My NEW Challenges
In 2019, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This is a challenge for someone who loves to eat! I have had to adopt a low-carb approach to cooking and eating...no white bread (my wife make a killer white bread), no pasta, no sugars...including CANDY! No potatoes, rice, or even crackers! I have had to learn to bake without wheat or corn flours, and I never baked much before. My baby girl and her hubby had tried a diet called "Keto" (abbreviation for "ketosis or ketones"), which is a low carb/high fat way of life. The low carb part is fine, but as for the high fat? NO, my doctors told me I had to loose weight and drop my cholesterol levels, so a strict "keto" diet would not be good. but it made a great jumping of point. Fortunately, many of the foods I love are compatible with my new lifestyle. Even fast food restaurants like In N' Out and Carl's Jr. offer lettuce wrapped versions of their burgers which is nice, but NO FRIES! From Fathers day 2019 forward my life will revolve around my dietary requirements, so will this blog!
My Inspirations
First and foremost, my Mom, who passed away just a couple of years ago. Bless her heart, she was not well versed in various cuisines and did not have a wide knowledge of cooking, but what she made she made with A)Great ingredients and 2)Great love. As a child I always had a hot breakfast to send me on my way to school. I was the eldest of her kids and saw her grow in cooking skills as our family grew too. We never had cold cereal for breakfast, except weekends, when we gave her a break...and my Dad who loved to eat out. I never could understand how he could eat Roquefort dressing (commonly called Bleu Cheese now), but now it is my favorite! Having seen his allergy scratch test results from the U.S. Army, it seemed everything he loved didn't love him. Did that stop him from loving to eat them...NO! Fortunately I got none of his food allergies and love most everything.
Second would be public television. As an adult, I have loved watching PBS cooking shows. They have always brought a world of food I never would have seen without them. We started watching the Frugal Gourmet many years ago, and I still have his cookbook on a shelf somewhere. America's Test Kitchen/Cooks Country are still staples, as are Jacques Pepin, Martha Stewart and the late Julia Child, who started it all.
And lastly, and most importantly, my beloved Wife of 43+ years. She cooked for our family as we were all growing up (I'll let you know when I finish growing up). She studied cooking in college and high school and to this day loves to bake. She also makes homemade yogurt every week and bakes us homemade bread each week. She is a recipe perfectionist, and tweaks her ingredients, times, methods on each recipe every time she bakes. Although I do most all of the meals for us now, I will always be grateful for her efforts as she cooked for the 4 of us and even for our grandkids when they were young.
My Guides for Cooking
It is tough today to choose who you like to watch cook. Besides the Great PBS shows there is the Food Network, The Cooking Channel, You Tube, Blogs galore, segments on news shows, Pinterest, and many others I can't name. Here are a few that I follow for guidance, advice and technical expertise.
- America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Country: I find their recipes and reviews to be spot on and geared to a non-professional.
- Martha Stewart: Her cooking instruction is something everyone should watch, even though she sometimes gets a bit out of the range of everyday cooking. her presentation is calming and thourough.
- Jacques Pepin: He brings the experience of a trained chef down to the common person's ability and level of understanding.
- Alton Brown: Most Food Network shows are professional chefs and competitions between pros, with ingredients I have often never heard of or are totally out of my price range or local availability or both, but Alton's show "Good Eats" is a bit different and quite enjoyable.
- The Gabby Gourmet, Fred Wix, a radio personality on KALL 910 radio in the 70s and 80s. A truly likable guy who entertained and inspired with no video, pictures or Internet.
- I am poor. This limits what kinds of ingredients I can buy and where I can buy them. There will be no saffron in my pantry or recipes and my butcher lives at the grocery store.
- I am LDS (Latter Day Saint or Mormon). For this reason, I do not use beer, wine, hard liquor or coffee, because they are not in my house. I am always looking for new ways to substitute something for those ingredients.
- I buy sale items almost exclusively. I usually buy a good quantity and freeze them. I don't buy cheap. My kids and wife think I am cheap, but my dad always said that "cheap is not the same as inexpensive". If I buy a piece of cookware it won't be the most expensive, but will be the closest to it I can find...on sale. I have no respect for brand names. Store brand is fine IF IT MEETS MY QUALITY STANDARDS. I will not hesitate to return something that does not meet those standards or promise of the manufacturer.
- We live in the same rental we have lived in for more than 28 years. Our stove/oven is electric with no frills or fancy anything. I tried to cause a fire while seasoning a cast iron skillet a few years ago, so it has a bit of damage.
My Favorite Places to Shop
- The most fun place I shop is Trader Joe's. Their prices are reasonable and the service is great. Now if they were just BIGGER!
- The most courteous staff is Macey's Fresh Market. I don't know who trains their people, but I have yet to find one lacking.
- If money were no object I would do a bunch of my shopping at Harmon's Grocery. Their meat and produce is second to none.
- Smith's is where I buy a bunch of things on sale. They also have a very good meat & seafood section
- Wal-Mart is where I go for national brands. They have the best prices on many things all the time. Their meat is not something I usually buy though.
I do love Harmons but I also shop at Smith's and Winco. So far the best apples are at Harmons.
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