Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Drunk Banana...



So, a banana walks into a saute pan...

Just kidding I won't bore you with a bad pun or anything like that. But seriously, there was a saute pan involved. I have been shall we say "exploring" the world of cocktail making which doing on a Low-Sal diet is interesting (code for: it was boring until I started being creative.) I LOVE bananas, you could say I'm bananas about them but then, that would be a bad pun. Thinking of ways to get bananas into drinks is not easy. Ok, that's a lie, it was totally easy I just picked it up off the counter and made the drink. I'm getting off track...possibly because I'm currently drinking this drink and it is...relaxing...

ONWARD! To the point.

1 ripe banana
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Put it all in a saute pan and stir occasionally on med-high heat until it looks all brown and squished. Put it on a plate and stick it in the freezer to cool down.

1 shot Butterscotch Liqueur (there is no ingredient list on the bottle so I just pretend it's low-sal)
1 shot Whiskey
1 shot Vodka (I told you this banana got drank)
2/3 cup half and half or whole milk
ice cubes

Ok, so can you touch the banana stuff without crying? Sweet, it's probably cool enough. Add EVERYTHING to a blender and whizzz whizzzzzzzzz... it should look like a white-ish frappuchino, but alas, sooo much more delicious.

Drink slowly and carefully it's more alcoholic than you realize. Guys,  you may look at yourself and think "That's too girly for me." But try it. Seriously. You'll thank me later.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Dr. Kelly's Magical Concoction- Good for Sunburns and Facials

So, my wonderful roommate, Kelly, devised this mixture to help me nurse a pretty nasty sunburn I got when vacationing on Lake Michigan (gorgeous, perfect, wonderful weekend. :D) She researched all of the known natural remedies to sunburns and combined a few of them! It worked wonderfully and my face, and hers, benefited mucho from the healing, amazing powers of the concoction!!

Here's how ya do it.

Boil 1/2 cup of water, steep 6 bags of plain ol' black tea and one bag of chamomile in the water until it looks like black death. While you're waiting for it to steep, combine half a cup of oat flour, (we just made it in the magic bullet, but you can use pre-made or do it in a blender or food processor)  half a cup of milk, three tablespoons of honey, a heaping tablespoon baking soda, 1/4 cup cornstarch and stir!! When the tea is done steeping, remove the bags and slowly add the other mixture to the tea, heat on a medium low heat until it is thick and porridge-y. Cool in the fridge or freezer until it is about room temperature. Use either your hands or a paintbrush/pastry brush to apply. This will dry in about 10 minutes without a fan and about five with a fan. The fan can help whisk away heat if you're using to treat a sunburn, if you're just doing it as a facial the fan isn't necessary.

Get ready for smooth tight skin and a remedy for your sunburn! Dr. Kelly works her magic again. :)

Yes, I realize that it looks like I'm rubbing baby spit-up on myself, but ladies and gentleman, it was such a sweet relief for my sunburn that I did not care. :)

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Roasted Potato Salad 
With Warm Onion Vinaigrette
Serves 4

WARNING! This recipe will take an hour or more! Be prepared!

3lbs of redskin potatoes, cut into 1/2 in cubes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
oil (not olive) for drizzling
salt and pepper
(you can also substitute any seasoned salt you have)

1 Vidalia or two medium regular onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 tsp oil (not olive)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 egg yolk
1 tsp spicy brown or whole grain mustard
1 small clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp lemon juice (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper

2 tbsp oil (not olive)

Iceberg lettuce, washed
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled (or more, that's cool, too.)
sunflower seeds


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the potatoes and garlic in oil, just enough to coat them (you can do this right on your sheet pan) generously salt and pepper them and put them in your pre-heated oven.

In a 10-12 inch skillet over medium heat place the tsp of oil until it looks like water when the pan is tilted. Add onions. (The trick to these is to leave them alone- it will go much faster if you don’t stir them too often.)

Keeping an eye on your onions, prepare the dressing. Vigorously whisk the oil and egg yolk together. When those are emulsified, add the mustard, still whisking. When that looks like a smooth emulsion add the rest of the ingredients, making sure to taste and add ingredients as you like.

It’s time to turn your potatoes! Use the stiffest utensil you have, these like to stick.
At this point your onions should be a little more than halfway caramelized.

Prepare your lettuce “bowls” by gently removing layers of lettuce and placing two per person (or whatever seems appropriate) on each plate.

When your onions are fully caramelized place them in a separate dish. There should be a nice layer of brown stuff at the bottom, quickly add the two tbsps of oil and use a rubber spatula to scrape that lovely stuff into the oil. When you can comfortably touch the oil, whisk it into the rest of your dressing. (We don’t want to coagulate the egg yolk.)

The potatoes should be nice and browned now, time to layer!

Layers in order:
Lettuce “bowl”
Potatoes
Onions
Feta Cheese
Sunflower seeds
Dressing

Enjoy! :)

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Call Me Crazy



...but, every morning that I read this passage it takes on more meaning.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

-See Lk 1: 68-79

I could be totally wrong, and theologians out there, correct me please, but I feel that we are free now because God sent the Holy Spirit, not because he destroyed all possibility of fear. Let me explain a little better. When God swore the oath to Abraham people were used to physical threats- land being taken, people being captured and made into slaves, etc. But because the Bible is true for all men for all time I kept thinking how does that apply now? We are physically secure on a day to say basis and I don't know if I've ever heard of someone's house being marched on and seized, at least not in my neighborhood. How we are not secure is spiritual attacks. God's remedy to that is more of His Holy Spirit. It's not that we won't face fear (one of Satan's greatest weapons, incidentally) it's that when His Spirit is with us and we rely on Him the lie of fear falls away. I know at least for me the greatest fear that got (gets) in the way of worshiping God more fully was the idea that people were judging me (yes, my own vanity.) However, these are my conclusions after much thought and observation: 1. People don't usually have the time, energy or will to judge you. 2. Vanity is a dumb reason to go to hell. 3. God has already sworn an oath that I'll be able to worship Him without fear, I can see that manifested in people around me, all I have to do is trust in that, then maybe the last part of Zechariah's canticle will come true:

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high will break upon us
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death
and to guide our feet into a way of peace.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012


Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Angela, Head Chef






Now THAT’S a Meatball

Cheesy title aside, these did turn out fabulously. I recently moved in with my friend Angela who doesn’t really have much cooking experience. Meatballs are a good starting place, I felt, so these were her babies. Don’t they look great? She did the meat mixture entirely by herself. They are melt-in-your-mouth good (it doesn’t hurt that they were Idaho beef courtesy of my sister and brother-in-law.) I recommend that you eat these on a bed of pasta- possibly some homemade mac and cheese- fontina, cheddar and parm is a good combo- or even your traditional spaghetti marinara with a little mozzarella. As usual, these are sal-neg. Hope you enjoy!

· 2lbs beef, or meatball mixture

· 1cup breadcrumbs (as usual, I used dad’s bread)

· 1/2cup parmesan cheese

· 1 egg

· 1tbsp parsley fresh or dried covered in oil

· 2tsp soy sauce

· 2tsp salt

Heat oven to 300 degrees- grease two sheet pans with oil. Mix everything in order until nicely combined. One to one and a half inch balls are best. This should make about 50. Cook for 30-40 minutes turning halfway through. Cut one in half to make sure they’re done. These can be frozen for up to six weeks.



Today was the day of round, brown balls. I woke up this morning thinking two things; “I’m hungry,” and “I think I can make chocolate fritters.” Since my curiosity could solve both problems I got out of bed and started heating some oil. Here’s my recipe!

· 1 cup flour

· ¾ cup sugar

· 1/3 cup cocoa powder

· 1tsp salt

· 1tsp baking soda

· 2tsp lemon juice

· 1 ½ cups milk or half and half

· Oil for frying

· Sugar for dusting (confectioners or granulated)

Heat the oil to 350 degrees in a deep pan, four quarts is a good size; it should be about an inch and a half deep. While the oil is heating mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Combine juice and milk until it looks kind of weird and curdly. Make a well in the middle of your dry ingredients and start adding the milk mixture. Stir until well combined. Scoop the batter into oil with a one tbsp. cookie scoop. Four or five at a time is good- don’t crowd them cook about a minute on each side until browned. Drain on a paper towel quickly and then dust with the sugar. If you want, hold them in a 250 degree oven until all of them are ready. Enjoy!!



Thursday, January 19, 2012

Mystery Ingredient

What is this? You ask. This is delicious. Not to be like "I'm awesome" or whatever but I'm starting to get pretty good at low-sal recipes. Tonight I just cooked up some pasta with onions, garlic, peas, chicken and...*hesitates* banana juice. OK! YES! I understand what I just said. And before you freak out and stop reading my blog let me explain...

I love good flavor development in a dish, it just takes everything to another level. Before the "discovery of sensitivity" I'd just dump a can-o-chicken broth on there. Mmm. Good flavors. Just deglaze your pan with a little broth and voila! Pasta sauce. But now anything canned is right out and since I haven't really had time to make my own broth or stock, what was I to do? Banana juice (or really, puree- I buy the brand Looza which also sells a fantastic pear juice) is what I drink with breakfast these mornings- lots of potassium to start the day out right. So I was looking at it like "Well, I used the pear juice, why not the banana?" And thus began the banana sauce. Here it is.

Chicken Brine
2 chicken breasts in a 1/2 inch dice
1tsp salt
4cups warm water

Pasta!
1/2-3/4 lb of whatever you want (I used fettucini)
2tsp salt

Saucy Sauce
2/3cup BANANA JUICE!
1/3cup canola or sunflower oil
1/8cup soy sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
1 (generous) tbsp canola oil
1 medium onion, sliced in 1/4 in slices
1 clove garlic
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen, doesn't matter)



  1. Brine yo chicken. 30 minutes max, 10 minutes at least.
  2. Turn on a 4qt pot of water, enough to boil your pasta in add the salt.
  3. Mix the first four ingredients of the sauce and set aside, don't worry if it doesn't emulsify no one cares.
  4. Heat the tbsp of oil in an 8 or 10 inch skillet over medium heat, when it starts to shimmer drop in the onions. Sizzly goodness. Mmm.
  5. When they start to look translucent drop in the garlic. Saute! You smell that? Good. Don't be burnin' no garlic now.
  6. Is your pasta water boiling?? Add your pasta to it!!
  7. Drain the chicken and add it to the skillet. Lower the heat a tiiiiny bit so you don't over cook the chicken.
  8. When it starts to look white add the peas! PEAS!! A VEGETABLE I CAN HAVE!!
  9. When it gets a nice sizzle again pour in the saucy mixture from earlier and turn the heat back up to medium so you get a nice simmer going on it.
  10. Let it reduce about a third of the way down the pan, it will be fairly thick to begin with so we don't want to go too far.
  11. Reserve half a cup of the pasta water just in case.
  12. Drain your pasta (but don't rinse!) and put it back the pan.
  13. Pour your lovely sauce over the pasta and mixymixymixy...
  14. Serve immediately! With some kind of ...something. I didn't have a side dish but I suppose you could have some sort of garlic bread or something like that. More carbs. /shrug. I'll just eat more of the pasta.
So there you go. Try it if you want. I'm dubious that you do unless you are sal-sensitive like me but have at it. You can try walking in my shoes for a day or something inspiring like that. "Eat, Pray, Love" is now. "Eat, pray that you never become sal-sensitive so that you can still eat." Whatever, I'm over it. Buon appetito.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

YUM.

So, as for writing my own low-sal recipes, well sometimes that takes a little more brain power and energy than I have. Since most of the just plain baking ingredients are low or sal-free stuff like these brownies* are easy to find and make.(There's no other way to describe them than, YUM.) I've probably made more chocolatey, ooey, gooey baked goods since finding out about my salicylate intolerance than I did my entire previous life combined. I make brownies or chocolate cake at least once a week. This might seems sad to you: "That poor girl obviously has a problem." But when the only sweet things you can have are chocolate and homemade caramels you come to me and tell me you're not doing the same thing. But try those brownies, seriously, so good.


*If you're going to use nuts be sure to use pecans, not walnuts!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Salicylate Cooking?

So, about two months ago I found out that I have an intolerance to a group of chemicals called salicylates. It was a lucky catch by my mom who follows dashoff's blog and had researched the issue when Diane's son was having issues with his digestion (poor little guy*). My mom noticed that I was having a lot of symptoms associated with salicylate sensitivity and, because I was ready to try anything at that point, I jumped into the low-sal diet. The difference was night and day. After struggling for almost two years with phantom pains, headaches, cold-like symptoms and what we suspected was an ulcer, my symptoms disappeared in two weeks. I am overjoyed to be able to share this with you, but there have been challenges and one of the biggest ones is finding recipes that I can use. Being a culinary student and an epicurean I was getting tired of eating quesadillas and stalks of celery. So tonight I ventured to make a recipe of my own and it turned out...well, fabulously. So, first in a long series of what is new cooking to me I present- French Onion and Beef "Stew" with Homemade Garlic Croutons! (I know, that's a working title people, excessively long but eminently descriptive.) This recipe works really well if you prep everything beforehand, all that mise en place and whatnot.

F.O.B."S".H.G.C.

Croutons
1/2 loaf of sturdy white bread- I used my dad's -cubed in 1/2 in pieces
1 large clove of garlic finely minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp sunflower or canola oil

Stew
2 Medium onions sliced lengthwise in 1/4 in pieces
1lb beef (round steak is great) cubed in 1/2 inch pieces
1/8 cup sunflower or canola oil
3/4 cup pear juice divided
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp corn starch
1/4 lb of mozzarella cheese coarsely grated

  • Pre-heat your oven to 400F. Toss all the ingredients for the croutons together, spread them out on a sheet pan and put them in the oven to toast.
  • In a deep pan (4 or 5 quart is good, preferably NOT nonstick) heat your oil at medium high to start making the stew. Once the oil is just starting to smoke gently add the beef, making sure it has plenty of room to brown. (If you need to, do this in two batches.) Brown it on all sides making sure you get plenty of that yummy brown stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan. When, fully cooked remove the beef and set aside.
  • At this point add the first half of the pear juice to deglaze the pan, scrape it all off the bottom, that yummy flavor is the base of your stew. Once the pear juice/brown bits are simmering add your onions. Cover and cook until the onions and pear juice carmelize into a yummy mess-0-flavor.
  • Check on your croutons, hopefully they're not burned? Sweet, flip 'em on over and stick 'em back in.
  • Now, back to the stew, add the rest of your liquids (pear juice, soy sauce and lemon juice) stir it up! Gently remove two tablespoons of the liquid and in a small bowl mix it with the corn starch, set that aside.
  • Simmer the onion/liquids mixture until it is almost all reduced.
  • Take your croutons out! They're done!
  • Add the corn starch slurry to the onion mixture and when that's all mixed in, add the beef back in. Mixy mixy. Good. Ok, now in bowls it goes like this: croutons, stew, cheese.
  • Hand the bowls around and watch every one go, "This is low in salicylates? Amazing!" Just kidding. They won't do that. They don't even know what salicylates are.
So yay, number one recipe done! Hopefully number two will be coming soon.


*Diane is seriously my hero. She has had to deal with wayyy more than I have. You should really link over and read her story.