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Are We Becoming Healthier?
I just got back from visiting my parents in Grand Junction, Colorado, and I noticed the health food store business is alive and well in this small market. It may be because Coloradans are often at the top of the list of healthiest Americans, or it could be more broad based. Either way there was enough demand for Sprouts, a natural health food type grocer, to come into town with a spiffy new store. Here on the East Coast I have seen a large and modern Whole Foods store built not too far from my Baltimore home lately. This new Whole Foods in Pennsylvania is quite a large store compared to the ones in the Baltimore area. It leads me to believe this progression of consumers wanting more natural, less processed food is gaining momentum. Could it be that we are waking up and realizing our American diet is not worth it? After all, Twinkies are no longer being made last I heard. I have noticed these healthier stores are never empty when I go shopping, and sometimes so busy I have a hard time navigating around all the shoppers. I think that if this trends continues we will have more access to healthy choices both at grocery stores and restaurants. I buy the bulk of my groceries at stores that carry the widest variety of organic produce, and makes an effort to have it be as fresh as possible. When I go out to eat I appreciate a restaurant that gets as much of it’s food close to home, likes organic suppliers, and highlights the season. So be on the lookout for this new type of grocery store that has a reason to keep you eating healthy, and looking good.Here at Fast and Furious Central I’ll do my part to provide you with fast, healthy recipes to get you in your kitchen whipping up the good stuff. This week’s recipe is a very fast, about 10 minutes, way of eating loads of vegies, or can be tweaked to add meat if you like. I hope you like it!
The ingedients
Thai Broccolli Rice Bowl
1 teaspoon oil
1 clove garlic minced
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 cups broccoli florets
4-6 oz button mushrooms quartered or halved if larger than golfball size
2 stalks celery sliced diagonally
1 carrot sliced diagonally
6 oz lowfat coconut milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2-3 teaspoons Thai green chili paste
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt, optional
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
Heat oil in a wok or large saute pan over high heat just until it starts to smoke, see note*. Add garlic and onion and cook for 30 seconds. Add broccoli and mushrooms and cook for about 3 minutes stirring often. Add rest of the ingredients and stir in the green chili paste well cooking another 3-5 minutes. Serve over rice. Serves four as a side, or two as a main.
Note:
This dish cooks fast so be sure and start your rice ahead of time.
Be sure not to heat pan in the beginning if it is a teflon or non-stick type pan as some of them give off toxic fumes!
Add your favorite meat, or tofu to make this a main dish.
Thai Broccoli Rice Bowl
Chili Molé Beans
This was fun to create today after reading a piece by mynutritionist.com about the many good and interesting qualities of chocolate. Who knew beans loved chocolate? Well they do! Try this recipe if you are brave in the kitchen. It’s really not a weird tasting dish at all. See alternate fast method using canned beans instead of dried beans in the notes. This fast method takes about 20 minutes instead of 2-3 hours.
Chili Molé Beans
1 cup dry beans, kidney or christmas pole limas
6-8 cups of water
1/2 yellow onion chopped, about 2/3 cup
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Cook onion in 6 cups of boiling water for 5 minutes then add beans,salt, cumin, chili powder and cayenne. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and cook for 2 hours. Add tomatoes, and cocoa powder and continue cooking on low until beans are soft.
Note:
*Molé is pronounced mo lay.
*A bit of steamed brown rice goes well with this dish, and makes it a meal.
*Faster and Furious method is to use canned beans:
1/2 onion chopped, about 2/3 cup
1 clove garlic minced
1 15 ounce can black beans
1 15 ounce can of kidney beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1tablespoon cocoa powder
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Cook onion and garlic on medium heat in a 1 1/2 quart pot with just enough water to cover for about 7 minutes, or until soft. Add rest of ingredients, increase heat to high, then reduce heat and cook simmering for 10 minutes and serve. It’s better if you can let it simmer 20 minutes.
- Chili Molé Beans
Support your local restaurant
For many of the last thirty plus years people have asked me, “why don’t you open a restaurant”? My quick answer is always, “because I have never wanted to”. In Anthony Bourdain’s excellent and entertaining book Kitchen Confidential one of my favorite chapters was about why anyone would want to open a restaurant. They are full of challenges like, getting and keeping good employees, keeping theft to a minimum, plate and glass breakage, leases that can go way up after you have finally established a good reputation, food spoilage, and the list goes on and on. Last night while my wife and I attempted to dine at a new Baltimore restaurant,Ouzo Bay, that is receiving great reviews we almost got to try it. We chose the bar for our dinner because the dinning room was booked for most of the night. We were seated and got our drink orders in and requested a menu, which we received. Things were looking good, and I went over to the fresh fish display that was full of great looking items. When I got back to my bar stool we were informed that the restaurant had to close the kitchen due to the hood fan belt breaking and there was no ventilation. At that point I reminded my wife why I never wanted to own a restaurant. Here all these employees and clients had high expectations for the night just to have it all end abruptly at 6:15pm. Lucky for us there was a good plan “B” by going just down the street to Lebanese Taverna, and got in just before it was full. We had a fine meal indeed. It was made all the more wonderful because we got in and got fed. So for all of you out there that think owning a restaurant sounds great, think again, but please support those brave souls that do open a restaurant and make our world a better place by doing so.
Fresh Fish Display at Ouzo Bay
Cooking and Music
Cooking and Music
Back in the days when I was cooking in the fast paced world of restaurant line cooking music could make a big difference in how any given night shift would go. Myself and the other line cooks needed fast rock and roll like Led Zepplin “Black Dog” Ten Years After doing “I Going Home”, or similar good stuff from the late 60’d and 70’s. Music like that would keep the pace needed for an intense 4-5 hour shift, and put us in a happy place too. I remember well a restaurant I worked at in Keystone, Colorado where we had a young manager who had just taken over from the previous owner after the place had sold. This young manager after about a week on the job told us we couldn’t play loud rock and roll music in the kitchen anymore even though it wasn’t heard out in the dinning room. Well I showed him by packing up my rock and roll tapes and quitting. I still crack me up thinking about that move. Fast forward to today and I still think music is a great aid in the kitchen for fostering a fast pace when needed, or even thoughtful music for experimenting in the kitchen while making up new recipes. Any given day might find me listening to Jimi Hendrix or Beethoven, or Warren Haynes “Fire in the Kitchen”, or Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”. Music, like cooking is a creative art form, and the two go together well. This mornings quick cooking project was to bake something sort of healthy baked good for the crew at Essex Middle River Vet Clinic. They take such good care of Miss Vixen on our almost weekly chemo visits, and she is doing well thus far. So there I was trying a new recipe for Whole Wheat Biscuits and had a very short timeframe to pull it off. From the music library I selected Jude Cole’s “Start the Car” to power me through the prep part of this job. It only took about 10 minutes to measure and mix the dough and another 5 to knead and cut the biscuits out. I cut them small so there will be enough for the crew at EMVC. In the oven they went and I went to work on the laptop writing this piece. Now they are out of the oven and smelling great! Time to get to the vet.
Whole Wheat Honey Biscuits
We are back from the vet and Miss Vixen got to skip the chemo today due to low white count on the blood test. She is still in complete remission according to the vet and looking good!
Back from the vet
The crew there liked the biscuits and apricot jam for a morning snack, and I told them I take requests for what I’ll cook for next weeks visit. Cooking treats for people is one of the best ways I know to show gratitude. If you like whole grain baking this King Arthur baking book is just about my all time favorite baking cookbook. Give it a try and bake some healthy goodness in your home. Be sure and show someone you care by cooking up something special for them soon.
Whole Grain Baking from King Arthur
Rosemary Roasted Chicken
It’s snowing, and blowing outside today. On my morning walk with my dog Miss Vixen at 6:45 am the snow covered the ground in a weird grayish white color almost the same as the color of the sky. It had an odd crunch to it like walking in styrofoam beads. Even now as I write it’s not quite a white colored snow. Nothing like the snows of my past life in Colorado. There is no doubt that this winter in Baltimore is much different than last year when it was so mild my parsley, cilantro, thyme, oregano, and rosemary made it through into spring to burst forth in tremendous growth. Now all I have left is the rosemary bush outside in my raised garden beds and one thyme plant that I ripped out and put in the garage in a pot by the window. These are two of my favorite herbs, and I’m glad to have them hang on a bit longer. Last night I put together a roast chicken with rosemary, carrots, onions and celery. For a starch I tossed in 5 golf ball sized organic Yukon Gold potatoes. While this is not a quick cooking dish it is perfect for a late afternoon when you have ten minutes to put it together, and want the leftovers it provides for the next days salad or sandwiches. I really like that I could walk away from it for an hour and a half, then come back and steam some broccoli to go along with it for an almost perfect meal. Tossing the steamed broccoli with sauteed button mushrooms added a nice touch to a great winters meal. Here is the simple recipe.
1 frying or roasting chicken 4-6 lbs
oil for rubbing the exposed topside of the chicken, or spray oil
2 tablespoons dried or fresh rosemary
2 carrots peeled and sliced in 1/2 inch rounds
2 stalks celery sliced in 1/2 pieces
1 small yellow onion cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 cloves of fresh garlic cut into slivers
salt and pepper
Rinse the chicken under cold water then dry. Set on top of onions, celery, and carrots in a roasting pan. Cut little slits in top side of chicken and insert garlic cloves. Rub or spray oil on chicken and then sprinkle rosemary salt and pepper. Place potatoes around chicken. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour and forty five minutes to 2 hours. Or until a fast read thermometer reaches 165 when inserted in the thickest part of the thigh.
Serves 4-6
Note: If your potatoes are bigger than golf ball size either parboil them for about 7-10 minutes then add to the roasting pan, or cut them into smaller pieces. I like the look of a whole potato with this dish.
This goes great with a Pinot Noir if you like red wines or a Chardonnay if whites are to your liking.
Ready to eat!
Ecuador
Otavalo street market
My wife and I just got back from eight days in Ecuador. It was a lot of fun exploring the food scene and natural places in the country. We found many tasty foods in our wide travels. From the $2.50 lunch in Mindo that had fried chicken and rice with a bowl of soup, to the wonderful seafood of the coast and Galapagos Islands. I attempted last night, to recreate a rice dish in Ecuador that is similar to a Spanish Paella. The big difference is with this rice dish you don’t cook the vegies and meat with the rice, and you don’t use saffron. My attempt last night included onions, carrots, peas, and garlic then mixed with steamed brown rice for a nice vegetarian dish. In Ecuador they commonly prepare it with squid, octopus, clams and shrimp. It was fairly easy and quick to create and I’ll give it a few more tries before posting the recipe. I suspect just like paella you can add chicken, sausage, and artichoke hearts if you like.
Another nice dish was the fried Tilapia. We only had it once but it was quite good. Tilapia is raised in Ecuador and exported to the U.S. often. The big difference is in Ecuador is usually is sold whole but in the U.S. is usually skinned and fileted.
In Otavalo we were amazed at the Saturday market. I had been to the regular market three years previous to this trip, but had not seen the huge Saturday market. It goes for blocks and blocks in every direction from the main square with people selling from tables or just sitting on the ground. You can buy just about any local food there is from pigs, chickens, fruits, vegetables, rice and beans. If we had cooking facilities in our accommodations I would have gone wild cooking all these amazing fresh foods! The avocados in the area were some of the best I have ever tasted. The hotel we stayed at, ( La Posada del Quinde) had a nice restaurant that served a tuna salad stuffed avocado that I had twice during our two day stay because it was so good. They also served a quinoa soup that I re-created last night. I have eaten quinoa for about 6 years now but never thought to put it in a soup. Once I do further testing on my version I’ll post the recipe.
Trout with shrimp sauce
Trout was also on the menu at several places we ate at and we had it twice. At the Hacienda Cusin in Otavalo we joined our new friends Mel and Peggy from upstate New York and had the rolled trout filet topped with shrimp sauce that was excellent.
Everywhere we stayed were different fruit juices served with breakfast and sometimes lunch. They had mango, strawberry, watermelon, and a few local special juices I still don’t know the name of. All were good and safe to drink. We rarely ate fresh fruit or vegies to avoid traveler’s disease.
We finished off the trip in Quito with a native guide for a 6 hour tour of the historic old town area. In old town we found a trendy street with many little shops and restaurants including Republica Del Cacao. I have tried their chocolate in the U.S. before and didn’t think it was that good. I went in the store with low expectations, but didn’t know they had many more varieties then I had seen in the U.S. Here also were samples of each kind of chocolate, and sample we did. They had a wild pineapple covered chocolate that was the best fruit and chocolate I had ever tasted. We ended up buying four types of dark chocolate bars and the pineapple covered chocolate too. Later in our guided trip I had the guide take us the SuperMaxi a large grocery store chain in Ecuador and bought more chocolate at much lower prices to bring home. With each bar we open in the U.S. will be fond memories of a great trip. Republica del Chocolate also has a shop in the Quito airport that is worth a stop even though it is a bit more expensive than buying in SuperMaxi.
Chocolate shop Quito airport
All in all I would highly recommend Ecuador as a great vacation spot. There are many interesting places with very different climate zones to visit. Be sure and read up on it first as you need to know what precautions to take, like staying away from certain foods and neighborhoods. I would recommend tripadvisor.com and their So. America forum to get specific information on an area you want to see. We used it often and it helped immensely. Your public library will probably have several guide books to as Ecuador is rapidly becoming the place to visit.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Roasted Delicata Squash and Vegies
So there I was, out and about running errands before lunch wondering about eating out or at home. Since I am leaving on a nine day vacation to Ecuador in two days I thought it was best to use up stuff in the fridge. I hate throwing any food away that is still useable so I peered into the fridge and what did I see? There was cut up Delicata Squash, a sweet potato hanging on from a grocery trip long ago in a far away place, one part of an onion in one of those onion storage devices that looks like an onion, four little garlic cloves in olive oil, and last but not least there was a beautiful red bell pepper. Now to live up to my name fast and furious cook this had to be quick. I searched my memory for any such combination with no results, and formulated a new recipe in my head. Since I had some Andouille Chicken sausage in the freezer I grabbed one and sliced it frozen, and thus began this recipe.
1 cup Delicata squash cut into one inch cubes
1 cup sweet potato cut into one inch cubes
1 red bell pepper cut into one inch cubes
1/3 cup of yellow onion chopped
1 tablespoon garlic infused oil
4 roasted garlic cloves
1-2 Andouille sausage links sliced in 1/2 inch rounds
1 teaspoon Italian herb blend
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Toss all ingredients in a mixing bowl then in the upper third of the oven broil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake until soft, about 15-20 minutes.
This is hearty enough for a main dish, or leave out the sausage and serve as a vegetable dish. Serves two, but easily doubled.
Mushroom Chowder
I love a good chowder whether it’s clam chowder, seafood chowder or corn chowder, but I have never come across mushroom chowder. I decided to make up my own version last month, and it came out so well I wanted to share it with all my foodie friends out there. If you like you could even throw in some cooked sausage and this would be stout enough to be a meal. Feel free to use your favorite mushrooms or even mix and match. Enjoy!
ingredients
Mushroom Chowder 2 medium sized russet potatoes, or 4 small red potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces, about 2 cups3-4 cups water, enough to cover potatoes3 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil, or plain olive oil2/3 cup diced yellow onion1 1/4 cups celery cut into 1/2 inch slices4 cups Maitake mushrooms cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces, or use quartered Crimini mushrooms3/4 cup carrots cut lengthwise and then into 1/2 inch pieces3 tablespoons flour1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper2 teaspoons chicken base or chicken bullion cubes1 teaspoon Spike Seasoning Salt3 cups water1 cup half and half1/4 teaspoon dried thyme1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, optional Start by cooking potatoes in 3-4 cups of water in a 2 quart pot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat until potatoes are cooked but not too soft. About 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.Saute onions, and celery in 3 tablespoons of garlic infused oil for 3 minutes on medium high heat stirring often. Add mushrooms and carrots reducing heat to medium stirring often. Cook until most of the liquid is cooked out of mushrooms. Add the flour and cook on low heat for 5 minutes stirring often.Add 3 cups water, chicken base, Spike, thyme pepper and half and half. Turn heat up to medium and stir constantly until flour has blended with liquids, about 3-5 minutes. Add potatoes and continue cooking for about 5 minutes or until the soup starts to simmer. Add salt and pepper if needed. Top with parsley and serve. Serves four. Note: A cup of frozen peas or corn, cooked and set aside can be added after the water and half and half.
Will the Real Taco Please Step Forward
Mexican food in the U.S. is one of the least known ethnic foods we eat. We don’t know much about it beyond tacos, burritos, and nachos. The blame goes to our eat first ask questions later harried lifestyle. We seldom ask, is that all there is to Mexican food”? My eyes were first opened back in the 1980’s when I bought a book of Mexican recipes that were nothing like the foods I had eaten for years at Mexican restaurants in Colorado, New Mexico, and Alaska. These were bold new dishes with fish, and turkey in them. Chiles with names I had never heard of frequented the pages. It was so intimidating to find some of the ingredients I never cooked a single recipe from the book and lost it amongst the many moves that followed over the years. That cookbook did however open my eyes to a different aspect of Mexican food.
Baltimore is really my first experience with a wider range of Mexican dishes. Two restaurants stand out in this food voyage of discovery. The first was Fiesta Mexicana that featured street foods of Mexico City. Beef tongue tacos, strange and delicious sandwiches called tortas, amazing guacamole, and the best enchiladas I have ever had. Then came R&R Taqueria that was featured on the Diners, Dives and Drive Ins show. This was the first place I ate Mexican lamb. They slow cook a whole lamb in onions, garlic and spices then use it in taco that only costs $2.19! They also put it in other dishes like huaraches, and tortas. I was amazed at the taste and quality of their food. They have the best beef tongue tacos I have ever had. The tilapia and shrimp dishes were amazing too. This is stuff that you just didn’t see in most Mexican restaurants up until the 1990’s in most places. It seems that slowly but surely the true variety of Mexican Cuisine is showing up on American menus and it’s about time.
While browsing my library a couple days ago I spied Simple Food, Big Flavor by Aaron Sanchez. I decided right then and there I was going in search of a wider view of Mexican food and see if I could find a healthier version. Last night I dove into that book and Rosa’s New Mexican Table, by Roberto Santibanez to come up with the following dinner. I started by making Habenero Love from Simple Food, Big Flavor. It’s a fluffy salsa mostly made from bell peppers,(red and yellow), onion and yes, habenero. It’s a special salsa that is not too hot, but full of flavor. I doubled the amount of habeneros which made the heat just about right for me. The next dish I tackled was Mushroom Quesadillas that I turned into soft tacos, but other than that I followed the recipe. I rounded it off with a Mexican Red Rice recipe I found posted on a food blog. It made for a wonderful meal that many a vegetarian would love. So my challenge to you is to explore the internet and your library to open up the possibilities of cooking quick and healthy Mexican food in your home. I think you are going to love it.
Mushroom Tacos, Mexican Red Rice
To your health in 2013
As I look out into the foodie blogosphere I see many tempting treats in this new year, but I wonder why aren’t more of the blog authors scaling back on the rich foods? Most of us have just had several weeks of eating good stuff like;
Turkey and all the trimmings
Pumpkin pie
Pecan pie
Cookies a plenty
Prime rib
Goose or duck
Eggnog
Etc
You get the point, right? It’s time for a stretch of healthy eating. Something that us Americans are not well known for. Well I’m embarking on my usual January healthy eating stretch by starting off January 1 with an all vegetarian low fat day that has continued on into January 2nd’s breakfast of oatmeal. Lunch was navy bean soup with parsnips and a salad of fresh broccoli dipped in a flax seed oil, cider vinegar and hot sauce dressing. I’ll break up the vegetarian theme at dinner with poached Alaskan Red Salmon with brown rice for the starch and stir fried broccoli and Shitake mushrooms as the vegetable dish. All are low fat easy to prepare foods. Take a look at my blog’s recipes and you will find many low fat quick and easy foods to increase your chances of starting out the New Year right .
To throw in a free nugget, for those who subscribe to my blog this week I’ll give you a 10 minute phone consultation on healthy eating or cooking tips to get you going. This offer good to the first 10 people who sign up for my free subscription. You will also get my biweekly newsletter with off the blog, subscriber only recipes and foodie tips. Here’s to your health!