of crock pots and childhood

I've been enjoying my crock pots a lot lately. Possibly the best part for me is having hot, moist, long-cooking sorts of meals that take only minutes of my attention.

I love, really love, hanging out in the kitchen and spending all day on a sauce. I truly do. But I absolutely, positively do not enjoy coming home tired and hungry and grumpy after a day of work and hoping for a creative impulse. I'm not going to find creativity then not matter how hard I look. So instead, especially in winter, I try to keep something simmering and ready. Something that satisfies on all sorts of levels. Winter is serious comfort food time.

My favorite food memories are almost all of Syrian or Lebanese meals, the food my grandmother cooked (and my mother, though mom was always a southern girl at heart.) I don't make many of these dishes anymore, unfortunately. Many, if not most, use grains as a mainstay and gluten is abundant. Still,  I long for those flavors.

 One of my favorites was a long, slow cooked dish we simply referred to as green beans and rice. It started with ground lamb or beef (most often beef during my childhood years due to relative costs) that we browned with chopped onions, salt, and pepper. Next we added lots of green beans, fresh or frozen, and a can or two of tomato sauce and an equal amount of water. This simmered, covered for hours and hours and hours. Seriously. The green beans almost, but not quite, melted into the sauce. This was then served over mounds of rice, first browned in butter (probably margarine when I was a child) and steamed. I loved it, still do to this day, though when cooking in my own kitchen I made it with diced lamb or beef more often than ground. These days, of course, I don't eat rice and I also can handle only the tiniest amount of tomato. In reality, I should probably stay as far away from any tomato as I possibly can, but every once-in-awhile I use a little. Just a little. Still, that means no tomato sauce at all, since it's pretty darned concentrated.

A few tomatoes in a large pot of food can add the flavor without so much tomato.

While trying to find a good lazy-day plan for a leg of lamb from Lava Lake Lamb, I inadvertently discovered an easy dish that is becoming one of my favorites. I love their lamb, and while I was not in the frame of mind for hours in the kitchen, I was sure as heck not going to waste that lamb. I decided to put the lamb in the crock pot and hope for the best. Then those green bean thoughts started dancing in my head. What if I put a couple of pounds of green beans in the bottom and layered the other ingredients? Now, when I say layer, I mean toss in randomly for the most part. They just end up in natural layers. I used what I had. Not wanting to chop an onion, seriously I was feeling that lazy, I used frozen pearl onions. I grabbed 3 small Roma tomatoes from the freezer and tossed them on top. Then I plopped the lamb on top of the veggies. I figured with that many watery vegetables, I would not need to add any more moisture. Good call, since there was plenty of broth produced without the addition of liquid.

What a delightful surprise. It was far better than I ever expected. The flavors were wonderful and even reminded me a bit of stuffed grape leaves, another childhood favorite. I have made this dish since, evening starting with a piece of frozen meat. I did mention the lazy part, right? It's virtually foolproof and not time-sensitive. It can cook 6 hours or 10 without issue.

I still love to spend hours in the kitchen when I have hours to spend, but it is utterly delightful to come home to dinner that's hot and ready and a house that smells like childhood.

day 1, round 2

Somehow this seems so much easier this time. I weighed myself this morning for the last time this month. Interestingly, to me at any rate, my weight is precisely two pounds less than when I completed my first Whole30 in early November 2011. I meant to do measurements, but I am simply not that organized.

The food has really been easy. Inspired by Carrie, Ginger Lemon Girl, who has posted about pantry meals for a few days, I decided to eat as much from what we already have in our kitchen as possible, even as I'm starting this Whole30. I'm a bit of a pack rat where food is concerned, and we pretty much eat this way routinely, so it's not as big a stretch as one might think. GK is not doing the Whole30 with me, but he has been making gradual changes for some time now that are bringing our eating styles closer together. That is darned near miraculous in my book. It sure makes meals easier, since I do almost all the cooking.

My breakfast, today, was a small top sirloin steak from the freezer. This time I remembered to thaw it first. That is not a given. I browned it in a pan as I got ready for work this morning, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. After the steak was out of the pan, I threw in a couple of thickly sliced mushrooms. When it cooled, I cut the steak into strips and took it and the mushrooms to work with me along with a cup or so of sauteed Napa cabbage. I am a notorious breakfast-at-my-desk person. It helps me ease into the day.

For lunch, I filled my trusty warming Crock Pot with leftover beef stew from a few days ago. This was possible since I rarely eat anything non-compliant, anyway. Note, I did not say never. For me the Whole30 is not a major change; it's a tightening of the reigns. That is, of course, where food is concerned. Wine is a different issue. I enjoy our wine ritual, but I'm fine without it. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Dinner tonight was simple, mostly because I was pooped after a frustrating work day. GK had the rest of the chocolate chili with an egg, avocado, grape tomatoes, and scallions. I had three scrambled eggs, a bit of avocado, and a few bites of the chili. I couldn't resist. I'm hoping I can handle just a bit.

I'm comfortably collapsed on my bed right now, and as soon as I can drag myself away from my trusty MacBook, my plan is to pick out a few new recipes to try from Well Fed.

when a foodie isn't

Most of my life, for as far back as I can remember, has revolved around food. I plan trips around where we'll eat, what we'll take to eat, how often we'll stop to eat. Grocery shopping for me is not an ordeal. It's an adventure. I get more excited over spotting a Whole Foods than a Neiman Marcus. Williams Sonoma feels like a home away from home. I started subscribing to food magazines like Bon Appetit and Gourmet while I was still in my teens.

Over the years though, there have been times, and not just short ones, when I just did not feel like cooking, times when I didn't even like my kitchen. Those times felt odd but not so foreign as to confuse me. Once, several years ago, I was so out of sinc with food, cooking, and my health that I subscribed to Nutrisystems and had them send me yucky pre-packaged, processed food for several months. I simply didn't want to cook and didn't want to think about food. It was an odd time in my life, the only time I have ever lived alone, so maybe that had something to do with my extreme disassociation with cooking and health. I'm still not sure.



sometimes plain ol' chicken drumsticks just sound good

These days, I mostly love cooking. "Mostly" being the operative word here. Some days I don't want to enter the kitchen and seriously bemoan the fact that eating out, fast food, and ready to serve processed food simply are not options for me. Period. Most days I get jazzed over grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, and local organic vegetables. Some days I actually wish I could drive through a Taco Bell. Now, that doesn't sound like a foodie at all, I know. And Taco Bell is not the worst of my non-foodie fantasies. It's just the worst I'm willing to acknowledge right now. It gets pretty ugly.

I suppose on a very basic level I should be happy that giving into even one of these (occasional) urges would make me painfully ill for days. I'm much better off whining because I will never again eat a Baby Ruth candy bar than putting it in my body and hating myself for it.

why i can't cheat

I lied today. I lied on Facebook. I lied for no good reason, and it's been bugging me ever since. It was a dumb lie. A really stupid lie. A "I want to fit in" lie. And it was on my friend's Facebook page. Pretty low.

Ginger Lemon Girl asked, "No matter what type of "diet" you are following (as long as it's totally GF!! :-P) what is a food that you HAVE to have, even if it's not allowed?? (chocolate yes?)" And I answered "coffee." Okay, it wasn't a big lie. No one got hurt. No one lost their job or their broke their fingernail. But, of course, as all of you know, that is not the point. The point is I lied. That's not something I do often. That's not something I condone, in myself or others. Still...


And my coffee answer wasn't the lie. The lie was that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, and I'm quite serious here, that I am willing to eat that is "off program" for lack of a better phrase. I simply don't. Never. Not on a bet. Not when staring down a Point Reyes Blue or a dark chocolate Godiva.


I am not bragging. I am terrified. There is no food, no drink, nothing that's worth the pain. Plain and simple, I'm a coward. Jeez! and now I'm a lying coward. Sorry Carrie. I started to tell the truth. But that sounded so smug. I started not to respond, but that felt so lonely. I wanted to play the game. It was a fun game. I do drink coffee, though I've given it up in the past to see if it was a culprit in my diet. That was not difficult. Coffee doesn't seem to be a problem for me, so I drink it. I'd prefer to drink it with cream. Cream is a problem, so I don't. In fact, since I realized that, I have not had so much as a drop of cream or any other dairy product (willingly or knowingly, at least,) not one. I've had a couple of accidental doses that left me curled up in a ball wondering about the possibility of voodoo dolls and such. No, I'm not bragging. I'm scared to death.

meat and onions getting started

I was thinking tonight, as I started dinner, about what it is that lets me do this. Every one of you who lives with dietary issues knows how scary this all is. And if you're reading this, unless you're one of my family who I make read it, you're probably a foodie, as well. So how do we manage? My trick, my salvation, my mantra is leftovers. I don't have accidental leftovers. I plan for them, religiously. 

the browned meat and onions are underneath the beautiful fresh broccoli

I cook for two, usually, yet tonight I browned two pounds of ground beef (grass-fed is a given, right?) with onions, then added four heads of fresh broccoli and one can of organic diced tomatoes. That's a favorite comfort food for us this time of year, seasoned simply with sea salt and pepper, but no way in our wildest dreams are we eating that much in one or even two sittings. We'll have dinner; I'll freeze a couple of lunches, and we'll see what's still left for a snack. It's safe. It's Paleo. It's not expensive. It can be made from all frozen ingredients if needed. Oh, and it's really, really good.

added one 15 ounce can of Muir Glen diced tomatoes

The bonus: As I heated the pan to start dinner, I made a very sloppy looking patty from about 4 ounces of the beef and sauteed it with salt and pepper in the empty pan. When it was almost done, I tossed in a few mushrooms. Voila! tomorrow's lunch.

tomorrow's lunch