A Word about Dr. Oz

I love the Dr. Oz show but I have to admit that it brings about a problem or two for me. Don't mistake my meaning, the information he imparts is invaluable and undoubtedly saves lives. It's a good show indeed, informative, timely and honest. He delivers his lectures in a kind and meaningful way.

What I find incredulous are the moments he lists the symptoms for these various and sundry diseases.  These are the moments that I'm struck with the realization that I have them all, hands down, nearly every symptom, no kidding, I swear on a stack! I am without a doubt a candidate for diabetes, heart disease, gluten sensitivity, aneuriysms, food poisoning, vertigo, legionnaires disease and scurvy, to mention a few. When he reported that at the bottom of the bread roll baskets they found scads of broken acrylic nails it made it much easier for me to cut down on carbs. What a day that was!

"Help me Obi Wan Ka-pharmacist" I cry as hypochondrical ancestors gaze upon me from the hereafter and murmur, 'The force is strong in our family young pill-taker'.  It's true, our family has a rich history of 'odd but true' diseases and syndromes that miraculously disappear as soon as we breathe in that good hospital air. After several rounds of surgical tests and procedures many of my aunts and uncles have had zippers placed in their bodies to make it easier for their doctors to access pacemakers, balloons, implants, pins, wires, cables, watches, sponges, whatever they've collected over the years. My Great Uncle Gus was the model for the body in the game of Operation. True, it's gender neutral and I can't comment  but I suspect my Aunt Gert may have played a roll in that.

So what should  be the solution? Surely I don't have all or any of these diseases. The symptoms are so general and overlap so much that it's confusing to me. Maybe I'm just very open to suggestion. The truth is I'm very happy and healthy. I rarely catch any diseases, even colds and I have succumbed to only 1 childhood disease. I need to reign in the craziness and stick to the plan, which is to eat healthy meals and excercise. Aside from the nagging migraines that never go away I feel pretty good and I'm working on that. I don't yet own or have the need for a pill box and I never want to.

Tonight I had a delicious butternut squash tart, a lovely salad  made by my daughter-in-law and cranberry wild rice pilaf. It was beyond delicious and yesterday was great too with chicken and dumplings made with Morningstar chicken strips (soy) and thickened with unsweetened soy milk. These were amazing dishes and I  was surprised at the outcome. With tasty meals such as these I hope to have no problems sticking to my healthy plan.

Wild Rice and Cranberry Pilaf (Vegetarian Times)

2 cups wild rice ( cooked)
1 cup brown rice (cooked)
1 cup cranberries
1/4 cup splenda brown sugar ( 1/2 cup if using regular beown sugar)
1/2 cup celery
1/3 cup toasted almond slices
1/3 cup orange juice
2  Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

Cook the cranberries, almonds and brown sugar until sugar melts and coats the berries. (5-7 min,)
Add the rest of the ingredients and stir fry until warm.

Winter Squash Galette by Deborah Madison, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
1 butternut squash cut in half with seeds scooped out.
2 fists of garlic
Olive Oil
12 sage leaves, diced
1 onion, small dice
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Pastry Crust

2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
12 Tablespoons butter
1/3-1/2 cup water

Brush squash with olive oil.
Stuff garlic (unpeeled) into hole in squash.
Turn upside down and bake in 375 degree oven for 40-50 minutes
Meanwhile, cook onion and sage in olive oil on low until onions are translucent
Scoop squash into bowl and squeeze garlic out of cloves.
Loosely mash.
Add cheese, onion and sage and stir.

Combine, flour, salt and sugar
Mix butter in with fingers until small crumbs for
Add enough cold water to make a soft dough
Roll out into a large circle.

When squash is done place it onto of the crust.
Fold edges of tart over squash.
Bake in 325 degree onion for 30 minutes to heat through.

Any of the recipes can be modified to suit your needs. Cooking is all about using your senses and trusting your instincts. I hope you get a chance to try these recipes.

All the best, Kate

Day 1- Breakfast with Perry Mason

I had been asleep on my side, cocooning as I slowly began to wake up but only enough to open one eye. I'm well rehearsed at trying to tease myself back to sleep being a chronic insomniac. After trying to recite a poem I mentally listed the books of the bible, but I could only get to number 5, Deuteronomy. It turned into a crazy repitious mantra that woke me up with the force of a defibrilator. I glanced at the clock and it dawned on me I had about 20 minutes before the Perry Mason New Years Day marathon would commence.

It was warm and I didn't want to get up. I began counting the cookbooks stacked on the shelf next to my bed, I got to 45 not including a couple of years worth of cooking magazines,can't part with those. There are 2 shelves full in other rooms that didn't make it into the count. It's crazy, I'm an obsessive collector of cookbooks and I'm considering one more.

My cookbooks are in order by type. Pastry books take center stage, and they are plentiful. There are church kitchen types, retro 50's and 60's casseroles, antique all inclusives with directions such as 'add some', international cooking, vegan, vegetarian, books devoted to one food group, one item, less than 5 items, less than 30 minutes, cooking for an army or only 2, to name a few.

There's always an alpha, and for now it's Alton Brown's newest, Good Eats, the Early Years. Every recipe that I've tried is a no fail. I'm also very attached to all of my vegan, vegetarian tomes since I'm trying to change my eating habits. The point is, I love my books. At any given moment one of them could take its rightful place as alpha, so I can abandon none of them. When my feet finally hit the cold, cold floor I went straight to the computer to look up a recipe. At some point I may explore the psychology in that but for now, Perry's on and I need to find out what comes after Deuteronomy.

Breakfast? Turnip Greens with a drop of sesame oil, eggbeaters and coffee.
Lunch? Unsure, I'll probably just replicate something.
Dinner? Vegetarian chicken strips and whole wheat dumplings.

Happy 2010! All the best, Kate

Err on the side of Chocolate

Straight away, Happy New Year! We're really in the thick of it now aren't we? Time to get serious about resolutions, commitments, accountability whatever you call it. Even if you resolve to thwart all resolutions that's a commitment of sorts isn't it?

Personally, I feel like I want to take on challenge. It's a matter of honor and change is good. Can I commit to a year of no meat, low sugar, low fat, low cholesterol, no dairy and the like. What does that leave exactly? Seafood? Beans? Greens? Green Beans? And what of Chocolate? Chocolate is part of survival it would be inhuman to remove it completely from any diet.

Carob is a healthier alternative but it's basically chocolate with the stuff that makes dogs and allergic humans react poorly taken out of it. The essence of it, the stuff that makes chocolate taste good, and us feel good has gone missing in Carob. I'm not ready to say no chocolate but rather find a way to make it work.

To start, I had a little help from Alton Brown with his Mooless Chocolate Pie Recipe.
It's made with Tofu and it's a little slice of heaven if I do say so myself.I used the lowest sugar chocolate cookies for the crust that I could find and Kahlua for the coffee liquor. It's a grand finale to my veggie pizza. It's not eating, it's living, and live we shall, it's nearly 2010 afterall.

I haven't felt this good since I was a teen waitress vowing to turn the world on to whole wheat bread after smoking a joynt in the basement of the restaurant where I was employed. It's going to be an adventurous year for me in the world of food and I'm ready for it. Bring it on I say, I'll figure it out but I must know that every so often there's a chocolate for me to savor.

Cheers to you all and do yourselves a favor. If you haven't read 'Like Water for Chocolate' by Laura Esquirel then do it. It's one of the best books in the universe and you'll read it time and again, each time like it was the first.

All the best, Kate

Mooless Chocolate Tofu Pie- Alton Brown

2 cups chocolate chips,
1/3 cup coffee liqueur
1 block silken tofu
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
1 prepared chocolate wafer crust
Directions
Place a small metal bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Melt the chocolate and coffee liqueur in the bowl. Stir in vanilla.

Combine the tofu, chocolate mixture, and honey in the blender jar. Liquefy until smooth.

Pour the filling into the crust and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until the filling is set.

Veggie Pizza

Whole Wheat Crust (I purchased on, Mama Mary's brand)
Tomato Sauce ( garlic, onion, diced tomatos, tomato sauce, basil, parsley, oregano, nutmeg, salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar if it's too tomatoey and chili powder)
Spinach ( saute in garlicky olive oil until just beginning to wilt)
Tomato slices
Olive slices
Veggie Shreds- A handful or so. (I like the Parmesan/Romano type)

Bake it at 450 until done to you likeness.

P.S. Veggie Shreds don't melt very much so don't wait to pull it out of the oven.

Ezekial and His Manna

Man oh Manna!! If you're a member of the club who's trying to cut down on carbs,or considers 'low sodium' a flavor, Ezekial, or scripture bread might be right up your alley. It's baked with such things as spelt, millet (what the heck is that?),sprouted barley, sprouted lentils and sprouted wheat. It comes in a variety of flavors such as, low sodium, sesame and cinnamon. It's healthy and you can tell that just by looking at it. The slices are perfectly squared and you have to look for it in the freezer section because it spoils quickly, no preservatives. Good, right?

Truly, it's not bad, if you like to chew, have a healthy set of chompers and an extra large roll of dental floss, go for it. It's a bit pebbly and I'm convinced you have to eat it toasted because it's kind of, sort of, what's the word I'm looking for, oh yeah.. DRY!! I smeared mine with Peanut Wonder and Sugar Free Raspberry Jam and it was a tasty treat, but then I'm used to that kind of taste sensation in my mouth and I was starving. If you follow it up with a liter of water it sort of expands in your stomach like one of those little capsules that expand into the shape of a dinosaur when wet. Anything less than a liter and it won't budge. You should be drinking water anyway, so bottoms up! A word to the wise...moderation...if you're gonna binge, pop for the expensive toilet paper, you can thank me later.

The thought did occur to me that I might not make it through the whole loaf before it spoils so I'm keeping it in the freezer. I think it's one of those things that you can be creative with. For instance, as I mentioned, the slices are perfectly square making them useful for bathroom tiles, and the shower water shouldn't be a bother because each slice is apparently impervious to water. I was thinking I could use a few slices for sliders under my couch legs but I'm afraid my wood floor might get scratched. Scrubbies for dirty pots and pans would be a good use as well, again, impervious to water and it wouldn't turn your fingers blue like brillo pads.

Upon reflection this is a pretty keen product. Ezekial had his finger on the pulse of the health food revolution, or perhaps evolution, depending on what side you're on. I have yet to try all of the Ezekial bread flavors but I intend to and I hope you will too but please, don't squeeze the Charmin.

All the best, Kate

The emergency cheesecake is alive and well and I made it through another day without it!

I don't know what it is about the first few days of commiting to a food plan that makes me want to curl up in a sleeping bag and watch tv. While channel surfing for Star Trek I wandered onto the Golden Girl channel and was promptly saved by my new moms. I was so entertained that I completely forgot about hunting down my emergency cheesecake. This is the chocolate chip cheesecake with milk chocolate ganache that I keep hidden in the freezer for that one day above all others that I just can't make it through without ganache.

I've been eating all day and I'm still starving. I enjoyed oatmeal, bananas and blueberries with soy milk, carrots and hummus, chicken, vegetables and cashews and I'm looking forward to a Pita Pocket or Ezekial bread smeared with Peanut Wonder or Cranberry Relish. I jest, but truly I want to be strong because my gentleman husband will surely be gobbling up chocolate covered donuts with his coffee in a few minutes and I really want it to seem like I don't care. The truth is I feel like a puppy, hovering and hoping that a few morsels will cascade in my direction and I'll have no choice but to scoop them up. It sounds a little like foodie love doesn't it? I'm sure the I'm 'healthyandyousuck' euphoria will come soon enough and I shall look down upon donut eaters with a bold look of disdain as I speculate about their tryiglyceride levels. Ha!

In planning delicious meals for the next few days it dawned on me that I have all the makings for a 'wet' sandwich except for the wet stuff. There are pita pockets, veggies, tofu-ish types of things to put on it but no toppings or condiments that aren't loaded with sugar. Truth be told, a wet sandwich has the power to cure any ailment.

I became a fan of the 'wet' sandwich when I first read the 'Deadly Sin' books by Lawrence Sanders. His character, Edward X. Delany made sandwiches for himself that were works of art. Turkey with bacon, spinach and dollops of remoulade, Ham and camembert, swathed in dill mustard and Roast beef, grilled onions with a blue cheese sauce so sumptuous that it could make a mime punch through an imaginary glass wall.

As luck would have it I tried a few things and they were good. I made a cranberry relish by simmering fresh cranberries, blueberries,agave nectar and honey until the berries burst. Great on a toasted Pita Pocket, whole wheat has a great nutty flavor.

I warmed oil with garlic, scallions and capers packed in salt and used it as a drizzle over veggies. Very tasty!!

The best thing, (it made me giddy), is the recipe for tofu mayonnaise by Deborah Madison in her book Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It's tops!!

6 ounces soft tofu, well drained, or ½ box silken tofu
2 tablespoons prepared mayonnaise (optional)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 small garlic clove
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice or vinegar (red or white wine)
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Directions

1. Put the tofu in a food processor with the mayonnaise, if using, and oil. Puree until smooth. Scrape down the sides.

2. Add the garlic, mustard, lemon juice, and ¼ teaspoon salt, and puree until smooth. Taste for salt and season with a little pepper. Scrape into a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use

Try it, it's fantastic. Time to fend off the donuts!!

All the best, Kate

Christmas in the ER

I spent a couple hours in the Emergency Room on Christmas day, also my birthday, with a migraine that had been beating me up for 3 days. I couldn't stand it anymore and my daughter was kind enough to transport me to the ER and watch while they doped me up. I have a confession to make, I liked being doped up.



I have another confession to make, the headache was my own fault. I have problems with sugar and dairy and the worst problem of all is that I'm a Pastry Chef so my life is all about sugar and dairy. It's hard not to succomb and my willpower is at an all time low. Aside from that I have high cholesterol and an allergy to shellfish and problems with carbs. A year ago I was 20 pounds lighter and a lot happier.



I'm determined to turn things around but the problem is I like food that tastes and looks good. I love the way different textures and flavors feel in my mouth. I was pretty good about food but I got sick of tofu and cardboard tasting dinners and lots of the time I just didn't know what to eat. My fall back is always eggbeaters, but honestly, what can you do with eggbeaters to improve the consistency and flavor? Truth be told, it ticks me off that I haven't been able to commit to a healthy diet. I feel cheated that all the tasty foods are on the 'off limits' list. I love cooking and butter and everything bad for you. On the other hand, I want to feel and look better, I want to have sex with the lights on and walk into the Gap and have everything fit me.



If you're up to it, follow along with me as I commit to a year of living a healthy lifestyle in hopes of curing my headaches. Each day I'll fill you in on the recipes I've found or developed and I'll be honest about my situations. I promise to tell it like it is for the life of my experiment in 2010. I promise not to complain too much and enjoy life!!

All the best, Kate


Tomorrow-Condiments!!!!