Aprovechar

In the process of figuring out what comes next in my new life in Santa Monica (whew), I’ve undertaken a project: to make (and often create) sixty recipes in sixty days. And in the process, I’ll be blogging about making food and making allergen-free/gluten-free ingredient substitutions and figuring out life. There’s an in-depth explanation of my project purpose on that blog’s About page; if you enjoy Aprovechar, you will probably enjoy my 60in60 blog.  I would appreciate it greatly if you’d stop by and leave a comment or (if it interests you) sign up for my feed.

I made my first recipe of the sixty days on Monday, and it’s a recipe for gluten-free, egg-free, soy-free, dairy-free buns! Specifically, I made hamburger buns, though the buns are delicious and will, I feel confident, prove versatile.  (I ate half of another as the bread for my ‘cheese’ toast this morning. I plan to make them next time as sweet buns of some sort.)

So pop on over! It’s entirely possible that I’ll be posting here again during the duration of my project, but with me writing a post a day over there, I probably won’t be here often.

We–my husband and I–are at the end of Day Six of a 60-day trial of being sugar-free.  For the past six days, we haven’t had any cane sugar (table or unprocessed), honey, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, or artificial sweeteners.  When we set up the rules, we allowed ourselves one agave-sweetened treat per week, and I decided I could use blackstrap molasses in small doses in items that need a touch of sweetening. (You really can’t overdo blackstrap molasses without ruining your dish. It has quite a strong flavor. So far, I haven’t used it in anything.) Our sweet flavors are coming from fruits and vegetables—and the subtle sweet taste of whole grains, as well.

Have you noticed sugar is like crack? I mean, really.  Crackity-crack-crack.  Last February we did a trial month without cane sugar–still allowing ourselves to use honey, agave, and maple syrup during that month.  We realized we felt better emotionally and physically that month.  When the month ended, what did I do? I made a dessert that used sugar.  And we were back on the crack wagon.  Ever since then, we’ve been saying, “You know, we really felt better when we didn’t eat sugar. We should do that again.” For a YEAR we have been saying that.  Then we bake cookies or make waffles and push our resolve away.

When I posted about this on Facebook, several people asked me why we were giving up sugar.  I am not usually someone who is drawn to extremes.  Actually, that’s crap.  Naturally, I’m very drawn to extremes, but when I’m trying to live a life of balance, I always try to keep in mind that the healthy spot is usually somewhere closer to the middle.  I realized several years ago, the year I started this blog, that my extreme attempts at dieting (no carbs or no fat or whatever) didn’t work.  So why give up tasty, crunchy, baked-goods-enhancing sugar entirely? [Read more →]

My husband just got paid. His paychecks come biweekly. In quite a reversal from our first few years together, he is by far the major breadwinner in our house. In order to rein in our spending, I decided we’ll do as we used to and use a mostly cash-based system to manage our money for a while. Dan is game with pretty much whatever I can explain well, especially if it means saving money. The new system means pulling money out of our account and putting it into envelopes marked for certain categories. But before we made it by the ATM, we decided to stop by Whole Foods on our way home from flying kites and taking photos during sunset at the beach.

We stopped at Whole Foods because my husband wanted to get one thing: the kind of cat food our vet recommends for our kitties. (It’s a kind that has actually been tested for cats’ health, not just theoretically formulated for it.) I said, “Okay, let’s pick up salsa and guacamole and eat our leftover tamales for dinner tonight.” That made three things on our list for the store. And if we’d bought the ingredients for the guacamole, it would have cost more than a container of guacamole. Then when we walked in, I said, “Oh, my TCM practitioner told me yesterday that she wants me to get fish oil capsules and a prenatal vitamin to take.” (Note: the prenatal has no meaning other than that I am at a particular age where, my doctor says, “it’s good to expect the unexpected.” And I know I have low vitamin levels at times due to a not entirely healed gut, so I was game for that concept.) That made five items to pick up at the store. It took a while to find a prenatal vitamin that was free of soy and gluten and didn’t cost an arm and a leg. While we were picking that up, I remembered the doctor also wanted me to try drinking kombucha. I’ve had homemade kombucha before but haven’t made it myself, so I thought I’d pick up a bottle to try before I made my own. That made six things on our list. While finding the kombucha, I came across the only vegan, soy-free, casein-free cheese that I like–and which stores here have been running out of. I grabbed a container. We were up to seven. Then I came across a display of the lifetime-guaranteed, high-quality kitchenware that we use. (We consider kitchenware to be one of those things where quality means a lower lifetime cost and reduced waste.) Our old can opener had broken the day before, so my husband checked to make sure this can opener had good reviews; then we added it to our cart.  We were up to eight items.

And we weren’t up to just any eight items.  The can opener was $35. Two months of the fish oil was $34. Three months of the prenatal vitamin was $23.  The cost of those items plus our other ones meant we ended up walking out of the grocery store having spent $129.19.

It is times like this one that make me amazed how little other people manage to spend in the grocery store.  Sure, I am not (thank God) walking in every day and purchasing kitchen appliances and vitamins.  But it seems like high-end items end up in my cart far more often than they do for others.

I’m still determined to eat well, to eat joyfully, and spend less this month. (We pulled money out of the ATM as we left the store.)  I am glad to have the vitamins and the can opener.  I just thought it was a good example of my experience of grocery shopping.

I don’t mind spending a lot on food relative to some other people and relative to what we spend on other things.  Healthy food is important; buying local foods, buying organic foods, buying fresh foods, buying grass-fed meat, etc.—all of those are important to me.  And some dairy/wheat-filled-food/etc. analogs are also important to me, and they certainly tip my bill upward.  Food is a source of both sustenance and joy, so it makes sense to me that it’s high on our list of financial priorities.

But I was amazed to find people on Gluten-Free Girl’s blog saying that they eat local/organic/grass-fed and spend far, far less on food than we do.  And sometimes, I must say, I feel like we should be spending a bit less on food so that we have money for stuff like, well, helping stock the food pantry near us.

We limit our meat consumption as it is, but I’m looking at buying a quarter or half of a pastured cow, now, to cut some of our costs.  The grass-fed meat from the farmer’s market here is muy expensive; it’s local, but I might order some online from elsewhere if it will save us a chunk of money.  I’m wondering what else I should be doing that I’m not. And I’m going to dig out some grocery receipts to see where my money really is going. . . .

What do you spend on a week’s (or month’s) groceries? How much do you spend to eat out in a week? What kinds of meals do you have? What food restrictions are you dealing with? And how do you keep your costs down, if you’re good at doing so?

May I introduce to you Lily Louise Lilliputian Parrott Ashbrook?

Lily is because that’s the name that stuck when we tried it out.  It was the name confirmed by everyone in PetCo. when we were picking up her basic supplies.

Louise is for my recently deceased grandmother, whom I miss heartily, and who dearly loved dogs.

Lilliputian is because at 14 pounds, she’s a far smaller dog than I ever imagined getting.  Yet when we met her, I simply melted, and then my husband did, too.  She’s a rescue pup two days out of one of LA’s highest-kill-rate shelters–a stray whose long Cavalier King Charles fur was so dreadlocked that the rescue group had to cut her down to not much fur at all.  But it’ll grow, and with a good diet, her fur should be healthy and shiny, too.

She’s hard to photograph by herself because if you’re looking at her with the camera, she wants to be closer to you.  So she’s in motion, or she’s too close to photograph well. But that’s okay. I’d rather have her curled up with me than anywhere else.

Well, and wandering with me–we walked about four miles together today.  We’ll try out running when she’s fully healed from her recent spaying.

Do any of you make your own pet food? I’m thinking about doing it for Lily and our cats since Cavs tend to have medical issues that I think could be mitigated by the best food.

While all was quiet on the blogging front, I moved. A long way.

Last year was a hard year. My husband finished his Ph.D. We looked at a million options of where to live. Seriously, we considered everywhere from Berlin to Adelaide (South Australia) to Seattle. We also spent a good bit of our savings while I wasn’t bringing home the (relative) bacon like I used to, and while I found my first year of self-employment hard (emotionally). In the ‘end,’ it seemed we were destined to stay in Atlanta a while. Dan took a job there. I started grad school in Seattle and flew out for it about a week a month, doing the rest long-distance. I spent the whole year feeling unsettled and, quite frankly, anxious. And it showed—in my difficulty to remember good self-care tenets, among other things. I tried. But I didn’t feel like I had much to say. I panicked when I felt like I did have something to say, and I found much of what I believe deeply hard to do. Much of what I want my life to be about, much of what I consider Truths we should all know, I struggled with. Self-acceptance. (We are all enough. We may need to grow, but we also need to appreciate ourselves.) Acceptance of the unknown. Acceptance of change. Etc. I gained between ten and fifteen pounds over the course of 2009, but that was the least of it.

I still worked hard at taking care of myself. But my exercise routine suffered. A knee injury in August didn’t help. I would have to say of the last 3-4 years, this past year was the most difficult for figuring out, and achieving, what I needed. If I were going to paint the year 2009, it would be swirls of color—a few strands bright (cooking classes I taught, the births of friends’ babies), many dark. Very swirly. Very uncertain. Very anxious.

Despite having great co-workers, my husband didn’t love his job in Atlanta. If you spend a chunk of your life getting a Ph.D., you should love the job you get using it. But the work wasn’t a good fit for him, and because I am an emotional sponge, I soaked up his feelings and felt them myself. Empathy is good. No emotional boundaries between yourself and your spouse is not good. It didn’t help that he took the job–for my sake, for the sake of my grad school tuition–while he was still finishing his thesis. I didn’t see very much of him for several months, when I did see him he was a ball of stress, and that whole situation was hard on both of us.

I knew I could get back to good, that I could achieve a different and new good. The question has been how, and the answer has been a struggle within myself–a mighty, internal wrestle between Jacob and Gabriel. Living in limbo is very uncomfortable.

In November, Dan was recruited for a new job in Santa Monica, California—a job with a very respected research firm. We flew out for the interview even though I had always told Dan I wouldn’t live in California. The most logical reason is the cost of living in much of the state, but California had also just never held for me the appeal it holds for some people. Nonetheless, when Dan left his interview, he told me it seemed like the perfect job for him right now. When the money worked out where we could manage to afford it, I gave Dan my blessing to take the job. Due to internal regulations, the company had to have him on payroll by a certain date, so we rearranged our lives to arrive just before Christmas.

I know that it’s a fallacy to think that a change of location fixes everything. I’m not sure that, by itself, a change of location fixes anything for very long. But I do think you can let a new location be a catalyst for change. What do I want out of life? Who am I at my core? Who do I want to be? How can I express myself as that person starting now? What plans should I make to make life here what I want for it to be? Those are the kinds of thoughts that have been running through my head.

So what am I doing about it now that we’re here?

I’m utilizing a life coach. Molly and I talked before I moved, but I decided to wait till I was settled here to officially start working with her. We just started last week, and I’m working on a plan for my year. I’m really pumped about coming up with my goals and the steps to reach them.

I’m running, and I’m doing it first thing in the morning to get my emotions settled, as exercise does, at the start of the day.  I’ve been out of running for a while.  Since my knee still gets unhappy sometimes, I am easing back into it by redoing Couch to 5k. With low humidity and weather in the 60s-70s year-round, Santa Monica is great for running. I’m planning on joining the (cheap!) YWCA this week, as well, for access to their weight room. I’m also contemplating yoga and belly-dancing classes. Santa Monica basically has classes in anything you can think of. I’m also halfway considering using a personal trainer for a while, though the cost is off-putting.

I joined a weekday hiking group. My first hike is on Wednesday. I’m excited to go take photographs on the hike, and, I hope, also meet people. My hiking boots are on our big shipment of belongings that haven’t arrived yet, but I stopped by REI’s scratch-and-dent sale this weekend and found a pair I might like better than my original ones.

I (and Dan, to a degree) joined a variety of social and volunteer groups: a book club, a wine outing group, a YWCA event-planning board, an urban adventures group, a Westside women’s social group. I may, in time, create a gluten intolerance and/or food allergy group here, but I’m going to let myself settle in more before I think about that in much detail.

I am reaching out to friends of friends and friends of friends of friends. Know someone wonderful on the Westside of LA? Connect me–I’d love it. (I’m not a snob about locations, but traffic in LA is insane, so I’m accepting that most of my friends are going to need to be near me.)

I’m getting a bicycle, a beach cruisier, so I can skip using my car as much as possible. I’m leaning toward the Electra Townie 3i, though I welcome suggestions of other kinds. (I want the option of foot brakes, I want an internal shifter, and I want to be able to put my feet down at stop lights.) I discovered when I went to test-ride a couple of them that I have developed a fear of bike-riding. It has been about twenty years since I’ve ridden a bike, so I’m not chastising myself for that. But I’m also not letting it hold me back. I’m going to practice with my bike in an empty parking lot before I join the world on it.

My husband and I chose an apartment that’s well within what we can afford. It’s still a hell of a lot of money, but it’s not a stretch for us with his new salary. We ended up feeling like the great little house with the gourmet kitchen that we rented in Atlanta stretched us too thin financially there. We aren’t doing that to ourselves here, even though it means we’ll be in a small place for at least the first year.

We are putting money directly into savings from each paycheck to rebuild our savings account.

We are getting a dog. I have wanted a dog for ever so many years. We weren’t ready for one till now. The dog will be my jogging buddy in the mornings and then my companion (along with the two cats) while I work at home during the day. We have been approved for a rescued English Springer Spaniel and are just waiting to be matched with the right puppy!

I’m writing, as you can see. I’m putting the pen to the paper (or the fingers to the keyboard) to keep it real, and honest, and mostly positive. I can do this. I know I can.

Hello there.

Um, Happy Thanksgiving.
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukah. Festive Eid. Etc.
Happy New Year.

This afternoon, I was sitting at the farmer’s market relishing a chicken and poblano tamale from a nearby stand when I overheard the two girls at the table beside me talk about how “definitely, yes, tomorrow” they were starting on new, extreme dietary regimens. They debated the reward versus difficulty of the Beyonce lemon-and-cayenne plan. One of the girls was determined, it sounded like, to start a new eating plan tomorrow that involved only greens, fruit juice, chicken, and beef. All organic, which was the only part of the diet that sounded reasonable. I mean, really? Can you maintain that diet the rest of your life? Would you want to? No? Then I suggest that you not take that route for weight loss, either.

What I want for myself this year, what I suggest for you as well, is more. Yes, more. How do you and I figure out how to maximize health and pleasure? How do we figure out how to include accomplishment and rest? How do we throw ourselves out there and also replenish ourselves?

I want more:

more exercise that I love, afterward if not while I’m doing it
more vegetables in each meal
more adventures in hiking, travel, cuisine
more cuddling with my husband
more heartfelt moments with friends

We can whittle life down to its meanest components. We can survive, for a time, on orange juice, kale, and broiled chicken. But there’s so much more to be had: nourishment, fulfillment, exploration. Let’s set goals and take paths that offer us more. Not a life of hedonism, but an attempt at balance with only occasional overkill. Aprovechando.

Going gluten-free, casein-free, egg-free, and soy-free this Thanksgiving? Here are some suggestions of dishes you can create to make your celebration fabulous:

Hors d’oeuvres/Soups/Starters
Carrot Soup
Pumpkin-Sweet Potato Soup
Ginger Sweet Potato Soup
Guacamole With Pomegranate Seeds (with gluten-free, soy-free tortilla chips—soy lecithin okay)
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (with cut veggies)
Fried Chickpeas & Spiced Nuts With Olives & Radishes (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Pumpkin Soup with Red Pepper Mousse (using MimicCreme in lieu of heavy cream)
Roasted Chestnuts
Carrot Soup With Toasted Almonds (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Cashews With Crispy Sage & Garlic

Starchy Sides
Wild Rice With Butternut Squash, Leeks, and Corn
Jeweled Rice With Dried Fruit (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Moscatel-Glazed Parsnips (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Potato-Parsnip Puree (using MimicCreme in lieu of cream and ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Potato, Chestnut, & Celery Root Puree (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Autumn Millet Bake
Cornmeal Crunch (using nutritional yeast with a bit of salt instead of Parmesan)

Veggies
Creamed Leeks (using safe bread and MimicCreme plus 1 tablespoon of tahini in lieu of cream)
Brussels Sprouts Hash With Caramelized Shallots (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Crisp Haricot Verts With Pine Nuts (using olive oil instead of butter)
Brussels Sprouts With Buttered Pecans (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Baby Peas With Bacon & Crispy Leeks (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter and MimicCreme + 1 tablespoon tahini instead of cream)
Kale With Garlic & Cranberries (this dish is super-easy and amazingly good)
Sauteed Broccolini With Garlic
Shredded Brussels Sprouts With Maple Hickory Nuts (or Pecans) (using ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Green Beans With Ginger Butter (using ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Brussels Sprouts With Shallots & Wild Mushrooms (using ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Braised Kale
Caramelized Broccoli With Garlic
Kale With Currants, Lemons, & Almonds
Roasted Broccoli With Ancho Butter (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Sweet & Sour Catalan Spinach

Bread
Skillet Cornbread With Green Chiles & Cinnamon

Desserts
Dark Chocolate Bark W/ Walnuts & Dried Cherries (use dairy-free chocolate, soy lecithin okay)
Chocolate Sorbet (made with dairy-free chocolate, perhaps with OJ instead of water?)
Plum Crumble (made with an egg replacer and ghee instead of butter)
Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies
Apple Cake With Cranberries
Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing
Mexican Chocolate Cake
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Cranberry & Vanilla Bean Sorbet
Warm Pumpkin Cake (using Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, flax egg replacer, and ghee or coconut oil instead of butter)
Baked Figs in Lemon Syrup (using ghee or coconut oil in lieu of butter)

Here’s the email I just sent out to my Sally-created-Atlanta-events mailing list:

The holidays are often hard for people with food restrictions, but we can take away the anxiety and sadness and bring back the joy! I have a variety of upcoming private parties, and I would love for you to be my guest.   These parties will all be in a hands-on, small-group format (min. of three, max. of six participants) in my house in Kirkwood (a neigborhood on the eastern side of Atlanta).  Sometimes the scariest thing about going gluten-free or allergen-free is getting in the kitchen and just doing it. Getting you over that hump and into some delicious eating will be what we’ll do at these parties.  Of course, we’ll also have lots of time to talk through any issues you’re having with your cooking techniques and food restrictions—and we’ll be able to simply enjoy each other’s company.

The suggested donation is included with each description.  To reserve your spot at the parties, either Paypal me at this email address (sally.parrott@gmail.com), including the party/parties you want to attend, or send me an email to say you want to sign up but would prefer to mail me a check.  We’ll figure it out from there.  Once I hit the maximum number of attendees for a given party, I will send out an email and decline any future Paypal money that comes in for that party.

If you have other food restrictions than gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs, and you are planning to attend a party, please don’t hesitate to let me know what they are so I can make sure the recipe choices will be geared toward including you.  That said, I can’t promise my kitchen is completely free of any traces of ingredients other than gluten, soy, and eggs.

SOLD OUT Sunday, 11/22, 4-7 p.m.: Holiday Sides SOLD OUT

Figuring out how to make the best parts of Thanksgiving—the amazing side dishes—can make you feel panicky when you’re eating free of gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs.  We’ll prepare and eat a variety of fabulous, mostly vegetarian side dishes that are allergen/gluten-free but will make your mouth and stomach happy. Featuring locally grown, usually organic produce.  $45

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Thursday, November 19th, or when max (6) is reached (SOLD OUT)

Saturday, 12/12, 3-7 p.m.: Turkey & Trimmings

A whole holiday meal plan—soup to dessert—that we’ll cook, mix, and bake together! Then we’ll sit down to enjoy it, and you’ll go home ready to prepare wonderful dishes for your family and friends. Free of gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs, and featuring locally grown, usually organic produce. $60

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Wednesday, December 9th, or when max (6) is reached

Saturday, 12/19—two sessions at 12-3 p.m. and 4-7 p.m.: Holiday CookieFest 2009

Going without gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs at the holidays doesn’t have to mean going without delicious cookies.  We’ll make, bake, and even decorate a variety of cookies that are allergen- and gluten-free. After our tasting of the finished products, you’ll have a variety of recipes, great holiday memories, and a half-dozen cookies to take home with you.   $40

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Wednesday, December 16th, or when max (6) is reached

Sunday, 12/20, 4-7 p.m.: Leftover Heaven

How are you going to make good use of the money and effort you put into that leftover turkey, ham, or other holiday food? We’ll explore delicious gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and egg-free ways of using holiday leftovers.  Come and find out how to make satisfying, stomach- and heart-warming dishes from soup to tetrazzini. (Buying turkey on sale after the holidays can also be a bargain!) Featuring locally grown, usually organic produce.  $45

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Thursday, December 17th, or when max (6) is reached

~~~~~~

During the week before Christmas, I’m also available during the day to hold a private party with your friends and/or kids (at your house or mine) for cookie baking and/or decorating.  The cost will vary depending on your desires, so just get in touch if you’re interested.

If you want to give attendance at one of these parties as a gift for someone, I’m happy to make up a gift certificate for you, as well.  Just let me know.

And if you would like assistance in other ways, get in touch, and we’ll discuss it.

Let’s take back our enjoyment of the holiday season!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change:

• uncertainty about where we’ll be living in a year (or less), and the emotional toll that brings;
• ambivalence about whether my chosen grad school was the right path;
• the fact that some of my queries will be rejected;
• the exhaustion I’m experiencing lately;
• the fact that Dan can’t be an equal partner in the upkeep of our house and lives right now;
  
• the emotional struggle that fall and winter always brings;
  

courage to change the things I can:

• move my body lots daily, even if the only actual ‘exercise’ is just a walk;
• continue to cook healthy, moderate-fat, high-vegetable, high-whole-grain meals for us on a near-daily basis;
  
• sit on the porch when it’s sunny and warm and do work there;
• sit under my SAD lamp while eating breakfast each morning;
• do part of my class readings in advance, each morning, so that I keep up;
• finish my re-write for a class paper by tomorrow night, rather than waiting till just before it’s due;
• seek out time with friends twice a week;
  
• engage in co-creation at school by posting in the appropriate forum about what bothers me—trying to find solutions instead of just feeling irritation;
  
• visit possible shared work spaces next Wednesday afternoon;
• do a daily activity that’s just for me, because it inspires me differently than other things;
  
• send off the queries anyway, even with the possibility of rejection at hand, starting with one prepared by tonight for my writing critique group to check for me;
  

and wisdom to know the difference.

I’m not alone here.  You’ve made that clear through comments and emails I’ve gotten since yesterday.  So . . . what do you need to accept? What actions can you take right now to change what’s been bothering you?