Weinr Loves Food!

Most people, myself included, grew up on that stuff from that company starting with a K that came in a box with a packet of powdered cheese. That’s a real shame, too – for years, I had always thought of Mac & Cheese as a money saving food substance – not really for a satisfying meal – more for a “I’m too broke to pay the cable bill” type of meal. That was, until I grew up and started making the stuff that you throw in the oven. Today, Mac & Cheese is a nice comfort food, which has a dynamic and flavor way different than the stuff you find in a box. I’m thankful that I found this out the hard way.

The biggest hurdle I’ve ever had to making homestyle oven-baked macaroni & cheese is getting the sauce down. I’ll show you a great way to get a nice consistent sauce down on this one, although I don’t have many pictures to back it up. I may have to take some Usually, powdered cheese aside, cheese sauce for Mac & Cheese is made from a Roux, with milk added to it, and then cheese added to that. This gives a great gooey consistency, and the flavor that you really want to have in an adult version of a childhood favorite. This always tastes great, as long as it’s assembled correctly. Using my secret ingredient save a great deal of time and makes the sauce much more likely to not turn into some greasy mess (and I’ve had my share of failed attempts at Macaroni and Cheese!)

Recipe

• порно культуристки

• проститутки г душанбе

is sort of a misnomer here – this recipe was totally off-the-cuff when I made it last night, and went something like this:

• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1/2 can of water (use the Cream of mushroom can)
• around 1/2 pound of shredded cheddar cheese – the more the better
• a little bit of Mozarella if you like stringyness to your mac & cheese
• enough cooked Macaroni to fill a medium size ramekin
• a handful of bacon, if you like that sort of thing (who doesn’t?)

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The Cream of Mushroom soup essentially acts as the roux and milk in a standard Mac and Cheese recipe. It will take on a bunch of cheese, and come out creamy and taste rich, even if you’re using Healthy Request or a light cream of mushroom soup like my wife usually picks up at the store.
Start off by opening the soup into a saucepan, and adding 1/2 a can of water. Mix this until combined, and heat until warm. While I’m doing this, I usually cook my macaroni noodles until they’re al-dente. Then, set them aside to finish up your sauce. Back to the saauce: While stirring continuously, add small handfuls of cheese – when one handful is completely integrated, add another handful until all your cheese is gone. Now, you’ve got a cheesy mixture – your soup should also now be a nice yellow color. Add a little pepper to taste, and if you choose not to opt for bacon pieces, add salt to taste. If you’ve gone the bacon route, add it now. Your sauce is now complete.

Next, take your drained macaroni noodles, and integrate the macaroni into the saucepan that contains your sauce. It’s important to note that you want to end up with a very saucy mixture when you’re done – don’t try to spread your cheese sauce too thin because it will firm up when you put it in the oven and soak into the noodles and you’ll end up with a dry macaroni & cheese, and that’s not Good Eats (ha!)

Okay, thoughts of Alton Brown suing me aside, pour your Macaroni & Cheese into your medium sized Ramekin, and throw it all into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. After this, if you want to make it a little fancier, pull the Ramekin out of the oven, turn your broiler on high, throw another handful of cheese on the top of your Macaroni & Cheese mixture (located in the Ramekin) and place back in the oven close to the broiler until the cheese on top just starts to take on a slightly brown color. This will crisp up and give a little crunch to the Mac & Cheese – good stuff.

Pull it back out, let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then dig in!

(Editor’s note: Readers may note that I’m a type 2 diabetic – that means I have to watch/control my  carb intake. In all my pasta recipes, I use Dreamfields brand pastas. They claim 5 grams of net carbs per serving, and generally do not mess my blood sugar levels up very much at all. I will say that they do seem, to me, to be very low on the glycemic load scale. If you’re diabetic and haven’t tried them, you should give them a shot – I am very satisfied with their products. And no, this is not a paid endorsement )

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Unfortunately, it’s been a few months since I posted to this site. My personal life perpetually gets in the way, but I’ve always tried to keep things up to date and talk about food in some way. Because I love food. I adore it. It’s tasty.

Which is where my issues are now starting. Three weeks ago, after a few visits to the doctor, we’ve all discovered that I have type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes is a condition where your body either doesn’t produce enough insulin, or the insulin that your body produces is no longer as effective as it’s supposed to be. Insulin is the stuff that lowers your blood glucose level. So, why would this inhibit my ability to still love food? Well, I still do love food, but I have to change the way I eat drastically, and sometimes it’s difficult to talk about food you don’t eat. It’s also why you’ll never read me writing about seafood, but that’s another story…

So yeah, diabetes – how does that affect what I can eat? Diabetics need to minimize their sugar intake in order to manage their blood glucose. Refined sugar wreaks havoc on your blood glucose levels. Sugar is glucose. Higher sugar intake equals higher blood glucose levels – and it happens very quickly, too. But, sugar isn’t the only thing that I need to bee mindful of. Your body does cool stuff with foods – it takes all sorts of stuff and converts it into energy for you to move, breathe, think, blog – whatever. Carbohydrates are another item in food that I have to be mindful of. My nutritionist recommended that I have around 4 carb choices per meal, which is about 60 grams of carbs, but I’ve found that my body won’t let me eat that many. So, for now, I eat about 15-30 grams of carbs for breaktfast, about 30 for lunch, and about 45 for dinner and that helps me keep my blood glucose under control. I also need to be mindful of foods with lactose, which it converted to sugar in your body. Of course, there are caveats to all of these items. I need to eat “good” carbs, and unrefined sugars (if any) – these items are important, but I need to be careful about them.

So, what is good for me to eat? Well, protien is good, except that it’s usually coupled with fats, too. Fats are okay, but I need to be cautious because more “bad” fats will raise my cholesterol, which is never a good thing. So, I need to eat protein in moderation. And “good” fats are good for me, but there are few things high in omega three fats. Almonds, I’ve been told, are a good way to get omega three acids that aren’t fish. Fish are another option, if you’re able to eat them. And with more protein and less carbs, it’s recommended that I eat more fiber, too. Fiber will not only help keep me regular, it also helps buffer the absorbtion of the carbs and sugars that I do eat.

So protein, fats, and fiber are three good things, all in moderation. Carbs, sugars, lactose are three bad things, but are necessary in strict moderation. That’s my diet, in a nutshell.

Yes, this is mostly simplified. I’m not a food scientist or a nutritionist – I’m merely a geek – so, this is not entirely complete, but they’re the rough guidelines I’m working in right now. It has certainly helped lower my blood sugar levels. But, it’s also affected what I can and can’t eat. Most of anything that I’d like to eat, I can’t ;-p

Weinr is still all about food, but we’re going to talk about other aspects of it. We’re still Food Network junkies
and religiously watch Iron Chef America, Throwdown with Bobby Flay and anything else that’s a good show. We’re still going to blog about that stuff, and you’ll probably see some things about diabetic-friendly recipes. Things are just a little undefined right now, so please bear with us. I’d also love to hear about suggestions from anyone, or even a guest blogger or three. So, if you want to write about stuff, please let us know in the comments of this post and we’ll figure something out. Thanks for reading!

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