You want me to put WHAT on my peanut butter sammich?

Today, I'm going to challenge you.  It's a little challenge but it's a good one and if you trust me, you might just start to open yourself up to what I'm trying to get across here.

Good food is good food, even if you never thought you could put those things together that way before.  This was one of those experiences for me when I had it.  I found it compellingly ingenious and I hope you'll give it a try.

Thanks to the #HarmonyCafeFV in Appleton for the sandwich idea.  I'm not much of a sandwich eater but this one, I think I could live on.  It's got two of my favorite snacks in the whole world -- Granny Smith Apples/Peanut Butter..  and Bacon.

That's right, I said Bacon.

You can use regular bacon, maple smoked, thick cut, prosciutto grilled up nice and crispy, pre-cooked, turkey bacon .. if you are really hardcore, I think you could probably use tofu-bacon (though that I haven't tried and can't vouche for)

So, the Cafe calls is a Diversity Sandwich.  I just call it delicious.. In fact I try not to tell people what's on it til they've had it.. something about the play of sweet (peanut butter), tart (apples) and salty (bacon) all crunchy and smashed together like that makes my mouth positively water. 

Here's how you do it:

Start with toasted, whole grain or multi grain bread -- get the real hippie style bread with seeds and twigs sticking out of it because you don't want a bread to cave on you during this project.  You need it to be delicious and full of good things but it has to have the consistency of concrete to hold all that good stuff.

Once it's toasted, add a schmear of peanut butter.  As any good bagel eater will tell you, a "schmear" is a unit of measure that is somewhere between 1 and 5 tablespoons -- obviously, use your good judgement on this.  I typically use enough to cover the bread and it ends up being about 2TB worth.  I prefer smoothe PB but crunchy might also be really yummy.

Wash and slice your crispy granny smith apple into thin, but not transparent slices.  Pile it on that peanut butter.  I usually end up using about half my apple for this.  The rest I slice and eat alongside my sammich if I have room.

Now.. the bacon.  Add about two or three slices to the sammich.  Check your package and see how many slices are considered a serving and that's what you'll want to use.. but make sure it's good and crisp.  You don't want soft bacon on this.  Soft bacon will only end up pulling the whole delicious thing apart on your first bite.  Crisp, crunchy, delicious bacon.  *wonders secretly if there's any left in the fridge right now*

Top the whole thing off with a handful of alfalfa sprouts.  You might be tempted to leave these off, if you're altering the recipe at all but I encourage you to leave them on.  Or if you're allergic or can't stand them, try using regular bean sprouts.  You need something that tastes vaguely herbaceous to kind of wrap it all up in a tidy bow.  I've tried it with and without and I much prefer it with.

Now top it with your second slice of hippie wheat bread and EAT THAT SAMMICH!  Or try to, at least.  I find that I'm about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through one of these monsters and I'm doing the sigh.  I started cutting it like a club sandwich so I'd have a neat piece I could wrap up for later.

Trust me on this.. I've been eating my whole life.

Lemon Garlic Yummus

Okay, so I wasn't expecting my first post to come so soon but a good friend of mine came over today and we took a nice walk in Buttermilk Creek Park -- where we were attacked and chased (and bitten) by a WILD DINGO!  But that's beside the point --

Before we went out, I made us a little lunch.  I didn't have a lot of interest in cooking anything because it's been so hot but I wanted something with decent protein and, of course.. it had to be delicious.  I don't follow recipes very often and this was no excuse so what I'm going to give you will be approximations.  Lunch ended up being a couple of falafel, some whole grain crackers and homemade lemon garlic hummus.. or Yummus as I like to call it.

The falafel we got at Costco -- for three pieces, I think there was something like 11gms protein.. easy prep.. heat in the microwave.  The crackers.. a serving was 9gms protein.  The Yummus, I don't know the exact protein content but I'll tell you what i know from the can of garbanzo beans -- and NO I didn't measure how much I put on my plate.  I'm trying to determine how much I eat by when I feel full -- so when you're eating, are you checking yourself for that deep breath?  The one you take in the middle of the meal that most of us ignored our whole lives?  Yeah.. when you're in the middle of eating a meal, pay attention to when you take a deep breath.. like a sigh..  that's a signal from your body that you're getting full.  When you do that, set your fork down and let what you've eaten settle.  If you're STILL hungry, then have some more.. but you have to teach yourself (or re-teach yourself) to recognize when you're full.

So.. this was a great use for my baby food grinder that I bought for my first months post-op.. ideally, I would have used my Magic Bullet food processor but I couldn't find the right blade.

here are the ingredients I used:

1 regular size can of garbanzo beans
1 large clove of garlic
a dollop of Tahini (if you don't have this -- and I know you probably don't -- just grind up some sesame seeds, olive oil and salt til it's smooth)
1 lemon *juice AND zest*
about a 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
large pinch of salt

I usually start out grinding the sesame seeds if I don't have tahini.. then I add the garlic and about 1/3 of the garbanzo beans.  Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the mixture and blend some more, grate the zest directly into the mixture then add in some olive oil and more garbanzo beans until all the beans are blended in.. the mixture should be the consistency of a thick pudding.  TASTE it.  Add salt to fit your taste. 

I also like to add fresh herbs.  I grow parsley, dill, chives and basil in my yard so if it's in season, I'll pull a few sprigs of each, chop them up and add them but this stuff is great even without the herbs.  I recommend you  try it both ways and don't be afraid to try different things -- if you want to add onions or you really like rosemary, try it!  Savory flavors will go well in this dish.  You can also substitute plain water for the lemon if you're not a fan. 

Part of the key to finding peace with your food is to make what you put into your mouth more satisfying and full of FLAVOR so you don't have to satisfy yourself with quantity.  Discover what flavors go well together on your pallate.. find what makes your mouth water.. open your jars of spices and sniff them.  Taste what you're cooking and immediately sniff a spice you might like to try with it..  above all, don't be afraid of flavors you've never had before.  I'm not going to make you go try chocolate covered bacon (though, it's pretty dang good even if it sounds gross).. but I will challenge you to taste new things and make your own flavor combinations.  You will surprise yourself.

Trust me! I've been eating my whole life!!

Take it from the top

Well, here we go.  A few weeks ago, the idea came to me to start this blog.  Why?  I guess it all really started about six years ago when I was preparing to undergo a life saving, lifestyle changing surgery called a Proximal Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.  For the uninitiated, that's stomach stapling.  It's for extremely obese people and in most cases (like mine, for instance), it's a last ditch attempt to resolve a life-long battle against obesity.

For the record, these are my "then" and "now" pictures.  I'm the one in the red shirt and the one in the black dress.  There's no doubt I fit the profile -- though, that's about all I fit back then.. I'm almost six years post-op, now and as you can see, I've seen a degree of success.  I consider myself a lasting success because I've maintained my weight loss.

That's not why I'm doing this, though.  I'd like to prove to myself (and I guess everybody else) that you can still love food -- not in the vast quantity, caloric-orgy kind of way I did before my surgery, but in the grandly-delicious, flavor-intense way food was meant to be loved.  I want to know that, while I was and am required to change my relationship with food (seriously?  a "relationship" with food?), that doesn't mean I'm relegated to a life of bland, boring, small portions of beige food that simply sustains and does not excite, entice or delight.

Food was given flavors for that exact purpose -- to excite, entice and delight us.  In some cases bold, surprising and unexpected.  In others, delicate, subtle, aromatic and inviting.. but like flowers, why be beautiful if not to draw us in?  As animals, we would have discovered their nutritional value even if they had no extra special anything, but their flavor.. that's like the vibrant petals of a voluminous bloom.  It makes you stop and go, "Oooohh!" and it makes you want more.

I'm here to tell you, right here and right now, food is not your enemy.  Unlike every other addict, your addiction can't be given up.  You must still draw life from it every day.  So what are your choices?  Make it unappealing, pedestrian and boring.. nothing more than just plain old sustenance?  Live on liquids the rest of your life?  I'm sorry but I couldn't imagine a less attractive life.  It would be like living in two dimensions.

So I'd like to offer a solution that isn't pedestrian, unappealing or boring.  I don't have the magic balm that will make food calorie-less but come along with me while I navigate my way through the forest of flavors and maybe at the other side, we'll have both made our peace with food at last!

So..  you in?