Barbara's kitchen open for business again!

The title refers to the fact that we moved recently, still in the Portland area though. And yesterday was the first time I had unpacked enough to be able to really cook.

Today I was getting food ready for work tomorrow. I still have to make smashed potatoes. But I did make an awesome veggie chili and a black bean, corn and red pepper salad.

For the salad, I used one can of black beans, rinsed, 1/4 of a huge red pepper, chopped and about 3/4 cup of frozen corn. Before I did that, I put in some red wine vinegar, and some dijon mustard from Trader Joe. Whisked that together with some dried thyme, salt and pepper. Whisked in just a little bit of olive oil. Put the veggies in, added a little more salt and pepper and some garlic and onion powder. Tastes great and it should be even better tomorrow.

The veggie chili was white and red kidney beans, crushed tomatoes, corn, onions, garlic, fresh cilantro. Put in some cumin and chili powder. Can't find my smoky paprika yet or would have used it. Put in a dash of cayenne, a little sugar, and some pepper. Made up some water with masa flour and put that in after letting it cook down for about a half hour. Thickened it up nicely. Very tasty as well. Going to put that over my smashed potatoes.

I've got steel cut oats cooking in the rice cooker and the dishwasher running. I'm in good shape for tomorrow.

Barbara

Zojirushi NS-LAC05

The title of this post is the name of my rice cooker. It's a 3 cup one, kinda small but perfect for me and my partner.

I wanted to post for my reference and others how to cook things other than rice in the cooker. These have all been tested several times by me and they work well. When I say 1 cup or whatever, it refers to the cup that comes with the rice cooker, not a standard cup.

Steel cut oats
1 cup steel cut oats
2.5 cups water
use the porridge setting

I usually set this up the night before on the timer. Hot oatmeal for breakfast, yum!

Polenta (aka grits)
1 cup of polenta
water up to the 2 cup brown rice level
use the white rice setting

I put some butter and cheese in this and it's a great breakfast.

Quinoa
1 cup quinoa
1.75 cups water
Use white rice setting

The cooker will keep things warm up to 8 hours. I would suggest not waiting too long to take the quinoa out. You need to fluff it with the rice paddle then remove it. It's a bit more delicate, I feel.

Give these whole grains a try!

Barbara

The 21-Day Veggie Detox Diet is here!

If you're still trying to find the best way to eat healthy, lose
weight and gain real health, this is the solution for you!

Veggie nutrition expert Kardena Pauza has just created a new "21-Day
Veggie Detox Diet Plan" that will help you kick-start your weight
loss the safe and healthy way.

Each day outlines what to eat and includes portion size guidelines,
PLUS it also includes her secret daily habits that help detox the
negative energy and stress from her busy 50-hour training schedule
and living in busy rush-rush-rush Southern California.

You'll discover how to start your day off in a positive mind set
and little things you can do at night to calm your flustered mind.

Combined, this nutrition and mental detox program will have you
looking and feeling 10 years younger, and probably 10 pounds lighter
as well.

You'll get the 21-Day Detox as part of the Easy Veggie Meal Plans
System here:

=> Easy Veggie Meal Plans

This detox will help break addictive habits and flush out addictive
chemicals that can be trapped in your cells and causing your body to
have cravings.

I promise this will help you lose weight and overcome stress. I've been using
it for a couple of weeks and have really noticed a difference in my energy.
And yes I've lost weight.

Barbara
Again, the link for Easy Veggie Detox Diet

PS - Once you complete the 21 Day Detox, continue eating healthy and
small portions throughout the day.

This is where the Easy Veggie Meal Plan program will guide you
through regular day-to-day nutrition.

To your success!

Spring has sprung early

The last two weeks we have had a lot of sunny days and temperatures consistently in the mid to upper 50s. Even though we still have some winter to get through. This has apparently confused the flowers and trees though. Flowering bushes and shrubs are in bloom, cherry trees have started blooming and daffodils have come up already. It's obviously been a very mild winter this year here in Portland.

I am hoping for a cool summer, I don't like high heat which we can get here. I guess we'll see!

Pantry challenge

I've decided to try a pantry challenge. I have stocked up lately on so much food that it's literally overflowing. My freezer and cabinets are full and other places in the kitchen I store things are also full. So I'm going to try to eat from the pantry/freezer as much as possible and get the amount of food down. Wish me luck!

Soy candles

My brother and his wife have started a small company selling soy based candles. It's called B&K Candles and you should visit. It uses US soybeans, and has a huge variety of scents for every occasion. They smell great and burn uniformly. I am planning on buying more, for myself and for gifts. Check them out at B&K Candles.

Eating healthy and loving it!

Since the new year I've been eating healthy much more. I've made quinoa pilaf with mushrooms (good but needs more seasoning) and potato barley soup. I love barley, but it sucks up liquid like crazy and ends up being very thick unless you eat it immediately after making it.

Hope everyone is having a Healthy New Year.

Barbara

Cooking up a Storm!

Cooked up some tasty sloppy lentils today and tomorrow I'm making my non-dairy potato corn chowder. Then I will be all set for my next work week.

I also have some steel cut oats ready for breakfast and some new cereals to try. One is called Multigrain Oatbran flakes and the other is Heritage Flakes, both from Nature's Path. I also have soymilk and Nature's Path Heritage O's at work, for the munchies.

Have a great week!

Lovely Potato corn chowder

I made my favorite soup, I think, a non-dairy Potato corn chowder from Table for Two by Joanne Stepianak. Here's a link to the recipe on Recipezaar. You can make it McDougall friendly by switching water for the oil.

And here's a picture, not very good.


And here's a link to another post about this soup with a much better picture.

I put just a little salt on it right before I eat it. It's good by itself or with some crusty bread.

Barbara

Save-a-lot deals

I went to Save-a-Lot grocery store today. They are small stores, but have a lot of private label foods and great prices. I buy canned sliced potatoes there, bought some red and russet potatoes, and they have the best price on shredded frozen hash browns anywhere.

Today's find though, was ZerGut Russian Style dill pickles. The lid says all natural, no preservatives. I checked it out and it's also no dyes or colors. Yes, if you read labels, you'll find most pickles have dye to make them look pretty. Not these. They are marked as made in Bulgaria. It's a 56 oz jar (it's huge!) for $4.99.

Here's the ingredient list: Pickles, water, salt, sugar, acetic acid (aka vinegar) red pepper, hot pepper, garlic, horse radish, dill, bay leaf, black pepper. And you can see the garlic and peppers still in the jar.

Healthy and low cal and low cost. What else can you ask for?

Barbara

Tasty

I had some Acini di Pepe today, which I made to put in a soup to take to work. I made too much, so I had some for breakfast with marinara sauce. Very good. The other day I dry fried some leftover polenta and mixed that with marinara. Also excellent. Enjoying the simple flavors and tastes.

Barbara

New Seasons shopping trip

I went to a local natural foods supermarket here in Portland called New Seasons Market. They are a local chain and a great place to shop. I spent some time there today, got some nice carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and various salad greens. This is embarassing, but I bought carrots with the tops on them. I believe this is the first time I've bought carrots that didn't come in a plastic bag.

I also picked up several McDougall friendly items there. First is one that I found out from a post on the McDougall board. It's called Zevia, from a small company in Seattle Washington. I wanted to try the black cherry flavor, but New Seasons had only Twist (lemon-lime), Orange and Root Beer. So far, I've tried the root beer. It's pretty good, although not as strong as root beers I've had before. I'll post my thoughts on the other two flavors as I give them a try.

Next is a whole wheat pasta called Acini di Pepe, from an Italian company named Delallo. 100% whole wheat. It sort of looks like couscous, but it's not. I'm going to try it in some tomato basil soup in a aseptic carton I found either at Trader Joes or Fred Meyer's natural foods section.

One more pasta is Eden Organic Kamut & Quinoa Twisted Pair (aka gemelli) pasta. I am interested in seeing how it tastes.

Next is Ancient Harvest Quinoa Polenta. This looked so interesting I had to pick it up. It comes from the same company that makes prepackaged polenta in different flavors. The ingredients list is: Water, organic yellow corn meal, organic red quinoa, organic black quinoa, salt, tartaric acid (naturally occuring acid used to control ph), ascorbic acid (vit C), beta carotene (vit A). It will be interesting to see how it tastes.

Last, two fat free dressings by a Hood River, Oregon company called Deerfield's Foods. One is Moroccan Orange Vinaigrette. Ingredients: Cascadian Spring water, pure orange concentrate, wildflower honey, apple cider vinegar, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, spices and seasonings, xanthan gum. The other is Rosemary Apple Vinaigrette. Ingredients: Cascadian spring water, apple juice concentrate, apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, xanthan gum, spices and seasonings. I'm hoping that they taste good.

Barbara

mcdougall friendly food, zevia, quinoa polenta

Summer Bounty

I am enjoying the bounty of summer lately. I've been eating a lot of cherries, blueberries and strawberries. The other day I went to Olive Garden and had this dessert that they only have in summer. It's berries, strawberry sorbet and this creamy Italian custard. It is just heavenly. At home I mostly eat the fruit just plain, although sometimes I dip the strawberries in powdered sugar. Yummy!

I've also been making pancakes using a mix called Kodiak Cakes. It's whole grain and you only need to add water. They have been coming out perfectly on my fairly new Lodge cast iron grill/griddle. It's the kind that covers two burners on your stove.

Barbara

Strange pricing

The internet has led to some strange pricing. I like Bob's Red Mill Quinoa. I live about 2 miles from Bob's headquarters. To buy a 4 pack of quinoa at the store is $41.14. To buy it from Amazon and have it shipped to my house, it's $35.94 and if I put it on a subscription, I get 15% more off and free shipping. It's amazing that I can get something sent to my house cheaper than going to pick it up myself and the place it comes from.

Barbara

This is where Portland's water comes from

This is such a beautiful picture, I had to post it. Portland has great water that is so pure it doesn't get filtered. It comes from the Bull Run wilderness area, in the shadow of Mount Hood. It tastes great too.

Yes, I love living here!

Soups

It's warm here in Portland but I"m making soups anyway. I enjoy them and they are filling. I made a barley-mushroom-kale soup and a black bean soup. I made some baked corn tortilla chips this morning, before it got too hot.

My black bean soup has evolved. I take one or two cans of Trader Joe's black beans and rinse them. Put in a pot with this small cube of frozen cilantro I have, some veggie broth (mine is from Pacific Foods), chili powder, onion and garlic powder. Let that warm up on low. Take about half the beans and enough liquid to cover and put in a blender. Blend well then put back into the soup. This thickens it. I like to have whole beans in the soup as well, so I don't blend up all of it. Add some salsa (I use Pace Picante) and corn. I had some leftover mushrooms from the barley soup so I tossed those in too. Heat and store for delicious meals! I heat up the soup then put in the baked chips.

Barbara

Diabetes

I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I’m still trying to get my medication sorted out. I haven’t really done much with my diet yet. I am moving slowly (as usual!) toward the McDougall lifestyle. I do know I do better, blood pressure and health wise in general when I do that. I’m just stubborn about changing completely over to a full vegan diet. The strange part is I do enjoy the vegan food I make/eat.

I recently made a new dish, got the recipe from recipezaar.com. It’s called barley casserole and it’s vegan and easily made McDougall friendly. It is just soo good! I love barley and I’m going to try some new barley recipes I found there.

Barbara

Creative cooking

The other day I made pizza dough. I took what was left, cooked up some ground turkey I had and planned to make calzones. I have to admit, it didn't turn out too well. So I had a lot of cooked ground turkey left. I had already mixed in the little bit of pizza sauce that was left. So today, I cooked up some angel hair pasta, added some jarred pasta sauce and the turkey and had that for lunch at work today. Very tasty. Never used angel hair in spaghetti before, but it worked very well.

Still working on the pantry oversupply and it's slowly being eaten away.

Barbara

Pantry cooking

I recently realized that I have a LOT of food in my pantry (shelves, refrigerator and freezer). So yesterday I wrote up a week's worth of menus using only what is already in the house. It was easy to come up with 3 meals a day and I have a lot of ideas for at least another week. I shop way too much. Maybe a way of feeling secure, I think. Anyway, we need to continue to economize and this is a good way, getting rid of what we already have.

Health update

Well, I recently got diagnosed with diabetes. My A1c test came back at 11.1 which is quite high. My blood sugars were in the 250 range.

Of course my doctor wanted to put me on statins, for no apparent reason, my cholesterol is 197 which is fine. I refused. He put me on metformin, which I've stopped taking because of the side effects. I'm taking various herbals and eating a completely vegan low fat diet (Dr John McDougall's diet). It's working well, my blood sugars are down and my blood pressure is amazing.

More later.