We're going to take a journey to learn just how logical it can be to eat right without having to diet.  The results will be a better feeling of satisfaction form eating and a natural, healthy, weight loss rate. 

If you would like to learn to feel more vital and alive and truly experience better health then come along on this journey.  There's no membership fee involved and you don't have to buy some crazy set of "meals" to come in the mail.  If you like "simple is better" then you're going to like this a lot.

Here's the first thing I want you to ponder as we begin the journey.  Looking at the picture above, just ask yourself:  Which of the two plate-fulls above would be most filling and therefore provide the greatest feeling of satisfaction or "Satiety"?

Here's another illustration to make the point.  Each of the panels in the picture above provides 140 calories.  Which one do you suppose would provide for the greatest sense of satiety?

This idea is not complicated and it is vitally important to understanding how our bodies deal with the food we "throw" at them.  We always have choices and that's fine but if we don't give some energy to choosing well then we find ourselves avoiding the mirror as much as possible.

An important thing to note is that I'm not advocating that you should see a certain image or "body type" when you look in the mirror.  I do know that the choices we  make, as illustrated above, have a direct effect on our overall physical health and well-being.  That matter is important to us all and warrants more than casual consideration.

Look at the two photos above again and then think about the importance of learning some simple truths about nutrition and health and let's talk again soon about this simple and practical matter that will make for an incredible change in our lives.

Our word for the day is:  Satiety noun \sə-ˈtī-ə-tē ~  the quality or state of being fed or gratified to or beyond capacity

Thanks for being here and treat yourself to the joy that is cleverly tucked away and hidden from view in the chaos that is today.

Ciao for now,
T
O
M

Just a little something extra...

Tomorrow will have to be Corned Beef and Cabbage :-)

Take a look at this little blurb.

Everyday Joy

Fish-n-chips with a twist

Ok, so why do the same old thing?

This time it's Tilapia and sweet potato chips with some onion rings thrown in just for the fun of it (and, yes it was fun)

The first thing is to soak the onion rings in buttermilk for a while and then coat them lightly with a combination of corn meal, garlic powder and salt.  The coating is extremely light as the extra carbs only detract from the onions is you make the coating heavy.

The next chore will be to bring a combination of extra virgin olive oil and omega3 oil up to 325 degrees in a pan or pot for frying the onion rings.  I use the oils at 50/50 to encourage browning but to avoid burning.

It will only take about 3 minutes to complete frying them but if the pot is small you may have to do several batches for you don't want to "crowd" them during the frying process.  Remove them from the oil with a good strainer or vented spoon and place them on paper towels on a plate.

The thermometer is out of the way and the rings are not crowded in the pot.

The sweet potatoes are thinly sliced and placed in
water until just before frying.  I pour off the water
and return them to the bowel with paper towels in
the bottom to absorb the water before frying.

The fried potatoes are placed on a couple layers of paper towel and then lightly salted as each batch comes out of
the oil.  The frying process here is also only about 3 minutes
but more importantly to be watched closely and removed
just as they begin to brown.  Sprinkle them with a combination of salt, garlic powder and chili powder.  This seasoning is done lightly as well.

The fish is filleted, cut in 1" pieces and lightly breaded with
corn meal, "garlic & herb" bread crumbs, salt, pepper and
extremely fine lemon zest. You'll notice that the coating is
extremely light.  I'm not interested in tasting the "breading"
 but rather just sealing in the wonderful flavor of the fish.

This is what the plate looked like for this particular batch and believe me, the plate was "polished clean" when the food was gone.

The single fish and two small/medium potatoes and one white onion cost a total of around $6.00 and fed two hungry folks.

This meal is light and easy to fix.  It's a bit time consuming in the prep time but the cooking is over in a flash and clean-up isn't bad either.

I've done this with trout, cat fish and now tilapia and have yet to have a complaint.
Presto 05442 CoolDaddy Cool Touch Electric Deep Fryer

Fish-n-chips with a twist

This is just a teaser to see who's paying attention.  I'll be whipping up some sweet potato chips to go along with my favorite fish so keep watching for the photos and the details.  You'll need to have your bib on just reading that one :-)

An American Tradition and really not much about it that's Irish...

Why do they Call it "Corned" Beef?

The term “Corned” comes from putting meat in a large crock and covering it with large rock-salt kernels of salt that were refered to as “corns of salt”. This preserved the meat. The term Corned has been in the Oxford English Dictionary as early as 888 AD.

Irish Were the First Exporters of Corned Beef Irish were the biggest exporters of Corned Beef till 1825.
The English were serving corned beef but also the Irish. In this day and age corned beef and cabbage is not very Irish, but corned beef is. The area of Cork, Ireland was a great producer of Corned Beef in the 1600’s until 1825. It was their chief export and sent all over the world, mostly in cans. The British army sustained on cans of Cork’s corned beef during the Napoleonic wars.

First There was Salted Beef

The practice of salting meat goes back probably to ancient times in cold areas when they found that meat didn't spoil if it made contact with enough salt.  This was quite a convenience for nomads or soldieres, who were constantly traveling on horse or foot.

Origin of the Word "Corn" 
The term Corn is modified from an Old Germanic (P.Gmc) Word Kurnam which meant small seed of anything. Since a kernel of rock salt look like a wheat or oat kernel size it became known as a corn of salt.
Even the word Kernel comes from this word Kurnam. or Kurnilo which meant the root of the seed.

The Mention of "Corned Beef" goes back to an English Book by Richard Burton in 1621, Anatomy of Melancholy...Beef ..corned young of an ox.

Corned Beef and Cabbage is basically an American tradition on St. Patrick's Day started by irish-Americans in the mid 1800's

Some Irish people feel that corned beef and cabbage is about as Irish as spaghetti and meatballs.

Since cows were used for milk rather than meat in poor times in Ireland, beef was a delicacy that was fed to kings. It was more common to celebrate a holiday meal with what they call a ham (Gammon) or bacon joint. ( a cured but unsmoked piece of pork) with their cabbage and potatoes. When many Irish Immigrants came over in the mid 1800’s they couldn’t find a bacon joint like they had in Ireland, so they found that Jewish corned beef was very similar in texture, and they used that for their holiday celebrations. 

Corned Beef, A Rite of Spring
Some say that Corned beef was a great Spring celebration meal because often this cured beef sat in crocks all winter and was brought out in the Spring to celebrate. 

So There!  Now you have the answer to a question you never asked.

I'll post a recipe and photos of the cooking process along with the plated meal on the 17th.  There is a special secret that my friend "Coop" shared with me almost two decades ago that I'll be adding here prior to the 27th so keep watching.

Happy Trails,

The Old Man

Old News is New :)

This morning I was visiting with a couple of friends about roasted vegetables and they asked that I post the recipe info.  Well, back on December 9th I provided the info along with photos.

I will post information about Fish-N-Chips in the near future.  Yes, I'm back and looking forward to sharing more adventures from the kitchen and I promise they'll be "Two Thumbs Up" (tee hee)

Ciao for now,
The Old Man

A little busy at Christmas time

The invitations to be someone's guest at this time of year is getting in the way of exercising my culinary muscles.  I'm sure thing will get popping again in a couple of days but tonight will not be one for another post.

In the mean time I suppose I could entertain some suggestions for future posts.  Let's see how crazy that gets.

Merry Christmas to you all.