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January 28, 2008
doldrums
I seem to be in a holding pattern right now. A bit of the January doldrums.
This morning, I went to make myself a blended salad, which usually looks like a smoothie from the raspberries and strawberries in it. But I forgot, conveniently, that I am not supposed to be eating any seeds, which raspberries and strawberries have in spades. So I think I pulled the majority of them out, but who knows?
Anyways, the result was that my blended salad was light green in color—not something I want to take out in public with me. I need to find some way to color and flavor these now that I can't eat berries temporarily. I wonder how wildly expensive berry juices are?
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My sweetie is losing a lot of weight, and lately, his blood sugar has been in the ideal range. This is exciting stuff. I've been seeing other signs of him being in better health as well.
Me, if I'm losing, it's going very very slowly. Very not dramatic. But I'm interested in trying to improve my own health as well.
I'm eating almost vegan at home. The almost is the occasional package of ramen and putting butter blend on my slices of homemade bread. I'm still eating a couple meals out a week, and eating whatever I want when I do.
I've been wearing the pedometer religiously, but not so good about getting 10,000 steps in a day. Today I will make it. I will! Yesterday I danced while washing dishes and baking bread but I still came in with a lousy step count. Grumble.
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The biggest news in my kitchen has been baking almost no-knead bread. The hype is true -- it's easy, and it's tasty.
I've been using the Cooks Illustrated recipe, which includes some vinegar and beer for flavor. I started with the all-white flour loaf, which was really a bread I'd be happy to buy. Yesterday, I made the whole wheat loaf, which was even better.
The way this stuff works is:
one, dump all your ingredients in a bowl. Stir with a spatula to combine. This may take all of five minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 8-18 hours.
two, roll your sticky dough out onto a floured surface and give it about 10 to 15 kneads. Plop it on a sprayed sheet of parchment and let sit for 2 hours.
three, about an hour and a half later, put your dutch oven and lid in the oven and let it heat up at 500 degrees.
four, when it's time to bake the bread, just transfer the dough on parchment to the dutch oven, leaving the parchment beneath. If you like something on the crust, add it now, and take a sharp knife and cut the dough's top. Now, put on the lid and let bake at 425 for a half hour.
five, take off the lid, put in the temp probe, and give it 15-20 more minutes, until the outside of the bread is a deep brown, and the inside is 210 degrees. Let the bread cool on a rack, and leave the house for 2 hours.
six, come back and enjoy. Your house will smell good and everything tastes better with with fresh bread.
I have never been able to bake bread outside of a bread machine, so having made two perfect loaves in two weeks just makes me feel like I've worked some kind of magic.
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January 18, 2008
Stairway to Heaven
My cow-orkers called the route, the Stairway to Heaven. They weren't just a kidding. It didn't end up being a long walk, clocking in under 3 miles, but it was one of the hardest walks I've done recently (and an example of all the conditioning I've lost).
We moseyed through downtown and the PSU campus to 12th & College, climbing the first hill over the freeway. There at 12th & College is a public staircase, one of many in Portland. A couple of guys in much better shape than us mentioned that it had 179 steps. Luckily for us, there were landings perhaps every 50 steps or so.
The staircase was so step that I couldn't look down towards the city from the landings -- and I'm not usually scared of heights.
It was a great walk. Once we were up the stairs, we were on Cardinell, and we walked back down the hill and back into the city. Just like that.
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January 11, 2008
A simple lentil soup
epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/11827
4 small yukon gold potatoes
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1/4 medium onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound lentilles du Puy (French green lentils), picked over and rinsed (about 2 cups)
8 cups weak veggie broth
Peel potatoes and cut into 1/4-inch dice. In a 5- to 6-quart heavy kettle cook potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, and onion in butter over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 4 minutes. Add lentils, broth, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and soup is thickened. Serve soup garnished with parsley.
I was really pleased with how this turned out. It's very basic, mid-western if you will, but really yummy.
This week has been a mixed bag exercise-wise. I've worn the pedometer every day and only made it to about 8200 steps each day. 'Course, I haven't calibrated the pedometer, but to me that's now the point.
I did ride my bike one day. Riding into work was glorious. Riding home was a chore. I need to figure out what tools I need to adjust the seat and handlebars.
I went to the Portland Knitters Guild meeting last night. Great group. I'm looking forward to going back.
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January 7, 2008
On grocery shopping and snowstorms
We just got back from a run to TJ's to pick up some vegan junk food. It would be really good to be eating homecooked food right now, but I spent a chunk of the weekend hanging with my college best friend and her boyfriend, and so soup was not made. But we did get a bunch of different things, some fruit, some brown rice, and some whole grain bread at the store, and we should be okay for the week at least.
There is something just delightful about buying food that's good for you. It's so damn virtuous. Of course, it would be more virtuous if I had a pot of bean soup on the stove right now, but one battle at a time.
I ordered two new pedometers for myself and my sweetie -- those arrived today. Tomorrow, our giant copy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food (2000 recipes!) and Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugs. Our ducks are getting ready to line up.
Yesterday I went out with K & R to the Oregon Coast. It was a typical winter day, ie, grey, rainy, icky. We got all soaked through, and then drove to Seaside and did it again. By the time we hit the road to come back to town, the rain had turned to snow, and the mountains passes became icky, and then, near Elsie, all traffic ground to a complete and total stop. And stayed at a stop for well over an hour.
The snow was gorgeous, outlining the tiny limbs on the giant trees, but boy it was making a mess of the roads.
We made it back to town without incident, but not without noticing that all of the vehicles that had spun out and spun off the road were 4 by 4s.
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January 5, 2008
Recipe: Hearty Tomato Soup
We are again eating vegan at home. This time, a modified ETL/Furman -- with moderate, reasonable amounts of salt, sugar, fats and starch.
Tonight, we had a soup based on a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis,
Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon and Rosemary
When I was ETLing, I really hated tomatoes, and I know why now. One, I was eating them unsalted, and well, they're sweeter with a little salt. Also, they do need some sugar, and carrots work great for that.
I haven't made a lot of changes to the version we made beyond veganizing (olive oil rather than butter, veg broth rather than chicken, and ix nay on the creme fraiche) and pureeing the onion and 1.5 of the carrots.
We both liked the soup a lot but I think it could be improved by adding more garlic and more beans (what isn't improved by more garlic or beans, I ask you), and I think garnishing the soup with a smidge of lemon olive oil might be nice.
Hearty Tomato Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, pureed
2 carrots, most pureed, the rest sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white) beans, drained and rinsed
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 cups veggie broth
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, plus 1 teaspoon, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Zest of one lemon, mincedIn a large soup pot, melt the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon rosemary, and red pepper flakes. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, covered. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and dollop each bowl with the minced lemon zest and rosemary. Serve immediately.
I'm going to doctor the leftovers up, and I'll report back here on what worked (and didn't).
Happy New Years!
POSTSCRIPT
On reheating, we added another 15oz can of cannellini... and on serving, I added a couple drops of Lemon-Olive Oil. The result was like a cannellini stew, and I love the splash of brightness the lemon oil gives. I give this a big thumbs up.
