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
• Coat skillet with EVOO then add the diced / chopped ingredients
• 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

---

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

Ordering Out

My wife is so weird in some ways.

For example, she ordered Chinese food, and I’ve just picked it up.  Normally, when food arrives, the bag is ripped open, and people descend upon it.  Then they start to scarf their meals like a pack of hungry wild dogs.

Not my wife.  She continues doing whatever she was doing before the food arrived.  It’s a lot like how a cat will feign disinterest in dinner and then sneak in later to gulp down the food.

I can’t abide this behavior.  So I’ve decided to leave her alone and write this blog post about it.  Let’s see how long it takes for her to start her meal. 

Is this difference in behavior a male/female thing?  Is it because she’s from New England and I’m from New York, where we open a box of pizza, take a piece, fold it in half, and rip out a huge bite while walking away, causing painful burns on the roof of our mouths in the process?

I came home with the food at least 15 minutes ago.  She asked just now, “Do you want to eat with me in the living room?”  “Okay, sure.”   Then she walked in the opposite direction of the kitchen.

Now she’s back in my office with a fistful of papers that need to be filed.  She’s talking about hiring a new helper.

[tick, tick, tick…] Now, finally, I hear her in the kitchen, more than twenty minutes after I’ve set the Chinese food onto the table.  But still there’s no indication that food is on her mind.

It’s as if the food is a visit to the dentist, or a tax return to be filed.  Why is she avoiding it?

I’m shaking my head in total confusion.

[much time passes]

She finally sits down.  Then she abruptly gets up, “I forgot a plate for the cat.”

She sits down again.  Then, once again, she abruptly gets up, “I forgot my drink.”

She sits.  She fidgets a bit, then uses the remote to switch channels.  Commercial.  Switch.  Commercial.  Switch.  Commercial.  All this time she’s still not eating.

Finally she started to eat more than 30 minutes after I came home with the food.

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.

---

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!

---

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.

---

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!

---

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

Carne y Pablano Quesadilla

I enjoy preparing my own food, usually in a large cast iron pan.

I call one of my favorites “Carne y Pablano” because I cook “chop meat” with Pablano chiles as well as other vegetables, such as onion, garlic, carrots, fresh turneric (which I add to everything) and maybe maitake mushrooms (frozen, from Woodstock), red pepper, plum tomato, parsnips and/or whatever I find in the fridge.

The cooking process starts with adding diced onion, carrots and chiles to a hot, well-oiled cast iron pan.  I use only EVOO or ghee; ghee is preferred because EVOO tends to smoke too much at medium high.  Once they’re cooked, I’ll add the garlic and mushrooms.  I don’t put the garlic in the pan at the very beginning because it will burn and turn bitter.  And the mushrooms would get tough.

After a minute I’ll turn the heat all the way up and add the beef.  I break it up and turn it continuously until it turns from red to pink.  Then I turn off the heat, and mix in about a teaspoon of sea salt, half that of fresh-cracked black pepper and a very small pinch of cayenne pepper powder.  Chopped plum tomato goes in now, too, if available.

This tastes great on its own.  But then today I had some organic corn tortillas and cheddar cheese, so I made a Quesadilla.  After it was assembled and melted shut, I spread Mother-in-Law's fermented gochujang garlic chile sauce¹ on top and then drizzled a spiral of Kewpie mayonnaise.²

This is one of the most awesome creations I’ve ever made.

---

¹ https://milkimchi.com/pages/pantry-staples

² https://www.kewpie.com/en/products/mayonnaise/

The Star Fruit Experiment

So far I’ve written about my first experiences with Dragon Fruit and Passion Fruit. This time I decided to try Star Fruit.

Preparation was a bit different compared with the other two fruits, although I washed it as before. The piece was in great shape when I bought it, but I put off eating it because I wanted to take photos. Therefore, it got a bit over-ripe and damaged in spots. So I cut away the brown edges of the “fins” before slicing it into star shapes.

I pushed a few of the seeds out; I didn’t need to since they’re harmless and lack taste. But some of them were starting to turn brown, so I decided to avoid those. The flesh was resilient and juicy, with a balance of sweetness and tartness. It was a bit like grapefruit, with similar texture but not as bitter.

I didn’t experience any allergic reaction whatsoever. Nor did my digestion rebel at all.

These are priced by the piece rather than weight. They were more expensive than apples or bananas per serving size.

Wikihow has a good write-up on the Star Fruit¹ and has a few creative suggestions about how to serve it. It also warns folks with kidney problems to avoid it because it contains a neurotoxin; it cites Snopes as the source.²

---

¹https://www.wikihow.com/Eat-a-Star-Fruit

²https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trancing-with-the-stars/

The Passion Fruit Experiment

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my first experience with a Dragon Fruit.  I decided to try other “exotic” foods.  This time I bought two passion fruits.

Preparation was the same as with the Dragon Fruit.  After washing it, I just cut it in half lengthwise.  The hull was very resilient – somewhat like leathery cardboard.  Once it was halved, I scooped out the interior with a metal teaspoon and ate it.

Crunchy tart seeds dominated the sweet pulp and juice.  Some reviewers recommend adding sugar, but I did not feel it was necessary.

I didn’t experience any allergic reaction whatsoever.  Nor did my digestion rebel at all.

These are small and priced by the piece rather than weight.  So I got very little fruit for the money.

The next exotic fruit will be Star Fruit.

Left: Whole; Center: Sliced in Half; Right: After Scooping

The Dragon Fruit Experiment

In honor of the Year of the Dragon, I’ve finally decided to try a Dragon Fruit.

It was simple to prepare.  After washing it, I just cut it in half lengthwise.  Then I scooped out the fleshy interior with a metal teaspoon and ate it.

Dragon Fruit on cutting board:  Left, whole fruit; Center, two halves after cutting lengthwise; Right, one half with teaspoon scoop

The taste was unremarkable and not unpleasant, neither sweet nor tart.  But the texture was nice, with plenty of juice and little bits of gentle crunch from the black pips that were smaller than chia seeds.

I didn’t experience any allergic reaction, which I was prepared for.  I read that some folks compare its taste and texture to kiwi fruit, which can provoke severe allergy¹.  I do react slightly to peaches and mangoes, so I had my inhaler ready.  There was just a mild laxative effect; at my age that’s more of a benefit.

My fruit preference includes apples, pears, blueberries, grapes and pomegranate.

Mostly I eat apples, which seem to be ripe when I buy them and stay edible for a week or more.

Pears on the other hand, cannot be eaten right away and need to ripen.

Pomegranate require more work to open, and they’re messy, but otherwise great.

Flavor-wise, blueberries and grapes are marvelous.  But I’m a fanatic about washing produce.  I prefer to use a soapy nylon brush and scrub an item vigorously; merely rinsing things off won’t deal with germs or other residue.

I can buy a few apples for the cost of one Dragon Fruit, so apples will remain my go-to fruit for now.

Have you tried an unusual food item recently?  How did you like it?

---

¹See for example: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15248859/

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.

---

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!

---

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

Happy Thanksgiving 2022

My wife and I are empty nesters here in New England.  Meanwhile our daughter is in the process of moving to Houston, so we’re spending Thanksgiving alone.

The plan was to eat at a restaurant.  The two places we went to before were not open, so we ended up making reservations at a “last resort” expensive steak house.  I wasn’t thrilled with the menu.

This morning my wife asked me if I really wanted to go.  I sensed her desire to stay home all day and sleep.  She’d been experiencing a great deal of anxiety.  I said we should stay home, and we canceled the reservation.

And right now, believe it or not, I’m fasting!  I do plan to have a salad soon and then make something in a fry pan with the Beyond Beef chop “meat” that’s been in the freezer for months.

I am a bit disappointed – I was looking forward to turkey and mashed turnips.  But the restaurant was serving only the traditional mashed potatoes and stuffing (which do not combine well with turkey and is just filler) plus green beans, one of my lesser liked vegetables.

I’m sure I can find turkey thighs, parsnips and turnips tomorrow and then make a better dinner for one-fifth the price.

Anyway, enough about me; what are you doing today?

The Versatility of Salsa

Salsa isn’t just for dipping.

I make a Mexican version of Chicken Cacciatore using salsa in place of crushed tomatoes.  In my version, I may also use pablano chilies and/or jalapenos along with onions, garlic and the other vegetables.  But in a hurry, just browning the chicken on both sides and then dumping in about 4oz of salsa yields an acceptable dish.  I don’t bread the chicken the way some versions do.

Salsa makes a fine substitute for ketchup on a hamburger or sandwich, especially when combined with a rich mayonnaise such as Sir Kensington's.

When the bag of tortilla chips is nearly empty, I like to dump the small bits into a bowl, pour salsa on top, and eat the mixture with a spoon.  It reminds me of how I used to eat cereal with milk when I was a boy, but the taste is a whole lot better.

And would you believe that I like to drink salsa?  Yes, one day I was rinsing out a nearly empty salsa jar when, on impulse, I decided to drink the highly diluted contents.  It tasted quite good, but the chunkiness of it was off-putting.

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.

---

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

M&M -- Mindful & Mad

When I eat M&Ms or other colorful candies, I like to eat all one color first. This introduces some mindfulness to the process and slows me down; otherwise I’d be shoveling a palm-load of candy every minute or so.

But the real reason I "eat-by-color" is for the aesthetic pleasure of it. A bag of regular M&Ms has too many colors, which creates some discordance. So I eat any colors that clash with the season first.

For example, this being Spring, I start with the Autumn colors Orange and Brown, which totally do not belong in Spring. This leaves Yellow, Blue, Green, Red.  This set of colors could represent Sun, Sky, Grass, Poppies.

But then I might continue with either Red and Yellow, which would leave Blue and Green for Earth Day. Or I might eat the Blue and Red next, which would leave Yellow and Green (the colors of one of the schools I attended). Or, I’d eat the Red and Green next, which would leave Blue and Yellow to show support for Ukraine.

In Autumn, I’d do the reverse, eating Blue and Green first, to leave the Autumn colors of Orange, Brown, Yellow, Red. I might also eliminate Red if I can’t stop myself.

In Winter, all but Red and Green would be eaten first. (In fact, you can buy them this way in November and December.)

Valentines Day, Easter, Flag Day and Independence Day all are difficult holidays to celebrate this way with the regular M&Ms because of the lack of White candies. But Mars puts out sets of Red, White and Pink in January and February, or Pastels in March, or Red, White and Blue in June to appease.

Do you do this? Do you have another food consumption quirk?

Chocolate Fudge -- It's About Time I Made Some

I finally made chocolate fudge.  I used one of the “easy recipes” that you can find online – a combination of Sweetened Condensed Milk, Chocolate Chips and Vanilla all melted together, mixed and chilled.

Unfortunately, I have quite a lot more of it than I should have.  The stuff is dangerous.  I could easily eat all of it.  I’ve been known to eat a 14 ounce can of Sweetened Condensed Milk in a mindless trance of ecstasy.

So I’ll do what I always do with excess decadent treats – bring it to work in the hopes that folks will take it all before lunch time.

Make Your Own Sauerkraut

"Forget that store-bought stuff.  It's pasteurized," my Naturopathic Doctor said.  We were talking about sauerkraut.

I thought I was buying good stuff, with nothing more than cabbage and brine.  But she was right, it was pasteurized.  The bottling process sterilizes the jar and the product, killing off all that healthy bacteria.

So after years of putting it off, I took the plunge and made my first batch in September.  I was delighted with the results!  It was crunchy, snappy, tart, lively but not at all unpalatable.

Here's a beginner recipe to try:

1 small organic cabbage head

1 large carrot

dried dill weed

small palmful of sea salt (about 2 to 3 teaspoons)

Slice the cabbage thin.  Then chop the slices into small bits.

Wash the carrot with a nylon brush and grate it.  (I don't peel carrots.)

Combine the cabbage and carrot into a large mixing bowl.  Add the salt and dust with dill until it looks right.  Mix and pound with a blunt wooden spoon until a mash starts to form.

Place it into a 32oz straight neck jar, such as a clean, empty tomato sauce jar.

Pound it down, leaving about 1/2 inch room at the top.  Add water to completely cover the solids.  Cover the top with a coffee filter or strainer and leave it in a dark cool place for about two weeks.

After two weeks, remove the cover and skim any suspicious-looking stuff off the top.

At this point it's ready to eat.  Screw the cap on and refrigerate for longer term storage.

My special additions include seaweed (after soaking in water for while I prepare the cabbage and carrot) and the powder from a few probiotic capsules.

Check this web page for more ideas: http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

#NaBloPoMo2019

Easy-To-Make Gluten-Free Tortillas

The topic of home made Gluten-Free tortillas probably makes you wonder, “Corn Tortillas are gluten-free.  Why not just buy them?”

I did that for a while, but there are two problems with store-bought corn tortillas:

1. They have nasty-sounding ingredients in them (as do flour tortillas).
2. Corn causes pain in my joints.

So when I stumbled across the two-ingredient recipe at ElaVegan, I seriously considered trying it.  And when my local grocery store had the flour 25% off, I knew I was going to try it.

But I had my doubts.  “Oh, they’ll stick to the pan.”  Or, “they’ll fall apart when I turn them.”

But no, the recipe really is very easy.  If you can make pancakes, you definitely can make these.  It’s very forgiving in terms of how much water you use.  I started with the lower recommendation, which is for thick tortillas.  But as I continued, I kept adding water to see how thin I could make them.  The only limit I reached is when the batter got so runny, it ran to the side of the pan.  Yet, they still held together when I turned them.  I managed to get them a bit over 6" in diameter.  I used an 8" pan.

And despite using a “sticky” cast-iron pan, there was no sticking whatsoever when I applied a thin layer of vegetable oil to the pre-heated pan.

For the second batch, I happened to have a couple of old limes lying around.  They were so hard and shriveled, my wife gave up on them.  But I managed to get maybe 1/8 cup of juice out of them, which I added to the batter.  The juice gave a nice tartness to the tortilla.

Give it a try!

#NaBloPoMo2019