Buckwheat Yogurt Oatcakes

For about two months, I've been avoiding wheat on most days. Saturday night pizza has been the only exception. Otherwise I'm relying on less grain in the diet overall, using oat bran and oats as before but in smaller quantities, substituting brown rice pasta and corn tostadas for wheat pastas and wheat flour tortillas.

There's reason to believe that wheat is a major contributor to small LDL, which in its turn is suspected as a prime culprit in cardiovascular disease. The usual cholesterol panel you get at your annual physical tells you absolutely nothing about particle size, and doesn't even really measure LDL. It's a calculation, not a measurement.

So when I got the results of a special blood panel back in 2008 and found out my supposedly pretty good cholesterol numbers revealed many small LDL, I started to look into the subject more deeply. Most interesting has been the clinical work of a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, cardiologist named William Davis. His book, Track Your Plaque, has interesting dietary recommendations which frequently dovetail with the super foods menu. And his blog keeps us up to date on all the latest developments. I'm looking forward to my next blood test when we'll see if my small LDL particle count has gone down.

Eliminating wheat isn't easy, especially if toast, sandwiches and wraps, tortillas and pasta play a large role in your diet. And Saturday morning pancakes! So here's a recipe I love, in moderation, which the lady of the house adapted from "Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes" by Marcia Beachy in the More-With-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre.

Buckwheat Yogurt Oatcakes

.5 cup plain fat-free yogurt

.5 cup 2% milk

2 T canola oil

1 egg

.5 cup buckwheat flour

.5 cup oat flour

1 t baking powder

.5 t baking soda

.5 t salt

1 T ground flaxseed

1. Combine the yogurt, milk, oil and egg in a bowl and whisk together.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in another bowl and whisk in the wet ingredients for about a minute.

3. Fry on a lightly oiled griddle.

Makes about eight pancakes.

New Year's Eve Broiled Curried Shrimp

This recipe is adapted from "Florence Fabricant's Grilled Cumin Shrimp" in The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins. That recipe uses, among other things, 1 t. ground turmeric, 3/4 t. ground cumin, and 1/2 t. ground coriander per pound of shrimp. I didn't have enough turmeric to use that combination, so I substituted a sweet curry powder from Penzeys Spices for all three to good effect. For hot curry lovers, that works splendidly, too.

Broiled Curried Shrimp

4 T unsalted butter

2.25 t sweet curry powder

.75 t salt

juice of half a lemon

1 lb large shrimp, shelled and deveined

1. Place an oven rack in the top position and preheat the broiler on high.

2. Melt the butter gently in a saucepan. Stir in the curry powder, salt and lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

3. In a shallow broiler pan arrange the shrimp in a single layer and pour the butter mixture over the shrimp. Toss to coat.

4. Broil about eight minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees after four minutes.

Serve the shrimp with the sauce next to some rice with some steamed broccoli spears for a very easy, very colorful, very fast and very good meal worthy of a holiday, or any day.