Hedonism

Vegan Me

Yes, it's true. Again I am embarking on a detox. It's about time. Too many parties over the holidays have taken a bit of a toll on my body and mind. So, I am taking some time out of my enjoyment of adult beverages, meats and general toxins to clean up and give me a break. It's an interesting trip, really. I spend four weeks out of my life eating healthier, drinking lots of water, fresh juice and green teas. It's essentially a regimen intended to help people discover food allergies, if any, that they might have. Since I don't think that I have any allergies, to food, anyway, it's more a means to an end for me. And just in time for Lent.

This means no common allergens. I can't have gluten (wheat), tomatoes, cheese, milk, corn, peanuts, soy, sugar, coffee... Hell, I can't really have anything. I can have all the fresh fruits and vegetables that I can stomach, however. As well as rice, beans, lentils and the like. It's fine, really, because I do truly like these things. I nibble on raw veggies all the time as I am preparing dinner for me and/or my friends.

Tonight, I made dinner trying out some new rice pasta (ignore the translations, I forgot to offer my services as an editor) that I found recently at a health foods store. I got it on a whim, and thought that tonight might be a good time to make something different and vegan for myself.

I started with one of my personal favorite vegetables, kale. I am also incredibly fond of chard, collard greens and the like. Something about leafy greens that have to be cooked that make me happy. To this, I added red bell peppers, Beluga lentils, fresh diced red onion and garlic. Add to the mix some ancho chilis, cumin, oilve oil, white pepper and a dash of salt, toss the pasta in the veggies, and viola! A truly enjoyable and filling meal. If you want the recipe, shoot me an email and i'll walk you through it.

I am having a dinner on Sunday; I was challenged to make a meal because my party last week was filled with standard party fare (nachos and hot wings... which I made, by the way) since part of my blurb in the Improper dealt with the fact that I can supposedly cook. So, I have to come up with not only dishes that they can eat, I also have to come up with something that I can make for myself that, if any member of the dinner decides to sample, tastes great.

I think i'm making a good start. I can't wait until Sunday.

Couscous

I have to admit it, Israeli Couscous is my favorite form of carbohydrate. Whenever possible, i'll use it as the starch when I cook. Over New Year's, while in Provincetown, instead of eating out cooking was the order of the day. I brought the current-at-the-time Gourmet Magazine, which featured a recipe from each decade that the mag has been in production. There was one for Chicken with Vinegar, which I decided to cook for New Year's Eve. I modified it a little with some Calvados and served it with a fresh salad with a Pear and Pomegranate dressing. The sides were couscous and roasted veggies. The dinner was great, the wines were amazing (2000 Rubicon, Perrier-Jouet NV) and the company was wonderful. The only things we didn't finish were the copious amounts of sides I had prepared. The next night, in an effort to waste nothing, I threw the roasted veggies and some Bright Light Swiss Chard into the mix with the couscous and damn, a great new dish was discovered!

The reason I like Israeli Couscous is that it is large enough to really add body and texture to the food it is paired with and can, like tofu, accept flavors well. The traditional method of making this dish is to start a stew and steam the pearls over it two or three times. The end product is a light and fluffy side dish that is filled with the flavor of the stew. My preferred method involves browning the pearls in olive oil until they are almost the color of cherry wood. Then, I add a broth, usually chicken stock, to cook them through. I let it simmer until almost all the water is absorbed and after that, add whatever additional components I would like to have. Although not quite as light and fluffy as the traditional method, i love the way the flavor changes after browning.

I was thinking about making some tonight with the flaxseed fried chicken I want. Maybe i'll try to brown it and then steam it to see what happens. A little time-consuming, but I love to cook.

Flaxseed and You

So, in an effort to become a healthier, more vibrant me, i'm changing the way I eat at home. I figure, I get enough bad stuff (additives , possible GMO, probable hormones, including rBGH  and certainly heavy metals) when I eat out. If i'm going to live to the ripe older age of 39, i'm going to have to invest in this body that has been treated like it's a lab monkey. Just waiting for one of the many cancers that storm through this developed nation of ours to sneak up on me and smack me like i'm it's bitch.

There are a great many ways one can change the probability that one will be diagnosed with one of the myriad of raging illnesses that plague our post-modern world. One of which is flaxseed. I grabbed some ground flaxseed on a whim, to be honest. I expected it to be difficult to work with and taste kinda' bad. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I decided to give it a shot. I had some organic, free-range chicken that I wanted to eat with the brown rice that I had prepped earlier and, being southern, I wanted to fry the chicken up. So, I grabbed the bag of ground flaxseed and put some in a bowl. I also added some salt, pepper, ancho chili powder, ground cumin and cilantro. Tossed the chicken in the mixture, put it in a hot skillet that had been prepped with olive oil, seared it on the stove and then finished the thighs in an oven that had been pre-heated to 450*. It smelled great while cooking, and I started thinking that this wouldn't be so bad.

When the bird was finished, I grabbed a taste while it was sitting. Damn! It tasted great! To be honest, the substitution of flaxseed actually gave the chicken a richer flavor than I usually get from using flour. As well, it had a great exterior crunch and a nicely tender and juicy interior. I'm a believer. It was a good meal and healthier than it would have been had I used traditional ingredients and techniques.

I am now going to start experimenting with other, healthier alternatives to the highly-processed, commonly available options. I once, during a detox, wanted a fish taco salad so badly that I actually toasted some millet and spent 30 minutes grinding it with a mortar and pestle to create a wheat-free dusting powder. I'll let you know what does and doesn't work. One caveat, for those with gluten allergies, most ground products are actually processed in plants that also process wheat. Read the package to find out.

I'm still going to hit Chick-Fil-A this weekend when my fellow southerner and friend, Christal, gets here. She's pretty excited about it, too. Waffle fries and real sweetened iced tea. Just like home. But with a different accent.