Laserturkey's Blog

Things that were awesome today

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:59:59 GMT

My jeans were a little loose right out of the dryer
Trader Joe's had frozen leeks today
Got a K-cup storage drawer at Costco
Had lunch at our favorite little Chinese hole-in-the-wall
Supper turned out delicious-- LOVE manchego cheese!!
Walked nearly 3 miles at an even pace
School spirit wear sale was a huge success (more then $2000!)
They gave me 2 t-shirts for helping
Stonyfield Farms yogurt is delicious (and the cows are happy)
Diet Dr. Pepper, 'nuff said
Had a fun raid night with friends
zzzzzzzzzzzzz. . . .

What to bring to Easter dinner?

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:06:30 GMT

We've been invited to my cousin's big Easter feast and they asked me to bring a vegetable side dish. Here are the factors I am considering in deciding what to make:

They have salad planned already.

The main meal is some kind of roast.

There will be 2-3 vegetarians there, of which I am one.

There is a walnut allergy in the family and at least one person with a strong aversion to mushrooms.

There will be bread, both wheat and gluten-free varieties.

They are planning not to make a potato dish.

I'd love to come up with something adaptable for the crockpot, because then I have more flexibility in cooking time and it will stay warm nicely on the way there and until we eat. I also want to do something that expresses who I am and the food I like to cook. I could make some version of a green bean casserole or standard American sweet potatoes, but those aren't things I would normally make, so bleah. Recipes I am considering:

Corn with mustard seeds (easy Indian recipe, maybe too plain)

Sweet potatoes with ginger and spices (easy but might go mushy)

Butternut squash with green beans in coconut milk (only easy if Costco has pre-cubed squash in stock, colorful and exotic but not too alien for Midwestern taste buds)

Spinach with dal OR dal with spinach-- two different recipes that use spinach and lentils in varying proportions (LOVE these, easy, but I know not everyone adores spinach as I do, very flavorful Indian recipes that will definitely challenge people's palates)

Green peas in a spicy sauce made with green chilies and ginger, among other things-- another favorite of mine (fairly easy, but how will it go over with the family?)

Potatoes with spinach or fenugreek leaves (because srsly who has a big feast without potatoes? Children would likely HATE the fenugreek even more than spinach, but I love both of these.

Each of these dishes is vegan and free of any allergies I know of in the family, so everyone who wants some could partake. In fact, my dish and the salad will be the only things on that table that everyone there will be able to eat. Trying to decide which recipe (or recipes) to go with. I suppose I could make two things, like the corn and something else for more color.

I welcome your thoughts.

So far, so good

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:14:33 GMT

I'm not a writer and I'm just putting this down in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, so skip it if that sort of thing bugs you.

I've been extra careful not to eat any animal products for almost 3 days now, and in some ways it's been easier than I expected, but I've also had some struggles. And I really, really want a greasy, buttery, grilled cheese sandwich. :-/

I was concerned about lunch today, but needn't have worried; at Mi Ranchito they were perfectly happy to fix me veggie fajitas with no cheese or sour cream. They gave me an extra scoop of guacamole instead, I think.

I have been hungry all day for the last couple of days, too, but haven't changed my calorie allowance. The only difference has been avoiding dairy and eggs. I'll stick with it a few days longer, but it is really tough to come up with protein sources that are 1)vegan, 2)wheat-free, 3)low in sodium. I've eaten a lot of lentils, almonds and peanut brittle. I'm glad I don't track fat grams.

I tried a coconut milk yogurt from Trader Joe's and it was a really delicious pudding, but really low in protein, which is the main thing I eat yogurt for, so kind of a waste of calories.

I've been very deliberate in taking my supplements, including a multi-vitamin (with iron), magnesium, calcium, and B-12. I may add more iron as a separate supplement-- I've had severe anemia in the past, and I certainly don't want to go there again. I wonder, though, if avoiding dairy products will help with my iron absorption from other foods, so the jury is still out on that.

I'm not sure if I will be able to remain 100% vegan forever, but I do like knowing that animals are not suffering needlessly so I can eat. Now the only suffering is inflicted on the people who have to eat what I cook. :-D

China Garden, 135th and Antioch

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:07:28 GMT

Having walked past this little restaurant many times on our way home from the grocery store, my husband and I decided to give it a try for lunch today. It looked to us like a hole in the wall, but we took a chance to see if the food was good, and we are so glad we did! The restaurant is TINY and unimpressive, but there was a line of people ordering things, so we took that as a good sign. Then we looked at the carryout menu while we waited, and I was delighted to see they have a section called "Gluten Free Menu"! There are only 4 GF items on the menu, but they looked like they would be a step up from the plain steamed vegetables and rice I was planning on ordering. The GF dishes are all variations on steamed vegetables either alone or paired with a protein, with steamed white or brown rice, and white sauce on the side. Being vegetarian, I went with tofu. My husband ordered the lunch menu of chicken fried rice, which included a can of soda, an egg roll and egg drop soup. We each took a can of Diet Dr. Pepper from the cooler and sat down at one of the 4 tables in the restaurant. (Yes, 4 tables for 4 people each is all the dine-in space they have.)

The food arrived in a reasonable time frame-- first my husband's soup with those fried won ton wrapper noodles, then everything else a bit later. My plate had a very generous portion of steamed, cubed tofu topped with a variety of lightly-steamed vegetables. I was going to skip the white sauce entirely, but I dipped something in it just to try it out, and it was so incredibly delicious I ended up dipping each bite into it, and spooning some of it over my bowl of rice. This was truly one of the best meals I have had in an American-style Chinese restaurant. I ate about half of each thing and got containers in which to bring home my leftovers. My husband also needed a box for the remainder of his fried rice. He reported that everything he had was delicious, too. We took a carryout menu home with us for future use, and I am sitting here very much looking forward to my snack of leftovers later on. Our entire meal for two was $16 and change, and we had more food than we could eat in one sitting.

If you are in Overland Park, Kansas, I heartily recommend China Garden to you. It's tucked in next to the Hy-Vee at 135th and Antioch, next to a paint store and a liquor store. Their phone number for carryout and delivery is 913-685-8686.

Perfect "Refried" Pinto Beans

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:11:37 GMT

Put in a crockpot:

1 pound (454 grams) dry pinto beans that you have soaked for a few hours

1 piece of kombu (optional)

9 cups tap water

1 chopped onion

1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped OR 1 small can diced green chilies

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 or 2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 or 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Turn crockpot to HIGH heat setting and leave on for 8 hours. Stir occasionally, once the beans start to really soften up. You may need to add another cup of water, so do check them periodically.

Before serving, mash beans with a potato masher or use a stick blender, leaving some beans whole.

Snarf.

I am never going to buy canned refried beans again.

Valentine's Day Dinner at Abigail's in Rocheport, MO

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 01:49:48 GMT

Well, I did manage to end up with an impressive calorie surplus for today, if the database is at all to be trusted. A couple of items from dinner took considerable guesswork, so I have tried to aim high when logging, like usual. The menu at Abigail's changes daily, so you never know what you'll be getting until you arrive at your table and they bring around the white board. Here's what I ended up with:

Tomato basil soup-- this was a light, non-creamy version, very obviously fresh tomatoes

Bread and butter (have to get this wheat out of my system over the next couple of weeks-- I'll live)

House salad with strawberries, toasted almonds, cranberries, and some sort of fruity vinaigrette

Pumpkin ravioli with spinach, red onion, dried cherries, and goat cheese-- this was a reasonable serving size, not an obscene, Olive-Gardenesque mountain of food. The ravioli tasted pretty sweet so the goat cheese was an essential part of the dish. Without the cheese it would have been unbalanced, but with it, the flavor was creamy and delicious.

Toffee nut pie-- VERY sweet and rich. Was about 1/5 of maybe an 8-inch pie, not too tall. Had pecans and almonds for sure, and might also have included walnuts, but was hard to tell.

We did not have wine or coffee, and we didn't miss them at all.

Tomorrow morning is one more giant breakfast and then maybe more walking before we head home. I am looking forward to getting back on track, and I don't think I will have any trouble adjusting to my healthier calorie limits. This is kind of a fun eat-o-rama, but I'm glad it's only a couple of days a year.

Yates House B&B, Rocheport, MO-- Day One

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:28:52 GMT

Posting about the Yates House B&B in Rocheport, MO. This place is as near to Heaven as a body can get on Earth. We've just had a brilliant breakfast that should hold us well through lunch time. Dinner will be at 6:30 and I expect we will require only a light snack, at most, before then. Conrad and Dixie Yates are the innkeepers here, and Dixie is a truly amazing, intuitive cook. Here's what she gave us for breakfast today:

Fresh-brewed coffee

Choice of orange juice, V8, or green smoothie-- I went for the smoothie and it was lovely. Kale and beet and Lord knows what else, but delicious.

Fresh-made mango yogurt with bananas, strawberries, rasperries, and blueberries

Apricot-pecan muffins with apricot jam (I'm not normally into this sort of thing, but these were divine.)

I have uploaded a picture of the next plate to my profile. What you see there is:

Portabello mushroom stuffed with quinoa, yellow and orange peppers, caramelized onions and garlic (really brilliant)

Perfectly poached eggs-- soft yolks, but not runny (from the chickens out back)

Oven-roasted potatoes with black pepper and parmesan (so crispy and good!)

That was all on a bed of very lightly sauteed spinach.

Carnivorous hubby also got two very thick rashers of rustic, peppered bacon.

Natural Nurturers

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 16:40:34 GMT

Many people (myself included) seem to be born to nurture and give to others. For whatever reasons, we have grown up with a strong drive to nurture and care and give, give, give. We are the mothers who devote our every breath to caring for our children and making sure they are always safe, well fed, and loved. We take great joy in providing healthy, satisfying meals for our families and in choosing just the right gift for each special occasion. Making other people happy makes us happy.

Devoting one's life to the happiness and well-being of other people can be genuinely fulfilling, but even the most caring, loving, generous person in the world needs sometimes to be nurtured and cared for. I tend to try to shoulder my burdens quietly and on my own, and my coping skills are quite strong from a lifetime of stoic, Anglican self-reliance. Occasionally, though, I am stretched beyond my means and my fortress crumbles a bit. Suddenly, a relatively simple problem becomes more than I can bear. After I break down, I feel stupid for having fallen apart over something relatively minor. I feel as though I have failed in my role as Super Reliable Woman™.

The failure lies NOT in my inability to solve whatever the little problem was, however. The failure takes place long before that, when I neglect my own need for nurturance. What I ought to work on, it seems, is recognizing that need and advocating for myself long before I begin to feel distress. I deserve to have my needs met every bit as much as my children, my husband, and my elderly father deserve. I don't have to say, "Yes" to every request for my time and resources. I don't have to feel bad about sometimes making a dinner I love even though I know my son will hate it. I don't have to make everyone happy, all the time. I don't even have to find the perfect Valentine card amongst the truly schlocky, lame ones the card companies want us to want. What I do have to do is give myself a frigging break from time to time, to ease up on the pressures I place on myself, and to learn that it is okay to expect and request nurturance from others once in awhile.

Chai Masala

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 01:15:34 GMT

Love to drink chai but hate handing your paycheck over to Starbucks every week? Mix up some of this and keep it on hand in an airtight container. Spoon a little into your hot tea, add some milk and your sweetener of choice (or skip the sweetener entirely), and enjoy!

2 t. ground black pepper

2 t. ground cinnamon

2 t. ground cloves

2 1/2 t. ground cardamom

4 t. ground ginger

Yum, yum!!

My Indian Enchilada Experiment

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:38:33 GMT

Inspired by the paneer and the corn tortillas I had on hand, I merged an Indian potato recipe with some basic enchilada elements to come up with something pretty tasty. I'm sure I'll tinker with this idea in the future, so this is by no means a final version. Anyhow, here's what I did:

I used a container of shredded potatoes that I think had 6 "servings" in it, so about 360 calories of potatoes. To that, I added:

1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon asafetida*

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

20 fresh curry leaves*, cut in ribbons

1 small can diced green chilies

2 teaspoons dried cilantro

I mixed those ingredients together well and let them sit in the fridge until it was time to assemble the enchiladas.

I made a sauce using 4 T. red chile powder* (NOT chili powder!-- ground red chilies), 4 cups of water, 2 T. butter, 1 T. minced garlic, and 1/4 c. sorghum flour. I started by making a roux of the flour and butter and browning that a little, then whisking in the other ingredients gradually and stirring as it cooked and thickened. (This made perhaps twice as much sauce as I actually needed. Next time I will either plan on more enchiladas, or freeze some of the sauce for another time.)

In addition to the potato mixture, I had 8 oz. paneer in cubes, which I divided evenly and added to the enchiladas as I assembled them.

To assemble, dip a corn tortilla in the sauce and lay it out flat. Put filling ingredients in middle and roll up, placing in baking dish with the overlapping edges down. Continue until you are out of ingredients. I ended up with 10 large enchiladas and I sprinkled the odd remainder of potato stuff over the top of the enchiladas in the pan.

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit and bake +/- 30 minutes. . . mine are still baking, so can't give you a precise time.

Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt, if you wish.

*These ingredients will be well worth a trip to the nearest Indian grocer.

If the sauce is too spicy for you, you can sub in paprika for some of the red chile powder.