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Memorial Day
May 27, 2013 Amy

Hello, Dear Readers:

Once again I have been OBE, or “overcome by events,” and it has been another two weeks since I wrote. My apologies. I have one started and in the can (the draft folder) about a foodie adventure I went on recently, and can’t wait to tell you all about it. But today, I have lots to share.

First, let me say that Memorial Day is to honor the fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guard members who work hard to protect our rights and our lives in the US. (It is not about a day off, or great deals on furniture, cars and carpeting.) Because of those who died protecting this country, I can bring you this silly foodie blog, along with countless other folks who blog about a myriad of subjects. Cooking. Sewing. Cats. Cars. Gardening. Ranching. Homesteading. Theater. Traveling. And yes, (gulp) politics. People in the US who blog about their interests utilize their First Amendment right of free speech, which you don’t necessarily get in other countries. Some have died for what they’ve written because they were not allowed the freedom to express it (and not always politics, either.) You name it, there’s a blog for it, and we in the US all owe a debt of gratitude for the men and women who have given all in defense of our country.

Also, people in Oklahoma are suffering, so if you can donate, please do; if not, at least keep them in your prayers. There are a number of organizations helping tornado survivors, including the Salvation Army, Mercy Chefs (they bring mobile kitchens to disaster sites and hand out hot food to affected people) and others. I like that–and when I get to it I’m planning to give Mercy Chefs some funds myself. I’ve done it before, and I know they’re legit; but if you have a preferred charity, by all means, the great state of Oklahoma needs some help now. Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, also lists these organizations that are helping out.

It’s not always about Texas. Even when it is. Anyway. . .

So what have I been doing? Snoozing on the bus when I’m trying to read going either to downtown or home from it. I’m still hacking my way through a book, but while it’s a good book, and I need to re-read it now, I can’t help but doze off. Glad to have my little travel pillow stuffed in my commuter bag.

I’ve had a weekend where I should have been drinking but wasn’t (not for lack of alcohol), but today I’ve done some cooking and planted the HeatCageKitchen garden (that’s another blog post, with pictures.) I’ve done both flower planting in the front and veg/sunflower planting in the back, and I’ve even bought a Meyer lemon tree. Let’s see how that works out. Unfortunately, didn’t realize that Mr. Snail was inside my dirty gardening clogs that I just intended to rinse off (I wore my tennis shoes and socks to protect my feet.) I found him after I’d rinsed them with hot water in the bathtub, so I’m guessing when I tossed him back over the fence, it wasn’t to a new life, but to a burial plot. Sorry about that, but I don’t like snails much anyway, and no, I’ve never eaten escargot. Nor do I intend to, I don’t care if Giada de Laurentiis makes it for me.

This weekend I did some sewing, too, but didn’t get as much done as I wanted. Later in this post, I’ll give you the recipe for the official HeatCageKitchen yeast-free, gluten-free, dairy-free ultimate Breakfast Quiche. It’s got a lot of eggs in it. (And boy, do I need a shower.)

First, an update: I am thoroughly enjoying having a salad when I get home at night. Lettuce sealed in jars is a fantastic idea and I am happy to report that it’s well worth the small amount of trouble. I’m telling you, if salad is your thing like it is mine, you really gotta try sealing lettuce in the jar for yourself. It works perfectly, and the lettuce is totally delicious a week out. Don’t believe me? Check out this pic I took this morning:

The lettuce lasts all week!

The lettuce lasts all week!

Two heads of iceberg lettuce were chopped, rinsed, spun dry, packed into glass jars and sealed up with the Ziploc tool method. However, the two in the front were packed up 8 days ago. No kidding. Today is Monday, and those two front jars were packed a week ago yesterday. I ate one of them today with a huge tomato. Know what? It was STILL GOOD. Fresh and tasty, just like I packed them. I realize that a month down the road the lettuce might be a little funky, but for lettuce to last a week in the fridge like that, and perfectly crisp. . .yeah. I’m enjoying my salads. Heck, even plain iceberg lettuce with a bit of olive oil and salt is good, too–long as it’s not limp and brown.

This weekend I also put half a pork roast in the crock pot with some homemade BBQ sauce, (I bought a three pounder and cut it in half, froze the other part) and roasted two turkey thighs. I love turkey thighs; they taste so much better than breast meat, they’re available in most bigger grocery stores, and they’re usually a lot cheaper. Also made a batch of Five Minute Hummus. Just ’cause I could.

So. . .drum roll. . .I think I have created the perfect breakfast dish. The HeatCageKitchen Supreme Breakfast Quiche. It’s a hit! (It’s really good.) But first, a little background: I realized that my previous attempts were missing something: MEAT! I love sausage, but conventional sausage usually has sugar in it, so I leave it alone.

I was thumbing through Dr. Hotze’s Optimal Eating Plan looking for something else when I came across a recipe for homemade breakfast sausage. It calls for ground turkey, but I had some ground chicken I wanted to use for something, and it fit the bill. A little salt, a little pepper, a little fresh sage, and it’s pretty darn good. (I bought some fresh sage and planted some organic sage seeds so I’ll have it all year long. I hope it grows.) I cooked it like ground beef, crumbled in a big cast-iron skillet with all the ingredients, and then put it in the greased pie plate:

IMG_1993Topped that with a jar of chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil, oh, yeah:

IMG_1995

I didn’t lose any this time.

Then beat the heck out of ten eggs with some almond milk poured in (maybe a quarter cup?) and a few shakes of Chipotle Tabasco. This type of Tabasco has some heat but doesn’t burn you; when you add a couple of shakes to eggs in this fashion, it gives a smoky flavor but no heat to speak of.

IMG_2000

I like this shot best because you don’t see the cat’s homeopathic allergy drops, which are sitting right behind the mixer. I did not add them, despite the formula’s alleged “bacon flavor.” That’s for the cat.

I beat the eggs to a nice little froth with my Suzy Homemak. . I mean, Suzanne Somers super-duper hand mixer. No, there is no milk, cream, cheese or other milk-based foods in this dish (and no tofu, either, forget that.)

My regular 4 cup measure was in the dishwasher (round 1 of 2) so I grabbed the seldom-used 8 cup, which I have for occasions that I need more room. Good choice, ’cause I could beat them eggs but good!

So then you just pour it over the sausage and tomato mixture and bake it at 350F until it’s done.

IMG_2001

I don’t know, you bake it until the knife comes out clean. I wasn’t paying attention. I had dishes to wash, you know. You time it and get back to me on it, OK?

I used the countertop oven. Why? Well, think about it–110v vs. 220v. In Houston. In summer. I use the countertop much more than the regular stove anyway. Because it works. I still have to clean it, though.

So after it’s baked, this is what you get:

IMG_2006

Oh, yeah. . .that’s what I’m talkin’ about. Not too rich, not too light, meaty but not heavy, with the wonderful tomato taste tossed in. Yeah. Oh, and I skipped that crust part. Got sick of it, actually, but I do like the golden flaxseed meal for other things, like that gluten-free sandwich wrap you make in the microwave. I need to make those again soon, they’re so delish.

So, there you have it–the perfect breakfast quiche. No gluten, no soy, no breading, no milk, and all real food. (Yes, sun-dried tomatoes in oil are real food. I can eat a whole jar.)

The recipes are as follows:

Breakfast Turkey Sausage (from The Yeast Connection Cookbook by Crook & Jones)

1 lb ground turkey (ground chicken also works well)

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 to 1 tsp dried sage or 10-12 fresh sage leaves, minced.

Mix all ingredients using a fork or food processor for less than a minute.

You can turn this mixture into patties, cook and freeze, or freeze raw.

For this quiche, however, after you mix the ingredients, put it into a large pan and brown as you would ground beef:

IMG_1990

HeatCageKitchen Breakfast quiche

One recipe Breakfast Turkey Sausage (above), browned

One jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil (chopped)

10 eggs, beaten with 2 shakes Chipotle Tabasco and 1/4 cup almond milk (if not doing yeast-free, milk of your choice.)

Layer the sausage in a greased pie plate, covering the bottom.

Layer the chopped sun-dried tomatoes on top

Pour the beaten eggs over the top and allow to settle. Bake in a 350F oven until a knife inserted into the quiche comes out without liquid eggs.

Enjoy!

Breakfast,Considered opinions,Fast & Easy,Ingredients
Making hay while the sun shines
May 12, 2013 Amy

Happy Sunday, Fellow Foodies!

I hope you didn’t think I abandoned any of you. No, I’m back in the world of employment, for a while, anyway, and have been having long days and obstacles. While I don’t want to bore anyone with details, I will say that it could end up meaning I may  be cooking in a new kitchen at some point. We’ll see. I have a lot to do, and cooking on Sunday has worked for me for the last couple of weeks.

I sewed yesterday, and completed two simple garments (one with several buttonholes) and yet another bag. Hey–you gotta be stylish downtown, OK? The Lunch Purse will be in my briefcase and be used on the occasions when I step out to lunch and need to be stylish but don’t need my whole purse, just my wallet and cell phone.

I made it into Trader Joe’s again last Sunday, except this was the store on S. Shepherd in Houston, not the one in the elegant Woodlands part of Houston. This store in town has a little less stock, I think, but the cashier told me that they do that to slowly introduce the brand into a new market. Kind of silly, since most people in that part of town know what Trader Joe’s is, just like they do in The Woodlands, since many people in Houston have either traveled to the west coast or moved from there. Since the TJ store in The Woodlands has been there longer, they have more stuff. Well, OK. they had those trimmed fennel bulbs, but I still didn’t get any.

I now work downtown and have access to the somewhat famous Houston Downtown Tunnel, and have been walking for 30 minutes every day down there. It’s basically several miles of food court as well as some shops, doctor’s offices and other services thrown in. Love it, and there are three Seattle’s Best Coffee shops down there. THREE!

My bud Eddie says that when he worked downtown he spent a lot of time down in the tunnel. I plan to explore the branches of the tunnel when I figure out how to get back to where I need to be. I also want to take trips on the free Greenlink bus, but that’s an after-work thing.

Seattle’s Best Coffee disappeared from the rest of Houston a couple of years ago when Borders closed up, except for a couple of freestanding stores inside the 610 loop and the tunnel. Note: it’s not safe to crack jokes to police officers in Seattle’s Best at 7:45 in the morning.

Now for the news: recent article in the esteemed Wall Street Journal discussed something that has become one of my favorites recently, hummus. Not just any hummus, but this recipe from Real Simple a few years ago, and I’ve been making it ever since. I think I’ve written about it before, but the difference is that I halve the amount of lemon juice, because what they suggest absolutely screams lemon. Yuck–kills the taste of the sesame and chickpeas. But no, this article discusses the, um, spreading in popularity of this staple of Middle Eastern countries.

Oh, I feel the puns coming. Look out. . . .

Hmmm. . .red pepper hummus, which has a big dollop of pureed red bell pepper right on top. They have snack sizes with pretzels, too, and differently flavored types, which aren’t exactly Middle Eastern, as pointed out in this second WSJ article, because slightly weird comedian Stephen Colbert complained about it. Remember that this is the same comedian who a) got a treadmill named after him that ended up on the International Space Station, and had astronaut Sunni Williams announce it on his show, and b) tried to get a Washington, DC toilet named after him.

BTW, chickpeas are also called garbanzo beans, a term I actually like better. Dunno why. So I’m going to quit using the former term and use the latter one. Garbanzo.

So because hummus is spreading in popularity, the Sabra company is looking to spread out their growing operations to get more garbanzos to make the hummus with, including contacting tobacco farmers. Cool! I’m not a fan of cigarettes, (I’ve never smoked) and it could help farmers make the switch if they want to (their choice, of course.)  One farmer didn’t know what they were and at 71, actually tasted garbanzos for the first time–and liked them. We’re on the right track.

Anyway, the focus of the article is the Sabra company which is gaining in popularity after handing out samples all over the US. I like that recipe I gave you, and will eat it with celery or in a small bowl with a spoon, but I thought I might check out Sabra in my weekly visit to the League City SuperTarget. Found it! Right with the fancy salad ingredients and fresh herbs. I pick up the container, and looked at what they used to make it.

First ingredient: soybean oil.

DAMMIT!!!

You wanna try it, you’re on your own. I do NOT DO SOYBEAN OIL.

Anyway. . .garbanzos are a bit of a pain to deal with dry, so I suggest buying the canned grocery store brand and rinsing them yourself in a colander, removing any loose skins you might find if you want to. Today I went to my local HEB and bought two more cans. I can’t put my hands on my grocery receipt, but I think they’re 69 cents a can; Target is about 82 cents for their Market Pantry brand.

The most expensive part of hummus is going to be the tahini, or sesame paste, which is available in most larger grocery stores in the international section, since it’s primarily a Middle Eastern staple. (It settles like natural peanut butter so be sure to stir it really well before you refrigerate it, or just empty it in to the bowl of your stand mixer and mix it really well and then store it. Ditto for natural peanut butter.) However, you don’t use very much at one time, the garbanzos are the bulk of the recipe, and hummus is a magnificent sesame flavoring that blends well.  Admittedly, I used to have a recipe for hummus made with peanut butter, but I think that was in a book I don’t have anymore. That’s OK. Unless you live on a ranch in the middle of Oklahoma, you can likely find it locally, somewhere. (And I’m sure the lovely Mrs. Drummond knows where to get it in Oklahoma, too.)

So what else have I been up to? Well. . .as I did last weekend, I cooked up a storm and will be re-running the dishwasher soon as I finish telling you, then ironing for the week. In addition to roasting some turkey thighs and two packts of thick pork chops that were on sale at SuperTarget today, I made a batch of my favorite Yeast Free Brownies and a gluten-free, yeast free breakfast quiche by literally throwing a few things together. Without cream or milk, I was somewhat limited in what I could use for a binder for the eggs, so I tried guar gum.

Don’t do it. Just made lumps and a messed-up texture. No, this week I threw in some almond milk, and it seems to be fine. So the basics were this: grease a pie pan with coconut oil, and toss in some of those ground golden flaxseeds to make a bit of a crust:

Crust

Last week I added some leftover cilantro and the end of some celery, and put some of this interesting sandwich spread in it:

Quiche ingredients

Someone gave me the sandwich spread in a holiday basket, and I didn’t know what the heck to do with it, so I used it last week. Olives, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, and some other stuff. All natural, no sugar or chemical ingredients, and yes, gluten free. It doesn’t say that on the label, but if you read it, you see what’s in it, so yeah, it’s gluten free. I put it all together and it looked like this:

Assembled ingredients

Mixed up 10 eggs with the ill-advised guar gum, and baked it for, um, I don’t know how long. I just watched it and when it was done, took it out. That was it.

This week, I wanted to make it again, and went shopping. I got more eggs and stuff, and went looking for that Mezetta sandwich spread.

Now go find more.

I’ve seen this stuff for years and never paid any attention to it. Never did find it. After thinking about how to try and make this week’s similar, I got some sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, a bag of frozen chopped broccoli and put that together. Gotta be good, right?

Sun dried tomatoes

Yes, I have one of those curvy knives like Nigella Lawson. And unlike Nigella Lawson, right after I took that picture, the cutting board slipped and four tomatoes went on the floor. AAAAHHH!!!! But I still had plenty.

This time I mixed a dozen eggs with some almond milk and a couple of shakes of Chipotle Tabasco in it. they’ve baked up a lot better than the ones with guar gum in them, so I’ll let you know how it came out later. Looks good:

Masterpiece!

Last week’s was pretty good, but it needed salt. Let’s see what this one tastes like.

No, the cat food is just on the stove for my convenience. It only goes into Jezebel’s food bowl, not mine. However, I once implied to my mother that I was eating cat food. . .”with crackers late at night, it’s pretty good!” She believed it for half a nanosecond.

It’s all about getting ready to head out the door by 6:56 to catch either the 6:55 or 7:03 am bus into downtown. This helps a lot. I’ll keep looking for good recipes that don’t involve milk or cream to blend with the eggs, too.

How about a peek inside the fridge of the Heatcagekitchen?

Le Fridge

No kidding, that’s seven sealed jars of lettuce I set up this evening, or two prepped heads of iceberg lettuce. I love it!! (And strawberries on sale at HEB, too.) I’m tellin’ ya, the salad-in-the-jar thing works like a charm. The Ball jars are about $2.50 at Cost Plus World Market, but you can get them anywhere. I’m loving my nightly salad, y’all, and done correctly, the lettuce really does stay fresh and crisp all week. You will not regret this, as long as you get all the air out the jars. (Check my previous post for instructions.)

And to complete your Sunday night, here’s a completely unrelated picture of a neighborhood kitty cat I caught a couple of pictures of this morning:

Kitty

“Hey. . .how yoo doin’?”

He was someone’s inside kitty, until someone moved away and left him and two brothers locked in a unit. When they were found, they were set loose and lived outside for a while. Two have been adopted, but this guy has been a freelancer, getting fed by a few folks and enjoying life on the lam. He’s not feral, but I can’t take him in, since I’ve got one step kitty and he needs fixin’. And shots. (And a bath!) Out of my range right now. We call him Jojo, but we don’t actually know what his name is. He’s friendly til you do something he doesn’t like. Otherwise he’s pretty happy.

Well, folks, the dishwasher has finished its first go round, and I need to empty, refill, and re-start it before I go iron something to wear to town tomorrow.

I’ll try to post again soon and not wait too long.

Happy Dining!

Fast & Easy,Special considerations,What's for Dinner?
The Sunday Cooking Spree
April 28, 2013 Amy

Happy Sunday, fellow Foodies:

Boy, have I been busy today! I’ve been baking, I’ve been cooking, I’ve been washing. We had some good rain last night, and even had gravel-sized hail for a little while. I thought my neighbor’s lovable pug wanted to come in and get at the cat food again. Hoping for lots of basil so I can pack my freezer with pesto this year. Supposed to rain all week, so I’ll be extra careful on the short drive to and from the park and ride.

The dishwasher is running for the second time today, and while I put out garbage yesterday morning, I also had to put it out again a little while ago. I sewed most of the day yesterday, as well as made a pot of chili. I finished some handmade gifts and a little repair work, and will finish that shirt and suit next weekend. But before I tell you about today’s cooking spree, let me tell you about something fishy I read in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal. . . .

The European Seafood Exposition was recently held in Belgium, and, if I read it correctly, it is to current trends in seafood is what the Houston Metro Cooking & Entertaining Show is to food and cooking. I think. (I went in 2011 and had a blast; nearly everything I sampled was either chocolate, garlic or olive oil.) Fish wasn’t exactly on the menu at this conference, but other forms of “aquatic cuisine” were available. Craig Harrison of Britain’s Big Prawn Company have been trying to win the Prix d’Elite with all sorts of, um, temptations. Creations like Fresh Seaweed in Sea Water, Black Pudding with Squid Ink and spreadable algae were available to tempt (or test the strength of) the taste buds of judges in Belgium. Oh, and one piece de resistance from last year’s contest was called simply, Jelly Shots, consisting of alcoholic seafood jelly shots with a jumbo shrimp floating in a mojito jelly. Um, what? “Mr Harrison claims that British night-clubbers fell for the drink hook, line and sinker. ‘Unfortunately, it didn’t sway the judges.'”

NOOOOOO. You think????? Maybe it was the alcohol the night clubbers had BEFORE the Jelly Shots, which the judges didn’t have the benefit of?

Then there is the “oceanic greenery” they want to start calling “sea veg.” In other words, seaweed. And now, because “French beaches are strewn with it,” Christine Le Tennier of SAS Globe Export is harvesting and promoting “gourmet algae.”

Algae is what develops in your swimming pool when you forget to put the chlorine in it. “Gourmet algae” is like like “clean dirt.” You can have it.

Now look–I love shrimp, crab, crawfish, regular fish, and the occasional scallop as much as the next seafood fan. But I can sum this article up for you in one word.

EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW.

Reminded of the songs my brother has frequently written (or re-written) about my cooking, I sent him the column. Let’s see what comes back.

So, my goal is not to have to cook at all this week, except maybe for some breakfast, and I’ll think about that soon, too. My toaster oven has been baking nearly all day, and I have completed, since 8:00 am, the following:

Not included is a pot of chili made yesterday and a small spaghetti squash I roasted yesterday, all for lunch and dinner this week. Glad I finished the last of the Spicy Shrimp Marinara, too.

I’m thinking baked eggs and some kind of meat with it. I’ll think about it some more. Since the yeast-free diet is coming soon, I’ll have to think carefully, since so many things are verboten, like cheese, butter and milk.

Oh, and in order to make that meatloaf, I had to go out and get a few things: one carrot, some celery, and. . .tomato juice, which I have never bought in my life. But I do it, ’cause I don’t mess with the recipes the first time I make them. I didn’t go to my my HEB, or even Kroger. No, I went to our neighborhood Food Town. . .and if you are in Houston, you know what that is–local, and basic, No almond milk, gluten free anything or sugar snap peas, but lots of biscuits, pizza and ice cream. It’s close, so I went. I didn’t take a picture, but they had something called Tastykake Dreamies, which look suspiciously like. . . Twinkies!  No, I didn’t buy any, even though they were not expensive. But with all the hoopla surrounding the end and the new beginning of Twinkies, obviously it wasn’t long before someone got the idea to replicate them while they were away. Let’s see what happens when Twinkies begin to populate grocery and convenience store shelves again. Holy Shish Kebab.

Well, that’s the capitalist free market system, isn’t it? Give the customer what they want, customers vote with their dollars, and the best one will win. If the Dreamies taste as good, or better, than original Twinkies, then they’ll be the favored brand. If not, they will be bought once, and if they are found to be inferior, then, nobody will buy them and wait for the Twinkies. If the new Twinkies are bad, then the market is open for someone else to “build a better Twinkie.” It’s that simple.

Yes, in America, we take our junk food VERY seriously the way the French take their wine and escargot seriously. That’s what makes us a great country!!

Anyway. . . .

I had planned to utilize a crock pot today, but I never got around to it, so that’s one less thing to wash up. That’s OK, I’ve gone through some soap this weekend!

I started doing the weekly cooking/ironing on Sunday back when I was a student at Tulane and worked 40 hours a week. THEN I went to work for Tulane while I was a student, and made a salary, had regular employee health insurance, paid holidays, and eventually, an employee tuition waiver. I had to take Sundays for setting up for the week,  because I didn’t have time to get all that done in the morning, especially if I got home at 10:00 or 11:00 pm at night, which I did frequently. If I went to bed late one night, I didn’t get to catch up until Saturday. (Nobody seemed to understand that for a long time.)

Even though I’d mostly kept it up while I was unemployed, I still did some cooking during the week. Now, this may not work with large families, or even couples–but for me it works like a charm. If you’re thinking about how to make it work for you, a crock pot would work wonders, IMHO–but you gotta do what works for you. Freezer meals may be what you come up with, and a lot of people do it that way–either on the weekend or making “one extra” of something and stashing it in the freezer.

In any case, I highly recommend “cooking ahead,” especially if you are of the busy sort. If it’s just you and a spouse and y’all aren’t picky, well. . .but if you’ve got a schedule of any kind and not much time to cook, carving out a few hours and/or putting out that crock pot is essential.

And let’s face it–how nice is it to come home, take your shoes off, get comfy and heat up a home-cooked dinner?  Yeah, I Know, you can just buy frozen dinners . . .well, if you want to. Me, I’m gonna keep pushing the limits of my kitchen and having home cooked dinners ’til I can’t cook anymore. (Remember that Julia Child cooked after the age of 90, although she wasn’t make Boueof Bourignon anymore.)

Now onto the wardrobe setup for the week with our rainy, somewhat chilly Houston weather this week.

Happy Dining!

Considered opinions,Fast & Easy,Ingredients,New Trends,What's for Dinner?
Thursday shrimp and strawberries
April 25, 2013 Amy

Good evening, Dear Readers:

Boy, have I got a new shrimp dish to tell you about, and it’s quick easy and fairly cheap. Best part: you can’t screw it up! (My favorite part.) A few days ago I received the May issue of Martha Stewart Living, and with it was an Everyday Food supplement. (You can download it at that link!!)

The theme of this issue is “get more from the store.” One section discussed using store-bought baking mix–yes, Bisquick–to make homemade muffins four ways: Lighter Blueberry, Banana-Walnut-Date, Chocolate Cherry (I’d almost go off gluten-free for that one) and “kitchen-sink muffins,” swapping out the blueberries for a half cup grated carrots, and adding in a quarter cup of golden raisins, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and chopped pecans, plus some cinnamon. New uses for familiar stuff. Love that–it’s what made Everyday Food so great.

There are two features on stuff from the canned goods aisle, canned tomatoes and oil-packed cat food, I mean, tuna. When buying it for my late kitty Catmandu, all the tuna was in either water or soybean oil, so you would be looking for imported Italian tuna, that they describe as “worth the splurge.” Sorry, y’all, it all tastes like cat food, OK? Cat food with an Italian accent is not, in my opinion, “worth the splurge,” but if you like tuna, go for it. A splurge is that gluten-free cupcake I had at Frost Bake Shoppe last week.

Since tomorrow I return to the land of the employed for a while, I made something delicious that will likely be either lunch or dinner tomorrow, along with two Chocolate Chip Brownie Larabars.  (I’m enjoying my favorite things before I start the yeast-free diet.)  The Syclovir/Yeast Control arrived today, so I’ll be working getting yeast-free situated this weekend, including baking some yeast-free brownies. I haven’t had any since last summer. And this evening I made an Everyday Food recipe from this new issue that is yeast free, gluten free, sugar free, and almost fat free.

On page 14-15 (and it is available online) is a recipe for Three Ingredient Marinara. Yes, three ingredients and it’s quick and easy. The recipe next to it is Spicy Shrimp Marinara, and it takes about ten minutes to make. Admittedly, I did not use the entire 1.25 tsp of red pepper flakes; I just shook a few in.

SOOOO delicious!! You make the marinara, then when it’s nearly done, cook the shrimp according to the recipe, take the shrimp out and dump the marinara in.

I have long told folks that when I cook with tomato sauce, my kitchen looks like a crime scene. I’ve got the yellow tape around the stove while the dishwasher washes up the first batch of dishes. I’ll finish cleaning up that crime scene in a little while.

One of the ingredients is a 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes. Of course, what I think of and what they think of are two different things. I think of the 28-ounce can at HEB that was $1.07 when I bought two on Tuesday. What Everyday Food thinks of is a $3.59 can of San Marzano tomatoes imported from Italy or a $4 can of Muir Glen Organic. (Some cans are closer to $5, depending on where you buy them.)

Let me tell you a secret: I have a soup recipe from Suzanne Somers’ first book that uses a chicken carcass and that same 28-ounce can of tomatoes, among other things. For years, I bought the HEB brand (which was 79 cents when I started buying them in 2004.) A couple of years ago I got the leftover turkey carcass from the office holiday luncheon, and did the same thing with it–turned it into a pot of the soup.  This time, I bought the fancy imported organic Italian tomatoes instead. Know what? The soup tasted exactly the same. No difference. Not better, just exactly as I’d made it for many years. I gave two neighbors and a co-worker a container of that soup, and they all loved it. And that was the last time I bought a pricey can of peeled tomatoes.

If you make this quick, easy and tasty marinara sauce for any reason, use your own judgement when buying those tomatoes, OK?

Checking the Everyday Food blog, they also have additional uses for extra marinara sauce.   I like the recipe for baked eggs in tomato parm sauce, and might make it this weekend.

Now, if you’re curious about what dinner finally looked like, well, this is the delicious Spicy Shrimp Marinara:

SpicyShrimpMarinara

A basic salad of lettuce, (yes, THAT lettuce) tomato and cucumber with a bit of oil & vinegar with salt:

BasicSalad

Dessert, one of my favorites–huge strawberries sliced down to a manageable dice, sliced with a sprinkling of Somersweet:

Strawberries

They were on sale, and the size of Roma tomatoes. That’s why I diced them like that.

Strawberries are very special to me. When I was a little bitty kitty, my grandparents used to take me with them to Ponchatoula, Louisiana to get strawberries by the flat. We would get bunches of them for the family, stacking them carefully on the back seat for me to guard. One of the ladies working there handed me a huge one and said, “look, this one Easter-egged itself!”  Like I said, I was a little bitty kitty then, but I still love strawberries. I’d love to be able to make a lovely strawberry dessert for my grandmother, but. . .well, she passed in 2005, so I can only think about making something for her.

Truth to tell. . .she was particular, and probably wouldn’t like it, nor the shrimp dish.  Gourmet food is my forte, my grandmother wasn’t wild about new interpretations, like a chocolate ricotta pudding with strawberries in it.

Louisiana strawberries are the best, followed by Texas’. California’s, unfortunately, aren’t quite as good by the time they get to Texas. But that’s a highly prejudiced opinion on strawberries, too.

Anyway. . .tomorrow is Friday, and if you’re in the mood for something quick, easy, and a little different, give this Spicy Shrimp Marinara a try. If you read and follow the directions, you can’t screw it up!

Happy Dining!

Considered opinions
Yeast Free, that's me!
April 24, 2013 Amy

Evening, Dear Readers:

We’ve had yet another cold front, and while we don’t have snow like Denver has, I’m keeping my winter boots out a little longer. We’re enjoying winter’s last gasp. . .again. Count your blessings. Winter doesn’t know it’s spring.

Anyway. . .

I’m going back on the yeast-free diet soon out of necessity. When I was sick last month, I took antibiotics. I was sick, I couldn’t help it. I went to a “regular” clinic, and that’s what I got. So now I’m feeling occasional heartburn where I didn’t have it before. I’m going to use an OTC product I’ve used before rather than prescriptions, primarily because of the expense–but also because I’ll be embarrassed if I request those prescriptions again. Gotta nip it in the butt, quick–or I’ll have that hot, burning throat-grabbing pain that only sometimes goes away with antacids.

I did this last year when I found myself with chronic gastro problems that I originally put down to nibbling the sample bins at Whole Foods, but eventually discovered that it was because I’d not cleaned the tea pot as regularly as I needed to and, well, it got a bit slimy. That’s a mold, and if it gets in your system it sets off a chain of events that causes gastro symptoms I won’t detail here, heartburn being one of them.

There’s a fungus among us, folks. Seriously.

DISCLAIMER (again): I’m not a doctor/nurse/scientist/medical professional/genius. Just a patient who reads and pays attention. Passing along info that I think will benefit my readers (and a little griping on my part anyway.)

What I will say is this–if you find yourself with some of these chronic issues, take a look at doing the yeast free diet for yourself and see if they don’t resolve:

bloating
belching
excessive gas
cramps
pain
indigestion
constipation
heartburn
diarrhea 

You could also have:

headaches
fatigue
skin rashes
immune suppression
chemical sensitivity
vaginal yeast infections
depression
anxiety
joint pain
inability to concentrate
muscle aches
hives
fungal infections under fingernails and toenails
athlete’s foot
thrush, a white coating on the tongue

I will admit up front that these symptoms came from Dr. Steven Hotze’s website (click the link to find out more.) If it weren’t for his radio show that I’ve been able to listen to all these years as well as his book on the subject, I would have no idea what yeast overgrowth is and be suffering with it for a long time, taking endless prescriptions that only make things worse.

Dr. Hotze is The Hormone God. He probably would NOT like me to call him “god of the hormones,” but he is (and a very nice Christian man.) Dr. Hotze has taught other physicians, including mine, how to use bioidentical hormones and how they are better than the norm, as well as general health and wellness. I greatly appreciate him and the work he does for not only his guests but the public. Many of us who have listened to his words are healthier for it and know what to look for and look out for. I guess you could call it “worship,” but he’d probably not like me to say that either.

Enough of the drooling fan stuff.

I’ve done this diet a few times, but the first was about five or six years ago, after mold exposure in a water bottle I didn’t see until it was too late–yuck!  I had uncontrollable, painful heartburn and a few other impolite symptoms, and couldn’t figure out why (until I discovered the mold contamination.) I had to just about beg the “regular” doctor I was seeing to give me some Nystatin and fluconazole, and then he wouldn’t give me enough for 90 days. Of course, he was quick to prescribe something for the heartburn, obviously not making the connection.(Today he operates a “health practice” in the south part of Houston, and I drive north to The Woodlands to see a nice lady doctor who knows what she’s doing.) I managed to get rid of the heartburn, but I always suspected it was like not taking all the antibiotics and I still had yeast. I’ve done this since then, so I’m sure I got rid of it all. Til now.

Antibiotics kill the bug that’s got ahold of you, and the tipping point is 24 to 48 hours if taken consistently. Most antibiotics, like the Amoxicillin I had, are called “broad-spectrum” antibiotics, meaning they kill everything, not just the “bad bugs.” This can be good, but the eventual imbalance allows something called Candida alicans to overgrow in the system. From there, well, you read the symptoms earlier.

I did NOT want to take antibiotics! I had not had a pharmaceutical drug in my system in nearly 3 years. But I got better, so now I have to get rid of the other problem.

If you believe you have intestinal yeast, please read these two articles first, and this one from The Green Willow Tree. I highly recommend Dr. Hotze’s Optimal Eating Cookbook, which is available from Physician’s Preference, the vitamin shop at the Hotze Health & Wellness Center. Dr. Carolyn Dean, another fantastic health doctor, writes on yeast and other ills on her blog, and has been on Dr. Hotze’s show several times.

I can’t stand to see anyone suffer needlessly, especially if I know something that can help.

Now for the nuts and bolts: what does it mean to be yeast free? Well. . .being gluten free helps, but it goes farther than that–bear with me, there are reasons for such measures, and I will explain.

Yeast, as you may recall from microbiology, thrives in a warm, moist environment when fed sugar. Basically, your gut, just like when you proof it for bread. Ordinarily, the regular bacterial flora keep all that in balance, but antibiotics and other catalysts mess that up, causing Candida to overgrow and giving symptoms.

Consuming anything that converts to sugar will feed the yeast and make it worse. That means carbohydrates, simple and refined. In Dr. Hotze’s words–pizza, pasta, potatoes, rice, bread, as well as any kind of starchy stuff, including the evil wheat products of any kind. Oh, and add to that any kind of dairy products, including butter–lactose is a sugar, and will feed the yeast too.

Since most Americans eat a lot of that kind of stuff, you understand why they’re feeding yeast with a shovel. All that converted sugar is like gasoline on a wildfire–and funnyman Larry the Cable Guy is now a spokesman for Prilosec OTC. Does that tell you anything?

The diet itself starts out with meat and veg for the first month–no dairy, no fruit, no starchy carbs of any kind. The next month you can add butter and some fruit. To be effective the diet must be done for 90 days with one of two sets of tools to get the yeast out of your system completely. Dr. Hotze’s cookbook explains everything in great detail, including the prescription method.

Method #1: prescriptions for 90 days of Hypo Nystatin-A, and Diflucan (fluconazole), taken for three weeks, about two or three weeks after the first prescription is started. Again, exact details are in the book, so get that if you’re interested in trying it. Both are free of side effects like making you talk funny and walking backwards, so you don’t have to worry about that.

Method #2: if you can’t get a doctor to prescribe the aforementioned items (and at one point, I couldn’t), there is an OTC preparation available from The Green Willow Tree. Formerly known as Syclovir, it’s now called Yeast Control. This is what I’ve ordered for this go-round of yeast-free. Relatively inexpensive, and despite the god-awful taste, it does work well.

Whichever method you choose, you will also need to get some Alka Seltzer Gold. Why? Nausea. Roll with it. This kills the nausea in its tracks. The nausea comes when the yeast cells burst, and they send their mycotoxins flooding into your system. This is normal, so don’t panic (like I did.) It sometimes happens fast, so be ready for it. If you can’t find it, try your local CVS, or you can order it via Amazon. Dr. Hotze also sells something called Neutra Tabs; I’ve never tried them, but I think they’re pretty much the same thing. Your choice.

How long does the nausea last? Depends on how bad the yeast is. Me, I’ve only had that happen for a few days and that was it. I completed the 90 days and was done with it. But there was that one day at work when I thought I wasn’t going to make it to the water fountain with the nausea cure quick enough.

WARNING: I once told a co-worker about yeast and the cure and he asked his son, a physician, more about it. The son told him that if they find yeast in the system, they automatically test for HIV. I’ve never been told I need that test, and since I’m not in that risk group, I didn’t face that issue. However, if you are told this, decline the HIV test and ask for just the candida test. If you are refused, find another doctor. I was told many years ago at Tulane by a social worker that if you are tested for HIV by your PCP, your insurance company will drop you faster than a hot rock–even if the test is negative. The belief is that if you are being tested, you are engaging in risky behaviors and need to be tested. Furthermore, while yeast can be an indicator of HIV, it more often exists on its own. DO NOT be led to believe that you “might have HIV if you have yeast.” They are two separate conditions, and one does NOT indicate the other. If you want to be tested, go elsewhere than your PCP.

You can always ask another doctor to do a test for candida. There are some places that do any medical test you want without a doctor’s order. I haven’t tried it, but that may also be an option if you want to investigate it and can’t get your doctor to help you.

That was your caveat.

I never really went back to dairy after I did yeast-free a few years ago. Once I discovered shelf-stable boxed almond milk and coconut oil, I just kept using them. Never had to worry about milk going bad, because it lasted a longer time. Only recently after reading Wheat Belly and seeing the dairy included did I start buying it again.

You see. . .I can haz cheezburger. Just no wheat. And no more of those delicious gluten-free cupcakes I had last week at Frost Bake Shoppe. Darnit. Well, I’m not going back to The Woodlands for a while, so I guess I’ll be OK.

Now, after enjoying my favorite dairy stuff again, I gotta give it up for a while. Oh, well, it was tasty while it lasted.

And if that’s not enough to freeze your peas, I read yesterday’s Wall Street Journal and see an ad for watches. Now, I’ve got a Seiko watch that I’ve had since 1992; I’ve replaced the watch band and countless batteries in it (until I got smart and bought a “forever battery” at Jared’s a few years ago) and it has served me well all these years. (This Pulsar model looks exactly like it!)

OK, Amy, why does a watch have to be in a food blog?

The watch in question is called a Parmigiani. Yes, like the cheese. It’s a Swiss company that makes this lovely watch, and darnit, their website is Parmigiana.ch! No .com? What does the .ch stand for–CHEESE?? They also have a Bugatti model, named after the sports car. I can deal with not having a Bugatti. But the Parmigiani name reminds that I can’t have cheese, darnit!

Some days, it’s all you can do to keep it together.

The Syclovir should be here in a few days, and once I get situated in my new work life, I’ll get on the yeast-free track again. It’s only for a little while, and once it’s gone, let’s see if we can keep it that way.

I have written about this before, and I bring it up in case someone else is suffering. And, because I can gripe a little about getting back this irritating problem.

Dunno what I did to my shoulder, but it hurts like the dickens. Don’t think even Dr. Hotze can help with this one, so I guess I gotta wait for it to heal.

GRRRRRR. . .but I never feel bad about having yeast free hot chocolate. Even in the summertime.

To your good health!

Cookbooks,Health & Wellness

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