Political Nutrition

Ridiculous how simple this is. No, really. First, kudos to Megan at Detoxinista . Her fabulous recipe got me thinking anything is possible. Of course this time of year, anything is possible. :) So, the key to all of this is going to be the ingredients. I need to stress that. I can't vouch for what I don't use. And again, for those who do not know me, I know nothing about diet, nutrition, health other than my own personal road well travelled. Through Diabetes and Heart Disease and the FDA's goddamn food pyramid that nearly killed me. So. Back to food. I love food. I live for food. And my kids. And my husband. Ok there's a few other good parts in here. But I do love food. Probably genetic on my Dad's side. The Hungarian-Slovak need for really deliciously rich foods. My mom taught Piano. Therefore, my mom had piano recitals. She served food. And there were these amazing cookie bars. Blonde Brownies. They had butterscotch chips maybe? Hell I don't know. I o...

I used to jump on the elliptical to work off a mad. Now I bake it off. Today's Mad Mary's recipe? Chocolate muffins. Simple, not too heavy, not to sweet. Just enough to take the edge off. Simple Chocolate Muffin. Perfection. Just adapted from the Cinnamon muffins. The idea was so remarkably simple. Delete the cinnamon and throw in the cocoa. And then to tone it down and remove the bite... some delicious cream. 2 cups Almond flour 2 teaspoons BAKING POWDER 1 teaspoon vanilla 4 large organic eggs 1 stick melted (half cup or 8 tablespoons) organic butter, unsalted, or Ghee. 1/3 cup Cream 1/3 cup sweetener (depends on how sweet you like your muffins)  Swerve 1/3 cup Cocoa Preheat the oven to 350F and line a muffin tin (12) with paper liners. Sift all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add the Butter, then Vanilla, eggs, one at a time, then mix till well blended. Stir in the cream slowly so as not to whip it. Note: add some chopped bits of dark choco...

Everyone has their favorite foodie blog to tell them what to eat and how to eat it. I've got one of my own that I write... does that make me right? Maybe. Maybe not. Here's the key. Don't just assume that because someone says it's fabulously nutritious and prevents every ailment in the modern world... well.. that it's true for you.  Take Kale. Nutritious? Probably. So are most plants to someone. For me, since it can promote blood clots, really bad idea to eat it. And stomach issues. If you're prone to any gastric issues... don't eat it. Oh wait... but it prevents cancer! Cancer won't kill you if you're already dead of a heart attack. In other words, not all super foods are super for everyone. And everything in moderation.  If you can tolerate Kale, great. Have it a few times a week at most. Not all day every day. Nothing is good for you in high doses, and the more nutrients a food packs, the less you need to eat of it. This isn't som...

I always have trouble when a recipe calls for honey. Can't use it. But it's liquid not solid and some "experts" say no worries, sugar melts into liquid. Same thing. Others say whoa not so fast, add some liquid and extra sweetness. I don't pay attention. I half read it, nod and figure, I'm gonna throw something together and see if it explodes. Which would be somewhat humorous and all that, if in fact my bread batter didn't do just that today. My intention was to make almond butter bread. I'd seen a headline saying Almond Butter Bread... and thought hey I can do that. It was paleo, and filled with weird things like flax seed and chia gel. But it seemed to me that almond butter is nothing more than almonds ground so fine that they become butter and I bake with almond flour all the time. I'm smart. I can figure this one out. Since I'd already determined I wasn't going down those roads, chia street and flax boulevard, (but certainly if t...

I pulled out my grandmother's lemon bar recipe, courtesy of my sister who keeps all these things. One look gave me the heeby jeebies. 2 CUPS of sugar. And of course that wonderful butter pastry crust. So, absolutely not going with Almond Flour on this one. Sorry, but I could not fathom making a mockery of something my taste buds have always had a soft spot for. And hubby not liking coconut, which is of course the perfect choice, left me in a quandary. You can't make a half-assed Lemon Bar. So I went with the coconut anyway. Hubby's not the diabetic one, so he can live with it. I am only sharing this recipe because I've changed it enough that it isn't actually my grandmother's anymore, and I also assume... rather this is an educated guess... she got it from a cookbook anyway. Sugar Free Grain Free Gluten Free Lemon Bars This isn't in a cookbook yet. But if I ever publish one it will be cause these are that good. Really. Lemonlicious Lemon Bars G...

Hubby is/was a peanut butter cup addict. Could eat them by the bag full. So I wondered, how hard could it be to recreate his obsession? Considering peanuts are out, so no peanut butter, we needed something a little healthier. We went with Almond Butter, which if you haven't tried it is probably tastier than peanut butter. So this was a small batch, and would probably make about 15 candies in a mold. But he always complained about the little peanut butter cups. Said took more effort to unwrap then they were worth. So go big or go home, right? I pulled out some mini paper muffin liners. And went to work. Chocolate 2 oz cocoa butter 1.5 oz unsweetened cocoa powder  1 oz swerve sweetener (or your choice) 1/2 tsp vanilla Filling 2 tbs butter 1/4 cup almond butter 1 tbsp swerve (or your choice) Make the filling first. I did not do that and was fervently mixing the chocolate to keep it from hardening while I made the filling so bad idea. Melt the Almond Butte...

I know what you're thinking. That I'm going to say just eat what you want in moderation. Let's leave insanity aside for a moment. The reality is, I've spent decades... ok a long time... eons... eating the wrong foods for the right reasons. I am the chronic dieter who fails each and every time to lose weight and keep it off. I make yo yo dieting look like an improvement. What I will share with you is this. Over the summer, I dropped 15 pounds. I've got a ways to go, but time is on my side. We're not talking water weight. Not targeted toning. Not "Wow that was easy" weight. 1-2 pounds a week. Slow and steady like a tortoise.  I haven't given up my chocoholic ways. Too may nutritional benefits to chocolate to do so. I did give up some really stupid foods. Here they are in no particular order. Bread.  Corn. Rice. Potato.  Cereal. Sugar. Pasta. Pizza. Peanuts. Watermelon.  Grain and hormone fed meats and dairy. All whea...

So you can't have a breadstick. So what. Here's something better. Cheese Crisps Take a handful of grated cheese, full fat, hard cheese is best. But any kind will work, except maybe Mozzarella. That won't work too well. So take a handful of cheese and place it in the middle of a hot skillet. Pat it down a little bit. Season it if you like with a bit of garlic or onion powder. so easy. Let it cook until the bottom begins to bind itself and brown. Now flip it over and finish cooking. Remove from heat, and while it's still soft, roll it (you can use the spatula if it's hot) and set on a paper towel so any excess oils can be removed. Wait a few minutes if you can, and enjoy your cheese crisp. It's fabulous.

I realized too late, I was out of dessert. And quite stressed from work, this could have sent me into a panic attack. Almost did. But my brain kicked into high gear. I had Ghirardelli Chocolate. I had heavy cream. I had Confectioners Swerve and finally, I had walnut pieces. And I thought, my truffle squares are fabulous. But would take too long. But wait. They're so fabulous they don't need the crust. And without a crust, it would just be fudge. I love fudge. 3/4 cup cream, heated almost to boiling. 4 ounces Ghirardelli 100% Cacao unsweetened baking bar, broken in pieces in a bowl. 1/4 cup powdered swerve 1/4 cup walnut pieces (or any nuts you have laying around) Pour the warmed cream over the chocolate, let stand 10 minutes until melted, and stir. Add the Swerve and mix gently. Fold in the walnuts, and pour into a small baking dish lined with parchment. Shove it in the freezer for an hour, or as long as you can wait. It's fabulous. Better than valium. Better t...

The candy mold arrived. And so did my confectioners Swerve. My new go-to natural sweetener with no calories or carbs or things that make your tummy rumble. So, having just come from the dentist where it was determined my teeth and gums were healthy,  I felt it was the most appropriate time to attempt chocolates. Not chocolate bark. Not some weird looking blob on a tray. But chocolates. I have scoured the internet without success. I am beginning to suspect that the famous chocolatiers out there do not want to share their secrets. Fine. I'll create my own. Wait... that's it! Make your own. So I did. Chocolate made to order. Yep. Like that. They are a little sweet, so next batch I'm upping the cocoa and lowering the sweetness. 1/2 cup Cocoa Butter  1/2 cup high quality cocoa (maybe 1/3 cup is better if you like it a little less dark) 1/4 cup Sweetener/sugar/whatever you use. I use powdered. better texture.  1/2 teaspoon vanilla One 30 piece silico...

Just look for a moment at these beauties. Ok. Now these. So do you really care what I had for dinner? Chez Miller's was hopping in the kitchen, while the Tucson Monsoon was raging outside. Sorry, I didn't take any photos outside, Too busy taste testing. So the recipes. If you watch your fat intake, don't try these at home. Or anywhere else. For the rest of us... enjoy. The beauty of a low carb, grain free life. We get to eat this stuff. Appetizer Mozzarella Sticks. You can cheat and use string cheese, but I used some good pasteurized chunk Mozarella. Sliced into 1/2" strips. I made 12.  Take 1 cup of Chickpea Flour divided into 2 bowls, 1/3rd in one, 2/3rds in the other. In between these two bowls, place a bowl with one beaten egg. In the large bowl of flour, add 1 tbsp of onion powder, 1 teaspoon red pepper, 1 tsp parsley and whisk till well blended. If deep frying, set oil to 350 degrees. Or use deep skillet. Dredge chee...

Right now I'm just sitting at a kitchen table, with an absolutely heavenly smell emanating from the oven. I have no idea what it will turn out to be. Total experiment. But anything that smells this good has got to taste even better.  I don't know anything about the science of cooking. Never went to culinary school. Don't have a professional photographer to doctor up my blog photos. They are what they are. But since I do this for nobody  but me, and my friends and readers who still love to eat but wonder what's left in the nutritional cupboard that won't kill them... I don't have to concern myself with those details.  So this is all about that work in progress I've got going. I want a snack bar. One packed with protein, and a little chocolate, that tastes yummy and won't hurt me. Sure they sell them in the stores. But I cannot pronounce the ingredients, let alone define them. So no way.  So here's what batch one looked like.  Then b...

I'm debating whether even to share this with you. And if you are looking for a quick and easy chocolate fix, this isn't it. At least the blog isn't. You have to read the whole damn thing to get to the good part. If you aren't willing to at least make that effort, I'm not giving you the secret. You see, last night it was a chocolate cream pie so amazing you would never ever believe it's part of a grain-free, gluten-free, low-carb au natural eating regimen. That was yesterday. Murphy stopped by. I'm not making this up. Murphy took a perfectly perfect chocolate cream pie, low carb, gluten-free, egg-free, and to die for good, and messed with it overnight. Now you could say it's my fault, I'm no Martha Stewart. Thank God. I don't particularly like that woman. But the thing is, Martha Stewart is one fabulous cook. She has a ridiculously great coconut chocolate cream pie recipe and I wanted to bake it for a friend who is in need of the aforesaid...