Older Bolder Life – Page 46 – Stronger | Leaner | Sharper

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday: Green Chile Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

January 23, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

Having spent a fair amount of our respective childhoods and later married life wandering around the Southwest, particularly New Mexico and Colorado early on, my wife and I developed a genuine love for green chiles, particularly those grown in abundance in New Mexico.

We’ve accumulated a host of recipes over the years featuring those chiles, and often work them into other recipes where you might not expect to find them, like this Green Chile Cauliflower Mac and Cheese inspired casserole.

There are host of similar recipes floating around, and we’ve come to appreciate this one in particular for several reasons. Roasting the cauliflower (instead of microwaving as is commonly done) adds a layer of caramelized flavor (we opt for shorter roasting times to give the cauliflower a bit more tooth), the coconut milk adds just a hint of tropical undertones and a load of healthy fats, and the green chiles bring their magic to the dish.

You can of course vary the cheese to suit you, add bacon (we almost always do), and we’ll even caramelize onions to throw on top too. Try a batch with the chopped pickled jalapenos sprinkled on as well…

8 cups cauliflower, chopped to uniform size (mid-sized head)
2 tbsp avocado oil or EVOO
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

1 cup full-fat coconut milk
6 ounces full fat cream cheese, room temp
1-2 tbsp hot sauce of choice
1-2 tsp Dijon or Creole mustard
1 tsp salt
4-5 ounces mozzarella, grated/shredded
4-5 ounces Monterrey jack, pepper jack, or cheddar cheese, grated/shredded
4-ounce can chopped green chiles, drained
1-2 ounces cheese of choice, grated/shredded, for topping

Optional
Caramelized onions
2-4 slices crispy bacon, crumbled
1-2 tbsp finely chopped chives
Chopped pickled jalapenos

Fire the oven to 425.

Prep the cauliflower, sprinkle with the oil, salt, and pepper, and roast for 15-25 minutes (see above, we like ours with a bit more tooth). Set aside to cool and turn the oven down to 350.

Meanwhile, combine the coconut milk, cream cheese, hot sauce, mustard, and tsp of salt in a medium saucepan; heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat, stir in the green chiles, and set aside.

Once the components have cooled sufficiently to not melt the cheese immediately, combine the roasted cauliflower, the coconut milk mixture, and the 2 larger piles of cheese. Add the bacon if using, and stir to combine.

Spoon the mixture into a glass baking dish (we use and 8×8), cover with foil, and bake for 45-50 minutes until bubbling. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 2 ounces of cheese and the caramelized onions if using, then back into the oven for 10-15 minutes more. You can certainly fire the broiler to melt and brown the additional cheese as well (4-5 minutes).

Let rest for a few minutes before topping with the chives and chopped pickled jalapenos just before serving.

Enjoy.

Cracks in the Conventional Wisdom Wall: Debunking the Obesity Paradox?

January 22, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

Just a quick comment taking on the “fat but fit” mantra you’ll see almost everywhere today – here’s a quick read (Debunking the ‘obesity paradox’: Can fat be fit?), published on the 17th over on MDLinx, an internal medicine aggregator site.

Simply put, the obesity paradox, not to be confused (though it often is) with the fat paradox (working on a series related to the fat paradox to follow), stems from a group of research studies in which the august clinicians suggested that being obese (or overweight), particularly when looking at the elderly, wasn’t a bad thing, didn’t induce deleterious impacts, but in fact was protective (both for cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality).

The linked article above reports the key findings in recent three studies arguing otherwise (recently published in the European Heart Journal, The Lancet, and JAMA Cardiology), which clearly demonstrate that higher BMIs lead to greater incidence of cardiovascular problems in particular.

I don’t have time today to go into details here, though we’ll be revisiting this concept here on the blog over the next several weeks. The linked article above provides a very readable summary and links out to the three studies mentioned.

More to come.

Another 2019 Older Bolder Challenge: Stop Using, and Thinking About, the D-Word

January 21, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

Today we’re back with another of our Older Bolder Challenges for 2019 – it’s time to stop using, and thinking about the D-Word: Diet.

A point of order regarding the use of the word diet is called for here. In the medical and clinical arenas, the term diet is commonly used to describe a patient’s (or client’s) comprehensive nutritional plan (i.e., specifying the number of calories or other restrictions, such as a 1600 cal ADA diet, etc.).

In common, everyday, non-medical jargon, the word diet is most often used to describe a change from one’s typical eating plan, for example, “I’m trying the vegan, ice tea, prune diet” this January…

Though the approach following might seem almost tongue-in-cheek, I’d argue it’s high time we stopped using the D-word for five key reasons.

The D-Word Implies Deprivation

Admit it, if you’re like most of us (and not a medical-oriented clinician), when you hear the word diet you immediately think about being deprived of the foods you crave. The typical use of the word diet is to suggest a short-term, transient, restrictive eating plan that you endure to accomplish a goal, typically weight loss, and then go right back to the way of eating that got you into trouble in the first place.

The D-Word is Discouraging

Coupled closely to the deprivation issue above, many people starting their New Year, new body diet in January quickly become discouraged, particularly if they’ve chosen a restrictive, bland or very repetitive, or unhealthy plan to follow.

I have a relative who, during my childhood, would go on a several week binge of eating nothing but stewed cabbage every meal for two to three weeks at a time. They’d drop a few pounds (of course, calorie restriction works over the short haul), but eventually became so discouraged, as did the rest of household (cough, gag, etc…), the plan would crash and burn.

The D-Word is Distracting

Fad diets are fascinating to watch; there’s a never ending cascade of new and miraculous diet approaches being hawked by Instagram influencers around the world (the modern equivalent of the traveling snake oil/magic potion salesman of the frontier days). How about the celery juice diet for a current example?

Fad diets will always be around, as people are always looking for the quick and easy way out (and a way to keep scarfing their pizza and beer every weekend), though the simple fact is they often distract folks from making the best choices and finding a durable nutrition plan for the long haul.

The D-Word Can Be Deceitful, Even Dangerous

A kissing cousin to the distraction issue above is that some diets intentionally mis-state or mis-represent their efficacy, short and longer term impacts, and safety. Approaches like the Five-Bite Diet, the Werewolf Diet, The Baby Food Diet, Beyonce’s Master Cleanse, the Cotton Ball Diet, the Breatharian Diet, among many others, are doomed to fail (for a host of reasons) and have an impressive potential to inflict genuine harm.

The D-Word Leads to Dropouts

Probably the point I’m most concerned about with the cadre of folks that I coach and encourage is this – disruptive, deprivation driven, unsustainable diets ultimately fail; people drop out, get discouraged, assume their goals of improved health and well being are in reality unattainable, and go back to destructive food plans. Yoyo dieting patterns appear to be linked to metabolic and other issues, creating metabolic baggage that will be hard to dump down the road.

One Key Take Home Point: Don’t Diet, Develop a Healthy, Nutritious Food Plan

The take home point here is glaringly obvious, yet takes some thought and effort to work through – don’t diet, you need to develop a healthy, whole foods based, nutritious food plan for yourself (and your family) that fits your tastes, budget, culinary skills, and works for your schedule. Your food plan (or nutrition plan, or whatever you want to call it) must be durable and sustainable over the long haul.

It can be done.

There’s no single “right path” to get there. Your challenge is to listen to your body, educate yourself, and work it out. And interestingly, you’ll likely be tweaking and adjusting your nutrition plan along the way to meet changing life needs and issues that arise.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce Sunday: Quick Meatza-Pizza Sauce No. 1

January 20, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

At the risk of sounding a little behind the Primal/Paleo food curve, during the cooler winter weather of late we’ve been enjoying several versions of our favorite meatza creations, leaning toward a nifty Southwestern meatza in fact.

There are a host of nifty meatza – pizza sauces floating around out there, ranging from the no-cook, just stir it together camp to the highbrow, build it from scratch and cook it half the day versions.

Most of the time when I’m sharing meatza – pizza sauce recipes with friends and clients, they want one that tastes good AND doesn’t take a degree in culinary science and hours to prepare.

And most of the time we in our own kitchen lean to the tasty and efficient approach to building great meals, and would argue that when putting together a masterpiece of a meatza, the sauce isn’t the star of the show, but needs to be good enough to win the best supporting actor nomination.

That said, here’s the base recipe for the Quick Meatza-Pizza Sauce No. 1 recipe we’ve been using lately, always with the red pepper flakes mixed in, and using the upper end of the spice ranges indicated.

Finally, note the base recipe description above; you can customize this to your heart’s (and family’s) content – consider adding chopped onion to replace the onion flakes and powder, diced mushrooms (even a bit of crumbled dried mushrooms), chopped olives, tomato pieces, and so on and so forth. Make it your own.

6 ounces tomato paste
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 t salt
1/2-1 tsp dried oregano
1/2-1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp onion powder

Optional: 1/4-1 tsp red pepper flakes

This is another one of those recipes that couldn’t be easier. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stir well to combine, and simmer gently for 30 minutes to meld the flavors. Let cool on the stovetop, then either use immediately, throw in the fridge to hold for up to 5 days, or freeze.

Enjoy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know (Older Bolder Links, Reads, and More) 19 January 2019

January 19, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

Older Bolder Links That Caught Our Eye This Week

Is the mainstream waking up to how wrong CW guidelines on sun exposure are? More folks are beginning to step into the light (literally and figuratively).

Connecting kids to nature is a good thing. Part of me astoundingly asks do we really need university level research to see the wisdom here?

Interesting perspective on what we remember as we age. Worth a ponder…

10 animals that hunted our ancestors. Modern life has its hazards, but at least we’re not dodging saber tooth tigers.

Natural beauty and evolution via the New York Times.

True confessions: From couch potato to fitness buff.

Might want to rethink that bariatric surgery in Tijuana. (Or anywhere else for that matter…)

How to slim down in fourteen days, circa 1595.

Tired of winter? Get outside in the sun and throw some snowballs. Just not in the face as in the slow motion video below…

Our Older Bolder Recipes from the Week

Homemade Catalina Dressing

Grilled Cabbage, Jalapeno, and Onions

Older Bolder Chorizo No. 1

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 18 January 2019: Older Bolder Chorizo No. 1

January 18, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

I know it might be considered to be out of fashion in some food circles, but we’ve been playing around with Southwestern and Tex-Mex inspired meatza preps lately.

We’ve dialed in our meatza / pizza sauce recipe (on the schedule to share in the next few weeks), and have been using both bulk pork sausage and seasoned ground beef as our meatza base. Last week I cobbled together a very good Tex-Mex meatza using this homemade Older Bolder Chorizo No. 1; it was amazing.

Having spent many a year growing up (and schooling) here in the Lone Star state, we’ve been fans of good chorizo around our camp for some time, having fiddled with chorizo recipes off and on now for well over a decade.

Sourcing good chorizo can be a challenge in that many if not most of the commercially prepared and marketed versions (of bulk chorizo, not the cured Spanish version) are incredibly greasy and contain parts of critters that you’d never ponder eating if you really knew they had been tossed in the grinder.

Speaking of grinder, hopefully you’re fresh grinding pasture-raised pork for your sausage at home; your homemade sausage game will never be the same with a grinder within easy reach.

And like most comfort foods prepared with care and attention, using the freshest ingredients, this version of chorizo is very likely nothing like you’ve tasted before and much more akin to the artisanal sausages (think Bruce Adell’s) you’ve thrown on the grill. Even better, this one is child’s play simple, and you can tinker with spices to make you and your clan happy.

Finally, we’ve taken to adding in just a few whole cumin seeds too; they add some interesting texture much like fennel seeds in good handmade Italian sausage.

Best made a day in advance to fully develop the flavors, you can cook this crumbled, in patties, and even stuffed into casings for the grill. And oh yea, it’s a masterpiece meatza base…

2 lb fresh ground pork or turkey (mix of white and dark meat)
1 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves and small stems, chopped
2 serrano chile peppers, seeded and finely diced
1-2 tbsp red chile powder
1 tbsp sweet paprika (though smoked would work great here too)
1-2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chipotle chile powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
Scant 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

This is another one of those recipes that couldn’t be easier.

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl (using your hands if you’re of the mind to) until well combined. I like to let it rest in the fridge overnight before use, and I’d suggest taking a tablespoon or two of the mixture, cooking it, and adjusting spices to your taste.

Use and store as you would any fresh sausage.

Enjoy.

Help!!! I’ve Been Exposed to Someone with the Flu (Or a Bad Cold)

January 17, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

Over the past couple of days I’ve been flooded with requests from friends, family, and clients to offer up tips, suggestions, tricks, and perhaps even the latest form of voodoo to help stave off the flu (or colds and URIs) for folks that have been exposed at home, at work, or in the community.

There are a host of good practices to follow, most of which should be considered to be common sense yet now and again we could all use a reminder about; you’ll find a reasonable list below that just about anyone could implement today without much effort or expense.

For the record, I’m a firm believer that the Standard American Diet wreaks havoc on the immune system function of most who follow it, and that following the best nutritional plan you can over the long haul is very likely the most useful tool in your toolbox when it comes to fighting off the seasonal cold and flu onslaught. It’s never too late to get started making the changes you need to.

And of note, I’m deferring coverage of flu vaccines and antiviral agents to a later post; now, let’s talk about things we all can and should do during the flu season…

Sleep, Sleep, Sleep. A common sense point that doesn’t need a lot of explaining; the key point being that sleep deprivation critically impacts the immune response. One of your best preventative tools too.

Mind Your Hands – Wash, Wash, Wash. This one is perhaps the most basic of all common sense approaches to protect yourself, yet is potentially the most overlooked and inconsistently performed. Note you don’t need anything but warm water and standard soap here, and remember to scrub thoroughly for 20 seconds (say the ABCs twice to get a feel for the time). Wash after every encounter where you’re exposed.

Mind Your Hands – Don’t Touch Your Face. There’s no question what while the most common vector pathway for most flu and cold exposures is via aerosol (the guy on the bus or plane beside you sneezing for the last hour), viral transmission via our hands to the membranes of our eyes, nose, and mouth is also a critical pathway. Be intentional about this one…

Clean Surfaces You Touch Routinely. You don’t need to go OCD overboard here, but it’s time to use the handy cleaners for grocery carts for example, and be mindful of cleaning needs when you have a sick loved one at home – think counters, door knobs, etc. And DON’T share towels.

Blow Your Nose. Another common sense, ‘mind what your mother used to tell you’ point. Remember not to overdo it; you don’t have to sound like a trumpeting elephant to get the job done. Be gentle, do it frequently, aiming for one nostril at a time.

Gargle up to four times a day. Lightly salted water, or with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice all at least moisten a sore throat and/or ease a tickle. A client recently insisted that steeped raspberry leaves in 2 cups of hot water (or raspberry tea) have been a useful family recipe for decades.

Hot, Steamy Shower and Sauna. One of my personal favorites, maybe with a drop or two of eucalyptus oil in the shower floor.

Drink Plenty of Hot Liquids. Another classic from the your-mother-told-you-so file; think tea, broth, thin (non-dairy) soups, even warm/hot water. You don’t have to consume just hot/warm liquids; adequate hydration is critical when you’re staving off or battling an infection.

Stay the Course with Your Healthy Eating Plan. There’s a plethora of evidence supporting the fact that a disordered diet can critically impact immune system function (for example, see this paper). Sugars in particular can play an impressive role in stunting your immune response; watch for overly sweetened lozenges and OTC cough/cold medications.

Become a Stress Management Ninja, and That Includes Workouts Too. One of the principle stress hormones, cortisol, when chronically elevated suppresses immune function. Those of us prone to fall back into chronic cardio patterns or crush that weekend-warrior, pack it all into one day workout beware.

There’s no question life is damned stressful these days, I get it. Almost all of us can improve (significantly) our stress management routines – whether that’s committing to some relaxation and chill out time every day, or using prayer, meditation, yoga, self-directed biofeedback, or other approaches. Just do it.

Be Vigilant About Exposure Risks. Granted, some people you encounter every day during flu and cold season are shedding virus and not necessarily clinically ill enough to alert you to change your behavior (avoid them!). I’m talking about interacting closely with people you know to be infected, or getting slimed by a sneezer while commuting, at work, or via your lovely spouse or kids at home. Some go as far as to suggest you don’t fly, bus, or ferry during flu season, but that might be a tough call for daily commuters. Stuck sitting by a cougher/sneezer in tight quarters? Some would even argue a mask might help…

Supplements: Friend or Foe for the Flu? Conventional medical wisdom, for the most part, still appears to frown on the genuine efficacy of many “natural supplements and remedies” for cold and flu syndromes.

That said, there’s been research done covering the flu and cold (viral syndrome) impacts of vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, echinacea, zinc, elderberry extracts, garlic, ginseng, andrographis (Indian echinacea in some circles), and several more commonly recommended supplements and natural aids. This is a big and fascinating topic, deserving of it’s own post(s), and one I’ll address at some point down the road.

That said, my personal approach to supplements, when exposed to a cold or flu, is to up my vitamins C, D, and E, omega-3s (via fish/krill oil), add a standalone zinc supplement, and perhaps some echinacea if that tickle develops in my nasopharynx…

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday 16 January: Grilled Cabbage, Jalapeno, and Onions

January 16, 2019 By Older Bolder Mark

For the next several days here in North Texas we’re about to enjoy a reprieve from winter (such as it is down this far South); we’re adjusting our menu accordingly, breaking out the grill and pondering several nifty grilled protein options.

One of the things my lovely wife asked for was this Grilled Cabbage, Jalapeno, and Onion dish; you could call it a side, a salad, or probably even a slaw.

Grilled vegetables are ridiculously tasty and in reality shockingly easy to prepare; you might not have grilled much cabbage before, if not, this recipe will be one you’ll come back to again and again.

There’s nothing overly fancy about the simple lime, onion/shallot, cilantro, and oil “dressing” here, you could of course substitute any favorite vinaigrette in here (maybe a warm vinaigrette with bacon…).

As always, consider this a starting point; it would probably be great with grilled endive or radicchio, a quarter of red cabbage, different peppers, and even grilled avocados…

1 medium head of green cabbage, core intact, quartered
2 medium sweet onions, halved, root end intact
3-4 jalapeno peppers, stem intact
1-2 bunches green onions, trimmed
6 tbsp avocado oil (or EVOO)
Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper

1/3 C fresh lime juice (or more)
1/4 to 1/2 small red onion or large shallot, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
Kosher salt to taste

Fire your trusty grill (or heat a grill pan over medium-high heat).

Prep the cabbage, sweet onions, jalapenos, and green onions, then drizzle with 4 tbsp of the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill until well marked/charred, 3-4 minutes for scallions, 5-7 for the peppers, and 10-12 for the cabbage. Remove from the grill when done, and cool slightly.

Now cut the peppers, green onions, and sweet onions into bite-sized pieces; core the cabbage quarters and cut into bite-sized pieces, place everything in a large bowl.

Toss to combine the vegetables, then add the red onion (shallot), lime juice, 2 remaining tbsp of oil (may want more), and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper, stir to combine well.

Serve immediately or hold in the fridge for a few hours.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday: Green Chile Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

Cracks in the Conventional Wisdom Wall: Debunking the Obesity Paradox?