Oat and Almond Flour

I needed to use the food processor tonight to make peanut butter.  I like the ability of the food processor, but there's a lot of parts to wash afterwards.  Thus, I like to optimize my usage by making multiple things with it.  There's a few recipes I've been meaning to try that call for oat flour or almond flour.  I made a batch up of them before making the peanut butter.

 
Oat flour: Take Old Fashion Oats.  Run through food processor until fine grained like flour.  Store in baggie in freezer until needed.

Almond flour: Take Almonds.  Run through food processor until grainy like flour.  Be careful about running too long or you'll start to change it into almond-butter.  That's good food, but it is not the same use as almond flour.  Store in baggie in freezer until needed.

Why Sourdough

I was asked a great question, "Why Homemade Sourdough Bread?"

My phases with bread

1. Obese days - Bread-holic.  I bought the most ancient healthy labeled bread the grocery store had to offer.  I dined out at restaurants with unlimited rolls.
2. Weight loss days - Bread-phoby.  I scaled down to light 35 calorie per slice bread.  It was a good calorie/flavor trade off.  Sure, the 200 calorie per slice bread tasted better, but for 35 calories it was hard to beat.  Plus, this meant I could still eat alot of bread.  I avoided baking and buying other kinds of bread, because I didn't know if I could trust myself.  I was concerned on derailing my efforts.
3. Target weight - Return of the Baker.  I found myself, and my overeat temptations had left.  I had extra calories to spend on things and knew how to fit in anything I wanted.  Thus, I upgraded from the 35 calorie bread to one with more flavor and more calories.

But why sourdough?

1. Sourdough can rise 100% all whole wheat flour.  Baker's yeast can't.  I make bread with 100% all whole wheat flour, because refined white flour is equal to eating sugar.  And I'm going do that, I'd rather just eat straight sugar.
2. It tastes good on its own.  Floor, Water, Salt, and Sourdough starter.  That is all you need for flavorful bread.  I add butter and honey, but I don't have to use much.  It already tastes good without it.  This gives me options to save on calories.
3. Longer shelf life.  Homemade sourdough bread keeps longer.  I can make a batch and its fine a week later in the pantry.  It may last even longer, but I go through a batch by the end of the week.
4. Adds micronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc.  But I emit this is a nice add-on reason, not a driver.
5. Baking was and is again a hobby for me.  Its another side interest onto its own.  Baking good sourdough bread is the pinnacle of bread baking.  Nothing more challenging.  I could write a whole series on sourdough bread baking and maybe I will.

Where do I come out with calories?
One of my sourdough buns comes in about 100 calories.  Thus, I'm only about 30 calories over two light pieces of bread.  This isn't much today, because I don't eat as much bread.  Back when I was trying to lose weight, 30 calories ten times a day adds up.  I don't regret my choices.  I got to where I'm at with them.  But now that I'm here, I have more choices, and I can afford 30 calories and that's only multiplied by 4 times in a day at most.  If I wanted, I could probably match the 70 calories per bun, but I don't need to.  Knowing when to stop is just as important.  There's better calories I can focus on.


What if you don't bake?
Baking isn't where I'd recommend starting.  Bread is high calorie and a risky food if you are trying to lose weight.  If weight loss is your goal, focus on that first.  There will be plenty of time to come back to baking.  In the meantime, try to lean on the lighter breads, 35 calorie and 45 calorie per slice.  Or really the key is down step the hundred plus calorie per slice :)  Even a kind that is twenty calories less per slice than what you buy now will get you moving in the right direction.

And if you never bake, that's alright too.  Like I said, it is one of my every growing hobbies.  When you buy bread, look for a good calorie and flavor balance and try to get whole wheat when possible.


Also, be careful of store bought sourdough bread.  It usually isn't actual sourdough bread, but regular bread with a bit of vinegar to flavor.

But if you do bake and are ready for some flavor and challenge, nothing beats homemade sourdough bread.

The Most Complicated Hamburger I Didn't Eat

My book is nearing completion, and I've been thinking about cover concepts.  I wanted a cover with food, but what?  Ice cream came to mind, but face it, that is what kept me fat.  I'm in love with my replacement yogurt with fruit, but I didn't think it would be as recognizable.  Plus, it didn't highlight that many techniques.  Pizza is great any time of the day or temperature, but it just seems destine to be a risk food.  Then there was one another food that came to mind.  It was there for me growing up, after school, on many cheap teenage dates, in my apartment in grad school, on many cheap adult dates, and even today for dinner.  Hamburgers! When I started trying to lose weight, fitting in two hamburgers for dinner was like trying to fit in a large pizza.  But tonight, I ate two for dinner and had enough calories left over for a chocolate yogurt shake.

I planned for hamburgers tonight and cooked an extra one for the photo shoot.  As they fried in the cast iron pan, I asked my wife, "Which hamburger patty looks the most photogenic?"  I used the two I was eating for dinner as practice.  Does it look better all together or separated into parts?  What size and amount of lettuce best represents the message I want to convey?  The whole photo shoot took me an hour, far longer than it took to cook or eat the hamburger.


I used only actual food, no glue, glitter, or fake stuff on my plate.  Sure it may have looked better, but I'm about reality in food, not make believe.  The grocery store already sells enough make believe food.  I thought of myself as a National Geographic photographer on expedition trying to get the perfect shoot of the hamburger in the wild.


I even had to face the apex predator of the kitchen.  It got rough at the end when my toddler took a break from cartoons and toys to notice what I was up to.  Then he yelled he wanted a hamburger and made an unsuccessful raid campaign to the table.  Fortunately I had another hamburger left over in the fridge I used to buy him off.

In the end, I think I captured it:

This hamburger was like the ones I actually ate for dinner.  The above as pictured was only 385 calories.  It highlighted what I've learned about engineering calories.  The beef, cheese, and bread all fell into the "will work for calories" technique.  For example, the beef is a chuck roast I ran through the food processor.  That saved over a hundred calories in itself.  I'm topping it with a mini-salad of veggies to lower the calorie density.  (Fun fact - the jalapeños and onions are from my garden last year.)  Beyond that, the plate highlighted how my tastes have changed: extra sharp cheddar cheese, mustard, and raspberry tea.  Those don't go as far back as me and my childhood hamburger but are regulars now.  I always thought tea was dirty water and mustard was as tasty as a banana peel.  Now I'm drinking tea everyday and to the point where mustard can replace mayo and BBQ sauce.


The "sprinkles-on-top" experience is that during this whole time I was never tempted to eat the hamburger.  I felt sated from the two I ate for dinner.  Though I did the drink the tea when I was done.  Still can't believe I missed out on it all those years.  Now I just need to review my 80 something shoots and finalize on the image.  The above is one one my leading favourites.

Disclaimer: Hamburgers were eaten in the making of this production.

A Calorie Engineer Valentine's Day

Got my wife some Roses:

Even better I made home made cupcakes with optional cherry frosting:

I started with a standard golden layer cake recipe.

• Replaced half the sugar with sugar free sweeter
• Substituted almond milk for the whole milk
• Substituted white whole wheat flour for cake flour.  Honest, I'd do that even if it was more calories.  Maybe it'd be softer with cake flour, but it was plenty soft and moist enough.  It is the difference between eating food and pure sugar.

In the end, they came out to 207 calories each (and 4.7 grams protein).  If I needed, there would be opportunities to pull down the calories even more.  For instance, I used 10 tablespoons of cream butter.  I could have used margarine or applesauce for all of part of that to lower the calories.  But I didn't for two reasons.  First, didn't want to change too many things at once.  I haven't made this recipe that many times.  Second, I didn't need too.  The 207 calories each is fine for my needs.  Know when to quit engineering and move onto the next challenge.
One tip in making cupcakes: Fold the dry and wet ingredients.  Don't mix.  The difference between cake and muffins.  Sure you have to dish wash an extra bowl, but it is Valentine’s day.  Suppose that's why I make more muffins than cup cakes, the other days :)

I still celebrate with food, but responsibility.  Yet, I don't celebrate only with food.  I took the family to the Indianapolis Children's museum.  I burned almost all the calories for one cupcake just from that trip.

Plus burned even more calories through cooking and tasks around the house and yard.  We had a bit of a snow here and that landed me even more unexpected calories through shovelling and ploughing snow.  With all that, I was running a bit low on calories consumed and needed to seek out more food to eat.  I already had two cupcakes in the day and didn't feel like another.  Honest, I didn't crave another.  Instead I had something healthy - mixed veggies with cream butter as a snack between meals.  That's become one of my frequent snacks when I'm low on calories.  I used a mix with carrots, so it has a good vitamin A boost.

I made dinner extra special by making steak.  For only 685 calories I had steak, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, and sourdough bread.  I didn't used to like steak all that much, growing up on hamburgers, but I've come to appreciate the low calories that lean steak has to offer.

And tonight looking forward to watching the season première of Walking Dead with my wife and a bowl of buttered popcorn.  This is our Sunday night tradition.  Popcorn is pretty low calories, as long as you don't over do the butter.

There you have it a random holiday.  Went on a family walking trip.  A little extra indulgent with the cupcakes.  But I engineered those to a lower level of calories.  Burned a good deal of calories from a walking and other activities.  And I still had a sensible breakfast, lunch, dinner, and post dinner snack.

How to Cut Up a Pineapple

Many years ago, I never thought to eat a pineapple.  I pictured it as something people put on a ham.  But one day, I had fresh pineapple and it was good, ice cream level good.  Of course, I had no clue how to cut one up.  They are a bit imposing when you look at them.  Not as easy as an apple or an orange, and they do look a bit like an alien fruit.  But once I invested some time in learning how to cut them up, I learned it wasn't near as difficult as I thought it would be.  Plus the stuff from a can and what is baked on a ham is a far cry from what comes out of the pineapple direct.

Ingredients

• One pineapple

Hardware

• Flat surface
• Paring knife
• Big bowl

1.) Cut off the ends of the pineapple and thus have a canister shape.

Walking Weekend Calories

This weekend was a good example of how you can burn 100+ calories from a simple walking trip.

On Saturday, about 200 net calories burned by walking at multiple grocery stores in the pursuits of sales.  In the process, picked up 6 pineapples.  My toddler says "I like that."  At 50 calories per 100 grams, I like that too.  I've already eaten a few hundred grams.  Feels nice.  There's a serving bowl sitting in the fridge of some cut up.  Enjoyed some frozen pineapple in yogurt this morning and may make a pineapple smoothie soon.  Plus, I picked up 8 canisters of unsalted roasted peanuts.  I'll be turning that into homemade peanut butter.  I wonder if it goes with pineapple?  It is great with banana.

On Sunday, took advantage of the nicer temperature of 50s and took the family to the Indianapolis Zoo.  I burned over 100 net calories walking through part of the zoo.  Could have done more, but started to border on children's nap time and storm clouds in the sky.  Plus, my toddler is more interested in playing on the playground area and slide than the animals.  Good exercise for him, but not so much for me.  The sacrifices we make for children.

Even more calories burned on cooking and around the house and yard projects, but I wanted to highlight the simplicity of walking trips.

Sloppy Joes

Phase 1:

• 1 pound ground turkey (I use 93% lean)
• 300g red bell pepper
• 400g onions
• 100g mix of carrots and/or summer squash, optional
• 28oz can of tomato sauce
• 0.50 cup (90g) dry brown rice
• 2 cups of water (swirl around in the can to get that last bit of sauce)

Bring everything together in the slow cooker and set to low for 10 hours.  (Not a big difference if you'll be out of hour longer and increase the cooking time.)

If the turkey and vegetables are frozen, dethaw overnight in the fridge.  This has the added benefit of getting everything ready the night before.  Then in the morning, it is quick to bring together.

Phase 2:

• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning 
• 2 tea molasses
• Up to a half cup of calorie free sweetener optionally blended with sugar, depends on how sweet you like it.  (When I use garden fresh tomatoes, I don't use any at all, but do add when it is canned tomato sauce.)
• Salt and pepper to taste

When you get home, add the above seasoning and stir.

Eating Tips:

I take two sourdough buns, open them as four pieces of bread, and then heap on sloppy joe filling.  They work better as open face sandwiches.  They are sloppy after all, and it saves bread calories.

For toppings, I like to add jalapeño and sprinkle on half an ounce of sharp cheddar cheese.  The cheese melts quickly on top of the hot sloppy joes and provides a nice accent when served on top.

I like dishes that make enough for left overs for tomorrow's dinner.  This dish doesn't disappoint.  You'll probably have enough left over to freeze even after dinner the second day.  It makes enough for 16 overflowing sandwiches.  Personally, I eat 600 grams plus the two buns and cheese for dinner.
 
Makes about 2,300 grams coming in at 1,665 calories total.  This makes it about 0.724 calorie/gram.  Under the magical 1.0 calorie/gram barrier of low calorie filling foods.  My only advice is not to go overboard with the bread and add-ons.