Wonder Food!

I'm not sure if you noticed, but I have a lot of food crushes. It's a requirement of being an official fat kid. If I had more time on my hands (and if you actually had any interest in it), I could probably go through all of my posts and list the very many ingredients and dishes that I'm enamoured with. Eggplant, oregano, farro, eggs, sauces, dips...the list goes on.

Surprisingly, peanut butter has been under recognized for its special place in my heart! Sure, I taught you how to make your own, but then I never shared any of my delicious peanut butter creations with you! Well, that stops now, my friends. I have been denying you for far too long!

Plus, peanut butter has wonderful qualities for diabetics. It won't raise my blood sugar and will even help stabilize it. It's recommended that I eat peanut butter with fruit and other carbs since the healthy fats will slow down the absorption rate of the carbs in my body. My CDE actually called it a "Wonder Food," like it should be wearing a cape and some kick-ass Batman underroos!

This recipe is very versatile. You can use it as a dipping sauce like a satay (as I did for our Halloween party). You can thin it out and use it as a dressing for salads. Put it in a stir-fry. The possibilities are endless!

Spicy Peanut Sauce 


Ingredients
1 - 2 garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 c peanut butter
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 - 1/3 c vegetable broth (depends on how thick or thin you want the sauce to be)
1 - 2 tsp srichacha (optional)
1 tsp sesame oil
canola oil
salt and pepper

Method #1
1. Place garlic cloves into a food processor or blender. Blend until garlic is minced. Grate ginger into processor.
2. Add all of your ingredients and blend until thoroughly combined. You can choose to add a little more broth to thin it out.

Method #2 - good for those of you who don't like the flavor of uncooked garlic and ginger
1. Heat some oil in a small pot. Add the garlic and ginger to the pot and cook until fragrant (about 60 seconds).
2. Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and broth whisking as you add the ingredients. Bring to a simmer.
3. Once the ingredients blend together, you can add the srichacha, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Cook for a minute or two longer.

Red Handed

12 voicemails
35 e-mails
2 meetings

Those are the averages for my work days before 10:30 AM. Those numbers only get exponentially higher as the day continues. Hectic. Chaotic. Ridiculous. Those are all great words to describe my work day.

My work space, on the other hand, can be rather quiet, calm, desolate even! There may be whole days where I won't have a single person walk through my workspace (usually on Fridays when I'm the only sucker sitting in the office). Initially, it was a little isolating. Now, I relish the emptiness. I deal with people all day long. I love days when I don't actually have to see any of them!

At times, I may take this desolation for granted. I get use to it. I forget that other people do actually work in the building and may occasionally find the need to walk through my space. This becomes particularly problematic when I'm caught with my hand down my shirt. Which I, of course, blame on diabetes. Isn't everything diabetes fault, after all?

When you work with impulsive, grabby, snot-handed little kids and are on the insulin pump, you find creative ways to hid it, especially on days where you fancy up and wear a dress to work. On those days, I will place my insulin pump in my bra strap.

Recently, I was sitting at my desk, preparing for lunch, and realized I needed to bolus (take a dose of insulin) for my meal. Without thinking, I casually reached my hand down the front of my dress (this is starting to sound seductive, isn't it?), when at that exact moment the socially awkward IT guy decides he needs to update my anti-virus software.

Now, what's the appropriate response to someone catching you with your hand down your shirt? Why it's to blurt out "I'm not feeling myself up! I'm on an insulin pump!" of course?!?

Because that definitely makes it less awkward.

Curried Crack

This recipe is inspired by a local restaurant/bar in my 'hood, Queens Kickshaw. My very first time to Queens Kickshaw lasted about 6 hours and included at least 4 orders of these pumpkin seeds! When Heather first had them, she looked at me quite seriously and said "You need to make these!" 

And so I have!

They are highly addicting and something that you may consider grinding up and snorting. Consider yourself warned. I take no responsibility for whatever may get logged up your nose. 

Curried Crack (aka Pumpkin Seeds)

Ingredients

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 large egg white

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tsp olive oil

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp curry powder

1 ½ tsp coarse kosher salt

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

2 ½ c pumpkin seeds 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment; spray with nonstick spray.
2. Whisk egg white, lime juice, and oil in large bowl. Add next 4 ingredients; whisk.
3. Add pumpkin seeds; toss. Transfer to baking sheet, spreading evenly.
4. Bake until toasted and fragrant, stirring often, about 24 minutes. Cool on sheet. 

These can definitely be made ahead.  

ZA Liability

It was established long ago that I would be a serious liability in the event of the Zombie Apocalypse. And then I got diabetes.

Now, I'm not a big television watcher, but I got sucked into a show on AMC last year called the Walking Dead. This show scares the hell out of me, gives me nightmares, and creates an unreal fear that zombies are walking through my neighborhood at 2 AM. Obviously, I watch it religiously week after week.

After each episode, I try to think of the many ways I could survive the Zombie Apocalypse in spite of diabetes. This includes me looking up how long insulin can last outside of the refrigerator before it goes bad, how long I could sustain on a high protein diet before my body would start to process the protein as carbs, and whether zombies will be attracted to my scent if I ever go into ketoacidosis. You may be surprised to learn that I haven't been able to come up with an answer to that last question, but I'm certainly working on it!

In an attempt to hone my zombie killing skills, I downloaded the iPhone app Contract Killers: Zombies. In this game, I'm responsible for shooting zombies to protect myself and others. Obviously, this is just a game and NOT an indication of my actual performance during the Zombie Apocalypse. But let's just say, my zombie killing skills need some work!

Does being able to see the sight of blood, give injections without problems, remain calm in crisis situations, and crochet some kick-ass scarves help my chances at all? :)

Silver Lining on the Crap Cloud

When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, it was not a happy time. Obviously, being sick for several months and being told you have a chronic illness is not like finding the Golden Ticket! It fucking sucks. I was pissed about it. I was sad. I was angry. At times, even a little resentful, especially when I would see others with unhealthy lifestyles in perfect health.

During this time, there was a lot of "Why me's?" I am healthy. I exercise. I eat well. Why me? Coming on the heels of a bad break-up, where insecurities were swirling around inside my head, I thought that diabetes was the universe's way of saying that, yes, there was, indeed, something inherently wrong with me. It was the cherry on top of the proverbial shit cake.

Depression definitely set in and my future became harder to picture. Suddenly, getting married, having children, living past the age of 30 seemed like far away possibilities. That marathon I planned to run at 60 years old would never happen. Instead, I would now have to worry about poor circulation, amputation, blindness, neuropathy, kidney failure, high cholesterol, heart disease, the list goes on. I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Life seemed bleaked. My relationships suffered.

However, since that I time, I have made some significant progress. I don't see my life as cursed the way I once did. I have let go of a lot of those initial thoughts and feelings. On my optimistic days, I think, of course I got diabetes! I'm one of the best people to get it! I would have an easier time integrating diabetes management into my life then most people. Eat healthy? No problem! Want me to exercise? Got it covered! Need to not be squeamishness about blood and injections? I can work on it.

On less optimistic days, I think shit happens, in all its crappy glory! There's no rhyme or reason to it. In those moments, I let myself be angry or sad. I acknowledge that sometimes being diabetic can suck and try to move on from there. 

What I have realized in the last few weeks is that, on most days, I don't even think about it! It has become a natural part of  life, the way that brushing your teeth or feeding your obnoxious cat at exactly 7 AM every fucking morning no matter what day of the week it is, does! You don't necessarily think about it, but you certainly do it every day. Although Jackson definitely has me consider otherwise!

When I reflect on diabetes, I am now able to see some of the positive qualities I had lost track of. Like that I'm resilient. Strong. Intelligent. I'm fun! I have a wicked sense of humor, particularly when it comes to amputation! I'm going to be a great wife and kick-ass mother! I have awesome people in my life who love me. Diabetes didn't change those things. It enhanced them!

Instead of seeing diabetes as the universe snubbing me, maybe it is the universe kicking me in the ass! Of letting me know that I am a much better person then what I had been telling myself. That a stupid boy and broken pancreas doesn't define who I am. I do.

Either way, I come to realize that it's all about looking for the silver lining on the crap cloud. It's there somewhere. You just have to find it.

Here a Pumpkin, There a Pumpkin....

Everywhere a pumpkin!

Now, I'm definitely a summer baby. I love warm days, sundresses, and flip-flops. There's a part of me that gets a little depressed every fall when the days grow shorter and the frost is always days away. However, as I have aged, I've definitely developed an appreciation for Northeast falls and all of its flavors. As soon as the leaves start to change, I want to start eating pumpkin and I don't want to stop until I'm the color of an Ommpa Loompa!

On a completely unrelated topic (but will make sense to you in a minute), I've previously mentioned my dislike for a particular semi-homemade television "chef" whose made millions by combining Campbell's soup and pre-cooked rice and selling it to the American public as a healthy dinner! But for some reason, when it's party time, Sandra Lee keeps appearing in my kitchen! Bitch. 

For our recent Halloween party, I wanted to include my obsession with pumpkin into the menu and the only recipe I could come up with included the use of a pre-made cake mix. Whatever. If Betty Crocker perfected a recipe, why should I mess with it? I wasn't sure if this recipe would really work until I made the batter. I tried a little taste before putting the cupcakes into the oven. And my head exploded because it was so fucking good! Just from tasting the batter!

Make these. Now.

Pumpkin Cupcakes!

Ingredients

1 1/2 c canned pumpkin

2 cups vanilla cake mix

1/2 c milk, at room temperature

1/4 c vegetable oil

2 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake molds with paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, cake mix, milk, oil, eggs, and pumpkin pie spice.
3. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the mixture on low speed until smooth. Increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, 2 minutes.
4. Using a small ice cream scoop, fill the prepared molds with the batter.
5. Bake until puffed and golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting, about 20 minutes.

Halloween, Baby!

Ugh! Never. Drinking. Again.

But I will certainly make this menu again!

This past weekend, Heather and I decided to have a pre-party costuming party. Friends came over to enjoy cocktails and munchies before heading out into a blizzard for Halloween festivities. Uh, hello, Mother Earth, it's still fucking October! This ridiculous weather sort of fucked up the party theme since it was based on the fall season and not the Christmas season, but whatever. Food was still eaten. (Too many) drinks were still consumed. Costume contests were won! Bags were puked in! Dancing was enjoyed by all. Wahoo!

Note to self: Black lipstick further accentuates your chompers!



Occupy Halloween


Fall-Inspired Halloween Menu

Dips & Snacks
Rosemary-White Bean Dip
Thai Peanut Dip with mixed veggies
Roasted Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Bruschetta (recipe below)
Curried Pumpkin Seeds

Apps
Spicy Deviled Eggs
Winter Squash Mac & Cheese
BBQ Pulled Chicken Sliders

Desserts
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
CANDY!

Booze - Just writing out these names makes me feel queezy.
The Dirty Bloody Martini
GINger Tonics (recipe below)

Here's a couple of recipes to hold you over.

Roasted Pear, Blue Cheese and Walnut Bruschetta

Ingredients
2 pears, diced
1 wedge of blue cheese, crumbled
1/3 c walnuts, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. Place diced pears onto to tray and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until pears are slightly caramelized.
3. Let pears cool before adding the blue cheese, walnuts, oil and salt & pepper.
4. Toss to combine. Enjoy with toasted bread or crackers.


GINger Tonics - This is actually so simple it doesn't even deserve a whole recipe.

1 (or 3 depending on how sloppy you'd like to get) part gin
2 - 3 parts tonic
fresh ginger grated (to taste) into the glass.

Mix all together and enjoy!