9 posts tagged “cooking”

I've recently started a new diet lifestyle. It's a nutrient dense diet based on the Eat To Live diet. Ultimately, it breaks down to a low-carb vegan diet with a few extra notes: little or no salt (gaaah!) and little or no refined fats. The idea is nothing new - something I learned over half a decade ago when studying animal nutrition: all foods are not created nutrient-equal. A pound of potatoes has about the same amount of calories as a large fast-food french fries, but a pound of potatoes has more nutrients readily available and the added bonus that a mere half-pound of potatoes will stuff most people to satiety, which a large fries would never do. The trick is to eat more nutrient dense foods in unlimited quantities, cooked or raw. Here's a typical menu in my day:

• Breakfast: fresh raspberries, blackberries and dates warmed & mashed in a 1/4 cup of almond milk
• Lunch: a massive Pho Salad (mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, etc. with a pho-inspired dressing)
• Dinner: vegan dinner loaf (green beans, okra, tomato, onion, carrot, broccoli, kale, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, mixed and baked)

Mind you, I will never be able to go completely vegan, or even vegetarian for that matter, mostly because I would never want to. There are some foods I will never be able to (or want to try) make vegan, like my aunt's lamb curry, my grandmother's crab curry, pho, a rare In-'N-Out "protein-style, animal-style", etc. I plan to make the bulk of my diet low-carb vegan, and happily splurge on the foods I love most as a rare treat. Honestly, the hardest thing is trying to get taste and flavor out of daily meals while keeping the fat/salt low. I have to get really creative...

Faux "Pho Bo" Salad Dressing
1/2 cup half-to-full strength no-beef broth
4-5 basil leaves
1-2 lime wedges, rind cut off
few sprigs cilantro
Sambal Olek chili sauce and/or hoisin sauce to taste

Blend with hand blender and drizzle over salad. 

I wish I had my camera with me. Because then I'd take a picture of the lovely spam musubi I made this morning. Instead, so that you have an inkling of what I'm talking about, here's a pic from Flickr user santos:

I had ordered a spam musubi mold back in November when I had gotten all hot and bothered by CookingCute's gorgeous bento box lunches. I mean, they're just too cute to eat, really. It seemed like a lot of work, but in my working-out-get-that-butt-in-shape efforts, I realized that a more well-planned lunch would be the best defense for a heavy, overloaded dinner. And when motivation runs low, cute things help. :o)

So I picked up some cute rice molds, some simple shapes and some hearts/stars/flowers. Some furikake for sprinkling on top. Nori for wrapping. Oh, and my lovely spam musubi mold!

It came out well. I sliced my spam lite extra-thin so I fell a little short on the rice. I used a light marinade of soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking sherry and a dash of cayenne. Rather than a thin strip of nori, I used a wide strip that fully covers the rice and spam (since sea veggies are so good for you).

The next adventure is to see how to make it vegetarian and/or pesco-friendly (fish-eaters). The spouse-unit (who turned his nose up at the spam) suggested smoked salmon. Mmm. Maybe some kind of veggie cake? I'll have to experiment.

5 whole cardamom pods
1/2 inch cinnamon stick, crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 - 1/2 cups water

Boil all ingredients together until liquid is golden and fragrant. Strain into mug. Add milk/cream and sugar or honey to sweeten if desired.

I use fat-free evaporated milk for my teas & coffee. Sugar or honey in teas and stevia in coffee.

Goddamn it. I just burnt the dog biscuits I was making for Ainsley. Crap. They were going to be good, too. Garlic and almond with a bit of molasses. Grr. 

A meandering journey through the world of seafood and the American way. It's a decent book, and an addition to my kitchen bookshelf, but here's why the two-stars: the author has virtually nothing to say about sustainability and a fair number of the hard-working American fishermen she references use destructive methods like bottom-trawling, or things like seine nets that frequently trap marine turtles.

The sections on preparing seafood seem rushed through and the author uses terms, utensils and techniques that are never defined - a real pain-in-the-ass for the novice seafood cook. As if this weren't enough, most of the recipes are portioned for serving 6-10 people, making it one of the last books on my list to whip out on a Tuesday evening for a quick dinner idea for the spouse-unit and myself.

1 red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp olive oil (optional)
dash cayenne or paprika

Roast the pepper over the flames on the stove or under the broiler. Roast until skin is blackened and peeling. Wait for it to cool a bit and then remove the skin. Blend with olive oil and cayenne/paprika. Use as dipping sauce or toss with pasta.

Trim the ends of a bunch of asparagus and stand it upright in a bowl with an inch or less of water. Change the water daily.

Quick cooking tip: Chop into 2-inch pieces and toss in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, and a half teaspoon each of basil, oregano and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, spread on a baking sheet and broil lightly for a few minutes.

random foo asian soup

1 package dried noodles
3 dried shitake mushrooms
1 stalk green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 lb shrimp, peeled, tail-on
1 tom yam stock cube
1/2 cup snow peas, ends trimmed, cut in half diagonally
1/2 celery stalk, sliced thinly on the diagonal
1 tomato, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 can light coconut milk
1tsp vegetable oil
1-2 tbsp thai kitchen roasted red chili paste (or similar)
thai kitchen premium fish sauce, a few dashes
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
soy sauce (to taste)
sambal olek chili sauce (to taste)

Soak the mushrooms in 1/2-3/4 cup of boiling water.

Soak the noodles in 2 cups of boiling water for 2-5 minutes (depending on package instructions). Drain (reserving soaking water), rinse with cold water to stop cooking, drain well and split between two large eating bowls.

Put noodle-soaking water in pot and add tom yam stock, medium heat. Once cube/stock is dissolved, add oyster sauce and fish sauce. Keep on low heat.

Gently squeeze excess liquid out from mushrooms, reserving liquid. Slice thinly. Add mushroom liquid to broth.

In a small wok over high heat, add vegetable oil. Add chili paste and shrimp. Saute until half-done, then add sliced celery and mushrooms. Saute for another minute and add tomato and snow peas. Saute until peas just barely cooked. Remove from heat and split veggies between bowls, over noodles.

Pour hot broth over noodles & veggies. Add a splash of coconut milk. Sprinkle green onions and cilantro liberally. Enjoy! :o)

Here are two books that I've recently realized are completely indispensable in my kitchen.

The Field Guide to Produce is exactly what it claims to be. Roughly CD-jewel-case sized and about 2 in. thick, it's perfect for keeping in your car or reusable shopping bags for those random grocery trips. Without this book, I would never have had the courage to try fiddlehead ferns (fantastic sauteed with butter) or dinosaur kale - though I would often find unusual items such as these in the produce section. Now, I no longer get to stare curiously as I get another head of broccoli, but am forced to break out of mediocrity and try something new and exciting. Yay! The other side: This book is honest, at least - it doesn't step a hair over covering produce. (You need to get the 'Field Guide to Herbs & Spices" for that - no kidding.) The other morning, I was amazed to not find "chives" listed and realized that it doesn't cover any herbs at all. A pity, really, as it would be perfect all in one.

The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia is the holy grail to anyone embarking on a healthier, greener diet. Wood carries a relaxed, conversational tone through tales of sugar snap pea goodness or the brief history of quinoa, and I love her attention to detail in pointing out surreptitiously refined sugars in the most seemingly safest foods. At times, the lecture waxes a tad over-preachy, but the sheer breadth of foods covered, from South American grains to Asian legumes, makes this book a must-have for any cook.