Little bitty pity party with treats

Nothing too extravagant.  Just p*ssed off because I want to feel well every day. I’m doing all this diet stuff and getting a huge benefit from it…and then I get shingles.  And it’s back to AcheyVille.  Argh….

I’m trying to feel compassion for my immune system instead of anger and rage.  There is a long story about the split I have between “me” and “my body”.  But suffice to say that I need to feel more integrated.  I am my body.  This may not be a weird concept to anyone else (though I bet I’m not the only one) but it is to me.  In my fifth decade and I’m finally getting the drift…hey, it’s all me.

So on to food.  What does one do when one feels like crap and can’t eat one’s old comfort food?  Make some new comfort food.  Today I was missing potatoes; chipped, french fried.  Something salty and warm and crunchy. Here’s what I did.  Got out the remaining mochi and sliced it lengthwise in about 3/4 inch strips.  Then I sliced each strip into little 1/16 inch pieces.  This made…uh…many little bits and they went into a small mixing bowl.  I tossed the little mochi bits with olive oil, sea salt, chili powder, and paprika.  Really you could put whatever moves you into the spice blend.  Just for funsies I also crumbled up a rice cake (the ones that are like puffed wheat smooshed into a perfect little wheel).  And last but not least, sprinkled in some sesame seeds.  The oil makes all the spices and seeds stick together.

The oven was preheated to 450 degrees F (I guess I should have said that earlier).  Spread the seasoned mochi and rice cake bits out on a parchment covered cookie sheet.  Stick it in the oven for about 8 minutes.  When it’s ready it’s got a beautiful salty, crunchy, warm, this-is-better-than-popcorn-anyway, satisfying taste.

I gobbled it up. And now it’s my favorite snack.

Well, there goes that promise

Sorry I didn’t do a recipe update like I said I would yesterday.

In my defense I will say that I had several interactions with my mother…which usually results in eating a batch of cookies and/or a quart of ice cream.  Well, I don’t have these things available anymore so I had to actually cry.

What is the world coming to?

My mother is very old, very sick, and very frustrating.  She loves me and my sibs the best she can…and most of the time that just creates confusion.  Whattya going to do?  I only have one mom and she’s not going to last forever so I just am trying to walk through it a step at a time.

Okay, back to food.

Yesterday I was so hungry.  Not so much the kind of hungry you get after skipping some meals…which I didn’t.  No, it was hunger for something comforting, filling, mothering (I guess).  Quinoa and hummus would not fit the bill.  Yesterday was the day before payday and we were pretty broke so I had $10 to spend on dinner for the four of us.

Off to Albertsons.  Definitely not the health food store.  But I found some beef round steak on sale cheap and picked up five.  Then to the veggies where I got a head of cauliflower.  Not organic and it makes such a difference.  But I was in no shape to go all around town. Last but not least, I splurged on some portabella mushrooms.  Total spent?  $11.60…HA!

Beefy, mushroomy dreams began as I drove home.

So the menu looked like this:

• Beef strips and mushrooms in gravy
• Mashed potatoes
• Roasted cauliflower

Yes, I said potatoes.  I thought I would go with a food challenge that shouldn’t do me in.  The roasted cauliflower was a recipe I got from Gluten Free Goodness, an excellent food blog that I must remember to put in my links. She cooks with no gluten, dairy, soy, eggs or corn.

Anyway…I made the potatoes with vegan margarine (which is disappointingly full of soy) and hemp milk since it is a little more creamy than rice milk.  I find the hemp milk has a stronger taste but it couldn’t affect the mashed potato taste so it worked beautifully.

I’m going to try and approximate the beef recipe because it was good!

Beef Strips and Portabello Mushrooms

• 3 lbs of round steak (Yes, this is a wild guess.  Just get enough round steak for your family.)
• 1 cup sliced portabello mushrooms
• 1/2 to 1 cup brown rice flour (which is the only usable flour I had in the house)
• 1/4 scant cup seasoning mix.  I used two kinds of Mrs. Dash.  But as I say that, I’ll bet it has corn in it somewhere.  Argh!

I used my big soup pot/dutch oven type pan.  This recipe would work even better in a crock pot but I was pressed for time.  I cut the round steak into strips.

In a bowl I mixed the flour and seasoning salt together.  Here’s the place to improvise.  Got some rosemary?  Try it.  Your family loves Italian?  Throw in some Italian seasoning.  I think I also put a dash of cayenne in the mix.

A big handful at a time I put the beef strips in the flour mix to coat.  Then into the hot pan with some canola oil.  I would have preferred olive oil, though it might have been too hot for olive oil.  But we are out of it.  So canola oil it was.

I fried up the beef strips…and there were a LOT of strips.  The flour thickened the juices nicely.  When the strips were about cooked through I put in the mushrooms and soon thereafter, I put in some water (just about 1/3 cup) to extend the gravy and salt/pepper to taste.  Then let it get all warm and bubbly and thick.

Mash the taters, and serve the meat over them.  Hits the spot.

And how did I fare with the potatoes?  Not too good.  It wasn’t shocking but I started to wake up from body pain in the wee hours.  Getting up this morning I feel sore and stiff and my throat feels sting-y (yeah, I’m so technical).  But it’s also raining outside so I have to figure that in.

In the end I’d have to say that potatoes are do-able but in small amounts and not with any other marginal foods like cheese and egg.  Seems like my two lists, Can eat and Can not eat, are morphing into three.  The new one called “Can probably eat a little bit without too much problem but don’t try and push it.”  I think potato is on this list.

So there you are.  At least it’s a recipe finally.  Even though you had to wade through some mother issues to get there.