the art of real food

изкуството на истинската храна
 • 
the art of real food


In far away Bulgaria, live two mysterious and beautiful girls

artist, chef, designer, stylist, photographer, princess, nutritionist, trainer, more



The girls can cook

And photograph

And create

And host

And write

click the pic for a sample of what real food can be

The Art of Real Food on Facebook

 • 
artofrealfood.com

First Bulgaria, then the world in English!

(please?)

A new, and likely temporary, blog format...

My old template was so old that it was incompatible with a few newer features, so I attempted a simple upgrade. That f'd up, I picked a new one and ran with it.  Enjoy the pretty blueness.

Ciao Bella Coconut Sorbet Review

OMG good.

At least if you like coconut!

It's a little icy, and a little sweeter than it needs to be.

Shredded coconut and tons of coconut flavor.

Lots of good fat -- coconut fat is mostly medium chain fatty acids (MCTs), which are very healthy and actually help to improve cholesterol levels.

I'm not saying it's a health food, just that it's a lesser of many evils.

I got it at Target. Other Ciao Bella sources don't have seem to carry it.

Sure, it has sugar, but all the other desserts do, too. At least this has a healthy dose of coconut...

190 calories per serving. 9g of delicious and healthy coconut fat. It does have 28g of carbs, all of it sugar, so keep that in mind. Oh, and there are four servings per container, so watch it and share it.

They have many other flavors...

...like blood orange, mango-mango, and even blackberry cabernet (which I liked).

Ciao Bella has lots of fans. See?

I don't know what this means, but it's cute

Enjoy dessert responsibly.

Happy Thanksgiving & some diet advice

I've seen so many posts about surviving the holidays on a diet, but it shouldn't be all that hard. 

For most Americans, Thanksgiving is the healthiest meal of the year. It may be too much food, but it's one day when we eat homemade, real food. Enjoy it, eat more than you should if you like, then tomorrow is another day.

Are you really that hungry at midnight snack time? Considering how much we ate at Thanksgiving lunch and/or dinner, it's unlikely to much more than emotional eating, wishful thinking, or the excuse that "we already blew it, earlier." Every meal stands alone.

Even leftovers can be eaten in moderation. Aren't you surrounded by desserts, high calorie foods, and crap on all normal days, too? Just because they are leftovers you're going to overeat them now?

Every meal stands alone, but every day stands alone, too. Just because you eat too much today doesn't mean you can't get right back on track tomorrow. Do it. If you don't, realize that you're making an excuse for yourself. You better look into that...

Some of us have foods that make us feel like crap, whether it's dairy, wheat, or whatever. Don't eat it just because Mom made it. Figure out how to let her down easy. ...and next holiday, tell her ahead of time that you can't eat _____, so she won't be surprised. Enjoy the foods you can eat, you'll still likely be stuffed.

On the other hand, just because you don't allow yourself to eat white potatoes, added sugar, dark meat, or carbs and fat in the same meal, doesn't mean you can't eat them today. Our ancestors were fit and trim, for the most part, and they ate these things regularly. I believe that 80% or so of our health and dieting woes are primarily caused by chronic overeating, and the individual ingredient comes second. 

These things are important, but not important enough to ruin one beautiful meal with family and friends. Please have a wonderful Thanksgiving, both the dinner and the day!

Roland

 

 

Coconut & Fruit Ice Pops

Coconut & Fruit Ice Pops

Here's a tasty little frozen treat.  Just fruit and coconut milk, and nothing else added!

Makes 8 pops

Ingredients

1 medium banana
3 fully ripe persimmons
2/3 - 3/4 cup coconut milk

Equipment

Blender
Pop molds or paper cups and sticks

My pop molds hold two cups of liquid for eight pops.

You can use paper cups and popsickle sticks, if you like. Use plastic wrap or foil to cover them and keep the sticks upright while freezing.

Directions

Squeeze the jelly out of the ripe persimmons and strain the skins, seeds, and solids out.  Place in the blender with the banana and about 1/3 cup coconut milk.  Puree the mixutre, then add more coconut milk until you reach the amount of puree that you need for your pops (2 cups, in my case).

Pour into the molds. If any come up short, you can dribble more coconut milk in. Either stir it with a stick or leave it as is (you can see some of each in the picture). Cap the molds with the sticks and freeze.

Nutrition

Per pop (1 of 8)

Calories 110, Carb 16g, Fiber 3, Fat 5g, P, 1.5g

Notes

Almost any fruits would probably work with this recipe.  Bananas work well because they blend up smooth and creamy. Fully ripe persimmons turn jellylike, and after you strain them, they are pretty smooth, too.  Coconut milk is amazing, so everything tastes good in the end.

A note on the calories - Persimmons aren't well documented in the nutritino databases. There are mildly sweet and crisp ones, super sweet crisp ones, mildly sweet soft ones, and super sweet soft ones.  But, in the databases, they say "persimmon." Your mileage will vary.

je ne veux pas travailler!

Leftover coconut milk?

Freeze it in 1-2 tbsp portions, then pop then into a baggie.

Speechless

I don't know if video can be posted from my blackberry, but here goes!

edit - you can't post video from the blackberry. Here it is after uploading to youtube.

random recovery stuff

It's been two weeks since the first flu symptom hit me, and I'm still not 100% in some areas, most notably in the area of endurance. I do feel much better, but I get wiped out fast.

Coffee & caffeine - when I was down, I didn't have it in me to make coffee much and didn't have to stop at a coffee house to get online during the day for work, either. I didn't stay up late and sip joe, and I didn't try to get over the hump each afternoon with a cup of coffee.

My caffeine dosage has been lowered quite a bit, and I'll try to keep it down now that it's down. If YOU are trying to slow your caffeine intake and get sick, you're going to feel lousy anyway, so take advantage of that time and feel lousier for a few days, so you'll feel better later.

I did drink a lot of homemade ginger tea, masala tea, and Bulgarian Mom tea, none of which have caffeine.

Mobility - When I don't do some sort of squat movement every day, I suck. A week and a half of laying around left me feeling pretty tight.

Kelly Starrett's Mobility WOD is a cool project.

My body has so many problems to work on that I end up not working on any of them. It's overwhelming and demotivating. I don't have a solution yet. Baby steps sounds good on paper, but in practice is something I give up on.

Weight - Mine. I've been the same weight for a long, long time. I seem to have mastered maintenance for all that's worth. I dropped about 5lbs over this flu, but they came right back.


Paleo eating - When I'm sick, I do crave more carbs.  Fruit and ice cream are the notables. Meat and eggs are still cool, but it's like I took a vacation from vegetables the past two weeks. I had some great chicken vegetable soup yesterday though.


Cooking & recipes - I made a lot of food, took a lot of bad pictures, and don't have it in me to write them up yet.  I made three types of chicken broth/stock, and I do plan to write them up.  It's so easy, and many people are overwhelmed by it. Why three types? Because there are different situations, opportunities, and needs.

• I have no broth, but want chicken soup tonight chicken broth
• I've been eating a lot of chicken lately chicken broth
• Waste not, want not chicken broth

I also need to make some mole sauce...  My daughter asked me to make a turkey next weekend...  Turkey mole?

Butternut Squash & Dried Mushroom Soup

My first attempt. Not bad...

Butternut Squash & Dried Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried mushrooms (I used Matsutake, but you choose)

2 1/2 lb butternut squash

1 small onion
1 inch fresh ginger
2 tbsp butter, chicken fat, or olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Put 2 cups of boiling water in a glass measuring cup. Add the dried mushrooms.  Let them sit for a while.

Seed, peel, and chop the squash.  Peel and dice the ginger.  Chop the onion.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onion and sauté until softened and translucent.  Add the squash and ginger to the skillet. Sauté for about ten minutes. Stir in the chicken broth and simmer until tender; about 20 minutes. Use a blender to puree the soup, then return the soup to the skillet and simmer.

With a slotted spoon, remove the mushrooms from the hot water, reserving the water and the mushrooms. Chop mushrooms and add them to the soup.

Before adding the mushroom water to the soup, check the bottom of the cup for grit.  Pour the water into the skillet, making sure to leave the grit behind.

Salt and pepper to taste before serving.