Hummus

I recently discovered, much to my chagrin, that the hummus I usually buy contains sugar.  This didn’t upset me too much, though, since I’ve been wanting for many months to try my hand at making my own.  Now that I have a food processor, I figured it would be a good time to take the plunge.

Hummus is one of those things that few people realize is really easy and inexpensive to make.  If you buy it at the supermarket, you might pay $4 for a tiny package.  If you make it at home, you can spend $4 on the ingredients for a half-gallon.  It freezes well, too, so even if you don’t eat a lot of it, or if (like me) you live alone and can’t eat a lot of it fast, you can still make a huge batch and keep it for a long time.

I made this batch from a one-pound bag of dried garbanzo beans / chickpeas. This required me to soak the beans and cook them until tender, which took about 2 or 3 hours altogether.  If you don’t have the time or patience to deal with that, you can use canned ones.  I wanted to avoid the canned ones because of the extra cost and packaging.  There are also some additives in canned beans that can be avoided if you use dried.

As usual, this recipe is pretty arbitrary.  I tend not to pay much attention to quantities, (unless I’m baking) and I’ll usually add more than the recipe calls for of ingredients I like.  (Beware!  Sometimes this can be disastrous!)

6 cups prepared chick peas (this is what a one-pound bag of dried beans turned into once it was soaked and cooked till tender. Use canned if you prefer.)

**Save the water from cooking the beans.  You might want to use it at the end to thin out the hummus.  I used about ½ cup of mine.

3 lemons worth of lemon juice – approx ½ cup.

1 cup tahini

8 cloves garlic, crushed

4 tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp salt

Ground black pepper

 

Put everything but the chickpeas and water in the blender / food processor and mix it up a bit.  After that’s blended, add the chickpeas.  Blend until it’s pretty smooth.  Add water as necessary to thin to a consistency you prefer.  If you want, you can add more lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper. 

Let hummus sit overnight in the refrigerator to let the flavors blend together.  On the second day, I put mine in the freezer for later. 

Quitter Chronicles: #1 : Counting Costs

Counting Costs.

When I first had the idea to give up refined sugars, I was excited and eager to get going.  But I knew that sugar had been such a powerful and ubiquitous force in my life, and that I couldn’t embark on a refined-sugar-free life without putting a lot of thought and energy into it. 

For starters, I was addicted.  Giving up sugars would mean withdrawal, lethargy, mood-swings, continuous hunger.  Did I really want to go through all that?

I’ve never had any allergies and have always prided myself on being able (and willing) to eat anything that’s put in front of me – a point of pride that was tested to the max when I was living in Southwest China in the mid-2000’s.  I rarely read nutritional labels, I just ate whatever I wanted, or whatever I had to eat.  Giving up refined sugar meant I would need to adopt a level of vigilance about foods I purchased, foods I let people serve me, and meals I ordered at restaurants that was going to be entirely new to me.  This was not to be taken lightly.

Eating refined-sugar-free meant that I would have to do a lot more cooking, and probably from scratch.  I usually cooked simple meals anyway, and didn’t rely too much on highly processed, prepackaged stuff, but this was still going to be a big adjustment.  Living with chronic pain, cooking has been one of the hardest things for me to do.  All the shopping, standing, chopping, and washing can ignite some of the worst pain I know of in my upper back.  Refined-sugar-free meant that I would need to spend a lot more time doing this most painful activity.

I would also have to be much more careful about what I eat away from home.  What if I’m invited to someone’s house for dinner and everything contains sugar?  What if I went out to a restaurant and there weren’t any clear sugar-free options?  I’d never dealt with a dietary restriction before, would I be able to adjust to avoiding something so ubiquitous as sugar?

But then I considered the benefits.  If white sugar truly does increase muscle pain, as I’ve read in numerous places, maybe the cooking wouldn’t be so traumatic, maybe it would be worth it.  Besides, while using raw sweeteners like honey and maple syrup might cost a little more money, wouldn’t I save money overall by not being free to buy that muffin with my coffee or that candy bar at the check out?  Wouldn’t I probably end up healthier in the end, pain relief or no? 

I counted some of the costs, and decided it was worth a try.  Time will tell if it is worth it, and if I have what it takes to follow through with this crazy scheme – which is truly not so crazy. 

Weird Experiment

When you’re hungry and dreaming about food, do you ever have weird ideas of stuff you’ll try to make later?  This happens to me all the time.  And usually when I actually try to make the thing I envisioned, it turns into an inedible mess. 

Well, I had this idea to puree beets and freeze them in my ice cube tray to be used in smoothies.  This idea came about when I first got my food processor and realized that a whole new world of food preparation was opening up to me.  And it actually didn’t turn out too badly. 

First I boiled the beets until they were tender.  Then I peeled them and pureed them in my food processor. 

Then I transferred the cooked beet puree into an ice cube tray.  Once it was frozen solid, I moved the cubes into a plastic bag and kept them in the freezer for future use.  

The first smoothie I made was simple.  I didn’t have any juice on hand, so it was heavily dairy based.  I used milk, homemade yogurt (I’ll share this recipe with you some day), a frozen banana and some frozen yogurt.  And I added two of my beet cubes and some frozen mangoes.

 

The result was, um, kind of milky and beety.  I have to admit I didn’t love it, so I added a few drops of vanilla extract.  Once the vanilla was added, I rather enjoyed the purple beverage.  

The next day, I decided to try another version.  This time I used orange juice as a base, along with some milk and more of my homemade yogurt.  Frozen bananas, frozen mangoes, and frozen pineapple.

I must say, I really enjoyed this one.  The tart-but-sweetness of the orange juice and the pineapple really offset the power of the beet flavor and sweetness.  And the magenta color was pretty stunning.  I loved it.  The best part was that I got to warm my self-righteous insides on the fact that I'm consuming beets.

Quitter Chronicles: Intro : Why Sugar Gets the Ax

July. 

Sugar is bad for us.  We know this.  It rots our teeth, makes us fat, and turns us into mood-swinging slaves.  I am a sugar addict.  (Well, recovering now.)

In July I started seriously considering giving up refined sugars after I read in a few places that white sugar and other processed sugars can contribute to muscle pain and depression. 

I have been dealing with chronic muscle pain in my upper back for about 20 years.  Over the past year or so, I’ve tried all kinds of medical approaches to ameliorating the pain: Anti-inflammatories, physical therapy, cortisone injections, a TENS unit, anesthetic patches, traction.  None of these treatments did much good if any.  So, when the doctor was out of ideas, I decided it was time to jump into the world of voluntary diet restrictions and give up refined sugars.

This promises to be a huge undertaking.  Sugar is in just about everything you can buy at the supermarket.  A refined-sugar-free diet requires a level of vigilance in the reading of ingredients lists that I would never have dreamed of.  To be successful in cutting out refined sugars, one will need to cook mostly from scratch.  Even some canned beans contain sugar; that means that even a simple meal of beans and rice is no longer so simple. 

On one hand, there’s something really appealing about the idea of cooking with only fresh vegetables and whole grains.  But for me there is the hurdle of my daily struggle with pain.  Cooking kills my back.  All the standing at the counter, chopping vegetables, washing dishes, and standing at the stove ignites a fire in my shoulder blades that generally forces me to take long breaks in between kitchen tasks to lie on the living room floor and whimper.  Even shopping hurts. 

So, for me, the first step in giving up refined sugars is to think long and hard about it.  This isn’t merely an adjustment of the foods I eat.  This promises to be a big challenge to my resolve, not just in my eating, but in all my habits and routines from shopping to cooking to socializing. 

In the coming weeks, I hope to share this journey with you in it’s many shades and angles.  We’ll see how it goes!

Last Hurrah

Well, I plan to start my refined-sugar-free diet in earnest in a few days, and last night was my last hurrah.  I feasted without giving thought to ingredients for the last time.  (Of course, this is assuming I can actually follow through and carry on with the sugar thing ...)

A flower large enough to wear as a hat to church on Sunday

 Up in one of the hill towns Northwest of here, there is an annual dinner to raise funds for the school athletic department.  They set up a long table across the Iron Bridge, seating 400 folks.  Food is provided by local restaurants and businesses.  Everything is deliciously amazing.  Last year I ate so  much I honestly thought something inside me might rupture. 

The table before the festivities.

Olive tapenade, cucumber salad, chipotle potato salad, pork ribs, grilled swordfish with papaya mustard salsa, cheesecake! 

Downriver

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I meant to take photos of the food and festivities, but I was so involved in eating and enjoying everything that I didn't pull out my camera.  That's ok, it's better to experience life than to watch it through a two-inch screen, anyway, right?

The Nicest Day of Summer

Once again, my pain is playing rude games with me.  All week long I had the good fortune of being relatively pain-free most of the time at work.  Just about every day, I’d have little bouts of pain here and there, but for the most part felt good while I was on the job.  It wasn’t until I was finishing up, preparing to head home, that the pain kicked in in earnest.

And after a week of somewhat comfortable days, Saturday brings the payback.  I slept in a little.  I pushed myself a little harder on my exercise regimen.  And the pain was driving me to distraction by 10 a.m. 

Showering hurt.  Eating breakfast.  Drinking coffee.  Washing dishes.  Preparing lunch.  Laundry.  Even lying on the floor seemed to aggravate things. 

The most annoying thing was that this was one of the nicest days of weather we’ve had in weeks.  Not overly hot, not overly humid, and nice and sunny.  I wanted to go frolic somewhere.  But just walking outside to bring out the compost, I could tell venturing too far would be disastrous.  Even a casual stroll down the street was out of the question. 

Instead I did house work and lay on the floor by turns.  

Tortilla Pizza

It seems kind of unfair that on my best days my pain kicks in around 5pm, just as I’m leaving work.  I often think it would be closer to optimal if I could concentrate all my physical pain into the more unpleasant part of the day (i.e. the work day part of the day), and then have my free time be pain-free.  But it doesn’t seem to work that way. 

Today I had an abnormally good day … at work, anyway.  The pain kicked in at the usual times and under the usual circumstances, but it never got so intense that I got discouraged or slowed down.  But just as I got to the clock to punch out, I noticed that acidy burning in my shoulder blade.  I was peeved.  I had errands to run and dinner to fix.  Now it was looking like my evening would turn into an ordeal.

So I ran to the supermarket to get some things, changing my dinner plans as I shopped and as the pain increased.  I got home and fixed this convenient meal – one I haven’t made in a long time.  It used to be a “stand-by,” but for some reason I’d forgotten about it. 

This is one of those meals that I fantasize about making in a real earthy-crunchy way.  I imagine making my own pizza sauce and keeping it frozen in little containers for individual use.  I plan on buying fresh mozzarella and shredding it myself.  I consider a variety of topping options. 

But today, I needed to put it together quickly.  At the supermarket, the pain was bad enough for me to consider forgoing checking the ingredients lists for sugar.  (I’m working toward a refined-sugar-free diet.  More on that later.)  So instead of fresh mozzarella, I got the pre-shredded bag.  Instead of feeling guilty for not having my own pizza sauce in the freezer, I just bought some. 

And this is my little, quick, makeshift pizza.  I found flour tortillas that didn’t have sugar, as well as a nice pizza sauce that was sugar free. 

 

I added peppers, mainly because they taste as good cooked as they do raw, and I wasn’t sure how long or how hot to cook this. 

It turned out that, even though this only took about 10 minutes to assemble, the process was rather painful.  So I’m back to reconsidering whether I should ever expect to actually cook dinner for myself after work.  I might go back to my old plan of only eating my homemade frozen dinners. 

I’m not going to include a “recipe” for this, since the ingredients are pretty obvious, and they can be tweaked just about any way you like – I once made a pizza with pears and blue cheese!  Also, I have no idea what would be the best temperature to cook this on.  I did it around 375 for 10 minutes or so.  It came out toasted around the edges and a little soggy in the middle, and the peppers were a bit raw, but tasty.  (Another thing about my cooking style that’s a result of being in too much pain to care: I tend not to worry about certain details.  Cooking only for myself takes the pressure off, too.)

In the background you see a glass of my homemade sparkling limeade.  Eventually, I'll get around to sharing that delicious concoction with you!

Priorities

When I first started to understand that my pain was going to be an ongoing and somewhat debilitating problem, I had to do a lot of emotional gymnastics to learn to cope.  I am naturally rather pessimistic, so the road has been long, challenging, and mostly depressing.  But I have gleaned a couple of nuggets of wisdom out of the last few years, one of which is that when energy is scarce, it’s ok to do less so that I can have a fuller experience in the few things I do.

Excerpt from my Pain Diary from last year.

As I thought about the fatigue, discouragement and lethargy that plagued me, I realized that physical and emotional energy were probably going to be scarce commodities in my life for years to come, and that I needed to figure out how to use them wisely.  Once I came to this conclusion, it was time to consider how I spent my time and energy and to begin to prioritize. 

Some things are necessary.  I need to eat.  I need to rest.  I’m in good enough shape to work, so I need a job.  At the end of the day, how much energy do I have left for housework, cooking, or socializing?  On weekends what kinds of activities are essential, and which ones should I pass up?  When is it ok to turn down invitations?  When is it better to push myself through pain to enjoy a party?  When should I ask for help with simple things?   How can I change the way I do necessary tasks so that they don’t wear me out so much?

Clearly the answers to these questions change from week to week, month to month, so my goal isn’t really to have solid answers to each one.  Mostly, it’s been important for me to know that it’s ok to ask them. 

Here’s a cursory list of some things I’ve come up with to help me live within my limitations:

·      I cook large quantities of food that can be frozen in small batches so that I’ll have something to eat on days when I don’t have energy to cook.

·      I get plenty of sleep and guard my sleep time like it’s my firstborn.  (That’s why I often turn down invitations that involve hanging out starting after 8pm.)

·      When making social plans, I think through the kind of time and physical discomfort I might be committing to.  A one-hour hike is doable.  A day at a carnival is probably out of the question.

·      I try to disperse household tasks throughout the week so that I don’t provoke too much pain while cleaning.  This also helps to make the upkeep of my tiny apartment a less daunting burden. 

·      I also live in a small apartment, so that there’s less space to keep clean.

·      Sometimes, I ask for help with simple things.  Once in a while a friend will fix food for me or help me clean my house.  This kills two birds with one stone, since I get to socialize as well.

·      There are definitely times when I opt for the more painful activities because I know they’re important.  Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and go to a wedding, or a birthday party, or spend a day at a museum because you know it’s important to your friend, and you’ll regret not having gone.  Sure it’ll be painful while it lasts, but most of the time it’s not the pain you remember in the years to come. 

As I pay attention to these kinds of things, I find I can manage my activities in a way that enables me to live within the limitations that chronic pain sets on me as well as getting more enjoyment out of what I spend my time and energy doing.  It’s still a learning process, and will probably continue to evolve.