No major cooking today, just the usual blanching of kale (red kale this week) and drying a batch of beef jerky. When I move, my dehydrator will be stored at my dad’s house (surprise Dad!), so I am making jerky as often as possible until then! Homemade beef jerky is incredible - whenever I share it with people, they always want more! I also make turkey jerky, but I need to fine-tune that recipe before it is fit for public viewing. Here is the beef jerky recipe:

Beef Jerky (makes approximately 50-60 4-5 inch long pieces)

Ingredients:

1 kg (2 lbs) ground beef

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp cayenne pepper



Directions:

1) Mix spices together.

2) Add to meat and mix thoroughly.

3) Load meat into jerky gun and extrude onto dehydrator trays in strips.

4) Dry at 155 degrees F for 1 or 2 hours, then blot with a paper towel to remove oil.

5) Turn strips over and continue drying for about 2-3 more hours, blotting as needed.

6) Strips are done when they splinter when bent, but don’t quite break.

7) Store in Ziploc bag in fridge for about 1 to 2 weeks.

A dehydrator is a great tool for any type to make compliant, portable snacks. I have mostly used it for jerky, but I would like to dry more fruit or even make fruit rollups. I love dried mango, so I think that will be something to take a crack at. This could be dangerous, as I am not good at eating anything that I like that much in moderation…

I had some extra ground beef, so I formed it into a hamburger patty and will cook that up for dinner. I love burgers, but I don’t usually eat them on a bun. I have the occasional Ezekiel bun at my boyfriend’s house, but I can’t keep any in my house because I will end up eating them all! I don’t have a noticeably severe reaction, but I do feel sluggish (and my waistline suffers) if I eat them too often, and I am convinced that grains are not an optimal food for me.

Despite all the discussion about whether Ezekiel bread is OK for O-nons, I am still not entirely clear what the status is. The only questionable ingredient is malted barley, but I wonder if that is different from barley malt (avoid). According to Merriam-Webster Online (www.m-w.com), malt is “grain (as barley) softened by steeping in water, allowed to germinate, and used especially in brewing and distilling”. This provides a nice loophole for me to think that malt is similar to sprouted barley, which is neutral… OK, I know this is reaching! Does anyone (Dr. D?) want to chime in and give malted barley an iron-clad avoid label for me?

Anyway, on Friday I was browsing the Whole Foods bread section for the first time ever (on behalf of my type A boyfriend) and found some (almost) compliant kamut and flaxseed buns! I like kamut! I like flaxseed! The only avoid ingredients are honey and sunflower oil, both lower down on the ingredient list. So, I bought a package to try and had one yesterday. They are very yummy, but a little too soft and sweet for hamburger buns. I have no really yearning for actual bread (just something to put a burger on), so I am relieved, since if they were fantastic I would probably have an issue not eating them too much…

As you may be able to tell by now, I am an “all or nothing” person, so my success on the BTD depends on accepting that there are some foods that I simply cannot include in my life. Ever. This defies the claims of most mainstream health “experts”, who insist that one can eat anything (in moderation), even fast food, junk food, and non-food (ie: xanthan gum, Splenda, etc) and still be healthy, thin, and energetic. However, there is more than one type of person and that one-size-fits-all advice just doesn’t work for me. I admire those who can truly enjoy moderation – I think they are rarer than most of us believe. I am not one of them.