The Unemployed Cook

I tend to turn to this blog during times to frustration. Like when I was reacting to everything. Or now, when I'm bored out of my mind but have a new Magic Bullet (which I love, but would never recommend to anyone, becuase I didn't want to love it).

This last combination was nearly lethal.

Tired of my usual "take frozen fruit, a dollop of yogurt and a splash of milk and blend" smoothie recipe (which is freaking delicious and fabulous looking), I decided to take some ice, a carrot, half a cucumber and blend. Ew. So I added half a banana. Slightly more palatable. So I added half a peach. Still an improvement. I'm thinking a splash of orange juice would kind of bring it all together... except that it looks disgusting, so I gag even before it gets to my mouth.

Moral of the story, kids? Healthy ain't pretty. Or don't leave me unattended with a Magic Bullet.

Want some cheese with that?

I think supper has become a fight every night with Scott and I.  While he's trying so hard to come up with suggestions that fit within my limited food options, very little seems to please me, particularly when I'm craving something I can't have.

I was definitely wanted pizza one night.  Needless to say, it's a combination of restricted foods.  However, with some more no-tomato sauce (taking out the red-wine vinegar and adding roasted red peppers), and some permitted cottage cheese, I made pizza.

The dough is an old family recipe:
1 c. warm water
1T yeast
1T sugar
Mix, and wait 5 minutes
Add 1/4 c. oil and 2 1/2 c. flour.  Knead lots, and let rise 45 minutes.  Punch down, and spread on greased pizza trays.


Of course, Scott and I could agree on the toppings - peppers and bacon, but obviously, I couldn't deprive him of real cheese.  While I think my cottage cheese side looks better, it definitely didn't taste as good.  Let's just say before I'd eat it again, I'd have to be really desperate for food!  However, it was fairly edible.  Two spoons!

How to fix a salad dressing

I found a bunch of hives the other morning.  Remedy?  Follow through on my threats and take up the histamine restricted diet.  All these allergies, or am I over-histmated (I made that word up)?  I'm not sure, but these days I'll try anything (except, you know, going back to the allergist that thinks I'm crazy). If nothing else, it will get me to focus more on what I'm putting into my body.

You can check out the dietary restrictions here, and you'll note that it seems like everything that is permissible is healthy, home made "stuff".  What is missing, despite the plethora of vegetable options, is the permissible salad dressing.  Even home made dressings are ruled out, given the restrictions on mayonnaise, vinegar and lemon juice.

But I was not to be bested.  When a craving for chicken caesar salad hit, what could I do but try to make my mayonnaise/vinegar/lemon-free dressing.

I'd give you a detailed recipe but I didn't measure a single thing and it turned out... decent.  And considering I was certain I was going to eat my salad without anything on it, I will consider it a success.

But here is a rundown of what I did.  I started with a white sauce our roux, adding garlic, onion powder, a touch of Italian seasoning and some parsley.  At first taste, it is a pretty close match to alfredo sauce, minus the nummy nummy cheese (which is not allowed, except in curd form).  Chilled, it was a little thick (more milk would help).


In any event, I used it to top my salad of lettuce, carrots, bacon, (melba toast) "croutons," and chicken (seasoned with Italian seasoning).  All together, it wasn't as tasty as the actual caesar salad sitting across the table from me, I'm sure, it was doable.

In the future, I will probably use the fat from the bacon grease to supplement the flavour.  As well, I might use the spread? Sauce? Whatever for pasta.

Tomato-free Tomato Sauce

When I thought the allergy was tomatoes, it kind of felt like my world was crumbling around me.  You wouldn't believe how many meals include tomatoes in our house, so it was all about re-wiring my brain.  Tacos, spaghetti, and sweet and sour sauce are staples. 

Some of these things are somewhat easy to work around; however, these are mostly in chemical form.  Since heavy creams and parmesan cheese are expensive, pre-made alfredo sauce is the easy and cheap solution for Italian.  Pre-made taco seasonings are tomato free but preservative packed.  While these worked for short term solutions, I thought it might be an idea to find less-chemical laden alternatives.

I started with my parents as guinea pigs, with a home-made taco seasoning (conclusion: I like a taco with some kick, so it's probably best for me to create my own ratios), then with a pepper based tomato-type sauce (which oddly caused me to react, though that could have been due to the extremely high histamine levels in my body, so I may be able to re-introduce peppers soon).

One of the most interesting things I tried was a beet-based tomato-type sauce: No Tomato Pasta Sauce.  It was surprisingly easy to make it, even though I fresh carrots, which added an extra step of boiling them.  I skipped the bay leaf (I forgot to buy them).  The smell was initially off putting, when I started adding things to the blender.  However, after simmering for a couple hours, I was surprised how good it smelled and how good it tasted.  It was even nearing the right colour. Adding my usual over-dosing of chemical laden parmesan cheese, I was surprised how good it was (then again - I have been going through spaghetti withdrawl).

The recipe made A LOT of sauce.  We had enough for supper, lunch , pizza and probably another supper.  Even though there was a minimal taste of beets to begin with, the longer the sauce had to mesh, the less I could even remotely notice them.  The colour did become more and more orange, but that's nothing a few drops of food colouring wouldn't fix, if it was that off putting. 

While it didn't quite work as well with pizza (it wasn't bad, and we couldn't quite place what wasn't working), it was quite god as a pasta sauce.  In a word: hearty.  Scott would have preferred a more sauce-y texture, which could probably be attained by someone using a blender with more patience than myself. 

All in all, I give this recipe a surprising FOUR spoons out of five!

 

My apologies on the craptastic photo... cell phone pic!!

New Beginnings: Gaining Control

This last August, I found myself having sporadic allergic reactions.  There's no surprise there - I've had allergic reactions for most of my life, and various doctors haven't ever come to a conclusion about what exactly is causing them. 

However, by December, I was waking up with a dozen or two new sets of hives, getting progressively worse.  I eliminated as much as I could: tomatoes, peppers, chocolate - all very difficult around the holiday season.  I was desperate to find the root, and stop the body's mutation.

In the end, the reaction turned out to not be food related, but rather that I had developed an allergy to a detergent I'd been using for years.  After a laundry intensive day, my problem was seemingly over.  However, I still felt as if I wasn't in control of my body.

Prior to finding the solution, I had done a LOT of research into common allergens, and come across a number of different "diets" for allergy maintenance.  One thing I found they all had in common was the emphasis on reducing the amount of preservatives and artificial flavours/colours/scents.  It really shouldn't have surprised me to find that, but none the less, it struck a chord. 

Even though I think I am keeping the allergies at bay (for now), I decided in order to regain a sense of agency over my body (or perhaps working WITH my body would be a better term), I should be more selective in what I put into it.  On this blog, I will attempt to go a little more healthy, and perhaps old fashion in my food choices.

I'm not going to go crazy - factors such as budget, time and energy - I'm not ruling out any foods or specific ingredients.  Instead, I'll be looking more critically at what I'm eating, and where I think it is do-able, I'll make something that I've usually bought pre-made from scratch. And you'll get to see the results on here!!

Waffle Hat

So I quickly made up Scott a hat while he was at work the last couple days.  Loved it was so quick to knit, hated that it was too bit.  I'll try lining it with fleece before I'll give up, but right now, it kind of looks like a knit Afro... maybe he can turn it into a halloween costume??

Has it really been so long?

I could have sworn I'd updated this sooner - however, I think I went to and got distracted... oops!

In any event, Scott and I have started watching Mad Men.  Of course, when you watch a show about men who drink copious amounts of alcohol, you tend to want to join them.  As such, one night I set out to make martinis out of the drinks we had on hand.

The Blue Inca
2 oz. vodka
1 oz tequila
1 oz light rum
1 oz blue curacao

It was lethal.  It smelled like nail polish remover, and tasted like it once it warmed to room temperature.  When chilled, a little stronger than I liked, but still good. 

Think Pink Cupcake

All right, I didn't make this, but Scott did, and I'm all proud-girlfriend-ing

Knitting Update

I have two updates, both equally important.  First of all, I finally finished that scarf I've been working on for months.  Of course, now that I've given it a good solid look over, it's riddled with mistakes.  Sigh.  Oh well, it'll be under my jacket most of the time right?

Second of all, I may have found a knitting group.  It was small, but I didn't quite feel like a third wheel which is nice.

Warm Hug in a Cold Day

I've been doing a lot of little food experiments to work around the fact I don't have a toaster or toaster oven, and thus can't have toast. 

I was a little worried about the day when I realized that I wanted toast with peanut butter and jelly, but I was feeling ingenius, and thus pulled out my george forman.

Yes, I grilled my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

It was fabulous. 

The Teddy Jar

There is currently a jar that used to house peanutbutter on my desk.  It's in the shape of a teddy bear, and just too adorable to throw away.  I had it packed away in my "apartment box" for years, and had forgotten all about it until I unpacked it when I moved back into my own place. 

Of course, there was the issue of what to do with it, given it's adorable-ness, and, well, impossibility of getting all the (fill in food which could be placed in it) out of the jar given it's shape. 

Of course, within a few days of being in the apartment, I discovered that I had a lot of pocket change.  I usually threw this into an old tea tin at work to be used for coffee money.  However, since I won't be doing coffee on a daily basis, there was no need for it at work. 

So the Teddy jar has become my spending jar.  When I need bus fare, parking meter money, or a coffee fix, I grab out of the jar.

However, I've also decided to use this jar to help control my spending.  You see, I've got a new rule:  I'm only allowed to venture through the aisles of Value Village (or any other second hand store) with Teddy jar money.  Basically, when I get $10 free bucks in the jar, I can get $10 worth of "stuff".


Currently the jar has $10.97 in it.  Theoretically, this would allow me to hit up the aforementioned clothing bananzas.  However, there is a catch.

There has to be $10 FREE bucks in the jar.  That means the $3.50 I need for laundry, and the $3.00 I need for coffee this week has to be subtracted from the total before I can go shopping.  That leaves me with only $4.47 left in free money.

Alas, it will be a while before I can get my shopping fix in. 

The great pasta experiment

Sobeys just finished up their Dollar Days, which I took full advantage of (everything I needed for Scott and I for a week for $50 - yeah!).  One of the deals they had was boxes of pasta for $1  Naturally, pasta is a staple in my diet, so I bought 2 boxes - some macaroni for when I make my homemade mac'n'cheese, and long macaroni, becuase, for $1, who wouldn't?

Long macaroni looks like straws when you take it out of the box.

However, once it's cooked, it has a mind of it's own.  Kind of like tentacles, they flail about as you try to move them from the pot to the plate, and from the plate to your mouth.  There is no polite, lady-like way to eat them, so I do not recommend buying them when you're having to cook for the queen.

However, if you're babysitting some little kids, and you don't care what kind of bad habits you give them, by all means, cook them long macaroni, and let them slurp it into their mouths, and eat it with their fingers, because that's exactly how it demands to be eaten.

Not that I told that to Scott. 

Also, this was a very colourless meal, which according to my mother means I didn't get all the proper food groups.

Actually, this is Scott's plate.  I like cauliflower with cheez whiz so I had more colour.  Ha, I win.

(Please note, the immaturity needed to enjoy this pasta remains with you long after the meal is over)

SQUASH!

Becoming the primary cook after being a thankful mooch for many years leads to some great experimentation.  Scott and I took off for the farmers market early this morning to purchase a few food stuffs of the local variety.  Among our purchases was spaghetti squash. 

It seemed like a mythic creation to me - a squash that, when cooked, had the consistency of spaghetti?  Obsurd!

What they should have let me know was that the squash turns into an over-cooked angel hair pasta.  Then my heart wouldn't have been as broken.

However, it was a noble experiment. 

1.  Cut spaghetti squash in half

 2.  Scoup out inside like a pumpkin. 

3.  Rub olive oil on cut portion and place down on baking sheet

3. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes, until a fork can easily puncture rind
4.  Flip over and create spaghetti by scraping from "stem to stern"
6.  Serve as you would with pasta

We used a bit of italian sausage, carrots, celery, tomato sauce and a variety of spices. 

It was a little wet, and not quite like the pasta we'd envisioned.  It kind of looked like it's name:  squash.  However, it felt like a nice hearty meal I'd probably enjoy in winter - not a hot day like today.

My Apartment

All right, despite dragging my heels all the way here, and despite cursing my landlord every 10 minutes for the last 3 days, I took some pics of my apartment, and now I'm kind of fiercely proud of my rented piece-de-terre

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Washin' My Cares Away

Everyone needs dishclothes. I've heard rumour that people will pay top dollar at craft sales for the knitted variety, which doesn't really make sense to me - all they cost to make are $1.97 for yarn and a trip to Regina. Less than 3 hours, and you're done!

A Stitch in Time Saves Money

For some reason, I have had this overwhelming urge to get some skinny jeans. Now, I've tried on skinny jeans a few times, and it just didn't work for me.

Of course, with that urge came the urge to shop in general. And of course, the priorities for my money this month are:
- textbooks
- tuition
- food
- rent
- fan / air conditioning

and about 25 points later, clothing.

As a result, when I arrived back at my parents' place, I grabbed a couple articles of clothing heading towards the self-help pile, and altered them.

Example 1 was pretty easy - just shortening this "vintage" Ricki's sweater dress I had picked up at Value Village a few weeks ago before realizing it made me look about 6 inches tall. I ended up cutting off about 4-5 inches. It's completely acrylic, and not going to last through too many washes, but it will be a great addition to my fall wardrobe.

Example 2 was a little more complicated. I took a flared pair of pants and made them into skinny jeans. I had read about it on the Academichic website, and studied the linked video. I still want to play around with some bias tape to fold them up to be worn with flats.

I did a bit of other mending and the like, but I figure all together, I saved myself $25 on the jeans, probably $10 on the tailoring of the dress, and got to spend the evening with my mother!

Eggsperiment

It's 7:00 CST (note: no Daylight Savings Time on that - so 8:00 for you regular people) and it's still 28 degrees outside.

And of course, today, having been warmer than yesterday, was my turn to cook for my temporary-live-in boyfriend who wanted a "man meal" when all I wanted to do was to munch on lettuce, cottage cheese and cucumbers and call it salad.

After searching the web for recipes which only reminded me of how hungry it was, how hot it was, and how poorly stocked my new apartment's fridge was, I settled on pancakes, only to remember that I didn't have mix, and I didn't have eggs.

After more searching I came across this recipe for Egg-Less Pancakes from All Things Edible. Much like the blogger who tried the experiment, I found it rather... weird.

The batter was very foamy, and ended up rather thick when it hit the pan. I ended up overcooking some of the cakes in order to ensure they were done on the inside.

They tasted as one would expect a pancake to taste, albeit it a little dry - something easily remedied by the use of plentiful amounts of syrup.

With some bacon and Watermelon Strawberry juice to round out this breakfast themed supper, I would say that despite the additional heat of the frying pan, it was perfect for a lazy summer night.

Recipe:

1 c flour
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 c soy milk (I used regular 1%)
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients, and then whisk in wet. Cook on medium heat griddle until bubbles form, flip and cook for another 2 minutes (or until done).

Introducing... the Crafty Cook

I tend to dabble in things. I will pick up a hobby, become super zealous about it for about a week, continue it for about a month, and then forget about it for about a year. However, enter 2009 - a year that marks not only the current economic recession but also my (second) flight from my parents' basement to embark on life on my own.

In other words, a recipe for poverty.

As an attempt to weather the financial constraints of living from scholarship to scholarship as I attempt to prove my mastery of English Literature, I decided to take the hobbies in which I generally dabble and force them into the spotlight with the hope that as I struggle to make meals on a shoestring budget, knit my way through the expensive gift giving seasons and create the necessities for an apartment that I cannot afford (I cannot afford the furniture, that is, although I can't say as I can afford this apartment either), others will be there to both give and take advice from me, Cara - The Crafty Cook.