Thumbs up for Ezekiel 4:9 Tortillas

In a previous post I mentioned that I had tried some whole grain tortillas and didn't care for them much.

Well, I've found a brand that I like very much. It's the Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Tortillas. I found them for sale and thought it was a good time to try them. They are sold frozen and were in the health food section at Kroger. I wouldn't ordinarily talk about brand names unless I really liked something. If you don't like whole grain, you probably wouldn't like them. They are chewy, which I like. They are a bit difficult to fold, but held up better than the other brand I had tried.

Mom's penny pinching ways

My Mom was good at being economical. She used to make spaghetti sauce with just 1/4 pound of ground beef. It was a thin sauce with not too much meat. I got used to it being like that. She used Lawry's Spaghetti Sauce Mix, it had to be Lawry's. I really think it's better than any other kind.

I talked to a lady once who said her mom used to cut a 1 lb. package of ground beef into 5 portions. She had grown up during the depression.

Mom would just cut a pound into 4 parts and then she would freeze it. Besides the spaghetti sauce, she also used it to make chili, sloppy joes and a dish our family called sloppy O'Brien, which was made with cabbage and mushroom soup. The latter we would eat with rice.

We had canned tomatoes that came out of our garden that she used in the chili. Daddy was good at growing tomatoes, they tasted so good and a few plants just produced bushels full. Besides canning the tomatoes whole they would also make something that we called chili sauce, which however was quite different than anything commercially available. We used it to make homemade salad dressing, mixing it with mayonnaise. Growing up I didn't like the commercial stuff and had to acquire a taste for it.

We rarely went out to eat and even at home Mom prepared mostly low budget meals. We had quite often pinto beans and cornbread. She added tuna fish to Kraft macaroni and cheese, other times she would add ground beef and canned tomatoes. Interestingly enough these frequently eaten meals are among my favorites still today.

Stocking up

In the last few day I've been hearing interviews of people who tried to wait out Hurricane Ike. And I've heard several people say that they didn't have enough food to last more than a couple of days. And I've been wondering why not?

I guess I grew up that way. I had a Mom who always stocked up on canned goods and other things. She was really good at being economical. I remember she used to buy olive oil in those big tin cans, it seemed to last indefinitely.

It just makes sense to stock up. I'm always looking for sales and comparing prices from one store to another. You can save money and you will never be caught saying we only have enough food to last a couple of days.

Quick Spanish Rice

I found another use for salsa, and it's super easy - make a quick version of spanish rice. Add some salsa, water, and a little butter to your rice and cook until done.

I'm sorry I don't know the right measurements on the amounts. I think it would prefer it with less salsa than I had tried which was about 1 cup salsa to 1 cup rice and about 1/4 cup water, and I forgot the butter. I tend to like food not so spicy.

I added turkey sausage which gave it some fat. That was a good combination.

I was using white rice, which takes about 20 minutes (about the normal amount of cooking time, in other words).

I like my spanish rice a little mushy, you might the adjust the liquid for drier rice.

Chili Turkey Mexican Dip

I bought some preseasoned ground turkey this week. It was labeled chili turkey and it was cheaper than the unflavored ground turkey. It's not bad.

I have tried doing several things with it. I bought some whole wheat tortilla shells. They taste okay, but I didn't like the texture. I also bought a bottle of salsa.

Today, I tried making a sort of mexican dip (which however I ate as a meal, not an appetizer). I mixed cream cheese, salsa, the ground turkey that was cooked already, some green beans (from a can) and black olives. The green beans I had used up partially in a salad yesterday. I might not have thought of putting them in but I think they worked well, I liked the extra chewiness, I guess it is. I ate this "dip" with potato chips. They were falling apart, but it didn't matter so much since I was eating alone, making a bit of a mess. Might be good with a tortilla chip or other stouter chip.

Recipe gets a "good".

Experiments and Inspirations in Cooking

I like to doctor up stuff that comes out of a can. Recently I bought some Chinese chicken stuff in a can. When I opened it didn't smell good, I knew it would need help. So, I added some canned mushrooms and other stuff - much more agreeable. Not great, but better. Since I still had some left the next day I tried adding some cabbage cut up in a fine slice. That was better yet. But I don't think I will be buying any more of the Chinese stuff any time soon. It hardly even has any chicken in it. My mom used to buy it and I remember it being better - maybe they've changed the recipe.

Playing food doctor is how I discovered that I like turnip greens in soup. I had some hot turkey chili (I didn't notice hot when I bought it). Since it was too spicy for me I decided to make soup. I added water, corn, tomatoes and then I tried the turnip greens. The greens really added to the flavor. When I really like something I write down the ingredients so I can make it again later.

Another of my recent experiments involved potato chips. When I was in Hawaii, I had a house mate once who was Mexican (from LA). She showed me how her Mom used to use potato chips in eggs. It didn't sound good to me, but I liked it. And it's a good way to use stale chips. I tried putting some stale chips in something else the other day, I forget what. I told my brother about this. He laughed and said "You didn't want to throw them away did you? Potato chips are not good for you. So why try to save them? I would have thrown the chips away." I told him he might have a point.

By the way have you ever noticed that you can see through potato chip bags? One of my nieces pointed this out to me when she was young. Kids notice stuff like that.

Sometimes I just know that certain combinations of foods are going to taste good. And I feel like God is there inspiring my cooking. It's cool. (But sometimes I'm not so inspired, and some of my experiments don't turn out so great either.)

Somehow I haven't found much success with my experiences sharing my creations with other people. I'm not sure if there are some folks out there that would appreciate it. I like a lot of stuff. Just about every kind of vegetable and fruit. Lot's spices.

My brother is somewhat limited in what he likes. He loves BLTs. Broccoli, tater tots, steak, hamburgers, spaghetti, several kinds of hamburger helper, and a few other dishes are favorites in his repertoire. He makes a good chicken pot pie. He also likes to make toast and enjoys a good bowl of cheerios - when he doesn't feel like cooking.

When I was living with my brother he complained about how my cooking smelled. He especially didn't like the smell of curry, fish, cauliflower and green beans. I didn't cook for him too much.

My brothers's girl friend seems to be much better than I at catering to his tastes. They often cook together. (And share with me, that's a blessing.)

I tried making a cauliflower dish I thought was great for a family gathering around Thanksgiving time. Was not a success. It had rice in it, so that was part of it. SIL had started watching her carbs. I got teased about tabouli and about liking beets. My homemade hummus didn't go over. Ironically, later my niece discovered hummus - the kind you can buy at the store in little tiny tubs, and that was a pretty well received. My SIL said that she didn't like seeing that I made it with beans. I guess my hummus might not have been as smooth or spicy as the commercial brands.

So, I don't know, I guess God just blesses me when I a cooking for my sake. I like my cooking!

Learning to eat bitter

"Cuisine (from French cuisine, "cooking; culinary art; kitchen"; ultimately from Latin coquere, "to cook") is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. Religious food laws can also exercise a strong influence on cuisine. For example, Indian cuisine is characterized by its wide varieties of vegetarian dishes because Hinduism discourages consumption of meat. A cuisine is primarily influenced by the ingredients that are available locally or through trade. For example, the American-Chinese dish chop suey clearly reflected the adaptation of Chinese cuisine to the ingredients available in North America." (copied from wikipedia)

I enjoy trying foods from all over the world. I did before I went to Hawaii, but being there really allowed me to expand my horizons. (I guess many large cities offer a variety of cuisines. I do miss that about big city living, now that I am in a small town in Georgia.)

From the first place I was invited to in Hawaii, a Korean restaurant, I was introduced to new foods. On that occasion, I remember trying the kalbi a delicious ginger/garlic flavoring of ribs, that in Hawaii is called barbeque. It was quite like a recipe that my mom used to prepare, a dish she called simply "short ribs". Of course it came with rice, and kimchee. Kimchee an aquired taste, that over time I finally did begin to like, is a kind of pickled, spicy cabbage.

My mom liked to try different recipes and I had tried many dishes from around the world before I ever left home. But in Hawaii, I got to add to my list Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Thai, Filipino, Polish- namely pierogi, (curiously at a place that also offered Korean), many Chinese foods that I had never seen before, and probably some other I can't think of right now.

There's a place called Harry's Market in suburb on the north side of Atlanta which I enjoy going to. They offer things like bitter melon which is an ingredient of a Filipino dish that I love called pinacbet. If your lucky enough to be able to buy bitter melon, here's a recipe I found on line (I like the typo under yield):

Title: Pinacbet (Mixed Vegetable Dish)
Yield: 1 Servings

Ingredients

4 long eggplants
2 long bittermelons
1/4 lb sweet peppers
1/4 lb fresh or frozen okra
1/4 lb long beans
3 c water
1/4 c patis (fish sauce)
3 in ginger root, crushed
1 c fresh or frozen lima beans
2 md tomatoes, chopped
1 salt to taste

Instructions

Make lengthwise slit in eggplants and bittermelons, cut in 3" pcs. Remove seeds from bittermelons. Slit peppers. Cut off and discard okra stems. Cut beans in 3" lengths. In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add patis, ginger, limas, and tomatoes; cover and cook on medium-high 10 min. Add the other vegetables. Cover and cook 15 min, or until tender, occasionally tossing vegetables in pot. Add salt if needed. Makes 6 servings.

Rudy Tamayo from Hawaiian Electric Company.

I will only add that another recipe I have says to stir gently or to kind of shake the pot gently.

I read recently that bitter foods aid in digestion.

Which reminds of a phrase that I learned from a movie that I saw a while ago. I wish I could remember what is was called. The Chinese have a phrase "eat bitter." They are taught the value of enduring hardship to "eat bitter". Sometimes we need to "eat bitter" to overcome problems in our lives. It was really well described in the movie, I would love to watch it again if I could remember what it was called.

Okay, I just googled "eat bitter movie". And with just a little bit of effort I found out the movie was called "Iron and Silk". I highly recommend it.

"You must eat bitter to taste sweet."

Green Beans

The neighbor's beans are still coming in. I am grateful that she is willing to share. Lots of southerners seem to grow for canning and don't care about eating the fresh veggies - I don't understand that thinking at all!

I like to eat them steamed, (unlike the Southern way which is to cook them to death). I enjoy eating them with ketchup. But more often I will use a recipe I got from an English cookbook.

It called for pears, which we happen to have coming in just now, but I generally leave them out. I didn't care about the pears in it. (It's okay, if you happen to have a pear tree producing lots of pears you need to use up.) Depending on the size of your beans, snap them or cut them to a more or less uniform size. Steam the beans about 10 minutes or until they are tender. Then dress with the following sauce: yogurt, olive oil (or EVOO), cumin, honey, and chopped walnuts. I don't know the amounts, so you'll have to figure it out for yourself. Salt and pepper, if you will. (I often leave the S&P out, it just depends on my mood I guess.)