South Beach Diet, Day 1

After joining the gym with my new parter, Mr. GreenEyes, I decided it was no use working out while eating unhealthy junk. So, I looked into the South Beach Diet again. I realized that I had only ever looked into Phase 1, which is a pity and wonderful news at the same time! While phase 1 excludes many foods I like, Phase 2 is much more liberal, allowing rice, grains, fruits, and other foods I love. Plus, I have learned that many healthy foods can actually taste delicious.

So, Mr. GreenEyes and decided to go SB together. Make our hard work count. Last week we practiced a couple dishes, half on half off, but we also spent time creating a mealplan with the help of the South Beach Diet - Supercharged book so that we could begin Phase I full force this week. Yesterday we went shopping together (YAY!!! My idea of quality time!) and today we began Phase I.

For breakfast/morning snack (I woke up late) I had a Pure Protein bar, and then we went to the gym. I ran and did my lower body routine.

For lunch, Mr. GreenEyes made SB Roast Beef and Horse Radish Roll Ups. They were super easy to make and FABULOUS!!! What a great start!!!! I would eat these again anytime. Yum.

Anyway, here is the recipe. To help us get organized, we are using a software that seems really neat so far, called MacGourmet Deluxe. It's easy to make web recipes into recipes within the program, but paper recipes have to be typed in.

Tonight, we are having Moroccan Lemon Chicken with Summer Squash and Green Olives. Well, we'll be omitting the green olives. I'll let you know how it turns out later!

Emile Henry Flame Tarte Tatin - Caramelized Onions and Portobello Mushrooms

Over the last year I have been increasingly more successful in cooking, and thus became comfortable experimenting with recipes and changing ingredients around. However, this is my very first recipe, dreamed up by moi! It is also the first Tatin I made in my EH Flame set!

To give proper credit where it is due, it was adapted from a fabulous recipe by Forage, called Pumpkin Tarte Tatin with Caramelised Onions.

For those who do not know, Tarte Tatin is an upside down apple pie-like dish created by the Tatin sisters, of the Tatin hotel in France, in the late 1800s. The story varies from a pie falling upside down on the floor to apples that cooked for too long, but the result is reportedly fabulous. Wanting to save the apple Tatin for a party or a special occasion, I made mine with caramelized onions and portobello mushrooms. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 packages portobello mushrooms, sliced
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon truffle oil, spritzed on the portobellos
1 egg, whisked into a glaze
1 sheet puff pastry
sea salt
black pepper, freshly ground


Directions
I broke them down into several steps for simplicity, but don't be shy, it's VERY easy to make.

1. Set puff pastry to thaw in the fridge (avoid thawing at room temperature, as it will become sticky and difficult to unfold).

2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Set portobello slices on a cookie sheet and spray with truffle oil or olive oil. Lightly sprinkle with brown sugar and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

4. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in tarte tatin dish over low heat, than increase to medium heat.

5. Slice red onion thinly. Add 2 tbsps garlic and onions to dish.

6. Add 2-3 tbsps brown sugar, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Add the onions and caramelize slowly, approximately for 10 minutes. Towards the end of this period, add salt and freshly ground pepper, as well as any herbs you may like.

7. Once onions are caramelized, remove with tongs and reserve with mushrooms.

8. Add 2 tbsps of butter to tarte tatin dish, 2-3 tbsps of brown sugar, and 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar.

9. In the meatime, unfold puff pastry onto a sheet of parchment paper (do not roll out, as this will remove its puffiness) and, joining smaller pieces as needed, make a circle the size of the tarte tatin dish.

10. Whisk one egg with one tbsp. of cold water. Brush this glaze onto one side of the puff pastry.

11. Once mixture is caramelizing, re-add onions to the dish. Then add mushroom slices and arrange the mushrooms in concentric circles. Add any final seasonings and herbs.

12. Place puff pastry GLAZED SIDE DOWN over the contents of the tarte tatin dish. Brush egg glaze over the top of the pastry, and perforate with a fork several times.

13. Place the dish in the oven, which should have remained at 350 degrees. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the pastry appears cooked and is golden brown.

14. Remove tarte tatin dish from the oven, and place a larger, flat serving dish over it. You will be flipping the dishes AWAY from you. Holding both dishes FIRMLY with heat resistant pads or mittens, flip with quickly and with confidence. Voila! Your tarte tatin is ready to be enjoyed.

TIP: You may add some soft cheeses on top immediately after uncovering the dish, such as goat cheese or gorgonzola.

I've gone Emile!!!

No, that is no short word for some kind of psychological disorder. I mean the Emile Henry Flame line.

For at least a year I have loved my smally Chinese Pot from EH Flame line, but wanted to try more. The base on the chinese pot is a bit narrow and angled and makes it less ideal when I need more surface, or when I have larger volumes. But this little guy beat my Le Creuset wannabe (Lodge) in direct comparisons, heats up evenly and cleans like a dream, it can take metal utensils, and not only can it go in a 500 oven, but also in the grill, microwave, dishwasher, freezer and fridge.  And if that weren't enough, it can go straight from the freezer to the oven. And if that weren't enough!!! The glaze looks the same as the day I bought it! Which, compared to my Lodge, is saying A LOT.

So Heck, Yeah. I am going Emile, all the way. These are cookware that put a smile on my face and make me want to try new recipes. And they look beautiful and rustic at the same time; putting one on your table feels like serving a homemade french meal to friends on a cold winter night. Sadly, because I am on a graduate student salary and am not affiliated with Emile Henry, it may be a long way to a full conversion. Oh well.

To begin this lovely journey, I got myself a Tarte Tatin set from the Flame line. "Tarte Tatin set?", you say; "isn't that a bit specialized?"
 
No, boys and girls, it's as general and versatile as you can get! How so? Well, the Tatin set is basically a Flame skillet with a short handle, PLUS a fabulous EH bakeware dish! As the EH website says itself, you can use the pan for anything you would use a skillet for, PLUS make fabulous, 1-step Tarte Tatin!

I seasoned it according to EH directions, and to test it out I cooked an Egg. Not only was it the first time I managed to cook an egg with a true overeasy center (that I can remember), the Egg tasted perfect!  I have since made a Caramelized Onion and Portobella Tatin in it, as well as hash browns and other goodies.

Now, given the performance of these pots, and their lovely look, not to mention they truly are 30% lighter than cast iron, why isn't everyone casting off enameled cast iron for these beauties? I tell you what: I am.

Well, I am not Gandhi.

It turns out my Patience does not last until the end of time.

But, Groupon has a totally awesome deal in Miami today!!!! Check it out!

Groupon

Life, Zojirushi, and the Paradox

If we all have a virtue we are supposed to acquire before we go, mine must be Patience. I am not sure why I turned out the way I did. Maybe it was that the doctor was in a hurry when I was born, and yanked me out a little too soon. Dazzled by seeing the world before my due time, I turned out needing for things happen before they are meant to happen. Maybe I was spoiled as a child, and not taught to delay gratification. Or maybe it is my temperament; maybe nature just gave me an internal clock that says “it’s time; it’s time; it’s time, it’s time, it’s time!”

Whatever the reason, once an idea lodges itself in the corners of my mind, it is virtually impossible to pry it out. This can be a helpful thing; but when life throws wrenches at my expectations, as it recently did, it can be frustrating and challenging. I have recently been dealt a big card, become excited about it, only to be faced with unexpected change and disappointment. As usual, I tried to mold the reality around back into shape with my plans and hurry, but this time, it did not work.

At the mercy of a destiny and a higher reasoning that I trust (deep in my heart), and yet do not understand, and doubt all too often, my internal clock was bellowing at me and crowding all other thoughts: “it’s time; it’s time; it’s time, it’s time, it’s time!”

As a friend recently pointed out, "The greatest challenge of my life has been to see and accept the actual truth without great pain and struggle against it." — M.C. Halliday (I Came Up Stairs: A Victorian Courtesan's Memoirs, 1867 to 1871). This saying applies to most of my life’s growth experiences, but is particularly salient at the moment.

And yet so it was, much to my relief, that on the day of the Wrench, the postman arrived, 5 days early, with two state of the art “presents” I had ordered for myself: the Zojirushi Mini Bread Maker, and the Zojirushi 10-cup Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker. Yes, I know. Talk about divine providence! Or, easy pay. Or, could it be, that when you watch and lem such items daily for a month, and then find out on the day you decide to give up on the lemming... that both went on easy pay! Could it be that on that day, and that day alone, divine providence and easy pay are one and the same? At least that is what I told myself, in my lack of Patience, in order to allow myself to order both of these major (and bombastic!) kitchen appliances at the same time... a previously unthinkable act. Of course, the fact that our household is about to grow in size by one young adult probably has something to do with that too, on a practical level.

Zoji 1

But I digress. In order to take advantage of this unexpected lovely surprise, hubby and I went to the store and procured ingredients to test Zoji 1 and Zoji 2. Both are wonderful and awesome. The Rice Cooker, despite being a 10 cup size (I know, we are a family of… 2? 3?... who knows), made perfect parboiled white rice for 2 right off the bat (1/2 a cup of dry rice). Yes, it makes wonderful rice even in small quantities, and this comes from someone who grew up eating deliciously stove top cooked rice every day. It is now loaded with McCann’s Irish steel cut oats ready for the morning (and apple slices! Yikes! I think they will ferment overnight and kill us, but hubby insisted, and I am currently working on accepting whatever Wrench life throws at me, so there you go).

I know I will love the Rice Cooker even more when I begin to make things like “mixed rice” in it, with meat and veggies, or chili, or tortilla soup, or stew, or pudding, or… you get the idea. In a small kitchen where the slow cooker boarded a one-way flight to the Goodwill, the Rice Cooker shall very likely become king. 

And while I must admit that I was torn between the 5.5 cup and the 10 cup, I am glad I chose the 10 cup. It is only 2 inches (or less) bigger in each dimension, and it will be perfect for making dishes such as Chinese Spareribs with enough for healthy lunch leftovers for… 2? or 3?... what have you. To top it off, it looks completely adorable. Staring at it, with its rice paddle sticking up the side like a single ear looking thing, and thinking it looked like a Hayao Myiazaki character, I began to wonder whether I was hallucinating… when hubby walked in the kitchen, and said that it did look cute – it looked like... a gerbil! I was amazed that he saw it, too (although it looks more like a hamster, in my opinion; probably a roborovski, even).

However! The Mini Bread Maker… Oh Mini Bread Maker, however did I doubt your purchase and consider you a luxury? You, who walked into the home of an utterly ungifted bakeless woman, and after a 2 minute-piling-of-ingredients and a 5 hour completely-automated-cycle-of-breadmaking-miracles produced a soft, holey, perfectly crunchy-crusted, adorable loaf of French Bread? French bread, the lost love of my childhood, having grown up eating it every day… Fresh! Made daily! Cheap! On demand! Tiny-enough-to-be-eaten-in-one-day-before-it’s-stale! Oh, Mini Bread Maker, and what sweet promises you whisper in my ear… Pumpernickel! Brioche! Chocolate Panettone! Pizza Dough! Homemade Pasta! Apple Butter! Char Siu Bao Sticky Buns!

And so it is that life, paradoxically as only it can manage, threw at me a major lesson in patience and acceptance… And on the same day, gave me the power of timed, no effort, zero knowledge required, instant gratification that only the smell of homemade bread and risotto waiting for you when you get home can provide (yes, both machines have timer features). This is how I was reminded that my heart can, at the same time, be heavier with confusion and impatience, but lighter with homemade happiness. My belly, on the other hand, is heavier. Yep. Definitely just plain heavier.

Winds of Change

I was feeling poetic today. So I decided to drop this little bit here.

As Manuel Bandeira once wrote -

Versos Escritos N'água
Os poucos versos que aí vão,
Em lugar de outros é que os ponho.
Tu que me lês, deixo ao teu sonho
Imaginar como serão.

Neles porás tua tristeza
Ou bem teu júbilo, e, talvez,
Lhes acharás, tu que me lês,
Alguma sombra de beleza...

Quem os ouviu não os amou.
Meus pobres versos comovidos!
Por isso fiquem esquecidos
Onde o mau vento os atirou.


My attempt at an English translation:

Verses Written in Water
The few verses that hereby follow,
Instead of others do I place them,
You, who reads them, I'll leave to your dream
To imagine what they shall be like.

In them shall you place your sadness,
Or your joy, or even, maybe,
Might you find in them, you who reads me,
Some vague semblance of beauty.

Those who heard them have not loved them.
My poor miserable verses!
Therefore, may they lie forgotten
Wherever the stray wind cared to drop them.

Browning Contest update

So after looking at the Lodge again in daylight, I saw it still had brown spots on it, a lot of them. I soaked it overnight, and even then I had to SCRUB it hard (with a green pad) to get the spots on the outside to come out and the general brown-ness on the inside to come out. To top it off, after two soaks and scrubbing sessions, there is still a faint brown spot on the inside bottom if it, marring the beautiful white-cream interior.

Needless to say, I am not thrilled. Maybe I'll take the plunge and try LC, but for now I am very much inclined to wait for Emile Henry to go on easy pay and leave enameled cast iron (in all its beautiful, spunky and glorious colors) out, or at least secondary, my kitchen.

Browning Contest - Lodge vs. Emile Henry

So I love my Lodge french oven and Emile Henry clay pots so much, that I have decided to eventually replace all our pots with either LC/Lodge, or Emile Henry. Since I shop outlets and discount stores, I wanted to decide ahead of time so I can be ready to snatch a good deal when I see one. Therefore, a decision had to be made - Emile Henry or Le Creuset/Lodge?

Well, only one way to answer that question if you are a woman of science like myself: an experiment. Thus I undertook the Browning Contest.

I began with two side dishes to help me enjoy the final results. Cut up aspargus tossed with butter and salt in my petite Le Creuset baking dish, and Brazilian pão-de-queijo (cheese breadies). Those turned out pretty delicious and required no attention during the contest.
Then it was time to ready the competitors. The heat was set for 4/9, then increased to 6/9, and there was some oil on each pot. My stove is a plain electric one.

After the pots were heated, I browned some onions and mixed specialty mushrooms. Both did this equally well.


I then reserved the onions and mushrooms, added butter to each pot, dried two cuts of Ribeye with a paper towel, and in they went.


After 4-5 minutes on each side, they looked like this:


As you can see, the Lodge cut looks much nicer. I confess as I saw this development I became more and more excited, as although I love my Emile Henry I think it is harder to find those at a good price, they could break if dropped, but mostly, they don't have them in the "flame" and "kiwi" colors that I decided to eventually do my cookware in, in addition to my cobalt Lodge (or similar colors, for that matter).

Then it was time to deglaze with some Cabernet. Both looked fine. I added a touch (literally, a teaspoon) of bottled Marsala sauce to each pot.


I then re-added the onions, mushrooms, and beef. At this point, the Emile Henry sauce looked very, very smooth (though it's hard to see), but the Lodge's started to break and separate.

Aaaand... The finished Ribeye! I cut each in half since I could never eat two full cuts. However, as I cut them I forgot to turn the heat off on the Emile Henry, so by the time I served that pan sauce it had broke a bit too (though it was completely my fault for turning the heat off on the Lodge and forgetting it on under the Emile Henry).


With the Aspargus and pão-de-queijo.


THE RESULTS: As much as I wanted the Lodge to win and believed it would, it did not, because:
1) The EH meat was noticeably more tender, and the less browning did not affect the taste. The Lodge meat was "good" and the EH "very good". This is an amazing result because I have NEVER cooked an edible piece of steak.
2) The pan sauce separated on the Lodge much sooner than on the EH.

However, the Lodge was very fun to cook in as well. In the end, I thought the EH would win for easiest clean up, but both pans cleaned up incredibly easily with a soak, and tied on that department.
So it looks like I'll have to find a way to make the EH color scheme work in my kitchen... Maybe I'll add a LC in flame and an EH in green. I'll keep you posted.

Mango Sticky Rice

I made this recipe for the second time yesterday. It is chef Mitzewich's recipe from this video. I made a double batch. By the end of the potluck, there was about 1/3 left... then everyone took bunches home and I had nothing left! Never thought I'd ever make such a popular dish, and if you know me you wouldn't either :-)

Anyway, here is how it turned out - first, I cooked the long grain sticky (thai) rice with coconut milk in my 6qt Lodge french oven...


Then, I diced the mangoes. Used regular ones that were juicy at the stalk, one was incredibly sweet and orange, and the other not so sweet. That's ok, I squeezed all the juices off the good one on the bowl and it helped sweeten the other. The farmer's market had Ataulfo mangoes though, had I looked the video over before I went shopping I would have known to get those - they're sweeter!


Then, I browned some grated coconut on my Emile Henry. Oh, how I adore this pot! I can heat it up empty, then brown foods beautifully without burning them.


And voila'! Very easy, very tropical, very yummy! And displayed beautifully in my deeply discounted, but perfectly made Le Creuset oval baking dish!


And by the way, despite the super stickiness of the glutinous rice, after a 10 minute soak with dish soap and water, the Le Creuset basically washed itself. What a pleasure to cook with the proper tools!

Zyliss Sports Bottle

This is a very neat innovation I found at a discount store. It has a shaker piece inside for blending protein shakes that can be easily removed for other drinks. The coolest part is that it attaches to "most blenders"! I had wanted an Oster blender bottle for a long time to attach to my Osterizer 12 speed blender, but didn't want to spend the $19.

The Zyliss works perfectly with my blender, plus it looks much cooler than the Oster cup, and has a leakproof cap (I tested it, it really is leakproof!), AND the coolest handle for easy transport. I am thrilled I paid only $6 for it, but now I know how well it works I would gladly have paid full price for it. I bought two, one in blue and one in orange, and I'll be getting another one as a gift for my brother. I made the quickest, best smoothie with it this morning!

Here are some pics someone else posted on the web: