Whatcha Got Cookin’

Simmering behind closed doors is a cookbook designed for the dedicated IronOnLine food machines equipped with efficient teeth and superior taste buds. The endearing and original “extreme girl,” Stella, is applying the finishing creative touches to her custom-built recipes and food-maker secrets. They will add excitement to our often-uninspired kitchen and menu. Full of protein and yum, they will add might and muscle to our sometimes unresponsive bodies.

Stella, AKA Superwoman, has long been an IOL discussion group contributor and cheerleader. Her experience in the eat-a-lot and out-of-shape life, fitness achievement and weight training, weight gain and weight loss and in the stainless steel kitchen are deep-rooted. Stella’s a star.

We’re publishing her book, Laree and I, and plan to have it out there by Christmas. Clever, we muscleheads.

This is a mock name to serve temporarily and this is the first draft of the Foreword:

STELLA’S KITCHEN:
Creative Cooking for Fun, Flavor and a Lean, Strong Body

The food thing... We are more influenced and controlled by food than we are religion, politics, family and friends. A good meal outshines a sunny day and no evening is gloomier than when the refrigerator is bare. Conglomerations are formed over lunch at the best restaurants in the city, consequential disputes are settled over an exquisite dinner in the executive banquet room and proposals of marriage go well with cheese, fruit and a bottle of wine anywhere. What’s a baseball game without the All-American hotdog or a movie without popcorn?

We eat everything: frogs, snails, insects, roots and mold. Food is in the air, in the seas, underground and grows on trees. It’s everywhere: They grow it in test tubes and laboratories and outer space. You can’t live without food, yet because of our love affair with it, we severely compromise our health and shorten our lives. We eat downright bad foods, too much of the wrong foods and not enough of the right foods, and we eat in excess. Oh, boy, do we eat.

Stella is one of those remarkable individuals who has adored food all her life and, therefore, centered her attention on its finer qualities, its taste, texture and fragrance, its preparation and its consumption. She has become an artisan in the kitchen, the pantry, the food market and butcher shop. The cutting board is her palette, fresh vegetables and fruit are the rainbow of colors she applies and meat and dairy comprise the canvas, framework and easel of her presentation.

Do Not Touch… Wet Paint.

Consumption of food became one of our author’s more outstanding culinary accomplishments. Slicing and dicing, cooking and steaming, mixing and blending are mute tasks if not accompanied by tasting, tasting and tasting. Stella, during her years of diligent study and relentless practice, gained weight to match her enormous skill. The young lady slipped into the overweight category, while braising duck in her secret honey-glaze, as her apple pies cooled on the windowsill and during the final of 39 taste tests of the first-ever Greek-style lasagna.

Cooking is fun, but nothing compared to the eating. And we clean our plates and take no leftovers in this kitchen.

There came a day in Stella’s life when food and its marvelous preparation looked back at her from the unkind mirror in the dining room. The refrigerator was in good shape, but the queen of the kitchen was beginning to resemble it. The pantry was always well-stocked, and so was the primary sauce assessor. No problem getting the leg of lamb in the oven, it was the legs in a pair of jeans that presented a challenge.

Exercise replaced the creative cooking. Walking, walking and jogging and, finally jogging -- the simplest form of progressive exercise -- led our determined heroine to marathon running and weight lifting and muscle and might.

Stella loves food no less and refuses to diet. She simply relieved her pantry, kitchen cupboards and bulging refrigerator of the oppressive ingredients and notorious junk -- enemies, troublemakers, bandits and thieves.

She emerged with the same incomparable passion for taste and creativity, and bound it with a bundle of purpose. You eat to enjoy, delight, treat, reward, amplify and thrill, of course, but you eat to serve well your body and its wonderful needs. There’s no thrill, no joy or delight at the expense of your health. You don’t want or need to compromise your vigor and strength, muscle tone and shape, heart and system by eating poorly.

Stella has taken a long and circuitous journey to understand the nutritional values and balances of foods, the magic of flavors and smells and the creation of recipes that are fit for a king and a champion. Experience, the thick and thin, the good and the not so good; these take a person from mediocrity to superiority.

If you are a warrior, you will find protein-rich meals for muscle building, energy-packed snacks for high performance, pre-game power meals and positive eating for the overweight. Thin man, there are bulking meals for you. Fastidious eaters, there are forthright meals for you. Lazy, but extraordinarily taste-conscious persons, simple and mouth-watering quick fixes are here. Kitchen tips and hints, food-processing cues and a little how-to this ‘n thats will add variety, cheer, ease and fascination to your kitchen and food preparation.

There are so many cookbooks on the market, who can count them? Some are lavish productions with pictures more appetizing than the foods themselves. Others are casual or cultural, a few very specific or survival-basic and a lot are oozing with fat and syrup. Stella’s Kitchen brims over with simplicity, flavor and goodness. It’s a book for the Amazing Warrior -- the high performer and fit, bright-spirited and enthusiastic, the creative who seek superior health and long life… obviously, you.

DD

SAMPLE MENUS

RECIPE #1
Tuna and cool, clear water

RECIPE#2
Sardines, oyster crackers and water with lemon slice

It just gets better and better…

RECIPE# 28
Lean hamburger patty, lettuce leaves and non-fat milk

Just teasing! Here's a link to our new offering, Stella's Kitchen.

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