Monday Is The Day!/ NoSaladWithoutMeat page 226

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

I found that if I made stuff, I had to enter it into the recipe calculator and add it to my recipe box.
Recipe Calculator I have a bunch of stuff I entered whenever I make something from scratch, ie, all the damn time. Which is why I stopped using the sparkpeople tracker. It just took forever to enter it lol!

Mmmm oysters....

Yeah... That would take years off my busy life.... Oh. Right. Never mind.

Do you have a costco where you live? These Ocean's Osyetrs are pumped full of heavy drugs!* Yum.


-----------------------------
*their deliciousness is comparative to narcotics in their universal addictiveness. Also, see Nanuk's Smoked Salmon.

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

Eat lots of animals, insects and plants

Nope. But I'm planning to make a sweet potato and leek soup swimming in bacon. [Nope, this is no mistake. The bacon will be so plentiful that the soup itself will be swimming IN THE BACON. True story.]

I awoke too late, playing this idiotically addictive game [I'm becoming a pimpley teenage boy by the minute, and here I thought the analogy would be over with my overabundance of testosterone and fondness of lewd jokes]. Such a waste of my time, but I live an exciting life. 17th century poetry by day, bad RPG with medieval themes by night. I'm a fucking period piece.

I only had time to eat my failures (and weep, inside), aka the orange muffin-cake-mutants. Many would find it difficult to both burn a pastry and leave it raw, but not I. I've succeeded where others have failed!
So two of those, some water (boy they were dry) and a glass of coconut milk. I'm starving, yet I'm writing this post.
What can I say? I'm a giver (that is, too lazy to get up and make food).

Move around a lot at a slow pace and Lift heavy things

Finally went shopping, and carried a liter of coconut milk, a liter of beef stoke, these abnormally big leeks, sweet potatos, a can of coconut milk (?!) and a huge thingamajig of sea salt (it's as heavy as a rock), among other things. It took two plastic bags and my big school bag to carry everything and my shoulders and arms are killing me.

Run really fast every once in a while

Yeah, right ;/

Get lots of sleep

I slept a lot. As usual. 9 hours. I barely got up.

Play

I have to stop with all this cooking bullshit. I'm rolling around like a fat, round cat-ball . I don't feel like I'll lose weight eating this well. It just doesn't mesh with my usual philosophy [STARVE AND SUFFER AND ALL YOUR WISHES WILL COME TRUE! *fairy dust*]. But at least I can digest things. Even the orange cakes didn't cause me any problems (and I usually have a problem with gluten-free concoctions).

At the very least, I can't eat sweet potatoes every day. But I've been wasting produce... err... cooking, I mean, so I've been eating too much it seems.

Get some sunlight every day
I wasn't going to wear makeup, but I didn't want to cause a public outcry with the recent tragedies and all.

Avoid trauma

When you're reading Paradise Lost, everything seems peachy in comparison.

Avoid poisonous things

I guess.

Use your mind

Tried not to fall asleep while we were discussing Romanticism. But now I also realize how boring it is to read other people's thoughts and ramblings. Maybe I should keep my posts shorter... Nah.

Meaty's Prosaic Dream Corner:

I probably mentioned this before, but I have bizarre dreams every night. And I always remember them in detail. I can also usually control them/ myself in the dream. This is a strange, but useless, super power.
Anyway, wouldn't you know it I had a bizarre dream involving me, my parents and a basket of baked goods.

Yep. Bread.

I seemed to be hoarding this basket of baked goods. There were cupcakes, French and Italian breads and they were all awesomely fresh and pretty. For some reason I was hiding them in my desk drawer (note I don't have drawers in my desk), and I would intermittently come back and eat something when no one was looking.

The odd thing was that I had this notion that during that particular day/ night, whatever it was, it was okay for me to eat bread. Which is why I kept coming back and eating more and more. But each time it seemed untouched. So I had this fear, I had to finish the damn bread before the next day, to avoid the inherent repercussions of eating it the next day, but it would not end! So essentially I would have wasted bread I wouldn't be able to eat the next day, and it was freaking me out.

Not sure if I could qualify it as a nightmare because, like I said my dreams tend to be extremely vivid (touch, smell, colour, usually translate well. One time I woke up, feeling like my cheek has been touched. My imagination is way too active and it tends to trick my brain into producing those feelings, even though they're not real.)

So anyway. I could actually TASTE the bread. The texture of one piece is especially memorable. It was one of those triangular fancy bread that has a chewy crust and is soft inside. It was sprinkled with white flour on top. You know the kind... So I could taste it and it was warm. It was so chewy!!!
And I kept eating it and leering at the cupcake that I was going to eat next.
But each time I would come back (it was as if my brain was stuck in a loop because it couldn't recreate the taste of a cupcake. I haven't had those in a long time. But come to think of it, it was even longer for the fancy bread. Hmm). I would essentially come back and go for that triangular bread and eat it again.

I think, at some point (which also happens often) my brain, bravo brain, figured out that it was a dream. But instead of waking me up (seriously, bravo brain) it sent me into a frantic binge. I think, because in real life my brain and I know we can't have bread so that sense of urgency was due to the knowledge that we would both wakeup very soon... breadless!

Now, if that's not fucked up I don't know what is.

Anyway, I bought a bunch of stuff and I kinda thought I would review them. Maybe someone will find it useful (and I tend to forget what I had and liked/ disliked so I buy the same stuff again, so I'll find it useful).

This video is revolutionary. Pony dance for everyone. Elevator scene makes me infinitely happy.

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

Ingredients: there's no sugar added or anything I can complain about. I wonder why it wasn't fortified with vitamin D; they sometimes do that with other lactose-free milks. But this isn't really a drawback. 3g of carbs per cup, mostly fiber though.

Taste: The colour has that appealing visual quality of milk, pure white, though if you look closer it's more see through. It doesn't separate or taste gritty like (I feel) canned coconut milk sometimes does. It goes down like milk. It even has that fattiness that milk has in its texture.

Verdict: So, I do like this. But the taste, obviously, cannot compare to real milk. Then again, no vegetable, fruit or nut can ever compare to the taste of animal products (sorry Vegans). It looks like milk and has the texture of milk but not taste (tastes like water with a coconuty aftertaste), but still a great choice.

I think it would be cool to try it with some [utl="http://cavegirlcuisine.net/2012/03/22/honey-bunches-of-paleo-cereal/" paleo cereal [/url].



Ingredients: It has quite a list. The only ones I have a problem with are dried cane syrup, rice starch and tapioca dextrose. And what the hell is monk fruit extract?! I'm not sure if the cane syrup and rice starch are needed. But the taste of sweet isn't noticeable. Most people who aren't as sugar phobic probably wouldn't have a problem with it, but I'm annoying like that.

Plus, it's fairly carby. 23g for a third of the container (I got the 454g one). But somehow I don't think anyone would eat more than that in one sitting. It's very filling.

Taste: Awesome. Visually it looks kinda gray. It's solid, like yogurt but it doesn't have the same colour. It has the texture of... homemade glue. At first I was weirded out by the gray hue but the taste is very yogurty. It has that sourness of fermented dairy with a hint of coconut and it's not at all unpleasant. I could see myself eating this by the gallon.

Verdict: Love it. They also have a bunch of other ones I can try. I saw strawberry ones, and other ones with more fruit selection made by a rival company (but I think they use almond milk).



Since I don't go to the farmer's market often and I'm poor, this bacon seems like the best choice.

Ingredients: sea salt (good), cane sugar (not so good). It's pretty much perfect, if it weren't for the sugar. I'm not even sure why bacon has to have sugar. Cane sugar is my pet peeve in any organic product. It's not any better if it's organic. BAH.

Taste: Since I've gone Primal I'm more sensitive to salt and this can taste too salty if you overcook it, but I like it soggy so I don't overcook it. It had a taste comparable to the free range bacon I used to buy. But it's not as good (duh). Nevertheless, THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BAD BACON. Bacon is the food of the Gods. End of story.

Verdict: I alternate between this and the conventional ones that are marked with less salt. I don't know if it's the ingredients, but I do taste a difference. I definitely prefer this one over the conventional packaged bacon.

Warning: It spoils VERY quickly once you open it. You have to eat it that week if you've opened it, because it will start to smell (never happened before with regular bacon).



Ingredients: Yeah, it's got some cane sugar. What do you expect? It's jam! But it's mostly really great wild and organic berries. The base seems to be made of morcello cherries and red grapes, but there's a variety of other fruits that take center stage, which they catalogue as different regions (?), I guess. Like I have the South America one, which is Maqui and Passion fruit. But they have Asia, North American, and others.

Taste: It tastes AMAZING. But don't let it food you, it does not taste like your regular jam. I hate jam, and this doesn't have that sugary blandness that conventional jam does. It's more in jelly form (they label it as spread) and you get pieces of the sweetness and sourness of the cherries. It also has very interesting overtones of the grapes that give it a hint of flavour of sweet red wine (odd I know).
What I like most is that it doesn't taste overly sweet. It's more sour and sweet, and has a refreshing after taste like a really ripe black cherry just dissolved in your mouth.
Basically, it's got a very complicated taste palete. Definitely not what I expected.

The only criticism is that the cherry is definitely overpowering and I'm not sure if I taste the "main" fruits they want me to taste. But then again I haven't tried the other ones, they could taste very different if, say, they have blueberries instead and the flavours are different.

Verdict: Love it. But probably not the best idea to stock up on these as they are addictive and sugary. I bought it to use for my panna cotta. I'm not sure what you'd do with this if you don't eat bread (it's a spread, after all).
But all I know is that it's tasty!

That's all for my mini review ;3 If I end up finally making my (late night) leek soup. I'll post a recipe tomorrow.

[Metismomma]

I'm planning to make a sweet potato and leek soup swimming in bacon. [Nope, this is no mistake. The bacon will be so plentiful that the soup itself will be swimming IN THE BACON. True story.]

Did you make it? Was it delicious?

I awoke too late, playing this idiotically addictive game [I'm becoming a pimpley teenage boy by the minute, and here I thought the analogy would be over with my overabundance of testosterone and fondness of lewd jokes]. Such a waste of my time, but I live an exciting life. 17th century poetry by day, bad RPG with medieval themes by night. I'm a fucking period piece.

Umm..what game? (what can I say, you had me at game)

Move around a lot at a slow pace and Lift heavy things

Finally went shopping, and carried a liter of coconut milk, a liter of beef stoke, these abnormally big leeks, sweet potatos, a can of coconut milk (?!) and a huge thingamajig of sea salt (it's as heavy as a rock), among other things. It took two plastic bags and my big school bag to carry everything and my shoulders and arms are killing me.

People underestimate grocery shopping. That shit is srs bzns. I've had the honor of hauling 50lbs of groceries a couple times. It was only 4 blocks, but that was about 3 blocks too many.

Meaty's Prosaic Dream Corner:

I probably mentioned this before, but I have bizarre dreams every night. And I always remember them in detail. I can also usually control them/ myself in the dream. This is a strange, but useless, super power.
Anyway, wouldn't you know it I had a bizarre dream involving me, my parents and a basket of baked goods.

Yep. Bread.

I seemed to be hoarding this basket of baked goods. There were cupcakes, French and Italian breads and they were all awesomely fresh and pretty. For some reason I was hiding them in my desk drawer (note I don't have drawers in my desk), and I would intermittently come back and eat something when no one was looking.

The odd thing was that I had this notion that during that particular day/ night, whatever it was, it was okay for me to eat bread. Which is why I kept coming back and eating more and more. But each time it seemed untouched. So I had this fear, I had to finish the damn bread before the next day, to avoid the inherent repercussions of eating it the next day, but it would not end! So essentially I would have wasted bread I wouldn't be able to eat the next day, and it was freaking me out.

Not sure if I could qualify it as a nightmare because, like I said my dreams tend to be extremely vivid (touch, smell, colour, usually translate well. One time I woke up, feeling like my cheek has been touched. My imagination is way too active and it tends to trick my brain into producing those feelings, even though they're not real.)

So anyway. I could actually TASTE the bread. The texture of one piece is especially memorable. It was one of those triangular fancy bread that has a chewy crust and is soft inside. It was sprinkled with white flour on top. You know the kind... So I could taste it and it was warm. It was so chewy!!!
And I kept eating it and leering at the cupcake that I was going to eat next.
But each time I would come back (it was as if my brain was stuck in a loop because it couldn't recreate the taste of a cupcake. I haven't had those in a long time. But come to think of it, it was even longer for the fancy bread. Hmm). I would essentially come back and go for that triangular bread and eat it again.

I think, at some point (which also happens often) my brain, bravo brain, figured out that it was a dream. But instead of waking me up (seriously, bravo brain) it sent me into a frantic binge. I think, because in real life my brain and I know we can't have bread so that sense of urgency was due to the knowledge that we would both wakeup very soon... breadless!

Huh.Odd. My dreams usually involve sex or having to go the bathroom. I think you need to just give yourself permission to eat bread. I, on the other hand, shall give myself permission to use the bathroom and have sex.

[Metismomma]

The coconut dream is fortified with A,D, B12 and calcium, unless you got a different type?

I was looking at the fermented coconut milk today. Wasn't sure if it would taste very good, but I might give a small one a go next time.

As for the bacon, that's the best I can afford lol! I would love to get a hold of some affordable free range stuff, but as you said, its bacon. Its almost always good

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

Metsi, the game is the prequel to the Aveyond series (oh God, there's more. And with my OCD I will have to play them ALL!), Ahriman's Prophecy. It's actually a freeware, so you can download and play it too (at your own risk!)

Oops, that's the only pic I could find. But the one I had didn't have anything ;o not even calcium ;D

I did make it! And it was delicious!
However, my food presentation skill are juvenile... And my camera couldn't capture the deliciousness that I created!

The colour is misleading! It's actually orange looking. Like butternut squash soup (which is what it tastes like too).
But it's creamy and hot and comforting <3 I was really proud!

I can't find the recipe I used, plus I improvised. So I'll list what I did.

Creamy, Coconutty, Sweet Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients:
1 smallish onion
1 leek
1 sweet potato
1 cup of coconut milk
2 cups of beef stock
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp. of ground cumin
salt, pepper

It's pretty basic stuff!

I cut the onion and started cooking it in a saucepan with some butter. In the mean time I fried up bacon to crispify it (actual culinary term ;D). After I cut up the leeks and minced the garlic I added them to the onion. I kept pouring in the bacon fat from the frying pan to the sauce pan (that's how I roll). Waited until they browned and softened (more than the recipe required, but I was fine!) added the cumin. A few minutes after the beef stock and the cubed, peeled sweet potato.
Then wait until the potato is soft and breaking apart (sweet potatoes are quick to cook, btw). Finally, added the coconut milk (creamy, canned variety is best) and put it into my lame magic bullet (I had to go back and pour it in again to puree everything). And viola! Salt and pepper it to taste. I used A LOT of pepper. With the cumin and the black pepper the taste of the soup was sweet with a spicy kick, a very lovely, comforting taste.

The crispy bacon... I made a smiley face with it. I was too lazy to crumble it.


The panna cottas... The recipes I had were so lame and confusing! I guess they were meant for hose who know how to work with gelatin. I just poured it into my coconut milk but it crystallized and the milk separated and I think it failed. I put it in the fridge but I don't expect anything ;/
Not to mention coconut milk in a panna cotta is just... not the same. ARRGH! I love cream too damn much.

Anyway, this soup was a success. So you should try it ;D

[Metismomma]

MMM looks good! I might try it, but it definitely be a 2 person deal. My kids were good sports when I try new foods, but that is over now. Now its all " O.M.G. Normal food pl0x! *eyeroll*" then I get irritated because they're too young for that attitude.

The game looks kind of neat, reminds me of old Final Fantasy, which I lurved so much <3<3<3

[namelesswonder]

Love the food reviews and commentary.

Do you have a plan, now that you're back and posting, in terms of what you want to do/physical/mental goals? Maybe I missed that.

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

MMM looks good! I might try it, but it definitely be a 2 person deal. My kids were good sports when I try new foods, but that is over now. Now its all " O.M.G. Normal food pl0x! *eyeroll*" then I get irritated because they're too young for that attitude.

The game looks kind of neat, reminds me of old Final Fantasy, which I lurved so much <3<3<3

Yeah, the original recipe is meant for 4. I found it, here it is: Leek And Sweet Potato Soup | Paleo Diet Lifestyle
But I modified because I'm cheap ;D

But it's very filling though! I had a plate yesterday and have 2-3 more (from my ratios). So most likely if you want to have leftovers you'd use the original.

Yeppers, just like old FF.

I'm sure your kids will dig it. It tastes universally "bad", if you know what I mean. Very creamy and sweet/ spicy. They probably won't notice that it's Primal ;D

[NoSaladWithoutMeat]

Love the food reviews and commentary.

Do you have a plan, now that you're back and posting, in terms of what you want to do/physical/mental goals? Maybe I missed that.

Damn you, you party pooper!

I don't wanna think about my goals right now. I was in such a deplorable state on my hiatus that I just want to get back to eating real food and distress. It came to a point where everything would stress me out, ESPECIALLY food. There was no way to turn.

I guess now I take comfort in food. And as bad as that sounds (just saying it makes me feel like a fat ass), as long as I'm consistently Primal, I'm A-OK.

The plan is: not to have a plan ;D