Kitchen Staples Meme

List 10 Staples in your kitchen (ie. foodstuffs, not gadgets) and tell *why* they are so important, and *how* you use them.... also, list 5 foods you *never* (or rarely) bring into your kitchen, and why.


MY 10 STAPLES:

1. demerera sugar - it's all i use in my coffee at home (i haven't touched my jar of white sugar in months!) - it adds an amazing richness to the flavor, and i take great rationalizing peace in the fact that there are micronutrients in it (leftover from the molasses)! ;)

2. garlic powder - i use it in virtually *everything* i cook (ok, not rice pudding, lol!), it adds so much flavor, and is so good for you. i could separately add (but won't, because then just the 'spices' would use up half the list! lol) fresh cracked black pepper, garam masala, curry, and basil.

3. parmesan/cream cheese - i'll list them together, because their importance for me is the same: they last *forever* in the fridge (they never go bad before i use them up, anyways), they never go moldy on me (whereas blocks of cheese usually go moldy before i've used even half the block, bah!) and are a staple in my diet in terms of calcium, protein, and fat (yes, 'fat' - awesome to balance the glycemic index of a starchy meal so you don't get the blood sugar spike/fall that is common with insulin resistance/hyperglycemia)... useful for rice, pasta, toasted under the broiler, you name it - between the two of them, you can pretty much cover the spectrum of how cheese can be used!

4. club soda... i know some people say it tastes bad, but to me it only tastes like fizzy water! better than perrier, imho! .... its a refreshing no-calorie way to get water in my diet, and i can dress it up with a spoonful of frozen fruit juice concentrate and whole milk, pop in a straw, and voila! healthy spa-worthy treat! :D i also love doing the same with grenadine syrup instead of juice - but yeah, not so healthy... i aim for the fruit juice. :)

5. whole milk - ...first off, realize that i *rarely* drink it as a 'beverage' - i treat it like food. it is dense and rich, and when i *do* have a small glass of whole milk, it's as the perfect bedtime snack with my meds, or a quick snack (ie *food*) on my way out the door. i use it in cooking to add richness and protein and flavor (i never use cream), in my coffee instead of cream (or that fake chemical-laden sugary french-vanilla stuff!), and it adds the perfect combination of protein and fat to a bowl of whole-grain (the flour, not the whole grain itself) cereal (same as #2, ie. the starchiness/glycemic index factor.) ...include, also, it's co-staple - 2% evaporated milk... for when i run out of the real stuff.

6. organic quick-cooking oats - it's my version of 'instant' oatmeal: add boiling water and oats to bowl, let sit 5-10 minutes, dress as desired. i usually use it's co-staple, cranberry trail mix, and put it a half cup or so at the same time (ie the nuts and seeds soften a bit, and the fruit plumps up).. yum. or i'll use a bunch of organic raisins (no sulphites), instead. no need for sugar!

7. yogurt cups - 2% fat or higher, and not too sweet. and with active cultures. it's my 'i'm hungry, i need a snack' food. convenient. but i am *so* picky... the kind i'm getting right now is island farms vanilla-plus-fruit kind... most other brands i find too sweet or icky-textured or *something* i don't care for.... i love eating it mixed in with plain cheerios or other whole-grain/low sugar cereal, and a bit of milk.

8. whole grain starches: wholewheat/multigrain pasta; brown, red, or black rice; and pot barley (not pearl - all the bran/germ has been polished off leaving nothing but starch - pot barley still has some of it (but broken/distressed so it will cook through)). i lump all these together cuz i see them as a certain class... if i have any of these things in my cupboard, i can make a meal... add in some beans or cheese or peanut butter or tuna or (cooked) nuts/seeds or other protein, and i'm set. ...and if i feel like dessert, i'll make up rice pudding. :)

9. canned/frozen goods. i'll admit, fresh food usually rots before i use it. meat takes so much effort to cook, i'd rather reach for the beans or tuna. vegetables i usually can't eat raw (or not much, anyways), and take so work to prepare (i'm more tired than lazy, fyi! lol) that they will often rot in the fridge.... so frozen mixed veggies are awesome... not peas and carrots, though (too starchy) - i go for the oriental and other 'fancy' blends that have a lot of spinach, baby corn, broccoli, snowpeas/sweet peas, etc. *quality* veggies (ie. not too sweet or starchy like the *cheaper* potatoes, corn, peas, or carrots). but i don't have many canned soups - too many iffy ingredients, salt, etc - why, when it's so easy to make my own?! ...and definately not alphagetti or beans'n'pork or the like - *real* food only! anyways, 'canned goods' is the one area of my kitchen/food/eating life that i go for convenience, becuase whole-out meal-prep - chopping veggies and thawing/cooking meat - is so mentally and physically draining for me... when i'm up to it, i enjoy cooking immensely, but i'm just not usually up for it... so i've learned what works for me, the best, at this point in my life. :)

10. COFFEE. yes, i'm addicted. in the first half of the day, i have 'nescafe encore' instant coffee.... later in the day i'll have 'nescafe rich' decaf instant coffee. when i have company i'll make timmies coffee in my stove-top drip pot. always with a teaspoon of demerera, and whole milk. i'm addicted... but more to the routine of it - i *can* go a day without drinking coffee if i'm not in the mood...!!!


MY 5 NEVER/RARELYs:

1. NO junk food - potato chips, microwave popcorn (i don't have a microwave anyways, lol), nachos, licorice, chocolates, pop, donuts, muffins, cakes, cookies, etc... only *occasionally* do i get a *tiny* container of hagen-daaz (sp?) and i try to make it LAST - at least a week (but i do prefer to make my own ice-cream, so i know what's in it - and it tastes better, too!). i have a stash of scotch mints i rarely raid (one or two, every few days, if i'm in the mood?)... btw, it's not that i *can't* have these things - i just *choose* (ie, i have the power over the junk, not the junk has the power over me!) not to have them readily available in my home, and when i do want it, i go out and have it. for example, when i go grocery shopping, if i feel like a pop, i'll get one, and it often lasts me the whole day (my shopping-day treat!) but otherwise, i rarely have pop.

2. NO highly processed meats or cheese - hot dogs, sausages, cheese slices, cheese whiz, etc. i *do* have bacon in the freezer (i'll hack a half-inch off the end of the frozen block and fry it and use it to flavor an entire pot of food, but i don't cook bacon for bacon's sake). highly processed food i see as 'garbage' and not actually *food*, and i just plain don't WANT it. ewww. once in a blue moon when i'm out, sure. but not at home.

3. NO pre-packaged foods - Kraft Dinner, rice mixes, ichiban-style noodles (unless i'm sick and can't eat anything else, like last fall), seasoning mixes, boullion cubes, Side-Kicks, Hamburger Helper, Shake'n'Bake, hashbrowns or oven fries, instant oatmeal packets, etc. aka *refined foods of death*. ewww. the only items of this sort in my cupboards were either given to me or purchased under duress (sick, etc), and sit there unused.... again, it's *not* food. it's so full of chemicals, they hold *no* appeal whatsoever. again, when i'm out at someone's house, fine, and you betcha i'll enjoy it, too!... but not at home, not on a regular basis. occasionally i'll have a frozen pizza or perogies, but that's as a treat - and try to save it for times when i can *share* - a friend comes over for lunch/dinner, say.

4. NO 'high-fibre' (psyllium/bran) cereals or bread, or 'whole-grain' bread (ie. any 'whole-grain' cereal or bread i get must be *flour* made with the whole grain, not the whole grain themselves) - i just can't digest them, they irritate my bowels, and make things nasty in the bathroom. and whole flax seeds are the *evilest* of all. ...so i aim for soluble fibre, period. 'nuff said.

5. NO white-foods - white bread, white rice, muffins, croissants, white sugar. they are *evil* and *poisonous*, and i have no desire to have them in my home. when i want a treat, i'll go 'out' for them... again, i *can* have them, i just *choose* not to have them in my diet on a regular - or convenient- basis. for example, i *love* the cheese croissants at timmies.... but at home, they would be baaad news. ...i *do* have white flour - but to mix a small amount in with whole-wheat or rye flour when baking bread (glutenizing). i *have* been finishing off a bag of white rice, but only because it was given me in a time of need.... i now have a bag of brown. i *do* have some white sugar, somewhere, in the back of my cupboard... just in case (mostly for visitors who prefer white sugar in their coffee! they are so STRANGE! lol...).... and i get some white bread at the sally-ann when things are tight - but i try for brown bread/rye when i can. (but beggers can't be choosers...!!!) :)


a last note: i *can* eat ANYTHING i want... it's that i choose to not want a lot of things. i do *not* feel deprived, because i know i *can* have them - if i really want them. but i put a lot of thought into whether i really want something laden with refined white sugar and preservatives blah blah blah... and guess what?! they really don't appeal to me much. the *ick* factor i thus perceive over a bag of one-bite brownies usually wins over the *mouthwatering* factor, lol. but if i really *do* want a brownie, then i'll have it. :)

i watch my carb intake, balancing it with protein and fat (i no longer see fat as my enemy! - just something to be balanced like everything else).... i aim to stop eating when i'm no longer hungry (not just keep eating until i feel *full*)... and can and do eat anything i want *if* i really want it... and to this i credit my slow-slow-slow but STEADY weight loss. but these are all changes God has wrought in me - it has nothing to do with self congtrol, i tell ya!!!! - so i give myself little credit in any of it. it's just the goodness of God...!!!! :D

i used to be like many others - addicted to carbs and sugar, hungry constantly, insulin resistant (i believe they call it 'metabolic X syndrome' now), and well on my way to diabetes.... but in the last 10 years i've lost that insulin-resistance skin-fold 'tan' and my appetite has no need for me to struggle to control it, ever - it's not out of whack like it once was.... so if anyone thinks my eating philosophy is *whacked*... well, maybe it's not so *whack* after all.... it brought my body from *out of whack* to *back in whack*!!!! lol :)