Green Bean Dinner (Kosher for Passover - Kitniyot)

Last night I came back from the co-op with a pound of green beans in my share.  What the hell do you do with a pound of green beans, you ask.  Well, you sautee it with a bunch of other things!  I adapted this recipe from something I found online, which I can't find at the moment but I think it's generic enough to not have to give credit.

Ingredients:

1 lb green beans, washed, tips cut off

1.5 cups chopped mushrooms (wash the mushrooms right before you chop them if you get fresh mushrooms)

1 large tomato, peeled* and chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

Directions:

1. Sautee garlic until garlic starts to get dark, but not burn

2. Dump everything in.  You might want to do this one thing at a time, like mushrooms, green beans, then tomato, but whatever.

3. Sautee them until the green beans are to your liking

4. Eat.

Green beans are controversial during Passover - are they kitniyot, are they not kitniyot?  Who knows.  Their name makes them sound like a bean, though.  Good thing I eat kitniyot!

Let me add that there was a time where I made green beans with pasta by literally dumping them in the boiling water with the pasta and then eating it with tomato sauce.  I guess that's not so bad but it's funny.

*How to peel fresh tomatoes:

1. Boil some water

2. Drop in tomato

3. Let tomato sit in there for 30sec

4. Take out tomato, run it under cold water to cool it down a little, pierce the skin and peel it off with your fingers.

Special Tuna Salad (Kosher for Passover)

Today I made some tuna salad for my dinner.  I don't usually make tuna salad because I don't much like it, but it's one thing that is easy to make and reasonably filling - one of my big problems on Passover is that I am hungry much of the time.

So I added some of my favorite ingredients (also surplus from the co-op haha) and this is what I got:

Ingredients:

1 can of tuna

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 green part of a green onion, diced

~1 1/2 tbsp mayo (I would use soy mayo if during non-Passover season since it's 80% less fat and just the same taste-wise)

Directions:

1. Smush together in a bowl.

Variations:

In the future, if I made tuna salad again any time other than Passover, I might add cilantro, cumin, etc.

I think the red bell pepper is better than celery because celery doesn't add much other than texture.  The bell pepper adds the same crispy texture as the celery, but also some taste and vitamins.  The green pepper adds depth to the salad - you don't really notice it's there except that it tastes better.

Yum!

Basic Neon Orange Soup (Kosher for Passover)

Last week I made soup for the week and it was delicious. I loved that every day I was able to have a bowl or two of soup. I was never a soup person but it's so convenient and filling!

So today I decided to make some more soup with some of the things I got from the co-op. It turned out to be very, very tasty and BRIGHT ORANGE.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

3/4 of one bulb of GIGANTIC green onion, chopped (i think this is about 1/2 cup)
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 yam (about a pound!), cubed
1 medium/small yellow (summer) squash, cubed kind of
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tsp dried thyme

2 tbsp olive oil
s+p

Directions: 

1. Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent
2. Add squash, sautee for a couple of minutes
3. Add stock, yam, and spices, bring to boil and then let simmer for 15min
4. Blend
5. Eat.

I don't think you get a more simple soup recipe than that!

Languishing Friends! :(

Food friends has kind of died, but I will start posting my Passover recipes and successes to reinvigorate it... or just keep myself from dumping everything on HillelLady over AIM!

fruit in unexpected places

I love fruit. I especially love it when fruit turns up in places it wouldn't normally be. For example, a few weeks ago I had the most amazing salad-- with grilled peaches. It sounds weird, but it was SO GOOD. It was so tasty because of the surprise factor, I think. I mean, who grills peaches? The taste of the grill, a little bit of oil and a little bit of that burned flavor, was perfect with the sweet, soft, juicy peaches.

So, I've taken to putting fruit in unexpected meals when I cook for myself. Yesterday, I had a delicious sandwich: ciabatta bread (er, sorry if that's misspelled), avocado, spinach, summer squash, and raspberries. It was perfect.

Fabulous Lunches

Today, JewishGuy told me that I eat some fabulous lunches after seeing what I made for lunch today. (I offered to make lunch for him but he doesn't like fabulous lunches, just pbj for him)

Here is what I had today:

S.H.E.P Sandwich
I like to name my sandwiches with acronyms based on their contents.
Rosemary sourdough bread (from Whole Foods) - one large slice, halved
Fresh spinach
Hummus
Hard boiled egg slices
Yellow bell pepper

Salad
Fresh spinach
Yellow bell pepper
Cherry tomatoes
Scallions
Low-fat Italian dressing

Sides
No-butter-low-salt-low-fat popcorn
A few dried apple rings
A tablespoon of semi-sweet chocolate chips (to satisfy the junk food chocolate craving)

I had a small portion of everything so I got a wide variety of tastes and texture, a mixture of salty, tart, and sweet, etc. Apparently you crave snacks less if you get all kinds of variety in your meals.

This is basically like all of my lunches that I have when I have the luxury of eating lunch at home. I try to prepare a lot of things in advance (like hard boiled eggs, roasted cauliflower, etc) so that I don't have to spend too much time making food when I'm hungry. The biggest difference is that I don't usually eat sandwiches on regular bread; I eat whole wheat pita basically every day but we're out right now.

I'm always a little sad when I have to have lunch on the go... I end up with pbj, string cheese and dried fruit. I mean, that's all right, like I said I love string cheese and I am falling in love with dried fruit salads, but it's just not the same.

Ultimate Portability (yet, oddly disturbing)

Col-Pop: The Future of Fast-Food Technology from Adam Kuban on Vimeo.

One question, though: would the chicken warm the soda or would the soda chill the chicken? Because, either way, I think this is somewhat of a major design flaw.

Winner: Tomatoes!

While tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers are all berries, TOMATOES have clearly won the battle of "Berriest Vegetables"! Congratulations, you seedy, red, squishy things.

One of my favorite things to do with cherry tomatoes is to cut a slit in them and then squeeze them so it looks like a red Pac Man throwing up its guts. I know that is gross but I've been doing it since I was a little kid. I don't do it every time, just when I'm with casual company.

one of many reasons I could never become a Buddhist nun:

garlic

Some Mahayana Buddhists refrain from eating strong-smelling plants such as onion and garlic and refer to these as the "Five Acrid And Strong Smelling Vegetables." There's a common story told about why it is, exactly, that onion and garlic are to be avoided:

Once there was a monk who, because of his compassion for sentient beings, was a vegetarian. There was a woman who decided to test the monk's resolve, and prepared a meal, telling the monk it contained only vegetables. In fact, the dish contained a scrap of meat. The monk gratefully accepted the meal and the woman left, thinking that she had tricked him into eating the meat. The monk knew this was a trick, and emptied his bowl onto the ground. The next morning, he found that two plants had grown in the exact spot he had dumped the lady's cooking: garlic and onion. It is for this reason that monks and nuns refrain from eating garlic, onion, and strong smelling plants.

I LOVE garlic. I think I must have eaten enough roasted garlic yesterday to... well... breathe on my enemies to death (or tears, anyways).

Winner: Strawberries!

Strawberries have won the "Happiest Berry" poll, beating blueberries and raspberries and slaughtering loganberries. Mmmm loganberries.

Strawberries are clearly the happiest berry. They are so bright and cheery, with lots of dimples and a happy, sugary flavor. They dress up every dessert, from cheesecake to angel food cake, and taste delicious on top of Belgian waffles. Congratulations, strawberries!

a new made up recipe!

I occasionally make up recipes. I like experiments (my mom used to make a lot of concoctions, too). I made a delicious dinner tonight.

ingredients:
- 1 beet, peeled and diced
- 1 zucchini, sliced
- 1 summer squash, sliced
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 shallots, roughly chopped
- juice of one lime
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 pinches brown sugar
- splash of olive oil
- a capful of applecider vinegar
- a capful of balsamic vinegar

garnish:
- baby spinach
-blood orange
-avocado
- walnuts

combine the beet, zucchini, summer squash, onion, garlic, and shallots. Coat with oil, lime juice, olive oil, applecider and balsamic vinegar, add spices. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, lower heat to 300 for 40 minutes.

Put a handful of baby spinach on a plate. Put beety mixture on the spinach. Garnish with a sliced avocado, sections of sliced blood orange, and a handful of walnuts

yuuuuum.

I'm a vegan, so what?

I've been a vegan for 21 days. The deal (with myself) was to try it out for January.

I have to admit, I actually like it. I don't think it's that drastic a change (from vegetarianism), although, I do miss the cheese. O, the cheese. I miss you. Naturally, I've had to make some changes in my life. I cook a whole lot more than I used to-- but since I really like cooking, that's a plus. I eat a ton more veggies-- but as a vegetarian, shouldn't I eat a lot of vegetables? I think about the food I consume, where it comes from, and how healthy it is (er... except for those cookies... ahem)-- which is better for my body and also doubles as mental exercise. The down side it's way more expensive than less produce-centric diets.

Oh, and telling people I'm a vegan also sucks.

When I tell people about my experiment, they usually respond as if I'm committed the gravest offense, as if my dietary choices somehow constitute a direct assault against humanity and the food chain. Maybe people react this way because they don't know what to do with the news, and worry that if they wanted to invite me for dinner they would have to cook some sort of vegan-friendly alternative. Or maybe they're concerned for my health (?). I am ridiculously tired of the lectures. I can think of wayyyyy less healthy diets (um, only eating protein? I'm POSITIVE that Atkins himself DIED OF A HEARTACK!!!! talk about unhealthy). And it's not as if I, as a person, have drastically changed in the last 21 days... I just don't eat eggs and dairy anymore. And why is it, exactly, that living by a set of moral guidelines (different guidelines, perhaps, but guidelines nonetheless) regarding the consumption and treatment of animals somehow constitutes a general affront to humanity itself? It's just a whole lot of bologna, if you ask me.

Basically, what I'm trying to say:

I'm a vegan. Get over it.

Winner: Clementines!

Clementines won the prize as "Most Portable Fruit." Obviously, they are the most portable. Their skin, so easy to peel, not requiring any tools or special skill. They have no seeds, and are easy to separate into sections so you can share the goodness with your friends. Hooray for Clementines!

String Cheese

This week I began school for the first time in two and a half years and I kind of forgot what it was like to be at school. (That's the reason I haven't posted all week, but next week I should be in the groove so I can post again) I brought snacks with me like a little kid, and one of those snacks was string cheese.

I do happen to think that string cheese is not just a snack that kids can enjoy. Everyone can enjoy it. I personally love peeling and pulling things apart, so string cheese is probably the perfect snack for me.

The best is when the cheese isn't cold. From the time you pack your lunch in the morning, to the time you get to eat it in the afternoon, the cheese is perfecting its temperature so that you can eat it. I have found a correlation between the temperature of the cheese and its stringiosity. For example, when the cheese is cold, it tends to come off in chunks. When the cheese is room temperature, it makes delightfully small strings. When the cheese is warm, it just comes off in smushy chunks. Thus, it is the central temperature to which we should all attempt to keep our cheese - however, you should refrigerate it before you intend to take it out for your lunch.

I packed my lunch at 8:15am and I didn't get to eat the cheese until 3:45pm, so it was pretty amazing in terms of its stringiness. I took it out to eat in between classes, because like a nerd I was super early for my 4pm class. When I began to pull the magical little strings off and drop them into my mouth, I could feel eyes on me (there were other earlynerds... the early nerd gets the A, after all). At first I thought, maybe they think I'm stupid for having my string cheese snack. But then I realized, they're jealous! After all, who doesn't like string cheese?

The only problem is, at the end, your hands kind of have that greasy after-cheese feeling. But it's worth it.

not technically a food...

I like coffee
I like tea
I love the java jive and it loves me
coffee
and tea
and the java and me
a cup a cup a cup a cup a -

oh yeah.

you know what I love?

Ice. I love ice. However, I must say that I HATE regular ice cubes, they're way too hard. And if you eat an ice cube straight out of the freezer, it kind of sticks to the inside of your cheeks... it's sort of like how that kid gets his tongue stuck to the frozen flagpole in a Christmas Story (that's right. I'm Jewish. And I like A Christmas Story, so?). All in all, I do not like regular rectangle ice. No ma'am.

There are certain kinds of ice that I sometime just eat by the cup because they somehow just taste better:
crushed ice: is amazing. It's soft and kind of chewy. There's a little crunch, and a little squeak when you chew it, but not too crunch or too much squeak. I don't really know what it is that makes it softer... but it is. And I love it.
the circle ice you get on airplanes: I don't know what it is, but you really can only get that circle ice on airplanes. And it is so good! It's a bit more brittle than crushed ice, but the shape is simply divine. You can stick the end of your straw in the center of the ice ring... and it's just awesome.
ice in any other shape, such as hearts, stars, or fish: this ice tastes a bit like rectangle ice, which is lame, but it IS a cool shape. And... well, that makes it awesome.

Pure Awesomeness

+ =

Challah + Guacamole = AWESOME

As I explained in a previous post, I am from what I like to call the North East. Where I am from, avocados are basically nonexistent. They are there, but only in some stores, and they're usually small and not amazing. But here, in the South, the avocados are awesome and plentiful. Every restaurant puts avocado in every vegetarian dish. So, it wasn't until I moved that I fully understood the magicalness that is the avocado.

Specifically, this crazy bright-green sauce called GUACAMOLE.

Okay, so I did discover guacamole at Taco Bell in the North, I'll admit. I was like, what is this weird green stuff? It tastes all right to me. It wasn't until I was invited over for Shabbat dinner at someone's house in the South, where they served guacamole to accompany challah (much in the same way that most people serve hummus with challah), that I fully understood the magnitude of this discovery.

Guacamole, with challah, is the BEST combination of ANYTHING that has EVER been invented.

Ever.

Ever!

For those who may not know, challah is the traditional egg-bread served at special meals in the Jewish tradition - specifically Friday night and Saturday meals, as well as any holiday (except Passover, where you eat matzah, which is disgusting).

I can basically eat an entire challah in one sitting by itself, but if I eat it with guacamole, it's like a little scoop of green, limey heaven.

Here's my recipe for the best guacamole. Everyone down here has their own recipe that they claim is the best, but mine really is the best. So read on, copy this down, buy yourself a nice ripe avocado and enjoy!


JewishGal's Guacamole (inspired by JewishGuy's guacamole) for 1-2 people:

Ingredients:

Avocado - 1 large one :D
One clove of fresh, minced garlic (a post about this soon to come)
One green onion (green onions are also known as scallions_
Cumin & salt
Lime juice (fresh from the lime is best)
Fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Mince the garlic. This is a magnificent process, so please do it yourself, don't use the pre-minced stuff in the jar. If you can't save enough time to make the guac properly, then you probably shouldn't make the guac at all.
2. Cut the green onion so that it makes the little rings about 1/8 - 1/4" thick. I just like the way the little rings look. It doesn't actually matter how you cut it, just make sure it's small.
3. Mince the cilantro, about a tablespoon's worth.
   
4. Slice the lime in half.
   
   All of these steps are prepping before you mash the avocado. Once you begin to mash, you have a short period of time to enjoy it or store it before it turns brown, so I would make sure you do all the prep you can in advance.
   
   
5. Open the avocado and take out the pit. The easiest way to do this is to basically slice the avocado in half, rolling the avocado along the knife. Once you've made a cut that goes all the way around, you can simply twist and it will come apart. Then stab the pit with the knife and toss it (or you can try to grow your own avocado tree, that's also another post).
6. Slice the avocado flesh while it's still in the skin a criss-cross pattern. Then scoop the flesh out with a spoon and dump into a bowl.
7. Squeeze half a lime's worth of juice, a pinch or two of the minced garlic, a few of the rings of green onions, a little bit of cilantro, and a dash of cumin and salt
8. Mash mash mash to appropriate pulpiness
9. Taste, then add more of whatever you want until it tastes the way you want.
   

Enjoy!!!

The Kundalini Yoga Cookbook: a review

A vegetarian of 12 years, my New Year's resolution was to try out veganism (hold the groaning, please and thank you). I ran to half price books, desperately searching for vegan-ish cookbooks, when I stumbled across this gem. I love it. Why? According to Ek Ong Kar Singh and Jacqueline Koay, food that is "lovingly prepared is charged with energy." Literally. All the recipes in this book are to be made using natural measurements-- cupped hands substitute for measuring cups, and pinches replace teaspoons. According to the cookbook, "locking the fingers of the hands in certain positions creates pathways that guide energy flow and reflexes to your brain." And it feels good.

Also, you're supposed to meditate on your food. Here's a recipe for healing water.

Fill a large glass jar with water and then prepare the affirmations:

Love, Light, Peace
Cosmic, Infinite, God
Healthy, Happy, Holy
Harmony, Balance, Alignment

Place the jar near you while meditating. When you finish hold it between your hands to transfer the powerful healing prana from your hands to the water. Use healing water in your cooking to enhance the energy.

I haven't tried this one yet. Seems awfully complicated for water...

Mexican Coke

I'm from what I like to consider the North East and I grew up drinking coke. That bubbly, syrupy, caffeinated drink that we all know and some love (some are addicted to it and just can't stop drinking it even though they don't really like it and know it's rotting their teeth). I used to be one of those can-a-day habitual coke drinkers, but at some point I realized that that's kind of, well, not just unhealthy but kind of gross. I switched to water and tea, allowing myself to drink coke only in restaurants, and eventually restricting myself to one coke a week.

The reason I allow myself the one coke a week is because of the deliciousness known as Mexican Coke. This is something I'd never really encountered in my native habitat. In the more Jewishy neighborhoods, before Passover they would sell cokes that can compare to Mexican Coke - these sodas sell out like hotcakes. I didn't grow up in a Jewish neighborhood and my family doesn't follow the tradition of abstaining from corn products during Passover, so I'd never encountered this phenomenon until moving to the South.

The secret to Mexican Coke's deliciousness is that it has no corn syrup. It's sugar, like the good old days. It tastes less sticky, if that makes sense. Plus! It comes in these awesome glass bottles, so it has that retro feel to it that makes the experience just that much better.

I have to say I feel much better after weening myself off of my caffeine addiction. Now I can drink a small bottle of coke because I like the flavor and I like the experience, not because I am exhausted and need my fix. But I don't like the flavor of most sodas anymore, now that I don't feel like I need to drink one to stay awake. Hooray for Mexican Coke!

A birthday dinner for my Mama

Tonight was my mother's birthday dinner!
I attended a family food event at a "home cooking" restaurant in the middle of nowhere.
I couldn't stomach this place (pun intended).

So now I'm home and considering my options...
Maybe a tossed salad with some fresh pecans, oil & vinegar.

Or mac & cheese and a beer.

Ode to Pancakes

I love my pancakes
With chocolate chips, never fruit
It's better that way.

TextureGate 2008

I'm excited about kicking off FoodFriends with a post about food texture!
This is a much-discussed aspect of food for me. In my opinion, texture can make-or-break a foodstuff. It can make the difference between me consuming it in haste, or finding it repulsive.

I have a list of foods I enjoy for their texture above any of it's other qualities:

• Haribo Gummi Bears

Gummi bears from Germany in the gold bag. I often claim Gummi Bears as my favorite candy...however, I absolutely hate Gummi Bears of any other brand. Haribo Gummi Bears are the firmest of all bears, in the gummy world.

• Tofu (firm/extra firm)

This is a natural choice. Tofu in all it's forms has great texture possibilities. It is also a Food of Many Textures- depending on your preparation. What makes Tofu so special is it's inability to have a BAD texture. My favorite is extra firm tofu, cubed.

• Snowcaps (candy)

Another candy makes it's way onto my list. This is almost embaressing. I love those little tiny dots, basically. I like them on cookies or ice cream, too... but I think they go best in their natural habitat: Chocolate. Alternate choice: Non-Pareils candies.

• Malt-O-Meal

This one is very sensitive to how it's prepared, so I hesitate to add it. But when cooked properly, the texture is FoodGasm.*

*FoodGasm: The taste equivalent of an orgasm. Like a party in your mouth, and everyone's invited! Sometimes food IS better than sex.

-Mrs.Potatostein

We Are Food Friends

Oh, the silliness that will ensue...