Lunacy We all gotta eat, right? (Food Porn)

[Mr Mellish]

For what it's worth, I highly recommend these books. Dr. Cate digs deep into the published research to suggest what we should eat and what we shouldn't. They aren't diet books but I lost 24 lbs following her guidelines.

https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Nutriti...=1497486926&sr=1-1&keywords=dr.+cate+shanahan

https://www.amazon.com/Food-Rules-D...=1497486926&sr=1-2&keywords=dr.+cate+shanahan

Based on the research, high quality fat is good for you and vegetable oils are about the worst things you can consume. Meaning, go for butter, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, real lard, ghee...

This is her website if you want to do a trial run:
http://drcate.com/

I also just finished this and was a bit disappointed. The author is very engaging but her tips just weren't what I had expected while reading the book. Her basic message is that research shows diets don't work. We all have a genetically pre-determined weight range and our best option is to eat properly and try to hit the low end of our own range.

https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Eati...2&sr=8-1&keywords=secrets+from+the+eating+lab

 

[momofthegoons]

@Mr Mellish I'll look into those books.... I browsed through her introduction in the first book you linked and liked what I saw. Thanks for the recommendation.

I have been fan of Dr. Andrew Weil for years and learned a lot about what to and what not to eat from his books and cookbooks. I wouldn't touch vegetable oil, margarine or Crisco with a 10 ft. pole. I use organic butter and milk, good olive oil, coconut oil... and yes lard for the few and far between pie crusts I might make. And I'm really careful about where produce is from. Some countries add systemic poisons to their soil when growing.

The main thing I'm trying to avoid right now is sugar, corn syrup and processed foods in any form. So I'm eating a lot of healthy fats, vegetables and fruits, whole grains.... Now if the majority of our store vegetables weren't GMO it would be great. Now that it's summer time, I'm able to hit farmer's market and get local produce. Always a better alternative.

 

[Vitolo]

Patty tending Zucchini and locating a mature Armenian Cucumber.(mature enough... left alone this can become a yard long and not as edible)

 

[momofthegoons]

After a terrible drive up to our cottage today (usually 2 - 3 hours and it was almost 5 today) my husband and I decided to chill on the deck rather than go out for dinner. Impromtu alfresco dining lol...

 

[momofthegoons]

Quick lunch; prosciutto and melon.

 

[Vitolo]

I am going to post images of meals gone by.
Patty and I eat this way every night, and have for 2 years!
Patty grows all of the herbs, spices and vegetables that you will see here.

Vito does all of the cooking.

Patty cleans up.

EVERYTHING you will see here has no fat, and only pure natural ingredients, and not one recipe uses more than ONE tablespoon of Olive Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

 

[Vitolo]

Back to back posts to stay in compliance with image limits.

 

[Vitolo]

and finally...

 

[Mr Mellish]

Foie gras as a starter and pork belly for dinner. France ain't half bad. Too bad it's nearly impossible to find a real beer on tap.

 

[momofthegoons]

@Mr Mellish if you feel so inclined, I'd love to see some pics of the food you have while you are on your vacation..... I want to live vicariously through you, lol....

 

[Mr Mellish]

@Mr Mellish if you feel so inclined, I'd love to see some pics of the food you have while you are on your vacation..... I want to live vicariously through you, lol....

I suck at remembering to take pics, but I'll try. Here are a few data points.

1. The foie gras/pork belly combo I raved about was brutal when I wanted to sleep. I felt like I had eaten a bag of concrete and there was no relief (TMI?)

2. Earlier in the week, I had an ox cheek stew in Germany that was phenomenal. The meat was incredibly tender in an elderberry sauce that was amazing. After too many days of heavy Alsacian food, it was a revelation.

3. Tonight I had a white fish over rice with an acidic sauce. It was very nice. The starter of foie gras was wonderful. The ending sweet was sorbet (can't say I'm a huge fan of sweets) and was not good. It tasted like a grapefruit/pumpkin combo.

I'm not actually on vacation yet. Once I am, I expect the food will be more likely to be grocery items.

 

[Vitolo]

I want to live vicariously through you, lol....

C'mpn, @Mr Mellish
Fork over some images!!!!!!

 

[momofthegoons]

C'mpn, @Mr Mellish
Fork over some images!!!!!!

Well.... in his defense I have to admit to forgetting to take pictures often. My anniversary dinner would be a real good example. It was off the hook. So... @Mr Mellish if you can remember.....

 

[Vitolo]

Agreed.... The really special meals are sometimes (most often) blurred, by wine, cocktails, or our personal choices of "our medicine"....
and pictures are easily overlooked!!

 

[phattpiggie]

The weekends seem to have turned into BBQ days.
Saturday night saw, peppered rump steak, Portland Jerk pork belly rind on ribs in, Tony Chachere on the BBQ'd spuds, a salad and coleslaw.
No vinegar in the slaw. That's not the way we do it over here.

Then Sunday saw boiled spuds, salad and a Jerk'd chicken.

Forgot these, never look a gift punnet in the mouth, allotment next door to the house. The weather has been damp and these delicate fruit don't take kindly to it.
Had a panic on only seeing this amount of sugar, luckily I only ever make a loose sauce type thing for ice cream etc.

 

[GetLeft]

What happens when when fifteen yr. olds spend too many hours watching the food channel.

Some kind of cheese ravioli spinach olive caper tomato basil dish

And a tortilla soup

All in a single week

 

[grokit]

Best salad bar ever

 

[momofthegoons]

Another lovely evening at the lake... a little caprese Naan and smoked salmon on baguette with dill.

 

[Mr Mellish]

We had a neighbor provide grilled oysters the other day for a quick get-together (sorry, no pics). They were fantastic!


For my part, I recently took advantage of an opportunity to pick up a sous vide with credit card points. Although I'm only beginning to scratch the surface with this thing, I love it.

Meat:
So far, I've only played with burgers, steaks, and lamb meatballs. In each case, the results were excellent. The beauty of it is that you can get the meat to a base level of "doneness" and then you just have to do a quick grill (or longer for the heretics) while the guests are there.

Vegetables:
We've only tried asparagus but it came out absolutely perfectly cooked. Not sure I've ever cooked asparagus that spot-on.

Other:
Made yogurt yesterday but haven't tried it out yet. This device is incredibly versatile. It must be perfect for shrimp and scallops (I know they are a quick, easy cook but this allows you to nail the desired temp without effort, and with a sauce as part of the cooking environment). Also looking forward to trying ice cream at some point even though I try to avoid sugar.

I have a friend who has failed multiple times to recreate the salt-rising bread from his youth (also known as stinky feet bread). My confidence level is fairly high that the sous vide would allow me to hit the controlled temperatures required (it actually relies on a bacteria that can be deadly -- Clostridium perfringens). The temperatures needed for the fermentation/rising step are otherwise a pain in the ass if you're trying to accomplish it with a standard oven.

 

[phattpiggie]

By rights I should weigh a lot more than I do, I fukin love food.

Here's some of the nicer food we ate while in Spain.
Cape Malay Dhal with Tiger Prawns and Monkfish, a bit on the expensive side but nice all the same.

Seafood risotto

Baby lamb chops, the guy said they normally came with cooked veg and dauphinoise spuds, too hot for that kind of thing so I went salad and fries. I wasn't expecting this many chops, spot on.

What could be better than baby squid, calamari and a few beers sat on the beach