An Early (Raspberry) Season

Posted on August 19, 2010

Since Raspberry season has come early this year, I’m wasting no time. Picked three pounds on Sunday at Gardenworks Farm in Salem, N.Y. (http://www.gardenworksfarm.com/)  . That’s only the beginning…anyone familiar with my love of raspberries knows I’m only in the embryonic stages of full seasonal exploitation.

Upon arrival home from Gardenworks, I let out an audible cry of despair after realizing the freezer was completely overloaded (mostly with g-free products I buy on sale and stash). Once raspberries are picked, it’s a pretty quick countdown to spoilage, so I got to work. My cousin, Alice, who picked with me, made jam.  Since I’ve never ventured into jam-making territory, I chose to play to my strengths.

The following is one of my favorite dessert recipes that I’ve adapted to suit my personal taste (as in, using less sugar that is called for; I find most baking recipes are too heavy-handed with it). No matter who tries this chocolate wonder-dessert, they invariably end up clamoring for more…and for the recipe. And they’re usually moaning too loudly to hear me mention that it’s a dessert that falls in line with my gluten-free way of eating. I discovered this symphonic overture for Flourless Chocolate Cake on one of my favorite recipe sites of all time: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/ . Karina Allrich truly is a Goddess and has made me one ecstatic gluten-free gastronome.

Here’s the link to Karina’s recipe…try it, by all means:

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/01/flourless-chocolate-cake_11.html

© Gluten-Free Goddess

For my version of her recipe, I substituted baking (bitter) chocolate for regular dark (Belgian) chocolate. Bitter chocolate + light and dark sugar = ecstasy! So herewith is Stacey’s Version of Karina’s Recipe For:

Flourless Chocolate Cake Crowned with Local Raspberries

16 ounces baking (bitter) chocolate (two eight-ounce boxes)

1 cup organic brown sugar (light or dark)

½ cup organic sugar

1 cup hot espresso or very strong coffee

2 sticks room-temperature unsalted butter

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

8 large organic free-range eggs at room temperature, blended until smooth with a hand beater or immersion blender

1 tablespoon vanilla (bourbon vanilla if you have it)

Preheat oven to 350

I’ve mixed the ingredients two ways: Karina’s food processor method and stovetop method below:

In a large saucepan, melt butter and chocolate together over medium heat, whisking occasionally. When chocolate is mostly dissolved into the butter, gradually whisk in sugars, alternating with hot coffee. Turn heat off and keep whisking. At this point, the chocolate batter may get alarmingly dense and thick, don’t panic! Just keep whisking as best you can. (The addition of the eggs will make everything OK) When mixture is completely smooth, add eggs and vanilla and whisk until smooth.

Spray a spring form (cheesecake) pan with olive oil cooking spray. Cover the bottom of the pan with foil to safeguard any leaks. Pour chocolate cake mixture into pan. Optional: place cake pan in a square baking dish filled with a few inches of water. Bake for 30-50 minutes. I’ve found the cake is done after about 30 minutes, baked on the bottom rack. Check after 30 minutes to assess if you need more time. Cake should be firm in the center and be slightly pulling away from the edges of the pan. Don’t over bake or the cake will be dry and chalky. A few cracks on the surface are OK. Baking in a water bath will help keep it moister.

Cool covered for 30 to 60 minutes before refrigerating. May be served chilled or at room temperature. Top with fresh raspberries. The tartness of the berries is a nice contrast to the dense sweetness of the cake. Bon Appetit!

Fruits of my labor

My friend Mary, who’s not g-free, but ADORES this cake!

The next raspberry recipe is much easier – no baking required. Just a blender:

Raspberry Smoothie

12 ounces almond milk

1 cup raspberries

1-2 scoops protein powder (my favorite: Jay Robb’s Vanilla Egg White Protein Powder http://www.jayrobb.com/cat_proteinEggVan_12.asp)

2 tsp. Agave syrup (raspberries can be a little tart)

1 tsp. vanilla

Blend and enjoy thoroughly.

3 comments

The French Fry Alternative

Posted on July 29, 2010

My salt tooth, though legendary, has been tamed in recent months.  I still get the occasional craving for glistening, hot French fries showered in salt and if I’m at an exceptionally good restaurant, like Balthazar, I’ll dig in. http://www.balthazarny.com/menus/brunch.pdf .

Sometimes when a salt craving hits, I’ll channel it into something relatively tame like rice crackers with olive tapenade (recipe to be posted at a later date), or those amazing Rice Works creations. Made of brown rice, the Sea Salt is the closest thing I’ve ever gotten to Fritos while maintaining my equilibrium and the Sweet Chili are a dead ringer for Doritos http://www.riceworkssnacks.com/flavors_USA.html .
During squash blossom season, however, I shelve the above options, unearth my large cast iron skillet and have a ball.  There’s nothing quite like a fried squash blossom.  It’s flavor is delicate but distinctive. The nutritional content remains a mystery to me but I’m guessing their orange color has to mean there’s some significant beta carotene involved…and maybe a little fiber. I’ve never had the patience to stuff them so I simply dunk the squash blossoms in gluten-free batter and lay each one down in a sizzling bath of hot grapeseed oil (best for frying because of its high smoking point).  In no time they’re crisp and ready to eat…but not before the requisite shower of salt.  Hey, I have a salt tooth….what did you expect?
Fried Squash Blossoms
12 squash blossoms
Grapeseed or light olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 cup gluten-free flour (rice, tapioca, chick pea, etc.)
1/2 tsp. garlic or onion powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 can seltzer
Heat oil on medium heat in skillet. In medium mixing bowl blend dry ingredients well. Add seltzer a little at a time, whisking thoroughly with wire whisk until flour turns to a pancake batter-like consistency…perhaps a little thinner. (Squash blossoms are very delicate and won’t tolerate a heavy batter).  Dip blossoms in batter one at a time and coat thoroughly before placing in pan (oil should be heated enough that they sizzle when placed in the pan). Fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until crisp. Set cooked blossoms aside on a plate or keep warm in a toaster oven until ready to serve.
Bon Appetit!
I think I channeled Scavullo on this shoot.  They were so gorgeoous I couldn’t stop clicking.
And does it need to be said?  They’re WAY better than French fries ♥
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That Feeling of Fullness

Posted on July 13, 2010

Fullness doesn’t begin to describe the way I felt after ritually stuffing myself with something profoundly caloric, like Italian bread soaked in butter, salad mixing bowls filled with macaroni and cheese, and those super sized spreads where all I had to do was remain cloaked in the privacy of my car, reach my arm a little to the left, grab the paper bag and speed away in a cloud of dust.  Quickly I wanted to forget the emptiness of my life…or sometimes the stress…or sometimes the desperation of the cycle of it all.

People ask me now if I had health problems from being 300 pounds + for 20 years.  I didn’t.  Guess coming from healthy stock has its advantages. There was no knee or back pain, or even high blood pressure (much to the dismay of those who were waiting to pounce with their “you’ve got to think about your health” speeches.)  What I did have were the shackles of fat which kept me away from a lot of life…which also kept the emptiness intact. Because when I was in the cycle, it unavoidably thwarted the life force that naturally longs to course through all of us.  This meant innocuous but important things like relationships were compromised.  Why?  Because I was too knocked out to really connect with people.  I thought I was giving it the old college try, but looking back, much of my time was spent either digesting a binge or planning the next one. Doesn’t leave a lot of room for building relationships with others.

So when I recently visited one of my dearest friends on the planet, I was pretty amazed at the contrast – between the time spent with her last weekend vs. my visit three years ago. I’ve known Aunt Connie since before I could walk or talk.  She was my mom’s roommate at Lycoming College and they thankfully never lost touch.  Aunt Connie and I are both Libra to the core, seeking out beauty and pleasure and harmony with a passionate determination.  She has always had an innate sense of how to balance pleasure-seeking while I required a few decades of fine tuning. Aunt Connie’s Heart is wide, pulsating, and ever-generous.  Her passion lights up a room like a joyous lightening bolt.  It used to exhaust me, now I delight in it.  And she has this way of making guests feel like royalty.  Little touches like new bottles of shampoo in the bathroom, lavender sachets on the turned down bed, and an elegant spread she assembles within minutes of my arrival as she describes the dance-yoga-pilates class she took yesterday followed by Aunt Connie’s review of her latest favorite restaurant, Zero Otto Nove (which she drives me to later to prove her point).

The one and only Dr. Connie Vance, presiding in her kitchen
Perfect heatwave repast, both chilled: sliced green apple and a flawless potato soup (no dairy) recipe from Judith Jones’ excellent “Cooking for One”

All around me were the gifts the past 15 months of transformation (from the inside out…I didn’t go on a diet this time, that’s why it worked). It was swelteringly hot and humid.  I was a little uncomfortable but not irate and moaning. Three years ago, I was irate, moaning, and slumped on her couch fanning myself.

Three years ago, I would have packed some insurance in the form of potato chips or fast food and spent a significant part of my three-hour drive down I-87 eating.  Instead, I pop a few walnuts and chug herbal tea (my constant road companion). I arrive at 1:30 p.m. only slightly hungry (heatwaves sometimes do that to me). She served me the elegant spread above and I savored, no I delighted in it all, from the faint hint of garlic in the potato soup to the mint leaves and the fragrant taste they left in the iced tea.

We talk about life:  her book on mentoring that’s just gone to the publisher, my latest travel writing assignment, the latest books she’s reading (Aunt Connie usually has 3-4 in progress simultaneously). As usual, she has a verbal list of all the things she’d love us to experience during my visit…if only there were 48 hours in a day.  So we settle for a handful of them that starts with what we both believe to be the best Little Italy in the world – Arthur Avenue in the North Bronx.

It was Aunt Connie who took me on my maiden voyage there during the winter of 2001 and the experience changed me on a neurobiochemical level. Truly the next best thing to actually being in Italia:  there are signs written in Italian that announce the sale of hand-rolled pasta and fresh mozzarella, lyrical notes of spoken Italian ascend above the drone of English on the sidewalks and in cafes, and then there’s the food.  I don’t have room here to give it the full scope of justice it deserves. I’ll just summarize by saying it’s all good.

Espresso at Palombo Pastry Shop
I can’t help the giddiness.  It happens every time I step onto the Terra Santa known as Arthur Avenue
Gilbert Teitel, Patriarch of Teitel Bros. Imports
Reuniting with my hero after three interminable years.  He supplies the world with Don Luigi, the best extra virgin olive oil on the planet (I’ve been known to tote little glass bottles of it to restaurants)
Dining at Zero Otto Nove, Roberto Pacciulo’s charming trattoria named for the area code of his native Salerno
Arugula salad with Peccorino
Meatballs and polenta bathed in mind-blowingly good marinara
Broccoli Rabe – deep emerald, sturdy, and delicious
Eggplant Parm…Roberto-style
The appetizers were too appealing to narrow it down to two…
So we skipped entrees and stopped ourselves at four
No one says no to Roberto’s Tiramisu
After dinner, we managed to squeeze in a wine-tasting in Pelham and a major Trader Joe’s shopping spree in Scarsdale (that’s actually the closet one to Lake George, so I stock up when I’m in Westchester County) before heading home to rest up for a 7 a.m. wake up call because…
A morning at Stone Barns awaited us…
But not before summoning the two non-neogtiables of my mornings: sunny side up eggs and espresso made a little less abrasive with cream. Even a quick breakfast is elegant at Aunt Connie’s pied-à-terre.
It’s at this Tarrytown paradise where we toured the greenhouses and fields (which always are in some magnificent stage of pre-harvest blossoming during summer months); took a food memoir writing workshop with the amazing Carol Durst, and later dined on corn soup, string bean salad, and just-picked cherries at the Blue Hill Cafe. Then we shopped the farmers market where I lavished Aunt Connie with blueberries, and she bought me a box of wildcrafted Roobios tea. We sat near some flowers and reminisced about the times she would visit me as when I was a kid growing up in Lake George. How even at age 8 I was fascinated with pink lipstick….and any other powdery smelling treasure I could pull from her quilted make up bag. It was Aunt Connie who taught me how to finely chop onions for the omelets she loved surprising my mother with. She also taught me my first few words in a foreign language (French) and whisked me around Paris on my unforgettable first visit. I guess you could say Aunt Connie has been a kaleidescope in human form…showing me uncountable wonders and ways to enjoy life – even just a drop more. The day was wearing on and she had to get home and grade college papers. I had to drive back to Lake George, my trunk packed with remnants of my travels through Arthur Avenue, Pelham, and Scarsdale. I left our time together feeling very full…and food was only a fraction of it.
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Heatwave Sweeps My World: This Was Dinner

Posted on July 6, 2010
…and the culmination of a day that started at 8 a.m. with a trip to the Farmers Market in Saratoga Springs.  The peas were irresistable. (So was the White Lily soft-rind chevre from Sweet Spring Farm in Argyle and I dove into that at lunch).  By the time I got home that day, the sun was nearly setting, it was sticky and hot, and in no way, shape or form did I want to turn on a stove.  This is when the sushi department at Price Chopper is especially useful.   Spicy Crab Rolls + Freshly Shelled Peas + Yogi Green Tea = Dinner ♥
2 comments

If You Love Food Half As Much As I Do…

Posted on June 19, 2010

…Here are a few things I’ve learned these past 15 months:

It’s been just over 15 months I’ve been on the journey that began with watching Oprah confess she’d fallen off the wagon January 5, 2009. She snuck a via sattelite guest appearance by Carnie Wilson for a few brief moments, which alerted me to the existance of a man named Dallas who changed her Life. Dallas Page ended up changing mine too and naturally, I’ve learned a lot along the way. In the Spirit of paying forward, here are some of the things have gotten me to where I am today: 150 pounds lighter, unquantifiably freer emotionally, and immeasurably happier because I’m truly alive for the first time in my life. It’s great to be lighter, but I spent the latter half of my 20’s, entire 30’s, and the first half of my 40’s working on my self-esteem. Without it, life has no Magic…and all the skinny in the world won’t help.

The biggest thing standing in the way of me making changes was food – and my overwhelming attraction to it. Easier said than done to simply eat less. For years I had no desire to give up the mass-quantities. No one was telling me what to do. In other words, there was no motivation. Thought motivation had left the building as far as I was concerned…and then I saw my genetic twin, Carnie Wilson looking breathtakingly happy and healthy and motivation was suddenly ringing my bell again. It’s an essential element but it’s also the wildcard. There’s no explaining how or why it kicks in…or doesn’t. Embarrassment, poor health, unhappiness weren’t enough to get me motivated…for YEARS. But I kept working on self-acceptance and loving myself no matter what my size. I knew that was the key and one day, things came together. Doesn’t make sense in today’s world of dieting and quickie results. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. If you’re not in a place where you’re motivated, trust me, you’re well aware of it. All I can say is, ride it out with as much compassion as you can muster. Self-recrimination never got me anywhere.

I have decades of hardcore binge-eating under my belt. It’s a tough tiger to tame…even when motivated, but absolutely possible. Here are a few suggestions if you feel like you want to end the cycle:

For the Love of God, don’t make too many changes at once, it’ll be overwhelming and you’ll simply give up (who wouldn’t?). I had an ‘order of importance’ list I adhered to when I started in January 2009. At the top were my most dangerous binge foods = the foods I had basically been existing on during the 6 months before I found YRG. Crossing them off was enough of a challenge. But I was ready to make the sacrifice. To get me through the withdrawls, I existed on lots of cheese (I needed the indulgence to get me through), but I made sure to ADD produce with it. Fruits and vegetables had not been a part of my food intake and I knew it was time to welcome them back into the fold.

At about month three is when I agreed to eliminate gluten and cow dairy. Dallas was adamant about it and I’m glad he was…probably wouldn’t have done it without his strong-arming. The gluten wasn’t really that hard because there are so many viable substitutes for bread, desserts, pasta, etc. The cow dairy hurt. Losing that emotional security blanket scared me. I thought it would be impossible since I was such a lifelong dairy-lover. But Dallas Page has this way of frightening people through the ethernet, and like I said, I was ready and willing, so I did it. Eliminating the dairy and gluten changed my body like nothing else I’ve done – and I’m a lifelong dieter who has tried just about everything.

And since I’m not dieting anymore, I don’t play the ‘never again’ game. I have cheese when I really want it and I enjoy it and move on. When I use the word ‘eliminate’ I really mean, I don’t exist on it like I once did. Cheese was doing me no favors…not even that longtime weight-loss tool cottage cheese. Just marketing malarkey. Cottage cheese really never helped me lose an ounce. Without cow dairy clogging my system, I feel SO much freer and more energetic. I noticed about 3 months into it my body actually felt like it was humming. And it probably was…with Gratitude.

If you’re not ready to give something up, then ease back. Taper it a little…especially with the stuff you know is the most damaging. Try seltzer with lemon now and then instead of soda. Or gluten-free pasta instead of Chef Boyardee. You can even do macaroni and cheese with hard goat cheese and gluten-free pasta. Ditto for grilled cheese sandwiches. Check out Angella Cole’s site www.mypickyeaters.com and www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com for FANTASTIC gluten-free recipes. And if you’re not a cook, there are plenty of gluten-free cookies and sweets on the market – most supermarkets have them in the health food section. In the beginning I wouldn’t worry too much about eliminating sweets – if that’s your crutch you may need it for a while. And from personal experience, sugar has not been harmful to me – in moderate amounts. When I get the urge, I have g-free cookies, cakes, cinnamon buns, etc. and they all have sugar. Gluten and it’s unhealthy, inflammatory effects are what really pollutes the body. Same with mucous-producing cow dairy.

Bottom line is, unless it’s a serious thyroid issue, those of us who have more than 50 pounds to get rid of are madly in LOVE food. I still adore food. It’s no crime. It’s quite a lovely thing to love food…but now I love it in a conscious state, not in a trance. There’s something about knowing there’s a beginning and end that makes eating far more pleasurable than it ever has been. And for this to be a long-term way of life, pleasure is definitely along for the ride. There are so many options: gluten-free stuffing at Thanksgiving, cream soups made with chevre or coconut milk, goat yogurt and g-free granola for breakfast, coconut milk ice cream bars, brown rice pudding, flourless chocolate cake. There are lots of options. It’s absolutely possible to eat ENJOYABLY and be Healthy and Release excess fat. How else could I have dropped 150 pounds while retaining my sanity?

 

 

Photo Credit:  Joan K. Lentini, Forward Vision Photography in Lake Luzerne, N.Y.
www.forwardvisionphotography.com
5 comments