Coconut Oil

A month ago I bought a pricey little pint of coconut oil. It looks a lot like lard in the jar. It sat in my cupboard for a couple of weeks before I thought I ought to use it as I had paid for it. Well, what to do with it? I had a little reading to do. Turns out, it's a wonder drug.

I use it to saute. Olive oil's nutrients are destroyed when heated, coconut oil's are not. Then I decided to melt 50/50 with my butter for my popcorn. It adds a delightful, light flavor to the butter. Now I'm using it as a facial cleanser. Yup. No more expensive cleanser and moisturisers for me. I whip this up in the kitchen and keep a plastic container in the shower. My skin is loving it.

Coconut Face Cleanser Recipe

Ingredients:

3 Tsp coconut oil

1 Tsp olive oil

1 Tsp glycerin

2 tsp water

Directions:

Melt ingredients together in a double boiler.  When melted, remove from heat and beat  with a whisk for 5 minutes. Transfer to jar when cooled. Use as you would any facial cleanser.

For more cleanser recipes check out http://hmbeautyrecipes.homestead.com/SKINcleansers.html.

Find one which works for your skin.

The day after: feeling lumpy.

Thanksgiving this year was one of the best I ever remember. There were only 4 of us in a tiny studio apartment, with minimal cooking space, but we created a great meal. I brought butternut squash and acorn squash, made mac and cheese and brought a huge pot of greens. Bill deep fried a turkey and baked a ham and also brought a big pot of greens. Theresa brought some AMAZING scalloped green tomatoes. Jerry made ice. Well, he planned on making ice but his ice tray leaked so he had to buy it.

I ate way too much, accepting that it was a holiday and it would be okay for one day. I had to put on my jeans and belt this morning to go do some heavy, dirty moving and I was worried about that belt. I expected to have to move the notch over one and I was right. I was just wrong about which direction!!! Smaller again in spite of the holiday meal. I love this non-diet diet.

My greens were fabulous and fine if you eat naked, not if you eat low fat. I had very little of the mac and cheese because I had used regular pasta. Next time it will be with organic pasta I make myself.

Here are all my recipes.

Squashed Squash.

1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup organic honey

Cut the squash into large chunks and remove seeds. Place in a large baking pan and cover with foil. Add a little water to the pan and bake for an hour at 350 or until easily poked with a fork. Peel and put squash in a food processor. Add butter and honey. Blend until desired smoothness.

Greens.

12 oz applewood smoked, nitrite free bacon
3 bunches collard greens, cut into 2" pieces
3 cups chicken stock
1 large onion
red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Cook bacon almost crisp. Remove from pan and crumble. Dice onion and add to hot bacon fat. Add collard greens and saute until they wilt. Pour all ingredients into a 5 qt. stock pot and simmer 45 minutes or until greens are tender.

Mac and Cheese

1/2 lb butter (two sticks)
1/2 cup flour
2 shallots, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 gallon milk
1/4 tsp white pepper, black pepper and red pepper (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp sweet smoked Spanish paprika (optional)
1 tsp salt (you can always add more if you like, but the bacon is salty and the cheese is salty)
3/4 lb applewood smoked, no nitrite bacon, cooked and crumbled.
2 lbs grated cheese of your choice (I like pecorino and romano, or smoked gouda, or Jarlsberg)
2 lbs dried pasta or 3 lbs fresh, cooked. (Use a shaped pasta rather than elbow macaroni. there are more crevices for the cheese sauce to fill.)

Melt butter in 5 qt stock pot. Add shallots and garlic. Saute until translucent. Add flour, salt and peppers and stir. Let simmer five minutes. Add milk and stir continuously until thickened. Add cheese and stir until melted. Stir in bacon.
I added the bacon fat from this bacon to the greens pot too. It was awesome.

Cookies

Growing up in Northern Wisconsin, we had this entire week of school off. It was hunting season and we couldn't be out waiting for the school bus next to the woods. The whack job hunters from Milwaukee and Chicago, or citiots (city+idiot) would shoot anything that moved. Cows, dogs and moving cars were fair game when you had a flask in your pocket and a loaded gun.

So here we were, trapped indoors for nine days. What to do with four girls? Well, we always went Christmas shopping on the Tuesday. That required a 60 mile drive to Duluth and took up one day. Thanksgiving took up another. The rest of the time we baked. Cookies, holiday breads and we hand-dipped chocolates. We made peppermint patties, hot air, cutout cookies and, well and. There was sugar, flour and chocolate everywhere and it all smelled DELICIOUS!.

By the time the sun went down and the hunters had to get out of the woods, we had cabin fever and went outside. The lake usually froze over thick enough to skate by this time so we would tie on our skates and skate by the yard light up the hill. If we were really lucky, the lake would freeze on a still night and the ice was glass, smooth and perfect for skating. We could spend hours out there in the cold night with an entire lake to skate on.  And back to baking the next day.

As an adult, I've never baked like that for the holidays and I miss it. Of course, NOW, it's a good thing I haven't. It's one less thing to give up. But I still have the memories and they're very precious to me.

Another positive note:  Friday I had a fun-size Nestles Crunch bar and was very disappointed. The flavor was bitter and the chocolate was grainy. Crunch bars were always a favorite. I feel as if I'm being freed.

It's getting even easier.

I am the queen of the yo-yo diet. I have been able to stick to a plan for MONTHS, lose a lot of weight and the the diet is over and the weight gradually creeps backs. And an additional 10 lbs. I always felt deprived while dieting. That's the difference here; I don't feel deprived. I get more than enough food and it all tastes amazing. I was very worried that the lack of salad dressing would be a problem, but that has not materialized. I've been enjoying the flavor of undressed greens. I used to drown them in dressing. Poor things! They're standing on their own, loud and proud and flavorful.

I made another foray to The Local Butcher Shop.  Oh MY! I bought a shopping bag full of meats. I got two beautiful short ribs which I am going to braise in beef stock tonight. I have yams and potatoes to add to the pot. I got two pounds of ground beef and will be making 40 meatballs from that. That's 10 meals. I couldn't pass up the chicken apple sausage which was being made before my eyes and a bratwurst. I'm looking forward to savoring the brat, Wisconsin soul food. the chicken sausage might go into a soup. Or it might not. But I have three of them so they will be at least three meals. The 1/4 lb. of their mortadella didn't even make it home. Traffic was heavy so I munched and was too stuffed to eat anything else when I got home. Oh, and two awesome eye of round steaks. And another jar of lard was in the bag. Total tab: $77.17. While it might sound like a lot, I will get at least 20 meals out of it. 30 to 40 if I make soup with the leftovers. That's from $3.85 each meal to $1.92 if I make soup. Wow. Not bad for a day of groceries plus produce.

I looked at the meats I have never tried before. While I grew up on wild game and squirrel was not unusual on out table, rabbit was not. I may have to research rabbit recipes and see if I can try one. There was goat too. If I start eating goat you will know I have taken a dive. Goats are for cheese and angora fiber to spin, not eat.

Chow,
Susan

It wasn't that bad.

First and foremost, the Packers won. Again. Woohoo. I was amazed at the food for this buffet. I was expecting a deep-fried extravaganza and got much healthier food. There was a salad, corn on the cob and rice, all of which I skipped. I went for the barbecued chicken, ribs and bratwurst. Okay, the brats were the most processed thing and I should have skipped them too, but they tasted fabulous. That was my treat. I ate meat. And I'll do it again too.

Now for the truly exciting thing: I decided I would try a suit this morning. I have this beautiful pin stripe suit I haven't been able to wear for two years. I couldn't even pull the pants up over my hips let alone zip the jacket. It fits like it did when I bought it 3.5 years ago to interview in. It fits as well as it did when I was working all day on a construction site and much thinner. I guess I'm much thinner now. This also mean I have just increased my wardrobe by 100%. I can wear many more things in my closet now and I don't even have to go shopping!!!

Splurge day.

Well, I plan on splurging tonight. I'm going to a restaurant to watch the Packer/Viking game with my boss and my boyfriend. Spenger's (est. 1890) has fabulous fish a totally amazing clam chowder. For the game though, they have a "Tailgate Buffet". We all know what that means. Deep fried, high fat and probably processed. I'll post an update after the game.

Little things and big things.

I had to notch up the belt again today. That's 6 inches in six weeks. Wow. I'm amazed. There just might be something to this unprocessed food thing. I also noticed that my V neck shirts are getting too low to wear to work now. Too much cleaveage is not good at work. Another couple of weeks and I will have to go for higher necklines.

I have always been addicted to Red Vines. I can eat an entire package in one sitting. Well, I used to be able to. I had a "fun size" package on Friday. It was two little pieces about and inch and a half long. well, I popped them both in my mouth, expecting the thrill of the flavor to wash over me and all I could taste was corn starch. The flavor was flat and dry. And there were very fresh, soft pieces of Red Vines!  What happened!?!?!? It was depressing, but gratifying. I can check one more addiction off my list. WOOHOO!

Into November

I have a group of women I love dearly. There are 8 of us and we have been getting together once a month for over 8 years. We can't always all make it, but we try.

It all started in my kitchen in September, 2003. I had auctioned baking lessons as a fundrasing item for a church auction. A group of 3 women came to bake sponge cake. I thought this would be a 2 hour thing; put together a strawberry shortcake, eat it and go. WELL! At quarter to 12, a husband called, wondering if his wife was still there. We had completely lost track of time and decided we weren't done talking.

By the time my three session class was over, we had included a few more women we wanted to really get to know and we were off!

8 years later we have lost one member and regained one of the original 4. These are my best friends. They were the women I called when my husband died and they were there to get me through. We wtill meet onece a month and start with coffee and goodies at 10 am, progress into lunch and then back to the goodies until 3 pm. I have always indulged; however, with my new eating program...

I dediced to bring root vegetables to roast. The smell filled Ann's kitchen as we talked. I believe they were all pleasantly surprised how good the veggies were.

Roasted Root Vegetables.

1 large carrot
1 large parsnip
3 beets, any color
1 large yam
1 small butternut squash
3 T. Fresh Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil.

cut vegetables into 1" chunks. Toss with olive oil, thyme and salt and pepper. Pour onto baking sheet covered with foil. Roast at 425 for 45 minutes, stirring once.

Dan, at Dan's Produce Market gave me a handy hint. Cook the butternut squash for 4 to 5 minutesd in the microwave to make it easier to cut and peel. It really works!

Ahhhhhhhh!

I've been taking stock of the October Unprocessed challenge and like what happened. Through the Eating Rules and Eat Naked Facebook pages I also hooked up with The Gracious Pantry and The Sustainable Sweet & Savory Gourmet. From these 4 new friends I get regular updates and RECIPES!! I've archived all my October emails from Eating Rules so I can access those recipes. There was everything from making simple kimchee to homemade fritos. Odds are I'm not going to roll my own fritos, but I might make the kimchee. I know for sure I'm going to make the roasted root vegetables and my own vanilla. There were 55 guest bloggers for the month and each has a site I need to check out.

It's nice to know I am not alone in this. I have a wealth of information at my fingertips. I don't have to rediscover the wheel, but I can take the wheel and drive where ever I want to go!

I had 4 Milk Duds today. The chocolate was waxy and the caramel filling was tasteless. My apples tasted much better. we also had pizza for lunch. Not my best choice, but, it is what it is. We're really busy at work and the kitchen staff is busy, busy, busy, so we sent out for pizza. it's good to be busy, but I will bring my lunch tomorrow to avoid whatever is brought in. I have some pork tenderloin medallions and my homemade focaccia. If I whip up an olive oil aioli tonight, I can have a delicious sandwich for lunch and it will all be naked.