Hominy “Chili Mac”

Macaroni & cheese inspired me to come up with this one. I have to admit I do miss pasta, and once in awhile I do eat it. On the rare occasion I do, I make sure it is organic, boiled rather than baked, and I choose a thinner pasta, so that more of the starch gets boiled out of it, like cappellini or spaghetti. Lately though I have been finding hominy interesting. I ate it in my teen years, when I would visit my father. He always stocked up on it. Ray Peat said that of all the grains, masa is the easiest on digestion. Masa is just too dry and boring though for me. I just have had no luck making tortillas out of it, without using liquid oil or wheat flour mixed in. I don’t care to spend extra time making tortillas anyway. Like masa, hominy is also soaked in lime, and I love the flavor when it is cooked butter with salt. So hominy is my new go-to. I thought hominy could be a great substitute for macaroni, in a cheese sauce, and I was right!

This recipe makes one serving. First put 1 cup of white canned hominy in a colander and rinse it. In a small pot pour in 1/3 cup of whole milk and add a tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of cream cheese, 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and heat until everything is melted and incorporated.

Add in the rinsed hominy, 1/4 teaspoon each cumin powder and chili powder, and 1 slice American cheese. I buy an organic grass-fed one. Heat this through, on medium heat, stirring continually. The hominy will soften and it’s starch will start to thicken the sauce. When it is almost to the desired thickness, turn off the heat. The sauce will thicken more as it cools. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with shredded cheddar and finely chopped green onion. I liked a little taco sauce on this as well. This is a great evening meal, since I don’t eat meat at night. Meat is terrible for sleep. Because meat takes the longest to digest. six hours or more! When the liver is resting, sleep is good. So keep carbs, sugar and fats in the evening and use meat during the day for energy and building muscle.

“Most people know hominy, alkali-treated corn, when you grind up hominy, you make the traditional tortilla or molle, and if people eat their corn or wheat in that form , they aren‘t susceptible to pellagra for example, because niacin is created in the treatment, and it lowers the problem of too much leucine in the diet from the corn, so it nutritionally corrects the natural problems of the grain.” -Ray Peat

Health and Diet – One Radio Network, 2014-01-01