Month: May 2012

No Pain Lo Mein

~ Kim Olgren ~ Leave a comment

I have faithfully (or perhaps brazenly) reproduced Rachel Ray’s yummy version of this recipe here (don’t send me hate messages that she’s not a “real chef”, because I don’t care). It’s one of my favorite recipes because it’s so versatile. There are so many things you can put into this recipe, pineapple, broccoli, cauliflower, the list goes on and on. It’s almost one of those “whatever is in the fridge recipes”. You could also add meat, shrimp, scallops, or tofu. I’ve used spaghetti noodles to make this and it was terrific! I use a large electric skillet to make this since I don’t own a wok and find that it works well. I tend to use less noodles to cut down on the carbs.

2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan in a slow drizzle) vegetable or wok oil

1 cup (2 handfuls) snow peas, halved on a diagonal

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into match stick size pieces

1/2 pound assorted mushrooms (shiitake, straw, enoki, or oyster), coarsely chopped, if necessary

 4 scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal

2 cups (about 4 handfuls) fresh bean spouts

2 inches fresh ginger root, minced or grated with hand grater

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound lo mein noodles or thin spaghetti, cooked to al dente and drained well

1/2 cup aged tamari soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, several drops

 Heat a wok-shaped skillet or large non-stick skillet over high heat. When pan is very hot, add oil, (it will smoke a bit) then, immediately add the snow peas, pepper, mushrooms, scallions, and bean sprouts. Stir fry for 1 minute to flavor the oil, then add the ginger and garlic, and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add the cooked noodles and toss with to combine. Add the soy sauce and toss the ingredients to coat noodles evenly with sauce. Transfer the lo mein to a serving platter and garnish with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil.

YUM!

Comfort Food – Chipped Beef on Toast

~ Kim Olgren ~ 5 Comments

Ahhh, comfort food. As I was indulging in making myself a breakfast of chipped beef on toast this morning I started wondering about comfort food. Why do we seek it? Which foods are comfort foods to whom? Why do they make us feel so good? Why are they so vilified by modern diet gurus and dieticians alike? I began sifting through all the things I’d heard, read, and saw about comfort food over the years.

Why do we seek comfort food? The answer is simple and yet quite complicated. We seek comfort food to feel better or to celebrate feeling good. Women do more of the former, and men do more of the latter. Comfort food, loosely defined is the kind of food that makes us wax nostalgic, or is connected to something or someone we are sentimental about. It’s simple to prepare and usually high in calories and or nutrients. Mom’s macaroni and cheese, for example (and I’m not talking about that stuff in the blue box at the supermarket). If this is true, the yearning for comfort food stems from a complicated psychological process in which the food itself, usually high in carbs and calories, causes a certain reaction in the brain that gives us a feeling of comfort and warmth. 

I snooped around the internet for some lists of comfort foods. Of course these foods vary from culture to culture. In the U.S. the list includes apple pie, mac and cheese, and fried chicken (chipped beef on toast was not on any list I saw). British comfort foods include bangers and mash, fish and chips, and chocolate cake, Indonesia – fried banana, in Canada – poutine, fries, gravy, and some old cheese, or so I’ve gathered from National Geographic, among other internet sources. 

So how do we reconcile our beloved comfort foods with our modern understanding of dietary needs and recommendations? There are a few ways of doing this. One, avoid comfort food altogether. It makes you feel good, and let’s face it, anything that makes you feel good is either going to give you cancer or make you fat. Two, indulge occasionally. A hearty bowl of home-made mac and cheese every now and again isn’t going to kill you. Three, indulge whenever you like, but keep the portions small and reasonable and balance it with healthy foods such as salads. Think of a dinner plate full of salad with a side of spaghetti that is about the size of a deck of playing cards. Option three works especially well if you eat all the salad first then continue on to the comfort food.

So in the name of comfort food lovers everywhere, I humbly submit my recipe for chipped beef on toast; one of my favorite comfort foods right up there with home-made mac and cheese and chili.

¼ cup butter

¼  cup flour

¼ tsp pepper

1 – 2 dashes cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicy)

2 cups milk

8 pieces of toast (buttered)

1 container dried beef

Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour, pepper, and cayenne and cook until mixture slightly browns. Slowly add milk whisking vigorously to avoid lumps. Briefly bring to a boil, stirring frequently until sauce begins to thicken then turn heat to low.

Cut dried beef into ribbons or small chuncks (recommended for children). Start toast.

Stir dried beef into sauce. Butter toast, place desired number of toast pieces on a plate and spoon sauce over them and enjoy!

In the tradition of option number three for the healthy eating of comfort food, this recipe would be 8 servings. In our house, we usually opt for option number two which would make this recipe more like 2 servings. However, the recipe is easily expanded to feed more. Would love to give you a picture, but the camera is having difficulties. I am working on them.

Don’t Tread on Me

~ Kim Olgren ~ Leave a comment

Learning how not to be taken advantage of when you’re an open, empathic heart is difficult. It’s taken a long time for me to learn that saying “no” is, in many cases, better than saying “yes”. Here’s the thing about being there for everyone all the time…it’s exhausting and it doesn’t really help anyone, including you, especially if you are being taken advantage of or used you as a crutch. Saying “yes” when everything in you is screaming “no” is wrong. Yes, it is. Think about that obligatory function that you promised you’d go to with your coworker or friend even though you hate “functions” and you’re especially not into the topic. What happened when she asked you to go? Did your chest tighten up? Was there a voice in your head screaming “NO” while another was trying to find justification for saying no, while another was trying to convince you that it wouldn’t be that bad and you’d get to spend time with your friend? Did your throat start to feel like it wanted to close up? Did you already feel guilty for even thinking of saying no?

If none of this has ever happened to you, good for you! You apparently know how to say “no” in no uncertain terms. You probably won’t be interested in anything further said here. Have a nice day.

As for the rest of us who have been faced with the hard “no’s” this is for you. IT’S OKAY TO SAY NO…………TO ANYTHING! There. I said it. It’s out in the open and I feel fabulous! You do not have to be a doormat. You do not have to hold anyone else up. You can focus on the stuff you need/want.

Where is all this coming from, you may ask? Well, as I began taking writing seriously and started writing for a purpose (and hopefully make a buck or two) I learned something pretty quickly. I had to take myself seriously as a writer if I expected others to take me seriously. That meant that my writing time had to become sacred no matter whether anyone else understood it or not. It’s my job to make the people in my life understand that I am working when I am writing just as much as if I were going to the office. That means that if I’m at work I am not available to go to functions that aren’t relevant to my job or no longer fit into my plans, do favors that I wouldn’t ordinarily do while I’m on the clock and so on. When I am writing, I am on the clock and people will only take that as seriously as I do.

I’m not saying that you get to arbitrarily say “no”. All I’m saying is seriously think about the things that you’re saying “yes” to that really, really make you want to pull your hair out and examine why “no” might be a better answer. Also, think about why you want to say “no” as this could be very enlightening. If you’re saying “no” out of fear, then maybe you should think about saying “yes” (unless your fear is that saying yes will immediately lead to another situation where you are once again forced to say “yes” or “no”). Empower yourself to be you!

Just something to think about…