In the Kitchen: Arroz com Castanha de Caju

 

A few weeks ago our friends invited us to this great seafood restaurant called Bangalo in Barra da Tijuca. We ordered their most popular dish baked octopus which was fantastic, but it was the cashew rice or arroz com castanha de caju with prawns that really won me over. It was amazing, full of different flavors and I loved the crunch from the cashew nuts. The rice was also seeped in a red buttery jus and it was lovely, but I imagine not very healthy.

   

I've been thinking of that rice ever since and the other night I decided to create my own heart healthy version served with a light squid stir fry. Serves 4 diabetic portions of 1/2 cup each. 

Arroz com Castanha de Caju

1tbs olive oil or coconut oil

1 fish bouillon cube (vegetable works just fine too)

1 cup of wholegrain brown rice

2 cups of water

1/4 cup of fresh cilantro

paprika

salt & pepper

1/2 yellow onion roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1/2 cup roasted unsalted crushed cashews

Heat up the oil and gently stir fry your onion and garlic until soft. Add the rice and toss it around so that it's nicely coated in oil and mixed in with the garlic and onions. Let it toast for a few minutes until it starts browning a little, then add the water and bouillon cube. We have strong concentrated bouillon cubes here and for me, one is more than enough. If yours is a bit weaker than double up. Let the water come to a boil, then reduce down to a simmer and cover. Leave for about 15-20 minutes or until rice is fully cooked and liquid absorbed.

 

Once your rice is cooked, give it a taste to see if it needs any salt and pepper. Add the coriander and cashew nuts just before you are about to serve. 

 

Squid stir fry with vegetables

olive oil or coconut oil (I used olive oil butter here)

1 1/2 cups of chopped squid (for vegetarians substitute with firm tofu, seitan, etc.)

1 red chili minced

1 garlic clove minced

1 red onion thinly sliced

1 large red bell pepper thinly sliced

ground coriander

ground cumin

ground paprika

Heat up a large frying pan or wok with a bit of oil and sautee your onions on medium heat. When the onions begin to soften, add the garlic and chili and cook for a few minutes. Then add your red bell pepper and season with salt and pepper. When the red peppers start to break down, remove all your veggies from pan and set aside.

 

Using the same pan, add a couple tablespoons of oil and start sauteeing your squid. Add a generous dash of paprika, coriander and cumin. Squid will release a lot of water whilst cooking, so cook on a medium to high heat. Squid cooks quickly too, so keep a close eye on the texture and color. They will start changing from translucent to white as they cook and you want it to be slightly firm, but not tight, hard and chewy.

When the squid is almost finished, toss back in your cooked veggies and reheat along with the squid until fully cooked. This meal was a success and the rice delicious. And we gobbled up all of the rice between the two of us. Doh!

Fun reads for this post:

Tips on preparing and cooking whole squid

Apparently all cashews are cooked, even raw ones, because the shell is super poisonous!

Hidden Food Sensitivities?

potential allergens: wheat, gluten, yeast, eggs

Did you know that you could have a hidden food sensitivity and not know it? You could be consuming the food on a daily basis and it's silently causing damage to your insides without obvious signals. The adverse reaction can be so subtle and so gradual you don't realize it's happening or that it's linked to your favorite snack. Sometimes it takes a general elimination diet to discover a food sensitivity or intolerance, which I think I've discovered whilst on the Kris Carr Cleansing Detox. Here's what happened.

So the first few days were hard; however, after the first week I felt great. I loved waking up everyday with lots of energy and noticeable brain clarity, which was due to good food but also the absence of alcohol. However, towards the end a few things happened that really surprised me...

potential allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, yeast, tomatoes, peppers

About 2 and half weeks in I started to crave seafood, especially salmon. I missed my fish and shrimp dinners and it was a challenge to come up with vegan alternatives. Hub was not detoxing with me but he eats what I make and will not settle for beans and brown rice. I had to create meals that would satisfy his palette (mine too) and man stomach. Beans were helpful and I loved my spicy black bean burgers, but it's hard to get creative every night. So I relied heavily on nuts for protein and I ended up lowering my daily intake of protein. I felt like my body was sending me signals and it felt important to listen to my body. So I caved and ate a bit of fish and shrimp.

potential allergens: gluten (gravy), dairy (butter in mash)

I also mistakenly ate a bunch of other food groups the same week and BOOM! I broke out in an eczema rash on my elbows, armpits and lips. I also noticed a dull pain in my knuckles and I broke out on my back shoulders. I haven't had back acne since I was 16! I suspect that something I ate was causing this reaction because I hadn't changed anything in my routine except my diet. And this is why all detox diets tell you to reintroduce one food group at a time in order to monitor any adverse reactions.

potential allergens: nightshade vegetables

This detox was far more challenging then the Dr. Joshi cleanse, but it was so rewarding and I feel like I've discovered something in the process. Check out Kris Carr's website and books for info and if you suffer from any of these chronic symptoms, you might want to see if you have a hidden food allergy. I've been in touch with an American allergist and a Brazilian nutritionist who have both advise that I continue with the elimination diet, but this time reintroduce the foods properly so that I might have a better idea of what I'm reacting to. I'm currently mustering up the energy to go on the cleanse again, but my fear is that it might be peanuts or tree nuts, mangoes, citrus fruits or shellfish. 

potential allergens: shellfish, citrus fruits, tomatoes

Interesting reads for this post:  

Dr. Mark Hyman's elimination diet plan featured on Dr. Oz

The DL on elimination diets and the different kinds

I'm know I'm a big fan of self-medicating and speculating, but here's how to diagnose a food allergy properly.

My First Carnaval

I'm sorry to tell you this diary, but I did not enjoy Carnaval in Rio for many reasons. I will admit that I had reservations about it beforehand based on the overall negative feedback I received from friends. But I was really hoping to be pleasantly surprised by my first experience, but sadly it was not so.

I feel like there are two sides of Carnaval and to be honest I only experienced one of them. There's the grand Sambradrome parade with its beautiful costumes and elaborate floats and the Champions League, which was highly recommended. I did not look into tickets because it was expensive and it wouldn't be fun without Hub. He ditched me for the UK, but in his defense he was breaking the World Record for the largest Samba band.

The other side of Carnaval are the street parties, aka blocos, that take place all over the city. They are organized by bands with occasional themes like Mustache Parade or Smurfs. Most of our friends skipped town for Carnaval, as do most Cariocas I'm told, but I did manage to find some friends willing to venture out. The blocos reminded me a lot of the Notting Hill Carnival in London, but with crowds of exceedingly drunk people and many of them really young. 

So it's a parade of people trailing a moving samba band that plays one tune. That's right, the band plays one song over and over again until you can memorize it. And to be frank it's not my kind of music. It's loud and tiresome, not romantic and soulful like Jorge Ben, which is what I was hoping for. Here's a sample of the music from a pre-Carnaval party Hub and I went to. We also captured a close up of the famous Samba footwork. Pardon the up-close booty shot.

We pretty much stayed locally in Ipanema and Leblon, where I was staying. I was kicked out of my flat, so I crashed with friends in the ritzy part of town. I had heard great reviews about blocos in other neighborhoods, but it was a hassle to get to them. Everyone recommended the Santa Teresa bloco which had the best costumes, but you had to get there by 7am. Otherwise it would be too crowded to get in and I wondered how good can this block party be? I don't like being squished and I don't like getting up at 5:30am for anything. I wanted to check out Bloco do Sargento Pimenta, yes sir Beatles songs, but it was in Flamengo. This neighborhood isn't far, just a 20 minute bus ride away, but during Carnaval it's impossible to get on a bus or find a taxi at night. On a few occasions I had to walk home late at night, which really sucked. Luckily I got home safe every time, but let me tell you that Carnaval is not safe.

  

All my friends warned me of the dangers lurking in blocos and they told me to not take a purse, my phone or camera, to take only a little bit of money and to keep it in my bra. The blocos get so crowded, it's hard to avoid the thieves wondering about. My friend Shanna's purse was sliced open once and she didn't realize it had happened until much later. How scary is that? The thing that's so unnerving is that people get robbed at knife or gun point here. I felt really unsafe over Carnaval and the real kicker was actually watching a sketch guy reach for his hidden knife.

I do feel like I missed out on some great party happening somewhere with good music and good people, similar to my experience at Pedra do Sal. However, overall the festival felt like one big college party and I would have enjoyed it if I was single, in my early 20s, and with my single girl party posse. But I no longer feel flattered when men persistently hit on me, I only feel annoyed and longing for my husband. Perhaps next year will be better, maybe it was just not my year for Carnaval.

In the Kitchen: Raw Almond Milk

It is unbelievably easy to make delicious nut milks. I never knew, but it also never occurred to me to make my own because I've always enjoyed my store bought brands. That is until I moved to Rio. I love unsweetened soy and nut milks and they have a lovely subtle sweetness that I'm used to, but searching for unsweetened non-dairy milk has been an expedition without success. Most grocery stores offer soy milk, but ALL are sweetened with either sugar or an artificial sweetener like cellulose. Fake sugars are really unhealthy, so I try to avoid them as much as possible.

Ooh and don't get me started on the almond milk. So far I've found one brand of nut milk, Mandorlat almond milk, but it's so unnatural it's scary. It's made from water and almond SYRUP and then a bunch of additives. I mean...what? I found rice milk at my local organic shop and I swear I didn't see any sweeteners in the list of ingredients. But when I tried it, it was sooo sickly sweet it had to have had sugar. Tasted great in my coffee though.

Fortunately this experience has encouraged me to try something new and one of my favorite things to make is homemade raw almond milk. And it's crazy easy, the steps are soak, blend, and strain.

Ingredients 

• 300 grams of plain raw almonds
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1. Soak

Put your almonds in container and completely submerge them in water with a few extra inches above. You can soak your almonds overnight or up to 48hrs and the longer you soak, the creamier the milk. 

2. Blend

Once you're done soaking, strain the almonds and rinse them in clean water. Put them into your blender and fill with 3 1/2 cups of fresh water. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon then blend baby blend. The milk tastes great on it's own, but I love adding cinnamon and vanilla for a bit natural sweetness.

 

3. Strain

Now you want to strain the almond meal from the milk and there are multiple ways of doing this. The easiest/quickest method is to filter the milk through a cheese cloth. I don't have one so I use a spoon and a fine strainer and that works perfectly, just takes longer. Regardless of the method, make sure to squeeze as much of the liquid out of the almond meal.

BOOM! Almond milk done and it's sweet, creamy and natural goodness. There's also delish almond meal leftover that you can bake with, snack on or throw back into milk shakes for protein and good fat. The milk will last in the fridge for about 3-4 days and it's natural for a little separation to occur, just give it a stir before consuming. I love making breakfast shakes with it and a diabetic nutritionist told me that my morning staple was a healthy and balanced breakfast. Here's my favorite recipe:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 banana
• 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon of linseeds (chia or flaxseed are excellent too)

Great Reads for this post:
Health benefits of almond milk
7 Good reasons to say bye bye to cow's milk