Trying new veggies

One of the interesting things about getting veggies from a CSA is that you never know what you will get! Which of course often means I get pounds and pounds of things that I don't eat. But it also means that I sometimes get things I've never had before.

Like just this week - where I got a big bunch of swiss chard. I've never had it in my life before now, and didn't even have a clue about how to cook it. I'm sure there are many ways but I did a quick google and the first recipe I hit seemed simple enough, so I made my own modifications and prepared it. I cut the ribs from the leaves and chopped up the leaves, as in the photo above, and then sauteed the leaves in butter with some garlic.

And I have to say it was awesome. Sadly, the recipe page I used quoted the following:

I never liked Swiss chard, until several years ago I had some that had been freshly picked from a friend's garden. It was so sweet and buttery I couldn't believe it was actually Swiss chard. It was then I learned that freshness was the key determinant to whether chard was delectable or detestable.

Hmm, so unless I get more swiss chard next week my odds of getting it very fresh are slim indeed. But I sure enjoyed it while I had it, and today I intend to cook up the ribs using the other recipe referenced on that first page but minus the pasta!

Back to the Gym

Well, I finally went and renewed my membership at Jersey Fitness. My membership had long since lapsed, and when I was working I basically had to go there at either 5 AM, or in the evening after dinner. And I just found it harder and harder to think about getting up to go there at 5 AM. And in the evening after dinner I didn't want to go out and do anything strenuous!

But now that I have joined the ranks of the unemployed I have more time on my hands. And I find I can go to the gym at 9 AM, a civilized hour, and find it nearly empty. It's just perfect. I love Jersey Fitness because they have a *pool* and I love to swim. True the YMCA has a pool too, but it's much more expensive, a real pain to park at the Y, the pool hours are so often limited and constrained, when the pool IS available it's always full of other swimmers.

Here the pool is basically available all the hours the gym is open, and I almost always have the pool completely to myself. I went for a nice swim on Tuesday when I rejoined, and again this morning, and I plan to go tomorrow morning too.

I know exercise does not help with weight loss. In fact there are many who actively discourage exercise if you are trying to lose weight. I know plenty of dieters who GAINED weight when they added exercise to their regimen.

But it just feels so good to swim. I adore it. It's almost like a moving meditation. And now that I have my prescription swim goggles I don't have to stumble around blindly either.

My new membership also gives me a free 30 minutes with a personal trainer, so I'm going to ask for a refresher on using the weight machines, and try to start up with Fred Hahn's Slow Burn program as I found it hard to do at home.

Wearing Jeans

Well I'm finally back after being away for two weeks - a few days with my sister and her husband in North Carolina, then on to Florida to spend a week with my son and daughter-in-law and grandson to celebrate my grandson's first birthday, then back up to spend a day with a cousin in North Carolina, and back home again.

So that was two weeks of being without a scale, and not eating exactly as I would normally like to be eating, though I did my best to stick with my eating plan for the more part - although I caved to the Awesome Coconut Cake for my grandson's birthday (which I made myself, and it is indeed Awesome - but of course filled with evil ingredients, LOL). And also two weeks *without a scale* which is scary for someone like me who really relies on daily weighing to keep myself on-track and focused.

So it was with some trepidation that I got on the scale when I returned home, even though all the clothes I had worn on the trip were still fitting fine. So I didn't *lose* any weight. But I'm at the exact same weight I was when I left for me trip, so that's a victory in and of itself.

I had packed a pair of jeans in my suitcase, but it was far too hot in NC and FL to wear them, so they never left the suitcase. But it's been cool and fall-like here in NJ the last couple days, so I have put on the jeans up here.

And interestingly, they feel even a bit looser on me right now than they did when I left for my trip. No explanations for that. I guess I could have lost a bit in inches. But I won't take any meaurements as that generally leads to major disappointments when I do. But it's nice the jeans are so comfy. And my sister up here in NJ, who saw me two weeks ago, said "wow, you're looking thinner" when she saw me today. So maybe it is the inches since the weight is the same.

Lazy Moussaka

I call this "lazy" because I used pre-made tomato sauce from Trader Joe's in the recipe. I don't normally do this sort of thing as I prefer being a "from scratch" cook, as I hate most prepared foods and their long lists of icky ingredients I don't want in my body. But I was at Trader Joe's the other day, and I know they are often better than most about things like that, so I picked up a bottle of sauce and looked at the ingredient list. All real foods, and nothing I wouldn't eat or use myself anyway (as long as I was having tomato), so I popped it into my grocery cart, and today I found a use for it in my nightshade moussaka dish.

But if you are a *really* lazy cook you might still think this recipe is too much work. :-)

Lazy Moussaka

- 1 lb. ground beef (mine was grass-fed)

- 1 largish leek (onion is fine but I had a leek)

- 1 green pepper

- 3 tomatoes

- 1 eggplant

- 3 medium-sized potatoes

- 1/2 a jar of Trader Joe's Three Cheese Pomodoro Pasta Sauce*

- 1 tsp. cinnamon

- plenty of cheese of your choice, shredded or thinly sliced

Pre-heat oven to 350 F (180 C)

Peel and then thinly slice the eggplant, and lay slices on a paper-towel lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt, and set aside. This will drain some of the watery juices from the eggplant, and some feel it helps get rid of the bitter taste some people experience. (note if you have more eggplants you are welcome to use 2-3 of them and slice a little thicker. I just happened to have only one, so this recipe is how I made it).

Then peel the potatoes, and slice them thinly as if for potato chips. Place in a pot of water, and bring to a boil, cooking until you can pierce them with a fork pretty easily. Then drain.

While they are boiling slice the tomatoes thinkly into slices. Set aside. Then chop and dice the green peppers and the leek, including as much of the leek's green top as you wish. Ditto if you are using scallions. Obviously not an issue if using a plain onion.

Then saute the leek and pepper in a large skillet with your choice of cooking fat. I used bacon grease. When they have softened and slightly browned transfer them to a large bowl.

By now the eggplant should have drained, so take the layers and layer them on a greased baking sheet. I used coconut oil for the grease. Place in oven to bake.

Put the chopped beef into the skillet and saute until the beef is browned. Then add the cooked beef to the pepper and leek in the large bowl. Pour in a half jar of the Trader Joe's Three Cheese Sauce, add the tsp of cinnamon, and blend well.

Check the eggplant. If sliced thinly enough they should be easily pierced with a fork at this point, and slightly browned. You can flip them if you want and let them lightly brown on the other side too.

Then get out a 9x13 casserole dish, and grease it. I use coconut oil for the grease, but olive oil or butter would be fine too.

Remove eggplant from oven. Then line the bottom of the casserole dish with half the eggplant. On top of that place a layer of half the potato. Then top with a layer of half the tomatoes. Spoon half the meat mixture on top of that and try to spread evenly. Sprinkle or layer half your cheese over the meat. Then repeat the eggplant/potato/tomato/meat sauce/cheese layers with your remaining ingredients.

Place in over and bake for about 20-30 minutes, until heated through, and the top layer of cheese is a bit browned and bubbly. Enjoy and eat!

* Trader Joe's Three Cheese Sauce Ingredient list:

- imported Italian plum tomatoes, Romano, Parmesan and Asiago cheese (milk, salt, cheese cultures, enzymes), olive oil, onion, salt,, crushed garlic, oregano.

NOTE: I have been having one serving of this every day for three days now, but my knee has not been bothering me. I guess the jury is still mixed on nightshades.

Nightshades Redux

A few months ago I posted about nightshades. I had decided to give them up to see if they alleviated the terrible arthritic pain I had in my knees. Well as often happens you start out with good intentions, and you start having a slice of tomato here, a few home fries there ....

The good thing about the experiment is that I had *no* knee pain the entire time. And over the years my knees have given me so much trouble to the point where sometimes I feel I can hardly walk. So was it the nightshade ban? Or were my knees just going through a period of calm? After all, my ban was not total. It was more a low nightshade period rather than a no nightshade period.

I still don't know. But my son and daughter-in-law joined a CSA earlier this year before my son was offered the job that took them down to Jacksonville, Florida. But they had already paid for and committed to the season. So they told me and my daughter-in-law's parents that we could use the remainder of the season, and pick up the weekly vegetables.

My daughter-in-law's parents had picked them up the last four weeks while I was up in Canada. But this past Tuesday I made my first pickup. What did my order include?

- 4 beets

- 1 bunch of leeks

- 4 green peppers

- 1 melon of choice (there were multiple types)

- 1 watermelon

- 2 lbs. of potatoes

- 5 lbs. of tomatoes

- 2 heirloom tomatoes

- 1 carton of cherry tomatoes

- 1 lb. rattlesnake beans

- 1 bunch of parsley

- 1 eggplant

So what do I see on that list? Tomatoes, peppers, more tomatoes, eggplant, potato, more tomatoes - all *nightshades*. My entire order seemed to be the foods I had been trying to eliminate or at least limit, and now I had a week to use these up before my next order arrived.

So I was having leek and green pepper omelets with sides of home fries, sliced tomatoes with all my meat and cheese, and omelets as well. I admit it all tasted good.

But also .... this week BOTH MY KNEES have been killing me. I have not had this sort of knee pain in months. The pain was enough to keep me awake for some hours one night this week. And even when awake I've been hobbling around and popping aspirin.

Is it the weather? The season? Or is it the nightshade overload of the past week? I don't know. But I'm trying one thing. I've taken all the veggies shown in the photo I took above, and I am cooking them up to make a big casserole of moussaka. The moussaka is in the oven even as I type. This will be a real nightshade overload. If I wind up with more knee pain then maybe I will go back into avoidance mode.

But I still have a bunch of tomatoes left (as well as all four beets, 1 remaining leek, and lots of rattlesnake beans), and tomorrow a new CSA delivery arrives. If it is also heavy on the nightshades I may have to find new homes for them.

Farm meals

Yes I ate well when I was up at the farm. I ate hearty, that's for sure, and yet I didn't gain any weight while I was up there. And yet I routinely had things like lobster, lobster stew, cheese omelets, and all sorts of other good things to eat - including farm-fresh blueberries and raspberries. So here is a sampling of some of my meals up at the farm!

Lobster Stew

We love to have lobster when we are up in Canada on vacation. But we especially LOVE to get an extra lobster and make lobster stew the next day. In fact my son won't even eat a plain boiled or steamed lobster anymore. But he loves the lobster stew!

So I made it a few times up in Canada, twice for myself, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. And once to invite a neighbor to lunch. This is NOT a recipe for someone who is a fat-phobe, LOL.

Lobster Stew

meat from one lobster, cut into small bite-sized chunks (don't forget the meat from inside the body, lots of good stuff there too)

1 pound bacon

1 medium to large onion, diced

1/2 pound mushrooms, diced

2-4 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 tsp. sea salt

Optional: 2-4 potatoes (depending on size), peeled and cubed

1 quart or 1 liter heavy cream

If potatoes are desired peel them and cut into small bite-sized cubes. Boil until soft enough for a fork to pierce them (about potato salad consistency) and then drain and set aside.

In a large high-sided skillet cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon from the skillet to drain and cool, and when it is cool crumble into bite-sized pieces.

Add the onions, mushrooms and garlic to the bacon grease in the skillet, and saute until all have browned. If potatoes are being used add the potatoes at this point and the sea salt, and saute for a few more minutes.

Once potatoes have lightly browned pour in the cream. Stir all ingredients well, and continue to cook over low heat, stirring to prevent burning, until the cream has slightly reduced and thickened.

Just before serving stir in the bacon and the lobster meat - and remove from heat, stirring or another minute or two. You want the meat to be heated through, but not overly cooked and toughened. Makes about 4-6 servings and is very hearty.

To lessen carb impact for those you need it you could substitute cooked cauliflower or turnip chunks for the potatoes.

Chocolate Coconut Raspberry flax muffins

I'm finally back after nearly a month up in Atlantic Canada, enjoying a wonderful respite from the hot weather here at home - and getting my fill of lobster and fresh wild blueberries, and Cole's cheddar cheese. All definite annual treats.

We also got lots of fresh raspberries from our neighbors' garden, and I tried to think of various ways to use them. It's hard to put down recipes though as I so rarely measure things when I cook, LOL. But I did make these muffins and they were pretty darn tasty, so I'm doing my best to recreate:

Chocolate Coconut Raspberry Flax Muffins

1/4 cup flax meal

1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 cup melted shortening (I used a mixture of butter and coconut oil)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

water or cream as needed

1/2 to 1 cup fresh raspberries

Blend all ingredients through the eggs together. If mixture is very thick (and it probably will be) slowly add some water or cream and blend until you get a thinner consistency. Not as thin as a pancake batter or a commercial cake-mix batter, but definitely thinner than a cookie dough batter.

When consistency seems right gently fold in the raspberries. Add a little of some sweetener of choice if desired. Then spoon into paper-lined muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake at 350F (180C) until the tops spring back to the touch, maybe 20 minutes. I think this made about a dozen for me.

They are really a yummy treat, and especially good when served warm with some fresh farm butter. And getting a rich burst of fresh raspberry in your bite is a real treat. :-)

I tucked in my shirt!

Tonight I had an opening reception to go to for the annual Member Show of the Pastel Society of New Jersey. I was fussing around over what to wear, as I especially wanted to wear some new handmade jewelry I bought yesterday. The earrings and necklace were a pretty turquoise color, and nothing in my wardrobe seemed to go with it. Finally I pulled out a cheap $3 T-shirt from AC Moore that I had bought to paint in. But had not used it yet so it was still clean.

It was the only thing I could find in the right color! So I pulled it on over my slacks. But it still looked like a cheap $3 T-shirt, so I tried to see how I could "dress it up", and pulled a vest of the closet. That started to look better. But the T-shirt still looked cheap, and looked a little weird hanging so long below the vest.

So I ended up TUCKING THE SHIRT IN. Maybe only someone who has been as large as I was can understand what a milestone this was for me. It's been YEARS since I last tucked in my shirt. I can't even remember the last time I did it. I like my shirts long and loose so they come way down over my hips, and hide my tummy. The idea of wearing a shirt tucked in is just totally alien to me.

But tonight I did it! And I was not even all that displeased with how I looked. Of course I did have the vest on too. But it's not a long vest. I was actually *okay* with how I looked.

So might as well celebrate the little things in life, . Tucking in a shirt is sure a little thing, but it's a big milestone for me!

The reception was great too. I got to hand out the prizes (didn't win any, boo hoo). Lots of awesome cheeses to try, and some veggies and hummus, and water and unsweetened iced tea. I just avoided the chips and crackers and the dessert and sweet table, and had a great time.

Cauliflower salad

It's July 4th - the US Independence Day. Typically a day of parades and fireworks, but also a day for picnics and barbecues. I was invited to two today. First a picnic lunch at my sister's house, and second a barbecue at a friend's house. For the first I was asked to only bring myself. For the second I was asked to bring a side dish.

Barbecues classically feature grilled meats of some sort, so from that standpoint provide no problems for eating, but the side dishes are often problematical - things like pasta salads and potato chips (likely fried in trans fats and/or high PUFA oils), or baked beans with lots of sugar.

At my sister's it was so easy to eat. She had fresh cold cuts, including my favorite KerryGold cheese, made from the milk of grass-fed Irish cows. There were pasta salad and chips there too, but also plenty of nice fresh veggies and dill pickles. We sat in her backyard in the shade, with a light breeze blowing, and watched birds and chipmunks and a woodchuck playing in the stream and the woods behind her house - very pleasant indeed. And after eating we took a ride through Rifle Camp Park and Garrett Mountain and saw plenty of deer and wild turkeys. The coyotes were all in deep hiding though, despite the "beware of coyotes" signs posted at both parks!

But for this evening's barbecue I figured I had better bring a side dish I knew I could eat, as I couldn't count on any of the others being acceptable to me, so I made my cauliflower salad, which is very tasty indeed.

Cauliflower Salad

1 head cauliflower, steamed, and broken up into bite-sized pieces

6 eggs, hard-boiled and chopped up

3-4 scallions, cut into pieces, including as much of the green part as you can manage

1/2 shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup spicy mayo

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Turn into a serving dish and sprinkle paprika or cayenne over the top. Chill until ready to serve, at least a few hours, to give the flavors a chance to meld.

As for spicy mayo? I made my own mayo more-or-less following the spicy mayo recipe in Nourishing Traditions. But you can take a cup of any mayo and add to it:

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp hot sauce

1/2 oregano

1/2 tsp thyme

1 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp cayenne

I made it last night and the flavors have been blending since then. The party is in 30 minutes so we will see how it goes over. But I also made it on Memorial Day, and my friend who is having the party today had it then, and requested it for today. So I know at least one person will like it. :-)