I found a huge bag of Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour in my pantry, and I have a bunch of overripe bananas in my freezer, so I decided to experiment and make a banana bread recipe from Clean Eating mag, subbing the GF flour for regular flour, 1:1. I added 3/4 tsp xantham gum per cup of GF flour as the bag suggested, but the end result still turned out very dense and baked somewhat unevenly. Anyone worked with this flour mix before, and if so, any tips? The taste is fine, but the texture is definitely identifiably gluten-free (i.e., spongey without a nice rise).
It’s still good with natural peanut butter, though.
Dinner, because my sashimi meter was running dangerously low
Another busy day of writing deadlines, another no-effort stir-fry dinner (protein TBD).
I just finished a huge work project so I gave myself a half hour to putter around. I decided to try a recipe in one of the Eat Clean Diet books for a green smoothie involving kale, parsley, fresh pineapple, ginger, wheatgrass (which I skipped because I don’t have any), lime, avocado, almond milk, and protein powder.
You’re supposed to juice the leafy stuff and fruit and then blend it with the rest afterwards. I don’t have a juicer so I just went the food processor/blender route and it was super labor intensive. The end result tastes like grass…. Virtuous grass, but still grass. I guess I’ll attempt this again one day if I ever get an actual juicer.
Extra workout today: peeling/chopping a fresh pineapple.
I’m actually ashamed I kind of found that tiring. Haha.
Just random breakfast porn. :)
This is probably the most esoteric/nerdy kitchen appliance I own right now: the Sous Vide Supreme. It’s a “water oven” that allows you to pick an exact temperature you want your food to reach — say, 134 degrees F for medium rare steak. You then season and vacuum seal the food and submerge it in the water and it eventually reaches that exact temperature and never over-cooks. More impressively, the vacuum sealing means you can leave food safely in there, already cooked, for up to several hours, depending on what the food is and what temperature you’ve used.
The science is more complicated but I’ll post about it more later. Right now I’m firing it up to cook some more of the grass-fed meat from Tennessee. It’s great for lean and healthy proteins that otherwise might get dry or tough from other methods of cooking.
You can also use it for firm vegetables like carrots and beets. The combination of sealing and the cooking method makes them taste so intensely like themselves — like super-carrots, for instance — it’s amazing. The final result is then great to puree for intensely flavored soups and such.
Breakfast: 1/2 a serving of leftover frittata topped with salsa, plus 1/2 c oatmeal with 1/2 a chopped apple mixed in. I microwaved the apple pieces with cinnamon for about a minute and a half before adding them.
Dinner: honey-mustard baked salmon (equal parts honey and mustard brushed over a filet, baked at 450 F for about 12 minutes), brown rice, and a sad salad with vinaigrette. I need to make a late-night grocery run for some more green vegetables.
Lunch is salad with baked BBQ chicken breast, and I’m about to make a vinaigrette.
