MiniTip VIII: Open the Oven-Door All the Way

TL;DR

When you are putting something in or taking something out of the oven when baking anything, open the door all the way. Don’t half-ass it and only open it 3/4 of the way. If that metal door shuts on your arm, you will probably be in a lot of pain. Bake something this week, and when you bake, open your oven door all the way. Take a picture of what you are baking with your door open and share it with me on Facebook or Twitter at @ill_chef

An oven door open all the way.

Tip Expanded

Once upon a baking time, I don’t even remember what I was baking. I had only opened it 3/4 of the way and I thought it would be all right. I stuck my hand in and, like a venus flytrap, I saw, almost like in slow motion, the oven door start to shut. I got my arm out just in time, but I could feel how hot it was.

I swore from that day on that I would be careful and make sure that I do not end up with burns because I made a careless mistake. Now, I do still forget sometimes now because of brain fog or something. But I soon realize that I’m putting my hands into a burning hot venus flytrap, so I take my arms out, open it all the way, and continue what I was about to do.

It only almost happened to me once because I learned from it. When you are using the oven, the oven door can get very hot. And some oven doors don’t have a problem with staying open 3/4 of the way, but some do. So, as a general rule of thumb, I open the oven door all the way whenever I am putting my arm into the oven. This could be to put something in, take something out, test the baked thing for doneness, I open the oven door all the way open.

Call to Action

Bake something this week, it could be from a recipe that someone else or I have posted or one of your own. When you bake, open your oven door all the way. Take a picture of what you are baking with your door open and share it with me on Facebook or Twitter at @ill_chef

Big Batch Taco Seasoning

This is the second recipe of my 5 recipes for a 2-course Mexican Dinner. If you haven’t read the other recipes, here they are.

Storytime with The Chronically ill Chef

I didn’t come up with the individual recipe for this post, that honor goes to Robbie’s Recipes. However, I’m adding 16-times batching it and giving you how much to measure once everything is together. I have now reached the point where I think the metric system would be way easier. Just a factor of 10s, instead of trying to figure out how many tablespoons there are in cups and teaspoons in tablespoons.

My family have been using this recipe since 2009 when I first went gluten-free. It’s much more flavorful than store-bought, but we still use store-bought taco mixes when the taco flavor is not the main flavor of the dish. For example, I used store-bought taco mix because there is more than just a taco flavor: the enchisagna has the fundido sauce and the slowcooker creamy taco has cream cheese, corn, and butter flavoring.

But, for a recipe where the main flavoring is the taco seasoning, this is the go-to. This is a 16-times batch, meaning you can make 16 pounds of hamburger with this. So, make sure you only use the amount that this recipe calls for.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (use gluten free if you are gluten free)
  • 1 cup corn starch
  • 1 cup dried minced onion
  • 16 cubes (each cube = 1 teaspoon) dried beef bullion, crushed into powder
  • 1/3 cup garlic salt
  • 1/3 cup ground cumin
  • 1/3 cup paprika
  • 1/3 cup chili powder
  • 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons onion salt
  • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon teaspoons granulated sugar

Directions

  1. Crush the beef bouillon cubes using either a mortar and pestle or put them in a ziplock baggie and crush them into a powder using a rolling pin.
  2. Mix everything together in a big bowl.
  3. Store in air-tight container.
  4. When ready to serve for tacos, use 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons for each pound of hamburger you are making.

State of the Kitchen 4: A Look at What is to Come

For the two weeks or so, I am going to be posting 5 recipes. The first one was yesterday and the final one will be on February 18. I worked on them for an hour on Saturday before I crashed. The 5 recipes will build on each other and use each other leading up to a two-course Mexican meal. Though I’m not sure if I should call it a two-course meal or a three-course meal. It’s two full meals and a side.

I wanted to address a question that some of you may have about how in the hell am I posting every weekday with brain fog and fatigue. The answer is I am not writing it on those days. During an up day in my energy cycle, I write as many posts as I can before I crash (that is generally maybe 4 posts, 5 if I am lucky). I also write on days I don’t cook because all of my energy has to be on cooking on that day.

Each post takes about 20 minutes to write, maybe a bit more depending on how I’m feeling and whether it’s a long Storytime or not. Last week, I posted my first baking (mis)adventures post, which I am not going to try and keep up with. I hope to do it every week, but that might not work.

On another note, I want to point out how I see my recipes. Here is a classical music video of how I see my recipes.

Just like music composers have a bunch of instruments and notes to choose from, chefs and cooks have a bunch of cultural flavors and ingredients to choose from.

So that video is several variations on the song Happy Birthday. Someone wrote the original music that Happy Birthday is set to and then the Nicole Pesce did variations on it based on different classical music composers. This is done in classical music where different composers use themes from other composers and they create their own variations on it

So, now I’m going to apply that to cooking. Someone wrote the original recipe long, long ago that we call Chicken Tenders and then someone came along and did a variation on that recipe based on different culture’s flavorings (jerk in Jamaica, Cajun in Louisiana, Soy Sauce in Japan and China, Gochujang in Korea, and waffles in Alabama). This is done in recipes where different recipe writers.

So what that means is that I am taking a bunch of different recipes or one particular recipe and I put my personal spin on it. Just like music composers have a bunch of instruments and notes to choose from, chefs and cooks have a bunch of cultural flavors and ingredients to choose from.

Is it my recipe? Yes. However, I got the original from someone else. So, I’m not quite sure how to deal with that and that is why it took so long for me to start this blog. My plan right now is to give attribution to the recipes that I got the base idea from. That is not to take anything away from the original writer(s) or say their recipe(s) are bad, they made it to their tastes and their style, I’m just putting my own variation on it.

What I cooked this week.

I cooked this week, but I don’t have any pictures to prove it. I forgot to take pictures of almost everything that I cooked this week. I will try and do better next week. But here is a list of what I cooked this week:

  • Korean Ground Beef Bowls – This week, I made this. I am going to do a variation on this where I double the sauce, add more ginger, and mix the cooked rice into the mix as soon as the sauce is mixed in (rather than have it over the rice). This recipe is delicious, but my family and I love sauce, so we usually double-batch everything.
  • Cream Cheese Wontons – This recipe is only the dough to make the wontons, I made my own cream cheese stuffing that I will share in a few weeks.
  • Ginger Chicken – I made this recipe based on a recipe my mom and I watched when I was just starting the year of gluten-free diet. Sandra Lee on the Food Network wrote the one ours is based on, but you wouldn’t even know it because we changed up the process so much. We use chicken, mash up the mushrooms, garlic, onion, and ginger.

Fundido Sauce

Fundido Enchisagna

For the next 5 recipes, I will be building up to a 2-course Mexican Dinner (without dessert yet) that you can make. Each recipe can be done on their own or you can make a whole meal. I haven’t been able to make a whole meal. I tried typing out the days I’m going to be posting them, but even I got confused, so here’s this.

Story Time with The Chronically ill Chef

When I lived in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, there was a restaurant that we went to almost every time until they eventually closed called “Mexican Village Too” by the Crossroads Mall. It was a spinoff of “Mexican Village,” which is still open downtown.

Every time we went there, my parents and I would get the same thing. Enchiladas in Fundido Sauce. The Fundido Sauce (You don’t have to capitalize Fundido Sauce, but I do because it is that amazing) was this rich sour cream and cheese sauce that made us drool every time we were driving to Mexican Village Too.

After I moved away from Saint Cloud, I couldn’t get my Fundido fix because either Ames didn’t have any Mexican restaurants or I didn’t hear about them. Even when I moved in with my parents, the Mexican restaurants we went to didn’t have a Fundido Sauce.

I finally decided to make the Fundido Sauce myself because I couldn’t find it anywhere besides Mexican Village in Saint Cloud. Here is the labor of my work. I think I’m going to expand on it eventually to add more complexity to the flavors: maybe a tiny bit of cayenne or chili pepper to give it a hint of a kick. I was thinking lemon juice, but the sour cream makes it the sour-ish flavor already, so I don’t think it needs more. But this recipe is the original.

Things to Note

  1. A note on the garlic, 1 tablespoon might seem like a lot, but it works really well with the sour cream, which has the dominant flavor in this recipe.
  2. For garlic, I don’t bash up garlic, I use this stuff because I don’t have the energy to mince the garlic for every recipe I make. (I don’t make money off of sharing that link, I just wanted to share it because it might help someone else out)
  3. Note that I have a replacement section under the half-and-half. You only want to go with one of those. The heavy whipping cream makes for a bit of a thicker sauce, so do that if you want.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 packages (8 ounce each, 16 ounces total) cream cheese
  • 2/3 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half
    • Replacement: 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
    • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, diced
  • 2 cups of shredded jack and cheddar cheese

Directions

  1. Put all of the ingredients into a food processor.
  2. Chop the ingredients up until they form a paste.
  3. Add more liquid of you want the Fundido Sauce thinner.
  4. Taste and see if there is enough garlic, add more if you want.
  5. Pour over enchiladas or whatever you are putting this on. You can also use this as a dip, though I recommend heating it up first because warm dip is delicious.

MiniTip VII: Pam is Your Friend

 TL;DR

Use Pam, a stick of butter, margarine, or a silicone baking mat to prevent things from sticking when baking things. Don’t skimp on it because whatever you are baking will stick in the pan and be very difficult to get out. This week’s first bi-weekly challenge is to make something that requires you to use Pam like cookies, brownies, or baked cheese.

MiniTip

Pam is your friend when baking. You may be wondering who is Pam, or you may be wondering why in the hell I would belittle your intelligence by asking that question because doesn’t everyone know what Pam is. Well, Pam is a cooking spray that I use when baking anything: dessert, meal, or side dish. It prevents things from sticking to the bottom and sides of whatever pan you are baking in.

You don’t necessarily have to use Pam, you can also use a stick of butter or margarine that you basically paint onto the bottom and sides of a pan. You could also use a thing of soft-tub margarine or butter (put a baggie over one hand and stick it into the butter grabbing a gloop of it and spread it around the pan.

So if you don’t use something like Pam or margarine to coat the baking dish, it will get stuck.

In addition, you need to sometimes use a lot of it. Don’t be afraid of using too much. If the brownies or cake is dancing around in the bottom as you pour it, you have enough. If not, abandon hope all ye who enter here.

However, there is another option. We also have these and these are good for cookies and anything that is cooked on a cookie sheet. They are called silicone baking mat. They prevent sticking to the pan. Sometimes stuff sticks to them, but it isn’t very often and usually happens when bake with something on the outside that caramelizes (e.g., putting bbq sauce on chicken, thus makingBuffalo Wild Wings).

Parchment paper doesn’t really help to prevent things from sticking. I’ve had many times where it still sticks. But using parchment paper can help you to take cakes out of the pan if you are doing a layered cake or something like that.

A Call to Action

This week, I challenge you to make something in the oven that requires some Pam or silicone sheet. This can be cookies or just put your favorite cheese into the oven and cook until it is melted and browned to your liking.

My Baking (Mis)Adventures 1: My First Time Making Brownies

The very first time I tried to make box brownies, I almost burned the house down (Yes, you read that right, I fucked up box brownies). This was in 11th grade, long before I got sick.

So, I make the mix and it looked absolutely amazing. Put it in the pan, still no problem. Put it in the oven and about 7 minutes later, my mom asked, “Does anyone else smell that?” I didn’t for another few seconds. “It smells like something is on fire.”

She got up and rushed to the oven and panicked. I got up and rushed even faster because I didn’t want anything to happen to my brownies. They were supposed to be amazing gooey deliciousness. If this was a kind world, nothing could happen to them.

It turns out this is not, in fact, a kind world. Because I am dyslexic, I had read broil as bake. In the cooking class I had taken several years before, they had only told us that there was a baking option. They had never mentioned a broil. I not only didn’t know what broiling meant, I didn’t even know that it even existed.

Broiling, for those who may not know, is basically grilling. In ovens, it usually means that the coils on top of the oven get really, really hot. Or if you have a gas stove, flames shoot out. Essentially, it’s the oven’s version of grilling.

Broiling is not apparently what you want to do with brownies. They were molten (meaning they were red and about to start on fire). My mom put on her oven mitts as fast as she could, ripped open the deck door and flung the brownies outside like a frisbee. And thus, my mom saved our house from burning down because I broiled the brownies. 13 years later, and we are still joking about me broiling the brownies.

And that was the start of my baking (mis)adventures. I’m going to try and become a better baker by trying. I will probably fail a lot. In fact, I’m almost guaranteed to fail a lot. So, bare with me (or is it bear with me) as I fuck up baking in every possible way.

MiniTip VI: Be Patient with Yourself

TL;DR

Sometimes you can’t cook. You want to, but your body just won’t work right or the brain fog is so heavy that it feels like it is suffocating you. When this happens, try to be patient with yourself and your body.

pair of black and white converse all star and gray denim jeans
Photo by Sofia Garza on Pexels.com

MiniTip

Sometimes you can’t cook. You want to, but your body just won’t work right. It’s cramping or just won’t move no matter how much you tell it to. Your brain fog is so heavy that it feels like it is suffocating all the joy and energy from you. It’s hard to understand what you are reading, 1 tablespoon of cayenne. How many? 1, how many what? tablespoons. tablespoons of what? cayenne. How many again?

When this happens, please, I am begging you, be patient with yourself. This isn’t easy. Chronic illness is not an easy thing to deal with, and I know that for me, being impatient with myself just made me more and more depressed. “I hate my life” was my mantra every single minute of the day while I, on good days, sat in a recliner chair staring at a wall or, on my bad days, laying in bad staring at the ceiling.

On these days, try to not beat yourself up. Your body needs a rest. Your body is messing up, that’s no doubt. It isn’t doing what it is supposed to be doing for some (or a lot) of things. But it is trying with all of its might to keep going, to keep a balance that will keep you alive, and miserable, for yet another minute.

This is all easy for me to say, I’ve reached this point where I can be patient. And I still lose my shit quite often when it starts getting bad, so I’m not perfect by any means. But I know that my body has been with me through all of the traumas that I have been through, all of the difficulties I have faced, all of the friendships that started and ended. The cells have changed, but it is still the thing that has been there with me through all of that.

And right now, it’s failing, it has gastroparesis that makes eating difficult sometimes because my stomach is paralyzed and not pushing food into the small intestines. It isn’t absorbing important vitamins. There is so much it isn’t doing, but it was there for me every single bad day and good day, now it’s time for me to be there for it.

That’s my philosophy, anyway. And it sounds absolutely insane to me, but it is how I think about it. I had to separate my chronic illness from myself and hated it, not realizing that it was my body. My body has a chronic illness and so I am going to be patient with it, even on days that I can’t cook because I have a doctor’s appointment.

Be patient with yourself, with your body. I am only able to cook once or twice a week, though I want to do it more. But the brain fog gets to be so thick that it is potentially dangerous for me and for my family if I forget to turn off a burner or oven. This has happened more times than I can count.

Fish Balls

This recipe uses the recipe that I posted on Tuesday, which I have linked to. This has an amazing flavor and taste. I thought when I first made it that the fish balls would just fall apart because the nature of fish is they are very delicate (fall apart easily), but it maintains its shape really well.

If you want a bit more salty, add 1 more teaspoon of salt to the mixture when you ground the fish. You can also Buffalo Wild Wing these balls by broiling it as per the directions in this recipe, then putting some tartar sauce on top of each ball and broiling it for another 5 minutes.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound white fish (cod, tilapia, etc.)
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoons minced dill
  • 2 teaspoons minced parsley
  • 1 cup of Special Breading Mix

Directions

  1. Turn on the oven broiler
  2. Make the breading mix (this will make more than you need)
  3. Place all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the fish is ground up and everything is mixed in.
  4. Form the ground up fish mixture into small balls about the size of a golfball and place them on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
  5. Broil the fish balls for 10 minutes. You can rotate them halfway through if you want a uniform browning on each side.

State of the Kitchen 3: A Diagnosis…Sort Of

 

So, I got a diagnosis. Sort of. It’s kind of confusing. Okay, it’s really confusing. So, my rheumatologist thinks that I have Sjogren’s Syndrome. Though I had previously thought that that had been ruled out because I had had a lip biopsy come back negative. However, he pointed out that, for the biopsy to be positive, they had to surgically rip out salivary glands that have the inflammation and Sjogren’s may not be in every single salivary gland yet.

So, I asked him how sure he is. He said that all of my symptoms could be related to diabetes, but not just any diabetes, un-controlled diabetes. My A1C (a blood test that determines the average of the last 3 months of blood sugars) has always shown that my diabetes is under good control. Not only that, but I started having these symptoms  (fatigue, brain fog, anhidrosis, neuropathy) AFTER the diagnosis and when it was under good control.

But, I tested negative on the blood test and tested negative for the lip biopsy. So, it is very confusing.

In other news, my spine is degenerating, my liver is fatty, my pancreas has atrophied, and my spleen has punctate calcification (calcified buildup). We don’t know what’s causing all of that. Possible causes may be autoimmune hepatitis, autoimmune pancreatitis, and don’t know about the spleen. We don’t know for those yet. There’s still unanswered questions, but my rheumatologist isn’t giving up, which is something I was very anxious about before I went.

Cooking I did this Week

I was only able to cook 2 things this past week because of fatigue. The first thing I cooked was cheese crisps on Thursday morning. I’m working on the recipe because I want to perfect it before I share it with you. It’s definitely not perfect yet because I burned the edges. So, look for that recipe once I can actually, you know, not burn them.

IMG_1159.JPG

The reason I got fatigued was I got new glasses last Thursday, and they were bifocals. I was wearing regular glasses Within 20 minutes of putting them on, I started getting a headache that didn’t go away even when I took Advil. Within a day, I wasn’t really able to cook or process things that were going on around me.

On Sunday, I just decided that the bifocals were not working. The next day, I was able to make fresh bread. That’s right, fresh bread. I used King Arthur Flour’s Gluten-Free Focaccia bread recipe and it actually turned out amazing from a from-scratch recipe. That’s not to say the recipe would be bad if it didn’t turn out amazing, I just usually suck and fuck up from-scratch baking recipes. But it turned out perfect. Here’s a picture of it.

IMG_1170

You cook the bread upside down, which means you coat the bottom of the cake pan with the stuff that will be on top and then flip it once the bread is cooked. This technique has inspired me to think of other upside-down things I could make like this. I think I can see a bunch of applications to recipes, depending on if it would work for those.

Special Breading Mix

You will need this recipe for the Fish Balls that I am sharing on Thursday. This can easily be made beforehand when you have energy and you can use this for quite a while after it is made.

  • 1 1/4 cup crushed gluten free cereal
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon homemade (or store-baught) lawry’s seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 pound meat
  1. Combine and place in a gallon-size bag or airtight container and store in fridge.
  2. To coat your meat, melt the butter or margarine and add milk to it.
  3. Dip the meat into the butter mixture and then place it in the mix, making sure to coat it evenly.
  4. Bake it or fry it as you see fit. Check the internal temperature of the meat so you don’t consume under-cooked meat.

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