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Sunday, April 29, 2007

Cilantro Pesto de Esteban

Pesto
Kick up the usual pesto with fresh, citrusy cilantro.


One of our favorite pesto recipes doesn't have a scrap of basil in it. Nope. It's a cilantro pesto- fresh, citrusy and different. Slather on salmon, corn on the cob, or toasted gluten-free bread. Spoon a dollop into spicy Mexican soups and chili.
It's been quiet on the GFG blog but not-quite-so-quiet here in our little casita by the windswept mesa. You see, a certain gluten-free goddess has been wrestling bare handed with some nagging health issues that living gluten-free hasn't squashed so far (what's up with that?). I'm contemplating a post about it because I suspect what I'm going through isn't exactly unheard of. In fact, I'm willing to bet many gluten-free readers will be able to relate. 

And Babycakes, you know I'm always one to share. But I'm not quite ready to write about it. I'm still in the thick of it- but finding some help, at last. And the past two days have been better. And so, I thought I'd grab my camera and share a new pesto Esteban just whipped up after a quick trip to Wild Oats in Santa Fe today.

Cilantro Pesto de Esteban

Cilantro, it turns out, is not only a cool accompaniment to hot and spicy dishes and coconut milk sauces, it may be good for you. Cilantro is full of antioxidants and (perhaps?) helps the body to detoxify. Folklore has it aiding the liver in detoxification efforts. What's not to love about that?

Ingredients:


1 cup fresh cilantro leaves- we bought 1 large bunch of cilantro
1 large garlic clove
1/4 cup toasted almonds
1 roasted red pepper
2 ounces Asiago cheese, grated - for vegan and GF/CF, try nutritional yeast
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, as needed


Instructions:

Place the cilantro, garlic, almonds, red pepper and Asiago in a food processor bowl; cover and pulse until finely chopped. Begin adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and pulse to combine. Add enough olive oil to make a paste. 

Taste test for seasoning or texture adjustments.

Karina's Notes:

  • Serve a spoonful of cilantro pesto as a flavorful spike to soups and chili, stir-fries and hummus.
  • Slather it on your favorite rice pasta.
  • Use it as an appetizer spread with cream cheese and rice crackers.
  • Schmear it on a brown rice pizza shell and top it with spicy vegetables and shredded jalapeno pepper cheese.
  • Spoon it on a split baked potato and crumble goat cheese on top.
  • Use a spoonful to make a salad dressing: just add olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper; whisk till combined.
  • And don't forget quesadillas - this pesto would be fab on a grilled corn tortilla with sliced fresh tomatoes and shredded cheddar or goat cheese.

Okay, now I'm getting hungry. When's lunch?





Karina

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Body weight and mortality

Just because people have a low BMI does not mean they are on Calorie Restriction or have the optimal nutrition part. Controlling for all factors that result in a low body weight would be difficult. Usually they just exclude deaths in the first 5 years and see if it attenuates the increase in death among underweight and overweight people. Sometimes this actually works, but sometimes it doesn't and for those reasons it seems that something is being missed and that trying to figure out this mess will be difficult because the results are fairly inconsistent. I argue that the mere fact that some cohorts have actually shown a decrease in mortality and morbidity when at a low BMI then it gives us hope that [UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMNSTANCES] like CRON, we will have a more favourable response. Below are just a few studies that I have collected to show that low BMI doesn't always = higher mortality. The studies I've chosen here were for obvious reasons. Seventh day adventsts and Physicians for example would be more health conscious and therefor avoid some factors that could influence mortality.

Body mass index and mortality among US male physicians.
Ann Epidemiol. 2004 Nov;14(10):731-9.
PURPOSE: To assess the relationship between body mass index and mortality in a population homogeneous in educational attainment and socioeconomic status. METHODS: We analyzed the association between body mass index (BMI) and both all-cause and cause-specific mortality among 85,078 men aged 40 to 84 years from the Physicians' Health Study enrollment cohort. RESULTS: During 5 years of follow-up, we documented 2856 deaths (including 1212 due to cardiovascular diseases and 891 due to cancer). In age-adjusted analyses, we observed a U-shaped relation between BMI and all-cause mortality; among men who never smoked a linear relation was observed with no increase in mortality among leaner men (P for trend, <0.001). Among never smokers, in multivariate analyses adjusted for age, alcohol intake, and physical activity, the relative risks of all-cause mortality increased in a stepwise fashion with increasing BMI. Excluding the first 2 years of follow-up further strengthened the association (multivariate relative risks, from BMI<20 to > or = 30 kg/m2, were 0.93, 1.00, 1.00, 1.16, 1.45, and 1.71 [P for trend, <0.001]). In all age strata (40-54, 55-69, and 70-84 years), never smokers with BMIs of 30 or greater had approximately a 70% increased risk of death compared with the referent group (BMI 22.5-24.9). Higher levels of BMI were also strongly related to increased risk of cardiovascular mortality, regardless of physical activity level (P for trend, <0.01). CONCLUSIONS: All-cause and cardiovascular mortality was directly related to BMI among middle-aged and elderly men. Advancing age did not attenuate the increased risk of death associated with obesity. Lean men (BMI<20) did not have excess mortality, regardless of age.PMID: 15519894 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Body mass index and patterns of mortality among Seventh-day Adventist men.Int J Obes. 1991 Jun;15(6):397-406.
This study examines the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and 26-year mortality among 8828 nonsmoking, nondrinking Seventh-day Adventist men, including 439 who were very lean (BMI less than 20 kg/m2). The adjusted relative risk comparing the lowest BMI quintile (less than 22.3) to the highest (greater than 27.5 kg/m2) was 0.70 (95 percent CI 0.63-0.78) for all cause mortality, 0.60 (95 percent CI 0.43-0.85) for cerebrovascular mortality, and 0.80 (95 percent CI 0.61-1.04) for cancer mortality. Very lean men did not show increased mortality. To assess whether the protective effect associated with low BMI is modified by increasing age, the product term between BMI and attained age (age at the end of follow-up or at death) was included as a time-dependent covariate. For ischemic heart disease mortality, age-specific estimates of the relative risk for the lowest quintile relative to the highest ranged from 0.32 (95 percent CI, 0.19-0.52) at age 50 to 0.71 (95 percent CI, 0.56-0.89) at age 90. Interaction was also seen for the next lowest quintile (22.4-24.2). There was a significant trend of increasing mortality with increasing BMI for all endpoints studied. For cancer and cerebrovascular mortality the P-values for trend were 0.0001 and 0.001 respectively. For the other endpoints the P-values were less than 0.0001. Thus, there was no evidence for a J-shaped relationship between BMI and mortality in males. While the protective effect associated with the lowest BMI quintile decreased with increasing age for ischemic heart disease mortality, it remained greater than one at all ages. The relatively large number of subjects who were lean by choice, rather than as a result of preclinical disease or smoking, may explain these findings.PMID: 1885263 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


Relationship between morbidity and body mass index of mariners in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet escort Force

To establish a practical weight management program for mariners in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Fleet Escort Force, the relationship between morbidity and body mass index (BMI) was studied. To estimate morbidity, 10 medical problems were used as indices (hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia, diabetes mellitus, lung disease, heart disease, upper gastrointestinal tract disease, hypertension, renal disease, liver disease, and anemia). A curvilinear relationship was found between morbidity and BMI, in which a BMI of 17.5 was associated with the lowest morbidity. This curvilinear pattern was more complex than a curve reported previously for Japanese civilians. Using the present curve and aiming for a BMI of 17.5 will help in the design and implementation of a practical management program for health promotion in the JMSDF.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1101215

NIHNC, CDC, & DHHS. (1985). Body weight, health and longevity: conclusions and recommendations of the workshop. Nutrition Reviews, February, 43(2), pages 61-3.
In 1985, the National Institute of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and the Department of Health and Human Services published a "special report" stating: "[S]tudies based on life insurance data, the American Cancer Society Study and other long-term studies, such as the Framingham Heart Study and the Manitoba Study, indicate that the weights associated with the greatest longevity tend to be below the average weights of the population as long as such weights are not associated with concurrent illness or a history of medical impairment.


Lee IM. et al. (1993). Body weight and mortality. A 27-year follow-up of middle-aged men. Journal of the American Medical Association, December 15, 270(23), pages 2823-8.
In 1993, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that concluded: "In these prospective data, body weight and mortality were directly related. After accounting for confounding by cigarette smoking and bias resulting from illness-related weight loss or inappropriate control for the biologic effects of obesity, we found no evidence of excess mortality among lean men. Indeed, lowest mortality was observed among men weighing, on average, 20% below the US average for men of comparable age and height.

Manson E. et al. (1995). Body wight and mortality among women. New England Journal of Medicine, September 14, 333(11), pages 677-85.
In 1995, a study published in New England Journal of Medicine concluded: "Among women who never smoked, the leanest women ... had the lowest mortality, and even women with average weights had higher mortality. Mortality was lowest among women whose weights were below the range of recommended weights in the current U.S. guidelines. Moreover, a weight gain of 10 kg of more since the age of 18 was associated with increased mortality in middle adulthood. These data indicate that the lowest mortality rate for U.S. middle- aged women is found at body weights at least 15 percent below the U.S. average for women of similar age.

Solomon CG. (1997). Obesity and mortality: a review of the epidemiologic data. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October, 66(4 Suppl), pages 1044S-1050S.
In 1997, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study on body weight and mortality stating: "We conclude that when appropriate adjustments are made for effects of smoking and underlying disease, optimal weights [for longevity] are below average in both men and women; this appears to be true throughout the adult life span.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Much to do

This week I have to sort out the rest of the garden because I need to plant some more things. I have some patches left in the garden to grow Toamtoes, cauliflower, Spinach and lettuce. I've already put the carrot seeds in the ground :) Next I need to buy 2 apple trees! This is something i'm doing to keep me busy and keep my mind away from college work and various minor health issues. Gardening can be good for stress -- apparently!



Anyhow, I'm almost fully back to normal now, i just finished eating my dinner while reading some of the crappy comments from people who just totally misunderstand CR. But its not their fault, they simply cannot see it from our perspective, especially the ex-anorexic.

As you can see, I mostly using sweet potatoes to keep my calorie intake high, and I have some calories to make up for, for the last few days I not quite met my target calorie intake. I tried something interesting and it tasted SWEET! I put tiny broken off sqaures from a total of 10g from 70% lindt dark chocolate and pushed a bit into the sweet potato pieces. It melted in the cooked sweet potato nicely so it seemed more per sweet potato piece, and tasted very nice too. Honestly, unless my taste is just off, and im one hungry person... this does actually taste suprisingly good. I also had 100g Tomatoes on the vine (much beter than cheap cherry tomatoes), 100g kale, olive oil, and a protein drink. Then some blueberries, apples and almonds afterwoulds.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Savory Gluten-Free Vegetable Kugel

Gluten free kugel recipe with savory roasted vegetables and gluten free bread crumb topping
This gluten-free kugel is Jewish soul food.


What the heck is a kugel, you ask? Jewish comfort food. And if it's done right- with handfuls of roasted vegetables, fresh herbs, and crunchy toasty gluten-free breadcrumbs- it can make you weep, Bubela. Because kugel is soul food - wrapped in love.

But first- as with any good family recipe- a story.

Traveling gluten-free is a challenge. You know this. I know is. And if you are driving to your husband's first movie set you'd be wise to pack a cooler. And a rice cooker. And an electric tea kettle. All of which I did. Every gluten-free goddess deserves safe food, after all. And sometimes you have to be proactive and plan ahead and not be afraid to look like an old school gypsy when you unload your car at the hotel, dragging said appliances and trailing electric plugs down the hall to your room. 

Hey. It beats getting sick. And it beats going hungry in a town where everything is deep fried and washed down with Coors.

There was Craft Service on the set, of course. And kudos goes to the fabulous caterer, Chad, who actually knew what gluten was [and apparently makes gluten-free Po' Boys back in LA for a certain zaftig blond movie star [with the initials Katherine Heigl- oops- I guess I spilled the beans].

All I dared to eat from his array, per his advice, was bananas, fresh watermelon and a strawberry or two (and okay, some mini peanut butter cups). I lived on peppermint tea and rice cakes and my Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins.

The last day on set (after standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon holding Dear Husband's hand) I conjured a new invention in the rice cooker I'm calling Pizza Rice. Note to self: always bring bottles of herbs and a jar of gourmet pasta sauce, because you never know when you'll be craving something hot and Italian (and no, I don't mean Giovanni Ribisi).

But after all the excitement and lack of sleep and kick-ass creativity and a long ride home snuggled in your Honda Fit admiring your husband's pensive profile against a Southwestern sky, all a gluten-free goddess wants is some old school comfort food while she hefts heaps of laundry past the sweetest newborn bunny holed up in the pinon wood pile and sifts through all those red Netflix envelopes scanning titles and muttering, What was I thinking?

It's comfort you need. The kind of comfort browned and golden and crunchy on top and melty-creamy inside. You know what I'm talking about. It was time for kugel.


Read more + get the recipe >>

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Gluten-Free Vegetarian Lasagna

Gluten free vegetarian lasagna is light and healthy
Gluten-free vegetarian lasagna - Italian comfort food.


This a hearty vegetarian lasagna recipe spiked with a touch of hot pepper heat and unexpected dots of sweetness from the golden raisins. And the best part? It tastes even better the next day. So plan ahead.

It is wild and windy here by the mesa. Spring has sprung. The skies are thick with sheets of rain, gray and pitted with bursts of hail that hammer our flat casita roof then disappear beyond the mesa as quickly as it came. Low churning clouds obscure the distant peaks of the Jemez. The young jack rabbits are hiding. Even the ravens are tucked away from sight today.

We have been kindling fires in the kiva to warm us. And I have been conjuring comfort. In the form of vegetarian lasagna.



Read more + get the recipe >>

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Easter Eggs

I hope you are all having a nice easter holiday :) -- As you all probably know by now I'm not religious at all anymore, but then again, i've never thought about easter as a religious occasion or whatever, for most kids its about easter eggs and a break from school. Religion, the bible and all that, its something I can never believe again... but still, I respect this religious time of the year.

So back to CR and food. Today I've stayed under 1900k/cal and managed to limit my intake to 300k/cal ~ of chocolate. Both from an easter egg, and some of my lindt dark chocolate with a cup of green tea. Occassionas like this I will enjoy some treats and not think too much about anything else other than the moment (chocolate is so nice!). There is no guilt from the one off consumption of less than adequte foods... but at the end of the day, I still end up quite CR'd relative to my ad lib intake. I think this a healthy attitude, I am in complete control, and continue on with my normal CR tomorrow. Not sure if I mentioned but I'm now at 1670k/cal per day (apart from today of course) and seem to be maintaing weight still. I seem to have this 'buffer range' where I can go over a certain amount and under, but nothing seems to happen to my weight... or its just too little to notice a difference over a short period. Anyway, thats all for today... thanks for the replies the other day :)

Friday, April 6, 2007

Quinoa Breakfast Cake Recipe

Gluten free quinoa breakfast cake recipe with carrots and raisins
Tender and moist quinoa breakfast cake- really delicious.


There are some days [okay, I confess!] I eat a brownie for breakfast. And not just a brownie. A tender, dark chocolaty coconut and brown sugar laced delectable gluten-free blondie style brownie. A brownie to delight in. A brownie to savor. A brownie even gluten-eaters would covet. And I lick my fingers. Is it a nutritious choice? Um, probably not.

Except as food for the soul.

And sometimes, let’s face it. The soul needs chocolate. For breakfast. But this morning there was a trendy new box of quinoa flakes perched on the kitchen counter. And a fresh bag of plump seedless raisins nearby. I leaned against the counter's edge and sipped my morning cup of English Breakfast tea. I started daydreaming about oatmeal cookies. Then carrot cake. Carrot raisin cookies. Molasses and cinnamon. I knew what I had to do. I had to bake.

Quinoa was calling to me.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is a fab ancient faux grain (it's actually a fruit seed) that is high in protein and naturally gluten-free, and lucky for cereal lovers, turns out it's a satisfying hot cereal choice, too.

Quinoa cereal flakes approximate quick-oats-style oatmeal in size and texture. The taste is different, though. More nutty. Kinda toasty. A tad unfamiliar. And it takes some getting used to. Bland as oatmeal, it is not. It has a definite personality.

Dress it up with maple syrup, chopped nuts, raisins or dried cherries. A sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar. You name it. Quinoa can handle it.

And I am here to tell you- the flakes are a tasty little number for baking. Different, yes. But once you nibble a second bite, and a third, and a fourth, you start thinking, Hey. This is good stuff! You break off a warm piece and ferry it across the saltillo tile floor to your script-typing husband and offer it with a smile.

You urge, Try this.

And he murmurs, Hmmm.

And you reassure him with, The second bite is better, and he interrupts and says, No, this is excellent. It’s different, but it’s good. Very good.

Yup. This quinoa-loving goddess couldn't agree more.


Read more + get the recipe >>

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

vegetarian shepherd's pie
Vegetarian shepherd's pie- gluten-free comfort food.


Why I've been craving mashed potatoes lately, I don't know. Spring has arrived here in the high desert. The days are longer and kinder. Apple trees are blooming. And all I can think about is a mound of soft creamy mashed potatoes. This means something.

Yeah. What it means is I am craving some serious comfort food in the form of a baked shepherd's pie- only my version is vegan and brimming with fresh vegetables. Forget the meat. And forget the lentils (so 1970's). And fake meat- er, I mean, highly processed soy protein or vital wheat gluten? I don't think so. Seitan is evil.


That's why they call it seitan.

No, my shepherd's pie has to satisfy not only my potato comfort craving, but my hankering for vegetables, spice and flavor. You know what that means. I live in New Mexico after all. It's gotta have some green chile in it. It's gotta have a little heat. Comfort food - for this gluten-free goddess, anyway- has got to have a little kick. Something to stir the taste buds awake after a long winter.

Bland is so, well, yesterday.




Read more + get the recipe >>

Monday, April 2, 2007

Original Banana Snacking Cake (circa 2005)



This simple, straightforward, gluten-free banana cake is mighty tasty despite its humble unadorned appearance. If it came to a party it would be a wallflower. The shy bookworm. The sweet no one notices, lost as they are in the shuffle and glitz of more charismatic confections. She may not ever be the center of attention or the one you call upon to impress your boss, but she's the one you turn to when you need something satisfying.

And real.

And comforting.

And like lasting friendship that doesn't care about the superficial- if your shoes are out of style or your nails remain unmanicured- she is lovely sharing a mug of tea.


Read more + get the recipe >>