Friday, April 29, 2011

Stop the Ride, I Want to Get Off

I am at my wit's end.  I've been involved in a seemingly never ending battle between the forces of food and physicality (ie trainers v. nutritionists).  All these conflicting viewpoints from nutritionists, so-called experts, talking heads, gym trainers, magazines, books, etc. telling me that I need to eat X amount of calories in a day, 100 g of protein a day-yikes-, 5 meals a day, three moderate meals a day, cardio with strength training, cardio before strength training, cardio after strength training, alternate cardio with strength training, 4 times a week, 5 times a week, 6 times a week at the gym, more veggies with less protein, veggies first before protein, protein powder is the key to success, protein powder is essentially the devil, work out in the morning, work out in the evening, don't eat after 7, stop eating 3 hours before bed, get 7 hours of sleep, the more sleep the better, weigh yourself once a week, weigh yourself once a month, don't weigh yourself but instead go by the fit of your clothes, take a multivitamin, don't take a multivitamin cause you should get nutrition from foods, go ahead and have a cheat day, change your lifestyle so you don't need cheat days, jog on the treadmill, don't use the treadmill because it's torture on your joints, zone 2, zone 3, zone 4..I'm drowning in health information & my head's about to explode.

I don't want to be a runway model (I'm perfectly grounded in reality); I just want to be healthy.  My mom, the most unassuming, nonconforming to the normal type who falls victim to these types of diseases, was diagnosed with type2 diabetes in 2005 and breast cancer in 2008 & ever since then, I've been trying to change my lifestyle so that I don't follow her down the same path.  I watched watch someone who I never thought I was that close to struggle to keep her life from slipping through her fingers, and I've come to realize that there are more important things than being fashionable and rail thin.  The business of being healthy is enough to make an average person keel over from a stress induced stroke though.  All the conflicting viewpoints and misinformation has created a smoke and mirrors environment that not even Scooby Doo would be able to decipher.  I'm tired of all the one size fits all answers that I get from personal trainers & I'm tired of feeling like I'm failing at every turn.  I simply want to live the best life that I can.  Is that really too much to ask?

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Flan-tastic!

I've avoided making flan for the longest time because, for some reason, I've always thought that it was really complicated and time consuming to make, so I left it to the professionals (and the occasional "mom made" flan that was so overcooked that it was crunchy).  I recently decided to throw caution to the wind and make it myself, mostly because my parents were coming over to our new house & I wanted to impress them with my dad's favorite dessert.

I decided to attempt it a couple of days in advance, for practice & then to make it perfectly for the weekend, sure to impress my biggest food critic, my father.  I scoured the internet for the perfect flan recipe, one that had detailed instructions so that I couldn't screw it up.  Well, I screwed it up the first time...big time.  I barely got out of the gate before I hit the wall of catastrophic failure.  The first recipe that I tried called for sugar and water being melted in a medium saucepan.  That sounded easy enough.  Of course I, being terrible at following instructions, decided that I could improve upon the recipe, so I added a tablespoon of vanilla extract to the sugar/water mixture.  Big mistake!  The water evaporated and liquefied the sugar into this grainy slurry that smelled wonderfully of vanilla, but then the sugar coagulated into this hard, solid mass at the bottom of the saucepan...wtf?!  No caramel, a brick of vanilla sugar & a seemingly ruined saucepan later, I gave up.

The next day, I found a foolproof recipe for flan.  I was a little hesitant at first because the recipe didn't call for water to be added to the sugar for caramelization.  I read it over and over again...how, in the name of Julia, do you make sugar melt without adding a liquid to it?!  I just couldn't wrap my head around it.  It sounded so preposterous that I thought it just might work, so I gave it a shot.  I also resolved not to tweak the recipe until after I made it exactly as written, at least once.  Needless to say, the flan turned out perfectly!

I was so excited about my accomplishment that I Google searched "flan pans" because I was a master of the flan & I needed the correct accouterments in order to continue to make delicious flan.  I stumbled across a blog post comment from a woman who talked about her amazing Pyrex brand glass flan pans from France (say what?!)...needless to say, I just had to have these!  Unfortunately they are no longer in production (bummer), so thank goodness for eBay.  I confidently put a generous bid in on not one, but two listings for glass flan pans.  One of them was for two Pyrex brand glass flan pans & the other was for another brand.  I figured that these precious tools were a hot commodity and that I wouldn't get them, so I watched them like a hawk.  As the end times drew near, no one had put a counter-bid on either of them & I started to panic.  Had I gotten myself in too deep?  What the heck was I going to do with three flan pans?!  Well, I won all of the flan pans (oops)...they're so pretty though & I figure I can give one to my mom (and maybe give her a refresher on how to make flan so that hers aren't so crunchy).

Although my flan journey has been long and a little bumpy, I am so happy to discover that anyone can make flan with just a few ingredients & a pie pan (if you don't have a glass flan pan).  I've even passed on the technique to my 17 year old niece who loves the stuff almost as much as I do.  In the interest of sharing the love, here's the super easy recipe that I use to make the most flantastic caramely custardy dessert treat on the face of the planet.  Enjoy!


Flan

Caramel Sauce-

2 c. white sugar (some people swear by pure cane sugar only, but I haven't had any problems with just granulated sugar, a combination of beet sugar and cane sugar)

Place the sugar in a large saucepan over medium high heat.  The sugar will start to turn brown and clumpy, when this happens, give it a shake/swirl...don't use a spoon (it makes a sticky mess).  Once the browning process starts, do not walk away because the caramelization process happens quickly & you'll end up with a burned mess.  Continue to ocassionally swirl the pan as the sugar liquefies and turns golden & then amber.  When the caramel has reached a dark amber color, remove from heat.  Pour about 1 cup (half of the sugar) into a flan pan/glass pie pan & swirl to coat the bottom and sides (you have to do this quickly because the caramel will harden as it cools).  Add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of milk to the remaining caramel to make a sauce to pour over the flan if people want extra sauce.  Set the pan aside.

Flan Custard

3 eggs
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1T vanilla extract (or any kind of flavoring you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly beat eggs, evaporated milk and vanilla in a large, non-reactive bowl.  Mix in sweetened condensed milk until smooth.  Pour mixture over the cooled caramel-coated pan.  Place the glass pan into another pan filled with at least an inch of water (to prevent the flan from boiling and over-cooking)...the water should come 2/3 of the way up the flan pan.  Bake 40-50 minutes or until the flan giggles in unison (instead of rippling in the middle).  Don't stick a knife into it because it ruins the way that it looks & doesn't actually tell you if the flan is cooked.  Actually, if a knife is inserted and comes out clean, then chances are the flan is already over-cooked.  Remember that there will be some carryover heat that will continue to cook the flan as it's cooling.  Cool completely (preferably overnight) in the refrigerator.  To unmold the flan, run a sharp knife around the edges and invert the dish onto a large serving plate.  If this doesn't work, try running a little hot water over the bottom of the pan to loosen things a little & then invert onto a serving plate.  Serve with the extra caramel sauce & maybe a little coffee or porto.

For Your Viewing Pleasure:

 As the sugar starts to melt, it will clump and form lightly colored "petals"
 The "petals" will slowly liquify and darken in color.
 Ocassionally swirling the pot will ensure that all the sugar melts evenly.  Keep an eye on the caramelizing sugar!  It can quickly turn from dark amber goodness to burned charcoal mess in seconds.
 Coat the bottom and sides of your flan pan, or ramekins in this case.  The sugar will harden as it cools, creating a delicious candy shell to house your flan liquid.
  Delicious drops of liquid caramel are a sweet bonus treat!  Crunchy & caramel-y...yum.