The return of the beans!

Eight months ago, I received some unwelcome news about my health:  I have been diagnosed as a diabetic.  This means, for the first time in my life, medication.  It also means lifestyle changes.  Ugh!  There was no choice but to attempt to rise to the challenge, meaning dietary changes and . . . exercise!  I have been making progress and have seen positive results, but emotionally, I'm just beginning to wrap my head around the whole thing.

My faith has been renewed through this challenge, however.  It's so true that the Lord carries you when you are not sure you can handle it on your own.  The results, so far, are pretty wonderful.  My sugar is completely under control and I've lost about 70 lbs.  I have also joined a gym and have been working with a trainer since January.  I wouldn't describe me as fit by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm making progress.  I definitely feel more flexible, have less pain on my knees and I'm sleeping a lot better!  Of course, the trainer goes on and on about how I'm building muscle and strengthening my core . . . yeah, yeah, yeah . . .  I don't see the muscles yet but I'm going to keep at it.

There have been many, many dietary changes, and, truthfully, it hasn't been that bad!  I've been experimenting a lot in the kitchen.  I tried eating according to the recommendations of the ADA, but the program left me ravenously hungry, and my glucose reading fluctuated wildly between morning and night.  Then I toyed with the Paleo diet, eliminating almost all wheat, soy and just about anything that an agricultural society produces.  The Paleo diet recommends eating like our paleolithic ancestors, i.e. fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whatever meat those early hunters were able to kill.

I thought it was going to be soooo difficult.  No bread?  How could I live without bread?  No pasta?  No beans?  NO BEANS!!!  I grew up with beans!  My mother made a different bean soup every single day!  Like most Cubans, she'd make a thick potage to be served over rice, as part of the daily meal.  On Mondays, it was black beans, on Tuesday, it may have been split peas, on Wednesday, red kidney beans, on Thursday, Spanish Olla, a chick pea soup with sausages . . . and so on . . . no beans . . . ?  Well, for the sake of my blood sugar, I stopped eating them as well.  Surprisingly, I didn't miss the bread and pasta as much as I thought I would, but the beans were another story.

Then, recently I read "The Blood Sugar Solution" by Dr. Mark Hyman, and he provided a fresh perspective on my whole new diet.  For one thing, he's validated a lot of the Paleo principles, so that's good, I didn't have to start from scratch, but he recommends beans as part of a healthy, low-sugar diet because of the fiber and nutritional benefits, and, if eaten correctly, perfectly fine for diabetics.  Yay!  Dr. H is my new hero!

So, I've introduced beans back into my diet, and so far, I have seen no adverse results, and my taste buds are so happy!  Imagine my joy when I found this at the grocery store:

Say, what???  16 BEANS!!!  All together???  At once???  This, I gotta try!  I learned to make beans from my mother, the sorceress.  She never followed a recipe, which was extremely frustrating to me when I was younger, but eventually gave me the ability to improvise in the kitchen.

So, Maria, was in the kitchen this past weekend, concocting a magic potion from these dry pebbles.  It was truly a little bit of this, and a little bit of that . . . and then another visit to the pantry to see what else I could throw in there.  And this was the result . . .

I should call this soup “20-Ingredient Bean Soup” since that's how many different ingredients went into the pot:  1) Beans, 2) Onion, 3) Green Pepper, 4) Garlic, 5) Bacon, 6) Spanish Chorizo, 7) Zucchini, 8) Butternut Squash, 9) Carrots, 10) Spinach, 11) Diced tomatoes, 12) Tomato sauce, 13) Chicken stock, 14) Olive Oil, 15) Oregano, 16) Thyme, 17) Bay leave, 18) Dry white wine, 19) Salt, and 20) Pepper!

Lots of chopping!  Thankfully, my husband is the most wonderful chopper in the entire universe. 

He chopped, I conjured . . .

Here's a closeup . . .

That night, I had also roasted a chicken, but let me tell you, we didn't even touch it.  Both, my husband and I had a bowl of this deliciousness and were quite satisfied.  Then we settled down to watch Game of Thrones and The Borgias, with a very contented tummy.

I'm joining the Foodie Friday link party.

The Bride's Trousseau

Imagine a chocolate truffle made from the most exquisite dark chocolate, with a cream filling lavishly flavored with Grand Marnier. The truffle is small, but it's so rich and the flavors are so complex that you only need one. You can't eat it quickly, you take a small bite, let the flavors reach every single taste bud on your tongue, then with an already impending sense of loss, you pop the rest of the truffle in your mouth. You close your eyes, and you breathe slowly, still savoring the treat while thinking that, surely, this must be what the ancient Greek gods called ambrosia. (Sigh!)

I tasted ambrosia today. Twice. First, a co-worker shared a box of chocolates that she just brought back from France. Then tonight I finished reading a wonderful book that also had to be savored slowly, was full of complexity, and was immensely satisfying. It was liquid prose. I wish I had read it before our trip to Rome last year.

I don't know if the book is available in English, and, if it is, I can only hope that the translation does justice to the language. The author, Víctor F. Freixanes, is an authority on romance languages, and has a doctorate in Galician language and literature. Galicia is a region in Spain, and, much like Cataluña, where Barcelona sits, has its own language and culture. He wrote the book in Galician, but I read the Spanish translation. His style was modern, yet timeless. The sentences were short, but the vocabulary was devoid of slang or contemporary terminology. It's a true testament to the purity and simplicity of the language, that I was able to read it without a dictionary by my side.

The story, an allegory of the battle between good and evil, is set in the Italian Renaissance during the controversial pontificate of Alexander VI. It revolves around the ruthless political machinations of Cesare Borgia, the pope's son, and the wedding of the pope's daughter, Lucrezia Borgia to Alfonso d'Este. It is an interesting study of the manners and customs of the time, and there's a very Spanish spiritual sensitivity running through the fabric of the book, which seems somehow appropriate, considering that the Borgias actually came from Spain. Reading it evoked memories of the grandeur I glimpsed during our visit to Rome. Just for a little bit, I wish I could travel back in time to witness this wedding celebration.

The flavor of ambrosia lingers. I have no desire to read anything else for a while. Michael Connelly's "9 Dragons" is going to have to wait until my palate is cleansed.