Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

August 24th, 2019

Blog, Cycling, Cycling Food, Running Food

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Cycling and Magic of the Unexpected, Part One: Hutchin’s Farm

Open road; spinning legs; sights, sounds, smells, air temps that change on the fly: they’re all a big part of the thrill of cycling for me. And then there’s the magic of the unexpected.

Aside from the pure joy of spending most of the day on the road bike, my purpose last Saturday was to ride to Concord to make whole for an accidental $6 underpayment of fresh basil at Hutchin’s Farm just up the road from the historic Old North Bridge. (I only paid for 2 bunches and then realized when I got home that I was kindly, but unknown to me and the person who handed me the basil, given 2 clusters of 2 fresh bunches each when I visited the farm stand weeks ago.)

As soon as I hopped off the bike, after a gorgeous ride from Westborough to Concord, I explained to Brain Daubenspeck, one of the farm managers pictured below, what had happened and why I was there. The story gave him a smile. He insisted we were all square, and asked only that I tell people about the farm. Telling about the all organic farm, which I then visited the next day by car to buy – and pay correctly – for their incredibly fresh and flavorful produce, including another fresh bunch of basil, it is exactly what I’m doing here. Thanks very much, Brian. and thanks, Hutchin’s Farm! You bet, I’ll be back again soon.

Next post – Part 2: Concord Wine & Cheese Shop and Mimolette Cheese

July 21st, 2019

Blog, Special Recipes

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Summer Favorites: Tour de France and Fresh Basil Pesto

The Tour de France: my signature summer sports spectator event. Fresh pesto: my signature summer fantastically flavorful and versatile food favorite that I call “summer butter”. I have pesto in my fridge, in the freezer, and always ready to use with pasta and grains, as a sandwich spread, with chicken or fish, on freshly cooked or uncooked vegetables (absolute killer on freshly cooked corn on the cob) – just about anything. Great stuff!

Here are the ingredients and…

Rip Fast Tour de France 2019, Stage 2, and Crepes with Nut Butter, Fruit and More

The stage 2 of the 2019 Tour de France was a rip fast 27.6 kilometer (17,15 miles) time trial in Brussels, Belgium, won by Mike Teunissen, Saturday’s stage 1 winner, and his Jumbo Visma team with a 28:57 time (average 57, 20 kilometers/hour or 35.5 mph), That time was an incredible 20 seconds faster than Team Ineos, (formerly, last year’s Tour winner, Geraint Thomas, and 4-time Tour winner, Chris Froome, Team Sky) and 21 seconds faster than Team Deceuninck-QuickStep. Jumbo-Visma’s time, to say the least, was scary fast!

Now, for us mortal’s, having something good to eat to fuel us before a good hop in the saddle, run, or anything active, is most important. Here’s a favorite breakfast of mine, especially when the Tour’s on: fresh crepes topped with nut butter, cooked fruit topping, mixed grains,… Read more »

May 12th, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Cycling Food, Dessert, Fitness Food, How To & Tips, Nuts

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Easy Chopped Nuts Picture Directions

Last post mentioned that I’d next show how to make a mix of chopped nuts and ground flaxseed that I use with much more than the Bell Pepper with Cilantro Pesto-Hummus and Cheese I showed how to make. As a first step, though, I thought I’d show here how to chop nuts as quickly and easily as possible.

Nuts are a fantastic source of plant-based protein and healthy fats. I put them in cereal, with fruit and yogurt, in salads, with pasta or grains, and much more. The only thing to watch for with nuts is that they are packed with calories. Moderation is key.

And, that’s why I find it best to use chopped nuts exactly as needed instead of having a bag of those same nuts at my side to feed from, which I certainly have done – and paid for dearly.

There are two ways I chop nuts: with a food processor (preferred) or with a coffee grinder (fine for small amount but takes a bit of care).

Here’s how to chop nuts with a food processor. Use the S-shaped processor blade as shown in the top picture below and add as many nuts as needed to the food processor.

Close the processor top and turn on the processor for about 10 seconds until the nuts look about as shown in the bottom left picture.

To chop nuts in a coffee grinder, which works fine for small amounts, add nuts to the coffee grinder,…

…close the top, keep the top held firmly in place, and shake the grinder while keeping the grinder on for 5 or so seconds.

Make sure to unplug the grinder from the outlet, and then scoop out the chopped nuts as well as possible – without making yourself, well, nuts. Grinding your next batch of coffee with do a great job cleaning the grinder.

Store the chopped nuts in the refrigerator, where they will keep fresh for at least a few weeks – as long as the nuts you used were fresh when you chopped them.

April 23rd, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Beans, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Vegetables

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Quick Bell Pepper, Cilantro Pesto-Hummus, and Cheese – All in Pictures

Last post showed how to make fresh Cilantro Pesto-Hummus, a combination of cilantro pesto and hummus. Great stuff to lay on bread, toss with pasta or grains, mix with cooked vegetables, top on salads, and much more. Imagination is your only limit. Here’s a link to that recipe.

What you see above is a quick fresh meal I put together last night: bell pepper, “pummus”, and cheese. I started with 1/3 fresh orange bell pepper that I sliced into thick strips just so the pepper would spread out mostly flat on a plate. I then laid on a good spread of pummus and topped that with some leftover cooked grains (pearl barley, stone cut oats, and quinoa). For sure, what made this dish so quick for me to put together was having most of the ingredients already pre-made. Please use what you see below as a guide. That’s exactly what I do with just about every recipe I come across.

Next, I spread out a good layer of shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese and put the plate in the microwave oven for 1 minute at 100% power – just long enough to start melting the cheese.

After that quick warm in the microwave, I topped the pepper, cilantro pesto-hummus, and cheese with a good pour of fresh ginger cilantro kefir salad dressing, which you can either see how to make by clicking either this link or the picture below or just use your own favorite salad dressing.

I finished by adding a good blast of chopped hot peppers (jalapeños shown here), chopped fresh cilantro,…

…chopped sun-dried tomatoes, a good shot of kefir, and a mix of chopped nuts and ground flaxseed (I make a jar of nuts and flax every week – very easy & versatile – I’ll show how to do that next time I make it.)

Now make it yours & enjoy!

April 8th, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Beans, Blog, Snacks, Special Recipes

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Cilantro Pesto-Hummus Picture Book Recipe

I’m a big fan of rich basil-flavored pesto and cilantro infused hummus. The “pummus” (pesto + hummus) recipe you see here combines those flavors by substituting fresh cilantro for fresh basil and then really pumping up the herb flavor of bean-based hummus.

Here’s what you need to make pummus, which goes great with vegetables, on pasta, with rice, on bread – your imagination is your only limit.

Click any picture on this page for an easy-to-follow picture book recipe.

April 3rd, 2019

Blog, Cooking Technique, Fitness Food, Grains, How To & Tips

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Microwave Cooked Quinoa Alfredo – Fast and Flavorful

Last post showed how to microwave oven cook quinoa. Like rice and pasta, quinoa, with it’s nutty flavor and snap-and-pop texture is incredibly versatile

Here’s one of my favorite fast and flavorful quinoa meals: microwave cooked quinoa Alfredo, Read more »

March 31st, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Grains, How To & Tips

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Microwave Cooked Quinoa Picture Book Directions

Quinoa (spelled as is but sounds like “Keen-Wah”) is killer excellent for nutrition, flavor, and versatility. Have it as is, add it to yogurt, use it instead of pasta or rice. Here’s how I’m having it now: combined with steel cut oats, bulgar wheat to make a multi-grain pancake covered with a fresh fruit topping, almond butter, a good shot of kefir, a squirt of honey – and a bucket of coffee (did I mention coffee?) – before rippin’ out for a gorgeous early spring Sunday road ride.

Last post showed how to cook quinoa on the stove.This post shows how to cook quinoa in the microwave oven – all as easy as it can be.

Here’s what you’ll need to cook quinoa in the microwave oven:

Click this link or any picture on this page for an easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe.

March 17th, 2019

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Fitness/Health, Food & Health, Grains, How To & Tips, Nutrition

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How to Cook Quinoa on the Stove Picture Book Directions

Quinoa (pronounced “keen-wah”) is one of my favorite…seeds. Yah, right away, that’s one of the things that makes it stand out. Quinoa is not a member of the true grain family, like wheat, barley, rye and other “grass grains”. Instead, quinoa, which comes in white, red, and black color variations, is really a seed, and, specifically, it’s the seed of the goosefoot plant shown below.

Goosefoot gets its name from the shape of its leaves and is related to spinach and Swiss chard. Quinoa grows in the South American Andes Mountains, mostly in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, where it’s been cultivated for over 5000 years. Historical legend has it that Incan armies sustained themselves during long marches on “war balls” made of quinoa mixed with fat. Yes indeed, EMMMMM… Actually, after what I’ve recently learned about fat and how good a lot of it is for us, the idea behind those “war balls” makes good sense.

As you’d probably expect from a relative of spinach and Swiss chard, both exceptionally nutritious leafy greens, quinoa also packs a potent nutritional punch. It has about twice the protein content of barley, corn, and rice. Quinoa is gluten free and easily absorbed by the body. It’s a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron, copper & phosphorous making it particularly noteworthy for people affected by migraine headaches, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. It’s also exceptionally high in dietary fiber and is rich in “good” unsaturated fats like Omega-3. Here are the numbers I got regarding quinoa’s nutrition from a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) table.

My favorite way to prepare quinoa is to make a batch with what you see below that yields about 2 ½ – 3 cups cooked quinoa. I then put the lion’s share of what’s left over in a sealed container either in the fridge for at least a week, or in the freezer where it lasts like any other frozen food.
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Click any picture on this page for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book “How to Cook Quinoa” recipe.

February 18th, 2019

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Dessert, Fitness Food

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Warm Fruit Topping to Fuel a Winter Training Ride

Pre-cold weather ride “goose fat” (homemade oil combo) on face & warm fruit topping for breakfast

Yes, it’s February, but any day cycling the road sure beats a day on the living room trainer, especially when there are sights like those below before the snow blew in last night.

Bottom line: Weather’s a state of mind. Just be prepared.

For me that means, step one, “goose fat” (homemade mix of avocado oil, coconut butter, shea butter, and a shot of honey) on the face and something warm to fuel me up for a good hop in the saddle.

Click this link or the picture above or below for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe that shows how to make a fruit topping that goes great on warm cereal, French toast, pancakes – your imagination is your only limit! As always, a quick nod and smile to Bicycles Battling Cancer and Springfield Police, Fire, and new this year, military vets, Ride to Remember.