CUCUMBER, CARROT AND GINGER SALAD

I made this salad as a mid afternoon snack for work.  I like to have some variety for snacks and this is an easy option to make.  Plus I like sushi style ginger and use it for other things than just to have with sushi.

I used a small plastic container and stacked the vegetables on top of each other.  You can make a number of variations using different vegetables.  You can add coloured peppers, zucchini or mushrooms.  The salad reminds me of a japanese salad.

Top view of layered vegetables.

Side view.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 english cucumber, chopped
1 medium size carrot, finely chopped or shredded
1 tsp to 1 tbsp sushi ginger
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp rice vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

Using a container or a bowl, layer the vegetables on top of each other.  Add the ginger, sesame seeds and then rice vinegar.  Ready to eat right away or cover the container with a lid and refrigerate until ready to eat.  Serves one.

PLANT BASED DIET

Leslie Beck is a Toronto based dietician who has written a dozen books on nutrition and appears on television, radio and has a weekly column in the Globe and Mail.  I have been reading her nutrition columns in the Globe and Mail for quite some time.  I find her logic and rationale for explaining nutritional information and providing recommendations easy to follow and simply makes sense.

Past columns of mine have provided information on Mark Bitten and Michael Pollen who have both advocated a plan based diet.  I have also followed Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Oz and Mark Sisson among the diet gurus.  All of these experts have advocated for increasing the consumption of vegetables and fruit in one's diet.  

I have always eaten vegetables and fruit and have flirted with following a vegetarian or vegan diet.  I also firmly believe that a diet based on plants has a number of positive effects in terms of optimizing your health, preventing heart disease, reducing blood cholesterol levels and weight loss.  In 2012, Leslie Beck wrote a column that promoted a plant based diet and she said that being vegan is more than just rice and beans.  I liked this article and bookmarked it last year for further reviewing.

The recently published book on a plant based power diet provides 10 easy steps and tips for transitioning your current diet to one consuming more plants.  It also includes recipes and I will be testing a number of them and blogging them.

One chapter in Leslie Beck's book highlights becoming more familiar with whole foods and plant-based eating.  She stated in one of the chapter's paragraphs about changing your mindset and focusing on the foods you can eat.  When we change our diet, we usually focus on the foods we can't eat.  I know I think about the foods I am eliminating or giving up and build my food choices on what I should avoid.  Her statement about focusing on what I can eat and NOT think about what I can't eat made me have a paradigm shift.  I have started to focus my meal planning about foods I can eat.  I also have started to shift my focus to increasing my vegetable consumption and bringing more vegetable variety into my cooking.   I also realized that I have to to jazz up the salads I make and use vegetables that I hadn't considered before.

I recommend this book if you are wanting to make a shift in your diet and increase your consumption of  plant-based foods.

CITRUS CHICKEN

I recently bought a number of chickens from a local farm.  The chickens were large and after roasting the first chicken, I thought that the next chicken to be cooked should likely be marinated beforehand.  Some of the meat from the first chicken was tougher than I like.

You don't have to use a whole chicken for this recipe but can use a variety of cuts.  I cut up the large chicken using a Wusthof knife.  I have written about this knife in a previous post.  I also removed as much skin as possible from the chicken to cut down on the fat.  I marinated the cut up chicken for about five hours in a large roasting pan.  

I like this marinade as it is citrus based.  It is a great marinade and I will definitely use it again.  We had friends over for supper and all of us liked the flavour of the chicken.  

Marinade in a glass measuring cup.

Chicken place in the roasting pan with cut up oranges and lemon.

Ready to be served at the kitchen table.

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup olive oil

6-8 bone-in chicken breasts or an 8-pound whole chicken

4 lemons

2 oranges

8 garlic cloves, chopped

3 tbsp fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried oregano

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp honey, maple syrup or agave

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or ¼ cup sweet chili sauce

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Cut 1 orange into 8 wedges and 1 lemon into 6 wedges, and set aside.  Zest the orange and lemon to equal 1 teaspoon of each zest.  In a large measuring cup or other container, squeeze the lemons to yield 2/3 cup of juice.  Squeeze the oranges to yield 1/2 cup of juice.  Add the garlic, oregano, soy sauce, honey, and red pepper flakes to the citrus juice.  Mix well.

Using a large roasting pan or two 9×13 pans pour the olive oil into the pan and then add the chicken. Turn to coat.  Scatter the lemon and orange wedges between the pieces of chicken.  Pour the marinade over and cover with plastic wrap. Keep in the fridge for 6 hours, up to 12.   Give it a turn every now and again.  Once it is ready to put in the oven, drain off part of the marinade that is in the pan.  You only want a bit of liquid.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, with the rack in the center of the oven.  Put the roasting pan, uncovered, into the oven and roast for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 375 and roast until cooked through, about 40 minutes.

Adapted from http://thecreativemama.com/herb-and-citrus-marinated-roasted-chicken/

ALFREDO SAUCE WITH CREAM CHEESE

As a change to using a tomato base sauce for pasta I decided to make an Alfredo sauce.  I have lots of cream cheese in the house due to buying two containers of lower fat cream cheese at Costco.  The cream cheese is packaged at Costco so that you have to buy two containers.  I had bought some multi coloured Italian dry pasta and I was curious to see how it would taste.  The pasta shape was good for sauces as it has ridges and indentations which will help bind the sauce to the cooked pasta.  The sauce was not heavy and I used less butter and cream cheese than what usual recipes would call for.

Sauce cooking on the stove.

Pasta draining in the colander.

Ready to serve.

Cook 3 cups of dry pasta according to the directions on the pasta packaging.  Drain.

Alfredo Sauce with Cream Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp butter

3 - 4 tbsp cream cheese (light)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 cup milk

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat.  Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth.  Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps.  Stir in Parmesan and pepper.  Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency.  Sauce will thicken and you can thin it with milk if it becomes too thick.  Toss with hot pasta to serve.

Modified from allrecipes.com

ORANGE CHICKEN-SLOW COOKER

I wanted to test my new slow cooker which is about half the size of one I bought several years ago.  I made this recipe using four kinds of vegetables.  You could substitute or add other vegetables including green beans, carrots or an oriental frozen vegetable mixture.  Instead of using chicken, you could use beef.  I added more chicken broth than needed and I did adjust the recipe to reduce the amount required.  To thicken the liquid, I added some corn starch mixed with water to the slow cooker at the end.  To brighten the dish you may want to use a red or green pepper.  I used a yellow pepper.  I served the chicken with rice.  Both the DH and I enjoyed this dish.

Just dished from the slow cooker.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 coloured pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
3 large chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce or soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp orange marmalade
1/4 tsp orange extract
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Splenda
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp gry ground ginger
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Place the vegetables on the bottom of your slow cooker.  Add the chicken.  In a bowl or large glass measuring cup combine the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.  Pour the mixture over the chicken and vegetables.  Set the slower cooker to low and cook for 5 hours.   Serves 4.

You can serve this over rice, pasta, quinoa or couscous.

Adapted/modified from '200 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes' by Dana Carpender

VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP

In my previous post I wrote about the pressure cooker/slow cooker that I bought.  After using the pressure cooker to cook 1.5 cups of dry mixed beans, I then made a vegetable bean soup.  Dry beans when cooked, double in volume.  The soup turned out great and both the DH and I enjoyed it.  Using the pressure cooker was a much quicker method to make the soup and I didn't feel that the taste was compromised.  You can also add different vegetables than the ones I have included here.  For example,  instead of using fresh potatoes, I used leftover mashed potatoes.

All of the ingredients have been added and new ready to cook.

I am going to sample the soup.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large carrots, chopped
1 large handful of fresh green beans, chopped
1 large potato, scrubbed or pealed, chopped finely
1 - 15 ounce canned tomatoes or 6 frozen or fresh tomatoes
1 tbsp chicken bouillon flavouring
6 to 8 cups water
3 cups of cooked beans
1 to 2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried thyme

DIRECTIONS:

Using a pressure cooker

Add the oil to the cooking pot and saute the onion, garlic and celery for 7 minutes.  Add the carrots and cook for another minute.   Turn the saute option off.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the cooking pot and combine.  Set the machine up to cook as a pressure cooker and set the timer for 15 minutes.  If you don't have a saute option with your machine, you can saute the vegetables in a separate pan before adding them to the pressure cooker pot.  You can add salt and pepper to taste after the cooking is done.

Using a soup pot

Heat the oil on medium high heat and saute the onion, garlic, celery for 7 minutes on medium low heat. Add the carrots and cook for another minute.  Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 75 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 6 to 8.

PRESSURE COOKER/SLOW COOKER COMBO

Who would have ever thought?  Combining a pressure cooker and a slow cooker and creating one pot with different cooking systems.  Furthermore, it is electric instead of a stove top model.  Besides being a pressure cooker and a slow cooker, you can also saute vegetables or meat before using the pressure cooker or slow cooker options.  To test out my new gadget, I decided to first cook beans.  After cooking the beans, I would use them to make a bean vegetable soup.  The recipe will follow in my next posting.   The beans turned out fine.  I first soaked them overnight before pressure cooking them in the morning.   I set the timer for 27 minutes and the challenge was that the bean mixture included nine different beans which were not all equal in size.  Some beans were over soft and other beans needed an extra minute or two of cooking.  I knew that cooking them in the soup would finish the cooking time.

Growing up my mom used a pressure cooker for a number of things including cooking beans and roasts.  When I asked some of my friends if their moms used pressure cookers when they were growing up at home, they responded yes.  They were all stove top models, heavy to lift and didn't have the fancy   extras that today's models have including timers.

The other advantage of this new gadget is that the slow cooker is a smaller one than the one I have.   The stand alone slow cooker that I have is in some ways too big for most meals.  I am looking forward to trying out new recipes for fast and slow cooking.

The box with all of the descriptions. 

What the gadget looks like. 

ROAST BEEF + YORKSHIRE PUDDING

It has been many years since I have made yorkshire pudding with roast beef.  Having friends in over the holidays prompted me to make this instead of cooking a turkey.  I also decided to review some of my 'bible' cookbooks to review cooking a roast and see if I needed to alter the gravy recipe.  I am more use to making turkey gravy than beef gravy.

I did learn or relearn a few things in reviewing the cookbooks.  For example, cooking a roast at 325 degrees F is okay.  You don't need to cook it at 350 degrees F.  The fat layer on the one side of the roast should be facing up when placing the roast in the roasting pan.  I have sometimes place the fat layer on the bottom of the pan when putting the roast into the pan in the past.  It pays to use a meat thermometer to know when the roast is ready, particularly if you are wanting to cook it to a medium level.  Letting the roast sit for 15 minutes, when taken out of the oven, and covered with tin foil, does make a difference.  After that you can carve it.  The heat from the inside of the roast does move to the outside and the juices get sealed in the roast.  The roast was cut from the sirloin and it was one of the best roasts I have made according to DH.  Of course I did use all of the tips I learned from reading the 'bible' cookbooks.  The yorkshire pudding turned out amazingly well and many compliments were made on the taste and texture.   The gravy turned out fine and went well with the meat, yorkshire pudding and mashed potatoes.

The DH carved the roast.

Gravy being made.

Yorkshire pudding in the basket.   

Yorkshire Pudding

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium size mixing bowl, add the flour, salt and pepper.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the milk.  Mix well.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.   If you are finished cooking the roast, add some of the fat drippings to a 12 cup muffin tins.  If you don't have drippings you can add a little bit of olive or canola oil to each cup.  Place in the oven and let the drippings or oil heat until it is smoking.  While the muffin tins is in the oven,  add the egg mixture to the flour.  Combine the batter well.

Add the batter to the muffin tins and fill each tin about half full.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.   Makes 12 individual puddings.

If you want a more savoury flavour, you can add dried herbs to the flour before you add the eggs.

CHICKEN WINGS

I prefer to make my own marinated chicken wings versus buying them already prepared and frozen from the grocery store.  It does require planning ahead to have both the ingredients on hand and making them in advance of supper so that they have the time to marinate.  If the batch marinating is really more than what you need for supper and leftovers, you can freeze the uncooked marinated chicken wings in the zip lock bag for future use.  I baked the chicken in the oven but you can also grill them on the bbq.   The package of meat that I bought included both wings and drumettes.  I like the combination of these two.  

Wings and drumettes marinating in a zip lock bag.

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/2 - 3 lb chicken wings and drumettes                 

salt and pepper

1-1/4 cups ketchup

1/2 cup (125 ml) chicken broth

2 shallots, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup white wine or white wine vinegar or rice vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1-2 tbsp BBQ sauce or Heinz 57

4 tbsp honey or brown sugar

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or a couple of dashes Tabasco sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a large zip lock bag and marinate the chicken wings/drumettes for approximately 3 hours in the refrigerator.   If you have the time, flip the bag over every hour or so.  Remove the wings/drumettes and gently shake off any excess sauce.

Grill the chicken on the barbecue for approximately 10 minutes on each side.  You can also bake them in the oven at 400 degrees F for approximately 15 to 20 minutes on each side.

Adapted/modified from www.grouprecipes.com

MUD AND SHOES

I am amazed at times what my seven year old yellow lab will get into or do.  He is a happy go lucky guy, always smiling and up for adventures.  Late summer we took him for a walk along a creek system close to our house.  You can always count on Shane to find goose poop, mud or dead critters.  On this excursion he found mud.  He trotted into a dry mud bed that had bull rushes and I am sure had a lot of good smells.  When he bounded out of that dry mud med and we saw his legs and feet, we knew that some bathing was going to happen.  The following pictures show the before and after results.

Prior to washing his feet and legs. 

Soap and water.

The end result = clean legs and feet.

I never leave shoes lying around the house as Shane can't be trusted to leave then alone.  The most recent shoe sampling occurred by accident.  One of the cats got into the coat closet that also has shoes. The door was left slightly ajar and the DH forgot about closing the door after the cat wandered out of the closet.  Voila, the dog decided to sample one of my shoes.  These were not new shoes nor inexpensive and I was still wearing them on a frequent basis.  I know that Shane will continue to have a shoe fetish for as long as he lives.  We do have several things in common - we both LOVE shoes.

For all of the things he can get into, he is a beloved dog, always happy to see us, loyal and always ready for doing things and being involved.  This past fall Shane had a health issue.  He has glaucoma which we didn't know beforehand and within two months of being diagnosed, he had to have his eye removed.  We got it diagnosed early but the medication did not slow down the damages that glaucoma creates.  He is doing really well and the removal of his eye was harder on us than him.