Restaurant Inspired; Homemade Goodness

I ended up with a little over 9 pounds of fresh oranges. And, I went to the Asian store, Ahn Chau’s in Milwaukee. So, even though I’m looking at more Japanese foods, I ended up thinking about Chinese food on the way home from the store.

 

I start with all fresh ingredients, or, at least as much as I can. Everyone seems to love Beef with Broccoli, but I like the spicier Orange Beef, so, I kind of merged them. I’ll call it Orange Beef with Broccoli, inspired from the traditional Chinese restaurant dishes, but healthier in my home made dish.

 

 

Plated Orange Beef w/ Broccoli

 

 

2# beef roast. I cut it into 1” cubes, coat each piece in flour

1 large onion, cubed in 1/2’ squares

2 pounds of cut broccoli (fresh or frozen)

In a large wok, heat 3 TBS peanut oil, 1 tsp sesame oil

Put the floured beef into the wok, and let brown. When all sides are fairly brown, add the onion and broccoli, and let beef get nice and caramelized.

 

 

Nice dark brown, caramelized meat, with the nutty smell of the flour getting cooked.

Grate the zest of 1 orange, cut in half, and hand juice the orange in a bowl, and set aside.

The finer grate allows for easier eating, with a stronger orange flavor in the dish.

In a small mixing bowl, mix 1/3-1/2 cup of soy sauce, 2-3 TBS Sriracha sauce, 1-2 TBS raw honey, blend together, black pepper to taste, and thicken with 4 TBS cornstarch.

When the meat is nice and dark, add the orange zest & juice, then gradually pour the sauce all over, while stirring for even coating over the whole pan. Sprinkle black sesame seeds as a finisher, quickly stir, cut the heat, and sauce will thicken as it sets. Serve with steamed rice. Enjoy.

Final product, before you put it over a bed of freshly steaming rice.

Food & Life: What to Eat, What to Cut

I’d been thinking a lot about various things, and how a common theme with just about every culture, in every country, life revolves around food. Whether it’s celebrating a wedding, birthday, graduation, birth, holiday, or how about ‘just because’, and even mourning a loss, we use food to bring people together. And, lets face it... We all have our favorite “go to” food, that we look for at any gathering, and it differs depending on the cultural foods we’ve all grown up on. It’s fun to go to these, because we all have our special foods, and we like to try other people’s. Even if we bring what we love, we also like to have other cultural foods.

 

 

With rising obesity and Type 2 diabetes on the rise, so many of us are trying to be better about eating healthier, and, sometimes, we fall short, and could use the help of a Registered Dietician or a Nutritionist. I remember so many times, that, these people are so happy to give out good tips of what is better than others, but, my problem? It revolves too much around your standard Middle America type foods. Even when you go to these offices, it seems as if 99% of the people are Caucasian, middle class, and very plain in what they offer... From my own experiences, even the ones that are Hispanic or African American, they are usually the receptionist, not the nutritionist. Not much help.

So, this prompted me to write to these places, and I’ll be sending these letters off when the weather is good enough to make that trip, or, when I’m going out on errands, anyway. Here are the places I’m writing to:

 

This is an agency where dieticians and nutritionists go to become members of their profession, or might be registered through this place. So, sending here is targeting the very people who are taught how to educate us, as the general public about health and nutrition:

National Agricultural Library; Food and Nutrition Information Center; 10301 Baltimore Avenue; Beltsville, MD 20705-2351.

 

 

The other agency I wrote to is the USDA, with their FNS office, since these are the people in charge of the farming practices and whatnot, in hopes that they will help coordinate the types of foods that are pushed for healthy eating.

United States Department of Agriculture; Food and Nutrition National Office; 3101 Park Center Drive; Alexandra, VA 22302

 

 

Here is my letter, and if you want to send one, just correct the spacing issues to make sure that it flows better. I really think that these agencies need to remember that we come from so many different cultures, that they need to incorporate ethnic foods. Those of you who know me know that I’m just as passionate about serving tasty food that is also good for your health, as I am about child advocacy. I hope that this helps, because aside from making my cause successful, I’d love to work with these people. In the mean time, please write them and let them know that you want them to incorporate healthier and authentic versions of ethnic foods, so we can enjoy our tacos, sesame chicken, and more, not just poached fish & chicken with mild flavorings. You may want to add soul food and Cajun food to your list of must haves, too, since those are popular foods, too, along with southern recipes.

 

January 9, 2017

My Full Name

My Full Address

My City, State Zip

My Phone Number

Agency Name

Specific Office

Full Sending Address

City, State Zip

Dear Food Information Manager;

I am writing in regard to my experiences and concerns with the various people I have seen over the course of years, regarding the advice and teaching that I have received from various Registered Dieticians and Nutritionists.  I’ve had several, not only for myself but for my son as well as accompanying others to their appointments as well.

With the growing concern with childhood obesity, the consumptions of highly processed “easy” food, and the lack of physical activity, it is good to push programs that help people find ways to eat healthier, to consume foods that are nutritious and delicious.  Nutrition rich food that tastes good starts with fresh ingredients.  I think we can all agree on that.  My son and I both have a chromosome animally called 16p11.2 micro deletion, which increases our appetites higher than the normal person, while slowing down our metabolism lower than the average “couch potato”.  This makes it very difficult to keep up with the average expectations of those who are actively losing weight under the supervision of our doctors, in conjunction with staff who guide us in our weight loss journey by helping to teach people how to make better decisions with their food choices, for better health in the long run.

While I find these to be helpful, here is my problem.  Every single nutritionist and dietician that I’ve been to, has been the typical Caucasian person, most likely from a middle America background, whose expertise is in the usual, run of the mill white picket house meals.  While this may be good for those who eat this way, it does not help those of us who come from a multicultural background.  The part that is a bit disturbing to me is that statistics show that the African American and Latino communities seem to have the most severe cases of obesity and the related consequences of their weight such as various cardio-vascular and respiratory issues.  Add in the Asian population from S.E. Asia, and all three cultural groups are at high risk of type 2 diabetes, many who come here as 1^st generation immigrants, may be unfamiliar to American foods, and because they are poor, may not be able to afford certain types of food.  This also affects the following generations, if they are also unable to learn “American cooking”.  So, in a nutshell, we are asking them to give up all of their home foods, which are also comfort foods, which rarely produce positive results.

We can see in various statistics, that, minorities, especially those who are the poorest and meekest, are usually the ones with the highest failure rates of being able to eat a healthier diet.  When we look at what the restaurants serve, it is true, that the meals can be carb/sugar heavy.  This is typically not the way these foods are home cooked.  I found this especially true with not only my own heritage of Japanese cooking, where what we see in Japanese restaurants is rarely what is consumed daily in people’s own homes, but, Chinese foods as well, as I’ve experienced at a friend’s, whose family came here to the U.S. back in 1983.  What you see at “traditional restaurants” in these Asian style meals is not the traditional meal at home, yet, this is what I hear dieticians and nutritionists caution against, with eating many different types of ethnic foods.  Comparing any ethnic meal, whether it’s Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, or other, is like saying that Perkin’s or Denny’s is the same as what is eaten in every middle class, Caucasian homes.  We know this is not true, when we consider foods such as homemade chicken noodle soup vs. what you get at these restaurants, and the fact that Denny’s adds bacon to about 60% of their foods.  It’s this same logic that applies to ethnic foods, as well.

Here is another frustration in dealing with dieticians and nutritionists; while they are happy to let you know how to cook healthier, they are absolutely clueless as to how to adapt authentic ethnic foods to make them a better healthy choice.  One told me to “just add a tablespoon of salsa”, when I asked how I could make Spanish rice be healthier.  When I inquired as to when to add it, she looked confused, and just suggested that I add it to plain steamed rice on the table, after the meal was dished out.  I tried explaining that this defeats the purpose of having hot, steaming rice, because if the salsa came from an open jar, it would have come out of the refrigerator, and this would make the rice on the plates, cold.  She then got quite snippy, and said, “Then just add it to the pot”.  So, I asked about how to adjust the recipe, since the amount of water to rice has an impact on the texture, and one tablespoon isn’t enough to make a pot of rice for everyone, and she got quite a bit more annoyed, in a demanding question, “How am I supposed to know”?  Well, I would expect that when dealing with a multicultural society, and you’re trained and registered to give advice about healthy eating, that answers like this are important to answer, rather than telling people to not to eat their own food, and to eat Middle American poached chicken for white families who have lived here for the last 10 generations or more.

This makes it look as if the medical authority is discriminatory against ethnic people, because often, other family members are not willing to stop eating their cultural foods, and expect that working mothers have time to make 2 separate meals while also taking care of a whole family, often while also caring for elderly relatives as well.  This, on top of the fact that discrimination is all over, from quality healthcare in general that is accessible, quality education, and how our black and Hispanic populations are arrested at higher rates and longer incarceration rates than our white population for similar/equivalent crimes, just comes across as if other people aren’t as important than the average white American.  We must remember that we all came from immigrants, and each of our ancestors brought over a part of their heritage, which includes the types of foods that are eaten.  As people, each culture shares that common theme of meals to celebrate family, mourn at funerals, time with friends, and more.

It is my hope to be able to work with different agencies to take authentic recipes and make them healthier, without compromising the integrity of the flavors.  It’s issues like these that I chose International Relations as a major, even though I did get into healthcare for a while.  My passion is food, and my dream is to feed the planet. 

Thank you for your time in reading this, and I hope to hear from someone soon, in hopes that we can make an impact on celebrating the cultural diversity in our fine country by making healthy eating for everyone, to which I’m sure that many people would enjoy, since so many of us love Italian, Mexican, Asian, and a wide diversity of foods.  So, let us embrace that, rather than generically water down ethnic foods to Betty Crocker or Hamburger Helper standards.

Sincerely,

Lika Saliscente-Phipps

Founder of Youth Voice Initiative

GMO, Fast Food, & Health Issues: Where Government Agencies Sit

We have been hearing a lot about GMO foods.  What does it stand for?  Genetically Modified Organisms, which are usually some kind of fresh produce, for the purposes of us common people.  For a better definition of how it works, please refer to Non GMO Project 
website to find out more.

The thing about GMO is that not all combinations of the modification are low risk.  Many are consider high risk, and more of them are medium risk, and very very few are low risk.  It's not like taking the heartiest apple, and crossing it with a mildly sweet pear, to get one of those Asian apple-pears, which is more of a hybrid, as opposed to being outright a modified product.  Many of these fruits and vegetables you  buy may have animal and viral aspects mixed in, so those who want to be vegetarian or vegan may end up eating animal products, without knowing about it, because not all of the modifications are necessary to be labeled.  I think this is a crooked practice.  But, you can educate yourself about what products are potentially GMO, just like you can educate yourself on what kinds of eating plan is right for you, depending on what your needs are.

Of course, if you're trying to lose weight, fast food is most definitely the type of thing you want to avoid.  Many of the ingredients are the bottom of the barrel.  The buns are from highly processed white flour of little nutritional value.  The "meat" patties are filled with soy extenders.  The cheese is probably equivalent or lower than the individually wrapped cheese-food product we see at the grocery store.  The fries are deep fried in rendered fats or shortening, and it is all bad for your health.  If we have other health issues that are somewhat connected to being overweight such as high blood pressure or diabetes, a steady intake of fast food is a big No-No.

For those of us who are in our mid 40's and older, we remember the 4-4-3-2 rule of thumb.  4 starches, 4 fruits and vegetables, 3 dairy products (which actually included cheese), and 2 meats.  I don't recall what they told us was the size of each serving.

When my son was in elementary school, it was Pyramid Pete's food pyramid.  The bottom layer is your starches telling us to eat 6-11 servings, the next level was a combination of 3-5 servings of veggies and 2-4 servings of fruit.  The 3rd layer from the bottom is 2-3 servings of dairy, and 2-3 servings of proteins.  The top tip was your fats and sugars, which was to be used sparingly.  Again, cheese is categorized with dairy products.

Today, we have My Plate, where 1/2 of the plate is vegetables & fruits with veggies getting a bigger portion of that 1/2, 1/4 of the plate is starch, 1/4 of the plate protein, and your 1 serving of dairy in a glass.

I'm sure there are other versions, but, I see a problem with all of these plans.  Growing children at different stages of growth have different needs.  You can't lump all elementary school children into one group.  A kindergartener who is small is going to eat a lot less than a 5th grader who hit their pre-teen growth spurt early...  Adults in their 20s have different needs than those who are in their 80s.  Men and women have different needs.  Athletes and couch potatoes have different needs.  So, how do we know, based on this information?  More educating yourself...  Or be able to hire a personal trainer.  There are a LOT of issues that you need to take into the fact that we are all individual, and you should always discuss any drastic changes with your primary care physician.  If your doctor refuses to work with you, maybe you need to find another one who will.

Then there are the health ailments you need to take into account...  Got cardio-vascular issues?  You may need a "heart healthy" diet, which reduces the amount of salt you take in, or, you may have cholesterol issues and need to lower the amount of fat in your diet...  Or even both.  Of course, changing the way you eat this way is not always easy...  Salt can make the flavors of your food blend better, or you have to cook it slower for longer.  Fat also adds that flavor, and it's easy to miss those flavors, and to all of a sudden you have to use spices you've never heard of to put the flavor in it...  But that is okay.  To learn, think about what you are cooking, and what flavors you are looking for.  Let your nose do your bidding.  Yes.  Open those spices up, and take a good sniff.  If it smells like it would go good with what you're cooking, put some in.  Start small.  You can always add more.  Once it's in, you can't take it out.  You'll be surprised with what you can come up with by making your nose do some of the work for you.  It's fun.

If you're diabetic, you need to watch out for those carbs...  They get you in many different ways.  The more processed, the worse it is.  White generic bread, which includes Wonder bread, is the worst type.  Generic wheat is a little  better, but not much.  Cracked wheat is much better, and there are multigrains, ancient grains, etc.  The more complex, the better.  But, different flours are not created equal.  Buckwheat flour is quite healthy, and semolina is fairly healthy, yet other ones are not as healthy.  Not all whole grains are created equal, either.  Oatmeal is a super grain even as oatmeal cookies.  But it has to be old fashioned or steel cut.  Instant oatmeal is a junk food not much healthier than Suzie Q's, so be careful.  What you eat does affect how your body can deal with it.

Then, if you're an organ recipient, and have to take anti-rejection medicines, you have to watch other foods.  There is also the issue of kidney failure, where you have to watch your potassium (vitamin K) intake, and it's not easy to keep everything straight, if you have multiple issues going on.  Again, important to talk to your doctor.  If your doctor isn't working with you, get a different one.

As a person with multiple health issues myself, I refuse to just sit back and let my ailments take over my life.  What ever I can do, I will...  But, I also realize that with what I have, I need to get help from medical personnel.  Just eating right and exercising is not easy, for the fact that I have chronic pain issues that started 31 years ago as a teen, which only lasted a couple days, and about 18 years ago, became 24/7.  It's progressive.  Every year, I can compare from a year ago, and know it's worse now, than it was a year ago.  So, while lifting weights may be out of the question, doesn't mean I can't go swim.  I do what I can.  As a diabetic, I know what I need to stay away from.  Having a genetic disorder called 16p11.2 microdeletion, where just eating less is near impossible, and losing weight is a two fold issue of increased appetite and lowered metabolism.  I'm not giving up.  So far, I've lost 50#s.  I still have a ways to go, but, I am doing what I can to move it along the best I can.  Type 1 is when your pancreas does not make ANY insulin at all.  Most people with this have it when they are very young, but, can occur anytime.  Type 2 is when you either don't make enough insulin, or receptors are not working properly, or your insulin isn't efficient, or any combo.  This is more common today, yet it is not new.

All of these issues can affect different people differently, and the fact that there is so much corn syrup hidden in bread, candy, soda, etc.  GMO.  Processing the nutrition out.  Staying away from fast food.  What is safe or not to your health.  Yes, you have to spend more money on healthier food.  While sure, somethings are easier, such as trading your bag of chips for a bag of apples, or putting down the soda for water.  But, what about breads, and lean ground beef vs. fatty?  90% lean usually what, $4.49/lb?  More?  73% lean hamburger is $2.99/lb.  Bologna is relatively cheap.  Lean chicken breast w/o addatives is relatively expensive.  It's crazy.

Once upon a time, when people were hunter/gatherers, or even old school farmers, people ate a lot of fatty foods, and didn't think much about it.  Now, that there are modern conveniences and such, we are not so lucky.  Part of it is that our biology and physiology has not caught up with technology.  We can't eat like those who used to migrate on foot, w/o getting more exercise.  Does this mean that diseases didn't exist before?  I bet they did, just not as prominent, because they ate real food back then, plus they worked hard to get it.

But if you figure...  Do you know that diabetes has been found and studied for a couple thousand years? And think.  They didn't have highly processed foods back then.  Obesity wasn't as prominent.  People were more active.  Everyone was poor or middle class.  Today, there are such wide spread poverty, it's not funny.

So...  We have government agencies like the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Institute for Health (NIH), Occupational Health & Health Administration (OSHA), National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) among many others that oversee the many different aspects of industries and life in this country.  As governmental agencies, they do not directly benefit from big corporations.  Money may be given to legislators, or maybe a group can lobby hard, but, for the most part, these agencies are government run, and just like anything else, may or may not have the most current information.  I would not say they are corrupt, though are not perfect, either.

The health care industry, on the other hand, can be crooked.  I remember when I had regular insurance, all of a sudden, tons of different places wanted to vie for my business of treating my back pain.  The red carpet rolled out.  As we lost income and went back onto medicaid, the red carpet was taken back, just to say screw it.  What is crazy...  Yes, I agree that those who are able to work should, and I am able, in an office setting.  To expand my scope, my back needs to be better.  To have the better back, I need a job that pays well and can afford to get the treatments.  But to work those jobs, I need to have my back better.  Since it is bad, I am on medicaid, which won't pay for the treatments because I should pay for it...  Catch 22.  Wish I was better.  I'd be wonder woman for sure.  But, I aim to do what I can, and hope for the best, although my patience is definitely tried, and tried hard.

Got questions?  I might have answers.  If not, I'll find out.  Ask away in comments.  Thanks.

Blends: Not Just Your Typical Coffee

I only have an antennae for my television set. I know, I know, what does this have to do with what this blog is about? I promise, just like Matlock, I will get to the point. Eventually. Anyway, there are so many issues that we are facing as individuals, families, communities, peoples, societies, etc. Childhood obesity. Education. Poverty. Health issues related to each of these issues. Most of them overlap, and there is no good or easy fix, and it’s going to take some time.

So, anyway. I chose to cancel my television subscription from the bundled package, not just for budget issues, but, also that it is easy to be able to sit and watch a show, or to have it on using electricity, when it gets tuned out from our concentration. Plus, my son and I have this condition called a 16p11.2 microdeletion. Without going into full detail, there is a minuscule bit of information that is missing from 1 of the 16th chromosomes. Aside from a spectrum of possible learning disabilities, the physical symptoms include increased appetite, and decreased metabolism. Yes, I know that some metabolic studies found that “slow” metabolism wasn’t significantly lower than “fast” metabolism. Ours is slow even compared to those whose metabolism is slow, because of the chromosome issue.

For more information, please visit here:

National Institute of Health - https://www.change.org/p/romanian-p...

National Center for Biotechnology Information - https://www.change.org/p/romanian-p...

 

So, yes. Part of the reason why I cancelled the television service, is to have more time to get active, so we can try to be as healthy as possible. Those of us affected may still end up overweight even if we ate the perfect combination of foods in the perfect portion sizes. Even with the exercise, some of us still may end up on the bigger end of normal. Losing weight will be more difficult, and we may end up losing half of the weight with twice the effort. But, that isn’t an excuse to not try. Trying is the journey, to help keep life interesting.

 

That leads me to the childhood obesity topic... It is true, that with the convenience of prepackaged foods, that actual cooking is a dying art. Open a can of that, stir in a packet of that, whip in a container of some other thing. Then there is the highly processed stuff that is very low on nutrition, and high in sugars, fats, and artificial flavorings, none of which are good for you. So you get told to take the kid to the nutritionist or dietician. That person wants you to feed your kid whole wheat pasta, ultra grain bread, fresh or frozen green veggies, none of which your kids know about, cut the hotdogs, no more mac n cheese, eat fresh fruit - not fruit snacks nor canned fruit. All the cereals like Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops, Cocoa Puffs, etc... Off the menu... Now you’re being told to use spices that you don’t even know what it is...  

Thing is, poverty plays a huge role in not having the proper diet. It’s not just trading a family bag of Doritos for a 3lb bag of apples. That is the easy part. Go into the bread isle. Look for the store brand. A huge loaf of bread, which comes in white or barely wheat. It’s probably right around $1.25 for a long loaf of bread. Now go to the healthy section of the bread display. A loaf that is half of the size costs $4.49. If you have even 2 teenagers, you know that half loaf is only going to last 1 day, if you’re lucky. It may only cover breakfast and lunch. To make it through the week, you’d need to buy 10 loaves of this bread at $4.49/each, and there goes $44.90 just on this multigrain healthy bread. On the other hand, the store brand will let you get 5 loaves for a total of $12.50, and have enough money left to buy 4 gallons of milk AND still be able to buy a couple dozen eggs to add protein to the meal. 

 

Now, go to the pasta isle. Do the same search on the pasta. Store brand pasta will cost about 1/3 as much as the whole wheat, not to mention the store brand will be a full pound (16 ounces), and the whole wheat is only 3/4 pound (12 oz). Here is where you will have to take a pad of paper and a writing utensil, and for the comparison, you will need to go to the produce section to look at how much green beans, asparagus, carrots, and spinach costs. Write down the prices for what ever unit of weight. Now go to the canned vegetable section, and find the same veggies and write those prices are. Finally, go to the frozen vegetable section, and write down those prices. Compare the difference in price. You will find that carrots are relatively inexpensive, while the prices will vary widely in other ones.

 

See the problem? The least healthy foods cost the least amount. On top of which, many kids in the inner city don’t know or understand where their food comes from. Having a horticulture program would immensely help, and kids are naturally inquisitive, and will want to cook with the foods they grow in the school or community gardens. But, the funds can add up, and it has to come from somewhere. Why spend money on something like this? It’s not only good education because it teaches kids about real life from where/how food grows, how to cook, and be healthy, but, just as importantly, if not more, it will save the future of health care. You think health care costs so much now, with the Affordable Health Care, which has had both sides of the isle pulling, pushing, biting into, stepping on, and making a huge mess out of it? Just think about how much more expensive, when today’s overweight kids start having heart, lung, and joint problems due to the excess weight since childhood? Another reason why our health care is so expensive, aside from CEOs, attorneys, politicians and accountants deciding the bottom line in both the care facilities and the insurance companies, we have such a fragmented system it is not funny! Medicare is a single payer program. Medicaid is prostituted out to various HMO’s whose premiums are higher than if the “State” acted as its own HMO. Then there are many types of employer based programs, and even within individual HMOs, there are so many different categories and subcategories of plans, you need to be a PhD in Law, Accounting, and math to figure this stuff out, and how much in deductibles vs. premiums vs. copays that are supposed to be paid, and we wonder why health care costs so much? Then there is the thing of having supplemental insurance... Because Medicare pays for this but not for that. Regular insurance will pay for that but not these other things. The supplement will pay for that, but not those other things. So now you wonder who is supposed to pay, and how much is supposed to be your responsibility. Maybe, if we eliminated the red tape, we could all save a bunch of money, that could go toward education.

 

When I was in elementary school, we had the 4-4-3-2. 4 breads, 4 fruits and vegetables, 3 milks, and 2 meats. That was it. The 4-4-3-2 method of nutrition. That was in the late 70’s - early 80’s. What about sugar? What about fats? It wasn’t mentioned, so they hoped we wouldn’t eat too much sugar or fat, by not talking about it. Guess what? It didn’t work. Gee... (sarcasm intended).

 

In the mid 2000’s, my son was in kindergarten, and even into 1st and 2nd grade, it was Pyramid Pete. The base of the pyramid, which is obviously the biggest, was the grain section. Above that, the next tier not as big, was not quite half and half, was the veggie section and fruit section. Above that, in a smaller section, about in half and half again, was the dairy section and protein section. The top tip, the smallest tier was the “other”, meaning fats and sugars combined.

 

Sometime later, it was the My Plate plan, and then recommendations generically based on ages of children. Thing is, when you go to the dietician, it’s one of those things that you’re told how many carb points to use, and fresh fruit should be 2 or 3 servings, but if you do 3, you have to take a bread count off, and veggies should be 3-5 servings, meaning 3-5 cups of fresh or 1.5-2.5 cups of cooked veggies. Then depending on if you are a child, male or female, adult, height, weight, pregnant/not pregnant, etc... you need 2-3 servings of dairy product, but they don’t tell you that cheese is actually a protein, and depending on what type of yogurt, it could fall into multiple categories, and then women need less protein than men, etc..... You’re supposed to eat so many calories a day, or your metabolism will give out if you’re too low, or you gain if it’s too much, but then they tell you that this food gives you 1 starch + 1 fruit + 1 protein, and by the end of the day, you’re feeling like you need to eat 3 heads of lettuce and a half an acres worth of broccoli to get what you need. ugh. Follow me, here? That’s okay, I’m not sure if I 100% follow me, either. But, poor people don’t eat as healthy as wealthier people, because of the amount of money available for food.

 

Without proper nutrition, our kids cannot function in school. Your brain needs protein to think, yes. But, your muscles and your brain need sugar to give it energy to work, also. So, if you go on a low carb diet, be careful at how low the complex & simple carbs take you. Rid the table sugar, good. To stop eating fruit because it’s too much sugar, not good. Whole grains like Old Fashioned Oatmeal, perfect. With cinnamon, even more perfect! Highly refined cheap white bread, not so good. A ton of meat, just because it’s white chicken or fish, well, too much can make you fat. Not enough, you can’t think. Moderation. Zen. Yin-Yang. Balance. Yes. It’s that important.

 

Speaking of schools... It seems as if it’s increasingly true that they teach to the test. the kids don’t get taught to think so much. Little thinking means lack of critical decision making skills to solve problems, because not all problems come with an equation like A = square root of B + C divided by 2. But because they want to be known as the best or most successful school, they want the kids to pass the tests. So, now, it isn’t about how well the kids can think or understand what they are doing, teaching to the test basically means they regurgitate the information for the purpose of the test to pass that test. We are not doing our children any favors here. Not to mention, some students test well, even if they don’t do well on assignments, and others can hand in perfect assignments and not test well at all. Now, with the Common Core, it seems as if this new math thing is at a whole new level of weird mambo jumbo of *(*%$%Y%$#$^*O!! It is so stupid, I’m not sure if I can understand that level of stupid. People who know me well know what a HUGE pet peeve stupidity is. To me, it’s the worst kind of disease. Mind you, I’m not talking about the normal “duh” moments we all have at some point. But, when someone is on a rampage, I’m sorry, you can’t have 24/7/365 worth of duhs, and not be stupid. Stupid does a lot wrong. Stupid can make your car break down at the worst possible time. Stupid can kill people. Stupid injures people. Stupid can get your or someone else fired from a job, or maybe not hired in the first place. Stupid wastes your time, when you have a million and billion other things to do, that are more worthy of your time. Is this what we want the world to become? If you say yes, you are stupid. If you say no, be afraid. This is what will be taking care of us, who come just under the boomers, when we are old and frail. Don’t wait until it gets there. We need to do something NOW!

 

*sigh* Actually, *deep breath*. I will take a cafe mocha frappe. Hold the whipped cream. I want to taste the coffee and the chocolate, unadulterated. Sit and have your favorite blend of coffee with me. It will be fun. We will save the planet together. And the best way to do it? Stop. Abusing. Our. Children. I will fight you with everything I’ve got on this. I have no money, and I have back problems. I am willing to pay dearly. So dearly it costs me everything to protect our children and their futures.

 

One way to not abuse your kids? Don’t be like this lady - http://patch.com/wisconsin/mountple... 

 

We tend to think that as women, or mothers, we are the ones who are fierce about our children. Fathers are just as capable of being protective and uplifting for our kids. Just because the relationship between you, as parents, can’t work, don’t leave out the other parent. Thing is, it seems as if the good moms/dads who have the physical placements who encourage the interaction of the other parents with the kids, the other parents end up being duds. On the other hand, the dads/moms who don’t have the primary placement of their kids are the good parents, the other one plays these stupid games with them. Go figure. Our children need both parents. The bond that our daughters forge with mothers show our girls how to be grown women and mothers when it becomes that time. The same is said for our sons and fathers, to know what it is supposed to be to be a man. Set that example. At the same hand, the relationship mothers have with their sons can impact what kind of wife they take on, and whether they are capable of being a good companion, while being able to be a good companion, because of the good bond with their mothers. Fathers are important, maybe even a little bit more so, with their daughters. The way dads treat moms, and the relationship with their daughters will teach her how to be a good young woman, who won’t compromise herself on the account of her lifelong mate. Her future husband will be chosen based on that relationship, so set that bar, and set it high. Make that future king of your princess have a tough act to follow, and HUGE shoes to fill. We wouldn’t want anything less than that for our children, would we? No. Absolutely not.

 

As a graduate with a BA in International Relations, with a minor in Political Science, with experience in US/Native American affairs (a little, anyway), and an activist/advocate involved in the campaigns, I also think that the best form of welfare? Give people jobs. Even if the people are slightly over qualified, with more people in the workforce, the cash flow increases, thus creating more jobs and everything... Pay them, and they will come. And it WILL help. That is for sure.

 

Good news - The Sex Assault Victims’ Bill of Rights! https://www.change.org/p/urge-congr... 

 

Until next time, peace out.

Life, Love, and Eat - A Celebration and Mourning

Life can be strange.  But, as social beings, there is a certain level of need to love and be loved, to be accepted by someone, hopefully more than just one person, and how we seem to use food, you know, that glorious stuff that has our taste buds wanting to taste, that mouth watering, honest to goodness food, the way it was meant to be eaten...




Anyway, though.  I went and picked up my friend Nancy, who is right about my mom's age, and is a really neat woman.  She is legally blind, and has end stage renal failure (her kidneys are on the fritz).  She is always so appreciative of anything I do for or with her, that she considers herself blessed that we are friends.

Now, mind you.  Nancy is one of these people who has a sense of humor, and she is gritty, witty, and definitely can keep you on your toes.  I love the fact that she is a bit grainy, and has broken social rules of other women who are of her peers.  So, of course being me, I actually enjoy her company, and I really think that honestly, I am the one who is blessed to have her, as opposed to the other way around.  I know, I know...  It means a lot for those who otherwise can't get out.  But, of course, I am good at loving other people.  I'm not always good at accepting it from others.

Anyway, we went to this place called Honey Bees II for lunch, and she treated.  The food there is good.  Mostly it's American comfort food.  But it's GOOD comfort food.  It's one of the spots we like to go to, since it's affordable as well.  We went to Goodwill to shop afterwards, and we both found a few things, so that was good.  We had fun, and will be making plans again soon.  Life is precious, so it's important to spend it with the people who mean something to you.  I recently lost another friend, who was only 34, and has a young son who is fatherless.  Aaron was the type of guy who truly loved people.  I hurt for his little boy.  The fact that someone who is healthy can be taken away from you suddenly is reason to make sure you stay connected.

Ever wonder how it seems as if we celebrate life with food, and we mourn life with food, also?  Meal time is the time that we can get people sitting around the table together.  No matter who the other people are, when you're sitting around the table together with a meal or a snack or even just tea time, you are family during that time.  So, we should serve good food, right?  Absolutely.  And the fact that weight issues are affecting health conditions, we need to make it healthy, as well.

So, of course, I came home, to do my lasagna...  It came out good.  But, I definitely do not have the skills needed to do pasta dough correctly.  The flavor was good, the color was right, but the texture?  Oh, no.  but no worries.  I used it anyway, figuring that the semolina flour wasn't exactly cheap.  So it was more like pasta dumplings that got layered in between the layers of meat and cheese.  Good cheese.  The cheese filling consisted of fresh and made at the store, feta cheese (yes, I realize it's Greek, not Italian), and also provolone cheese, and a little each of Asiago and Romano cheeses, which were grated together, with an egg, garlic and parsley mixed in.  The 93% lean ground meat had Asiago and Romano cheeses as well as oregano, basil, parsley, pepper, and an egg to keep it together.

So, while the texture was all off, I used it anyway, and made kind of like a pasta dumpling crust along the sides, and the lasagna is perfect, don't you think?  It's delicious!  I think this is by far, the best lasagna that I have ever made, and this could be served, as is, as long as there is a statement saying that the pasta is a little doughy like dumplings.

Of course, because I had all of these different ingredients, I also made sarma, a Serbian style stuffed cabbage rolls.  Because the cabbage leaves have to be fermented, like sauerkraut, but not shredded, I make my own.  In the past, I was simmering a whole head of cabbage in the pickling kettle, then removing the leaves.  I found that the outer leaves, which are used to line the bottom of the pan for the rolls to go on were more like kraut, and the leaves near the center was still mostly like cabbage.  So, I removed the leaves first, and pickled in batches to get it all in.  It was a 2 day process, because you have to salt them, first.  

Sarma is ground pork, and the seasonings include mild paprika, garlic powder, salt, seasonings, and other spices such as tumeric if you wish, and I usually just use the seasoning packets, that I will keep a secret...  ;)  You also need to put rice in there, to help the mixture stick together and hold up.  I also put a little extra of the pickling juices at the bottom, so the steam can cook the rice.  Here they are, and serve with rice pilaf or corn, for a full meal.

Don't forget to put a layer of the leaves across the top, so it keeps the moisture in, and doesn't get the rolls dark or crispy.  This is something that is better the next day.  Feel free to use some sour cream to go with this.  We will be having this tomorrow for dinner, and probably Friday's lunch.  Of course, visitors will be offered food, because feeding people is the same as showing them the love.

Because not all leaves are meant for rolling, since I was on a roll (sorry, bad pun), I also pickled the rest as Korean kimchee, which uses the sriracha to spice up the fermented cabbage.  Just remember, fermented foods can help your digestive tract.  It's good for you.  So, here is my end result...  My very home made kimchee, where the cabbage heads were turned into sauerkraut leaves first, after sitting in salt overnight, and then cooked, and rolled around the sarma, and then the kimchee...

Isn't that beautiful?  Yes, I did all of this today.  Well, the suku (Italian for spaghetti sauce) was made yesterday, but the rest, including the pasta dumpling noodles, were done today.  Then the pickling of the cabbage, making the mix, and cooking the cabbage rolls, and the Korean pickled cabbage...  

I know, I am strange, because my cooking is from 3 different parts of the world, sort of, with Western Europe being represented with Italian, Eastern Europe with Serbian, and the Far East with Korea...  but, it's all good.  I was having an okay back day, though I hope I didn't over do it, in which case, I may be paying dearly for this the next day or three...  I hope not, but, glad I got this done.

So, if you are at my house, or I invite you, this means I want to love you by feeding you...  No need for anything back, just let me love you by cooking for you, and you can love me back by eating what I made for you.

 

Kitchen Lab Experiment 20162703.14 - Healthy Green Bean Casserole

Green Bean Casserole:

2# bag of frozen cut green beans
1 - 8oz package white button mushrooms, chopped
1 - 12oz can of fat free evaporated milk
12 oz water, divided
3 TBS powdered tapioca
3 TBS Maggi Super Veg soup/seasoning mix (or to taste)
French's Fried Onion

Preheat oven to 350F

In a large baking pan, place the green beans, mushrooms and evaporated milk.

Using the milk can, put about 6oz water, and the tapioca and blend well with a fork.  Pour into the pan.

Place another 6 oz water into the can, and blend the seasoning mix, and pour with the rest of the ingredients.

Bake for 90 minutes (longer for a softer bite), stirring every 20-30 minutes.  Leave uncovered the last 10-20 minutes.  Add onions on top, place back in oven, close door, shut the heat, let the latent heat brown the onions into a golden color.