Vegetables

Joy Of Cooking, 75Th Anniversary Edition

I have to say, I LOVE the attitude of The Joy Kitchen.com. Their motto seems to be that it’s always the right time to enjoy good home cooking! It doesn’t matter what the economy’s doing or not doing - we shouldn’t obsess over what we can’t control. Instead, let’s focus on some of the things we can control. Things like providing our family with warm, home cooked meals and lighthearted, enjoyable meals together.

I don’t know about you, but when my family is sitting around the dining room table eating a meal that I’ve prepared - well, that’s Heaven on earth and it just doesn’t get any better than that.

The Joy Kitchen, which is an amazing website, is the online home of The Joy of Cooking - one of the most popular and finest cookbooks ever. I can’t even tell you how often I use my copy. I’d be lost without it, I can tell you that.

Below are a few recipes, used with permission, from The Joy Kitchen. I fully intend to make the Chili this week. I certainly don’t mean to leave the Vegetable Soup out, but it just so happens I just made homemade Vegetable Beef Soup a few nights ago. I love to make a huge pot on Friday, so we can eat on it throughout the weekend.

For my Vegetable Beef Soup, I used Tomato Juice as the liquid. Along with potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, stew meat (cooked with garlic), corn, and peas (not many, don’t want to gross out my husband), I always include Lima Beans and Okra (I use frozen). Add a little salt and pepper, and it’s beyond delicious. I usually serve this soup with cornbread, but we had rolls and/or sandwiches this time.

From The Joy Kitchen:

OHIO FARMHOUSE SAUSAGE CHILI
4 to 6 servings

A delicious “warmer-upper” after a fine tramp in the woods on a chilly day.

Brown in a large skillet:

1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 large onion, chopped

Toward the end of the browning, add:

1 celery rib, diced

When the celery is softened, add:

One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, with their juice
2 cups tomato juice or chicken broth, or a mixture of the two
1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup or molasses
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons ground sage
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Simmer for 20 minutes. Add and simmer 15 minutes more:

3 ½ to 4 cups cooked red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

VEGETABLE SOUP (Soupe Paysanne)
About 7 cups

Heat in a large saucepan:

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

Add and cook on medium heat until slightly softened:

½ cup diced carrots
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery

Add:

4 cups hot stock or water, or both
2 cups chopped tomatoes
(1 cup diced peeled potatoes)
(1 cup diced peeled turnips)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Cover and cook about 35 minutes, then add:

(1 cup chopped cabbage or spinach)

Cook about 5 minutes more. Add:

2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt and black pepper to taste

For more great recipes, wonderful tips and techniques, and even a forum, visit The Joy Kitchen.

Fair Time Cotton Candy Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com

 

 

I received an e-mail from a lady this weekend who was looking for “Pink food” for a party her workplace was giving for breast cancer survivors. What an absolutely inspired and beautiful idea! The premise touches me so much that I thought I’d create a post in its honor AND in honor of the individuals who have fought this demon and are having the last laugh.
 

According to Breast Cancer.org, breast cancer survivors AND those of us wishing to never fight the battle on our home turf should cut out as much fat from our diets as possible. We should most definitely eat more vegetables and fruit. If one’s overweight, they should lose it and keep it off. Exercise is also highly recommended. I guess if a person cuts out fat, fills up on fruits and vegetables, and gets plenty of exercise - the weight will pretty much take care of itself!

My own aunt (Penny) stared it in the eye and I can honestly say that one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed in all my life is the grace with which she did so. I remember her once saying how that a lot of people say, “Why me?” when they’ve been diagnosed with cancer - but that she thought, “Well… Why not me?” She always said that she had God on her side, so she knew she was in good hands. Apparently the best!

Below are some ideas for “pink foods,” including links to recipes, more information, etc. I’ve researched what foods experts have said are especially healthy foods for people dealing with breast cancer and/or those trying to keep it from showing up on their doorstep. These foods/drinks are in bold. If you have any other ideas to add, I’d love for you to leave them in the comments!

• Baked Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing.  (I’ll be writing my own favorite recipe for Sugar Cookies as well as a recipe fro the BEST Cream Cheese Icing you ever tasted in the next post.  I’ll include a picture of how they look wearing their pink bling!)  You can either tint the icing to pink using a little red, buy pink food coloring in a cake decorating store or craft’s aisle, or do as I do (simply because I HATE food coloring with a colorful passion) - sprinkle on prink crystals from the baking aisle.
• Pink Grapefruit!  Cut into chunks and chill.  A fruit salad could be created by adding strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and grapes.  Sure, it allows a little more colors in than pink - but it also allows a LOT of antioxidants and healthy vitamins in.
• Serve Milk made Sexy with Nestlee’s Quick Strawberry Pink Mix.  You get your Vitamin D, it’s a beautiful shade of pink AND most of our mothers used to make this for us a lot, trying to sneak milk past us - so it’s a beautiful comfort food.  Experts say that Vitamin D curbs the growth of cancerous cells.
• Salmon - Granted, salmon may prove a bit of a challenge for luncheons - but if you can manage to grill, broil, or steam your salmon steaks right before it’s time to eat, they’re beautifully healthy and marvelously pink. (Salmon’s also a good source of Vitamin D.)
• Shrimp -  Again, you’d have to be very careful to keep it on ice, but shrimp cocktail would be a great thing to serve at a Pink Party.  It’ delicious, healthy, and pinkish.  If you add a little horseradish to your cocktail sauce, you can even make it a little pinker. (Shrimp’s also a good source of Vitamin D.)



• Hot dogs! - When I told my husband what I was doing when he caught me thinking (rare things always draw attention), the first thing he said was, “Hot dogs.”  And right he is!  A delicious way to serve them is to cut the weiners (traditional or “veggie”) into thirds.  Wrap uncooked bacon around each and fasten to the weiner with a toothpick.   Do so with the entire package.  Place all of them, toothpicks up,  in a large crockpot.  Sprinkle generously with brown sugar.  Cook on Low until they’re “done.”  Healthy?  Not particularly.  Delicious?  Decidedly so.
• Ham slices - About as pink as it gets.
• Pink Lemonade
• Pink Cotton Candy - You can usually find some pre-packaged in a department store. Another option would be to buy a Cotton Candy Machine and make your own!
• Strawberry Ice Cream. - Served either alone or in pink ice cream cones. You could even tie an all-important and symbolic pink ribbon around each cone.
• Create Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Color them pink!  After I exhausted my brain power (I heard that!), I googled, “Baby Shower food ideas” - knowing that they often focus on blues and pinks.  I found the following recipe for Chocolate Covered Strawberries and am now craving one big time! -
• Don’t forget about the beautiful reds that are, after all, in Pink’s family. They’re one of her parents, after all! Pomegranates, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, red pepper, red onion, etc. Each of these, when combined with other foods will more than serve as stand ins for pink.
• Strawberry Soup
• Japanese Fishcake - Granted, you may need a Japanese Restaurant for this one, but just look at the picture below. Gorgeous!

Keep in mind, when your plates, napkins, and collective mindset is PINK, even foods that don’t look particularly pink by themselves will appear pink. You can also think about and focus on the meanings of the other colors as well. For example, White stands for purity, Blue stands for loyalty, and Red envokes thoughts of bravery, boldness and power.

If you go to your local bakery and tell them you’re preparing a special “Pink Party,” I know they’ll be able to offer up some amazing advice and pink delicasies. People love to feel helpful and to feel like they’re part of the battle - fighting on the side of the brave! It’ll also be the winning side.

Pink Poster Buy at AllPosters.com

Some Fun Pink Ideas:

If you have enough time, buy (or rent) a cotton candy machine and make your own pink (of course) cotton candy.

When buying napkins, toothpicks, etc - don’t just check the nearest department or grocery store.  Hit up a special Birthday, Party or Card outlet store.  Don’t just check the birthday section either - head over to the baby shower supplies.  Lots of girly pink!

Go to your nearest Hot Topic and buy pink coloring for your hair - I double dog dare you!

Play Pink’s music. Hang her posters around and shake your fist in breast cancer’s face! Tell it, “You think we’re weak? We’ve got your weak!”

Useful Links:

How Do They Make Cotton Candy?

Buy Cotton Candy Online in Bulk

Pre-Made Cotton Candy and Cotton Candy Machine Rentals

NSAID’s Might Lower Breast Cancer Risk

Six Foods That Fight Cancer!  (A MUST READ)

The Breast Cancer Diet (Another MUST READ) This diet heralds the importance of whole grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, beans, citrus fruits (bodes well for our pink grapefruit, right?), dairy products, soy, garlic, herbs and spices (for their cancer-fighting phytochemicals), evoo, fiber, and green tea (the author of the Breast Cancer Diet drinks almost as much green tea as I do!  She writes, “I make a half-gallon pitcher of iced green tea every other day. I drink it for the promising anticancer activity of a compound it contains called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).”)  If you know someone who is a breast cancer survivor or are interested in increasing your protection against the demon, read this article.  It’s very well-written and wonderfully informative.

*** I’ll be adding more recipes throughout the day including my favorite Sugar Cookie recipe that I almost always frost with the BEST Cream Cheese Icing on earth. I also have a few other recipes I rounded up. The problem is, my much beloved and adorable 20 year old cat Prissy (who recently suffered another stroke) has decided to go to sleep right on top of the recipe books I had laid out. Needless to say I’ll be waiting for my little antique girl to wake up and move. Time with her is so precious, I let her do what she wants to do, when she wants to do it. And right now, she wants to sleep on mommy’s work!

In case you were wondering, someone has indeed come up with a list of the 13 Most Powerful Super Foods.

I’m over the moon because not only did my good friend the Avocado make it, the following regulars in our kitchen made the cut as well: mushrooms, garlic, eggs, almonds, blueberries, and fish. Click through to see the WHAT’s and WHY’s of what we should be eating more of.

The following recipe is my favorite Spaghetti Squash recipe.  It’s from the October 17 issue of Family Circle - an issue so packed with killer recipes it’s in a special “magazine” section of my cookbook collection.  I return to this recipe again and again.  I’ve experimented with different herbs, it all depends on what I’m serving with the squash.  This particular recipe can’t be beaten, though.

Family Circle Cooking School’s Spaghetti Squash

1 spaghetti squash (2 1/2 pounds - 3 pounds)
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash in half lengthwise, starting at the stem end. Use a tablespoon (or melon baller) to remove the seeds and loose strands.

Place the squash halves, cut-side down, in a roasting pan. Add water and cover with foil.

Bake for 1 hour or until squash is fork tender. Remove from the oven, but keep covered.

In a glass bowl, combine butter and chicken broth. Heat in microwave on HIGH power for 1 minute. (Or do what I do - use a saucepan and heat on the stove over low heat until heated.) Remove the herbs from their stems and add to the butter mixture.

Using fork, shred squash into strands (resembling spaghetti, hence the name) and place into a large bowl. Add butter sauce, salt, and pepper. Toss and dive in!

Sometimes I use basil as the only herb, while stirring in chopped tomatoes. Spaghetti squash is a dieter’s best friend, with very, very few calories. Best of all, it’s spectacularly delicious. And colorful!

Sometimes we’re more like children than we are adults, aren’t we?  We know, full well, what foods we should be eating more of and what ones we should be eating less of - yet, off we go on our merry way to the nearest hamburger in a hurry joint.  What’s worse, when we get there we almost always make our sinister selection as large as possilbe and, yes, of course, we would very much like fries with that.

Maybe, just maybe, if we were to concentrate more on the Positive Foods and less on the Negative Foods - we’d fill up so much on the good stuff that we wouldn’t even want the bad.  Worth a try?  Worth a try.

The following are a few ideas for sneaking more of the highly recommended foods into your day.  If we fill up on what we SHOULD, it’ll leave very little room for what we SHOULDN’T.  Well, that’s the plan anyway.

Garlic
Garlic is known to be one of our heart’s favorite foods. Fortunately, it’s very simple to up our garlic intake. Garlic goes beautifully with just about every meat and bread you can think of. To get the most from garlic, we should eat several cloves a day, so we need to work it into our meals as often as possible.

In addition to serving garlic with meat dishes, minced garlic is heavenly when served over steamed green beans. If, like me, you’re trying to wean yourself off of bacon fat for seasoning (Yum….sorry, but yum), garlic makes a great substitution. I’ve also used slivered almonds (more on them later) on my green beans.

Crushed Garlic can be added to Salad Dressing or Mayo to create a Kicked Up Sandwich spread.

If you don’t get too crazy, garlic can also be addded favorably to Ranch Dressings for salads. It’s especially good if you add a little finely chopped basil with it.

Olive Oil
Since our heart also loves Olive Oil, it would be a great idea to keep a bottle or two on hand at all times. Even though you may think it sounds excessive, keeping regular olive oil AND Extra-virgin olive oil each in your pantry is a good idea. Why? Extra-virgin olive oil packs extra polyphenols (compounds that keep LDL cholesterol from sticking to artery walls) than the other varieties. But, since it costs several dollars more, I’m not that keen on cooking with it. I like to save it for drizzling over salads, pasta, breads, and steamed vegetables.

Almonds
Almonds are proven to lower LDL levels - they’re brillaint at it, actually. While all nuts are healthy and should be included in our daily diets, almonds have a bit of a heart-healthy edge - they have vitamin e and are also a good source of calcium. If you toast them in the oven, you’ll bring out more of their flavor, without lessening their nutritional benefits.

Carrots
A Harvard University study found that a half cup of dark yellow vegetables, like carrots, eaten daily cuts the risk of diabetes in women by 27 percent. They’re one of those foods that seemingly increase their nutritional value daily, so it would be ridiculous NOT to use them in our meals more. As an added bonus, they’re not nearly as costly as other vegetables. (I made a huge salad last night with a Ravioli meal that nearly required a small loan. Cauliflower and Broccoli should be ashamed of themselves.

Personally, I love carrots (and celery, for that matter) enough to eat them in the raw - them, not me. But, if you require a little more flavor, a buttermilk ranch dressing is always a delicious way to go. You can work a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil into your portions and get a one-two punch by drizzling it over steamed carrots. Finish it off by snipping a little thyme on top. Fresh herbs are also healthy - and add an aggreable flavor to everything. Rosemary and Thyme are perfect with everything known to man or woman.

Salmon
Salmon is one of the biggest of shots when it comes to omega-3 fatty acids. I can’t understand anyone NOT love, love, loving salmon - but if it’s not your favorite thing, experiment with different flavors. Add a little dill and lemon, and never forget the pepper.

In a Saving the Best for Last type of thang - see the following post on Self Help Daily. Of course, if (nudge, nudge) you’re really just not that into chocolate, don’t bother.

You know what sounds good right now - I mean really, really good?  A bowl of homemade guacamole and some really fresh, crunchy tortilla chips.  Ever since the Attack of the Infested Tomatoes started playing out, my obsession with salsa has understandably faded.  It’s been challenging to find ways to substitute what was always a frequently used staple in my kitchen.

I never really realized just HOW frequently I used tomatoes until now.  Sliced on sandwiches, cut up in salads (which my family eats just about daily in some fashion or another during the warm months), in tacos, cooked with pasta, and…sigh… in salsa and pico de gallo.

With salads, I’ve been replacing tomatoes with radishes and/or red pepper.  Some people like sun dried tomatoes in salads, but I’m still on the fence.  I think they’re amazingly good in pasta dishes, though.  They can fill the void nicely.  Then, too, there’s always the cannded tomatoes.  They mingle well with pasta. 

I also stir the petite diced tomatoes into taco meat for tacos.  They’ll do in a pinch for salsa, too.

But back to my overwhelming desire for guacamole.  I love this stuff and can’t get enough of it.  At the moment, I want it to show up for lunch with it’s tortilla chip friends, but it’s versatile enough to show up with a lot of other sidekicks.

For Example, you have to try the following:

1. Lightly toast some quality bread.  Spread the inside with guacamole.  Add a few sliced of smoked turkey, a slice of swiss cheese (optional), shredded lettuce, and a few slices of bacon.
2. A South of the Border Burger:  Grill, fry, or bake your burger patties.  Lightly toast your buns.  In no particular order, add your meat, sliced onion, a dollop of guacamole, jalapeno peppers if you’re brave, and a teaspoon or so of store bought picante sauce (I usually get Pace.)  Serve with fresh tortilla chips and enjoy being alive.
3. Toast a wheat english muffin.  Spread on some fresh guacamole.  To this you can add either a little picante sauce or hot sauce, if desired.  Now top it off with a poached egg.  Oh, come on now!  It’s good, I promise.
4. Cut up some cooked chicken.  I most recently used mesquite roasted chicken (YUM!), but grilled or baked chicken are delicious, too.  In a bowl, combine the chicken, some guacamole, and a little bit of salt and pepper.  Add as little or as much guacamole as you desire.  Use your chicken mixture to stuff lightly toasted pita pockets or wrap a warmed tortilla around and create a delicious wrap.
5. Serve guacamole beside your grilled steak or chicken.
6. Use guacamole as a potato topper - give sour cream the night off.
7. Slather on top of baked potato skins.
8. Serve with the Ruffles Pinch of Salt Chips and/or Frito Corn Chips I told you about in the last post!

Did you know that early Spanish settlers called guacamole the “butter of the poor?”  It got the name because it was flavorful, could be used a lot of different ways, and was inexpensive to make.  At least it’s still diverse and flavorful!

 

I can’t wait for that first cob of corn - all buttered up and headed for my mouth.  Mmmmm, that’s what I’m talking about!

Personally, I eat my corn on the cob 8 times out of 10.  Most of my family does, as well.  My middle daughter, Brittany, who’s also a vegetarian, eats it off the cob 10 times out of 10.  Yeah, I don’t know where I went wrong with that girl.

For Britt and the rest of us on those 2 occasions, cutting the delicious corn off of the cob, that it so dearly wants to hang onto, can be a hassle.

I found this little gizmo online today, though, so it should be here in plenty of time for fresh corn season.

It’s the OXO Good Grips Corn Stripper and it’s one of the cool kids.  As you run it down the cob, it extracts the kernels from the cob, placing them in its  convenient ½-cup capacity container.  You simply turn the cob and let it do all the work. The Kernels can be poured out of the top hole of the container onto your plate (or bowl, salad, etc.). The soft, non-slip grips cushion your hand during use and the stainless steel blade will not rust or dull. The Corn Stripper comes apart for easy cleaning and all parts are dishwasher safe.   To top it all off, it’s just $11.99.

Sold!  Click HERE for ordering information. 

Food Tv.com (a.k.a. Food Network.com) has a delicious section filled with the most amazing Memorial Day recipes you could hope for.  But don’t take my foodaholic word for it, see for yourself.   Be warned, though, if you’re on a tight grocery budget (Aren’t we all these days?), you’ll be extremely tempted to throw the budget out the door.  I honestly want to make about 20 different recipes right now!

My printer’s trying to catch its breath and my own budget’s scratching its head, wondering if it ever really had a chance.  To answer its question, “No.  Not really.”

Some of the recipes you’ll want to seek out first:

Corn, Avocado, and Tomato Salad

Coconut Lime Pudding Cake

Grilled Bread

Summer Pudding

Blackberry Lemonade

Blueberry Lemonade

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Grilled Mushroom Vinaigrette

Zesty Grilled Tilapia

Crab Cake Burgers

Mini Chipotle Burgers with Fire-Roasted Garlic Ketchup (!!!!!)

Mini Chipotle Burgers with Fire-Roasted Garlic Ketchup.  I just had to fixate on it a little longer.

 

COPPERED CARROTS  (Make the day before serving!)

1 pkg. raw carrots
1 cup tomato soup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 T. vegetable oil
1 T. sugar
1 small onion, minced
1 small green pepper, chopped
dash of salt
dash of pepper
dash of garlic powder

Scrape, clean, and slice the carrots into circular slices (”coins”).  Cook in boiling water or steam until tender when approached with a fork.  Don’t overcook them, however, you don’t want mushy coins!

Drain.  Mix the soup, apple cider vinegar, oil, sugar, minced onion, freen pepper, and seasonings in a pan.  Bring to a boil.  Pour this sauce over the carrots and refrigerate overnight.  These flavorful carrots can be served cold or heated.  This recipe makes a great appetizer OR sidedish.

Makes 6 - 8 servings.

Okay, so Paula’s Home Cooking is a Can’t Miss everyday - I know, I know. But today, it’s especially so. The recipes she’ll be making are “Country Food Side Dishes” and the lineup sounds way beyond delicious. One of the things she’ll make is a sweetening syrup she uses for Iced Tea. If you aren’t from the South, you may not be that familiar with sweet tea. Being a Kentuckian, I was never familiar with any other. When I got married, my husband was in the Air Force, so we moved around quite a bit. We lived in the beautiful city of Wichita, Kansas for a while and I was convinced they made the worst tea on earth until I realized they just didn’t sweeten it.

My response, of course, was “Why on earth not?!?!” (They also didn’t fry green tomatoes, make red eye gravy, or have a clear understanding of okra. But I loved them anyway.)

Here’s Paula Deen’s Recipe for Simple Syrup for Sweetening Tea:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan, bringing to a boil. When the sugar is completely dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and cool to room temperature. Add to your pitcher of tea and soon you’ll be wondering “Why on earth..” everyone doesn’t drink sweet tea too.

Here are the other recipes Paula Deen will be cooking up today:

Corn Casserole

Turnip Mashed Potatoes

Indian Succotash

Hoppin’ John

If you’re a big fan of casseroles, don’t miss Emeril tonight. The show’s centered around casseroles and they sound amazing. Afterwards, we’ll be ready for dessert and those of us who are Alton Brown fanatics will be in Food Network Heaven, there’ll be back to back Good Eats. The first one focuses on cakes and the second one will “top things off” with icings. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

For the recipes that will be featured on Emeril, Alton, and the rest of the shows on today’s Food Network, see the scrolling lineup to the left. I like what’s up Giada’s Italian sleeves today, too.