Rob felt that we should eat up the remaining leftovers in the fridge. This family eats a lot of leftovers. There was the chicken pot pie and corn on the cob. To add something new, he sliced up some fresh, ripe field tomatoes (beefsteak variety) and tossed it with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic and some ground black pepper. We fought over the tomatoes and mopped up the juice with sliced ciabatta bread that had a firm, chewy texture.
One of the things I learned about roughly estimating high and low GI is to put a small amount of a food into your mouth and wait for 30 seconds. If it is mostly dissolved then it is likely to have a high GI, while foods that don't disintegrate would be lower. How easy is that? I am quite certain the bread we had tonight would have passed the test reasonably well.
For dessert, I ate the banana bread I didn't have time for at lunch. I was quite curious about how it would turn out, because I had scaled up quite a large recipe, and did not have enough bananas. Since bananas (and applesauce) are often used to substitute for fat, I went the other way and added a small amount of extra oil. I also upped the sugar content slightly (so much for GI) because it helps keep the product more moist - another property I was missing with less bananas.
Rant: Many people cut the sugar in a recipe, and then claim it tastes the same. This is mostly true, but they often don't realize that the lower sugar content makes their product dry out and go stale more quickly. For me, the quality of a product involves texture as much as taste. If one desires less sugar, it would be far better to use a recipe that contains less naturally, or to simply eat less. I've never agreed with the concept of eating more of a lower calorie food. I hate that idea. Better to enjoy every calorie I eat instead.
So did I like the banana bread? Yes, I did. I often bake after dinner, and leave the hot loaves out all night to cool. Sometimes I don't have time to wrap and put them away for almost 24 hours, which then gives the flavours a chance to mature before freezing. What would I do if my product went stale by then?
The crumb texture was respectable, considering I had to fool around with a mixture of buttermilk and soured milk, since I was also short of the former. Buttermilk produces a finer, slightly fluffy crumb. I needed to be careful because I was using half whole wheat flour as well as 1% dairy products, both of which create a more dense product. I happen to prefer slightly lighter goods in general.
Okay, maybe it's just a very forgiving recipe. But I really did think about all of these things while I was busy throwing it together with the children's help. Unfortunately, they failed to mix it really well, because it was in such a large bowl. I had to quickly stir some floury bits into the batter as I poured it into the pans. That lack of necessity for good mixing technique is truly where a recipe can be forgiving, or not. To me, the calculation of how the ingredients interact is the cook's art.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Glycemic Index, Chocolate and Chicken Pot Pie
This morning I was up very early, so I spent some time reading about new thoughts regarding glycemic index and diabetic management issues. I really like the common sense approach, which is particularly helpful when you don't want to count every gram of carbs and match it against calories.
I had trouble this afternoon when a diabetic brought me a large box of Purdy's chocolates. He is a big, bluff man with a wild mop of greying hair and very bright blue eyes, which I believe have caused him many women troubles over the years. When he saw that no one had dug into the treat at the end of his appointment, he ripped the box open, rooted through it and found a maple cream, which he stuffed into his mouth. Apparently there were no cherries. When I tried to admonish him, he told me he also drank, and strode out of the office. We will see who has the last laugh when I tell his 92 year old mother, who will probably outlive him.
Rob asked me what he should use on top of chicken pot pie. He had been counting on some leftover pastry from some apple pies I made last week, but unfortunately, I had frozen the dough to keep it fresh, so it would not thaw in time. I suggested making biscuits. It worked well, except there was a little too much topping. The pot pie was flavoured with fresh herbs from the garden.
We also had left over fried chicken wings from a weekend dinner at my mother's, fresh corn on the cob and green salad. Maybe I will steal a peach for later, because I did have a lot of chocolate this afternoon. Adding acid to a meal slows down the overall glucose absorption, thereby softening out the spike in blood sugar, so fruit for dessert is good.
An acidic vinegrette over a salad is helpful, so adding lemon juice to ceasar dressing does not decrease the calories, but gets them absorbed more slowly and keeps you full longer.
Why am I so concerned about glycemic index? Because eating more low GI foods decreases the risk of diabetes. This is also an easy way to automatically maintain better dietary habits, which in turn makes long term weight gain less of a problem, especially in a family as keen on good food as we are.
I had trouble this afternoon when a diabetic brought me a large box of Purdy's chocolates. He is a big, bluff man with a wild mop of greying hair and very bright blue eyes, which I believe have caused him many women troubles over the years. When he saw that no one had dug into the treat at the end of his appointment, he ripped the box open, rooted through it and found a maple cream, which he stuffed into his mouth. Apparently there were no cherries. When I tried to admonish him, he told me he also drank, and strode out of the office. We will see who has the last laugh when I tell his 92 year old mother, who will probably outlive him.
Rob asked me what he should use on top of chicken pot pie. He had been counting on some leftover pastry from some apple pies I made last week, but unfortunately, I had frozen the dough to keep it fresh, so it would not thaw in time. I suggested making biscuits. It worked well, except there was a little too much topping. The pot pie was flavoured with fresh herbs from the garden.
We also had left over fried chicken wings from a weekend dinner at my mother's, fresh corn on the cob and green salad. Maybe I will steal a peach for later, because I did have a lot of chocolate this afternoon. Adding acid to a meal slows down the overall glucose absorption, thereby softening out the spike in blood sugar, so fruit for dessert is good.
An acidic vinegrette over a salad is helpful, so adding lemon juice to ceasar dressing does not decrease the calories, but gets them absorbed more slowly and keeps you full longer.
Why am I so concerned about glycemic index? Because eating more low GI foods decreases the risk of diabetes. This is also an easy way to automatically maintain better dietary habits, which in turn makes long term weight gain less of a problem, especially in a family as keen on good food as we are.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday's Pizza Dinner
The kids tell me that using the words yesterday and today are no good as titles. They probably won't like Sunday either, but I don't think dates matter very much here.
When I walked into the kitchen to get a snack, Rob was throwing pizza dough into the air. He was looking straight up at the ceiling, and I noted with private satisfaction that he did not appear to have any significant A-V pattern phorias as his eyes followed the dough down into his hands.
The crust he makes has some whole wheat in it, to increase the nutrition quotient and decrease the guilt. He leaves it in the Kitchen Aid mixer for quite a long time kneading. Sometimes he gets a kid to hold the machine so it doesn't 'walk' off the counter as it slams the dough round and round in the bowl. After tossing it up and down, he pushes and pulls it all into a nice, thin layer on a greased baking sheet lined with parchment because it comes out incredibly sticky.
Today, there was garlicky tomato sauce with leftover roasted peppers, pepperoni, artichoke hearts and black olives. There was also a thin film of mozzarella cheese on the bottom and finely grated asiago cheese for extra flavour on top.
Our family actually prefers Rob's thin crust pizza compared to the commercial stuff. Friends who've tried it seem to agree. They usually eat enough to make me believe they are not just being polite.
We also had lovely, juicy Red Haven peaches from the Okanagan afterwards. At least, the rest of the family did. I didn't, because I snacked on 2 of them before dinner.
When I walked into the kitchen to get a snack, Rob was throwing pizza dough into the air. He was looking straight up at the ceiling, and I noted with private satisfaction that he did not appear to have any significant A-V pattern phorias as his eyes followed the dough down into his hands.
The crust he makes has some whole wheat in it, to increase the nutrition quotient and decrease the guilt. He leaves it in the Kitchen Aid mixer for quite a long time kneading. Sometimes he gets a kid to hold the machine so it doesn't 'walk' off the counter as it slams the dough round and round in the bowl. After tossing it up and down, he pushes and pulls it all into a nice, thin layer on a greased baking sheet lined with parchment because it comes out incredibly sticky.
Today, there was garlicky tomato sauce with leftover roasted peppers, pepperoni, artichoke hearts and black olives. There was also a thin film of mozzarella cheese on the bottom and finely grated asiago cheese for extra flavour on top.
Our family actually prefers Rob's thin crust pizza compared to the commercial stuff. Friends who've tried it seem to agree. They usually eat enough to make me believe they are not just being polite.
We also had lovely, juicy Red Haven peaches from the Okanagan afterwards. At least, the rest of the family did. I didn't, because I snacked on 2 of them before dinner.
Today's Breakfast
Rob made omelettes. Inside, he put avocado, green onion, dill and cheddar cheese. He said he sauteed the avocado, green onions and dill with a little olive oil first. The ingredients are all leftovers. I bought a large bag of avocados recently, and they all came ripe at the same time.
With the omelette, we had a thin slice of Sasquatch bread (some kind of artisan bread from the chain store) with butter. There were heritage cherry tomatoes - orange, and dark red with green stripes.
Yum.
With the omelette, we had a thin slice of Sasquatch bread (some kind of artisan bread from the chain store) with butter. There were heritage cherry tomatoes - orange, and dark red with green stripes.
Yum.
Yesterday's lunch.
I know my blog title says dinner, but really, it's just about what our family eats for different meals. I am also learning how to make a blog work, so I am sure there will be many mistakes until I get it sorted out to my liking.
Recently, Rob has been doing the cooking, so I am going to talk more about what he has been making lately. Also, this is summer, so good, fresh produce is incredibly plentiful, and we are taking full advantage.
Yesterday's lunch was especially memorable. This is what Rob made for us: He cut ciabatta buns in half and spread them with homemade pesto. Inside, there was fresh, ripe tomato, avocado, pitted kalamata olives and bocconcini cheese. So simple. So good! It was incredibly messy and we wolfed it down. I think it's the freshness of the ingredients - the sweet, juiciness of the tomato, the ripe avocado. The garlic and basil always makes me want to inhale far longer than necessary.
These sandwiches came about because when we went away to London, I became separated from Rob for about 2 hours at the Victoria and Albert Museum. When my angry husband found me, we were starving, and rushed out to the museum courtyard, ready to buy overly priced, bad food. Instead, we found these incredible sandwiches, with the soft cheese, the pesto, the olives and sundried tomatoes. Priced reasonably (for London)! We have been making variations since. All wonderful, and the children are eating them with great gusto.
I could go on and on about the Victoria and Albert Museum, because it is amazing. Unfortunately, I will restrict myself (mostly) to food, since this will help me when I am desperately looking for meal ideas in the future!
Regarding the pesto - I buy big bunches of fresh basil and hard skinned, organic garlic from a local produce market. After I have washed the basil and let it dry (sometimes with the help of a salad spinner), I grind it with the garlic in my food processor with extra virgin olive oil and a bit of butter. Don't ask me how much. I just do it. I usually have enough for 2 large batches in the food processor, and then I mix it together in a large bowl. Using a measuring cup, I pour it into ice cube containers, put plastic wrap on top, and freeze it overnight. This all gets popped out and stored in ziploc bags for easy access. One bag per tray. Needless to say, Rob has been an active participant throughout the steps.
I wonder what he is making for breakfast. I can smell it. I will go and see.
Recently, Rob has been doing the cooking, so I am going to talk more about what he has been making lately. Also, this is summer, so good, fresh produce is incredibly plentiful, and we are taking full advantage.
Yesterday's lunch was especially memorable. This is what Rob made for us: He cut ciabatta buns in half and spread them with homemade pesto. Inside, there was fresh, ripe tomato, avocado, pitted kalamata olives and bocconcini cheese. So simple. So good! It was incredibly messy and we wolfed it down. I think it's the freshness of the ingredients - the sweet, juiciness of the tomato, the ripe avocado. The garlic and basil always makes me want to inhale far longer than necessary.
These sandwiches came about because when we went away to London, I became separated from Rob for about 2 hours at the Victoria and Albert Museum. When my angry husband found me, we were starving, and rushed out to the museum courtyard, ready to buy overly priced, bad food. Instead, we found these incredible sandwiches, with the soft cheese, the pesto, the olives and sundried tomatoes. Priced reasonably (for London)! We have been making variations since. All wonderful, and the children are eating them with great gusto.
I could go on and on about the Victoria and Albert Museum, because it is amazing. Unfortunately, I will restrict myself (mostly) to food, since this will help me when I am desperately looking for meal ideas in the future!
Regarding the pesto - I buy big bunches of fresh basil and hard skinned, organic garlic from a local produce market. After I have washed the basil and let it dry (sometimes with the help of a salad spinner), I grind it with the garlic in my food processor with extra virgin olive oil and a bit of butter. Don't ask me how much. I just do it. I usually have enough for 2 large batches in the food processor, and then I mix it together in a large bowl. Using a measuring cup, I pour it into ice cube containers, put plastic wrap on top, and freeze it overnight. This all gets popped out and stored in ziploc bags for easy access. One bag per tray. Needless to say, Rob has been an active participant throughout the steps.
I wonder what he is making for breakfast. I can smell it. I will go and see.
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