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Guest post: Patient, heal thyself (part 1)
Today I would like to welcome KJ. KJ has been unflaggingly following the ‘eat according to your blood type’ plan, reaping quite substantial benefits. Here is what he has to say:
A couple of months ago, I was wandering around the interweb and came upon the portion that Fiona has carved out of the virtual world for her blog. At the time, I was attempting to regain some control of my eating pattern and, to abbreviate what could become a long and not-very-noteworthy tome, I read her section on ‘Weight Loss,’ wherein she described her own bout with nature’s disagreement regarding her preferred eating pattern, the outcome of which was that surprising weight-gain that happens when we get older and are still eating the ‘good stuff.’ I was also looking for a natural means of repairing a medical condition for which doctors had provided no relief, other than chemical. Within her weight loss topic, she has listed several options that she employed, including Dr. Peter D’Adamo’s suggested method of eating according to one’s blood type.
After a few messages back and forth between Fiona and myself, I ordered two books from Amazon, related to Dr. D’Adamo’s method and, possessing some aspects of a Type A personality, as well as having Type A blood, I implemented the plan immediately. I stayed within the list of ingredients in the ‘Eating for Blood Type A’ book, but, temporarily lacking the cookbook for blood types, I was left to devise my own menus. As a result of many discussions with – and much guidance from – Fiona, she has asked me to contribute some of the menus that I have developed over the course of the past few weeks. As I have been carefully adhering to the plan outlined in the books I received, anything I contribute will be related to my specific blood type. If you are reading this post carefully, you will already know what that type is. Or, you can start at the beginning of the alphabet and select the first letter. Whichever method produces the best results for you will enable you to follow my notes.
Fiona has respectable credentials in her field and has established herself as a credible source for solid information regarding proper nutrition and healthy living. Not to mention that she combines ingredients that, at times, appear almost sinful and, for my blood type, many of her tasty morsels are just that. So, Fiona suggested that maybe we should share some of what I am experiencing and cooking to benefit others who are on the same path as am I.
Before progressing further, one might wish to learn what credentials I possess in this field, and it is a fair question to ask of me. After all, I will be suggesting that you place some ingredients on a fork, raise it to your lips and then slip this concoction between them. A wise person would require that, at the very least, a smidgen of trust be established beforehand – a premise with which I am in complete agreement. So, here are my credentials: Zip. Nada. None. Reason enough for me to confine my contributions to what I cook and my experience with this eating plan. Did I mention that this portion of Fiona’s enterprise would be for folks with blood Type A? And, while I may appear to have one hand on the rudder in this undertaking, Fiona will be at the helm to make certain that I do not poison anyone.
I will admit to spending several years in hotel food/beverage and I learned table-side flambé service as a young lad, although I have since noticed that very few of the talents I learned during these early years can provide any support for my eating patterns to date.
Pan-poached chicken salad for Type A: I begin this dinner dish by sautéing garlic and chives in olive oil, adding raw chicken breast and when the ‘spittle’ from the pan is embracing the walls for one second, I add a generous dollop of Chardonnay. I should mention that one must be careful about the cooking temperatures for oil. I only sauté for a few seconds and do not use a large amount of oil. I will leave it to Fiona to discuss in depth how best to cook with oils. If I had worked the garlic and chives in the oil for a longer period, and then fried the chicken in the remnants, I would have had the makings of a rich and tasty concoction, which I am not supposed to eat, and which reminds me of an experience I had when living in south Texas, many years ago.
A wonderful cook of distinguished years (older than my grandmother), gave the leftovers in the pan a name. “You see, boy,” she remarked, with an accent rich in Southern US culture, and while stirring the darkened remnants of oil and spices left in the pan from cooking a hefty slab of beef, “this here drippin’s is what we all call fixin’s. It’s what you gots to have, to make a good gravy, or sauce. You can’t make no good gravy without the fixin’s.”
My partner would have knelt at her altar in supplication, had he had the opportunity to make her acquaintance. It is his belief that the ‘fixin’s’ are a basic food group and all meals should begin with this foundation. Although I am working diligently to disengage him from this mindset, a satisfied look of vindication takes possession of his countenance, when he sees me sautéing garlic and chives in olive oil – no matter how short the time span is in which I am performing this task.
Another experiment which made fast friends with my taste buds was spinach pasta with roasted garlic and chopped broccoli in walnut oil, topped off with feta cheese with herbs. Accompanied by a chilled glass of Chardonnay, it was a very good meal, from my point of view, until the cooking book for this eating plan arrived and erased my smug look of self-satisfaction. The reason for the alteration of mon visage, you might well ask? Spinach pasta is a no-no, according to the cooking book, whereas it received no mention in the first book. It shows that you have to have all of the tools to be successful at any undertaking and ordering both books at the same time would have allowed me to avoid this mistake. Fortunately, I did not fade away and the meal was fantastic.
What this demonstrates is that we can poke a pin hole in the hull of this craft, without sinking it. I had no immediate, overpowering reactions to the spinach pasta and now that I know it is not ‘allowed,’ I will substitute a more appropriate pasta for this dish. What still surprises me during this process, is just how easy it is to stay within the structured parameters of this eating plan, while still enjoying a meal that even causes my partner to glance over at my plate with some curiosity. Believe me, that is a rather significant development. -
Healthy American-style pancakes and excess galore
So far this year has been a year of extremes: the Spring saw more rainfall than we usually see in a whole year, we’ve had easily four times more tomatoes than usual, we have momentous courgette mountains, figs galore and at least 10 kilos of green beans. Black labrador madness doubled for much of the Summer as the neighbour’s puppy came to stay several times. But the prize for excess must go to Léo: on Friday night he broke not one but TWO wrists. He’ll be in plaster for six weeks which will be quite a challenge. Whether the challenge will be greater for me or for him remains to be seen (we had to confiscate his skateboard this morning!)…
These pancakes are full of goodness and perfect for cutting up and feeding to people with two broken wrists, which can come in very handy 😉 . Almonds are an excellent source of magnesium and whole milk is a great source of calcium, both of which are essential for, amongst other things, bone health.
Ingredients
65g ground almonds
70g spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
130ml whole organic milk
Virgin coconut oil for frying
Combine the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix with the eggs adding the milk little by little until you obtain and smooth consistency. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan and spoon about two tablespoons of mixture per pancake. Fry until golden-brown on both sides. -
Cream of cauliflower and walnut soup and karmic boomerangs
Hugo has fallen victim to the karmic boomerang and he’s not a happy bunny. His great pleasure in September is to run wild in the corn fields lifting pheasant (and anything else that might be in his wake; he’s not fussy). Of course pheasant and big black monster dogs appearing out of nowhere terrify the horses who carelessly deposit their cargo on the ground and make a run for it, but Hugo doesn’t let this bother him. His latest lifting episode was frenetic enough to cause him what I can only describe as groin strain (I’m assuming that dogs have groins?), poor thing. The good news though is that he’s now housebound for the time being and banned from ‘lifting’, which increases our chances of staying in the saddle for at least the next week or so.
Ingredients
10g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium cauliflower, trimed and broken into pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
3 tablespoons walnuts, broken into pieces
500ml organic vegetable stock
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30g cream cheese (such as Boursin)
Parsley and chopped walnuts to garnish
Fry the onions in butter and olive oil in a medium casserole. Add the cauliflower, carrots and walnuts and fry gently for a few more minutes. Add the stock and seasoning and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the cream cheese and then purée until smooth. -
Reasonably healthy birthday cake and potentially fluorescent animals
Léo was 11 at the end of August and had been meticulously planning a paint-ball party for several months. He had trawled the internet for supplies and equipment until it dawned on me that half a dozen little boys in the possession of paintball guns ‘chez nous’ was bound to mean multi-coloured, possibly even fluorescent, highly traumatised animals. As if our animals don’t have problems enough. So it was decided that the paint-balling be done at a safe distance (about 30 kms away – I wasn’t taking any chances). They came back here afterwards (multicoloured and very grubby) to relieve the pool of over 1000 litres of water before sitting down to eat hamburgers and birthday cake. I had also planned to serve hotdogs, but Hugo polished them off before they made it to the table. The less said about that the better I think.
I really can’t claim that this cake is 100% healthy, but it’s just about as healthy as it can be, it couldn’t be easier to make and it goes down a charm. What’s not to like?
Ingredients
200g spelt flour
140g cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 organic eggs, beaten
1 plain yoghurt
150ml organic virgin coconut oil, melted
Organic hazelnut spread and plain chocolate (65% coco solids) M&Ms to decorate
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add the eggs, yoghurt and coconut oil, mixing well. Pour the mixture into a greased medium cake tin and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from tin and leave to cool before covering with the hazelnut spread ‘icing’ and M&Ms. -
Sweet onion and tomato tart and horses in custody
Owning our horses is, I would imagine, similar to parenting four high-spirited and obstreperous teenagers. I’m always expecting the ‘gendarmes’ to roll up to inform us that they’ve been detained for questioning and would we like to come and bail them out (I’d have to think about that one ;-)). Our neighbour invited them to graze on her field recently to keep the grass down. In the middle of the field is (or was) an impeccable grange full of hay. Obviously I’m not a horse, but given the choice, I would think that fresh green grass would trump dusty, year-old hay any day. Apparently not so; by yesterday evening one of them (I’m not naming names) had head butted the door to the grange (it boasted a horse’s head-shaped hole) and was calmly helping himself to the meticuously stacked hay inside. Oh the shame!
Ingredients (serves 6)
Pastry
80g spelt flour
50g chickpea flour
50g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
Roughly 6 tablespoons of cold water
Filling
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, washed and chopped
1 small courgette, peeled and chopped
5 onions (sweet if possible), peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tomatoes, sliced
6 slices of goat’s cheese
8 leaves of fresh basil to decorate
To make the pastry, begin by cutting the butter into small cubes. Sift the flours and a pinch of salt together into in a mixing bowl, also adding the cubes of butter. Rub in and blend by hand until the mixture becomes crumbly. Add the olive oil, combining well and then add the cold water, mixing rapidly with a spoon. Remove the mixture from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until you obtain a ball of pastry (if the mixture isn’t ‘sticky’ enough to form a ball, you may need a drop more water). Wrap in a clean cotton tea towel or some cling film and leave to ‘rest’ in the fridge for about two hours. This relaxes the dough and makes it easier to use.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Fry the leek, onions, garlic and courgette in the olive oil until soft (about 15 minutes). Add the seasoning and honey and set aside. Roll out the pastry and line a tart tin . The pastry will be quite crumbly so you’ll need to be gentle and patch up the holes (I’ve become quite an expert ;-)). Blind bake the pastry for 12 minutes and then fill with the onion mixture, adding the sliced tomatoes, goat’s cheese and basil on top. Sprinkle the top with black pepper and little more paprika and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve hot. -
Blackberry and apple crumble (gf) and hideouts for dogs
by Hugo, Canine Correspondent
I’m really not a complaining sort of dog, but there are a few things that have been bothering me recently. The Bossy One invited lots of friends to stay this Summer, which is fine because it means that I can have fun knocking them over and sitting on their laps. But it also means that she has less time to devote to me. And that is not fun, in fact it’s hurtful because I feel neglected. Admittedly she still takes me for walks, but frankly her mind is elsewhere when she’s jabbering away or picking blackberries. Usually she spends her time worrying about where I am while I’m off chasing deer and rabbits. Sometimes I hide to watch her look for me; it’s quite amusing to watch her unspool. Anyway, to get away from it all, I made myself a little camp under the hydrangea bushes in front of the house. Only the hens know where I am; at least they still remember I exist.
Ingredients
300g apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons maple syrup
80ml orange juice
150g blackberries, rinced
80g chickpea flour
40g ground almonds
2 tablespoons almond flakes
pinch of ground sea salt
40g butter, cut into cubes
40g organic virgin coconut oil, at room temperature and cut into small cubes
30g cane sugar
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Gently simmer the sliced apples and maple syrup for a couple of minutes in about 80ml of orange juice (or apple juice or water). Add the blackberries and transfer to an ovenproof baking dish. To make the crumble, put the butter, coconut oil, chickpea flour, ground almonds and salt into a bowl and rub in with your fingertips. Add the almond flakes, mixing well. Sprinkle the mixture over the fruit, adding the cane sugar to the top of the mixture. Bake for about 35 minutes and serve hot with vanilla ice cream. -
Courgette and cheese paschtida and seared taste buds
This recipe is courtesy of Lora who came to stay recently (thanks Lora! :-)). It meant welcome respite from kitchen duties for me, but also respite for everyone elses’ taste buds which had been viciously incinerated by my tandoori chicken seasoned with copious amounts of very hot chilli powder. According to Léo, I had applied the spices with ‘unusually frenzied enthusiasm’. He confiscated my chilli stockpile as, apparently, I am no longer to be trusted. Whatever — if it means delicacies such as these, I’m trying to think up other ways to cause grevious bodily harm to my guests ;-).
Ingredients
750g courgettes, cut into cubes
3 eggs
3 tablespoons spelt flour
175g Feta cheese, cut into cubes
100g Comté (or other hard cheese), grated
1 tablespoon cream
salt, pepper, nutmegPreheat the oven to 180°C. Cook the courgettes in boiling water until tender. Blot the excess water and set aside. Beat the eggs and gradually add the flour, mixing well. Incorporate the courgettes, egg mixture, cheeses and seasoning and transfer the mixture to a buttered cake tin or individual muffin moulds (as I did). Cook for 45 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot with a crisp green salad. -
10 Reasons to Include Buckwheat In Your Diet Plans
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Caramelised peach and buckwheat pudding cake (gf) and tired chicken legs
Hugo and I were nearly a kilometre from the house yesterday evening when we realised that we were not alone — all three hens had followed us. (The only other time I have seen chicken legs move as fast was at a rugby club barbecue). It goes without saying that Hugo was not best pleased. He tried to explain, rather tendentiously I felt, that they should return home, but to no avail; they were absolutely determined that they needed some exercise. As a result, for the moment at least, we have three hens too knackered to lay eggs.
This pudding cake is another adaptation from my Book of the Moment: Love, Bake, Nourish by Amber Rose. Luckily for me, it is fairly egg-light, but no less delicious for it.
Ingredients
For the peach topping:
3 peaches, peeled and cut into slices
2 cardamon pods
25g salted butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
For the pudding base:
75g butter
75g organic virgin coconut oil
75g organic buckwheat flour
2 large free-range eggs (preferably from hens that don’t partake in cross-country events)
75g ground almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
50g maple syrup
50g agave syrup
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Caramelise the peaches and ground cardamon pods in the butter and maple syrup. Set aside. Cut the butter and coconut oil into small cubes and cream with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add a tiny bit of the flour, then the eggs one at a time. Continue to beat the mixture until fluffy. Fold in the remaining flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and syrups.
Transfer the mixture into a greased cake tin, levelling well with the back of a spoon. Place the caramelised peaches on top of the cake mixture, drizzling any remaining juice over the top. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool. Delicious served with vanilla ice-cream. -
Quatre-quarts (pound cake) and irritatingly untidy hens
Things are dodgy here in the canine mental health department — Hugo’s OCD is back with a vengeance. He has decided that the three hens should be together AT ALL TIMES. Apparently stray hens are just too untidy to contemplate. Luckily, the white hen and older red one do seem to stick together (whether through choice or fear of Hugo is unclear). The younger red hen though is a bit of a rebel and seems to enjoy teasing neat-freak dogs. I’ve given up yelling at him for grabbing her by the wings and depositing her in her rightful place next to the others as he doesn’t seem to harm her (beyond making her soggy) and she’s obviously anything but traumatised. He makes the most of having her in his mouth to lick her clean; In Hugo’s world, cleanliness is next to godliness.
Although pound cake (quatre-quarts as it’s called in France) really contains too much sugar to be considered healthy, I’ve tried to make it as unhealthy as possible by using ‘whole’ ingredients. The result is rich, delicious and versatile: a great vehicle for all sorts of toppings or accompaniments.
Ingredients
250g spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
125g butter
125g extra virgin organic coconut oil
200g cane sugar
4 large organic eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 tablespoon rum
Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together and set aside. Cut the butter and coconut oil into cubes and leave to soften at room temperature for a few minutes. Beat with an electric mixer for about ten minutes until fluffy and then gradually add the sugar, continuing to beat. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk for another few minutes. Lastly, add the rum and vanilla essence and gently fold in the flour. Transfer the mixture to a buttered loaf tin and cook in a non-preheated oven at 160°C for an hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.
