Greek Chicken

Another super easy recipe very similar to the Tandoori Chicken recipe I just posted, except different spices.

1 cut-up chicken, 8 thighs, or whatever you want that is roughly equivalent.
1/3 Cup of olive oil
1/3 Cup of lemon juice
2 T. of Greek spice blend (I get mine from Penzey's)
If you want to improvise your own blend use: coarse salt, garlic, lemon, black pepper, oregano, marjoram 

Marinate for 6-8 or more.

Cook at 350' for about 30 minutes then finish at a hot 500' to crisp up the skin.

Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken
 Not true Tandoori, because I don't have a 900' clay oven, but it tastes close enough to make me happy. I use lots of lemon juice to make up for the missing tang of yogurt.

Ingredients

A chicken's worth of parts. I cut up a whole chicken, but you could use 8-12 thighs
1/3 Cup of olive oil (needs to be an oil that won't solidify in the fridge)
1/3 Cup of lemon juice
2.5 T. of Tandoori spices (I got mine at Penzeys)
1 tsp of salt

Mix the marinade ingredients and marinade the chicken for 8 hours or longer.  Arrange chicken on a foil covered baking sheet (for easy cleanup) and bake at 375' for 30 minutes. Blast the heat up to 500' and cook until the skin is very brown and crisp looking.

Tandoori is usually skinless, but I love skin too much to remove it.

Hard-set eggs

Another thing sous vide is good for is making hard-boiled, or hard-set, eggs. They never actually boil in a sous vide, or at least they don't need to. I did mine in my rice cooker from room temperature water up to 185' for 45 minutes and they came out about perfect. The yolk was not chalky or sulfurous smelling, like over-cooked, hard-boiled eggs can be.

On the stovetop I've also gotten good results by putting the eggs in cold water and cooking over medium-high heat until the water starts to simmer. Then I turn off the heat and let them set for awhile.

Starting with cold water is supposed to keep the eggs from cracking because they warm up more slowly.

In a Rice cooker (times might vary in another device because it might heat up more slowly)

45 minutes total from room temperature water
185' Target temperature

Delicious!

Spicy Braised Tomato Marjoram Chicken Thighs

I've posted about the recipe with cherry tomatoes and marjoram but it was a whole chicken, flattened, butterflied or spatchcocked, in another posting.  But now I've adapted the recipe to use this braising technique I tried from Cooks Illustrated ("Rethinking Braised Chicken") and I like it even better.

You need a good 12" skillet that you can throw into the oven to make this. If your skillet isn't 12" then don't use as many thighs.

Ingredients

1 C. white wine
1/2 C. chicken broth
4 cloves of garlic minced or pressed
Red pepper flakes (1.5 tsp if you're the cautious sort)
24-32 oz of cherry, plum or grape tomatoes.  (I usually buy two 16 oz packages)
2 T. of fresh chopped marjoram (I never bother to chop it, just use the leaves whole) -- save the stems.
8 chicken thighs
1/4 C. olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Mix together tomatoes, marjoram, garlic, red pepper flakes with the olive oil.

Get your pan nice and hot with a little oil in it.  Brown the thighs, skin-side down, for about 8 minutes or until they're nice and golden brown.  Turn them over and do them for 5 minutes on the other side. 

Remove the thighs and pour out most of the rendered fat (you might want to save it, schmaltz is good stuff). 

Add the wine and broth to the pan and let it boil a bit, loosen up any chicken bits sticking  to the pan. 

Put the thighs in the pan, skin-side up again.  Cover them with the tomato mixture. 

Cook at 375' for about 30 minutes. The tops of the thighs should be nicely browned and the tomatoes blistered.  You might need to blast it at 425' for 10 minutes towards the end if the tomatoes aren't quite done enough.

Sous Vide equipment update

The 24-cup Black & Decker rice cooker I bought is very hard to find these days.  However, I have been eying a 38-cup Black & Decker rice cooker at Amazon.com.  There is a review form someone who is using it in their sous vide setup and they say it works great.  It's only slightly more expensive than the 24-cup one was.

38-cup rice cooker link on Amazon.com (Price right now: $55)

Home Sous Vide Resources

Just compiling a list of resources for folks interested in coming up with their own setup.

My equipment:

• A very large rice cooker (24 cup Black and Decker) ($40)
  
• A Foodsaver vacuum sealer ($95 at Walmart)
• The PID controller from Auberins ($139)

Braised Chicken Thighs -- No flabby skin!

I can't post the recipe because it was in Cook's Illustrated (June 2010, Vol. 104, Pg. 18) but I can tell you about the method. Braising chicken always has the issue of flabby, floppy skin.  I adore chicken skin, but I don't like it to be flabby.  I prefer it crisp, although unless you reheat it in the oven, it won't be for the left-overs.  However, if you do everything right, it also won't be flabby or floppy.

The recipe I used has you put eight thighs in an oven proof skillet.  On medium-high heat you brown the skin side for 5-8 minutes, until... duh... brown!  Then you flip them and brown the other side for about 5 minutes.

Remove the thighs and drain off most of the rendered fat, reserving about 2 tablespoons. Put your braising liquid in the skillet.  The recipe had about 3 cups of liquid for a 12" pan that was cooked down a bit.  Put your thighs in the pan, skin side up.  Then put the pan in the oven at 325 degrees for about 1 hour 15 minutes.  The meat should not be so over cooked it falls off the bone.

If the liquid is bubbling to vigorously then lower the heat until it is barely bubbling.

I stored the resulting thighs separately from their braising liquid so they wouldn't get mushy in the fridge.  But I reheat them together.

The CI recipe was pretty complicated but I think it this technique could work nicely for other braised chicken applications.

Oh yes, be sure to use thighs with the skin!  Thighs stay moister than breasts and they're the right thickness for this treatment.  And of course you want to skin because it's so delicious and it keeps the thighs moist on top.

30-Days of High Omega-6 Diet--Stiffens Arteries and Increases Belly Fat

Someone followed a high-ish Omega-6 diet for 30 days and tracked the changes in her body. 

Results: The results were surprising for only a 30-day evaluation.  Susan’s weight remained unchanged. But there were dramatic changes in her blood fatty acid composition, body fat, arterial function, and body mass composition. During the 30-day period, omega-6 fatty acid was significantly increased, while omega-3 fatty acid content was decreased.

... While body weight remained the same, body fat increased in the abdominal area by nearly ½-pound.  Fat was also increased in the trunk region, where notably, lean body mass decreased.  Metabolic rate also decreased from 1367 to 1291 calories.

In just 30 days, brachial artery dilation dropped by 22%, a change much larger than the day-to-day variation of this test. The amplitude of this changed surprised everyone involved in this project.  Susan’s arteries were also stiffer, as revealed by the ultrasound scan, which indicates blood vessels are less able to expand and contract.

  

Read the entire article to see the charts and other information. 

Egg Crepes

 I forgot about these.  I make delicate, crepes out of just egg and water (possibly flavoring).  It's very simple.

Put a pan on the stove to heat while you're mixing.  Put a good sized spot of oil in the pan, don't worry about spreading it around. 

Break one egg into a bowl, adding vanilla if you want, or a SF syrup if you're so inclined.  Then add about 1 Tbl. of water.  Beat it with a fork until you have a thin egg batter.

Pour this into the center of the oil-spot.  The egg will spread the oil out over the pan as it flows out to the sides. 

If your pan is non-stick and your crepe cooperates, you can flip it over.  Otherwise just let it cook through.

It makes a really nice, although delicate, wrapper you can fill with whatever suits you.  This morning I had low-carb lemon curd, blueberries and some whipped cream on mine.  Made a wonderful breakfast!

Paleo (Mostly) Biscuits

 Lovely Lauren from Healthy Indulgences blog has this wonderful recipe for biscuits which I finally tried.  The ingredients are:  Almond flour, baking powder, butter, salt and egg whites.  They came out really nicely!  I totally enjoyed eating one slathered in butter and natural peanut butter.

Low Carb, Gluten Free Biscuits

Introduction to Thai Cooking: The Market

In my journey to Paleo I discovered that Thai food isn't all that bad a choice.  The non-Paleo things can easily be eliminated, like rice.  I often eat curry on top of steamed broccoli, I even ask for it that way in the restaurant.  Another non-paleo ingredient often used is a little bit of sugar.  When I make Thai food at home I use a non-caloric sugar option like stevia, erythritol or the extract made from Lohan fruit (aka SlimSweet).  (I'm not affiliated with anything linked here so clicking on them, buying, etc doesn't make me a cent).  Finally, Thai food often contains peanuts and one of my very favorite sauces has them (Satay sauce, aka peanut sauce) and that isn't a paleo ingredient either. 

I love going to Asian grocery stores but not every Asian grocery has Thai ingredients like curry paste.  For that I go to my favorite Thai restaurant, Sala Thai, and I ask them to recommend a good place to find Thai ingredients.  My family has been patronizing that restaurant for as long as they've been open so they know us really well. 

The Asian grocery I finally visited was in a really rather squalid area.  Outside it was cringe-worthy.  Inside, is another matter.  I do have to warn you, Asian markets are usually an olfactory experience!  They usually have a lot of smells we're not used to.  Not unpleasant, in my opinion, just different.

The fresh foods are really fun, lots of things I'm utterly unfamiliar with, some I am.  The daikon radishes can be thicker and longer than my forearm!  The baby bok choy I bought was irresistible!  A very large bag full and they were much less mature than the baby bok choy I've seen in American markets. I stir fried them in peanut oil with garlic and chopped peanuts.  Ginger is also a bargain at Asian groceries.  Sometimes I buy a few pounds of it, run it through my food processor to grate it (I don't bother peeling it) then I soak it in water and make a delicious strong ginger "beer" out of it, which is nice mixed with sparkling water.

In the produce section, if you're thinking of making Tom Kai Gai you might want to look for lemon grass and a root called galangal.  The root is really hard to chop, it is very dense, but the taste is fabulous.  The powdered stuff, in my opinion, is nearly tasteless.  Get the fresh root if possible.  Powdered lemon grass is also not very good either.  You might also want to see if you can find some lime tree leaves.  These are from a lime tree they grow in Asia which I believe is called "Kaffir lime" in the US.  They're very flavorful and also used in Tom Kai Gai.  You can freeze these leaves and use them later.

Another thing to look for is coconut milk.  Asian markets sell it in much larger cans than American markets do, and it is much cheaper and higher in fat and coconut solids.  So it is good to buy the authentic stuff if you can.

Get a bottle of fish sauce while you're here.  It is very inexpensive and comes in a huge bottle.  It'll keep for months in the fridge.

Find the canned curry pastes.  You're going to be looking for cans that look like this, most likely.

I have also used importfoods.com to order Thai ingredients but it is cheaper to buy locally if you can find a store.

Which curry pastes?  I love Prik Khing and often combine it with meat and yams to make curry.  I think it is similar to red curry paste.  Choo chee curry is a greenish, sour curry I've had with salmon and really enjoyed.  Panang curry is one of my all time favorites.  It goes well with any meat.  Yellow curry is sometimes called Karee curry and is very mild.  This is what they use to make that yellow curry with potatoes.  But any sort of root veggie would be good in this curry, for instance yams or squash.

Those are the basic ingredients for Thai cooking although be sure to thoroughly browse around the market you never know what you'll find. 

I make Pad Thai, a wonderful rice noodle dish, but instead of using rice noodles I use either riced cauliflower or kelp noodles.  Both are very low carb.

Freedom from Disease and Abnormality

I thought folks would enjoy this little video!

Berry Shortcake

Cranberry Walnut Bread, remember that recipe I posted awhile back?  Well, it is very versatile.  I made a "shortbread" out of it, kind of like my Mom always made it.  Sort of biscuit-y tasting, not sweet, really meant to sop up the juices from sweetened berries.

The way I did it was to use the basic recipe but omit the cranberries and walnuts and cut down on the sweetener and used lemon juice (only a little) instead of lemon extract.  Then I baked it in a cake round instead of a loaf pan, mostly because my loaf pan was a scratched up rusty mess and I had to get rid of it.

Then, I defrost, or warm, my berries (I have blueberries and raspberries on hand) and pour them on top of a slice of shortcake.  Dollop on a globule of lemon custard and, if you're doing dairy, either some sour cream (which is what my family liked on shortcake) or whipped cream.

I'll post a picture later.

Spicy, Roast Chicken -- Torture for the nose

I keep coming back to this chicken.  This is why I have a couple of marjoram plants in my yard.  In fact, one grew so big it took over my small planter, so I dug it up and took a bit of the top/roots and replanted and threw the rest out. Surprisingly I found a couple of cilantro plants growing underneath that bushy majoram!  So I'm nurturing them along.

I didn't use a cut-up chicken but instead butterflied one, less work and I love how much skin gets exposed and crispified.

The tomatoes caramelize, the juices and fats mingle with the garlic, marjoram and tomatoes and it makes an amazing sauce.

When I started cooking it I had the tomatoes piled up on top of the chicken, but knocked them down below partway through.  There's just so much flavor in that mixture.

I now have a cherry tomato, thyme, marjoram, mint and cilantro growing in my raised bed which I built from cedar fence planks and 2x4's.

Self-control is a resource

So I've been reading about this for awhile, self-control takes a mental resource we have in limited supply.  So stop beating yourself up when you run out, and I have some tips for when it is in short supply.

Avoidance instead of self-control
If you are constantly in situations where you have to exercise self-control, then you're going to run out of self-control eventually.  So modify your environment and habits so you don't even have to exercise it.  Get the garbage out of your house, or at least out of your sight. You might need to enlist the cooperation of those you live with, but I assure you this makes everything much easier.

Substituting
Perhaps one can substitute one bad thing for something either not-so-bad or not-at-all bad.  This is my reasoning behind using non-caloric sweeteners (rarely).  I'd be much better for me to have a tasty, sweet treat that avoids sugar or high fructose corn syrup that would send my blood sugar to the moon or damage my liver.  As my years eating low carb have progressed, I have come to rely on these sweet treats less and less, but they were very useful for me to make the transition to a low carb lifestyle, versus a temporary low carb diet. 

Other things, those that fall under the, "Better than the alternative" could be something like very dark chocolate.  It has a little caloric sweetener in it, but overall it's quite low if you get the 70-85% cocoa solids.  And it is usually extremely satisfying for those who love dark chocolate.  The bitterness takes a bit of getting used to, but most of us end up liking it.  In fact, I had a commercial chocolate bar awhile back and it tasted very weird to me.  I could barely taste anything chocolate in it, sure it smelled like chocolate but it was way too sweet, cloyingly sweet!  I wondered why I ever liked it.

There have been other things that seem to soothe the craving beast.  Bacon, chicken wings, a bowl of hot chili.  A "burrito bowl" at Chipotle (without rice, maybe keep the beans, depends) with a big dollop of guacamole.

Maybe "treats" restore some of the will-power reserve.  But I also think they can be misused.  You can set up brain circuitry to start expecting treats on a regular basis.  So don't abuse them!

References

Freakonomics blog
Making choices impairs subsequent self-control
Association for Psychological Science (2009, April 7). You Wear Me Out: Thinking Of Others Causes Lapses In Our Self-control. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from You Wear Me Out

Chili -- Breakfast of Champions!

Long ago when I was attending the Eastman School of Music -- or the Eastman Pool of Mucus, as my brother called it -- there was a little dive diner next door that had chili that was really hot and wonderful.  In upstate New York, it was a great thing to have in the morning if you happened to have some time to consume breakfast.  So I often had this chili that would make my eyes water and truly warmed me up in every respect.  Ever since then, I've come to accept that chili makes a fine breakfast.

But sometimes these little nuggets of realization you glean from life experiences get misplaced like treasured sweaters that go missing.  And then when you stumble on them again, you are overwhelmed with nostalgia and you swear allegiance again to the long lost item.  I have such a sweater!  Truly I do.  I bought it probably nearly 25 years ago, maybe more!  It has a massive neck that you fold over and over and it drapes nicely and it has bat-wing sleeves!  And it is a vibrant maroon color.  I love that thing.

I also love chili for breakfast!  I have been eating quite a lot of chili since I adore it so much and I bought a huge pork shoulder, probably 12-15 pounds.  I brought it home, cut it into large chunks and put what I suspect are 2-2.5 pounds in ziplock bags and stuck them in my freezer.

I'm going to share the recipe I use, I got it from the low carb forum.  However, as is my way, I often make it from memory and forget some of the spices or simply make it easier by leaving some out.  Lately I use 1/4 cup chili powder, a generous amount of cinnamon, cumin, allspice, either cayenne pepper or pepper flakes, and 2-3 Tablespoons of cocoa powder.  If the cocoa sounds odd, let me reassure you it doesn't make your chili taste like chocolate, it gives it a deep, rich flavor that is sensational.  I might use dehydrated onion if I'm not fresh onion enabled.  Oh yes, add the vinegar, I forgot that this last time.  I like the sharpness.  I use 1 can of tomato sauce and one can of diced tomatoes.  I don't bother with the beef broth.

Then I cook it all in my lovely enamelled cast-iron pot for a very long time over low heat until the pork is nice and soft.

The last time I made this I cooked the pork cubes sous vide for 12 hours or so at 145, then finished in the pot.  It cut some cooking time off, if you don't count the sous vide time!

Tastes great but it's always better the next day.

Oh nearly forgot my optional things.  Optionally, you could add some soy beans (look for them in the bean section in your health food store), if you really like beans in the chili. They add very, very few carbs. Or you could use a can of kidney or black beans.  They're not strictly low carb or paleo but one can divided over about 10 servings is a pretty small addition.  And I always like getting a bean or two, they seem like such a treat.

Carnivory

I have become, as I like to say, Carnibbleous.  What's that mean?  Well, it's low carb with a vengeance.  I am eating nothing but meat and eggs, with adequate spices of course.   In sticking to my philosophy of food should be fun I do use garlic, onion, lemon juice, spices, herbs and even continue to eat the occasional egg custard with non-caloric sweetener. 

Why?  Well, after the holidays my weight went up a couple of pounds but it seemed like I was much fatter than my weight.  It wasn't coming down by my usual techniques so knowing there's a growing trend on the low carb forum I frequent towards eating meat-only, I figured I would give it a try.  I've done it before, for about a week.  It was ok, I lost a quick 5 pounds, but that was before my metabolism seemed to utterly derail about a year ago.

So I started again this time, thinking it would maybe be a week or two and I could shed some quick weight.  Ha!  I knew I was kidding myself.  Nothing is ever quick about weight loss for me.  I have the metabolism of a anesthetized tree-sloth.  I can reduce my calories drastically and maintain my weight.  I'm looking into possible hormonal reasons, especially involving leptin resistance or perhaps thyroid resistance, for this but for now just know that I'm a very disciplined dieter and things just don't work for me that should.

So I'm a couple weeks into this all-meat thing, I started before my monthly cycle.  I seem to have about 7-10 days of a weight loss window because after that, hormonal changes happen and it all just stops.  So my first 10 days of being a carnivore was just pretty much nothing happened.  Now that the monthly cycle is over, I've managed to drop a few pounds.  About 4 or so.

But the interesting thing with carnivory is how one feels about food.  You would think, wow eating nothing but meat has got to be boring.  But with a few cooking skills meat is utterly wonderful.  So wonderful we usually make it the centerpiece of our meals, right?  Or at least, that was what we did traditionally.   When I'm carnivorous I do get hungry and very interested in eating.  So I have my meat or eggs and then my interest in eating shuts off entirely and doesn't come back for a very long time, depending on how much meat I had and what type.  

So a typical day of eating for me might be: 

Morning:  A nice sized Italian sausage with nose-searing mustard.
Lunch: A large pork chop with duck reduction sauce.
Late Dinner: Another sausage -- maybe a small bowl of custard.

At lunch I get so full I don't eat again until 8pm or later.  And dinner is quite small, as is breakfast.

Now why am I not bored?  Good grief, I have 2 meals that are nearly identical?  Well, maybe this me or perhaps it has something to do with eating nothing but meat but I just don't get tired of it.  When hunger comes it comes on pretty strong and the saying "appetite is the best sauce" is very, very true.  Everything tastes extremely good when you're really hungry.  I experimented with Intermittent Fasting for awhile and found that food never tasted so good as when you are really and truly hungry and have been so for awhile.  Well, it seems my all-meat experience does the same thing.

Simplicity
 One thing I think makes a diet successful is simplicity and nothing is more simple than eating nothing but meat and eggs.   You don't get hung up on rules or counting anything.   Also the meal preparation for me is usually extremely easy.  I have my sous vide setup which I use daily, then just sear my meat.  One time I had some lamb stew which was lamb meat, egg, lemon, spices.  Wonderful stuff.  I made the mustard crusted chicken, and have another batch ready to go. 

With Sous Vide I can do things like prepackage the pork chops with a pat of compound butter (made with fresh thyme and roasted garlic) and drop it in the bath in the morning.  At lunch I remove it and sear it.  Warm my duck sauce in the microwave and serve it with that.   I bought a bunch of super thick pork chops at Costco for a great price.  When I run out of meat, I think I'll go for the lamb stew again.

Anyway, that is carnivory as I practice it, in a nut-shell.  I feel fine.  In fact, my IBS issues are non-existent when I do this so it leads me to believe there's something in the plant kingdom my gut really doesn't like that I haven't figured out yet.  My energy levels are fine, for me, and my arthritis seems better.  In some ways it makes me a little sad, I love eating plants, but if one feels better NOT eating them, it seems obvious doesn't it?

Well lets see how this goes, it is still early in the process.

Celebrating Saturated Fat

Anyone familiar with me knows I have no fear of saturated fat, what scares me is the crazy engineered "factory" fats that people eat.

Anyway, two important reports came out recently about the non-danger of saturated fats and were roundly ignored by the press.  I'm not sure why the press ignores these, you'd think people would want to know?

But I'm going to collect and publish everything I find on the topic right here in this article and I'll update it periodically.

An excellent article from Men's health quoting lipid research Dr. Ronald Krauss (who used to be a lipophobe I believe).

Dr. Briffa blogs about 2 recent studies that exonerate saturated fat:  Saturated fat does not cause heart disease


"Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease"  -- The conclusion is that saturated fat does not contribute to heart disease.  This is Dr. Ronald Krauss again, who Dr. Steven Guyenet describes as "one of the most prominent lipid researchers in the world".

Strange how quickly the popular press will jump on any schlocky science as long as it vilifies meat and fat but they pretty much ignore  anything shedding light on the contrary.  However, we have an growing independent media now amongst the people who blog and post on forums and such.  There are many, many doctors doing this too and it is refreshing to have all these wonderful sources of truly independent thinkers available.

Update 1/20/2010 -- Later same day


Another article from Dr. Krauss, that Dr. Steven Guyenet blogs about showing that replacing saturated fat with refined carbohydrates is a bad idea.  What's a refined carbohydrate?  My definition is anything that's been processed in a factory.  That would include so-called "healthy whole grains".  They're full of lectins and phytates that actually prevent you from being able to absorb minerals and vitamins.  Oddly enough, white rice might be a little better than brown rice, in that the bran contains a lot of the bad stuff.

Lemony, Meaty Stew

This stew is so fabulous!  I got the original recipe from a book with 300 stew recipes but I've made a few changes.  The original calls for lamb but you could really use any meat one would roast with or stew.

2 pounds of meat, cut into large chunks (they'll shrink).
Juice of 1 lemon
2 egg yolks
salt & pepper
Fresh herbs (optional) -- I think thyme, rosemary, marjoram might all be good choices.
1/2 cup of wine (I used red, but white is what the original recipe calls for)
1-2 large cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
3 Tbl of onion minced (I used half of a largish onion, and only sliced it, didn't mince)
1/4 cup of oil

In a nice stewpot cook the meat in the oil until browned.  About 10 minutes or so.  Throw in the onion and the garlic and cook until those are softened.  Dump in the wine and reduce over high heat for about 10 minutes.  This is the point I would throw in those fresh herbs.  I used thyme this last time (heh!).

Cover and cook at a simmer over lowish heat until the meat is fork tender, which will be at least an hour, maybe longer.  If it starts looking dry in the pot add water as needed.  Mine never got dry.

When the meat is nice and tender, mix together the egg and lemon juice and beat well with a fork.   Take the simmering stew off the fire.

Now take a tablespoon or so of the hot broth from the stew and add it to the egg mixture.  And beat it in well.  Keep doing that until you've slowly raised the temperature of the eggs.  Then lastly pour the egg mixture into the stew and stir well.  If you do it right you'll get an amazingly thick broth that's creamy and ever so satisfying. If you heat up the eggs too fast, you'll get bits of scrambled eggs in the broth.

Salt & Pepper to taste.