Friday, February 24, 2012
Another Friday
I don't even remember yesterday, so I can't tell you what happened food-wise.
Today is Friday (as Catholic we must fast and abstain from meat during Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, (but we can have meat Saturday-Thursday) which means we are cranky!
A friend of mine was able to help clear out the fasting/abstaining issue for kids. I've always gone by the Church's teaching from 1962 stating that all people over the age of seven years old must abstain from meat of Fridays. I didn't know there was a revision in 1983 which moved the age to 14. This makes it so much easier with my kids now. Thanks, Sarah!
Anyway, I found this out too late (after I packed lunches for today, last night), so we stuck with a meatless lunch. We did better this time around. The girls packed some fruit, some raw vegetables (carrots and cucumbers, I believe--we're out of nearly everything else), trail mix nuts, larabar, and either cheese (for Amy) and olives. They ate about all of it, and were not hungry at pick up. Yippee.
Some of you have suggested quiches and cheese foods, which I like the sound of!, but the trick is remembering all the allergies my girls have: Dairy (except butter and yogurt), peanuts, almonds, egg yolk, and something else I can't remember.... If you have a favorite recipe for the things you mentioned, let me know, because I might be able to do it for myself sometime :)
Tom is out of town today, so dinner was for the girls and me. I made tuna wraps. We haven't had tuna in a really long time, maybe a few years. I thought it would be an easy Friday dinner to make up tuna salad. For tuna salad I knew I'd need a mayonnaise, and for mayonnaise, I'd need a recipe... so I googled one. It was said to be easy... it used 1 1/2 cups of olive oil (yikes!) eggs, lemon juice, salt, and dijon mustard. So I get everything incorporated, walk tot he sink to wash my hands, come back... and it had broken (the oil had seperated from the rest of the ingredients). UGH
So I start with another recipe, wich called for olive, avocado, and coconut oil (one cup total of oils), and eggs, salt, lemon, and mustard. This method called for adding one tsp of oil at a time. Do you know how long it takes to add one cup of oil, one teaspoon at a time (with rests between each tsp)?!
For-freakin'-ever!
So I did really well... got it all looking great... and then realized the motor from the blender was hot from running continuously for so long... that it had heated the mayo into a soupy mess. So I thought I'd chill it and pray it came back... it didn't. It turned into a messy, grainy goop. ARGHHHH
By this time, the kids are starving, and I'm about to collapse from being so hungry (from the fasting/abstaining) ... and now I'm just angry that it has failed twice, and the oils are pretty expensive to eat, let alone just pour down the drain--literally!
So we had to have tuna with chunks of grassfed butter. Weird, I know. I just couldn't think of anything else to act as a binder and give it a creamy texture. It was actually pretty tasty. We missed the mayonnaise though.
Anybody have tips/recipes/know-how on how to make mayonnaise? You'll be my best friend if you share!
Anyway... It's interesting to see the effect of not having enough protein throughout the day. I thought the grumpiness and low patience level, and the tiredness came from the carbs. And some of it does. But I'm seeing that it also is a result from not having enough protein. I've been tired all day, despite sleeping over eight hours last night. And my patience ran out around 5:30pm. Since going primal, Ive been so much better about yelling and overreacting... so I was bummed I reverted back tonight.
Now... what to do with the giant turkey and pork loin I have in my fridge? When I baked all meat last Sunday, I forgot to take into account we wouldn't be eating any meat on Wednesday or Friday. D'oh!
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Here's a mayo recipe that doesn't use a blender. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems fairly simple and only 3/4cup of oil. http://nomnompaleo.com/post/3440774534/macadamia-nut-oil-mayonnaise
ReplyDeleteI've made hm mayo before using a food processor. Okay but messy to clean up. Enter my good friend who just blogged about her hm mayo made with an immersion blender in a mason jar. It worked like a charm with nothing to clean up but the immersion blender. Here's the link. Enjoy! http://kathleen.peterro.com/2012/02/easy-peasy-lemon-squeazy-mayo/
ReplyDeleteI use this recipe weekly although I add an extra egg yolk to make a thicker emulsion. If you ever break your emulsion for whatever reason there is no need to throw out everything and start over. Add additional egg yolks until it thickens up. Also I found my best mayonnaise has been achieved by using warm egg yolks and lemon juice. I generally leave them out half a day before I whip them into mayonnaise. The recipe works equally well with cider vinegar although the champagne vinegar makes it quite decadent. http://www.proteinpower.com/drmd_blog/recipes/the-mayo-clinic/
ReplyDeleteI had a mayo fail (in the blender) before I got my food processor, and gave up. If you have a food processor it's easy though- at least in mine, there is a little drip hole that does the work of one drop of oil at a time for you. Now it takes me 2 minutes.
ReplyDeleteAnother tip is that if you use expeller pressed sunflower oil, or even a combo of olive/sunflower, it is more versatile and tastes more like storebought, because it doesn't have such a strong olive oil taste. I think sunflower oil's cheaper than olive, too.
I've been following and noticed that you guys seem like big fans of the Larabar. I wondered if you buy or make yours - they look very expensive but not too difficult to put together.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.damyhealth.com/2011/03/how-to-make-homemade-lara-bars/
Hi! I usually buy them since I don't seem to have much time for baking extra goodies these days. I'll look at the link, thanks!
DeleteI actually make my mayo pretty fast in the blender. PUt in all ingredients, doesn't matter what recipe, then add the oil in a thin stream from the measuring cup just until blended and voila. Takes less than 5 minutes from gathering ingredients to finished product. I don't understand why you were told to do it slow, it'll be more likely to fail/break. The oil doesn't really matter except for your flavor preference.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a lot of work! I just put a couple of spoons of yogurt in the tuna with some diced cukes and green onions, salt, pepper, lemon juice and some dill weed. Adjust texture to taste and done! I have pretty much substituted full fat, no sugar added yogurt or sour cream for mayo and never looked back. Sometimes, I make my own yogurt and sometimes I buy it. The older kids never even notice and the younger kids have no idea of what mayo used to taste like.
ReplyDeleteI make our tuna salad with olive oil (doesn't take much), dijon mustard, and some dill pickle relish (not the sweetened kind). It's very tasty, and keeps well even when it gets a bit warm, so it goes in my husband's lunch on Fridays a lot.
ReplyDeleteAre beans verboten on Primal during the early phase? Or is it one of the things that just get eliminated for good? That's our Lenten staple this year, and I finally found some good bean recipes that are Friday friendly.
Oh, another bit of fasting/abstinence advice. You can't use meat stock for cooking, but there is nothing that says you can't use lard, suet, tallow, schmaltz, or any other animal fat. They are acceptable (assuming you aren't following the Eastern rules which don't allow oil at all).
You might get a bit more satiation from the meals if you can up the fat content. We're not yet trying primal (I'm pregnant, and we have a tiny food budget; two factors that mitigate for the moment), so beans and rice has been a big part of Lent this year as we've attempted the traditional partial abstinence for days other than Friday. Introduction of guacamole and sour cream has gone a long way to making those stick around. You might be able to apply some of that.
Stick blender mayonnaise.
ReplyDelete1 cup light olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 egg
1 tablespoon wine or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard powder
Salt and pepper
Put it all in the cup of the stick blender, put the blender in so the egg yolk is under the blades. Blend.
If you Google 'stick blender mayonnaise' you can see a video of how to do it.
I thought light olive oil was a no-no? Thanks for this idea, I'm going to try it!
DeleteArgghh! I hear you about forgetting about Lent. My husband and I fast on Wednesdays and it's amazing what one day without us eating will do to the fridge stock. All of a sudden there's just too much food. If I have to freeze already cooked meat I try to pour some broth over top so the meat doesn't dry out. By the way, fasting for 24 hours has done great things for me, I think my insulin levels must have really decreased. I'm way less hungry and now it's no big deal to skip a meal once in a while. The first 24 hour fast was hard, I was hungry often, the 2nd week, no problem, had a few hunger pangs later in the day, but nothing like back when I was a carb-burner. OK, not that you're necessarily in ketosis when you're eating primal, but low carb primal can put you in ketosis, and it's not a bad place to be!
ReplyDelete