To meat, or not to meat...

Vegetarians are all around us!  Lots of us know at least one person who has chosen a lifestyle that does not include eating meat.  So, what exactly is vegetarianism, and what does a vegetarian eat?  Well, at its most basic, a vegetarian diet consists of fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds.  The main sources of vegetarian protein are beans, lentils, tofu, nuts, seeds, tempeh, chick peas, and peas, although many other types of grains and vegetables also have small amounts of protein in them.  A vegetarian who follows a vegan lifestyle will limit her food choices to these plant-based foods.  Many, if not most vegetarians also enjoy eggs and dairy products along with the plant-based choices, which increases the vegetarian's variety of food choices, particularly their sources of protein, as milk and eggs are both good protein foods.

If your lifestyle includes what most people consider a healthy diet, you are probably already eating many vegetarian foods, since most salads, vegetable side dishes, fruits, and even desserts, do not contain meat.  It would be difficult to combine vegetarianism with a low-carb or even Paleo lifestyle, since the primary sources of vegetarian protein - beans, lentils, chick peas, and other legumes - are high in carbohydrates.  Still, there is nothing wrong with enjoying a vegetarian meal once in a while.  It can be liberating and even delicious!!!  Snack on fruits and trail mixes, have a smoothie and some hummus, order a vegetarian omelet... the options really are endless if you use your imagination.  And besides, we probably could all use more fruits and vegetables in our lives!

POPCORN TOFU:

Tofu is so misunderstood!  You really can make it yummy, delicious, and fun to eat.  Here is a way that you can eat crispy nuggets of yummy goodness that will also give you some valuable protein.

Tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Holy Trinity of spices: salt, pepper, granulated garlic, chili powder (mild)
Corn starch
Oil for frying

Coat the cubes of tofu with the Holy Trinity of spices.  Get the oil ready by putting about 1/8 inch of oil in the bottom of a frying pan or "skillet", and heating it to medium heat.  You can also use a deep fryer.  When the oil is ready, coat the tofu with corn starch.  Use enough corn starch so the pieces don't stick together, several tablespoons.  Put the tofu cubes in the oil carefully, one at a time so they don't stick together in clumps.  You want individual popcorn tofu's.  Fry on all sides until they are crispy, and then remove them from the oil onto a rack or paper towels to drain off the excess oil.  Serve with wing sauce for dipping!

WING SAUCE:

The original recipe is one stick of margarine and one bottle of Red Devil hot sauce.  If you only need a small amount, you can break this down to a couple tablespoons of butter/margarine and 3 - 4 tablespoons of hot sauce.  Heat it in a pan so the margarine is melted, and mix in the hot sauce.

Who Has Time to Blog?????

Seriously, everyone I know is so busy we're trying to find time just to get enough sleep, it takes time to blog!!

Anyways, let's forget about all that for a little while and think about banana bread instead.  I think I first tried banana bread in the bread basket of this seafood restaurant my family used to go to when we were little kids.  Each basket had an assortment of rolls and breads, including one slice of banana bread.  Luckily, they always brought multiple baskets to our table during that window of time between ordering your food and the food actually arriving at the table, so we didn't have to fight over that one slice...  I didn't know what the banana bread was, I just knew that it was sweet and yummy!

Eventually I learned that you can make banana bread at home, WOW!!!  I've always heard that overripe bananas make the best banana bread, the ones that are turning brown.  Every now and then, we don't eat all the bananas fast enough and there's 2 or 3 bananas starting to turn brown.  It seems like the only logical thing to do is make banana bread.  Today my colleague told me that she used to intentionally not eat her bananas so her mom would have to make banana bread at the end of the week.  Good thinking!

This week I had like 6 brown bananas!  So I made 2 loaves, one with nuts and one without.  This recipe comes from the classic Joy of Cooking and it is enough for one loaf.  I made the banana bread slightly healthier by substituting whole wheat flour for 1/2 the flour and it still tasted really good.  You don't need a mixer to make this, it comes out perfectly delicious by using a wire whip (or even a fork) to mix the batter.

BANANA BREAD:

Dry Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour (or 50/50 whole wheat and all purpose)
2 and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar

Wet Ingredients:
1/3 cup shortening (vegetable oil)
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 eggs
1 and 1/4 cup ripe banana

(1/2 cup nuts) (walnuts are best)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  You'll need 2 bowls to make banana bread; one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet ingredients.  Put all the dry ingredients in one bowl and mix them together.  Then put all the wet ingredients in another bowl and mix them together using a wire whip so the bananas get mashed as you mix.  You can use a fork if you don't have a wire whip, or you can also use an electric mixer.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix it all together really good.  Add the chopped nuts last and stir them in.

Grease a loaf pan with either oil or butter, then sprinkle some flour into the pan.  This step helps the banana bread get out of the pan after it cooks.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake it at 350 degrees for an hour.  To test it, you stick a long toothpick, metal or bamboo skewer down into the middle of the loaf - when you pull it out it should be clean.  If it still has bits of batter stuck to it, bake it for a few more minutes until the skewer comes out clean.  Yummy!!!  Your house will smell so good!!!

Thanksgiving side dishes

So many choices!!  Why do we feel like we need 20 or 30 different food choices on the table at Thanksgiving?  I admit I'm guilty -- I love side dishes!  The more the merrier hahahaha!  And why do we cook enough food for 50 people when we know only 5 are showing up???   Hmmmm...  Anyways, these are the side dishes I cooked this year, and bonus, the recipe for the sweet potatoes in the picture because they look really yummy.... Those of you who have seen me cooking before would have asked yourselves, "what is she doing with those measuring cups???"  I guess you can think of these as approximate amounts...   :P

MASHED POTATOES:

Brown or red potatoes - 5 lbs.
Butter - 1 stick (or more)
Milk or Half and Half - 1 1/2 to 2 cups
Salt and Pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut them into uniform size, either sliced or cubed.  That's so the pieces all cook in the same amount of time.  Rinse them and boil them in salted water until they fall apart easily when you poke them - maybe 10 or 15 minutes.  Drain the potatoes, put them back in the pan, add the butter and a little milk and start mashing.  Add the milk a little bit at a time, as you are mashing them, so they get creamy.  Mash the sh-t out of them until they are really creamy.  (The butter gives them flavor and milk makes them creamier)  Add salt and pepper to taste.

COLE SLAW:

Cabbage - 3/4 head
Carrots - a little, just to add some color - 6 baby carrots
Mayonnaise - 1 cup ("Best Food")
Sugar - 1/4 cup
White vinegar - 2 tablespoons
Salt and Pepper

Shred the cabbage into shreds and grate or shred the carrots, and put them all into a big bowl.  In a separate bowl, use a wire whip to mix together the mayo, sugar, white vinegar, salt and pepper; that's your cole slaw dressing.  When it is well mixed, add just enough dressing to the cabbage and carrots to coat the veggies (you don't want the cole slaw sitting in a puddle of dressing).  If you have too much dressing, you can save it and make cole slaw again later in the week.

SAUTEED APPLES WITH BROWN SUGAR AND CINNAMON:

8 Apples - peeled, sliced, and core removed
Butter - 1/2 stick
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon (maybe more)
(Lemon juice if needed)

Get a big bowl of lemon water and put it at your work station.  As you are preparing the apples, put the slices into the lemon water so they don't turn brown before you can get them into the pan.  When you have all the apples sliced, melt the butter in a big frying pan or wok.  Drain the apples and put them in the butter to start them cooking.  When the apples get a little soft, add the brown sugar and cinnamon.  Keep cooking them, stirring them gently to saute.  Don't let them get too soft, or they will fall apart and turn into apple sauce, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  If you want sauteed "sliced" apples, stop cooking them when they are cooked through but still hold their shape.  These are really yummy!  Like apple pie without the crust!

FRUIT SALAD WITH COCONUT AND MARSHMALLOWS:

Mandarin orange slices - 2 small cans, 11 oz each
Pineapple chunks - 1 large can, 20 oz.
Little marshmallows - 1 cup
Shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
Sour cream - 3/4 cup

Someone once told me they made this salad by using one cup of each ingredient.  I don't know about that, a whole cup of coconut sounds a bit much...  Anyways, drain the fruit really good by putting them in a strainer for a few minutes.  Then mix everything together in a bowl.  Stir gently because the mandarin oranges are very delicate!

CANDIED SWEET POTATOES (pictured above):

6 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed
½ cup butter
¼cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon grated oranges zest
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

1. Place sweet potatoes in a large pot of boiling water, cover, and boil over a medium heat for 20 – 30 minutes, or until fork-tender.

2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan.

3. Stir in orange juice, brown and granulated sugar, orange zest, and nutmeg and simmer over medium-low heat until sugars are dissolved, stirring frequently to prevent sauce from sticking.

4. Spoon 2 tablespoons of cooking water from sweet potatoes into sauce, stir, bring sauce to a boil and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes, until thickened.

5. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

6. Drain sweet potatoes.

7. Peel and cut in half.

8. Place in an 8-by-12-inch rectangular baking dish and pour sauce over the top.

9. Place in the center of the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until slightly browned. 

Rice!!!!!

Why does rice have to be so controversial?  It’s the foundation of so many international cuisines, and definitely a staple in the food pyramid.  But it is a grain, and a “starch” and therefore is not part of a low-carb or a no-carb lifestyle.  On the other hand, it does not contain gluten, and it is a natural whole food.  Ay, ay, ay….

Since my mom is Japanese, we had rice every day growing up.  We alternated between steamed rice and fried rice; Muzz used to take the leftover steamed rice from the day before to make fried rice.  Muzz’s fried rice was pretty basic, just onions, salt, and pepper sautéed s fried rice was pretty basic, just onions, salt, and pepper sauteed  rice.how to make rice when I was about 10, the old-fashionin a frying pan with the leftover rice.

Muzz taught me how to make rice when I was about 10, the old-fashioned way, on the stove.  There are only 2 ingredients in her recipe; rice and water, and you measure your ingredients according to your knuckles: rice up to your first knuckle, and water up to your second knuckle, or something like that.  I used to have a rice cooker that cooked the rice perfectly, of course.  It broke a couple years ago and I haven't bought another one, so I'm back to cooking rice the old-fashioned way, in a pan.  It's just as easy, you just have to pay attention to it.

Japanese rice is short or medium grain, sticky rice.  It’s easy to eat with chopsticks because it sticks together, so it won’t fall off your chopsticks.  This quality also makes Japanese rice perfect for “onigiri” or rice balls, which are very yummy!  To make rice balls, wet your hands so the rice won’t stick to them.  Then sprinkle salt on both hands.  Scoop warm steamed rice into your hands and squish it together to form a ball.  That’s it!  Eat it!  You can also hide surprises in the middle like pickled plum (“umeboshi”) and wrap the rice ball with seaweed or sesame seeds… yummy!!!

I don’t eat that much rice now, but when I do, I have to admit I love the taste of Cuban style or Middle Eastern style rice – it’s just so fragrant and good!  So when I cook rice, don’t tell Muzz, but I’ve been using long grain or basmati rice, and cooking it with salt, olive oil, and butter.  It doesn’t stick together like Japanese rice, but the flavor is so good!  I also don’t measure the rice with my knuckles anymore…

So here are some recipes for steamed rice and fried rice.  These two recipes go hand in hand because you need steamed rice to make fried rice.  I’ve heard that it’s actually better to use cold leftover rice to make fried rice, but I’ve never tested that theory.  I’ve only made fried rice from leftover rice – I don’t think I’ve ever cooked steamed rice and fried rice in the same day.

STEAMED RICE:

Long Grain Rice

Water

Salt, butter, olive oil

The ratio for rice and water is 2 parts rice to 3 parts water.  So if you use 1 cup of rice, use 1 and ½ cups of water.  Or 2 cups rice to 3 cups water.  That’s probably the perfect amount!  Rinse your rice a couple times before cooking it.  Then get the right amount of water into the pan with the rice and put it on the stove.  Add maybe a teaspoon of salt, and a couple tablespoon of butter and olive oil.  Bring it up to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer, and cover the pan.  Leave it alone for about 20 minutes and you should have perfect (Cuban-style) rice.

FRIED RICE:

Cooked rice

Green onions – chopped small

Any other vegetable or meat, such as green pepper, carrots, cabbage, peas, ham – chopped small

5 or 6 eggs, beaten in a bowl

Olive oil or vegetable oil

Salt, pepper, soy sauce

Heat up a large frying pan or wok, and put some oil in it, like 3 or 4 tablespoon.  Add the chopped vegetables and/or meat to the hot oil, season them with salt and pepper, and sauté them for a couple minutes till they get soft.  Add the cooked rice and break it up with a spatula so the rice is mixed in with the veggies.

In a separate egg pan, heat up some oil or butter and scramble the eggs.  When the eggs are cooked, gently add them to the rice and vegetables.  Add the green onions too.  Season the whole mixture with salt, pepper, and a little soy sauce.  There you have it!  Serve it straight out of the pan or put the fried rice in a pretty serving bowl or platter, and eat it!  Fried rice is great with hot sauce, sweet and sour sauce, sirachi, or sweet chili sauce.  Mmmmm!  Yummy!!

Semi-Homemade Cooking

I generally make everything I cook out of fresh, whole ingredients, such as fresh veggies and fruits from the produce department, raw meat from the meat department, fresh eggs, milk, cheese, etc., generally avoiding processed and packaged foods in favor of raw ingredients.  But let's get real.  We all need help sometimes, including those of us who work full time, play sports, and still need to get dinner on the table every night.  So, there are a few shortcuts that I use that I don't feel too bad about, especially after reading the labels.  Ok, I'm kind of obsessed with reading the labels of the food I might eat...  Anyways, try some of these!:

Jiffy Corn Muffins... try adding chopped up nacho-style jalapenos to the mix -- yummy!

Canned Black Beans, Pinto Beans or Black-Eye Peas.... try sauteing onions, peppers, fresh thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf and cumin in olive oil before adding the canned beans to the pan, and then let it simmer for 20-30 minutes... mmmmmmm!!!

Beef or Chicken Broth.... these are great for making soups, and can you even imagine making your own out of onions, carrots, celery, and beef or chicken bones????  That would take hours!

Frozen Pie Shells.... great for quiche or even pie!!  There's actually quite a variety of frozen pie crusts out there, including whole wheat, deep dish, organic, etc.

Reddi-Whip Whip Cream..... great on jello shots, desserts, grown up coffee drinks... mmmmmm, nuff said!

Canned Spaghetti or Marinara Sauce... you can dress these up to make the most yummiest vegetarian spaghetti sauce, meat sauce, or even spaghetti and meatballs.  Here's how:

SPAGHETTI WITH MEAT SAUCE:

There are soooo many different kinds of spaghetti sauce on the grocery store shelf, from Ragu, Del Monte, Safeway Organics, and each of the brands has at least 10 flavors!  So how are we supposed to decide????

I found these "pasta sauce" at Fresh & Easy a couple weeks ago, read the labels and this is what I found out: They are made with "Imported Italian Plum Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Pure Olive Oil, Garlic, Parsley, Basil, Salt, Onions, Crushed Red Pepper, White Pepper, Oregano".  All good stuff!!!!  But guess what!  You can make it even BETTER!!!

1 lb. of ground meat
1 or 2 Italian sausages, raw or cooked, either chopped or squeezed out of the casing
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
mushrooms, sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt, pepper, oregano, bay leaves, granulated garlic, red chile flakes, etc.
olive oil
can or jar of "pasta sauce"

Saute the onion, bell pepper, and mushroom in olive oil, seasoning the veggies with salt, pepper, bay leaves, oregano, etc.  When the veggies are about 1/2 done, add the meat, sausages, and fresh garlic to the pan, and season the meat with salt, pepper, granulated garlic, oregano, etc.  Use a spatula to stir the meat and veggies while they are cooking.

When the meat is done, you might need to take some of the grease out of the pan.  You do this by tipping the pan slightly so the bottom of the pan has a slope to it.  Push the meat and veggies towards the "up" side.  The grease and meat broth will go to the "down side".  You can determine whether there is grease that needs to be spooned out of the pan.  The grease will be clear and will sit on top of any broth.  Spoon the grease out but not the broth -- that adds flavor.  (Grease just makes it greasy).

Now you can add the pasta sauce to your cooked meat and veggies.  Cover and let it simmer for a little while,  Taste it to see if it needs any sugar or other seasonings.  It should be perfect!  Now you can spoon it over cooked pasta.    Mmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!

Homemade Soups

With daytime temperatures dipping down into the 80's, it's time to start thinking about eating hearty soups!  Homemade soups are surprisingly easy to make, and folks really seem to like them!  So without further ado, let me hook you up with a couple favorites.  We used to make these soups when I cooked at Stan's Metrodeli, a kosher-style deli that used to be up on Mill in Tempe, in the space where RA now sits.  I had some regular customers that came in every day for homemade soup, and they happily ate whatever I made hahahaha!!  But I have to admit, these soups are good, and sometimes it's exactly what I want to eat!

MUSHROOM BARLEY SOUP:

Beef (1 lb. - cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
Onions (1 or 2 - chop into 1/2 inch pieces)
Mushrooms (like 4 cups? - sliced)
Garlic (4 or 5 cloves - chopped)
Olive Oil (2 or 3 tablespoon)
Beef Broth (2 quarts)
Barley (1/2 cup)
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, etc.
Bay Leaves (4 or 5)

Saute the onions and mushrooms in the olive oil; add seasonings as they saute.  When the onions and mushrooms get a little soft, add the garlic and meat and add more seasonings to the meat while it cooks.  Last night I only had ground meat so that's what I used to make this soup and it was still good!  But the actual recipe calls for chunks of either roast beef or raw meat.

When the meat is cooked, add the beef broth and the barley and bring it up to a boil.  Add the bay leaves.  Then cover the soup and reduce the heat so it simmers for about 1/2 hour.  The barley will get big and soft.  That's it!  It's soup!!!

BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP:

This is probably my all-time favorite.  It's vegetarian!!  You'll need a stick blender ("immersion blender") to make this soup.  If you don't have a stick blender, you can use a regular blender, it's just a little messier and you have to be careful not to get burned by the hot soup.

Broccoli (lots!)(like 2-3 lbs.!)
1 Onion (cut into a few pieces)
Garlic (7 or 8 cloves)
Water or Chicken Stock
Milk or Half and Half (1 cup)
All Purpose Flour (3 tablespoon or so)
Cheese (Cheddar and Pepper Jack)(maybe a lb. total)
Salt, Pepper, Red Chile Flakes, etc.

Put the broccoli, onions, and garlic into a soup pot and add the water or chicken stock to the pot, up to about 1 and 1/2 inches below the top of the veggies.  Add some seasonings so they get some flavor while they cook.  Steam the vegetables by bringing them up to a boil, lower the heat, cover and let them simmer for about 10 minutes until the broccoli is cooked (soft) but still has a nice green color.

Now you get to use the stick blender!  Put it down in the soup pot and blend blend blend until the veggies are really puree!  If you don't have a stick blender, you have to ladle the veggies into a blender and blend it that way.

Now put the pot back on the stove with the puree veggies in it, over a medium to medium low heat.  In a separate cup or bowl, mix the flour with  about 1/2 cup of cold water, milk, or chicken broth; don't worry if it's lumpy.  Pour the flour mixture through a strainer into the puree veggies.  Stir it with a wire whip ("whisk"), it should thicken up slightly.  Add some milk or half and half so it's creamy.

Now add the cheese until it's nice and cheesy!  It's easiest if the cheese is shredded but you can still work with it if you just cut it into pieces.  Stir it in until the cheese is melted.  Taste it and add salt or more cheese if needed.  That's it!  Creamy and cheesy and green... so yummy!!!

Enjoy your homemade soups!  Your eaters will be so surprised and impressed!

Sukiyaki

It's pronounced "ski-yaki" with a silent "u".  This is one of Muzz's favorite dishes to cook for a group, but not too large of a group - maybe 8 people maximum.  It's the kind of meal that you cook at the table, and it literally means "cook what you like" (yaki means "cook" and ski means "like").  And we like meat and vegetables!

You'll need a hot plate with a cast iron pan to put in the middle of the table (Muzz insists that it must be cast iron!).  You will also need some platters to arrange the meat and vegatables that you want to cook.  A pot of hot rice, soy sauce, mirin or sake, sugar, and fish stock.  Muzz always offers everyone a raw egg to enjoy with their sukiyaki, but those eggs always go straight back into the carton at the end of dinner because noone wants a raw egg.  One of them ended up on the floor last week as I was putting them back in the carton after dinner - yuck, what a mess!  Muzz, skip the raw eggs!

SUKIYAKI:

Meat such as ribeye, 1 to 2 pounds
Vegetables, for example:
   green onion, several bunches
   chinese (napa) cabbage, 1/2 to 1 head
   bok choy, several
   any kind of mushrooms, 1/2 to 1 pound
   bamboo shoots, 1 or 2
   tofu, 1 or 2 squares
   konnyaku noodles (wikipedia says it's made out of a kind of starchy root vegetable)
Raw eggs hahaha
A pot of rice
Soy sauce
Sake or mirin (cooking sake with sugar added)
Sugar
Fish stock (you can get it in a can)
A piece of beef fat "suet"

First, cook your rice.  If you have a rice cooker, that will keep it nice and hot.

You want your meat to be sliced very thin, like 1/16 inch, which is even thinner than 1/8 inch.  Muzz used to be able to get the butcher to slice it that way by asking for it "Del Monico style".  Now she slices it herself by freezing the meat slightly and then slicing it with a very sharp knife.  Arrange the slices on platters.

The vegetables just need to be prepared for cooking:
   cut the roots off the green onions and cut to 2-4 inch lengths;
   cut the core out of the cabbage and cut into 1-inch wide strips;
   cut the end off the bok choy so the leaves come apart;
   slice the mushrooms, or not;
   slice the bamboo shoots;
   cut the tofu into 1-inch squares;
   rinse the konnyaku;
Arrange the vegetables on the platters.

Put the raw eggs in a bowl, don't break them!

When it is time for dinner, the platters of meat and vegetables come to the table, along with the bowl of raw eggs.  The soy sauce, sake, sugar and fish stock are on the table next to the cooking pan, which is in the middle of the table, within reach of everyone.  Turn the pan on, and grease it with the peice of beef fat "suet".  Take the suet out of the pan when it is greased up.

Now you can start putting some of the meat into the pan, along with some vegetables, a nice variety.  When the pan is full, add some soy sauce, sake or mirin, a little sugar, and fish stock, just a little spoon of sugar at a time, to taste.  If you are using mirin, be careful when adding the sugar because mirin is already sweet.  These ingredients become a kind of a cooking liquid for the food to cook in, and should be pretty much boiling or simmering, maybe medium high heat.  The proportions of soy sauce, fish stock and mirin depends on your taste, but maybe start with about 1/3 of each, or maybe a tiny bit more of the fish stock.

The food will cook fast, and then everyone can start eating.  Everyone should have a bowl of rice and some chopsticks.  You take what you want out of the pan with your chopsticks and put it on top of your rice.  Add more meat and vegetables (with your chopsticks!) to the pan as the food cooks.  You just keep eating and cooking!  As the liquid goes down, you can add more soy sauce, sake, sugar and fish stock.

You won't realize how much food you're eating, and you'll soon be sooo full!!!!!  Mmmmm!!  Sukiyaki is good good good!!!

MUZZ'S TWO CENTS:

By the way, you don't have to eat rice with sukiyaki to start.   A real pro will not fill themselves with rice; they eat the real stuff dipping every bite in the raw egg.    After a while they may serve themselves some rice.   The way one does it is, break an egg in a bowl. Stir it up with chop sticks.  Then you get what you want from the pot into the egg and eat.   This way, you look forward to the noodles at the end.     Love   Muzz

"Simply Amazing"

I don't make dessert too often... even though I have a whole book full of recipes from when I used to bake desserts for weddings and banquets at the Pointe on South Mountain.  (That was before law school of course..)

This little number isn't in that book though.  We just had way too many apples in the house tonight so I was going to make an apple side dish.  After I cooked them, they looked like they just HAD to have some ice cream next to them (or on top of them, or under them..)  :-)

It came together very quickly:

SAUTEED APPLES WITH BROWN SUGAR AND CINNAMON:

Just peel a couple apples, cut them in half and use a knife to cut the core and stem out.
Sprinkle the insides with cinnamon.
Get a frying pan and melt a couple tablespoon of butter, then sprinkle sugar over the melted butter.
Lay the apples in the pan on top of the sugar, cinnamon side down.
Now sprinkle the "round" side of the apple with cinnamon and sugar.
Let the apples cook for a few minutes until the "down" side is a little brown (caramelized!).
Turn them over and add a tiny bit of water to the pan and cover it.
In a couple minutes, the apples will be cooked.
The water, sugar and butter will have turned into a sweet cinnamony syrup.
Put the apples in a bowl with some ice cream, and spoon the syrup over the apples and ice cream.

"Simply Amazing!!!"

Street Food

sigh...  I love street food...  Sadly, I and others like me who have to live in America don't have many choices when it comes to street food, aside from the hot dog carts outside the courthouse and the ballpark.. although those ARE the best hot dogs!  :-)  We have a few more options if you go to the state fair, or the art festival, or some other street fair, but technically, to me that's not actually "street food", it's more like "fair food" or "festival food" even though it IS yummy!  mmmm... fry bread... corn dogs... navajo tacos... meat on a stick... Asian noodles...

It's probably "laws" or "liability" that prevents us from enjoying one of life's most basic pleasures: the ability to walk down the street on any given night and experience the aromas and comforts of food being cooked right there on the sidewalk, in front of us.  In Nogales, Sonora, one block outside America, the taco vendor cooks tacos on his portable flat-top grill (I didn't have any -- I think they were blood tacos he was making..) but I could have!  And in Puebla, there is a lady on almost every corner cooking chalupas.  In Ocho Rios, jerk chicken and pork, fried plaintains..  so nice to just stroll and eat, stroll and eat!

Japan has a rich and delicious tradition of street food.  From the oden carts (a hot stew with daikon radish and fish cakes in broth) to takoyaki (chunks of octopus cooked in batter and served on toothpicks) to yaki-imo (roasted sweet potato) to yakitori (bite-size chunks of teriyaki chicken on a stick), the pedestrian has many, many choices when it comes to your street food options.  The sweet potato vendor even has his own song: yaaaaki-imoooooo, ooooishiiiii yo! (translation: yaki-imo: yo! it's delicious!)  When it's a festival, or "matsuri", your street food options increase exponentially.  From grilled squid, okonomiyaki, and dango (mochi), to the little fish on a stick pictured above being roasted over hot coals at Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, festival food is the best!!!

I could go on and on dreaming about the street food I love so much....  in the winter it's so comforting to warm yourself by standing near the food being cooked at the side of the road....  so, although not always seen on the street, you can easily convert Muzz's teriyaki chicken recipe into yakitori by cutting the chicken into chunks and putting the chunks on a skewer.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN OR SALMON:

Boneless, skinless chicken - or - Salmon filet (take out the little bones with needlenose pliers)
Soy Sauce (1/4 to 1/2 cup)
Crushed Garlic (5 or 6 cloves)
Sugar (1/4 cup?)
(optional: ginger, olive oil, red chile flakes - Sarah's additions to the recipe)
Sesame seeds (irigoma)
Green onions

Salmon: cut the filet into serving size pieces
Chicken: pound the chicken to about 1/4 - 3/8 inch thick.  You can use a meat mallet or the bottom of a pan.  For less mess, put the chicken in a large ziplock bag, one piece at a time, and pound it inside the bag.  I prefer thighs for this recipe....
Yakitori: just cut the chicken into 3/4 to 1-inch chunks and put on bamboo skewers that have been soaking in water, 3-5 chunks per skewer.

Using a wire whip (or maybe it's called a whisk) stir together the soy sauce, garlic, and sugar in a bowl.  Add a little ginger, olive oil, or red chile flakes if you like those flavors.  This is your teriyaki sauce.

For teriyaki salmon, go ahead and place the salmon filets into the teriyaki sauce for 15-20 minutes.  You can cook the salmon on the outdoor grill or in the oven at 350 degrees.

For teriyaki chicken, dip the chicken peices in the teriyaki sauce just before placing it on either the outdoor grill or on the stove top in a grill pan (the pan with the raised ridges).

When the chicken is done, slice the chicken into 1/2 inch slices and serve over hot rice.  Garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.

No need to slice the salmon before serving it.  Just put it next to (or on top of) hot rice.

If you want to make teriyaki glaze, simply cook the leftover teriyaki sauce in a small pan, add some corn starch to thicken it, then strain out the garlic bits.  You really don't need the glaze; this chicken has plenty of flavor just by being dipped in the teriyaki before getting cooked.

And the yakitori -- you really need to cook these outside, where passers-by can truly appreciate the aroma of the grilled chicken wafting through the crisp fall air as they stroll down the sidewalk....  mmmmmmm!!!!!

New Look Auto Body

I wasn't always a lawyer.  Before I went to law school, I worked at a variety of random (some of them were pretty "odd") jobs, for example, washing dishes at a fraternity after lunch every day while I was a freshman in college.  The pay wasn't great but I ate for free, and the French lady I worked with was a great cook.

One summer I worked for Manny Lopez at New Look Auto Body.  I did light body work that mostly consisted of prepping the cars for painting.  I masked them, and went over every inch of the old paint job, filling in chips and scratches with putty and sanding them so they were nice and smooth before going into the paint booth.  Once in a while I did a little auto upholstery.

What does all this have to do with food?  Well the Lopez brothers had built a little hot dog cooker that consisted of a 6-inch piece of 2x4, 2 large (16-penny) nails, and a 3-foot length of electrical cord with a plug at one end.

DON'T LET YOUR CHILDREN READ THIS NEXT PART!!!

You see, the nails were pounded all the way through the wood and out the other side, so that maybe 2 and 1/2 inches of nail was sticking out the other side of the 2x4.  The nails were positioned about 3 inches apart from one another, and the wire end of the electrical cord had been split apart with one wire going to each of the nails.

To cook the hot dog, you set the cooker on the work bench with the nails sticking out the top.  Take a hot dog and, using both hands, stick that hot dog straight down onto those nails, so that each end of the hot dog has a nail going through it.  When you plug in the cord, that hot dog cooks IMMEDIATELY!!!  I mean, as soon as you plug it in, the hot dog sizzles and plumps up -- it is, most definitely, COOKED!!

So, what's the physics of that????  Was the hot dog being electrocuted?  I'm really not sure -- I have a very rudimentary understanding of how electricity works; one of my co-workers in the maintenance department at the student union where I worked as an undergraduate explained it to me like this:  From the plug, the 2 wires have to make a complete circle, but they have to have a "load" in between them, like a light bulb or a fan.  If the hot (the wire carrying the "juice") and cold wires touch each other without a load in between them that's a short circuit (not good - sparks).  In this case, I guess the hot dog is the load.  I sometimes wonder if you put a raw Italian sausage on it, would it get cooked as fast as the hot dog?  If so, that would sure save a lot of time.

I occasionally think about making one of those hot dog cookers; it would be very easy to build.  I never actually follow though with building it though, because my very next thought is always, you know, that's not a very safe thing to have around the house, what with 2 nails sticking out of it, one of them attached to a hot wire.  I mean, you WILL get shocked if you touch the "hot" nail while it's plugged in.  I don't think you'll get cooked like the hot dog... but... still not a good idea.

I suppose I could build it, do my Italian sausage experiment, then take it apart really fast, destroying any evidence of its existence, including the sausage which I'm quite certain would disappear quickly.  I'll let you know if I ever get around to it.   :-)

And I promise, my next post will be about something really yummy you can cook right now that doesn't involve nails or the possibility of getting shocked by your cooking apparatus!

Later....

I had a request to include a picture of the Lopez Bros. hot dog cooker, which, as you know does not, and may never exist, at least not in my world.  Which means, if I were to include a picture of this apparatus, it would have to be some kind of drawing.  So, here is the pencil sketch I put together:

Apple Pie "AJ"

I was so excited about the green chile harvest a few weeks ago, that I decided to make a green chile quiche, a dish that I "invented" (I only say that because I've never seen it on a menu).  So, in anticipation of making my quiche, I bought a pack of whole wheat pie crusts and brought them home.  Of course, the sight of pie crusts prompted the inevitable, and VERY excited question "Are you making a pie???????"  And me being the pushover foodie cook that I am replied "Well, there are 2 pie crusts in the pack... I guess I could make quiche and pie... and I do have a couple days off since it's the weekend..."  In short, there really wasn't any reason not to make pie...

But the quiche came first!  It was really good.  I got some mild green chiles that had been roasted at the store, so it was real easy to peel them and chop them up, although I didn't get to smell that wonderful fall fragrance of the green chilies roasting at home...  We decided to add some cooked and seasoned ground meat to the quiche to make it a little more heartier, added shredded jalapeno pepper jack for the cheese, and cooked it all together with the eggs and milk.  Avocado salsa from Food City was the perfect topper!!

If you want to try making quiche, don't forget to cook the pie crust for about 10 minutes before you fill it.  I don't know why, that's just the way the French lady that I worked with at the fraternity a gazillion years ago taught me.. although it was actually quiche lorraine that she showed me how to make (ham, bacon, swiss cheese, eggs, milk).

Enough about the quiche already, I thought this post was about apple pie!

APPLE PIE "AJ":

This recipe is from the all-time classic "Joy of Cooking".

Heat your oven to 450 degrees.

Get your pie crust together, you'll need 2: a top and a bottom crust.  I had to make a little bit of pie crust for the top because, as you know, I used the other pie crust for the quiche.  Here's the ingredients for one pie crust:

2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
5 tablespoon water
(mix the flour and salt; cut in the butter; add enough water so the dough holds together into a ball)

Filling:

Peel, core and slice 6 cups of apples.
(to keep the apples from turning brown, put the sliced apples in water that has a little bit of lemon juice added to it, until you are ready to use them)

Combine the following and then add to the apples, mixing it in until the apples are coated:
1/2 to 3/4 cup white or brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 and 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Put the apples into the pie crust, then dot them with 1 and 1/2 tablespoon butter.  Brush the edge of the bottom crust with raw egg.

Roll out your top crust, and put it on top of the apples.  Trim the edges so it's a nice circle, and seal the top and bottom crusts by pinching them together.  Poke holes in the top crust, brush it with raw egg, and sprinkle sugar over the top to make it sparkle!!!  You can use the leftover pie dough to cut shapes like flowers and leaves to decorate the top of the pie, so pretty!!  Or you can cut the top crust into thin strips and make the basketweave design by laying half the strips across the top in one direction, then peeling back every other strip to weave in the cross strips.  Finally, use strips of dough to form an A and a J!!!!   hahahaha!!!

Cook the pie at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and cook 35 to 45 minutes more (45 minutes to one hour total cooking time).  You'll know when it's done, it will smell sooooo good!!!

The Paleo Diet and other thoughts about eating...

There are SOOOOOO many diets out there for every purpose, and for every person: Atkins diet, cabbage soup diet, Buddhist diet, cookie diet, detox diet, gluten-free diet, grapefruit diet, halal and kosher diets, juice diet, organic, macrobiotic, vegan..... I could go on and on for days.  Some of these diets are meant to be followed for a short amount of time, and others are designed as a permanent lifestyle.  So my question is, is there a single diet that is best for every human?

The first answer that comes into my mind is "No."  I say that because some people get seriously ill when they eat, for example, gluten, or peanuts, or shellfish, while many others eat as much as they want of these foods and suffer no ill effects whatsoever.  So how can experts promote a "healthy diet" when our individual systems are so different from one another?

The Paleo Diet is based on what we believe our hunter-gather ancestors would have eaten: lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.  Those who promote a lifestyle that includes the Paleo diet claim that if a person follows this diet, that person can expect to be naturally lean, have acne-free skin, improved athletic performance, and relief from numerous ailments such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, arthritis, gastrointestinal diseases, and so on.  Folks that follow a Paleo diet avoid all dairy foods, all grains (including oats, wheat, corn, rice, barley), beans and peanuts, and starchy, salty, fatty, and sugary foods.  See a sample list of Paleo foods at http://altmed.creighton.edu/Paleodiet/Foodlist.html

Dr. Vance Inouye, N.M.D., promotes an extreme low-carb lifestyle in which fruits are also avoided, although I believe he allows dairy foods and peanuts to be eaten.  I must say I felt good when I followed this diet, I just couldn't see giving up fruits forever, I love them too much.

So, how much are we willing to give up for the sake of perfect health?  And is there even such a thing as perfect health?  Is there a middle ground?

One thing that both of these approaches have in common is the avoidance of foods such as donuts, pastries, croissants, cakes, cookies, muffins -- foods that most of us agree are really not good for us.  In fact, most processed foods in general are avoided.

So, what is left if we avoid processed foods and anything from the bakery?  Well, lots, if you are blessed to have access to a full service grocery store that includes a fresh produce department and a fresh meat department (and I don't mean a deli!)

With a little know-how and imagination, you can turn raw, fresh meats and produce into yummy, mouth-watering dishes such as the seafood stew pictured above... ummmm ...  I didn't make it!!!  But it still looks delicious!!  (It's from the "Paleolithic diet" page of Wikipedia!)  And you don't have to slave all day in the kitchen either, but you do have to think about food, what you are eating and what you are feeding your loved ones.

So get out your knife, cutting board, frying pan, and a few spices, and start cooking!  And I don't mean semi-homemade!  Sorry Sandra Lee, processed shortcuts are not necessary!!  And please, enjoy some crunchy apples, sweet, juicy strawberries, carrots and celery sticks along the way!

Holla!!!

eating Diner-style at home

Grilled sandwiches, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, open face brisket with gravy, reubens, chili cheese fries, pickles and cole slaw, blueberry pancakes, waffles, eggs benedict, french toast, corn beef hash with poached eggs.... mmmmmm it all sounds so good!  You know you can save a lot of money making this stuff at home, and most of these dishes come together pretty quick.  I mean, even going out for burgers gets to be expensive!  So let me hook you up with a true diner classic, the patty melt.  This sandwich is an all-time diner favorite, and they are truly delicious!!!

PATTY MELT:
burger patty (1/3 to 1/2 lb.)
rye bread (2 slices)
cheese (2 slices)
onions sliced thin (1/2 onion)
butter and olive oil
condiment of choice: thousand island dressing, mustard, ketchup etc.

You'll need 3 pans for this dish, or a flat top grill and a spatula.  Break up the sliced onions so you have strips of onion.  Put a little olive oil in one pan and add the onions.  Saute them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, allowing them to cook slowly so they don't get brown too fast.

In another pan, start cooking the burger patty which has been seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Don't forget to flip it!

When the onions are almost done, and the burger is about 1/2 done, put some butter in the third pan and melt it.  It should be enough butter to cover the bottom of the pan.  Put the 2 slices of rye bread on top of the melted butter, and the cheese slices on top of the bread.  Now you can add condiments on top of the cheese.  In a couple minutes, the bread will be grilled, the cheese will be melted, the burger and onions will be cooked.

Now put the cooked burger on one of the grilled bread, and put the grilled onions on top of the other grilled bread.  It should be a nice generous layer of grilled onions.  Now close up the sandwich and cut it in half.  Yummy yummy yummy!!!!!

Venice CA

We passed this large group of grown men in bathing suits playing rugby on the beach at Santa Monica, when we heard a woman behind us saying: "I wonder if they're gay or straight because I don't want to waste my desire on them if not."

That was random....

We left Tempe just after 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.  we weren't even out of Phoenix yet when we received a sad reminder of how it sometimes turns out.. http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/i-10-in-phoenix-closed-for-serious-crash   The driver of the minivan was still in her car when we drove by it.

Anyways, we had loaded up on standard road trip fare for the ride to Cali -- gummi bears, beef jerky, sour worms, gatorade.  I don't know what it is about driving that makes me want to eat gummi bears...  We stopped for burgers at a Carls Jr. somewhere around Coachella/Palm Springs, which were DELICIOUS, even without the bun!  And yes, I got yelled at for disrespecting a CJ burger by pulling the bun off it....

Sunday we walked all the way from the Venice boardwalk to the Santa Monica pier (and back).  I bought a cup of fresh fruit so big it would more properly be described as a BUCKET of fruit!  It was huge!!  And delicious, even without the chile and lime!  Which proves that you really can get something healthy to eat at the Venice boardwalk!

Later we ate yummy Japanese food at Mishima, 8474 W 3rd St Ste 108, Los Angeles, CA 90048, (323) 782-0181.  We had so much food; steamed spinach with sesame, deep fried shishito peppers, yaki-imo, karaage, tempura, California rolls, gyoza, curry.....  If you like Japanese food, you should go to Mishima because they are celebrating their 20th anniversary by returning to 1990 prices!!  it's a pretty good deal!!!

So, in honor of Japanese cuisine everywhere, here's a very common dish that my mom (Muzz) actually taught me:

KARAAGE (ka-RAH-geh), "Japanese Style Fried Chicken":

Muzz makes it with just 3 ingredients: chicken, soy sauce, and corn starch.  I've added a few more flavors, but you can still go back to the basics and just make it with soy sauce.

Boneless, skinless chicken (1 lb.?)
Soy sauce, sesame oil, chile flakes, black pepper, etc.
Corn starch (1/2 cup?)
Oil for frying

Cut the chicken into approximately 2-inch pieces, about the size of a chicken tender cut in half (don't forget to remove the tendon).  I like thighs, but some eaters have expressed they like the white meat better.  You can get 3-4 pieces out of each thigh.

Put the chicken in a bowl and coat it with soy sauce.  Add sesame oil, red chile flakes, black pepper, etc. if you like.

Heat some oil in the pan.  I believe the original recipe may call for deep frying, but you can also cook these one side at a time by just putting enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, like a little puddle.

Stir the corn starch into the chicken just before you cook it.  Carefully place the chicken in the oil one piece at a time, and turn them a couple times till they're done.  Drain on a rack.  Serve karaage with rice and some veggies.  Enjoy!!!!!

Another kind of breakfast..

Look at me trying to be a food stylist hahahaha!!!

I know there's lots of people who don't want to eat pancakes, eggs, sausage and bacon for breakfast.  So here's another option, or maybe even a yummy beverage to enjoy with your eggs and bacon...

FRESH FRUIT SMOOTHIE WITH YOGURT:

You can use almost any kind of fruit to make these smoothies:
classic strawberry and banana..
strawberry, blueberry, and banana..
bananas and grapes..
apples..
peaches (pictured above - Safeway had these fat juicy peaches this week)..
blackberries - might be my favorite because it turns the smoothie the most beautiful deep purple color.. (hmmmmm..I might have to make a blackberry run up to Oak Creek Canyon to find Lisa M.'s secret blackberry patch..)  ;-)
Bananas always make the smoothie nice and creamy.

Put about 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of fruit in the blender.
Add about 1/2 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt (vanilla yogurt makes it sweeter).
Then you need to add some liquid almost to the top of the fruit, such as, soy milk, milk, or juice.
If you want to make it even sweeter, add some honey, sugar, or condensed milk - that stuff is VERY sweet.

Then blend it all up till it's smooth like a smoothie!!  When you drink it, you'll feel that cool goodness going all the way into your stomach!!!  Mmmmmmmm!!!!

El Tricolor

El Tricolor ("el tree-co-LOR"): The three colors of the Mexican flag.  Nuff said.

BEEF TACOS, PICADILLO:
Chop the veggies and put them in the pan with a little oil and start sauteing them:
onion (1/2)
green pepper (1/2) (yeah, that's red pepper in the picture too!)
jalapeno (1) (optional)
garlic (2 or more cloves)
tomato (1/2)
green olives (10 or 12)

Add some seasonings that you think would taste good in the tacos, such as:
salt
pepper
red chile
chile flakes
cumin
garlic powder
oregano (tiny bit)
bay leaf

When the veggies are soft, add:
1 lb. of ground meat

Keep cooking until the meat is done, mixing it in with the vegetables as it cooks.  You may need to add more seasonings.

While the meat is cooking, you need to warm some corn and/or flour tortillas on the comal.  You'll have enough meat for at least 8 or 10 tacos.  This is how you warm up 2 tortillas at once:
Put 2 tortillas on the comal, one on top of the other.  Flip them both over, then flip over just the top tortilla.  Flip them both over, then flip over just the top tortilla.  Flip them both over, then flip over just the top tortilla.  Repeat until both tortillas are nice and hot!

Whatever else you put in your tacos is up to you.  Tonight, we added lettuce, tomato and sour cream.... mmmmm they were good!!!  Food City has this awesome avocado salsa that is the best salsa EVER!!! I totally would have put avocado salsa on my taco if I had some!  Another good option would be pico de gallo, or "salsa cruda" (chopped raw veggies: tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, cilantro, lemon juice, salt).  Or the classic chopped onion, cilantro, cabbage, lime, and tomatillo salsa... that sounds good too!

Enjoy your tacos and don't forget to share them with someone you love.  Andale!!!

Twins!!!

It doesn't happen very often, so imagine my surprise when the first egg I cracked this morning slid out of its shell with 2 yolks!!  Good thing I had the presence of mind at 6 a.m. to snap this picture.  Ok, ok, I'm obsessed with taking pictures!  And it's a good thing I did because I have found out since then that there are people I know who have never seen an egg with 2 yolks!  Anyways, it's for real.  It's not fake.  I even cracked his carton-mate into the bowl next to the twins so you could see the size of the single-yolk egg.  So cute!

SAUSAGE AND EGG BURRITO:

breakfast sausage (2)
eggs (2) (3 if it's twins hahah!)
flour tortilla(1)

Heat your comal and put the tortilla on it to get it warm on both sides.  You'll need to flip it over a couple times while your eggs and sausages are cooking.  If you don't have a comal, just use a flattop or a large frying pan.  I am currently using a large cast iron skillet because my comal got rusty and I had to throw it away.

Heat an egg pan and put the sausages in it.  I used Farmer John breakfast links which are easy to work with because they have no casing and you can smash it up with your spatula.  That makes it cook faster plus you need to chop the sausage up anyways to put it in the burrito.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and stir them up real fast with a fork so the white and yolk are mixed together.  Add some salt, pepper, and anything else you like such as, red chile powder, chile flakes, hot sauce, etc.

When the sausages are brown pour the eggs into the pan with the sausage and scramble the eggs in with the sausage.  When the eggs are cooked (i.e., not runny any more) turn off the heat.  Put the tortilla on a plate and put the eggs/sausage on top of the tortilla.  Roll the tortilla around the eggs and sausage, folding one (or both) end in so the filling doesn't fall out.  Now eat it!!!

So, why does grease jump out of the pan???  That is so annoying.  When it's not burning you, it's still making a huge mess all over the stove and even down onto the floor!  I'm sure there is a scientific explanation for it and maybe someday I'll even discover it.  In the meantime I have to keep cleaning it up....

Another blog about food Hahahahaha!!!

I wanted to write, and I've been asked to write, but the topic of my writing was always left open.  Although I felt some obligation to write about some "legal issue" it wasn't hard for me to answer the question "What do I really care about, what am I really passionate about (aside from my loved ones)?" 

The answer was easy:  FOOD!!!!!!!

So here it is, another food blog!  I don't know who, if anyone, will read this hahaha!  In it I hope to discuss... food(!), what I'm cooking, what I'm eating, (what I'm watching on food network), along with recipes and methods, and general thoughts about food.

So here is just what the world needed... another blog about food.  My  next post will definitely be about FOOD!!!   :-)