Food Confessions

I admit it.  I do weird things with my food.  I've done things like put cinnamon in tomato sauce (afterwards I saw Emiril Lagasse doing the same thing -- great minds!), use a cream of broccoli soup as a sauce, or dip carrots in mustard or peanut butter.  As time goes on, certain odd food habits will transition into others.  Some oddities become ones that I can get people to join me in -- usually my husband is adventurous and will try anything.  Here are some confessions for strange food combinations I eat or drink.

1.  Tea.  I LOVE tea.  I don't want tea, I NEED it.  I drink at least 10 cups a day.  Mind you, I reuse my teabags.  I don't really drink anything else.  Tea isn't so strange, but it's what I put into my tea that is.  Almond milk or some other sort of milk is a necessity.  I can't stand milk-less tea.  Not so odd.  After the milk, I add in a pinch of salt.  Why?  I don't really know.  I don't usually put sugar in my tea. My doctors are always shocked at my abnormally low blood pressure, and have told me to eat more salt.  Since I don't eat processed foods, I need to add salt into my meals and such.  I like the taste.  Only a pinch, though, otherwise it's a bit overwhelming.  Then, a sprinkle of oatmeal.  The oatmeal doesn't happen every time, since I try not to snack between meals, I usually do this right before or after I've eaten.  I drink my tea with a spoon.

2.  Mushrooms.  Specifically the button variety.  Cute as a button?  Yes, indeed.  And healthy, too.  Button mushrooms, according to the journal Cancer Research, help reduce the risk of breast cancer.  They also enhance these awesome superheros called natural killer cells, which kill tumors, viruses, and bad bacteria.  They've got potassium (which is great for me since I'm not too big of a fan of eating a plain banana), and according to Science Daily they contain as many antioxidants as more expensive ones. 

I'm a little obsessed with them.

Not because of all their health benefits, but because I just love to snack on them.  They're my dessert after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I pop out the stem, scoop some tomato sauce on them, and top it with cheese.  Sometimes, if the oven is on, I'll warm them up in there.  I'll put some left over lentils in them.  Hummus.  Ketchup, even.  If I had a choice between a bite of milk chocolate and this mushroom, I'd pick the mushroom.

3.  No recipe, super healthy cookies.  The first cookies I made by myself were biscotti.  After making them so many times from the recipe, I started experimenting with ingredients, making substitutions, and eventually not measuring anything and going by feeling.  Now I do that with regular cookies too.  I use whatever I have in the pantry that seems like it would combine well together and go for it.  I've only recently begun to write down what I do so that I can collect recipes for this blog.  But not all cookies I make are ones that I think would please a crowd.  But they make me happy and I love eating them.  Guilt free cookies.  Or, guilt free lots of carrots and currants and almonds baked with just a touch of rice flour.  To me, it tastes good.  Usually my husband eats them and agrees.  That's why we're soul mates.

 

                                                 Guilt-free Carrot Currant Almond Cookies

• 1/2 cup almond milk, or milk of your choice
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup dried currants
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1/4 cup gluten free oatmeal
• 2/3 cup rice flour 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons sugar, reserved (for sprinkling on top)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine milk, applesauce, currants, almonds, and carrots, and mix well.  Slowly add in your rice flour and gluten free oatmeal.  Spice with cinnamon and ginger, or whatever you're desiring for spices.  Taste.  That's my favorite part of eggless baking!  Scoop onto a greased sheetpan with an icecream scoop.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until done to your liking.

What bizarre food combinations do you love?  Any secret confessions?  Or am I the only one?