Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

February 8th, 2022

Blog, Cooking Technique, How To & Tips

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Is It Safe to Cook with a Microwave Oven?

Cooking with a well working microwave oven is quick, easy and safe

Next couple posts – and many more in the future – will show how to warm easy to make pasta meals in the microwave oven. Before actually showing how to make any of those meals, I first want to address a concern some people have about microwave oven cooking safety prompted by a recent comment left on my “How to Make Microwave Cooked Broccoli” video stating that microwave cooking changes vegetable cell structure and therefore makes those microwave cooked vegetables potentially cancerous.

I’ve heard that comment before. I’m sure you have, too. It is not true. Microwave cooking does not change cell structure other than potentially bursting their cell walls as steam builds inside the cells when they are heated the same way vegetable cells can burst through stove top or oven cooking.

Here is a description explaining how microwave ovens cook food that I paraphrased from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and World Health Organization (WHO) resources listed at the end of this article: An electronic tube, called a magnetron, inside a microwave oven converts ordinary wall socket electric power into 2450 Megahertz microwaves (electromagnetic waves that are about 5 inches long) that cause molecules in water, fats and sugars in food to vibrate very quickly. That fast vibration and friction, like rapidly rubbing your hands together, causes heat which then cooks the food.

Here’s what the magnetron looks like in my microwave oven.

In order the ensure safe cooking, as detailed in your microwave oven owner’s manual,…

…make sure there are no cracks inside the microwave walls or door seal. Use only microwave safe containers or dishes when cooking food in a microwave oven and don’t cover foods with plastic wrap to prevent splatter because some of the plastic can melt and get into your food. As shown below, I use a wetted paper towel to prevent splatter, which works great!

Below are some excellent resources for more detailed information and answers to common microwave oven use questions.

Click this link or the picture below for Cooking with Microwave Ovens from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Click this link or the picture below for the US Food & Drug Administration’s Microwave Oven Radiation webpage.

Click this link or the picture below for Questions and Answers about Microwave Radiation by the World Health Organization (WHO).

February 4th, 2022

Blog, Cooking Technique, Cycling Food, Pasta, Running Food

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Full-On Flavorful Lighter Pasta Alfredo Picture Book Recipe

Last couple food posts showed how to cook traditional wheat-based pasta and high protein-high fiber pasta to perfection – very easily.

You’re probably well aware that there’s nothing much more flavorful than the combination of freshly cooked pasta, cheese and cream you get with fettuccine – or any shape pasta – Alfredo. The only problem, Alfredo sauce is usually very heavy, and the culprit is heavy cream.

There’s an easy fix to that. Just substitute unsweetened evaporated milk for heavy cream. As shown in the label comparisons below, ounce for ounce (1 ounce = 2 tablespoons), evaporated milk has fewer than half the calories and 1/5th the fat of heavy cream, though I find the cooking properties and flavor qualities to be the same, especially for a dish like this.

You’ll also notice in the ingredients pictured below that I use garlic and a shot of balsamic vinegar to pump up the flavor, which is entirely optional when you make this dish. Flavor always rules!

Click this link or any picture on this page for a complete Lighter Pasta Alfredo picture book recipe.

January 31st, 2022

Blog, Mindfulness, Videos

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What is Mindfulness and What Can It Do For You?

Mindfulness is the key to living a fully aware, fully awake life

Mindfulness is being fully aware, fully conscious, fully awake. Being mindful (aware, conscious, fully awake) is the key to living a more focused, calm and clear life in the midst of the constant chaos of moment-to-moment impulses, thoughts, feelings, emotions and experiences that tend to sweep us away mindlessly.

The difference between mindlessness and mindfulness is the difference between absently bouncing on a hamster wheel while being bombarded with everything life throws at you – with incredible accuracy – and using fully engaged awareness to drop back and see that hamster wheel and all the mayhem that surrounds it for what it really is.

Mindfulness is not checking out of life. Not at all. Mindfulness is checking into life fully engaged with eyes open, razor sharp clarity.

The root of the word “mindfulness” is “mind”, and there’s nothing more important to us than our mind. Our mind is who we are and what we are – always – and it is not our brain. Instead, our mind is an active process. It is all the mental activity going on in our brain all the time that makes up our ability to think and be aware. That ability to be aware, or the state of awareness, is consciousness.

By nature, our minds have been built over millions of years to help us survive in a random world by processing streams of random thoughts and emotions that affect us from a range of a light flicker to a complete attention-consuming fire. We can’t stop that randomness and we never will.

The real problem, though, isn’t the randomness of thoughts and emotions as they appear constantly in our heads.

No, the big problem is our tendency to identify with those thoughts and the emotions connected to them. Identifying means that we let those thoughts and emotions tell us who we are, which then sweeps us away on a mindless hamster wheel run – all at the tremendous expense of missing the feet-on-the-ground, full-on life power of experiencing our here and now present.

The bright side of this story (there’s always a bright side!): everything mentioned above doesn’t have to be that way, and the key is mindfulness.

Sure, I’d heard of mindfulness years ago but never practiced it formally until my good friend, Jay, nudged me to do something about it not once but twice. And I greatly appreciate his persistence!

As Andy Puddicombe says in his very focused and equally entertaining 10-minute TED Talk that you can see by clicking this link or any picture on this page, “We can’t change every little thing that happens to us in life, but we can change the way we experience (them)”. Changing our perspective, relative to moment-to-moment experiences, thoughts and emotions through mindfulness practice and regular application in our lives, is the key to living a more focused, calm and clear life. And, wow, from personal experience, what a difference that makes!

When you watch Andy’s video, you’ll hear him talk about one of the formal methods of achieving mindfulness: meditation. All my life, my response to the idea of meditation was, “There is no way I’m gonna’ take time out to sit crosslegged, eyes closed and say “Ommmm…”. Now, again thanks to my good bud, Jay’s, persistence, I’ve learned that the meditation I now practice daily has everything NOT to do with that and is instead all about waking up and learning how to make the most of my moment-to-moment life as possible. To say that mindfulness and meditation have significantly affected my life is a gross understatement.

But more about that and the specific practice I’ve adopted soon! In the meantime, please give Andy’s video a look. There’s no doubt in my mind that what he says has the power to change your life.

January 24th, 2022

Blog, Fitness Food, Food & Health, Pasta, Side Dishes

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High Protein-High Fiber Pasta Picture Book Cooking Directions

High protein-high fiber pasta is an easy to make great addition to any meal routine

Last post showed how to cook great tasting, highly versatile wheat-based pasta to perfection. Future posts will show how to make fully flavorful easy pasta dishes, though you can certainly get a jump on that by clicking this pasta recipe page.

But, what if you’re wheat intolerant and can’t eat wheat-based pasta? Or, what if you want to add more fiber to your diet, which, as mentioned in another recent post, What is Fiber and Why Do We Need It in Our Diet?, is a great idea?

No problem.

There are now many wheat-based pasta alternatives in stores, and here are two that I use regularly, edamame (green soybean) and black soybean pasta.

Here’s how these pastas clearly separate themselves from each other regarding carbohydrate, fiber and protein content. Serving for serving, traditional wheat-based pasta has more than twice the carbohydrates, which is no problem if you live an active life, and…

…only a fraction of the fiber and protein content of high protein-high fiber pasta as shown in the nutrition label comparisons above and below.

Click this link or the picture below for easy to follow How to Cook High Protein-High Fiber Pasta picture book directions.

Next post will be a bit different: What is Mindfulness and What Can It Do For You? I’m a year into daily practice, and it has made a terrific difference. More soon!

January 20th, 2022

Blog, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Pasta, Running Food, Side Dishes

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How to Cook Pasta to Perfection Picture Book Directions

Pasta: loved by most, goes with just about anything, and is incredibly easy to make.

First, what is “perfectly cooked” pasta? It’s pasta that’s cooked “al dente”, which is Italian for “to the teeth” and means that the pasta still has a little uncooked whiteness at the core of the cooked pasta piece, as (almost) shown below, which makes the pasta slightly firm, not mushy, to chew.

Here are the keys to cooking pasta to perfection:

Knowing how to measure pasta serving sizes
Heating water to a rapid boil before adding pasta
Using the correct amount of water and knowing how long to cook the pasta

Serving size: Plan to use 1 ounce of dry pasta per person as a side dish and 2 ounces of dry pasta per person as a main dish. To get a visual idea of what 1 or 2 ounces of dry pasta looks like in your hands as well as how much 1 ounce of dry pasta makes when cooked, see the photos directly below.

Here’s how rapidly boiling water should look before adding pasta: The photo on the left shows how real rapidly boiling water should look before putting pasta in the pot to ensure that the cooking time you use will give you the result you want. The photo on the right shows what I call a “soda fizz bubble” that is a clear sign the water is not yet hot enough to cook pasta.

Amount of water needed to cook pasta and pasta cooking time: I use about half the water recommended in the chart below – and have gotten the thumbs up for that from Italian cooks. I also subtract 1 minute from the pasta package recommended cooking time, even if the package cooking instructions, like the one below, specify an “al dente” cooking time, to ensure my pasta still has a “to the teeth” slightly chewy texture.

Click this link or any picture on this page for How to Cook Pasta to Perfection picture book directions.

January 17th, 2022

Bar Drinks, Blog

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Hickory Snow and Glühwein (Mulled Wine) Picture Book Directions

Hickory snow + Glühwein (mulled wine) = great combination

Here’s how it looked in Hickory, NC, yesterday and today.

My heart raced the whole day, especially when I was outside, just as it did in my younger childhood days decades ago. I then made this with dinner: Glühwein (pronounced “glue-vine”), which is German for mulled wine – and very easy to make.

All you need is a robustly flavored red wine, some sugar, lemon rind, cinnamon stick(s) and whole cloves, like what I used last night.

Click this link or any picture on this page for complete picture book directions.

January 14th, 2022

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blog, Breakfast, Food & Health, Nutrition

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High Fiber Flaxseed, Chia Seed & Nutritional Yeast Boost

This mix of flaxseeds,chia seeds and nutritional yeast is an excellent fiber and vitamin B boost to any meal

Last post talked about fiber and why we need it in our diet. This post shows how to make a practical mix of high fiber flaxseeds and chia seeds with the added optional benefit of nutritional yeast.

As I mention in the “Tips” section of the picture book directions you can get here, the mix of ground flax and chia seeds with nutritional yeast you see here is no “magic bullet”, but it sure helped improve both my gut health and vitamin B12 levels. My gut was in bad shape years ago due to poor stress management and a long history of prescribed antibiotic use, mostly for frequent middle ear infections. My vitamin B12 level was low due to not eating much animal protein.

I’ve since learned – and continue to learn – a lot about what goes on in our gut, how to manage stress much better and have changed my eating habits. More about both gut health and stress management soon. Regarding food, once I got “clued in” to the very new science of gut health 10-15 years ago, I’ve been eating a varied, well-balanced high-fiber whole food diet that is mostly plant based but is also strong in fish, poultry and meat. And I still use the mix of seeds and nutritional yeast you see here everyday as a fiber and vitamin B complex boost. Here’s how I had it this morning for breakfast with fresh fruit and yogurt.

Here’s how I’ve used it recently with both sweeter or more savory meals – all fully flavorful.

Sweet and savory meals topped with a mix of flaxseeds, chia seeds and nutritional yeast

Click this link or any picture on this page for picture book directions that show how to make this flaxseed, chia seed and nutritional yeast boost.

January 10th, 2022

Blog

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What is Fiber and Why Do We Need It in Our Diet?

First, flavor rules here! Healthy, “good for you” food is only good for you if you actually enjoy eating it. Real full flavor food and how to make it as easily as possible is what this site is all about.

Now, what is fiber? Fibers (aka: roughage, bulk) are naturally occurring plant-based carbohydrates (complex sugar molecules) our bodies cannot digest.

Odd as that sounds, considering that fiber cannot be digested or absorbed to power our bodies, fiber needs to be part of our daily diet to regulate body functions way beyond digestion and elimination of waste, especially considering that our bodies are still physically the same and require the same maintenance as the hunter gatherer bodies (see last post at this link) we developed from only 10,000 years ago.

Here’s a slide from a terrifically comprehensive video I’ll recommend below from the University of California San Francisco showing the Institute of Medicine’s daily fiber intake recommendations for men and women by age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtnTuTX4L24

Below is a brief outline of the two different types of fiber, soluble and insoluble fiber that are available in varied quantities in all natural plant foods, and what they do. See the bottom of this blog for links to some excellent resources for more detailed information that I greatly enjoyed reading before writing this.

Soluble fiber is fiber that is able to dissolve in water. Insoluble fiber is fiber that cannot dissolve in water.

Soluble fibers:

come from material inside and around the outside of plant cells
soak up water from your body and add bulk to the contents in your intestines, which improves gut health and strengthens your intestinal muscles
help prevent constipation, control blood sugar and reduce cholesterol
are found in beans, oats, fruits, vegetables

Insoluble fibers:

are the materials that make up “woody” superstructure of plant cells, like plant cell walls
help the contents of your intestines move easily through your intestinal tract, which also helps maintain gut health
are found in fruit skins (apple, peach, pear, etc.), nut membranes (not shells) and whole grain bran (the tough outer covering of grain kernels)

Here are some high fiber foods I use regularly and pulled together from my kitchen cabinets and fridge just now.

The health benefits of a high fiber diet, meaning that you take in at least the daily amount of fiber shown above, include:

weight loss/healthy weight maintenance because the combination of soluble and insoluble fiber promotes satiety (the feeling of being comfortably satisfied and not hungry) for a long period of time
reduced risks of:
- heart disease and stroke because fiber works to absorb and help eliminate artery clogging cholesterol
- diabetes because fiber absorbs and helps eliminate sugar
- colon cancer because fiber keeps food moving efficiently through your intestinal tract

Here are just a few samples of recipes you can find on this site to make eating a whole, high fiber foods fully flavorful.

Examples of fully flavorful, easy to make recipes packed with fiber

Here are 2 video and 3 written article references for more detailed information about fiber and its health benefits directly related to you.

Dietary Fiber: The Most Important Nutrient, Katie Ferraro, UCSF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtnTuTX4L24

How Does Dietary Fiber Impact Your Health, Amanda Leggro, IntroWellness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yeduwn2Htog

Good Fiber, Bad Fiber – How The Different Types Affect You, Joe Leech, Healthline: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/different-types-of-fiber

How to Get More Fiber in Your Diet – Kara Swanson, Life Well Lived: https://www.lifewelllived.fitness/blog/how-to-get-more-fiber-in-your-diet

FDA Question & Answers on Dietary Fiber https://www.fda.gov/food/food-labeling-nutrition/questions-and-answers-dietary-fiber#naturally_occurring_fiber

December 17th, 2021

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Fruit, Running Food

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Pineapple Coconut Topping on Pancake Picture Book Recipe

What you see here sure works great as is but is really intended to inspire your fully flavorful imagination.

When I put together the last few posts that showed how to make quickly cooked fresh fruit toppings, I’ve said that they go great on pancakes, waffles, French toast, over warm or cold cereal – and much more. This post is about providing a concrete example that works with warm pineapple coconut topping on a leftover pancake.

Now, though the recipe you can get here works great as is – I’m sure a big fan – the real purpose here is to inspire your imagination to use this or any fruit topping in a way that satisfies your own personal taste.

For more details, click this link or either picture on this page for a complete pineapple coconut topping on pancake picture book recipe. Then use what you see in that recipe to fire your imagination!

December 11th, 2021

Blog, Breakfast, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Fruit, Pancakes, Running Food, Special Recipes

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Picture Book Warm Pineapple Coconut Topping Recipe

This warm pineapple coconut topping is just an example of how you can easily improvise on the warm fruit topping theme.

Last two posts showed how to make warm fruit toppings that go great over hot or cold cereal, with yogurt, on pancakes, waffles or French toast. Your imagination is your only limit.

This post is about a variation on the fruit topping theme I’d never tried before but put together on-the-fly for breakfast with my good Hickory, NC, buds a little before Thanksgiving. The key to this warm pineapple coconut topping recipe is using a fully ripened pineapple, and the picture book recipe you can get here shows exactly how to check a pineapple for ripeness and ripen a pineapple that will most likely be under-ripe when you buy it at the store.

Here’s what you need to to make a warm pineapple coconut topping.

Click this link or any picture on this page for this warm pineapple coconut topping picture book recipe.

Next post will show an example of how I use this topping and toppings like it to power me through a morning that almost always includes a good rip on the bike.