Culinary Torture

Ger-bean's post on pancake dips got me thinking. I'll try almost any food once. Sometimes twice, just make sure I really didn't like it. And some foods which I really don't like, I'll keep trying once a year or so just see if I have developed a taste ---because they look like such fun to eat (pickles comes to mind.) But there are a few that I've learned to approach with caution. I'm going to describe one that probably should have a warning label on it, and then offer a cool fast-food-health recipe I've had success with of late.

My first experience with Ethiopian food was what Ger-beans technique reminded me of. We took the chilipeppers out for dinner once when they were about 4 and 6 and sat down to a feast at a little family run Ethiopian place painted in Jamaican hues. We were seated on the floor and the meal came out on a low table. You ate everything with your hands and rolled or picked up the courses with pieces of injera, a type of Ethiopian sponge bread. I should have reflected a bit more on the meaning of "sponge" in this equation. The food was excellent, I was starving, I scooped stuff up left and right, each encased in a little wrapper of sponge bread torn off from huge pancakes of the stuff. And then I was full. As I patted my tummy and leaned back with a silly grin, something odd started happening. The sponge bread in my tummy was just getting started. Through no additional intake on my part, I started feeling even MORE full. And it just kept expanding until I was really hurt'in and wondering if this was going to be like that episode in the first Alien movie. And it took a few hours to get back to simply feeling full -vs- ready to pop!

Now, for a safer adventure, here's a very healthy little recipe that takes less than 5 minutes to make.

1. Brown rice. Uncle Ben has some instant/pre-cooked stuff that you just nuke for 45 seconds.
2. Can of Black Beans. Healthier than Pinto.
3. Package of 4 Mexican Cheeses shredded. Low fat.
4. Egg
5. Salsa
6. Optional whole wheat tortilla, sour cream or guacamole

Put the egg in a small bowl or cup and nuke it for 60 seconds after poking the yoke so it doesn't explode.

Mix the rice and beans and nuke for 1 1/2 minutes, then dump cheese on top and nuke for another 30 seconds.

Take it out and top with egg and salsa.

You can eat it right out of the bowl then, or mix it all up and spoon some on a tortilla and put on a splat of sour-cream.

It's very filling, high protein, high fiber, low calories and, unlike the injera, you won't get much fuller than you are when you stop.