Sunday, January 31, 2010

My Kids



This is a picture of my 6 kids with their spouses this last New Years. I am the one in the middle. I have one daughter and 5 sons. A lot of you have met my family at the two cooking classes we had this past year.

I am so blessed to have this wonderful family.

Plus they all enjoy making unbelievable scrumptious food.

Someone made the comment that "you are a mother from the womb to the tomb." How true that is, as a mother you never stop loving. Even though they are all grown up and have families of their own, they are still are my children. I just have to learn to keep my opinions to myself, unless asked for advise. I am still working on that one!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Tabouleh Salad

Tabouleh is a Middle Eastern Dish,with no cooking. Their are different Arabic spellings.Tabbouleh,and Tabouley. However it is spelled, it is really tasty. Tabouleh is made with Bulgur which has a distinctive nutty taste.

Tabouleh is very rich in beta-carotene, protein and lots of vitamins.

Tabouleh Salad

3/4 cups bulgur. Pour 1 cup boiling water over the bulgur and leave it sit 15-20 min or until water is absored.

Put in a seperate bowl:

Zest of one lemon
Juice of 1 lemon-about 1/4 cup
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano. (optional )
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
3 Tablespoons Apple Juice Concentrate. ( optional, I used it because it helps cut the lemon.)
1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar (optional )
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix with whisk

Add to bowl:
1 seedless cucumber - chop in bite size pieces.
5-6 green onions - chop the white as well as some of the greens
3-5 cloves of garlic - chop
1/2 cup fresh mint - chop
1 cup flat leaf parsley chop
1 container cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half-about 1- 1/2 cups
1 green pepper - chopped (optional)
cayenne pepper to taste (optional )
Add Bulgur

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for several hours to marinade.
Serve on Romaine lettuce leaf.

In Lebanon and Syria, where Tabouleh originated, cinnamon and allspice are used in the salad.


Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Rutabaga's

My youngest grandson holding up a rutabaga. They are purple on the top which is not to noticeable on the picture.


As I was giving grocery shopping tours last week, I challenged each group to try a new fresh vegetable each week.
Someone asked me about rutabaga's. What do you do with a rutabaga? Upon research most of the times they are mashed with potatoes, used in soups etc., which is not what I wanted to do.
I decided to go on a mission and make them into patties. This is what I came up with.



Hope you like what I did Jeff, with the rutabaga's.



Rutabaga's

Roast at 425-450-I did 450. Depends on your oven
3 large carrots
1 large red onion
5-6 clove garlics
3-4 potatoes-I used sweet potatoes as they needed to be used up. Didn't peel.

Directions:
1-Put all veggies on 2 sprayed baking sheets.
2-Spray veggies lightly. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper.
3-Roast until golden brown, turn roast on other side.
4-Remove from oven.

At this point they could have been eaten, as they where delicious.

But as I said I was on a mission.
1-So I put half of the veggies into the food processor with some of my home made vegetable broth. Go easy on the broth as you want to make these into patties.
2-Scrape mixture into a large container.
3- Proceeded to put the rest of the veggies in the food processor, adding liquid as needed
4-Scrape mixture into the bowl with the other veggies.
5-I added about 2 Tablespoons parsley flakes to the mixture.
6-Form into patties, cover with bread crumbs,and fry in a hot skillet that had been sprayed with oil.

Comments:
They had a wonderful flavor, but where quite soft.
I would probably stop after roasting the vegetables and eat them at that time. Just more work them I had anticipated.
If I did chose to go as far as I did, rather than making them into patties, I would probably put mixture in sprayed glass pan and put crumbs on the top and bake at 350 degrees.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Speak in Waukesha

Last weekend I gave my testimony in a church down in Waukesha. What a great time I had!!

It was a wonderful opportunity too meet so many super people. Young children, between 6- 12 year's of age, where thanking me for coming. Isn't that just so sweet!!! I was so touched by these young people.

We had the most unbelievable pot luck meal. It was all vegetarian or vegan.

Yummy, yummy.

Isn't it great that we can eat really tasty food and have it be healthy at the same time.

My daughter's pesto recipe

This is for all you Chippers running around, also non-chippers.

When my computer was sick with a worm, my daughter posted a Basil Pesto Recipe that is excellent. I made it this evening as I had lots of fresh basil to use up. I didn't have any soy Parmesan so I used Nutritional Yeast For those not familiar with Nutritional Yeast, it has a cheesey flavor. It can be found in the natural food aisle in the grocery store.I put in a couple squirts of Liquid Amino's in the recipe also.

Very good.

Thanks to my daughter for the recipe. Good job!!!