Finding the silver linings
Jun. 15th, 2014 10:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jebbypalAs most of you, especially those that have met me, know, I have a rather odd set of food restrictions. I am allergic to corn and all its derivatives -- no that doesn't mean that all the gluten free food is safe for me, but rather the opposite. It does mean that if it's processed food, has more than 5 ingredients, or labeled "all natural" there is a high likelihood I can't eat it.
As a result, I had to learn to cook 5 years ago or go on a raw food diet. (And as I'm also allergic to all legumes, including beans and peanuts, vegan/vegetarian diet is also out).
That being said, obviously there was a hierarchy of things for me to learn to cook -- aka, all the necessities to just make a meal. Baking from scratch. And with time, and attempts to making certain favorite dishes (aka, pecan pie), I slowly started to realize what was my favorite because it was awesome (roast beef), and what was my favorite because of allergy high (pecan pie).
Still, I'm a procrastinator, and somewhat lazy. I still prefer making 1 pot meals because easier cleanup and there's no sense in having all that mess just for one person. But it does get repetitive so I do occasionally start learning other things to break up the monotony. Or have a friend do it for me (chocolate syrup, aka the time my exbf proved all the reasons for why I fell in love with him and helped me gain 5 lbs through rediscovery of chocolate milk and ice cream with chocolate sauce after not having any for 5 years!)
Chocolate chip muffins earlier this year did that, though they did not aid my resolution to drop a bit of girth. (and I have succumbed and bought pants in yet another size up. Sigh. I'm currently trying to do couch to 2k of my own devising, but a week of rain sort of threw that out of whack).
Home made lara bars for my conference trip are amazing and having me realizing that with the new job and need to start making some freezer meals, i should really buy a stand alone freezer.
But last weekend I did that which I had been planning to do for several summers -- strawberry jam! Yes, I know there are a lot of brands on the market that should be safe -- but invariably, citric acid (which is actually derived from a mold culture fed corn syrup and not citrus fruit by and large) will break my skin out like whoah and give me stomach, or pectin, which will do the same, will sneak there ways in and I finally gave up on them.
So the past few summers I'd buy boxes of strawberries and plan to make jam. And invariably the strawberries would get eaten, or moldy, and it would not happen.
But last weekend, in a burst of ....okay, I admit it, in a burst of procrastinating from the grant I was writing for work *hangs head*, I found a crockpot recipe for strawberry jam. And it cooked for 8 hours and was rather more the consistency of applesauce after that instead of preserves/jam (mind you, I'm doing these recipes pectinless and trying to use natural fruit pectin). But I figured it still should be good for something and put in fridge in case it gelled up under cold and drizzled some on the end of a hot loaf of bread.
And yay it was good. :) Granted, it's only been 3 or so years since I officially gave up on the last commercial brand that the ingredients said should be safe but the rash around my mouth said was not safe. But it was good and it was different, and I've had toast with almond butter and strawberry sauce for breakfast all week.
But, I changed it up this weekend.
See, growing up, we always had margarine. I was never a fan though I never knew the difference. With my allergy discovery, obviously margarine = poison. So I switched to butter. Which, well, I'm still not a fan unless using it to bake or cook with and it actually took me a while to get used to the taste of mashed potatoes with real butter. (pro tip hint: read your butter ingredients and buy versions that do not have natural flavor in it. They really taste different without that). However, during the discovery of my allergy, I also underwent some natural gas poisoning for 2 months such that I was nauseous all the time and the only thing I wanted to eat was toast with butter and jelly on it (again, i was learning my allergy and my body kept going into recovery periods the more I cut things out so for a while I could have convenience store bought food). But after that, butter was never that good and I generally ate toast with just jam on it, or made and almond butter/jelly sandwich.
So yesterday, as I was spending a day reading fanfic and not wanting to cook or go grocery shopping, I decided my lunch was to be bread and jam and I'd switch it up with buttered toast instead of almond butter.
*foodgasm* wow, I forgot how that taste went together. I really really really did. It's actually better than the homemade ice cream I made late last week (which was handicapped by the local store only having safe half and half and not having safe cream [really, look at the cream ingredients of normal cream --- modified corn starch, carrageean, and other chemical crap]).
So yeah. I know when you go out to eat with me, the response is invariably "oh you poor thing, you can't have X, Y, or Z. You can't eat at McD's etc". Which, for convenience sake, yes, I miss. But not for taste sake. (the smell of most processed/fast food actually makes me nauseous now).
But there is a silver lining every time I branch out of my comfort zone and learn to make something new. And occasionally this results in me reclaiming an old favorite, discovering a new convenience food, or learning that a comfort food of old tastes 1000x better when it's home made. And honestly, that's pretty much all i need. (though i do admit, i need to buy a wild foraging book in case of the zombie apocalypse since canned food = poison to me).
As a result, I had to learn to cook 5 years ago or go on a raw food diet. (And as I'm also allergic to all legumes, including beans and peanuts, vegan/vegetarian diet is also out).
That being said, obviously there was a hierarchy of things for me to learn to cook -- aka, all the necessities to just make a meal. Baking from scratch. And with time, and attempts to making certain favorite dishes (aka, pecan pie), I slowly started to realize what was my favorite because it was awesome (roast beef), and what was my favorite because of allergy high (pecan pie).
Still, I'm a procrastinator, and somewhat lazy. I still prefer making 1 pot meals because easier cleanup and there's no sense in having all that mess just for one person. But it does get repetitive so I do occasionally start learning other things to break up the monotony. Or have a friend do it for me (chocolate syrup, aka the time my exbf proved all the reasons for why I fell in love with him and helped me gain 5 lbs through rediscovery of chocolate milk and ice cream with chocolate sauce after not having any for 5 years!)
Chocolate chip muffins earlier this year did that, though they did not aid my resolution to drop a bit of girth. (and I have succumbed and bought pants in yet another size up. Sigh. I'm currently trying to do couch to 2k of my own devising, but a week of rain sort of threw that out of whack).
Home made lara bars for my conference trip are amazing and having me realizing that with the new job and need to start making some freezer meals, i should really buy a stand alone freezer.
But last weekend I did that which I had been planning to do for several summers -- strawberry jam! Yes, I know there are a lot of brands on the market that should be safe -- but invariably, citric acid (which is actually derived from a mold culture fed corn syrup and not citrus fruit by and large) will break my skin out like whoah and give me stomach, or pectin, which will do the same, will sneak there ways in and I finally gave up on them.
So the past few summers I'd buy boxes of strawberries and plan to make jam. And invariably the strawberries would get eaten, or moldy, and it would not happen.
But last weekend, in a burst of ....okay, I admit it, in a burst of procrastinating from the grant I was writing for work *hangs head*, I found a crockpot recipe for strawberry jam. And it cooked for 8 hours and was rather more the consistency of applesauce after that instead of preserves/jam (mind you, I'm doing these recipes pectinless and trying to use natural fruit pectin). But I figured it still should be good for something and put in fridge in case it gelled up under cold and drizzled some on the end of a hot loaf of bread.
And yay it was good. :) Granted, it's only been 3 or so years since I officially gave up on the last commercial brand that the ingredients said should be safe but the rash around my mouth said was not safe. But it was good and it was different, and I've had toast with almond butter and strawberry sauce for breakfast all week.
But, I changed it up this weekend.
See, growing up, we always had margarine. I was never a fan though I never knew the difference. With my allergy discovery, obviously margarine = poison. So I switched to butter. Which, well, I'm still not a fan unless using it to bake or cook with and it actually took me a while to get used to the taste of mashed potatoes with real butter. (pro tip hint: read your butter ingredients and buy versions that do not have natural flavor in it. They really taste different without that). However, during the discovery of my allergy, I also underwent some natural gas poisoning for 2 months such that I was nauseous all the time and the only thing I wanted to eat was toast with butter and jelly on it (again, i was learning my allergy and my body kept going into recovery periods the more I cut things out so for a while I could have convenience store bought food). But after that, butter was never that good and I generally ate toast with just jam on it, or made and almond butter/jelly sandwich.
So yesterday, as I was spending a day reading fanfic and not wanting to cook or go grocery shopping, I decided my lunch was to be bread and jam and I'd switch it up with buttered toast instead of almond butter.
*foodgasm* wow, I forgot how that taste went together. I really really really did. It's actually better than the homemade ice cream I made late last week (which was handicapped by the local store only having safe half and half and not having safe cream [really, look at the cream ingredients of normal cream --- modified corn starch, carrageean, and other chemical crap]).
So yeah. I know when you go out to eat with me, the response is invariably "oh you poor thing, you can't have X, Y, or Z. You can't eat at McD's etc". Which, for convenience sake, yes, I miss. But not for taste sake. (the smell of most processed/fast food actually makes me nauseous now).
But there is a silver lining every time I branch out of my comfort zone and learn to make something new. And occasionally this results in me reclaiming an old favorite, discovering a new convenience food, or learning that a comfort food of old tastes 1000x better when it's home made. And honestly, that's pretty much all i need. (though i do admit, i need to buy a wild foraging book in case of the zombie apocalypse since canned food = poison to me).