Mussels, alive-alive-o

You had me at shellfish.

Give me a hard-shelled critter that comes from the sea. I don’t care if it’s a mollusc or a crustacean or an echinoderm.– a clam or an oyster or a mussel, a crab, a scallop, a shrimp, or a lobster. I’m there.

Of course I know Jewish Kosher laws forbid eating shellfish (anything “in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers” that does not have fins and scales). That not only includes shellfish, say the rabbis, but also whales, dolphins and other sea mammals, as well as swordfish, catfish, and sturgeon (so often found smoked in Jewish delis!).

Tillie, my very intelligent, very independent, very Reformed Jewish grandmother, chose not to keep a Kosher kitchen in the early years of the 20th Century. My mother continued the tradition. “To be Kosher is to be clean,” they said. “I keep a clean kitchen.” This post is in honor of both Tillie and her daughter Florence.

So I had a yen for the sea today. The truth is I’ve been thinking about mussels lately. Also clams and scallops. And, of course lobster. They’re all going into the FoodBeest kitchen rotation. And soon

There’s not much I don’t like about shellfish. It’s got the taste of the sea – and in fact one of the magical things about mussels is that they actually release the sea right into the pot. They cook up in about five minutes. You can eat tons of them and not worry about gaining weight. One mussel has a mere 7 calories. Seven. That means you can eat two dozen meaty, juicy mussels and consume well under 200 calories – about the same as a dry, tasteless, skinless chicken breast.

And it doesn’t hurt that you can get great mussels for about $5/pound or less.

Fellow FoodBeest, it really doesn’t get better than that. I’ve made mussels before and this time I got creative and improvised a bit with what I had and what sounded good. You can start with this recipe and then just riff with what you like and what you have available. Make sure you make it so that it’s the way you like it.

Pan-Roasted Mussles

What You Need To Make FoodBeest Pan-Roasted Mussels
2 pound black mussels
2 garlic cloves
2-4 little red Manzano or Sweet Pimento peppers, chopped fine (I used a couple of mostly sweet little peppers from last week’s Farmers Market.)
¼ teaspoon fennel seed
1/8 teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon chili flakes
2 fresh Heritage tomatoes, juiced, seeded and chopped or 4 fresh Roma tomatoes chopped (Roma tomatoes are meatier and don’t need to be juiced)
¼ C drinkable dry white wine (totally optional: you can also use a little beer or ale or you can omit it entirely if you don’t want to add alcohol)
Chopped Italian parsley for garnish
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

How To Make FoodBeest Pan-Roasted Mussels
Rinse the mussels and pull out any “beards” that sick out of the shells. The beard is actually a bit of seaweed that is caught inside the shell. Discard any mussels that are broken or that that are open and don’t close when you tap their shells gently. If the shells aren’t closed, Fellow FoodBeest, it is likely that the mussel is dead – and you really do want them “alive-alive-o!”

In large sauté pan (I used a wok) heat oil then add garlic, peppers, seeds, and seasonings and stir until the garlic just starts to color. Keep an eye on it. If the garlic burns, it will be bitter.

Add mussels, tomatoes and wine. Cover and cook four minutes until mussels start to open. Add parsley salt and pepper.

That’s it to satisfy 2 very hearty eaters.

Coleslaw
I also served a homemade coleslaw that I made by shredding a whole small Savoy cabbage, julienned green pepper and cucumbers, and a tablespoon or two of grated onion. I wanted to add carrots for color, but couldn’t find a single carrot in the veggie drawer, not even one of those “baby carrots” in a plastic bag. Unlike me, you might want to think through what you need before you start cooking so you know you have what you need, Fellow FoodBeest. Or, if you want to use one of those packaged coleslaw mixes in a plastic bag you can do that too.

I tossed the veggies with maybe a quarter-cup of mayo, a tablespoon of cider vinegar, a packet of Splenda, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a little salt and pepper and a shake or two of cayenne pepper. I got lucky and it was one of the best coleslaws I’ve made: a perfect combo of sweet, tangy and slightly spicy.

Oven-Roasted “Fries”
In addition, I peeled two small Idaho potatoes, cut them into strips and let them sit in a bowl of ice water for about a half-hour. The ice water bath removes a lot of starch from the potato and they are less sticky.

Then I dried the potato strips and tossed them with 2 T oil, ½ t salt (should have used more), ¼ t pepper (could have used more of this, too), spread them out on a baking sheet and roasted them for about 30 minutes at 425°F. They were not as crispy as I usually like, but they were very tasty and not nearly as fattening or greasy as real fries. And served it with homemade ketchup!

More Cockles and Mussels coming up. Watch for it. In the meantime, please take a moment and share your experiences with your favorite shellfish in the comment section below.

Summer Eggplant Tasting

It’s late July and the great produce is showing up everywhere. The Green City Farmers Market (I am so lucky to have it!), the grocery store – even our garden.  Its a wonderful change from the packaged, processed stuff that is available other times of the year. The only hesitation people sometimes have is that it’s a “hassle” to prepare.  Not these.

So when I was contemplating lunch today (that often starts mid-morning) what came to mind was the eggplant I picked up this morning.  Now I happen to really like eggplant. It’s great in my two favorite ethnic cuisines: Italian and Asian.  And it’s totally different depending on what other foods and seasonings you put it with. And I discovered this great way to fix eggplant in minutes for a really unusual side dish or a light lunch.

This one is a keeper, Fellow FoodBeest!

You won’t believe how fast it is; how easy it is and how good it is. It comes out both crispy and creamy and “Italiany” and delicious. If you’re doing that big well-known weight loss program, the whole eggplant is two servings for about 4 points(+) per serving.

These were so good that after I finished my first four slices (little ones from the neck of the eggplant) thinking that was lunch, I found myself craving more of them and went back to make more.

And besides, making these puppies means you get to use that waffle maker that you take out twice a year for breakfast, Fellow FoodBeest. If you have a George Forman Grill or a Panini maker, you could probably use that as well, but you won’t get the same nice deep crispy grooves.

What You Need to Make Waffled Eggplant
1 eggplant
1 egg
½ C Parmesan cheese (yes, Fellow FoodBeest, the real thing – preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano – and never, ever the ground up stuff in the green canister)

Waffle iron

How to Make Waffled Eggplant
Slice eggplant about ¾-inch thick.

Mix up the egg in a bowl with a little salt and pepper.

Put Parmesan cheese in a second bowl.

Coat eggplant slices in egg and Parmesan cheese

Dip eggplant in egg (both sides). Then put in bowl with Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the top with more cheese to be sure both sides get well coated.

Spray waffle iron with cooking spray and heat waffle iron. Put eggplant slices on waffle iron, close top and hold the handles together tightly.  It will take about a minute or two for the eggplant to soften up enough to mold itself into the grooves of the waffle iron. You’ll know because the handles don’t require you to hold them together.

Cook eggplant on waffle iron until crispy

Cook until crispy and a little brown on both sides.

Serve with chopped up fresh tomatoes (I used little grape tomatoes) or some Italian tomato sauce.

That’s it.  Two servings.

Blistered Shishito Peppers

Shishito Peppers

I fell in love with these tiny sweet Japanese peppers at the Girl and the Goat recently.  They’re this great little vegetarian “cocktail hour” nibble. After we had than at GatG, I researched them and found out they were mostly only available at Asian markets.

So you can imagine how excited I was to find 3 baskets of them at the Green City Market, Chicago’s premiere Farmers Market. Fool that I am, I only bought one basket. Note to self: if you find something that you know is hard to find, buy ENOUGH!

“Ok,” FoodBeest, you may ask, “what the heck is a Shishito pepper?”  Shishito peppers are a Japanese pepper, between a finger and half-a-finger-long. They are very glossy, as if they had been waxed, slightly wrinkled and chartreuse in color. What do they taste like? They’re maybe closest to banana peppers, but not even that spicy. They’re certainly not like jalapeños or serranos or even bell peppers. They’re mild – sweet, even – and while they are not hot, we found the seeds in ours had just a little bite.

Shishito peppers ready to munch

You literally pick them up by their stems and bite off the rest of the pepper.

What You Need to Make Blistered Shishito Peppers
Shishito Peppers
2 T Oil (I used corn oil, but any oil with a high smoking temperature will do)
Sea Salt

How to Make Shishito Peppers
I used a wok, but a small or medium frying pan would do just as well.  Heat up the oil.  Add the peppers.  Stir-fry quickly until the skins are blistered and the peppers are wrinkly and soft.

Salt them.  Put them in a pretty bowl and serve immediately as a snack, an appetizer or an hors d’oerve.

Alternately, you could toss them in a little oil and grill them.

Ok, Fellow FoodBeest, now it’s your turn.  Especially you vegans and vegetarians! What do you love to do with the season’s growing stuff?  Share in the comments section below.

Seasons of Food

First there’s the long winter. Here in Chicago it tends to be interminably grey, damp and cold. Some years a snow comes down overnight that can only be measured in feet. It is not a sweet, picturesque Martha Stewart Christmas snow that makes everything look pretty.  It buries cars and walkways and can sit there, for weeks getting harder and greyer. Folks call the sharp damp wind off the lake “The Hawk” for good reason. People here walk around with their shoulders up by their ears a lot.

It’s a good time for soups and braised meats that cook slowly and turn tightly closed-up houses into vessels of fragrance for hours. Osso bucco or short ribs 16 different ways: served with polenta or noodles.  Hearty soups (or soups with heart) come out. They are satisfyingly meaty or feature rich, chewy legumes.  They are hot and filling and are designed to warm everything as they go down.

And then there is a break. The icy snow begins to melt, leaving puddles and mud in its path. Snow boots and gloves come off.  Scarves loosen. Shoulders drop back into place.

And then there is that magical day, usually in early March, when you walk outside and notice the not-quite-yet-green tips of the first crocuses poking out of the snow. And pretty soon — “Look! It’s the first robin!”

Everything begins to lighten up. Our clothing. Our thoughts. Our moods. Even our food. The charcoal grill comes out.

And the first big change is when ramps, wild leeks, appear in the market.  They look like scallions gone wild with their wide Kelly green wings. Their flavor is a little oniony, a little garlicky and, just a little wild. Grab ‘em when you see ‘em, Fellow FoodBeest, ‘cause they won’t be around long.

This year we got only one bunch, by pure luck. They come and go even before the farmers markets open. This year the FoodBeest chopped them up and sautéed them with potatoes in a little bacon fat [Hey, I heard that Fellow FoodBeest!  A tablespoon of bacon fat has no more "points" than a tablespoon of olive oil]. They were a side dish for dinner, but if we had more we would have made a batch topped with fried eggs for breakfast.

After ramps come pea shoots.  Pea shoots are the delicate, chartreuse tendrils of pea plants. They basically taste like peas and make beautiful salads and are wonderful stir-fried.  Also very short lived.

And then asparagus, green and purple and red rhubarb and artichokes.  We eat the asparagus steamed, roasted, sautéed and grilled.  We eat them in salads and omelets and as side dishes. Rhubarb always becomes rhubarb crunch – just once-a-year. Artichokes get steamed and stuffed and baked.

And now we have cherries and berries and sweet corn-on-the-cob.  The zucchini plants are preparing to provide their amazing yellow blossoms. And soon the good tomatoes (both green and ripe) will appear, along with melons and squash in their full bounty rich with the color and taste profile of late summer.

And we welcome each of those, Fellow FoodBeest for the delight that they are and what they make possible for us.

Enjoy the season of growing. It won’t be with us forever.

Season of Losing Weight

Speaking of seasonality, it’s been more than three months since the FoodBeest entered the season of losing weight.  She’s lost 20 lbs and two clothing sizes.  That’s a good thing.  The best parts of it are

1)   The FoodBeest’s body is working better. Things that ached in protest over the weight they were bearing are now happier.

2.) The FoodBeest now knows herself as “Word.” I said, “This will happen,” and happen it did.  For no reason, except that I said so. And in honoring who I was being and what I promised when I gave life to that is where the power lies.

“How did you do it?” people ask.

“It must have been hard work,” my doctor said, noting the 20 lbs together with the 20-point drop in my cholesterol.

It wasn’t hard work. It wasn’t work at all. It was just declaring the new way of being. And then honoring that

There was the stuff to do. There was signing up for the big weight loss program that has been around forever and that most nutritionists agree is the safest, sanest program for losing weight.  And BTW, even that took something. The protests in the FoodBeest’s head that cried “NOOO!” were very loud.  There was learning the ins and outs of that program and how to eat, but mostly how to find and prepare food that was going to support the loss of excess poundage and – and the same time – serve at the pleasure of a FoodBeest.

Cooking spray replaced most olive oil and butter.  Reduced fat mayonnaise replaced the real deal. Turkey bacon stepped in for thick-sliced Black Forest pork bacon. Sliced soft packaged bread with no texture that allowed twice as any tasteless slices replaced the crunchy, chewy bakery bread I craved. Skinny Pop popcorn. Deli sliced turkey. 93% lean ground beef.  Chickpea/spinach patties. No-point vegetable soup that is always in the fridge now.

I got to be good friends with Skinny Gina whose low-fat recipes replicated many standard foods I enjoyed.  Spinach meatballs turned out to be delicious.  So did her carnitas and her cauliflower pasta. Then I discovered Hungry Girl for her fake fried veggies and hints for making skinny food more filling without being more fattening or “point-ridden,” and Emily who Bites for her farro casserole and her mac-and-cheese muffins.  This is a whole industry, Fellow FoodBeest, and a lot of really great support out there.  Special thanks go to daughter Alexis who has been traveling on this journey with me for her awesome tips, techniques and her loving encouragement.

There is a whole world of people, like the FoodBeest – and maybe like you – who know and crave delicious food and want to take care of keeping their bodies working well at the same time. I didn’t know it when I started, but it’s totally doable.

Ok, Fellow FoodBeest. This is your turn. What are your seasons of life? What recipes do you want from the season of losing weight? Or from the current season of growing.

That completion of my Season on the Program is approximately 2½ weeks away. “So, how’re you doing, FoodBeest?” you ask. As of this morning, this FoodBeest has lost 18 lbs against her promise to lose 25. The dressmaker is taking in several pants and skirts by two inches and the FoodBeest has purchased a new pair of pants in a size she hasn’t seen since high school.

Whoopee!

A couple of things about that:

First, this did not happen because the FoodBeest went on a diet. Everyone has been on a diet – you’ve probably been on a diet, Fellow FoodBeest and you may have noticed that it doesn’t guarantee results. This Season of Losing Weight happened inside of Word. The FoodBeest declared the loss of weight to dozens of people. Everyone of them knew me as someone who was losing weight. They supported me. They asked about it.

And who I have been is my word about what went in my mouth and the weight is coming off.

Second, I have not experienced deprivation. If you have been following this for the past several months, you know that we have eaten at some pretty great restaurants and I have eaten some amazing foods. I’ve been to Cafe Spiaggia, Sprout, Next and Lao Sze Chun, among others. The FoodBeest has eaten extraordinarily well. I have also enjoyed my share of fruit of the vine.

And there have been adaptations of many otherwise “verboten” foods, including carnitas. My favorite new one is Skinny Onion Rings. And then some.

There is a blogger who calls herself Hungry Girl who gets credit for the recipe. I just adapted it. It was great. I couldn’t believe how great it was. I don’t even own a frier, but we Americans have a bit of an unhealthy love affair with fried foods.

I love onion rings. And these are not only delicious; they fit right into the eating plan with barely a blip! (A whole recipe is only 1 point!)

Here’s the basic recipe as I adapted it from HG.

Skinny Onion Rings

What You Need to Make Skinny Onion Rings
1 large onion (I used a sweet vidalia)
¼ C egg whites or Egg Beaters
1/4 cup crushed high-fiber cereal (I used Grape-Nuts; the original recipe from HG called for Fiber One)
Salt
Cayenne pepper
Garlic powder

How to Make Skinny Onion Rings
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut ends off onion, and peel, removing the outer-most layer of onion. Cut onion into 1/2 inch wide slices, and separate them into rings.

Fill a small bowl (just large enough for onion rings to fit in) with egg whites.

Using a blender or food processor, grind cereal to a breadcrumb-like consistency.

Pour crumbs into another small dish. Season to taste with salt, cayenne and garlic powder and mix well.

One by one, coat each ring in egg. Shake off excess. Then put each ring in the seasoned crumbs. Turn and then spoon crumbs on top so that each ring is coated. Place on an oven-safe baking dish sprayed with nonstick spray. Cook for 20-25 minutes, flipping rings over about halfway through. Serves one!

OMG! These were amazing. They were slightly sweet because the onions and the cereal were both sweet. I couldn’t believe they weren’t real deal – fried and fattening.

They were so good that I thought about them all the next day. If onion rings were that good, what about all the other stuff that’s good fried? Whole mushrooms came to mind. And zucchini slices. Like regular bar food.

And then I started to think about shrimp. And oysters! I love fried oysters!

I adapted the recipe above by using a new bowl of egg whites and freshly ground and seasoned cereal for each new item.

And then while I was cooking all those different things, I got a little crazy and even tried some good fresh spring asparagus I had in the fridge.

So here’s how it came out, rated on a scale from 1 – 10
(10 being near-heaven on a plate; 1 being “don’t ever come near me with that stuff again”)

Skinny onion rings – 10
Skinny fried sliced zucchini – 9
Skinny fried whole mushrooms – 8
Skinny fried peeled shrimp – 8
Skinny fried shucked oysters – 6 (they were too wet and the breading didn’t stick well)
Skinny fried asparagus – 2 – just don’t do it.

I think you could fake-fry chicken with this. Or calamari.

Fellow FoodBeest, like you, I love to eat. I know that you could have a great time with this recipe. Let us know what you think. Let us what you’re going to try. And what you think of it.

This recipe is fast, easy and designed to impress your family and friends. Put them up in jars and they make good hostess or holiday gifts. These pickled red onions go with all kinds of Mexican food, sandwiches, and gravalox. I made them as part of a meal that was headlined with low-fat carnitas based on the incredible traditional ones we ate in the Mexican State of Michoacan. (And in case you wondered, Fellow FoodBeest, non-fat carnitas is absolutely a non sequitur.)

What You Need for Pickled Red Onions
3/4 cup (180ml) white vinegar
3 tablespoons (50gr) sugar
pinch of salt
1 bay leaf
2 allspice berries
2 peppercorns
cinnamon stick
1 dried red chile
1 large red onion, peeled, and thinly sliced into rings

How to Make Pickled Red Onions
1. In a small, non-reactive saucepan (that means don’t use aluminum or copper), heat the vinegar, sugar, salt, seasonings and chiles until boiling.
2. Add the onion slices and lower heat, then simmer gently for 30 seconds.
3. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
4. Transfer the onions and the liquid into a jar then refrigerate until ready to use.

The onions will keep for a really long time, but don’t expect them to last long. We’ve been nibbling on them all week.

Please use the “comment” section below for your thoughts, ideas, questions. We will answer all questions, but we won’t respond to every comment unless you let us know you want us to.

A brief history:
Michoacan and Patzcuaro was the home of the Purhépecha Indian Empire which rivaled the Aztec Empire when the Spanish arrived. The Patzcuaro area, was colonized – often brutally – by the Spanish in the early 16th Century.
In 1536 Bishop Vasco de Quiroga, arrived to clean up the mess left by his predecessors. The Bishop, a highly enlightened dude of his day, was inspired by the humanitarian concepts set out in Sir. Thomas Moore’s Utopia. In that vein, Father Vasco encouraged education and agricultural self-sufficiency. He also assigned each village around Lake Patzcuaro the ability to perfect and produce specific craft specialties: textiles, wax figures, pottery, wood, feather crafts, masks, copper, guitars, etc.

Those craft specialties continue today.

I do want to note that the United States State Department has issued a travel advisory, urging “U.S. citizens to defer unnecessary travel to Michoacan.” and for those who are “traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution.”

We were either too ignorant or too naive to be concerned. We certainly encountered no hint or threat of violence when we were there, but the warning is not without merit. Incidents do happen. Sadly, this lovely part of the world that endured brutalization in its past, may now be subjected to a new form of fear and violence.

We spent two days on our trip through the Patzcuaro area, driving from town to town. It’s a beautiful area with dozens of little towns dotted around the lake. We walked around and looking at handicrafts, admiring and occasionally buying small treasures. We focused on Santa Clara de Copra, the center of copper design and production. Mr. FB and I had decided to buy a beautiful copper sink to replace the white ceramic pedestal in our powder room. We also purchased a beautiful copper and silver vase. In Santa Clara, it cost about 1/10 of what we would have paid in the states. Such a deal.

Little did we know, Fellow FoodBeest, how much it would cost us to buy the base for the sink, the granite counter top and the new plumbing. But I digress.

As you might imagine, all that sight-seeing and shopping made us really hungry.

Someone had told us about Carnitas Carmela, a famous carnitas place in the nearby town of Quiroga. “Don’t miss it,” they said. Carnitas are a specialty of the State of Michoacan. So, with an eager mouth and an empty stomach, we went off in search of Carmela.

Carnitas? Say what you will about apples, Fellow FoodBeest, carnitas may well be the original forbidden food in my world. For starters it’s pork. And while my “modern” Jewish grandmother eschewed keeping Kosher, and my mother served spareribs and bacon, actual roasted piece of pig never existed in my dinner table. Say what you will about a fine line, that’s where it lived.

Authentic carnitas are cooked in melted lard in a copper pot. Fresh lard, which is an important ingredient in Mexican dishes, is not used that much in kitchens in the United States. We are more likely to use oils or butter or (sorry to say) margarine as we pay lip service to concerns about weight and cholesterol.

In the town of Quiroga, if you follow the streets of shops filled with local handicrafts, you will come to the city’s square. At the end of that street, in the center of town, are perhaps dozens of food vendors, the largest of which was Carnitas Carmela. Even outdoors, the aroma was enticing. Carnitas Carmella braises well-seasoned pork in melted lard in a huge copper bowl.

The four of us ordered our meal, found a picnic table under an umbrella and sat down. For pennies, we were each served enough meltingly-tender pork on a waxed paper slab to feed a good-sized family. Then servers came around offering pico de gallo, avocado, spicy pickled vegetables, cervezas, and fresh, homemade tortillas. We eagerly devoured every obscenely juicy morsel, sighed and rolled our eyes in pleasure while we talked and listened to a local musician playing the guitar and singing.

Fellow FoodBeest, you would have loved it. Rick Bayless, the chef who brought fine regional Mexican cuisine to the United States would have been proud. I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out he had eaten there also.

Chicago’s Alinea may be the considered the best restaurant in the U.S., but this casual, open-air feast was one that we are storing in a “silver memory box” right beside a super-fancy evening at Alinea – to be taken out and remembered, our mouths watering as we relive it.

So here I am in the season of losing weight and I came across a recipe for carnitas on another website that was compatible with The Plan. It involves removing all the fat from a pork shoulder, browning and seasoning it very well and then cooking it all day in a crock pot.

And I thought you would want to know about it.

And, as I always do, I’ll tell you the truth, Fellow FoodBeest: it wasn’t as good as that vendor in Quiroga, Mexico. It wasn’t an adventure. It wasn’t warm and sunny. The pork wasn’t braised in lard. There was no guitar music. However, it was totally satisfying and evocative of that wonderful meal and with the additions of corn tortillas, avocado, refried (no-fat-added) black beans, salsa and simple home-made pickled red onions, it was memorable and worth repeating and sharing with you.

The “comment” space below is where you can tell this FoodBeest what you think. Feel free to include your questions, any so-what’s or what’s-so’s. The FoodBeest doesn’t respond to every comment, but if do you want a response, please let us know.

Two weeks down on the “Lifestyle Program.” Thinking before I put anything in my mouth. Calculating “points.” 6.6 lbs down so far. Certain jeans getting noticeably (noticeable to me anyway!) baggy.

So let’s talk about artichokes. The stuffed, but skinny kind.

Some Ancient FoodBeest who must have been really hungry did us a big favor when he or she actually discovered the pleasures of the artichoke. A thistle, artichokes are covered with fibrous, sharp, pointy leaves. If you didn’t know, there is little about them to suggest that anything about them might be good to eat.

I love artichokes. They’re fun to eat. The contain something called cynarin that causes anything you eat directly after eating them to taste sweet. I think that’s cool. Sommeliers warn us that that quality often has a negative impact on the flavor of wine.

Artichokes take to various stuffings and love being eaten, dripping in butter- or mayonnaise. But as good as they taste, those sauces do not support the loss of 25 unnecessary pounds by June 6. So what now? How to eat – and enjoy -an artichoke?

Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukens of Silver Palate fame have my favorite recipe for stuffed artichokes in their The New Basics Cookbook. Artichokes take a long time to steam so that they have that soft, sweet succulent quality. This recipe cooks rather quickly in the microwave and makes a fast and pretty easy great lunch or first course.

This recipe adapted easily for The Plan. Basically, we replaced the melted butter in the original recipe with broth or stock. The FoodBeest’s adaptation is just 4 “Points Plus” for two artichoke halves – if you happen to be someone who is keeping track of that kind of thing.

What You Need to Make Stuffed But Skinny Artichokes
2 large artichokes
Lemon cut in half
1 C good chicken or vegetable broth or stock (homemade, canned or in the box)
1 small zucchini, grated (about ½ C)
¼ C dried bread crumbs (I used whole wheat panko)
¼ C Parmesan cheese
¼ C shredded part-skimmed mozzarella cheese
1 minced garlic clove
1 t dried oregano
½ t salt
Freshly ground black pepper (no, don’t use the pre-ground stuff that comes in a jar or can)

How to Cook Stuffed But Skinny Artichokes
Cut off the stems of the artichokes. Remove all the small leaves toward the stem. They’re unsightly and don’t have much meat anyway. Use a very sharp knife and cut off the top third of the leaves of the artichokes, leaving it with an open top. You will notice that some artichokes are reddish in the center and some are yellowish. Not a problem.

With a kitchen shears, rotate the artichoke as you cut the pointy tops off the remaining leaves. It just looks better this way. Rub the cut ends with lemon so they don’t oxidize and turn brown.

Arrange the artichokes upright on a microwave-safe bowl or plate. Pour in ½-cup of the stock and cover the plate tightly with a microwave-safe plastic. Cook for 12 minutes in the microwave (full power) until the stem end “gives” to a fork’s tines. Reserve the liquid in the dish.

In a small bowl, combine the grated zucchini, bread crumbs, Parmesan, mozzarella, oregano, minced garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix in the remaining broth from the microwave, plus another half-cup of stock or broth. [If you’re not trying to keep points/calories/fat grams down, use only an additional ¼-cup of the broth and add 2 tablespoons of melted butter.]

Now take that really sharp knife and, starting carefully at the stem end, cut the artichokes in half lengthwise. It means that you will have to cut through some of those very fibrous leaves in half and that can get messy. Remove the small, yellowish leaves in the center and scrape out the fuzzy part covering the heart of each artichoke (it’s called the beard).

Arrange the two halves on a plate, stem ends facing out. Fill each artichoke half with half the zucchini mixture. Cover loosely with the plastic wrap.

Pop it back in the microwave for three minutes. Let it sit quietly for another three minutes. Serve and enjoy.

By the way, this is good hot or at room temperature. I’m not sure I like it cold, but you might.

Oh, and a word of warning, if you have a food disposer in your sink do not put any part of the artichoke down in there or you will have a seriously clogged machine. Don’t ask me how I know, Fellow FoodBeest; just trust me on this.

Yield: 2 servings
Cook Time: 30 minutes

According to family legend, my maternal grandmother, Tillie, entered a beauty contest as a young woman at the end of the 19^th Century and was disqualified because the judges thought she was wearing make up.  She was the same woman who, in the 1920s, when her husband asked her what she wanted for her birthday, told him she wanted an apartment building so that she could have her own income.  And if you look at photographs of her, while she is not slim, she carries herself in a way that you can see that she is a matriarch, both proud and protective of her family. But look down at her hands.  They are not the delicate hands of aristocracy; they are peasant hands.

I have those hands. I share that legacy. And I, too, am dealing with weight.

It’s been one week since the FoodBeest has taken on getting rid of her excess weight and the FoodBeest has lost 5 lbs.  Now a lot of that is first-week water weight and since “The Plan” promises an average of a 2-lb/week-weight loss, this will almost certainly slow down. I am a mere 3.3 lbs from my first goal of losing 5 percent of my body weight.

Awesome, right?  Let me know if one of you Fellow FoodBeest math wizes can figure out what that number is.  (If one train is traveling westbound at 45 miles an hour …)

However. (Yes, there is a “however.”  Of course there’s a “however”).

I cannot lie. I miss fats. Seriously. Pam keeps food from sticking to the pan, just as it is supposed to do. But I miss olive oil. Yes, I know there is an olive oil spray. It’s not even in the same world as the good EVOO stuff in my pantry.  If I choose between Tuscan and Spanish olive oil because of their subtle differences, believe me when I say I miss their fragrances, their unique flavors.

I miss butter. I miss watching and smelling its nutty aroma as it foams up and sizzles in the pan.  I miss spreading it on hot toasted bread and watching it gently melt. Or onto rice or noodles.  There is even a cooking technique that adds butter to a sauce to finish it off.

Tuna salad made with one (1) teaspoon of mayonnaise does not have a lush mouth-feel.  It’s dry. And the FoodBeest will not buy “light” mayo with all those extra chemicals.

I’m whining.  Sorry.

But still, there are Triumphs. And Delights. And Finds. And there is Word.

My beautiful daughter, who is also doing “The Plan” since the birth of her daughter, (who by no surprise has virtually the same face as my mother – the girl on the left-hand side of the picture above) turned me on to two great resources.

The first is Skinny Pop Popcorn. I love popcorn. I want it served at my funeral (along with lobster) when people want to celebrate my life. This particular popcorn is truly a victory of science in food.  It’s popcorn that tastes like movie popcorn, but has only 39 calories (or 1 pt on “The Plan”) for each cup. It comes in a bag so you don’t even have to use a microwave. Just open it. You can eat it all day if you want.

The second, is much more versatile.  It is a website by a woman named Gina who did (does?) “The Plan” and has created diet-friendly recipes to help get you through those tough times.  Let’s face it.  How many days in a row can you stand eating a broiled chicken breast with broccoli for dinner? Gina’s Skinny Recipes include foods ideas for every meal, every course, and most cuisines. Gina isn’t paying the FoodBeest for the reference. She probably doesn’t even know about it. Worth a look. Worth a try.

Finally, knowing myself as Word is empowering and freeing. All the complaints and the whining just become background noise that I don’t have to listen to.

Inside the domain of Word, I get to create who I am with language and then that’s who I get to be.  So Pam or butter aside, I am creating health for myself, in part by losing 25 lbs by June 6. Because who I am is my word. And I said so.

So now it’s your turn, Fellow FoodBeest. What do you have to say about your triumphs? Your Delights? Your Complaints? Your Word? Use the Comments section below.

I have been thinking about this for some time. I have been avoiding it, resisting it, justifying it, excusing it, and pretending it’s not an issue.

But it is now the season.

I believe I am currently carrying too much weight for my own body. I am not trying to fit some societal or insurance chart standard. By and large, I am happy with my body.

However my skeletal structure is feeling it. There is a physical impact. Has to be. While the doctors don’t say anything (presumably because they don’t want to deal with their own weight issues), there is no way the FoodBeest can, with any integrity, not take care of this issue. Now.

And there is a history for this season. Literally. My two beautiful children were born in March and January respectively and the time to take off pregnancy weight fell into the spring following their births. Animals that take on weight in the late summer and fall in preparation for the long winter, are then losing it during the period of time when days are getting longer.

To say nothing of looking good for swimsuit season … but I digress.

It’s important to note that there’s nothing wrong. Our bodies reflect ourselves. The FoodBeest has the perfect body for someone who has been eating, cooking and enjoying relishing food in a particular way. It’s just that this body does not currently support all the things that the FoodBeest is up to in life.  And the FoodBeest is really up to a lot.

So now what?

As you know by now, Fellow FoodBeest, this FoodBeest loves everything about food: what it looks like when it is growing; the beauty of fresh produce in a farmer’s market, freshly caught fish, and grass-fed meat; how it smells; the sound it makes when you cut it or sauté it or grill it. The FoodBeest loves how it tastes, the delight of putting various combinations of food together and how different cooking techniques impact all of that.

The FoodBeest will continue to be a FoodBeest, but in a new context for a while. For the next three months, I am making a public commitment to eat according to the rules of a very well-known and effective “lifestyle” program (never say diet) that, if those rules are followed, promises that I will drop 25 pounds, which would put me just exactly at that healthy weight I want to re-attain.

And the FoodBeest blog?

FoodBeest.com has always been about having food be a joy and an adventure; discovering new foods, new restaurants, regionalisms, cultural approaches and attitudes towards food, new ways to cook, new ways to approach all of those things. And the FoodBeest will continue to do that with anecdotes, memories, associations, self-examination and self-exposure.

There have been and will be recipes, but this is not a recipe blog; there have been and will be restaurant reviews, but this is not a restaurant review blog; there have been personal stories and memoirs, but, again, this is not a personal memoir blog.

None of that will change.

For now, at least, we’re looking at the adventure of taking on a new discipline about food, while still loving it in all its forms. There will be ideas and thoughts and recipes about weight-loss, but this will not now become a weight-loss blog.

There was actually a moment of despair at the moment this FoodBeest signed  on that (really very complex) “lifestyle” website, I was very aware of the ubiquitous voice in my head screaming “NOOOOO!” (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t audible to anyone else.)

While I acknowledged that pervasive little voice, it didn’t stop me from doing what I promised to myself and I continued signing on to the program, which is now a presence on my computer and as an app on my phone.

We just enjoyed the Mexican season with chipotle shrimp and fish tacos, high-altitude Tollhouse cookies, margaritas and cervezas.

The next three months will be a new season. there will be much less butter, olive oil, cheese, sugar, cream, pasta, fried foods, white rice, rib eye steak and wine — and much more creative uses of veggies, fruits, lean meats for this FoodBeest. But many of the things that the FoodBeest loves do include things that she still intends to enjoy: soups; braised and grilled foods; seafood; fresh, ripe, juicy fruits.

The FoodBeest remains a FoodBeest. Eating to live is simply not sufficient. At the same time, a healthy FoodBeest is possible.

I promise that there will be occasional indulgences. To not acknowledge that would be insincere and inauthentic. Passover will be its own challenge (all those flour and water matzos), as will my son’s birthday. And while St. Patrick’s Day may call for corned beef, potatoes and beer, Chicago’s greem-dyed river will have to do as a sufficient celebration this year.  And other opportunities for temptation will undoubtedly raise their heads.

But this is a matter of word. It is a matter of health. It is a matter of life.

And that is ultimately what the FoodBeest cares about. What about you? Would you like to join me in this season?

So now it’s your turn, Fellow FoodBeest. What do you have to say?  Are you inspired? Annoyed? Aligned? Bored? Excited? Irritated? Any contributions, thoughts, questions, concerns, “what’s-so’s” or “so-whats”?  Use the Comments section below.