Fulfilling Food!

Food for Mind = You Cannot Be Serious by John McEnroe

2011-09-06T15:19:00.001-07:00

You Cannot Be Serious by John McEnroe

3 out of 5

Check out my Food for Mind page for my quick review!

An old family favorite made-over!

2011-08-30T17:42:00.001-07:00

I’m sure almost everyone who grew up in the 70’s had a version of this meal: ground beef with cream of mushroom soup served over pasta or rice.
My family called it “Casserole”. After I married, it was one of my “go to” meals because it was very simple to make, and my daughter loved it (and she was a picky eater so meals that she liked were made often).
This is still ground meat (although I am using the leaner, less fatty, ground turkey) and cream of mushroom soup. BUT, I added some uncooked sliced cremini mushrooms and served it over raw zucchini and raw yellow (or summer) squash, sliced thin to be like noodles. It is high veggie and very delicious.
I added sliced olives and a can of white corn to the sauce, just to add another element to it.
I originally was going to cook the mushrooms in the sauce, thinking it would enhance the flavor of the cream of mushroom soup. But, I forgot about them until right before I served it. The sauce had already simmered and everything else was ready. So, I thought, “Well, mushrooms can be eaten raw. They don’t have to be cooked. I’ll just add them to the sauce now raw, and then the next time I make it, I’ll simmer the mushrooms as it warms up.” After having the raw mushrooms, cooking them was nixed! The mushrooms – even raw – enhanced the flavor of the sauce. It was so extra delicious that I fell in love with mushrooms again.
If you are trying to limit your carb intake, or are cutting out pasta, I highly recommend this dish. It is so satisfying and yummy, you won’t miss the pasta noodles or rice.
Love yourself and be fulfilled!

Food for Mind = Open by Andre Agassi

2011-08-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

Open by Andre Agassi

4 out of 5

This was a fast read. Agassi writes like he is having a conversation with you. I found myself intrigued and flipping pages to find out what happens next. As a tennis fan, I loved the behind-the-scense glimpses at the major tournaments. I loved when Agassi describes what was going through his mind and how he was feeling at certain times in certain matches. Some of those matches I remember watching and being on the edge of my seat because of the great drama that was produced. The romances in his life were also extremely interesting. The life of a tennis pro has never seemed easy to me, with all the traveling and constant training and odd schedules from day matches to night matches, losing first round or making it far in the tournament. Maintaining a relationship has seemed difficult unless the other person was also a tennis pro. Agassi's insight into that side of life was enlightening. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was entertaining and insightful. And, you don't have to be a tennis fan to enjoy it.

Super Bowl burgers

2011-08-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

That right there is a burger I could not fit into my mouth. And, it also is entirely homemade. Yep, even the bun. Well, okay, I didn't grow the tomatoes or lettuce, but you know what I mean.

We decided to go simple with our Super Bowl burgers, and that really just applied to the toppings. It is simply topped with mustard, red leaf lettuce and a few slices of Roma tomatoes.

The burger patty was made with ground sirloin, so we went a little fancy there. Seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning, and topped with a good helping of cheddar cheese, the patties were delicious, very flavorful.

We would have grilled them up, but, if I remember right, the barbeque was out of gas.

The homemade buns were my brilliant idea. (Can you sense the sarcasm?)

I have been doing pretty well at baking bread, using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipes. So, I thought to try my hand at baking buns. I had the right idea on the size. But, what makes a hamburger bun super is not only the subtle flavor, so as not to take away from the burger ingredients, but the softness which allows a good bite without having all the ingredients slide right out the back of the burger.

Um, yeah, that's what happened with these buns. They were really good as artisan loaves that you would rip apart and dip into olive oil and seasoning, or just slather with butter. They were *not* good for burger buns. They just weren't soft enough. On the outside! The inside was wonderfully soft. But, the crust was too hard for us to actually bite through with any ease. So, all my ingredients squeezed right out the back when I bit down into my delicious and yummy looking burger.

That top bun is huge! If I would have just cut off the top crust, it probably would have worked just fine.

So, I still need to find a good recipe for burger buns. But, I'm not too worried about it. We enjoyed the food, felt good about it since it was all homemade, no preservatives, and we enjoyed the game. We had no real interest in the outcome. We just wanted to see a good game. And, if I remember right, it was a pretty good game.

The hiatus is done, I think, well, for now.

2011-07-29T16:20:00.004-07:00

Life. My life presents challenges to me everyday. Some days I feel up to the challenge and face it head on. Other days, well, I just want to roll over in bed and pull the covers over my head. But, I can't. I'm a grown up now. So, I press on. I may not do it with the most enthusiasm on those rough days, but I do it. And, that in itself is something about which I can feel really positive.

I had lost enthusiasm for writing about food. And, my husband and I were not sticking with the raw food diet much anymore. So, I stayed away from this blog. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to take it. Plus, like most everyone else, I started looking for another job, which is like a full-time job. I do already have a job, but it's in real estate, which is exceedingly difficult. But, it's a job, and, in addition to spending time applying for jobs, I needed to spend time focused on my current job in order to keep paying the bills. Sound familiar? Probably, if you are like me and the thousands of people trying to make ends meet or trying to build back the savings they have used up. (If not, well, good for you.)

That focus, plus the turn in the Chinese New Year (you may laugh, but I'm a believer), has made things a little better. We have a little breathing room. And, a little less stress. And, therefore, I can think about doing fun things again. Like this blog. I don't know if it will stay food focused. But, it will continue to be about things that fulfill me. But, that's the fun of it, right? Life's a journey, not a destination. Ahh, Life.

Blood Orange Fruit Salad

2011-04-08T08:15:00.005-07:00

Spring has arrived - well, for the rest of the country. It has been here in Phoenix for a while, and we're just about ready to welcome - dare I say it - Summer.

I can hope that the triple digit temperatures will stay away for a few months more. We always have hope, right? At any rate, warmer temps are coming and that makes me less inclined to cook, to turn on the stove or, even worse, to turn on the oven. Just as cold days bring cravings of warm soups and stews, hot days bring cravings of - well, let's be honest, popsicles and ice cream.

Since living on popsicles and ice cream is not nutritionally ideal (although could be extraordinarily yummy), fruit salad often fills the bill for us during Phoenix's outrageous summer months. Fruit salad is light and delicious, easy to make, and best of all, requires no heating.

Another thing I love about fruit salad is its versatility. Any fruit combination will do - as long as you like the fruit, various combinations can come together to create a yummy, satisfying dish. And, it can be a side salad or a meal on its own.

For our most recent incarnation of fruit salad (shown above), we picked blood oranges from our neighbor's tree, paired it with apples, raisins and green bell pepper. The sauce is simply plain yogurt. (I absolutely love plain yogurt for its versatility, too. Add sweetener or spices like salt and pepper and it becomes something completely different.) The fruit in our fruit salad was plenty sweet, so we didn't add any sweetener to the yogurt, but feel free to experiment, and sweeten to your tastes. And enjoy! Enjoy the warmer temps, make an easy, light, carefree dinner and go outside and play! Be Fulfilled!

Super Bowl Sunday Food

2011-02-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

What are you eating today?

We are going with burgers! It'll be homemade all the way, too: homemade buns from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, homemade all-beef burger patties, homemade guacamole and homemade bean dip.

The burgers will be simply topped with red leaf lettuce leaves and sliced Roma tomatoes and mustard and ketchup. And, of course, the guacamole and bean dip will be enjoyed with corn tortilla chips, which we are not making homemade, but which seem fresh-made from our grocery store. They are like the chips you get in a really good Mexican restaurant. Seriously yum.

A lot of people are cooking good food today. It's almost like Thanksgiving - cooking that special food you eat just once a year. And, a lot of people are going with traditional football fare in pizza and wings. Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with good pizza and wings. It is one of my all-time favorites, but I always pay for it later. Maybe that's why it's only once in a while that we go wild with junk food?

So, in honor of Super Bowl Sunday, may your preparations for the game go smoothly and stress-free and may the game be a nail-biter. Let's all hope for a good game! Enjoy!

Lovely lemons

2011-02-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

Behold the bounty from our lemon tree! We were fortunate to pick about 10 dozen lemons this year, and they were juicy and fragrant. We shared as much as people wanted and still had plenty.

With all of these lemons, I began to rack my brain for different recipes for which I needed a lot of lemons. I thought of the usual - lemon meringue pie, but that has never gone over so well (see this post), plus I am trying to cut down on sweets with the new year and all (isn't everyone?), lemon bars (again with the sweet!), and hot lemonade. A friend suggested a lemon artichoke caper pasta with chicken, which my husband executed with great success! It was much like the chicken scaloppine from Macaroni Grill.

My daughter took some lemons and said she'd be making lemonade. I'll have to call the others who received lemons and ask them what they decided to make!

Chocolate Turtles

2010-09-30T15:34:00.001-07:00

I love how shiny the chocolate is!
(I set it on top of my organizer, so ignore the sorry background!)

Here is another recipe from Stephanie Tourles’ book, Raw Energy . This is a reworking of a classic chocolate treat, turtles, which combines chocolate, caramel and nuts. People have reworked turtles, but never like this! I have successfully enjoyed this treat and didn’t feel guilty one bit. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Have a sweet treat, don’t deprive yourself, and don’t feel bad about it either!

To demonstrate how much better this recipe is in terms of ingredients, I thought I’d compare it to a recipe for regular chocolate turtles. I went to http://www.cooks.com/ because it had an actual recipe for chocolate turtles. Other places had recipes for chocolate turtle pie, cheesecake, brownies. Not exactly what I was looking for. (Did I mention people had reworked the turtle recipe? Wow!) Anyway, I found a recipe that seemed simple and was the classic chocolate turtle treat with nuts, caramel and chocolate. You can click here to go to the recipe I found, but the ingredient list includes caramels, evaporated milk, pecans, butter, chocolate chips and vegetable oil.

The caramels are cooked butter and sugar, the evaporated milk is processed, cooked and canned, the pecans are, well, pecans, the butter is probably pasteurized, and the chocolate chips are full of sugar and processed chocolate. And, most likely the vegetable oil is probably soy, which I choose to avoid. (To find out why, see this post.)

Now, compare all those processed, sugary ingredients with the ingredients for Ms. Tourles’ turtles: raw almond butter, raw cocoa (cacao) powder, raw agave nectar, raw pecan halves. Four ingredients with no butter and no extra sugar. Granted, there’s no caramel substitute. But, believe me, once you try it, you won’t care that there’s no caramel. If you like chocolate and nuts, you’ll love this version. And, it is so easy!

Basically, the recipe is equal parts almond butter and cocoa powder, with half the amount of agave nectar. For example, if you use ½ cup almond butter, you’ll use ½ cup cocoa powder and ¼ cup agave nectar. Put these three ingredients in a bowl and slowly stir together. You have to go slow because the cocoa powder is so loose and light. Eventually, you’ll see it mixing and becoming a dark chocolate mass. Once it is all incorporated, pinch off small pieces and roll them into balls, placing the balls on wax paper. Gently press your chosen nut, whether that is classic pecans or what-I-have-on-hand almonds, onto the top of each ball. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Ms. Tourles recommends an 8-inch pan, but I just lined a large rectangular tupperware with wax paper. This was very convenient for covering, chilling and storing. Ms. Tourles also says she likes to store them in the freezer (for up to 3 months), where they “become quite firm but still chewy”. Mine were a little too hard when coming out of the freezer, so I prefer to keep them in the fridge, where they can be stored in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 weeks.

So, I’ve included a picture of my almond-topped turtles. I love how easy this recipe is, and they really are delicious. The almond butter gives you good fats, and if you make it yourself, you know there are no preservatives or additives. The agave nectar is a wonderful sweetener that won’t give you a sugar rush or crash later. And, of course, the almonds are full of fiber, good fats, protein and all kinds of good stuff. The cacao powder – well, that’s up for some debate. I suppose chocolate is still chocolate. But, I for one am happy to have a yummy alternative to a chocolate treat loaded with sugar and butter.

Cashew Oat Squares

2010-09-28T08:59:00.035-07:00

Based on the "Cashew Maple Oatmeal Squares" recipe from Raw Energy: 124 Raw Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies, and Other Snacks to Supercharge Your Body by Stephanie Tourles

I decided to try this recipe because my hubby loves cookie dough, and in the recipe description, Ms. Tourles says, "These sticky and chewy treats will remind you of chilled oatmeal cookie dough." Oh, and the recipe does not require a dehydrator, which I still do not have, but am seriously considering.

These squares were delicious. It was hard to stop – we could have finished off the first batch entirely before dinner. I did alter her recipe, mostly because I had to substitute ingredients for what is available and cost effective for me. What follows is her recipe from the book, with my alterations in parentheses.

Cashew Maple Oatmeal Squares, by Stephanie Tourles

10 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped, about 1 cup (I used Deglet dates)
1 cup raw cashews (I germinated the cashews although she doesn’t say to do so)
½ cup raw oats
¼ cup maple syrup (I used agave syrup)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
coconut oil, raw and unrefined, for greasing pan (I just used wax paper instead)

1. Put the dates, cashews, oats, syrup, cinnamon and salt in a food processor. Blend until a cohesive, sticky cookie dough forms, about 30 seconds. It will look and taste similar to oatmeal cookie dough.

2. Coat the bottom of an 8-inch square pan with coconut oil or line with waxed paper. Spread the mixture in the pan to an approximate thickness of ½ inch. If your fingers get too sticky, dampen them to help pat the dough into the pan.

3. Cover and freeze for 4 hours, until the dough is relatively firm. Remove from the freezer and cut into 1-½ inch squares.

4. Store the squares in a tightly sealed container in the freezer for up to 2 months. They will have a nice, stiff “chew” when eaten directly from the freezer, so don’t worry about breaking your teeth. If allowed to thaw, they will become too soft and sticky.

Yield: About 24 squares

I will definitely be making these again and again. They were a delicious snack or dessert, and are full of good stuff. No flour or white sugar and no empty calories to give you a false energy rush then crash. And they were so easy to prepare! It’s almost sinful how easy they are and how delicious! Enjoy!

Pei Wei Asian Diner

2010-09-23T09:31:00.018-07:00

7th Avenue & McDowell location

http://www.peiwei.com/

various locations

“Eat in Five Languages: Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese”

Pei Wei is casual dining mixed with fast food, the type of restaurant where you seat yourself (unless it’s really crowded), order at the counter and get your own drink. But, they will bring your delicious food to you, and the interior is decorated nicely. So, it’s a step above fast food joints. A small, nicely decorated step, but a step above nonetheless.

The menu is varied, obviously, if you can "eat in five languages". They offer many menu items as vegetarian, and even offer a Gluten-Free menu. There are only 3 salads on their Salad menu, but I’ve never thought of Asian food as having a lot of salads anyway. The stars of the show are the Noodle/Rice Bowls and Signature Dishes, which have many options. You pick your base dish and choose your protein source (chicken, beef, pork or shrimp, or veggies).

I’ve been to Pei Wei several times, to several different locations here in Phoenix, and only had a few dishes. I found a dish I love (Pad Thai) and tend to order that each time. Call me boring - I know what I like! My hubby is a little more adventurous and has tried several dishes, one of which (Dan Dan Noodles) we started making at home – well, his own version – since he liked it so much and it seemed really simple to do a semi-raw version. The last few times I’ve been to Pei Wei, the atmosphere was loud and annoying. It would be less annoying if we weren’t there at the same time as everyone else. We were attempting to beat the lunch crowd by meeting at 11:30, but it seems we were not the only ones with that idea, and we found ourselves right smack dab in the middle of the lunch crowd. Line out the door, music and chatting noises increasing in volume with each minute. Not my idea of a pleasant, relaxing lunch.

Some people love Pei Wei and others think it’s nothing to write home about. It probably depends largely on what you have. I would say Pei Wei is good Asian food, and it is kind of cool to go to one restaurant and be able to try a Japanese dish, or a Thai dish. If you have limited lunch time, it can also be very fast. But, if you, like me, want to enjoy your lunch break, I would not recommend going to Pei Wei between 11:30 and 1pm. It is too loud to enjoy any conversation with your lunch companions. And, I don’t know about you, but I can’t sit and enjoy my meal when there’s a line of people staring at our table to see how soon we might be leaving so that they might grab it. Of course, you could always call ahead or even order online now and just pick it up and go. Go to a nice, quiet place away from work where you can really enjoy the taste of the food. Soon it will be such nice weather here in Phoenix that I would love to eat lunch outside, maybe at a park with some water so I can watch the birds!

Mostly Raw milkshakes

2010-09-21T10:28:00.012-07:00

My dad is a huge ice cream fan, and he passed that love to me. Recently, when Dairy Queen was celebrating the 25^th Anniversary of the Blizzard, I recalled the first time I had one, just after they came out. At that time, the commercials showed the Blizzard being held upside down without spilling a drop. This - I suppose - was to demonstrate how thick and chock-full of yummy stuff it was, as opposed to those runny regular ice cream shakes. My dad and I went to the Dairy Queen drive-through, and when we got to the pick-up window, we asked the employee if they could really hold it upside down without anything falling out. The employee did so, and we were supremely impressed! The Blizzard was also very delicious, thick and chock-full of yummy stuff, much cooler than those runny regular ice cream shakes.

And, my love of milkshakes that are so thick with ice cream that I have to eat them with a spoon was born!

There is raw ice cream in the world. Check out Sweetly Raw for some tantalizing raw ice cream cakes. Since I am just at baby-steps with eating raw (less than a year now), I have not attempted to make raw ice cream. Luckily for me, I can have a mostly raw milkshake. It is easy and delicious, and has been a regular treat during this warm summer. Sometimes, it has even been dinner!

Banana shake - thick and creamy

The key is the frozen bananas. They absolutely make the consistency very much like ice cream. And, it is different than a smoothie, although more so in consistency than in ingredients. The ingredients are very simple: 1 frozen banana, 1 fresh banana, ¼ teaspoon vanilla, and about ¼ cup of milk. Blend it all up and you have a delicious treat. If the bananas are too ripe, the banana taste can be strong.

It is very helpful to break the banana into small pieces before freezing. At least, our blender can handle it better!

Adding ingredients

Strawberry-banana milkshakes are the same, just add about 3 frozen strawberries to the mix.

Keep in mind that although this is mostly raw, that does not mean it is mostly calorie-free. One medium sized banana is about 100 calories, and I use 2 in this recipe. But, you are getting about 2 to 3 servings of the recommended 3 to 4 fruit servings per day.

Pouring it to serve - how yummy!

Of course, I could add nut milk or fresh, unpasteurized dairy milk to make it 100% raw. I checked out Almond Milk sold in a carton at the grocery stores, and there were additives in them – all the brands – that I did not want. And, I am not close to a dairy farm where I reside, and don’t even know if it’s legal to sell unpasteurized milk here in AZ. My best bet is to make my own nut milk, which sounds rather simple. Right now, I do not have a nut milk bag to begin making my own nut milks. But, I would like to try it sometime.

Any suggestions on making my own nut milk without a proper nut milk bag?

Pugzie’s Restaurant

2010-09-16T11:10:00.014-07:00

4700 N. 16th Street (Northwest corner of 16th Street and Highland)
Phoenix, AZ 85016
http://www.pugzies.com/index.html
602-277-6017

Open only for lunch (10-4 Monday through Friday), Pugzie’s makes sandwiches like I’d make at home, only better! Everything seems to be extra fresh. The bread is soft, the tomatoes tasty, and the lettuce leaves whole. The dill pickle, chips and cookie served alongside give me a feeling reminiscent of when my mom packed a lunch for me in elementary school. Pugzie’s is like that, like a Working Mom: supremely busy all the time, but they still try to make you feel like you’re at home. Two sisters own it, Lynn Pugliano and Lisa Pugliano-Wright, and, according to their website, their goal “was to provide fresh, healthy lunches with friendly, fast service.”

The restaurant is hard to miss, painted turquoise, with a yellow toucan up high. What the apparent loudness of the exterior hides is a quiet interior grassy courtyard. There are chairs and tables with umbrellas out on a concrete patio area to sit out and enjoy the weather (when it’s nice here in Phoenix, that is). If it’s too hot (or cold, I suppose), there are chairs inside that face the wall of windows which look out to the courtyard. It’s all very pleasant, and a nice change of pace from the bustle of the Camelback Corridor and the movers and shakers that do business there.

Other than being a nice little escape in the middle of a workday, Pugzie’s food is great, too. They offer classic sandwiches, like Oven-Roasted Turkey (my personal fave), Roast Beef, and Chicken Salad that they proclaim is a “Favorite on the menu!” They also offer the always wonderful combo of a half-sandwich with a choice of soup, chili, or a salad. The salads are varied, ranging from pasta salad to potato salad and even fruit salad. All are served in good portions that are surprisingly filling. And, the soup is really delicious, too, with offerings like Cheese Broccoli (my other personal fave), Tomato Basil and Clam Chowder.
Pugzie’s has vegetarian options and gluten-free menu items as well. And, the prices are very reasonable, given the quality of food and the location.

I would say the Pugliano sisters have succeeded in reaching their goal!

Eating out

2010-09-14T11:50:00.002-07:00

I’ll just come right out and say it: We’ve been eating out a lot lately. A LOT. So, I have quite a few restaurants to write about.

There are a lot of different restaurants here in the greater Phoenix Metropolitan area, and I always enjoy eating out and trying new dishes and foods. I am happy to say that there are only two chain restaurants out of the ten I will be writing about. (Told ya it was a lot!) I like to eat at non-chain restaurants because I feel like I’m helping a fellow small business owner out in their fight against the big guys, with all their advertising dollars behind them.

So, how can I keep my diet mostly raw if I’m eating out all the time? We try and eat at least two raw meals every day, leaving one cooked meal a day. And, to be honest, if I had a huge cooked lunch, for dinner I may just have some fruit, a few veggies thrown together in a salad or nothing at all. Every morning we have the “Best Breakfast Ever” and tea or coffee. Lunch and dinner are more free form, depending on our schedule for that day. If we were out and about at lunchtime, we have eaten out and made that our cooked meal for the day. If we were home at lunchtime, then we’d eat a raw lunch, like a salad or a veggie sandwich on Ezekiel bread. Dinner depends on what we feel like eating. If it’s been two raw meals that day, dinner could be raw veggies and a cooked portion, like pasta or potatoes, or black beans.

Basically, we do feel much better eating mostly raw. But, we still like cooked food. And, we give ourselves permission to eat what sounds good to us. Of course, I keep in mind things that I don’t want to eat, like soy and artificial sweeteners, and try to avoid that as much as possible.

I have never believed in deprivation as a good strategy for eating. Depriving myself of something I want just makes me feel resentful and angry. I do strongly believe in moderation however. My food vice is chips and dip. Now, I do not buy chips and dip and have them in my house. That’s just too much temptation. However, if I am at a party and there’s chips and dip, why should I torture myself and avoid having any? I should not and I do not. But, I do not sit at the table and finish the whole bag of chips! I grab a handful of chips and enjoy it – really enjoy it – with the dip. Then, I grab some fruit or veggies to enjoy. If I am done with the fruit or veggies and I still want chips, I grab another handful. And, I pay attention to when I feel full. When I am full, I stop eating. Then, I am happy because I have not deprived myself, and I have eaten in moderation.

Life is too short. Enjoy it, I say!

Mexican Bowl

2010-08-17T08:06:00.077-07:00

We do enjoy Mexican food, and have enjoyed this dish on many nights. For lack of a better name, we called it "corn bowl". That is not fitting at all since there is so much more than corn in it! But, alas, I could not come up with anything better than "Mexican Bowl". It is kind of like the burrito bowls at Chipotle, but I think it could be the base or insides of tacos, tostadas, fajitas and burritos, too, if your heart so desired.

It's very simple, and a lot of it is raw.

1/2 cup corn (we used uncooked, fresh white corn cut from the cob)
3/4 cup black beans*
1 Roma tomato, chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/4 cup plain yogurt, optional
garlic salt, optional
onion salt, optional
hot sauce, optional
shredded cheese, optional

Put all veggies in the bowl, layering as you go. If using the optional ingredients, top with yogurt, then sprinkle the garlic and onion salt lightly over the yogurt, to taste. Add hot sauce to taste, and top with desired amount of shredded cheese.

*Note the black beans are canned although not heated. We have tried to eat black beans that we purchased dried and from the bulk section. We soaked them for a really long time, I think 24 hours, maybe 36 hours. Although they were still slightly hard, which made them slightly crunchy, we ate them and thought they were okay. Unfortunately, we both were sick to our stomachs the next day. Until I become more educated about beans, I am going to stick with canned for now. I noticed after that unpleasant experience that most of the raw food blogs I read do not use beans often. Maybe there's a reason, huh?

Using the veggie ingredients only would yield a 100% raw dish, although I'm not sure it would be very tasty. I have come to find that seasonings are quite important to eating mostly raw. They definitely help add flavor and interest to the dishes. So I strongly suggest adding your favorite seasonings. Also, the black beans provide good amounts of dietary fiber and protein. And, the yogurt has beneficial bacteria. All good stuff!

Enjoy!

Best Breakfast Ever!

2010-08-12T08:00:00.007-07:00

Boxed cereals are convenient, quick and easy. Just open the box, pour some cereal in a bowl, add some milk, grab a spoon and you are ready to eat. They are also usually filled with preservatives and additives and other chemicals that I probably cannot pronounce. And, they are processed and cooked. I want none of those things for my first, most important meal of the day.

I want a morning cereal routine that is almost as quick and easy, and much more nutritious! And, with this breakfast, I have all that and more. It only takes a few minutes to prepare. It fills me up without making me feel heavy, and holds me over for hours – well into the lunchtime hour. So I have a very productive morning because I’m not stopping every two hours to have a snack or get more coffee or tea.

(Seriously, before I started eating more raw, I would have hot tea or coffee at 8am, stop to eat breakfast at 9 or 9:30, at 10:30 or 11am I was thinking about lunch and what to do, where to go. Then, at about 2:30 or 3pm, I would be hungry for a snack unless I ate a gi-normous amount at lunch, then I would be tired and wanting an afternoon nap. Either way, I would probably snack, then want dinner at 6pm. I was always hungry and always thinking about food.)

This breakfast is simple: about 10 germinated* almonds, a handful of raisins, another handful or so of whole oats, and about 4 tablespoons yogurt and/or milk. Each morning, I add a different fruit, one half each for Hubby and me. Sometimes, we go with an apple or banana (always a good standard), but lately, the nectarines and mangoes have been excellent at our grocery store. Part of the reason we have not become tired of having the same thing every morning is because of the different fruit we add to it. The other part is because we feel great after eating it!

All stirred up with nectarine

Adding Mango on another morning

Obviously with the addition of the yogurt and milk, this is not a 100% raw breakfast (or afternoon snack, or lunch – we’ve had it as both). But, my blog is not a 100% raw blog. If you were to purchase unpasteurized milk or yogurt made from unpasteurized milk, this may be 100% raw. I have to research whole oats. I have eaten oats labeled as “raw” before, and I don’t notice any difference between those and the whole oats I use. But, Carol Alt says in her books, “If it doesn’t say raw, it’s not raw.” The oats I buy do not say raw so I’m not sure if they are or not. But, whole oats do provide fiber and complex carbohydrates, which are both great for our systems.

*A note about germinating: It is very easy! Germinating nuts and seeds releases the nutrients inside those awesome nuts and seeds so they are more biologically available to us. Each specific nut and seed has a different germinating time, so I would direct you to Carol Alt’s books for more info on that. This is what I do for almonds:

(Two cups of almonds lasts me for this breakfast for about two weeks, for the two of us.) Rinse the 2 cups of almonds twice or so

Pour them into a glass bowl or other glass container

Pour purified water over them enough to cover all the almonds and have about a ½ inch of water above them

(Note I use filtered water, but others use distilled water – do what works for you)

Let the almonds soak for 8 to 12 hours on the counter, just at room temperature

(Note that I have set them to soak before work in the morning – then when I’m done with my workday, they are ready to put away – and also before going to bed at night – then when I wake up the next morning, they are ready to use)

Pour the water out and rinse them a few times again

The almonds are germinated and ready to use! I store mine in a container in the fridge and they last for the whole 2 weeks. They may last longer, but I usually run out by then.

You’ll find the almonds are sweeter and more flavorful after germinating, and of course, a little softer. Hubby says they taste reminiscent of coconut.

So, that’s how we do breakfast. We’ve given up the boxed cereals and cooked oatmeal and feel so much better for it!

Enjoy!

Raw Red Pepper Soup

2010-08-10T08:07:00.001-07:00

Cold soups are nothing new, really. I mean, there's gazpacho, right? I can't think of any other cold soups but that does not mean they're not out there.

This dish was made in the spirit of "Let's try it and see". My hubby had been reminiscing about a roasted red pepper soup that we had at Haus Murphy's. It was so delicious. Rich and creamy and so flavorful. Well, roasted red peppers are not raw. So, we decided to try and find a raw soup recipe that might come close. I came across a recipe from Heather Pace of the Sweetly Raw blog (which is awesome for people with enormous sweet tooths - or teeth? - anyway, it's great), and thought, "Let's try it and see." We completely changed her recipe, mostly because we don't have all the ingredients (such as nutritional yeast and miso), and we never include onions if we can help it.

I'd say it was 3.5 out of 5. Maybe nutritional yeast and miso and onions are really key to obtaining that roasted red pepper flavor? As you can see from the picture, we topped it with some avocado slices. It was good, but it didn't meet our expectations. However, our expectations were of a cooked dish, so I don't know how close we really could have come.

One thing I am loving about eating mostly raw is the fact that we don't heat up the house by turning on the stove or oven. This is probably particular to where I live: Phoenix. It is hot here in the summer (and spring and early fall - who am I kidding!) and to not turn the stove or oven on is a blessing! And who wants a hot steaming bowl of soup when it's 110 outside?

Red Pepper Soup (based off "Southern Belles in London Soup" by Philip McCluskey through Heather Pace's blog)

4 red peppers, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil (cold-pressed if you have it)
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Heather states if you want warm soup, use hot water.

Enjoy!

Sorry I've been away . . .

2010-08-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's been several months since I've shared anything on this blog! I just haven't had the energy or desire to write about the lovely food I've been eating. But, that's about to change! I have a plan, and have some wonderful meals to share, including an all-raw Fake Fettucine Alfredo

and an all-raw dessert with an almond-date crust, vanilla creme filling and topped with strawberries!

Oops - thought I had a picture of that one. Darn, I guess I'll have to make it again and be sure to take a picture of it before I gobble it up!

So, again, my apologies for being away. My blog is somewhat revamped to have a more raw diet/raw meal focus, which reflects my life currently. It's being revamped. How cool is that?

Meat-Free Monday - Raw Spaghetti

2010-05-03T08:57:00.072-07:00

This is actually a recipe called "Pasta alla Marinara", from Carol Alt's book, Eating in the Raw. She got this recipe from Quintessence, a raw restaurant in NYC.

In my effort to eat more naturally and vegetarian, I have decided to try eating raw more often than not. This recipe seemed simple enough, and I thought, if I like this raw dish, I am well on my way to eating raw more and more.

Well, I liked it. My husband really liked it, too. . . the first night. I kept suggesting it as dinner, and even as lunch, and he just wasn't all that jazzed about it. He couldn't explain why. He said it was good and tasty, but his desire for it just wasn't there.

Maybe an andouille sausage would have made it more appetizing? Not exactly raw or vegetarian!

I could eat this every other day for a whole week and probably then, just start to get tired of it. The sauce is outrageously tasty. Of course, I love green olives and bell peppers, so this had all my favorite spaghetti ingredients. And, with Phoenix summers being insanely hot, this raw dish will be cool and refreshing and filling at the same time.

Pasta Alla Marinara, from Carol Alt's Eating in the Raw

Serves 5

5 pounds yellow summer squash

Marinara Sauce
6 large tomatoes
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1/2 bunch fresh basil
1/4 cup (loosely packed) fresh oregano
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons choped fresh sage
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup cold-pressed olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 dates, pitted
1 tablespoon evaporated sea salt

Topping
1/4 cup olives, chopped
1/4 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup red bell peppers, chopped
1/4 cup red onions, chopped

For the "pasta", thinly slice the yellow squash with a sharp knife, or, better yet, use a turning (spiralizing) slicer to cut squash into curly strands. Set aside. For the Marinara sauce, put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and puree until creamy. Pour sauce on spiralized yellow squash pasta and top with olives, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions.

OK - now for our version. We are two empty nesters, so we certainly did not need to make enough to serve 5! So I sliced one small to medium sized squash for one full plate serving of "pasta". When I made this for lunch, I sliced one squash, and did 1/2 per plate and that was plenty. Also, the only fresh herb we have is rosemary (growing in our garden!), so substituting dried herbs was fine. We didn't have tarragon or sage, so those were left out. We also don't like onions, so those were left out. And, I did not have dates, so we went without. Regular salt worked fine in place of the expensive sounding evaporated sea salt.

This dish is interesting for so many reasons. First, I didn't know yellow summer squash could be eaten raw. I thought it HAD to be cooked. Wrong! It tastes very mild raw, and there is no bitterness at all. (I thought it had to be cooked to get rid of the bitterness, but I think cooking it may make it bitter.) Second, the raw tomato sauce was exactly like cooked spaghetti sauce, it just wasn't steaming hot, leaving all the nutrients intact. And, third, the toppings added to the sauce made it exactly like the chunky spaghetti sauce I enjoy cooking for my family.

Delicious! Now, I just need to figure out how to get the hubby to eat it more than just once. . . . . :-)

Thai Elephant

2010-04-29T08:42:00.053-07:00

Thai Elephant
20 W. Adams Street
Phoenix, AZ 85003
(602) 252-3873
http://www.thaielephantaz.com/

:-):-):-):-)
(4 smiles out of 5)

3.5 stars out of 5 from yelp.com.

When a small place is jam-packed, you know it's good. Thai Elephant in Downtown Phoenix was jam-packed, and it was good.

We were lucky to snag the last available table, and it was early by lunch time standards - 11:45! If you are looking for a nice, quiet place to have a leisurely lunch and hang out for a while, this is not the place. It was crowded and loud and just buzzing constantly. The tables are so close you may end up bumping elbows, apologizing and then becoming friends with the people at the next table. But, I think that's part of the charm of this restaurant! Be friendly and open, and you never know what you may find, or who you might meet.

Of course, the food was excellent, so you may find you'll put up with the noise and close quarters to enjoy a tasty dish. Thai Elephant serves lunch and dinner every day except Sunday, and prides itself on serving freshly prepared food made from scratch with quality ingredients. The dishes are customizable, too, allowing patrons their choices of meat and spice level, and they don't mind substitutions. I had one of my favorite Thai dishes, Pad Se Ew, and I loved the large noodles they used. Their Thai iced tea was delicious, too. All in all, good food and an interesting atmosphere. We'll go there again!

Meat-Free Monday suggestion: Cream of Broccoli soup

2010-04-26T08:40:00.003-07:00

Sometimes soup is what I crave.

When it is coupled with toasted bread I am happy.

When we make it all from scratch with no preservatives I am especially happy!

On this particular day, I wanted a creamy soup. All we had in our pantry was one package of Ramen noodles. (It's the last one and once it's gone I doubt I'll ever buy it again.) My husband had made tortilla soup before, and I've made corn soup before, but those didn't really seem to satisfy my craving for a creamy soup.

So, we pulled out the trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, and flipped to the Soups & Stews tab. In my 1989 version, there is a Cream of Vegetable Soup, followed by a chart. You choose which vegetable you want and the chart shows the seasonings to use with that particular veggie. The veggie choices range from broccoli to celery to acorn squash and pumpkin, carrots and mushroom, and even spinach. We had frozen broccoli on hand, so that's what we went with.

One 10-ounce package frozen cut broccoli
1 and 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon margarine or butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon snipped thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
1 cup milk or light cream

Thaw the frozen broccoli. In a blender container or food processor combine the cooked vegetable and 3/4 cup of the chicken broth. Cover and blend or process about 1 minute or till smooth. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan melt margarine (or butter). Stir in flour, thyme, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir till slightly thickened and bubbly. Cook 1 minute more. Stir in broccoli mixture and remaining broth. Cook and stir till heated through. If necessary, stir in additional milk to make of desired consistency. Season to taste. Makes 3 or 4 side-dish servings (or 2 main dish servings).

It really was very easy to put together, and once it was done, it was delicious. My creamy soup craving was satisfied. I had made sourdough bread over the weekend, and we toasted a few slices to accompany the soup. That was extra yummy! (I probably should post another entry about baking sourdough bread. I have gotten much better at it, and it is my favorite bread to make. I think I just need to remember to take pictures of it before it is devoured! Hmmm. . . some time soon.)

Anyway, I was truly thrilled with this broccoli soup and sourdough bread because it was all home made. No preservatives, no chemical additives. And, it was meat-free! I know we used chicken broth and milk, so it wasn't vegan, but, it was still meat-free. What's not to feel good about?

Pound cake with strawberries

2010-04-23T08:49:00.048-07:00

It must be strawberry season because they are on sale at the grocery store, and they actually look good! When I see strawberries, I immediately think of strawberry shortcake. I had everything on hand, including a recipe, for pound cake, not short cake, so pound cake is what I made. And, boy was it delicious!

The pound cake is thick and dense, yet subtle in the flavor. It gets a little extra something with the addition of a little nutmeg. And the strawberries are perfect - sweet and a little tart and very juicy. YUM!

The plate on the left is for my hubby, who chose to top his with a drizzle of agave nectar. The plate on the right is for me, and I chose to drizzle chocolate hazelnut spread on mine. Fabulous!!

I used the pound cake recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cook book, which follows. I looked on their website, and the recipe for Pound Cake and for Classic Pound Cake, is not the recipe for Pound Cake in the book I have, which is from 1989 of course.

1 cup butter
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring butter and eggs to room temperature. In one mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and, if desired, nutmeg. In another bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Gradually add sugar to butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on medium to high speed about 6 minutes total or till very light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition, scraping bowl often. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating on low to medium speed just till combined.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 55 to 65 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan. Cool thoroughly on a wire rack. Makes 12 servings.

This recipe was easy to throw together, took no time at all and turned out wonderful. The longest part was waiting for the butter and eggs to get to room temp! Enjoy!

Shrimp tacos, avocado cilantro salsa, avocado tomato salad

2010-04-20T08:33:00.030-07:00

Simplicity can be truly awesome. Case in point: shrimp tacos. For the shrimp lover (like me), shrimp tacos are heaven! This taco is all about the shrimp. There is nothing in the taco but shrimp and a yummy avocado cilantro salsa. Absolutely one of my favorite summertime meals! (It may only be April, but it's getting warm in Phoenix!)

The side salad is also very simple: a roma tomato and half an avocado drizzled with lemon juice. It is refreshing and light, and the lemon juice actually made the tomato flavor more apparent, and the avocado brighter.

The shrimp sauce ingredients include olive oil, chili powder and paprika. The shrimp were just coated in this sauce, allowed to sit for about 5 minutes, and then fried in a pan. (My husband just really warms the shrimp since we buy the already cooked and peeled shrimp.) The avocado cilantro salsa ingredients include one half avocado, half a bunch of cilantro, garlic, onion salt, garlic salt, lemon juice and about 2 tablespoons water, all combined in a food processor. Add more lemon juice or water to get your desired consistency.

Easy, simple and extremely flavorful! Enjoy!

The Whole Soy Story, by Kaayla T. Daniel

2010-04-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.wholesoystory.com/

I wanted to bake my own bread at first because I thought it would be fun and yummy, and a bit of a challenge. (I had never done it before!) When I discovered I could bake a pretty good loaf, I decided to bake bread more regularly to avoid the preservatives that are in the bread at the grocery store. That, in turn, got me thinking about eating healthier in general, and avoiding, as best I could, all those preservatives and multi-syllabic, science-lab-created additives in all the food products I buy. I wanted to go fresher and more natural.

This desire to eat healthier, as well as beginning this blog, led me to other blogs written by vegetarians, vegans and raw foodists. I became curious about their choices of foods, and noticed that soy was not a regular part of their meals. Isn’t soy supposed to be good for you? So I asked one of the bloggers, and she answered that she personally avoided soy because it did not agree with her system, and suggested I research the topic further on my own. I immediately looked up information, and came across several books. I borrowed The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, by Kaayla T. Daniel from the library. It seemed the least “scientific” and easiest to read.

It was easy to read, although it is still chock full of scientific terminology. It is full of interesting information that makes me wary of buying any soy product, including any products that have soy additives, such as bread, crackers, turkey lunchmeat, and tuna! Yes, those products all have soy added as a filler or protein additive.

I believe there is good and bad in everything: people are both nice and naughty, life situations can be bad but there is always a silver lining, and food can be good tasting but not be good for us or taste yucky but be full of nutrients. There’s good and bad in everything. And, soy fits the bill. There is good and bad in soy. The soy industry focuses on the good, while not letting us average Americans in on the bad. Kaayla T. Daniel’s book does that. She informs the reader about the original use of soy in Chinese history, the fermentation processes that allow the good nutrients to shine while eliminating the bad anti-nutrients, and how the soy industry processes skip the fermentation of soy, which does not eliminate the bad stuff so it’s still in there, wreaking havoc on our bodies.

According to Daniel, ancient peoples regarded the soybean plant as an agricultural help – plowing it under to help with the soil. Ancient peoples also did not eat soy as a staple, and added it only after a lengthy fermentation process, which removed all the bad stuff (anti-nutrients). The lengthy fermentation process is not done by modern manufacturing standards and therefore, does not get rid of the bad stuff in soy. Yet soy protein isolate, soy lecithin and textured vegetable protein, and soybean oil are common ingredients in almost everything that comes pre-made in your local grocery store.

Take a look at the ingredients of products you regularly buy, and I bet you’ll see soy. My husband thought his intake of soy was really low, having edamame every once in a while at a Japanese restaurant, or tofu in the miso soup. Once I started looking at the labels, he did too. He discovered his intake of soy was much higher than he realized. Soy is in bread, tuna, mayo, crackers, and lunchmeat. It’s in almost everything! And he didn’t think he was eating it at all. The fact that soy was in products that don’t come from soy just made him angry and vigilant about avoiding soy. Why would soy be in canned tuna of all things? Isn’t canned tuna just tuna? It should be, but it’s not.

The soy industry and food manufacturers have jumped on the “soy is a miracle food” bandwagon, touting the Asian cultures’ low incidences of breast cancer and heart disease, and implying that these low incidences have to do with the soy intake in their traditional diets. What the soy industry and food manufacturers don’t mention that I read in Daniel's book is that soy was not part of the traditional Chinese or Japanese diet; these same Asian cultures intake a miniscule percentage of soy relative to what we Americans are consuming; AND there is a higher incidence in these cultures of prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer and other digestive health issues.

Have you ever noticed after eating a fast food burger feeling extremely bloated and gassy? I did, and I attribute that to the soy additives that were likely in the burger patty. Maybe there was some soy in the bun, too, and maybe the fries I shared with my husband were fried in soy oil, aka “vegetable oil”. If something makes me that uncomfortable, then I don’t think it’s very good for my system.

Here’s another interesting thing: my daughter and I are not biologically related, and yet, we both have had breakouts of eczema on our chins. This just occurred in the last 5-7 years for both of us. There is no family history of eczema for either of us. I found it very curious that we could have the same reaction, and figured the only commonality for us was the food we intake. In reading The Whole Soy Story, Daniel mentions that eczema is an allergic reaction, and can be caused by soy. I thought about when I began drinking soymilk and eating edamame regularly. I also thought about when my eczema outbreaks started. I never had eczema as a child, or a young adult. My daughter either. It was only after I started buying soymilk to add to my morning coffee and smoothies, and buying edamame to eat as a “healthy” afternoon snack, that my eczema occurred. My daughter also drank the soymilk, mostly in smoothies, and also ate the edamame for a snack. My husband never touched the soymilk because he didn’t like the taste, and rarely chose edamame as his afternoon snack. He does not have eczema outbreaks. Soy is the only food item I can think of that my daughter and I ate, therefore, it was common to both of us, and that my husband did not. Everything else we all ate regularly, and I used the same laundry detergent for all our clothes, and the same cleansers throughout the house. It has to be the soy!
So for digestive health reasons, and because of a little backlash at the manufacturers, we are no longer purchasing products with soy in them – except Kikkoman soy sauce. Well, we actually purchased a huge container of it when we started stir-frying meals regularly, so we’re kind of stuck with it. I checked out the Kikkoman Company’s website and they actually talk about their old-fashioned fermentation methods for making their soy sauce. I figure it’s highly likely their soy sauce does not contain as many of the anti-nutrients because they do ferment it for months.

I would highly recommend any one to pick up this book and become more educated about what is in the food purchased at the grocery store and the fast food restaurants. You may not think you are eating soy, but you probably are unknowingly! The link posted above goes to Kaayla T. Daniel's website where you can find more information for yourself.

La Parrilla Suiza

2010-03-16T08:12:00.113-07:00

http://www.laparrillasuiza.com/

13001 N. Tatum Blvd.

Phoenix, AZ 85032

602-759-8191

:):):):):) (5 smiles out of 5!)

La Parrilla Suiza (which means "the Swiss grill") has been our favorite Mexican food restaurant for the past 10 years. (The "Swiss grill" is, I believe, the metal tray they serve some dishes, like the fajitas, on which has a compartment to hold pieces of hot coal from the grill, to keep the food warm or sizzling. We do not know the story behind how the Swiss influenced the owners of the restaurant chain, or how they came to use the device.) We have also tried to remember how we came to discover Suiza (as we call it for short), and we cannot remember if someone recommended it, or if we just saw the sign for Mexico City food and decided to try something new, which we like to do and have done often.

As Super Dragon has been our favorite Chinese restaurant, Suiza has been our favorite Mexican restaurant. Again, the food is consistently good, and the service is great. The food IS different than regular Mexican fare. They do have the usual - burritos, tacos, quesadillas, fajitas, chips and salsas. But, they also have different or unexpected dishes.

According to the website, Suiza's tacos, meat and cheese dishes are all grilled or cooked on charcoal. One of my favorites is called Shrimp Alambre. It is grilled shrimp with bell peppers, and a sort of pico de gallo salsa (of tomatos and onions and peppers), which gives the dish a slight kick. It is served with flour tortillas and buttery white rice. I love to eat it with the chips. My daughter loves their flour tortillas, so when I order this dish, more often than not she gets the tortillas.

My husband loves their corn tortillas, which are fresh and hand-made right there. The Tatum Blvd. location has a window into their grill area, and we can see them making the corn tortillas, or grilling up the meat. Sometimes it is quite a show!

I like to think that their food is healthier, although I don't know at all what their calorie counts or fat contents are like. But, they serve grilled meats, not breaded or fried, and lots of veggies, including bell peppers, onions, tomatos, and a wonderful cabbage salad they have recently started serving as a side with some of their meals. Of course, they have fried foods, and full fat cheese, I'm sure, and serve sour cream, but I feel they have better options than traditional Mexican restaurants if you are watching what you eat. The Shrimp Alambre is one meal that seems relatively healthier to me than, say, a beef burrito. Lean protein, grilled, and lots of veggies, with a small serving of rice - sounds good to me!

I have raved about the Shrimp Alambre - sorry! Can you tell it's my favorite dish there?

The restaurant itself is enjoyable to just sit and look around as well. There is a beautiful mural painted inside, and there are brick and rock arches, as well as Mexican tiled art on the walls.

La Parrilla Suiza's Tatum Blvd. location received an average of only 3 stars out of 5 from the Yelp.com review, and if you read the reviews, they vary from 2 to 5 stars. I did notice that the two most recent reviews - one from February this year, and one from December last year - were 5 stars though. Some people thought the food was bland and nothing special. Others thought it was right on in representing Mexico City food. I suppose expectation can be something to consider. I've never been to Mexico City, so I have no idea how the food is different there from what we Americans think of as traditional Mexican food.

I think La Parrilla Suiza is a fantastic place to eat when you want Mexican food, but are tired of the usual fare. We've been going for 10 years, so obviously we think it's pretty good!

Flax and Oats Pancakes

2010-03-08T08:49:00.078-07:00

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so it is said. I fully believe it. I have been enjoying sourdough pancakes lately, and added organic flaxseed meal from Bob's Red Mill to them for added nutrition and good stuff. I had been making a huge batch on the weekends and freezing them to eat during the week. This has worked out wonderfully because the pancakes don't take more than 2 minutes in the microwave to thaw, so they are quick, easy and delicious. And, you can top them with anything from honey to peanut butter and jelly - whatever you like, they are really versatile - or even eat them plain, which is how I usually have them actually.

Eating breakfast does provide me with energy throughout the morning. I'm more focused and feel less tired after eating breakfast. Flax is high in fiber and I have noticed when I eat the flax pancakes, I am not hungry one hour after eating (as sometimes happens when I eat cereal for breakfast). The pancakes hold me over longer, and I am not STARVING (and grumpy!) when lunch rolls around. :-) All good things!

This afternoon I decided to make another batch of pancakes. But, I did not have any sourdough starter pour-off, so I just made them without it, following the Better Homes and Gardens recipe for pancakes. And, I added oats and ground flaxseed meal. They turned out great, slightly sweet, a little crunchy from the oats, and slightly nutty from the flaxseed meal.

Flax and Oats Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
~~1 cup~~ 1/2 cup oats
~~1/2 cup~~ 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal (When I made this I actually doubled the recipe, and 1 cup of oats and 1/2 cup of flax is what I put in when it was doubled. Ooops! Sorry!)
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil

1. In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, oats and flaxseed meal.
2. In a second mixing bowl beat the egg and add the milk and cooking oil, and stir. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy - and will be even more so with the oats).
3. Pre-heat a pan or griddle over medium heat. Using a ladle, spoon batter onto griddle to whatever size you like. Watch for the bubbles at the edges of the pancake to pop and remain tiny holes. Once that happens, the pancake is ready to flip. Cook for another 2 minutes or so until the pancake releases easily from the surface of the griddle.

These are really fast, easy and healthy! Flaxseed meal is high in fiber, Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids. Oats also are high in fiber and are a whole grain. Oh yeah, they taste good too, with a minimal amount of sugar. Enjoy!

Fruit Salad

2010-03-05T08:21:00.064-07:00

Doesn't look very appetizing, but, oh, it was yummy!

The weather here in Phoenix has been absolutely gorgeous, sunny and mid-70's. I want to be outside all the time. Also as a result of the warmer temps, my body has moved on from craving warm soups and stews and hot tea. It's just not that cold anymore! (Not that it ever was THAT cold, compared to our friends that had snowstorm after snowstorm!)

Fruit salad fills the meal bill perfectly. I don't have to spend a lot of time in a kitchen getting warm over a stove or oven - you know when it's 110 degrees here, that's the last place I want to be! I made a fruit salad a few nights ago just with stuff I had on hand - no special trip to the store - and thought it was so yummy I had to share this quick, light, healthy recipe.

Hmmm . . . don't have a name for this recipe . . . but here goes anyway!

1 small banana, sliced
1 small fuji apple (or any sweet apple I'm sure would work), chopped
2 heaping tablespoons Ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon Agave nectar
1-2 tablespoons shredded coconut, toasting optional

Combine the first 3 ingredients, stirring to coat the banana and apple with the Ricotta. Drizzle with the Agave nectar and top with the toasted coconut.

The coconut was leftover from a previous dessert. I toasted it by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. I spread the shredded unsweetened coconut on a cookie sheet. Then, I baked the coconut just for about 3-4 minutes until golden brown. I let it cool a little before handling.

Voila! There is a very tasty, easy, quick, simple and healthy fruit salad to whip up on a night or afternoon when you'd rather be outside playing. The Ricotta cheese is made with skim milk, so less fat, and the Agave nectar is supposed to have a lower glycemic index than sugar, so you don't have the highs and lows associated with sugar.

Alright, back outside to play some tennis I go!! :-)

Super Dragon, 1212 E. Northern Ave., Phoenix

2010-03-03T16:43:00.006-07:00

:-):-):-):-):-) 5 smiles out of 5!!

Let me just get that out of the way, because Super Dragon is absolutely my most favorite Chinese restaurant in Phoenix. And, I gather we are not the only ones who think it is SUPER! Phoenix New Times has Super Dragon in its "Best of" for its Cantonese-Style Duck. On Yahoo! Local, Super Dragon is given 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

We have been eating there for the past 10 years, and it is consistently delicious, and they do not use MSG. Nothing I have had disappoints. The vegetarian fare is good, and has a wide selection of dishes. The shrimp is always excellently cooked, not rubbery or mushy. The staff is friendly and they get to know you and what you like. We sit down and they automatically bring hot tea to our table. (I guess after going there for 10 years, they'd know, huh?!) The restaurant is comfortable and clean. And, man, are they fast! Once at lunch, my former boss timed them, just to see how fast they are. From the time we ordered to the time our food was brought to us was 6 minutes! That is really awesome when I am really hungry. ('Cuz I get really grumpy when I'm hungry! ;-) )

The lunch specials are wonderful, they offer a lot of food for not a lot of pennies. The lunch specials are served from 11 to 3pm, and include a cup of soup (Egg Flower - or Egg Drop - Soup, or Hot and Sour Soup), an egg roll, fried rice and your chosen dish. The prices range from around $5.00 to $7.50 or so. More often than not, I'll bring half of my lunch home, unless I'm really hungry, then I can eat it all!

Dinner there is wonderful, too. The prices are extremely reasonable, and the dishes are delish!! Lo Mein, Moo Shu, Garlic String Beans, Walnut Prawns, House's Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork - it is all awesome!

Do not pass up Super Dragon. You'll be missing the best Chinese food in town!

OK, now I'm hungry. Writing about all this yummy Super Dragon fare has me salivating! Better go eat before I get grumpy. :-)

Baking - Biscotti

2010-03-01T08:49:00.001-07:00

Biscotti seemed so exotic and fancy to me. The first time I saw biscotti was at Starbuck's, wrapped in the pretty cellophane and ribbons, being sold for $2 a cookie. I never thought it was something that people could make at home, nor did I think it was something EASY that people could make at home. Nor did I think people would WANT to - when I had biscotti, it was always rock hard and difficult to eat. I always wanted to dunk it in my decaffeinated white chocolate mocha, but was never sure that was socially or gastronomically acceptable. (Still don't, but at this point in my life, I'm beyond caring. If I want to and it's yummy, I'm doing it!)

During Thanksgiving, my mother brought a new recipe to try - Biscotti! She saw the biscotti on the Food Network Channel, thought it would be something different for her Pinochle group, and found it was REALLY EASY. So, she decided to share with me. It was a lot of fun baking together, I must say. Baking is something relatively new for both my mother and I, and we are connecting on a whole new level with it. It's really great.

Her biscotti recipe is from Rocco DiSpirito - click here to get to it. It WAS really easy, but I am really glad my mom did it with me the first time. When we mixed the dough, the dough was really wet and sticky. If I had been by myself, I would have added more flour to make it less sticky, which would have likely been a huge mistake! So, be forewarned - it's supposed to be extremely moist dough. When we made it, we mixed it with our hands, and the dough - or batter really, because that is more what it was like - was all over our hands. We tried and tried to get it off our fingers, and it never seemed to come off or be any less!

I made it again, by myself, and used utensils (a plastic rice spoon and a rubber spatula) this time. It was much less frustrating and annoying, and the utensils wiped of the dough/batter much easier than my hands!

Here is a picture of the biscotti after the initial baking.

After it was cool enough to handle, I began slicing it for the cookies.

Back on the cookie sheet they go for toasting each side!

Here are the finished biscotti cookies!

They are really easy, and tasty, too. Anise is a strong scent, just like black licorice, but the anise flavoring is not strong at all in these cookies. The recipe does not require a lot. And, they are NOT rock hard! They are actually enjoyable to eat without wondering if I'll need a dentist! We have enjoyed the biscotti with our morning coffee or tea, and also at night, after dinner as a light dessert. Biscotti is no longer this exotic, fancy thing that I can find only in coffee shops! I can make it any time I want to, right in my very own home! How cool is that?!

Baking Bread - Pita (and Homemade Hummus)

2010-02-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

Have I raved yet about the most excellent book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day? (Check out their blog site here.) I have used it for so many breads already, since receiving it as a Christmas gift. They make baking bread so easy, it's almost insane!

This is one of our new favorites to make at home, Pita bread and Hummus.

There is a post about their pita bread at their site, with great pictures and instructions, although the recipe for the dough is left out. That is probably because you can use any number of base doughs to make the pita bread. I used the main Boule dough recipe.

In their post about their pita bread, they call it the "fastest bread in the land", and they are NOT kidding. Five to ten minutes rolling it out, about five to seven minutes in a 500 degree oven, and we were eating. The hummus took longer! The pita bread not only is super easy, but it is delicious, too. Eaten by itself or topped with hummus, it was yummy!

Now, for the hummus. Simple ingredients combine for big flavor. I love garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, whatever you call them. I love them in salad, roasted with red pepper flakes, as hummus. If it's made with garbanzo beans, I'll probably love it, whatever it is. Here is our recipe.

1 cup of garbanzo beans, canned or reconstituted if dried
(We used dried beans, not canned, and keep in mind, they double in size after being boiled and soaked in water)
2 -4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped, depending on your liking
1/4 cup lemon juice
up to 1/2 cup of water
up to 1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tahini, if desired

In a food processor, combine the garbanzo beans, garlic and lemon juice. Process and add water and olive oil until your desired consistency is reached. (That's why I say "up to" - I've had hummus that was really thin, or very chunky. We like ours a little thick, but smooth.)

Add the salt and tahini. Note the tahini will make the mixture thicker.

We had a hard time mixing everything when we added the tahini at the beginning, it was just so thick. That's why I add it now at the end, and it works much better. Everything mixes and gets pureed nicely, then I can add the tahini. Personally, I don't know that the tahini necessarily adds much to hummus, but it's an ingredient I found in all the hummus recipes I looked through. It probably makes it "authentic hummus" if it has tahini! :-)

I made the hummus and then put it aside to let the flavors meld together. Then, I worked on the pita bread. I really enjoyed this, and coupled with a nice spinach and tomato salad, it would make an awesome dinner for Meat Free Monday!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2010-02-20T08:26:00.003-07:00

For you, my mom, here is a picture of pretty flowers being visited by pretty butterflies. It's not a bouquet of flowers, but it's the thought that counts, right? And, here is a poem for you that I thought was fitting. Love you, Mom!

As I Look Back
Author Unknown

As I look back on my life
I find myself wondering.....
Did I remember to thank you
for all that you have done for me?
For all of the times you were by my side
to help me celebrate my successes
and accept my defeats?

Or for teaching me the value of hard work,
good judgement, courage, and honesty?

I wonder if I've ever thanked you for the simple things...
The laughter, smiles, and quiet times we've shared?

If I have forgotten to express my gratitude
For any of these things,
I am thanking you now....
and I am hoping that you've known all along,
how very much you are loved and appreciated.

Lemon Meringue Pie #2

2010-02-18T20:18:00.002-07:00

Hey, it looks like a pie! Yeah!

I am putting this one in the Success column for me for sure! It was not perfect (note the droplets on the top and the cracked crust) but it was leaps and bounds better than my first one. We could actually eat it with a fork, haha.

So, fellow foodies and far-more-experienced-bakers, help me out with this one, pretty please. Why do I get the droplets on the meringue? I used a stainless steel bowl this time which I thought would be an improvement over the plastic one I used last time. But, I still got the dreaded droplets. Any suggestions and recommendations would be appreciated.

My second problem with this pie was a lot of liquid. After we enjoyed the first slices, I stored it in the fridge. The next day I pulled it out to have some for dessert and there was a lot of liquid in my pie plate. Is that the water from the filling? Why would it do that? My aunt suggested I did not boil it long enough the second time. Would you agree?

Well, here is the recipe, altered from the Better Homes and Gardens recipe.

Lemon Meringue Pie Filling

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

3 eggs

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

1 to 2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel

1/3 cup lemon juice

Baked Pastry Shell (I used a store-bought pie shell - I'm not that advanced yet)

Meringue for Pie

3 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

6 tablespoons sugar

Bake your pastry shell/pie crust per the instructions.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the filling: combine the 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/3 cup cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Slowly stir in 1 1/2 cups water, while heating over a medium-high heat. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Reduce the heat and cook and continue to stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Separate the egg yolks and whites, setting the whites aside for the meringue. Beat the egg yolks slightly to combine them, then, gradually stir 1 cup of the hot filling mix into the egg yolks (called tempering, right?). Then, return everything back to the saucepan and bring it to a gentle boil. Once it is gently boiling, cook and continue to stir for 2 minutes. Remove it from the heat and add the margarine or butter and lemon peel. Stir to combine. Add lemon juice gradually, stirring to mix well. Pour the hot filling into the baked pastry shell/pie crust and top with the meringue, sealing the meringue to the edge of the crust. Bake for 15 minutes then cool on a wire rack.

For the meringue: Bring egg whites to room temperature. Beat the egg whites, vanilla and cream of tartar with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (when the tips curl). Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, until the sugar dissolves, and the mixture is glossy and forms stiff peaks (tips don't curl). Immediately spread the meringue over pie, sealing to the edge of the pie crust, and bake as directed in the filling portion.

Again, any advice, suggestions, recommendations would be fabulous! This is my father's and my husband's favorite pie, and I'd really like to know how to make it well. Thanks so much!!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Organic Chocolate!

2010-02-16T20:31:00.002-07:00

This was my Valentine's Day gift from my hubby. Two bars of chocolate that we can both feel good about! Both are made by Alter Eco (their website, www.altereco.com is in French for those who would like to test their French, but they have a link to their North American website, www.altereco-usa.com, which is in English). The bars have information on their packaging about the chocolate, where it comes from and how purchasing their product helps farmers.

The cocoa is from the El Ceibo cooperative in Bolivia, and benefits 800 families/small-scale farmers and promotes sustainable agriculture and improved living standards, while protecting their environment. Interesting, funny tidbit - the cocoa is from Bolivia, the chocolate was made in Switzerland, and it was distributed by Alter Eco Americas out of San Francisco. It's a world-wide production!

The packaging also contains information about the ingredients. I loved reading the ingredient list: four ingredients in the Dark Chocolate Almond, and five ingredients in the Dark Chocolate Velvet - and I could pronounce them all without a degree in science. Isn't that refreshing? No preservatives, no -oses, no -ates, no -ides, no partially hydrogenated ANYTHING! Just cocoa mass, unrefined or raw cane sugar, cocoa butter, almond, whole milk powder and melted butter. And, all ingredients (except the melted butter) were Organic, with most of them also being Fair Trade Certified. The Almond was also labeled as Vegan and GMO Free, while the Velvet was labeled Gluten, Soy and GMO Free. I can feel pretty good about that!

Oh Yeah! The taste! It tastes wonderful! My husband is not a fan of dark chocolate, and I myself would probably choose it last if given a choice of the 3 chocolates (milk, white or dark). I think that might be a result of the bitter taste I've experienced in the past (which may - for all I know - come from the processing with chemicals or from preservatives) AND how I tended to eat chocolate as a youngster. By the handfuls! Oh, come on, we all ate chocolate that way. They don't sell bite-sized, individually wrapped chocolates in a huge bag for no reason! And, I cannot eat just one. In my younger days, a whole bar of chocolate would be devoured in one sitting. Now that I am older, I savor my chocolate like a good wine paired with the right meal.

This dark chocolate was really good, though. The bittersweet-ness was there, but it was much more subtle and just at the beginning. As the chocolate melted in my mouth, the creaminess became more apparent, and the chocolate flavor was sweet but not too sweet. I was so happy to receive this as a gift, and it was so special to me that we have shared one square each for the past two nights, just to make it last longer. And, you know what? That one square of lovely chocolate is almost enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. Then, I open the other package, take a square from it and then I'm good! :-)

So, in summary, it is delicious, and simply made with no preservatives, 100% natural, and organic and helps small-scale farmers protect their environment and practice sustainable agriculture. What's not to love?

La Piazza Al Forno

2010-02-13T18:38:00.001-07:00

Located in Downtown Historic Glendale, Arizona, La Piazza Al Forno is an Italian restaurant that specializes in wood-fired pizzas. It was featured on Guy Fieri's Food Network show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

We ate there before going to the Glendale Chocolate Affaire (read that post here). It was located right across from the park, and there was an outdoor seating area that would be a wonderful place to people-watch and enjoy the awesome winter weather. It was a small, simple place, and had the brick oven right in the middle of the room.

(As an example of how small the place is - we were seated at a two-person table against the wall, opposite the brick oven. It was previously set up as a four-person table, but they split the two, by moving one table away, to make 2, two-person tables. We were seated and our server came over to get our drink orders. The space was so tight, there was literally just enough room for her to fit between the two tables. Then, another couple was seated at the table next to us. They got comfortable and proceeded to move their table about a foot closer to us, saying they just wanted to get out of the aisle. Well, that prevented our server from having enough room to get to us. So, for the rest of the dinner, we handed her our glasses for drink refills, and she handed them back, and she handed us our food instead of placing it on the table. It was different, and I certainly did not mind. I understood. But, I felt bad for our server. She did the best she could without making the couple move their table back. I guess the point of that story - besides trying to illustrate how small the place is - is don't move your table. It is there for a reason. If you don't like it, perhaps you should politely request another table and be seated somewhere else.)

Anyway, back to the food. On the DDD show, they featured a dish called "Baked Spaghetti Pie", and Guy raved about it, if I recall correctly. So, we ordered that dish to split between us, along with a calamari appetizer. Now, I enjoy Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Guy Fieri cracks me up! I wonder if we have very different tastes though, because I did not think the baked spaghetti pie was anything to feature. It was not very crunchy or crusty, like I think most baked things would be. It was not gooey with cheese. There was a very gooey glob of cheese right on top, but that was it. And, at one point, the sauce reminded me of the canned Chef Boyardee I used to have as a kid. I know! It doesn't sound so great. It really was just spaghetti, formed into a square. Pretty plain and nothing special. We added some black pepper, red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese, and it was better. My expectations may have been too high, since it was featured on the DDD show, and he thought it was great. Guy and I will have to disagree on this one.

The calamari wasn't bad, but I thought the breading was kinda bland. But, the calamari was prepared well and the dipping sauce was tasty.

When - and if - we go back to La Piazza Al Forno, I think we'll order a pizza. That is what they specialize in and that is what they have received awards and recognition for, so it is probably what they do best. You can check their reviews from their website, by clicking here.

:):)
(I give it 2 smiles out of 5.)

Glendale Chocolate Affaire

2010-02-12T14:22:00.007-07:00

The Glendale Chocolate Affaire (Festival) took place last weekend, February 5th through the 7th, at Historic Downtown Glendale. I thought it would be fun to go and try to find purveyors of raw chocolate or organic chocolate. Plus, I thought we would be able to sample chocolate - yummy! Who can resist that?

It worked out wonderfully. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and Downtown Glendale has quite a few restaurants right around the park area, so we had dinner first (that post coming later), and then walked around the festival and had dessert. (When we had finished dinner, our server asked if we would like any dessert. I quickly responded, "No, thank you." My husband looked at me with surprise, almost asking if I was okay, how could I not even ponder the idea of having dessert? I ALWAYS have dessert. I smiled and told him I planned on getting some chocolate at the festival, and he laughed, saying, "I thought you said no really quick!" He didn't realize I already had a plan!)

I know I'm posting about this a little late (since it's over), but I highly recommend going next year. They have two stages for live bands to perform, vendors who sell stuff besides chocolate, and of course, food vendors - of chocolate and other yummy stuff. They also had tours of Cerreta's Candy Company all weekend.

Another feature of the festival is the Romance Writer Workshops, sponsored by the Valley of the Sun Romance Writers. Romance authors from all over the country put on workshops for aspiring novelists, autograph their novels and have their novels available for purchase. Some of the workshops would have been awesome to attend. Some workshop titles were "How to start a book and get it finished", "Five keys to unforgettable dialogue" and "Promotion 101". All were presented by a published, successful author or authors. Unfortunately for me, the workshops were only on Saturday and Sunday, and we were there Friday night, with plans for the weekend. So, I'll have to attend the workshops - which were free! - next year.

The festival also had things for the kiddies, like horse and carriage rides and a kids zone.

But, I was there for the chocolate!! We cased the whole joint, seeing who had what, and then, while I decided what chocolate I wanted for dessert, we listened to the live music. The band performing at the time was Peppermint James. They were really good!

I finally decided to have two of my favorite indulgences AT THE SAME TIME, and bought a chocolate covered cheesecake, dipped in nuts. The vendor was the San Francisco Chocolate Company. Here is a picture of my yummy treat. (Again, I just started diggin' in before I remembered to take a picture!)

They can put anything on a stick!

Doesn't that just look sinfully delicious?! It was so yummy. I enjoyed it, and I even shared it with my hubby.

The other reason we were there, besides eating yummy chocolate, was to find vendors of raw and/or organic chocolate. I didn't find any raw chocolate, but we did find organic chocolate. Wei of Chocolate sells dark chocolate that is USDA organic and fair trade certified organic, and vegan, in flavors with names that evoke calming and holistic images - Daily Gratitude, Inner Peace, and Inner Delight, just to name a few. Check out their website by clicking here, or check out their blog by clicking here. We tried samples of their Chai, Chili and Fruit flavored dark chocolate, and both liked the Chai best - but we are Chai tea drinkers, so that was probably going to happen.

I will definitely want to go back to the Glendale Chocolate Affaire next year, for the writers workshops, the live music and above all - the CHOCOLATE!

Meat Free Mondays!

2010-02-05T09:47:00.004-07:00

I subscribe to Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP newsletter. Don't really know why . . . maybe to know all the cool places to go for when I am rollin' in the dough (ha - because I like to bake - just kidding - ooh, lame, lame joke for a Friday morning).

Anyway, the latest newsletter spreads the word about Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney's effort at helping the environment. SIR Paul McCartney, that is. Check out their website by clicking this link: SupportMFM Home.

The information on the site is interesting and intriguing, and has spurred me on to continue our plan to eat less meat, incorporating less meat in our meals. We have done pretty well this year so far, and hope to continue the good trend.

There is also another meat free monday effort, called Meatless Mondays, which has a site - click here to check them out, too.

Both sites offer recipes for meatless meals. I have yet to check them out, but I am happy to support the cause to save the environment! If everyone could do a small thing, it could add up to a big thing!

"We can do no great things; only small things with great love." -- Mother Teresa

Baking Bread - Bialys

2010-02-04T15:09:00.004-07:00

What is a Bialy? The definition in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary states a bialy is "a flat breakfast roll that has a depressed center and is usually covered with onion flakes", and originated in Bialystok, a city in Poland, in 1965. (For interesting info on Bialystok, Poland, click here. No mention of the origin of Bialys though. Perhaps it is not a claim to fame?)

The first time I heard of bialys was at Einstein's, on those runs to pick up bagels and coffee for the people in the office. I don't recall them being topped with only onions, I seem to recall they had all kinds of flavors! Curiously, I don't see bialys on the Einstein's menu anymore. Anyway, I remember asking my boss what a bialy was. His response? "They're just bagels without the hole."

I suppose for the most part, he was right. I found a recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for bialys that uses the bagel dough. (Click here for a picture of bialys from their site - to see what they are supposed to look like! - along with a cute story.) So, after my struggle with the bagels, I decided to try bialys. I still had plenty of bagel dough left, but I was NOT going to attempt them again. Like I said, I'll leave bagels to the experts, thank you!

The recipe for bialys is much simpler. There is no broiling and no boiling. Since we are not onion fans, I decided to skip that whole part, so my bialys were just plain. It was a lot like baking bread rolls, really. So, here they are - a picture for you to see my finished product.

Yeah, the ones on the right are not exactly round per se, they are more . . . oblong. That is because I had trouble removing them from my board and staying in the same shape. I'm supposed to have a pizza peel and just slide these babies off the peel onto the hot baking stone in the oven. But, I have not yet invested in a pizza peel or a baking stone. You know, priorities and money. So, I used my largest baking sheet as a baking stone and used my medium sized baking sheet as a pizza peel. I thought it would be a great substitute, but, . . . well, obviously, it didn't turn out so pretty!

But, yet again, they may not be pretty, but they certainly were DELICIOUS! My husband says he doesn't care what it looks like, he just cares what it tastes like. (Isn't he sweet? Told ya he's awesome!) He certainly is enjoying my baking attempts. He is reaping the reward for such a cool Christmas present.

I will definitely bake these again. They were easy, and tasty. I'll have to work on my form, but that takes practice. (haha) But, I will get more creative with toppings. Some parmesan cheese, maybe some spinach, mmmm . . . mushrooms perhaps . . . . olives . . . oooh, so excited!

Baking Bread - Bagels

2010-02-03T10:41:00.007-07:00

Bagels were one of my four major food groups when I was in college: bagels, pizza, dessert and coffee. I ate bagels so often. Everyday, if I could. At every meal, even!

Then when Einstein Bros. opened up right next to Starbuck's, it was like a dream come true! I was working with several people that needed their daily caffeine fix, and were always hungry by 9am. Since I was low-man-on-the-totem-pole, I took everyone's orders and went to Einstein's and Starbuck's. I was in bagel heaven and thought, "This office is so cool!" That was almost a daily routine for the people in the office. It was great, my love for bagels was renewed.

After a while, and extra pounds (yikes!), I cut out trips to Starbuck's and Einstein's, and stopped eating bagels. But, I would buy them every once in a while as a treat, and still loved them.

Once I started looking through the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook at the bread recipes, I found bagels! Who knew you could make bagels yourself?! At home?! I had to try it. However, I was put off immediately upon reading the recipe for it. Did you know you have to broil them, then boil them, and then bake them? Really!! That sounded a little advanced for me right now. No wonder people don't give homemade bagels as gifts!

Then, I received the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day book, and it has a recipe for bagels that omits the broiling step. I thought, I can handle that now - boiling and then baking. Sure, I'll give it a try! Here is a picture of my bagels after the boiling step.

I think my holes are a little big!

And, here is a picture of my bagels after baking them.

(Sorry it's a little blurry.)

They don't look anything like bagels! OK, except for being round and having a hole in the middle. I don't know what I did wrong, but they did not plump up like bagels should. They were so thin, there really was no point in cutting them in half.

But they were tasty! Yes, we ate them anyway. We just smeared cream cheese on top of them like they were crackers and ate them anyway. And, they were good!

I still think I'll leave this one to the experts, and keep bagels as a treat to have every once in a while. The bakeries know what they are doing with this one, and I obviously do not!

Been Busy! Lots of catching up to do . . .

2010-02-01T16:33:00.002-07:00

It has been a while since I have posted anything, but not for a lack of good stuff, just for a lack of time. We actually had some business to take care of this past two weeks, so that takes priority over my little blog. And, well, to be honest, tennis apparently takes priority over it, too! The Australian Open was on for the past two weeks, and I was watching the nighttime broadcasts every night. It was live at that time, which is the most fun to watch. Seeing these dramatic matches and crazy shots all happening on the other side of the world, all as it is happening. Too cool! But I am not as crazy as my mother, who actually stayed up past midnight to watch the evening matches live. Crazy Nana! (Love you!)

And, now, the Aussie Open is over, Federer is on top again, and Serena broke her even-year jinx, and I await the French Open anxiously. So it is back to the blog and baking and cooking and drooling over everything my husband cooks. Seriously!

Upcoming posts will include a few restaurant reviews, homemade hummus (SO easy!), two soy desserts (Key Lime pie and a Lemon "Pudding" - although with what I am learning about soy, it may not be so rosy), and my effort at baking Pita bread, bialys and bagels - I love them so much, I thought I had to try them! However, I think I will leave bagels to the experts! HaHa! You'll see why later.

Oh yeah! I actually made another Lemon Meringue Pie, and it was much, much better. I'll have to post about that, too! Lots to write. . . better get crackin'. . .

We are not the Neelys, but . . .

2010-01-20T14:27:00.004-07:00

We have discovered how much fun it is to cook together!

When I have watched the Neelys' Food Network show, Down Home with the Neelys, they work together in that kitchen like a well-oiled machine. And, they enjoy working together and helping one another. They also flirt an awful lot, but I find that cute, because, well, I'm married to the biggest flirt on the planet, and we do our fair share of flirting!

Our usual routine for cooking dinner was one person would cook and the other would clean. That seemed fair to us, and it worked out good for us, too. In the beginning of our marriage, I was not a cook. Like I said before, Hamburger Helper was my Go-To meal. But, I was an ace at washing dishes. And, he is an outstanding cook, so it worked out well.

But, now . . . I enjoy being in the kitchen and want to cook. And, I want to help. And, sometimes, I need his help. Still learning, you know, and well, math was never my strong subject and doubling or halving a recipe requires some math!

Recently, we had dinner at our house with some friends. Our dinner menu was Almond Crusted Chicken with a white sauce (a Rachael Ray recipe, minus the scallions for the non-onion eaters, and minus the wine for the momma-to-be), mashed red potatos, roasted carrots, and green beans. We decided to split up the cooking duties - I would make the chicken and the sauce, while he did the veggie side dishes. I also made a soy dessert, which I will post later, once I figure out what to call it. . . pudding? pie? pudding pie?

We were cooking, and drinking wine, talking, and singing along with the music, and generally having a blast, and that was before the company arrived! Once our friends did arrive, it was just like more people joined the party. The more, the merrier!

We enjoyed cooking with each other so much, we decided to do it again. And, we didn't even have company coming! We decided to make a dish called Shakshoukah, made with tomatos and eggs - I'll post this one, too, eventually - with polenta, and hummus and pita bread. He made the Shakshoukah and polenta on the stovetop, while I made the hummus in a blender and made the pita bread (from my new favorite book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day).

We didn't talk as much this time around, but I chalk that up to trying a new recipe. It was the first time for him making Shakshoukah, and it was my first time making pita bread (I will be posting about this later, too). However, I still enjoyed being with my husband, doing something together, and doing something new together. And, the food was delicious! Eating our creations was just as much fun as making them together!

Doing something simple and everyday can be refreshing and fun if done with someone you love!

Maggie Biscuits

2010-01-12T10:23:00.006-07:00

Our dog, Maggie, is most definitely Food Motivated. She likes her tennis balls, and ropes for tug-of-war. She even likes her Couch Time. But nothing, absolutely nothing, focuses her like food. I suppose I can't blame her!

One day, while browsing our local library for some good reads I came across K-9 Nation Biscuit Book: Baking for Your Best Friend, by Klecko. (Here is a link to the book at Amazon.com.) I immediately picked it up. It fit right in with my new desire to avoid packaged, processed foods and all the preservatives that come with them. Why not bake for our dog, too? We want her to be healthy and live a long happy life.

As books go, I enjoyed the personal stories that prefaced each recipe. As recipes go, I only tried two recipes in the book, mainly because I had all the ingredients on hand, except for one ingredient in each, and they were ingredients I would always have on hand. The first on I tried was called "Auggie's Doggie Biscuits", and consisted of all-purpose flour, tuna, milk and water. The original recipe calls for chervil (a member of the parsley family) which I do not have on hand. So, it was omitted. Maggie liked those very much. The second I tried was "Meatball's PBJ Biscuits", and has whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cracked wheat, water, olive oil, and of course, peanut butter and jelly. The original recipe also has orange flower water as an optional ingredient. I left that out. I also left out the cracked wheat since I don't usually have that either. These PBJ Biscuits were a big hit with Maggie.

These biscuits are easy to make and last a long time -- provided they store well and don't get moldy! I have had two batches go moldy on me, so I put half of the baked biscuits in the freezer now. That will be a nice cooling treat in the summer here for Maggie! Iced biscuits!

The latest batch of biscuits I made was the PBJ biscuits, but I altered a lot, and they still turned out great for Maggie. She loves them still, even with the changes.

Maggie knows when I am baking them, too, and will follow me around the kitchen. When I return to the kitchen to turn the baking sheet around (for even baking in my old oven), she will follow me and sit behind me, waiting. When I take the biscuits out of the oven to cool, she jumps for pure joy and excitement, I'm sure. Maggie is such a smart dog, she has come to know my kitchen timer bell means I am headed to the kitchen, the Land of Yummy Things!

Here is the recipe for the last batch I made for Maggie, with all my changes.

3 cups flour

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. peanut butter

1 Tbsp. strawberry preserves

Put flour in a large mixing bowl. Fill a 2-cup measuring cup or small bowl with water and add oil. Stir together to combine as well as water and oil can mix!

Add to the flour and stir to combine. Before it is mixed really well and becomes dough, add the peanut butter and preserves. Mix well until dough is pliable.

Place the dough on a floured surface and press out to about 1/2 inch thick. I just use my hands, but you cna use a roller if you'd like. Also, I try to make my dough rectangular to make the pieces even.

Cut the dough using a pizza cutter or long serrated knife into cubes that will fit your dog's jaw comfortably.

Place the biscuit pieces on a non-stick baking sheet.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. One note here: Klecko says you can't really overbake these biscuits, and I think he's right. I've had a few at the edges of my baking sheet get slightly burned and Maggie still loves them. They have a little extra crunch!

Let cool completely (24 hours is recommended) before storing. Like I said before, I freeze half the baked biscuits after they have cooled for 24 hours. The remaining half I leave on the counter in a tupperware.

I would highly recommend Klecko's book if you have dogs. It is easy and fun to bake these biscuits, and the stories are interesting, funny and sweet.

Baking Bread - Rosemary and Olive Oil Focaccia

2010-01-07T13:27:00.004-07:00

We rang in the New Year with family and lots of laughter, and of course, food!

We traveled to spend time with Grandpa Joe and Connie in Bullhead City, AZ. As a gift, we brought champagne, which, incidentally, we did not open at New Year's, and two loaves of bread, a sourdough loaf and the focaccia.

The focaccia recipe came from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day, by Jeff Hertzber and Zoe Francois, a book I received as a Christmas gift. Check out their blog (it's also one I follow). The recipe in the book calls for onions, which I omitted because we are not fans of onion and never have them in the house . . . except after Nana has visited.

Funny side story - after our daughter's graduation, Nana left one yellow onion, and after Nana's Thanksgiving visit, she left one red onion. The yellow onion sat on our counter for months, unused and ignored, until it started to sprout. The same happened with the red onion, except it was only about one month before it actually started to sprout. Both have now been planted in our backyard. That's how we like onions!

Anyways, back to the focaccia. I received the book as a Christmas gift (from my most awesome hubby - thank you, Love!), and absolutely could not wait to try something. We have rosemary in our garden, and I had all other ingredients on hand for this recipe, in addition to not having to buy special equipment, like a pizza peel or baking stone for the oven.

Their method is so easy, and almost foolproof. I say almost because, well, focaccia is a flatbread, so it's supposed to be flat, and as you can see, mine definitely were not flat. Maybe I am too critical; they were flatter than my other loaves. Everyone enjoyed the focaccia, even me! So, it could not have been bad that they were not flat.

I only made half a batch because I didn't think my bowls were big enough to handle the rise for the full recipe, and ended up baking two loaves with the entire dough batch. Had I thought about it more instead of being so ultra-excited to bake, I could have made the full recipe and split it into two containers. The dough would have aged in the refrigerator while we took our trip, and been even more yummy when we returned. Ah, the adventures of a beginning baker. Well, that is another lesson learned!

That night, we had one focaccia loaf with out Spicy Mac-n-Cheese dinner (the hubby's take on Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica). It was so delicious - the dinner AND the bread! I was very excited to share this with Grandpa Joe and Connie. At Connie's, she served it with a spaghetti dinner the first night of the New Year. It was a nice addition to the meal.

What a way to ring in the New Year! Surrounded by family, sharing good food, wine and lots and lots of laughter, I felt optimistic about 2010. Happy New Year, everyone!

P. Croissant

2009-12-28T13:04:00.003-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is try local restaurants. It doesn't matter where we are - here in Phoenix or travelling in Key West. I like to find the non-chain restaurants and eat someplace and try something completely different. It almost always results in an adventure for my husband and me.

Recently, we had work in Tempe in the morning. After the inspection, we were hungry. It was that time of day when it is not yet lunch time, so we were looking for a place that served breakfast. We drove by P. Croissant and thought, "Perfect! We love croissants!"

Croissants are lovely little creations. Like the bagel, croissants are so versatile. They function well at breakfast or lunch, and for dessert, and I suppose, possibly even dinner. Eaten by themselves, they are mouth watering, light and buttery. Paired with yummy fillings, they can be decadent. (Can you tell I really like croissants?)

P. Croissant was exactly what we were craving. They served filled, flavored croissants (marked with icing patterns to designate the filling - clever!), and croissant sandwiches, in addition to salads and other sandwiches on oat bran or whole wheat breads. They also had coffees and lattes.

Since we were in a breakfast kind of mood, we ordered croissant sandwiches with bacon, egg, vegetables (bell peppers) and cheddar cheese. It was really good! And filling - I recall skipping actual lunch that day. The croissant was buttery and flaky, and delicious. The scrambled egg was very hot, but done well. The bacon was crispy crunch, and the bell peppers were not overdone.

We also had a cup of coffee each, mocha latte for me, and regular latte for the hubby. My mocha latte was tasty, not too much chocolate, not too much coffee.

I will go back to P. Croissant if we are ever in the area again, at any time - breakfast or lunch! It was a charming, cozy restaurant, with tables and chairs inside and out, and French decor. The service was friendly as well. I told the young lady behind the counter that we had never been there before, and she happily went through their options and the menu for me, and gave us time to choose. It was very relaxed. And, most importantly, the food was good.

Good food, good atmosphere and LOCAL! Check out their website for their location, menu, catering options and general info.

:) :) :) :)
(4 smiles out of 5)

Lemon Meringue Pie #1

2009-12-23T14:28:00.004-07:00

Looks can be deceiving.

While it may look pretty, this first attempt at Lemon Meringue Pie (LMP) ended up not really pie. The filling was runny. It wasn't even thick like pudding or eggnog - not even close.

But, we ate it anyway! And, it tasted great!

LMP is not difficult as far as the steps and ingredients go, although I did think it was a great recipe for two people to work together. My mom and I made this while she was here over Thanksgiving and it worked out great as far as timing and helping each other. While my mom was working the filling on the stove, I was working the meringue on the counter. We were ready to come together at the same time, just like the recipe says. I do not know how my grandmother-in-law made these pies all by herself. She must have had secrets! (Love you, Grandma Suzie!)

Our pie was not a success in the traditional sense of pie, in that you cut a piece of pie, put it on a plate, and eat it with a fork. The crust (store-bought) was good and the meringue was light and fluffy and sweet, although it did have the sugar droplets on top after we put it in the fridge overnight. (Why does THAT happen?) The filling was very lemony and tart, but not too tart. The only problem was the filling just never set. But, it was easy to eat with a spoon! And, that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what we did.

With all my vast experience in baking (tongue is firmly in cheek), I am going to hypothesize that we did not have enough cornstarch to thicken the filling. I looked at a ton of LMP recipes online trying to figure out what went wrong, and most of them called for 1/3 cup or more of cornstarch, and no flour. Our recipe called for 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and flour each. Since we all liked the flavor of the filling, I am going to keep the recipe the same, except for the cornstarch - I'll up that to 1/3 cup, and I will omit the flour. We'll see how it turns out then.

My mom-in-law and I are going to try LMP while she is here for Christmas. We have enough lemons from our lemon tree, we could try it at least a dozen times. Eventually, we'll get it right. And I am sure we will enjoy every single attempt, solid or not!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, etc. Enjoy your time with family and friends!

Baking Bread - Sourdough

2009-12-19T14:15:00.003-07:00

Moldy starter is not good.

I opened my jar of sourdough starter to prepare it for baking, and there was mold at the top of the jar! I contacted Linda at SourdoughBreads.com and she is so wonderful, she sent me another packet of starter right away. Thanks, Linda! You are great!

I tried to figure out why it got moldy, and I think it got "infected" by my doggie biscuits for Maggie. (That recipe and story coming soon.) The biscuits were on the counter, in a canister. I had baked them and let them cool overnight before putting them in the canister. I even had the canister left open slightly so if there was any moisture, they could dry out.

It did not work. They ended up getting moldy at the bottom. I set the jar of starter on the same counter, unknowingly putting it right next to floating mold spores! I would not be surprised if some mold spores floated right into my jar of starter. And, thus, INFECTION!

But, now I have activated my new sourdough starter. I have also thrown out the bad biscuits and cleaned everything! Hopefully I got it all and won't have another infection.

Have a fabulous shopping weekend - if you are shopping!

Baking Bread - Sourdough #2

2009-12-18T09:34:00.005-07:00

I made sourdough - official San Francisco sourdough - previously. Although my first attempt was unsuccessful, my second attempt was not bad. But, my second attempt was using the same starter and baking method that came with the sourdough starter I purchased from SourdoughBreads.com and was baked the very next day. I consider it a "do-over".

The next time I baked sourdough bread was before Thanksgiving. I don't really know why. I think I wanted to have some bread on hand in case anyone wanted some with the meal. We ended up not having any at all with the Thanksgiving dinner!

I did a major no-no by the real sourdough standards and added commercial yeast. (Gasp!) I followed the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook for sourdough bread. (There is also a recipe for creating the sourdough starter, but I just used my purchased starter.) I also was getting a little creative, and wanted to make some pretty rolls with the bread dough.

I would say this method of adding some commercial yeast made my impatient side very happy. The bread was made in one day rather than two, and there were only a few hours between rises, as opposed to 4 or more. But, it wasn't very sour. Perhaps I should have left the starter at room temp to ferment overnight? Or was it adding the commercial yeast? Hmmm. . . I will have to try it again with fermenting overnight to see if it ends up more sour. Another experiment!

Another thing regarding the crust of the sourdough - we like the crust soft. Before the loaf or rolls went into the oven, I coated them with melted margarine. Halfway through the baking time, I took them out and coated them again. I have noticed that the back of my oven cooks hotter than the front of my oven. So, in order to have an even browning, halfway through the baking time, I turn whatever I'm baking 180 degrees. This turns out to be a convenient time to cover the loaf or rolls with the melted margarine. Then, at the end of baking, I coated them a final time with the melted margarine.

I divided the dough in half and made a loaf with one half and Cloverleaf rolls with the other half.

The rolls looked homemade, lopsided and different sized. The sourdough loaf was gorgeous by my previous standards!

And, like I stated before, they were not sour really, but they sure were good! Happily, they were devoured.

My next attempt (Sourdough #3) at baking sourdough bread will be to use the Kneadlessly Simple recipe, which also calls for adding commercial yeast. Check out the author, Nancy Baggett, and her book at her blog site.

"Monster" Quesadillas

2009-12-16T09:14:00.003-07:00

This is a recipe my husband remembers his mom making. We call them "Monster" because of their sheer size. He makes them big! One will easily feed 2 people, or, like me, you can save half for another time. Of course, you don't have to make them gi-normous!

We like these because they are easy, and have good stuff in them. Also, our California roots show with this meal, too, because the ingredients shine in their mostly natural state with few, if any, seasonings.

(This recipe is for 1 quesadilla.)

1 large (or burrito-size) tortilla

1 tsp. butter or margarine

1/2 of 1, 15-oz. can black beans

1/2 of 1, 15-oz. can whole kernel corn

1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded meat (can use turkey, chicken, beef - or you can omit meat altogether)

1/2 fresh tomato, sliced or cubed

2 handfuls of shredded cheese (we use a mix of shredded cheeses with only 2% fat)

1/2 fresh avocado, sliced

Melt the butter in a large skillet (large enough for the tortilla to lay mostly flat) over medium heat, and spread it around the bottom of the skillet. Place the tortilla in the skillet. Layer the beans, corn and shredded meat on half the tortilla. Top with tomato and cheese. Fold the empty-tortilla side on top of the ingredients. Carefully flip in the skillet and continue browning the tortilla. Remove from skillet once tortilla is nicely browned and crispy. Top with avocado slices.

You could add sour cream and/or salso if you'd like. We would have, but we didn't have any!

This was a nice way to use up the leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Have your own adventure with this recipe!

Baking Bread - English Muffin Loaves

2009-12-13T10:02:00.003-07:00

After checking out Nancy Baggett's Kneadlessly Simple book, I decided my first loaf EVER should come from the section Easiest Ever Yeast Breads. I like English Muffins, and it did sound really simple.

And, it was! I baked the loaves over a weekend, and enjoyed them all week. They were yummy and yeasty, and extremely good toasted with butter and jam, just like English muffins. The interesting thing for me was the texture on the inside of the loaf. It was more dense than English muffins and store-bought bread. But, for my first loaf EVER, I thought they turned out pretty good. (Sorry there are no pictures. This was baked before I began blogging, and I didn't think to take pictures.)

Now, I am more aware of what dough looks like as it is rising, what it feels like, and smells like. All those things I had no experience with before, so I had no idea what to expect, really. If you haven't checked out her book and the Kneadlessly Simple method, I highly recommend it, especially for beginning bakers like me. It is extremely educational, helpful and fun because she makes it so easy.

One thing I made a mistake on was the greasing of the loaf pans. I poured vegetable oil in the pans and tipped them around to try and coat the sides. I ended up with a lot of oil in the bottom of the pan. The oil was definitely too much, and kind of soaked the corners of my loaves. It was okay - the corners just ended up more crunchy. The next time I baked a loaf in the loaf pan (see Easy Oat Loaves), I just poured about a teaspoon of oil into the pan and used a paper towel to spread the oil in the pan and around the sides. That worked much better for me!

Baking Bread - Sourdough #1

2009-12-13T09:50:00.010-07:00

My husband and I love sourdough bread. In my quest to learn how to bake bread, of course, this was one we both wanted. It is much more involved than other breads. I won't say difficult, but, involved is accurate. Not one I would recommend for a first loaf ever baked. So, naturally, it was my second loaf ever.

This was the result of my first attempt to bake sourdough bread.

The inside was rubbery. It did not rise at all. I could still see the layers from the kneading and the rounding. It was not pretty! And, I would say, not edible! (Sorry the picture is not great, it was taken at around 11pm with the camera on my phone. I was sending it as a picture message to my husband, who wrote back to say, "It looks like the loaf exploded!")

I can understand why baking bread is intimidating or time-consuming. I was just way too impatient. I never thought I would learn patience from baking. But, it is a necessary skill, trait, virtue. . . whatever you want to call it, you need it, especially for baking sourdough.

So, I learned that real San Francisco sourdough is made from a particular type of wild yeast and lactobacillus that are naturally found in the San Francisco area. If the sourdough is not made with this combination, it is not San Francisco sourdough. I purchased my San Francisco sourdough starter from Linda at SourdoughBreads.com. She has a very reasonable and competitive price, and offers free technical support, which has been awesome for me.

The starter was easy to activate. Feeding it flour and water for 3 days and watching it grow and bubble was cool, like a science experiment! But, I had trouble getting the active sponge right for my first loaf - obviously. I thought it was supposed to ferment overnight and be very active (bubbly) in the morning. It wasn't very bubbly in the morning, but I used it anyway. (Impatience!)

I was bummed with the result, but I felt like I knew what I did wrong - not using an active sponge and being very, very impatient. After watching the starter for 3 days, I had a vague idea of when it was active. So, I thought I would skip the fermenting overnight part and just use the starter when it was very active.

I put my plan into action, and the second loaves were much more successful. (Sorry, no pictures! We ate them too fast!) I still wasn't real happy with them. I thought they were kind of doughy and too dense. But, we gobbled them up so they must not have been that bad.

One thing about baking sourdough with this starter is in order to keep the starter from getting huge and possibly taking over your kitchen, it is recommended to pour all but 1/4 cup down the drain before feeding with the 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water.

It got to me after a while, just throwing this stuff down the drain. So, I poured the excess off into another bowl and thought I would figure out what to do with it later. I continued working with the 1/4 cup in the main bowl. When my husband saw the extra, he decided to make sourdough pancakes with it.

They were really fluffy! I guess the yeast made them rise a little when cooking. They were yummy, too. He made a bunch and we froze what we didn't eat that day. So, I think that's what we'll do when we bake sourdough bread now - make pancakes with the pour-off!

Sourdough #2 coming later . . .

Chuy's Mesquite Broiler again

2009-12-04T14:08:00.004-07:00

http://www.bajachuys.com/

We remembered this place and went there again with some visiting family! They had a Chicken Enchilada special which looked so good that 3 of the 4 of us ordered it! And, we picked a good dish, too. It was sooo yummy! The 2 chicken enchiladas were lightly fried, which I was totally not expecting, so they were crunchy but not hard, and there was also a bit of cream cheese inside. It was served with Spanish rice and refried beans, and was only $5.49 (I think).

This was definitely good - probably because it's kinda bad with the frying and cream cheese! Owell. I'll eat salad another time.

(Yeah, right!)

Thanksgiving leftover ideas

2009-12-02T10:57:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving is done, and we are getting tired of turkey. We have come up with some tasty ways to use up the leftover turkey: "Monster" Quesadillas with turkey and Hearty Tortilla Soup with turkey instead of shredded chicken.

Shopping for these two meal ideas was easy since they have similar ingredients. That was a nice perk!

I will post the recipes after they have been made, so I can include pictures. I WILL remember to stop this time and take a picture before I devour it! I just love to eat!

Pumpkin Pie

2009-12-01T11:22:00.003-07:00

My recipe for pumpkin pie is based on Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe, but I've made a few changes. My family loves my version. Once our daughter asked for my pumpkin pie for her birthday instead of a birthday cake.

Makes one 9-inch pie

Graham Cracker Crust
1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup margarine, melted

(A lot of recipes for the graham cracker crust add sugar, but I find the graham crackers are sweet enough.)

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the two ingredients in your pie plate. Once the graham cracker crumbs appear to all be coated and begin to stick together, press the mixture firmly into the pie plate, forming the crust, covering the bottom and up the sides. (I find a plastic spatula is best for this shaping. The mixture tends to stick to my fingers much more than it sticks to the spatula.)

Bake it for 6 to 10 minutes, until it is a golden brown. Cool before filling.

Pumpkin Filling
1 can (15oz) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs

(The Libby's recipe calls for Evaporated Milk, sugar and salt. The sweetened condensed milk has more than enough sugar to sweeten the filling, and adds a thick creamy texture, too.)

Mix the cinnamon, ginger and cloves together in a really small bowl. Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the pumpkin to the eggs, stirring until well blended. Add the spices to the pumpkin egg mixture, stirring until well blended. Slowly pour in the sweetened condensed milk, stirring until well blended again.

Pour it into the cooled pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted at the center comes out mostly clean. Cool for 2 hours before serving.

I really like this pumpkin pie fresh, so for Thanksgiving, it is the first thing in the oven that morning. It has plenty of time to cool while the other stuff is prepared.

Hope you enjoy!

Thanksgiving Day success!

2009-12-01T09:53:00.006-07:00

My mother (a.k.a. Nana) and I cooked up a storm! Nana arrived on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, in the afternoon. We discussed the Thanksgiving feast, sides and desserts, and put a shopping list together for her special recipe items that we had not bought the day before. The shopping list was very short.

The next day, Wednesday, we started cooking! We made cornbread for the dressing (I guess it’s not called stuffing, because technically, it did not get stuffed into the bird). Then, my mom made the dressing. We also baked biscotti and lemon bars, and made potato salad. My mom’s potato salad is always best the day after it is made. The flavors really meld together! So, she always makes it the day before.

(Note that the cornbread and lemon bars were made using the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Tenth Edition, recipes. Aren't those cookbooks all handed down? Mine was! I most certainly wasn't cooking in 1989! I could not find a link to those recipes specifically, but have included links to the Better Homes and Gardens website for the most similar recipes. The New Cookbook is on its Twelfth Edition.)

The day of Thanksgiving, we made the pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, yams, cranberry sauce, and gravy and roasted the turkey. We also had steamed white rice on the side, and of course, finadene! (Finadene is a sauce Chamorros use to spice things up! It is made with soy sauce, vinegar or lemon juice, onions and boonie peppers - hot peppers that grow wild in Guam. The jungle in Guam is referred to as the "boonies".)

We ate early, around 1pm, and everyone enjoyed everything. We had a special guest - our daughter’s friend from college who did not go home to Texas for the holiday. He had seconds, so I know he thought it was yummy. Although any home cooking probably would have been good after months of dorm cafeteria food!

After the dinner was served, everyone had pumpkin pie and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. Then, the old folks went and laid down for a nap before heading out to see “Ninja Assassins”. (I know - nice movie for the family to see. What can I say? We like action!) I told my husband as we laid down for our nap (because like it or not, we are now the “old folks”), “Cooking takes a lot out of you!” No wonder the older people always slept after eating, and the kids continued to play. The kids didn’t cook for two days! He also reminded me that the kids slept in until noon!

Nana’s new recipes (the sausage cornbread dressing, the biscotti and the orange-cranberry sauce) were all big hits. I don't have her recipes for these. I'll see if she'll let me post them. The old favorites were still delicious, too. Sorry there are no pictures of our feast and new recipes. I have to get used to stopping to take pictures! And, now, my parents are gone, and so are our college student daughter and her hungry friend. It’s back to just the hubby and me, and we have lots of leftovers!

Baking Bread - Easy Oat Loaves

2009-11-24T11:30:00.004-07:00

Recipe from Kneadlessly Simple: fabulous, fuss-free, no-knead breads by Nancy Baggett

This recipe was very easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand in the pantry already. No need to buy special stuff! The mixing of the ingredients to make the dough for the first rise was simple. I did it in the early afternoon, and set it in the refrigerator for the 3-10 hours she recommends for the best flavor. Then, before turning in for the night (10pm), I took the bowl out of the fridge and put it in the coldest room in our house, for the 12-18 cool room rise. This room was about 66 degrees when we got up the next morning. The dough did not look as if it had risen very much though. I was beginning to get worried. But, I think the room may have just been too cool. As the day progressed and got warmer, the dough was rising noticeably. I remember thinking at one point, “It has risen more in the last hour than it did all night!”

After about 13 hours (around 11am), I prepared the dough for the second rise, the warm room rise. This was just a convenient time for me to do it. First, I prepared the 2 loaf pans by pouring just a little oil in the bottom and then using a folded paper towel to wipe the oil around the bottom and sides of the loaf pan. This method of coating and oiling the pans worked much better for me than pouring oil in the pan and tipping the pan around to spread the oil. When I did that, I ended up with way too much oil! The recipe calls for about a tablespoon of oats to be put in the pan and then spread around. But, I think a tablespoon was kind of light. And, I didn’t go all the way up the sides of the loaf pan either, but you could!

Then, I stirred the dough with a sturdy wooden spoon, but it didn’t really seem to stir. I think this step is really just to deflate the dough. But, it was a workout! That dough was stiff. Then, I cut the dough in half – or at least, I tried to cut the dough in half! I took a long serrated knife (used usually only for carving turkey in our house!), wiped oil on both sides (using the folded paper towel from oiling the pans), and cut the dough while still in the bowl. (I didn’t want to dirty the cutting board. Lazy or smart? I don’t know! Both perhaps.) Once the dough was cut into mostly equal portions, the portions went into the loaf pans. I prepped the tops of them and covered them with plastic and set them in the warmest spot in the house for the 2-3 hour warm room rise.

Our temps here have been super nice – right in the mid-70’s. Inside our house, it was slightly cooler, a few degrees or so. So, I went about my business, and checked on the loaves after 3 hours, and it seemed they had hardly risen. They did take a long time to rise. My husband joked they were “late risers”. HA! I set them there around 11:30am, and I think they were finally ready to bake at about 6pm. In the book, there is a troubleshooting section, and I checked it for “extremely slow rising”. The slow rising could be because the room was too cool, or my yeast could have been getting old. She recommended putting the yeast in an airtight container in the fridge after it was opened. I did not do that! (Oops!) But, I’ll do it now!

The loaves turned out beautifully though. Nice and browned on top, with a crunchy crust. The oats on top were pretty, and on the bottom, they were crunchy. The slash cut into the top of the loaf didn’t open up like I thought it would, but it made a nice indent. The inside of the loaf was soft and crumbly, more like a loaf you would get from the store, but still not quite the same. We cut a slice to try once they were out of the loaf pans. We couldn’t wait - they smelled so good – yeasty and fresh. We put some butter on the slice, and took a bite. It was a nice flavor, not as sweet as I had imagined with the honey being in there, but still very tasty. And, interestingly, I did not see any oats actually inside the loaf! I know they were mixed in there, but I didn’t see any.

All in all, definitely bread I will make again. The husband liked it a lot. And it really was super easy. Gonna give the second loaf to a friend as a Thank You for letting me borrow a Halloween costume! I’ll let you know what she thinks of it. She’s quite the baker herself. I could learn a thing or two from her probably!

‘Til the next adventure!

Chuy's Mesquite Broiler

2009-11-24T10:08:00.003-07:00

www.bajachuys.com

We like Mexican food, and Chuy’s serves a Southern California version of that, I guess. They have tacos and burritos, Spanish rice and pinto beans, but they also have salads, sandwiches and mesquite-grilled chicken and beef. We went there for lunch, and I had the California Taco Platter, and the hubby had the ¼ Killer Chicken Meal, and of course, chips and salsa.

It is a very casual, fun place to hang out. Each location has something different to observe - from the spray-painted wall art to the many fish pictures, there really is something new to discover each time we go. And, the stuffed animal they give you as your table marker is so cute!

The serve-yourself chips and salsa is always good, but we especially enjoyed the orange colored salsa this time. (Sorry, they did not have labels and I did not think to ask. Too busy eating!) Our meals were yummy, too. I loved my simple California Taco, with mesquite-grilled chicken and avocado. The baja sauce tastes like Thousand Island dressing, but better somehow. Their pinto beans taste slow-cooked and probably should be eaten with a spoon to get all the good juices. The Spanish rice was good, too, but nothing special. I know my husband enjoyed his chicken – 2 good-sized pieces, pinto beans and rice, too, with a cabbage salad. The cabbage salad had vinaigrette dressing and tomatoes, and was very flavorful.

We always forget about Chuy’s, but we do like it. We’ll go there again, when we think of it!

:-) :-) :-)
(3 smiles out of 5)

Shopping for Thanksgiving

2009-11-23T14:30:00.003-07:00

We went grocery shopping this morning to get all the things we know we'll need for Thanksgiving dinner. I thought going on Monday morning would eliminate the crowds. WRONG!! Our grocery store was jam-packed! But, it was well-stocked. So, all the people who are even more last-minute than me can be sure to find what they need - even canned pumpkin.

Happy Shopping - and remember, it is THANKSgiving. Be thankful for what you have!

Welcome!

2009-11-20T12:01:00.002-07:00

Welcome, family, friends and fellow foodies! I love food, and started this blog to share my experiences with food with those who also love food and/or are learning to cook or bake like me. There will be bread and dessert baking, dinner ideas and restaurant reviews. Basically, everything food-related will be written about!

I did not grow up cooking in the kitchen or watching my mom cook. I ate plenty - Mom's cooking is so yummy - and I washed the dishes. I was the clean up crew. I never cooked, even when I lived alone. I lived pretty much on bagels and sandwiches. When I married, I felt a desire to cook for my most awesome husband and my stepdaughter. I started out easy – Hamburger Helper was my Go-To dinner! My husband is a fantastic cook, and I have learned a lot from helping him and watching him cook over the years. During our daughter’s high school years, I began to cook more and found I actually enjoyed it. Rachael Ray was one of my favorite Food Network cooks, and I tried a lot of her recipes - so much so, that my husband and daughter took to jokingly calling me "Missy May". Now that my husband and I are empty nesters, I really have time to play around and try new recipes. I'm enjoying the adventure, and I hope you do, too!