Fast Food

One of my top "if I could have any one thing" foods is now a subway sandwich. Which is weird because I didn't care too much about them "before". This tends to be the case. The foods I most crave are ones I would never have expected to miss. The pattern seems to be foods with no satisfactory substitutes. When you're wheat, corn and dairy-less, nothing adequately replaces chewy sub sandwich bread, seasoned deli meats and amazing slices of real cheese. Nothing. I suppose I will crave it forever. Here's the good news, however. Cravings do eventually lose their edge. In the beginning they drove me out of my mind-  they were unbearable. I felt continually cranky and annoyed with every human being who was still eating all the things I couldn't have. But then somehow, mercifully, I crossed over into the, "I really miss this stuff but it's not killing me" land. And now years later, I actually think about such foods with pleasure, almost "tasting" them in my mind, but without the "just shoot me if I can't have them" feeling. So if you haven't gotten to that point, hang in there, it will probably get better in time.

A related thing I've battled is fast food. Or the lack there of. Not so much the restaurants. That was effectively dealt with by reading Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser). A few pages of that and you're not only grossed out, but feeling sufficiently smug about the fact that you don't each such stuff. Never mind that without food allergies, your superiority would vanish. It's a psychological tool to help maintain sanity.

No, it is the lack of fast food in my own home that has plagued me most. For years I was in emotional distress everyday at lunch time (now I limit that to about once or twice a week). What do you eat for lunch?? Leftovers worked when we had them, but since it took endless chopping of produce for every serving of food, I didn't have enough gumption to make much more than we consumed for dinner. My family got pretty tired of hearing me finish dinner each evening with, "One more meal of my life is over." The whole cooking thing was so unspeakably stressful every single day, that I was in pure survival mode most of the time. We're talking years like this. Hands down, the best thing I've accomplished is to build an arsenal of quick-fix food ideas. In the world where dumping Campbells Chunky Soup over minute rice is cooking dinner, this may be hard to appreciate. But trust me, when you truly lose the ability to cook anything quickly, it takes on a mountain of significance. So here's to fast food that doesn't kill you.

Tip of the Day:  Buy a rice cooker!!
If my rice cooker goes out I will immediately proceed to my car, drive to the store and buy another one. It is an indispensable survival tool for me.
Second Tip of the Day: Buy good rice!!
I hated rice growing up. Tasteless and sticky, I found it intolerable unless heavily disguised by a cheese-laden casserole. Thankfully, a few years ago I discovered Jasmine rice, the difference of which cannot be adequately described. Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories (Lorraine Clissold) has a great story. Meeting her Chinese friend at the airport, the author was dumbfounded to discover how heavy the woman's suitcase was. When asked, "What's in this??" the lady responded as if the question were rediculously obvious.  "Rice."  This basically sums up my position. I can hardly survive without my Jasmine rice. I brush my teeth, do the dishes and make rice. The "sandwich" has morphed into "rice and....whatever!"  So make a batch of Jasmine rice each day (you'll immediately wonder how you ever tolerated the other stuff) and begin exploring all the wonderful things you can add to it. Below are some ideas to get you started:

Rice & Hamburger
Fry hamburger and sprinkle some over a bowl of rice. Mike and Luke often eat it plain; I like to add vinaigrette (recipes in the Icecream & Other Basics post). Add any leftover veggies you have on hand. I also love to add fresh baby spinach. Sometimes I wilt it in the wok, or the microwave, but often I just put a handful in the bottom of the bowl and throw the rice and hamburger on top. It wilts automatically and after a few seconds I stir it up.

Rice & Chicken
There are numerous ways to make easy chicken which tastes really good. The secret, however, is herbs. I grow my own fresh herbs and dry them, which is very easy to do. Thai basil, sweet basil, tarragon and rosemary are my favorites.  Freshly dried herbs are so flavorful that they're well worth the minimal trouble (more on this later). You can try dried herbs from the store, but they tend to be tasteless. Buy fresh herbs instead and throw them in. I usually cut chicken breasts into strips or little squares. Kitchen scissors are great for this-  much better than a knife. Snip-snip and you're done. Other times if I'm in a hurry, I'll throw the whole breasts in the crockpot or a pan on the stove, and snip them into pieces after they're cooked. They cut easier then anyway. Either way, cover them with water and throw in some diced onions (handful or two- I like red ones best), 2-3 pressed/minced garlic cloves, a teaspoon or two of dried herbs (I never measure, just sprinkle them on generously like you're going nuts with the salt), along with salt (nows the time to throw in celtic rock salt) and freshly ground pepper.

Another way to get great chicken pieces is to do essentially the same thing with a counter top grill. Be sure to snip them into strips first in this case so that they cook quickly. Once you throw the pieces on the grill generously add the herbs, salt & pepper. Once they're cooked pour the broth that drained off into the little pan over them. This makes them so yummy. We love to add these herbed chicken pieces to rice along with whatever veggies are on hand. I use either vinaigrette or homemade mayo with it, or just the brothy herbed chicken is great too. Miso paste is another really good seasoning (chickpea or aduki). Healthfood stores tend to have this and it is a good way to get probiotics. Don't  heat the miso; you'll destroy the active cultures. Just add it in to the already cooked bowl of rice. I rotate these flavors so that each chicken and rice seems like a different meal. Mayo tastes entirely different than miso, herbed broth, or vinaigrette!

Chicken & Salad
Add the grilled chicken strips from above to a salad with vinaigrette.

Sausage & Rice
Before you fry 1 lb of  turkey/hamburger, mix in:
1/4 t. sage, marjoram & coriander, along with 1 t. salt & 1/8  pepper
      (Breakfast sausage)
                                                         or
1/2 t. onion powder, garlic powder, pepper & fennel seed; 1 t. salt, 1/4 t. paprika, 1/8 t. thyme & cayenne
       (Italian sausage)
Add to your rice bowl!                                                                    

Just Veggies & Rice
Any stir-fried veggies added to rice are good.
Carmelized onions and mushrooms are really good on rice.
Left over stew is good on rice.
Baked beans on rice are good (your own, or an acceptable, organic canned brand- if you live in the midwest, Meijer has some that work.)

Chicken Salad
We also sometimes add mayo to the chicken itself and use it as a dip for rice tortilla chips, or put it in popovers (recipe below)

Black Beans on Rice
These are not extremely easy, but they're not too bad either. Organic, canned black beans with nothing but sea salt can usually be found at health food stores (and Meijer has some too). Otherwise soak and make your own (now the easy has really departed). If you make your own, a stainless steel pressure cooker makes cooking beans quick and fairly painless.

Simmer onions and garlic (and hamburger if you want the "meaty" effect- we usually add this). Add about 6 pureed tomatoes (I puree fresh ones in my Blend tec),1-2 cans black beans, some balsamic vinegar drizzled on, along with somewhat generous sprinklings of salt, sugar and chili powder. Simmer till tasty! This is especially good over rice if you put a dollop of home made guacamole on top (I love this). Inevitably when I make these beans, the first taste is disappointing. This is one of my favorite dishes, and after the first taste I think, "This isn't as good as I remembered." Then I add more balsamic, sugar, salt and chili powder and voila!  It's as good as I remember! Which brings me to my...
Third Tip of the Day: Do not cook by measurement, taste!  It's taste that matters. So season a little, taste. Season some more, taste. Season even more, taste. Keep going until you have something great!

Guacamole
Mash an avacado in a bowl (or more). Drizzle a little lemon or lime juice on it. Rebekah always accuses me of using too much. If you're only using one avacado, a slice of lemon may be enough. Sprinkle on celtic rock salt (or whatever), cilantro (actually I use spicey basil, but cilantro will be easier to find if you're not growing your own), and smoked paprika. Sometimes I add a pressed garlic clove, sometimes I don't. All you really need for guacamole is salt and lemon/lime juice.

Rice Tortilla Chips
I believe Food for Life is the brand of rice tortillas I buy. I take them out of the freezer, place a couple on a cookie sheet. Spray/brush them with olive oil and  sprinkle with celtic rock salt on both sides, then broil till brown (flip and brown on other side as well). Do not walk away and leave these. They will burn beyond recognition in seconds!!  Believe me I have learned this lesson the hard way too many times. Once their done, break them into chip size pieces. These are great for dipping in egg salad, chicken salad, guacamole, salsa, hummus, and using in soups as crackers.

Egg Salad
8 peeled & chopped, hardboiled eggs
4 t. minced red onion
2 t. mustard (watch out with mustard-  only a few organic brands use cider vinegar and no extra "junk")
1/2 t. salt
1/2 - 1 t. sugar (for both the salt and sugar- sprinkle & taste, sprinkle & taste)
a little red wine vinegar drizzled in (I have cool stoppered glass bottles for my vinegars, just like olive oil)
1/2 c. home made mayo or whatever amount seems right

Hummus
1 can organic, sea salt only, chickpeas (or cook your own)
1/3 c. tahini
juice of one lemon
2 garlic cloves pressed/minced
cracked pepper
1/2 - 1 t. salt
1/2 - 1 roasted red pepper (cut in half, scoop out insides, broil cut side down until black, put a towel over for a few minutes)
Blend it altogether in a food processor.  Mmmm! I love hummus with roasted red peppers.

Popovers
We only succeed with these when we use the convection. So no promises if you don't have one. Rebekah first discovered these in one of the Gluten Free Gourmet coodbooks. We love them with chicken salad.
Turn the oven on 450 degrees. Combine, bring to a rapid boil & remove from heat:
1 c. water
1 c. shortening (we use organic palm shortening from Tropical Traditions)
Add all at once, then stir until mix forms a ball that leaves the sides of the pan:
2/3 c. rice flour (flour mix might sub for the rice flour and potato starch, but I've never tried it)
1/2 c. potato starch
1/2 t. salt
Add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating with an electric mixer after each one. Drop by spoonfuls in greased muffin tins (goose egg size).  Bake at 450 for 20 min. then reduce heat to 350 for another 20 minutes.

Pasta Dishes
One last quick and easy idea today. Tinkyada brown rice penne pasta. This pasta almost has a "meaty" consistency to it that is really satisfying. Apply any of the rice ideas above to pasta-  sauted/stir-fried veggies, meat, etc. I'll have more specific pasta ideas later.