Do you dare?

C'mon...tell me this isn't the freakiest vegetable you've ever seen.

 

 

I caught sight of these monsters while grocery shopping at Loblaw's today. What the heck? I did a little research and turns out, they're from India (which would explain why they were too expensive to even consider buying). They're called "bitter gourds" (actually, they're called Kakara Kaya, but I didn't think that would have any meaning to you or help you understand what they taste like). A little more research uncovered their primary use.....CHIPS!

 

 

Cool eh? Indian veggie chips. Maybe I'll try them someday.

 

Ok, that's all for now...busy week!! I promise to get back into posting soon, though!

Sorry for disappearing

Sorry for disappearing, but I've been busy trying to get Adam better from surgery. Be back soon!

This week's focus: Cooking for toothless people....

Ok, not really toothless, but cooking for people who can't use their teeth. Many of you may know that Adam is having his wisdom teeth out today (actually, I'm writing this while waiting for him to emerge from surgery).

I'm trying to think up recipes I can make for him in the coming days, as he eases his way back into solid foods. If I remember correctly (from my own surgery), he should have use of some of this front teeth, which means he should be able to handle soft foods.

Sooo...I have the perfect dish in mind....Sheppard's Pie! The ground beef is easy to down with little chewing the corn and carrots and peas are like mush and the mashed potatoes are totally soft. Perfect!!

We laughed about how Adam, my meat-loving man, would have to eat nothing but dairy for the next few days, which he wasn't looking forward to. But now, I'll get to surprise him with beef when he gets home!

Other things I'm planning to make:

-Pureed vegetable soup
-Yoghurt and fruit milkshakes
-Ice cream!!

I'll let you know how recovery is going.

It's really nothing to be so embarassed about!

As many of you know, I'm very new to Ottawa. As somewhat fewer of you may know, I'm completely useless when it comes to finding my way around cities and learning directions. I was rather embarassed today when I, driving through Ottawa, took what seemed to be one small wrong turn and ended up on a highway (and not JUST a highway....a highway with NO EXITS for 15 minutes) that led me all the way, deep into our neighbouring province...Quebec. I was so far into unknown territory that even my knight in shining armour and personal mapquest maven - Adam - didn't even know where to start looking to get me back into Ontario. I was frantically yelling into the phone "What do you mean you don't know the residential streets in Gatineau and St. Laurent off by heart?!?!?

 

Anyway, it all ended well when I finally exited the highway, randomly picked and new direction and saw a sign indicating the route toward the last city I had passed through (which would, of course, mean I was heading back from whence I came...)

 

I was feeling pretty silly about this whole thing until I read this...

 

BANGKOK - Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A woman who boarded the wrong bus on an attempted shopping trip from Thailand to Malaysia has returned home after 25 years.

Jaeyana Beuraheng told her eight children she accidentally boarded a bus bound for Bangkok instead of Malaysia, and once there she boarded a second incorrect bus because she could not read or speak Thai or English...

...Beuraheng, who speaks only the Yawi dialect used by Muslims in southern Thailand, said the noise and traffic of the big city confused and disoriented her, leading her to board the second wrong bus to Chiang Mai, near the border with Burma.

The woman said she spent five years begging on the street in the city and was often mistaken for a member of a hill tribe because of her dark skin tone.

However, last month, three students from her home village arrived at the hostel for training, and they were able to communicate with Beuraheng and help her find her way home.

C'mon! No seriously. How unresourceful do you have to be to get lost and not find your way home for TWENTY FIVE YEARS!?!?!

 

Something about this story is fishy, no?

Crockpot recipe: Thai Chicken Thighs

One of my best friends, named Dave, recently told me that he got a new crockpot (his first) and needed some good recipes. I had intended on getting him started with some very simple recipes like chili, but I got inspired to try something a little more advanced tonight, so I'll post this recipe:



Spicy Thai Crockpot Chicken

Now Dave, I know you're a beginner, but I just finished making this dish and I assure you that there is nothing difficult involved. The only thing that might scare some people away is that some of the ingredients are a little unknown. Dave, I promise you that if you try this recipe, you'll totally impress your girlfriend and you'll have absolutely NO trouble with it whatsoever. Have faith!

Ingredients:

10 boneless skinless chicken thighs (I bought with skin and removed it myself)
1 red pepper sliced in thin slices
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 scallions (green onions), sliced thinly
1/2 bottle (about 1 cup) of peanut sauce (or 1 cup of real peanut butter)
1 cup chicken stock (I used water and chicken powder....yeah yeah...the fake stuff!)
1 skinny red chili pepper, diced finely
2 stalks of lemongrass, hard outer skin and bottom 2 inches of white bulb removed and minced finely (don't kill yourself with this, just do your best)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of good soy sauce (not the cheap American stuff...invest in a good bottle for $1.50 extra!)
2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, minced

Method:

1. Place chicken thighs in the crockpot,

2. Mix all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir together, then pour on top of chicken,

3. Cook in crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.

That's right, ONLY 2 EASY STEPS, AND THEN TURN ON THE CROCKPOT!!!

If you really want to impress, sprinkle chopped peanuts and chopped cilantro (just a little of each) on each plate once served, and serve with wedges of lime. This can be served with steamed rice of Asian noodles.

Now, one feature of this blog which I like to offer my readers, is a list of the ingredients that I believe can be left out altogether without completely ruining the recipe. Some people may be happy to know that, for this recipe, some of the more 'scary' (read: unknown) ingredients are the ones that are somewhat optional. In this case, I'd say you could still make a really great dish if you left out the lemongrass and red chili (in fact, you SHOULD leave this out if you don't like spicy food).

What about possible additions? I think I might try this recipe again and use fresh mushrooms, green pepper, broccoli florets, coconut milk and/or cashews.

Dave, call me if you need any help, oh, and make sure you have a good knife to do all the cutting!

New Cookbook Alert!!

YAY! I love Didi Emmons and, after owning her first cookbook for nearly two years, still find myself as excited about it as the first day I owned it. Now I own her second cookbook!

 

 

The only thing that worries me, though, is that she looks as if she's aged about 30 years (seriously) since the publication of her last book only a few short years ago. I'm wondering whether all these veggie-friendly recipes might have some kind of bizarro aging effect....hmmmm

Piiiiiizzzzaaaa!

Well, today I had the bright idea of having a fun and healthy pizza dinner with Adam.

 

It was great (see photos below). The pizzas were smaller than they appear in the photos, so we made one each.

In an effort to reduce our carb intake, we bought these very very thin pitas (about 8" wide) and used them as crusts. We then smothered them with tomato paste and put our favorite vegetables all over.

 

I was much more adventurous than Adam, who opted only for tomatoes, onions, olives and mushrooms. I, on the other hand, had all these things but also added garlic, zuchinnis, eggplant and nutritional yeast. We then topped it all off with oregano, pepper, salt and basil and finished it with a sprinkling of skim milk cheese (very low fat).

 

Delish!!

 

Pomellos

I discovered a new fruit!

I mean...I didn't "discover" it, but I tried (and enjoyed) it for the first time. The Pomello. I had always wondered about that grapefruit-like citrus that was comparable in size to my head. I wondered what it tasted like and where it grew. Well, I was THIS close to buying one on Friday but then chickened out. Luckily for me, though, our Shabbat dinner guests were nice enough to bring over a basket of fruit for us and, wouldn't you know it, a Pomello was one of the fruits they bought!

So here's the deal with the Pomello....

- It has an incredibly thik rind (see photo below)

- It tastes like a sweeter, milder grapefruit

- It's far too large to consume alone

- The membrane on each of the segments is VERY thick and needs to be removed before eating (yes, that's right...you actually peel the pomello and then peel each individual segment)

-The membrane on each segment is so thick that you can actually separate the segments and save some in the fridge for later,

- 2-3 segments are about enough for a mid-day snack (that's what I'm having today).





So, don't be a scaredy cat like me. Next time you see one in the store, don't shy away from it...buy one!

Some of the dishes prepared for shabbos

 

This is the salmon platter.

 

 

 

This is the Tu B'shvat platter. Definitely the prettiest platter of the day!

 

 

And here's the famous spicy olive chicken...

Hmm...good chicken, lousy picture...

Tu B'shvat

Soooo...for those of you who don't know, this week is the celebration of Tu B'shvat. It's basically a celebration of the land/trees/nature, etc.

We celebrate (eat) a variety of different 'species', all of which I've decided to include in tonight's shabbat meal.

 

Here are the fruits/species and how they'll be used (some of them in more creative ways than others):

 

Wheat: Whole wheat challah & Whole wheat flour chocolate chip cookies

 

Pomegranate: We're just going to eat the seeds of a pomegranate with dessert

 

Almonds: Plain almonds served with appetizer

 

Olives: Spicy mixed olive chicken

 

Figs & Dates: Served dried with dessert

 

Grapes: Wine and seedless green grapes for dessert

 

Barley: BEER!

 

Not to get overly spiritual/religious here, but this is kind of interesting. I hadn't even thought about doing a Tu B'shvat meal before this morning, and yet when it occurred to me that it might be a nice idea, I realized that I had already coincidently incorporated 5 out of 8 species into the meal I had planned. Cool!

 

 

 

SHABBAT SHALOM! And Chag Sameach to all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday/Thursday/Shabbat!

Well, we got busy with things, and Adam actually cooked dinner!

 

Wednesday he BBQ'd chicken thighs and they were FABULOUS! They were WAY too salty, but otherwise they were so incredible. Apparently he got a hold of my kosher salt shaker and didn't know how potent the stuff really was. He then proceeded to pour the salt on the chicken....in the dark! Anyway, that's besides the point. I quizzed him like a suspect to find out if he could recall exactly what he put on the chicken and in what quantity, because it was just so good. He thinks he might remember....We'll have to try that recipe again later.

 

Last night I marinated a dinosaur-sized beef rib for both of us. It was so huge that we shared the rib and were both stuffed afterwards. I like red meat, but I'm not crazy about things like ribs. I get turned off by the fat and the and chewy stuff, I get turned off if it's not well done and I just don't enjoy it as much as Adam. He always gives me a nice huge piece, and I invariably end up taking two bites and plunking the rest onto his place. Oh well...we'll just leave this stuff as his favorite.

 

Now. what about tonight (Friday)?

Well, we have a very nice adult menu planned. I say adult because all my dishes seem to have very adult flavors...not something a kid would like. Here's the menu:

 

Smoked salmon rolls (capers, lemon wedges, etc.)
Marinated mushroom mix

Hummus

Warm almonds (for Tu B'shvat)
Challah

Chinese Chicken Soup

Spicy Olive & Artichoke Chicken
Black & white garlic rice mould
Steamed vegetables (not sure what)

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Fresh fruit salad

 

I made the chocolate chip cookies from the recipe that I posted a couple weeks back. They turned out really well again, except they look SO different this time! I made the same sized dough balls and everything, but this time they didn't spread out and become thin and crispy like last time. This time they baked up thick and a little harder. They're really delicious and, other than the fact that half of them are slightly too brown, they actually look professional! Anyway, I'll have to ask my sister-in-law why that might've happened. She's a bit of a baking whiz.

 

Oh...and another thing. You might notice a slight decrease in the number of pictures posts I take of my own food. That's because I just remembered that picture messages I take with my phone and send to my email actually cost money. Oops!