Lest you think that I have run out of ideas for this blog (since this is a re-run), let me just say that at the moment I’m writing this, I have about 12 posts ready in the queue, poised in waiting for me to press the button called “publish.”  It’s just that this old recipe, which I posted in March of 2008, but have been making since the late 70’s sounded so “right” for dinner the other night. And it was. And it just reinforced how much I love this salad! But I updated it some.

My hubby went grocery shopping for me to buy the things I didn’t have on hand (cabbage, Top Ramen, iceberg lettuce). But since I’m always thinking about ways to update my old recipes, I decided to add two other ingredients to this salad – sugar snap peas, and some fresh corn that I would cut off the cob. Otherwise, the recipe is true to its original. I’m sure no self-respecting Chinese would sully the original salad with something like sugar snaps or corn, but they sounded good to me, so I just DID it.

If you want to go to my original post about it, you can read how I first tasted Chinese Chicken Salad at Ming’s in Palo Alto (in about 1978), and was blown away by fresh cilantro (not available then in regular grocery stores).

If you have some left over chicken pieces, have a hankering for a cool, refreshing salad, well, try this. The dressing is sweet and tart, enhanced with toasted sesame oil.

What I liked: everything about it – the textures, the sweet and sour dressing, even the little crunchy Top Ramen noodles that get crushed in the salad.

What I didn’t like: nothing! This is a favorite salad.

printer friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import

Tweet

When I begin writing “October” on checks or notes, I know Fall is almost here. In Southern California Fall doesn’t always arrive until it’s creeping into November. We’ve had an extremely hot summer, so I’m thinking maybe Fall will come a little earlier. As I’m typing this (a week or so ago) the weather has been blissfully cooler. So cool that this morning when I woke up at 4:30 am and couldn’t sleep, I put on my robe and tip-toed downstairs. Once I’m down, I could probably move furniture and Dave wouldn’t hear it. The TV doesn’t wake him. Anyway, I made my first pot of tea and just savored every sip. I opened up our patio door and in came to much cooler air. It really did feel like Fall. I loved it.

The next morning I was expecting friends to come play Scrabble (we play once a month, usually) and we meet at 9, so I need to serve something that’s not breakfast, but not lunch, either. We decided we weren’t going to “do” lunch with this group – just coffee and tea, fresh fruit and some other something to nibble on. Like nuts, banana bread, or Mimi’s Buttermilk Spice Muffins. But I’ve made those before. Aha, and the light bulb went off – it’s October. Time for pumpkin. I’ve made Harvest Pumpkin Scones before. Those were a recipe from King Arthur Flour. This time I thought I’d try a different one and looked in all 3 of my pumpkin cookbooks. I chose one from a 40-50 page booklet I bought some years ago at the grocery store called Libby’s Pumpkin Recipes.

These did require 2 bowls to mix (one for dry ingredients, one for wet), and a variety of measuring cup sizes, spoons, spatulas, and I had to plump-up the raisins. They were a little over the hill. I’ve learned, over the years of making umpteen varieties of scones, that an easy touch is the best when it comes to scones. The less you handle them the better. And leaving visible specks of butter makes for a more flaky biscuit. But other than that, these were very easy to mix up, cut and bake. I liked the golden raisins in them. I might even add some walnuts or pecans next time.

What I liked: everything about them – the golden raisins added a bit of texture – I liked the spices (I added more than the recipe indicated) and the moist biscuit-like chew to them. If you don’t serve them immediately, I’d recommend freezing them and just defrost them for 15 minutes or so before serving. You could also reheat them very gently in a low oven and for no more than about 10 minutes.

What I didn’t like: nothing whatsoever. Very delicious in every way.

printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import

Tweet

That, right there, is savory pumpkin deliciousness. A pumpkin cheese ball. You can’t exactly tell what’s inside – it’s mostly cream cheese, with some flavorings and a bit of pumpkin puree. And it’s a bright light pumpkin color. I should have taken a photo of what it looks like inside. Next time. It’s formed into a ball and rolled in chopped pecans. Made a lovely appetizer.

There’s almost nothing I like more at this time of year than pumpkin things. Oh, well, maybe I should also say I like vests, sweaters, blue jeans, fuzzy shirts, sweat shirts even. Warm shoes. And socks. But in the food realm, it’s all about pumpkin. My favorite is pumpkin pie. Hands down favorite. I inherited this craving/disability from my father who was a pumpkin pie lover from way back. Our son also has this bug – this pumpkin pie sickness, if you can call it that. His favorite thing is pumpkin pie the morning after Thanksgiving. I’ve been known to go down that road myself, but not every year. I try real hard to resist. When our son was a strapping teenager and even into his 20s he begged me to provide him with an entire pie just for him. His. Alone. And I did. Year after year. Once his sister Sara was old enough to bake them, she made an extra pie just for him. Every Thanksgiving we tease him about it and he just grins, hoping somebody will place an entire pie into his open hands. With Costco making such wonderful ones, most of us in our family don’t bake pumpkin pies anymore. Last year I wrote up a whole post about Costco’s pumpkin pies – about the statistics – how many they sell, how they’re made. It was very interesting. Click HERE if you’d like to read about it.

So, my first venture into pumpkin-land this year was this appetizer. (I also made pumpkin scones, which I’ll share in a few days). I scoured my pumpkin cookbooks and found this recipe in an old Libby’s (pumpkin) cookbook I purchased at the grocery store some years ago. Who would know better about pumpkin recipes than Libby?

It was cinchy easy to make – softened cream cheese is mixed up (in a bowl, or I did it in the food processor) with a small amount (really) of pumpkin, some cheddar cheese, garlic, Worcestershire, curry powder (just a little bit) and lemon juice. Once mixed, I chilled it for about 2 hours. If you don’t, the mixture is just too soft and gooey to form into a ball. What I did was put plastic wrap into a ramekin, scraped the cheese mixture into it and folded the edges up. It chilled overnight. When I removed the plastic wrap it was pretty easy to mold it into a more-round shape and dip it into the chopped pecans. Use plain crackers (those in the photo are Trader Joe’s pita chip crackers – one of my favorites). The cheese ball flavors are slightly on the delicate side so don’t overwhelm it with a flavored cracker.

What I liked: how easy it was to make; the smooth flavor and the hint of curry. Next time I might add a small  garlic clove – the garlic was fairly pungent in this.
What I didn’t like: nothing, really. The cheese is a little hard to handle (gooey) but hey, that’s minor.

printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, them File|Import

Tweet

What IS it about hummus that everyone loves so much? What is it for you? The fact that it’s a more healthy appetizer?  It’s meatless?  It’s easy? Or just because it’s so tasty? How about all of those things?

This hummus does NOT contain tahini.

For many years I just bought ready made hummus – seems like every grocery store has fresh hummus on their refrigerator shelves. Some I’ve had have been really good. But then, some others I’ve had have been downright awful. I’ve concluded a few things – true hummus contains tahini (sesame seed paste). It’s not on every grocery store shelf. There are lots of brands of tahini out there – just do a search for tahini images and you’ll see what I mean. This one shown at right is the one in my refrigerator at the moment. The companies that produce hummus don’t always put very much tahini in the hummus. Why? Because it’s expensive. So the less they can add, the cheaper the product. Cheaper = more sales, they think. Cheaper may also mean a less tasty product. That’s my analysis, anyway. The other thing is the oil – hummus needs just the right amount of oil added. And not cheap vegetable oil, but olive oil. Not expensive extra virgin necessarily, but good, tasty oil. Food producers probably don’t do that either – good olive oil is expensive too. So they use an inferior product and add less of it. They allow the garbanzo beans to be the glue. There is one brand I will buy, though – Sabra. Not every grocery store carries it. Theirs is good – and they sell it in a few different flavors. When I’m in a hurry, with no time to cook, that’s the brand I search for.

And then, about 15 or more years ago I attended a cooking class where the instructor made her own hummus. It’s a recipe I’ve used over, and over, and over again. It’s a particularly delicious appetizer served the way it is – Layered Hummus and Eggplant. It’s on my Fav’s list, in case you haven’t read it before now. Sometimes I just plain CRAVE this dish. I could eat it as dinner, it’s so gosh-darned good. But the hummus, which is the bottom layer of that appetizer, is my go-to hummus recipe. I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve made it. But I must have tahini to do it. Fortunately, tahini keeps in the refrigerator for a long time. This recipe below doesn’t require hummus.

Well, so now we’re back to this recipe. Cooks around the world, I suppose, have begun to be inventive with hummus – not just additions like garlic or parsley – but adding other totally different ingredients – like spinach. If you use greens in hummus, you probably don’t need the tahini. This recipe doesn’t need the tahini at all – the spinach adds lots of flavor and the tahini would overpower the spinach.

This appetizer/dip is SO easy to make – the spices do have to be roasted in a dry skillet, but that takes just minutes. The rest is combined in the food processor and it’s done. Zip. Quick. If you buy already baked or toasted pita chips, you’ll have this appetizer ready in a flash. I don’t generally have baby spinach in my frig, though, so this recipe will require planning ahead. Here, I served it with sangak bread, which is just delish for hummus.

In case you aren’t familiar with garam masala, it’s an Indian spice mixture. Most grocery stores now carry it – well, they do here in California anyway. You can make your own – here’s a link to a garam masala recipe. I have a friend who gives me garam masala – her aunt brings it from India whenever she visits, or any member of the family. Every Indian cook has her own favorite recipe for it. If you have a good-sized spice pantry, you likely have all the needed ingredients already – it’s just a matter of combining them.

What I liked: everything about it. Easy. Tasty. Healthy.

What I didn’t like: absolutely nothing!

printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import

Tweet

Sorry the photo isn’t better – I brightened it up as much as I could. It’s orzo. And corn, and dark greens, loaded with flavor – I mean LOADED. Yes, it has cream in it too. No wonder it’s so good!

Someone asked me just this week why, if I’ve cooked for so many years, do I still go to cooking classes. Surely (they thought) I would know everything there was to know about cooking anything. Perhaps I do know a lot about technique (but not as much as a professional chef, someone who’s gone to culinary school – I’m just a good home cook). But I never tire of finding new ways to cook things. Not methods, but food combos. Like this one – corn added in, plus the greens. I wouldn’t have thought to add cream to orzo, either. But why not? So I go to classes (usually with my dear friend Cherrie who also loves to cook like I do) to learn something new. And we always – always – learn something. I can count on one hand the number of classes I’ve been to over the years where I didn’t want to cook at least one of the items demonstrated. Just recently we went to a class and I knew I’d never make a single one of the dishes. That set of recipes went into the trash. But that’s very, very rare.

All that said, let’s get to this recipe, which was a real winner. It was a Tarla Fallgatter class, and we met in the home of a lovely friend who lives in Laguna Beach and has about a 210° hilltop view of the Pacific Ocean. It was a gorgeous day, but the ambient light in her stone-lined Tuscan-style kitchen was not the best for taking close-up food photos! I’ll be making this orzo one of these days, so I’ll take a better picture.

If you glance at the ingredient list below you’ll see “Mediterranean” herbs. Tarla called for “Mediterranean Spices” which she buys (labeled as such) at a local ethnic market. It’s sold in a little tiny box (about 1 inch square) and she uses it up within a month or so and buys more. She’s buying most of her herbs and spices this way instead of the big jars that end up aging on our pantry shelves. I don’t actually know what is in that boxed combination, but I didn’t think this dish would work so well with the spices from Morocco, for instance (saffron, cumin, lemon, cinnamon) so I interpreted the combination as more Southern European (France, Italy, Spain), which meant herbs not spices. If all you have is thyme, that’s fine. Go easy on the rosemary since it’s so potent. Italian herb mixes would be fine with this too. It only calls for 2 teaspoons of it, anyway.

The fresh corn, cut off the cob, is tossed with the spices and roasted for about 10 minutes in the oven, then you cook the orzo as you would with any pasta, except barely under-done, and combine everything in a big sauté pan, adding the bitter greens along the way, and the cheese as the very last thing. This dish tastes much like risotto – but it’s pasta instead of rice. And yes, there is cream in it. You might be able to use less cream – next time I’d try using half a cup and using more chicken broth instead. It might be just fine!

What I liked: well, once I realized there was cream in it, what can I say? It’s delicious. Creamy for sure, but I loved the flavor combo with the corn, spinach and arugula. All things I love. The Parmesan cheese adds a lot of flavor too – there’s not all that much in it (just sufficient)!

What I didn’t like: gee, nothing. It was scrumptious. Tarla’s original recipe had called for kale, but when she’d served it, most people weren’t so crazy about the kale, so she changed the recipe to include spinach and arugula. Similar, but less chewy probably.

printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, them File|Import

Tweet

This is almost a soup. Yet it’s served kind of like a stew with rice. In either case, it’s a filling and very tasty way to use shellfish (especially the “Seafood Blend” at Trader Joe’s that combines all of those things in one convenient package).

At a cooking class a couple of weeks ago (all about fish) Phillis Carey fixed this delicious soup or stew or whatever you want to call it. I love these kinds of Thai-inspired saucy soups. It was easy to make and full of flavors I enjoy. If you happened to be in Trader Joe’s territory, do use their “Seafood Blend,” available in the freezer area (pictured at right). It’s just perfect for this! Phillis actually isn’t crazy about fish, so she likes to camouflage it with lots of other flavors (like sugar, Worcestershire, onions and oodles of coconut milk). Camouflaged or not, I like the flavors in this a lot. The shellfish is cooked only briefly (important), then combined with all the rest of the sauce ingredients, including the full-fat coconut milk. And do serve it over fragrant jasmine rice. Save a few of the herbs to sprinkle on top for garnish.

I didn’t have to thicken (reduce down) the sauce at all – it was sufficiently thick just from the flour that you toss the seafood mixture in before you add it to the pot. I didn’t use as much butter as her recipe called for, and I didn’t use as much brown sugar OR lime juice either. I started out with less (she suggested this might work) and didn’t think after tasting it that it needed more sugar (Phillis actually prefers a sweeter soup – she thinks it helps mask the fishy flavor). I’ve adjusted the recipe accordingly. I actually served it with brown jasmine rice, but after reading about all the arsenic in rice, I’ve thrown out the rest of the box and will use white rice in the future. Probably white jasmine – it’s wonderfully flavorful for this dish. Next time I’ll make it with low fat coconut milk – I really doubt it would make that much difference – Phillis said it would, but I may try it anyway.

What I liked: everything about it – maybe that it was easy to make! I served it to dinner guests and they both loved it. My hubby told me it was a real keeper. He doesn’t say that about very many recipes I make, so I take notice when he says it!

What I didn’t like: nothing at all!

printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import

Tweet

We were on our recent trip, and in a hotel where we had a TV. I’d flipped on Good Morning America, I think it was. And they explained in a very short blurb that rice contains arsenic. More than we’d ever thought. And more than we should be eating. That was about it. A week later, I mentioned it to my cousin Gary, who consumes a lot of rice and rice products (because he’s gluten intolerant). His jaw dropped. Really? he said. Yup, really, but I didn’t have much detail.

Once home I found what was probably the genesis of the news item – an article in Consumer Reports. It’s in the November 2012 issue which you can read here. I’ll give you a synopsis. And if you read nothing more than this: the scientists say we should not consume more than 2 portions of rice per week. A portion is 1/2 cup for an adult. Or 1 full cup a week. And that’s a combination of all rice products. The level of arsenic varies greatly by type and by brand. Inorganic arsenic is known as a carcinogen. Bad news. And particularly worrisome are rice-based baby cereals. They’re not the worst, but then infants don’t eat much quantity of any cereal. Down at the bottom of this post I’ll give you some bullet points with recommendations.

So, here’s what happened . . . back in January Consumer Reports published an article about the level of arsenic in apple and grape juices. That was the original arsenic eye-opener. The folks at CR thought maybe they should do some more scientific study about arsenic in other foods. They chose rice, and they tested over 200 brands of rice products (everything from common white rice to rice syrups, rice cereals, baby food, rice pasta and rice crackers – my cousin is gluten intolerant, so he eats a lot of rice crackers and other rice-based products – hence my concern for him).

The scientific part of it – there are two types of arsenic that we consume in food – inorganic and organic. It’s the inorganic we need to be more concerned about, although the FDA and EPA both say there are no safe arsenic levels. Period. Scientists think the arsenic has increased because of insecticides that have been used in the past hundred years. Here’s what the article says:

. . . The U.S. is the world’s leading user of arsenic and since 1910 about 1.6 million tons have been used for agricultural and industrial purposes, about half of it only since the mid-1960’s. Residues from the decades of use of lead arsenate insecticides linger in agricultural soil today, even though their use was banned in the 1980’s. Other arsenical ingredients in animal feed to prevent disease and promote growth are still permitted. Moreover, fertilizer made from poultry waste can contaminate crops with inorganic arsenic.

I’m sorry folks. I’m just stunned. Ashamed. Angry. Angry that the gosh-darned profit engines of food commerce will, at every juncture, choose to promote growth and therefore profit (in vegetables and grains and in meat production) to the possible detriment of our health. Doesn’t it seem logical that arsenic in anything, at any level, is not good for us? For gosh sakes, it’s a POISON! So even though arsenic-enhanced insecticide was banned in the 1980’s, the ground still contains it and it passes through into crops grown in that same soil. AND, animal feed still does contain arsenic and it’s allowed. How come? And of course, chicken farmers have all that chicken poop they consider a product as well, and it’s made into fertilizer, yet IT contains higher levels of arsenic. It goes back into the ground for our food.

I also don’t like GM (genetically modified) food. I wrote up an essay about genetically modified seed a couple of years ago about Monsanto, and the genetically modified corn and canola seed that is almost everything we eat now. Monsanto is a weasel of a company. And they wield great power. Scary power. Here in California, we are voting on a proposition next month about whether food labeling must state if something is a GM product. Obviously I’m voting for that. Most people, when questioned, probably would choose not to eat GM corn; yet it’s very pervasive and I’m guilty of not asking the corner farmstand employee whether the corn I buy there is GM or not. The produce man in my market has no idea. He doesn’t care. He just preps the produce. However, more people are paying attention (I think and hope) to where food products come from. Last night my DH and I were at Costco and he was looking at a frozen case of shellfish. I walked right on by because in past trips I know the shrimp came from Vietnam. I’m not buying shrimp from Vietnam. Articles I’ve read tell me for health’s sake, I should buy only shrimp manufactured in U.S. waters. I’m all for that. But they’re very hard to find! The lobster in the case was from Brazil. I don’t know anything about lobster farming or trapping in Brazil. They were beautiful things – and expensive I might add. We bought none of them. We did buy fresh halibut from Alaska, though. New recipe coming up soon.

I’m sorry, I got sidetracked there. We’re talking about arsenic in rice. I’ll get back to that now. The bottom line is that in an extensive study CR did, people who ate more rice – logically – tested high for arsenic in their systems. Arsenic is known to cause a variety of cancers (lung and bladder first and foremost). Organic arsenic, so far as scientists know, is not harmful. We eat it in several types of seafood, actually, so in the tests, they eliminated any results from people who had eaten seafood within 24 hours of the urine test used. Over a lifetime of eating rice (and in many countries eating rice is a 3-times a day national pastime) this could cause significant cancers.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. If you’re pregnant, cut way, way down on rice in any way, shape or form. Adults, it is suggested, should eat no more than 2 servings (so about 1 cup total) per WEEK. That includes rice cakes, rice cereals, rice drinks, rice pasta, rice cakes.
2. Consumer Reports recommends you find out about your drinking water – if you’re on public water, you’re okay generally. Only if you use a well water or other sources, should you have the water tested for arsenic.
3. Change the way you cook rice – rinse it thoroughly in any case and discard that drained water. Use more water than called for when you cook it (that removes more of the arsenic to that cooking water that you’d also discard). They recommend using 6 cups of water for every cup of rice. That will remove about 30% of the arsenic in the rice. Yes, you wash away some of the nutrients, but it’s safer for eating.
4. Don’t eat brown rice – it has higher doses of arsenic than white rice – because much of the arsenic is held in the outer layers of the grain. Remember, rice is grown in a specialized pond and the rice leeches stuff from the underlying soil.

Consumer Reports has made a bunch of recommendations to the USDA, FDA and EPA, including: (1) the industry needs to set a standard for arsenic in rice [there is none at this time]; (2) producers should develop rice types that don’t “take up” so much arsenic from the water/soil, and then use the one(s) that perform the best; (3) the EPA should phase out all pesticides [period] that contain arsenic; (4) the USDA and EPA should end the use of arsenic-laden fertilizers and manure; (5) the FDA should ban the feeding of arsenic-containing drugs and animal byproducts to animals. To learn more about this part, go to the main article (at the bottom). Of course, the U.S. Rice Federation is vehemently arguing that arsenic in our rice is way overblown as a health risk. I’m sorry, ANY arsenic in my rice is too much.

If you go to the article, you can review the entire chart about the rice products they tested. I’m going to give you a short list, though, of the products that were high (bad) that you should, for now, avoid (in my opinion anyway). And I’ll give you the names of the rice products that were better than others. No rice products were free of arsenic. If you eat any rice products at all, you’re ingesting arsenic. No way around it. Rice raised in the American South has higher levels than others – probably because of the years and years of insecticides used on that same land. It appears that rice from Indian and Thailand have lower levels, but CR didn’t test some of the more obscure brands I see in my local Indian store.

Lundberg, the small company here in California, that raises a lot of rice, has, generally, lower levels of arsenic in their products. There was one exception. But their company (and the CEO, Grant Lundberg) is investing lots of resources to test all of their products more extensively. Good for them. They may be one of the first on the bandwagon to improve the problem.

Here’s a list from Consumer Reports with THE BAD ONES – higher incidences of arsenic in their products (listed in rice type order, then alpha order, not the level of arsenic). Some had lower ratings, but CR used 3 tests of each product from different packages and some showed varying results. The ones in red had the highest levels: RICE: 365 Everyday Value (Whole Foods); Cajun Country Enriched Long Grain; Cajun Country Popcorn Long Grain; Canilla Extra Long Grain Enriched; Carolina Whole Grain Brown; Della Basmati Brown; Doguet’s Brown; Goya Enriched Medium Grain; Great Value Brown (Walmart); Jazzmen Louisiana Aromatic Brown (this one had the highest number of all); Lundberg Short Grain Brown; Martin Long Grain Brown; Texas Best Organics Long Grain Brown; Uncle Ben’s Original Enriched Parboiled Long Grain; and Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Brown. INFANT CEREAL: None exceeded 5 micrograms per liter, but of the 4 types listed, two were higher – Earth’s Best Organic Whole Grain Rice and Gerber Rice. HOT CEREAL: Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Farina Creamy White. READY-TO-EAT CEREAL: Barbara’s Brown Rice Crisps. RICE CAKES & CRACKERS: Suzie’s Whole Grain Thin Cakes. RICE PASTA: DeBoles Rice Spirals, Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta Shells and Trader Joe’s Organic Brown Rice Fusilli. RICE FLOUR: Arrowhead Mills Organic Brown. RICE DRINKS: neither tested brands exceeded the arsenic levels for concern. RICE SYRUP: Lundberg Sweet Dreams Eco-Farmed Brown and their Organic Brown (both). RICE VINEGAR: only one brand tested and it is very low.

Now, here’s the list of THE BETTER ONES – lower incidence of arsenic, not necessarily healthy levels, but still beneath the 5 micrograms considered a level of concern: RICE: there are about 20+ brands listed – I’m only listing the ones that had the lowest incidence – seek them out if you can – Archer Farms Organic Basmati (Target – it’s from India), 365 Everyday Value Organic Indian Basmati White (Whole Foods, from India), Archer Farms Organic Jasmine (Target, and it’s from Thailand), Lundberg California White Basmati (California), Martin Long Grain Enriched (Missouri), and Trader Joe’s White Basmati (India). INFANT CEREAL: Beech-Nut Homestyle Rice and Gerber SmartNourish Organic Brown Rice. HOT CEREAL: Bob’s Red Mill Organicv Brown Rice Farina Creamy Rice and Cream of Rice. READY-TO-EAT CEREAL: Arrowhead Mills Organic Sweetened Rice Flakes, General Mills Rice Chex Gluten Free, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Gluten Free and Trader Joe’s Crisp Rice Cereal. RICE CAKES & CRACKERS: Asian Gourmet Plain Rice Crackers, Edward & Sons Organic Brown Rice Snaps Unsalted Plain Rice Cracker, Lundberg Brown Rice Organic Rice Cake, Quaker Lightly Salted Rice Cake. RICE PASTA: Annie Chun’s Maifun Rice Noodles. RICE FLOUR: Arrowhead Mills Organic White and Goya Enriched. RICE DRINKS: Pacific Rice Low Fat Plain Beverage and Rice Dream Classic Original Rice Drink. RICE VINEGAR: Asian Gourmet Plain.

So what’s all that say . . . well, that we shouldn’t eat as much rice as we thought we could. Eat white rice. Be extra careful about feeding rice products to infants. Pregnant moms should be extra careful too.

Tweet

A really tasty piece of fish, if I ever had one. The buttermilk in the mix gives the coating a really light texture. What makes the coating, though, is the Ritz type crackers. Oh my!

No wonder this was so good! Ritz crackers. I never keep them on hand – I just know they’re bad for me. Trader Joe’s carries a cracker that’s similar, called Golden Rounds, which is what I used. Phillis Carey used the real thing in this recipe – an honest, to goodness, tube of Ritz (to serve 6 people requires 20 crackers). They went into a plastic bag and you use a meat pounder to reduce the crackers to fine crumbs. As flaky as they are, it didn’t take many raps to make them tiny pieces.

You can use a variety of fish – tilapia, or cod, halibut, sea bass or catfish, even. I used halibut because I got some nice fresh filets at Costco. The fish is dipped into flour first, then buttermilk, then the crumbs mixed up with Parmesan cheese. Ideally, do this part a few hours ahead and place the pieces on a sheet of parchment paper and refrigerate. When ready to cook, add oil and butter to the pan (you may have to do batches, so it’s 2 T. of butter for a pan full) and sauté the fish until they’re golden brown. Because of the butter, the cracker crumbs and the cheese, the fish browns beautifully. Turn over and brown the other side. Phillis’ recipe indicated to remove them to a rack, on a baking sheet and bake the fish for just a few minutes. The halibut I made wasn’t all that thick, so it didn’t require oven baking at all. To check, use a fork in the middle of a thicker piece, pull the fish apart slightly to see if it’s flaky. Have all the sauce ingredients all ready so the fish doesn’t get cold! It’s easy to make the sauce – lemon, wine, capers (in the pan the fish was browned in) and gently stir in the butter just at the last.

What I liked: the texture and the taste. This is going to become one of my regular rotation fish dinners. It was SO good.
What I didn’t like: well, you can’t make any of it ahead, really, except coating the fish, so you’ll spend the last 10-15 minutes at the stove and oven pulling it all together. But it’s worth it.

printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import

Tweet

A real down-home meal with blade cut, bone in pork chops and a lot of onions, with a very tasty beef broth based sauce to smother them with.

Ever since we got back from our driving trip last week, I’ve been kind of distracted with catching up on things. My car (my NEW 1-year old used car) has had some engine trouble and is in the shop for the 2nd time since our return, and we’ve had numerous other house-related difficulties (the wine cellar A/C quit working, our drains are plugged up as I write this – no flushing, no washing dishes, nuthin’ through the pipes or it’s pumping out onto the street below us), so meals have been a bit makeshift. So when I stood at the freezer, peering in at the assortment there, I thought about what we’ve had lately . . . burgers for one. Our oldest grandson is inordinately fond of burgers and I have to bribe him to get him to drive 30 minutes to visit, so I made sliders using the French Hamburgers recipe, just did small ones without the sauce and with Trader Joe’s slider buns. And with my favorite new Tomato Jam to scoop on them. I used the leftover burgers in a couple of ways (plain with more tomato jam and then chopped up in a Caesar salad). Anyway, we’ve also had chicken. And one all-veggie dinner. So, back to me standing in front of the freezer, and I pulled out a package of pork chops. They’re from the 4-H farm pig we got a year ago, and I’m winding down on what’s left, but there was this one package of blade chops – it was just what I needed for this recipe.

Since our return I’m also trying to catch up on all the shows that recorded on my Tivo – to make room for all the new shows that are starting up again for fall. So I watched a recent Cook’s Country TV show about smothered pork chops. Sounds like something my mother would have made – she loved Swiss steak (beef) and pot roasts with gravy (beef).

There was nothing difficult about making these – you just have to plan ahead and know that the chops need to bake for 90 minutes before you can eat them! The thin (no thicker than 1/2 inch) chops are seasoned (paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, onion powder), browned, then set aside. The onions are cooked in some butter, thyme, garlic and bay leaf added, then all is assembled, covered and baked for 90 minutes at 300°. Now here’s the next step – you must remove all the onions and chops (set aside covered in foil so it stays warm), strain the beef broth sauce and remove as much of the fat as you can with a spoon on the surface (otherwise it’s way too greasy), then thicken the sauce with cornstarch. Everything is added back in, rewarmed and you’re ready to serve.

What I liked: the good, old-fashioned flavor; good onion and beefy flavor to the sauce; it was also relatively easy to make.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. Maybe not a blue-ribbon recipe, but it was good.

printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 15/16 file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import

Tweet

These little guys are really a cake with a very thin icing on them. But they’re called cookies. Maybe they’re a cross between a cookie and a snack cake. Whatever, they’re delicious.

I’d forgotten all about this recipe. I dug into my very old recipes and found the 3×5 index card I’d written back in the 1960’s. I’m almost positive these came from Sunset Magazine, but I went to their website and couldn’t find it there. So I don’t really know where it’s origin . . . , but these things are so good. And they’re EASY. They do contain some coffee (I used espresso), but I swear, if you serve them to people they’ll never discern the coffee in them. It’s very subtle. I needed something for my DH’s Bible Study Group to nibble on at 7:00 am, and all I could think of was some kind of bar cookie. This fit the bill perfectly.

The cake batter is cinchy easy – brown sugar, butter, egg – mixed together, then you add the dry ingredients (flour, soda, B.P. and cinnamon) – then you add in some raisins and walnuts. Pour into the pan and bake. When you’ve removed the cookie from the oven, mix up the icing – melted butter, powdered sugar and a little hot water or hot coffee. It is a thin frosting – hardly could be called a frosting – and drizzle it all over the warm pan of cookie/cake and spread it around. Wait until the cake is completely cooled before you cut it – I used a soft plastic spatula to cut the squares.

Just an admonition – if you are sensitive to caffeine, either don’t eat these at night – or use decaf coffee in the recipe. The original recipe called for shortening, but I used butter instead. And I used walnuts, but I suppose any kind of nuts would be fine.

What I liked: they’re simple; they’re tasty; they’re addictive, I swear! Beware: they’re tender, though. Be careful when you cut and try to remove the squares. I actually eat them upside down because the icing provides a more solid surface (flat). Holding them normally, they sometimes will crumble.

What I didn’t like: nothing really – just know they’re a terribly tender cookie – a little hard to handle. I mentioned above that I eat these upside down (icing side down) because they’re sturdier that way. I wouldn’t make these for a cookie exchange – they’re hard to stack or store without breaking apart.

printer-friendly PDF

MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import

Tweet