like a lunch sack. Inside the sack, you'll find the pasta encased in a plastic bag and the seasoning mix encased in another plastic bag.

For the big picture here, you'll need a big pot--one that holds more than three quarts. You'll need a second pan--one that only needs to be able to hold about four tablespoons of oil and water.

You put some salt in about three quarts of water, then bring the water to a boil in your big pot. Add the pasta and cook for seven or so minutes. Meanwhile, put about three Tbsp of oil and one Tbsp of water in a separate pan to heat. Mix the cheese/spice mixture in with the oil/water.

Once the pasta reaches the desired consistency, drain the water. Once you do that, you can mix the oil/water/cheese/spice mixture in with the pasta and toss. Then you're done unless you want to add other stuff like I did.

A couple of points. The amount of salt you put in the water before you boil it will affect the taste. The kind of water you use will make a difference--tap water versus filtered water, for example. The kind of oil you use will make a difference. Etc.

Bottom line: this product is okay for my diet and I will use it again.

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

2008-12-31T18:23:00.004-09:00

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!

2008-12-28T22:42:00.003-09:00

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

2008-12-27T23:32:00.002-09:00

[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

2008-12-27T15:06:00.011-09:00

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

2008-12-26T09:49:00.003-09:00

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

2008-12-25T20:58:00.000-09:00

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

2008-12-25T20:34:00.000-09:00

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

2008-12-25T20:30:00.000-09:00

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.