Cheese Souffle

Souffle goes as a sweet dessert 

    if paired with black currant, 

    raspberry preserve, 

    orange jam 

    or fresh berries. 

It makes for a great savoury dish 

    if paired with truffles, 

    fried porcine 

    or portabella  mushrooms.

 

***

Take 3 large eggs and lightly beat with a fork.

Mix in ricotta (15 oz box). Take reduced fat option if this is your preference.  

Add grated lemon zest. 

Add a teaspoon of natural vanilla extract - strictly optional. 

Mix together. 

Add 2 table spoons of either 

        potato starch (gluten-free option but perfectly appropriate for any diet) 

        or wheat flour, 

topped with half-teaspoon of baking powder 

    and a pinch of salt. 

Mix into batter well. 

Add 1 measuring cup of grated cheese (Parmesan, or mix of few cheeses). 

Mix together with a spatula. 

***

Start heating the oven. 

Polish the bottom and sides of baking from with butter. 

Pout batter, helping yourself with spatula, into the form. 

Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. 

Once  you almost like the colour, turn off the oven 

    and keep  souffle in there for 10 minutes. 

Take the form out and let souffle to cool down for at least 10 minutes, 

    placing the form on a rack.

Nudge souffle out of the form on a cutting board. 

Now you should be able to cut souffle with a knife. 

Serve warm.   

 

Chicken soup diet - 3 day weight loss program without feeling hungry

Chicken soup for your diet

For preparation, you'll need a large stock pot and a skimmer tool,
Fiskars 7 Inch Folding Saw / meat cleaver or garden scissors, vegetable peeler.  

Consider 

Le Creuset Enameled-Steel Stock Pot, 8-Qt

Consider 

 SUR LA TABLE STAINLESS STEEL FINE-MESH SKIMMER

Wash your chicken and cut it in quarters. 
Place into the stock pot. 
Add 4-5 liters of water, 1 table spoon of salt. 
Bring to boil, remove the foam and reduce the heat, keep simmering for an hour. 
Add 1 whole onion, 2 peeled carrots half-way. 
Remove the onion and dispose of it. 

Diet with your chicken soup

Day one
For early lunch drink 300 mg of bullion. 
Eat half of chicken quarter. 
Pause between meals. 
Repeat 2 times during the day. 
Eat 1/2 carrot. 
If you get hungry, drink more bullion. 

Day two
For early lunch drink 300 mg of bullion. 
Eat half of chicken quarter. 
Pause between meals. 
Repeat 2 times during the day. 
Eat 1/2 carrot. 
If you get hungry, drink more bullion. 
 
Day three
For early lunch drink 300 mg of bullion. 
Eat half of chicken quarter. 
Pause between meals. 
Repeat 2 times during the day.
Oh! I guess no more chicken left for the last meal. 
Eat remaining carrot. 
Drink all the bullion you want. 

***
Whole chicken provides you with 3300 calories. 
You'll feel extremely satisfied by the end of this 3-day exercise and may wish to repeat every 4 weeks. 

Breakfast ideas for breakfast-conscious

Breakfast with farmer's cheese Mediterranean way

Farmer's cheese or greek yogurt [ gvina lebana ]
with chopped tomatoes
cucumber chunks
black olives
and olive oil
- add salt and pepper or have it bare.

Best popcorn recipe for healthy diet

Pour moderate amount of good oil (no coconut oil or palm oil, please) into a thick-bottomed pot,
add a pinch of salt,
distribute corn kernels evenly in a single layer,
add another pinch of fine salt.
Cover the pot and put heat under the pot on high.
Once you hear few pops in a row, wait for 15 seconds and turn the heat off.
Wait till popping subsides.
Open the lid and empty the pot into some suitable bowl.
Enjoy in place of supper with plenty of water. 

Brunch party menu 1-2-3 (part 2)

Part 2. This will feed 33+ people. 

Hash Browns / Mashrooms / Sour Cream / Cheese casserole

Gluten-free, vegetarian

Fry chopped onions till translucent. 

Fry mushrooms till fried. If you see mushroom juice expressed in the process, get rid of it.

Peel and cut potatoes in cubes, place into large bowl with cold water. Wait till the water gets cloudy, dispose of water and repeat.  The objective is to get rid of starch in order to achieve crispness when baking.

Splash oil on backing sheet, bake potatoes (some salt) till golden brown. If you see liquid expressed from potatoes in the process of baking,  get rid of it.

Put mushrooms and onions on top.

Put sour cream (large box) mixed with few eggs and some salt and nutmeg or cloves on top of mushroom/onions.

Bake for some time till top layer feels ready.
Top  with layer of grated cheese and bake till cheese becomes golden-colored melt.
Once ready and removed from the oven, let the casserole rest for 10+ minutes before cutting into it.

Brunch party menu 1-2-3 (part 1)

Part 1. This will feed 33+ people.

"Mimosa" (staple brunch cocktail) 

I don't have to spell it out here. 

Bagels (staple breakfast food) 

ALERT: THIS IS NOR GLUTEN-FREE, NEITHER VEGETARIAN.   

Pre-order 2 dozen Brugger's bagels for pick up or delivery fresh from the oven right before the party

Goes with cream cheese, butter, smoked salmon, smoked whitefish, cucumbers. 

I like poppy seed & pumpernickel bagels and jalapeño cream cheese. 

But don't forget: plain bagels and plain cream cheese are always popular.

Shakshuka (Jerusalem love affair with eggs)

Gluten-free, vegetarian

3 medium-size  eggplants - cut in chunks and bake   (some salt). 

Splash a bit of oil (sunflower / avocado / grape-seed) on the deep baking tray.   

Cut tomatoes in rounds and place as first layer on the tray. Be more generous with tomatoes than I was today! Add salt.

Put pre-baked eggplant and freshly cut sweet peppers mixed together as second layer (some salt). 

Slice some garlic.  Add spices such as cumin.

Crack eggs on top, yolk intact. At least a dozen (some salt on top).

Bake till eggs become solid. To get unusual brownish color for the yolks use oven "broil" setting.
This is "feed the crowd" recipe. In normal circumstances use the frying pan & stove top. 

 

 

Almond flour cake (gluten-free, dairy-free)

It's really simple.
Started making one for a friend of mine who benefits from gluten-free diet - and can't stop.
You'll need 3 bowls, 1 measure cup, 1 teaspoon, 1 table spoon, one mixer.
Mix 3 cups of almond flour, 1 pinch of salt, 2/3 teaspoons of baking powder, lemon zest in one bowl.
Take 5 eggs and separate yolks and whites.
Mix whites with 1/2 (or slightly less) cup of sugar and few drops of lemon juice till you get pronounced peaks.
Mix yolks with 1/2 (or slightly less) cup of sugar, 1 table spoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice till consistent and pale yellow.
Mix yolk mixture into flour mixture, then fold in whipped whites.
Bake in round form at 350F for 30 minutes.
Once done and cooled, there are numerous ways of making it presentable.
Say, spread thin layer of jam in a circle (for stickiness) and drop some slivered almonds on top.
Or cut the cake and pour some fruit preserve which is on liquid side (black currant) in spiral starting from the center.
Or top with fresh strawberries.


I leak my bowls clean - each one is a dessert by itself.

Protein pancakes

Life is sad without pancakes this time of the year. With darkness, cold and snowstorms  carbohydrates become unsanely desirable. 

3 eggs, a cup of milk, 2 teaspoons of white sugar, a pinch of salt and a half teaspoon of baking soda or a teaspoon of dry yeast and enough all-purpose bleached wheat flour mixed together to make for batter that has to be scooped rather than poured. Grilled in substantial amounts of oil and served with sour cream, jam or honey to make a perfect winter breakfast.
Very high in carbs.
And what we need is a healthy balance of protein, carbs and fat. 

~

Substitute white sugar with brown sugar,  take unbleached flour...
Sorry, whom are we kidding, still very high in carbs.

~

~~

Option one.
Sub sour cream with something high in protein: Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese.

~

~..~

~<>~

Option two.
Make batter protein-reach:

whisk 3 eggs, mix with 1 cup of cottage cheese, few tablespoons of water and 1 cup of rolled oats (branded as "Old-fashioned oats"  vs. "Quick"), let the mix stay for 7-10 minutes to let oats reabsorb the liquid.   Add 2 rounded tablespoons of flour, salt and soda. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water if needed to achieve desired thickness.

Go! 

Breakfast without guilt

Breakfast is not to be missed. It's expected to give us energy for the most of the day, bring down acid and provide nice feeling that we started the day right.

Take a big bowl. Place a big apple (unpeeled) cut into small chunks into the bowl, add a handful of berries and a tablespoon of nuts. You have a big bowl of food now. After you are done with fruit bowl, finish your breakfast with a cup of unsweetened tea with 2 Finn crisps with hard cheese. Fruit will fill your stomach,  crackers with cheese will give you illusion of having a full fatty meal.
Enjoy that feeling till lunch.

Dieting

My goal is to lose 5% of my current weight which should bring me down to 124-125 lb.
Weight loss is not my only objective.
I keep reading about losing 10 pounds in a week, losing 10 pounds in 3 days, losing 10 pounds in 48 hours.
I am not sure rapid weight loss is sustainable. Or particularly good for your body.
My miracle diet should get me there in 6 weeks.
Every week I'll be describing what I've done to make it happen.

Where is the miracle, one would ask.
One pound a week and that's it?
Here is my modest miracle.
My weight won't go up in the next 6 weeks.
My weight won't go up in the next 12 weeks.

Healthy recipes? Daily exercise? Changing focus from filling yourself with food to filling your life with more life? I don't know. All I know I'll make it happen.
Stay tuned.

Search America's Best Food Database

Arugula salad for breakfast

Simple, elegant, tasty, healthy.
Rushing for work?
Relaxing at home?
Try it, try it, and you may.
You may like it.

Take a nice ceramic or glass bow to enjoy your meal.
Put a very generous heap of arugula,
Mix extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and squeezed garlic in Kuhn Rikon Vase Wisk. Or just pour some olive oil onto the leaves. Toss your arugula with dressing and top with pine nuts. Or you may add some goat cheese crumbs and dried cranberries. This salad - now we may call it salad - is delicious, surprisingly filling and absolutely great for your diet.
Conclude your breakfast with an apple and a glass of water.

Kuhn Rikon Vase Wisk @ Amazon

Picardie Glass @ Crate & Barrel

Cafe Kiraz

Warm nice day, slightly intoxicated youth in green, pipers in plaid skirts at Kendall Square...

Me bumping into this random place. I don't expect pleasurable food experience in plain places with plastic tables and obvious take-out ambiance. Therefore I try to avoid them. Life is too short to waste it on obviously bad food. But something attracted my attention - and I went in: grilled peaches and grilled plums salad.
I asked it "for here" and it was served on a ceramic plate - in a plastic box... Utensils are plastic. Espresso is served in paper glass and is bad. They won't deny you a glass of water though (paper glass, of course). Which is better than their coffee.

But the salad - oh, my. It was positively made to order.

I thought I won't be able to finish it. Which is not a compliment. It was humongous, densely packed in aforementioned plastic box - and as I thought mostly made of mesclun greens.

But I happened to be wrong. The salad had peaches and plums on top and dry cherries and almonds and blue cheese all over the place. So I put good size portion on my plate. And then some more. And then I had some cheese crumbs and almonds left on the plate, so I had to add more greens. And eventually I finished it all, no single leaf left. Which is a compliment.

This salad - great for your diet.

Grilled peaches and grilled plums salad

Dried bing cherries, blanched almonds, blue cheese over mesclun mix. Grilled peaches and plums on top.

And there are few more I'd like to try.
Vegan: grilled tofu salad.
Vegetarian:

Grilled beets salad

Red & yellow beets, sweet corn, goat cheese & pumpkin seeds over mesclun mix.

 Autumn salad

Toasted pecan, fresh sliced pear, cranberries, blue cheese, mesclun mix.

People rave about their sandwiches, so may be one day.

It's a strange place, really. It's extensive and interesting selection and reasonable prices ($8 tops for most salads and sandwiches but for simple ones it's $6) along with pretence to be Mediterranean or Turkish... But something tells me it's ethnic  favour is from elsewhere. What is the secret here?

Kiraz salads

YELP reviews  (146 as of March 17, 2012 - a lot)

Café Kiraz  

119 Hampshire St
Cambridge, MA 02139
Neighborhood: Inman Square

Plain food is best: ribeye steak & last meal requests

Been following my smart diet tips?


So, which one won you heart?

Port and pickles diet?
Or scratchy grains and soup diet?


Between one thin soup and another and these gigantic bowls of diet popcorn you should enjoy food as much as people who order their last meal do. I doubt they'll go for buckweat. But plain food is best for your tats buds - and for your diet. As a bonus you don't have to part with your life once you are done with your meal.

1. Ribeye steak.

Made it yesterday with the griddle similar to this one.

Medium to mediaum-rare, definitely pink all way inside.
Some salt.
Green salad.
May be a glass of red wine?
That's all you need.


2. Sea bass in coconut flakes

***

Gerald Mitchell, who was executed in 2001, requested a bag of assorted Jolly Ranchers hard candy. Jonathan Wayne Nobles, executed in 1998, ordered the Eucharist sacrament.
In Florida in 1989, Ted Bundy had steak, eggs, hash browns and coffee, according to the Last Meals Project, an online archive of famous inmates' last meals. Timothy McVeigh, executed in Indiana in 2001, ordered mint chocolate chip ice cream.

***

When Lawrence Russell Brewer, a notorious white supremacist murderer, placed his order for his final meal earlier this month...
Brewer, in one last attempted act of defiance, had supersized his request, ordering two fried chicken steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue meat, three fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice-cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts. But as he was led off for his lethal injection, he hadn't eaten any of it*.

"It was too much for Senator John Whitmire, chairman of the Texas senate's criminal justice committee. He halted the state's tradition of granting a prisoner facing execution the right to request their favourite food." September 2011.

 

Ice cream recipes

Strawberry parfait 

Mine is not exactly ice cream, It's rather parfait.

Beat (1 cup of cut strawberries, 1 cup of whipping cream and 1 teaspoon of sugar) x as many batches as you want in the blender. Keep in the freezer in small batches and than thaw as needed in the refrigerator. Light and not too sweet dessert.

Three-minute Ice Cream 

from  Anne's Food (Stockholm, Sweden)

500 ml heavy cream 1 can sweetened condensed milk (about 400 g)mix-ins, optionalWhisk the cream into soft peaks. Open the can of milk, stir into the cream. Stir in any mix-ins, and pour into a tin. Freeze until completely frozen - 5-6 hours, or overnight.

  

Banana & Mango "Ice Cream"

 from Cloudberry Dreams blog (Melbourne, Australia) 

4 large, ripe bananas

2 large ripe mangoes

If you’re after a super-creamy product, peel and roughly chop the bananas and mangoes (removing the stones from the mangoes) and freeze overnight in a container. Otherwise, simply peel roughly chop the fruit and use it fresh if you’d prefer a slightly more sorbet-like result.

Place fruit pieces in a food processor ( a blender would also do nicely) and process for around 2 minutes, or until completely smooth. The consistency of the mixture should resemble a thick soup...

  The rest of the recipe is in  Banana-Mango Ice Cream recipe entry

and requires some repetitive blending,freezing and defreezing. 

By the way, it's a vegan dessert.

DIET & DIETING
Since I'm totally convinced that whatever food you make yourself is much healthier than processed foods you buy in the store, I believe that any of the above desserts are healthy and good for your diet. Unlike dieting which is typically not good for you. Eating good foods is a better way to become or stay well and fit than not eating particular foods.  

Simple dinner: sea bass in coconut flakes

That was one delicious meal for two.

BAKED SEA BASS

Sea bass - two one-pounders, cleaned and scaled (ask to do the dirty work at the counter) with tail and head on.
1 lemon.
2 tbl spoons of coarse salt.
3-4 tbl spoons of shredded coconut.
Few cloves of garlic finely chopped.
Even number of bay leaves. 
Some extra virgin olive oil.
1 oven,  1 tray.

Squeeze one lemon with lemon juicer:

Stainless Steel Citrus Juicer

Glass Citrus Juicer

 or




Dip sea bass in lemon juice and roll in the mix of coarse salt and coconut.
Pour some olive oil on the tray, lay our fish, staff with chopped garlic and bay leaves (just enough to enhance the taste) and  bake in preheated oven for 22 min at 425F or something along these lines (don't burn the upper crust). If you bass was fresh, it came out great.

SALAD
Simple salad of ripe "beef steak" tomato rounds and onion rounds, sprinkled with salt and unrefined oil.


WINE
Chardonnay Clos Du Bois (California, Sonoma Valley).

Everything pickles

Talking of pickles as seen in my "port and pickles diet" post, here they come in all shapes and forms from candles to mints to soaps at reasonable prices. I suppose these below were sketched the morning designer had a severe hangover.

Pickle toothpaste, pickle toothpicks, pickle juice:

Pickle Addicts

Diet

I write about diet and dieting.
Pickles & port diet (real life story)
Wholesome foods  (more here)
Soup for losing weight
Losing weight with popcorn (5 more on the subject)

And one of my three dirty little secrets is that I'm not on a diet of any sort.

Miraculous "port and pickles" diet

Just met a guy at New Year party.
Well, actually that was not my first encounter with him.
But Gosh has he changed!
His story is worth telling.
Three years ago he found himself abandoned by his wife, fat and depressed.
He had to enter the dating market yet again.
His age and income permitting to fulfil his aspirations in search of a beauty he was lacking the looks.


Depressed and frugal as he was he invented a steady routine for himself.
Every morning he was consuming two individual cans of Campbell's soup or one Campbell's soup can of family size for breakfast. Or taking in whatever canned soup was on sale that week.
He was skipping lunch and working out in the gym across the road instead.
After work he was stopping at his friend's house and spending the evening with the supper of pickles in brine, Taylor port wine and light porn.
Six months on this diet allowed him to loose 58 pounds, become attractive and energetic.
Now he is happily married with PhD wife and a little baby.
His weight is almost the same as right after these six months of dieting though now he is feasting on the meals cooked or reheated by his beautiful wife. 
His friend is spending his evenings at local chapter of AA but happiness is not for everyone.

At Walmart at 1.98$ per family size 26 oz. can

Store pricing may vary

You can get it at $10 for 1.5L

Happy and healthy year for everyone whatever you dating situation and dieting resolutions are.

Scratchy grains

A couple of international foods I feel good about:

Finn crisps as a healthy alternative to French baguette.
Sold at Whole Foods, international sections of some regular supermarkets, ethnic stores, Amazon.

Buckwheat as a healthy grain, high in fiber, protein, vitamin B complex, minerals.
Perfect for vegan and vegetarian diet.
Good for people suffering from diabetes / concerned with controlling blood sugar levels, people with risk of heart disease, people concerned with gluten-free diet because of celiac disease or other reasons [not to be discussed here and now].
FACT: It is not a cereal grain.
While many people think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel making it a suitable substitute for grains for people who are sensitive to wheat or other grains that contain protein glutens. Buckwheat flowers are very fragrant and are attractive to bees that use them to produce a special, strongly flavoured, dark honey (Whole Foods).

Could work as a side dish and goes well with beef stew, or as a main entrée and goes well with sautéed onions or/and mushrooms. I prefer to buy unroasted buckwheat and roast it myself for the above purposes:
Buckwheat Groats (Amazon)  / Arrowhead Mills - buckwheat groats. Works fine for breakfast with milk added right into the bowl of porridge.

It may come pre-roasted (like Wolf's Kasha). Not my preference.


Buckwheat flour (e.g. from Arrowhead Mills)  helps with guilt-free gluten-free pancakes and baking. Actually, buckwheat pancakes belong to traditional Acadian cousine.
Tried buckwheat pancakes in Nova Scotia, home to Acadian culture. Splendid sun-dawns and nature walks, bland food.  

Soba noodles in your soup for dinner will work well too.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were two of the first American farmers to grow buckwheat and recognize the benefit to their crop rotations. With increased focus on specializing in the major commodities during the 1900s, buckwheat become much less common. In recent years, some farmers in north Missouri grew buckwheat under contract with a major buckwheat processor (Jefferson Institute).

Why would you do such a disservice to yourself and eat processed foods? There are few explanations:
=== lack of awareness ===
=== lack of education ===
=== lack of resources: funds & time ===
=== lack of energy ===

Ask me about you favourite processed food and I will tell you  why you don't want it any more (awareness) - how to substitute it with nutritious and healthy food cooked from raw products (education) - how to find either money or time (resources). If you start treating yourself better, you'll replenish the lacking energy.

Buy a number of raw products that do not require time, just the money. Start with brown sugar:

India Tree Dark Muscovado Sugar, 2.8-Pound Jars (have no idea but planning to try it out)

My favourite  La Perruche Brown Sugar Cubes, 500g (1.1lb)

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in new orleans.
Scarred old slaver know he's doin alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should
A-huh.

Drums beating, cold english blood runs hot,
Lady of the house wondrin where it's gonna stop.
House boy knows that he's doin alright.
You should a heard him just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a black girl should
A-huh.

I bet your mama was a tent show queen, and all her boy
Friends were sweet sixteen.
Im no schoolboy but I know what I like,
You should have heard me just around midnight.

Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should.

I said yeah, I said yeah, I said yeah, I said
Oh just like a, just like a black girl should.

I said yeah, I said yeah, I said yeah, I said
Oh just like, just like a black girl should.

(Rolling Stones)