Fermenting Foods and Beverages

I have recently caught a new bug, the old style fermented foods and beverages bug.  It all started back in June or July while I was sitting with my Mother in her sun-room watching birds and bees in her back yard (it is wooded and drops down to a deep ravine so it is a wonderful place to be).  Mom was reminiscing about her grandmother who was an excellent cook and owned several restaurants.  Mom learned to cook as a child from her grandmother.  In those days, the 1930s through the 1940s, most people had a garden or knew farmers from which to purchase produce and protein foods, i.e. dairy, meats.  People put up or put bye (canned) much of the food they grew for the winter.  As a child, I remember my mother's parents basement pantry area lined with jars of stuff to eat like pickles.
Mom told me how much she loved to sneak down to the basement as a young child and sample the foods in the large crocks, her favorite being sauerkraut and mangoes (stuffed bell peppers). Her grandmother fermented the pickles in huge crocks and there was nothing wrong with sampling the foods except that it spoiled her appetite somewhat for meals.
Sadly, I never got to meet my grandmother as she passed away before I was born.  But her legacy of wonderful cooking passed down to my mother and hopefully to me.  When I was a tween, my mother made pickles and relish on year, what an interesting undertaking that was.  We ate the pickles and relish for 2 or 3 years, and really enjoyed it.  Mom made jelly once in a while also,  but never put food up like her grandmother did or my mother-in-law did because the day of the commissary and grocery store had overtaken our culture.  Additionally, she and dad were not gardeners so would have to purchase the fresh produce to preserve, and what was the point of that when you could easily and inexpensively purchase what you desired without the hassle of making it yourself.
When I was a teen, I spent all my time riding my horse with other teen girls doing the same.  We knew where a huge old fig tree was that we gorged ourselves on every summer.  I wish I'd taken some home to make into fig preserves but I never thought of it.  One of my horseback girlfriends dad was a deputy sheriff and her mom always had 2 glass gallon jugs on the kitchen counter in there home connect by clear tubing stuck in a stopper in each bottle and some muscadine wine fermenting in one and condensing in the other.  I tasted it once and it was a really sweet grape flavor, really too sweet for my tastes so I never asked Mrs. Audry what she was doing or how or why.  I didn't realize that sweetness could be adjusted. Now that information is lost to me 40 years later.   All the lost opportunities to learn and do.  Sadly, this is the way it is for most urban dwellers in the USA today.  However, there is a movement by some people to learn the old skills called by some, urban homesteading.
I live on a steep hill that drops down to a ravine with a tiny stream in the bottom, close to the center of our little town.  The back yard faces NNE and gets only middle of the day sunlight, so it is not conducive to gardening unfortunately.  The front yard faces SSW and is small, has kids run through it, dogs too (and they leave droppings for me to clean up) so it receives full sun, but is not a hospital spot to garden either.  I would dearly love for our town to create a community garden area someday, so then I could grow some produce.  I would love to keep a handful of chickens for eggs and their funny antics but there are raccoons who come up on the deck to raid my bird feeders every night, and I fear the chickens would be raccoon dinner all to soon.  I have thought of rabbits for meat and fur, and that is something I may eventually do--after much researching.
I hope all of you wistful farmers have better conditions in your own piece of gardening paradise, but hopefully, we can all manage to grow at least a little of our produce.
I found this interesting beverage recipe while researching how to ferment foods, the name caught my eye.  This is a drink made from fermenting sweet potatoes and is ready in 3-5 days.  This is supposed to be similar to old fashioned root beer, ginger ale, cream sodas, etc.  The recipe is not difficult to make.
2 scrubbed and shredded sweet potatoes, rinse the starch in strainer till water runs clear then place in 1 gallon jar.  Add 2 cups sugar (or you can add some honey as part of the 2 cups), 1/2 a lemon, a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg,ginger, allspice, 1 egg shell, then cover with water.  Cover with cloth to keep out fruit flies.  Later when bubbly, strain, chill juice, save the pulp to bake muffins.
I made my first batch today, but I forgot to rinse the shredded potatoes, so I'll soon see what happens, I may need to repeat this recipe at the end of the week, correctly, to see what the difference is.  More news later on this beverage.
My Gut Reaction?  This was fun and could possibly be delicious.  I enjoyed the process and the connection to my great-grandmother and my mother's memories of the cooking methods she remembers.

http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/3156_0/cooking-and-food-preservation/fermented-but-nonalcoholic-drinks

Steaming Eggs

Hey steaming eggs worked!  Sweet.

Experiment in Steaming

So my old electric rice pot quit on us this past weekend.  It had been slowing down for a year and I just waited till it finally quit.  I simply dumped the rice and it's cooking water into my stainless steel heavy bottom sauce pan, brought the water to a simmer and turned to heat to low, covered the pan with the vent open, let it go 15 minutes, turned the heat off and let it sit about 10 more minutes==perfect rice.  However, I only have 1 sauce pan so decided to replace my rice pot.  Walmart, here I come.  Got a new electric Black and Decker 2 tier rice and steaming appliance, $29.00.  Washed it, and it is dishwasher safe.  I do wonder if the plastic bowls are safe, so I'll need to research that matter.
This morning, I was determined to try this new baby out.  I am trying to eat healthier breakfasts of the low carb type but that gets so boring so decided to scrounge around my fridge and pantry to see what I could come up with.  And this is what I found:
1 cup Oatmeal, not certified gluten free
1 cup Almond flour
1/4 cup Date sugar
1/4 cup Xylitol
2 tablespoons Ground flax seed meal
1 cup half and half
1 egg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch kosher salt

I just dumped this all into the little rice bowl that insets into the steamer basket.  Additionally, I placed my last 4 eggs into the other steamer basket as supposedly you can soft or hard boil eggs by steaming them.  Set the timer to 12 minutes, the time for the eggs.  At that point, I checked the oatmeal mixture and it was still liguidy so I removed the eggs and reset the timer for another 12 minutes.  When it was finished, I saw a mixture that was not quite as set as a cake but more like a pudding, but not runny either.
I ate about 3/4 of a cup and oh my was it good!  I have a real problem with oatmeal generally because I do not like the sliminess of it.  I gagg, just can't get it down.  Oatmeal cookies  have been my preferred method up to this morning.  This baked almond oatmeal is quite nice and I'll definitely work on it some more, and tweak it and create variations of it.
This has a high protein content because of the almond flour, there are some carbs from the oats and dates.  Try this for your picky eaters who don't like slimy oatmeal.
Later, I will make the eggs into egg salad.  I will return and comment on how they steamed.

We are all healthy automatically by design and sick only by default.

Found this very interesting quote, by the Mangoman, think about it.

FREEZING AND DRYING PRODUCE

Went to local farmer's market, purchased free stone peaches big as navel oranges, ears of corn, and 2 quarts of Thai peppers!   Wow.  I'm going to be busy this morning blanching corn to freeze whole and peaches to skin then slice into wedges for cobblers; and then wash, stem and dry the peppers.  All this before I begin my regular daily chores, errands, and go to my employment.  Back to you all later.

Baby It's HOT Out!

These are the days during which I prefer to not cook if I can help it.  When the temps hover in the mid to upper 90s or worse, and humidity makes it feel sticky and sultry while raising the heat index to 105-110, I simply don't want to cook or really even eat.   Appetite suffers.  I drink iced tea--a lot.  And Ice-cream once a week, ummm.  Dairy Queen blizzards--they used to make a key lime blizzard--Oh my gosh, it was the best!  Unfortunately, it succumbed to the stupid chocolate craze.  I'm bored to death with chocolate anything.  Sonic makes a great Lime Chiller so I go there now.  Yummy!

If I eat, I prefer salads, fruit, cold cereal, cheese and crackers, cold cuts, chips and dip, and when eating out:  BBQ, Thai, catfish, and then not heavy portions.  Frozen daiquiri style virgin fruit slushes from my Vita-Mix keep me going, unfortunately rum free since I'm allergic to alcohol.

I make a gallon of iced tea a day sweetened slightly with stevia.  My physician tells me that I am supposed to reduce my caffeine intake, so I guess I'm going to start adding a bit of de-caffeinated tea to the tea ball and begin adjusting the proportions of regular tea down while increasing the without up.  

Even though I am getting out in the sun, my Vitamin D deficiency is not improving, guess what?  Doctor says be more diligent about avoiding wheat and maybe my gut will improve so that I can begin improving my uptake of essential nutrients from my diet.  Sigh.  And I thought I was being so much better that the occasional real pizza or sandwich roll would go unnoticed--apparently not.

When we go out to eat, I do ask if there is a gluten free menu, but usually not.  Although The Olive Garden does and I've tried the same entree twice now and liked it.  The local cafe, World Garden, that used to have gluten free items on the menu stopped providing them--not enough consumers to finance those items.  Now I am reduced to no longer being able to enjoy going out for fast food feeds with my men folk.  It's just so unfair and limiting to us as a family that we live no  where near either coast where we could easily find gluten free eateries.

I am making dried banana slices today!  These are naturally gluten free.

1 large bunch of ripe bananas with lots of brown freckles but not mushy.
Slice them the same size, I like just about 1/8th of an inch cause they dry faster and go further.
Layer on prepared dehydrator sheets (just spray with non stick spray as the fruit really sticks).
Set temperature to 125 for 1 hour, then reduce to 110-115.  Dry about 24 hours.
Peel from sheet when leathery, place in zip-type storage baggies, freezer type.
These may be dried longer to make crispy chips.
ENJOY!  My children thought these were candy made especially for them when they were little--well and it was, hehheh.
 They still eat them fast as I can make them.  Also my little grandson, Liam, loves these too.
My Gut Reaction?  These are 150% better than those purchased anywhere because as the banana ripens, it becomes much sweeter.  Purchased banana slices taste like cardboard once you've had homemade.  You'll never be able to go back.

Thoughts on Vegetarianism

Today, I met with my physician, had a good visit, then visited the vampire in his office.  Whew!  All the preliminary labs done in order  to establish a baseline in certain areas, I will begin following Dr. Steven R. Gundry's Diet Evolution.  This is basically a plan that takes you from low carb to close to raw and heavily vegetarian (although not necessarily completely so--it remains possible to enjoy some animal proteins).

I am in process of making some changes to the appearance of the blog.  Let me know how you like the changes or if  you have any suggestions, please pass them along to me.

MY GUT REACTION?  I am looking forward to this new eating experiment and to providing feedback to you all.

New Grandbaby Coming Thanksgiving

Yep, Grandbaby number three will be here in November.  Yippie!
 
This brings to mind how important it is to get and then remain healthy.  I'm still shopping for a bicycle  to ride this summer while my oldest grandchild spends a couple weeks with us.  At only 5 feet, I'm challenged by the lovely tall "adult" sized bikes and am not real excited about getting a strawberry shortcake sized bike.  All kidding aside, have you folks out in cyber land priced a bike lately?  Holy Cow!

Only two more weeks, and I get my thumb cast off.  That will be wonderful.  I had no idea how dependent I was on my dominant hand nor how important the thumb is to my activities of daily living.  How incredibly difficult it is to manage ordinary actions minus the use of the thumb.  Also, my "other" hand and arm are tired.

Next week, labs then I'll begin the gradual changeover from everyday ordinary American diet to healthier more vegetarian oriented whole and green diet.  I am seriously hoping the change will be easy and that my family will cooperate.  I have in the interim been preparing a whole and green dish once a week or so as a side to the usual foods eaten here.  Hopefully, the gradual removal of such things as pizza, chips, etc. can be accomplished with a minimum of withdrawal symptoms.

Let me know how you, the cyber public have experienced personal and family dietary changes.

Bi-Polar Weather Behavior

We had a doozy of a first day of spring--it came in mildish, overcast, some drizzle and light rain, temperatures dropped a bit,  rain became sleet, then transitioned into snow.  HUGE WET FLUFFY SNOW FLAKES!  Then some cycling back and forth between sleet and snow, ending finally with rain.  Gee it was incredibly beautiful, again.  Between 6 and 13.5 inches of snow in northwest Arkansas.  I have actually forgotten how many snows we've had during the winter seasons this time.  Heh heh.

At any rate, day before snow it was in 60s and warm and lovely.  Kids at work played outside and folks wore tee shirts, and flip flops.  Then the cold and fluffy.  Today, nice and warm again, close to upper 50s, most of snow on sunny side of buildings gone, still hanging around in northern sides and under trees.  Tomorrow in 70s and all will be gone for winter 09-10.

These frequent weather flip flopping (not related to shower shoes) events got me wondering to my hubby tonight over salad supper at McAllister's Restaurant --not such a good meal this time-- that similar to people experiencing bi-polar problems, the weather has certainly  been experiencing some ups and downs.  I wonder if we can give it a pill?  All kidding aside, have you been thinking along the same lines as I have?  That the weather is acting weird these days?

I have purchased "Dr. Gundry's Diet Evolution," (Steven R. Gundry, MD, FACS, FACC.  He is a somewhat controversial fellow who suggested that rather than tax sodas, the government tax fat people.  BUT he is an incredibly brilliant cardiac surgeon without whom many people would have died.  So I decided to read his book which I purchased from Amazon and really, it is worthwhile reading if you are curious about why things happen health-wise to you.

I have always liked to research whatever my physician told me just so I WOULD KNOW what he was talking about and could   help watch my health myself.  Hence the heal yourself thing I am attempting now.  As a matter of fact, I am planning on becom9ing a guinea pig and begin his diet soon.  First however, I am going to use up the foods in my pantry, refrigerator and freezer.  I just cannot see wasting money that we have to work hard for and not use up the foods.  I am also going to meet with my physician and have the recommended lab tests performed in order to determine if indeed, this diet is successful for my health.  And then, begin I will.  My anticipated date will be mid to late April to begin.  I will keep you, health nut readers fully informed.

Please, as always, share your comments so that we all will learn about our health and wellness by benefiting from the experiences of others.

My Gut Reaction?  We will see.  As my parents generation always said, "the proof is in the pudding."

Allergies Anyone?

Okay, yes it is true, I have allergies.  I have ALWAYS had allergies as far back as the age of 5, when my parents were transferred back to the US of A from Germany, I have had a miserable time with allergies.  When we arrived in the US, in central Alabama, I learned about misery.  Don't get me wrong, I had had some rough times with illnesses when we lived in Germany. But day in and day out constant misery, I had not experienced.


For example, I remember clearly, when running wild in Germany as a child, the sense of exhilaration of running around playing all day long, climbing trees, seeing the incredibly beautiful country we lived in and loving every minute of my existence there.  There were amazing golden yellow blooms on some shrubs that I dearly loved to see each summer that I called butter cups, I loved the cattle that I called coos, I loved the onion dome churches, the quaint villages, the sheep, the mountains, the kinder theater and children's opera on Saturday, the marvelous bugs like the metallic green flies in our quarters stairwell windows and the frightful looking stag horn type beetles - oh so scary!  I spoke German like my native born nanny and wept when we left her to return to the states because I loved her so dearly.  My love for Germany is as strong as ever.


Alabama was a pretty enough place to live.  It was hot and green with nice hills, no mountains.  I started 1st grade in a private school because I didn't speak English well enough to go to public school and then I repeated 1st grade to attend public school after a year of learning American ways and English.  So funny.  But I had a Shetland pony, I was so happy.


But my misery was all the time.  I could not go outside in summer when the red clover was in bloom as my eyes would actually swell up so bad they shut, then were glued together with secretions.  My ears and nose and eyes itched constantly.  I had awful congestion.  Then there were the hives.  I had huge angry red whelts or swellings all over my body, no little hives but ginormous things.  Asthma.  I was on adult strength allergy medicines all the time and lived in a sort of half aware sleepy state.  To tell the truth, the dream state really interfered with my ability to do so much and to set memories.  Most of those days remain a fog.


Then the allergy desensitization programs began.  Oh dear, you would not want to endure what I did in the tests and treatments.  I endured allergy shots  sometimes up to 4 a week until I was 28 years old.  When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I experienced a complete anaphylactic shock reaction in the doctor's office to one of my weekly allergy shots, I died--literally my heart and lungs stopped.  Finally, at 28, the current allergist said it was pointless to continue as I just could not ever be brought up to maintenance strength shots, that he thought the episode of anaphylactic shock had made it impossible to proceed to success.


So for nearly 50 years, I have lived on antihistamines and decongestants, and for 22 years I took allergy shots.  I still have allergies and some other things that go along with them. Now, with my promise to myself to find alternative ways to heal myself, I am in the process of researching how to reduce my allergy problems without resorting to powerful mind numbing medications that only numb me while reducing my symptoms but not curing me.  This means I'll be heading to the health food store tomorrow to begin learning about natural methods of reducing the misery.  I will tell you all about my allergy explorations as this trip unfolds for this past week the pollen counts have been in the medium to high range and rising higher daily here in Northwest Arkansas and my sinuses, eyes, and nose are letting me know to get ready for misery with itchy red-eyes, nasal congestion, sneezing, wheezing, ear itching, etc.


 Happily will I share my experiences with you my dear Health Nut readers in the high hopes that I can help you avoid some allergic symptoms and misery and perhaps you in turn will make comment on my research with kernels of wisdom you have found in your own lives.  Or at the very least give you something to laugh about and feel somewhat luckier than me.  

My Gut Reaction?  Is it cheating to take Claritin?

RawCreations: More Carrot than Cheesecake

 Hey Health Nuts - that's you blog readers - check this out!

RawCreations: More Carrot than Cheesecake

Girls Night Out

Well, tonight Momma and I went out to the Mexican restaurant down the road from her house.  My hubby and sons were all doing their own things so.....
Enchilada  supper, salsa, chips, fried ice-cream and there ya go--my newly minted plan to eat healthier to get well went down the toilet.
My Gut Reaction?  Guess I will try again tomorrow.  Do YOU have trouble sticking to a new plan or regimen?   Why do we have problems sticking to diets and resolutions?  Lets have some discussion about this..

My plan for tomorrow's breakfast is a fruit and  yogurt smoothie made in my Vita-Mix.
Lunch will be eating out again with Momma and son down at UofA at the Subway, I'm thinking of the kid's meal cause I like the lunch tot bags.
Supper will be homemade chili pie.  I've cooked the dried beans today in the slow cooker and tomorrow will complete this meal.  I'll post the recipe then cause I've not decided at this moment yet how I want to proceed (I'm not a strong recipe person, I like to cook on the fly).
Tea made in Mr. Coffee lasts all day and snacks probably will be fruit or boiled oatmeal cookies.  Are you familiar with those?  If you aren't, then you are missing a wonderful candy like cookie.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I wonder how long and healthy it will be.

Okay, I admit it.  I'm a backslider.  My life gets chaotic and crazy and the first thing I do is eat out with my family.  Not only is it financially expensive (and the money spent may even be enough to purchase health food store groceries including farm raised beef, free range poultry and eggs, and organic produce)  but it wreaks havoc on my health and that of my family - at least I think it does.

I have been interested in health food since my youth and marriage in the 1970s.  I met an older (ten years of so) woman at the church we attended, Judy Couvillion, who made her own fruit roll ups for her children.  Since I made my own sprouts for a while in those days and had played with making my own yogurt from purchased cultures, sour dough breads, Hermann cake (wonderful!), etc. she became someone I liked and admired.

There was a nice tiny health food store in the town I lived in with my new husband on MacArthur Drive.  Those were nice days.  Eventually as all things do, those nice days ended.  We grew older, moved away.  Today, I find myself at midlife, haven't seen or spoken to Judy in hummm, at least twenty years.  Wonder where she and her lovely family are.  I miss them and their friendship.  De Colores Judy.

At any rate, those were lovely warm and slower paced days for a while and I was in a much better place health wise.  Today, my health leaves a lot to be desired.  I am in a process of metamorphosis.  At least in the planning stages.  I have finally realized that I simply cannot continue doing as I have always done because as Doug Kaufman says, "If you do what you've always done, you will get what you've always got!"
I am tired of that old story, so now it is time to finally do something different and change my story.  But first I must explain what I've always done.

I have always done what the medical doctors have said to do.  I have always followed their treatment plans and taken their prescriptions.  And, through the years, I have found my health to have always gotten worse!  Oh, for a while the initial problems appeared to improve, but I began  having newer and more complicated problems which were never connected to the prescription medications!  Today, I am connecting those dots.

I found that my health issues, at least according to the lists of side effects that I've down-loaded from RXList.com, and read from the literature provided with prescriptions and recently re-read, have lengthy lists of side effects that I have suffered from for years.  I don't know if I could prove that the medicines are the cause of my misery, I don't care if anyone believes me or not, I believe that they are the direct causes or at least set into motion events leading to the health impairments.

I have dillied and dallied all my adult life with  health food stores and foods.  I've never made a commitment to live a health food lifestyle and there are so many many reasons for not making that commitment, time, money, lack of appreciation of it by my husband and family and friends, lack of convenience, scarcity of health food products where I live, etc.  But today, I think the last straw has broken.  During my recent winter illnesses--sinusitis, bronchitis, pneumonia--I endured three rounds of powerful antibiotics.  Today, the conditions are improved but not gone, but in addition to the original maladies for which I was prescribed these poisons, I now have several other disturbing conditions to try to heal and somehow, they are very disturbing to my peace of mind and health.

I have followed in an on-again and off-again manner the Doug Kaufman health news program, originally "YOUR HEALTH" now "KNOW THE CAUSE"  for the last few years.  Actually, I have probably listened to him less than ten times a year, but what he says has always been in the back of my mind.  I have purchased one of his books about the fungus link, and hope to check the others out of my local library and read them as well.  I  decided to follow his blog and became his fan on face-book.

Another health site I've follow for years is Mercola.com where I have learned astonishing information about medical news and research.  These two men, Doug Kaufman and Joseph Mercola and their educational and informational sites have galvanized me to find a local health practitioner, accepted by our health insurance of course,  with whom I can work to reduce the damages to my health that I have already endured and to overcome as much as I can the years of bad medical care I have had.  This because when I called my physician to let him know of a problem that developed, I was told he was not aware of  that being a side effect of the medication.  Goodbye.  So I stewed a week, and researched said medication then emailed my physician.  Said, I was surprised he did not know of the side effect.  He merely e-mailed me back saying,  "That is the first I've heard of that in 10 years of prescribing that medication."  I did not receive an apology nor an appointment to return and try to learn what we could do to stop the side effects, I am still most annoyed, and hence the notion has come to me to attempt to take my  health care into my own hands; which means finding a physician more interested in my health  and one willing to work together with me on my project, my health.

Both of these health sites can be found in my blog list.  Please go and read for yourselves.  At the least, you will find a useful tool.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.  I just wonder how long it will be.

Heh heh, Men what do you do?

Well, today, I made a lovely oven roasted dinner for my men folk, left it on the stove top covered with foil for them to eat when they got home then I left for work.  So I returned home, hubby had gone to a banquet he forgot to remind me of and son didn't notice the meal on the stove and cleaned out frozen sausage links for tomorrow's breakfast.  

My Gut Reaction?  What does a lady do?  Laugh about it, and say, we'll eat it tomorrow.  Then hubby says, Oh, not me, I've got to go out of town for a Boy Scout meeting tomorrow morning, and I'll be back late tomorrow night.  Laugh again, sigh.


Here is the wonderful meal, which I'll eat and share with my sons and mother:


Oven roasted skillet chicken and rice.


6 boneless chicken thighs
1 small onion, sliced
1 cup jasmine rice (you can use brown rice)
1 can chicken broth, about 16 ounces
fresh cleaned asparagus spears-1/2 bunch was about a dozen spears
red pepper flakes
garlic powder
salt
curry powder or
other seasonings of your choice
about 1/4 cup olive oil


Rinse and dry chicken, slice onion.  Preheat oven to 400.  Pour oil into skillet warmed on medium on stove.  Brown chicken and remove to platter.  Add onion and saute till golden.  Remove to platter with chicken.  Add rice, brown till golden.  Return chicken and onion to skillet.  Pour broth over chicken.  Place seasonings over chicken, place asparagus on top. Cover with foil for first 30 minutes of baking.  Place in hot oven.  Bake 45 minutes to an hour until thermometer readings show chicken is done, or until juices run clear, not red.


This is delicious and seasonings and vegetables can be changed to suit your taste.

Finally Recovery in Site! Yeaaa!

Three rounds of antibiotics, and other stuff.  Still hacking and coughing, but at least now I can stay awake long enough to be bored.

I need to go get some strong probiotics and essential cooking ingredients, family ate everything on hand and I've really not been up to shopping for self or others.  Need everything!

More later....
MY GUT REACTION?  NOT SO GOOD LATELY, BUT ALL THINGS PASS.

Author down with Pneumonia, No Cooking and No Gut Reactions this Week

Sorry my fellow bloggers, my bronchitis is actually pneumonia, and all I'm doing is sleeping, taking medicines, and trying to feel better.  No cooking here.  Next week, we'll try again.

Feedback on Red Barron pizza mistake and Bubble Tea

Hello to my fellow Bloggers.  I hope that if you visit my site, you'll leave me some feedback or comments.  I am pretty new at blogging although I have followed other blogs a while.  Comments will help me in developing better content to serve you.  Thank you in advance.

Well people, I was correct.  I did and continue to pay for my lack of preparedness yesterday when I ate my son's Red Barron pizza.  Yech!  So today, back to trying to learn how to plan ahead.  I am going to make ahead gluten free bread mixes in quart size freezer bags so I can quickly throw things together - which seems to be my modus opperandi in the kitchen.  Since we have a winter storm coming in today, I have heard the store shelves are pretty much bare around here and I am low on provisions as I've spent the last few days indulging in illness and not replenished my larder, fridge, and freezer.  Pickings aren't too got at the moment here-except for gluten free grains, a frozen turkey, heh.

Additionally, I've not been to visit my mother in several days and need to swing by there, take her a Sonic Cheeseburger with everything on it, take her to the Walgreen's for a couple things she wants to get, then hopefully head home BEFORE the frozen nasty stuff begins as there are two big hills between that I have to drive and I'd prefer not to slip and slide.

Mom usually wants me to eat a burger with her.  My tummy is not up to that yet so I am thinking I'll just make another pineapple grapefruit slushie and sip that to be sociable.  

My Gut Reactions?  Still not too happy at my huge error in eating judgment yesterday, and man it's gonna be crazy out there today at the stores and on the road, wish I could stay home.

Also, I mentioned Bubble Tea yesterday.

My Gut Reaction?  Frankly, my attempt wasn't special nor was it bad.  I'm sure that the taste and presentation done correctly in the restaurant would be much better than my attempt, maybe.  I'll reserve judgment until I have that experience.  But I don't think that I'm gonna try it again until I see how it is done.

Bubble Tea?

Yep, I'm definitely getting over whatever bug the little darlings at work shared with me.  This one was a doozy.  I hate the croupy bronchitisy head cold thing with a passion, yet as I'm getting older I seem more susceptible to them also.  Working with toddlers and preschoolers, I tend now to catch everything they bring to our facility.  Today is Wednesday, Hump Day for the typical work week and for my cold, love the pun.  I am expecting to be well enough to return to work by Friday, which is when the ice/snow storm we are expecting  here in NW Arkansas will be in full fury, just in time to enjoy getting snow bound with sick kids at work.  Oh well, life's little events.

Now on to other things.  How many of you have ever heard of or tried "Bubble Tea?"  I was researching various uses for large pearl tapioca, when I came across many references to Bubble Tea.  Apparently, all the hot Asian restaurants are serving it.  As you may know, tapioca and tea (along with dry toast or crackers) are very good to eat when you are sick. I was intrigued enough to open the sites and begin reading.  Essentially, bubble tea is tapioca mixed into the tea, served hot or cold, sweetened, possibly colored.  Looks like fish eggs.  Can be served mixed with fruit.  I like to play.  Seems  like a perfect idea to me.  So I just prepared a cup of chai and mixed in the tapioca to see how I like it.  I'll let you know.

Yesterday I used up all the lovely gluten free bread I made a few days ago ( when I forgot to write the recipe down as I created it).  I had enjoyed several crusts of dry toast during the low point of this miserable cold thing.  Between the toast, tapioca, and pineapple-ruby grapefruit slushes, cough suppressants and Vitamin C tablets, I have not eaten in almost a week.  Therefore, I was pretty hungry all of a sudden today around lunch time ( I actually stayed awake long enough to eat).  So I pulled out from the freezer one of my son's frozen Red Baron pizza's, threw it into the oven, then proceeded to eat several slices.
My Gut Reaction?  How could I be so stupid!

Now I am going to have to pay for my not being prepared--for having no quick fix foods in the kitchen.  Thus, I am now going to have to go to a Boy Scout meeting tonight while enduring the payback from the wheat.  Now I am going to have to have ready in the future, foods that I can quickly prepare to eat, or grab and go foods to take to work, especially when I am in a time crunch or just not, for whatever reason, able to fix foods.

How many of you sometimes find yourselves in similar situations?  Sometimes I feel like I am really scatter-brained and unorganized to the max.  Please, oh please, share some of your mistakes and solutions.   Perhaps we can help each other out here.

I now have a spiral notebook and pen in the kitchen so that I can write down ingredients,  measurements and steps I take when I'm creating something on the fly and then share it with  you.  I have also borrowed a digital camera with which to attempt to take photographs of the process to share with you.  In that respect, please be patient and merciful in your critiques of my ability, remember, I'm a middle ager, not a youngster, so I'm a bit--how shall I put it--new at this, yea that's right.  I'm not remedial, just ignorant.  heh heh

I also am planning to practice making and freezing mini-pizzas and other traditional fast food meals.  I like fast food meals for their convenience and easy eating.  Tacos, burritos, burgers, subs, and pizzas are all nice when I'm in a hurry.  I do like the smoothies and I know they are healthy, but I get pretty tired of sweet tastes.  I do like V-8 (spicy) but there is a lot of sodium in that juice.  Savory, crunchy, and still healthy and quick are what I'll be looking for.  The internet will be one tool for searching out recipes and ideas.  Hopefully, you all can contribute to this project as well.

I am somewhat worried about the price we will be seeing in the grocery stores this year.  You cannot find canned pumpkin to bake with already from last fall's abysmal harvest.  With the recent dreadful freeze in Florida, the citrus, tomato, strawberry, pepper, and some vegetables from Florida are devastated.  Since I am in process of purging from my diet habits convenience foods and eating more fruits and vegetables, I know this is gonna hurt.  I've already begun stocking up on frozen juice concentrate and veggies.  What about you?

Well, I'm still not feeling my best, in fact, other people think I sound pretty lousy, however, I must look and sound worse than I feel, cause I'm up, reading, writing, and sipping a grapefruit slush (Take 1 Vita-Mix machine, add 1 ruby grapefruit - my last one, sigh--add about a cup of ice cubes, and about 3/4 a cup of soy milk, give it a whirl, and there you go, wonderful!) which makes the throat feel much better and eating toasted (dry) bread.

The quick bread I made yesterday was sursprisingly soft and squeesable, sorta makes me think of the Charmin toilet paper commercials, heh.  But really, it is soft.  Lots of GF breads are dry or crumbly.  They have not got the arieness that we are accustomed to with wheat breads (from the gluten's elasticity).  The are aften dense heavy loaves.  Additionally, they go stale rapidly.

Yesterday's loaf  was light, fluffy.  It packed and went to work, was still good many hours later.  This morning same and it toasted and tasted nicely.  Do you know how gluten free breads sometimes have a funny feel or taste on the tongue, not slimy but my tongue reactes to them the same way.  Well, this loaf did not have that feel.  It felt, well, normal.  I am definitely going to replicate it this afternoon--before the ball game--and report back tonight to you.

http://imva.info/index.php/2010/01/agricultural-apocalypse-2010/

http://imva.info/index.php/2010/01/agricultural-apocalypse-2010/

I woke this morning sick as a dog.  Yesterday, I woke with a scratchy throat and some coughing and I thought, okay, here it goes again.  I was right. heh.  So  I pulled out the Vita-Mix, dropped in ruby red grapefruit, pineapple, grapes, ice and water for a delicious fruit slush which made my sore laryngitisy throat, with deep coughing, somewhat better, at least now I am able to croak intelligibly and get myself to work this afternoon.  While sipping my slush, I threw together--literally--a quick bread, gluten free of course, and sat down to watch some Saturday morning PBS and HGTV as I love the gardening shows like PAllanSmith,Victory Garden, and Curb Appeal ( I had overslept so missed the knitting and quilting shows).  I love European style artisan breads.

My early exposure to such delights came from my father's posting to a European military base while I was an infant.  Until we returned to the USA when I was in first grade, all I  ever had to eat were the most wonderful, amazing fresh breads to be found on the face of the Earth!  In fact, when we returned to the USA, I could not eat the squishy tasteless white spongy stuff the locals called bread--unless it was darkly toasted, and even then I disliked it.  Of course, since it was the early 1960s, Dad was transferred to the deep south where I discovered corn bread and biscuits.  Yum.

After 30 minutes, the bread was done and it was wonderful!  Like old fashioned flaky biscuits.  My life long habit of cooking on the fly learned from my Mother and Mom-in-law kicked in and I just pulled out all my GF stuff and threw it together.  I don't usually use measuring cups and spoons, but I am attempting to begin a more concise, logical cooking habit. Unfortunately, I did not write the recipe down as I worked, mind was too miserable to be thinking ahead (silly pun I know).  However, it went something like this:

Some brown rice flour, sweet rice flour, amaranth flour, almond flour, hazelnut flour, sorghum flour, tapioca flour, xanthum gum, kosher salt, baking powder,  whey powder, 2 eggs, blob of yogurt, and water.  I will attempt to replicate this tomorrow and measure as I go, promise.

As for now, time for more liquid Vitamin C, then work. 

My Gut Reaction?  Bread is good, tummy troubles are not.  Organization is good--it helps you. 

Slow Cookers

Yesterday, I watched Sandra Lee on her show: Sandra's Money Saving Meals Episode: Slow Cooker Savings, 
Now, I've always had slow cookers in my kitchen, got my first one as a marriage gift, many years ago and I've since worn out at least four cookers.  I've made countless pot roasts, stews, soups, chowders,  and vegetables in them.  I have four slow cooker cookbooks, and some of them mention that you can bake bread in the slow cooker, but I have never personally done so, until now.  Sandra's banana bread looked interesting enough to me, that I decided to go try my own hand at baking.  However, I choose not to replicate Sandra's banana bread in my endeavor, instead, due to my wheat allergy, I needed to make a gluten free bread.  Additionally, my Mother makes the best banana bread in the world, and if I were going to make banana bread, I would make her recipe.  Sorry Sandra, but that's the way it is.


I'm getting over two rounds of antibiotics which began just a day before Christmas and ending this past Sunday.  Because I've been a bit under the weather, healthwise, and my stomach has been a war zone of chemicals of mass destruction, I'm eating very bland while trying to recover my gut's flora and fauna.  I needed plain toast yesterday and had no gluten free bread, therefore, I made a loaf and decided to see how the slow cooker would handle it.


I threw into my stainless steel bowl 1/3 of a cup of sorghum flour, 1/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/3 cup millet flour that I ground in my Vita-Mix, 1/3 cup tapioca flour, 1/4 cup coconut flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 eggs, 1-1/4 cup yogurt, 1 cup strong brewed lemon tea, 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt, 1 tablespoon ground flax meal, 1/4 cup sugar.
This made a batter a bit thinner than brownie batter.  Poured this into my glass baking loaf pan which I'd sprayed with olive oil spray.


I set a trivet into the cooker, poured water in to the top of the trivet, placed the loaf pan on the trivet, covered with a paper towel as Sandra recommended, set the cooker on low and left it for four hours.


When I removed the loaf from the cooker, I noticed an appearance similar to what you get from the microwave.  Not browned, but done.  The dough rose nicely to top of pan without overflowing.  It was dense yet not really heavy.


I cut and ate a slice while it was hot.  There were lots of bubble holes in it, but I only hand mixed it with a fork, quickly like biscuit dough.  Taste was good enough for me-similar texture to English muffins.


This morning, I toasted some in my oven for breakfast, it toasted nicely.

MY GUT REACTION?  I will  definitely continue to experiment with baking breads in my slow cooker.  This could be very useful for those times when the oven is tied up with other foods or when I am busy and do not want to risk using the oven and over cooking a bread.

Doldrums

This is one of those days where I have no idea what direction I will be going.  I have household  work to do, projects in various stages of completion to continue working on, some Boy Scout administrative work which I need to do, I need to exercise, decide what to prepare for supper, pick up my Mother and take her on her errands including visiting her grandson at college. . .and I am having difficulties beginning.  I hate days like this where I just do not seem to have enough energy or interest to begin.

One of our errands will be to the Ozark Natural Foods co-operative store in Fayetteville where I  hope that I will see some nice fresh vegetables to build a meal around tonight.  Last night was a nice very fast stir fry based on fresh spinach, some onion, red bell peppers, and Polish sausage.  Dessert later last night was fruit smoothies.  Pretty nice.  I have been looking for fresh kale the last few days since reading in some of the blogs I follow that they are really great roasted into fresh chips.  Maybe I'll be able to purchase some and discover for myself the truth of it.

I think I will pull a pork loin out of the freezer and begin thawing it to grill tonite out on the deck.  Perhaps some nice roasted vegetables to go with it.  Could be a nice if we do not get heavy downpours of rain today.

Hi everyone, one of the best gluten free blog sites, Elena's Pantry, is offering a free give-a-way cookbook and bag of almond flour, check her out at:

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook page (http://www.elanaspantry.com/cookbook). 
MY GUT REACTION?  I cannot wait to see this new cookbook! 

Waste Not, Want Not!

There is still hard crunchy snow outside, everywhere.  It was supposed to be 45 degrees today, but it is only 25 and overcast again.  Therefore, I must bake as using the oven warms me and my house up.  Besides, I have no bread to eat sandwiches on.

I  really would like to figure out how to make gluten free breads that my family will enjoy and help eat.  Generally, they won't touch the stuff and I cannot eat it all before it starts to go bad.  I've made croutons, and bread crumbs from some, but since I rarely fry anything, the crumbs aren't often necessary.  I'd like to hear from you, friends, how do you solve this problem?  I just hate to be wasteful, and I've found that birds on my deck don't like the gluten free bread as much as wheat.
My Gut Reaction?  I need to plan better and utilize my dehydrator and freezer more efficiently!

My Lazy Day Lazy Way Stuffed Cabbage
On another note, stuffed cabbage on the stove  smells very good!  Hot baked bread will go very nicely with it tonight and I believe I will try some slaw with it, and perhaps a flan or fruit smoothie for dessert. This recipe evolved from a love for rice stuffed meatballs, stuffed cabbage, healthier eathing, inexpensive (read frugality as in waste not want not) and convenient foods.  

I browned a pound of lean ground bison in my cast iron dutch oven with one onion chopped in the vita-mix and one cup of jasmine rice; I layered one half a cabbage sliced into narrow wedges over the meat and rice layer.  Then I poured a pint of leftover tomato soup on top ( made from 1 large can crushed tomatoes, 1 small can tomato paste, soy milk and seasonings ).  I turned the cast iron dutch oven down from medium low to low to simulate a slow cooker's low slow simmer, covered it and left. (this can also go into a real slow cooker) Oh  my gosh it smells good!  I do all my grocery shopping at my local Wal-Mart as it is close, quick, convenient, and good for the budget.  However, I do go three or four times a year to my natural foods co-operative in Fayetteville-ozarknaturalfoods.com, a short drive down I-540 when I am visiting my son at the University of Arkansas, my alma mater.  There I buy gluten free foods that I cannot purchase at Wal-Mart's limited gluten free section.

I managed to gain only 2.5 pounds during the holidays, so now that it is back to normal business, I am happy to eat healthier with far fewer empty carbs from holiday sweets.  Walking begins this afternoon!  YEA!
My Gut Reaction?  Yahoooo!  Look out scales, mirror, and wardrobe, things are changing!

Holidays Are Over - Back to Real Life and Global Warming?

Well, we managed my birthday, Christmas, New Years, and all the shopping, holiday cooking (baking, candy making, feast making, etc.) decorating, un-decorating, good and bad weather, holiday hustle and bustle in general, just fine.  I  hope you all did as well.

Now, that that is all over with for the next 10-1/2 months, and life is back to somewhat normal, except for the weirdly cold weather, I can again concentrate on my Gut Reactions.

Who said we must fight Global Warming?  Are they Crazy?
My Gut Reaction is - I could use a little warming and RIGHT NOW!  It is only 1 degree outside and is supposed to get another 10 degrees colder by tomorrow morning.  The wind chill makes it unbelievably cold.  If I wanted to experience northern tier type weather, I'd go visit my family, relatives and friends in South Dakota and Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Massachusettes, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Alaska, or New Hampshire!