Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Cyndi's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
10:16 pm	Omnivore's Hundred With thanks to rainbow... The Omnivore's Hundred is a list of foods the gastronome Andrew Wheeler thinks everyone should try at least once in their lives. The rules of the meme: Bold those you have tried. Strikethrough those you wouldn't eat on a bet. Italicize any item you'll never eat again. Asterisk any items you'd be interested in trying but have not yet. Under line anything you don't know what it is. 1. Venison 2. Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile 6. Black pudding 7. Cheese fondue 8. Carp 9. Borscht 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich 14. Aloo ghobi 15. Hot dog from a street cart 16. Époisses 17. Black truffle * 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes 19. Steamed pork buns 20. Pistachio ice cream 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head cheese 26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper * 27. Dulce de leche 28. Oysters 29. Baklava 30. Bagna cauda 31. Wasabi peas 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl 33. Salted lassi 34. Sauerkraut 35. Root beer float 36. Cognac with a fat cigar 37. Clotted cream tea 38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O o.O 39. Gumbo 40. Oxtail 41. Curried goat 42. Whole insects 43. Phaal 44. Goat’s milk 45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more * 46. Fugu 47. Chicken tikka masala 48. Eel 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut 50. Sea urchin 51. Prickly pear 52. Umeboshi 53. Abalone 54. Paneer 55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal 56. Spaetzle 57. Dirty gin martini * 58. Beer above 8% 59. Poutine 60. Carob chips 61. S’mores 62. Sweetbreads 63. Kaolin 64. Currywurst 65. Durian * 66. Frogs’ legs 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake 68. Haggis 69. Fried plantain 70. Chitterlings, or andouillette 71. Gazpacho 72. Caviar and blini 73. Louche absinthe * 74. Gjetost, or brunost 75. Roadkill 76. Baijiu 77. Hostess Fruit Pie 78. Snail 79. Lapsang souchong 80. Bellini 81. Tom yum 82. Eggs Benedict 83. Pocky 84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant * 85. Kobe beef 86. Hare 87. Goulash 88. Flowers 89. Horse 90. Criollo chocolate 91. Spam 92. Soft shell crab 93. Rose harissa * 94. Catfish 95. Mole poblano * 96. Bagel and lox  97. Lobster Thermidor * 98. Polenta 99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee * 100. Snake Current Mood: full (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
10:46 pm	My blog can be read on LJ Thanks to gerimaple, my personal blog can be read on LJ and even added to your friend's list.  Wow. It's mostly recipes but also family updates and product reviews, stuff like that.  Lots of pictures. http://syndicated.livejournal.com/norwitzdotnet/ Cyndi (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
11:44 pm	Another blog I'm saving this one for anything personal, not that I post much of that anyway.  But now I have a public blog too.  Woo! It's mostly recipes but also cute baby pictures, restuarant reviews, book reviews, and stuff about MCS, nontoxic, products and anything else that catches my fancy.  Eventually I plan to transfer all the info from my three different recipes sites to there. Oh and there are LOTS of pictures with the recipes :-) http://norwitz.net/blog/ Enjoy! Cyndi (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
11:00 pm	Recipe: Pumpkin Pie with Cashew Cream (vegan) This was a huge hit at the Thanksgiving potluck I went to tonight.  My pie (and all the cream) was devoured.  The other pumpkin pie (homemade with traditional ingredients) still had half of it left. Because I couldn't find one perfect recipe, I used the crust from one and the filling from another.  Actually, my husband did the work. The crust: From: http://www.somethinginseason.com/2007/10/pumpkin-pie-from-scratch-part-1.html Basic recipe is: 2 cups whole pecans (you can substitute walnuts if you like) 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 egg I used pecans and organic cane sugar and flaxseed goo for the egg (1 tablespoon fine flax meal in 1/3 cup water, nuked for a minute).  You simply grind it all in the food processor and then press it into the pan.  They recommend a springform pan, which we used, and parchment paper on the bottom, which we didn't (mistake).  Our crust wasn't as thick as the one in the picture even though we also used an 8" pan. The filling: From: http://www.tazarat.com/results.asp?id=33 Basic recipe: 3/4 lb. firm tofu 1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin puree or 2 cups fresh-cooked pumpkin 1 cup Sucanat or brown sugar 2 Tbsp. oil 2 Tbsp. molasses 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. salt 3/4 tsp. ginger powder 1/2 tsp. nutmeg You just food process everything and pour it on the crust, cook for 1 hour at 350*F.  We used homemade pumpkin puree which I measured into 2 cup bags and froze.  For the sugar, we used organic cane sugar.  Michael used 4/5 of a cup instead of a full one.  The oil was sunflower (also oiled the pan with it).  Instead of ginger powder, we used twice as much grated (frozen) ginger.  It was hard to tell when it was done.  I got cracks at an hour, but they disappeared when I moved the pan.  So I kept baking.  Something I made last night also took longer than expected, so I stuck a thermometer in my oven, but it was okay.  I'm not sure how long I cooked that pie, but it was at least 1.5 hours and maybe 2.  It turned out that the filling was somewhat caramelized on the top and sides, so technically overcooked, but people raved about it.  The crust was definitely overcooked and stuck to the bottom some, but it was delicious and when people went back for seconds (or more) they took the stuck pieces of crust with them. The flavor was great.  A bit of spice and not too sweet.  It was softer than your usual pumpkin pie but part of that is regular pies have a very firm crust that holds the filling (this crust doesn't do that at all).  The texture was good.  All in all, it was a success. I made a cashew cream to go with it.  I took raw cashew pieces I had in the freezer, about a cup, and soaked them overnight (more like 24 hours by the time I got to them, but 4 hours is good enough).  Then I rinsed them in a colander and stuck them in the blender.  I didn't measure the other ingredients and I kept adding bits for texture and taste.  I used some lemon juice (fresh would have been better but I used organic bottled) and some water to get the consistency right.  Plus I added a pinch of salt, about a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a dash or two of white stevia powder.  You have to blend the heck out of it, and stop and use a spatula regularly to get it all.  Make sure it is very smooth. The cream was also a huge hit.  It was great on it's own but even better with the pie.  They went together superbly. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
11:03 am	Recipe: Nut Loaf I was looking for a nut loaf recipe that was vegan, high in protein, gluten-free, and not soy based (I can eat soy just fine, but wanted to have some non-soy dishes in my repertoire).  I only found one that looked adaptable for my needs in a search. http://www.recipenet.org/health/recipes/veggie/nut_roast.htm I made it last night.  Many thanks to Lorraine Picot for a yummy dish. The listed ingredients are: 1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil 1 1/3 cups toasted hazelnuts, ground 2/3 cup walnuts, ground 2/3 cup brazil nuts, ground 12 oz tomatoes, blanched, peeled & chopped 1 lg onion, finely chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 lb fresh mushrooms, chopped 1/2 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp vegetable salt 1 ea egg, well beaten I did not blanch or peel the tomatoes (they were fresh).  I left out the garlic.  I used herbs I had on hand, a couple tablespoons each of fresh oregano and rosemary.  I don't know what vegetable salt is so I used plain sea salt, about 2 tsps.  And instead of egg I used 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal in 1/3 cup water, nuked until hot, then let sit until it gets gooey. The recipe says nothing about how to grind the nuts (or to what consistency) and implies all the chopping and mixing should be by hand.  I used my trusty food processor, in batches.  I processed everything but the oil, tomatoes, and flaxseed.  Also, after toasting the hazelnuts, I rubbed off the skins, which was a pain.  I toasted the hazelnuts on a pan in my convection toaster oven, 10 mins at 425*F.  But the skins started to burn at 8 mins, so I took them out.  Once the skins were off, there was no burnt taste at all. I turned the walnuts, brazil nuts, and onion into a paste, which I think worked well.  The mushrooms I processed into small pieces (some were paste because you can't do them completely uniform).  I left the hazelnuts a bit chunky (like the pieces of nut in crunchy peanut butter) to give the loaf some texture. The recipe says to use a 2 lb loaf pan (the recipe fit perfectly into mine).  I just oiled it and didn't line with wax paper, as suggested.  It then says to bake for 30-40 mins at 425*F.  After 30 mins, it was not even close to being done.  I kept cooking it for about an hour more, at temps varying from 350-425 (after the first half hour, I put some cabbage in the oven to roast). The result was an incredibly tasty but very soft and delicate loaf.  It barely held together in slices.  I had to take them out of the pan because it never would have held its shape being turned out of the pan as the recipe suggests.  It was a bit firmer the next day after being in the fridge, but it still wasn't sliceable. My husband's comment: it's good but needs a sauce.  The recipe does suggest sauce but I didn't have the energy to make one.  I thought it was fine on its own (it wasn't dry at all) but I agree that a sauce would have made it even better.  I served it with roasted cabbage & balsamic vinegar. Next time I make it, it will be with the following changes: A few more herbs. Add the tomatoes to the food processor in the paste stage (not to liquefy them but to get smaller chunks). Chop the mushrooms in the food processor before any wet stuff goes in and then saute them to remove water.  This was recommended to me when I first discussed making this recipe, but the recipe calls for raw mushrooms so I wanted to follow it.  I used crimimi mushrooms which are the right choice (white button mushrooms would release even more water). Make a sauce of some sort.  Especially important if I get the loaf to dry out some. Cook it more like I did this time. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, October 12th, 2007
3:12 pm	Restaurant Review: Han Il Kwan (Korean, San Francisco) We had an appointment in San Francisco last Wednesday and got together with friends at a Korean restaurant I'd read good things about on the net.   It did not disappoint. Han Il Kwan 1802 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA 94118 (Outer Richmond neighborhood) (415) 752-4447 Our party consisted of me (no eggs, dairy, gluten (some soy sauce ok), oranges, or meat), my husband (no pork, prefers no dairy or red meat), my 2.5 year old daughter (same restrictions as me plus no chocolate), a friend from Canada (celiac--no traces of gluten, no traces of dairy or egg, nothing spicy), her husband (no restrictions), and a local friend (no scallops).  Korean food is a bit more complicated than other cuisines for groups like ours.  If we all ate the same things, it wouldn't be a problem, but with several folks unable to tolerate even trace amounts of certain foods, sharing bowls and cooking space was difficult, but we made it work. Han Il Kwan follows the Korean tradition of cooking at your table, on a grill mounted in the middle.  Some Korean places also have hot pots, others have staff cook your food in front of you, and then there are many that don't do tableside cooking at all.  You order the meat or fish of your choice and then you get soup and about a dozen different side dishes, which vary.  You don't order these extras, you simply get what they have, and you can have refills as needed. Since we arrived early (before 6pm) we were the only customers in the restaurant.  Oddly though, the staff treated us like the restaurant was doing a good business.  Not like it was full and busy, but certainly not the attentiveness you'd except being the sole table.  As the restaurant filled up (including a Korean tour bus that parked out front and sent a couple dozen people to the back room), the service levels didn't change at all. The staff was accommodating, with moderate English, and worked with us to keep the allergic among us safe.  They did a good job and the meal came off well. When my friend with celiac phoned them earlier in the day, they said the only meat that was premarinated was the beef.  But it turned out that all the meat and fish was marinated.  The basic one was soy sauce and sugar.  It wasn't clear if there were others but the waitress confirmed that all of them had soy sauce (which has wheat in it).  Fortunately, it wasn't a problem to get some of our dishes without the marinade. We ordered Bul Go Gi ("tender BBQ beef marinates in house special sauce" $17.95), BBQ chicken minus the marinade ($15.95), Seafood mix ("grilled octopus, squid, scallops, prawn with special sauce"; we got oysters instead of scallops; they were marinated separately, $16.95), Broiled marinated mackerel (no marinade), and a large container of soup (hot pot).  The soup on the menu was $7.95 but they said it came with the meal, so I'm not sure how they billed us, since we only had 4 main dishes for 5 adults.  The soup is "soft bean curd, meat, & vegetable in hot sauce" or so I believe.  They made ours with no meat or soy sauce and it contained about 10 small bowls worth. The fish was cooked in the kitchen but the beef, chicken, and seafood mix were served raw, to be cooked on the gas grill in the middle of our table.  Lifting out the cover reduced our usable eating space to very little and it was quite crowded, even though the booth easily sat 6.  The grill's cooking space was perhaps 14"x14" and each dish was large enough to cover the grill twice. I can imagine how this is supposed to work, with a table sharing everything.  You put a little of each dish on the grill and serve it immediately when it is cooked.  Each person gets a couple bites of each dish and, by the time they are finished, the next batch is ready.  Unfortunately, we didn't have that luxury.  We had to cook the chicken first, so as not to contaminate the grill with marinade, then all the seafood, then the beef.  The grill isn't particularly hot and the food cooks slowly.  I didn't time it but I would guess a half hour passed between starting the chicken and finishing grilling the beef.  The grill had many holes in it but was not mesh.  There was no visible oil or grease used.  It appeared to be either cast iron or cast aluminum. We weren't hungry while waiting though.  Not only did we have the soup, but we had side dishes.  A good dozen or so of them.  The staff helpfully pointed out which ones contained forbidden ingredients.  There were some pancakes with pork and egg (and probably wheat but we didn't bother to ask since non of the gluten-free folks ate egg) but no other meat or egg.  Four of the dishes had soy sauce in them, so we kept them all together and we instituted a "clean chopsticks" rule where we took some extra chopsticks and kept them with the no-soy sauce dishes for putting more on our plates. Soy sauce dishes: There was a fish dish that must have been a paste molded into a block, then sliced.  Some crunchy dried anchovies.  A cubic rectangle of something that was a cross between jello and soft tofu and was quite good.  And a root vegetable. I can't remember all the non-soy sauce side dishes but they included 2 kinds of pickled radish.  One thick strips of daikon and the other was cubes which the staff said was radish but not daikon.  These were my favorites, but I'm a sucker for radish.  There was a basic kim chee, pickled bean sprouts, pickled cucumber, and a couple others.  Nothing was spicy, though occasionally one of us would get a burst of hotness from the pieces of chili that flavored many of the dishes.  Even the simple dishes were full of flavor.  Either from the very fresh vegetables or from the sauces, mostly vinegar and tomato.  I loved them all (tried all but the pancake). There was a plate of lettuce but it was too bulky and a bit wet.  I love lettuce wraps but the flavors of the other foods were subtle enough that the lettuce just diluted it.  The beef dish came with a paste which I didn't try.  And each of us got a bowl of white sticky rice (which went very well with the side dish juices). I just drank water, which was hard to get and in small glasses.   Two of the adults shared Korean beer ($6 for a bottle easily the size of 2 regular beers) and one had a sake, served very hot.  I tasted the sake and it was amazing.  Smooth.  I'm fairly clueless about sake but even I could tell this was worlds beyond what I've had before.  It was nice at room temperature too, but much better when hot. For dessert, they brought us bowls of sweetened rice water, which was nice.  I thought I saw cookies going to another table, so they may have changed it to accommodate our allergies, which was thoughtful of them. When I looked up reviews of the various Korean restaurants in San Francisco, the ones with tableside cooking got bad reviews for air quality.  This one got raves.  There are large vent fans over each table and they are very effective.  I barely smelled a thing besides the food.  The fans were quiet too...I'm not even sure ours was on. I was quite pleasantly surprised at the ease at which we negotiated the allergy situation.  Had the entire group chosen to share all the foods, it would have been even easier.  Eggs are used a lot in Korean food, but we only encountered one dish with it (they may have held some back).  The only wheat seemed to be in the soy sauce (and maybe the pancake...there were some noodle dishes too but I don't know which kind).  There was no dairy anywhere as far as I could tell.  I believe the only soy was in the tofu and soy sauce. We all had a great time.  They didn't mind that we stayed for quite some time chatting.  And the overall cost was pretty reasonable considering what you get. I would definitely return if I had the chance. Current Mood: hungry (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
10:59 pm	Books Now that two of the people on my (short) friends list have posted this, I figured what the heck.  I don't quite understand why so many well-known books are on this list...shouldn't "unread" books be obscure ones?  Or is this a list of books people know well but haven't actually read?  Anyway...  Below are directions and such.  Some of the ones I've marked read I read decades ago and barely remember. These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users (as of today). The numbers after each one are the number of LT users who used the tag of that book (that is, last time that the algorithm was done). Code: bold what you have read, italicize what you started but couldn't finish, strike through what you couldn't stand, and underline those you have no intention of reading. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (149) Anna Karenina (132) Crime and punishment (121) Catch-22 (117) One hundred years of solitude (115) Wuthering Heights (110) The Silmarillion (104) Life of Pi : a novel (94) The name of the rose (91) Don Quixote (91) Moby Dick (86) Ulysses (84) Madame Bovary (83) The Odyssey (83) Pride and prejudice (83) Jane Eyre (80) A tale of two cities (80) The brothers Karamazov (80) Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies (79) War and peace (78) Vanity fair (74) The time traveler's wife The Iliad (73) Emma (73) The Blind Assassin (73) The kite runner (71) Mrs. Dalloway (70) Great expectations (70) American gods (68) A heartbreaking work of staggering genius (67) Atlas shrugged (67) Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books (66) Memoirs of a Geisha (66) Middlesex (66) Quicksilver (66) Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West (65) The Canterbury tales (64) The historian : a novel (63) A portrait of the artist as a young man (63) Love in the time of cholera (62) Brave new world (61) The Fountainhead (61) Foucault's pendulum (61) Middlemarch (61) Frankenstein (59) The Count of Monte Cristo (59) Dracula (59) A clockwork orange (59) Anansi boys (58) The once and future king (57) The grapes of wrath (57) The Poisonwood Bible : a novel (57) 1984 (57) Angels & demons (56) The inferno (56) The satanic verses (55) Sense and sensibility (55) The picture of Dorian Gray (55) Mansfield Park (55) One flew over the cuckoo's nest (54) To the lighthouse (54) Tess of the D'Urbervilles (54) Oliver Twist (54) Gulliver's travels (53) Les misérables (53) The Corrections (53) The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay (52) The curious incident of the dog in the night-time (52) Dune (51) The prince (51) The sound and the fury (51) Angela's ashes : a memoir (51) The god of small things (51) A people's history of the United States : 1492-present (51) Cryptonomicon (50) Neverwhere (50) A confederacy of dunces (50) A short history of nearly everything (50) Dubliners (50) The unbearable lightness of being (49) Beloved (49) Slaughterhouse-five (49) The scarlet letter (48) Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (48) The mists of Avalon (47) Oryx and Crake : a novel (47) Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed (47) Cloud atlas (47) The confusion (46) Lolita (46) Persuasion (46) Northanger abbey (46) The catcher in the rye (46) On the road (46) The hunchback of Notre Dame (45) Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything (45) Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance : an inquiry into values (45) The Aeneid (45) Watership Down (44) Gravity's rainbow (44) The Hobbit (44) In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences (44) White teeth (44) Treasure Island (44) David Copperfield (44) The three musketeers (44) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 1st, 2007
4:20 pm	Restaurant Review: Alive (San Francisco, CA) I wrote this in my head a while ago...so imagine my surprise to discover it was still in my head.  Here it is on...well, on the equivalent of paper. I got the recommendation for Alive last year, when Michael and I were planning a special dinner for our first wedding anniversary.  But I got very ill and we canceled.  This year, our second anniversary, we found ourselves needing to be in San Francisco the day after our anniversary, with time to kill before evening rush hour was over.  So off we went. ( Read more... ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
11:49 am	Recipe: Bean Salad in Chimichurri Sauce I make a lot of bean salads but this one came out especially well. This is the first time I've used a sauce like this and it was a wonderful match. I used black beans and lentils, but you can substitute any legumes you wish. Something with some color would have been nice. Be sure to cook them so they are done but still firm. If they are mushy, you'll end up with bean dip, not bean salad. 2 cups dry black beans, soaked overnight and drained 2 cups french green lentils, rinsed in water I cooked these separately (though in the same pot) so I wouldn't risk having to overcook one. Feel free to cook them together if you're better with timing than I am. Cook until done but firm, drain well (liquid is great for soup stock (freeze it) or put on plants outside). 4-5 small bell peppers Cut in half, remove cap and seeds and slice into thin strips (cut in half if more than 3" or so). Put on baking dish with a touch of olive oil and bake until soft. I did 25 mins at 350*F in a convention oven. If you use a regular oven, stir them every 5-10 mins. Add peppers to beans, stir lightly, and make the sauce. In a blender, put the following (these are approximate amounts): Juice from 3-4 large limes 1 bunch parsley (remove last couple inches of stem) 1 bunch mint, just the leaves Salt to taste (put more than you normally would, as the beans are bland) Cumin seed, about 2 tsp (powdered is fine too if it's fresh) Extra virgin olive oil, enough to make it blend smoothly, about 1/2 cup Blend until smooth but leave some texture to the herbs. Sauce should be gloppy but not too thick. Taste for salt, seasoning, and for proper balance of acid and oil (since limes vary in both size and acidity, you can't do this based on volume). Mix in sauce. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Variation: for a bit of spice, make some of the peppers medium heat ones and cut fine (leave some peppers large and mild) or add hot pepper to the sauce. Traditional chimichurri sauce has garlic, but I prefer to leave it out. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
5:13 pm	Recipe: Adventures with vegetable paste (stuffed peppers and fish rolls) I got a big bag of broccoli raab at the Farmer's Market on Saturday (3/4 lb, which is more than you'd think) and some gorgeous poblano peppers.  Stuffed Peppers: I wanted to make chili renellos but ran out of time, so made baked peppers instead. First, I made the stuffing.  In to the food processor went: The broccoli raab 1 hot pepper 1 package extra firm tofu 3 carrots 1 eggplant 1 quart of so of crimimi mushrooms Water as needed Salt and pepper It was mostly a puree, but one batch of raab got left coarse for some texture.  It was good with a strong pea taste.  I put a bit of olive oil in a pan and gently sauteed the puree to remove excess water. I added about 1/2 cup pine nuts. I stuffed the poblano peppers with this mixture and put them in a baking pan with some olive oil on the bottom, then baked at 400*F or so until they browned slightly on one side, then I turned them and softened the other side. This came out good but a bit dense.  I think it would have been yummy with the addition of a grain (rice, quinoa) or something else to lighten it up. Fish Rolls: I had a ton of leftover paste so  I used it again last night, Monday.  We had bought a bunch of dover sole fillets at Costco so I rinsed them and set them on a plate with paper towels to dry a bit (I didn't worry about some water).  I used a clean spoon to put the paste in a working bowl (as not to contaminate the paste with raw fish).  I took each fillet (these are quite thin, 1/4 to 1/2 inch, and not very big; I cut one in half) and put a tablespoon or so of paste on one end, rolled it over, added another 1/2 tablespoon, and continued rolling as tight as I could.  Then I coated each side of the fish with some olive oil in a pan and put a toothpick in the fish to secure it (don't skip the toothpick!). The fish got baked at 350*F to 400*F in a single layer.  My intention was to put a sear on one side like I had with the peppers, but they released a ton of water, going up an inch of more in the pan, and I ended up with poached fish, which was delicious. The rolls fell apart slightly when they were moved, but not when they were cooked.  They did better after a few minutes out of the oven. I served them with roasted asparagus and they were really really good.  Even better cold the next day.  Watch out for toothpicks! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of that vegetable paste.  Man, I made a lot. (Comment on this)
Friday, July 27th, 2007
11:25 pm	My great find So I went to the library today and while I was there I logged on to my account at their computer to put a book on hold for DH and to check on the new Harry Potter book to get added to the list.  They had like 5 screen pages for the list of copies of this book and there were 400 people in front of me for holds.  But it turns out they have what are called "walk-in" copies.  They don't go on hold and are for people who are in the right place at the right time.  My local branch has two walk-in copies of this book and I saw that one was "being shelved" in the Juvinile section, which is where I was with DD anyway.  I go to the children's librarian and ask.  She looked at the main desk for me and then I saw it.  It was in the "new book" section at the front of the library and must have been there for all of 5 minutes. You know something is amiss when you put your purse and your book down on the couch in the children's section to read to your child and you're more worried that someone will come by and walk off with the book than you are the purse :-) Okay, so as great things in the world go, this is minor, but it was nice. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 19th, 2007
7:06 pm	Recipe: Halibut Ceviche Let's see...it's raw, it's lowcarb, it's lowfat, it's high in protein, it's filled with healthy stuff, it's dairy & egg-free, it's gluten-free, it's legume-free...what's not to love?  Oh yeah, and it is astoundingly delicious and not hard to make either. I got the recipe online and changed it very little. Mexican Ceviche http://www.recipezaar.com/8899 (there are some extra notes on the site) 1     lb halibut fillets or sea bass fillets or red snapper fillets (or use a mixture of fish and shrimp) 5-6     limes (Enough Juice to cover fish) 1     cup diced fresh tomatoes 1     green pepper, sweet, chopped 4     tablespoons chopped parsley or cilantro 1/4     teaspoon salt 1/4     teaspoon pepper 1/2     teaspoon oregano 2     jalapeno peppers, chopped (or more to suit your taste) 2     tablespoons white vinegar 1     medium onion, finely chopped 2     tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped 1     dash Tabasco sauce     lettuce leaves (to line serving bowls)     avocados (optional)     black olives, sliced (for garnish) (optional)    1. Dice the fish (approximately 1/2 inch dice if using shrimp use cleaned shrimp).    2. Marinate fish in the lime juice in the fridge overnight (this step cooks the fish).    3. Stir often.    4. Pour off most of the Lime juice (Just leave it moist).    5. Add remaining ingredients except lettuce, Avocado and olive. Do this preferably a few hours before serving & refrigerate.    6. Toss well and arrange in individual serving bowls that are lined with the lettuce leaves.    7. If you wish garnish with Sliced Avocado and sliced black Olives. I used 2 pounds of halibut fillet from Costco.  Be sure to use something well stripped of bones.  The limes, bell pepper, and tomato were in the amounts specified for 1 lb of fish.  I left out the onion.  I thought I had cilantro but didn't.  I used rice vinegar instead of white (upped it slightly).  Instead of jalapeno and tabasco I added a small glop of Dave's Insanity Sauce, which was perfect (it has soy in it). It hasn't melded in the fridge yet but man is it good so far.  I haven't completely decided how to serve it but wil probably fry up some corn tortillas to make ceviche tostadas and serve with some lettuce leaves and avocado. The liquid I drained from the fish after soaking overnight is too yummy to throw out, so it's in the fridge.  But I don't know exactly what to do with it.  It cries out for a cocktail of some sort (you know, like you'd add clam juice to).  Any ideas?  We'll be eating in about an hour, after DH and DD return from the gym.   (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 15th, 2007
2:42 pm	Recipe: Beet Salad with Feta Cheese Also here: http://immuneweb.org/lowcarb/recipes/beetsalad.html Beet Salad with Feta Cheese 2 good-sized beets 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil 2 Tbs rice vinegar (or any bland vinegar) 4 oz feta cheese (crumbled into tiny pieces) 2-3 Tbs of sour cream 1 teaspoon mustard (a good dijon) fresh herbs (optional) Remove beet tops from beets, leaving an inch or so of them on the root. Wash beets well. Place in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook. Test the beets with a fork until you can get the fork in about 1/2 an inch. You want the beets cooked well enough for the skins to slide off easily but not for the flesh to get mushy. Put the beets into cold water (you may need to add additional cold water...and I recommend letting the tap run) and slide off skins with your fingers. If they don't slip off easily, cook them longer. Let beets cool and then use a hand grater to cut them into pieces. Use a grater with approx. 1/4" holes. Add all ingredients except the herbs and toss until beets are well coated. Chill the beets in the fridge overnight. Serve cold topped with fresh chopped herbs or edible flowers. Add some extra sour cream on top if you wish. Serves 6 Note: if you prefer to make the salad without mustard, you can use balsamic vinegar instead of a bland vinegar (this will have more carbs). Beets are a fairly carby vegetable but they're packed with nutrition and a little goes a long way. The serving size listed here is quite satisfying and, at 3.6 grams of usable carbs, not much of a compromise. The 2 large beets used for the total recipe have over 600 mg of potassium, 160 mcg of folate, and many healthy micronutrients making up the rich color. Food Protein Fat Total Carbs Fiber Net Carbs 2 large beets (200 g) 3.4 .4 19.9 4 15.9 2 Tbs olive oil 0 27 0 0 0 2 Tbs vinegar (varies) 0 0 1 0 1 4 oz feta cheese 16.1 24.1 4.6 0 4.6 1 tsp mustard (varies) .2 .2 .4 .2 .2 Total: 19.7 51.7 25.9 4.2 21.7 One serving (of 6) 3.3 8.6 4.3 .7 3.6   (Comment on this)
9:13 am	Recipe: Borscht (beet soup) - Vegan with dairy option 6-7 medium Beets 2 lbs Carrots 1/2 bunch Celery Large piece Ginger, about 3" 1-2 lemons Salt and pepper Sour cream (optional; use about 1/2 tub total) Cut off beet greens to leave an inch at the end.  Wash beet roots well (you can cut very large ones but, otherwise, leave intact).  Put into pot with enough water to cover.  Bring to boil then turn down to a simmer and cook until you can put a fork into the beets but don't let them get soft enough to put a fork in all the way with ease. Remove beets (save the liquid) and cool with water or just leave out until you can handle them.  Slip off the skins (they will come off easily in your hands) and discard. Coarsely chop the celery and carrots.  You have a choice here.  You can leave them raw, which will give the soup a fresh taste, or you can cook them in with the beets.  If you do that, you probably want to add them as the beets are starting to soften, maybe 20-30 minutes from the end.  If they're in the pot, remove them with the beets. Put vegetables in a blender and puree with the ginger (if your blender isn't up to the task, grate it first).  Use as much cooking liquid as needed.  Add more cooking liquid at the end, if desired, to create the proper consistency.  Save that leftover cooking liquid.  It makes wonderful beef-like stock for future soups.  Or you can chill it and drink it (strain first if you choose this option). Add salt and pepper to taste (or let individual eaters do it at the table).  Add juice of one lemon, or serve with wedges of lemon for eaters to add their own. Chill overnight and serve cold.  The soup will be very thick. Serve with a dollop of sour cream if desired (excellent as a vegan soup though). Makes enough to feed 8 dinner guests with some seconds.  I generally serve this at Passover seder. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, July 8th, 2007
1:31 pm	Recipe: Slushies! When I was at the County Fair on July 4th, one of the booths was promoting healthy eating for kids and they had samples of a blender drink.  All fruit (no juice) and no added sugar.  It was fabulous on that blindingly hot day (about 100*F). Their slushie recipe: Ice cubes (between 1/3 and 1/2 of the blender) Fresh watermelon (a cup or so) Fresh strawberries (a cup of so) Lime juice (freshly squeezed, maybe 1 lime's worth) I've made a lot of smoothies, usually with soy milk, but only rarely have made slushies.  The difference is the ice.  Slushies are very cold and have that wonderful bumpy texture. My recipe is more intense because 1) I like it that way and 2) I can't find my ice cube trays.  But the diluted (with ice) kind would be better on a very hot day so you could drink more of it. Yesterday, a vendor at the Farmer's Market had a ton of organic strawberries they were practically giving away.  They said they had been rejected from Whole Foods because they were too ripe.  Indeed, they were at their peak and wouldn't have lasted overnight without refrigeration.  So we got a whole flat (12 overflowing baskets) for a mere $9.  I gave away 2 baskets, put 3 in the fridge, and froze the remaining  7. I poured the strawberries into a bowl of cold tap water (no chlorine in ours).  Then I pulled off the caps by hand and put them on a clean dish towel on a cookie sheet.  When they were done (I did this in two batches), I put them back into a fresh bowl of water, swished, and scooped them back on to the towel.  Then I poured them off the towel on to the cookie sheet.  It's best if you don't wash them, but these were a bit older and I felt it was necessary. I used 2 big cookie sheets.  Ideally, you don't want the strawberries to touch each other, but at least keep them in a single layer.  The drier they are, the better.  Freeze overnight then transfer to zipper bags (they will take some prying) or your container of choice and store in the freeze.  My 7 baskets made 2 stuffed gallon bags worth. My slushie recipe: Fresh melon (leftover from a holiday fruit salad: cantaloupe, honeydew, chopped mint, a touch of salt, and some liquid in the bottom of the bowl, about 1/3 blender full) Frozen strawberries (about the same quantity as the melon) It came out really well.  We do have watermelon in the fridge, and I liked the watermelon/strawberry blend a lot, but I wanted to use up the melon salad first.  I also want to do some with peaches (we have some older ones in the fridge). Lime or lemon juice would be good too. I love that it is pure fruit.  Juice is promoted as a healthy food but it's just not.  It's stripped of fiber and a lot of the best nutrients.  Commerical brands are extremely sweet (even if they don't add sugar; they either use sweet fruits or add white grape or apple juice), use peeled fruits, are filtered, and are pasteurized.  Ick.  If you make your own juice, that's different. though I recommend eating the pulp too (can be in a different recipe) so you get the whole fruit). These blends would make great popsicles, by the way.  Our usual source of strawberries says she puts her unwashed strawberries in the blender (she only removes the caps) and then puts the unadulterated puree into popsicle molds. Now I have frozen strawberries to use in drinks or slushies all summer long.  Slicing them would be easier on my blender (a couple got left whole) but it's more work and takes more trays for freezing Current Mood: content (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 29th, 2007
10:59 pm	They don't make them like they used to Our tenants' house has a leak under the house (discovered after much time and one pointless plumber visit) which we are trying to get fixed.  We have a home warrenty policy that normally saves us tons of money, though they can be slow.  So today the plumber comes out and goes through the hatch in the back porch and under the house to the laundry room (the leak is the hot water pipe leading from the water heater).  He says, sorry, the opening to get to that part of the house is too small so the insurance company will have to send someone else.  He can reach the bad pipe with one hand but needs both there to fix it.  His company is a one-man operation. A couple hours later, the second plumbing company calls.  They'll be over shortly.  They call back 5 mins later to ask exactly why couldn't the first plumber fix it himself.  I said, well the guy was about 300-350 pounds and simply couldn't fit.  Oh, the man says.  Well, I'm 340 pounds and all my guys are big too, so we can't help you. The insurance company is still calling around, looking for someone on their list who has a small to average-sized man or an average-sized woman available.  So far, no luck.  The plumbers are all upfront about their size and seem unoffended. You all know that 1) I'm no skinnie minnie and 2) I couldn't care less what someone weighs but...is it really that hard to find a plumber under 300 lbs??!! If the insurance company comes through, it will cost us $55 for everything they cover (parts, labor, but no secondary damage from the continuing water leak).  If we hire our own plumber, it will cost hundreds of dollars...with no guarentee we'd have any better luck finding someone to fit under the house. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
11:09 pm	What I would serve at a wedding So I've been watching the reality show/competition, the Next Food Network Star.  They had a challenge where they broke up into two teams and had 6 hours to make a wedding dinner for 100 people.  Each team member had to make one dish of a full meal for the team (so there were two sets of dinner for the wedding, which worked out well since most weddings that size have options).  The bride and groom said the bride was vegetarian and so were many of the guests, so they wanted several vegetarian dishes there.  And they didn't want it to feel like a bunch of side dishes. Man...the only real vegetarian dish there was an Indian curry with tofu.  Everything else was a side dish or had meat.  They also put cheese in almost everything.  Oy. I got to thinking what I would make if I were on that show and I came up with a dish in my head.  Tempeh triangles pan fried golden brown, spread with a paste made from half capers and half sun-dried tomatoes, and served with long strands of caramelized onions and thin strips of roasted bell pepper in various colors.  I invented that paste already and it was good, but I've never made this dish.  Naturally, I had to try it. The tempeh was Lightlife soy tempeh with pieces of vegetables in it.  It's a long rectangle.  I cut it in half across then each half into a triangle.  Perfect party size.  I fried it in olive oil.  Then removed to a plate with a paper towel on it. The paste was made with tomatoes in olive oil plus drained capers.  It was good but it was better the other time I made it because I used my home oven-dried roma tomatoes plus some olive oil. I don't eat onions usually and didn't have them or peppers anyway, so I used the veggies I had: green cabbage and carrots.  I added a big hunk of frozen grated ginger (like 2 square inches) and sauteed the vegetable slices in olive oil.  Added salt.  Nothing else. I also made polenta, the refrigerated cylinder from Trader Joe's.  I cut into rounds and fried.  It all came out really good. We actually had tempeh at our wedding.  Only it had a mushroom cream (vegan) sauce.  This was very good too. Current Mood: tired (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 17th, 2007
11:18 pm	Father's Day Dinner I asked hubby what he wanted for Father's Day and he said "surprise me."  I made eggplant parmesan with a side of roasted vegetables.  Both came out wonderful. It was a lot of work though.  I'm a pretty fast cook; I can cut up a bowl full of vegetables in the time it takes an occasional cook to do a handful.  But this dinner...wow...  I thought it would take me 2 hours, not counting time in the oven.  The plan was for DH to take DD to the park around noon and I'd meet them a block away at the community pool, to swim from 2 to 3:30.  Then DD would take a late nap and we'd have an early dinner. Nice plan.  Swimming was great except DD wanted out a bit early.  We got home and I hid.  DH finally got her to sleep around 4.  She did sleep for 2 hours but at that point I'd only made the roasted veggies, made the tomato sauce, cut the eggplant and did step one of breading it (oh and I cleaned the counters and mopped the floor cause it was driving me crazy).  I had the first batch frying in the pan when she woke up.  She was clingy and cranky and had a splinter in her foot we couldn't get out, and was crying and whining, and I just turned the stove off for a while. Dinner finally got done and served a little after 8.  It was wonderful. Everything was vegetarian, egg-free, gluten-free, mostly lowcarb, and natural/organic.  But it wasn't dairy-free.  I can cheat with dairy every so often, so I choose this as my time. Recipe: Roasted Vegetables 1 large rutabaga, peeled and cut into a course dice (1x.5x2" more or less) 2 bunches baby turnips, trimmed and cut in half (or quarters for larger ones) 2 large leeks, sliced across about 1/4" thick Toss in baking pan with enough olive oil to coat, a couple pinches of gray salt Add a few tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano, and several sprigs of rosemary Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45-60 mins (I only did about 1/2 hour, maybe more, and it wasn't quite enough.  The rutabaga was good but the turnips were a bit hard and the leeks were good but not with golden edges like I wanted.  It would be best to put this in a hot oven before assembling the eggplant).  Stir several times during cooking.  The choice of  vegetables turned out to be excellent.  All were good and complemented each other.  I'd never had rutabaga before that I knew of and it was really good.  Kind of a cross between a turnip and a parsnip, only different. Recipe: Eggplant Parmesan This requires 3 different layers (more than 3 because there are 3 different cheeses, but close enough): Eggplant Cheese Sauce Eggplant: 4 good sized (medium to medium-large) globe eggplants, sliced in to circles with skins on to 1/4-1/3" thick    (5 would have helped fill in gaps in 2nd and 3rd layers) 5 tablespoons flaxseed meal in 2 cups water in large glass measuring cup, nuke until boiling then let cool, mix    (you can use 6-8 beaten eggs here instead if you wish) Bowl of half soy flour and half brown rice flour (I used more of the latter because I ran out of soy flour) with a bit of salt.     You want 3-4 cups total.  (All soy flour lowers carbs significantly but is too heavy.  All rice flour is fine.  Wheat flour is    of course fine if you tolerate it.) Lightly coat eggplant in flour.  Set on plate (okay to stack).  Then dip into the flaxseed goo, let excess drip off, coat in flour mixture again, then place carefully into a hot pan with olive or other oil in it.  Brown on one side, flip, brown on the other side, then remove to a plate with a paper towel on it.  Put additional paper towels between each layer but make as many layers as you want.  Don't worry about them getting soggy. Cheese: 1 container ricotta cheese (16 oz I think) 1 slab of mozzarella cheese (about 4-5 oz), shredded 1 small piece of very good regiano (sp?) Sauce: This was my one not-from-scratch cheat (unless you count the cheese). 3-4 double handfuls of crimimi mushrooms, washed and diced 3 carrots, shredded 1 quart jar pasta sauce (I used Seeds of Change) 3/4 to 1 cup chopped fresh oregano A bit of water to even it all out (keep it thick) Olive oil Saute mushrooms in oil until flavors develop, add carrots, then add some salt. Add pasta sauce, stir, add water if needed to get right consistency. Turn off heat and add oregano. Layering: A tiny bit of sauce on the bottom (I thinned with water) to keep eggplant from sticking. 1 full layer of eggplant, carefully fitted, with better, larger pieces. 1/3 the ricotta cheese. 1/3 the sauce. 1/3 the shredded cheese. Eggplant, ricotta, sauce, mozzarella. Eggplant, ricotta, sauce, mozzarella. You now have a total of 3 layers. I baked it at 350*F for about 1/2 hour then my neighbor said to turn it up to 450 or 500*F.  I did and, 10 minutes later, the cheese was very light brown on top and the dish was perfect. The Rest of the Meal: Eaten on the dining room table with a clean tablecloth and the nicer dishes. Rose wine, chilled, in wine glasses x 2. Selzer with lemon slices in wine glasses x 3 (DD got a wooden wine glass). The good cheese grated on top. Dessert was cubed cantaloupe with fresh chopped peppermint, a bit of salt, and white balsamic vinegar, but it didn't get eaten because we were all full :-) All in all, a good Father's Day.  And, as promised, no hospitalization!! (where I was for Mother's Day) Current Mood: satisfied (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
12:47 am	Pictures of Mou This is in reply to gerimaple's announcement of Mou's death tonight (Tuesday night).  I am doing my own post mostly because I can't seem to put up photos in a comment.  See http://gerimaple.livejournal.com/75615.html Mou and Wolf in the mid-1990's Geode (left) and Mou, mid-1990's, in front of Rainbow House Mou (left) and Geode, mid-1990's Group of friends 1996.  Wolf is bottom middle and Mou is bottom right. Group of friends mid-1990's.  Mou is seated in middle and Wolf is behind her Current Mood: sad (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
10:46 pm	Recipe: Peach Chutney Organic peaches at the Farmer's Market for $1/lb...but I got them even cheaper by filling a box. I used stuff out of my head and also a compilation of some recipes I found on the net.  Not to mention what was in my cupboard.  Most recipes called for raisins but I felt this was already too sweet.  Some had onions and garlic, but I don't eat those. The spice mixtures varied a lot and I mixed and matched.  The sugar levels also were way different.  I tried to keep mine low.  One recipe called for 3 lbs of peaches and 1 cup brown sugar.  Another called for 4 lbs of peaches and 4 cups brown sugar!!  I didn't have brown sugar and the stevia I had was green (a purchasing mistake) and gross. There seem to be two basic chutney styles.  The first is the Americanized version where it's a lightly cooked fresh fruit stew.  The other is a more traditional Indian style chutney which is cooked for hours, usually in vinegar.  I went with the latter. For those of you who don't know, chutney is a condiment used on meats, fish, or other foods (great on tofu).  It comes from India but I believe is popular in Britain too (no great surprise there).  It can be made out of just about anything but usually has cooked fruit, spices, chili, sourness, and sweetener. Peach Chutney I started with perhaps a gallon of fresh ripe peaches.  I simply rinsed them, removed the stems, and pitted them with my hands (my daughter stood on a stool and handed me peaches from the water bowl, carefully shaking them off first).  I didn't chop or peel. I put the peach glop into a pot and added white vinegar to a couple inches below the peach level (there was a lot of peach juice too since I pitted over a bowl instead of a cutting board). I cooked this on very low heat, stirring every few minutes, for a couple of hours. Then my intention was to strain out the skins, but I found that they cooked down really well and it wasn't necessary.  You want chutney to have texture anyway; it's not jam. Then I added the other ingredients: 1/2-2/3 cup ginger (food processed fresh ginger in frozen blocks) 2 tsp habanero flakes 1 TB whole mustard seed About 6 whole cloves 1 cinnamon stick 2 tsp cardamon powder 1/2 cup sugar (organic evaporated cane juice) About 3 TB pecan (dark) honey Couple pinches of salt I cooked this another 2 hours or so until the volume was a bit more than half of the original peach and vinegar volume.  I removed the cinnamon stick but didn't bother taking out anything else. It tasted a bit funny while it was cooking but then the flavors came together and it was really good. If I knew how to can, this would be perfect for that.  But I don't, so now I've got two glass jars of the stuff in my fridge (maybe 2 quarts total, if that).  Sometime soon I'll transfer to smaller containers and freeze. (Comment on this)