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.