Suicide Love Tryst on the Eldership

It's that time of the year on the Eldership when all two of us on the crew go in for our annual physicals. Going in for a physical on the Eldership is kind of like going in for your annual review at work - except there's NEVER any good news. The good doctors serving Elder Fleet Command (ElFeetCo) never say things like, "Oh you've done so well this year" or "I so happy to see your (fill in the blank) numbers are so good, or "For a person of your age this is just fine." No what your going to hear is "(Sigh) I'm not happy about these (fill in the blank) numbers at all" or "You realize this is a precursor for (fill in the blank) horrible thing that will happen to you" or (the most dreaded of all) "I think you should give up (fill in the blank) which I realize you love but is killing you."  The official mission statement of the ElFeetCo Medical Corp is "Damn the Quality of Life - Live as Long as You Can!"

So it is that Captain de-I and First Office Wife (it being my turn this week to have command) have been told in no uncertain terms that we need to get off of white bread. Now I think you know the culinary standards we set here on the Eldership de-I so I'm not talking about your crappy grocery store bought white bread. At the Officers Mess (and the Enlisted Mess too since we fill all the roles), we loves our artisinal French style breads. Much better quality stuff, wonderful to eat, and just as bad for you because it's just white bread done right.

So we are moving on to various types of 3000 grain bread, rye breads, spelt bread (not the good stuff you get in Amsterdam, the stuff that reminds you of really expensive cardboard), etc. However, when we did our inventory of the food storage we found a number of pieces of French bread left in the freezer. Now most normal people would respond to this merely by throwing them out. But seeing as both Wife and I have the hardest time throwing anything out (For God's Sake people are starving in Southern Sudan - eat it!), a discussion (argument?) ensued as to who should finish it.

This led to mutual accusations that one was trying to kill off the other to secure permanently the top command on the ship. As Wife and I really do love each other (when we are not trying to bump each other off to get command of the ship), we resolved this by agreeing to share the remaining bread of death. As we were assured by our doctors that eating this bread was going to do us in, we decided to make this a romantic last meal thing with profuse expressions of love, candles burning, using plenty of butter, jam and honey (it's our last meal you know, why worry), eating the bread ensemble and then giving each other a last kiss with crumb coated lips. Sigh, the way one should want to go.

As fate would have it we, nothing terminal happened. We just gained a few pounds when we weighed ourselves the next morning.

Forgive Me Mother For I Have Sinned

The trip started out reasonably enough.  True, Monday night was a bit of over indulgence with drinking and eating a bit too much buy my word Tuesday I was Mr. Discipline - great restraint at the hotel breakfast buffet, only a cup of soup and a small sized Chef's Salad at the deli for lunch (and I didn't even eat all the meat and cheese!), and then some sushi (modest amount) and no over drinking at dinner.  Pretty good diet discipline for a business trip.

Ah but then today...Magical Unicorn Pony God of Travel notice out of the corner of her eye that I was flying and caused my connecting flight from Denver to Albuquerque to be delayed by a number of hours.  Actually at this stage of the game, MUPGT and I are kind of going through the motions.  I suspect she doesn't think I'm a very worthy opponent any more in my semi-retired state.  Very little to none of my travel has the kind of time intensity as it did when I was working full time.  So if there are issues, it is a bit easier to go with the flow.  That doesn't make it very much fun for the Single Horned Disruptor.   As a result, I get her kind of halfhearted efforts just to remind me that I'm not totally forgotten

Any way I had 4 plus hours to kill in the Denver airport going over the lunch hour.  I knew I should eat healthily.  But I didn't want to.  I wanted to indulge - the classic 'eat when you're feeling sorry for yourself' thing.  What really caught my eye was Lefty's Philly Cheese Steak.  I made a feeble effort to resist.  I walked to another part of the terminal where I knew there some healthier options.  But I didn't give them any serious attention.  I turned right around and went back to Lefty's and ordered my Cheese Steak Sandwich, which I got with Fries...and a glass of wine.

It was actually a very good rendition of the Cheese Steak Sandwich especially for an airport.

I'm thinking for the sake of not feeling gross remorse that I should put off weighing myself for few days.

I Have A Dream

It was a pretty rough week.  I needed to go to Colorado Springs for business on Sunday and was going to drive.  But there was a lot of snow in the mountain passes and I at the last moment decided to fly to Denver and drive down to Colorado Springs.  But my rental car's windshield washing system was not operational and while I tootling at 70 mph down the highway I go to clean the muck of the windshield and it becomes opaque!  Really scary.  Fortunately I was able to pull of and use some snow to wash things off.

Then there was two long days of work, the return trip and two long days of work on Wednesday and Thursday.  On Thursday morning I'm clearly not feeling well and by Thursday evening and an evening event, I'm feeling feverish, cold and tired.  I left the event early went home and curled up under my Afghan and watched a Great Course on Geology (really good one I might add).  I went to sleep very early, around 9:30.

Around 2 AM or so, I had this dream.  I dreamed of noodle soup.  Not any noodle soup but the wonderfully flavorful, nourishing noodle soups I had in Singapore. Along with the soup there was this humongous shrimp, perfectly cooked so it was just translucent.  Have I mentioned that I can't ever remember having dreamed of food and food so specific and so real in flavor before?  Well I haven't.  After I awoke from the dream and went back to bed I was still remembering the flavor and getting very hungry.  I had to make myself an Asian style soup for lunch just to assuage the craving.

I had an acupuncture appointment this afternoon (I'm feeling much better thank you).  I had not eaten very healthfully in Colorado Springs and she deduced that the dream was my body craving good nourishment. 

Can't wait for the #2 Pu clan to get o Hong Kong so we can visit and get some of the real thing!

Battle of the Bulge -Return of the Prodigal Son - Recipe Three - Indian Inspired Veg Soup

So you five faithful readers...you thought that just because I threw myself into a weekend of Italian besotted debauchery of food and wine that I had abandoned the Battle of the Bulge. But no, no I haven't. And as of this morning, I can tell you I was back down to the low point...the frustrating plateau of 175 and change where I have been stuck for months. And unfortunately we have lots of socializing this weekend followed by trips to Tampa and the Venerable Pu clan then Chicago. Not boding well.

So without further whining, another super lo cal recipe. I call this Indian Inspired Soup.

Sweetened dry coconut - 1/2 oz - 77 calories

Handy dandy pre-weighed 3 oz package of cooked chicken - 160 calories

1/2 cup canned tomato sauce - 40 calories

Turnip greens - 4 oz raw - parboiled, chopped - 27 calories

Zucchini - 10 oz chopped - 58 calories
Also chopped garlic and ginger - calories negligible

Not shown
3 1/2 cups chicken broth - 45 calories

Spices
Coriander seed, cumin seed, fennel seed, 1 dried red chile aboriol, small piece of cinnamon stick, fenugreek seed, whole clove
Toast over high heat until the smell starts to waft from the pan
Put into a coffee grinder (I have a separate one just for making spice blends) and grind to a powder.

Put coconut, tomato sauce and chicken broth into blender and blend until smooth

Saute garlic and ginger in 1 oz of oil (I used peanut oil) - 100 calories for the oil

Quickly run back to kitchen when you realize that you forgot to turn down the heat under the garlic and ginger and got distracted watching a soccer game on TV and add the zucchini and turnip greens.

Let them cook on medium low for around 10 minutes or until the zucchini is the firmness or softness you want. This lets the flavors permeate the vegetables too.

Accidentally hit the picture taking button of your phone.

Add the broth, tomato, coconut mixture and let simmer for around 10 minutes

This entire pot of soup was 510 calories and we were able to get a bowl each for dinner with a third left over.

Approximate calories per bowl - 170!

And it was muy yummy and very filling

Entertaining - Battle of the Bulge Style

On Saturday I was scheduled to have couple over for dinner. The Wednesday before the guy who I know told me that he was dieting even though his wife wasn't. He's on the tail end of two year effort that has resulted in his losing a lot of weight and his goal is in sight. He is on his last push and is on a very low cal diet. What a coincidence! I told him to fear not. All would be taken care of.

So how do we prepare a culinary event and keep the calories low? I have discovered the "small plates platform combined with my low calorie cooking to work wonders. The small plates ensure that you have variety but keep the quantity low. I usually go with five dishes (including dessert) served on my dessert plates to ensure quantity control. The low calorie cooking has taught me ways of bringing out flavor without too much fat or calories.

Another benefit of this menu is that the vast majority was prepared ahead of time with minimal preparation just before serving.

The Menu

• Mexican style shrimp salad
• Indian style vegetable stew
• Braised swiss chard and egg Spanish style
  
• Braised pork Hungarian style
• Fruit parfait

Mexican Style Shrimp Salad

Flavor base - red chile powder, garlic, Mexican oregano, cumin, lime juice. The first four ingredients are pounded together to make a paste. Lime juice is added to loosen everything up.

Shrimp - Marinated in flavor base for an hour then sauteed quickly, cooled and cut in half

Vegetables - Jicama, celery, cucumber, red bell pepper, pickled mini-corn in large dice

Mix ingredients and add flavor base. Let marinate for about an hour. Add more lime juice to taste just before serving. The only oil in this dish is about a tablespoon for the shrimp. Shrimp are low cal and measured carefully how many I put in.

Indian Style Vegetable Stew

In this recipe there are three components to the flavor base

Flavor base one, the spices - whole allspice, whole fenugreek, small piece of cinnamon stick, one dried chile arbol, whole cumin seeds, whole coriander seeds, whole anise. Toast these for a couple of minutes in a dry pan until the smell starts arising. Then put into a coffee grinder and grind to a powder.

Flavor base two - green onions, garlic and ginger (both fresh), some ground nutmeg

Flavor base three - vegetable oil, whole mustard seeds, whole cumin seeds

Heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. When they pop like popcorn, add the cumin seeds. Add the other flavor bases immediately. Lower heat to medium and stir fry for about 3-5 minutes until green onions start to soften. Add a little coconut milk (I used lite - yuch - but it is a third of the calories), a little chicken flavor base and a little water. Let the flavors combine for another 5 minutes. Add your vegetables. In this case I was using zucchini, mushrooms, turnip greens and some white beans (not many beans - high calories). Let the stew cook until the veggies are soft adding water if it starts to dry out. The only real high calorie items are the initial oil and the beans. This whole dish can be done ahead of time a reheated in the micro just before serving.

Braised Swiss Chard and Egg

Flavor base - Olive Oil, pancetta, garlic, pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika

Parboil the chard about 4 minutes for the stems and 2 minutes for the leaves. Put in cold water to stop cooking, drain, squeeze out excess water, and chop.

Fry 1 ounce of thinly sliced pancetta (Italian salted bacon) in a little olive oil to flavor the oil and end up with some crispy pancetta thins. Add sliced garlic and cook until garlic just starts turning golden. Add pimenton. Add the chard, salt, pepper and a little bit of chicken or beef broth. Let chard cook over medium low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. This can be done ahead of time.

Fry one egg for each serving in olive oil and put it on each serving of chard. Crumble up the pancetta and sprinkle over the top of the egg.

I get a lot of rave reviews for this dish even from those who don't usually like greens. The egg yolk mellows out the bitter tendencies of the green and the little bit of bacony goodness from the pancetta adds salt and crunch. You are getting some calories from the two sets of oil, very little from the one ounce of pancetta spread in this case over 4 servings, and about 70 calories for each egg.

Braised Pork Hungarian Style

OK this is not low cal at all. I justified it because I wanted one splurge dish and I made sure in the small plate format that the portions were small. I used bone on pork chops for this.

Flavor base - Bacon fat, onion, green pepper, garlic, Hungarian paprika, caraway seeds, beef broth.

Brown the chops in bacon fat (not too much!). Set chops aside, saute the onions, green pepper, and garlic until soft. Add paprika - a lot! Add salt, pepper, caraway seed (go light -these are very potent). Add beef broth. Let the braising fluid cook for about 10 minutes to let the flavors combine. Add your chops, cover tightly and braise at a low heat for around 1.5 hours or until the meat comes of the bone. Remove meat into shreds or chunks, toss the bones and put meat back into braising liquid. I did this the day before.

Next day, drain the meat and braising veggies saving the braising liquid. Cook the braising liquid down so it is a lightly thickened sauce. I did this before the guests arrived. Touch up the sauce flavor with some more paprika and caraway seed. Reheat the sauce before serving.

I made some mashed potatoes flavored with slow cooked leeks that made it through the winter in our garden (in spite of the 0 degree weather in February!) ahead of time of course and used those as the base. Put the meat vegetable mixture artfully to one side and finished with the sauce plus a liberal amount of new crop chives from the garden.

As I said, this was the splurge dish of the meal. No caloric redeeming features :(

Fruit Parfait

This is Mrs. de-I's creation and she pulls it off to perfection. Put about 1.5 ounces of pound cake into the bottom of a large wine glass. Sprinkle with a tiny amount of fruit liqueur (Wife likes to us her homemade raspberry). Add two or more complementary fruit. We are using peaches from our last harvest with blueberries. Add a very small amount of fresh made whipped cream.

This ends up tasting much more luxurious than one would think from the very small amount of high caloric components (cake, liqueur, whipped cream).

And how did my dieting guest take this? He had a great time and texted me the next day that he had still lost weight!

Battle of the Bulge - Recipe Two! - Basic Stew

In addition to soups the other basic preparation I make are stews. As with the soups, I use a basic preparation that I alter through 1) different combinations of ingredients and 2) different flavorings. I'm using a Spanish flavoring for this one. Here are the ingredients and the calories - I forgot to write down the actual weights of everything :(

• Corn - 150 calories (1 fresh ear frozen from the summer)
• Chicken - 150 calories (3 oz of my pre-cooked pre-weighed chicken)
• Olive Oil - 100 calories
• Chicken broth - 30 calories (1-16 oz can)
• Onion - 40 calories (4 oz - remembered that one)
• Zucchini - 28 calories
• Butternut Squash - 75 calories
• Corn Starch - 30 calories (1 teaspo0n for thickening)

Saute the onions with some garlic in the olive oil

My Spanish flavorings - Pimenton (smoked paprika) and Saffron

The Spanish flavorings added to the onions with thyme

I cooked down the broth to concentrate the flavor and make it easier to get thick

Corn taken off the cob and zucchini cut

Chicken - defrosted

The chicken, corn and zucchini are added and saute with the flavorings

I roast the butternut squash and will save most of it for future uses

Now add the broth, butternut, and cornstarch (dissolve in water first!)

The 287 Calorie Stew

Important Milestone in Bulge Battle

On Wednesday the scale was at 175.4 - broke through the 176 barrier where I had been stalled for over 2 months. Thank God. I was getting really frustrated. Of course now I'm off to Connecticut where I cannot exactly keep on regimen. But with DoD (Dear old Dad) I know he isn't going to go too crazy.

Battle of the Bulge - FIRST RECIPE! - Basic Soup

Finally, the first of the recipes. This is what I call Basic Soup. When we are in our "we really have to get a breakthrough and get the weight loss started" mode Mrs. de-I and I with our 60+ year old metabolisms need to have our dinner be under 300 calories. So remember the overall goal of this whole program - tasty, filling dinners at under 400 calories.

I call this the Basic Soup because I can use the flavor principles discussed earlier and a selection of veggies mentioned before to make many, many variations off this same theme. The basis of the of the basic soup is broth plus flavored veggies and a tiny bit of meat. The basic flavoring of the veggies is just a little garlic sauteed in olive oil. For this version here are the components for two servings

• Carrots - 3 oz, 30 calories
• Potato - 5 oz, 56 calories
• Broccoli - 4 oz (cooked), 30 calories
• Chickpeas - 1/3rd cup, 63 calories
• Chicken - 3 oz cooked dark meat, 153 calories
• Chicken Broth - 28 oz, 60 calories

Total calories - 492 / 246 per serving

I cut the carrots small and boiled them with the potatoes (also cut small) for 10 minutes

I like to make my own broth and freeze it but use canned broth all the time

When I make my broth I save the meat and divide it into 3 oz portions

Broccoli I will either roast or steam and then use it as a component through the week

Things like chickpeas and beans, I will open a can and use in small amounts in various dishes. By the way, when I use canned beans, I like to wash them in a strainer. It seems to me that it gets the tinny flavor of the juice off of them.

THE basic flavoring technique - sauteing a little garlic in olive oil. I cot this from Marcela Hazan's books which suggest that you put your garlic in cold oil and then bring it up to heat. Just doing this and adding your veggies with a bit of salt and pepper adds tons of flavor!

All the veggies added plus a little dried basil. I saute this for about 4 minutes just to get the flavor into the veggies

I add the chicken for the last minute

I've heated the broth separately. I split the veggie/chicken mixture between two bowls and put in the broth.

Presto - Basic Soup - Tasty and 246 Calories

Battle of the Bulge - Raw Material Clarification

OK - you don't buy ALL those veggies. You buy a small selection that you can use in different combinations over the course of a normal week.

I was soooo close to actually doing a recipe today but I got home real late and was too tired.

:(

Battle of the Bulge - Raw Materials

It may have appeared based on my last two posts that I have abandoned the weight loss path. Not so. Actually in spite of all the travel I have this month, I've been able to stay under good control. What I haven't had is a lot of energy to keep up the posts. But in April there is NO travel planned so I'm hoping to do serious posting of recipes.

But first let's talk about basic raw materials. The key to keeping under 400 calories is focusing on vegetables and broth as THE major components of dishes. The veggies provide texture and flavor components while the broth provides the component that is filling and low in calories. If you're going to try to eat this way, I suggest you get a wide variety of vegetables from all the families of vegetables. Here are some examples of things that we stock up on:

Greens - Cooking - Cooking greens offer a lot of texture, flavor and nutrients with minimal calories. Included in these are:

• Mustard greens
• Kale
• Collards
• Beet greens

Crossover Greens - These are greens that can eaten raw in salads (we'll have a post just devoted to salads) or cooked. Included here are:

• Endive
• Escarole
• Spinach

Cabbages - Like the crossover greens cabbages can be eaten raw or cooked. Also really low in calories so when you need some volume to fill you a pound of green cabbage is around 70 calories. They also absorb flavors really well.

• Green cabbage
• Red cabbage
• Napa cabbage
• Bok choy
• Kohlrabi

Squashes - These offer variety between the summer versions and winter versions. The latter provide color and sweetness.

• Yellow squash
• Zucchini
• Butternut
• Acorn

Other stuff - A lot of these can be used both cooked and raw

• Mushrooms, fresh
• Mushrooms dried
• Bell peppers
• Celery
• Carrots
• Green beans
• Peas
• Corn
• Fennel
• Jicama
• Bean sprouts
• Daikon

For salads

• Iceberg lettuce
• Romaine lettuce
• Green and red leaf lettuce
• Radishes
• Cucumbers
• Hearts of palm

Battle of the Bulge - Flavor Combinations

Sorry it's taken so long to put out this installment. The energy just gets sapped during the work week. OK enough of the bitching on to the cooking.

My methodology for creating flavorful, varied, low calorie meals is based upon a set of cooking principles that were articulated in a book, no longer in print, published in 1973 titled, The Flavor-Principle Cookbook, by Elisabeth Rozin. In this book, the author broke down cooking into flavor combinations that were the bases of various international cuisines, and basic cooking techniques. Then she provided a variety of recipes of classic dishes that were examples of specific flavor combinations and cooking techniques, and recipes of innovative dishes that combined a flavor combination with a cooking technique that was typical of the flavor combination. This methodology has resulted in my having a mental filing system that has flavors on one side and cooking techniques on the other.

Here is a list of some of the basic flavor combinations I use:

Asian

This starts with a base of ginger and garlic cooked in oil and then adds some soy sauce, sherry, and broth. From this base one can add a host of Asian condiments and bottled sauces that vary the final flavor. These include but are not limited to:
Thai fish sauce

• Chile garlic sauce
• Five spice powder
• Black bean & garlic sauce
• Sa Cha sauce
• Black pepper sauce

Italian

This starts with garlic sauteed starting with the garlic in cold oil and one or more of anchovy paste, tomato paste, or olive paste. Often augmented with basil and oregano.

Cajun/Creole

This starts with a brown roux of oil (often a pork flavored oil with bacon, pancetta, or salt pork) and flour plus the trinity of onions, celery, and green pepper. To this is added Worcestershire sauce and bitters and white wine.

French

Wine and stock with herbs (bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, marjoram) cooked down into a sauce.

Misc Mediterranean

Onions and garlic sauteed in olive oil with herbs (parsley, oregano, basil) often with citrus such as lemon or orange.

New Mexican Red

Garlic mashed with salt into a paste with red chile powder, Mexican oregano, and cumin

New Mexican Green

Onions and garlic sauteed with roasted green chiles and Mexican oregano

Indian

A spice powder made of a combination of spices. The spices are toasted and ground up. The combination can consist of:

• Cumin seed
• Coriander seed
• Cardamon pods
• Fenugreek seeds
• Allspice seeds
• Cinnamon sticks
• Nutmeg
• Cloves
• Black peppercorns
• White peppercorns
• Red Chiles - dried

The spice powder is added to sauteed garlic and ginger

Next - Raw Materials

Battle of the Bulge - Let the Cooking Begin

Now we begin to delve into how you make meals for under 400 calories that is also satisfying in terms of flavor and hunger abatement. (Disclaimer - To make this work it really helps to like to cook!)

The goal - a wide range and variety of meals that do not take forever to make

There are three components that are the building blocks. These are:

• Raw Materials
• Flavor Combinations
• Cooking Techniques

Your flavor combinations and cooking techniques are the foundation. A relatively limited number of these provide the ability to take your basic ingredients and create variety.

Next - Flavor Combinations.

Battle of the Bulge - Basic Tactics

The key principle Mrs. de-I and have been using is calorie counting coupled with sustainability - the ability to use this as a long-term lifestyle change. That means it has to contain enough enjoyment so that it doesn't seem like an ordeal and lead to binge eating undoing all the gains.

I will only be speaking for myself as Wife does things a bit different given the differences of metabolism of sex. My basic outline for eating is:

• A good breakfast - it is my largest meal of the day
• A salad for lunch
• A dinner of either home-made soup or some vegetable based dish which we aim to come in at under 300 calories per serving (I will be going into great detail in future posts as to how I do this and end up with very tasty filling meals - including recipes)
• Fruit for a snack - most of the time in the afternoon, sometimes in the evening.
• Significant limits on alcohol but not abstinence.

I'm getting ready to get on a plane - so more detail later.

My Take On Fighting the Bulge

Business partner, friend, and fellow blogger Joe has been writing on his explorations into the methodologies for controlling weight gain and achieving weight loss. It is inevitable that as you get older, your metabolism slows down and if you consume the same amount of calories, you're going to gain weight.

Mrs. de-I and I have been fighting this inevitability for a long time and the fact that I really like to cook, eat and drink is not a big help. While there are lots and lots of thoughts and methods that are out there, most fail ultimately because they are not sustainable in terms of a lifestyle that most will enjoy and stick with.

When I got back from Italy in September I was greeted in the mail with my lab results from my doctor and a handwritten note saying "LOSE 10 POUNDS! Gee think she was trying to get my attention. After trying so many pop diet/weight loss ideas without long-term success, we are bought into the "its about calories in and calories out" theory. We are aware of the "if you decrease calories too much your body goes into starvation hold on to the fat mode" so the system has to be finding the right amount of intake to gradually lose weight. This means a long slow decrease. That once again calls for a lot of thought about how to create sustainability.

So Wife and I have been working on that and have been tweaking our program. We are in our six month now and both of us have lost around 10-12 pounds. We still have quite a ways to go. However, I can say that for the most part the system we've developed has not lead to the sense of deprivation. In fact it is a pretty enjoyable meal plan for the most part. So over the next few posts, I am going to describe what we are doing and more importantly show the cooking techniques that I have been using to create the satisfaction/enjoyment component.