Morning Kitchen: vegan with tempeh and dill potatoes

Mike's Recipe Box is getting a re-brand/re-launch! The first change is the title and the content re-focus.  This blog has been the tool I've used to document the things I've made that pass the family taste test. We're keeping that focus but shifting more to things to help you find you own inspiration, while amping up the taste test part so you, dear reader, know the ideas are solid. Flavor story, textures and tastiness are our new measuring sticks. We hope you find this is more useful and it inspires you share your input!

I am by far the first to rise in the morning and love to  putter around in the pre-dawn hours and get the day's cooking projects prepped. Usually that means sparking up the moka pot and turning leftover ingredients into a breakfast burrito. This daily habit of mine is what inspired the change of name to 1000 Burritos. 

We love to do theme weeks around here- defining a parameter really jump starts the creative process. It's the lead up to Father's Day 2023 and the week's recipe theme has been Middle Eastern. For shawarma night, I offered the vegetarian option of harissa bbq tempeh, and for kofta night I made garlic dill potatoes. These two ingredients really sing in this burrito and make an unforgettable, delicious combination.

Harissa BBQ tempeh

This came together really quickly and despite some really unique flavors, has proven to be a very flexible leftover ingredient for all kinds of things: salads, wraps and even this breakfast burrito.

Ingredients

Tempeh brick, cut into approx. 3/4" fingers

2 tgl neutral cooking oil

Spice blend: 1 tsp of each:  crushed rosemary, coriander powder, chili powder, cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric

Harissa BBQ sauce: half and half prepared BBQ sauce and harissa sauce; or 1 tbl harissa spice blend, 1/8 cup ketchup, 1/8 cup yellow mustard, 1 tbl molasses or pomegranate molasses, 1 tbl neutral oil like avocado

Method

Steam the tempeh for 10 minutes. set aside to cool.

Assemble the spice mix and BBQ sauce.

In a skillet preheated on medium (I prefer cast iron for the crust),  add the oil and then the tempeh. Turning every minute, fry until all sides are starting to brown. Turn heat down to low.

Remove the tempeh to a small mixing bowl. Add the spice mix. Stir to coat.  Return tempeh to pan, and continue to cook, turning onto each side every 15 seconds. Spices will become fragrant. 

Turn off heat. Add sauce to mixing bowl, and toss tempeh to coat.

Dill Garlic roast potatoes

Ingredients

 2 lbs medium Yukon Gold potatoes

bunch fresh dill

2 garlic cloves, peeled

olive oil

1 tsp salt

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut the potatoes: quartered length-wise, then cut into four segments.

add the bunch of dill, salt and garlic to a food processor. start blending on low. drizzle in enough olive oil to mix into a loose sauce.

Combine the potatoes and sauce in a mixing bowl. Scrape onto a half sheet (either non-stick or a silpat on top).

Roast for 20 minutes. Flip potatoes over and roast another 20 minutes until potatoes are nicely browned.

To assemble the leftover breakfast burrito:

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 cup red pepper, diced

beans of your choice

shredded cheese

taco sauce

Method:

Heat a stovetop griddle or iron skillet on medium heat.

saute the onions and peppers. cut the tempeh and potatoes into smaller bite-size pieces. add them to the pan and continue sauteing until everything is warm. Set mix aside. 

Heat tortillas on griddle. Flip and add the cheese and beans. 

Spoon on the grilled mix. 

Add a little taco sauce to the filling and roll. Tortillas should be nicely crisp and starting to brown.

Hope you like the rebrand and the burritos!

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Gerd-friendly breakfast burritos

 If you're a regular reader around here you know I live for breakfast burritos. Problem is I've suffered from GERD for years now and spicy foods can cause flareups. So can some ingredients, like my beloved onions, and cooking methods like frying and sauteing.  I went through a phase of frying potatoes and onions on a cast-iron grill pan for the browning. Every burrito gave me indigestion and I questioned every ingredient but the potatoes. It's the oil, and the oils that are transformed by the heat. Recently I've gotten good results when I follow a low-fat, high-carb diet, vegan except for eggs. No meat, no dairy, no processed oils. Lots of vegetables, mushrooms, and grains. So here's a breakfast burrito that is tasty and filling and works to calm your inner fire too.

Ingredients

--Potatoes. Figure one small potato for each burrito, one medium potato for two, one large potato for three.

--whole grain tortillas

--one pound of dry beans

--one onion, skin removed

--two cloves garlic, skin removed

--four bay leaves

--1/2 green bell pepper, diced 

--1/2 cup corn kernels

--teaspoon each of thyme, cumin and paprika

--one bunch cilantro

Method

Required equipment: large pot with lid, stovetop grill pan

The night before, soak the beans in water. Rinse in the morning. Add fresh water so it is at least 3 inches above the beans.

Cook the beans on low with the bay leaves, half the onion (whole. Store the other half, or finely dice for burritos if fresh onion doesn't bother you), and the two cloves of garlic. About an hour in, add half the bunch of cilantro, whole. Cut up the other half and reserve.

When beans are soft, add the spices. Let it sit in the pot to absorb the flavor, about an hour.

At this time bake some medium russet or gold potatoes if you choose to bake them.

Remove the bay leaves and cilantro stems from the beans. Let the potatoes cool.

Cut a baked potato into cubes, or microwave a whole medium potato for 3-4 minutes until tender, then cut it into cubes when it's cool enough to handle.

On the grill pan, let the green pepper cook a few minutes. Add the corn kernels, salt and pepper to taste, then set aside.

Dry grill tortillas until starting to brown. Warm the tortillas before serving if necessary. 

To a warm tortilla, add any cheese you like, I use a commercial vegan shredded cheese usually.

Add some potato, drained beans. Sprinkle on reserved cilantro.

That's basically it. You can add a sauce, if you can tolerate it. If not, a spice mix of smoked paprika, crushed thyme and oregano, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper is nice. you can toast that on the stovetop grill for a couple of seconds after the tortillas are finished. 

I avoid onion and garlic powder as those give me problems whereas onions and garlic stewed low and slow, as we did above with the beans, don't.

Fold the ends in and then tuck the filling into the middle as you roll the closer end away from you. If using a fresh tortilla, take it oout of the pan before it is browned, tuck the sides in like forming a pocket and finish on the hot grill until it browns lightly.

Hope you enjoy!

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Why I gave up social media and what I'm doing instead

Summers I get up early, walk the dog if he's game, and then go water the garden. It's a ritual that I observe perhaps not religiously, but I have spent an awful lot of early mornings doing it. This fine sunny Summer morning was no different. I was doomscrolling social media while filling up buckets of water to pour on the tomatoes when my wife came out- which surprised me- to tell me the burning I'll smell when I come back inside is the pan I left on. Totally distracted, after making my breakfast with it, I just let it go.

We all see signs of how distracted society is around us. Since I commute to a job to another town one day a week, and am not within walking distance of essential services, driving is the example I see most often and glaringly. Now, when I approach a four-way stop and no one is taking a turn, I know why: at least one driver was filling that yawning chasm of nothing to do for 10 seconds with their phone. It happens every day at every intersection. It happens at street lights. it happens in exit and entrance ramps on highways. It happens in parking lots and driveways. No one is really paying all that much attention, anymore.

One of the most brilliant inventions, I've always thought, was the driving simulator. It's apparently a relic of the past, from what my kids say. It let you preview the feeling of driving before even getting behind an actual steering wheel. Your job was simple: stop at stop signs, keep the car on the road, don't hit a pedestrian or other car. And it was a challenge. Its most important role was to ingrain behavior. I think our phones and social media have broken this pattern for so much of our behavior. It's making everyday experiences awkward, difficult, even dangerous.

There was nothing in particular I was distracted by this morning. That's the scary part. i was not thinking "gotta get back to doomscrolling." I just don't have the concentration I used to have. And as someone who works in the IT field, that is very concerning. I speculate that it's what Alzheimer's or dementia might feel like. If I can't maintain focus long enough to turn a burner off, what will I be forgetting to do next?

There is an area of study which seeks to improve how you engage with reality, here and now: that is mindfulness. Mindfulness is all about foregoing all else in favor of the one thing you are focused on. It could be reading a book, sewing a button- or cooking an egg on the stove. The key is daily practice.

I notice not many people are talking about mindfulness on social media. Is it even possible in a world on fast-forward, seeking to grab your eyeballs in a couple of seconds, literally as you can't wait to swipe away and on to the next couple of seconds of entertainment?

I've read the highly recommended How to Break up With Your Phone by Catherine Price. I've taken the intial step of removing all social media from my phone. But I am still at the beginning of the process. Next comes the hard part of rebuilding my attention span. The laundry list, according to the article "How to Reclaim Your Attention Span" over at Experience Life, is daily meditation, body scan exercises, breathing exercises, and the bane of all IT workers- monotasking. The column also encourages "deep work-" like reading a book- and discourages "shallow work-" like mindlessly scrolling social media.

So join me, won't you, as I try to rebuild my life, one book, one pan, one day at a time.

Hiatal hernia-aggrevated IBS-C and GERD: life hacks

 Blogs are basically extended memory- many times I've found myself just wanting to document a body of knowledge I've gained- but in the public sphere, putting things out there, hoping they help or resonate. This past 12 months I've gone through the hellish experience of dealing with yet another LPR throat burn and accelerated GERD thanks to a hiatal hernia. The key to getting all of this under control was dealing with the hiatal hernia, and in the end I did get to the point that the hernia was bothering me very little and my digestion was quiet. 

First, the TMI bit. I'm quite sure the hernia was brought on by straining on the toilet. I have a sluggish thyroid and one of the unfortunate symptoms of that is constipation. Just generally body processes not moving along the way they should. So every bowel movement is difficult. This likely was a contributor to my IBS-C diagnosis as well.

This was exacerbated by my love for coffee. Coffee has great cognitive benefits, but terrible effects on digestion. One that I'd read about but has been an overwhelming presence the past few years is dehydration. I've come up with a simple protocol to cope- drinking one glass of water for every cup of coffee- but I think the ultimate solution might be giving it up, I'm afraid. Anyway caffeine does stimulate peristalsis, which ought to help with constipation, but I guess with a sluggish thyroid they cancel each other out a bit. Then add the dehydration on top, which makes your poops dense and difficult to pass, and you can find yourself in quite a jam- literally.

Constipation led to straining, which led to developing my tear, yadda yadda.

What happens with a hiatal hernia is part of your stomach bubbles up through a tear in the hiatus muscle, which normally separates the esophagus and stomach.  This in effect forms a small "pre-stomach" where acid can wreak havoc, forcing itself up the esophagus due to limited space. This was the cause of the LPR damage, the subject of which I've already blogged about extensively. Today's post is how I managed the GERD and hiatal hernia and in fact I believe was healing up by the end.

Hack #1: Benefiber in your drinking water.

I thought job #1 was to solve the constipation- the root of the problem. It's important to keep hydrated already- moreso when dealing with both constipation and GERD. I've tried morning doses of Benefiber and it had basically no result.  I think it was on Reddit that someone posted this suggestion from their doc: to a 16-oz water bottle, I add 4-5 teaspoons of benefiber and sip on it throughout the day. This addresses the situation in an ongoing fashion so your poops are lighter and easier to pass in general, which reduces the need to strain.

Hack #2: Enlist herbal assistance

When it's bad, look in herbal tea blends for buckthorn and senna- these both have a laxative effect that can help things get moving. They can't fix problems that are already developing, but used on a semi-regular basis, they will help soften stools and prevent genuine crises. For maintenance, choose herbal blends with dandelion, ginger and chicory. I like steeping Traditional Medicinal's Dandelion Chai Probiotic and Ginger Aid blends together for a one-two anti-inflammatory, colon-toning punch.

Hack #3: replace your morning coffee with chicory

Speaking of chicory, it's very popular in roasted and ground form and serves as an excellent coffee subsitute. And it's an excellent root for increased intestinal motility.

Hack #4: get your caffeine from green tea and chocolate

One of the most agonizing decisions I made was to give up coffee. If you can tolerate it, it's good to get caffeine in small doses for a cognitive benefit. The most satisfying way I've found to do this is by drinking green tea and eating dark chocolate. Now, when my digestion was triggered and sensitive, chocolate was a total no-go. But now that things are calmer, I've finally been able to reincoporate this indulgent, healthy snack. But I've never had problems with green tea, thankfully. It has multiple benefits including reducing inflammation- very helpful when dealing with IBS-C and GERD both.

Hack #5: heal your gut like healing a wound

Things for me really turned around when I encountered Alanda Jones' video on YouTube about healing the esophagus. Calendula is known for its wound-healing properties- we were already using it in puppy paw balm and personal hand creams. I bought calendula steeped in olive oil on Etsy, then bought a big bag of the dried flowers. when my batch began running out, I just started adding more flowers and oil. To 6 oz of warm water, add a teaspoon of manuka honey and a dropper or two of calendula oil. Have this first thing in the morning, and last thing in the evening until the honey runs out. Manuka honey- especially the effective stuff- is expensive, so you don't want to be eating a lot of it on an ongoing basis. Wait a week and see how you feel and there is no improvement in your GERD, try another round of it.

Related to this is taking a high-quality probiotic and digestive enzyme. If you have GERD, you're probably taking PPIs, and those deprive your digestion of acid, the greatest weapon your body has for breaking food down into usable nutrients. You need to give your digestion some help in the form of enzymes and probiotic supplements. Take the probiotic once or twice a day, and take the enzymes with every meal. Also be sure to eat some raw fruits and veg every day, which have all of their enzymes intact. Which leads neatly to-

Hack #6: Have a salad every day- sometimes drink it!

One thing you must do to get beyond this is have fiber in every meal and snack. This means snacking on fruit (I like banana and dried figs best) and nuts like whole almonds, and experimenting with whole grains and beans. A salad every day can be an efficient catch-all for many of these things. But a vegetable and fruit smoothie will absolutely transform your life. All it takes is one 6 oz. smoothie a day to see really dramatic results. I like berries for the anthocyanins, and pineapple for the digestive enzymes.Any greens can be used but the easiest and most abundantly available are baby spinach and kale. you can even find them in a mix. Just toss them in and mix. It takes away the excuse most of us have for putting it off or not doing it at all.

Hack #7: maintain beyond the symptoms

Every day I make a large thermos of hot water and drink herbal tea throughout the day. I also drink the water supercharged with Benefiber every day. and though I don't do the manuka honey and calendula every morning,  I do still put calendula in the herbal latte I start every day with- I'll post that sometime.

I hope you find this information useful and helps you get your inner self in better shape to help combat hiatal hernia and GERD.

30 days of vegan: my favorite vegan eggs

Recently I posted my musings on my favorite breakfast food- the burrito. In it, I blithely said go forth and find one of the many, many copycat recipes on the web that rely on kala namak and turmeric to impart eggy color and flavor. 

But that was lazy of me. And a bit disingenuous. When I first endeavored to go vegan, I knew meat would not be a problem for me. I've never been a meat fan, even in childhood. I always went for the most processed meats: sausages, hot dogs, things that didn't seem like meat. A slab of flesh always freaked me out. One encounters weird flavors, textures, chewy, slimy, stringy bits. Gross.

I always thought cheese would be the really hard thing. I've had love affairs with whole branches of cheese. In the fake cheese realm, varieties such as Swiss do not translate nearly as well as cheeses like Cheddar. Parmagiano and Romano are struggles, too. The substitute recipes often have Italian herbs or spices, as if to say, we know this isn't going to work, the best we can do is remind you of a food with real cheese in it. 

But I got over cheese (thanks in no small part to nutritional yeast). It turns out the very hardest thing for me to abandon was the humble chicken egg.

I have always loved eggs. As a kid, while my classmates sat at tray tables watching cartoons and guzzling down sugar bomb cereals, I was feasting on fried eggs and bacon, scrambled eggs and toast, omelets stuffed with ham and cheese, or my beloved creamed eggs. I come from farmer stock. I spent a lot of days and nights sleeping under the roof of my maternal grandparents. They raised chickens and ate a lot of eggs. So really, eggs are my soul food.  The prospect of giving them up was, ultimately, the most difficult choice. The heavy-handed treatments that are the gold standard for vegan eggs in the online cooking sphere- heavy with garlic and onion powder, turmeric, soy sauce or liquid aminos- while not unappetizing, scream "I am not eggs" to this egg lover. And so a suitable egg substitute has been my philosopher's stone.

I've settled on tofu as a base, just like the most popular variants out there. But I forgo the firm and extra-firm refrigerated packs for the silken tofu-based shelf-stable aseptic packs. All of the aseptic grades you find are based on silken tofu, though you can find soft, firm and extra-firm varieties. My favorite for this dish is firm.

Of all the common flavorings used for tofu eggs, I have found only black salt, nooch and butter to be indispensible. I don't like turmeric for the coloring agent; in terms of flavor, I prefer annato or saffron. Both impart delicate color and flavor- exactly the mood I want to strike with simple scrambled eggs.

There are different ways to achieve the flavor and texture of butter. Cooking the tofu in coconut oil mixed with nutritional yeast works nicely. But I find using a plant-based butter-like spread to be perfectly fine.

I prefer a healthy grinding of black pepper, but that's a personal choice.

So, here's how you make my delicate, simple take on classic scrambled eggs.

Ingredients

• 1 brick of aseptic pack tofu- any grade is fine, but firm is probably best
• 1 tsp black salt
• 1 tbl plant based butter, or 1 tbl coconut oil
• 1/2 cup plant milk- I prefer organic, unsweetened soy milk with no fillers
• 1 tsp all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/4 tsp annato or a healthy pinch of saffron
• 2 tbl nutritional yeast
  

Method

1. If using saffron- heat the plant milk in the microwave for 15 seconds. Add the saffron to the milk and set aside to bloom.
2. Put the tofu, salt, flour, baking powder, nutritional yeast and milk in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.
3. At this point, you can add any veggie additions. Some ideas are sliced green onion, diced roasted red pepper or tomato, precooked broccoli florets cut small, or thinly sliced cooked mushrooms.
   
4. Heat a non-stick skillet to medium. add the butter or oil. use a brush to coat the pan entirely.
5. pour in the mix. This will lower the temp of the pan. Give the mix two minutes to cook. Turn heat to medium low.
   
6. This is when you can decide if you want it omelet or sandwich style, or scrambled. If scrambled- break the disc up into large pieces and start tossing them gently. Break them up a second time if you want the pieces smaller. They should be starting to brown, but not completely set. If going for an omelet, begin checking the edges. the flour and baking powder give them a little structure, so you should be able to flip as one whole disc. But be careful to not overcook, this is why we've turned the heat down. The top should be lightly browned. Give the bottom another minute to do the same.
   
7. Remove from the pan to a bowl or plate covered with a lid until ready to serve. If you are melting vegan cheese on top for sandwiches, put it on now and cover.
8. Enjoy!
   

30 Days of Vegan: Breakfast Burritos

Is there a more perfect food than a burrito? Right off the bat, it has portability going for it- something I apreciate it because I rarely want to sit down for a meal. Just how I'm wired I guess. The burrito is like a Rhumba: it has key ingredients and signature moves that define the category, but beyond that, the sky is the limit. It can be made up of almost anything. It varies from the Guisado, basically in a stew in a tortilla- to the Mission, with its massive girth and plentiful rice and beans; to the Chimichanga, essentially a fried burrito; to Korean versions. And what is Moo Shu, if not a stir-fry burrito with paper-thin pancakes and plum sauce? The breakfast burrito is yet another variation, and can consist of whatever you like for breakfast wrapped in a tortilla. 

I tend to be pretty trad about mine: they are usually a combination of beans and avocado, sometimes with cheese, sometimes with potato or rice, slathered in taco sauce or salsa. But I've been known to take last night's curry, wrap it in a tortilla and call it breakfast. My choice of bean is usually black, but I go for pintos and red beans too. Avo is pretty much a requirement. Stacey's organic are the best vegan premade tortillas on the market. Violife makes an excellent shredded cheddar-like product that is my current choice for breakfast burritos. I recommend pico de gallo or corn relish as additions, and taco sauce or homemade salsa as condiments. But honesty, like its cousin the sandwich, almost anything is possible.

In terms of preparation, I don't have fixed directions for that, though I follow general guidelines. Generally I like to get all of the ingredients that should be warm heated up before wrapping, Further cooking is for the benefit of the tortilla or to melt any cheese. I prefer avocado to be sliced thinly and plain as opposed to chunked or made into quacamole- makes for a more consistent flavor and it's easier to layer with other stuff. 

If you lightly oil and salt the tortilla and cook them on cast iron, they take on a delicious, crispy character. You can also stovetop grill them for some retention of tenderness with flavorful sear lines and good inside warming. If you make your own tortillas or find raw tortillas at the store, you simply must try baking them in the oven for an incredible taste experience. Heck, even using the microwave works. I'd suggest lightly wetting the tortilla, wrapping it in a towel and 'waving the tortilla for ten seconds, then filling and building, rewrapping and giving it another 20-40 seconds depending on size.  

I gravitate toward the grilling method and a "soft taco"-sized tortilla that yields a burrito about  2" in diameter and 6-7" in length. Anymore is too much for me in the morning. But you probably like something else! And that's the great thing about burritos.Wrap one up in parchment paper and take it on your next morning journey.

30 Days of Vegan: Date-pecan-oat Energy Balls

 

It's winter- which makes it prime cookie season in the Salmons household. If I'm not making cookies, we're buying cookies and filling up our cookie jar with vanilla sandwich cookies, chocolate-covered graham cracker cookies, coconut chocolate ring cookies, crispy chocolate-coated mint cookies, you name it. One day recently after cookie #5 I realized I needed to do something. As opposed to just eating nuts and fruit all day, I decided to make a cookie-type thing more to my tastes, and came up with this vegan energy ball. 

 Why energy ball? Mainly because all of the ingredients- except for the oats- are pretty potent sources of the main unit of nutritional energy- calories. "Date paste-" which is basically what I'm making in the food processor here- weighs in at 79 cals per ounce. One ounce of "pecan meal" will provide 198 cals. and oat meal, a paltry 19 calories, which is what saves these balls from going a bit too far in that direction. Traditionally, the fruit and nut

components of energy balls are roughly equal. I wanted to combine coconut and pecans and make them grain free, but I'm out of coconut, so decided to go with oats. I'm glad I did- the depth of the toasted oat makes the flavor a bit more complex. Next time I'm looking for a snack with coffee or tea, I'll have no problem swapping a pecan sandy for a couple of these guys.

 Ingredients

• about 8 dates- enough to make roughly 1/2 cup of pureed dates
• 1/2 cup minus 2 tbl pecan halves or pieces
  
• 2 tbl oats- I used rolled quick oats
• dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Method

1. Heat a 10" or smaller skillet on medium heat. after a couple of minutes, put the oats in the pan, spreading them out. Using a spatula or turner, mix the oats around every minute or so. wherever the heat is hottest, you'll begin to see some color. mix it constantly after this for a max of another minute, then remove from the pan to a small bowl. Let them cool. Assemble your food processor.
2. Next, pit the dates if necessary. Snip the dates into 1/2 inch pieces and put in the food processor carafe. Then add the pecans. add the vanilla and salt. 
3. The next step depends on the oats you use. If you use old-fashioned rolled oats, add the oats to the carafe, reserving a teaspoon. I used quick cook which are thinner, so I added a teaspoon of the oats to process along with the other ingredients and reserved all the rest for later. You can reserve them all if you want more whole oats.
4. Process ingredients in pulses until it begins to clump together.
5. Add the rest of your oats and process briefly until oats are incorporated.
6. Form the balls in whatever size you want, but I chose to make mine about the diameter of a nickel, maybe a smidge larger. Quarter-sized might be more standard.

Store in the fridge. They will get a bit sticky over time, but if they start out refrigerated, they still look pretty good by tea time.

I estimate one of the nickel-sized balls to provide about 77 calories. Not bad!

30 days of Vegan: Creamed tofu eggs

 It's been a tough winter. COVID is still everywhere, but we are at the point of the pandemic where we have to go to the office anyway. Russia has invaded Ukraine. I've had work-life balance problems trying to go to grad school and work full time at the same time. Our youngest is a senior in high school, and after over a year of lockdown and virtual learning and masking up, she's been anxious to have the life any kid at this age should have, though that comes with its own set of dangers and challenges. I'm stressed. I've got the makings of a winter muffin top, my hormones are all out of balance, and I have oral surgery coming up. I find myself increasingly wanting to retreat to comfort things, including comfort foods, but I've just got to get a grip. For the next thirty days, I've decided to go strictly vegan and focus on habits and meals that make me feel good but don't add to my cold-season bloat. 

I'm interested in recreating some of the foods my family would make that I found utterly comforting, and near the top of my list is creamed eggs. No breakfast made me feel more at ease than this old-fashioned marvel on a cold winter's morning. 

I've looked in cookbooks to find any mention of this dish- the preparation, which seemed quite fancy to me as a kid, is apparently not in the egg dish pantheon. But I have found recipes for it in charity cookbooks of a certain age. I've heard these called "housewife cookbooks" but that term feels a little derogatory. Most often the function of these spiral or comb-bound books of amateur recipes was fundraising for social groups or churches. Exploring them makes me feel like an anthropologist: they form a massive cooking underground, made of common dishes with a personal twist, original inventions, or everyday meals just as delicious as more formal dishes but not fancy enough for proper cookbooks. It's a shame too, because it's this private area of inspired, impromptu meals that give us joy on a daily basis, with off-the-cuff combinations that just work: cream cheese and marmalade on a bagel, smoked fish and dill nipped into scrambled eggs, or egg nog in the morning coffee.

In the original of my memories, creamed eggs are hard-boiled and peeled, the whites and yolks separated. A cream sauce is prepared, usually well-salted and peppered. Toast is made, buttered, topped with chopped whites, which are then smothered in the cream sauce, and the yolks are run through a ricer to top. It's finished with a healthy dash of paprika.

In my version. I've scrambled half a brick of firm tofu. Now, recipes for scrambled tofu are a dime a dozen on the interwebs. But some are not so good. The seasonings, though, most people agree on, so probably no surprises. Where recipes frequently go catty-wampus is not leaving the tofu alone to brown, which is in indispensable part of the flavor profile; and not adding the seasonings as a liquid mixture. Doing so makes the tofu creamy and unctuous. Tossing the flavors in dry don't allow them to distribute properly, and run the danger of burning, which makes the dish bitter. Yuck!

The cream sauce is a simple affair with vegan margarine, flour and soy milk. I an not sponsored by them, but the very best soy milks for making cream sauces are Edensoy and Westsoy, the organic and unsweetened varieties of both, in aseptic packs. Refrigerated carton milks employ two big no-nos for me: sweetening them- even "unsweetened" soy milks can have added sugar!- and thickeners, which complicate and sometimes ruin textures of cooked dishes. Edensoy and Westsoy haven't abandoned those of us who actually cook with soy milk.

I serve it on toast and topped with my favorite vegan cheese. You probably already have a favorite!

Ingredients

For the scrambled tofu:

• half a brick of firm or extra-firm tofu- the kind that you find in the refrigerator case. Nasoya is my favorite.
• 1 tsp oil (I used olive)
• 1 tbl nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp black salt (kala namak)
• 1/4 tsp garlic granules or powder
• 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1-2 tbl water

For the white sauce:

• 1tbl vegan margarine
• 1tbl AP flour
• about 1 cup soy milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat a small to medium pan to medium. Add the oil.
2. Crumble the half brick of tofu into the pan. Do not press it beforehand. It's ok if there is some liquid. Leave the tofu in chunks perhaps 1" in diameter. Leave it to fry for at least 5 mins.
3. In a saucepan, melt the vegan margarine. add the flour and whisk until incorporated.
4. Add the milk a little at a time. Whisk until smooth. Let it come to a light boil, take off the heat and cover.
   
5. Flip the tofu. The bottom sides should now be toasty brown. Let it brown another 2 mins.
6. Combine spices in a small bowl. Add the water to the spices to make a paste, and drizzle on the tofu. Using a spatula, incorporate the liquid thoroughly. As you do, break up large clumps so the texture is uniform- I usually aim for  1/2" chunks. 
7. Take off the heat and cover. Toast a slice of bread.
   
8. Stir sauce. Add salt and pepper to the sauce to taste.
9. Place toast on a plate. I like to butter it, but it's not necessary. Top with as much tofu as it will hold. 
10. Ladle sauce on top.
11. Add shredded or a slice of vegan cheese of your liking. The heat of the ingredients should at least soften the cheese. For more melt and slightly softer toast, microwave on high for 15 seconds.

Slice into quadrants or triangles. Serve with whatever you like. Crinkle fries left over from last night tasted great to me. But you can certainly opt for, say, mashed cauliflower, sauteed beets, a shredded carrot and cabbage salad, a little sauerkraut- I think a variety of things would go well with it.

 

 

Pretending you're a badass is underrated

I'm a man in my mid-50s. I'm not the mid-50s guy you see if you Google "mid-50s man fashion" (sure, I'm vulnerable to the zeitgeist when it comes to superficial things  like appearance, like the next person.) I'm not <-- this guy.

I'm not a vegan. I'm not even a vegetarian.

But I accept the science that plant-based is the healthy way to live. I also accept I must get off my ass and do things to be healthy. And I strive every day to do a little something that do to my actual state to my state of health things that this image outwardly suggests.

You see, pretending to be a badass is underrated.

You've heard the phrase "Fake it 'til you make it," I'm sure. Hard evidence supports the efficacy of this technique. 

What holds you back? Your self-damning mind, usually. Imposter syndrome. Performance anxiety- even in everyday affairs. Conflict avoidance.

Do not give a fuck. Try it! It works for so many things.

Jawline not perfect? No fake bake? got bald spots? Don't give a fuck.

You missed a goal or target? Don't give a fuck. Move on.

You apple pie sucks? Don't give a fuck. Next time it will be better. And the time after that, even better.

You can't understand something you're trying to learn? Don't give a fuck. Studies show whether you understand a thing or not, repeated exposure contributes to the eventual learning of it. You can do little things every day to improve all kinds of things. Handwriting. Reading books. Cooking. Even a few a minutes a day can help you just be smarter overall.

Being defeated easily only leads to one outcome: failure. But not letting yourself be defeated might  lead eventually to success. If it's important to you, why limit yourself to failure as the only possible outcome?

Or is it even important to you? There are ways to find those things out.

You know I'm not the guy in the pic above.  I'm preaching to myself as much as any reader of this blog. I still have a spare tire. I'm developing a bald spot. I broke my ankle, which limits my flexibility, meaning I can't even do most common yoga poses or run anymore. 

But I can bike. I've been losing weight and gaining muscle slowly. Not much I can do about the hair. But I don't give a fuck.

You shouldn't either.

 

Healing your gut: a workable morning routine

 What is it about the human mind that allows useful information to be filtered out just as easily as useless information? Scientists say while we sleep, the brain filters out useless information, but I'll tell you what, my brain doesn't discriminate. The adage "use it or lose it" is so, painfully, apropos to memory. 

And so, over time, I had lost my morning digestive routine to the sinkhole of time, chock full as it is with endlessly entertaining distractions. And for some reason I started feeling like crap again! Go figure.

Here's what I take/drink every morning to keep everything in balance:

• Zenwise prebiotics (greens) and probiotics (not a compensated endorsement- it's just what works)
• Magnesium
  
• matcha with a little manuka honey
• a small glass of aloe juice with my various supplements (mainly D and B complex)
• a shot of kefir, or a cup of miso broth with seaweed (I alternate)
  

Thanks to these things, my stomach almost always just feels right.

Bold but gentle: low-acid chili

A while back my son surprised me by asking to have a wedge pillow like the one I sleep on. I pried a bit and he admitted he had problems with acid reflux. Poor guy! That's usually my department. For a while he'd been avoiding foods he's traditionally loved, like spaghetti and pizza, and dumb me did not connect the dots. So ever since I've felt free to unleash my inner Koufman groupie and serve more modified low-acid foods for dinner.

A recent party plan of Abbey's presented an interesting challenge: make a chili that everyone would like. Abbey is no fan of chili, but I am- despite my ongoing issues with reflux. Many a time I've had to make chili for one or forgo it altogether. This time I was determined to make an all-purpose chili with some specific objectives: (1) it would not burn the acid-sensitive folks, (2) it would be good enough even non-chili people would like it, (3) would be vegetarian to accommodate some guests but (4) also taste good on a hot dog.

The one ingredient that really seems to irritate the digestion of the reflux-prone is tomatoes. It was forgone that there would be no tomatoes in this chili. Not a problem: the original dishes that can be considered the antecedent for today's chili had, of course, chiles as a main ingredient- and frequently the only non-meat ingredient, except for perhaps onions, some masa, and herbs like wild oregano or epazote. Tomatoes were not really part of the equation and meat was the main attraction- so in addition I would have to add some things to make up the meaty flavor. I needed something zingy, yet mild, to stand in for tomatoes and came up with a compromise that would help fulfill multiple needs. I blistered two red bell peppers, mostly peeled them, and processed them in a food processor until smooth. I used a can of the one ready made mild, red enchilada sauces that had no tomatoes (The brand I found was Las Palmas, and their sauce is quite good). The roast red pepper sauce and the enchilada sauce, along with some faux-beef broth, formed the base of the chili. Then I borrowed from my own bag of chili hacks- none "secret" exactly, but some perhaps not intuitive, and came up with a chili that, I am happy to say, pleased everyone!

Bold-but-gentle chili (low acid, low fat, vegan)

The Ingredients

1 tbl olive oil
2 cans of red beans
1/2 to 1 sweet potato, roasted, or equivalent in cooked diced sweet potato
1 can of mild red enchilada sauce with no tomatoes (check labels or look for Las Palmas)
two cloves of roast garlic (from a head of roast garlic- you do roast heads of garlic, right?)
one medium yellow onion
1 tbl Worcestershire sauce (not vegan, there are vegan varieties though)
2 tbls premade black coffee (dark roast, again for our acid-sensitive friends)

2 tbls corn meal
1 tbl nutritional yeast
Enough not-beef bouillon (check label if you are gluten sensitive) to make 2 cups of broth
2 cups water
2 tbl ground cumin
1 tbl chili powder (I used Frontier spices, which contains oregano cumin and garlic powder)
1 tbl brown sugar

The Method

Put a stock pot or enamel pot on a burner set to medium low. Preheat the oven to broil.

Wash the red peppers and place on a cookie sheet.

Peel the onion and cut into medium to fine dice according to your tastes.

When the oven is hot, place the peppers in the oven, top rack, as completely under the flame/element as possible.

when the stock pot is warm, add the olive oil, coat the pan bottom, and add the onion. cook until translucent and starting to brown, about 7 minutes. stir periodically.

Check the peppers. When the sides facing the broiler are blistered and mostly black, rotate 45 degrees and repeat, checking every few minutes and rotating until all sides are done.

Microwave 2 cups of water or bring to boil in a pan. When it is hot, add the bouillon and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir to consistency when the bouillon is blooming and looks loose.

Blanch the peppers in ice water, then peel (or use the paper bag method, which I never knew about until Abbey told me what I was doing was strange!). Do not completely peel, leave a little of the burnt skin for the flavor. Seed and stem the peppers. Toss them in a food processor and whizz. They should be wet enough to form a thick sauce, but if needed, add a tablespoon of water.

when the onions are about done, add the spices and let them toast for 30 seconds. Mash the roast garlic into the pan and mix it all together into a paste.

Add the can of enchilada sauce and the pepper sauce. Turn up to medium high and bring to a boil.

Dice the sweet potato (how much depends on how much you like sweet potato) and add. Break up the sweet potato some but not completely. The chunks of sweet potato will serve as our diced "tomato."

Add the beans, spices, and brown sugar, then turn it back down to low to bubble.

Add the nutritional yeast, worcestershire sauce, corn meal, and coffee. Let it continue to bubble for a least five more minutes while the corn meal dissolves into the chili.

By now the chili is starting to thicken. Thin it with the broth to the consistency you'd like. For me it took about a cup and a half of broth.

Five more minutes to bring the broth to temp.

Please let me know if you try it and how it turns out.

Getting your gut right: veggies in the morning

As habits go, getting a veggie in with every meal- including breakfast- is hard to beat. Vegetables are the core of every truly healthy diet.  A plant-based diet doesn't cause any long-term damage, unlike keto which can lead to heart problems and organ failure. Sorry, but its true.

Last night we went a little nuts and had a tempurafest. Sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, shrimp. We wanted to make broccoli but just ran out thanks to something else earlier in the week. Jasmine rice with a tasty dipping sauce and a variety of beers were consumed as well.

In the hangover haze I realized a great many sweet potatoes and onions remained. Sitting out on the cutting board. Drat! What a waste. Well, gentle reader, what happened next I don't recommend ANYONE do, but I have survived too many slices of cold pizza for breakfast still found in the box on the counter the next morning to not do this. As the cutting board was otherwise pristine, and the ambient temperature cool and humidity low, I cut everything up and made it into breakfast tacos.

To reiterate: I do not endorse this. And I would disavow anyone suggesting I told them to.

But, to continue the recipe, dear reader, I persist. I live on. I thrive. And sweet potatoes fueled me that good spring day.

The sweet potatoes and onions were in 1/4" slices already, prepped for their sacrificial batter bath and dip into the oil volcano. All I had to do was basically quarter them. I don't know about you, but I like my sweet potatoes sweet and smoky, and I want to put an egg on anything sweet and smoky. and eggs before noon make me think of breakfast tacos. Not the most coherent of thought connections, perhaps, but in the end it made glorious sense.

The ingredients

Corn tortillas- however many fulfill your taco lust
Pinto beans- about a heaping tablespoon per taco. Possibly chili powder or adobo sauce to season
Sweet potatoes- for this I used about half a potato's worth. Sliced then quartered
Yellow onions- three or four slices of a medium onion, quartered
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tbl water
1 tsp soy sauce- to flavor the cooking water
sesame oil- one squirt, for same

Sriracha- a good drizzle, exact amount up to you
1 tsp-1 tbl sweet and smoky BBQ sauce
1 tsp taco sauce per taco
Scallions
Eggs- I fried one and split it across two tacos. One per, if you're that kind of person, and you know if you are. Poached would be delicious too.
1 tsp cooking fat, more if cast iron or steel probably. Was adequate for non-stick
Cheese- slice or two or some crumbles. I actually prefer a fake cheese for tacos, Daiya American style- but I'm weird. Use whatever you like- Monterey Jack, Asodero, go nuts.

The method

The sweet potatoes are going to take the longest. Heat up your pan to medium to medium low, melt your fat (in the case of butter or coconut oil) or bring up to temp if olive oil. I don't recommend a polyunsaturated oil for this. Sweet potatoes are sweet, like water is wet, and sugar sticks like crazy. Drop in the sweet potatoes and onions. Warning- following my recipe will render your onions well-browned- the way I like them. Hold off adding the onions five to ten minutes if you don't like the idea of that.

While the sweet potatoes and onions cook, bring beans up to temp in another vessel. I'm going to assume if you have pinto beans in the fridge, they are already seasoned to perfection. That's just how people with pinto beans already in the fridge roll. If you are opening a can, drain and then bring up to temp on medium to medium low. add a pinch of chili powder or a half teaspoon of adobo from a can of chipotles in adobo sauce, then salt and pepper. When they lightly bubble, reduce to low/keep warm.

Move the potatoes and onions around and turn over until the potatoes start to brown. at that point, add the cumin and chili powder. add the water, soy sauce and sesame oil. Lid and cook until the sweet potatoes are soft and buttery.

If you can heat a third pan, preferably a cast iron pan, do so and toast the corn tortillas on each side then add some cheese, reduce to low and let melt. remove at that point, no one likes overly chewy tortillas.

Un-lid the potatoes and add a squirt of sriracha and the BBQ sauce. Stir to incorporate. Top with scallions and set aside.

Cook egg or eggs as you see fit.

top the tortillas with beans, a splash of taco sauce, an egg or half-egg each.

Spoon some potatoes on top and/or have on the side.

Enjoy your sweet, smoky, spicy, buttery, savory creation.

Getting your gut right: Miso soup

Years ago, I took a continuing education course in massage therapy. The instructor had some metaphysical things to say that I didn't really pay much attention to. But I do remember one thing. He said that all energy flows from the heart, and in order for your massage to benefit more than muscles, your massage work should radiate out from the heart. What I'm suggesting to you this new year is build your foundation from the center in a similar manner, because it affects every other aspect of your health. I'm talking about the gut, and it is at the center of your well-being.

In your gut, as most people have heard by now, are millions of bacteria. Studies have shown that the makeup of that population customizes itself according to an individual's habits. According to The Impact of Diet and Lifestyle on Gut Microbiota and Human Health, a NIH study, an imbalanced diet such as the Standard American Diet can significantly hinder the gut flora's ability to derive full nutrition from ingested food. So if you eat a bad diet, you starve your good bacteria, and as a result you starve yourself of nutrients. What is needed is a regular infusion of good bacteria derived from fermentation to supplement and help resuscitate weakened gut populations. 

But in order to effect change, it needs to become a habit, Traditional miso soup is tasty, but it's not what I want on the menu every day. What was needed was more like the bullet coffee version of miso soup- a shot of good stuff you can glug down first thing in the morning like the lemon water that seems to be in vogue nowadays. So I made a relatively plain brothy soup, chock of good things like seaweed for pituitary-balancing  and blood-enriching minerals. shiitakes and cloud ears for the linoleic acid and B and D vitamins, and ginger and capsicum for anti-inflammatory properties.

Ingredients:

1 - 1 1/2tbl red miso

1- 1 1/2 tbl white miso

1 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce or coconut aminos

1/2 tsp sugar

4 cups water

two pieces of kombu

four slices of dried shiitake mushrooms

1-2 cloud ear mushrooms

1" chunk of ginger, sliced in thick pieces

optional: chili flakes, chili sauce, or sriracha

Method:

1. Put the water in a pan over high heat. add the kombu, mushrooms and ginger.
2. Bring water to a boil, lower to medium and let it boil gently for ten minutes.
3. Take off heat, let cool two minutes, then strain. return liquid to pan, discard solids.
4. Mix the sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and worcestershire/coconut aminos together in a small bowl. 
5. Mix the miso together and, with a small amounf of water, make into a smooth paste.
6. Mix the miso into the broth. Right before serving, add the soy sauce mixture and spicy stuff, if desired.

Drink a small cup of this every day to help restore your gut flora to fighting condition.

30-day challenge: body, mind, spirit

I work in the wonderful world of information technology, and as anyone who does can attest, the needle is constantly moving in that field. There's constant pressure to learn new things in order to make yourself more useful or interesting to prospective employers. So, the order of things is constant change.

I am taking a 30-day challenge to improve my Javascript skills, and I thought, why not challenge my whole self? So I've chosen some ways to challenge mind, body and spirit for the next 30 days.

A finite challenge like this can be a successful strategy- since it's of limited duration, there's no scary feeling of having to maintain a new behavior indefinitely. And if you adopt good habits during that period, all the better!

So the Javascript is one part of the mind component. The other part is committing to a mind dump at bedtime. Studies show this helps you re-program yourself to stop lying in bed and worrying, thus messing with normal sleep. The brain dump gets all the worries out onto paper and clears the mind for rest.

The body component has a piece designed to help with sleep, too: a brief yoga/stretching routine before bed. I am the kind of person who finds yoga relaxing rather than invigorating- so this would be more useful to me, personally, than, say, using it to start the day. For energy throughout the day, I'm initiating a daily workout routine. It's a simple one: walk as far as I feel comfortable  (I am still recovering from a broken ankle from late last year- this is month 8 of the recovery and still feeling it);  and  I'll greet the day with a  five-minute kettlebell workout. Nothing too heavy or rule-bound- the goal is to do it consistently for 30 days, not get swole. Easy, manageable changes.

The spirit component is to commit to five minutes of meditation a day. Abbey has told me more than once she thinks I need to meditate. I do tend to rush and not be present in the moment, especially when I have more than one thing on my plate. So all-consuming is this tendency that I was rushing on that fateful morning 8 months ago, when I flew down some stairs  on a roll of gift wrap and broke my ankle. She's right- I need to slow down, take one thing at a time, be more present and mindful. Five minutes of meditation is not too much, but perhaps enough to nudge me into a more mindful lifestyle.

Some would argue I am attempting too many changes at once. That's why they are gut simple. It's an experiment. I want to feel a minor transformation. I don't know- it's an approach, and I will post my observations.

Dyspepsia? Try this iced tea

60 million Americans suffer from some form of dyspepsia- the generic term for digestive unrest. The typical prescription is a proton-pump inhibitor- the same drugs we now know cause a whole raft of diseases down the road, like dementia and osteoperosis. Why? Turns out if you inhibit acid, you don't digest your food- hence no nutrients, hence all of the bioprotective aspects of food are severely limited.

Unless you have acute symptoms that need to be controlled as quickly as possible, a better course might be to ingest foods known traditionally for their digestive aid. In this tea recipe, I combine the power of turmeric and other digestion-friendly spices, honey, ginger and green tea to produce a delicious iced tea that Abbey dubs "Michael's pumpkin pie iced tea." it does contain coconut cream, which some people can be sensitive to for its high fat content. Feel free to substitute whatever milk or cream that suits your digestion best.

ingredients:

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp powdered ginger, or pulverized fresh ginger
1 tbl honey
green- loose or matcha (or black) tea
coconut or other milk or cream, to the top

method:

brew a cup of the tea of your choice according to the usual sort of directions- just big enough for a traditional CUP, NOT MUG, of tea but you want it to be on the strong side, so whatever tea you'd put in a mug is fine.

as the tea is brewing, add the spices. let them sit in the tea five minutes after the tea is finished brewing.

now the tea should be hot, but not blazing. add the honey and mix until incorporated.

Prepare a tumbler with cubed or crushed ice.

pour the fortified cup of tea in the tumbler. Top it off with the milk or cream of your choice. mix.

Enjoy! I have periodic problems with indigestion- some days it's pretty awful- but this tea never fails to calm things down and soothe my insides. I hope it does the same for you.

The crazy way I make mac and cheese

I just got back from the gym and I'm fighting the impulse to make and devour whole a box of mac and cheese. While the pasta part would actually be good for an after workout snack, the cheese will block some of the carb absorption, slows digestion and of course is calorically dense. So I have a special way of making mac and cheese so tasty, you'll only eat a reasonable portion of mac n cheese while feel totally fulfilled.

What you'll need

• A mini-box of baby spinach
• Your favorite mac 'n' cheese. I always use organic because you don't need pesticides in your snack, right?
• Three RyVita crisps-whichever you like. (if you don't like any, try Light Rye- it's the most neutral tasting, I think.)
• Optional: two heaping tablespoons of flax, chia, coconut mix.
• 6-8 cauliflower florets. Doesn't matter if fresh or frozen. Mine were frozen- I just microwaved them for 30 seconds to thaw.
• 2 egg whites
• Optional: a heaping tablespoon of nutritional yeast, to amp up the cheese flavor
• 2 teaspoons olive oil or 1 tsp olive oil and olive oil spray
• Salt and pepper to season. I also like paprika, onion flakes, and a little cayenne.

What to do

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat up some water and start making the mac. Don't let it finish, though- cut it short by 2 minutes. Drain the pasta and add the flavor packet. Don't bother adding butter or milk- we won't need it. But DO allow a little of the cooking water to stay in the pan in order to mix the cheese into liquid.

In the meantime, microwave the fresh spinach for about a minute and half. Remove from microwave and roughly chop. I used kitchen scissors and it was a snap.

Microwave the cauliflower, if needed. Put it in a food processor and process until it's starting to look like sticky rice.

Break up the crackers, add to a dry processor bowl with the chia/flax/coconut mix, if desired, and process until it looks like coarse bread crumbs. Just as you finish, add a teaspoon of olive oil.

Mix the spinach, cauliflower and mac and cheese. As you mix, add salt and pepper to taste, and some herbs/spices if you want. When it's pretty well mixed and seasoned, add the egg whites and incorporate them. Also add the nutritional yeast flakes now if you're adding them.

Put this into a baking dish- I used an 8x8" pan and that was about right.

Top with the RyVita/flax/olive oil crumble. Stick it in the pre-heated oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes.

How you know it's done: take a forkful/spoonful. the hunk should retain its shape and the crust will stay in place.

Enjoy your guilt-free mac and cheese. You're welcome!

Note: you no doubt have substitution ideas. Explore them.  Can you use kale instead of spinach? Heckles yeah! Don't bother microwaving it beforehand and shred it into little pieces.

You may also wonder if you want this totally vegan. Of course! There are excellent Mac and Cheeze products out there. The egg white is not necessary, it just adds a nice low-calorie custardiness since you're basically stretching a box of mac and cheese to perhaps twice the original bulk. A little dash of unsweetened soy milk, make the mix a tad thinner, the milk will get absorbed by the pasta and make the texture more pleasant. Experiment!

Minimizing indigestion: try aloe vera juice

My father-in-law is known for being rather gullible when it comes to what I'd politely call alternative medicine- really outright quackery. He subscribes to a number of odd catalogs with supplements claiming everything from restoring hair and eyesight to reversing dementia. He was well aware of my problems with acid reflux (Abbey and her mom talk frequently about whatever I'm going through- this month or that year, there always seems to be something) and said to me when we stayed for a few days recently: "Have you tried aloe juice for your stomach problem?"

Just a random, non-sequitur question, so I just said "no- why?"

"I've been having problems with reflux too," he responded. I read in [insert wacky catalog name here] to try aloe juice. So I did. my problems completely disappeared. No more reflux, no more stomach pain, no more problems of any kind."

"Completely disappeared" always raises a red flag for me, but I said something like "wow, really?"

"Yep!" he thundered. "I thought of you, too, and bought you a jug. Happy Birthday!" And he presented me with my own gallon jug of aloe juice. ($5.99 at Walmart, by the way.)

The regimen, according to him, is two 8-ounce glasses of the stuff a day. I started that while we were still visiting, but found it hard to stomach 8 ounces. Still, I swilled it down (it's not the greatest tasting stuff. Tip: it's better chilled.) for the next day or so, and  it had a pretty remarkable, almost instant positive effect on me. So I continued doing it, dropping the amount down to about two old fashioneds of aloe a day. Someone in those kooky catalogs is onto something. My digestion has been rock-solid every since. I hardly ever even burp anymore. That sounds crazy, doesn't it? But it's true. I am not being paid by anyone to say this. But if you are in the acute phase of LPR, this stuff might really help you keep the burping and gagging down to a minimal level- as you are aware more than anyone by now, I'm sure, all it takes is one burp to bring that acidic gas back into your throat and mess with you. Maybe aloe will help keep it down.

Note: you may freak out when you go to buy this stuff, as I did, and discover all the varieties you find have added citric acid. Supposedly, aloe is so alkaline, the citric acid is added to neutralize the ph. I was very skeptical, but I think this may be true- aloe has an extraordinary calming effect on my digestion, more so than even baking soda.

I hope it does on yours, too.

LPR: what works for me

If you've been following this blog, you know I've been suffering from a relapse of GERD and LPR. I've dug myself out of the hole over the past four weeks, and I'm not there yet. But it's pretty clear to me now what helps and what doesn't. The information about LPR on the web is scattered and inconsistent, and from an academic point of view, we really only have Jamie Koufman's template to draw from. So I thought it would be of some use to someone to summarize what helps me and what doesn't.

FOODS

Generally speaking, I find a low-acid, low-fat, small-meal regimen to be most useful. Low acid because the Koufman diet works for me. Low fat because fats slow down digestion , which increases acid production, and increases bile production since bile is released to break down fats- which can cause problems too.

I don't snack much, usually a piece of fruit or some RAW almonds if at all. Rather I stick to five small meals a day. By "small" I mean a cup of grain, a cup of veg, sometimes a small amount of meat; a half sandwich with one slice of turkey and lots of vegetables; a small bowl of salad.

Fennel- very useful. Lowfat and alkaline. Chop up the bulb and use in stir fries and salads; add the fronds to eggs, potato and pasta salads, etc.

Ginger- use this very carefully. It does bother some people. But personally it settles my stomach, so less gas- less acid in the esophagus.  Goes great in stir fries, sweet breads, squash soup.

Avocado- Very alkaline. High fat, but fat also adds to satiety. If you are drastically decreasing how much you eat, avocado can see you through. Add to salads, beans, tofu burgers, etc.

Eggs- the yolks do have fat and cholesterol, but eggs in general are easily digested and well tolerated when you have active LPR symptoms. Soothing on the throat, filling and nutritious.

Water with baking soda- just put a scant 1/8 teaspoon and tepid water in a water bottle and take SMALL sips all day. Keeps you from getting dehydrated, which is as irritating  as much as ice water can be (ice cold beverages actually aggravate the lump in your throat, so be careful).

Steamed vegetables and rice- one of my staple dishes. Snow peas, bamboo shoots, lotus root, fennel bulb, spinach, green beans, even lettuce. Steam or saute in water and serve with soy sauce and a tiny bit of sesame oil.  Five spice powder seems ok too. When you are feeling better, add broccoli and use HOMEMADE BONE BROTH for flavor. Do NOT use commercial broths- most have dangerous additives like citric acid as a preservative or garlic and onion.

Roast chicken and bone broth- roast a chicken, stuffing the chicken with parsley, fennel and sage.  Serve the roast chicken with green beans or peas, mushrooms, steamed or mashed potatoes or rice. Take most of the meat off the bones, then simmer the carcass in sufficient water to cover with fresh parsley and savory, if you have it. low and slow for about an hour an a half. Let it cool in the fridge overnight. Skim the fat off in the morning (easy- it will be solid). The stock should be gelatinous. Pour into ice cubes and freeze, then put cubes into plastic bags. Use a cube of broth when you in the past might have used oil to saute something. Gives it a lot of flavor and the collagen helps heal your stomach lining.

Artichokes and olives- add a little fiber and zest to your dishes. Rinse olives thoroughly and don't use the marinated artichokes.

Rice. All kinds. Wonderful stuff.

Whole grain breads- make yourself a turkey sandwich with lettuce for lunch. Fennel is nice on there, too.  I have never had problems with mayo, but be careful, some have more vinegar than others. Either way use only very little mayo.

As Jamie Koufman suggests, Get a loaf of artisanal whole grain bread and cut it into slices of half slices. have some all week.

Rycrisp and similar rye crackers- these are the ONLY crackers I can eat. Serve with a salad or a smooth, gently herbed chicken broth potato or pea soup.

Squash- all kinds. Seed and bake spaghetti squash acorn squash or butternut squash in the oven- put water in the cavities. Low fat and delicious. make into soup or serve with roast potatoes and chicken, salmon or turkey. Bake strips of zucchini dipped in egg white and bread crumbs for delicious "fries."

Melons and apricots- THE best fruits for LPR and GERD sufferers. Alkaline. Soft. Soothing on the throat and tummy.

Red apples- seems a bit counterintuitive when you are suffering- but they do help. In the acute phase, you probably want to peel and chop the apples to avoid getting the skin stuck in your throat. Avoid green or sour apples.

Parsley, Cilantro, dill- alkaline herbs. Helps alter ph of meals. OK in acute phase, chop very finely though.

Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme- I would not use until your severe symptoms have subsided. But they are alkaline and relatively safe.

Beans- as long as you don't over-season them, they are a vital source of fiber and minerals. Don't overdo, though, as beans can cause gas- which leads to burping- which leads to acidic vapor in the esophagus, which can re-damage you.

Tofu- excellent source of protein. Mild and easy to digest. common  flavorings (soy sauce, sesame, mirin) have been fine for me. Even the mirin which is  sweetened rice wine. Just use it for marinade- the alcohol burns off in baking. Bake cubes of drained, marinated tofu in the oven- it reduces somewhat and takes on an almost cheesy consistency. Does have fat, but it doesn't seem to bother me.

Lettuce- I try to have lettuce with most meals. Sandwiches always have it (unless it's peanut butter!). a small salad with a creamy, low-fat yogurt-based dressing and a rycrisp cracker make a satisfying meal.

Spinach- low acid and chock full of vitamins in minerals. Mild enough, it doesn't bother me whether cooked or raw. Serve raw in salads, or steamed or microwaved, blotted dry, in pasta, on potatoes, with rice.

Note: leafy bits like lettuce, spinach, parsley, etc. can get stuck in your throat if it is restricted. Best to approach cautiously in the acute phase.

Corn- mild, sweet, no problems with corn. I mix with beans, cilantro, cubed jicama, then season with cumin and oregano for a lpr-friendly pico de gallo.

Potatoes- absorb acid, provide potassium and magnesium- these stalwart tubers should be eaten regularly. It fills you up, provides needed nutrients, and calms the stomach.

Carrots- raw and cooked. sometimes I will just munch on a bunch of carrots for a meal. Chew thoroughly, they cause me hardly any problems. Throat feels soothed and I experience almost no gas. Cooked carrots are mild and sweet and go well with fennel and ginger.


SUPPLEMENTS

DGL Licorice- soothes the throat. DGL lines the stomach- along with bone broth, it helps heal the stomach. Suck on them, don't chew.

Slippery Elm tablets- better than even DGL for soothing throat. reduce inflammation too. I take them before and after meals and when my throat feels sticky or dry.

Calcium tablets with Magnesium- typical example being Rolaids. Good for emergencies when you feel a flare-up coming. Chew 2 after a meal on bad days.

Magnesium and Melatonin- I take these at night and they seem to help me calm down enough to rest.

Gaviscon- on bad days I take a swig of Gaviscon before and after meals. really seems to help.

Gaviscon advance- I take a teaspoon of this before going to bed to keep stomach contents in the stomach.

Please reach out to me any time if you have any questions. I moderate all comments, but I get them in emails.

Also consider following me on Instagram- I've started posting #lowacid and #lowfat meals. @michaelsalmons

For GERD, eat more like Japanese people

After eating a fairly traditional Japanese lunch and not experiencing the usual post-meal reflux, I went searching for evidence that a Japanese diet could help with GERD. What I discovered was it's not just what you eat, but how.

I found a very interesting site- the Digestive Health Institute. There was a post on their forums by a user named Pompadur. In it I thought were some really helpful tips:

We talk about a lot of things to improve health at this forum. And here is another one suggestion.
A Japan study “Lifestyle factors affecting gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms: a cross-sectional study of healthy 19864 adults using FSSG scores”finds two important things:

1. Sleep quality is essential for GERD treating (unfortunately i can’t find exact how long one should sleep in the case of GERD)
   It is well-known that nighttime GERD symptoms are the crucial cause of sleep disorders [32,33], but recent studies also suggested that a link between sleep problems and GERD might be bidirectional, for example, due to the influence of sleep stages on esophago-upper esophageal sphincter contractile reflex [34] or due to reinforcing perception of intra-esophageal acid [35]. Therefore, improving quality of sleep might be essential for relieving GERD symptoms.
2. Eating habits – not what you eat, but how you eat!
   Accordingly, such dietary habits as the following should be avoided:
   • having dinner a few hours before going to bed
   • the habit of eating a midnight snack
   • frequently going without breakfast
   • the habit of quick eating.
   It should be noteworthy that these four diet-related factors present more significant effects than alcohol or smoking on GERD symptoms. 

Rather inteeresting, isnt’t it? Maybe it can be helpful…

I think these are very helpful tips.

But what about eating Japanese? The struggle many of us have with GERD and LPR are related to weight.  Turns out Japanese culture does in fact have something to teach us.

In her book Japanese Women Don't Get Fat or Old, Naomi Moriyama observes that her usual way of eating in Japan kept her slim, and when she moved to the US, her western diet made her gain weight almost instantly.  In Japan, the norm was to not eat out much. But when we think of Japanese cuisine, probably some very complex sushi or sashimi comes to mind. But in fact, Japanese home cooking is often uncomplicated, consisting of fish and rice and fruit, served with miso soup and green tea- all wonderful for both GERD and general health. The Japanese also eat smaller portions- the "80% full" rule comes from Japan- and exercise in the form of biking, walking and gardening are important parts of daily life in Japan.

So if you are looking for guides for better living to help with GERD, traditional Japanese culture might be a great model.

Prostate enlargement sufferers: Alpha blockers can relax the LES

I mentioned in a previous post that my new set of health issues is having an enlarged prostate (BPH). If you suffer from it, you know there are not so fun symptoms you have to deal with. The worst is a weak pee stream. If your condition gets bad enough, it can progress to the point that you can't pee at all. Then it's catheter time.

So I had extra incentive to figure the problem out. I take a regimen of herbal supplements that help, to a degree. I'm not back to anything resembling normal flow, but it keeps the pipes running, at least. I basically scared myself into seeking a prescription from my doctor. The standard starter drug in most cases is FloMax, a so-called alpha blocker. Alpha blockers work by  relaxing certain muscles, and helping small blood vessels remain open. This improves blood flow and also reduces blood pressure. It helps BPH sufferers by relaxing muscles down there so pee is easier.
It has some drawbacks. One of the biggest problems is it does not deliver the medicine gently- which means when it takes effect, your blood pressure drops quickly, and it can make you dizzy or feel faint. Some people actually do faint when taking an alpha blocker. That's a pretty bad scene to say the least. You don't want to be driving a car when this stuff kicks in.

As readers of this blog know, I have a history of suffering from severe vertigo due to a still-mysterious inner ear problem. I am already prone to dizziness, so this was a side effect I really didn't want to have. So my doc suggested Doxazosin, another Alpha blocker which achieves the same result but is easier to "titrate-" that is, apply in graduated doses until you reach the level you need. I started taking this pill a few months ago.

Another drawback is it makes you feel sluggish and- dare I say it- dumb. For at least a four-hour period, every day that I took this stuff, it made me feel sluggish, sleepy, and out of it. I would not be quite ready with a clever pun like I would be before this stuff. and most evenings consisted of coming home, eating dinner and slinking off to bed without saying much at all.

To help alleviate this, I started taking my dose before going to bed, figuring I would be sleepy when I am already sleeping, and more with it. Let me introduce you to drawback #2: paradoxically, you feel more tired and out of it while at the same time you have problems sleeping. Insomnia, That's right. Such a cruel side effect since the drug already zonks you. To not let you rest on top of that? Suffice to say on some days while taking this stuff, I wasn't 100% what I was doing all the time. I was artificially spaced out and sleep deprived at the same time.

But the most "fun" side effect of all was a total surprise. And you don't see this mentioned a lot unless you find the comments of someone who experienced it. Along with all the other things it relaxes, it also relaxes the Lower Esophogeal Sphincter (LES)- the muscle that keeps stomach acid from splashing into your esophagus. So yeah, my throat is re-injured thanks to this evil drug.

So I am back on the low-acid regimen- the Koufman diet, eating really small meals and sleeping with my head raised. Ugh.

Since I have stopped taking it, I have gone from constant reflux- a bubbling you can feel happening all the time, which basically feels like hell has taken up residence in your stomach- to just days spendt dealing with the throat damage. Throat lozenges. Chomping on DGL tablets and Gaviscon.  That's where I am now.

I really controlled, mild diet does seem to prevent pain most of the time, but it's not easy to maintain. Plus this time I can really see what Jamie Koufman said about nerves. The actual damage may be happening anymore, but the throat is very sensitive to anything that might normally cause damage, even if it isn't, because the nerves have been damaged as well. Convincing them to calm down is hard, and the last time I had to do it, it took nearly a year.

So if you are someone like me who is dealing with BPH and LPR issues at the same time, be very wary of alpha blockers. It could set you back, like it did me.