Making Noises

I’m becoming a huge fan of this cooking style, particularly when I’m time-strapped or energy-depleted.
Enjoy!

Each meal serves two and both are minimally prepared

First Meal

Salmon with a Maple Soy Glaze, Rice and Frozen Vegetables

Prepare rice – I use a rice cooker –
Fill bottom of rice cooker with water.
Add 1 cup rice and 1 cup water each to the basket that is placed inside the cooker. Stir. Plug it in and set the timer to 30 minutes.

Salmon:

4. frozen salmon fillets (no need to thaw first)*
2 T. each Soy Sauce and Maple Syrup
1 tsp. each ginger and garlic

Preheat oven to 450. Lay salmon fillets in a large casserole dish. Combine soy sauce, maple syrup and ginger and garlic in a small bowl. Pour over salmon. Bake in oven for approximately 18 minutes.

The rice and salmon dishes each provide four servings. Serve with steamed stir fry vegetables.

Meal Two

Reserve half the rice and two of the salmon fillets. Cut the salmon fillets up into small pieces, combine with the rice, and add some stir fry vegetables – place in a non-stick frying pan with some water, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Fry for a few minutes until the vegetables are thawed and the rice and salmon are heated through.

*Thawed chicken breasts would also work; cook until no longer pink inside and the juices run clear.

Easy Gr♦een Smoothie Recipes

[adapted from eatsprouts.com]

Tips:

• Always blend the fruit first
• Frozen fruit helps thicken the smoothie as well as some crushed ice.
• Optional additions include: plain yogurt, ground flax seed, or one or two scoops of protein powder of your choice.
• You may need to add ½ -1 c. of water [or milk, or juice] to keep it from getting too thick.
• A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down – adding 1-2 T. of liquid honey will help with any bitterness that may creep into your smoothie from the greens.
• Snap peas are not recommended.
• These make fairly large recipes probably serving at least four.
• Avoid mint if you have problems with heartburn or GERD.
• Good for selective eaters.
• Helpful for those recovering from oral surgery or who need to be on a soft foods diet for other reasons.

Some smoothie ideas and combinations:

2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates

1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water

Winter Smoothie – 1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water

Spring Smoothie – fresh orange juice, ripe bananas, frozen mangoes, and several large leaves of kale

1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water

4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water

2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water

1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water

1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water

1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger

1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon

3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana

1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water

1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya

I hate cancer.  In the past year, several people we know have been diagnosed with one type of cancer or another and two have succumbed to the disease.  I was asked to research foods that help cancer recently.  What I found was interesting.

According to Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, a medical doctor who was diagnosed with a brain cancer over 16 years ago.  He asked his oncologist after treatment if there was anything he could do with his diet and his oncologist said not really.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26559677/?pg=1#Health_EdibleHealing

He set out to prove otherwise.  After extensive research, he found the following foods, beverages and spices to assist in helping the body fight this disease:

Green tea, Pomegranate Juice

Ginger and Tumeric

Cabbage, Broccoli, Bok Choy, Cauliflower

Strawberries, Citrus

Soy, Fatty fish

And even dark chocolate!

For his explanations of the compounds that are present in these foods that help with this disease, click on the link above.

Here’s some recipes that have some of the foods listed above in them:

Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole

3 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
2 cups chopped onions, divided
3 T. soy sauce
2 T. butter or margarine, melted
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
4 cups cauliflowerets
4 cups broccoli florets
2 medium red peppers, julienned
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T. oil
1 cup salted cashew halves
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese, optional

In a greased 3 quart baking dish, combine broth, rice, 1 cup onion, soy sauce, butter and thyme. Cover and bake at 350 for 65-70 minutes or until rice is tender.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, saute cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, garlic and remaining onion in oil until crisp-tender; spoon over rice mixture. Cover and bake for 10 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with cashews and cheese, if desired. Bake 5-7 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Maple Glazed Salmon

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon Dijon or stone-ground mustard

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped gingerroot, if desired

1 1/4-pound salmon fillet

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions

Mix all ingredients except salmon and green onions.

Cut salmon fillet into 4 serving pieces. Place fish in shallow glass or plastic dish. Drizzle marinade over fish reserving about 1/4-cup marinade to serve over cooked fish.

Refrigerate about 30 minutes.

Cooking – Oven Method: Heat oven to 400°. Remove fish from marinade; set aside marinade. Place fish in baking dish. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, basting occasionally with marinade, until fish flakes easily with fork.
Variation – BBQ Method

Grilled Maple-Glazed Salmon: Instead of baking, place on grill rack, cover and grill fish 5 to 6 inches from medium coals 4 minutes. Turn fish; brush with marinade; cover and grill about 4 minutes longer or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with fork.

To serve, drizzle reserved 1/4-cup marinade over fish; top with green onions.

From Green Mountain Spa

Curry in A Hurry

Adapted from Chatelaine magazine

3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

1 T. butter or oil

1 each red & green pepper

1 onion

4 T. curry powder

1 T. all purpose flour

1 tsp. bottled chopped ginger or grated fresh ginger

½ tsp. salt

10 oz. can undiluted chicken broth or 1 c. chicken boullion

1 ½ c. frozen peas

19 oz. can chickpeas or lentils (optional)

Slice chicken into thin strips.  Melt butter in large sauce pan over medium high heat.  Add chicken and stir often until light golden, 4 to 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, core and seed peppers, then slice into thick strips.  Coarsely chop onions.  Once chicken has turned golden, add peppers & onion.  Sprinkle evenly w/ curry powder, flour, ginger and salt.  Stir constantly 1 minute.  Then pour in chicken broth.  Scrape up and stir in any brown bits from the pan bottom.

Reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until chicken is cooked through and peppers begin to soften, 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, measure out peas and rinse and drain chickpeas.  Once chicken is cooked, stir in peas and chickpeas.  Stir often until heated through, 4 to 5 minutes.  Serve with bread or rice and chutney.

Slow Cooker variation:  I didn’t brown anything.  Place vegetables in bottom of cooker than chicken.  Add spices and broth.  Cook on low about 5-6 hours.  Then add peas and chickpeas and cook until heated through.

Serves 4 – 6

Starting today, I’m taking the “A week without shopping” challenge http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/cooking-without-shopping.

I’m doing this partly because it’s Lent and partly because we have a freezer and cupboard full of food in large part to bulk purchasing. [The only caveat is milk if we run out].  I’ve drafted my menu for most of the week, something I normally do anyways, which is:

Saturday lunch – Chicken Noodle Soup

Saturday supper – Shepherd’s Pie, Salad

Sunday lunch – leftover Shepherd’s Pie

Sunday supper – Salmon Burgers or Tuna Melts

Monday lunc – leftovers from Sunday’s supper

Monday supper – Chili, Buns

Tuesday lunch – leftover Chili

Tuesday supper – Lentil soup

Wednesday lunch – leftover Lentil Soup

Wednesday supper – Marmalade French Toast Casserole

Thursday lunch – leftover Marmalade French Toast Casserole

Thursday Supper – Sloppy Joes

[This is our standard practice, by the way.  By using leftovers from each night's supper for lunches the next day, we have virtually eliminated leftovers in our house and have much less food wastage].

I will be posting my progress and recipes as the week goes on.  Stay tuned.

It’s cold out, so you want something to warm you up.  How about a nice apple cider, slow-cooker style?  Here’s  a quick recipe, adapted from Company’s Coming Slow Cooker Recipes:

Apple Cider

4 1/2 cups apple juice

1 T. packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

1 2″ long cinnamon stick, broken into pieces

15 whole cloves

Mandarin Orange Spice tea bag

Combine all ingredients in a 3 1/2 qt. slow cooker, stir and cover.  Heat on low at least three hours.  Makes 4 cups.

Other drinks that pair well with cloves are:  Mulled Wine and Hot Buttered Rum,.

Cloves add warmth and have a sweet flavor.  Commonly used in baking, but would also be good with poultry, curries, ham (“stud” whole cloves around the outside of a ham before baking), or added to mashed sweet potatoes with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Medicinally, cloves may be useful for indigestion, nausea and flatulence and as an antiseptic and astringent.  If you have a problem with spiders, place a few cloves around the areas where the spiders (or spider webs) have been found and you will not have any more problems (spiders do not like the smell of cloves).

Every day I visit http://dinnerwithjulie.com/ to see what Julie’s had for dinner. She’s kept this blog faithfully for almost a year now, inviting us to her kitchen table and posting what she and her family have had for dinner. It’s more interesting than it sounds, truly, especially if you are a bit of a foodie like me. Her latest entry (day 361) wanted a top 10 list of people’s favorites on her blog for her “free stuff Fridays” give away, to be posted in the comments section of her blog. Here’s my top 10 list, In random order. With comments because I am an extrovert.

1. Baked Penne with Sausage and Spinach – tasted delish, had a bit of an ‘ick’ factor when I had to squeeze the sausage out of the casings but the taste more than made up for it!

2. Upscale Bake Sale – I hadn’t heard of this before and therefore missed this year’s, but will definitely be going next year! Proceeds go to the Calgary Food Bank:

http://calgaryfoodbank.akaraisin.com/

3. Festive Slow Cooker Rice Muesli – on my “want to make” list. Bonus feature: will get all to myself – dh doesn’t like Muesli!

4. Breakfast Bean Cookies.

5. No-Knead Bread.

6. Power balls – although mine are more like “power squares” as I just put them in a pan after they’re all mixed up, rather than form into balls.

7. Chocolate Panini – again, on my “must make” list; what’s not to like?

8. Browned Butter Bliss.

9. Slow Cooker Apricot Jam.

10. Sugar Plums. I didn’t know these were actually a real food item! I always thought it was just a made up treat in the poem.

(All recipes available on http://dinnerwithjulie.com/)

Dinner with Julie. It’s what’s for dinner. You should go.

Avoiding colds and flu during the winter months can be a challenge. Some people opt out of the flu shot. I’ve decided to be one of them this year, after doing some research about ineffectiveness of flu vaccines, learning that my health region provides only three locations – in a city of 1,000,000 – to obtain the flu shot and that the flu vaccine this year is actually comprised of last year’s virus strains.

Perhaps I’m taking a bit of a chance but it’s one I’m willing to risk – my work is mostly done from home and therefore I’m not out in public that much.

Wash, wash, wash

Still, there’s things I’m planning on doing other things to protect myself and/or boost my immunity. My hand-washing, which I’m already fairly rigorous with, will be taken up a notch. Hand-washing after using the washroom and, in a public washroom, using the paper hand towels to shut off the faucets and open the door with to avoid re-contamination. Hand washing is also recommended after touching ATM’s, stair and escalator railings, grocery carts, etc. Hand washing immediately upon re-entering my home.

Sanitize

And if I am not in a position to hand-wash, I’ll use one of those hand sanitizer solutions, no matter how drying these solutions are on my hands.

Immunity boosting foods

From Impact magazine, the top 10 foods for flu season:

1. Garlic – add to pasta sauces, pizzas, soups, stews, etc.
2. Citrus – put a lemon slice in your water; squirt lemon juice into your water bottle.
3. Probiotics – such as yogurt with live bacterial culture.
4. Fish – for those Omega fatty acids and zinc.
5. Orange Vegetables – for beta carotene (natural Vitamin A).
6. Mushrooms.
7. Tea – green, black or herbal – all have antioxidants.
8. Lean Beef – good source of zinc, iron and amino acids.
9. Beans, Nuts and Seeds – complex carbs, iron, fiber, B vitamins, omegas and protein.
10. Berries – for antioxidants and vitamins.

Immunity-Boosting Muffins Adapted from Impact Magazine

½ c. margarine

½ c. brown sugar

2 T. honey

2 eggs

1 c. plain live-culture yogurt

2 mashed ripe bananas

1 ½ c. flour – white, whole wheat or a combination

½ c. wheat bran

¼ c. ground flaxseed

1 c. oatmeal

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ cups berries

½ cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Combine margarine, sugar, honey and eggs until smooth. Stir in yogurt and bananas. In another large bowl, mix together flour, bran, flax, oatmeal, soda, powder and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and stir just until moistened. Stir in berries and seeds just until mixed. Do not overmix or muffins will become tough. Fill muffin tins about ¾ full. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until knife inserted in muffin comes out clean. Makes about 15 muffins.

Christmas is just around the corner, which is why I chose peppermint for this month’s herb.  Peppermint is a common flavoring at Christmastime, present in candycanes, cakes,  and cookies.

Peppermint plants grow to be about 2 feet tall and bloom in July and August with tiny purple flowers.   Peppermint oils and other preparations use the leaves and the flowering tops of the plant, both of which contain menthol, peppermint’s active ingredient.  It’s best to plant peppermint in pots to help contain it as it has a reputation as a plant that quickly spreads and takes over the garden.

Peppermint, either as a tea or in enteric-coated capsule form, can be used to calm IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and other stomach ailments. If one also suffers from GERD, enteric-coated capsules may be a better choice instead of the tea.   (The enteric-coating keeps them from breaking down in the stomach).

Other uses for peppermint include taming a tension headache (use a diluted oil- 10% peppermint oil to 90% carrier oil – and lightly coat the forehead), easing menstrual cramps, and helping during cold and flu season (menthol is a decongestant).

It’s recommended that pregnant women should drink peppermint tea in moderation, unless they have a history of miscarriage, in which case peppermint tea should be avoided entirely.  The University of Maryland Medical Centre has some more good information on peppermint here and was used as my source for the health benefits of peppermint. http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/peppermint-000269.htm

Here’s an easy Christmas treat using peppermint candy canes:

Peppermint Bark

½ lb. white chocolate

1/3 c. crushed candy canes

Melt chocolate in double boiler. Stir.  Remove from heat and stir in crushed candy canes.  Spread in a thin layer on waxed paper.  When cooled and set, break into chunks to serve.  Putting the mixture in the fridge or outside, if cold enough, hastens the setting process.

source for picture:  commons.wikimedia.org

With Canadian Thanksgiving just past and American Thanksgiving coming up, I’ve chosen sage – and it’s cousin, the herb blend poultry seasoning – for my herb for this month.

The Latin name for sage, “salvia”, means to heal.  It’s native to the Mediterranean and in ancient Roman times was used to aid in digestion, particularly of fatty foods.  Now it’s used primarily in stuffing recipes.  I like to add it to chicken noodle soup.

Poultry seasoning is a herb blend and can include majoram, thyme, sage, and rosemary.  Black pepper, nutmeg, garlic powder, onion powder and celery seed can also be added, depending on your preferences.  Poultry seasoning makes a good dry rub for chicken and is excellent in stuffing, soups, and meatloaf.

This stuffing recipe, adapted from The New Chatelaine Cookbook, avoids the use of sausage and organ meats in it, neither of which are favorites in this household.  It can be cooked inside or outside the bird, depending on your personal preferences.

Apple Nut Stuffing

Melt 1/4 c. margarine in a large saucepan.  Stir in 1 chopped onion and saute until soft.  Add 1 chopped celery stalk, 2 peeled, cored and chopped apples, 1/2 c. chopped nuts, 3 cups bread crumbs, 1 tsp. poultry seasoning and 1 cup apple juice.  Place in a greased 6 cup casserole dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Makes 4 cups of stuffing.

Technically cinnamon of course is a spice.  It’s one of the oldest spices known and was used medicinally and in foods in ancient Egypt and China.   I picked cinnamon for October because it is a warming spice and is great in apple cider, pumpkin pie, chili (yes, chili – just a pinch, along with a pinch or more of cocoa powder lend a wonderful warmth and depth of flavour and complement the balance of chili’s flavours nicely), Indian food, Chai tea.

Cinnamon oil has the following medicinal qualities – as an anti-inflammatory, anti-clotting and anti-bacterial agent.  Also, studies have shown that sprinkling cinnamon on a high carbohydrate food can help lessen its’ impact on your blood sugar levels.

Store cinnamon in a cool, dry place in a tightly closed jar and use within six months.  While the ginormous jar of cinnamon in my cupboard probably has lost most of its nutritional content, medicinal properties, and much of its’ flavor, it still has a little bit of flavor.  Its probably time to throw it out & buy fresh.

Quick ways with cinnamon:

Cinnamon-sugar toast.  To make this healthier, use a “good fat” on your toast such as non-hydrogenated margarine, walnut oil, or flaxseed oil.

Sprinkle on cooked oatmeal to help control blood sugar levels from the high carbohydrate breakfast.

Add to curries, chilis, and stews.

Honey Mustard Chicken

½ c. liquid honey

¼ c. Dijon Mustard

¼ c. chicken broth or water

½ T. Garam Masala (spice found in the ethnic food aisle) [cinnamon is one of its' main ingredients]

Pkg. of 8 chicken thighs

Combine honey, mustard, water and spice in a small bowl.  Place chicken thighs in a medium or large sized casserole dish that has been sprayed with Pam.  Add honey mixture and turn thighs to coat.  Bake @ 350 approximately 40 minutes, uncovering for the last 10 minutes.  Serve with rice and vegetables.  Makes lots of yummy sauce.  Serves about 4.