Cold Potato Salad

This for me is the classic cold potato salad recipe.  I absolutely hate sweet pickle relish, particularly in potato, egg, or tuna salad, so you won't find it in this recipe.

8 medium to large red, yukon gold, or russet potatoes
8 celery stalks
1 small red onion
4 hard boiled eggs
1 cup Mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon salad oil
1 Tablespoons white wine vinegar (I didn't have, so I just used white wine)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Scrub and boil potatoes till a fork pierces easily, about 35-45 minutes. Remove potatoes and add eggs, bring back to a boil, put on lid, turn off heat, and let eggs sit for 20 minutes.  Remove eggs, and place in an ice water bath.  Under cold running water slide off potato skins, rinse and set aside.  Finely chop celery and onions, mix remaining ingredients.  Cube potatoes, and one-at-a-time toss with dressing.  Refrigerate the salad, till ready to eat, the longer the better (at least 4 hours).  Before serving, peel the eggs, dice, and toss with salad.  I found the eggs infinitely easier to peel after being in the fridge overnight.

Black Bean Brownies or Flourless Brownies

2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
4 large eggs
1/2 cup melted butter, more for the baking dish
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
3/4-1 cup cane sugar
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 
  
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt the butter in your 8 inch baking dish in the microwave.  Swirl it around the dish to "grease."  Place the black beans, melted butter, eggs, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth.  Gently stir in the chocolate chips before pouring mixture into the prepared pan.  Bake the brownies for 40 minutes, or until just set in the center. Cool before cutting into 16 squares.  Cover and refrigerate once cool.

 I could not recommend these on day 1.  They were oddly dry and spongy, in addition to not being sweet enough because I goofed on the amount of sugar.  Also, as I expected, all the chocolate chips had sunk to the bottom.  A remedy would be to use the tiny chips, or melt the chips with the butter to achieve a truly chocolaty flavor, because, let's be honest, cocoa powder doesn't cut it.

By day 2, and even more by day 3, they were fudgy, not dry, and had taken on a more chocolaty flavor.  Not bad at 160 calories per brownie, 175 if you use the full cup of sugar.

MSG in Fast Food? I am so naive

MSG (mono sodium glutamate) sensitivity is a strong topic of debate.  For as many people out there that feel badly when they eat MSG, there are just as many people out there who believe it's psychosomatic.  While it's true that MSG occurs naturally in many foods like meat and cheese, when it is added to foods in greater quantity than what a human should ever consume, I know it causes a reaction in my body.

So when I recently ate take out from a fast food fried fish joint and within 20 minutes came down with a bevy of strange symptoms, one of the first culprits I suspected was MSG.  Almost immediately after I ate I began having stomach cramps and nausea.  I got very tired, dizzy, and confused.  I couldn't understand what my husband was trying to ask me, and I broke out into tears.

After some time had passed, I drank some white grapefruit juice to assist my stomach, and plenty of water to flush out my system.  Once I regained my mental faculties, I wondered aloud to my husband if this reaction had been because of MSG.  There was no other reason for this reaction, and I didn't know (until I looked it up) that most fast food places put MSG into something.  If I had known I would never have eaten it.

Fried foods are apparently the biggest culprits with a huge fried chicken chain being the most loaded.  But it's in food you wouldn't even think necessary to season, like pizza sauce.  One of the reasons this additive is used is not just for the "umami" (a word I hate), but because it does become addictive.  Your body reacts causing you to overeat, and then desire more of that food later.  This reaction isn't just limited to MSG, but other additives like sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.  If you've noticed the later two being added to more and more foods under the reasoning to make them more "shelf stable," it's really because food creators learned that it makes you crave more.  I learned this years ago during my prune craze of 2007.  I mean who can't get enough prunes?  Once I switched to a non-additive brand of prunes I no longer had a problem with just having one.  Something to think about if your binge or trigger foods are from the shelf.

So what's so bad about these additives other than making you want to eat more of the food they are added to?  I don't know.  I don't know that if is shortens your life expectancy.  I don't know if they increase your risk of cancer, or heart disease, or birth defects.  But, if you have a sensitivity beyond food addiction, you could suffer from any of the ailments I discussed earlier, or worse still.  Probably the worst symptom associated with MSG is a Migraine.  I know several people, including myself, who get these kinds of headaches ranging from mild light sensitivity and pain (my symptoms), to crippling pain, blindness, and nausea that lasts for days.

This is not the first time I've suspected and then researched whether or not MSG was in the food I just ate, and it won't be the last.  I just feel so naive that I feel like I never considered that, like gluten, it's probably in all restaurant food.  I already take my chances with other people's cooking.  What's worse is that MSG has a myriad names like autolyzed yeast extract or hydrolyzed wheat protein.  Don't be tricked into thinking that a product doesn't have MSG because it claims "no added MSG."  Always read the ingredients!!!  With this in mind it's probably for the best if I do just plan on making all my own food forever.

Curried Lentils

Absolutely easy recipe, and low in calories.  Serve it with brown rice, or eat it on it's own.  Add more of the vegetables you like:  Carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, swiss chard.  Use Chic peas instead of lentils, they just need to cook longer.   Smother the whole thing in cucumber yogurt dressing.

1 cup dried, sorted and rinsed, lentils
1/2 large onion, diced
4 large ribs of Celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons of fat (I would use butter, or chicken fat)
1 Tablespoon curry powder (cumin, coriander, turmeric)
Dash of Cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
2 cups of stock, chicken or vegetable ***not tomato juice or based

Saute the onion in the fat for a couple of minutes over medium high heat, add the celery.  One minute, or less, before adding the stock, stir in the spices and garlic.  Bring the stock to a boil and add the lentils.  Stir, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover with the lid cocked.  Simmer for 30-40 minutes.

***Why not to use anything tomato when cooking lentils or legumes?  I'm not sure the science of it, but it will keep the legumes from absorbing liquid.