#need to get another one to just slice/dice and eat with some salt and nothing else… mmmmhhhhhhh | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nitewrighter · 4 years ago

Note

Touching's No. 50 for Rajeev and Akasha? Followed by Kisses' No. 2? Could be platonic/could be hella post OW endgame shmoop? (Akasha shutting Rajeev up, but getting shut up afterwards as well?)

50. putting a hand over the other’s mouth to shut them up

2. hand kisses

Oh that’s fun!!

I love that Rajeev and Akasha’s ship lowkey has the same energy as bringing home an aggressive, traumatized feral cat wrapped in a towel.

---

Akasha's eyes were focused, sharp, as she furiously diced the bell pepper on the cutting board.

"...are we sure it's safe to give her a knife?" she heard Jaime's voice across the watchpoint mess hall kitchen and tightened her lips and chopped faster, pretending she didn't hear. The glow of her chronal accelerator was, oddly conveniently illuminating to her work.

"It's under control," she heard Marti answer. 'Under control' meaning that several agents, in this case Marti, had their comms equipped with a remote control function on Akasha's chronal accelerator, able to send her chronal disassociation into a stasis phase and immobilize her if they ever saw fit. Akasha wasn't sure if that was better or worse than having a gun to her head. Guns ended things, but time...

Akasha remembered the vastness of the space between teleporters again, the countless realities clashing together like the garish stripes of an old television's test pattern and she shuddered.

"You okay?" Rajeev was passing behind her with a crate of oranges.

"I'm fine," she said a little stiffly.

“The recipe just calls for a rough chop, you don’t need to mince,” said Rajeev. Akasha glanced down to see the bell pepper she was chopping was now a pile of quasi-cubical red pulp.

“Oh--oh...” Akasha said quietly.

Rajeev shrugged. “It’s cool. We have more. You can just pop it in some tupperware and we can just make sofrito with that another night.”

Akasha’s brow crinkled. When she came back to this reality, she was expecting to be tucked neatly back into the stringent protocols of Vishkar, stuffed back into the security of Vishkar’s vision. Here was... strange. Improvisational. Messy. Organic. Mistakes just folding themselves into day to day life.

Rajeev bumped his shoulder against her back and she startled a little. "You're doing great," he said in a hoarse whisper, before heading off toward the pantry with the crate. There were faint pale scratches on his brown-gold arms from reaching up through the branches and a leaf in his hair. He still smelled like the orange grove in the garden--all earth and sunshine and wind off the sea and the faint perfume of orange blossoms. So much of Vishkar didn't smell like anything---disinfectant, maybe, but mostly nothing--the smells here were centering: salt and orca exhaust and bodies moving about in varying states of sweatiness and cleanliness and alertness and exhaustion. She could pick up on the shifts of moisture in the air as the seasons shifted. Time was passing and she was in one place, and she could feel it and she was still trying to make sense of the idea that she was safe here. Was it that vast nothingness, that inability to connect to any grounding sensation that had left her senses so sharpened? Akasha's eyes flicked to Marti and Jaime, now both looking at her, and she didn't break eye contact as she grabbed another bell pepper and wrenched out the stem and seeds of this one before setting it down and smoothly slicing it open.

----

Sitting in the corner of the mess hall with the now-completed meal of a tofu stir-fry over rice, Akasha ate ravenously now, she wasn’t sure if it was making up for several weeks of stress reducing her appetite, or if it was a desire to eat as quickly as possible and get out of the mess hall where she wouldn’t be seen, but Rajeev was eating at a normal pace across from her. She noticed the speed that he was eating and tried to slow down, too.

“You got a little--” Rajeev pointed to his chin and Akasha wiped her chin.

“It’s still--”

Akasha wiped her chin again.

“Can I just--?” Rajeev reached forward and Akasha flinched stiff as he gently thumbed off a little bit of cilantro stuck to her chin with the sticky sesame orange sauce.

Akasha was still sitting stiffly in her seat as he withdrew his hand and looked at the little fleck of green on his thumb and unthinkingly thumbed it off on the ridge of his teeth. Akasha’s face scrunched up with some kind of combination and shock and trying to figure out what the hell just happened. “Why did you--?”

“What? Oh... huh... yeah that’s... weird isn’t it? I like cilantro.” Rajeev shrugged.

Akasha’s mouth was hanging open. Rajeev was eating again but glanced up to see her still staring at him, mouth still open.

“...it’s been a while since someone touched you, huh?” said Rajeev.

“I was floating in a void for 5 years,” Akasha said automatically.

“So like... no cool time traveling romance?”

“Time traveling... what?”

“Y’know, like... you’d drop into one time, and you’d meet someone, and they already know you, and you’re like ‘how to I know you?’ and then you’d fade out, and then you’d come back and they’re like.... older?”

“What--”

“But then you’d drop back out again, and then you’d pop back in and now they’re super young and you’re all like ‘ooohhhh they knew me because they already met me when I hadn’t met them yet!’ But then you drop out again and then the next time you see them they’re like super old and they’re all...” Rajeev leaned back in his seat and dramatically lifted his arm, shaking like an old man reaching up from his death bed, “’I waited for yooou! It’s been 47 yeeears!’”

“...why would that be cool?” said Akasha.

“I dunno it’s like... about longing and stuff,” said Rajeev, stuffing down another bite of his own food.

“Longing?” Akasha tilted her head.

“Yeah y’know like when you miss someone but it’s like... hornier.”

Akasha choked on a half-chewed bit of tofu and coughed. “What?!”

“Reinhardt describes it better,” Rajeev said a little absently, as Akasha coughed some more to clear her throat, “You like... stare off into the distance and you sigh a lot--oh! And you toss and turn at night. That part’s importa--”

Akasha’s fork clattered to her plate as she flung her hand forward and covered Rajeev’s mouth. “Shut--” she coughed, “Shut up. I don’t--no. I never--I--I turned that part off.”

“Mrrff if moff?” Rajeev muffled under her hand

“Yes, turned it off. And--and--with Vishkar there--there weren’t distractions--you didn’t--GEH!!” she suddenly flinched and yanked her hand back as she felt Rajeev press his lips against the skin of her palm, all the skin of her arms prickling with goosebumps.

“Why did you do that?!” she hissed between her teeth.

“Well when my brother used to do that to me, I’d lick it and that’d get him to stop. But I was a little scared you might actually kill me if I licked it so...” Rajeev trailed off.

Akasha curled the fingers on her kissed palm and kept her gaze fixed on him.

“I also didn’t want Marti to put you in stasis.”

Akasha glanced over her shoulder to see Marti, Jaime, Rei, Aedan, and Samir sitting at a separate table across the mess hall, all of their eyes fixed on her and Rajeev. Marti was tensed, gripping the table with one hand and holding her comm in the other, ready to activate the stasis function on Akasha’s chronal accelerator. Upon making eye contact with Akasha, and apparently looking past Akasha to make eye contact with Rajeev, Marti eased up in her seat a bit.

“Oh...” Akasha shrank into her seat a little, “Well... you... you still shouldn’t do that.

“And you shouldn’t slap your hands over people’s mouths,” said Rajeev, with a shrug, taking another bite of his own food.

“Right---that was---I shouldn’t have---It’s just--D-don’t talk about longing. Please. For now.”

“Okay. Won’t talk about longing,” said Rajeev, chewing.

Akasha looked at her palm, where there was still a little smudge of sesame orange sauce from Rajeev’s lips. In a slow, curious motion she brought it up to her mouth and licked off the smudge. She suddenly realized her own action and glanced sharply up at Rajeev.

“Shut up,” she said.

“I didn’t say anything,” said Rajeev.

“Shut up.”

#Rakasha #Akasha the Time Knife #symmarah kids #both of my fics of this pairing are them eating together #do I like the intimacy of eating together or am I just hungry when I write? You decide!!

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heliosthegriffin · 4 years ago

Text

Himbo Dad AU; Breakfast

Achilles opens the door to his house, and then walks into the kitchen his father cooking at the stove, Heracles eating from his dog bowl, loaded full of sausages, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, and eggs, the dogs face covered in grease, Achilles could tell the dog was probably on his second or third bowl though, he’d probably need to eat one more before his food coma could start.

Achilles sat at the large table in kitchen and greeted his father with sleepy yawn. “Mornin, dad.”

Jaune looks over his shoulder at his son, his hands never leaving the stove in front of him as he was cooking enough food for a feast, and greeted his son back in a warm, fatherly tone. “Morning, sleepy one, did you stay up all night at your aunt Saphrons? Or did you get some sleep?”

Achilles blushed a little. “I got some sleep…”

Jaune rose a well-groomed eyebrow. “A little? So, you don’t need to take a nap when you go upstairs? Cause, after breakfast, I’m going on a 100k, and could always use a strolling buddy, if your up for it~”

Achilles paled. “Uh, uh, no thanks dad, I might have stayed up all night with Adrian.”

Jaune sighed and shook his head. “It’s bad for growing boys to stay up all night, but it’s the weekend. Just make sure your ready for school tomorrow.”

“Ugh, school. Why can’t I just go to Sanctum like Adrian yet?”

“You’re only ten, value your childhood while you can.”

Achilles whispers “Yeah, like you haven’t told me all that hundred times.”

Jaune turned his head at Achilles his eyes narrowed. “Hmm, what was that? Sound like back sass, and back sass sounds like another 100-kilometer run, mister. If you really want to give up your childhood and go to Sanctum, you’ll have to start doing those runs every day.”

His son’s tanned skin turned pale at the statement. “Uh, no sir! Sorry, sir! Please don’t make me run with you, it’s like trying to keep up with speeding bullhead!”

Crossing the kitchen with a couple of long steps, and ruffle his son’s hair and puts several plates in front of him. “I’m just playing Killies, I would never make you do something that you don’t want to do, but, I’m just not ready for my little boy to grow up on me. So, please, just stay a little boy for a little while longer? For me?” Jaune says kissing his son on top of the head.

Achilles bats away his dad with a blush, and mumbles out. “Fine… Just long as you train me like you are Adrian, please and thank you.”

Jaune lets out a beaming smile. “It’ll be my pleasure, my little warrior. Now eat up, and get some rest.”

Achilles looks at his plate full of food, with cooked bacon, crispy hashbrowns with cheese and onions, pancakes decorated with his crest of a spear breaking two arcs, with spear being made of strawberries and whipped cream and the arcs honey, scrambled eggs dusted with salt, pepper, and local spices, and then a tray loaded with fruit. Served alongside a glass of tea and orange juice.

Achilles found he didn’t need much convincing to eat up, giving a rushed thank you, and with no thoughts on why his father had made more than ten times the normal amount of food for himself, Achilles, and Heracles.

The boy didn’t notice as several newcomers entered the kitchen, with almost all of them taking a seat around the table, with one going up behind Jaune, having to stand on their tip of their toes, before slipping their arms around his neck, leaning their chest into his back, and laying their head on his shoulders.

“Mornin Handsome~,” Robyn said into his ear.

Jaune shivered slightly at the feeling of her breath on his neck. “Hey there, beautiful, not that I don’t appreciate what your doing, but let’s keep the PDA to a minimum, Achilles is back and I don’t want to give him any trauma today.”

“Oh, is that so? No wonder you had us screaming like little banshee’s last night.”

“First off, don’t make it weird, second off, I have my room sound and vibration proof. Third, I’m making you breakfast, you don’t have to seduce me, you’ve already won.”

“Maybe, I just miss your touch.”

Jaune rolled his eyes and with an impossible to follow speed, he had Robyn cradled in one arm while still cooking.

He gave her a little peck on the nose, causing a blush to run across her tan skin. “There, that make you feel any better?”

Robyn had nothing to say, and merely blushing deeper.

Jaune returned back to cooking, one arm full of a blushing mess.

Achilles finally took a break from inhaling his breakfast to see his table no longer empty, but full of his… He didn’t know what to call them really, first to his left playing his hair was Ms. Fiona who used to watch him when he was little, but still hung out with his dad a lot. He didn’t mind her playing with hair though it felt nice. “I’d envy hair this nice if it didn’t tangle so badly,” He thought he heard her mumble. It was weird seeing her wear dad’s shirts though.

To his right was Ms. Schnee, she liked to do business with dad sometimes, something about hunting for the Argus Military based. But, it always bugged him that an Atlas General liked to a sleepover with dad, besides why did the general deal with contracts for Argus Military base, when she could have people there, do it? When he asked, she just said it was important for Generals to maintain connections with independent powers. Then gave him some lien to go buy a video game or something. Why she wore dad’s pajamas was beyond him.

The rest of the table was filled with Ms. Schnee’s friends? And Ms. Fiona’s friends, and oddly enough Ms. Nikos, their next-door neighbor… Actually, it’s not that weird, she practically lived over here.

Why they were wearing more of dad’s clothes than dad was wearing, he was only wearing a apron and a pair of shorts, was a mystery for another day.

The table seemed to notice him and gave him a series of hellos and good morning, he greeted them back, and got back to eating before they started asking about his grades and stuff. His social-studies weren’t great. He’d have to call Aunt Weiss or Blake for some help, Aunt Weiss would understand, plus she loved to spoil him. He knew Aunt Blake loved him, but deep down he was sure that she held a grudge for he bit her ears as a baby.

The sliding of plates across the table got everyone’s attention, a personalized plate for each seat at the table, along with bowls full of rolls, scones, and biscuits, baskets of bacon, sausage, and ham, and various pastries on plates.

Jaune put down Robyn into a chair, appreciating how his shirt looked on her, and took in the rest of the table with a pleased expression, really liking how his girls were looking wearing his clothes.

With a clap, he got everyone’s attention. “First, off enjoy. Second off, don’t show weakness Heracles will steal your food. Third, if it goes into the air or floor, it’s Heracles. Fourth, if you have leftovers, put them in Heracles doggy dish, he will love you forever. We, good? Alright, everybody dig in!”

A wave of giggles took over the table, before the sound of forks and spoons clinking over took the giggles.

Robyn looked at her plate hungrily, it full of roasted, seasoned tomatoes, a personal favorite of hers, large slices of ham and turkey, eggs sunnyside up, several slices of toast coated in butter and jam, a couple slices of bacon, mushrooms, baked apple slices, and to top it off a large glass of ice coffee.

Robyn gave Jaune a saucy glance, “I’d kiss you, if you hadn’t bruised my lips last night, by the way, are you trying to make me fall for you? It’s working~.” Robyn said before digging in.

Jaune gave a playful roll of the eyes. “I don’t need to try for something I already have.”

Next to Robyn, May sat in Jaune’s white undershirt, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders to cover what the shirt barely covered with how loose it was on her. She groaned at her leader, but quickly resumed eating her breakfast of an omelette stacked full of ham, sausage, cheese, diced onions, and bacon on a bed of cooked hash browns, with a stack of pancakes on the side, with a ice vanilla latte on the side.

In-between Fiona and May, sat snuggly Joanna the only one besides Elm who could wear Jaune’s clothing without looking entirely ridiculous, but even then the flannel shirt was a size or two too big and she had to wear an undershirt underneath. She looked slightly amused at May’s annoyance and her leaders bad flirtation.

Her breakfast could be described as meat, all the meat and eggs she could have. Bacon? Check. Eggs? Scrambled, sunnyside up, omelet, and poached on toast. Ham? Yes. Turkey? An entire leg. Sausage? Links, patties, and summer sausage. Chicken? She had them on biscuits. Steak? With the eggs of course. Finally she had some Lox and other seafood, with a side of biscuits, various cheeses, jams, and a large strawberry protein shake and glass of water.

Fiona sitting next to Achilles wore little more than Jaune’s white long sleeve sweatshirt, not that she needed anymore as she wore it more like a dress from how big it was. She had given up on getting all of Achilles knots out of his hair, she had talked with Saphron and Terra before on how hard it was to get him to take care of his hair, she dreaded when Yang found out he started growing his hair out like her, but refused to take care of it properly. Anyway she was trying to get her lover’s son to open up to her a bit more.

Achilles was too consumed by eating to notice. Fiona let out a sigh and went to work on eat breakfast, Jaune was good to her, too good in fact and sometimes loaded up her plate more than she could eat, but she supposed growing up around seven sisters and then hanging out with huntress gave him a skewed view on how much she wanted to eat.

The plate was full of cooked mushrooms, baked tomatoes, a omelett full of leafy greens, onions, and vegetables, biscuits, muffins, pancakes, a yogurt parfait mixed with banana, nuts and strawberries, some scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and finally a large breakfast tea to finish it off. She had her work cut out for herself, but Jaune’s food was bar none the best in Argus.

Achilles was half way through his plate.

Winter scrolled across her Scroll, making sure her schedule was clear today… for reasons. She smiled when she saw that the day was clear along with tomorrow and most of the week, she pulled her, formerly Jaune’s pajama’s tight, and looked with a smile at her plate. She would never regret loaning Klein to Jaune so the man could learn the butler’s ways.

On her plate was a large waffle cover in chocolate custard with strawberries forming a heart in the center, her cheeks blushing slightly, Jaune always insisted she get all the love she was denied as a child. Also on the plate was sausage links, orange slices, blueberry muffins, some donuts, sliced ham, crackers, cheese, and some turkey. To drink was a simple black coffee.

To Winter’s immediate right was Harriet digging into her food, dressed only in a large red sweatshirt to cover herself. Her breakfast consists of toast, cheesy scrambled eggs, apple cinnamon oatmeal, berry smoothie, a couple bagels with cottage cheese, and some ham. A glass of water to the side. She was really hungry after all the, exercise she got last night. So conscious thoughts were a bit away.

Elm was the only one who was actually close to Jaune in size, but since he hit his second growth spurt he was almost a head taller than her, with even broader shoulders! That said while his clothes hung loosely on her, it wasn’t nearly as bad as say on Fiona. Elm wore a simple robe and undershirt with boxers on underneath. She wasn’t much of a morning person, but she managed through simple questions when asked.

Her breakfast was similar to Joanna’s, only even larger. With an omelet loaded to bursting with steak, and an ever larger caffeine chocolate protein shake, an entire plate with hashbrowns full of meat and cheese and the occasional onion.

Next to Elm was the last lady of the table, Thetis Nikos, mother to late Pyrrha Nikos. She wore Jaune’s robe and a black t-shirt. Her breakfast was a parfait loaded with fruit and nuts, a stack of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs, a muffin and a cup of coffee.

Finally Jaune had his own plate… Platter, he had a platter, full of every meat he had all sizzling, crispy and delicious, all the eggs, all of them! A waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, muffins, protein shakes and smoothies, sausage and toast, his plate full was nearing total collapses.

Breakfast went on for a while, everyone scraffing down as much as them could, Joanna, Elm, Jaune, Achilles, and Thetis going for second, eventually it was all gone with what little scraps being given to Heracles.

“You spoil us, you know?” Elm called out to Jaune, holding her full belly.

“Yeah, you don’t have to cook for us everytime we swing by. I'm down for going out for breakfast, I just don’t understand how you have the energy, when,” She wiggles her eyebrows at Jaune. “You do the most exercise around here.”

A series of groans emerged around the table. Achilles could only nod, his dad did work out a lot.

Winter coughed at that, and then spoke. “I concur with that statement, I feel the time could be used more, pleasantly.” A blush rose on her face. “If I ordered catering, you wouldn’t have to rise two hours early to make breakfast for everyone.” She then said under her breath. “And then you wouldn’t have to leave the bed so early.”

May smirked at her from across the table. “You just don’t wanna lose your big spoon? Do you princess bed hog?’ Her smirk growing deeper at Winter’s atomic blush.

“Alright, alright, I get it, but I like cooking for everybody,” Jaune said a pearly smile, making the women at the table go weak in the knees. “Anyway, I have get up early anyway, to improve myself, and keep my body top of the line.” The weakness came back in full force for the women, remembering the taste they got last night of how top of the line his body was.

“Now, who’s up for a 100k run!” Jaune asks.

Only for all of them to groan, as they felt the soreness across their bodies from last night.

“Fine, I guess you girls got plenty of exercise last night.” Jaune said with a smirk.

Achilles didn’t get why the women around his dad were so weird, but it didn’t matter to him that much, they were in a way family to him, sure they weren’t always around, but when they were he enjoyed it, and all of them united in their shared fear of his father’s insane physical routine.

#Jaune is a himbo #Himbo dad #Achilles Arc

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themockingcrows · 4 years ago

Text

Doki Doki Grist Panic! Ch. 1

pairing: John/Dave Characters: John Egbert, Dave Strider, Bro Strider cw: Canon Typical Violence, magical boys, more tags to be added as needed

AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27802735/chapters/68066416

The life of a magical boy is a tough one, but Dave doesn't really have much of a choice in the matter. It's the fate he was handed, and the fate he'll cope with. With new enemies spawning in his city left and right, Dave has his hands full trying to maintain the peace and little time for much else. That is, until the cute boy he rescued turns up in his college class and seems to share all of his interests. Is love on the horizon? Or is love too much to hope for in this line of work?

There were nearly too many to count by the time Dave arrived on the scene, dark creatures that looked like they were born from an oil slick, their shoulders and head decked with odd looking colorful scraps of fabric collars and hats. Most of the people had fled the area when the hungry beasts had turned up, but a few victims had been downed by the creatures, their bodies lying limp surrounded by bright colorful gems of energy in a rainbow of colors.

Grist. It was the energy of this planet, the energy that powered every living thing, and as such it was a tasty target for most enemies from beyond the asteroid belt who wanted a quick powerup. Dave had run into plenty of creatures before, both from home and from beyond, who were a threat to the populace, but he’d never seen beings act this efficiently before.

Everywhere the creatures jumped they left behind an oily mess, even soiling the grist their greedy hands reached for, wanting to throw the delicate candy looking items into their mouths. Were they just going to eat them to further their own power? Or were they eating them to transport them? It didn’t matter. They weren’t going to get far. Dave was planning on doing a silent takedown, a sneak attack, but he realized there was a risk. A lone person was standing in the midst of the carnage, dark hair and tanned skin stark against a blue sweater the color of the crisp autumn sky itself and a bright white shirt collar.

He had to get them safe, before they fell to the same fate as the scattered bodies.

Right. Showy it was, then.

“STOP RIGHT THERE,” Dave cried, bounding out of cover and out into view in a flash of red. His black and white knee high boots, black buttons shining on the side, clicked on the concrete as he landed safely from the larger than life jump he’d performed. The black leggings he wore beneath the red, gear pattern edged tunic were pristine from the recent transformation, the same material coating his arms and chest like a second skin. The dark red cape he wore fluttered in the wind, hood down and back, white hair windswept. It was quite the impressive appearance, all things considered.

“Wh-what?” said the soon to be victim. His eyes were pretty to look at behind the thick glasses he wore, black frames perched on his nose. He didn’t look nearly as terrified as he should have, but then again shock can do a lot to a person.

“Get to cover!” Dave barked, a gloved hand pointing to the clear area he’d come from. As planned, the creatures focused on him, pausing in their gorey gathering ritual to flock his direction. Another flash of red, the afterimage of a slowly ticking gear hanging behind him for a moment and Dave had summoned his weapon of choice, a long silvery blade with a gilt crossguard, broadsword firm and true. He bounced on the balls of his feet for a moment, hyping himself up as he shifted his grip, before pointing the sword at the incoming beasts.

“You will not best me. I am a warrior of Earth and you’re not gonna get in my way!” he shouted.

Time slowed around him briefly, the clock gear flashing in the air behind him as he darted forwards, giving him enough speed and delay to get in the heavy strikes he needed against the inky interlopers. Their bodies felt solid at first hit, but when they collapsed it was into grist and oil slick once more. Darting around this way, the creatures slower than usual, gave him an upper hand that was in some ways criminal. They were low tier creatures judging from their density alone and the lack of a fight they put up, but their numbers were still worrisome to Dave. He was panting by the time he finished the slicing and dicing, black gunk coated grist littering the ground behind him.

He held the sword as he caught his breath before slowly straightening, loosening his grip on it and willing it back from where it had been summoned. The released grist was slowly beginning to move, rolling and bouncing back towards the limp bodies they had come from. With luck, they’d wake up soon. No doubt the police would be coming shortly, ambulance in tow, if only from the amount of people that had run away in terror.

Right, where was- Oh. Good, there he was. The fellow from before, mister blue sweater, seemed fine and dandy. A little wide eyed in shock now, but who could blame him? It wasn’t often that Dave had to make appearances where people could see him. It was far, far easier being a magical boy out of view of the populace, guarding people from a distance, not having to deal with aftermath even if he was capable of making quick escapes unseen. Mister blue sweater might have been hit if he hadn’t exposed himself as he had.

Actually, speaking of-

“What’s your name?” Dave asked as he clicked his way closer to the bystander’s side, glancing him over. No sign of damage. A little oil on his shoes, when he looked closer, but otherwise unharmed. Good.

“John,” said the black haired fellow. “Who are..?”

Dave smiled a bit, reaching a gloved hand up to flick his bangs away from his face. “Doesn’t matter who I am. John, you got really lucky. Do me a favor: when the cops get here, make sure that the people who are still asleep get help. They should wake up soon, but some might be feeling sick for a while after this. Grist doesn’t always redistribute evenly, when there’s a lot scattered like that.” Pain in the neck, really, but what could anyone do? Somehow have an inventory of how much grist people had at the moment of attack then inventory reclaimed grist and distribute it evenly? Impossible.

He smiled then, blue eyes crinkling at the edges, and showed buck teeth that were actually pretty charming when taken in with the rest of the whole. The upside of this duty Dave had, this burden in some lights, was that he got to see all kinds of people. Even the really cute ones. Charmed, but needing to beat feet, Dave smirked and turned around, making a series of difficult leaps to reach the top of the buildings before speeding away, flash stepping out of sight and allowing the magic to slowly fade. There were no more feelings of intense wrong, nothing on his internal radar nearby, at least for the night. Safety had returned. Time to relax.

By the time Dave was closer to home, his hair had changed back to blonde from the stark white it had been during the fight, and the uniform had returned to the clothing he’d been wearing before the change, a simple t-shirt and some jeans with rips in the knees, sunglasses, high top sneakers and a chain wallet, his keys with the stupid heart keychain Dirk had given him that he’d never bothered to get rid of. He made his way up the long sets of stairs before unlocking the door with his key, waving to his Bro where he sat on the futon in front of the television, playing a video game.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” he heard back, ignoring the sound of familiar game music in favor of carefully raiding the fridge for something to eat. “Very big of a mess this time?”

“Nah. Nothing I can’t handle,” Dave said, settling on a bottle of juice. Instant ramen sounded better than the leftovers that were available, even if it was mostly salt and carbs. He was tired and needed something hot. “Y’know, if you thought it might be a big mess you could’ve at least bothered to cook.”

“You’re a big boy, you can handle it,” Bro said casually. “When I used to run around on the beat, I-”

“Flew uphill both ways in the snow,” Dave said flatly, annoyed, but breaking his noodles into a bowl and adding water and the powder before slapping it into the microwave to cook.

“No, I was gonna say I didn’t have anyone to run me a bath and cook me stuff, I was on my own. If I could do it, you can do it. Who knows when I won’t be here to help back you up anyway?”

“Back me up?” Dave said, brows lifting over his shades. “You can’t back shit up when it comes to some of these things!”

“Please, Dave. I might not be magic anymore, but I still know how the fuck to fight some monsters.”

“If anyone could back me up against monsters, it’d be Dirk, but he’s off bein’ a prettyboy ninja stud fuck knows where. You need magic to beat this shit, or at least the shit that’s turned up in the last few years. You know that. You knew that before you gave everything up an-”

Bro was quiet for a moment before he paused his game and sighed, leaning back against the futon, interrupting Dave’s train of words. “Yeah, yeah, I know. C’mon, man, at least let me pretend I’d be useful to your ass beyond fightin’ practice.”

“I don’t need fighting practice! You always wanna use katanas, I use a broadsword! A broadsword!” Dave said, looking to the microwave when it beeped before aggressively popping it open. He grabbed a fork and his hot noodles before heading for the hallway. “I’m gonna go eat, shout if you need me. Or text, or whatever.”

Bro frowned, but let Dave go without a word. Not that he could really say much. He knew how much stress Dave was under, knew he could probably help in some ways that would matter a lot, but knowing there was no way to gauge how much longer he’d even be around to begin with, it made it hard to know when to try being close and when to push further away.

Probably better to just keep things at arms length like they had been for a few years now, make it easier for them both. The last thing Bro wanted to do was become a source of weakness for Dave, after all.

It was the least he’d be able to do.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The last face Dave expected to see on Monday was a familiar one. Amidst the chatter of his classmates filling the lecture hall, Dave spotted messy dark hair and shining blue eyes, black glasses with thick square lenses. When he spoke, when he grinned at someone, he saw the buck teeth that had finalized the squirm in his stomach on the weekend. It was still early enough in the semester that students were dropping and adding classes left and right, so it wasn’t unthinkable that there’d be another handful of new faces in the class for a while. The fact it was this one, though, was surprising. More surprising still was the eventual way the tall guy made his way towards the back, towards Dave’s table, and pointed at the seat beside him.

“That open? Everyone else has their bags on their chairs, I guess they’re saving them for someone else,” he said.

More like trying to deter randos from sitting beside them, Dave thought, realizing he’d forgotten to do the exact same thing. Whoops. Oh well, not the worst person in the world to want to sit beside him and listen to the professor prattle on up in front of the lecture hall.

“Yeah, it’s open,” said Dave after a moment of processing that… shit this guy was pretty fucking cute up close. Sounded nice too, when he wasn’t high off adrenaline. He kicked his backpack further under the tabletop and glanced down at his laptop, making sure he wasn’t on anything embarrassing without realizing it. Nope, youtube and a flash game till the class started (and for during class if the guy went off topic and wouldn’t get back to the relevant things for class, as was this Professor’s apparent specialty).

“My name’s John,” offered messy hair as he sat down. “What’s yours?”

His name didn’t matter.

“Dave,” he said, grinning a bit. “Nice to meet you, John.”

“Oh man, you’re subscribed to them too?” he asked suddenly, pointing to the screen. “I’ve been watching their Lets Plays for years, it’s kinda amazing how much they break the games they play. And it’s neat to see two girls running a channel that big, normally it’s guys as far as the eye can see.”

“Yeah? I feel ya,” Dave said, glancing to the screen again and clicking to pause. Rose was in the process of executing a risky near game breaking glitch that would speed them towards the ultimate weapon of the game, while Jade was explaining the process and the details, as well as the history of the game itself, and giving real life comparisons to the events and reality. He’d seen this episode at least a half dozen times, but the duo were charming as hell and really knew their shit. Cut throat and cut throat, and yet entertaining and casual. “Space Needle is kind of a weird name for a channel though. Isn’t that a landmark somewhere?”

“I know, but have you heard Jade go on about space and technology before?”

“Oh yeah, her science corner,” Dave mused. Shit, this guy really was a fan. ...Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad being distracted by him after all, they’d managed to break the ice without even a second thought.

The professor had finally made his way into the classroom, however, and Dave nodded his direction to John, who hurriedly dug into his bag for his own laptop. Right, time to focus now. They could geek out later. Dave didn’t miss the Space Needle sticker on the back, along with an impressive amount of other insignia that Dave could only guess at. Dude seemed into pop culture to a wicked degree, there were even memes on display, up to date ones too.

They were hard cut to focus though, finding it much more fun to whisper back and forth about their favorite episodes, their favorite quotes, in jokes and memes. John apparently had started watching fairly recently but was already die hard, and was living for Dave’s deeper lore on the channel. The whispering only stopped when the professor focused enough to catch them, calling for quiet in the back. They exchanged guilty smirks and went back to actually focusing, taking notes from the display and trying to decipher what would be most important from what was being said to note down as well.

When the class ended, it was back to business as they packed up and headed out, deciding to hit the cafeteria for more conversation and a snack before they had to go their separate ways. Dave’s eventual regretful time to leave came all too soon after he’d finished some fries, and he was surprised when John handed over not only his discord information, but his phone number on a scrap napkin. His handwriting was messy but clear, and on his way to his next destination Dave took care to gently set it into his bag for later.

He’d gotten a cute guys details without even asking. Discord was one thing, but his phone number? Holy shit. The fact that it’d be difficult to remain casual with him was going to be the next task at hand, what with his duties and all, but Dave had confidence he’d manage it.

He could handle saving the world. Of course he could handle a cute guy at the same time.

Somehow.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Somehow seemed a lot further away when Dave was busy. A lot less possible. How could he juggle a friendship casually, much less with a really cute guy, while dealing with shit like this every other day? Another attack had laid low several people, with the creatures showing they could reproduce with enough of the inky substance on the ground. Someone had unleashed another flow of them, but this time they seemed prepared to fight back.

They had sharp claws that cut at the fabric of Dave’s cape, and his usual speed didn’t seem enough for dealing with them with such a heavy weapon. He vaguely wished he had the skills to use a katana like Dirk or Bro properly, one handed and speedy as sound itself, but alas. His mantle was the royal deringer and no less. Fate seemed to think he could handle a broadsword, so a broadsword he was dealt.

When a group of the imps managed to knock him over, sending him flying into the air and then skidding along the ground till he came to a halt, Dave knew he’d need to change tactics. Slowly getting up onto his scuffed white boots once more, Dave began to circle the creatures, biding his time and waiting till he could strike properly. They were mindless before, but this time they seemed to be working as a team, occasionally using each other as weapons or sending projectiles made of sludgy oil Dave’s direction. He’d dodge, dance backwards, flash step sideways to avoid. He needed to act quickly, though. It appeared as though there was potentially a way for them to combine themselves, to become even larger. Deadlier. Finally though, they left themselves open.

Gritting his teeth, Dave felt the surge in his blood as the gears activated in the air behind him, flashing brightly as they turned. He flash stepped forwards and angled his blade, slicing clean through four in a go before flash stepping another direction and backstabbing another. He bounced about this way for a good thirty seconds of real time, dodging slightly slowed attacks and striking what he hoped were key points of these taller, more deadly imps. Grist showered the ground with the falling oil, a slow motion wave that only grew in intensity as he finally shouted and beheaded the final creature and came to a knee to catch his breath.

His arms burnt, his back ached, and the ticking throb in his head only seemed to get more and more intense as the gears slowed and finally disappeared following his strife. He was coated in oil, and was thankful he didn’t need to worry about cleaning and detailing his weapon as he sent it back where it had come from, let alone cleaning himself or his uniform. He ran a hand through oily white hair and grimaced, looking at the fallen grist, the fallen people, and shook his head.

A repeat attack so soon, escalating no less, meant that this foe wasn’t just another one and done mission. Something felt… wrong. Intensely wrong, really. Dave couldn’t put his finger on it, but his instincts were telling him to be wary of the situation.

With the sound of sirens on the horizon, Dave bolted from the scene, taking to the building tops with some parkour and extreme jumps, flash stepping some distances and simply taking cover for others till he could return to the ground in a desolate area. Away went the magic, a gear appearing overhead and quickly whipping over him to the ground, returning him to his normal clothes.

If only it could take away the fatigue, too.

And the sense of loneliness that cropped up not long after as he was walking back to where he’d ditched his backpack originally tonight, passing by a gaggle of people out having fun, unaware of the danger that lurked around them. Unaware of just how great they had it, being able to go to the movies with friends whenever they wanted to instead of forever being on call.

Would he be like that someday, somehow? Find a way to get peace for extended periods, or peace everlasting? Not eternally being on call? Or would he be like Bro, powerless and essentially alone, traumatized and waiting for his timer to tick down. ...No. He’d never be like Bro, probably. Bro had given everything up for him. It was his fault he was-

A chirp from Dave’s phone alerted him that he was near his bag, and just in time to boot. He rummaged in the pocket to dig it out, and blinked at the screen.

John.

That’s right… He had a friend now. ...Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. He actually smiled as he lit the screen up and tapped out a reply, shouldering his bag before heading home. It was more discussion of Space Needle, which was a welcome distraction from how Dave felt, and how his thoughts had begun turning.

ectoBiologist: so like i was saying, i just heard about their next lets play and i’m freaking out a bit! turntechGodhead: yeah?? whats planned ectoBiologist: they’re going to cover SBURB! can you believe it?turntechGodhead: sburb huh turntechGodhead: seems their style i guess turntechGodhead: didnt it get kinda mid reviews though ectoBiologist: some people rated it sub par but i don’t care, i think it sounds great. ectoBiologist: i don’t know what would be better, if it was a great game or if it was a spectacular piece of shit they can tear apart on screen. turntechGodhead: think theyll stream any of it ectoBiologist: oh shit i hope so!

The banter carried Dave all the way home, up the familiar stairs, and into the apartment where he was surprised to smell food cooking. The room was warm from the stove and oven being on, catching Dave out of the conversation and into reality once more, freezing and lifting a brow.

“Okay, what’s happenin’, you don’t cook.”

Bro, sprawled out on the futon again with his long legs crossed, smirked from beneath the brim of his hat.

“Excuse the fuck outta you, I do too. It’s just been a goddamn long time.”

“Okay, you don’t cook for me though,” Dave clarified, setting his bag down.

“Who said it’s for you?”

“...”

“I’m fuckin’ with you. There’s a casserole in the oven and some sides on the stove. Eat up.”

“I need a shower first,” Dave said, remembering all too well the feeling of oil in his hair, oil hitting his face, the bittersweet smell of the inky sludge. After warning John he was going offline for a bit, Dave dropped his bag in his room and went to clean himself up. It’d be the first night in a long while he felt secure, comfortable, warm, clean, AND full all at once.

There were worse ways to spend an evening than falling asleep on his phone after too much supper. Though, right then, Dave couldn’t really think of any. All he could think about was the cute boy on the other end of the discord handle, his favorite gamers prepping for a new title they could experience at the same time, and the lulling comfort of sleep seeping into his bones.

#homestuck #johndave #john egbert #dave strider #my fic

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nuttygouda · 5 years ago

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Foolproof quiche

I’ve made an incredible number of quiches in the past few months - nothing like a good stress bake! There are so many quiche recipes out there that I wanted to create a streamlined “base” recipe that would adapt easily to whatever you have on hand. Below is that adaptation, with some things that I’ve learned from experimenting along the way (50 quiches later).

A few notes (one might call them non-negotiables) to start:

Wholly Wholesome has BY FAR the best premade frozen crust out there. I can’t find their deep dish size too easily, so have scaled the recipe below for their regular size option. If you opt for a deep dish, be sure to use another 1/4 cup of dairy and 1 more egg

If you want to skip the pie crust, butter your pie tin and grate parmesan to cover the bottom and sides. This will help create a thin “skin” and help hold things together a bit more

I learned this in dutch baby making and am convinced that it’s true for quiches as well...the custard will be smoother if you have the liquid ingredients at room temperature!

Going into your quiche, you should have a sense of whether you’d like something more savory/seasoned or lighter/subtle. Use that to guide how fat-heavy you go across the dairy, cheese, and butter. The only important thing is that you have SOME fat in your quiche

A richer quiche will use heavy cream for the dairy, but you can use whatever dairy you’d like as long as you keep the volume consistent. I like to use 2% milk or a half-and-half/milk combination - can’t justify eating multiple slices at a time otherwise - despite the slight trade-off in taste

While the dairy/egg proportion is non-negotiable, the cheese and filling amounts can be adjusted up or down depending on what you’re looking to do. However, I would recommend not adding to much filling; you want the liquid to turn into a beautiful layer of silky custard, not compress it into omelette-like crumbs between the fillings. To that end, it is best to limit yourself to a literal handful of ~2 fillings (onions/shallots, with either meat/vegetable) in addition to the cheese. If you have more vegetables to use up, then just make two quiches ;)

On cheeses, go with what you’d like. I’ve played around with parmesan, cheddar, swiss, and muenster. Harder cheeses tend to work better with the custard, but if you’re feeling something with cheesier mouthfeel, feel free to use a combination of hard/soft or opt for the meltier options exclusively; it doesn’t matter as long as you have it in small pieces (if not grated)

STARTER QUICHE, inspired by the variety on Once Upon a Chef and NYT Cooking

1 frozen pie crust 1 tablespoon butter (or more if you’d like) Half small onion (or equivalent in shallots/leeks/etc,), diced 1/2 cup second filling (such as bacon bits, mushrooms, or spinach), chopped 3 large eggs 1 cup dairy (either heavy cream, half-and-half, milk, or combination) 3/4 cups cheese, grated or in small pieces Pinch ground nutmeg Pinch cayenne pepper 3/4 teaspoon salt (dial this back if you’re using bacon bits) Preheat oven to 400°F. This is important! You need to pre-bake the crust at high heat for it to hold its shape and stay crisp on its second bake (at a lower temperature, with the fillings added in). I say this after a few forgetful moments when I pre-baked at a lower temperature the whole way through.

Thaw pie crust for ~10 minutes, then prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Bake until fully cooked and lightly golden, about 10 minutes, then let cool.

If the crust cracks while baking, you can make a flour/water paste to fill it in (or just let it be; taste won’t be compromised). If the crust bubbles up, then just open the oven and poke it until it deflates.

Lower oven temperature to 325°F. This lower temperature helps the custard get silky while keeping the crust from burning.

Sautee diced onion in butter over medium heat. Cook until translucent but not brown. Move diced onion to a small bowl. Cook your second filling, making sure to drain fully (especially with spinach - give it a squeeze with your hands even after you sautee).

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, dairy, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

On pie crust, spread the cooked onion. Sprinkle half of the cheese, then the second filling, then the remaining cheese. Slowly pour the egg and dairy mixture up to the lip of the pie crust.

Bake at 325°F degrees for 45-55 minutes, stopping when you reach a golden custard and some light brown “cheese boils” along the top. Remove from oven and confirm doneness with a clean chopstick or knife.

Serve either alone (for breakfast) or with simple salad greens tossed in olive oil and lemon (for lunch).

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dunmerofskyrim · 6 years ago

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Simra crouched and Llolamae sat on her heels. Between them was the ragcloth bundle Llolamae had carried all this way, spread out like a mat with their provisions.

Eating after so long spent hungry. The first filling of an empty belly. Simra knew how that went and he tried to start slow. Took timid bites from a panbread, telling himself once this one was gone he’d let it settle a moment, then set on the rest, eat his fill. There were crisp dried slices of chalk-coloured turnip. There were seedpaste balls, savoury and dark, and dark in their sweetness, and rolled in crushed dried herbs that tasted faint of medicine. But Simra already knew nothing would be better than this first panbread. Soft still with the oil that coated it, it tasted golden and good as he chewed each bite, counting the workings of his jaw.

Llolamae tore through her share, unrestrained. She set on the paste balls first, eyes closed and nodding her head to the rhythm of her chewing. Her teeth showed red from them, flashing whenever her mouth opened.

Simra held back from telling her to slow down. Who was he, her mother? She could get cramps if she wanted. Instead he enjoyed the round panbread, nibbling it through all the phases of a moon. From fullness to shrinkage to halfness, through crescented waning to nothing. Then he licked his fingertips clean of the oil and waited.

“They steam their bread in the South, you know.” Simra spoke for something to do before he started eating again.

A lump of seedpaste worked down Llolamae’s neck, half-chewed. “What, always?”

“Not always. Sometimes they do it in a pan like this. Sometimes in a clay oven. Sometimes dry, sometimes with oil or fat.”

“Why say as it’s what they do then, when they do other things too?”

“They do other things,” Simra allowed. “But when you think of bread up here, it’s panbreads. When they think of bread? Steam.”

“Huh…” Llolamae pursed her mouth and her tongue worked around inside it, cleaning red from between her teeth. “What’s it like?”

“Depends what it’s made from. But on the ordinary? Generally talking? It’s…soft.”

Saying it, Simra realised he missed it. Steamed buns. A filling of poached or pickled meat, diced vegetables, sticky preserves. But then, go south, and he’d miss panbreads all over again. He knew how missing things went. You long for what’s not there, and when you have it you’re hungry for something else. Not like luck to ever let anyone just be satisfied.

“Soft sounds alright,” said Llolamae, eyeing one of the panbreads on their mat. She bobbed up and down a moment, legs jigging under her, then she snatched it. In one bite, half of it was gone.

Simra took some crisped turnips and ate them one by one from the palm of his other hand. Enjoyed the risen sun on him and the strange welcome fact of how warm it was here. The scents on the breezeless air. Scrub and brambles, strong and woody; distant pines from the basin floor.

The grim-faced Kogaru, aged middlest of the three, picked his way up the slope. He came over the ledge’s lip as they ate. A small flash of disgust on his face as he looked at Simra and Llolamae – was it the food, or something inherent in them? – and then it was gone. He shrugged something down from over his shoulder to fall dusty at his feet.

It was some animal Simra had no name for. Fleshy worm-pale body divided in rings, patched all over in an irregularity of dull-black chitin, like scales sown onto a shirt for armour. No face but a round pucker of mouth — or else what Simra hoped was a mouth. All its eight stubby caterpillar legs were bunched at that end and the rest of it was thick tail. All told it was maybe the size of a small pig.

The Kogaru had brought out a knife, incurved along its edge. Not bone or stone or glass, but forged iron, tang sheathed in wood and leather. Traded or taken? With who? From who? Simra wondered, watching out the side of his eye as the hunter prised the scales from its tail.

Might be this was meant to impress him. Intimidate them. Metal knife and mighty prey. Of all the fool ways to flex your fierceness on a stranger, Simra thought… The beast didn’t even look like it could run, let alone fight back. He turned his attention full back to Llolamae, making a point of paying no heed.

“Course they’ll have rice more than bread.” It didn’t need saying. He was talking to fill silence; to show how deep his inattention went. “Seven, eight times in ten?”

Llolamae chewed and grunted in response. He’d lost her. She was watching the hunter, the beast as he butchered it.

“At least that’s the way with everywhere but the mountains, hills. Fucking Sadras, they’ve got the coin for it now, the land. Still won’t eat or grow anything but millet, sorghum. Never had the chance to ask one why, but I reckon it reminds them where they’re from. What they are. Keeps their hearts in the hills. Tscht. Well, they do say it, don’t they? Fastest way to the heart…”

Simra tailed off at last. Let a sigh rattle free of his throat and turned his neck to half-watch. The Kogaru was paring a long thick fillet off the thing’s tail, like Tammunei easing the flesh from a fishspine. Like a fish, this thing had a bone down its middle. First Simra had ever seen of such a thing. Bones both outside and in, it had the same wrongness as a cliffracer’s toothed beak, or the child-cry of a fox in the night. What was it? He wanted to ask, but didn’t. He’d get no answer anycase. Not from this one.

Finished with the fillet, the hunter called out. “Kaliklu!”

It had the feeling of a name to it. The elder’s, maybe. It was him that answered, coming from the cavemouth.

Crouched beside his breakfast and outnumbered by painted strangers, Simra felt it again. The slipped illusion of safety. Like being near an animal stronger and faster than you, and knowing the safest course is calm, but not knowing if it’ll save you for certainty. It was a rush of nerves, a sudden awareness of how far his hands were from his swordbelt, and how that hunting knife could be in him quicker than his own sword could come out.

Simra’s tongue flickered snake-careful out his mouth and wet his wind-chapped lips. He put them into a smile for the elder. “Is that your name?” he said. “Kaliklu?”

“It is.” The elder said it like Simra had cheated him out of some secret.

“Simra,” said Simra, touching his chest. “Of the Zainab. And Llolamae.”

Her head angled up, mouth full of crisped turnips, eyes wide. She pointed at herself with both thumbs and gestured with her palms open, like a smile of the hands while her mouth did other work.

“We met badly,” Simra said. “But you’ve been kind to us. Led us safe to warmth in the night. Will you share our food?” He was too tired to get by on threats; too wary of a fight he might not win.

Spindly legs and bending show-boned back, Kaliklu crouched next to the ragcloth spread and took up the last round of bread. Eyes on Simra’s eyes, he took a thoughtful bite and chewed.

Llolamae swallowed and stared. “This had to last us…”

That was something, coming from her. She’d scarfed half their provisions in one meal. Simra kept those thoughts to himself. “Sharing alike’ll last us longer.” He pointed at the fillets of pale flesh with his eyes.

“Thank you,” said Kaliklu. “I do not think you wish to harm us.”

It was a start. “I want to believe you don’t want to harm us either. I threatened you before. I’m sorry for that, but I’ll do so again if threatened. I don’t want to, but I will, and worse.”

“There was another thing you wanted. From us.”

“Yes. But I’d rather trade for it. Exchange. Share.” Simra tried for words, making sure he was understood. “I give, and you give.”

Kaliklu shifted his shoulders on their joints. A shrug. “You are Zainab.”

“Yes.”

“And you want to find someone.”

“Yes. And in return – in trade – I can give you things you want. I have salt, spices, works of magic. I have metal. Good iron knives.”

The elder ate, thinking. He didn’t agree, but didn’t decline. “There is something to do first.”

He stood and Simra stood with him, straightening up from his crouch-stiff haunches. “If I can help, I will.” It was half to earn good will, but only half. The rest was curiosity.

Llolamae shifted, uncertain, where she sat.

“As you helped carry our kinsman?” said Kaliklu, brows raised.

“Yesterday I hurt one of yours. Today let me help you. To trade, it helps to start equal. Even. In balance. D’you see?”

“I will see.”

#TES #Morrowind #Dunmer #Simra Hishkari #SH Forth and Back #SH New Canon

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dr-2bthin · 3 years ago

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TIPS FOR DIY DETOX AND GUT HEALING MEAL PLAN

Many people think that Detoxification and cleansing diets will help them lose weight, remove toxins, and promote certain health benefits. Well, juicing and other cleansing detox diets may leave you moody, lethargic, sluggish, and distracted with desperate thoughts about food. This is because detoxification involves the process of depriving yourself from eating the foods that may contain toxins in them. Yes, a detox diet can increase your energy levels, and it prevents and sometimes even cures some health conditions. However, its effects are different for different people in their respective life stages.

Interesting recipes to reset your diet

Consult with your doctor if you want to get started with a detox diet, because it’s not advisable for everyone. This includes pregnant women, people with health conditions, those with demanding job, children, teenagers, and so on.

We’ve come up with a few healthy recipes that you could try.

Avocado Protein Pudding

The protein pudding includes a ripe avocado, which you can take two small or one large. Peel it and chop it just a bit to put it in a blender along with 1 cup of coconut milk, and 1-2 tbsp of coconut oil. You could also add a recommended dose of scoops of protein powder advised by your doctor.

Once you’ve gathered the ingredients and put them in the blender, blend them until you get a fully whipped pudding texture. You can enjoy this low carb, ketogenic and gut healing pudding in just a few minutes.

Blueberry Protein Shake

For those of you who love blueberries, this protein shake is going to be a delight. You can use the power-packed ingredients including ¼-1/2 cup of organic frozen blueberries, 1 cup of organic full-fat coconut milk, and a protein powder that is good for gut healing. Add only the coconut milk to your blender and blend until you get a smooth and creamy texture.

Now you can take the blended coconut milk out of the blender and pour it in a glass. Add the frozen blueberries and the other ingredients. You can one tsp of cinnamon to give it that extra kick.

You can have this shake during your breakfast or snack time as a gut healing meal to strengthen your body.

Thai Coconut Turkey

Here’s another interesting recipe for dinner that takes nearly 25 minutes to make after you’ve gathered all the ingredients.

Considering a serving of four people, you can include the following ingredients:

4 cups organic coconut milk (2 cans)

1 cup organic chicken stock

1 pound pasture-raised turkey breast cut into strips

1 cup sliced mushrooms (crimini or baby portabella)

1/2 cup scallions (green onions), sliced into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup red pepper, diced

2 tbsp Coconut Aminos

3 tbsp fresh lime juice

3 stalks lemongrass

Pink salt and pepper

10 thin slices fresh ginger

Chopped cilantro to garnish

Start by boiling the coconut milk and stock, and then add smashed lemongrass and ginger to the milk-stock combination. Simmer it for fifteen minutes. After this, remove the lemongrass and ginger, and add turkey to this milk-stock.

Now, take a skillet and sauté the mushrooms, scallions and diced red pepper in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Do this until they are barely tender, which means about 3-4 minutes tops. Add this sautéed mixture to the milk and turkey mixture. Add lime juice and let it simmer for about ten minutes.

The final part involves seasoning with pink salt and pepper, and garnishing it with cilantro. You could serve this Thai dish with cauliflower rice.

How to detox without restrictions?

You’re going to have to restrict yourself from foods that are not good for your health. However, in place of those foods, there are plenty of exciting new ways to stay on a healthier track.

Many weight loss plans require that you stick to some detox plan. You may consult with our medical weight loss doctor. Get a free tele visit appointment, and if needed, you may be prescribed an FDA-approved weight loss drug. You only have to pay for the drug and nothing else.

Firstly, start your day with some hot water infused with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Having this drink in the morning will stimulate your digestive tract. We recommend staying hydrated throughout the day during your detoxing phase.

You can exercise but don’t get too intense with it; just a light workout will do to keep yourself energized throughout the day. Your first meal of the day should contain lots of fiber; a smoothies recipe with lots of fat, protein and fiber will also do.

Stick to soups and salads during lunch time, while including a vegetable or fruit juice during snack time. Remember to stay active during the day with light stretches, short walks and avoid spending too much time in front of your laptop screen. For dinner, you can stick to lean protein like beans, pulses and veggies.

End your day with a warm shower and quality sleep.

Related Links for Prescription Based Weight Loss:

Phentermine – Doctor Prescribed Weight Loss & Diet Pills

Results – Before After using Phentermine

Phentermine 37.5 mg Reviews and It’s Pros & Cons

Weight Loss Program with Phentermine

How To Order Phentermine Online Legally

Online Weight Loss Phentermine Doctor

Common Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight On Phentermine?

How To Take Phentermine Properly?

Blog Source: - https://www.dr2bthin.com/tips-for-diy-detox-and-gut-healing-meal-plan/

#TIPS FOR DIY DETOX AND GUT HEALING MEAL PLAN

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thenobullshtblog-blog · 7 years ago

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I Yam what I Yam.

Sweet Potatoesssss are the first thing I’m gonna show you how to make. Although I didn’t buy these with yesterdays trip to the Shop of Rite I did get them last week. Again, fairly in expensive, I want to say they are roughly 79 cents per pound? You may also see sweet potatoes listed as “yams” or “sweet yams” don’t worry, they are part of the same family with nearly the same nutritional value (it’s the equivalent of comparing yellow bell peppers to red bell peppers).

*disclaimer* I know this prep seems extensive in terms of instruction but I really have a lot of instafriends that have no idea how to cook AT ALL. Theres nothing wrong with that. Everybody has to learn, and they all start somewhere. If you’re more experienced and are just looking for the choice of spicing-skip through. If you need the extra help-I gotchu fam.

Prep time: 10-15 mins (say wahhhh)

Cook time:20-40 minutes

Ingredients you’ll need:

2 generous sized Sweet potatoes (I normally pick ones that are about the size of my two fists put together sidebyside.)

Olive Oil (preferably the non thotty kind-Extra Virgin)

Minced Garlic (I buy the minced garlic in a jar, it’s so much easier to deal with)

Cinnamon (ground cinnamon, any brand)

Nutmeg (ground nutmeg, not required-highly recommended)

Dill weed (dried, any brand- comes in a small spice jar)

Paprika (regular (not smoked),any brand)

Salt (table salt)

Pepper (ground)

Vanilla Extract (I prefer McCormick, but any will do)

Butter (I use Land O Lakes-if you use country crock, or I cant believe its not butter gtfo my blog, please)

Cooking Items you’ll need:

Cutting board

Chef Knife (used for chopping and dicing)

Spoonula (the silicone spatula things, yes that is their technical name)

Aluminum Foil (or if you call it tin foil)

A standard sized baking pan (make sure it has the sides on it, not the flat cookie sheet)

Before you do anything with the food: Wash your hands, dirty ass.

Preheat your oven to 400degrees.

Cover your baking pan with tin foil

Take your potatoes, and give them a good rinse under running tap water. use your hands to help scrape off any extra dirt that isn’t easily falling off.

Pat the potatoes dry with a paper towel, make sure your hands are completely dry before handling the Chef Knife. (Don’t be a fu*king Susan and pick up a knife with wet hands-serious party foul.)

Cut the tips off the potatoes..just the tip.

Cube the potatoes (if you don’t know what this means, slice the potatoes into roughly 1 inch slices, so you have little potato wheels, take those wheels, lay them flat and cut them into quarters or 6ths so you have little cubes or wedges-they obvi won’t be perfect cubes.)

As you cube the potatoes, throw them on the foil lined baking pan

Once you’re done cutting them up, you’re going to take all the spices and literally just throw them on top of the potatoes on the pan. Seriously.

Okay I NEVER use measurements or a recipe, #fact. I base every amount of spice I use on smell and just knowing what the flavoring of each spice is. I truly feel like this is the best way to cook things that you enjoy eating-a recipe may call for a dash of cinnamon but maybe you fu*king love cinnamon and want half the jar. Do it. Its your food. You can make it taste however you want. Use a recipe as a guideline until you get more comfortable with the taste of certain spices and their potency.

For all intent and purposes I will try my BEST to give you amounts of each ingredient. YES I did list the ingredients twice in this blog BECAUSE the few times I did use an actual online recipe I hated having to keep scrolling up to see what I needed vs the directions on how to use it, and it was just a bitch. So here you go, I saved you some scrolling.

1.5 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1.5 tablespoons melted butter (put some butter in a small dish and pop it in the microwave for literally like 7 seconds and then pour it on top of the potatoes)

½ teaspoon of vanilla extract (vanilla extract is an extract, which means its highly concentrated. Less is more)

1 spoonful of minced garlic (literally just dip a small spoon into the jar, pull it out and bam. usually the equivalent of ½ tablespoon)

¼ teaspoon nutmeg (nutmeg is a VERY potent spice. Use sparingly until you figure it out)

1-1.5 tablespoons cinnamon

½ tablespoon of the dried dill weed

½ teaspoon paprika

Salt and pepper- a light sprinkle over the pan. (don’t be an animal. Your food shouldn’t taste like salt)

Once you've thrown all the dry and wet spices/ingredients onto the pan/over the potatoes-take your spoonula and mix that shit in. Reallyyyy well. You want to make sure every potato has a generous covering of everything. You don’t want one potato to have like half a spoonful of garlic on it and the rest of the pan is bare-its gonna taste like dogshit if you do that. Mix and incorporate everything together really well.

Now that you’ve mixed everything-pop your pan in the oven (on the middle rack), and set a timer for 20 minutes. (Usually I take this time to clean my mess up, multitasking for the win)

After 20 minutes, with your oven mits, open the oven-pull the center rack with the pan on it, half way out so you can reach the potatoes with a fork without burning yourself .

Stick a fork in a few of the potatoes-your potatoes should be “fork tender” meaning, you can stick a fork in them easily with little to no resistance. It should almost feel like sticking a fork in butter. If you can’t break through easily and they seem hard- push the rack all the way back into the oven, close the oven and set a timer for another 7-10 mins.

If after another 7-10 minutes, they still aren’t quite done-only put them back in for 5mins at a time.

Usually your potatoes will cook to perfect temp within 20-40 mins. I know 20 minutes difference seems super variable but it really depends on your oven (gas or electric) and how many potatoes you had on the pan/how big the cubes are. So, just keep an eye on them until you do this a few times and get to know your oven.

Okay, finally they’re done-pull them out. Let them cool for about 10 minutes and then dig in.

Healthy, and delicious. If they’re not delicious, you probably low key fu*ked something up- oh well, they’re still edible! Try again next time. That’s the beauty of cooking, you always have more opportunities to perfect, and get it right.

Comment if you’ve tried them and let me know what you think!

#badpuns #sweetpotato #recipie #foodporn #healthyeating #mealprep #lifestyleblog #letsgetweird

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kriskebob-blog · 7 years ago

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Day 4: Rainy Saturdays are for cooking (and Netflix)

Hi all. As I write this, it’s the winding down of a gorgeous (and HOT) sunny Sunday here in CT but when I woke up yesterday, I actually thought it still had to be 6am or earlier because it was so dark in our room. Turns out it was actually 8:30am and just pouring buckets outside. Good day to stay inside and cook some comfort food items.

My second breakfast recipe from Dr. G’s cookbook was definitely simpler than the burrito bake: French toast with a berry drizzle. I also wanted to make a fruit compote for an extra topping. The cookbook’s recipe is titled as a pear compote, but pears are out of season right now, and honestly why would you put a few sad-looking Bartletts in your grocery basket when there are farmstand peaches just up the road? To my delight, when I flipped open the cookbook on Saturday morning I read a line I hadn’t noticed before: you could vary it up by using apples, peaches, or plums in place of the pears. Perfect!

Sam was still sleeping (he tends to be a bit more of a late riser compared to me on most days). I enjoyed the solitude for a bit and diced up four peaches as I listened to the rain. The compote was honestly super easy to throw together once the peaches were chopped. I threw them in a pot with some water, blended lemon, raisins, date sugar, vanilla extract, and some spices. I left that to simmer while I prepped the plant-based version of a dipping mixture for the toast. And in case you’re wondering, no, I did NOT find salt-free bread at the grocery store. I found the whole wheat bread that had the lowest amount of sugar/sodium and least amount of funky-sounding ingredients on the label and called it a day. (As an aside, Sam had thought he’d be required to give up toast completely during these two weeks and was really excited when he came home on Friday and saw a loaf of bread sitting on the counter, it was kind of cute.)

I had to make my own almond milk for the French toast dipping mixture. Dr. G. doesn’t approve of store-brought almond milk, too many chemicals or whatever. Not a whole food! Luckily, I already had almond butter from my first grocery shopping extravaganza of the week. All you had to do by Dr. G’s standard was blend a couple tablespoons of almond butter with some water and ta-da, you’ve got almond milk that’s apparently less likely to kill you. For the French toast, Dr. G. instructed that I needed to mix some ground flaxseed with a bit of warm water and then add it in with the almond milk. More date sugar, vanilla extract, a bit of turmeric and cinnamon, and boom.

Sam was awake by now and I immediately put him on toasting duty. He’s become the defacto breakfast-cooking king in our household over the past 5 years, which is odd really when he’s less the morning person of the two of us. But he genuinely enjoys whipping up eggs, bacon, French toast, etc. on the weekends, and I’ve certainly never been about to stop him. He got out our griddle and began dipping the bread while I set about making the “berry drizzle.” Dr. G advised I use this as a condiment for the French toast in place of maple syrup. It has two ingredients: 1 cup of fresh or frozen berries and a couple of tablespoons of date syrup.

The date syrup became yet another case of my assuming I’d be able to throw together a Dr. G. sauce or condiment quickly in my blender, only to discover I actually needed to soak a key ingredient in hot water for an hour or more. Oops. Oh well. I’d use a tablespoon of agave nectar in its place and that would just have to do.

Here’s the berry drizzle in a super cute pitcher our family friend Kelly gave us as an engagement gift years ago:

Adorable, right? Ignore whatever that spot is on our table. Anywho, I can report that Sam didn’t love toasting the bread on our griddle without using any oil spray. The slices did stick a little but we salvaged most of it. The peach compote had reduced nicely by then and we were in business.

It was super delicious. The peach compote is definitely what made the dish, although the berry drizzle was tasty as well. Both were made with local and in-season fruit so it’s pretty hard to go wrong there.

Sam and I settled in for a lazy morning of Netflix (we’re watching Stranger Things - second watch for me, first time for Sam!). By 11 I had to admit to myself that I really needed to get my ass to the gym, even though it was still miserable outside. I moaned and groaned at Sam (he had gone the night before and wouldn’t be accompanying me) but eventually got my ass into gear. I was curious: I’ve been eating plant-based for, you know, a whole two and a half days now. Would I have more energy at the gym? Would I just be able to sense the power of a thousand vegetables coursing through my veins on the treadmill?

The answer: NOPE. I actually felt a bit more winded than usual which, of course, set off an anxiety thought spiral in my brain. Damn it. Maybe this diet isn’t actually good for me. Am I not getting enough protein? People always harass vegans about their protein, maybe it’s a legitimate concern!

I made it through my workout perfectly fine, though, just a little more tired than usual. I trudged home and showered, and then Sam and I had leftover spinach-mushroom burritos and salad for lunch. The weather still sucked and we didn’t have any plans, so we watched some more Netflix but eventually split up to do our own things. I wanted to read more of Dr. G’s How Not to Die book. It was a huge book, after all, and the clock was ticking on my library loan. I settled in but was having some trouble focusing. I just felt tired. Again I had the thought that maybe this diet wasn’t actually for me. That I wasn’t getting enough or x or y since making this switch a few days ago. I stood up and eyed our pantry shelves. I grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and ate them, but that didn’t feel quite satisfying (go figure). I noticed the giant container of unsalted roasted almonds I’d bought the day before and decided to take the plunge and open them up. I’m used to eating nuts from those giant mixed nuts containers you get at the grocery store, the ones where even the “33% LESS sodium!!!” version is still salty as hell. So I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly when I tried these unsalted almonds, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I actually like the taste of almonds when it’s not completely masked by salt. I grabbed a handful and then went to the fridge and got a handful of blueberries. They tasted amazing together. I happily settled back into my chair and felt myself perking up like a wilted plant that had been watered. By the time Sam came upstairs maybe half an hour later, the clouds had lifted outside and in my brain. We went for a walk. I suddenly felt more energetic than I’d felt all day. Maybe it had just been the dreary weather bringing me down.

We returned home and decided that for the first time, we would try the Monster expansion pack of our beloved Harry Potter tabletop game. It took a long time just to set it up and try to figure out all of the new rules. We then decided to get dinner prepped because it would need some simmering time on the stove: it was gumbo night, y’all! I was excited because I love the flavor profile of Cajun/Creole cuisine. It was pretty easy to prep. Some chopped onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic went into our Dutch oven with one cup of the homemade veggie broth I’d made the other day. I quickly thawed out the frozen okra in a separate small saucepot and eventually that went into the Dutch oven too with some diced tomatoes (BPA-free, thank you very much~), diced zucchini, and lots of delicious seasoning. We then added quite a bit of broth - everything that was left of the batch I’d made. It was a really nice, thick broth since I had pulverized all of the veggies the water had steeped in. We brought everything to a boil, threw in a can of red kidney beans (not BPA-free, alas), and simmered the gumbo for about half an hour. When it was done, we served it over brown rice, per Dr. G’s suggestion.

Here’s a little pot action before we added in all of the broth and the beans:

And here’s the finished product:

The verdict?? SO GOOD! I loved it and actually got seconds. Sam liked it too; I don’t think he loved it quite as much as I did but then I’ve always been a bigger lover of Cajun food. Dr. G. claims his recipe makes four 1.25 cup servings, but it honestly made WAY more than that for us. I feel like his math was off... like, he accounted for the 6 cups of broth but not the fact that there were a ton of veggies and beans added in to the pot as well?? Not to mention the brown rice. But I’m not complaining, because I love the way it turned out, and it’ll be lunch for the next couple of days now. Oh, and I did salt the veggies a little bit when they were first steaming in the Dutch oven, and our Cajun-free seasoning was definitely NOT salt-free (salt is actually the first ingredient, lawl ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), so I’m sure that helped a bit.

I think that’s really all there is to report! Other than the fact that we went back to our Harry Potter game after dinner and failed miserably. The creatures/villains completely murdered us on round 1. Oh well. Another day maybe...

Cheers to what I think might be my shortest blog post yet. See you tomorrow!

Gadget rec of the day: an electric griddle! We use it almost every weekend. Definitely had to wipe a trace coating of bacon grease from it today though... It’s a lifesaver for us especially since we have such a lousy stove.

Music rec of the day: (Nothing But) Flowers by the Talking Heads

#food #foodblog #foodblogging #veganfood #plantbased #wholefoods #eatingplants

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meatismurderbutalsodelicious · 5 years ago

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How to Stock Your Pantry for the Semi-Apocalypse*

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for many of my friends in the United States, what with the pestilence, the lack of leadership, the hoarding in the supermarkets, and it’s not even the post-Apocalyptic dystopian future we were promised.

However, what’s been slowly creeping into my Facebook feed of late are the first hints of food boredom.

Even those who can afford to order in their favorite Chinese or Mexican, those menus are getting a bit long in the tooth. What once was an “every couple of weeks” guilty pleasure of General Tsao’s chicken, “special” fried rice and a bottle of your favorite twist-off cap Shiraz has lost its charm.

Anyone who follows my Instagram account knows that nothing comes between me, food and cocktails. I’m the guy who when answering the questionnaire at a new doctor’s office warily counters the “how many alcoholic drinks do you have a week” inquiry with a defensive, “Why do you need to know?”

“I hear you like to cook?” I’m often asked when being introduced to new friends and colleagues and my go-to answer is, “Yes, but I prefer to eat.”

And that’s why I cook. I wish I could say I find cooking to be this relaxing past-time, where I spend anywhere from 15-minutes to several hours whipping up a quick pasta sauce or creating a complex Indian curry, listening to Adelle or Carly Simon—a glass of Muscadet in hand. But, no. Cooking, for me, is an ordeal and a means to an end.

Homemade beef pho broth.

But that’s doesn’t mean it can’t be somewhat enjoyable; your food doesn’t have to be predictable or monotonous. And, if you’re going to be confined to your home for three to four weeks, this is where you have to improvise, to grab the whisk by the handle and make the magic happen.

The Basics

First, if you’re entering week three of isolation and it’s time to hit the markets, let’s think smart and make sure your fridge and pantry are stocked with the vitals. If you have food allergies or adopted a lifestyle that has dietary restrictions, please, swap out as needed.

Some of you have been furloughed or lost your jobs, so this is a reasonably priced list offering staples that will last a long time and give days, if not weeks, and in some cases, months of value. Buy what you feel is necessary. As Stephen Casuto, host and creator of one of my favorite cooking shows, Not Another Cooking Show, says, “You, do you.”

“Table salt is disgusting and should only be used for rubbing into the wounds of your enemies.”

The Carbs:

Pasta — enough for at least six meals for two people with leftovers, or three meals for four people (spaghetti/linguini and some kind of tube or macaroni—rotini, fusilli. etc.)

Rice — My old standby is Jasmine rice. Prepared properly it can be used in all kinds of dishes—plain, Mexican, Spanish, Asian, Indian, Italian.

The Vegetables:

Potatoes—Technically, a carb, but, hey. Both waxy (Yuko Golds, Red Bliss or similar) and floury (Idaho, Russet or similar). Keep in a cool, dry drawer, these can last for weeks if stored properly.

Preparing the base for a Pasta Fagioli soup.

Carrots—Large ones with their greens preferred, but if the hoarders have bought all those, then freakish manicured baby carrots.

Tomatoes—firm, preferably on the vine and not quite ripe yet. Only get about four to six so you will use them and they won’t rot and go to waste. Great for sandwiches, avocado toast, chopped into an omelet.

Onions—Yellow and Red (Yellow for most of the sauteeing and cooking you’re going to do, and red for fresh salads, sandwiches, and salsas)

Garlic—Two to three decent-sized bulbs, stored with the onions and potatoes. (Remember: Warm and humid makes your garlic and onions grow into stinky house plants.)

The easy and delicious weekday sauce.

Peppers—Depending on what you love or what you can tolerate, get at least two bell peppers or Italian green peppers, maybe a handful of hot red birdseye chillis, or some habaneros. These will add color and sparkle to everything from a salad to some scrambled eggs.

Celery—I’m of two minds when it comes to celery. First, it’s a vital part of mirepoix, that magical combination of onions, carrots, and celery that’s the basis of most Western soups and stews. But, unless you’re on a rabbit diet, people tend to buy it, use less than half a bunch in one minestrone soup then end up chucking the rest away. But, hey, you’re the cook.

Herbs—Get the dried kind out of desperation: bay leaves, oregano, thyme, rosemary. But, always get fresh parsley and basil.

Dried Goods:

Flour—White, all-purpose flour and Cornmeal (making cornbread for breakfast is a simple warm treat. Everyone should be able to cook this from scratch).

Thickeners—Corn starch, potato starch; I recently discovered xanthan gum and if you’re one of those folks taken by “molecular gastronomy” or food as a science project, this is one of the weirder thickening agents on the market.

Cornbread can be made in less than an hour.

Leavening Agents—Baking soda and baking powder. (Unless you’ve decided you really love baking artisanal bread, you really don’t need yeast).

Salt—Preferably sea salt, or kosher salt. Remember different salts have different salinities, so a “pinch” of pink Himalayan salt is less salty than a similar size “pinch” of Morton’s Table Salt, which, by the way, is disgusting and should only be used for rubbing into the wounds of your enemies. So, get a salt that fits your budget, your health needs, and your personal flavor profile. I prefer sea salts, they have a richness I like and I feel I can control seasoning better.

Pepper—Black peppercorns, of course, but nothing beats having a box or container of white pepper. It’s got a completely different flavor profile than black pepper and adds a wonderful heat to everything from mashed potatoes to cream soups.

Eggs and Dairy

Milk—If you’re lactose intolerant or vegan/vegetarian you can substitute soy milk or your favorite substitute here, but not almond milk because that shit is a ripoff and is killing the planet.

Cream—You will want this for mashed potatoes and to thicken some sauces.

Butter—Always buy Kerrygold Irish Butter, salted and unsalted. It’s the best butter out there. Fight me.

Making a chicken curry from scratch

Plain Yogurt—I prefer Greek yogurt myself. It’s handy to have around and a great way to add richness to a baked item if you only have low-fat milk or to make a quick fresh fruit breakfast.

Cheese—If you must, get a bag of shredded cheddar and a bag of “parmesan”. Cheeses are personal taste, I love fatty, creamy, stinky cheeses, but, honestly, they don’t last long and they are an extravagance for many people at this time. So, get what you like, but make sure you at least have a nice chunk of quality cheddar or similar cheese around.

Eggs—A dozen, big ones. Free-range if you feel guilty.

This Singapore-style laksa is easy and quick.

A Bit of the Sweet

Sugar—Processed sugar is evil. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, always have some handy. It’s great to throw a tablespoon into a tomato-based sauce to offset the acidity. And there is nothing like a lovely stack of homemade pancakes covered in melted butter, a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Brown Sugar—Less sweet, a little smokey and great for Asian broths that ask for processed sugar. And, it’s “good” for you because, you know, it’s not processed.

Maple Syrup—For pancakes and French Toast.

Condiments:

Ketchup—Whatever you like. Though raised on American Heinz ketchup, I prefer the British brands that tend to use a little more vinegar, but that is an acquired taste.

Mayonaise—The magical base for so many different dressings and sauces. Yes, I will sit down with a plate of french fries or steak-cut chips and a cup of mayo and just go to town on that. Also, dipping cold, boiled chicken that’s torn into strips and wrapped in chilled, crisp iceberg lettuce into mayo while drinking a dry white wine on a hot summer’s day is one of God’s little miracles.

Fried halloumi cheese on a run of the mill avocado toast makes it better.

Mustard—Go ahead, buy French’s American Mustard in a squeeze jar. I don’t judge. But, please get some good Dijon Mustard, and some English Mustard, wet or the powder, is really handy to have for extra punch.

Vinegar—Plain old white vinegar if you're on a budget, but red wine, is also good. Italian balsamic if you want to live large, but I find a bottle of Japanese rice wine vinegar is the perfect all-rounder.

Hot sauce—Tobasco and Siraccha are my go-to faves, but you know what you like.

Olive Oil—Get Extra-Virgin and plain. the EVOO is great for both cooking and for finishing dishes and for cold dressings and sauces. Plain olive oil is great for adding flavor to simple fried sauces and dishes.

Vegetable Oil—A good neutral oil is Canola. It won’t kill you.

Prepared Foods

Canned Goods—at least one can of each: chickpeas, black beans, and kidney beans. Also, a can of mushrooms and a couple of cans of diced green chillis. Two to three 24-ounce cans of Italian tomatoes, with our without basil.

Frozen vegetables—A package of corn and a package of peas. One package of mixed vegetables for making quick healthy soups.

Broths and stocks—Beef, chicken, and vegetable. Fish stock for the more adventurous. (If you haven’t had sliced potatoes slow-cooked in fish stock, I totally recommend it, simple and delicious.) I always buy low-sodium because my body is, like, you know, a temple. 🙄

Actually, always try to purchase low sodium processed foods, that gives you, the cook, more power over the seasoning of your meals.

Thai beef soup with beef balls.

Now, you’re thinking, why is this guy torturing us with pictures of beautiful, exotic home-cooked meals? Why are so many of the “basics” not as exciting as the final products?

That’s because now is the time to get what I’ll call…

The New Basics

You’ve hit the local Vons, or Trader Joe’s, Publix or Wegman’s; you’ve emptied your wallet at Whole Foods and Kroeger, now let’s get some real food. Head down to your local Asian supermarket, or your local South American/Mexican supermarket, because this is where it gets interesting.

The Carbs:

Noodles—From Japanese soba, udon and Hokkaido (ramen) noodles to the long, translucent Vietnamese and Thai rice noodles to the tightly wound, sometimes flavored Chinese noodle nests, most of these keep a long time in a dry cool place and they cook quickly offering alternative tastes and textures.

The Vegetables:

Fresh Ginger Root—it’s ugly and essential, but it can change the flavor of everything from a simple broth to a quick scrambled egg into a culinary adventure. No, don’t peel it with a spoon, that’s silly. Just use a sharp knife on the extraneous knobbly bits and then use a vegetable peeler like a normal person. Honestly, I see the YouTube chefs wrestling with a chunk of ginger and a tablespoon and I just shake my head.

Choy Sum and/or Bak Choy—Definitely hunt these down at the Asian grocer. They stay fresh longer in a good vegetable crisper in your fridge; they’re easy to clean and prepare and cook very quickly.

Chayote—A green, waxy squash that is like a more flavorful cucumber, with a great texture. Add it to all your veggie soups, or saute it with some garlic. Just handy. And keeps in the fridge for a long time.

Condiments:

Soy sauce—Get both kinds, dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. The difference isn’t the color, it’s the viscosity and the flavor. Dark soy sauce is actually somewhat sweet, unctuous and thick and adds deep rich flavors to stews, soups, and sauces. Soy sauce is a nice alternative to just seasoning with salt. Get low sodium, if dietary restrictions are in place, but you don’t really need to use too much, so, I always go with regular.

Chili Oils/Pastes—Much like the fresh peppers, this is all about personal taste. I love spicy food, but I’m not a fan of heat for heat’s sake. So, no a jalapeno margarita where I can’t taste anything or feel my lips is not a great culinary experience. Still, always have these little miracle jars handy, you control the heat by how much or how little you add to the dish you’re preparing. My three faves are traditional Chinese chili garlic sauce, Chiu Chow chili oil, and Calabrian chili oil.

Vinegar — Plain old white vinegar if you’re on a budget, but red wine, is also good. Italian balsamic if you want to live large, but I find a bottle of Japanese rice wine vinegar is the perfect all-rounder.

Fish sauce—Don’t let the name and smell deter you, a spoonful of this elixir in a soup or dressing adds a lovely saltiness and brightness.

Sesame Oil—Plain or toasted. This is for flavor only, really. You can add it to dressings, or add it to vegetable oil when sauteeing, but you can’t cook with it because it burns very quickly; that said, it gives a great depth of flavor to any dish you add it to.

Frozen Foods:

Dumplings—Either factory-made or handmade, Asian dumplings are inexpensive, delicious and easy to prepare. Beef, pork, shrimp, and vegetable or a combination of two or more fillings are always available. Korean dumplings tend to be larger. Wontons are light and mostly shrimp or shrimp and pork. If you’re lucky to have a vibrant Asian community, find the “Mom and Pop” store that makes both noodles and dumplings. Fresh dumplings are usually packed with a light dusting of corn or potato starch so they can be easily frozen.

Asian-style meatballs—OK, now these have a texture that takes a little getting used to, but they are packed with protein and flavor and cook up in seconds in a frying pan or in a soup. Pork, beef, and shrimp are the most popular. I love them and find they really make a noodle soup a quick, but truly satisfying meal.

Canned Goods:

Coconut Milk—From Indian to Thai to Malaysian cuisine, this is mother’s milk. Get a couple of cans.

Peppers—Canned chipotles. Smoked in a flavorful sauce, a little goes a long way here. But you can add these to soups and basic stews to create great depths of heat and flavor.

Okay, now this is by no means a definitive list, but it’s enough I think to give you as many options as you can once you return home and prepare for the next few weeks of personal time.

As you’ve seen, I’ve included links to some of my favorite recipes with the pictures, it’s from these recipes that I reevaluated and changed how I stock my fridge and pantry.

It’s also helped inform my cooking. Bored with cereal and toast, and fried eggs, or scrambled eggs or an omelet with bacon, one morning I created what is now my favorite, flavorful, high protein, yet not too filling breakfast; scrambled eggs and dumplings. It’s my recipe, inspired by other more traditional recipes and the food I had available at the time. It’s what Chef John from the delightful Food Wishes refers to as “that’s just you, cooking.”

The First Recipe

Ingredients:

Three eggs, room temperature, well beaten, preferably in a metal bowl with a whisk

One to two scallions or a half/third of a small yellow onion, finely chopped

One chili pepper (in this case, a Thai green chili), finely chopped.

Four to six frozen Asian dumplings depending on what type

2 Tablespoons — Vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon — Sesame oil

Chiu Chow chili oil or Sriracha

Soy Sauce

Salt

In a small saucepan bring water to a boil. In a small frying pan add your vegetable oil, the onions, and chilis and some salt and turn on the heat.

You want the onions and chilis to cook slowly and sweat, not burn or brown so keep an eye on them and keep stirring.

Now once the vegetables are cooked and the kitchen smells delicious, add a tablespoon of sesame oil into vegetables and lower the heat.

Now, the water should be at a rolling boil. Add the dumplings. I used Korean pork dumplings this morning. They only take three to five minutes to cook. You will know they are done when they float and spin freely in the water.

Now, turn up the heat of the frying pan and add in the eggs, keep stirring and cook the eggs as you like them. Take the eggs off the heat, the residual heat should finish the cooking.

Meanwhile, the dumplings should be cooked. Strain them and place them in the bottom of a bowl. Then scoop over the eggs, finish with a tablespoon or two of soy sauce and the chili sauce of your choosing.

This is a 15-minute breakfast, tops. I hope this was helpful. It’s a trying time for everyone and many of us are fortunate enough to have a roof over our heads that we can cower under. This is an opportunity for reflection, but also to make the most of your family or companions. For those of you living alone, treat yourself to a culinary feast once in a while.

I say cooking is an ordeal, but it’s also a celebration. A chance to be creative and offer comfort, if not for yourself, for the people you live with and love.

Go break an egg.

*This article is the inspiration for this blog and was previously published on Medium.

#eggs #scrambled eggs #dumplings #pantry #fridge #self love

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ketohc · 6 years ago

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Keto Breakfast

Waking up every morning and not having enough time for breakfast? Or thinking of grabbing a quick meal from a food-joint that falls on the way? No. That doesn’t fit in.

Breakfast is said to be the most crucial meal of the day especially for people who are undergoing Ketosis. Reason being, it starts with breaking the fast you were on, the entire night post dinner. Skipping a meal so important is equal to starving yourself, just because you don’t have time. While doing so, you keep your body from utilizing the morning energy, and then slug away later throughout the day, craving for more calories.

Why is it Important to Avoid Missing Your Breakfast?

Here are few valid reasons to consider before depriving your body from the most important meal of the day:

Kick-Starting the Day

Our body understands a simple logic about energy; it can produce it only when it receives food! When you wake up in the morning, after all the routine-bound activities, the next thing to do is eat! Eating breakfast lets the body retain the goodness inside and produce energy to jumpstart the day. The first meal of the day needs to be healthy, even if you prefer it to be light and easy. You are going to consume something after so many hours, so it needs to be decent!

Appetite Supervision

Now imagine not eating in the morning or say just after an hour of waking up. You are out of your house for work or college and then suddenly, the next hour you start feeling hungry and you don’t really find a healthy spot to grab a meal. What do you do? You’ll simply take whatever is available; from snack bars to muffins or sandwiches to burgers. So, you are only stacking calories inside your body. Nope; that’s not good for you.

Mood Lift

Are you cranky in the morning at times? Do you feel like nobody should talk to you, at least for few hours? You might say, you aren’t accustomed to waking up early, and this one day is terrible. But honestly, try eating a healthy breakfast within an hour of waking up and see yourself being jolly throughout the day (of course unless you have reasons to be grumpy)!

Focused

When you skip a meal, you a bound to start feeling hungry. Whether you want to be reminded of not, your body will do the job just right. If your college or job life starts from 9 am and you have already missed your breakfast, staying away till you can sneak-out for a quick munch can get you thinking about food all the time.

Relieve yourself from that misery and just eat!

For a person who is following a Keto-Diet, adhering to certain food related rules, is essential. Morning breakfast being one from the book of rules, skipping it, is never a great idea.

If you can provide your body with fuel on time, it will not crave for anything that is not in your Keto-diet list. But, missing on breakfast might lead to unnecessary craving, for sweet or starchy items.

Eating a Healthy Breakfast – Keto-Diet

A Keto-diet comprises of a low-carb diet plan, encouraging the body to burn fat using the fat that is being consumed. Lowering carb intake for a long time will change the way a body works. In due course, the glycogen level becomes less in the body, helping the liver to produce ketones (made up of our body fat) for energy.

While on a keto-diet, it’s important to make sure you aren’t skipping your breakfast. And, eating healthy, with low-carb and high-fat is a prime motive. But have you ever heard of the bullet-proof coffee? Yes, we are having something as such for your morning menu. If you are bored of eating the same things every morning with little variation, try this bullet-proof coffee to jumpstart your keto-day.

What is a Bullet-proof Coffee?

What if we told you that this coffee is an ideal way to start a day, bringing in more energy to you, keeping you focused throughout the day and helping your brain to function quite effectively? You’d be more curious.

The ingredient to this mug of coffee is very simple and easily available – Coffee, Coconut oil, and Butter. You might want to add in keto-friendly sweetener, if you really want. The amount of fat that it pushes down your body keeps you feeling full for many hours.

The ideal way to make a mug full of bullet-proof coffee is by brewing the coffee first, straining it, and then blending it in high-speed along with butter and coconut oil.

If you are a non-keto dieter

You might be struggling with weight or fat loss and have tried many things to work on that. We suggest you make your breakfast healthier and include dietary-fat to keep your metabolism active.

Keeping your carb intake low in the morning will allow your body to use fat for quick energy that it needs. You can compensate the carbs later in the day.

What can you eat?

Mornings for a non-keto dieter can be filled with Fresh Veggies, Fish with high-fat content, Eggs, Nuts that are rich in omega 3, Avocados and even full-fat Yoghurt.

What Can I Eat for Breakfast on a Keto Diet?

Running short of ideas to make your meals interesting is a drag. We know that. So, here are few recipes that will help you fill your belly and at the same time keep you full for a long time.

Ground Beef and Cauliflower

One decent plate of something you can rely on for a quick breakfast.

Ingredients:

1 Cauliflower (small head, grated)

4 Eggs (large)

450g ground Beef

½ Onion (finely chopped)

2 cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)

½ tsp. Black pepper (fresh crushed)

1 tbsp. Coconut sauce

1 tsp. Fish Sauce

1 tsp. Cumin (ground)

4 Jalapeno (sliced)

¼ cup of Sunflower seeds’ butter

½ Avocado (ripe and diced)

1 tbsp. of Apple cider

1 tbsp. Parsley (finely chopped)

½ cup of water

1 tsp. Salt (Himalayan)

½ cup Mayo

2 tbsp. Clarified Butter

½ cup of Water

Method:

Use a heavy skillet and heat it over the stove on medium-high. When it’s hot, add the clarified butter to the skillet

Add onion, garlic and jalapeno, and soften them by cooking for about 2-3 minutes

Next, add the ground beef along with salt and pepper for seasoning. Cook this till the beef turns brown in colour.

Reduce the flame and add cauliflower. Keep stirring and cooking for about another 2-3 minutes

Meanwhile, whisk the sunflower seed butter, fish sauce, coconut sauce, cumin, mayo and water, well enough to create a nice consistency

Pour this over the cooking skillet and mix well. Cook it for another 4-5 minutes. Then, turn off the stove and keep the skillet aside

Make some space over the meat mixture, and crack each egg inside the spaces

Once done, broil the skillet in the over for at least 8 minutes

By that time, you can mix the apple cider with mayo and pour it over the skillet when out

Lastly, garnish it with the parsley and avocado before spooning it out on your plate.

Broccoli Muffins

Wondering how did muffin make it to this breakfast list? Well you see, there is more to a keto-breakfast than just the normal book you are holding on to. Here is a delicious mould of broccoli muffin, with only about 5g carbs! Too good to accept that it’s for real.

Ingredients:

1 cup of broccoli (finely chopped)

2 cups of Almond flour

2 Eggs (large)

1 cup almond milk (unsweetened)

2 tsp. Yeast (nutritional)

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. Clarified butter

½ tsp. Salt (sea salt preferably)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and start greasing your muffin plate

Combine rest all ingredients in a mixing bowl, well enough

Carefully scoop out the mixture and place it one by one in the muffin digs

Place it in the oven and bake these for about 30 minutes

You can check the muffin by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, your muffins are ready to eat.

Avocado and Salmon

Avocados and Salmons are great fat alternatives. Getting to combine both for a morning breakfast will be a treat. Just grab them, from your refrigerator and make a plate in no time at all; honestly, it barely takes 5 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 Avocado (ripe)

60g Salmon (smoked)

1 Lemon (juice)

30g Goat cheese (soft)

1/3 tsp. salt (sea)

2 tbsp. Extra virgin Olive oil

Method:

Cut the Avocado and de-seed it. Keep it aside

Coarsely grind the rest in a food processor and stuff the hollow in the avocado with this mix

Can I Eat Oatmeal on a Keto Diet?

For people who were used to making a small bowl of porridge for their morning breakfast, skipping Oats is a turn-off. Oatmeal is high in carb and cannot fit in the Keto-diet that one is following. However, a low-carb oatmeal is what people are switching to these days. And what more can you ask for, when it saves you so much time in the morning.

This easy recipe will make you happy about the fact that you won’t miss eating porridge anymore!

Ingredients:

1 cup of Almond milk (unsweetened)

1 tsp. of Flax-meal

1 tbsp. of Coconut-flakes

1 tbsp. of Chia-seeds

½ cup of Hemp-hearts

1 tsp. of Cinnamon (powder)

1 tbsp. Coconut oil with added low-calorie sweetener

Ingredients:

Take a sauce pan and combine everything together. And then, mix well

Put it on stove and keep stirring occasionally on simmer

Once done, keep it aside for some time and then garnish with your choice of nuts or berries

With this recipe in your breakfast menu, you’ll consume about 44g Fat and 17g carbohydrates.

How about Eggs?

They are cheap and easily available item and are healthy after all. Before you buy an egg, check if these are cage-farmed or organic ones.

What’s the difference?

Unlike the organic ones, caged chickens go through a pathetic living condition and are injected with hormones to promote fast growth. These aren’t as healthy as the organic eggs.

If you can find organic eggs, there is nothing better than these little powerhouses for a morning start-up.

Top Low-Carb Egg Breakfasts

Here are few more recipes for you using eggs. These are easy, hassle-free and low-carb (majorly), so there is no way you are compromising on the taste.

Breakfast Eggs

As easy as it sounds, making breakfast eggs is cake walk.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs (large)

1 tbsp. of Butter

1 tbsp. of Coconut oil

Method:

On a frying pan, add the coconut oil

Once it heats, crack the eggs and let it cook for about 2 minutes

Add butter over this and cook as per your liking

Bacon and Eggs

If you’re up early and want to make a nice full-place breakfast, try the Bacon and eggs recipe that serves two people. It won’t take a lot of time though; however, you might think that anything that requires cooking is not helpful in the morning. But when you know that you’ll save so many hunger pangs and cravings throughout the day, you might give this a second thought.

Ingredients:

140g Bacon

4 Eggs (large)

2 Avocados (de-seeded)

1 Bell Pepper (green preferably)

2 tbsp. Walnut (cracked)

2 tbsp. Butter (for frying)

1 tbsp. Spring onions (finely chopped)

26g Lettuce (arugula) – for serving

2 tbsp. Olive Oil – For serving

Method:

Add butter to the pan on medium heat, and then fry the bacon. Once done, take them off and keep aside

In the same oil and bacon fat, fry the eggs over medium to low flame

Prepare a nice plate with all the ingredients as per you liking

You can drizzle any remaining fat from the pan over your plate

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Baked Eggs

This is one perfect breakfast for anyone who would love to eat less variety in a plate but would also want a little more than just eggs. Moreover, it’s totally baked, so you won’t even have to spend a lot of time making it; plus, you can utilize your left-over meat too!

Just turn your oven On and, go do your stuff. You’ll have your breakfast ready in 15 minutes!

Ingredients:

85g Beef (ground; pork or lamb too would work just fine)

2 Eggs (large)

56g Cheese (as per your keto-list – shredded)

Method:

When you have everything ready, preheat your oven to 400°F

Prepare a baking dish by spreading the ground beef. Make some holes for the eggs to sit, and then crack them into those holes

Grate the cheese over the mixture

Plate the baking plate in the oven for about 15 minutes

Keep it aside to cool and then serve with anything you want

Egg and Spinach Frittata

This one recipe is to go gaga over. The amazing blend of spinach, eggs, veggies and bacon looks like a small world in a plate. Here is an easy recipe for you to try out for your Keto-Breakfast.

Ingredients:

35g Bacon (diced)

56g Spinach (fresh)

2 Eggs (large)

35g Cheese (shredded)

½ tbsp. of Butter (for frying)

¼ cup of Whipped cream (heavy)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Ingredients:

Preheat your oven to 350°F

Put a put on the stove and fry the bacon in butter until you see a crispy texture. Add the Spinach and let it lose water. Take it off the stove and keep this aside

Grease a baking dish. Put both eggs and cream in a bowl and whisk nicely, then pour it into the dish

Add the spinach and bacon as well over this and place it inside the oven. Let this bake for 20-25 minutes, till you see a golden-brown colour on the top of the frittata

With the given recipes, you have much to add in your breakfast menu now. Check out more from the share recipes and discover new ways of making your first meals of the day, interesting. Skipping it is not going to be an option anymore, given the time you’ll need to prepare a plate.

At least making yourself a delicious mug-filled bullet-proof coffee and carrying it along with you, sipping while on your way, is an add on. Don’t forget that!

References

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes

https://blog.bulletproof.com/keto-breakfast-recipes-easy-1c2b2g3c/

https://blog.paleohacks.com/keto-breakfast-recipes/

https://www.kidneyinternational-online.org/article/S0085-2538(15)57836-8/abstract

https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/9265974

https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/717451

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/102/6/1358.short

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1528-1157.1992.tb01770.x

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ana.20062