Terre Pruitt's Blog

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Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

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My Failed Stovetop Pizza

Posted by terrepruitt on June 16, 2015

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoIf you haven’t seen this and you are interested in making pizza on your stovetop in 20 minutes, I suggest you go check out the video.  It looks pretty cool.  It looks fast.  It looks easy.  It looks yummy.  It looks like you must have a pan you can vent.  It also REALLY looks like the pan should be non-stick.  I really wanted to try this because I would much rather eat pizza with dough that I make than other pizza.  But I am not really good with pizza dough.  Yes, I know it is easy, you know why?  Because people TELL me it is, not because it ACTUALLY IS.  I cannot make a pizza that is round for nothing.  I cannot make the pizza come out even/level.  One side tends to rise more than the other.  My pizza tastes good, but it pretty much always LOOKS like a reject pizza.  And then there is the dough and it so sticky and messy, so you might realize the HUGE appeal this pizza had (notice tense) to me.  I thought I had a vented lid.  I do!  I thought it would fit one of my non-stick pans.  It does not.  It thought I could make it in a pan that does not have that non-stick coating.  I am not convinced I can.  But I made a HUGE error – aside from the pan.  So I can’t say for certain (can you?) that the regular pan won’t work.  I tried this stovetop pizza and here is the result.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoFirst of all notice the difference between my pizza dough/crust and the one in the video.  This SHOULD have been a HUGE sign to me, but it was not.  I also should NOT have been attempting this really late at night.  Since it is a 20 minute pizza I thought I could do it in 30 minutes or so.  My plan was to do it earlier, but sometimes the day just escapes me.  So I was starting this new thing for dinner at 8:30 pm.  NOT A GOOD IDEA!  So in my rush I forgot — prepare to giggle — the yeast.  Yup.  I measured it out and everything, but then I forgot to put it in the darn pan.  And of course I realized that the SECOND I put ALL of the other ingredients on the pizza.  I looked at the little bowl full of measured out yeast and —- GRRR!

I used red sauce, mushrooms, turkey sausage, and cheese for toppings.

The recipe doesn’t say medium heat but somewhere in the comments that is revealed, but I didn’t read the whole sentence!  (Eyes rolling).  It is medium heat while the vent is closed, then when you open the vents, turn it to low heat.  So I cooked it at medium the entire time and the dough would not come out of the pan.  I bet it might have, if I would have lowered the temperature.  So you obviously understand I am not saying this recipe does not work.  I am saying, “Hello, here is my complete and utter failure at attempting this recipe.”  And I should say “recipe” because I left out a key ingredient and cooked it at the wrong temperature!

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoI am just sharing because I told a friend I would write a blog post, plus I am hoping that someone who has tried it will let me know and give me some tips.  Do you think if I use the correct temperature (medium THEN LOW) It will work in a regular pan?  One that is not non-stick?  My lid doesn’t fit any of my non-stick pans.

So, SNAP!  What does one feed herself and her hungry hubby at 9:00 pm when the planned dinner totally fails?  I made pizza rice.  Yup, sounds ridiculous and I never would have done it if I hadn’t been at a loss.

I just scraped the ingredients off of the stuck-to-the-pan-dough (a bit of dough came up with it) and put it over some leftover rice that we had.  Yup, I put a bit of dough on the rice with the sauce, mushrooms, meat, and cheese.  And that was our entrée.  It didn’t taste bad at all.  It was rice instead of dough, but it was kinda odd.  My hubby liked it.  But he loves rice.  He likes rice better than pasta.  He likes rice better than bread.  So he enjoyed the “pizza” on the rice.  I might have liked it better if it wasn’t a huge blaring symbol of my failed meal.  🙂  Also, I was afraid that I had totally ruined my pan.  But I let it soak overnight and the stuck on crust came off.

So . . . have you tried this pizza?  Can it be made in a regular (not non-stick) pan?  Are you going to try it?  Let us know how it comes out!  I will attempt this again – correctly.

Posted in Entertainment, Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Refreshing Apple Salad

Posted by terrepruitt on June 11, 2015

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoI came across a recipe for apple slaw.  I thought that sounded interesting.  Nice and refreshing.  But I did my usual skimming of the recipe and I thought there was apple cider vinegar in it.  I bought the apples and didn’t buy any apple cider vinegar because I thought I had some.  I didn’t have any.  I went to the store a couple of times but didn’t have apple cider vinegar on my list so of course, I didn’t get any.  I finally remember to get some.  I planned on making it on a night that I was subbing an evening class after teaching Nia in the morning.  The class I had to sub was early so I had planned on making the slaw before class.  This was my plan when I bought the vinegar.  Between purchase and the actual day, I forgot that I was going to make this.  So my day is going on and I begin to prepare dinner to start cooking while I am gone, then I remember I wanted to make this slaw.  And even though it is slaw, I was thinking the apples were to be sliced really thin.  Like mandolin-sliced.  I don’t have a mandolin, but I figure I can slice them thin.  So I run up to my computer to get the recipe and, “Oh yeah.  SLAW – grated.  Well, I am going to slice them AND leave the skin on.”  That was my thought process.  Also included in that thinking was, “No apple cider vinegar?  I must have not copy and pasted properly.  I could have sworn it had apple cider vinegar.”  I also usually copy and paste the website where I got the recipe into my document.  Since I didn’t see that I KNEW that I copied the recipe wrong.  But I couldn’t remember where I got the recipe.  So I had to look around and think.  Then I remembered.  I went to the site . . . nope, I didn’t copy it wrong.  I still don’t know where I got the idea that the recipe called for apple cider vinegar.  But I decided since I bought the stuff I was going to use it.  So MY recipe for apple slaw turned into more of an apple salad.  And I loved it.  Hope you like it too.

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2 large Granny Smith apples
1 lemon
4 tsp olive oil
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
salt
feta cheese

Peel* the Granny Smith apples and then slice them very thin.  Mix the juice from 1/2 of  the lemon, the oil, and the vinegar in a bowl.  Toss with the apple slices.  Add the salt.  Just a couple of sprinkles.  Then squeeze a little more lemon juice on top of the apples (from the other half of the lemon).  Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours.

If you are able, you can toss the mixture during the cooling period so that all the apples have a chance to sit in the juice mixture.

Once you are ready to serve, move the apples into your individual dish and sprinkle with a little feta and serve.  You might feel it needs a little more salt, but that is up to you, the feta sometimes adds just the right amount of saltiness.

The apples I used were HUGE so it will be about 4 to 6 servings.

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*You might have noticed that in my introduction I said I wanted to leave the skin on the apples.  And I did on parts of it, but those parts were so difficult to slice thin.  Granny Smith has some thick skin I’d say and I was in way too much of a hurry to try to force it.  So I peeled the other apple entirely.  Much, much easier to slice.

This would also be fine without the feta.  Or maybe even good with a nice shredded cheddar?  Either way, I really like it.  It is easy and refreshing.  A nice summer salad.  One of these days I will actually try making the SLAW!

 

 

What do you think?  Have you had apple slaw before?  How about this, anyone up for apple salad?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Shredded Beef – Crockpot Cookin’

Posted by terrepruitt on May 30, 2015

We have these roast in our freezer.  HUGE chunks of meat I have no idea what to do with.  I am not a “roast” fan.  The hours of cooking so the fat can melt and seep into the meat, just does not appeal to me.  I have never liked the texture of roast and one day while flipping through channels I paused on America’s Test Kitchen (love that show, especially back in the day when it hadn’t yet been “glammed up”).  They were cooking a roast.  One reason I love that show is they explain the science behind the cooking or at least the reasons why you do what you do.  So they explained that the reason a roast is low cooked for hours is because the fat needs to melt into the meat.  It makes it tender and flavorful.  Yeah, snort!  I didn’t like it before and that REALLY made it unappealing to me.  But . . . . this beef is more lean, I believe.  I have also grown a little bit more tolerate of roast and have actually had some that were yummy.  But, cooking one?  Another story.  I can’t remember exactly how I came across a recipe for Cuban Beef.  I wasn’t looking for it, I think I might have just happened across a blog and it was on there?  I don’t remember, but I have had a recipe for Cuban Shredded Beef on my desktop for almost a month now.  So I decided to try it.  Well, not really.  I had read through the ingredients but not the instructions.  I started to read through them the night before I was going to cook the roast and I decided I didn’t want to do that.  I wanted to throw the thing into my crock pot and let it cook.  So, I started with her list of ingredients and went from there.  I bet it would help a lot if I were more familiar with the science behind cooking a roast.

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Shredded Crock Pot Beef – “Cuban Style”

3.5 pounds pounds of roast, trimmed**
salt
1 bottle lime beer
2 T sherry
1 cup orange juice
juice from 1 1/2 lime*
zest from 1/2 lime
3 teaspoon garlic
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 of an onion

You will use some of these ingredients in the crock pot and some in the oven.

Coat the roast with salt and let it set while you prepare the crock pot liquid.

For the crock pot:

1 lime beer
2 T sherry
1/2 cup orange juice
juice from 1/2 lime
zest from 1/2 lime
2 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon cumin
a small portion of onions, sliced thin

(Salted 3.5 pounds pounds of roast, trimmed)

Mix the above ingredients together, pour them into the crock pot, then put the salted roast in the crock pot.  If the liquid does not cover the roast and you have a few minutes, let it sit, then flip it over.  Then put the sliced onions on top.  Let it cook on low for three hours.

Then flip it over and turn it to high for an hour.  Then turn the heat to low and let it cook for another two hours.

**this was a grass-fed roast.  Grass-fed beef tends to cook quicker so keep that in mind.

For the beef after cooking in the crock pot

1/c orange juice
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic
juice from 1/2 lime
onions

Mix all the ingredients.  Shred the beef (I used my blender), spread on cookie sheet, pour the liquid over the beef, stir it so all the beef can get some of the liquid.  Then put the cookie sheet in the oven for 20 minutes on 425° F.  You might want to cook it a bit longer if you want those crispy bits of beef.  You decide.

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https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7769/18285057272_2eb5d843ac_b.jpgI served it on bread.  A sweet submarine roll for my hubby and sliced sour dough for me.  I don’t really know how you are supposed to serve Cuban Beef.  I don’t know what Cuban Beef is.  I just made a “regular” sandwich; cheese, mayo, and onions.  I put quartered limes on our plates and we both ended up squeezing it on the meat.

*I am going to use more lime in the recipe itself next time.

This was very good.  I like the lime flavor.  It is zesty and a step away from our normal flavor palate.  It was nice.  I will probably do it again with one of the other roasts we have.

So . . . what is “Cuban Beef”?  Do you have a recipe for Cuban Beef?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Our Version Of Taco Salad

Posted by terrepruitt on May 26, 2015

What do you put in your taco salad?  Do you eat taco salad?  Taco salad is one of my favorite meals.  It is probably one of my favorite meals for several reasons.  One reason is it is raw veggies and meat with tortilla chips, that is just a winning combination to me.  Another reason is when we have it, it usually translates into at least two meals — you know I love leftovers.  And another reason is, usually when we have it my husband has made it.  I had taco salad with my friends once and they laughed at me because the only thing “taco” about my taco salad is the tortilla chips and the “taco seasoning” in the meat.  Since I was the one that started making the taco salad in our relationship I have “infected” my husband with my idea of or the way I make taco salad.  We do it a little different.

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1 lb Ground Turkey
1 package of taco seasoning
tortilla chips
lettuce
shredded cheese
olives
onions
pickles
bell peppers
cucumbers
broccoli
carrots
sour cream
salsa

Cook the meat with the seasoning.  You can use the directions on the package or not.  I don’t, I saute some onions then add the meat.  While the meat is cooking I put in the seasoning.  My hubby follows the directions on the package.  Whatever works for you.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoThe lettuce is chopped or the kind from a bag.  The olives are chopped or sliced, either by you or that is the way you bought them.  The onions . . . I like red, but whatever color will do, even scallions.  Whatever they are they are chopped.

Pickles are chopped.  So are the bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, and carrots.

Then you just layer it in your individual bowl.  My husband and I do ours individually since we both like different things in our salads.  We also do our layers differently.  Then he adds salsa and sour cream.  I don’t add any of that.  We both crumble our tortilla chips on top.  One time I forgot them.  I remembered them after I was half way through eating my salad.

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As you can see there are no beans.  I don’t like beans, so I have never put beans in my “taco salad”.  And, like I said, since I have always made it like that my poor husband doesn’t get beans in his salad.  I don’t know if he would like them, but we don’t think to get them.  Also, I believe pickles are a weird ingredient for a taco salad.  I cannot tell you how that started.  It might sound odd, but it works really well . . . I think.  For me it is a MUST, the pickles are a source of moisture for my salad since I don’t add any dressing, salsa, or sour cream.

I believe we have had tomatoes in our taco salad before.  Basically any veggie that we would put in a salad we could add to our taco salad.  The first nine ingredients on the list are the “must-haves”.

Do you eat taco salad?  What do you put in your taco salad?

 

My Introduction To Taco Salad

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Lemons Out Of The Jar

Posted by terrepruitt on May 16, 2015

You might have read a little over a month ago that I put salt in a jar and filled it with lemons.  (Click here for that post.)  I had heard about it from a friend on Facebook.  When writing the post for my blog I did a really quick search and learned that preserved lemons are a “gourmet food”.  Also, after I posted about it two of my friends told me that they had seen jars of them at Trader Joe’s.  So this is not a completely unique food.  It is actually common in Moroccan and Middle Eastern recipes. I sealed my jar on April 7th so the schedule was to open it 30 days later on May 7th.  Well, I was making something on May 6th and decided to use the lemons for it.

I was making chard.  I think of chard as bitter so I usually use a lot of seasonings when cooking it.  I didn’t read the instructions when I prepared the jar, and true to form I didn’t read, or more accurately, I disregarded the instructions when cooking with them.  I did not rinse the lemons.  And on top of that I salted the chard as I was cooking it.  So two huge errors.  I used a lot of lemons because I wanted the greens to be very flavorful.  But it is imperative that the lemons be rinsed!  The chard was actually too salty to eat!

I was a bit sad because I thought these lemons were going to be a new “thing”/flavor I could cook and prepare food with.  I did hold out faith that it was my bad decision not to rinse the lemons that made the lemons icky.

A few days after my chard disaster I made some rice.  This time I rinsed the lemons thoroughly then cut them up and put them on top of the rice in the rice maker.  Success!  YES!  It was sooooo yummy. The lemons gave just enough flavor but did not over power.  It was good.  Yay!

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoSince I had had success with the rice a few nights after that, I made some broccoli with the lemons.  I used a tiny it of oil and a couple of slices of onion.  I didn’t want to overpower the lemons so I didn’t want to use too much of anything else. Again, I rinsed the lemons really well, cut them up and then put them in the pan with the broccoli to cook.  Again, yummy!

One thing about the lemons is they are so slimy.  I don’t care to touch them because they are so slimy, but once you rinse them they are ok.

The information I’ve seen is that lemons, salt, and water is more common for is recipes in North African and Indian cuisine.  The recipe I followed is just salt, lemons, and the juice of the lemons.  No water.

As I said in my original post about this, I used a small jar.  I was thinking after I tried it, if I liked it, I would make a larger jar, but, I don’t see the need for a larger jar for us.  The small one is fine.  If I were to start a new jar now, we would probably finished with the present jar by the time it is ready.  I think I might try that, but this time add some other flavor.

Have you ever had preserved lemons?  Have you have made them?  What do you think of them?

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Squished Lemons In a Jar

Posted by terrepruitt on April 14, 2015

I have some friends on Facebook that I have never met.  They are friends I have through Nia.  Nia is like any other group exercise or activity, you tend to “gather” in a group.  In addition to the average things people share on Facebook (recipes, family pictures, proud parent moments, pet pictures, meal pictures) we do share about our classes.  We make announcements about up coming events.  We talk about the routines and the “stuff” going on in Nia.  So I have a group of “Nia people” I am friends with on Facebook.  One of them was having a conversation with one of her friends and I jumped in because it sounded interesting.  You might know from some of my previous posts that I have a lemon tree.  You may also know that I am not really a fan of lemon flavor.  I never think to add it to any meat I am cooking.  I never think to use it to flavor marinades or dressing.  Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, City of San Jose Group X, Zumba, PiYoI only use it in lemon cookies . . . which I don’t make often any longer.  Every once in a while I zest some into our rice.  But I don’t think of using the lemons to cook so I am always on the lookout for ways to start using them more.  Well, the conversation they were having was about lemons.  So I butted in and said, “Hey, what is this about lemons?”

Georgia, my Nia friend on Facebook, shared the recipe she uses to preserve lemons.  She said to put them in a jar with salt, let them sit for a month, then use them as you need them.  Her instructions stated a quart jar.  Well, I don’t have one and have yet to remember to buy one.  I really wanted to try this, so I started thinking I didn’t need such a large jar.  I might not like it so I decided to start small.  So this past week, I smushed some lemons in a jar.  I did not do it correctly because I got more involved with cutting and getting them into the jar than actually following the instructions.  I did not have the instructions in front of me and I so was just guessing.  Of course after I was done I looked them up.

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You’ll need a large jar that will not leak when it is flipped over.  (In her picture it looks like she might have used a large pickle jar.)
About 7 or 8 organic lemons (I only used two and a half because my jar was so small)
salt

First make sure the jar is clean.  Then make sure the lemons are clean and dry.  Then cut the lemons – not all the way through – in an X pattern.  Cutting from one end to the other, leaving one end intact.  I did not do that because the lemons were bigger than my jar.  So I actually cut the lemons into wedges.

Put about two tablespoons of salt in the bottom of the jar.  Then put a cut lemon in the jar.  Smush it down so the juices come out.  Then put more salt, then another lemon – smushing it down, getting more juice.  Continue this process until the jar is full.  Georgia said you cannot have enough salt.  She also said you can add other flavors; herbs, cinnamon sticks, cloves, bay leaf, dried red chili peppers . . . . whatever flavor you would like.

If you need to, put more lemon JUICE in the jar to make certain the lemons are covered.  Then you leave the jar on your counter for 30 days.  Flipping it over every day.

After 30 days you put the jar in your refrigerator and use a lemon or a piece every time you want to flavor something with lemon.  Pick what you want out of the jar, rinse it, then use it.  You can chopped it up using both the rind and the pulp.  Use it with chicken, beef, pork, fish, pasta, salad . . . whatever you want.

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Her recipe said that you can always add more juice and salt as you use the slices.

She said that the sour goes away and an intense yummy lemon flavor comes out.

Now . . . . I just did this . . . and by JUST . . . I mean I am in the 30 day flipping stage.  So once my 30 days are up you will be reading about it again to see what I think.

In looking at her post again she indicated this was a Moroccan delicacy.  So I looked it up and there is a lot of information regarding it on the internet.  I will post more when I actually get to taste them.

Perhaps some of you already do this so you can share?  What do you think?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Quick Collard Greens And Carrots

Posted by terrepruitt on March 26, 2015

I just looked up collard greens on my blog.  I know I have blogged about them before.  Turns out I blogged about them for the first time in March four years ago.  I had been in the store and just decided to buy some.  I decided to try them.  So back in 2011, I cooked them and I liked them ok.  I said in my post that since they seemed ok I could try making them in other ways.  Well, no, not so much.  I have tried them other ways and I just don’t like them.  My husband loves them.  I cook them planning on eating them, then I suffer though eating a small portion.  Yes, I can eat them because they are good for me, but I don’t think they give me such outstanding nutrition that I should have to “suffer” through them, especially when they are something that my husband enjoys so much.  The past time before tonight that I made them I decide to just make them for him and I would make myself a salad.  So I still eat my veggies, but basically the ones I eat all the time.  Tonight I decided, again, I would make them for him and make myself a salad.  Then it occurred to me, if I am making them just for him to eat, I might as well throw in some carrots.  I don’t like cooked carrots, but he does.  So, I cooked a bunch of collard greens and he said he liked them.  I didn’t cook them for hours with a ham hock.  But what I did was fast and easy and edible . . . to one that likes collard greens!
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3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 of a large onion, chopped
a bunch of collard greens, chopped
salt
1/4 of a cup of carrots – THICK match stick cuts
a tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon
1/4 cup hot water
1 heaping teaspoon of chopped garlic

In a large pan, heat the oil.  Then put in the chopped onion.  Heat the onion until it is translucent, or, if you are like me until it starts to caramelize a bit . . . . you decide on the flavor you are after.  After the onion is the way you want it, add the chopped collard greens to the pan.  Let them cook for a minute on medium, then sprinkle with a little (just a little) salt.  While the collard greens are cooking add the Better Than Bouillon to the 1/4 cup hot water and mix it up.  Add the carrots to the pan.  After about 10 minutes on medium heat, add the liquid bouillon to the pan, if it is not dissolved push the greens to one side of the pan and add the liquid directly to the pan so the heat help melt the bouillon.  Then mix it all together.  Add the garlic.  Then cook until the collard greens are to your liking.  I don’t cook them until they lose all their bright green color.  But if you like them that way – do that.

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I probably will add more carrots next time, but I basically used what we had.  I had almost forgot we had the collard greens because they came in our produce box.  So I hadn’t planned ahead on how to cook them.  But, as I have said many times before, I am fortunate my husband likes a lot of things so sometimes when I throw stuff together he is ok with it.  It seems like he really likes collard greens so he might just eat them any way I cook ’em.  Not me.

I still have not tried the recipe that Chef Dwight gave us in my comments.  One of these days, Dwight!  Do go to my first post My Experiment with Collard Greens and read the comments for a Southern Recipe for collard greens.

I will just keep cooking them for my hubby!

 

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Reading The Tea

Posted by terrepruitt on March 3, 2015

I have been having this icky feeling in my chest.  I don’t have a cough – really, but sometimes a tickle.  I don’t FEEL sick, but this icky, burning type feeling.  It is kinda making me grumpy.  Short-tempered is more accurate.  I think I have mentioned how when I don’t feel good, before I even realize I don’t feel well, I get grumpy.  I think it makes sense for people to be grumpy when they don’t feel well.  I am trying not to ACT grumpy, of course, but I feel a bit grumpy/short-tempered.  I know that I have also mentioned that I have not been sick since last year, so I am fighting this with vitamins, sleep, and tea.  I have been drinking a lot of tea.  My hubby and I will drink tea at night to warm us up when we are cold.  But I don’t usually drink tea during the day unless I am cold. I do drink Chai Tea Lattes, in place of my coffee sometimes in the morning. I have some days where I have a Nia class in the morning and a yoga class right after so I get home later in the day than I want to be drinking coffee so I drink the Chai Tea Latte (recipe here).  But the thing that makes my chest feel better is HOT liquid so I have been drinking tea.  I like those Yogi teas.  I have posted about them before.  I am drinking two that are supposedly to help support your immune system.  But, ya know what else they actually do?  They make me happy.  I love the little sayings on the tea bag tags.

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYoMost of them make me smile.  “Be proud of who you are.”  That is a great saying.  Something many of us could use to be reminded of.  Something that not everyone has someone tell them.  So why not be reminded via a lovely tea bag.  Enjoy a nice cup of yummy tea and a nice reminder.Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo

Many, many, many people believe that “Gratitude is the open door to abundance.”  First of all if you are grateful for what you have you have many wonderful things in abundance.  And if you think in the positive you attract the positive.  Having gratitude will attract more things to be grateful for.  Ahhhhh . . . and a lovely cup of tea to go with that awesome perspective.

“Life is a flow of love; your participation is requested.”  WOW!  Life is a flow of love.  That alone is a great saying.  Just thinking of life as one big flow of love.  My cup of tea tasted better with just THAT part alone.  Then the request for participation.  That really made this saying go over the top (in a good way) for me.  I love that.  Participate in the love that is life.  Let love flow.  Grab your raft and jump on the flowing river that is love and that is life.

I really love my Echinacea Immune Support Yogi Tea.  It smells great.  It smells of fragrant flowers.  I can just breathe in the aroma from the bags and be calmed.  It tastes just as good.  Then the little sayings on the bags — just make me smile.  I don’t love all of them . . . but they make me smile.  And then some of them I love.  Like these ones mentioned here.

Do you drink Yogi tea?  Do you have any favorite sayings that they have on their tea bags?

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Watermelon Radish Salad

Posted by terrepruitt on February 10, 2015

My last post was about receiving the Watermelon Radishes in the organic produce box that we have delivered.  Well, I didn’t know what to do with them – remember, part of the reason why I get a box delivered is to experience new-to-me produce.  When I had glanced on the internet at what they were I saw a few things about “Pickling” them.  I hadn’t considered roasting them, as I think of them more like a radish — because they are — and I wouldn’t think to roasted a radish.  So I thought I would try throwing them in some vinegar and seeing what that would be like.  I didn’t do it the day I received them, but I did it the next day.  Although they were not going to be a part of Saturday’s dinner.  I was thinking we would have them Sunday.  So I didn’t think they would be soaking this long.  Here it is Tuesday and we still have not eaten them.  I tasted them so that I could post this.  I will serve them tonight with dinner.  They taste ok.  I am not getting a lot of THEIR flavor possibly because they set so long.  I only had a few pieces as I do want save them to have with dinner tonight.  Here is what I did to make the Watermelon Radish Salad.
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Watermelon Radish SaladDance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo

1 1/2 tbsp of SEASONED rice vinegar
3 tbsp of REGULAR rice vinegar
3/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1 large Watermelon radish (a little smaller than a tennis ball)

Mix the ingredients in a bowl, except the radish.  Slice the radish as thin as you can.  Then put the slices in the bowl with the other ingredients.  Flip the bowl or stir the radishes every once in a while so that all of the slices are in the liquid at one time or another.

Let set for at least two hours.

Then eat as a snack or a side dish.

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I think next time I will add some onions and garlic.  In my quick research of them, I kept seeing the comment that they were “sweet” so I didn’t want to add garlic to that.  Also when I sliced them and tasted them they were really peppery so I didn’t want to add the onion.  But now that I have tasted the plain and simple way I will probably add some more flavor.  Perhaps so soy sauce to make it more like a cucumber salad?

So even though I usually roast my veggies, as I mentioned I hadn’t considered doing that but, my husband shared my post on Facebook and one of his friends did say he LOVED them roasted.  So I will probably try that.  We have two left and they are huge so I COULD probably do both.  Make another “salad” and roast one.  We will see.

My evening yoga class is on break this week so that means I will have extra time to cook this week so that just might work.

I do want to say that the smell coming from the radishes is NOT GOOD.  It is worse than soaking beans.  I am using my essential oil and candles remedy to battle the stench.

A lot of people commented on my husband’s post that they LOVE these radishes.  What about you?  Do you like watermelon radishes?

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Watermelon Radish

Posted by terrepruitt on February 7, 2015

So our produce delivery has progressed into something kinda neat, but kinda not.  You may remember me having posted about how I wanted to start receiving a produce box because we would receive farm fresh organic produce.  But one of the main reasons I wanted to get a box was because I would end up with things I didn’t know what they were.  Or I might know what it was but have no idea how to serve it.  So it was a way to get organic produce but also “force” myself into new things.  New fruits, new vegetables.  Again – perhaps not TOTALLY NEW, but something I had never purchased because I didn’t know what to do with it.  Well, that worked for a while.  I was exposed to some new things and learned how to cook and/or serve some new things.  I have acquired some new favorites and have learned that somethings I just don’t care to bother with.  Well, the service has progressed as I started out saying.  It is more like shopping now.  The week before we are to receive our box I get an e-mail that allows me to pick and choose what I want.  So now I am not getting things just arriving on my doorstep.  I kind feel like they are just including standard stuff and if you want anything out of the norm you have to go choose it.  So I am not being “forced” to try new stuff.  Yes, I have the option to choose new stuff, but what really ends up happening is I get the e-mail and I think, “Oh, I can do that later, because I am busy now.”  So I don’t go through the hassle of logging in and looking at all the produce available.  Then next thing I know it is the night before delivery and it is too late to change the standard order.  So . . . . like all progression there are pros and cons.  I did happen to log on for our latest delivery and order something new to me.  Watermelon Radishes.

I love red radishes, but my digestive system and them don’t get along.  They leave me feeling very uncomfortable so I don’t eat them.  I sometimes buy them for my husband.  I put them in his lunch.  When I put them on his salad, I might take a piece and cut it up really tiny and put it on my salad, but I don’t even eat a whole radish.  Just pieces.

I didn’t know what a watermelon radish was.  So I decided to get it.  The information I glanced at prior to ordering stated it was sweeter than a regular radish.

Well they arrived and they are huge in comparison to other radishes.  Sort of, we also received regular radishes in this box and they were the biggest radishes I have ever seen.  So I am experimenting with a watermelon radish.  When I cut it, I took a piece for my hubby and I to try.  It tasted ADance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia at the San Jose Community Centers, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex City of San Jose, San Jose Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, PiYo LOT more peppery than a regular radish AND it was sweeter.  So either the ones we got were the typical ones described in the descriptions I read or the people writing the descriptions have a different idea of what “sweet” is than I do.

Two sites I looked up this morning had the EXACT, word for word, description of what a watermelon radish is.  I don’t know which site copied which site, but that is always disappointing to me.  If a site states that the information is from another site, that is understandable to me, but just two sites, seemingly unrelated having the SAME EXACT information . . . bah!

Now I am looking at a different site and it is saying that watermelon radishes are the same as Red Daikon.  I have heard of red daikon before, but not watermelon radishes.  I think of daikon as long vegetables.  But round or long they are all radishes.  The watermelon radish is a winter radish.

Wiki states:

The heirloom “watermelon radish” is another Chinese variety of daikon with a dull green exterior but a bright rose or fuchsia-colored center.”

Do you like radishes?  Do you cook them?  Have you had a watermelon radish?

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