Making Croutons at Home

So these are super easy to make.  I usually don't buy croutons, but I've heard they're pretty expensive, much more expensive than 6 slices of bread, which is all you really need to make these.  So if you like croutons on your salad or floating on your soup, or just to snack on... try these out:

CROUTONS:

6 slices of bread, with the crusts cut off and cut into cubes
3 tablespoon of melted butter or olive oil, or a combination of the 2
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of chopped herb, like thyme or parsley
1/2 teaspoon of granulated garlic

Heat the oven to 300 degrees.  Put the bread cubes in a large bowl.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together, and drizzle them over the bread cubes, stirring them to get them evenly coated.  Put the bread cubes on a sheet pan in a single layer.  Try not to let them touch each other too much.  Put them in the 300 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Then stir them up and put them back in the oven for 15 more minutes.  That's all!!!

Vegetarian Side Dishes

I've been trying to write this post for a couple weeks now.. what's wrong with me????  I mean I'm busy like crazy but folks even busier than me are blogging!!

So, without further ado, let me just say that side dishes are the best!  Remember Livingston's at Thomas and Scottsdale Road?  They shut down a few years ago, but they used to have the best side dishes.  You could even skip the entree and just get a whole plate of side dishes if you wanted.... candy yams, okra, greens, mac and cheese.... mmmmmmm!!!!  I love the variety of having several side dishes, and besides, they're really good for you!  Eat your vegetables!!!!!

I'll start out with 3 good ones.  Sauteed spinach, grilled veggies, and puree of turnips.  "Turnips???" you might ask... they're the round white things with purple on one side, and they are DELICIOUS!!!

SAUTEED SPINACH (super easy):

Spinach - 2 bags

Garlic - 4 or 5 cloves, chopped

Olive oil - a couple tablespoons

Salt and Pepper

In a large frying pan (or wok), heat the oil and add the chopped garlic.  Then start adding the spinach.  It will shrink like crazy, so just keep adding spinach while stirring it once in a while with "tongs" (the grabbers with a spring).  Add salt and pepper, and cook it until the whole thing is cooked.  It only takes about 5 minutes, and you'll see: a whole bag of spinach makes like a handful of sauteed spinach!  Yummy!

GRILLED VEGGIES:

Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon (or whole lemon if it's not very juicy)

Salt, Pepper, Herb (like oregano or basil or thyme)

Olive oil - 3 or 4 tablespoon

Sliced veggies: zucchini, yellow squash, onion, bell peppers, green onions (whole), asparagus (whole)

In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and herb.  Add the olive oil in a thin stream while mixing the lemon juice with a wire whip (also called a whisk).  Add the veggies which have been sliced about 1/4 inch thick.  Stir them around to coat them with the lemon juice mixture (also called mojo - that's a "j" that sounds like an "h").  You'll probably have to use your hands to do that!   :-)

Get your grill pan on medium heat, or you can cook them on the outdoor grill.  Put the veggies on the grill or grill pan and turn them over once in a while, cooking both sides until they get soft.

MASHED TURNIPS (super easy!):

3 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Water to boil them in

Butter - about 1 tablespoon

Salt - just a little bit

Put the turnip cubes in a pan and cover them with water; boil them until they are soft.  Drain the water out, and add a little butter and salt.  Puree the turnips using a stick (immersion, hand-held) blender.

Enjoy your veggies!!!!

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!!!!!!!