Food: Favorite Recipes

I love cooking, and I've given away enough food that I need to post some recipes!  Most recipes I find online and then add to or tailor as needed or necessary, so here goes nothing.

Granola: My Pride and Joy. 

1. Granola. 

I tried a few different recipes, and the one that finally worked for me was a mixture of different oils and oats and nuts.  It started from the Smitten Kitchen recipe, and I went with the following to make it more my style.  Also, I use grams so I can more effectively utilize my kitchen scale.

100 grams each hazelnuts, pumpkin sees, sunflower seeds (or just 300 grams any nuts you like)

150 grams cashews (because I love cashews)

300 grams oats (the normal ones, nothing cut or fancy)

Handful flax seeds, chia seeds, and bran

200 ml coconut oil

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Drip of honey

2 egg whites (whisked until frothy)

Cinnamon. I put a lot in, sometimes during, sometimes after I spread it out.

(Note: this original recipe called for maple syrup, which I wasn't keen on.  I use my glass measuring cup, measure the coconut oil, add the olive oil, then add honey until I get to 220 mL of fluid, not including the eggs)

Oven is at 300 degrees.  All nuts are crushed, and ingredients combined.

Spread all on parchment sheet in a tight layer. 

Bake 45-55 minutes, turning over carefully half way through.

When browned and dry the way you like, remove.

Add some dried fruit (I like cranberries) and keep in airtight container. 

Second recipe you may like is here. I found this one a bit like crack, and couldn't stop eating it. So, I stopped making it.

Ingredients in Wait. 

I make many soups.
Carrot Ginger and Lemon is my favorite.
This Pumpkin soup is incredible.

I've tried a lot of green soups (spinach, broccoli, etc) and found them wanting.  My yellow and orange blends are far more satisfying.  Peas didn't blend so well for me.  I prefer the spinach cooked. Etc, etc.

A friend also told me she puts red curry paste into her soups sometimes.  And that news made me put red curry in my pumpkin soup.  I've more often made butternut squash soup with a similar method.  And it is amazingly easy with a bit of coconut milk.

An average K dinner. 

A few things here.
I eat this spinach daily.  I saute it in some garlic (that I prepare every week or two in a hand blender) and it takes about 2 minutes.  Usually, I heat up whatever I'm eating for leftovers and while it cooks, I make spinach.

Here is also some salmon, which came from this recipe. This one also does salmon well. Salmon is easy to buy here, and easy to cook in the oven.  In fact, it is the only meat in my kitchen ever.

The squash is another variation on the soup that I love.  Here's a recipe for squash with golden beets (which I've never been able to find) and tahini.

Prep, and Prep, and Prep, and Prep.

Another soup, the ingredients of which you see here, is Mexican Vegetable Soup.  Chop up a bunch of peppers and onion (and I replace the corn and beans with zucchini and mushrooms) and you have yourselves some soup that tastes like taco night.  (Not really, but there is a hint of Mexico in the cayenne and the spices).  Also, it is relaxing to cook this when I need to zen out in prep for a few hours.

Cook all the things!

This shows a few things on the stove. The back pot is tomato sauce.  That's coming up next.  The side is pumpkin soup (I would guess).  The pan with all the eggplant and zucchini is a green curry in the making.

I don't have a recipe for this, but I chop up these things I love (zucchini, eggplant, onion), and put them in the skillet with some olive oil until they are brown and I want to eat them.  Then, I put the curry paste in the skillet, get it warm, and add some coconut milk until it looks good.  I can elaborate more if necessary, but that's the basics.

Tomato sauce in the making. 

Finally, one of my favorites.  Homemade tomato sauce.  Spicy tomato sauce, to be exact.  I remember I tried to make spaghetti sauce once in Cambodia (for my family) and failed so miserably, so this is a nice success to have.  The answer does seem to be "give it more time to simmer" and "add some spices" and that's what I figured out how to do.

This can be used for a variety of things:
- I put it with fried eggs and spinach sometimes, as one of my favorite comfort foods.
- I made this baked eggplant and mushroom dish that tasted amazing.
- I made a version of this shakshuka with it that was also quite good.
- These spicy mushrooms would have worked well with it.

Next up in the cooking this week:
Butternut squash: Roasted whole (saw that in a magazine), Steamed (also magazine) and roasted (perhaps for a soup).
I made this warm eggplant salad with hemp seeds and kvass because it seemed Russian-esque and was pretty good.  That recipe needs tailored some though, so I'll play with the rest of the ingredients.
And very little else. School's almost out and it's time to think about travel.

Dessert!

I made this two ingredient sorbet with a pound of raspberries and strawberries, since it is the season.  Please enjoy the recipe, which is a pound of fruit, frozen, and a quarter cup of honey.  Beautiful.

Happy Cooking!

On Food: The Diagnosis That Started it All

While I’m on the subject of cooking, I am interested in talking about food.  My diet has become stricter and stricter in recent months, and I’m noticing some changes in my body as a result of the healthy eating.

But let me begin from when the journey started.  In April, I was diagnosed with something called PCOS, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.  I was diagnosed in Thailand, by a doctor who looked with an ultrasound and found some black spots on my ovaries.  In retrospect, he made the diagnosis quite quickly and didn’t really explain to me what it all meant, but I believed that I had it.  It is a disorder characterized by some hormonal changes, the inability to bear children or ovulate correctly, and comes with an extreme increase in the possibility of diabetes.  Because of my diagnosis, and the risk of diabetes, I decided to make some changes in my diet. 

I started by cutting out added sugar from my diet.  Cookies, and cakes, and sweets of any kind, plus soda and anything that has extreme sugars went away.  I treated myself from time to time with something sweet, but, on the whole, I was pretty good about getting rid of added sugar foods for the benefit of my health.  Getting off of added sugar was a bit rough, and continues to be rough during certain times, and sometimes it takes me every amount of my energy to deny myself something delicious and sweet.  But, I knew that I needed to do it for my health, and so I did.

I kept moving farther on the non-sugar train, particularly as my taste buds began to shift.  I cut out more things from my diet, slowly taking the sugar and the things that make sugar out of my diet.  I took out most alcohol.  I took out most bread and grains.  I took out almost everything that is processed or packaged in any way.  All these things make sugar, and I was so afraid of the risk of diabetes that I kept moving farther and farther from anything that resembled sugar in my body.

It hasn’t been an easy road, and it was one of the things that encouraged me to take up cooking when I moved to Moscow.  Now, for some recent memory, my diet is mostly vegetables, particularly spinach, lettuce, and carrots, with oatmeal and yogurt in the morning and salad and meat at lunch.  And, in fact, when this is disrupted, it brings my body to a very unpleasant sort of place.  This is, in fact, the catalyst for this blog post.  I went off my diet this weekend because of travel with a group of young people on a robotics trip, and my body is feeling worse than it has in weeks because of it.

I noticed this as well earlier in the week.  In fact, I decided to celebrate a recent trip to the doctor with a special bit of food.  I went to the doctor here in Russia and found out that I do not actually have PCOS, that my lady parts all look healthy and normal.  Part of me wonders if I had it at all, and the other part thinks the food might have been able to change things for me.  I wanted to celebrate this occasion and decided to do so with a special treat: bread.

So, I went to my favorite grocery store, bought a loaf of the most delicious looking bread that I could find, and made a bread and cheese plate with balsamic and olive oil to enjoy.  After this food, I passed out in a food coma of sorts.  And when I woke up, there was a hangover left in my body that I hadn’t felt in recent history.  My knees and joints felt a bit sore and inflamed, my head had cotton in it, and I just didn’t feel great.  I felt bloated and sick with the food.  And now, in coming back from the trip, I feel much the same.  I ate processed food and bread at the weekend, and far too many of them, and I’m very much regretting that at this moment.   I feel sore again, with my knees acting up and my eyes all puffy. 

I wonder about the food, because I used to have such problems with my knees when I started to run and exercise, and now I don’t notice them.  It’s hard to tell how much of this is from the food and how much from the exercise, but I’ve seen a difference in my body and the way it reacts.  Perhaps bread and processed foods make my joints ache.  Either way, food is a current obsession of mine, and I’m starting to subscribe to ideas about how food can greatly improve life.  I’m watching the documentaries, reading the books, seeing news, and it is making a change on the types of things I will ingest.

I don’t have PCOS, either because I never had it, or because my diet helped my body heal it.  Either way, I’ve found the foods that make my body healthy and happy.  Sadly, I don’t think bread is in that category, or sugars, or packaged foods.  But even without the disease, I can’t quit the path that I’ve found to make my body feel good and have the energy I need at school and at home. 

And given the recent experiences I had with asking for the food, I think I need a word like “vegetarian” that fully encompasses that idea.  I’m not a vegetarian because I eat meat.  I’m not a vegan because I have the occasional cheese and milk.  But we don’t really have a word for people who don’t eat the bread or grain or processed food or packaged food or starch and would really just like something green and delicious to eat.  It would be handy to say that instead of trying to explain all the things that end up making me sick.

Cooking, a Second Post

I have made so much progress with my goal to learn how to cook.  In fact, I’m to the stage of cooking where I am giving food away proudly, without any fear that it is not delicious.  I started with soups, and I’ve been making all varieties of soups, mainly because they are easy to freeze and reheat and because it is a light dinner filled with vegetables.  This week, I gave away a few portions of lemon, ginger, and carrot soup, because it is a great healer of the sickness that seems to come with school in the cold.

Produce at my local grocery store. 

I find myself cooking quite frequently.  I make a batch of something on Wednesday and sometime on the weekend, after I visit the best grocery store in the area (Azbuka: Alphabet of Taste) and purchase produce for the week.  A few weeks ago, I made two kinds of vegetable broth and have been trying them this week with my soups.  I’ve made vegetarian lasagna with eggplant, and some zucchini eggplant round dish that took ages, a tomato sauce that was pretty nice, and a ratatouille that I’m quite proud of.  I’ve roasted things, and pan-fried, and blanched.

The take of veggies one week.

I’m quite proud of yesterday, though.  Yesterday, I took a variety of ingredients that I had in my fridge from other soups and leftovers of things, and put it all together in a new soup.  I didn’t have to follow a recipe, and just judged portions based on what I thought might be right.  Turns out, my soup is pretty darned good.  Best of all, I know exactly how healthy it all is because I made it on my own. 

More often, I just stir fry some spinach or broccoli with some chilis and have it with my food.  I’m eating amazingly healthy with this food that I make in my own home, powering up my body for all the dance and exercise that I do.

Artistically taken photo of chopped veg.

This time was the right time to finally make it happen.  Finally, after all this time, I think I have finally figured out how to make food for myself and how to enjoy it as well.  It doesn’t hurt that I have a cleaner who takes care of the majority of the dishes for me and helps me keep my kitchen clean despite my working so hard to destroy it.

Figure 1. Soup.

This goal of cooking is never accomplished fully, but I do feel the confidence that comes along with being able to stir a bunch of random things together to create a decent meal.  And, I subscribe to the America’s Test Kitchen approach, trying something 15 different ways before determining which way is the best way.  In fact, with my vegetable broth and stock, I did just that.  I’ve found the better alternative to a bullion cube with super saltiness and the processed taste. 

Figure 2. A typical meal.

I’m happy to have a new hobby, and there are more on the way, I think. 

Goal Update: Food Preparation

In an effort to work on two of my goals, learning to cook and eat the healthiest, I have taken some steps.

I have purchased a few things for my kitchen (since all my things have arrived, and my kitchen still has not all the things.

1. A hand blender and food processor combo, which helps me make soup.
2. A multi-cooker, which I still don't know how to use.
3. A kitchen scale, because I had a recipe that required a weight that I didn't know.
4. A grill pan, because eggplant needs grilled.

I have so far created the following things in my kitchen:

1. Soup with zucchini, peppers, and carrots.
2. Roasted pumpkin soup.
3. Some version of ratatouille.
4. Ravioli.
5. Broccoli (in a pan)
6. Spinach (in a pan)

Pumpkin soup!

Carroty Veggie Soup!

Frozen Ratatouille!

A Fridge Full of Veg!

The goal is to have a bunch of healthy food stocked up in the freezer for some nice dinners, and it is working!  I have more than two weeks of food in my freezer, and a whole bunch of really nice green food in my fridge.

There is the added benefit of the mind stretch in cooking abroad.  My brain is trying to convert units and measurements, which isn't always the easiest thing.  There's the added challenge of finding what I need with the translator app on my phone, and utilizing the help of the ladies in the grocery store.  I feel like an explorer.

I know many of my friends and family aren't going to believe me... but... I'm kind of getting into this. Today, I'm excited that I'm going to cook.  I'm trying to cook eggplant in three different ways today.  Plus, with all of this, I'm losing weight and I feel healthy.  I also notice that the kitchen (and therefore my home) warms up quite a bit with the cooking, especially since they haven't turned the heat on.  And, I smelled the spice cabinet... and it reminds me of mom's house.

The Oven

I have made an amazing achievement.  I have learned to use my oven.

This may not sound like the most thrilling thing, but let me express some of the things that happened in order to make this happen.  I may also add that this is one of my goals, and this is evidence of progress.  More to come on that later. 

This is my oven:

Exhibit 1: Oven

It is a gas oven, which is something I have never encountered.

I have, on the left, a dial and a button that I thought was a flame button.  Given that I turn the dial and click the flame button for the burners, I thought that this was the case.  However, no.  This dial is more for heat, and the button just starts the gas. 

So, I'm consulting with my boyfriend, Pierre, because he is European and probably has encountered an oven such as this.  May I add that he was very useful in helping me learn how my dryer worked.

First, I wonder to myself how I even make this work, especially without blowing myself up in a fiery gas burning death. 

I try to turn the dial, I click the button.  I click the other button.  I wait. I look. I listen. 

Turning on the gas dial does nothing, I notice.  I hear nothing. No sounds of gas, no anything.  This is a good sign. 

Exhibit 2: Dial, Button.

I consult with Pierre, who recognizes the dial as something about the heat.  There is a measurement where you multiply this by some number to acquire a temperature in Celsius.  I disregard this information until it is more useful.

I look inside the oven, to see if there is an easy place to light the oven. 

Exhibit 3: Oven Innards.

The holes in the front are just too small for a lighter, and I actually only have a small lighter at this time.  So, this wasn't going to work.  I take a moment to re-read information shared over Facebook from the new people, because I know that I am not the only person with this issue. 

Then, I move the bottom tray, which slides out quite easily. 

Exhibit 4: The "Aha" Moment.

I see where the gas comes out.  I see the flame marks.  I see everything.

I notice that pushing the button near the dial means that I hear the sound of gas, and that is confirmed with the view that I currently have. 

I know what I need to do.

It was time for me to take my life in my hands and light the gas oven.  With a lighter: a small, normal lighter.

I click the button, hold it down, and slowly move the lighter closer to the area.  With a whoosh, it lights up.  After a brief moment of celebration, I lift up on the button to survey the handiwork.

The flame... dies.

I think to myself, perhaps I need to press it longer. 

So, I press the button again, bringing the lighter to the tube, holding the button longer and longer.  I light the tube, it whooshes up.  I wait, holding the button.

The flame dies again.

Exhibit 4: Just... stay.... please.

I do it again. I press the gas button, light the tube, reach with my foot to close the window (just in case), hold the button, put the tray back in (for flame protection), hold the button more, and after a few minutes, release.

Success.

SUCCESS!

And now, this:

Exhibit 5: Roasting Pumpkins

So far, I have roasted carrots and pumpkins in this oven.  With many more things to come.

I am progressing with my goals to create food in my kitchen. 

10 things I messed up this week.

Adaptation takes a few days.

And I've just been thinking on my long taxi ride home that I've made more than a few mistakes these past few days.  I wanted to share these things because, well, they are both entertaining and identify a few parts of Thai culture. 

1.  At the grocery store, I failed to weigh my fruit and get a price for the second time.  While in the produce department, you weigh in and get a price not unlike going to the butcher.  Me forgetting (again) to do this means that I wait in the checkout line for a little extra time while the very nice cashier goes and does it for me.... I also get judged a bit by the other customers and the manager.

2.  I neglected to have the proper money in my wallet while taking a taxi.  For some reason, the taxi dudes don't keep much change with them.  I tried to pay for my 120b ride (4ish bucks) with a 1000b note (about 30 bucks) and change wasn't possible.  Luckily, I've been saving coin, and had enough to pay him in basically quarters.

3.  I left this afternoon to go have coffee with my friend from Cambodia and ended up leaving my laundry out in the rain.  This just means that I wait one extra day for my clothing.... and maybe it smells a bit soggy... but otherwise, I just have to remember that this is rainy season.  And in the spring, in the heat, I have to bring them in before they get baked too long.

4.  I apparently broke the ATM with my simple requests.  It stole my card too, which is annoying and gives me an extra chore.  Annoying, but not a huge issue.

5.  I've been unable to locate during working hours both the post office and a photo printing shop.  Also postcards.  I really want to send some postcards to people, but I'm not in touristy places.

6.  I bought too many hangers at the store because I misunderstood the promotion.  Because I don't read Thai and wasn't paying very close attention to the sale.

7.  I'm still awake at 11 the night before my first day of school because I went to the movies in the city.  On the plus side, I got another giant Paragon cup to keep with my and fill with ice water.

8.  I can barely find my own house in the dark.  The poor taxi guy... he got warnings too late about the turns and had to back up at least twice.

9.  I started a new TV show instead of doing some of the work that I had to do.  On the plus side, Orange is the New Black is a pretty sweet show.  

10.  I really wanted to have all my clothes laid out for the first day of school, but I made an executive decision to do that in the morning.

Now for some positives.

1.  Rizza is sleeping next to my computer like she used to, which means she is starting to feel comfy in the new house.

2.  I had a great time catching up with my friend and going to the cinema with her.  Additionally, I made it to and from town on my own, which was quite easy and involved some walking and a cheap taxi.

3.  I did two loads of laundry before leaving it out in the rain... and did the dishes tonight.  I cooked a meal for myself earlier today, which was one of my goals for the week (as Aaron can attest).  I'm all domestic and shit.

4.  There's a tokay near my house somewhere that I hear in the dark.  It reminds me of the home I made in Cambodia and gives me all kinds of comfort.

5.  There aren't any dogs near my house.  This corner is run by felines... and I may just be able to let Rizza out a little to explore.

Enjoy your week, my friends.

Pac Pac Pac Pac Woman

I have narrowed down everything to two suitcases, a duffel bag, a backpack, and a cat.

My mom was interested in going to my grandmother's this morning, so I was gently encouraged to have all my things packed in order to prepare.  It was very positive, because I was able to sort through some things from the past and make sure I had everything in order.

I was about to say that my whole life was in those two suitcases.  Though, it isn't.  I'm trying to live a simple life, a life without distraction, and this is the first start to that.  In my suitcases, I have some clothes, some shoes (size 11 shoes in BKK are not going to be located), and a few other essentials from home.  Not very many things, honestly.  I have a hula hoop.  I have a bread cutter, some deodorant, my cross stitch.  Rizza's scratching post, some earrings, lip balm.  Not much.  There were some things I intentionally didn't bring: DVDs, my Wii, general technology things.  I'm aching for a simple life, and I have this opportunity to go back to this life where simple, effective living is the norm.

I'm wary of all the things I need to buy: furniture, kitchenware, bedding... even though I know it won't be a struggle.  It will be such a cost that I don't want to front, especially since I just sold up all my other possessions: furniture, bed, mattress, etc etc etc.  I wouldn't say that I have an attachment to the stuff, but I felt lucky with the things that I had been able to put in my home.  I'm getting to a certain point in my life where I'm feeling an exhaustion with moving.  Honestly, it makes sense.  I just brought my possessions over to Iowa in my car, from a house I'd only been in for 6 months.  Before that, I'd lived in a house for 6 months, and before that, another house for a year.  And this is all just in Pittsburgh... before that I brought my life back from Cambodia and started fresh in the very difficult US of A.  Here I am, going back and starting fresh again, and I'm somewhat ready to settle for a moment.

It will be a fresh new adventure when I arrive on Tuesday.  It will be a brisk transition, from start to finish.  And I'm trying to think of the things that I want to focus on for my home once I arrive.

1. A bed.  And pillows.  And sheets.

2.  A table. A tall one that I can use for a desk, a dining table, a little bit of everything.

3.  A hammock.

4.  Kitchen wares.  I need to cook the foods.

That's simple, that's good.  That's a quiet home and a simple life.

T Minus Three Days

It's getting closer and closer by the minute.  Last Monday I drove with Aaron, the boyfriend, back to Iowa.  We happened upon the world's largest candle, the world's largest truck stop, and a very disappointing large chair, and I was able to finish a few more rows of my cross stitch and enjoy a couple more hours with the best man I've ever known.  After visits to both sides of my family, a bunch of sweet corn consumption, and a trip in the sail boat, I dropped him off at the airport.  It was a rough day, and solidified the need to move back to Pittsburgh to see him, or to reconnect in another way.  I miss him already, and his absence is forcing me to focus on the upcoming trip and my goals and plans for it.  There are many things I want to do, things that will put me in a good place for my upcoming 30th birthday.  Bangkok will hopefully provide me with the time, money, and quiet to do these things.

I'm always shifting and changing my goals, but a couple of them are already set.

1.  Save as much money as possible in order to travel, pay off loans, and pad the emergency fund and IRA.
2.  Organize a lifetime of photographs to be able to search easily and securely.
3.  Increase my mindfulness and shift bad habits by creating good habits.
4.  Find the enjoyment and pleasures of cooking by cooking often.
5.  Further my career in as many ways as possible and continue to work on my lifelong learning.

To that end, this blog will begin.  It will be a catalogue of successes, or life changes, of accountability for my goals.  Hopefully, I will encounter some entertaining people in order to provide some funny stories.  It will be a blog that will have a different vibe than the previous; instead of focusing on just the stories that effected me, I will also be discussing the effects that I have on myself.  I want to change certain aspects of my life so that I can be mindful of the gratitude that surges through me with every passing moment.  I want to find joy in everything and share that with the world at large.

Three days til liftoff.