Delicious Things

While I've always been capable of it, I never used to spend much time cooking. Recently, though, my obsession with eating (or more accurately: fueling the rest of my life) has turned into a series of hacking sessions, trying to optimize great food on the nutritional dimension. And it develops good will from the wife, who doesn't mind letting me prepare some meals from time to time.

I've been enjoying a few really tasty things lately that I thought I'd share.

Tea

I started drinking more tea when I decided to cut back to 3 cups of (caffeinated) coffee per day. I've really gotten hooked on Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea. It's one of the few teas that my desensitized taste buds can appreciate with no additional sweeteners or flavorings. However, a few minor additions really puts it over the top.

I put an ounce or so of skim milk in the bottom of the cup along with a dash each of cayenne pepper powder and allspice, and a few drops of stevia extract sweetener. Then put in the tea bag and hot water. (Douglas Adams teaches us that you should put the milk in first.) It's really spicy and makes a great after-dinner drink.

Soup

I've tried two very good soups recently. The first was an Avocado and Broccoli puree, which I made straight from the recipe, more or less. I halved the recipe, since I didn't expect anyone else in my family would eat it (wife is allergic to avocado; daughter is a really picky eater; it turned out a little too spicy for my son.) I did use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock. And I used cayenne pepper powder instead of chipotle (it's what I had on hand). For a garnish, I used roasted red and yellow bell peppers. The result was an incredibly creamy soup (with no cream), and the green, red, and yellow colors were just lovely. I had no trouble eating the whole thing by myself.

The second soup that I made was a variation on Gena's Roasted Cauliflower and Parsnip Soup. By the way, Choosing Raw is quickly becoming one of my favorite food blogs. Check it out.

The changes that I made (aside from halving the recipe) were that I used a large turnip instead of parsnips; pearl onions instead of shallots; basil instead of thyme. Again, that's just what I had on hand. And since I'm not vegan, I used plain fat-free yogurt instead of rice milk. Three out of four family members enjoyed this one (like I said: daughter is really picky.). That's a pretty good result in my books.

Smoothies

Liquid breakfast is a good way to go before an early-morning workout, or if you just want to supplement normal breakfast with something that tastes like a milk shake. There isn't much to it. I've been having fun just dumping lots of things into the blender and hoping that I don't wake anyone else up at 5:30.

I bought a bunch of over-ripe bananas at a discount, peeled them, and stuck them in a freezer bag. We also chopped and froze some strawberries. So this morning's version went something like this:

• 1 frozen banana, chopped
• 3 frozen strawberries, chopped
• 1/4 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1 tablespoon organic peanut butter*
• 1 tablespoon dark chocolate cocoa
• 1 packet of stevia-based granulated sweetener (I've been using Truvia brand).

* I'm not trying to be snobby by specifying "organic" here. But when I compare the ingredients of "normal" peanut butter to an organic/natural variety, I feel a lot better about the latter.

The result was almost like soft-serve chocolate ice cream, thick enough to eat out of a bowl with a spoon. I put a little bit of cereal on top for texture.

I frequently do something more fruity. Maybe half of a banana, and a half-a-handful of every type of berry we have on hand (blueberries, raspberries, grapes, etc.). When I do this, I usually throw in some baby spinach, just for fun.

These smoothies are something that the whole family enjoys. The boy gets his cut with some extra milk so he can draw it through a sippy cup.