Sunday, August 10, 2008

Pork in green salsa and random dessert

Last night we made Optimal ice cream because, well, no reason. You need a reason to make ice cream????? Anyway, breakfast was a little informal today...



After that nutritious start we had some rubbish to finish off. Squiggs discovered the raspberry canes and though we expected the birds to get most of the berries this year (first crop) he beat them to it. Every morning. He likes raspberries so much that occasional shop bought ones are allowed. Though he only likes certain types...



Tonight's meal was belly pork in green salsa. Our own tomatillos, green peppers and chillis are all eatable at the moment, so the salsa was almost home made. The belly pork was prepared as for carnitas but then fried in the salsa sauce.


Salsa sauce: Tomatillos, green peppers, green chillis, garlic. Coarse blend, fry in butter, add the pre cooked belly pork and simmer for 20 minutes. Quantities are basically what you feel like! Just before serving add cream. Lots, just adjust your calories to your needs. Salt and pepper help.


We've never had tomatillos before this year, but the flavour is so good we can understand why the Mexican post docs we know (a) rave about them and (b) take whatever supply we can spare!



Even Squiggs was defeated by the left over ice cream so we used it this evening as a base for a few raspberries and poured hot chocolate sauce over it (melted 85% cocoa solids chocolate diluted with double cream). This dessert was totally, utterly and completely unnecessary. But yummy!

Low fat vegan anyone?

Peter.

OK, tomorrow's steak and kidney casserole is simmering and Nirvana is on the CD player. Time to make a start on omega 3s, Krauss and VLDLs. And a glass of wine.

16 comments:

Charles R. said...

What's your recipe for Optimal ice cream???

Anna said...

I hope you are going to post your steak and kidney casserole recipe, too (I'd also like a peak at the Optimal ice cream recipe to see how it compares to mine).

I have lots of range-fed bison and several kidneys of various animals in the freezer, but most of the recipes are for S&K pie, and too high in the kind of carbs I try to avoid.

Nicola said...

Hi Peter, I can see you share your life - that's your Optimal diet!

Is still don't know what is best - salt / hydrochloric acid...

http://tinyurl.com/5u5v8n

On the other hand "Charles" running on zero carb (meat and water) finds no salt "to work":

His journal:

http://tinyurl.com/68bltr

Here he is moderator:

http://tinyurl.com/5vcyct

Can you help me and others?

Nicola
Switzerland

Anonymous said...

Nicola, Charles said he used Celtic Sea Salt on the links you provided. You said he finds a no-salt diet to work. I don't think you need to add salt if you eat blood, organ meats, or seafood occasionally. But Taubes and Eades (and others) have refuted the claims against salt. I think it best to avoid salt-preserved foods, like canned foods, processed meats, sausages, ham, bacon, cheeses, etc. Fresh foods are the best bet.

Unknown said...

Peter: What would you say is an appropriate amount of Vitamin D for children (4 years old)? Where do you buy your Vitamin D? In Germany it´s not so easy to get Vitamin D at all. I would like to get Biotics Bio D Mulsion Forte (2000 I.U. per drop) but it´s not available. Unfortunately no US-online-shop is shipping to Germany because of problems with customs.

Peter said...

Hi Nicola,

It doesn't look to me as if "Charles" is zero salt, he does specify celtic sea salt on his meat, and he sensibly limits water intake to that which is needed to meet his thirst. I understand a number of endurance runners kill themselves each year by overhydrating and developing fatal hyponatraemia, without an Ecstacy tablet in sight.

Possibly the best advertisement for salt is the USDA/AHA proscription on it. If they say it's bad, it must be good. The OD uses real foods, so tends to be very low in salt anyway, hence my use of cooking salt in most main meals. Excreting 3 or 4 grams of salt a day is well within the power of my kidneys. Not that I measure it and it's often less than this.

My two main serious salt loads are lamb Donner kebabs; "no bread no salad no sauce", they know me at the kebab house, and occasional corned beef, which I like, especially the nitrates. Oh, and cheese I guess too.

I see no need for zero salt, any more than for > 20g/day.

Have you read Stefansson's "My life with the Eskimo"? He talks about his salt craving and how, when he finally got some salt, he was very disappointed. Left the tin behind as they moved camp one day. Meat and fish certainly have enough salt for our needs, but a little extra seems fine too, especially if you are on low protein, ie there is no salt in pure fat.

Peter

Nicola said...

Charles no longer adds salt; he finds that the meat has it's own salt, that salt makes you eat more and that he has no more night cramps.

Extra salt could be why some eat and eat and eat...

Nicola

Anonymous said...

Do you have a direct quote and link where he says he no longer eats any salt? I read several pages of those threads and saw no mention of it. I agree that salt-preserved food will cause some people to over-eat, like salted cheese. It would be best for health to get unsalted, unprocessed food IMO. Small amounts of salt are not a problem, but I would not make the mistake of thinking that salted cheese or canned meat or bacon is a real food. According to Stefansson, such foods cause scurvy if eaten in large enough quantities. They cause depletion of vitamins and minerals.

ItsTheWooo said...

Chocolate and cream is the lunch of champions!
Beautiful tomatoes, beautiful carbless iced cream, beautiful babies eating raspberries... wonderful things all of them.

I never would have assumed you listened to nirvana. I was obsessed with that band from the ages of 7 throughout my teens and early adulthood. Still like em, listened to in utero today, in fact.

Peter said...

Hi ItsTheWoo,

Nirvana came to me through my wife, who was a punk drummer in her teens, so we've got quite a lot of music you might not expect a middle aged vet to listen too. Basically lots of rock, loads of goth stuff and about a ton of Sisters of Mercy on vinyl. As my two older children have both turned out right music wise, I'm just a bit worried Squiggs will be in to opera. Be hard going to concerts with him, but I'd make the effort (could always hide an iPod I guess). Not quite like going the the last night of the "reformed for 7 days only" tour of Terrorvision. How the lead singer got down from the speaker stack without major injury... Trust in the tequila I guess!

Peter

Peter said...

Hi Sven,

Been a bit slow on this one, been putting off thinking about it but I need to so soon. Looks like the Vitamin D Council cite 2000iu as acceptable without blood testing for children >1year of age, citing these people, USA government? So that's where I'll go with Squiggs.

I get mine mail order from the USA, 2400iu D3 per capsule. What are you going to do in Germany?

Peter

Peter said...

Oops, lost the links in the repost

here they are

2000iu

and

these people

Just slot them in mentally where they need to go!

Peter

Unknown said...

Peter: Last autumn/winter I gave my children about 1000-2000 I.U. That wasn´t that far off obviously. By the way: While the kindergarten sometimes resembled a ghost town, my family has been fit pretty much the whole time. Hopefully next winter won´t be different.
I am going to order the "low level" Vitamin D (400 I.U. per drop). That´s not perfect but manageable.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"Chocolate and cream is the lunch of champions!"

I'll stick with meat and butter, as chocolate is full of fiber, sugars, caffeine, theobromine, etc. I would use cocoa butter before chocoolate, as it should have none of the toxic fiber and stimulants. Peter said he had stiff joints when he cut the 5g of fish oil a day. It could be some other food was to blame, but he did not isolate his variables (like the chocolate). Cocoa butter has a high ratio of n6/n3, like 32:1. I'm less worried about that than the fibers, insulinogenic proteins, stimulants, and the refined sugar.

If I had to take fish oil every day to avoid arthritis, I would suspect that maybe some foods I "can't live without" are to blame. Tops of that list would be cocoa, refined sugar, nightshades, and potatoes. The best thing I ever did was cut out all of the fiber and PUFAs.

Unknown said...

bruce k: How much chocolate have you eaten usually? When I eat some chocolate it´s about 10g. That would be a miniscule amount of fiber. I can´t image that doing any damage. Why should potatoes cause any problems? Potatoes aren´t really rich in fiber.