Food blogger raids the fridge

Even a food blogger gets tired of cooking sometimes.

At 26, I figure that "board studying" will be my last legitimate opportunity to move home and have my parents take care of me, so here I am. My dad has been doing all the cooking, while my skills have been relegated to dessert. And what better time to apply my creativity to leftovers?

The routine is I come down, raid the fridge, then retreat to my room with the spoils. On Friday night my dad made buttermilk fried chicken from scratch; underneath the batter, the leftover chicken is juicy and briny. Leftover chicken is perfect for Asian-style salads: served cold with sesame noodles or over spinach with a simple dressing.

Leftover chicken salad:

• piece of cold chicken, skin and bones removed, cut into bite-size pieces
• chopped fresh spinach
• chopped radishes
• toasted sesame seeds
• dash or few drops each of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce

Toss and enjoy!

Study set-up

Living with uncertainty

I recently met a patient whose credit card wouldn't go through as she was checking out. The problem was with the machine, not her card, but she was instantly on high alert for credit card fraud. "You have to understand," she said, "as a paralegal, I see identity fraud every day, and I'm paranoid that it will happen to me." We (the other students at the clinic and I) got it: we study diseases every day, with signs and symptoms that often appear relatively benign and familiar (fatigue, enlarged lymph nodes, etc.). Thus, med student syndrome. Yes, the possibility exists that one has lymphoma or lupus--but probably, hopefully, not.

Similarly, failing an exam--and with that, losing your summer or having to repeat the year--is always within the realm of possibility. Before med school, "failing" for many of us meant a bad grade; now, passing is a one-shot deal, determined by one exam at the end of the course. There are relatively few questions on that exam, and it's up to your best guess as to what material will be covered. This makes med school is a relatively unique and stressful experience.

So what do we do? One thing we can to is to accept the possibility and let go. Find activities that are pleasurable, soothing, distracting--like cooking! And if you choose to cook, don't worry so much about getting it exactly right: even if it's not perfect, it will likely taste just fine. G = MD.

Refreshing "mud season" salad (before spring veggies have quite hit their stride):

• fresh spinach
• handful of cilantro
• 1/2 apple
• 1/4 lemon
• olive oil or balsamic vinegar optional

Chop the spinach and cilantro. Cut the apple into 1-cm cubes. Pack up with the lemon wedge. Before eating, squeeze the lemon over the leaves and toss together. For added substance, serve with: cheddar or goat cheese, toasted walnuts, pumpkin seeds, lentils, quinoa, or yogurt on the side.

Adds a little bit of sunshine to your day!

Envy-of-the-co-op salad

There are musicians who can play any song by ear. I don't have an ear for music, but I do have a palate for spices and an average ability to read ingredient lists. I also don't really like to pay for prepared food unless it's really good, but occasionally I treat myself and I try to use these opportunities as inspiration for new recipes. A few weeks ago I tried a great tofu-and-quinoa salad (sans spinach) from Albany's Honest Weight Food Co-op; that salad provided the inspiration for tomorrow's lunch (and tonight's late night snack).

Spinach, quinoa, and tofu salad:

• ~1/3 block firm tofu
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, prepared in a rice cooker
• raw spinach
• 1 carrot
• scallions (few)
• cilantro (handful)
• suggested seasoning for tofu, to taste, using just a drop or a pinch each: canola oil, sesame oil, soy sauce or black vinegar, five spice powder, spoonful of sesame paste or peanut butter (alternate tofu seasoning with fresh spices suggested here)
• dressing: dash of sesame oil and soy sauce

You can either press and marinate the tofu as I do here or, more simply, cube the tofu and toss it in your sauces and spices directly in a pan before baking at 400 degrees. Bake about 10-15 minutes, or longer for crispier cubes. Meanwhile, wash and chop your spinach, peel and grate the carrot, and chop the scallions and cilantro. Once the tofu is done to your liking, toss all ingredients together and dress sparingly with sesame oil and soy sauce, being wary of overdressing the salad. Makes two "side" salads or one large salad.

Winter salad to beat those mid-February blues

I can't even talk about renal. Renal is very difficult to understand because all of the processes happening within the kidney, within the nephron, are interrelated, and so content overlaps and is not presented clearly because it cannot be presented all at once. I'll get there. On the other hand, every morning we go through cases that demonstrate how a hospitalized patient can rapidly deteriorate from a relatively healthy state if someone orders the wrong hydration or diuretic treatment. Never before have I felt the extreme importance of a subject as someone who, in two and a half years, will be writing orders for hospitalized patients. That daunting impending responsibility!

My preferred coping mechanism is avoidance -- I can get so much done! Mostly I have spent time in the woods moving quickly so not as to die of hypothermia and breathing so heavily that renal is the last thing on my mind (aka blowing off CO2 to prevent acidemia). 

Monday I went grocery shopping with a friend, who told me that she planned to make roasted tofu over spinach for dinner. I was intrigued; a quick glance at the recipe she sent me yielded this inspiration. I don't usually make new things, but making something new that tastes great is always a fun surprise. 

I wasn't sure how to dress this salad: I didn't want to mess with the strong flavors of the tofu marinade. I almost didn't dress it at all, but I ended up going with a simple sesame paste and lemon that I liked very much.

Roasted sweet potato and tofu over spinach:

• 2 small sweet potatoes (or carrots), cubed
• ~1/2 block firm tofu, cubed
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled

Marinade:

• fresh ginger, about 1 tablespoon, grated
• soy sauce
• canola, sesame, and/or olive oil
• white vinegar
• sugar or honey
• cayenne powder and/or chili flakes
• garlic powder optional
• black pepper

Salad:

• cilantro and/or scallion
• fresh spinach
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon tahini

This can be a one-pot dish. In a large square baking dish, toss together your cubed sweet potato, tofu, and peeled whole garlic cloves. Grate ginger over the top, then add your marinade over the top: about one tablespoon each of soy sauce, oil and white vinegar, then a sprinkling of sugar and spices. Marinate in the fridge for a few hours or bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes, tossing every 5-10 minutes to prevent burning.

Serve over chopped spinach with a cilantro or scallion garnish, and a simple dressing of lemon juice and tahini. Toss to coat. Could also serve over quinoa or brown rice for a heartier dish, but I found this plenty hearty as it was.

Healthy fried rice

I am not one of those people who can walk in the door and instantly get back to work. Rather than pretending, I've started relaxing for a few minutes when I get home instead of opening my laptop. Lying down, reading my book--or tonight, chopping vegetables. Since receiving a second lesson from my friend Xin, I decided to try fried rice again. I noticed that last time I started by frying the rice first, which I don't think makes sense.

This version of fried rice is heavy on the vegetables, with stir-fry "stuff" dominating over the rice. Plenty of brown rice though, still, to lend a heartiness to this dish on a cold day like today. This is also a good dish for when you're raiding the pantry, in those busy weeks just before an exam (I usually have carrots, celery, and onions in the fridge).

Brown rice vegetable fried rice (~2 servings):

• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
• 1 celery stalk, sliced crosswise on a diagonal
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4-6 mushrooms, sliced
• handful of spinach
• 1" piece of ginger, washed with the skin on, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 egg
• tofu, in 1-cm cubes
• 1 cup brown rice, cooked
• canola oil
• soy sauce
• rice wine vinegar
• white pepper

In a wok or large frying pan, scramble the egg in about 1 tsp of oil. Set aside. Add more oil to the pan and then the garlic, ginger, and onion; after a minute or two (when fragrant and just gaining color), add the tofu and rest of the vegetables (add the vegetables in the order in which you want them to cook, saving those barely-cooked vegetables for last). After another few minutes, when the vegetables are just softer but not mushy (add spoonfuls of water as needed to keep from burning), add your rice and the scrambled egg. Continue frying until parts of the rice and tofu crisp up a bit, seasoning with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and white pepper to your taste. Garnish with scallion before serving.

I feel better. 

Mulling on lipids

I'm guessing that not many of you have had the privilege of feeling an atherosclerotic vessel (calcified due to cholesterol plaque buildup) between your own fingers. It provides a visceral understanding of cholesterol that, stronger than any biochemistry or randomized control trials, makes me want to run in the other direction towards fiber and vegetables. Instead of rubbery like most arteries, the vessel feels hard: forgive the metaphor, but it is like old plumbing with years of grime collected on the inside. If you press down, you can feel the calcification crack and crumble between your fingers.

So, what are we going to do to avoid cholesterol? I recently learned what everybody else already knew: the first thing to do is attempt for control with diet and exercise, and if that's still not working, then to use drugs to bring levels down. For those of us in our 20s, it's diet and exercise. I also just learned that signs of future high cholesterol can be seen even in adolescents!

Hearty and healthy barley and beet-green salad:

• Beet greens from the tops of ~3 beets (beets are sold in bundles of three at my grocery store); or any green vegetable such as chard, spinach, kale, or even broccoli
• 1 other vegetable, such as sliced mushrooms, carrots, etc.
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 cup pearled barley, cooked in a rice cooker
• 2 tbsp pesto
• olive oil

Cook the beet greens as you would spinach: blanch for 2-3 minutes in boiling water, then drain and chop finely. Saute onion in the olive oil, then add the mushrooms and cook to your liking. Add beet greens, barley, pesto, and some water, and cook for 1-2 minutes longer, until the mix becomes creamy. Makes about two servings. I pack it as my school lunch!