If you’re looking for a fish meal for Good Friday –or a different salmon recipe– this is your day. While it takes a few more minutes than simply grilling some fish and putting together a salad, it’s well worth it. Think creamy-dreamy risotto to which you’ve added some spring peas. Surround it with some quickly crisped healthy green kale and top with a tender filet of salmon. Lemon, along with some minced fresh onion, adds the best touch over all at the end. Here’s how….
Heat oil, butter, crushed red pepper, and rosemary in a large, deep skillet over low heat for a minute or two.
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| Don’t be scared; he doesn’t bite. |
1. Into one of three shallow bowls, place 1/2 cup flour mixed well with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
2. Into another bowl, place the rest of the flour, the cornmeal, fresh herbs, lemon zest, cayenne, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Mix well.
3. Into the third bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and 4-5 drops hot sauce.
4. Dip both sides of trout first in the flour-salt-pepper mixture, then in the buttermilk mixture, and last in the flour-cornmeal mixture. Set on plate while you heat oil.
5. Into a large, deep skillet, pour a mixture of olive and canola oil to fill the skillet 1/4 – 1/2 inch deep. Heat over medium-high heat. Gently lay fish in the oil and cook 4-5 minutes or until quite brown on one side.
6. Carefully turn fish and cook another 2-3 minutes or until browned and, when tested inside, fish is firm and flaking.
7. Drain fish on paper towels while you fry four eggs in prepared skillet (no recipe included.) and make your toast.
8. Gently transfer fish to the platter with the warm potatoes and vegetables.
9. Using a sharp, serrated knife and cooking fork, separate head from the body of the fish with a quick cut. Gently pry apart the opened body of the trout to expose the spine, bones, and flesh.
Filet by removing as much of the skeleton as possible. Cut fish in half and serve with eggs, potatoes, avocado-basil mayo, and toast. I leave the tail on for serving. Watch for bones!
You CAN also filet the trout before cooking; I think the trout is tastier cooked whole.
For detailed trout prep, check this out.
All sites may not blog power foods each week.
Sing a new song,
Alyce
When Dave and I were in college, the cafeterias did their best to serve food that was wholesome and healthy (a salad bar appeared at student request), but that also made a teenager’s heart sing rather than sink. As I spent a couple of years there cracking eggs–this is true–I know better than some. Saturday nights were “steak nights,” and you seldom missed that meal, even if you had eaten all day long that day or were out at the lake at a kegger. It was there I first heard the words London Broil or realized steaks could have sauces. In the house where I grew up, good steak didn’t need sauce; it simply wasn’t done. (Groan.) You wouldn’t ruin a gorgeous piece of midwest beef like that. Looking back, of course the cafeteria steaks probably needed sauce. The rarely-seen (ha) summer ribeye at home was fine with only a bit of garlic salt with pepper and a nice big crunchy salad right out of my Dad’s garden. Mayonnaise was the dressing of choice.
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| This is Lincoln Hall. I lived in Washington, it’s nearby exact twin. |
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| Current dorm room–exactly the same as mine in 1971. Some things don’t change. The site does say the rooms were renovated in the ’90s. Hm. |
I don’t remember a lot of the meals I ate at the cafeteria, though I can see the room clearly if I close my eyes. I do know for a fact we had real scrambled eggs because any eggs with broken yolks went in the scrambled egg vat. But one meal that has stood out in my mind all these years was something called “Chili Frito.” In 1971, Chili Frito wasn’t a familiar concept on the western Illinois border near Keokuk, Iowa. Chili, yes. Fritos, of course. But Chili Frito? Well, today you know immediately what it was: a bowl of Fritos topped with chili and maybe cheese. You probably call it “Frito Pie.” We loved it. If there was Chili Frito for dinner, we were cheering in the halls of the dorms and we made it to dinner almost as if it were steak night.
What’s for dinner tonight? Anybody see? … “CHILI FRITO!” “Oh, my God.” (We spelled it out back then.)
The precursor to the ubiquitous plate of nachos (that we’d never heard of), it was luscious–crunchy, tomatoey, full of chili powder and loaded with cheese. Remember, we had just gotten our first Jack In The Box tacos–our first– in the south-western Chicago suburbs around 1970. Chili Frito was IT.
Over the years, I occasionally would throw some leftover chili on top of Fritos for my kids with a smile of remembrance, but only when the chili pot was almost empty or there was no time to cook something else. I never made Chili Frito from scratch that I can think of, though I remembered it fondly. In the intervening years, I had chili with spaghetti in it at friends’ houses or Chili Mac at Dave’s folks’. I lived in places in Europe where was no chili at all and I spent four years in San Antonio where if you knew beans about chili, you knew there were no beans in chili. As you might remember from other posts.
Last night, though, I had Chili Frito on my heart. I had no idea what was for dinner, but it was dinner time. The weather (another snow storm) had been awful; I didn’t even want to go to the garage to get something from the freezer. I knew I had ground turkey and bison in my kitchen freezer that needed cooking and that a bag of soon-to-be-stale tortilla chips (XOCHITL) was sitting looking forlorn on the floor of the basement pantry. In the frig was a bag of already-grated cheddar leftover from a soup tasting. And within about forty minutes, we were watching The Big Chill (which Dave had somehow never seen) and eating Chili Chips. Without Fritos, I had to rename the dish. It was all the same; we adored them and were happy as clams eating a nearly junk-food dinner. Funny how food and movies kinda match sometimes. Or that comfort food is sometimes not from your mom’s kitchen, but from the college cafeteria. I sang through the whole movie and I’m still mad they cut Kevin Costner out; he was the corpse in the casket. (On the DVD version, are there out takes with him in it????) Here’s how to make updated Chili Frito right before you put on THE BIG CHILL:
In a 6-quart stockpot or Dutch oven, cook until softened over medium heat a chopped, large onion and a chopped red or green bell pepper in a tablespoon of olive oil flavored with a pinch of crushed red pepper, a tablespoon of chili powder, and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir in a pound each of ground bison and turkey, as well as 2 minced garlic cloves. Add 2 teaspoons ground cumin, another tablespoon chili powder, and a teaspoon of ground black pepper. Cook, stirring, until meat is browned and nearly done.
Pour in a 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes, a 6-ounce can of tomato paste, a cup each of red wine and water. Stir in 2 tablespoons each Dijon-style mustard and lemon juice, as well as 2 teaspoons dried dill weed and a teaspoon each of granulated sugar and kosher salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Let cook five minutes or so and pour in two cans of drained beans such as pintos, black beans, or kidney beans. Let cook 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in 1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives (optional.) Taste and adjust seasonings. Add more chili powder or shake in hot sauce if needed.
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| Two-Dog Kitchen |
Go away, winter; you’re bothering me.
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LINCOLN HALL AND DORM ROOM PHOTOS – COURTESY WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
This is also A Week of St. Pat’s Recipes, Friday…
There’s nothing like a scone. You can pronounce it skone or skahn, as does my friend, Marie, who’s from South Africa:
Long or short “o,” however you say scone, make a pot of tea while the scones bake and be sure your butter is softened–or your cream whipped, if you like that. My barely sweet little scones are a good foil for a savory frittata without moving all the way to sugar-high coffee cakes or Danish, which are more time-consuming at any rate. Along with some sliced (or grilled) tomatoes or a bit of salad, they round out a gorgeous brunch or lunch. If it’s brunch, you might stretch the occasion to include an Irish coffee for St. Patrick’s Day or another special Sunday.
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| Made in a deep, heavy 8 quart cast iron pot with a lid (Dutch oven) |
Last year around this time, I made a pot roast with big pieces of butternut squash and halved onions in the oven. A day later I took the leftovers, including the gravy, and made stew. Stew from leftovers is definitely an improvement over freshly made stew. There’s a deeper, fuller, and more flavorful rich quality–without question. It’s just that there’s usually less than when you make a fresh pot. That stew made very quickly with the addition of more onions, celery, and Guinness stout, etc., was divine. I mean it, it was an incredible stew. When my boss tasted it (and she’s a really good cook), she said, “Alyce cooks for God, you know.”
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| At the top of Dublin’s Guinness brewery, there’s a 2DIE4 pub…here’s one view. |
No who knows totally why one time things are so scrumptious you want more and more — and another time (same ingredients and method apparently) it’s like, “This is ok. Yeah, we can eat dinner here.” Perhaps it’s the quality of the meat (in the case of stew) or maybe it’s a little pixie dust. Your taste buds might be on their “A” game so that you are able to season the pot in an extraordinary way. Truly, I just don’t know. I know when I’m tired — really exhausted– the meal prepared under those circumstances is plebian. I just did that recently, so I know. I know when I don’t give something my undivided attention that it’s bound to be less interesting. (As in the kids are hungry-throw a bunch of cut-up chicken in the oven and make some rice for God’s sake.)
Despite the fact that I make several pots of stew over the winter each year, I remembered that one. I also remembered I was determined to recreate it from scratch if possible. Hence this pot of stew that, by the end of the cooking, morphed into one big pot pie.
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| We could choose between three temperatures of Guinness pints. Dubliners love their Guinness and speak highly of the company that has employed and taken care of many of them over the years. |
Options:
**If you’d like stew only, add a cup or two more liquid, and skip the biscuits. You could, without question, make the whole pot of stew in a pot on the stove.
**I did not try it, but I’d guess it’s possible to make the stew all day in the crock-pot–cutting down the amount of herbs–, pour it into an oven-safe pot and bake with the biscuits right at dinner time.
**Another option might be (again, I didn’t try this) to cool the stew and top it with puff pastry, brushing the pastry with a little melted butter or an egg wash–one egg beaten well with a teaspoon of water. (If you put the puff pastry on hot stew, it’ll be melting.) You would then need to bake in a hot oven (400 degrees F) until the puff pastry was golden. That might appeal to some cooks more than making biscuit dough. Here’s a method.
**Like Bisquick biscuits? Go on; I won’t know, though I encourage you to learn to make biscuits. I once knew a woman whose husband insisted he married her because she could make beaten biscuits in her sleep.
** I also give directions –see “Cheddar-Dill Biscuits” scrolling down — for baking and serving the biscuits separately if that suits you better.
Come cold, there’s little more satisfying than a pot of stew in the oven. I encourage you to use the oven method if you can. Play cards. Listen to music. Watch “Michael” or “The Quiet Man,” if it’s St. Pat’s One of the interesting things about this stew is it’s made without potatoes though you could add some if you’d like. I prefer other root vegetables and stick with carrots, turnips, parsnips, as well as celery, onions, garlic, and butternut squash. I’ve you’ve no butternut squash, use extra carrots, parsnips, or a combination. Serve this with another couple of cold Guinness stouts or a glass of your favorite Syrah or Côtes du Rhône if you’re not a dark beer person. (You’ll still love the stew; I promise.)
Five St. Pat’s Movies to Watch This Weekend (Washington Post)
guinness beef pot pie with cheddar-dill biscuits
a look and cook recipe
Total preparation and cooking time: approximately 2 1/2 – 3 hours.
Serves 6-8
( Read through before beginning. Scroll down for separate ingredients list and biscuit recipe)
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| Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. To an 8 qt Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add 3 tablespoons canola oil. When hot, add 2-3 pounds beef chuck (seasoned well with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper) cut into 1 – 1 1/2 inch pieces. Brown well in two batches, removing the first batch to a plate while you cook the second. |
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| To the second batch of browning beef, add 2 large chopped onions. When beef is nearly brown, add four cloves chopped garlic. Cook a minute, return first batch of beef to the pot, and stir in 2 tablespoons flour. Cook 2 minutes, stirring. |
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| Pour in 2 cups each beef broth and Guinness stout, and stir well to scrape up the bits at the bottom of the pot. Add 1 bay leaf, 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, a large sprig each of fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage.* Stir in 1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish or a good hard shake or two of Tabasco. |
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| Add 4 ounces quartered button mushrooms along with one each turnip and parsnip , 2 carrots, 2 stalks celery, and 1 cup of butternut squash, all cut into around 1/2 inch pieces. |
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| Bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust seasonings. Cover and bake in the oven 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender and sauce is thickened. |
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| Remove from oven and take out the fresh herb sprigs.^ If stew is very, very thick, add a cup water or broth, but no more stout. Biscuits will soak up a lot of the liquid as they bake in the stew. |
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| Meanwhile, make cheddar-dill biscuit dough. It’s a very wet dough. (See below for recipe.) |
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| Spoon biscuit dough (I used a wooden spoon) onto the top of the cooked stew. Brush biscuits with a tablespoon of melted butter. Biscuits will rise and expand to nearly cover top of pie. |
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| Return to oven and bake uncovered another 20-30 minutes until biscuits are golden brown. |
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| Serve hot with a crisp green salad. Store leftovers well covered in frig 2-3 days. Rewarm in another casserole in oven. |
Ingredients List (see below for biscuit ingredients): 2-3 pounds beef chuck roast cut into 1 – 1 1/2 inch pieces; salt and pepper; 2 large onions; 4 cloves garlic; 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 2 cups each beef broth and Guinness stout**; 4 ounces button mushrooms; one each turnip and parsnip; 2 carrots; 1 cup cut butternut squash; 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1 bay leaf, and 1 sprig each rosemary, thyme, and sage*; 1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish or Tabasco.
*You may substitute two teaspoons each dried rosemary (crumbled) and thyme with 1/2 teaspoon ground sage.
**If you don’t want to use beer, use all beef broth.
^ Leave in bay leaf. Whoever gets it has good luck!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
cheddar-dill biscuits for pot pie
Cook’s Note: This recipe is for the biscuits cooked in the stew. If you want to bake a pan of these biscuits separately, decrease the milk to 2/3 of a cup and mix until the dough just comes together. Turn out onto a floured board or counter and knead 10 times or so before patting or rolling out the dough until it’s about 1/2-inch thick. Cut biscuits out with a floured 2-inch round biscuit cutter. You could also cut the biscuits into squares or rectangles with a sharp knife. Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220C/Gas Mark 7) on a baking sheet or in a big (10-inch) pie plate for 15 minutes or until golden. You can serve the biscuits with a pie server in the pie plate at center of the table. They’ll stay warm a good long while and your family or friends can help themselves.
Stir together dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add cold butter and using a pastry blender or two knives (you can use just your fingers or even do the whole thing in a food processor), cut in the butter until the butter is mostly blended and the mixture appears sandy. Stir in cheese. Pour in milk and mix well without over-mixing. (Using a large spoon, divide dough fairly evenly around the top of the pot pie and brush with the tablespoon of melted butter before baking.)
Sing a new song; listen to Rob Leveridge,
Alyce
(first posted october 2012 right here on More Time)
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| Here is it out of the cup. |
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| Here it is in the cup. You can eat it either way. |
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| Spread 2 thin, trimmed slices of pumpernickel or rye with Dijon Mustard and place in buttered, oven-safe large cup or small bowl. (For crispy toast, bake the mustard bread in oven for 5 min. before continuing.) No oven-safe cup? Use a Pyrex measuring cup. |
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| Add 2 thin pieces of corned beef. |
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| Top with 1/4 cup rinsed/drained/squeezed-dry sauerkraut, a piece of Swiss cheese, an egg, and a pat of butter. Salt and pepper to taste. |
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| Bake for approximately 30 minutes until egg is set to your liking. (30 min was a runny yolk for mine.) |
While egg bakes, make a Horseradish-Yogurt Sauce, set the table, and make the coffee.
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| Sauce: Whisk together 2T plain yogurt or sour cream, 1/2 t Dijon mustard, 1/4 t horseradish sauce, 1 T milk, pinch each salt/pepper. (Optional: a drop of hot sauce.) |
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| Drizzle with sauce and eat in or out (like this!) of the cup. |
Sing a new song,
Alyce
originally posted on my dinnerplace blog in march of 2012
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| photo copyright Alyce Morgan, 2003 |
originally posted march 2010
Sing a new song,
Alyce
(a repeat post from march 9 2012)
That’s it. I’m leaving home. I always wondered where I’d get my cooking credentials (other than living in my kitchen) and now I know. I’m going to the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, County Cork, Ireland. I’ll see you later. It’s time I earned my toque… or at least an apron that says, ” Ballymaloe.”
Ireland: Cliffs of Moher (copyright Alyce Morgan, 2003)
Ok, I’m not. But I’d like to. Meantime, just in time for St. Patty’s Day, I’m baking some bread from the Cookery School’s founder and Ireland’s best chef-teacher, Darina Allen, number 38 in Gourmet Live’s list of 50 Women Game-Changers in Food:
(Courtesy Koster Photography
When Americans make or think about Irish Soda Bread, which they only do in March of every year, they think about the American take on the bread (think chop suey), which I adore and make as often as anyone:
Here’s my own American version. Please have a little bread with your butter
But if you go to Ireland and stop in a hotel or restaurant for breakfast (or other meal), you find that the soda bread is whole wheat. Dense, thick, sturdy, filling. Perfect smothered with lots of beautiful Irish butter and jam or, even better, dipped in a deep, dark mug of tea. And, should you not think about it, this bread is a chunky, dunky sideshow for stew or soup, as well as tasty sandwich bread. Get ready to dirty your hands and bake up!
darina allen’s brown soda bread
400g (14oz) wholemeal flour (about 3 cups)
75g (3oz) plain white flour, (Darina specifies unbleached if you can get it) (about 3/4 cup)
1 tsp salt, (Darina specifies dairy salt, which is finer, but I used regular old table salt.)
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda, sieved (baking soda)
1 egg
1 tbsp sunflower oil (I used canola oil)
1 teaspoon honey ( or treacle or soft brown sugar)
425ml (¾ pint) buttermilk (or add 2 tbsp of lemon juice to 600 ml (1 pint) milk
Method
Grease a loaf tin (I used 9x5x3) with vegetable oil. Preheat the oven to 200°c (gas mark 6). (about 400 degrees Fahrenheit)
Put the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and mix well. Make a well in the centre ready for the wet ingredients.
Whisk the egg and add it to the oil, honey (or treacle or sugar), and the buttermilk (or lemon juice/milk mixture).
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and using your clean hands mix well. The dough should be very sticky, Darina describes it as ‘soft and slightly sloppy’, if it’s not add more buttermilk. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour.
To test take it out of its tin and tap the bottom, if it’s cooked it will sound hollow.
Allow to cool before eating if you can manage it.
Recipe courtesy The Ordinary Cook
My cook’s notes are in red
Use the other side of your measuring cups for this one; you need 425 ml of buttermilk.
I weighed both flours for accuracy
Full “well”
Smooth it out as best you can in a greased pan.
Very healthy wholewheat bread, but quite yummy with a little butter and jam
GOES WELL WITH POTATO SOUP!
the skinny on darina
I don’t know how she does it….
Owner of Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, Co Cork, Ireland, teacher, food writer, newspaper columnist, cookbook author and television presenter. School is situated on an organically run farm.
Graduate in Hotel Management, Dublin Institute of Technology.
Member of Taste Council of Irish Food Board, Chair of Artisan Food Forum of Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Food Safety Consultative Council of Ireland, Trustee of Irish Organic Centre, Patron of Irish Seedsavers.
Cooking Teacher of the Year Award from IACP 2005, Recipient of Honorary Degree from University of Ulster 2003, Winner of Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year 2001, Waterford Wedgwood Hospitality Award 2000, Langhe Ceretto Prize 1996, Laois Person of the Year 1993…and more.
courtesy Ballymaloe Cookery School; County Cork, Ireland.
Watch a little video about Ballymaloe here.
Bake your own bread-no excuses now,
Alyce
Brunch is a loved meal that doesn’t get eaten nearly often enough. It spells S-L-O-W. Relaxed. No rush. Picking and choosing as in, “There’s too much to choose from!” Shades of a string quartet bowing off in a corner. An attractive guy in a long apron at your elbow, murmuring, “More coffee? Champagne?” Unfortunately, we go out for brunch most of the time–and spend a bundle, too. We sort of assume it’s too much trouble to cook or maybe even to entertain midday on the weekends, but I enjoy it. (Even for just two.)
Add to the pull toward the middle of the day menu that I am crazy about eggs. One of my really good friends says, “I never met an egg I didn’t like.” That’s about the size of it. If you don’t believe me, you’ll have to see some of the things I do with eggs.
This is my Oven-Baked Vegetable Soup with Poached Egg
or my Porridged Eggs, which are eggs cooked in oats stove top:
You get the idea, right?
To this fast meal, you might add a little fruit salad and maybe a piece of coffee cake or pastry from the best bakery (chocolate mousse?) in town and you’re in business. Bloody Marys and Mimosas (or some variation) are part of the conventional brunch wisdom, as is a vat of strong, perfect coffee and real cream. A dash of Jack or brandy in the coffee might replace the marys and mimosas for some. Even hot cocoa (mocha?) with a swig of brandy or a tot of Peppermint Schnapps would do the trick. Don’t skip out on the fun drinks; they’re a big part of why people like to go out to those expensive, extravagant brunches at inns or hotels. Set the table with your favorite things and pour a little pitcher of real cream.
Really quick real hot chocolate at my house: To a microwave safe mug, add one ounce of good-quality bittersweet chocolate. (Just break it up; no need to grate) Add one teaspoon granulated sugar. Pour in milk until the mug is about 3/4 full. Microwave on full-power until hot–about two minutes in my microwave. (Don’t boil.) Whisk until smooth.
Save yourself a few bucks and invite your sister or that neighbor you keep meaning to ask over. There you go. You have the entire Sunday afternoon to while away sipping that second (third) cup of coffee and dreaming about what you’re planting next month.
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| How about some dill? |
And while you’re at it, you’re eating one of the thirty-eight power foods, eggs. One of the few foods with vitamin D, protein-packed, quick-cooking, low-cal (90) and inexpensive eggs are also loaded with B vitamins and lots of minerals. There is little with which they don’t pair. Eggs and asparagus are one of my most-loved combinations.
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| My Boiled Eggs and Asparagus on English Muffins with Cheese Sauce–perfect for Easter brunch. |
My Dad called them (one of) nature’s perfect foods. Read more about eggs here at The Incredible, Edible Egg.
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| My friend Cathy’s “ladies” lay sexy-colored beauties. They’re just starting to “come on” with the longer light. |
And while I love eggs, I don’t like chickens at all. Here in Saint Paul, we can have chickens right in the city, but I’m not going there. Cathy has to keep her ladies to herself and just share the eggs. I trade her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies or granola for a dozen of these lovelies. I get the bargain.
Chill the sparkler, set the table, and make the biscuits on Saturday. Put on your brunch music:
and make….
Note: These eggs are just barely “spicy.” If you like HOT, double or triple the Sriracha.
sriracha eggs over biscuits with basil salsa
Serves 2 doubles, triples, or quadruples easily
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| There are people who would marry you for these. |
*No biscuits? English muffins or toasted leftover baguette are good substitutes.
+Don’t want to worry about rushing? Make your biscuits the night before. Heat briefly in the oven (350 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes.)
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Sriracha is a hot chili sauce named for the coastal port city in Thailand from which it hails. The general recipe for sriracha includes ground chiles, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt, and was first developed to serve with seafood. (about.com)
alyce’s basil salsa
***also tasty on chicken or fish tacos or plain grilled or poached white fish
In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together gently. Taste and adjust seasonings. (More onion? Garlic?)
cook’s note I like this salsa without the heat of jalapeno, etc; it’s much fresher and the beautiful delicate basil is not overpowered by heat. That said, add a bit of minced jalapeno if you like it. I opted for Sriracha in the eggs, which could be increased. You then have spicy topped by cool and fragrant–refreshing.
If you like this, you might also like my Poached Eggs on Grilled Cheddar Tomatoes
or my Egg+Egg White Omelet Filled with Cottage Cheese on Whole Wheat Toast
Say that three times real fast.
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Sarah – Everything in the Kitchen Sink
All sites may not blog power foods each week.
Are you a food blogger? Join us: Email Mireya@MyHealthyEatingHabits.com
Sing a new song because while the snow is still piled up, the sun is shining in the beautiful city of Saint Paul, Minnesota,
Alyce
My favorite place for pumpkin seeds is in my mouth. Preferably with salt or salt with cumin and cayenne. I also like them on top of pumpkin soup. Texture! I put them in my pumpkin bread, too. If you’re a jack-o-lantern carver, you probably have saved your seeds, cleaned and dried them, and roasted them in the oven for a treat in the days following Halloween when your teeth are still gritty from the sugar high night. (You can roast and eat the seeds from any kind of pumpkin at all.)
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| Alyce’s Pumpkin-Ginger Bread |
I don’t think I actually was cognizant of the fact that pumpkin seeds were good for you for a very long time. I probably just never thought of it. Which is why blogging Power Foods is such a great idea for me. Of course I know that seeds are healthy; I just didn’t spend much time thinking about the ones that came out of a pumpkin. I was more interested in getting the kids out trick-or-treating or in fixing English muffin pizzas topped with jack-o-lantern faces cut out of a slice of cheese…..or, later on, that big pot of chili. But pumpkin seeds, like many other seeds, are fabulous treasure troves. Read on:
When the ancient Aztecs snacked on pumpkin seeds, they were on to something: Just a handful of these seeds offers a concentrated source of protein and energy-producing magnesium, along with generous amounts of immunity-protecting zinc. Abundant in phytosterols, which help lower cholesterol, pumpkin seeds also provide plenty of fiber when eaten in their shells.
—Power Foods : 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients from the editors of WHOLE LIVING MAGAZINE.
At 180 calories for 1/4 cup (32.25 grams), they pack a wallop calorically. That’s a lot of energy for a very small, portable amount of food. Read more about pumpkin seed facts and nutrition here, but first make my…
acorn squash salad with pumpkin seeds and cumin vinaigrette
serves 2
*To easily and quickly cook an acorn squash: Cut it in half carefully and scrape out seeds and strings. Put the halves in a 2-quart Pyrex dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high 3-5 minutes, testing after 3 minutes (and adding more time if needed) until squash is tender. Let cool briefly, peel with a sharp knife, and slice into half-rounds.
(A half squash is simply fixed in the microwave in a cereal bowl topped with a salad plate.)
Of course you can also bake an acorn squash in the oven if you’d rather.
Cumin Vinaigrette
Whisk the first five ingredients together in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking until well-combined or emulsified. Taste and adjust seasonings by dipping a piece of spinach briefly into your vinaigrette.
inspiration from: Bon Appetit’s recipe for Pork Chops and Squash with Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette
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38 Power Foods is a group effort!
Sarah – Everything in the Kitchen Sink
All sites may not blog power foods every week.
Are you a food blogger? Join us!
We’d like to have you as part of the group. Get in touch with Mireya from My Healthy Eating Habits: Mireya@MyHealthyEatingHabits.com
… … … …
soup cookbook update–recipe testing is about done
still editing
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| The hub testing “I Have a Spring Cold Chicken Noodle Soup”–he made it all by himself and said, “This is the best thing I ever made; it tastes just like your soup.” That was the compliment…that I had transferred the taste to the page. AH! |
Tonight, several of the local testers for my soup book come together at my house to eat, drink, and share their results; most out-of-town testers have emailed their recipe surveys. I think we are eating eight or nine soups (a taste or two each), but we’re also trying a couple of the accompanying recipes–a tapenade salad with goat cheese toasts, as well as microwave individual flourless chocolate cakes that are done in around a minute each. Think of us tonight as the book appears to be coming together in a VERY HAPPY, TASTY WAY!
Thanks to everyone who’s participated so far! You know I love you! So cool for this food to no longer be only between me, my stove, my computer, and Dave’s tummy.
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As I write today, I listen to Carol King and James Taylor, Live at the Troubadour.
For those of us of a certain age (or maybe anyone), this is good listening.
So good night, all you moonlight ladies. Rock-a-bye sweet baby James. Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose. Won’t you let me go down in my dreams… and rock-a-bye sweet baby James?
My, this music has aged well.
Sing a new song,
Alyce