Test Kitchen

I seem to thrive on kitchen experimentation like some crazy inventor (think Doc Emmet Brown only with food instead of time machines).  Another way to say this is that when fixing dinner, I wing it most of the time. 

My current cooking efforts are unconventional with a healthy twist, but I still want them to appeal to the manly-man appetite that shows up repeatedly at my table every day.  Sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, white-potato-free, and a host of other restrictions from his cardiologist guide and challenge me to come up with some wacky, but delicious, concoctions.

Some people say, “Well, what do you eat?  What’s left?”  I’ll tell you.  Plenty of real food.

Several people have requested written recipes (my husband talks a lot about his yummy heart-healthy food, and news spreads), so I’ve started a notebook where I record whatever I make each night for dinner.  It’s a fun project.

Tonight’s unorthodox meal offered components similar to a “fish ‘n chips” dinner: baked polluck filets covered with almond breading and served with tartar sauce made from homemade mayonnaise.  And turnip fries.  Yes.  I said turnip.  Fries.

Steamed green beans topped with toasted onion rings and browned almond flour and flax seed were actually better than the traditional Thanksgiving green bean casserole.  We agreed – who needs that gloppy canned mushroom soup when you can have this?

Another side of sautéed onions and baby bella mushrooms, tossed together with steamed spinach, complimented the rest nicely.  Salad was simple: sliced tomatoes with dollops of more homemade mayonnaise and a hefty grind of pepper.

But that’s not all…dessert!  Cherry crisp, made without grains (no wheat or oats) or refined sugar, but rather quinoa flakes (quinoa is a seed rather than a grain), almond flour, honey and stevia!

The farther we get into this lifestyle change the more I think we’re on to something big.  Why is it we look forward to new culinary delights made with very little processed or packaged food, and feel so much better at the end of a meal than we used to?  Satisfied but not heavy or dull-in-the-head?  Why are we able to get-up-and-go at this late stage of life? 

I’ll tell you why, or at least one reason.  Physical wellness begins at the cellular level.  The health of individual cells defines the health of body parts, and eventually entire systems.  We’re noticing positive effects because our cells are gobbling up good stuff.  They’re being served nutrient-dense foods, and are therefore happier and more functional than they’ve been in a long while.