The Inspiring Spiralizer

Spring.  It’s right around the corner.  The February sun is tempting us, teasing us with the possibility of warmth, the possibility of something new, something worth rolling out of bed to experience, the possibility of inspiration.  While the weather can’t exactly decide what it wants to do and we can’t depend on the sun to create these possibilities, we have to find inspiration in other things.

I happened to find inspiration in a kitchen gadget that I received for Christmas called The Spiralizer.  It is a tool that can turn a regular run of the mill zucchini or yellow squash, in my case, into a beautiful bowl of spirally pasta.  Inspiring? Exciting?   It is if you haven’t eaten traditional pasta in months.  So, to me The Spiralizer is the best invention since the Salad Shooter.

Zucchini or squash pasta tastes healthy, but not healthy  as in boring or “I know that I’m really eating imposter pasta,” but healthy as in fresh, as in “mmmm this is different, this is good,” as in I want seconds!

My first attempt at using The Spiralizer was a great success.  I followed the recipe for Low Carb Zucchini Pasta.  (Shocking that I actually followed a recipe, I know!) OK, so I didn’t have any zucchini, so I substituted yellow squash instead. (Guess I didn’t follow the recipe after all!)  I washed and then cut the top and bottom off the squash, then pushed and turned it through The Spiralizer.  The result, as you can see by the picture, looked much like traditional wheat pasta.

Then I made a variation of the sauce that I use in the Italian-Paleo Eggplant with Crumbled Beef, Tomatoes and Mint (minus the mint) recipe.  This sauce is very different from the usual meat marinara sauce.  It does not call for tomato sauce or tomato paste, but rather fresh tomatoes.  It also calls for vinegar, but I use apple cider vinegar to add just a hint of sweetness.  This is an excellent sauce on top of eggplant, but the squash is much more fun to spiralize than roasting the eggplant.  However, why couldn’t an eggplant be spiralized?

See what I mean?  The Spiralizer is inspiring!  If only it was in spring.

Spinach Chips aren't the Answer

Today was an all-around hard day.  It was hard for the normal reasons (work, life, balancing it all) which made it hard for the dieting reasons. For those of you who don’t follow this blog, I’ve put myself on a sugar-free, yeast-free, gluten-free diet.  For two weeks I have to avoid a number of foods in what is called a”cleanse.”  I’ve been pretty good. I have managed to avoid potatoes for about 5 days, but it seems like so much more!  I’ve gone about 2 weeks without my favorite snack in the world – corn chips.  I’m craving the salt, the satisfying crunch, and the somewhat sweet taste.   I don’t know why I think that having chips would make the day any better, but craving them is making the day that much worse.

Spinach Chips paired with Coconut Fried Chicken

I don’t usually like to let negativity seep into this blog, but without those chips or any kind of sugar, I

thought venting might help a bit.  I did look for a solution to my craving and found a recipe for Spinach Chips.  I’m not a big fan of kale (yet) and these seemed like a viable replacement for kale chips.  I mixed 2 cups of spinach with salt, Italian seasoning, and olive oil and then spread them on a baking sheet.  Getting them off the baking sheet was a little challenging.  The “chips” were so thin that some of them broke off before I could transfer them to a plate.  You can imagine that eating them posed the same challenge.  I tried using a fork but that was awkward, so I managed to use a combination of a fork and my fingers – messy and oily!

The taste wasn’t what I was expecting.  It tasted like spinach, of course, but more like wilted spinach. Maybe I overcooked them or maybe the spinach leaves I had were too ripe.  I’m not sure.  They didn’t have the crunch that I was hoping for, but they did have a nice crispiness to them.  They might make a good salad topping. I’m willing to try the recipe again to see if I can make it better.  Unfortunately, I still want corn chips.

Quinoa as in whaaaaaat?

I’m having quinoa for breakfast.  What?  That’s what I first thought when I saw the word a few years

ago, which I suppose is appropriate since it is pronounced, "kinwa,” as if you were going to say the word “what” and hold out the aw sound.  Quinoa is a grain that is a part of the amaranth family.  It has become more popular recently because it’s high in protein and low in carbs.  I imagine if rice and pasta got married and had children this would be the outcome - a healthier and all around better version than they are alone.  Where rice and pasta are pretty bland without sauces and seasonings, quinoa has a nutty flavor to it – more savory, more interesting.  No matter how long it’s cooked, it seems to have a slight crunch to it.

Hot Breakfast Quinoa

I’m eating it as a breakfast cereal.  I followed the directions on the package, but boiled it in almond milk instead of water.  This seems to have enhanced the nutty flavor that I mentioned earlier.  Instead of focusing on the savory, I made it sweet by seasoning with cinnamon, coconut butter, and sprinkling a little bit of desiccated coconut on the top.  The coconut made the slight crunch a little less noticeable.

Quinoa isn’t a bad replacement for oatmeal in the morning.  I definitely recommend trying it.  However, it does take some time to cook quinoa, especially at higher elevations, so you might want to consider making it the night before if you are in hurry in the morning like I am.

The Yeast Free – Gluten Free – Sugar Free Cleanse (Candida Free Diet)

Yes, the “I’m Gonna Eat It” girl is dieting.  No, I’m not crazy.  I’m tired of feeling tired and I want to have a healthy 2015.  I am going on a yeast free, sugar free, gluten free, also known as candida free diet.  I’ using The Yeast Connection and the Candida Free Living books for guidance.

There is a long list of food to avoid including refined sugar, fruit, yeast, wheat, processed meats like lunch meat and sausage, vegetables that are high in starch content like potatoes and carrots, dairy products, beans and legumes, and caffeinated beverages. (I have decided that I can’t do without caffeine.  I tested it for one day and after a terrible headache and falling asleep on the couch at 7:30 pm, I decided that some sacrifices are not worth the outcome.  It’s bad enough that I have to give up my morning banana and peanut butter!)

Don’t worry! I’m still gonna eat!  While there is a long list of foods to avoid, there is an equally long list of food to enjoy. This includes most green leafy vegetables like lettuce and kale, some grains like quinoa, buckwheat, eggs, most meats except for pork, and coconut.  The challenge comes in preparing meals – it is going to take time as everything has to be made from scratch and carefully prepared.  There are no shortcuts and no pre-made dishes.  This will be especially hard for lunches when going to work.

I’ve done a variation of this diet before and I survived, so I’m confident I will again.  The cleanse is only for two weeks and then I can start reintroducing food.  This will help determine what foods bother me.

They say that if you tell people about the diet you're going on there is more a likely a chance that you will actually follow it.  with that said, I'm going to blog about the new foods that I'm trying.

Root for Root Vegetables

I watched a college basketball game this past week – the University of New Mexico Lobos vs. New Mexico State Aggies.  These are the two biggest universities in the state and so there is naturally a rivalry.  I live in Albuquerque and attended UNM, so I naturally root for the Lobos and usually boo at the Aggies.  Why boo?  Why dislike a school, a team, a group of people just because they aren’t the school that I went to?   It’s almost as if disliking the Aggies is ingrained in the Lobos and vice versa for no other reason than “they aren’t us.”  And somehow this is acceptable for sporting events as we choose a team to root for, which means we are choosing a team to root against.

Yet I think we carry this mentality into other aspects of our lives too – the idea that if we like one thing, we can’t possibly like another just because it isn’t the first thing.  For example, most people like potatoes – fried, scalloped, baked, chips, whatever form they can get.  If you ask someone, “do you like potatoes?” you will probably get an enthusiastic nod.  However, if you ask people “do you like turnips?”  You will probably get a raised eyebrow followed by a wrinkling of the nose as if they just smelled something like hot trash.  And then if you ask, “have you ever tried turnips?”  You might get a mixed response: some will say no and some will say they were forced to eat them as children but haven’t had them in a long time, while others might say they attempted to make them but couldn’t quite figure out how to cook them.

Turnip Fries

It’s this first group that I can’t quite figure out – how can they dislike something they have never tried? How did the turnip become so wildly unpopular in their minds?  For the people who have bad childhood memories associated with root vegetables, I understand why they wouldn’t want to give them another chance. My mother is in this group.  She says she had to eat turnips as a child and that they were bitter.  As she described this, she looked as if that bitterness was still on her tastebuds. 

I have not experienced the bitter turnip sensation, so I am a fan of the turnip and root vegetables in general.  To me, the turnip is an excellent substitute for the potato.  I have made mashed turnips just like I would if I were making mashed potatoes; boil the turnips, drain the water, add chicken broth,  some butter, salt, and pepper.  Voila!  Mashed turnips!  The husband said that he couldn’t tell the

difference between the turnip and the potato.  I’ve also made Turnip Fries in the oven by cutting up the turnip to look like fries, drizzling with olive oil, and sprinkling with paprika and salt.  These are delicious with a burger! 

Roasted Chicken and Rutabaga

After my impromptu survey about turnips, I decided to ask people about the rutabaga. Most people asked, “What’s that?” and looked at me like I had made up the word.  The rutabaga is a root vegetable just like the turnip.  It seems to have  a wilder taste to it – kind of like venison is to beef – similar but different.  Instead of white “meat” like the turnip, the rutabaga is more yellow.  I made Roasted Chicken and Rutabaga for my first taste of this root vegetable.  While I really like the turnip, the rutabaga didn’t impress me nearly as much.  The recipe called for many spices, black olives, and yet the rutabaga could not be tamed.  It still tasted a bit wild, maybe this was the bitterness my mother had referred to.  However, I ate it anyway and I hope to try it again.  Maybe I will make rutabaga fries the next time.

Both the turnip and the rutabaga are part of the mustard (crucifer) family along with cabbage, cauliflower, and the radish.  So why are these vegetables in the same family more widely accepted?  How did the turnip and the rutabaga fall from popularity?  I don’t know the answer to these questions, but just as I will continue to root for the Lobos I will continue to root for root vegetables (and try to boo less for the Aggies.)

Frittatas, Omelets, and Quiche - oh my!

Frittatas, and Omelets, and Quiche – oh my!  I’ve been able to eat eggs for almost four years now, so I’ve branched out from scrambled eggs and have experimented with the Frittata, Omelet, and Quiche.  Before I could eat eggs, I put them all egg dishes in the same category of “don’t eat!”  However, now that I can eat them, I’ve noticed that there are some subtle differences. But those differences are so subtle that I thought I would write what I think they are and then follow up with a bit of research. 

Frittata

My first step down the yellow egg yolk road was the Frittata.  I found a frittata recipe in a Cooking Light magazine and have made it a number of times.  The great thing about the recipe is that I can use it as a suggestion and then use the ingredients that I have.  I’ve used bacon, leftover Italian sausage, and smoked chicken apple sausage for the meat. I’ve used combinations of chopped fresh spinach, bell pepper, zucchini, and onion for the vegetables.  Sometimes I crush corn chips and add them to the mix for a crunchier texture.  The only ingredient that never changes is the egg!

To me the frittata is like an egg pancake in which the flavor can be manipulated by the other ingredients added to the egg mixture.  Dictionary.com refers to it as an Italian omelet that “resembles a large pancake containing vegetables, seasonings, and often ricotta, Parmesan, or other cheese.”¹ The key is that it is served open rather than folded.  According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) the word “frittata” first appeared in 1875 in a quote in the New York Times: “All except the most passionate or stupid appear to feel how necessary it is to keep within bounds and avoid reducing to experiment plan and theories, the end of which would be to make a frittata of Italian political affairs.”²  This refers to the idiom fare la frittata (to make a mess of something) rather than the food, but it shows how the egg dish can be a chaotic hodge podge rather than a thought out recipe.

Feeling spicy?  Add some chile powder or even some green chile.  Want it mild? Stick with salt and pepper.  The frittata is an excellent and flavorful way to handle leftovers that you just don’t know what to do with. Frittatas, and Omelets, and Quiche – oh my!

Omelet

Next, I sashayed down the yellow egg yolk road to the Omelet.  Keep in mind that I have never made an omelet.  There is something extremely intimidating about flipping the omelet and keeping the ingredients inside the fold.  To avoid the stress, I ordered “The Abney” at Weck’s.  According to their menu it has “diced bacon, fresh bell peppers, diced tomatoes, guacamole, cheddar and jack cheeses, with your choice of red and/or green chile.”  I, of course, chose green chile, but it was the guacamole that really stood out.  It transformed my healthy omelet into something delicious that I will definitely try again.

To me the omelet looks like an egg taco folded around healthy vegetables.  According to dictionary.com, the dish usually consists of “eggs beaten until frothy, often combined with other ingredients, as herbs, chopped ham, cheese, or jelly, and cooked until set.”³ According to the OED, the first time the word omellette appeared was in 1611 in a French & English Dictionary: “Omelette [v.r. Haumelotte, Homelette], an Omelet, or Pancake of egges.”⁴  However, the dish existed long before the word.  In 1561 the same egg dish was referred to as an “aumelete”. If a dish can exist for over 400 years and outlast its own name, it must be worthwhile.

Quiche

Salmon Gouda Quiche

Finally, I tiptoed down the yellow egg yolk road to the Quiche.  I always thought that quiche was a fancy dish meant for the rich and famous.  I am neither, but while vacationing in Ruidoso, I thought I would invoke my adventurous side and try it anyway.  My husband and I went to a cleverly named coffee shop called “SacredGrounds.”  I ordered the Green Chile Chicken Quiche and he ordered the Smoked Gouda Salmon Quiche.  They were both presented beautifully like pieces of egg pie next to fresh fruit and freshly baked cookies.   I think I may have built the idea of Quiche up too much because I found it to be rather bland.  The husband said that his was fantastic though, so I think this must be another case of my unsophisticated taste buds not rising to the occasion.  (The cookies, on the other hand, were to die for.  If I’m ever back in Ruidoso, I might have to stop for those alone.)

Green Chile Chicken Quiche

My amateur description of the Quiche wasn’t far off.  Dictionary.com refers to it as “a pielike dish consisting of unsweetened pastry shell filled with a custard and usually containing cheese and other ingredients as vegetables, seafood, or ham.”⁵ However, the OED refers to it as a “flan” and states that the first time the word appeared was in 1925 in the Indiana Evening Gazette: “Quiche Lorraine’ is one of the specialties of this department.”⁶  There is a bit more mystery surrounding the etymology of the word as it was most widely used in France; however, the word may have been derived from the German “kuchen” which was used in the early 1800’s.  Just like the Omelet, the Quiche has managed to exist beyond its own name and cross boarders outside of the yellow egg yolk road.

Delicious Conclusion

Frittatas, and Omelets, and Quiche – oh my!  Who knew that my journey down the yellow egg yolk road would be as exciting as the the yellow brick road!  While ingredients of the dishes are all very similar, the tastes can vary which is dependent on how the dish was prepared.  The Omelet, a simple folded over egg, originated in France and is the oldest and therefore, the brains - the Scarecrow- of the egg dishes.  Because of the mysterious origin of the Quiche, it is hard to say whether it or the Frittata was created first.  It takes courage “to make a mess of something” even if it is in an egg pancake and still be edible, so I think the Italian Frittata serves as the courage – the not so Cowardly Lion of the dishes.  That leaves the Quiche as the heart – the Tin Man – the dish that people put on a pedestal, admire, and then devour maybe because of the mystery that prevails it.

Frittatas, and Omelets, and Quiche – oh my!  My only question? Where does the Strata fit in?

References

1.       frittata. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/frittata

2.       frittata, n. (2014). OED Online. Oxford University Press.

3.       omelet. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/omelet

4.       omelette, n. (2014) OED Online. Oxford University Press.

5.       quiche. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quiche

6.       quiche, n.2. (2014). OED Online. Oxford University Press.

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The Truth about Tacos at Zacateca's

I am not a vegetarian.  I tried to be in high school, but it didn’t last long.  Because I was allergic to milk, eggs, and potatoes, I was an unwilling vegan who somehow managed to survive on rice, beans, and granola bars.  After dizzy spells and losing too much weight, I abandoned the idea of vegetarianism.  Not that it isn’t a worthy cause; it just isn’t for me.

So, it was a complete surprise to my husband and maybe myself when I ordered the Vegetarian Tacos at Zacateca’s Tacos &Tequila.  To be fair this was my second choice.  I really wanted to order the Puerco Al Pastor which are pork tacos with orange chile pineapple.  Before I ordered I decided to ask the waiter how spicy they were and he grinned, “Those are actually the spiciest thing we have on the menu.”  On our last visit to the restaurant, the husband ordered the Chicken Tinga tacos and sacrificed many taste buds to his dedication in finishing every last delicious yet extremely spicy morsel.  And this is why I replied to the waiter with, “Vegetarian Tacos it is then!”

But sometimes things happen for a reason.  When the tacos arrived, they were arranged beautifully on a plate – four tacos in what I call taco holders.  Corn tortillas held yellow corn, snow peas, zucchini, and peppers all sautéed in the most amazing butter sauce I may have ever tasted and then topped with something called Cotija cheese and, my favorite, avocado.  Whoever thinks that vegetables are boring needs to try these tacos!  The vegetables themselves had a fresh summer sweetness about them that was accented by the salty, flavorful butter sauce, and pronounced by the cheese.  I had never heard of Cotija cheese until this outing, but it seems like a Mexican version of the Italian Parmesan. It has the same consistency, but the flavor is bolder, maybe saltier.  It may now be my favorite kind of cheese.

Because there were four tacos, the husband and I decided to share.  In exchange for one prized Vegetarian Taco, he gave me one Cochinita de Pibil taco, which are pork tacos braised in banana leaves and chile.  I had ordered these on our previous visit and already knew that they would be fantastic.  What was surprising was that the husband (who says that he pretended vegetables didn’t exist until we started dating) inhaled the vegetarian taco and demanded that we exchange another.  Yes, demanded.  I thought it was so funny that he valued vegetables over pork in this instance, that I exchanged another without any argument. 

The truth is that the vegetarian tacos are so good that I wanted to share, wanted him to enjoy them as much as I did.  So, thank you Zacateca’s Tacos & Tequila for encouraging us to eat our vegetables and to share.  And thank you for making an excellent margarita too!