Food and Cooking – Page 4

Lentils a la Roh

This is really easy, nourishing, and flavorful.

1 pound brown lentils 1 pound chicken hearts and/or gizzards 1 Roma tomato per serving a bunch of water olive oil 2 or more caldo de pollo chicken bouillon cubes (the oily kind, not the dry salty kind) lemon pepper spice olive oil

Start the lentils cooking in pot with two or more large cubes of bouillon.
Lightly fry gizzards and hearts in olive oil with lemon pepper to taste. Let meat cool and chop, then add meat and remaining oil to cooking lentils. Cook lentils thoroughly and let cool a bit. Chop one Roma tomato per serving and add to bowl of lentil and meat mix.

Save rest for lunches.

Quick Borchch

Food and Cooking

I like this very much. I’ve made it a few times now and it’s my favorite borchch recipe. I spell it that way because it’s closer to the original Russian.

6 cups beef broth, canned or fresh 2 cups tomato juice 1 1-lb can beets with juice, sliced (or cubed) 1 small head of cabbage (prefer red), shredded ( or chopped) 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped 3 medium carrots, sliced (or a can of carrots) 2 Tbsp butter Salt and pepper 2 cloves garlic (or more) 2 Tbsp. chopped dill 2 Tbsp. chopped parsley Sour cream (optional)

Combine beef broth, tomato juice, and beets and their liquid. Bring to boil. Add shredded cabbage and cook until cabbage is soft but not mushy, 25-30 minutes. Saute onion and carrots in butter until soft and add to cabbage mixture. Taste for seasoning, amount of salt will depend on saltiness of beef broth. Therefore, unsalted beef broth is better so you can control the levels. Add salt and pepper to taste. Approximately 5 minutes before serving add chopped garlic, dill and parsley to soup. Taste for seasoning, and serve with sour cream on the side.

Who knew I could eat beets without gagging? The dill really helps take away the “dirt flavor” of the beets. You can skip sauteeing the carrots and onions, but if you do, add the carrots with the cabbage so they cook properly, then add the onions with the garlic and dill and parsley.

A new and delicious Sundae

Food and Cooking

This sundae is my own creation. It sounds odd but it is really good.

Start with slicing a banana into the bottom of the ice cream bowl.

Next, scoop some vanilla ice cream on top. The more natural the better. I like Breyers Natural vanilla. It has few ingredients, no preservatives, and is made with pure bits of Madagascar Vanilla bean.

Now, drizzle a little creamy peanut butter on top…

Finally, drizzle some blackstrap, or at the very least dark, molasses on top.

Enjoy! The mix of flavors is unusual but INCREDIBLE. The way I make it, it even gives you some food value.

Secret Weapon: Instant Iced Tea

Food and Cooking

It’s getting hot where I am, this weekend it’s in the teens. Hundred and teens, that is. Needless to say, there is a lot of need for cool, tasty drinks. And I’m a fan of anything with tea in it. The caffeine and l-theanine help me relax focus and the taste keeps me drinking. But brewing can be a pain and nobody likes steam on a hot day!

Enter Lipton’s instant iced tea! It comes in a nice big jar, and all you have to do is add it to water just like instant coffee. There isn’t any sugar, so you can add your own, or stevia, or flavorings, or whatever you want. I love things that are customizable and easy to use.

A really tasty thing to do is to add fruit juice to this, maybe a quarter of a cup, and suddenly you have a Snapple clone with less sugar!

Next, I plan to take dried hibiscus flowers and cold brew them with my instant tea. That will make a good mix, I think, and it seems like hibiscus helps me rehydrate.

Parsley: the Steatlh Superfood

Food and Cooking, Healthy Living

In many dishes, parsley is just a garnish. After seeing all the benefits this humble leaf has, you may consider finding new ways to sneak it into your diet!

The reason why parsley is such a common garnish is that not only is it pretty, but parsley actualy freshens the breath when you chew it. It also reduces gas, improves digestion, and can even reduce the body odor caused by eating garlic. Garlic is really good for you so this is a nice way to mitigate it’s odorous effects.

Parsley is a mild diuretic, too. If I eat a small handful of it, it clears up the fluid in my legs quite nicely. Parsley root has a much stronger effect.

On top of that, parsley is rich in vitamins and minerals!

From Google:

Parsley contains Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus and Zinc, and is a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.

You could: Add it to pesto or other green sauces Chop it up and sneak it into soups and casseroles Put it into vegetable juices Chop and sprinkle into salad Chop and hide in pizza toppings

Or you can do what I do and just eat a handful, like a barbarian!

Mexican Inspired Tastyburger

Food and Cooking

How about this one?

Take ground chicken and fry it in a pan. Put it on a hamburger bun, bolillo roll, or portabella mushroom, with a slice of mozzarella or muenster cheese on it. Use chili garlic sauce and spicy brown mustard as a topping.

It sounds strange but the chili garlic sauce complements the mustard well and it all goes excellently with the chicken.

My “partner in crime” did this tonight and it was awesome.

Try one and see!

Cancer-fighting berries?

Classic Skills, Food and Cooking, Healthy Living

According to my recent research, cultures where berries and nuts are eaten most frequently seem to have the least incidence of cancer. Part of this can be traced to ellagic acid, which may have an effect on cancer cells. There have been studies done where mice have been fed ellagic acid, and they developed 45% fewer tumors.

Pure berry juice is an important source of iron and many other vital nutrients. Some of the most nutritious berries are blueberries, black currants, and blackberries. The darker, the better! The more color the berry has, the more nutrients and antioxidants it has. Berries are best eaten fresh, but you can also get them dried and in many other forms.

If you drink berry juice, try to get something without sugar or added water or flavors, if at all possible. Then you can add stevia or sugar of your own, and you will end up getting a purer food product.

Berries are good for you. Lots of nutrients, and they satisfy the sweet tooth.

Beans of Doom

Food and Cooking

1 20 ounce bag 16 bean (or greater) mix 1 can tomato juice coarsely chopped fresh garlic to taste garlic powder red pepper flakes black pepper dry french fry seasoning or kosher salt dried basil 1 Tablespoon olive oil (optional)

Bean Mix refers to those sixteen bean or twenty one bean mixes you buy at the grocery store. This will work with any dried bean but generally the more types of bean, the better.

Hot-soak beans by bringing to a boil then simmering for one hour.

Put water in beans and drain, add more water and boil, adding red pepper, black pepper, oil and french fry seasoning. Simmer for about two hours or until beans are soft. ‘Gravy’ will probably form. This is good. Add garlic and simmer a bit longer, then turn off heat. Add garlic powder, basil and tomato sauce. Stir well.

This recipe made me many good meals living out in the wilds of Nevada. Yes, you can make it over an open fire in a big pot.

The Difference between Shrimp and Prawns

Food and Cooking

I just learned something interesting. Though often sold as such, prawns aren’t just big shrimp! Strictly speaking, a prawn is actually a different type of animal. The gills have a different structure than shrimp, they have claws, they carry their eggs inside their body, and their flavor is different too. Shrimp carry their eggs outside their body under the tail.

To make things more confusing, however, they both live on the sea bottom and some shrimp can be larger than some prawns.

Who knew?