Hot Mess In A Bowl

I have been hesitant to eat undercooked brussels sprouts, what with my history trying to eat onions and all. I like to avoid The Bloat whenever possible, because The Bloat is just not sexy. I enjoy feeling sexy.

So it was with tremulous hope that I made sauteed - and faintly poached - quartered brussel sprouts in my wok with baby portabella mushrooms and crushed smoked almonds. A little balsamic. Then an egg for scrambling and a sprinkle of feta cheese. I was looking for a variety of complementary textures for breakfast. Plus toast, and it turned into a hot mess in a bowl. Very tasty.

Last night, I made a very similar supper for myself - mostly out of desperation, since I was low on prepared food. But there were no bloating after effects, despite the tender-crispness of the sprouts. So I am optimistic about my breakfast not causing digestive upset! Now I can eat cruciferous vegetables with a little crunch left to them? Maybe it's just the onions, after all.

So begins Cooking Experiments in preparation for Thanks-eating. Much excitement!

Oat and honey bread is a little high on the flour for me, but I'm counting on the oat bran to keep things hearty. A nice balance between crunch and chewiness. Faint sweetness compliments my bitter tender-crisp mini cabbages and earthy mushrooms. Huzzah.

Beautiful Weather, Beautiful Breakfast

The low-grease version of a classic weekend breakie. Yes, now Tuesday counts as my weekend. Let's see if I go crazy-like-crack on another glass of Margaret's Hope Autumn Flush Darjeeling, shall we? Ladies and Gents, please start your engines.

More chicken soup tonight - I made the stock and picked the carcass for tiny chicken bits. Now I just need to procure some carrots, celery, and corn...delightful. Perhaps my meal at the library late tonight, instead of my usual pb&j. My teeth-shattering toast is becoming less than novel.

Carcass Soup

Am I being macabre lately? Not sure. Bought a small chicken from the Co-op and roasted it with lemon quarters and herbes de provence and some butter under the skin. Sick! But tasty in the end. A delicious little corpse. The lemons were an excellent addition. Sawed off the breast meat and thighs, then made a roux and added bouillion and carcass to the soup pot. Simmered for thirty minutes, with carrots and celery. How did it turn out?

Velvety smooth. Nourishing. Rich. Flavorful. Awesome? Carcass soup, who knew. Too gross for every day, but maybe okay for the winter time.

Roasted white meat is also just dandy.

Flank Steak Success

Finally seared some beautiful flank steak in my pan! 1 tablespoon of Canola oil, salt and pepper to taste. Three minutes at high heat one one side, four or five minutes at medium heat on the other side. Fifteen minutes of resting on a plate. Then slicing! I love slicing across the grain - somehow so much more appetizing to me. Great soft/chewy texture. Medium well, I'd guess.

Okay, the photo looks kind of gross. But that's because my camera phone has issues. It was a beautiful steak, and I felt grateful to the cow for sacrificing its flank in order to meet my b12, protein, and iron needs. Hurray!

A Seedy Part of the Fridge

Well, I'm still on my No Junk Food diet. Going well. I was in the market for some no-added-sugar blackberry jam, in fact. I picked some up at the Co-op and went happily home to try it on a piece of toast.

And nearly dented a filling on one of the multitudinous blackberry seeds. I mean, I do like blackberry preserves, but they've been lower in seeds in the past? I understand that a jelly is jelled juice, and a jam or preserve is made of crushed fruit. I understand that, and I enjoy eating crushed fruit - with some seeds - on my toast. But there is a limit to human endurance. There is a limit to what I can chew on the right side of my godforsaken dentition.

So I decided to perform an experiment using common sense and a small saucepan.

1. Spoon all the seedy jam into the saucepan, with one cup of water. Add a little maple syrup or honey - if you feel like cheating - and squeeze juice of one lemon slice. Add squeezed slice and boil gently until jam is a smooth liquid. About ten minutes.

2. Set sieve over a large measuring cup and pour hot liquid jam into the cup. Use the back of a spoon to crush fruit pulp from blackberry seeds through sieve. Discard seeds in sieve. Return strained juice to saucepan and heat for another 8 to ten minutes. Liquid should reduce and slightly thicken.

3. Cool five minutes and pour liquid jelly back into jam jar. Jam will set up and magically become a jar of blackberry jelly. Hurray, pectin!

And it's not bad, either. My teeth are saved, and I don't have to buy another jar of jam. SUPER.

Squash Size Queen

I just spent a few minutes picking at the remains of a roasted butternut squash. Like some people pick at the carcass of a roasted bird. Why is the squash so tasty? I roasted that sucker until I could peel the skin off with my fingers, until it was collapsing on the tray and smelling all caramelized. THE BEST. I have it for the rest of the week now. I chose a big fat one at the Co-op.

In other news, I attempted to make flank steak. I was stymied by my inability to find any flanks at the store, so I settled for a sirloin. My general problem with eating steak is that it's too gristly, and the sirloin was no exception. But I have restored some of my B12 and iron stores, after a particularly dam-breaking menstruation. Fine. You know, if I can refuse refined sugar and white flour, I can probably refuse industrial beef as well. I'll go for pasture-finished beef next time. Or bison or something "wild" like that. Beefalo, those leaner hybrids, cropping grass on some hippie rancher's pasture. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

Oh. Crap. I nearly set my tea kettle on fire. Forgot about it on the stove for about thirty minutes, I was engaged watching a documentary about gay muslims. It's called A Jihad For Love. A nice continuation of the dubious but very compelling film about a fleeing Iranian lesbian, Unveiled. The star of Unveiled is of German and Iranian heritage, and is a pop star and actress in Germany. Jasmin Tabatabai. She was quite delightful as the scruffy cross-dressing protag; her acting did not suck in the least.

Other victuals today included a pan of well-roasted brussels sprouts and mushrooms. I may be developing a craving for broccolini and balsamic butter. Must purchase more Irish oats.