Chicken in Black Bean Sauce

Introduction

This dish gets nearly all its flavor from the sauce. When cooking bland ingredients such as boneless and skinless white meat chicken as we do here, I prefer to use a pungent sauce such as black bean sauce. Same goes for tofu.

The organic chicken tenders are simply cuts of chicken breast, which I used to concoct this recipe. Feel free to use any finger-sized pieces of chicken.

Salt is not required for this dish. The black bean sauce provides enough.

The poblano provides a bit of spicy "zing." If you use an ordinary green pepper, add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Feel free to add more spice.

Broccoli is a great addition to this dish. The florets soak up the liquid and act like "flavor sponges." If using broccoli, add it with the onions and peppers. Feel free to add liquid if the pan seems dry. Bok choy is another addition to consider, but it cooks quickly so add it with the mushrooms.

Turmeric contains curcumin, a powerful anti-inflammatory compound. It also will stain your cutting board, knife, fingers, etc. I use Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to clean my knife.

Black pepper enhances the absorption of curcumin. Pre-ground black pepper can harbor mold; using fresh cracked pepper avoids this toxin.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup EVOO Light
• 1.6 lb organic chicken tenders
• 1 onion
• 1 turmeric piece, finger-sized
• 1 poblano (or green bell pepper and pinch of cayenne pepper)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 cup mushrooms (such as Woodstock frozen)
• 1/4 tsp ground black peppercorns
• 1 Tbsp black bean sauce

Steps

• Pre-heat large cast iron skillet to medium high
• Peel onion, turmeric, garlic
• Dice onion, red pepper (and poblano) to 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch in size
• Finely chop turmeric and garlic
• Set garlic aside
• Coat skillet with EVOO then add the diced / chopped ingredients, except for the garlic
• Saute for about five minutes or until onions start to be translucent
• Push vegetables to edge of pan
• Add more oil and then add chicken to the center of the pan; separate into "fingers"
• Brown chicken on both sides for about two minutes each side
• Add garlic on top of chicken
• Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for about ten minutes
• Add mushrooms
• Mix pan ingredients gently, ensuring any raw portion of chicken gets contact with the pan
• Add black pepper and black bean sauce
• Mix pan ingredients again, cutting "fingers" into bite-size pieces, checking for doneness
• Turn off stove, allow juices to soak into chicken as it cools

Chile con Carne

Introduction

This chili recipe is meant to make a hearty (heavy) dish. Hence we do not drain the fat. And like most chilies, stews and soups, it tastes better the next day -- the zing from the tomato mellows.

Turmeric contains curcumin, a powerful anti-inflammatory,¹ so I use it in every savory recipe that involves frying. Turmeric also will stain your cutting board, knife, fingers, etc. I use Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to clean my knife.

Black pepper enhances the absorption of curcumin.² But pre-ground black pepper can harbor mold; use fresh cracked pepper to avoid this toxin. Likewise, I use fresh chili powders, or I omit chili powder altogether and rely on the chiles themselves for flavor.

I prefer low salt (or no salt ingredients). But if you don't have no salt diced tomatoes, just use what you have and cut back on the added salt.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, yellow or sweet
• 1 Pinky-size piece of turmeric root (optional)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 Poblano chile or 1 can green chiles
• 4 - 5 cloves garlic
• 1 lb. ground beef, 80% or 85% lean
• 1 can (14 to 16 oz.) diced tomatoes (no salt, if possible)
• 1 can (14 to 16 oz.) beans (black or pinto) and liquid
• 2 to 4 oz. EVOO (for frying in large pan)
• 1 tsp or more of chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black peppercorns

Steps

• pre-heat large cast iron skillet to medium high
• Peel onion, turmeric, garlic
• Dice onion, red pepper (and pablano) to 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch in size
• Finely chop turmeric and garlic
• Set garlic aside
• Coat skillet with EVOO then add the diced / chopped ingredients, except for the garlic
• Saute for about five minutes or until onions start to be translucent
• Push vegetables to edge of pan
• Add meat to the center of the pan and break into marble-sized clumps
• Brown the meat, then incorporate garlic for about a minute
• Add diced tomatoes and beans
• Saute in order to thicken sauce, about 10 minutes
• Add salt, black pepper, chili powder. Adjust to taste
• Serve hot, topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream, avocado, etc

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¹ https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/expert-qa/turmeric-benefits
² https://www.globalsavors.com/blog/spices/black-pepper/how-much-black-pepper-to-take-with-curcumin

2026-06-24 Updated to add "Set garlic aside"

Zoodles Parmigiana

Most of my easy meals can be made in a single pan on the stove top. This Zoodles Parmigiana is one example.

So what exactly are Zoodles? Zoodles are a pile of zucchini strands, where each strand resembles a piece of spaghetti. Imagine what you’d end up with if you could push a zucchini through a pasta maker.

While you can buy pre-made Zoodles, I strongly recommend not doing so because they’ll rot quickly. Instead make them with a spiralizer¹ as shown in the first three images below. An organic zucchini can last a couple of weeks in the vegetable bin of your refrigerator; spiralizing takes only about a minute.

Once you have a pile of Zoodles, cut them up a bit because they can be ridiculously long. Then drop them into an oiled pan at medium-low heat and move them around for a minute or two as shown in the fourth image. Just take out the chill. Then add your favorite tomato sauce² and slices of mozzarella cheese (images 5 & 6). Cover the pan and turn off the heat. Allow the sauce to warm and the cheese to get gooey. Distract yourself by cleaning up the counter, stowing the tomato sauce and cheese back into the refrigerator, loading the cooking utensils into the dishwasher, and setting the table. By the time all that’s done, you can start enjoying your meal.

This is the bare minimum version. But what I like to do is first fry up some onions, red pepper and garlic to “stabilize the pan.” (Remember to add the garlic after sizzle mellows out so that it doesn’t turn bitter.) Then I add the Zoodles, sauce and cheese.

And really, all this is is an excuse to combine tomato sauce with mozzarella cheese, which is what makes pizza so great. And it’s combined with another favorite, spaghetti. This gives you near perfection.

You can make this with real spaghetti if you prefer. But then you’d have the extra step of bringing water to a boil and cooking it, which can add another 15 minutes to the prep time. And personally, I’d rather stay away from carbs, and incorporate more vegetable into my diet. Substituting Zoodles for spaghetti accomplishes both.

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¹ The spiralizer shown in the first two photos is “Veggetti Veggie Slicer” https://www.walmart.com/ip/Veggetti-Spiralizer-Spiral-Vegetable-Cutter-Vegetable-Noodle-Maker-as-Seen-On-TV-White-Plastic/43174708

² I like many bottled tomato sauces. I look for clean and premium ingredients, such as San Marzano tomatoes and olive oil. I avoid anything with sugar or vegetable oil, meat or cheese. Some brands I like are Silver Palate (especially the version with Basil), Mutti and even Newman’s Own. Bottles can be stockpiled for a couple of years. I buy it whenever it’s on sale.

Joyfully Almond Coffee Indulgence

My latest indulgence is Joyfully Almond Coffee.  This came about because I noticed that the bottle of almond extract expired quite a while ago.  Expiration dates don’t matter much to me. However, I live with someone who will look askance at a product with an expiration date of the current day.  Even if I explain that the extract contains alcohol, ¹ which acts as a preservative, it would be thrown out.

Anyway, here’s how I make the Joyfully Almond Coffee Indulgence.  I simply add a splash of the extract to a mug of coffee along with half-and-half (or cream) and three teaspoons (1 tablespoon) of sugar.  Before getting riled up about the carbs, consider that the sugar adds only 12 grams of carbohydrate, while the half-and-half adds only 1 gram (per two tablespoons). ²

Give it a try and let me know if you like it!

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¹ https://www.mccormick.com/products/mccormick-pure-almond-extract-2-fl-oz

² https://fullcirclemarketbrand.com/product/full-circle-market-organic-half-half-32-fl-oz/#sirv-viewer-185084835664

Loaded Baked Potato

One easy meal I’d like to introduce to you is the Loaded Baked Potato.  It’s based on the Russet Potato.

The advantage to potatoes is that they can be stored for weeks in a cool, dry, dark location.  Even after they’re baked, they can be kept in the refrigerator for at least one week.

The disadvantage is that some prep work is required to benefit from them.  The prep involves 15 minutes of washing and 60 minutes baking time in a conventional oven^{1, 2}.

I set the oven to preheat at 425°F (215°C) and then I wash them.  I use water, dish soap and a nylon brush to scrub the potatoes clean.  That way I can eat the skins knowing I did all I could to eliminate the crud.

After cleaning I pat them slightly dry, and then I use a sharp knife to make a single, lengthwise cut in the middle.  The cut needn’t be deep.  You could even call it a score mark.

Once the oven has fully preheated, I place the potatoes, unwrapped, directly on the rack.  They won’t ooze like sweet potatoes; they’ll stay dry and the skins will be crispy.  I’ll let them bake un-monitored for about 30 minutes before I put eyes on them again.  In that amount of time I can do some other food prep work, such as mince add-ons for a frozen pizza.

At the 30 minute mark, I’ll rotate just to ensure they bake evenly.  There’s no such thing as a perfectly uniform temperature distribution in an oven.  By rotating them, I trick myself into believing they’ll be cooked more uniformly than if I left them along.

If you choose not to rotate them, it’s a good idea to at least take a good look at them to ensure that the skin isn’t darkening.  That would mean the skin is starting to burn.

The potatoes are done if you can stick a sharp knife into them with only a little effort.

But the baking is only the beginning.  The real artistry is adding the toppings.

I’ll add toppings only to the potato I plan to eat right away.  The others will be allowed to cool and get stored in the refrigerator.  My favorite toppings are:

• butter
• cheese (cheddar mostly)
• sour cream
• salsa
• avocado

I start by folding the two halves open along the score line like a book.  Then I make deep cuts in the flesh lengthwise, crosswise, and diagonally and place two pats of butter on each half. (PIC 1)  If the potato is fresh out of the oven, the butter will melt and sink into the score lines.  But if it’s been stored in the fridge, I’ll heat mine in the microwave oven on medium for about 3:30 minutes.

Then I put slices of cheese on each half.  I use cheddar usually.  But I’ve just taken a liking to asiago cheese, which would work for me, too.  Then it goes back into the oven.  If using a microwave, go for another 2:30 on medium; if fresh out of oven, put it back in, letting the residual heat melt the cheese.  Of course you’ll need to make sure it’s on a sturdy oven-safe dish. (PIC 2)

After the cheese has melted, I like to sprinkle on some Adobo seasoning and perhaps Ancho Chili powder.  Then I add two hearty dollops of sour cream on each half (PIC 3), followed by salsa and then avocado. (PIC 4 & 5)

Cheddar cheese and sour cream have expiration dates, and they’ll spoil within a couple of weeks after opening even if stored in the fridge.  And avocados are notorious for transforming from rock hard bitter lumps to soft squishy off-tasting alien slime almost overnight in warm weather.  So omit that or try pre-made guacamole instead, which will turn brown on the surface even if refrigerated.

I show the progression of my latest topping effort.  Note that I goofed on the order of it.  I like to put the salsa directly on the sour cream.  This accentuates the juxtaposition of the heat from the salsa against the cooling sensation of the sour cream.  The photo progression shows avocado between the sour cream and salsa.  As well, note I use only half an avocado for the two halves of the potato as shown in the fourth frame.

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¹ I bake four potatoes at a time.  The nearly four minutes I allot to wash each potato is very generous, but it also includes other set-up activity.

² A single potato can be cooked in a microwave oven.  This cuts down significantly on time and energy.  But I usually I have the oven on to cook other foods.

New Feature – Easy Meal Recipes

My ideal meal is one that

• tastes great
• provides abundant nutrients
• can be prepared in no time
• requires no fancy equipment
• costs nothing

As well, the meal’s ingredients would last for decades without spoiling.  Alas, no such meal exists.  But lately I’ve been focused on reducing the prep time of my delicious, low-cost, easy-to-make, nutritious meals, and I’d like to share with you.

Notice that I didn’t claim that my meals would be “healthy.”  I’m not a researcher in this area, and ideas about what’s healthy and what’s not healthy vary over time or by consumer.

For example, there was a time when all fats were bad, or all saturated fats were bad, so folks thought margarine was healthier than butter.  But now we’re advised to avoid trans-fats and consume good fats. Grains form the base of that dreaded food pyramid; I gain weight from them (and rice constipates me), so I avoid them.

Expect to see recipes or advice on how to overcome obstacles to home cooking.  The idea is to adapt them to your liking, adding and omitting to suit your lifestyle.

As well, if you have a favorite recipe, please share it.

Thanksgiving 2025

I shared my recipe for turkey thighs back in 2023. ¹   I made that again today, but this time I took photos as I layered the ingredients.

I loaded the vegetables into the oiled pan in this order:

Brussels sprouts, sliced four times
Garlic, sliced four times
Turmeric root, sliced very thinly
(PIC1)

Parsnips, Cut into less than 0.5" (1cm) cubes
Carrots, Cut into less than 0.75" (1.5cm) cubes
Dashes of dried herbs: Thyme, Italian mix
(PIC2)

Red Beets, half rounds, sliced 0.25" (0.5cm) thick
Golden Beets, half rounds, a bit thinner than the red beets (They seemed a bit denser than their red counter parts.)
(PIC3)

Onion sectioned longitudinally
Half a Small Butternut squash, peeled, cut lengthwise into 8 pieces
Sprigs of fresh herbs (Thyme, Rosemary, Lavender)
(PIC4)

Last, but certainly not least, the two turkey thighs, patted dry with the skin sides rolled in a plate of salt and fresh-cracked pepper, skin side up.
(PIC5)

Set into an oven that's been pre-heated to 375°F (190°C).  Your kitchen will start to smell wonderful in just five minutes.

Meanwhile, take the vegetable trimmings out to the compost, or take out the garbage and perhaps stroll through the woods looking for mushrooms.  When you get indoors after about 15 minutes, you'll really enjoy the aroma.

After about 55 minutes, test each thigh with a meat thermometer.  The overall cooking time should be 60 to 65 minutes, so when you first test it, it might be at 145°F (63°C).  If so, leave it in for about ten more minutes.  Remove from the oven when the temperature reaches 165°F (74°C), and tent it with aluminum foil (shiny side down) for about twenty minutes.

Last night I mashed two small rutabagas (after peeling, cutting into cubes and boiling in salt water).  So while I let the turkey rest, I cleaned up a bit and then I reheated the mashed rutabagas.  I served all of this about 90 minutes after putting the turkey into the oven.

I hope you had a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

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¹ https://square--peg.blogspot.com/2023/11/thanksgiving-2023.html

My Summer Phucket List

My summer bucket list is really a Phucket list.

• Walk the dog in the backyard twice a day.  Phucket, I’ll just let him out the door.
• Go to bed by 10pm.  Phucket, I’ll just read R.F. Kuang fantasy novels past midnight.
• Avoid after-supper treats.   Phucket, I’ll eat all the ice cream, cookies and chocolate I want.

Isn’t the trifecta of a healthy lifestyle to get a good night’s sleep, exercise and eat healthy foods in moderation?  If so, then my Phucket list is more like a death wish.

I blame all this on the lack of impulse control brought about by the Effexor I started taking in September.  It’s time for another visit to the doctor.

What’s the worst side effect you've experienced?

Thanksgiving 2023

Today’s Thanksgiving went better than I expected. I’m glad I headed out to the grocery stores last night at 6pm. I hesitated to travel at first because I assumed that nearly everyone would be out getting food. But no, the roads and stores were not at all crowded; they were much worse at 3:30pm.

I did shop the prior weekend to stock up on vegetables. But I deferred buying the turkey thighs because I figured they’d not last until today.

The regular supermarket had no turkey thighs; the butcher said they didn't get many turkey parts this year.  Fortunately Whole Foods was well stocked with a variety of turkey parts in vacuum-sealed bags.  And when I got home, I went to work on peeling and cubing turnips, then cooking and mashing them.

My idea was to arrange a bunch of vegetables in a well-oiled cast iron pan and place the turkey thighs on top. And then I'd roast everything all at once. Indeed, there’s even a recipe online that describes it.¹

I included fresh beets (red and golden), parsnips, carrots, Brussel sprouts, garlic, pearl onions (which were a bitch to peel), fennel bulb, plum tomatoes and apples. I placed sprigs of fresh rosemary, sage and thyme on top.

To season the turkey, I poured Kosher salt into a dish and then added fresh cracked black pepper, which is the base seasoning recommended by another recipe.² I blotted each thigh dry with paper towels and then dredged it in the salt pepper mix. Then I placed them on top of the vegetables, skin side up.

I used a pre-heated oven temperature of 375 F and a time of 60 minutes, which worked perfectly. The thighs tested out at 171 F, but they weren’t yet shrunken down and dried out. I turned off the oven and used tongs to remove the turkey so they could rest in a plate at room temperature.  Meanwhile I stirred the vegetables and kept them in the oven – the parsnips seemed just a bit hard.

The aroma during roasting and the eventual taste were wonderful – the meal surpassed my wildest expectations! I hate Brussel sprouts but I included them because every meal should have something bitter to interrupt the tendency to be glutenous. But even they turned out scrumptious because, by design, they soaked up the fat from the turkey.

Aside from the store-bought pecan and pumpkin pies and the butter in the turnips, the meal was totally low carb and paleo.

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¹https://www.myforkinglife.com/baked-turkey-thighs-vegetables/

²https://dinnerthendessert.com/roasted-turkey-thighs

Easy Indoor Edible Garden

Imagine if you could grow vegetables indoors without dirt or an expensive lighting system or cats nibbling on them.

You can!  You can grow bean sprouts!  And that’s just what I’ve starting doing.

I soak mung beans in water for a half day or overnight, then I rinse them twice a day.  Otherwise they stay in a dark place, such as my oven or a covered tub.  After about a week, I harvest them.

I got the idea when I went shopping on iHerb¹ for Broccoli Seeds, which were mentioned in David Perlmutter’s “Drop Acid” book² as something to sprinkle on salads.  When I added the broccoli seed bottle to my cart, the website displayed a Sprouting Jar in its list of suggestions.  And so I added that to my cart along with a bag of organic Mung Beans suitable for sprouting as a Christmas present for myself.

I’d been buying mung bean sprouts for a while.  They’re inexpensive, but they are far too perishable, lasting only a few days.  I was attracted to the idea of eliminating both the waste due to rotting sprouts and the hassle of going to the store more than twice a week.

It’s working out well.  I sprout and use about 1.5 ounces of mung beans per week.  I consume about a handful of sprouts raw every day.

I could sprout the broccoli seeds as well, but I prefer to eat them as they are.  The texture of broccoli seeds reminds me vaguely of nonpareils or fish roe.  However they have a green taste with a slightly bitter undertone.

Anyway, don’t wait until 2024 to resolve to start sprouting.  Do it now!

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¹ https://www.iherb.com?rcode=DOJ209 The author may receive a 5% or 10% reward from purchases made after a buyer clicks this link.

² https://books.google.com/books/about/Drop_Acid.html?id=JU0yEAAAQBAJ

To Make Time Go Slow, Fast

If it seems like your day goes by in a blur, try skipping a couple of meals.  That’s right, go on a fast to make the day go slow.

Why does this work?  First, you save time that you’d otherwise waste preparing the meal, eating the meal, and then cleaning up afterward.

Second, your digestive system stays in the background instead of siphoning off the resources you need to cope with the day.  So you actually have more energy during the fast.

There are a few different types of fasts: eating nothing at all; liquid only (herbal tea, fruit and vegetable juices, broth); raw fruit, sprouts, vegetables.  Also, duration can vary from just a few hours to one day or a weekend; or they can be extended, as on a retreat¹.

I came across this idea when I got sick while reading Health Via Food, by William Howard Hay².  I had no appetite and no sense of hunger when I was sick.  And then when I recovered, I still felt no hunger.  So I leveraged that feeling and broke with my tradition of having a large breakfast, rich in protein and vegetables.  Instead I sliced up an apple and ate small pieces slowly throughout the morning.

There two keys to making a fast work, for me; they are mindfulness and abstaining from stimulants such as coffee and added sugars.  The mindfulness tells me when the urge to eat is out of boredom, habit, stress or anxiety rather than a need to eat.  Turns out I rarely have a legitimate need to eat.   Coffee produces a hollow gnawing sensation in my stomach, which compels me to eat something more to fill the hollow.  And the so-called energy bars stimulate my appetite while giving me brain fog.

I am amazed at how much better I feel, and at how slow the mornings go.  Luckily, I still can work from home a few days a week.  This gives me the assurance that if I needed to eat something, I’d have plenty of healthy options on-hand to choose from.

And I’ve been noticing that when I forestalled breakfast until later in the workday morning, I’d go through my pre-breakfast chores so quickly.  I could feed the cats and dog, clean the litter boxes, go to the bathroom, take in the newspaper, prepare my wife’s breakfast, guess the daily Wordle, all without much movement on the clock.  But once I ate the breakfast, suddenly it seemed like time sped up and it was already time to leave for work.

So don’t wait to get sick like I did before you try a fast.  Schedule your first one on a slow day, or take a sick day if you work.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how good you feel and how much you’ll accomplish.

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¹http://healingwithwholefoods.com/
²https://soilandhealth.org/book/health-via-food/

One-of-a-Kind Gluten-Free Pancakes

The pancakes I made this morning could've been a disaster, but they turned out surprisingly good.  And I'm not really sure how I made them.

The classic pancake recipe¹ basically calls for 1 cup flour, 1 egg, ¾ cup milk, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted shortening, 2 teaspoons sugar, 3 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt.  That's from memory – it might not be exact.

But I had just bought Bob's Red Mill Teff flour² and I wanted to use it to make pancakes.  I read on the back of the package “Substitute up to ¼ cup teff flour per cup of wheat flour...” I took it to mean “Substitute ¼ cup teff flour for each cup of wheat flour...” and that's what I did.  But of course that's not what Bob meant.  I should've combined ¼ cup of teff with ¾ cup of wheat flour for my recipe.

Fortunately, I'm a veteran pancake maker, and I quickly realized my mistake.  I knew I needed more dry ingredients, so first I added some ground flax seed because I wanted to use it up.  Then I added more teff flour.  When I remembered that I had almond flour that was never opened, I added that.  But then it was too thick, so I thinned it out with tap water until finally I had batter that I could pour.

So here is my One-of-a-Kind Gluten-Free Pancake Recipe:

½ cup teff flour
½ cup almond flour
2 tbsp ground flax seed
¾ teas. Baking soda
1 ½ teas. Cream of Tartar
2 teas. Truvia (or other stevia substitute)
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
¾ cup half & half
2-3 tbsp extra light olive oil

Several pats of unsalted butter for the pan.
2-3 tbsp extra light olive oil for the pan

Place a large cast iron skillet, dry, on medium heat.

Combine the wet ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and beat the egg into a uniform mixture.
Combine the flours, flax seed and salt and add to the bowl.

Mix together the baking soda and cream of  tartare (or use 3 teas. fresh baking powder³) and add to the bowl.  Blend the batter together until all lumps are gone.  Add water to thin out the batter, if desired.  Observe the wonderful bubbles.

Check the pan.  Drip some water droplets onto the surface.  If they sputter and dance around, add the oil and coat the surface.  Then add a pat of butter at each spot that you'll pour the batter on.

As soon as the butter has melted, pour the batter onto the pan and cook like normal pancakes.

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¹ Betty Crocker Cookbook
² http://www.bobsredmill.com/teff-flour.html
³ Basic Baking Powder substitution from Fitday

Macronutrients Charts for Beef and Fish

Maria Emmerich of "Maria Mind Body Health" has posted charts that show macronutrients for various cuts of beef and for various types of fish and seafood.  You can find them on her website here:
http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/charts/

Sweet Mayo Experiment

We did some entertaining over the holidays.  My wife refused to serve the homemade mayonnaise I keep on hand, so we bought and offered the guests a popular commercial brand.

I tried some of it out of "professional curiosity."  Gosh, it was so sweet!  A glance at the ingredients list confirmed my suspicions:  sugar was the sixth ingredient.  Yet it's still nearly all fat.

I was curious if I could make a "sweet" batch of mayonnaise.  I decided to use 100% pure maple syrup so that the recipe would still be paleo if not ketogenic.  I added only a teaspoon of the maple syrup to the other ingredients.  Sure enough, that little bit of sweetener altered the taste to make it seem more like the popular mayo that sounds like "Bell Menz".

Hand Made Low Carb Ice Cream

For those of us on a low carb diet, ice cream is off limits.  Even the sugar-free varieties that I've seen in the store are filled with artificial sweeteners and maltodextrin.  Sure they're lower carb, but the sweetness would be enough to throw me into a sugar-seeking binge,  So I made my own version from pure heavy cream, vanilla extract and a modest amount of stevia.

I don't have an ice cream maker, so I used a method described on the Handle the Heat website.  It's very satisfying, meaning I don't need to eat a lot in order to satisfy my ice cream craving.  I controlled the sweetness to a bare suggestion of sweet, relying on the vanilla to carry the illusion of real ice cream.

I have stevia powder, which I first liquified with about a tablespoon of hot water.

Easy Homemade Mayonnaise

Ever since I found out how easy it is to make mayonnaise from scratch, I've been whipping together one-cup batches.  I follow the basic process described by The Healthy Foodie and use my own ingredients, which includes (in addition to the large egg and 1 cup extra light olive oil):

¼ teaspoon dry ground mustard
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon maple syrup (optional, for a taste more like "Bell Menz")

Be sure to keep the immersion blender at the very bottom of the jar until the emulsion stops "blooming."  (If you lift the blender too soon, the mayonnaise will be very runny, but it might be salvageable by adding another egg.) Then slowly lift the blender to incorporate the rest of the oil.

Why go through all this fuss?  Why not just eat store-bought mayo?  Commercial mayo is made from inferior, highly-refined, GMO oil.  Even the products sold in health food stores are made from canola oil, whose ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 is not favorable.  Besides, homemade mayonnaise is so much more delicious, and you can vary the recipe to make a dressing.  For example, you might add horseradish to complement roast beef, or Worcester sauce for a spicy sushi dish.

A batch lasts at least two weeks, but you'll probably finish it before then.

Try it!

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2016-12-30 SPG Edited to add the optional maple syrup.

2023-12-26 SPG Add details about egg and oil, plus the paragraph about keeping the blender at the bottom of the jar.

The High Cost of Vegan Cheese

My daughter has been vegan for about four years.  Vegans follow an even more limited diet than vegetarians.  The most devout ones don't eat anything produced by an animal or from an animal.  That includes eggs, all dairy, and even honey.

My daughter is devout.  But rather than give up mayonnaise, butter and cheese, she eats vegan-friendly versions instead.

My wife complains about the high cost of these vegan-friendly substitutes almost every week.  And she goes over-budget buying them.  But I tell my wife that if our daughter craves cheese and butter so much, it means her body is crying out for real, honest-to-goodness dairy.  As I wrote earlier, I don't fully endorse our daughter being vegan.

I say that we should buy absolutely no substitutes.  Instead we can buy eggs and dairy from producers that treat their livestock with care and respect, a major concern of vegans.  And I suspect that dairy produced the old-fashioned way is friendlier for the environment than the spreads made from vegetable oils or the cheeses made from cashews.  I believe that such substitutes require much more energy to produce because their raw ingredients are so thoroughly processed as to make them unrecognizable.

Some vegans will argue that there's a health issue with dairy.  They complain that it's loaded with saturated fat, which is bad.  I reject that entirely.  Saturated fat has been unfairly demonized.  The fat from pasture-raised, grass-fed cattle has a ratio of Omega3 to Omega6 that's comparable salmon, plus CLA (conjugated linoleic acids) and butyrates, both of which are important for good gut health.  The heart and brain both use saturated fat as fuel.

It's true that some people just can't tolerate dairy.  It can promote inflammation and mucus production.  Some people are lactose intolerant.  Others must avoid casein.  It's the casein in dairy that can mimic opioids in the brain in individuals with leaky gut syndrome.  So these intolerances are really the only good reasons to avoid dairy.

Well, even if our daughter agreed to eat real butter and cheese, our cost would still be fairly high.  Organic dairy from humanely-treated, grass-fed cows is not inexpensive.  But at least it's real and wholesome.

What do you think?

How to Maintain Brain Function

The current issue of Neurology Now magazine includes an article on how to maintain cognitive function.  "Staying Sharp: What you do during your free time could help save your brain" lists the following "brain-boosting activities":

• Learn A Second Language
• Become A Social Butterfly
• Play Music
• Exercise

The article also claims that heart-protective measures may also protect the brain.  For example, it recommends:

• Don't smoke.
• Sleep 7–8 hours a night.
• Keep your blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check.
• Eat a low-fat, healthy diet.
• Get plenty of exercise.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Limit alcohol consumption.
• Get blood sugar levels (and diabetes, if you have it) under control.

Yes, cholesterol is still a villain, despite assertions from both cardiologists and neurologists that high blood sugar causes damage, and it's the cholesterol that aids in the repair of that damage.

The biggest payoff is to stimulate your intellect while elevating your blood flow.  Learn to dance or practice martial arts for example.  I try to meditate while I walk, or walk mindfully.

Blood Type Diet Sale -- 15%

D'Adamo Personalized Nutrition, aka "The Blood Type Diet" store, is offering 15% off nearly everything^*.  And shipping in USA is free on orders of more than $150. New customers who use this link can save an additional 5%.

This is a great time for me to stock up on my favorites, which include:

• Blueberry-Almond Unibars
• Chocolate-Cherry Unibars
• Deflect (Type O) (Please remember to choose the formula of Deflect for your Blood Type)
• Vivani Organic Dark Chocolate with Espresso

Disclaimer: As an associate of North American Pharmacal, I may receive non-cash rewards for each click-through-purchase of any NAP product.  But I buy these items regularly, and I wouldn't recommend them if I didn't think they were worthwhile.  This is a great deal!

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^*Offers valid now through November 30, 2014. Savings applies to full priced items. Offer not to be combined with other discounts. Excludes Books,Test Kits and Packs. Free shipping is via UPS ground on US orders of more than $150 only.

2014-11-26 SPG  Fixed links.
2014-12-03 SPG  Fixed links, again.

No More Tobacco at CVS

CVS pharmacy recently announced that it intends to stop selling cigarettes starting October 1, 2014¹.  This announcement comes out just over fifty years after the US Surgeon General released its report that linked smoking with disease².

A pharmacy is a place where people who are sick obtain products that are supposed to make them well.  So it's ironic that pharmacies also sell products that are known to make you unwell.

Tobacco is just one example of such a product.  But consider sugar.  Although the Surgeon General hasn't mandated the labeling of sugar-laden products with health warnings, it does state that "...eating healthy means ... limiting intake of ... added sugars."³

Sugar can be found in some form in every drug store.  It's in the candy isle, of course.  And in the soda aisle.  Some larger stores might harbor it in the freezer case in the form of ice cream and other frozen desserts.  Then of course the seasonal isle erupts with candy right after Labor Day with Halloween candy, which transforms into Christmas candy on November 1, then into Valentine's candy in January, and ultimately appears in a majestic fanfare as Easter candy at various times in Spring.  Come Memorial Day, sugar goes on a much needed vacation, at least until it becomes fashionable to eat candy for Independence Day.

Eventually CVS will find it necessary to eliminate candy from its stores once it realizes that selling candy "...is inconsistent with our purpose – helping people on their path to better health."¹  It might take CVS another fifty years to reach that conclusion, although without the profits from tobacco sales to keep it afloat, CVS might not be around that long.

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¹ https://cvshealth.com/newsroom/press-releases/cvs-caremark-stop-selling-tobacco-all-cvspharmacy-locations
² https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK179276/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK179276.pdf
³ https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/eat-healthy/dietary-guidelines-for-americans/index.html

2020-02-29 SPG -- Updated broken links in footnotes.