Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
Posted by terrepruitt on January 31, 2013
I go to Starbucks when I have a gift card. I like Starbucks Chai Tea Lattes. When I first started getting them they were almost too spicy for me. Then they seemed to change a bit. They got less flavorful. Then one time I got one at a store I don’t normally frequent and I thought my teeth were going to fall out. It was soooooo sweet. Yes, I know that the fancy drinks at Starbucks and other coffee houses are a huge source of sugar. That is ONE reason why I don’t buy them. I DO have them on occasion when I am blessed with receiving a gift card. To me they are a nice treat. But this one hurt my teeth and my stomach. I chalked it up to this store making them different. But then I went to the store I usually go to and it was the same thing. Ugh. I posted a Facebook status asking if they had changed their recipe. I know places and manufacturers do that all the time. One of the responses I received was to make my own Chai. The response even included the recipe.
A few days after that I was in the grocery store and I actually remembered while I was in the spice aisle that I needed cardamom to make the chai. I looked and looked and when I finally found it I almost choked. It was $12.99. I didn’t realize it was that expensive.
So, again, I posted on Facebook, I said that I would stick to using my gift cards at Starbucks instead of spend $13.00. And again the replies were awesome. People near and far reminded me that I live in an area rich with many cultures and that I could find cardamom at Indian Spice stores. The major benefits to that would be that it would be cheaper and more than likely better.
But before I could remember to get to a store one of my amazing friends brought me a little box of it. She is awesome like that. She frequents an affordable spice shop so she picked me up some.
Here is the recipe that Danielle Woermann (a Nia Black Belt) posted for me on Facebook. I am unaware of where she got it.
Masala Chai. Serves four.
Boil 3 cups (.7 liters) of water with
4 cloves
2 pinches ground nutmeg
2 pinches ground cinnamon
2 pinches ground cardamom
1/2 inch (1.27 cm) piece of grated fresh ginger
Add 2 tea bags (black, green, redbush, etc.) and simmer for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup (.2 liters) almond milk or milk of your choice, and heat until hot, but not boiling. Add sweetener of your choice. Serve and enjoy!
I decided to measure my “pinches” so that I could have a more accurate measure and adjust accordingly. I used an 1/8 of a teaspoon as a “pinch”. I think that I need to work on it a bit. Either the person doing the pinching who created this recipe has REALLY LARGE pinches or they like a more mellow tea. I think that this might be really good if I made it ahead of time and let all the flavors really seep into the water. The time that is stated in the recipe didn’t seem to do that. Also it does help if, when you are drinking it, you actually get some of the spices in your mouth . . . . which also makes for an oddly textured and a bit chewy tea. But I’m ok with that.
I think I might experiment with chopping the ginger. For some reason I don’t might little tiny chunks of fresh ginger as opposed to what came off my grater . . . . it was odd.
That is a GREAT thing about recipes though, right? I love to try them the way they are then adjust them to my tastes. Maybe this is one that you can make and enjoy — either adjusting or not.
Do you like Chai Tea? Do you have a recipe? Doesn’t this one sound yummy?
Posted in "Recipes" | Tagged: almond milk, black tea, cardamom, chai, chai tea, Chai Tea Latte, chopped ginger, cinnamon, cloves, Danielle Woermann, expensive spices, Facebook, gift cards, ginger, grated ginger, green tea, honey, Indian Spices, Indian store, Masala Chai, Nia, Nia Black Belt, nutmeg, pinches, spicy, Starbucks, sugar, sweetener | 14 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 19, 2013
According to an article on Shape.com there are 13 ingredients that are banned in “many other developed countries” but are still allowed to be used in food in the United States of America (U.S.). A lot of the ingredients are in foods that are considered highly processed and for many of us these foods can be easily avoided. But some of the things that are allowed in the food in the U.S., but are not allowed in other countries are things that are not listed on the ingredient list when you purchase the product.
Two of the ingredients that are banned according to the list are Synthetic hormones (rBGH and rBST) and Arsenic. I am pretty confident that if you looked at a food product that listed arsenic as one of its ingredients you would not purchase it. But when it is not listed, but still could be present in the product that becomes very confusing and a health concern. The Synthetic hormones (rBGH and rBST) is not listed on the ingredient list of dairy products. The hormone is something that is injected into the cows to ensure they produce more milk than they naturally could and should. This hormone is something that was created in a lab making it genetically engineered. Because this hormone causes the cow to produce more than is natural the cows often end up with infections of their udders. When they end up with infections in the udders they have to be given antibiotics. You might have heard the theory about the more we use antibiotics, the more the things we use them against grow to be resistant. So we keep having to have stronger antibiotics. Also you might be interested to know that some milk has been documented as having pus from the infected udders in it. Just a few things to think about when purchasing milk.
Again, this is because of the hormone that is put into cows and is BANNED in some other countries, but allowed here in the United States.
And the arsenic I mentioned, according to the Shape article, is allowed in the chicken feed. It sounds as if it is just for coloring of their flesh. Which goes back to the first ingredient on the list in the article. The artificial coloring. Seems we want our food to be a certain color when we eat it.
I remember hearing about an experiment where people were fed a nice turkey dinner in a dimly lit room. They were enjoying the food. Then once the lights were turned on and they saw that all of the food was green some people actually got ill. The food was not green because it was bad, it was just green because it had been dyed green, but because it did not have “normal” coloring some people got ill. So it seems as if consumers prefer food that is pretty, even though some research is showing that dyes are not healthy. Some studies even report that dyes cause health issues.
Here is the list (copied from the article):
Ingredients: Coloring agents (blue 1, blue 2, yellow 5, and yellow 6)
Found In: Cake, candy, macaroni and cheese, medicines, sport drinks, soda, pet food, and cheese
Ingredient: Olestra (aka Olean)
Found In: Fat-free potato chips
Ingredient: Brominated vegetable oil (aka BVO)
Found In: Sports drinks and citrus-flavored sodas
Ingredient: Potassium bromate (aka brominated flour)
Found In: Rolls, wraps, flatbread, bread crumbs, and bagel chips
Ingredient: Azodicarbonamide
Found In: Breads, frozen dinners, boxed pasta mixes, and packaged baked goods
Ingredients: BHA and BHT
Found In: Cereal, nut mixes, gum, butter, meat, dehydrated potatoes, and beer
Ingredients: Synthetic hormones (rBGH and rBST)
Found In: Milk and dairy products
Ingredient: Arsenic
Found In: Poultry
Please keep in mind this is not a complete list of foods that these ingredients are found in. So if you are interesting in avoiding the ingredients check the labels of the food you purchase.
And check out the article, it states reasons as to WHY the food manufacturers use the ingredient.
Right now my avoid list consists of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), partially hydrogenated oils/trans fat, and Canola oil. In actuality Olestra too, but I haven’t seen that on an ingredient list in so long I don’t think of it as being on my avoid list. But I am going to be on the look out for the items on this list. I have recently been avoiding the dairy hormones, but I will have to work on the rest.
So, what do you think? Do you think you could eliminate some of these ingredients from your diet? Do you want to?
Posted in Food | Tagged: antibiotics, Arsenic, artificial coloring, banned ingredients, Canola Oil, cereal, dairy products, Fat-free potato chips, flatbread, frozen dinners, HFCS, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Olean, Olestra, Partially Hydrogenated Oils, pasta, rBGH, rBST, Shape.com, sports drinks, Synthetic hormones, Trans fat | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 15, 2013
For two weeks we didn’t have a working stove or oven. The oven started beeping one night. We turned off the circuit breaker and it stopped beeping. I used it the following night. But then the day following that it started beeping again. It beeped and displayed a code. The code indicated a part was broken. My husband concluded via internet research and taking the control panel off the appliance that he could order it and replace it himself. Part of the reason it took two weeks to get fixed was that there was a holiday and a weekend in there. The part being shipped was delayed because of the Holiday. By the time we got the part and he was able to put it in, it was the weekend. The part didn’t clear the error. Then there were issues in securing a repairman. For those of you that know how much I love my roasted vegetables you might understand having no oven was really difficult for me. Roasted veggies are not only yummy, but so easy to make. A few minutes prep then in the oven until they are done leaving you time to do other things. That is why I love my oven. During the two weeks we ate take out. We ordered Chinese Food, which for us equates to a few nights of Chinese Food. I also used my toaster oven, my electric skillet, my crock pot, and my Cuisinart Grill. So it was not as if I had no way to cook, it just put a cramp in my cooking a bit. On the nights I have a Nia class I like to put our dinner in the oven and have it turn on about the time that class is over. 
By the time I get home whatever is cooking is either done or on its way to being done. Without that I had to come home and start cooking. But alas I have a stove and oven again. YAY! I missed them. While I was not being able to use my stove and oven I tortured myself by looking at a cooking magazine. As soon as my stove was fixed I decided to try a new recipe.
The recipe is from Bobby Deen. I got it out of the Food Network Magazine. The name of the recipe is Monday-Night Red Beans and Rice and is on the Food Network website.
Not your typical Red Beans and Rice recipe. I made some adjustments, of course! I am posting it here as I did made it. I am calling it something different too!
Sausage, Beans, and Rice
Ingredients:
—Three turns of the pan Olive oil
—3/4 medium onion, finely chopped
—8 turkey sausage patties
—1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
—2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
—1 15 1/2-ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
—1 15 1/2-ounce can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
—1/2 cup chicken broth
—1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
—1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
—1 bay leaf
—Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
—Salt, to taste
—Cooked brown rice
—Chopped scallions, for serving
Directions
Cook the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, chopping it up and separating it as it cooks. Stirring it and moving it around as necessary. Cook until almost cooked through. Add the garlic. Mix the garlic into the onions and meat. Cook for about 1 minute. Add the beans, chicken broth, cumin, thyme, bay leaf, green pepper, salt to taste, and pepper to taste. Stir the ingredients until it is all mixed well. Reduce heat and cover. Let cook about 10 minutes.
Serve the mixture over rice. Top with the scallions.
This was so good. I used my beloved 14 inch pan that I missed for two whole weeks. Once the beans were added my stirring was gentle as I didn’t want to end up with smashed beans, but I also wanted to make sure the spices were distributed and the bay leaf touched a lot of the ingredients. So I stirred a lot, but not vigorously.
My typical spices consist of garlic and onions. I didn’t even have cumin. I had to buy it with the sausage and onion. Yeah, I was out of onion. I have a stock of kidney beans and garbanzo bean. I have them both for the bean salad I like. Plus I love to roast the garbanzos.
I actually DID put pepper in this while I was cooking it. For those of you that know me (either in person or through my blog) you know I don’t like pepper/spicy hot, but the pepper my friend gave me (SMOKED PEPPER) I can handle a little bit of. So I put a little in the pan while I was cooking. When I served it to my husband I put a lot of pepper on his. While he was eating it he kept saying he was surprised I could eat it. He thought it was too hot for me. I had him taste mine . . . . which had NO extra pepper and he said the flavor was a little different. So maybe the pepper brings out a different flavor.
Either way, we both loved it and I can see this becoming one of those meals I cook often. I can see experiments with different sausages and no meat at all.
I can also see me cooking more with cumin.
Do you like red kidney beans? Do you like garbanzo beans? Doesn’t this sound tasty?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: and Rice, bay leaf, beans, Bobby Deen, chickpeas, Cuisinart Grill, cumin, electric skillet, Food Network Magazine, Food Network website, Garbanzo beans, Monday-Night Red Beans and Rice, my crockpot, Nia, Nia class, olive oil, Red Beans and Rice, red kidney beans, roasted vegetables, Sausage, thyme | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on January 3, 2013
I have been getting a lot of use out of my blender. I use it almost every day. There are additional lessons I have learned in the time I have been using it. The blender shows how many times I have used it, according to the blender I have used it 168 times. I have tested it and the cleaning of the jar that I do after I use it does not get added to the count. There might be a few extra counts because I’ve blended somethings twice, so the second blend might be added to that, but I haven’t done that often. Some of the lessons I have learned are really additions to some of the things I have already shared.
In my first post about what I had learned I stated that kale in a smoothie is really bitter. I thought about this every time I made a smoothie with kale. It was so bitter. I didn’t add more than two fruits because I didn’t want that much fruit in a smoothie, but I did put at least two, plus avocado and cucumber, but it still didn’t cut down on the bitter. I kept thinking about how bitter it was. I couldn’t understand why it was SO much less bitter when cooked, because when I cook it I don’t cook it THAT much. I usually just kind of wilt it. Well, after thinking and thinking all I could come up with was salt. When I cook kale I cook it with salt and I believe that salt helps with any bitter flavor. So I tried it in a kale smoothie and voila! That did it. By salt, I mean not even a whole shake, just like a little tip of the salt shaker. I bet that I could count the grains that go into the smoothie. I am not trying to add flavor but just take a little bitter out. It works great. I was so excited to figure this out because I like the idea of being able to “eat” a lot of kale. I really couldn’t EAT as much kale as I can drink and kale is a great green to add to my diet.
Since I mentioned frozen banana and ice in my first post about lessons I do have some follow up information. While a cold smoothie is better than a room temperature one sometimes adding FROZEN banana AND ice makes it way too cold. Drinking freezing cold smoothies in the winter is not that great. Using a banana that has not been frozen and ice is fine, but using both is sometimes too cold.
Beet greens make a smoothie red. I used the leafy green part AND the entire stem and the smoothie came out red. It was rather pretty. I think it was actually perfect for the Christmas season. That is when I learned this fact.
While I have not tried freezing a smoothie and then letting it defrost a bit and drinking it, I have let one sit a bit before drinking it, and I have let one sit in the fridge overnight and they do not taste as fresh. I am sure that is a no brainer, but since I am sharing I thought I would mention it. The smoothies that have sat out for a bit or in the fridge overnight were still good and totally drinkable, it was just not as fresh tasting!
So there you have it. A few more things I have learned. You? Have you anything to add?
Posted in Smoothies | Tagged: beet greens, Christmas, Christmas season, cold green smoothie, frozen banana, green smoothies, High speed blender, Kale, lessons learned | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 24, 2012
Sometimes I don’t even have to try a recipe to be able to use a portion of it. Sometimes I do try the recipe and even though I might not use it again, I gain something from it. A tip, a tactic, a procedure, a trick, ya know . . . . something. Sometimes the process explained in the recipe makes what I am actually doing escape me. What am I talking about, right? Well, I love macaroni and cheese. I don’t eat it often because, well, it is not high on the health-o-meter. I will admit that I love the boxed stuff. I have a box in my pantry for those nights when I just don’t have time to figure out what to eat or I just can’t muster a good healthy answer to: “What am I going to cook for dinner?” Usually I restrict the making of the box of macaroni and cheese to when I have a bell pepper or some broccoli. I add a vegetable to help bring up the nutrients, which is necessary because there really isn’t anything nutritious in that box. I love Kraft’s Three Cheese and Annie’s White Cheddar. I actually can’t tell you when I last had the Kraft one. It does have a lot more chemical’s than Annie’s. Anyway, I was browsing on My Sister’s Pantry when I saw this: “Instant Mac & Cheese Without The Box” I was excited thinking I could have that same taste but without the box.
So I made it. And it doesn’t taste like the boxed kind. It really shouldn’t because it is made with better ingredients and it is fresh, but I was kinda hoping for that familiar box taste. Crazy, I know. The macaroni and cheese from the recipe was good. Both my husband and I loved it, but it is basically a mac and cheese with a roux base. Which I didn’t even THINK about until I tasted it. Yes, I did make it. Yes, I know most people would recognize it as a roux as they were making it, but I didn’t. I was thrown off by the shaking of the milk and the flour. And the shaking (mixing) that is my take away from this recipe.
Mixing the flour and milk in a container. AWESOME shake and pour. No more lumps! Ever! I mean, I can make a roux without lumps but sometimes I am in a hurry or trying to do a few other things and so my roux suffers. I am blessed with a husband who is just happy to have dinner made for him so he never complains about my lumpy white sauce (good boy!). But the flour and milk in a shakable container — brilliant.
I made soup recently in my slow cooker and the recipe was created for a much bigger crock pot. Even though I cut back on some of the ingredients, I still ended up with a way-too-full crock pot. At the last 30 minutes of cooking mark the recipe calls for two cups of milk and a half a cup of flour to be stirred into the pot. And of course, you need to stir until the lumps are gone. I could barely stir much less stir lumps out. I was so happy to have the shake-it-up trick from the mac and cheese recipe. It works so well, I am going to use it for every milk/flour recipe! So even though I probably won’t make that mac and cheese recipe again I have a new trick. Yay!
Do you have any tricks that you use all the time that you learned from a recipe?
Posted in Food | Tagged: Annie's macaroni and cheese, Annie's White Cheddar, crock pot, Instant Mac & Cheese Without The Box, Kraft's macaroni and cheese, lumpy sauce, mac n cheese, macaroni and cheese, My Sister’s Pantry, Recipe Tips, Recipe Tricks, roux, slow cooker | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 20, 2012
Ha, ha, ha, ha. So I received another new thing in the organic produce box I have delivered, Delicata squash. It was delivered on the day before I was going to go to a week long (53 hours) training for Nia Blue Belt. The box came Friday morning and I had a lot to do so I put the veggies in the fridge. I was hoping that I would get to cooking it during the week, but I didn’t really count on it. The training was an hour away from 8:00 am to 6:00 or 7:00 pm. 
I think I had seen the squash on the list that comes with the delivery and I was thinking comparable to a zucchini. I didn’t get around to cooking with it until the week after it was delivered. It was the Sunday of the following week. Since I was thinking zucchini like consistency and cooking time, I was going to bread it and cook it in the oven. When I cut it I laughed because it was HARD. It was like a pumpkin. I didn’t know if I could roast it. I didn’t think it would cook in the time I had alloted. And even after I cut the ends off I didn’t think about it being seedy like a pumpkin. It was. So switching gears, I didn’t know what to do with it. I decided to slice it in half and roast it with olive oil and salt —- big surprise, huh? Me ROASTING a vegetable. I was going to FILL it with cheese and just bake it. Well, I cooked it a bit then decided to taste it. It was really good without the cheese. It was also sweeter than I had thought it would be so I didn’t think the cheese I was going to use was the flavor combination I was after. So I switched cheese and decided to just put a little bit of cheese on it instead of filling it. Instead of a lot of parmesan, I used a little cheddar and gouda.
I had also peeled it. I didn’t know if the outside would become edible during cooking. In my quest to cut it up I had started cutting it in slices so I had ended up with one slice with the skin/outside. I cooked it to see if the skin would be edible. It was. I was disappointed that I had peeled the rest of it.
Well, this turned out to be one of those surprise vegetables that was just delicious. As I said it was very good without the cheese. So I would definitely cook this squash up with just a salt, a little pepper, and olive oil. Adding anything to it is not necessary but could end up being great. Just like the cheese. I am glad that I tasted it before just piling on the cheese on it because it had a delicate flavor and so I used a lot less cheese and didn’t add any other seasoning.
I am not sure that I have seen these in the store or anywhere before. I probably have but didn’t know what they were so I didn’t pay attention. Now I will purposeful look for them. (I have been looking and I cannot find them.)
According to Wiki, this type of squash is a winter squash also know as the Bohemian, squash, peanut squash or the sweet potato squash. Further info states it belongs to the same species as the zucchini.
The World’s Healthy Food lumps winter squash together, their site states that it has the following percentages of the RDA of the nutrients listed:
vitamin A 214.1%
vitamin C 32.8%
fiber 22.9% (5.74 grams)
manganese 19%
vitamin B6 16.5%
potassium 14.1%
vitamin K 11.2%
folate 10.2%, in just a cup of baked squash. I think it is a great addition to a healthy diet. It is really delicious. And this is one of the reasons why I decided to get an organic produce box. I never would have thought to buy this!
Are you familiar with the Delicata Squash? How do you cook it?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Blue Belt, Delicata squash, fiber, Nia Blue Belt, Nia training, olive oil, organic produce box, peanut squash, pumpkin, RDA, roasted squash, roasted veggies, training for Nia, vitamin a, vitamin B6, vitamin C, Wiki, winter squash, World's Healthy Foods | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 17, 2012
As you may have read, I recently received fennel in my organic produce box that I have delivered. I was excited because I have heard of fennel, but never cooked with it. I think I might not have even realized that I have had some before. As I am thinking about it, I bet I had it put on my plate at a restaurant and assumed it was onion and didn’t eat it. It looks like onion to me although it does not have an onion flavor at all. The information I am seeing is that it is compared to anise. Fennel is an herb that is used both as a flavor and a vegetable. The bottom portion, the bulb is eaten as a vegetable. It is related to carrots, parsley, dill, and coriander as it is a member of the family Apiaceae (formerly the Umbelliferae). Its fronds remind me of the greenery on carrots, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are related. Fennel is vegetation of which all of it can be eaten, the bulb, stalk, leaves, and seeds (I know I’ve had the seeds). According to the World’s Healthiest Foods, this plant contains a unique combination of phytonutrients.
There is one, anethole, that has shown in animal studies to help with the reduction of inflammation and help prevent cancer. Now, I have stated over and over that chronic inflammation is the body is not good. Inflammation is an immune response in the body so having the body be in battle mode all the time is not a good thing. The American lifestyle with its high stress and the average Western Diet which is full of food stuffs have been shown to CAUSE inflammation. Having herbs and vegetables that can be easily added to the diet and might help with a chronic condition sounds good to me. Anethole has also been found to have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties according to Nutrition You Can.
Fennel also has vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Vitamin C is the antioxidant that helps fight against free radicals, the things, that in excess, can cause damage in the body. Potassium is the electrolyte that is essential for the proper functioning of the heart, kidneys, muscles, nerves, and digestive system. And dietary fiber is necessary to help with digestion and elimination, which when both are properly working systems tend to signify health.
USDA National Nutrient database states the Nutrient value 1 cup of sliced fennel is as follows:
Energy kcal 27
Protein 1.08 g
Total lipid (fat) 0.17 g
Carbohydrate 6.35 g
Fiber, total dietary 2.7 g
Calcium, Ca mg 43 mg
Iron, Fe 0.64 mg
Magnesium 15 mg
Phosphorus, P 44 mg
Potassium, K 360 mg
Sodium, Na 45 mg
Vitamin C 10.4 mg
Vitamin A 117 AU
I am interested in foods that can help with chronic inflammation, I would like to have more of them in my diet. At the same time I am interested in reducing the foods in my diet that cause inflammation. How about you? Are you interested in foods that might help with chronic inflammation? Do you think you could add fennel to your diet?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: anethole, anise, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, chronic inflammation, fennel, fiber, free radicals, herb, immune response, Nutrition You Can, organic produce, phytonutrients, Potassium, reduce of inflammation, USDA National Nutrient data base, vitamin C, western diet, World's Healthiest Foods | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 8, 2012
This week I have been in training all week. Nia calls its trainings “intensives”. I have been in one all week for Blue Belt. It is about 40 hours of a lot of information. So I am sharing something about a recipe I have made and love. As you may know, I only like to eat meat that has been marinated. I figured out that I don’t really like the taste of meat. So I like it to have soaked in something a long time to give it a different flavor. I’ve shared with you the fact that we now freeze our meat in the marinade. A couple of weeks back we took a weekend trip to Costco, so we spent a couple of hours after our shopping trip making marinade bags and trimming the meat and putting it in its separate bags. Originally we had a problem with the marinated meat in a bag because we could not tell if it is whole steaks or cut up steak. We have taken meat out expecting one thing only to get the other, so I finally learned to label the bags. I can tell the beef from the pork from the chicken at least. The reason I am explaining about marinating meat is because I found one recipe which I didn’t marinate the meat and I loved it.
The recipe is from Po’ Boy Livin’ Rich, he calls it Rainbow Stuffed Chicken. It is boneless chicken breasts stuffed with bell peppers. You use red bell pepper, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and orange bell pepper. Red onion helps add to the rainbow. I love bell peppers as you know if you have read some of my posts. Also, if you have read any of my posts you know I love cheese and mushrooms and this recipe has that too! Yum. This recipe really hits on all of my favorites.
Some people do not like sweet peppers because of their strong flavors and I bet it is because of their strong flavors that I can eat this meat without it having been marinated. The peppers provide enough flavor. And, of course, there is salt and pepper, but again, if you’ve read my blog for a bit you know I don’t like pepper!
Another thing I really like about the recipe is that you don’t cook the vegetables beforehand so the peppers don’t get too cooked. I LOVE raw bell peppers, but I am not a big fan of the cooked variety. So not cooking them before stuffing them into the chicken allows them to remain crunchy and not get too cooked.
I actually think I left out the mushrooms. I just used the peppers. That was an accident as I love mushrooms. I think I might cook the mushrooms up a bit, because while I love my bell peppers raw, I like my mushrooms cooked. I like this dish very much. I actually have not made it recently and looking at the pictures makes me want to go make it for dinner now. I don’t have all the colors of bell peppers, so I will wait until I do. I encourage you, if you like chicken and bell peppers, to try this recipe. You will not be sorry. It is easy, but it takes like it is a difficult thing to make. Ya know, one of those recipes!
You can find this tasty recipe at: Po’ Boy Livin’ Rich Recipe: Rainbow-Stuffed Chicken
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: beef, chicken, easy dinner, marinated meat, Po' Boy Livin' Rich, pork, quick dish, rainbow stuffed chicken, tasty dinner | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 3, 2012
Yay! I am so excited — I am taking the next level of Nia, Blue Belt AND I received fennel in my organic produce box. Fennel. Yay. Two new things. As you may know if you’ve read any of my posts about the delivery I receive, I ordered it partly because I wanted to try new stuff. Yeah, it is possible to go to a store or a Farmer’s Market and purchase produce I have not tried before, but I don’t. I just stick to what I know. But when I get it delivered to me then I can work with it. I am excited to be trying new things. Ok, I just realized though that while I am cooking with a new-to-me vegetable I did it the same way I do everything. I have heard about roasted fennel and again, if you’ve read anything about my cooking you know I roast pretty much all my veggies. So I did that again with the fennel. This time I also looked at the information on the website of the company that delivers the produce. Yes, I learned after chopping off the beat greens and throwing them away, that I should find out what portion of the fruit/vegetable can be used. The information indicated that the bulb can be roasted and the fronds can be used to flavor meat. I am not familiar with fennel. It is not a vegetable I even think about. So I was happy to receive some to try. Yay a new-to-me vegetable.
As soon as I cut the fennel I recognized the smell. So I must have had the flavor somewhere. Which makes sense because fennel is actually an herb that is eaten as if it were a vegetable. I’ve probably had it in a Greek dish or something from the Mediterranean region. I decided to use some of the fennel with the chicken I was cooking. I just cut off some of the fronds and put them in the dish with the chicken that I was cooking. I didn’t change the recipe I was planning for the meat, I just put the fennel tops around the chicken.
The bulb of the fennel I sliced, put in a pan, sprayed with olive oil, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with salt, and put in the oven at 400 degrees F. I cooked it for about 40 minutes. It was good, but I thought it was sour. My hubby didn’t think it was sour. I am wondering if it was because I took the pieces that were drenched in vinegar. He doesn’t really like vinegar so I decided to take those pieces. Or maybe it was just what I was tasting. But I will get some fennel in the future to see.
I still have some of the fronds left so I plan I using them in other dishes. Maybe cut up on a salad, added to a soup, or cooked with other meat.
Have you eaten fennel before? Do you cook with fennel? How do you cook it?
Posted in "Recipes", Food, Vegetables | Tagged: Blue Belt, fennel, fennel recipe, Greek food, Mediterranean dish, Mediterranean region, Nia, organic produce, organic produce box, roasted vegetables | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 1, 2012
Don’t you just love avocados? I know so many people who do. Some people I know could just eat an avocado plain. Cut it in half, pull it apart, and use a spoon to scoop out the mushy flesh inside. Ewwww. Not my thing. I am not a fan of avocado at all. I usually get as far as cutting it in half and scoop out a portion, then it starts to get on my hands and under my nails and I am done. I end up putting it on a dish with a spoon or a knife — depending on the ripeness — and telling my husband he has to deal with it. I lean towards the idea that they taste like dirt. But I can’t actually remember the last time I tasted one. But the idea of it tasting like dirt is stuck in my head. People are often amazed that I don’t like avocado because most people LOVE them. They say, “Oh, but you must like guacamole?” And I don’t. But there are many smoothie recipes that have avocado in them. There is also a recipe that came with my blender for tortilla soup recipe that has a bit of avocado in it. I do like that, but it has a very small bit of avocado. I think that if you mix avocado with enough other stuff the taste can be disguised. After looking up nutrient information on them I am going to try to add it to more recipes. It seems the fat in avocados is unique and has the potential for many health benefits.
According to WH Foods about 85% of an avocado’s calories is from fat. But as you probably have heard it is a “good” fat. The properties in the fat contained in avocados have anti-inflammatory benefits. And you might have heard that more and more research is proving that chronic inflammation in the body is being linked to many illnesses and diseases.
The information I am seeing is that avocados are thought to help lower blood cholesterol levels. Also since they contain oleic acid it is believed they might help lowering risks of heart disease. These are some of the things that are meant by avocados contain “good” fat.
World’s Healthiest Foods nutrient information on Avocados:
1.00 cup (146.00 grams) = 233.60 calories
fiber 9.78 g / 39.1% of the DV
vitamin K 30.66 mcg / 38.3% of the DV
folate 118.26 mcg / 29.6% of the DV
vitamin C 14.60 mg / 24.3% of the DV
vitamin B5 2.03 mg /20.3% of the DV
potassium 708.10 mg / 20.2% of the DV
vitamin B6 0.38 mg /19.0% of the DV
WebMD states:
“Avocados are a good source of fiber, potassium, and vitamins C, K, folate, and B6. Half an avocado has 160 calories, 15 grams of heart-healthy unsaturated fat, and only 2 grams saturated fat. One globe contains more than one-third daily value of vitamin C, and more than half the day’s requirements of vitamin K.”
According to Wiki, avocados originated in Mexico. Wiki further states “The avocado is a climacteric fruit (the banana is another), which means it matures on the tree, but ripens off the tree.” I didn’t know that. I always thought they were picked too soon, but apparently they ripen off the tree.
So do you like avocados? How do you eat them? Do you have any recipes that you put them in?
Posted in Food | Tagged: anti-inflammatory, avocados, chronic inflammation, good fat, green smoothie with avocado, guacamole, heart disease, lower cholesterol, smoothie recipes, Tortilla Soup, WebMD, Wiki, World's Healthiest Foods | 4 Comments »
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