Welcome to the Square Meal Diet Recipe Blog

Hello,

Welcome to the Square Meal Diet Recipe Blog, which is devoted to recipes and cooking tips for the Square Meal Diet, which is defined on The Square Meal Diet Blog, http://TheSquareMealDiet.wordpress.com

One of the technical problems with this diet is that it features the most nutritious vegetables, which tend to have a bitter taste. 75% of people do not like bitter tastes. Hence, we are always on the lookout for ways to make bitter vegetables taste better. The book, The Square Meal Diet, uses two methods, blanching vegetables and masking with “competing” tastes, such as sweet, spicy, sour, umami, and salty.

© 2011 Mark L. Collins

Homemade lime olive oil mayonnaise with yogurt preservative

In a blender, gently mix

1 ounce freshly squeezed lime (or lemon) juice

2 raw egg yolks [eggs were immersed in vigorously boiling water for 2 minutes. Only completely uncracked eggs were cracked and then poured over an egg separator. The yolks were added to a dish, then to the blender.]

1 ounce yogurt [the preservative]

While mixing at higher speed

Slowly mix in 6 ounces of oil mix (pure olive oil this time)

Pretty good creamy consistency – tasty.

Consider adding some mustard or garlic/onion for more flavor

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Update: November 17th – there are a few colonies – probably mold- growing on top of the mayonnaise made Oct 29th. Yeasts/molds make antibiotics – they are fierce competitors; so the acidophilus bacteria did not help any more than possibly delaying the contamination a week or so. Will probably add EDTA to 1 mM or so as a preservative next time.

The omnivore’s juice blend part 2

This time I added 8 ounces of milk and 8 ounces of a saturation culture of homemade yogurt and 1 teaspoon of soya lecithin.

The juice was the same, except that I put the entire mixture in stages through a blender, and added a banana for some sweetness. Total volume = 64 ounces.

After 1 hour in the refrigerator with a stopper, reinforced with 2 layers of plastic wrap to keep the air out, there was no separation of the phases. Tastes OK, palatable for something with this much nutrition.

 

The omnivore’s juice blend

The master equation is: toxins + deficiencies = {medical conditions} = death

Vegetarian extremists argue that meat and animal products generally are toxic to health, but their experiments are missing important controls to nail that thesis. It is more likely that those who over-consume animal products suffer from deficiencies of under-consuming plant products. For example, insufficient fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, vitamin K, antioxidants, silicon, and boron.

I assume the opposite: with a few exceptions (meat cooked at too high a temperature or meat preserved with toxins), animal products are no more toxic to an omnivore than are plant products. Maybe less so. The optimal human diet, the bull’s-eye diet, is omnivorous, and it contains toxins and toxin-generators, both plant and animal, as well as compounds that reduce deficiencies in our detoxification systems, the net result of the imbalance (more toxins absorbed or produced per day than can be detoxified), after factoring in the important contribution of endogenously produced toxins, being the appearance of medical conditions on the road to death.

Vegetable and fruit juices contain a lot of water-soluble and fat-soluble nutrients. The trouble is they contain too little protein to support our musculature, and very little fat and emulsifier to help us absorb the many fat-soluble nutrients.

Today I made my first omnivorous juice:

To one cup of whole milk, I added a half teaspoon of emulsifier soya lecithin (I will experiment with raw egg yolks after I am satisfied that I have a sterile way of isolating them from raw eggs), and mixed.

As I juiced vegetables (carrots, celery, cucumbers), I added them to the milk + emulsifier.

As I juiced apples and lemons, I added them.

I mixed the concoction and stored it in the refrigerator in a stoppered container for an hour. It separated into at least 2 phases. I stirred it, and tasted it. OK, but not great. Need to work on better taste and proper emulsification procedures. I want to absorb as many of the fat-soluble nutrients as possible. Clearly, also, this could not be used on a juice fast because there is still too little protein to support our musculature. Insufficient fiber is a tough nut to crack: we do not want fibers absorbing the nutrients in the juice.

A better juice? A better juice blend?

To Joe Cross’ “Mean Green” Juice or to my “Juice Blend” blend in 1 large avocado and a teaspoon or more of lecithin.

The idea is to get better absorption of the wonderful fat-soluble nutrients in the juice and juice blend without having to rely on unreliable bile secretions.

Better than peanut butter-and-butter toast

Blend your best butter, pure peanut butter, and honey, 1 part of each. Store in refrigerator. Spread on toast whenever you want a delicious, nutritious, sweet treat.

For extra nutrition, add a teaspoon or so of lecithin to every 16 ounces of the blend.

Chili recipe with more nutritional firepower

If no frozen green puree is available, begin by making it:

1. 4 pounds of spinach leaves

2. Fresh basil – 5 ounces

3. Fresh arugula – 7 ounces

4. Cilantro – 3 bundles, about 90 grams each

Wash the greens, drain well, spin dry in a salad spinner.

Puree the greens in a food processor with sufficient water.

Add the puree to a large container and mix well.

Use immediately or freeze in 2 cup Pyrex containers (about 13 liquid ounces of puree per container).

Preparation of the chili recipe:

1. Examine and discard stones from 1.5 pounds of dried kidney beans.

2. Examine and discard stones from 1.5 pounds of dried black beans.

3. Add beans to a 6 quart pot and fill to 80% capacity with warm water.

4. Let swell for at least 4 hours; preferably overnight.

5. Bring the beans to a boil.

6. Reduce heat to low and cook for 80-90 minutes until tender.

7. Drain and rinse the beans in a strainer and add the cooked beans to a 20 quart pot.

8. When the beans are just about done, brown about 2 pounds of 85% lean ground beef, drain and rinse through the bean strainer, and add to the 20 quart pot.

9. When the beans are just about done, slice and dice about 1 pound of broccoli. Rinse several times and spin dry in a salad spinner.

10. Add the raw broccoli to the 20 quart pot.

11. Add about 1/3 pound of frozen sweet corn and 1/3 pound of frozen peas to the 20 quart pot.

12. Add 4 pounds of spaghetti sauce to the 20 quart pot.

13. If frozen, partially thaw two 13 ounce containers of the green puree in a microwave, and add to the 20 quart pot.

14. To the 20 quart pot add 1/2 cup of chili powder, 1 tablespoon of salt, and garlic and onion powder to taste.

15. Bring chili to a boil and let simmer for about half an hour with occasional stirring.

16. Serve with or without toppings such as your favorite cheeses.

17. Cool and freeze leftover portions of chili in 2 cup Pyrex containers.

18. Remove lid, microwave frozen chili for about 12 minutes at 50% power. Stir. Heat for an additional minute or so at 50% power and enjoy.

No forbidden foods: Chocolate oatmeal cranberry raisin walnut almond coconut cookies!

There is some nutrition in this family favorite, but this recipe is for pure enjoyment. Square Meal Dieters have no need to deny themselves the simple pleasures of life.

I wrote this recipe by weight for greater accuracy and precision, and because it is so much faster to weigh things out into a bowl on top of a scale.

This recipe makes at least 144 cookies (8 packs of 18), each weighing a bit more than 22 grams.

1. Warm a pound of butter, 4 sticks (4 ounces; 113 g), to room temperature.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

3. In a small dish, add a large egg at a time; if acceptable, add to a very large (5-6 quarts) mixing bowl (we’re making 3 kilograms of cookies here!) Total of 4 large eggs, a little more than 200 grams.

4. Add 25 grams of high quality vanilla (I use Papantla vanilla purchased in Mazatlan).

5. Add 4 sticks of softened butter.

6. Add 200 grams of white sugar.

7. Add 200 grams of dark brown sugar.

8. Mix these ingredients with an electric beater.

9. Add 450 grams of white flour.

10. Add 12 grams of baking soda.

11. Add 6 grams of salt.

12. Add 500 grams of rolled oats.

13. Add 200 grams of dried cranberries.

14. Add 200 grams of raisins.

15. Add 100 grams of crumbled walnuts.

16. Add 100 grams of almond slivers.

17. Add 700 grams of chocolate chips (semi-sweet are best)

18. Add 150 grams of unsweetened coconut

19. Mix slowly at first with the electric beater. Then mix well.

20. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

21. Pack a mini ice cream scoop with dough (this weighs a little more than 22 grams).

22 Put on the cookie sheet.

23. Allow a little space for expansion and fill the sheet, leaving two boundaries on opposite sides for comfortably grasping and turning the sheet, midway through the baking, and removing at the end.

24. Add the cookies to the preheated oven.

25. Bake 18 minutes for CHEWY. 20 minutes for CRISPY. 20+ minutes for extra crispy.

26. Set two timers – one for the midpoint. Midway through the cycle, turn the cookie sheet 180 degrees.

27. Cool on a wire rack. Tent parchment paper over them. Takes at least 45 minutes to drive off the excess moisture.

28. Wrap bundles of 2 cookies, bottom to bottom, in plastic wrap.

29. Tightly pack 9 bundles of 2 cookies into a standard quart size freezer bag. Push out as much air as possible to keep them fresher.

30. Enjoy some cookies at room temperature and freeze the rest of the bags of cookies.

31. Cookies taste great right out of the freezer. No need to thaw.

32. Great with milk, coffee or tea.

33. Bags of cookies make great gifts. They travel well through the mail.

Recipes by weight: the only way to go

I write recipes by weight for greater accuracy and precision. An accurate scale is the most indispensable kitchen tool. Volumetric measurements are too inaccurate for serious bakers. Weighing is also a lot faster. One can literally pour ingredients into a weigh bowl, rather than scooping them out cup by cup. No wonder so many people hate baking!

I have an artisan bread recipe from Peter Reinhart with 1200 grams of flour. Imagine scooping that out, cup by cup. Ridiculous. Takes me a few seconds to pour the whole lot into a bowl on a scale. Moreover, the consistency of the bread dough made by weight is remarkable. Have not made a single adjustment in ten dough balls. Used to hate adjusting the dough ball all the time for appropriate consistency when I employed volumetric measurements.

Healthier and better tasting ice cream

Premium vanilla ice cream is a nice base on which to build.

Problem is that ice cream is unbalanced in its fat distribution and devoid of fiber and antioxidants. To fix all of the problems and add a little zing:

1. To a dish, add about 1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries, and microwave for 30 seconds.

2. Add almond slivers and walnuts, about a 1/4 cup each.

3. Add premium vanilla ice cream to taste.

4. Mix and enjoy.

Though it has more calories, this is more nutritious than ice cream and it tastes better.

A good idea?

Save some freshly made juice or juice blend, and apply to one’s cleaned skin. Allow to dry. Clean off.

Idea is to supply deficient micronutrients.

Is this a bad idea?