It's funny how life can still be good even when weird, frustrating things keep happening.
My injured foot a few weeks ago turned out to be a broken bone. Two of them, actually. Which I managed to acquire by tripping over, I dunno, a microscopic piece of lint on my carpet. As opposed to valiantly rescuing a band of baby quails from a speeding car or something.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Spicy Eggplant - attempt I
I really miss a wonderful Thai dish I used to have, some spicy eggplant that was simply amazing.
I've been fiddling with various methods of recreating a flavor that might be comparable, or at least comparable based on what I remember, and yesterday I got closer than I ever had before.
It was fairly simple. I stir-fried sliced japanese eggplant, and then cooked it with this sauce:
Fake Spicy Thai Sauce (Work-in-Progress):
Apple juice (homemade, so I don't know if the taste changes)
roasted eggplant, peeled and blended up with a little of the apple juice
crushed tepin chiles
sea salt
a little fresh lemon juice
This was spicy, sweet, and a little sour. Not quite right, yet. There's something missing. But it was much closer than I've managed before. I need something for that umami taste, and the roasted eggplant was the best so far, as I can't use mushroom, soy sauce, or coconut aminos. I'm thinking perhaps I could add some roasted tomato, too, just a little bit, and see how that goes, next time. :-)
I've been fiddling with various methods of recreating a flavor that might be comparable, or at least comparable based on what I remember, and yesterday I got closer than I ever had before.
It was fairly simple. I stir-fried sliced japanese eggplant, and then cooked it with this sauce:
Fake Spicy Thai Sauce (Work-in-Progress):
Apple juice (homemade, so I don't know if the taste changes)
roasted eggplant, peeled and blended up with a little of the apple juice
crushed tepin chiles
sea salt
a little fresh lemon juice
This was spicy, sweet, and a little sour. Not quite right, yet. There's something missing. But it was much closer than I've managed before. I need something for that umami taste, and the roasted eggplant was the best so far, as I can't use mushroom, soy sauce, or coconut aminos. I'm thinking perhaps I could add some roasted tomato, too, just a little bit, and see how that goes, next time. :-)
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Why what we say matters.
I constantly share information about Celiac Disease.
I know this annoys some people. My friends are likely nodding their heads and saying, 'yes, Shauna, please do shut up about this sometime soon, eh?' I can appreciate that. I know have a bit of an obsessive personality at times. It comes out with anything new in my life, like the three tiny goldfish that turned into a 10 gallon tank, a 20 gallon tank, a 60 gallon tank, and explorations into fish breeding, live plants, and attempts at mimicking a complete ecological environment.
Like I said, just a teensy bit obsessive. Although my fish tanks were awesome, if I do say so myself.
But with Celiac Disease, it's not always obsession driving me to talk about it. Deep down, this is grief and anger. I talk about cooking and the food industry because I have to think about it all the time. But Celiac Disease is more than that.
I know this annoys some people. My friends are likely nodding their heads and saying, 'yes, Shauna, please do shut up about this sometime soon, eh?' I can appreciate that. I know have a bit of an obsessive personality at times. It comes out with anything new in my life, like the three tiny goldfish that turned into a 10 gallon tank, a 20 gallon tank, a 60 gallon tank, and explorations into fish breeding, live plants, and attempts at mimicking a complete ecological environment.
Like I said, just a teensy bit obsessive. Although my fish tanks were awesome, if I do say so myself.
But with Celiac Disease, it's not always obsession driving me to talk about it. Deep down, this is grief and anger. I talk about cooking and the food industry because I have to think about it all the time. But Celiac Disease is more than that.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Best meal EVER
I've been in such a rut, it's not even funny. I got hit with sulfites in that little injection and it knocked me down for a couple weeks. But we're all home today so I was motivated to try and make the meal a little special.
SO happy with it!
My meal today:
Falafel - the kind I normally make, with chickpeas, yellow squash, salt, and parsley
Roasted green chile hummus - the kind I normally make, with chickpeas, salt, and olive oil, and then with 2 roasted green chiles, skinned and seeded, added in with it. I added a little extra oil and made a smooth, very spicy, slightly green hued hummus. It was awesome!
Dairy free tzatziki - 2 small orange/yellow vine ripened tomatoes, 2 small persian cucumbers, both chopped. Then I added a teeny bit of fresh chopped dill, and about four times as much chopped cilantro. Then maybe 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
I got out these large, dark lettuce leaves, broke the falafel into pieces and put in first the falafel, then the hummus, then the tsatziki, then held the lettuce like a hot dog bun and ate it that way. It was AWESOME!
The hummus was spicy, the falafel were really sweet this time, and the sour and crunchiness of the tzatziki was great.
It's using foods I already had, but still, I'm so excited about it anyway because it's just new enough that I noticed, and I needed a good taste. My past few experiments have been utter failures. So nice when something works!
I'd have amazing pictures, but I was so hungry, I ate it all. When I went back for seconds (and food for pictures) it was all gone! :-D I just have these two little photos of the left over hummus and tzatziki, and that's it.
SO happy with it!
My meal today:
Falafel - the kind I normally make, with chickpeas, yellow squash, salt, and parsley
Roasted green chile hummus - the kind I normally make, with chickpeas, salt, and olive oil, and then with 2 roasted green chiles, skinned and seeded, added in with it. I added a little extra oil and made a smooth, very spicy, slightly green hued hummus. It was awesome!
Dairy free tzatziki - 2 small orange/yellow vine ripened tomatoes, 2 small persian cucumbers, both chopped. Then I added a teeny bit of fresh chopped dill, and about four times as much chopped cilantro. Then maybe 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
I got out these large, dark lettuce leaves, broke the falafel into pieces and put in first the falafel, then the hummus, then the tsatziki, then held the lettuce like a hot dog bun and ate it that way. It was AWESOME!
The hummus was spicy, the falafel were really sweet this time, and the sour and crunchiness of the tzatziki was great.
It's using foods I already had, but still, I'm so excited about it anyway because it's just new enough that I noticed, and I needed a good taste. My past few experiments have been utter failures. So nice when something works!
I'd have amazing pictures, but I was so hungry, I ate it all. When I went back for seconds (and food for pictures) it was all gone! :-D I just have these two little photos of the left over hummus and tzatziki, and that's it.
 |
| Sour and crunchy, just like I wanted |
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
No Shampoo
Shampoo has been a bit of a problem for a while - lots of allergies means more and more shampoos are making us react. My daughter has been having a lot of skin problems due to shampoo, so we've been a bit desperate lately.
Which leads me to here: cleaning my hair without shampoo. I know people do this. I hear about it; I read about it. So I decided to give it a try.
Which leads me to here: cleaning my hair without shampoo. I know people do this. I hear about it; I read about it. So I decided to give it a try.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Grocery Budget - week whatever
You know what? I have NO idea this week. None.
I injured my foot so I can hardly walk, then got sick at the same time, overslept and missed the farmer's market, and I'm surviving on veggies that are all exploring new ways to exemplify 'limp.' I've been to the store just a few times to get veggies and fruit or GF pasta for the kids: our convenience food nowadays.
I think I'll be waiting until this Friday to get back on my game. And clean my house - this is definitely a week where I feel, ahem, house-cleaning challenged. And someone horizontally challenged as well, LOL.
I injured my foot so I can hardly walk, then got sick at the same time, overslept and missed the farmer's market, and I'm surviving on veggies that are all exploring new ways to exemplify 'limp.' I've been to the store just a few times to get veggies and fruit or GF pasta for the kids: our convenience food nowadays.
I think I'll be waiting until this Friday to get back on my game. And clean my house - this is definitely a week where I feel, ahem, house-cleaning challenged. And someone horizontally challenged as well, LOL.
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