GARBANZO BEANS

One of my favorite foods is falafel. I've always wanted to try making it so tomorrow, for Meatless Monday, I will be making it for the first time. Today, I cooked a bag of garbanzo beans to use. Cooking your own chick peas, also known as garbanzo beans, is easy to do. You can soak them overnight and cook them the next day, or if you have plenty of time around the house, you can eliminate the soaking.

Here is what I do. I chop a large onion and add a 1 pound bag of dry beans to a large stock pot and over them with water, plus about 3 more quarts of water. Bring them to a full boil, then turn down on low and simmer for about 4-5 hours. Add lots of water because it does boil off and you don't want them to get dry. Also, the broth you get from cooking these is soooo delicious. You will want to use this instead of chicken broth from now on! It's really flavorful and so good for you. It doesn't have the fat that homemade chicken broth does. Cook the beans, checking periodically for water level, keeping them covered in water in a covered pot, until they are nice a tender.

One bag will make a large amount. I'm having a mug of the beans with a little S & P and a drip of rice wine vinegar...so delicious and good for you! Tomorrow I will attempt falafel and I'll be sure to post the results along with a picture!

SAN FRANCISCO FISH STEW

One of my favorite cookbooks is More With Less cookbook. The recipes are healthy and use ingredients that are both economical and items most kitchens have on hand. After being vegetarians for many years, when we started eating fish products, I found this recipe and gave it a try.  We liked it a lot, but I hadn't made it for a long time.

Fish was on sale last week at the grocery to I put this on our week's menu. It is such a delicious dish. Soup is comfort food, no matter what recipe you use. This is not a 'fishy' tasting dish at all. The fish taste is very light and the other vegetables compliment it so well. It's perfect for a cool evening with a couple of biscuits on the side.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it:

SAN FRANCISCO FISH STEW
Serves 5-6
In large saucepan or dutch oven saute:
1 T. oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped green pepper

Add:
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
2 c. cooked tomatoes
3/4 c. tomato paste (small can)
1 c. chicken broth
1 Tb. lemon juice
1 small bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
Cook u ncovered 20 minutes.  Add:

1- 1 1/2 lbs. flounder or other white fish, cut into large pieces

Cook 10-15 minutes, or until fish flakes easily.  Serve over rice.
(I had 2 c. left over rice from last night's dinner, and just added it to the stew)



GREAT FOOD ALL DAY LONG by Maya Angelou

I just finished reading Maya Angelou's newest book/cookbook. I am a huge fan of her writing, poetry, and cookbooks. One of my favorites is her book Hallelujah! The Welcome Table.

In this, her newest book, she shares recipes and philosophies related to her eating habits. Her dedication says it simply:

I dedicate the ambitious intent of this book to those who would love to eat and love to lose weight at the same time.

Who doesn't want to do that?

This past week my dear friend and niece posted this quote on her facebook page:

"Scientific truth may be put quite briefly; eat moderately, having an ordinary diet and don't worry." ~ Sir Robert Hutchison, Newcastle Medical Journal (1932)



This would agree with the intent of the cookbook Great Food All Day Long by Ms. Angelou. It has been the intent of this blog to promote eating in a conscious and moderate way, using ordinary ingredients, and to enjoy the act of eating with the people you love. I have not been able to accomplish the 'don't worry' part, but we do try very hard to eat moderately and in a conservative and healthy way. One of the things Maya wrote in her book was that if a diner ate only a small portion of food, and then waited 20 minutes, they would find that they were satisfied. This is true, she says, if the food is delicious, and full of flavor. She began to eat this way, eating a small amount throughout the day every 3 hours or so, and noticed that he clothes began to get loose. She was losing weight and it was a result of this kind of eating.

I'm not necessarily promoting this but I do agree that eating really 'good' food, that is not only delicious but good for you will satisfy you more than eating some diet guru's idea of a 'diet' meal. We are getting ready to redo our kitchen and when we do, one of my first purchases is going to be new dishware. I'm buying small dishes. It's hard to control portions when the dish is 8-10 inches across.

My intent in writing this blog post was to remind us all to eat an ordinary diet with moderation and not to worry. It is what it is...

Tonight we had a homemade chicken vegetable stew. I threw in a small handfull of noodles to soak up some of the broth and used carrots, celery, onion, and cabbage along with chicken breast and herbs. One mug of soup was highly satisfying along with a whole wheat muffin with a drizzle of honey.  This muffin recipe is easy and delicious if you want to give it a try. I added raisins this time and you can also add chopped nuts. They are delicious plain as well!

WHOLE WHEAT MUFFINS

 1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 c. sour milk (i used buttermilk)

1/2 c. oil (i used applesauce)

This makes 12 muffins. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until edges brown and a tap on the top of a muffin pops back!

Add 1 c. dried fruit or some chopped nuts if you want

HOT N SOUR SOUP



I love Chinese food. P.F.Chang's is my favorite restaurant. I always get hot n sour soup when I eat in a Chinese restaurant and Chang's is some of the best I've had. The recipe for the soup is always daunting and there are so many ingredients that I have never given it a try at home. It's just easier to drive by the restaurant and take some home!

Sriracha chile paste, sesame oil, rice vinegar, firm tofu, scallions, dried shitakes, black fungus, soy sauce, bamboo shoots, and dried lilybuds

This week I saw a post on one of my facebook group pages with a recipe for the soup and an explanation about the ingredients so I decided to give it a try! The post explained that you need to have 'lilybuds' to make it authentic, so we went to the Asian grocery and bought some! I knew that the long black strands that were always in my hot n sour soup were something a bit unusual. Who knew they were flowers!



The soup is not hard to make, but it does take time. The result, though, is worth the effort. We all thought it was delicious and tasted every bit as good as what we've had at  PF Chang's.  I'll make it again, but I don't think it will be a soup I make often. It's more of a special treat than something I would cook on a normal basis.

In a couple of weeks, we are having a dinner with friends. It's called "Soup Night" and all the couples bring a homemade soup and we sample all the soups and then vote on our favorite with a prize going to the winning soup. Since we are hosting, my soup won't be in on the voting which is fine. I'm pretty sure I'll make this soup. I hope the others like the flavors of hot n sour.

If anyone wants this recipe, you'll have to let me know. I'll post it if there is interest, but, since it's involved, I'm not going to bother unless there is someone who will actually like to give it a try.



SEEDED OATMEAL SODA BREAD

Soup and bread are two comfort foods that are perfect for a cold winter day. Baking bread makes the house smell good and helps make it warmer, too! Sometimes I want the warmth and goodness of bread without the time it takes to make a yeast bread. This is one of those recipes. It's a quick, no-rise bread that will delight you! There is a nutty goodness in every bite from the seeds that toast on the crust during the baking. The oats in the bread also give it a 'hearty' flavor. It's not your typical 'white' bread fluffiness. You definitely feel like you are eating a healthy slice of goodness!

Today we've been under a winter storm warning. The predictions are for a possible 10+ inches! Whenever it snows or we have one of these winter storm warnings, I think about making bread. There is nothing like the smell of bread baking to make you feel warm inside!  This is an EASY recipe...anyone can make this! Give it a try!!

SEEDED OATMEAL SODA BREAD

2 c. oats

2 1/4 c. flour

1 3/4tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1 3/4 c. buttermilk

In food processor or blender place oats and blend until it resembles a coarse meal. Then combine all ingredients. Grease a bread pan or baking sheet (I used my stone) and line with parchment paper. If using a sheet pan, form into a round loaf. You may need to lightly flour your hands, as dough is a bit sticky. Use 2 TBSP. additional buttermilk to brush the top of the loaf with, the sprinkle with desired seeds. I used sesame, but poppy seeds would work as well. As the loaf bakes the seeds roast and give it a very nutty taste!

Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

BLUEBERRY LEMON OATMEAL SCONES



I recently posted about these on facebook and got a lot of interesting comments and thought I'd share the recipe here. My brother lives in Arizona and sent a box of citrus fruit from his trees and I decided to use the lemons to make scones. We've had this scone recipe for years and it's a favorite of ours. It is easily adapted to whatever flavors you want to add such as blueberries in this case, or golden raisins which is one of my favorites. I normally don't add a glaze on them, but since my friend Jeni posted about her scones this week and she had a lemon glaze, I thought it sounded good enough to try. I was NOT disappointed. It was so delicious.

OATMEAL SCONES

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3 c. oats

1 c. shortening(melted), oil, or butter

(of course, the best scones are with the butter)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. sour cream or sour milk

(I use sour milk-1 c. milk with 1 Tbsp. vinegar)

Mix everything together in a large bowl. Drop by spoonfuls onto cooking sheet.

Bake at 350 until slightly browned on the edges.

For lemon blueberry scones, I added the juice of one lemon to the batter along with

1 cup of blueberries.

After baking and cooling for 5 minutes, glaze with lemon glaze.

GLAZE: powdered sugar, milk, lemon zest and juice of 1/2 lemon



DELICIOUS SPINACH SALAD

I've had this recipe for spinach salad saved for a long time and finally tried it. It was so delicious and I wanted to post the recipe. The picture didn't came out a bit blurry but I think you can get the idea of what it looked like. 

This salad would be perfect in the summertime as a one dish meal. We each had a small piece of pork as an accompaniment and the two complimented each other very well! There are lots of vegetables in the recipe, and I added sliced mushrooms and some blue cheese. Last week when I bought groceries there was a 'manager's sale' on blue cheese and I knew I was planning on making spinach salad so I picked up a package to add to the salad.

SPINACH AND SWEET POTATO SALAD WITH WARM BACON DRESSING

Peel two sweet potatoes and dice in bite size pieces. Place in roasting pan and drizzle with 1 TBSP of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Cook at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes begin to brown and are fork tender.  Set aside.

In a pan, brown 3 stips of bacon which you have cut into pieces. When the bacon is crisp, drain on paper towel and set aside. Drain fat from pan but leave brown bits in the bottom. Add 1/4 c. olive oil and heat. When the oil is hot add: 1 chopped red pepper, 1 sm. chopped red onion, 1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger. Stir until veggies are just starting to cook and are no longer raw. Add the bacon pieces, 1 tsp. ground cumin, and the juice of one orange. I added several sliced, fresh mushrooms and blue cheese crumbles before tossing the dressing.

Pour this dressing over spinach in large bowl and toss. I added a touch of vinagrette dressing to the salad as well. It just needed a little kick. Very healthy and delicious!!