Cucumber Yogurt Dressing or Raita

A quick word about store bought yogurt:  Many commercial yogurts add thickeners and additives.  This is especially important to know if you are low-carb, gluten free, or just sensitive to certain foods.  You have to read the ingredients.  Currently my (and my child's) favorite yogurt is Seven Stars Farm.  It has a better good-bacterial count, and no additives.  Once you've bought good yogurt, you can make your own rather easily.

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced finely
1 Tablespoon of finely mined onion
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of plain yogurt (not fat free)
dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Combine the diced cucumber, onion, and salt and let sit for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.  Hand squeeze the liquid from the diced vegetables.  Reserve the salty cucumber water for use in cooking, I like to use it in with my lentils if I'm making raita to go with my curried lentils.  Add vegetables to yogurt, and stir to incorporate.  Add cayenne pepper and it's ready to serve, or cover and refrigerate for later use.  This is a good addition to spicy dishes, it helps cool them down.  But it also makes a pretty good stand alone dip for toasted pita.

Cajun Red Beans

I make this at least once a month, it's a shame it's been off the "published" list for awhile.

This is one of my favorite recipes. For years I tried to discover the secret spices of Cajun cuisine and finally was enlightened to Thyme and White Pepper. I know you will enjoy this recipe.

Cajun Spice Mix:

4 teaspoons of sea salt
3 teaspoons of paprika
4 teaspoons of garlic powder, not garlic salt
1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
2 teaspoons of ground white pepper
1 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons of dried thyme
1 teaspoon of dried basil
1 teaspoon of dried oregano

Combine all ingredients in a grinder and grind to a fine powder. There may be more than you will use in the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Butter
1 large onion, diced
4 to 6 ribs of celery, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1 pound of MSG free, lean ground pork sausage
3 Tablespoons of Cajun spice mix
2 Tablespoons of garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 pound of Small Red Beans, rinsed and soaked
4 cups of Chicken Stock, homemade is preferable, otherwise MSG and yeast free
6 Bay Leaves (optional)

In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, over medium-high heat, sauté onion, celery, bell pepper a few minutes for each ingredient added in that order.  Add sausage, stir until sausage is browned. Add Cajun spice mix and garlic and sauté another minute. Add the small red beans and stir until coated. Slowly pour in the chicken broth. Add the bay leaves and bring to a boil. Gently simmer with lid cocked for 1-2 hours, or until beans are cooked, stirring occasionally.

If sausage is not lean, brown it first and drain the fat.  Set aside, and add in after the vegetables.

Secret to great beans:  add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the soak water.

At this point you could add in 1-2 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 1-2 Tablespoons tomato paste, it's all about what you like.

Serve on cooked rice or corn bread, and top with chopped green onions. If it’s too spicy for you top with sour cream or cheddar cheese. Not spicy enough? Try Tabasco brand or Louisiana brand hot sauce or jalapeno rings.  Or top it with everything and eat it with Tortilla chips, nacho style.

Texas Caviar

This recipe is similar to my every day Bean Salad recipe, but with only Black-eyed peas and red wine vinegar instead of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar.  And you eat it with chips.

3 cups black-eyed peas, cooked, drained
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup red wine vinegar 

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup of finely diced tomatoes fresh or canned (if canned, drained and squeezed of juice)
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
Dash hot sauce, such as Tabasco 

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tortilla chips, for serving

Combine all ingredients except Olive oil and Cilantro.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours to let the flavors mingle.  1 hour before serving set out and combing oil and Cilantro.  Serve with chips.

Has Restaurant Food Gotten Worse, or Are My Tastebuds More Discriminating?

A few weeks back I wrote about bad Chinese take-out.  Well, last week I was confronted with bad doughnuts, and one incredibly inedible pie.  Now my family used to get Doughnuts at least once a month when I was around 10-11.  And I remember how amazing the doughnut shop was with all their varieties and everything tasted so good.  So what is more likely, food is worse today than 20 + years ago, or my tastes have developed to the point where I can't eat inferior food?  Probably both.

It was Twin Peaks day, and if you have never seen the series you probably won't like it.  Anywho, the cliched cop-doughnut reference was of course part of the theme and I got some doughnuts from the closest place to my house, a retail grocery, all-purpose store.  We do have one doughnut shop in town, but I remember the doughnuts not being very good, of course I was pregnant at the time and cannot go by this judgement.  *UPDATE:  Recently my husband brought home doughnuts from this shop and both the Bear Claw and Apple Fritter were good.  But I had to do some research because I did not know that often Bear Claws have apple filling.  The one nice feature this doughnut shop had was they would fill your doughnuts with whatever you wanted on the spot, custard, creme, raspberry, lemon.  No guessing.  While this retail chain had fresh doughnuts, and a small variety, they still weren't very good, with the exception of their apple fritters.  One confusing label stated "Bavarian Creme" but Bavarian usually indicates Custard, which was the case, and a disappointment to my husband.  Also, I was disappointed in the "Chocolate-flavored" icing.  Not as many people showed up as I expected, so we had lots of leftovers.  This was not a problem since my husband will eat doughnuts well past their prime.

Same story with the "fancy" Cherry pie.  I got a Frozen Sara Lee because it is still the top rated for taste even if there are other, more expensive frozen pies.  My friends however spent $25 on a specialty pie from a locally owned cafe (in their large culinary city).  This pie was abominable.  For starters, it was made with black cherries.  WHAT?!?  I took a bite and thankfully had to feed the baby so I got out of having to eat the rest.  My friends however ate their whole piece.  Part of that was because they didn't want to be out all that money, another was they both thought they weren't appreciating good quality.  Both mentioned a strange "pizza-flavored Combos" taste.  Later it was discovered this cafe accidentally (I hope) used a "savory" crust, which contained garlic and rosemary, something you'd use on a quiche or pot pie.  I had already urged them to take it back, and I hope this "mistake" was enough evidence to get their money back.  Still we had a good time the rest of the day coming up with terrible filling-crust combinations.  We all agreed that the Sara Lee pie was pretty good, and we'll probably get it again for the next Twin Peaks Day.

As far as Doughnuts go, I will probably have to resort to making my own like so many other things that I feel just taste better when homemade.  Homemade doughnuts gives me the option of coating them how I want, i.e, powdered, and cinnamon-sugar twist, two styles I rarely see anymore.

And I have made gluten free doughnuts before, powdered.  And they are just as good, but you have to eat them right away.

Black Beans and Rice, Qdoba style "naked" burrito

Ever since I first tasted Qdoba Chicken Fajita Classica with 1/2 black beans, 1/2 rice, cheese and habanero salsa, doused in Cholula, I have been in love.  I could eat a Qdoba burrito every day and probably not get tired of it.  Unfortunately, I can't know what they season everything with, and I guarantee you that their chicken is not humanely raised and antibiotic free.  Just in a moment of luck I happened to realize that the below recipe tastes incredibly similar to my beloved burrito with the exception of the chicken and white-wheat-tortilla.  Without the tortilla in Qdoba speak is "naked." 

Of course the below is a modified black bean recipe that is a staple in Cuba.

2 Tablespoons of Olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of cooked Black Beans, drained of liquid
1 cup of tomato juice (I use what I drain from 2-15 oz. cans of diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Saute onions, peppers, and garlic till tender.  Add spices and toast for one minute or less, pour in tomato juice and beans.  Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer while rice cooks.

1 cup dry Lundberg brand white rice
1 1/2 cups of water

Cook white rice according to directions.  Serve Beans atop rice, add chopped fresh cilantro, shredded monterey jack or cheddar cheese, and a good douse of Cholula hot sauce and it comes mighty close to my favorite naked burrito.  Leave out the cheese and it's Vegan.

The Battle to Lose Weight: Trigger Foods

Ugh!  This is going to be a lifelong battle.  But I have some new tools in my arsenal.  And with each year that goes by, Science and research are helping us learn more.  5 things I've learned in the last few years are:

1.  Sugar is the cause of all disease.  Grains, specifically genetically modified and over processed, are a close second.

2.  Exercise has nothing to do with weight loss.  Unless, as is my theory, it can help regulate hormones and prevent or reverse insulin resistance which have everything to do with weight loss.

3.  Calories consumed, calories expended has nothing to do with weight loss.

4.  Not eating for longer periods of time, or not eating simple carbohydrates (including fruit), reduces insulin levels in the body and can promote weight loss.  This is why starvation and low carb diets work.

5.  Trigger Foods:  If you think you wouldn't want to live without a particular food, it's the food you should give up.

Years ago I would have said the three things I wouldn't want to live without are Beer, Potato Chips and Ice Cream.  Now, I never consume these things.  I learned I have a problem with limiting myself with these items.  They make me feel physically bad when I consume them, yet I would keep coming back.  Often this is a sign of an intolerance or allergy.

I finally understand "Trigger Foods."  For years I thought they were foods that you can't stop eating until they are gone.  Not always the case.  They can also be foods that you must eat some of if they are around, you can't stop thinking about it until you eat it.  Surprisingly, York peppermint patties hold this over my head.  Or, foods you think you would not want to live without.

While I've acknowledged and let go of Beer, Potato Chips, and Ice Cream, I have some new trigger foods.  Specifically, Coffee (with cream and sugar), Chocolate, and Cheese.  The later two have been shown to produce the same effects on the brain as morphine and heroin respectively.  Coffee is one of those products in the news that is bad for you one day and good the next.  But it has been linked with insulin resistance, adrenal failure, hormone disruption, various cancers, and if you aren't drinking organic you are loading your body with pesticides and herbicides every day.  If you drink decaf you are probably loading your body with all sorts of chemical extractives, And if you don't drink Fair Trade, you are exploiting any number of South American or African workers.

I've got to eliminate from my diet Coffee, Chocolate, and even Cheese.  I can give up coffee.  I never drank it regularly until a few years ago, and I had to give it up for nearly a year while I was pregnant and attempting to breast feed.  I know that when I do give up Chocolate I won't miss it too much, except at holidays.  But Cheese!  I can't imagine a life without cheese.  It's my go-to snack.  I eat it by itself, with apples, in chili and soups, occasionally melted on some bread...such as pizza, in cheesecake, cream cheese spread on toast, olives, prunes, as a dip for vegetables, I could go on.

So here I stand with these things between me and my weight loss and better health.  I guess it's time to let go.  I just feel like by the time I eliminate all the things that keep me from losing weight or feeling well, I'll be down to just most varieties of legumes, non-starchy vegetables and filtered water.

When did take-out Chinese food get so bad?

My husband and I love Chinese food or any Asian style type cuisine.  But in the last few years, and possibly for longer, every time we eat from a restaurant it is just not good.  It makes me so sad to spend money we can't really afford (even if once a year) on food that isn't worth it.  I just can't help but think what I could have done with that $40.

For the second time in as many years and experiences with Chinese take out, I have rinsed off my food so I could make my own sauce.  This baffles my husband.  But even this time he agreed that anything I make is infinitely superior to what we've had in the last few years.  There's just no getting around it, if I want good food I have to make it myself.

Good things to have on hand:  Garlic, Ginger root, Tamari, Rice Wine Vinegar, Red Pepper Paste, Sesame Oil.

So here are the Chinese inspired recipes from my blog that I've complied.

Egg Rolls at Home

Egg Foo Young

Hot and Sour Soup

Stir-Fry

Asian Green Beans and Pork