I'll admit it. The kitchen is the LAST place I want to be during the summer. Our summer menus rely heavily upon fruit salads, green salads, brown rice pasta salads, cold quinoa salads, watermelon, what we like to call "hand-held" fruit, and whatever we can pack for the beach. This summer we discovered Udi's Gluten Free products. This changed our lives in a less than meaningful, but highly convenient, way. Though they contain soy, leaving me out of the mix, we were able to pack sandwiches all summer for my youngest.
But we live in the Mid-west (yes, there are beaches in the Mid-west), where summer ends in early September, no matter how violently I depart from the beach kicking and screaming. I now understand a great mystery of my California childhood: why clothing stores stock sweaters in August. Because by the middle of September, we need them in the nether regions of this country (Did I just dub the Mid-west "America's vagina?). Anyhoo-ha, my point is that I am back in the kitchen.
The challenge this year is that I have discovered another obstacle: MSG. Now you might wonder what a relative health-nut is doing cooking with MSG in the first place. Excellent question. I have diligently eschewed MSG since the early 90's when I had three unfortunate break-outs of full body hives after consuming fish at Chinese restaurants. Or so I thought! Apparently, simply checking ingredients for the words "monosodium glutamate" is not enough these days. Food companies are hiding this poison in everything from soy lecethin to natural flavors. It is nearly omnipresent in vegetarian processed foods. It is for this reason that I have assumed I was allergic to soy. Indeed, I am not allergic to soy as tofu or edamame. I am allergic to soy as lecithin or hydrolyzed soy protein and the like -- all the manifestations containing MSG. After an elimination diet and some exploration between my cardiologist (I have a cardiologist because I have been dealing with heart palpitations, dizziness, and 2 incidences of lone atrial-fibrilation), we concur that MSG has been causing the aforementioned, parenthetical symptoms. Yup, MSG. Do you know how much money in medical bills this hidden poison has cost me? Not to mention a heap of anxiety. Now that I have eliminated MSG, all symptoms are gone.
As are a lot of my food choices. My favorite chips are made with corn oil. Think for a moment. Have you ever eaten an oily cob of corn (that you did not make oily yourself with gobs of butter or margarine)? That's because there is no natural oil in corn. It is created using MSG, among other things (like corn sludge, for example). Bye-bye Totopos. I loved you. I loved you so much. Forget about chocolate. Even when I allow myself the occasional bit of sugar, it can't be most forms of chocolate (except "Enjoy Life" or homemade) as they all contain soy lecithin.
Pretty much any boxed cereal, packaged vegetarian food, and boxed treat contains some form of MSG. And they don't have to put it on the package if the MSG is couched in something else: natural flavors, soy lecithin, corn oil, etc. They can even write "No MSG added" if they want.
So I am not just back in the kitchen; I am back with a vengeance. Without my beloved summer fresh foods, we will be doing a lot of sprouting this fall and winter,along with soups, green smoothies, and creative forms of beans and rice (which will all come from dry beans because guess what is in MOST canned foods?). I am also using oils instead of Earth Balance, with avocado oil being my favorite replacement for butter added to food after cooking.
Stay tuned. First stop: A to Z Cake!
But we live in the Mid-west (yes, there are beaches in the Mid-west), where summer ends in early September, no matter how violently I depart from the beach kicking and screaming. I now understand a great mystery of my California childhood: why clothing stores stock sweaters in August. Because by the middle of September, we need them in the nether regions of this country (Did I just dub the Mid-west "America's vagina?). Anyhoo-ha, my point is that I am back in the kitchen.
The challenge this year is that I have discovered another obstacle: MSG. Now you might wonder what a relative health-nut is doing cooking with MSG in the first place. Excellent question. I have diligently eschewed MSG since the early 90's when I had three unfortunate break-outs of full body hives after consuming fish at Chinese restaurants. Or so I thought! Apparently, simply checking ingredients for the words "monosodium glutamate" is not enough these days. Food companies are hiding this poison in everything from soy lecethin to natural flavors. It is nearly omnipresent in vegetarian processed foods. It is for this reason that I have assumed I was allergic to soy. Indeed, I am not allergic to soy as tofu or edamame. I am allergic to soy as lecithin or hydrolyzed soy protein and the like -- all the manifestations containing MSG. After an elimination diet and some exploration between my cardiologist (I have a cardiologist because I have been dealing with heart palpitations, dizziness, and 2 incidences of lone atrial-fibrilation), we concur that MSG has been causing the aforementioned, parenthetical symptoms. Yup, MSG. Do you know how much money in medical bills this hidden poison has cost me? Not to mention a heap of anxiety. Now that I have eliminated MSG, all symptoms are gone.
As are a lot of my food choices. My favorite chips are made with corn oil. Think for a moment. Have you ever eaten an oily cob of corn (that you did not make oily yourself with gobs of butter or margarine)? That's because there is no natural oil in corn. It is created using MSG, among other things (like corn sludge, for example). Bye-bye Totopos. I loved you. I loved you so much. Forget about chocolate. Even when I allow myself the occasional bit of sugar, it can't be most forms of chocolate (except "Enjoy Life" or homemade) as they all contain soy lecithin.
Pretty much any boxed cereal, packaged vegetarian food, and boxed treat contains some form of MSG. And they don't have to put it on the package if the MSG is couched in something else: natural flavors, soy lecithin, corn oil, etc. They can even write "No MSG added" if they want.
So I am not just back in the kitchen; I am back with a vengeance. Without my beloved summer fresh foods, we will be doing a lot of sprouting this fall and winter,along with soups, green smoothies, and creative forms of beans and rice (which will all come from dry beans because guess what is in MOST canned foods?). I am also using oils instead of Earth Balance, with avocado oil being my favorite replacement for butter added to food after cooking.
Stay tuned. First stop: A to Z Cake!
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