sat. jan 15, 2011

Get This...... Greens in a jalapeno broth
start with 4 cups filtered water in a 4 quart pan. (later we may want to add 2 cups broth "Imagine organic broth"
organic onion greens i get very large Onion greens, not scallions it's the greens that grow off the onion bulb) chopped in 2 inch pieces, 6 young Collard Green leaves chopped, 1 young jalapeno pepper chopped fine, 4 cloves garlic cut in pieces.
i had stuff from the freezer/fridge: small amount of cubed organic beef for base of broth, but anything works. threw in celery, 1/4 of a white onion, 1/2 of an heirloom tomato leftover from last week, 3 peeled carrots cut, 3 peeled potatoes cut, salt. i swear this was the best soup.
a water based spicy broth with tons of greens chopped up with potatoes and carrots and other stuff. real "brothy". we slurpped it up.
if you want a recipe...... make one. Try less amounts since i froze a good half of mine. just use the concept. A bunch of dark greens, tough ones,,,,,, that's why collard greens work well. I like the large onion greens, look for them at local farmer's markets, they last long, i can say a lot about how good these onions and the greens are other than just a lot of flavor. Go foraging around for cooking greens and make something like this as it was delicious and spicy, a healing feeling .
enough for now.............

C Ya

good nite!!

potatoes: sweet/org. red potato blend with Kumquat citrus

ok, so there's a tree that grows on a small side street that takes me from home to the P.O. and...... There is a lovely kumquat tree and i pick them. no one else does. so i take a dozen and wash them, put them in a fun vessel, and once in a while use them. I will grab one and eat it, cut in half and place in my hot tea, and tonight i am making:

TURKEY BURGERS, SWEET/RED POTATOES WITH KUMQUAT ZEST, COOKED FROZEN SPINACH.

I BOILED ONE THANKSGIVING SWEET POTATO I FOUND AND CUT OUT BAD PARTS AND QUARTERED And CUT AGAIN. I HAD THOSE LOVELY SUPER CRISPY RED ORG. POTATOES, (2 SM.). Placed in filtered salted water and bring to boil, then turn off heat and let sit. Then about 1/4 teaspn rosemary (dried from fresh at home) any kind is good though. then when ready you'll strain, a dab of butter, drizzle of olive oil, and zest some kumquat skin (nice and sweet) and the juice (very sour).. how awesome, Optional: add some cinnamon and/or cayenne, amounts (simple tap and add tap at a time per taste).

TURKEY BURGERS FROM WHOLE FOODS
just oil an all clad pan, heat and put the feta/spinach turkey burgers, (they use dark meat, white meat is a lot more expensive) try to brown a lot before turning and put a lit on it to add moisture when needed.

FROZEN SPINACH
well, need the greens and they are in the freezer so i should use them NOW. Dali Museum is on T.V right now, it is amazing and his ultimate revenge to the art world as dennis says. the new caster is wearing a fake moustache. ok.
so i put a couple tablespoons of water in my frozen spinach in a big bag in a glass pot with a lid and put in microwave for
1 minute.
re-visit and break up last of the frozen and mix with defrosted and toss it around, microwave another 1 minute.
now when you get back to it , drain the spinach. keep water if you want to build a STOCK. put back in pot and add a dab of butter, drizzle olive oil, salt and cayenne amounts to be kept at a minimum. gentle.

Now we have our food in our 3 pots/pans and now we can do something else, dinner is ready. I am writing in my blog before eating, so i guess i have faith it's gonna be really good. if not .....
so enjoy the winter weather....
write me if anyone is out there....

Oatmeal made to the max!

i make oatmeal generally once a week and today's was the best. Yes it is grey and rainy outside, which makes oatmeal taste the best..... but this cereal will hold you over for quite a long time and super good for your body

2 cups filtered water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup organic rolled oats
handful of walnuts pieces (amounts are optional)
handfull of sunflower/pumpkin seed blend
handful of dried cranberries
handful of currants
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup ground Flax seeds

Bring salted water to a boil, place all ingredients in pot and bring back to boil.Turn off heat. Cover and let sit. When done, stir well while adding honey and cinnamon. Add rice or soy or any other sort of milk if you want. eat. This recipe is enough for 2 people including leftovers for next day. In other words: this recipe serves 4. Prep time about 5 - 10 minutes, cook time about 15 minutes
Also, you can use any sort of nuts or dried fruit like apricots. Fresh apples finely chopped is another great ingredient. Frozen blueberries or fresh berries. The options are endless so HAPPY OATMEAL COOKING.

Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

THANKSGIVING SWEET POTATOES FOR for 8 - 10 potatoes Use only really good red garnet yams if possible
Use a large pot. Place water in pot as early as possible to let chlorine etc evaporate or use filtered water.
Cut 10 organic garnet yams in large pieces, maybe thirds. Let water cover yams, but not more than that.
I prefer to peel off skin after cooked. Bring salted water to boil and place potatoes in that. Bring to another boil and let simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit until tender. They also will slightly cool down. When completely tender, drain out water and remove skins (keep them if you want but for Thanksgiving, I prefer to remove for the whipped style).
Whip potatoes (use potato masher and then by hand with wood spoon or a batter mixer):
add:

½ stick organic butter (I only use unsalted at all times )
juice of ½ lemon squeeze by hand (keep pulp in) save rind
juice of ½ orange (same as above) save rind
1 - 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (according to your personal taste) you can always add more when you taste the batch
grated whole fresh nutmeg (¼ of a nut)1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg is so fragrant, i don't use any other form of nutmeg
¼ cup brown sugar
1 T grated orange rind (and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest is optional)
1/2 cup whole Pecans (approximate amount)

taste when all ingredients are added and correct to taste...

place in a serving/baking dish, so you can bake and travel and serve in the same dish. Ceramic/glass casserole dish

TOP WITH WHOLE PECANS, ARRANGED IN ANY DESIGN YOU LIKE.

Bake in oven conventional oven 350 degrees for 20 min to 1/2 hour to let the spices and juices blend (confection oven 325)


Whole Foods was selling gourmet square marsh mellows that I could not resist so I topped the dish with all of these and pecans in between the marshmallows. This was so yummy and huge. Probably enough for more than 14 people

if you should chose to use marshmallows, there's a little problem. when this dish gets to it's destination, will you want to reheat? if you plan to re-heat, don't put marsh mellows on until then. otherwise put them on when you bake them.

i

Oatmeal nut butter cookies

Nut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (Photos below by H.D. Hasselbarth)

1/2 stick butter, room temp
1 smashed banana
1 cup pecan or walnut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 + 1/4 cup rolled oates
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts and pecans combined (more if you like) chopped

1. Beat together butter and banana. Add your pecan, walnut, and/or peanut butter. (Try to use organic/natural nut butters. I used Pecan butter.)

2. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until well combined.

3. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Beat in flour. Stir in oats, cranberries and nuts.

4. turn oven on 375 degrees.

5. Drop batter by teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

6. Remove to wire racks to cool

tues night (after colonoscopy) dinner

well, I survived my first colonoscopy and now it is done and it went well. a polyp was removed but i should be fine. i did eat a little on way home but now i am ready to cook dinner. 2 days without food is more than i am used to. believe it .... i actually prepared some food for my wonderful husband and didn't even lick my fingers. I was a very good girl. I have such wonderful organic fresh veggies from shopping at the organic stands on Sat. mornings at Sarasota's Farmer's Market, particularly Peter Burkhart and Worden Farms both Organic stands that will spoil you for life............


4 small,crisp, organic red potatoes cut in quarters and placed in filtered salted water in covered pot. bring to boil then let sit.
1 delicato squash cut in quarters, seeded (place in yard to grow your own) in microwave for 4 minutes then let steam and sit
1 large heirloom tomato with one beautiful green scallion we got over the weekend (remember?) with crumbled bleu cheese and our dressing set out to warm down from the fridge, and fresh ground tri color pepper and fresh basil chopped
i am also going to make a small burger from grass fed beef i got at whole foods. yes i eat red meat. but you don't have to, either way this will be a great meal with or without the beef.
I am only putting in the spicy rock salt (my sister Jane gave me) and fresh oregano tiny leaves(from my potted plant) in the meat. then grill on my stove top grill pan. Option would be a good salt and cayenne and oregano. proportions are up to you.
when you are ready to eat and burgers and squash is done, get your masher and smash potatoes and add a bit of black pepper, salt and olive oil. cayenne and fresh herbs are an option, it's a mood thing. i am making it simple tonight just evoo and salt and pepper and easy on all of it.

My husband dennis is out at Home Depot to by big huge bolts to mount a big public sculpture at a prime location in 5 Points Park downtown Sarasota for the "Intersections" exhibit. He went out at 5:30 and it's time for me to eat but i will wait. He is working hard and we are proud of his project. Pretty soon there will be a web site to view his installation but until then check out his website: www.denniskowal.com
OH! i learned to play "Teenager In Love" on the Ukulele and am practicing every day. I now know 4 chords.... it's fun.
have a good night and sweet dreams.....

chicken soul soup

It is a cool saturday morning Nov 6, 2010. The temperature is 50 degrees which is a welcome change for us in Florida. I decided to make a chicken soup with all the goodies i have from our local farmer's market and my organic chicken in the freezer. Here's what i have to work with:

one whole chicken (Whole Foods)
12 cups filtered water
fresh organic dill (1 large batch approx 1/2 cup chopped more is ok too)
3 - 4 organic turnips and greens
3 - 4 carrots peeled
1 white or yellow onion, greens of scallions
(i have no celery and it'll be the first time i have made chicken soup with out it but that isn't going to stop me from making it.)
by the way all my veggies are organic! the recipe serves about 8 people, or freeze half and eat for a couple days.

place the whole chicken in water with 1T rock salt turn on high heat. (my chick. was still frozen and it works fine)
cut a large onion in medium pieces and put in water. At the farmers market, I bought a huge batch of green onions with really long greens. I cut some of the greens off and then in 3'' long pieces and threw it in the pot. It's looking very pretty .
Next peel your carrots(3 - 4) and cut in large pieces keep them round, and 2" long.
Now the turnips... cut the greens off and save. clip off tips of turnip, don't peel, cut in half then quartered, and once again, so long as the pieces stay big. veggies won't be too soft and overcooked when soup is done.
Cut entire batch of dill in large bunches and throw in pot and cover. Keep on a low heat. Keep pot covered at all times.
Now it's time for my Ukulele lesson.
I am back an hour later.
Turned the very low flame off. I want to remove as much skin off the chicken as possible, which i do with a pair of stainless tongs, fork and knife. i just manage to do it while the process also separates some of the chicken parts, like the legs. throw the skin away. (this step is definitely optional)
Taste broth and add salt and/or pepper if you want. I also like some ceyenne or red pepper flakes. It's up to you.
Wash your turnip greens well. there's sand in them. Take the entire batch and cut in one inch strips and drop into soup.
Turn heat on again, bring to simmer for 5-10 minutes and turn off and let sit. you'll know when chicken is done when it falls apart easily which is what we want.
i just tasted the turnip and it's yummy. We started at 10:30 am and it's done at 1:00.