Day 15: Broccoli

I brought my broccoli to work with the best of intentions. The little florets are not overly nummy, but I liked the idea that I could get some crunchiness from a snack. But like a recalcitrant child, I could not motivate myself to eat the poor veggie and it went bad.

Round 1 - Broccoli 1, celiacsings 0

And then inspiration struck! What if I melted cheddar cheese on the broccoli, like a loaded baked potato without the potato part? So the next time I brought the broccoli AND shredded cheese to work. Lunchtime approached and I realized that the broccoli on potatoes is usually steamed or cooked in some way. Could I risk just sticking it all in the microwave without cooking the broccoli? Indecision battled with hunger and the certainty of the rest of my food won out.

Round 2 - Broccoli 2, celiacsings 0

But today is the day. The broccoli is still crisp; the cheese is still sans mold. Half our staff is off-site so if the disaster smells terribly, I have fewer apologies to make.

I looked up how to steam broccoli in the microwave. It's as straight-forward as one could probably get:

1. Wash broccoli.
2. Chop off stalks so you get cute little tree-like pieces.
3. Place florets and 1-2 Tbsp. of water in microwave safe dish, ideally with lid. I have no lid here at work so I'm going to use our microwave safe plastic wrap.
4. Microwave for 3-10 minutes depending on microwave.
5. Broccoli is done when still slightly crisp, very aromatic, and bright green.

Alright, reading audience. Wish my office luck, that this doesn't have dire olfactory consequences!!

[pause]

And SUCCESS! (for the most part...) The broccoli with light cheese is actually quite good. I should probably get some plastic wrap that is more microwavable, though. Thankfully, because I only had one small stalk I only needed to microwave the plastic wrap for a little less than 2 minutes. The wrap had only started to melt to the bowl. Sigh.

Round 3: Broccoli 2, celiacsings 1, plastic wrap -1

Broccoli with Cheddar Cheese Snack (serves 1)

• 2 stalks of broccoli
• 1-2 Tbsp water
• 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• salt to taste

1. Wash broccoli and chop florets of stalks.
2. Place broccoli & water in microwave safe dish. Sprinkle with salt as desired. Cover with lid or microwavable plastic wrap.
3. Microwave on high for 2-4 minutes, depending on microwave strength and amount of florets. Broccoli is done when still slightly crisp, very aromatic, and bright green.
4. Uncover. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
5. Microwave on 80% for 25 seconds or high for 15 seconds. Again it may be more or less depending on your microwave and how melted you want the cheese.

And there you go. It took a few rounds, but eventually there was veggie success!

Day 10: Quinoa

Quinoa is a gluten-free grain. It comes from the Andes Mountains of South America, but the Quinoa Corporation ships it up here. (http://www.quinoa.net/127/index.html) I think it's a funny grain, in many ways.

• It's got a funny name. Though it looks like it should be pronounced qwinn-no-uh, it's actually pronounced keen-wah.



• It's funny that it's not actual a grain. Technically, it's a seed, but here in North America we use it as, and refer to it as, a grain.



• It's funny in that every six months or so I think, "I should make something with quinoa!" And then I do. And then it's just ok, not fabulous, not horrid. Just kind of there. I have yet to find a recipe that makes quinoa pop for me.

But, as someone pointed out to me, this is a record of 30 days of things I can eat, not necessarily things I like. I can eat quinoa. And I don't dislike it, not really. I'm on the fence.

Anyone have any good quinoa recipes? I'd love to hear them and find a way to make quinoa yummy for me!

Day 9: Brown Rice

I'm already grasping at straws (or grains, as the case may be). But brown rice is an approved food, in moderation, so it's a valid entry.

There's not much to say on brown rice. Or rather not a ton that's interesting.

"brown rice" gets 2,470,000 hits on Google. Lots of recipes and lots of debate brown vs. white rice. (brown is healthier, but can be more fatty...) If you switch to images, the pictures are just as prolific.

My nothing can really come close to the reach and dissemination of brown rice and rice, in general, through my diet these past few years. Rice is my wheat. Brown rice is a side dish, a main dish, and a flour. It is a cereal, a bread, and Rice milk replaces dairy and soy for me. Rice pasta is the cheapest gluten-free pasta option I've found and if you use the right brand, it only falls apart a little.

Six years ago, I'm not sure I had ever made brown rice. If I had, it was because I picked up instant brown instead of instant white in the store. With the Celiac diagnosis in 2004, everything shifted and now I use brown rice and brown rice-based ingredients in everything!

I made this recipe below before lentils were scratched from my list, but it's so wonderful I wanted to share.

I adapted it from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone; it's a recipe for mujadarrah.

Lentils & Rice with Fried Onions
6 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, halved, sliced moderately thin
1 and 1/4 cups of lentils (brown or green - I used brown)
3/4 cup long-grain brown rice
Salt & pepper

• Heat the oil & add the cut up onion.
• The recipe says to cook the onion until rich, dark brown. We tried that; it didn't work so well for us. It made the onions very harsh in the mouth. Instead the second time, we just brown them slightly, about 5 minutes. MUCH better!
• While you are futzing with the onion, stick the lentils in a pot with 1 quart water and salt to taste (~1/2 tsp.). Bring to boil, simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add rice , pepper, and any additional water needed to cover the lentil & rice combo.
• Add lid and cook over low heat until rice is done. The recipe says about 15 minutes. It took us about 25 with brown rice.
• Turn off heat and stir in the carmelized, not blackened onions. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.
  

ENJOY!!!!

P.S. This makes a fabulous potluck dish since:

• legume allergies are not very common,
• it's vegetarian and filling unlike a plate of lettuce,
• can be a main course or a side dish, and
  
• it takes so few ingredients that you can often whip it up in under an hour from stuff you already have around (if you have a basket of onions like we do)

Day 8: Eggs

When I was working with the nutritionist last summer (of course, not covered by health insurance), egg whites were something we used for a great source of protein. I've never really cared for the texture of hard-boiled egg yolks, but the whites were always very yummy. But again not something I cooked myself.

I must have called my mother the first six times I tried to make hard-boiled eggs. The 7th time I just faked it. Now I continue to fake it with some regularity. But now I've found a new method I have to try!

Recently my friend & coworker forwarded to me a website on how to cook hard-boiled eggs IN THE OVEN! Has anyone ever done this? The idea fascinates me. I'll let you know how it works!

Here is the link to site he sent me: http://tipnut.com/hard-boiled-eggs/.

Day 7: Corn

Internet sites and even the candida books I have differ on whether corn is approved or not on the anti-candida diet. But, to the best of my knowledge, I am not allergic to it and since it shows up as approved on some lists, I'm going to go for it!

Ah, corn. It shows up in so many forms: corn on the cob, frozen nibblets, cornmeal, corn flour, corn oil, and the forbidden corn syrup.

It's not nearly as good for you, but I much prefer the taste of corn oil when cooking. Vegetable oil is often soybean oil and with my legume issues, soy is "right out". But even though olive oil is the healthier choice, corn oil is always the first one I reach for.

I freely admit that I had to look up how to cook corn on the cob recently. It's straight-forward enough that I could have (should have?) faked it, but there's always a part of me that wants to know what everyone else "normally" does before I go off on my crazy cookin' own.

Corn on the Cob - Boiled

• Boil water. Add salt if desired.
• Husk and wash corn. I break them in half for more manageable pieces.
• Carefully drop in boiling water.
• Boil for 7-10 minutes (the only real key piece of info!).
• Remove with tongs. Eat ASAP!

I've cooked some pieces tonight that I hope to bring to work for lunch over the course of this week. We shall see how well that goes. I'm not sure what reheating will do to the taste or consistency. I'll let you know!

One thing I did find very useful when scouring the 'net was a recipe for corn on the cob in the microwave. I've made it twice now. It helps if you can monitor it from the same room, or at least some where close by. Running down the length of your office when you hear something popping is not high on the professional scale.

I followed this site for the microwave directions: http://www.microwavecornonthecob.com/

The quick summary of the site is:
Soak corn for 30 or more minutes.
Squeeze away excess water.
Microwave for 7 minutes.
Shuck under cold water.
Enjoy!

Day 4: Almonds

Day 4: Almonds

I was a late-comer to many foods, mostly out of necessity. As the items I used to eat fell off the "Approved" list, one by one, other items had to take their places.

Before legumes were kicked off the list I had discovered the joy of green beans and slivered almonds. If you like bacon and want the beans to be very tasty, but not nearly as good for you, toss in some bacon bits. For extra, bacon-ness, dump the whole concoction into the skillet you just cooked the bacon in and stir beans & almonds until coated.

Once beans were lost to me, I would use a handful almonds (~12) with a fruit, usually an apple, as a healthy, between-meals munchie. It helped sustain me and kept me body processing food by "grazing" throughout the course of the day.

But with the candidiasis, I'm supposed to be avoiding fruit sugars as well. No more apple & almond snacks.

So now I've started adding almond to my rice pasta. It makes the side dish more substantial and I eat less of it, consequently.

Pine Nut & Almond Pasta

1 box of gluten-free pasta (about ~8 oz)
1/8 cup of pine nuts
1/4 cup of slivered almonds
2 Tbsp of olive oil
Salt, dextrose-free

• Cook pasta as instructed. I add a little salt to the water when cooking the pasta.
• In medium to large skillet, heat up oil & salt on medium heat.
• Lower heat to simmer level. Add pine nuts and almonds.
• Stir them frequently as they toast. The best indicator for when the nuts are done is the pine nuts. Once the pine nuts start to brown, remove skillet from heat.
• The pasta will most likely be done about the same time. Drain the pasta.
• Put the drained pasta in the skillet and stir. If your skillet is too small for all of the pasta, do a few scoops at a time in batches. Not only will this help mix in the nuts, but it will coat the pasta with the oil.
• Put the mixture back in the pot and pour any remaining nuts & oil mixture on top.
  
• Toss once more for optimal mixage. Enjoy!