Taco Salad

After spending a day tiling the kitchen, Abbey and I didn't have much energy for anything elaborate for dinner. We had a pretty successful recent taco night (a kid favorite), so there were Mexican-y leftovers in the fridge. In just a few minutes I whipped together a tasty taco salad. Here's what I did:

-toasted taco shells on the frypan. Just a couple minutes per side with the pan on 325 F.

-meanwhile, I rinsed, drained, and chunked up half a head of iceberg lettuce.

-warmed up some leftover refried beans in the microwave

-sliced up a couple of tomatoes from the garden, plus half a cucumber

-I mixed the veggies with the lettuce and heaped it on top of some taco shells, broken into pieces

-doused that in salsa verde (and in my case, both salsa rojo AND salsa verde)

-topped that with shredded cheddar, a scoop of beans, a spoonful of premade roast red pepper strips, slices of fresh avocado, and dollop of greek yogurt.

voila!

It's not a diet... it's not a diet...

Might as well say it plainly: I am overweight.

I haven't measured my BMI or anything, but I feel physically uncomfortable in various ways every day, and I've gone all pear shaped.

I've been fighting this for years- just about when it was supposed to become a struggle for me, it did. I didn't watch my weight in my thirties, and I slid into my forties too heavy. Subsequent efforts to lose the extra flab have had no effect. Granted, I haven't really stuck to anything, and therein lies the rub: most of us drop our plan to get healthier when there's no sign of improvement after only a short period of time. This is why the experts suggest lifestyle changes, not some sort of behavior that is radically different than standard operating procedure- like adopting a weird diet.

A recent study (granted, there is probably another study that contradicts it) reveals animal protein to be a major indicator in the development of cancer. Not good, even if it's a case of correlation rather than causation. Correlation could just mean some aspect of the meat-eating lifestyle increases the risk- still something to consider. Plus, there is the fact that one in two Americans will have a problem with cancer or heart disease. The connection between saturated fat and heart problems is well documented.

Let's add the following risk factors: I'm mostly sedentary (office drone). I'm 45. and my dad had double bypass surgery in his fifties.

A plant-based diet can reverse weight problems and atherosclerosis. A plant-based diet is easier on the environment. A plant-based diet circumvents the feedlot industry, which is creating an environmental disaster with its toxic runoff and treats its animals horribly.

At bare minimum, we should be seeking humane as possible sources of meat- but that isn't always available. I wrestle with the issue of whether it is right or wrong to eat meat at all, under any circumstances. But every time my inner voice says it's wrong to kill animals for food, another inner voice reminds me this is something humans have been doing since before we moved into caves. It's hard to definitively call it "right" or "wrong" in this context. Some have argued that, since humans have enough ability and intelligence to eat something else exclusively, we have a moral obligation to do so. Again, I'm not sure if I am swayed by this argument.

While I decide what I believe about the ethical implications of eating meat, I've decided the heath benefits are undeniable. So I'm going to try to work as many fruits and vegetables in my diet as possible. I'm not going to give up meat (yet?).  I am already a flexitarian,  just not as strict with myself as I need to be.  If I did move on to vegetarianism, it would be of the lacto-ovo variety- in fact, I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian once for almost ten years.   Cheese and eggs are both good sources of calcium and protein (and fat, yes; all things in moderation). Right now, this is more about deciding to try something that I will most likely stick to. I liked being a vegetarian. I may do it again.

So tonight, my wonderfully supporting wife and I had an old favorite- eggs poached on a bed of wilted baby spinach. Situated some crusty toast under each egg along with the spinach that had melded with the egg. For added veggie fun, we diced and sauteed red peppers in olive oil, tossed with basil and sprinkled it on the eggs. Absolutely delicious!

Better than Bertolli

Here is your dilemma: You have no oven and two adults with adult tastes to feed. All you have is an electric skillet, toaster and microwave at hand. Kids can be satisfied by pretty simple fare. While adults can too, sometimes adults want something different. Something with complexity. When we first disconnected the oven, we were unsure what exactly our capabilities would be. A lack of confidence led me to the frozen entree section of the local supermarket. There are some interesting temptations there nowadays: pasta with mature ingredients such as roasted vegetables and asparagus;  sophisticated twists on old standbys like garlic mashed potatoes and pre-seasoned green beans; throw-in-the-pan-and-simmer entrees with ingredient-intensive codenames:  Bolognese, for instance, and Pomodoro.

Though some of these dishes meet or exceed my expectations (which, for frozen versions of grown-up food, are generally pretty low), the nutrition information is generally dismaying, especially when it comes to sugar and salt. When a food on its own lacks distinctive flavors it its own, makers of processed foods add these two agents to stand in place of what ought to be just good flavor. When we faced our oven-less challenges, it was tempting to just call it a day and give in to the sodium pushers since anything involving more than one pot gets complicated quickly when there is only one. But we persevered; we love natural flavors (who doesn't?) and now have a bounty of tomatoes and fresh herbs to utilize. Now that we have logged many hours pushing our electric skillet to the max, we have a pretty bulletproof method for preparing one pot meals with a minimum of fuss and maximum flavor enjoyment. Take, for instance, last night's dinner, store-bought "fresh" fettuccini (pretty good stuff, really) tossed with shrimp, fresh tomatoes, herbs and cream.

Abbey is fully responsible for this inspiration, and it is fabulous. We boiled the shrimp for a few minutes in the pot, dumped it out and drained it, then got to peeling it while the pasta cooked in the pan. (next time we are going to try both together for the sake of water economy and to increase the shrimpy goodness.) The pasta was drained and put back in a dry pan with a mix of garden-fresh plum and grape tomatoes, halved, and 3/4 cup of heavy cream. as the tomatoes softened, the cream thickened. Then we tossed in some frozen peas. But the real genius of this dish was Abbey's simple mix of tarragon and shredded basil, both from the garden. The mix of the spicy basil and anise-y tarragon was a totally new sensation to me, and I plan to mix those together in something again,very soon. in the end we added a small amount of salt and cracked pepper and some shaved parmagiano. It was much more interesting than any one-pot frozen pasta dish, and much healthier, since we controlled the sodium content. It's a win-win.

What to do with Butternut Squash- take 1

I planted a couple of butternut squash plants in the backyard this year. As the summer has generally been on the wet side, plantlife has been flourishing, the squash plants being no exception. They are marvels of botanical engineering. Long shoots travel what seems like multiple feet in a day. upwind from the plants, on a small hill above them, is a plot of tomatoes. The squash fought their way uphill, and I have been fighting tooth and nail to keep them out of the tomatoes all summer. Prodigious, in foliage as well as fruit, yielding four very satisfying squash with several more near maturity.

Well, what do you do with butternut squash, especially when you are oven-challenged? In terms of flavor, a butternut is both savory and sweet. I've always marveled that, along with the pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato, there are four beta-kerotene rich vegetables that seem equally suited for both ends of the sweet-savory spectrum. This time, we've made soup. Abbey slow-cooked a cubed squash with vegetable broth and a liberal dose of chili-garlic sauce, a condiment found in most asian markets. She didn't go in an Asian direction with it, however. After the mixture was nearly cooked, she finished the job in the ever-wondrous electric skillet, adding fresh garlic, and rosemary and thyme from the herb garden, cooking on medium until the squash was fully tender. At that point she mashed it until smooth, then added a splash of olive oil in the bowl. The resulting mix of fresh herbs and the heat of the chili and garlic was intoxicatingly spicy and deeply satisfying.

I got hurt fingers

Abbey thought the sight of my four bandaged fingers from our camping assault this weekend (the tip of my left index finger, too- which sucks, because it's one of my main hunt-and-peck fingers) was so absurd, I ought to blog about it. So, here it is. Now the world can share in the fun.

Pancakes

Oh magic electric skillet, is there anything you can't do?

Pancakes are a great opportunity to get some healthy grains down your kids' gullets. Most normal pancake recipes call for white flour; I substitute whole grain oat flour 1:1. Of all the whole grain flours I have tried, it's the most palatable substitute for white flour. Granted, one kid did comment "these taste like oatmeal" before devouring his pile. Otherwise, no one has really noticed.

I find oat flour works best with a buttermilk-based batter. I also would like to dispel some myths that are propagated via some recipes, and to draw attention to a flub of my own of which Abbey had to break me, finally. Firstly, when you make a buttermilk pancake batter, it's not good to wait until the last possible minute to combine the wet and dry ingredients until the last minute. The alkaline baking soda combines with the acid buttermilk to form pockets of air, giving it a light, fluffy texture.

But it is possible to overwork, and the worst thing of all is to mix ingredients lightly, then discover pockets of unblended dry ingredients, then try to smooth it out with whisk or fork- that takes all of your hard earned air bubbles right out. Thanks for helping me discover this, Abbey, and I'm not going to make this mistake again!

So, the pancakes were actually pretty easy to make in this plain steel skillet. A little butter helps them brown and keep from sticking. While Abbey made the pancakes, I took the breakfast sausage links to the gas grill. I fired it up, sprayed the top half of a standard broiler pan (one comes with every oven, practically) with olive oil and let it get up to temp, then let the sausages rest in the slits. every minute or so I turned them five-ish degrees. Abbey doesn't like breakfast sausage much, and she said this was the best she's ever eaten. Even with the applicances back in place I may have to make sausage on the grill a weekend ritual.

What do you do with leftover pancakes? This is my current idea- break into similar pieces and layer in a desert dish with warm strawberry jam and whipped cream!

Backyard campout

Live from the campground- in our case, the back yard. just had a fine dinner of roasted Hebrew Nationals, mac and cheese, heirloom watermelon and ice-cold Pilsner-Urquell (Red Bicyclette Rose in Abbey's case). Tiki torches with citronella fuel- de rigeur on campouts here in the deciduous heartland- round out the atmosphere. Dusk approaches; it's time to brush teeth, snuggle up and tell ghost stories.

In Praise of Electric Skillets

Thanks to Lowe's inept flooring department, we are heading into week four of our kitchen reflooring saga. We selected our tile (Armstrong Excelon) and placed our order. Assured it would arrive in the middle of the following week, we spent the better part of three days ripping the existing layers of flooring out of our kitchen- four layers of linoleum. The eldest layer was rather handsome, a mid-century pattern with stars and gold flecks. The three most recent, including what was in evidence when we moved in, were ugly as sin.

The week came and went, and we were informed there would be a delay. Fine. When it did come in, we took the two boxes home and only found when they were opened that they ordered the wrong color. So, I hauled it back in and reordered. That is where things stand, four weeks later.

All of the kitchen appliances were moved into the dining room. As we have an electric oven with a 220 plug, it's out of commission. We're making due with a crock pot, toaster, microwave and a vintage electric skillet. The skillet has performed admirably; we've used it practically every day this month, and for the most amazing things: boiling corn and pasta, poaching eggs, frying falafel, browning roasts, popping popcorn(!), and perhaps its most successful and most appropriate use, serving as a hotpot for Sukiyaki.

This morning, I've fried a rasher of bacon, and near the end, fried eggs sunny side up in the grease. Not exactly health food, but incredibly satisfying! Even if I did break some of the yolks.

Happy Apples

I've been in an autumn mood lately, thanks to freakish spells of refreshing coolness, something which is not a staple of late summer in Missouri. July and August both entered the rolls this year as some of the coolest on record. The AC has been off for over a week now! My thoughts have been turning to crisp mornings, fresh apple cider, church picnics and quilt auctions, pumpkin pie, red maple leaves, dark ale and Oktoberfest. Man. Autumn in Missouri can be wonderful.

Speaking of apple products, you know September is here, or near, when Happy Apples begin appearing in local grocery stores. I'm not sure what the exact origin of the bag is, but it's clearly marked "Missouri Apples" and makes its appearance at about the right time, so I assume it's the real deal. Plus, they are fresh and crisp, and look an awful lot like the snappy little Galas you can get direct from the source around here at such area fixtures as Huffstutter Orchards. And I've got my eye on an orchard in Centertown, only fifteen minutes from my location, called Millard's Apple Farm. Wherever we go, I'll be sure to post some pics.

From the Grill- Bratwurst

Brats on the grill, freshly made the same day at Weber Meat Market- yum!