Grrrrrr!!!

Sunday I wrote about Frito Salad, Hay Stacks to some.  Just wanted to read it over in the morning before posting.  Monday it was gone. . .  who knows where?? Cyber limbo.  So here is the short version:

We moved from Michigan to Ohio when I was 12. It was a big change, especially school.  Changing from a eight-grade one-room school to one that was not only much larger, but needing to change classrooms for each class was confusing and overwhelming.  On the plus side, my comute to school went from more than an hour to about 20 minutes.  It didn't take very long to make friends because we saw each other six days a week. Our parents worked at the same hospital and we all attended the same church.  The best thing, though, was that on Saturday nights there were other kids to hang around with.  We seventh graders could make  Chef Boyarde pizza in a box. It was deciding whose kitchen that was the hardest. It didn't taste as good as pizza we make now, but it was fun making it together.    

            

Another food that I ate for the first time was Frito Salad.  Open and heat a can of refried beans, a package of grated cheese, jar of salsa, sour cream, Fritos and shredded lettuce. What could be easier?   Frito Salad is great pot luck meal, too. Everyone brings one layer. I worked with a Mexican nurse's aid at a hospital in California. She made the best refried beans I have ever had in my life.  I still swoon!  I don't know what she put in them, and we couldn't get her to bring them very often.

Somehow Frito Salad became our traditional Colts football meal.  We've added a few more layers over the years. Mr. C likes his mom's pickle relish, I like ranch dressing and guacamole. We weren't sure if we would be having Frito Salad  this next weekend. The Colts and Titans were tied until the last 3 seconds. Gotta love Vinatieri!   Crossing my fingers for the next game and more Frito Salad.   

Starting 2011 with a clean slate

Wouldn't it be nice to tie up everything at the end of the year? Not have projects spill over into the new year? Clean house. Clean laundry. Ironing and mending done. Clean cars. Clean refrigerator. Really clean refrigerator. I mean no left overs, nothing to use up. Can I name every bottle of open condiment in the fridge? Nope.  Gone are all the lemons bought for  humus, but had a change in plan. That little dab of tomato paste. Leaf lettuce that was buried in the vegetable bin.

New Year's Eve conjures up thoughts of party food. Little nibbley bits of sweet and savory treats.  Chocolate and cheese.  This year we are sharing our son and daughter-in-law with lots of family.  Christmas with her mother, the last two days with our parents, overnight with her dad, and New Year's Day with her family.  They came up one evening this week to bring my car back from the trip to visit her mom. We enjoyed a nice evening catching up and opening Christmas stockings. I am so happy that our families get along. No fuss or squabbles about who hosts or who spends the most time where.  It's not that holidays don't matter.  It is the day that does not matter. What is important is the time we do spend together.  We are the luckiest of all the family because it is only a 30 minute drive between their house and ours. We are blessed to spend time with our dearest family every week and happy for them when they have time with everyone in the family.

As you may have guessed, we are on our own New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  Our friends are with family or are away.  No matter. The temperature is 50 degrees. It is so nice to be outside. The cars are washed. The garage is clean. The blueberry coffee cake from Christmas is eaten up. The laundry baskets are empty. The ironing is dwindling. . . I still have eight hours. We just got home from the park with Sweet Girl.









Lunch was a COR meal. Clean out the refrigerator as mom always said. Rice from the scallop dish. Savoy cabbage, carrots and red peppers from bibimbap, the last of the frozen Quorn Turkey roll, half a sweet potato, mushrooms, zucchini, onions, garlic, a little murin and soy sauce.  It just needed a spoon of hot pepper paste . . . and a glass of water.

Happy New Year to you all. May you leave all the bits and pieces of 2010 behind and start 2011 with a clean slate.

Wishing you all the best!

Cheers!

Korean Kalbi with Veggie Beef

A Korean recipe always catches my eye.   Our family is blessed with a Korean daughter-in-law.  Her family and friends have become our friends as well.  Sharing food is always at the heart of our gatherings.Bi bim  bap is one of our favorites.  I am learning to cook a few Korean dishes, but it is hard to get it just right.  The food turns out to be Korean dishes for an American palate.  One of the blogs I follow, Home Cooking in Montana,  blogged about Korean Kalbi. 

The blog post and recipe are here. 

Mr. C was raised in a vegetarian home, and ate meat substitutes rather than meat, fish or poultry.  My family ate meat, fish and poultry as well as the meat substitutes.  It was a health teaching of our church. Some families were more strict than ours. I became a vegetarian during college, more years ago than seem possible.  I don't feel that old. So, many recipes need to be adapted because gluten-based veggie meat doesn't absorb marinade. Just the opposite of tofu. Vegetable Steaks are a long-time favorite.

  

I've learned to incorporate flavors of the ingredients into the dish. It's not the same, but as close as we'll ever get.  The marinade sounded so good I used the ingredients to made a sauce for the seared veggie steaks and broccoli.  The sauce was a bit sweet and a little hot. Ooohhhhh, it was delicious. Definitely be making this again and often.

  

Savory Bread Pudding

I am enticed by all things British. Lush landscapes, perfect gardens, historic churches, little villages, narrow lanes, and manor houses. Of course we learned to love tea the first time we were in England.  The meals we had were wonderful. I don't understand why British food is panned. A quick supper Mr. C  loves is Beans on Toast.  I always keep a can of Heinz Vegetarian Beans in the cupboard for when I need a quick 5 minute meal.  The U.S. version. The British version of doesn't have enough vinegar to suit.


One dish I have never tasted is Bread Pudding.  It is a concoction of eggs, dry bread, cream, and most often made with fruit, vanilla and sugar. The bread that need using up was a few slices of frozen round herb bread. I am an adventuresome eater, but sage and thyme wouldn't make a very palatable bread pudding.  I found this recipe for Savory Bread Pudding with Mushrooms and Parmesan Cheese and adapted it for our Saturday afternoon meal.

Savory Bread Pudding

3-4 slices of crusty herb bread, cubed
a little olive oil for toasting
 
2 Tbs. butter
4 ounces fresh mini bella mushrooms, diced
4-6 Tbs. onion, finely chopped
4-6 Tbs.  celery, sliced
4 slices Morningstar breakfast strips, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely diced
freshly ground sea salt and pepper

1 1/4-1/2 cupa 1% organic milk
1/2 cup powdered skim milk
3 large eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
Cayenne pepper to taste
1/3 cup asiago cheese finely grated

Cut bread into small cubes.  Heat olive oil in wok. 

Put bread cubes in the wok and toss to coat with oil.  

Heat and toss until bread is toasted on several sides.

Prepare vegetables and breakfast strips.

Melt butter in skillet.

Saute mushrooms, onion, celery and breakfast strips in butter until soft.  

Add finely diced garlic to warm. 

Toss vegetables with toasted bread.  

Place in an oiled dish.

Mix together milk, eggs and salt. Add cayenne pepper to taste. 

Pour over bread-vegetable mixture covering most of the bread. 

Top with grated Asiago cheese.

I baked this at 350 about 15 minutes,  

turned down the temperature to 300 . . .

and went for a walk with Sweet Girl and Mr. C.  

The bread pudding baked about an hour total.  

It would normally bake at one temperature for about 45 minutes. 

Mr. C likes toasty food, 

but I would prefer a thicker layer of pudding baked a smaller dish. 

Sweet Girl was ready to eat too.

Dinner Inspired by Cuban Beans and Rice

 Our usual Sunday Colt's football lunch is frito salad, at least that is what I grew up in the mid-west calling it. In California it is called hay stacks. Friday Gena posted a recipe for Cuban Beans and Will's Mexican Rice on her blog A Bluebonet in Beantown. It looks scrumptious. I have not had the time to try it until today. Well, sort of. Not being much of a plan ahead kind of cook, I didn't have any black beans or enough tomatoes. I can't leave a recipe alone anyway. Sorry, I don't measure spices. It works better for me to add by taste.  Here is how I made it into a ond dish meal.

Start the rice.  

Wash 1-1/2 cups short grain rice until water is clear. 

Puree 1/2 large can organic diced tomatoes. (They were in the fridge.)

Add cumin, hot chili powder, bay leaf, pepper
and powdered veggie chicken broth (McKays) to taste.

Put all of the ingredients in the rice cooker. Add water to 2 cup line.

Push start.

While the rice is cooking, 

Chop 1/4 orange pepper (that's all I had), 1 celery stalk, 1/4 cup onion.

Slowly saute in olive oil. 

While the veggies are sautéing,
crumble 3 Morning Star Farms breakfast sausages.
(Thaw in warm water first.)

Finely chop garlic to your taste. I used 5 small cloves.

Add to skillet to warm just before other veggies are soft.

Season to taste with  chicken powder, salt, pepper.

Rinse and drain 1 small can of beans.
The Cuban Beans recipe specified black beans. 

I used pinto beans. Add beans to the sautéed veggies and 

cook until they just begin to brown. It gives the beans a nutty character.
Don't over brown or the beans will be tough.

Oops, for got the carrot. Run get 2 small carrots. 

Peel and shred. Add to the bean mixture. Cook until carrot is slightly soft.

The rice is simmering.

Add to the beans and vegetables, and a handfull of crushed oregano to the rice cooker. 

The mixture was a little too dry. I added about 1/2 cup of water.

The rice was nearly done.
The beans and veggies just needed to warm and flavors to meld.

I am terrible at cleaning as I go.
There's just enough time to tidy up,
grate the cheese, set the table, and get the drink
before the rice and beans are ready.

The rice and beans are ready!

Garnished with colby cheese, sour cream and cayenne pepper.

Thanks, Gena, for the inspiration. 

If I was changing my recipe adaptation, I'd add more tomatoes.

 Mr. C prefers it just the way it is. 

This would serve 2 big eaters or 3 smaller portions.

There is enough left for a side dish for tonight's supper.

I can't wait!