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"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ~ Mary Oliver

Category: Food

September 10, 2016

“feast or famine diet” . . .?

a FIESTA of dahlias from Fivefork Farms this a.m. . .

a FIESTA of dahlias from Fivefork Farms this a.m. . .

dahlias, majestic in a favorite vase . . .

dahlias, majestic in a favorite vase . . .

So, if you read the last post, you’ll know that I’ve come across a 21 day diet that includes 2 days of fasting, drinking bone broth and eating regularly the rest of the time. I’ve refined this somewhat into what I call a “feast or famine” diet that includes:

  1. 2 days apart fasting – drinking juices and bone broth;
  2. 2 days of salad suppers – salads on a dinner plate with a serving of protein (teriyaki salmon, sliced steak, shrimp)
  3. 3 days left for foodie menus – pappardelle pasta with veal ragu, Peking duck, teriyaki chicken thighs on the grill, etc.
'famine' fixin's for beef bone broth. . .

‘famine’ fixin’s for beef bone broth. . .

Anyhow, I’m going to try it out, starting tomorrow when the Instant Pot arrives and I make up some bone broth to store in the freezer.

Starting Monday, September 12th, I’ll start the 21-day diet clock. And on October 3rd, I’ll weigh in (couldn’t resist the pun) and see where things stand.

Meanwhile, here are more photos of the beautiful dahlias at the end of summer – and the beginning of our weekend!

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September 7, 2016

the next time you crave ice cream . . .

Try this instead. Trader Joe’s organic goat’s milk yogurt (creamy and less thick than Greek yogurt) – add a swirl of honey and top with some glazed maple walnuts (for salads.)

The salty-sweet mix plus a little crunch from the nuts is very tasty. Plus it’s quick and easy. YUM!

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September 6, 2016

tomatoes! . . .

 

 

 

 

 

tomatoes-3G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!!!! (enough said!)

tomatoes-2

 

 

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September 4, 2016

old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs . . .

spaghetti and meatballs

2 patties of leftover Angus grass-fed hamburger patties, sourdough bread in milk, egg, onion. . .

2 patties of leftover Angus grass-fed hamburger patties, sourdough bread in milk, egg, onion. . .

We’ve been trying out grass-fed angus ground beef lately. The other day, we had hamburgers with all the fixin’s and found the beef tasty but the texture a little dry. I’ve been thinking about using the leftover beef to make meatballs and find that cooking mid-morning for all the ‘sous-chef” prep steps makes dinner easy to put on the table when the time comes.

Today, I thought I’d mix the leftover beef patties with some sourdough bread soaked in milk, minced onions browned in the skillet, an egg, Lawry’s garlic salt, cracked pepper and salt. In other words, my classic recipe for making meatballs. The softened bread crumbs make the meatballs tender and extend their volume at the same time.spaghetti post 2

I think I’ll make the meatballs a tad smaller than usual so that there will be more of them and they’ll be easier to eat. After they’re browned, I’ll drain off the grease, clean out the pan and then add the meatballs back to a jar of ready made spaghetti sauce for about forty-five minutes to warm and meld the flavors of the beef and tomato sauce right before we’re ready to sit down at the table. (Yep, I’m not fussy about making the tomato sauce myself and have found various brands of sauce that do just fine.)

Sixteen medium sized meatballs from 2 hamburger patties . . .

Sixteen medium sized meatballs from 2 hamburger patties . . .

I’ll cook up some thin spaghetti to go with the meatballs – a little bit more bite than angel hair which we also like. And plenty of hand-grated parmesan cheese (not boxed) to add on top if we feel like it. A simple lettuce salad (boston and red leaf) with some chopped scallions dressed with a sharp Marukan seasoned vinegar and olive oil with crushed garlic and a dab of Poupon mustard dressing will round out the meal. Skip the garlic bread of old – too much carb & gluten!

Happy Sunday everybody!

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September 3, 2016

‘reward’ dinner notes . . .

reward dinner photo 1

This morning (Saturday of Labor Day weekend,) I made good progress in the living area. I hauled out all of the piles of things sitting around the room and grouped ‘like to like’: magazines, writing drafts, books, bills to be paid, etc. I consolidated the trash and moved the bins closer to the table. Cleared off all the extra stuff on our handsome pride-of-place soapstone countertop. Had a little more of a challenge figuring out where to put all the stuff that was being cleared away but that’s the way it always seems to be. And I don’t want to give it away either!

Second, I did two rounds of 30 minutes each and took a five minute break in between. Then, I decided to write checks, pay bills and prepare a package for mailing. Went to the post office, looked at a few things at TJ Maxx but decided to order online at Amazon instead. And finally wound my way back up to the fish market. The first piece a girl behind the counter cut for me was not big enough and still had the thick black skin of the tuna weighing it down. The second piece she cut for me was gorgeous. That’s the only word for it. tuna sashimi

On the way home, I thought the piece of yellowfin tuna was so fresh that I debated about whether to ‘dress it up’ and make one of the recipes for “Hawaiian Poke” (pronounced po-kay) with two kinds of onions (sweet and scallions), sesame seeds, nori and wakame seaweed, soy, sesame and a little honey for dressing. . . or serve it up straight and unadorned as a modest tuna sashimi with rice and cucumber salad on the side. I think I’ll let George be the arbiter of this difficult decision!

So, here’s the verdict and a photo of our meal: we both preferred to have the tuna sashimi-style with Ohsawha organic soy sauce and wasabi paste.

I cooked a pot of short-grain and brown rice in some dashi broth with a little soy added. (A teaspoon of instant dashi, a teaspoon of soy stirred into a cup of mixed rice (shortgrain white, sweet rice and shortgrain brown rice) with a cup and a half spring water in a rice cooker.)

cucumber wakame saladThis is what we have gotten used to eating and I call it “sticky rice” because of the sweet rice that’s included with the other rice. On the side, I’ll slice some English cucumber thinly and toss with some Japanese seasoned gourmet vinegar, soy, sesame and some wakame seaweed and a dab of sweetener. Yum!

Tomorrow, I’m going to tackle one of the bedroom areas and the plant room where the birds used to reside but are much happier being closer to us in the living room where they warble away every night around 7:10 p.m. right after the evening news. Go figure!

 

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August 27, 2016

Icelandic yogurt! . . .

looking forward to my lunch!

looking forward to my lunch!

My daughter, C. stayed in Iceland for a few days this summer after a sojourn in France. She commented on how delicious the butter was in Iceland. So today in the grocery store, this yogurt made with milk from Iceland caught my eye. It’s also coconut flavor so I thought I’d try it out with a white nectarine sliced up for my lunch.

Yum!

Note: The yogurt looked creamy and delicious when I opened it. The first spoon tip of yogurt was to die for – smooth to the tongue and not as thick as Greek yogurt, slightly honey-sweet with tiny bits of coconut. I dipped thin slices of white nectarine into the yogurt and stopped halfway through. I was sated as I packed the remaining slices of nectarine into the yogurt to have for dessert, later tonight. Now, I’m tempted to drive back to Shaw’s this afternoon and buy up the remaining coconut flavor and a couple of strawberry of this delectable Icelandic yogurt. And a couple more white nectarines too. What a great summertime treat!

 

 

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August 26, 2016

flour + water. . . not so fast!

homemade pappardalle noodles with mushrooms and scallions for dinner tonight

homemade pappardalle noodles with mushrooms and scallions for dinner tonight

Okay, so maybe I was a little impulsive to order a Philips electric pasta machine before I read the cookbooks about making homemade pasta. There I was after my day-surgery to remove hardware from my ankle going through those beautiful books about how important it is to knead the dough and then let it rest for a half an hour before rolling it out, either by hand or with a manual pasta roller.

The Philips machine doesn’t do that. It mixes the flours and water/egg for three minutes and then starts extruding it through the pasta wheel that you select. I did this the first time and cut up lasagna width noodles. I thought that maybe rolling out the extruded noodles after resting a half hour might make them tender to the bite. Not so: they were thick and tough. Not a good beginning and I set the pasta machine in the other room until I had another chance to use it.

So today, (since I can’t really return the machine now that I used it to make the first batch,) I thought I’d try again. This time I used King Arthur flour and Italian “OO” flour; plus water and egg yolk. The proportions are KEY. Even when I followed the markings on the plastic measuring cups they provide you with, the dough was too moist. The pasta sticks together when it’s being extruded. Not good.

'angel hair' noodles sticking together as it comes out of the machine. . .

‘angel hair’ noodles sticking together as it comes out of the machine. . .

I stopped the machine and added a couple of sprinkles of flour and re-set it on “mix” again, starting the cycle from the beginning. This time, it was a little better as the pappardalle noodles came out, but not by much. I hand-separated them and laid them out on a plate so that they would unstick and also dry a little before this evening when I’ll boil them up and make an alfredo mix with mushrooms and green onions for tonight’s supper.

To sum up the lessons learned so far in trying to develop a hybrid method for making tender, homemade pasta in an electric pasta machine, they are:

  1. Add less water/egg yolk mixture to the flours than called for. A smidge less liquid or else the pasta comes out goopy.
  2. If it is, try stopping the machine (including unplugging it) and sprinkle a little more flour into the dough mixture, reset it and start from the beginning of the cycle. At least this way, you don’t have to throw out the whole batch just because it’s too sticky.
  3. Be patient. I still have a small ball of dough that I took out of the machine, kneaded and rested for half an hour in the fridge. It wouldn’t extrude when I tried it back in the machine, but I plan to roll it our on a board, and hand cut it for noodles and see how they turn out.

    ball of dough, kneaded after scraping out the too-sticky angel hair

    ball of dough, kneaded after scraping out the too-sticky angel hair

  4. As in any kind of cooking, paying attention to the core chemistry factors at play is key. In this case, it’s the development of gluten in the mixed flour and how it is handled from then on either in the electric extruder or rolled and cut by hand. I’m still thinking about how to manage this part with the electric machine.

But the concept is still good, isn’t it? A bare cup of flours, a scant half cup of egg yolk beaten into some spring water; mix it together and voila, a scrumptious plate of tender homemade pasta with fresh ingredients on hand for supper! Simplicity isn’t always simple, is it?

At least, that’s still the plan.

Update: decided not to cook the pasta for supper. Will have to revisit how to use the machine so it produces noodles that aren’t too sticky, not too thick and which might approach that ideal in my head of tender, tasty pasta. In the meantime, the machine parts are loaded into the top layer of the dishwasher. And we’re having salmon for dinner tonight. Not too bad of a compromise!

Footnote: Actually, I’m thinking of changing direction and exploring making onigiri, Japanese rice cakes with seasoning, wrapped in sheets of toasted nori. May come back to the Philips pasta machine when the weather turns cooler and less humid.

 

 

 

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August 19, 2016

summer supper . . .

DSCN0114

On Tuesday while waiting at the hospital, I looked through an “Organic Life” magazine that had what looked like a quesadilla with scallions on it. Since I’ve been home, I wanted to make some scallion pancakes for a light supper. So tonight, I used some flatbread that I had in the fridge, spread the flatbread with a little sesame oil and lard, chopped up a gorgeous handful of thin, fresh green onions, sprinkled some sea salt before crisping two halves in a skillet with a weight on it. (Next time, I might use flour tortillas which are thinner and less bread-like.)

The rest of our supper was fresh corn on the cob and bowls of cream of potato soup that I took out of the freezer earlier in the day. George brought in a handful of ripe cherry tomatoes from our plant outside on the deck. Yum!

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August 18, 2016

making homemade noodles . . . first try!

 

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So my ankle is feeling pretty good after day surgery on Tuesday. I’m been able to get around with a slight bit of weight bearing which helps enormously in getting around.

It’s a cool summer morning so I thought I’d take this quiet time while G. is out tuning pianos at one of the colleges to unpack the Philips electric pasta machine and try it out. In the intervening time, I’ve been reading two fabulous cookbooks on homemade pasta with incredibly delicious sounding recipes with simple ingredients: “Flour + Water: Pasta” and “Mastering Pasta,” both of which I recommend if for the inspiring photos within alone.

I’ll also summarize what I’ve gleaned for myself after watching YouTube videos of how to use the machine and from reading other blogs about making pasta at home:

a.  In the flour measuring cup, I’m using half “OO” flour and half “Semolina” flours. I ordered these online from Amazon earlier in the week and they arrived yesterday. Used 1 cup of mixed flours.

"OO" and "Semolina" flours

“OO” and “Semolina” flours

b. In the liquid measuring cup, I’m using three egg yolks stirred in bottled water added halfway up the cup with a teaspoon of olive oil.

c. I rinsed out the insides of the machine and turned it on; then added flours as it started to rotate and gradually added half cup of egg yolk/water liquid. It ran for three minutes without the mixture looking like a dough.

the flours, egg yolks, water and olive oil mixing in the machine

the flours, egg yolks, water and olive oil mixing in the machine

d. On the fourth minute, the pasta started to extrude through the lasagna plate that I had attached to the machine. As it came out, I cut it off after about 5-7 inches and laid it curled up on a plate.

lasagna noodles extruded from machine . . .

lasagna noodles extruded from machine . . .

e. When all the lasagna noodles were extruded, I turned the machine off and hand cut the noodles into pappardalle width noodles; then let them rest. After a half an hour, I might take a rolling pin and roll the noodles out a little thinner. (I looked for my old fashioned pie crust roller to cut the edges but couldn’t find it.)

handcut noodles "resting" . . .

handcut noodles “resting” . . .

Of course, the proof of the pudding (or the pasta) is in the cooking and eating of it! I will wait and see if rolling the noodles thinner with a rolling pin is in the cards, and then store them until we cook them up for our first dish – maybe tomorrow when our neighbor joins us for supper after taking her medical boards.

I thought maybe a saute of fresh scallions, mushrooms and baby spinach with a little freshly grated parmesan might be worth trying. Stay tuned for follow-up photos! One recipe of these wide noodles with a veal ragu looked really good too.

By the way, cleanup of this machine takes some effort as I did it by hand rather than putting the parts in the dishwasher. I’ll probably make a double batch of noodles next time around and freeze extra batches to make the whole production worthwhile!

Spinach fettucine and ramen noodles are next on the list!

 

 

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August 14, 2016

a ‘screw loose’ . . . and fresh noodles!

homemade pasta
In case you’ve ever thought I might have a screw loose, you’re right! The ankle I broke a couple of years ago was mended with two plates attached with thirteen screws. One plate was in the back and another one on the side by the four-inch incision. And a pin that held my tibia and fibula together. I asked for the pin to be removed a year later because it felt like my foot was glued together.
But recently, I felt like my ankle wasn’t holding up – that is, when I stood up in the morning, it felt unstable and that I might teeter over any moment. Plus, there was a noticeable “point” that I could feel with my finger right under the skin. Not a good sign, right?
So I had an x-ray Friday and sure enough, the side plate apparatus will be removed this coming Tuesday. Having major surgery is no fun but it should be more like restorative surgery than adding more metal to the pedal. I don’t look forward to the anesthesia, shots and needles that it will entail, and especially the overdosing of oxycontin the nurses give you when it’s not needed. Last time around, I worried more about the painkiller effects than anything else.
The orthopedic surgeon said I’d be in a splint for 2 weeks and a boot for 6 weeks – which means getting up and down our three flights of stairs to where we live will be an exercise in ingenuity again and of course no driving for 8 weeks since it’s my right foot. We also retrieved my arm crutches and wheelchair to get ready for ambulatory care this coming week.
Yesterday, we cleaned out the freezer completely and stocked it with freshly purchased rib-eye steaks, chicken thighs and shrimp that I can cook easily supplemented with a dozen ears of farmstand corn, squash, salad greens and fresh eggs in the fridge. A large pot of cucumber soup is in progress on the stove this morning. Also plan to make a pot of potato soup that I’ll freeze along with the cucumber soup base – nice and light for the summertime that we can eat later on along with a fresh zucchini frittata or spinach quiche. I was thinking that it might be useful to shop and cook this way for times when we won’t be going to the grocery store every day or so anyhow. Plus, it feels good to know exactly what we have on hand so that I’ll be able to cook from our pantry and fridge even while fresh veggies and fruit are plentiful right now in the middle of the summer.
Knowing myself, I thought about a project (or two) that I might undertake while I have limited mobility for a few weeks: and that is to teach myself how to make homemade pasta. Too bad for the non-gluten folks, but I’ve ordered some Italian “00” flour and some semolina flour to experiment with. Fresh mushrooms of different varieties with some fresh spinach and pine or hazelnuts might be a good combo – and of course tomatoes with fresh basil too.
One of our tenants is taking her Medical Board exams on Friday and I’ll make something simple and tasty to celebrate at our supper together afterwards.
Light and right! That’s a good way to look at it, I suppose. Anyhow, that’s what’s come from a screw coming loose in the wrong place. I’ve always loved fresh noodles and now, I’ll be able to make all kinds of them (fettucine, papperdalle, angel hair) and experiment between reading cookery books and trying them out in our kitchen.
No biggie in the larger scheme of things.
P.S.  The day surgery was uneventful and I was told I could bear some weight on the ankle which helped a lot getting up the stairs to where we live! Have been browsing through two fantastic cookbooks featuring handmade noodles and am inspired as well as a little daunted by what it entails.
At first, my reaction was that the Phillips pasta machine wasn’t “purist” enough – that is, it didn’t allow the dough to rest before it was extruded. Plus, I couldn’t figure out how to make flavored pastas, such as with fresh peas, spinach or carrots, for example. But I kept reading in the books and also searched online where I found some ideas that might work with the electric pasta machine after all. For example, buy bottled vegetable juices and add to the flour. So, I’m going to wait a little longer, read the Phillips recipe book and see if making wide lasagna noodles will allow me to use a pie crust roller to make pretty wide-cut noodles like pappardalle and spinach fettucine. More later.
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