Sunday, April 6, 2014

A night out....recapping great foods

Hey All,

Its been a while.  I've also been terribly busy again.  Busy as in I've been traveling and have racked up enough frequent flyer credit to cover most of my travels this autumn.  SFO is go for 4 days, and Seattle is certainly not out of reach for an anniversary celebration.  Oh, yeah, we got married on Nov. 2, 2013.

This weekend was the first weekend in about a month that I haven't had work responsibilities.  Of course, that didn't stop me from observing the critical points in the firing cycle.....I'm a junkie like that.  When one has the ultimate responsibility for roughly a quarter million bucks worth of material, and are persistently reminded of that responsibility, they aren't likely to trust anyone, ANYONE, to make appropriate judgement calls.

OK, so enough of that bullshit.  Tonight was the monthly PrissCo beatdown.  The name is kind of intimidating, right?  It should be.  PrissCo is a collective of talented female DJs in the Salt Lake Area.  Their founder, a personal favorite and friend, is a nationally recognized breaks DJ that I have known for some time.  I first watched her open for DJ Icey a long time ago.  I seem to recall about 2005ish.....  She made that dance floor come alive, and had a certain penchant for making everyone feel welcomed.  It was the 2nd time in my life that I watched/danced to the opener and left shortly after things hit a certain testosterone filled dumb-assery shortly after the headliner took the stage, the other was Darude, and well, I'll say no more; please don't judge my youthful poor taste in music.

That aside, I really want to invite her and her beloved to have dinner before a show one night.  Her beloved was looking for a "platonic date" tonight;  we all know how it goes when your honey is working on a big  or especially difficult show.  Her beloved, also mentioned that its often very hard to find healthy new and exciting meal ideas.  That being said, I'm back, because I know that folks who read this also love my no nonsense methods and little tweaks that make for great food.  Now I just need to figure out how to work away from things like butter, pasta, and the like and incorporate more fruits, veggies, and lean proteins. I'm hoping folks will have the good sense to ask and/or use their own good cooking abilities when it comes to making tweaks that are right for them.

So here are a few ideas that have been proven in my own kitchen:

Prepared food is typically laden with crap you don't need!  I have recently rediscovered the joy of pre-packaged (err Costco) food and it is often alarming to learn just how awful it is for you.

Chicken Salad
leftover grilled or other chicken, diced
celery
onion or chives
dried cranberries
nuts (I like walnuts, but pistachios or almonds should work)
garden herbs (my last one had tarragon, oh and it was such a tiny bit to harvest, and dried lavender)
yogurt, just enough to wet it
let it sit for 24 hours, adjust herbs/salt as necessary
Serve on good bread of your choosing.

BeefTeki
1 lb ground beef (or minced steak if you happen to have one in the fridge), browned, drained.  Add herbs and onions or chives and return to heat.  I like to use sage, thyme, and oregano....and use plenty of them. Season the daylights out of it.  Keep it warm or you will get funky old beef taste.
24 hours a head of time, 1 cucumber; seeded and diced, dried dill and salt to taste, yogurt
a healthy bit of salt, unless you are on a salt restricted diet.  I will occasionally add a bit of dried oregano as well.
Diced tomato
Quarter onion shreds....cut the onion into quarters and then slice each quarter.  If you have especially tough or sour onions, mix with 1 Tblsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt and let set for 3 hours.  The onions will soften and become sweet.
Shredded lettuce
Serve like a Gyro

Steak marinade:
1 part balsamic vinegar, 2 parts Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste....marinate steaks at least 4 hours.  This is my personal favorite on the grill.

Pasta substitutes:
spaghetti squash
Quinoa will substitute well for rice and other small pastas.  Just remember to rinse it well before you cook it to prevent bitterness.

You can do amazing things with a frozen hamburger patty!  Bread it, you'll be amazed.   Slide a fried egg on it and throw it on a slice of toast. for breakfast :)

Avocados (make sure they are ripe) go great on cold sandwiches and increase protein content, also blend well with seafood (ala Anaheim shrimp scampi, go check out that psycho yutz Rachel Ray, who made another man's recipe famous through her show, yes, I hate her, bdf 5 ut she does have a few good recipes, also check out her linguini and clams).  Conventional wisdom says don't heat avacoados.....its a bunch of crap, avacados can be an amazing adjunct in many dishes.

Eggs are a cheap source of protein and it has been demonstrated that if you are active, the cholesterol isn't that bad....think natural balance, but don't let that keep you from watching fat content.   I personally prefer the eggs from my own chickens.....you might be surprised, if you find a nearby urban chicken farmer;   try their eggs.  I assure you, well fed and cared for hens produce amazing eggs.  My personal opinion is that a rooster is necessary, but hens to lay without him.  I have no information on their nutritional value, but I suspect, by taste alone, they are pretty awesome.

Eggs fu yung, often maligned, can be a delicious thing.  Pick your supplemental protein wisely (a leftover uncooked pork chop, a leftover steak, Chinese sausage rendered down, etc) and use good onions (or at least peel them well) and you can make an amazing dish.  I like to add 1 tsp of cornstarch per egg to get an extra crispy edge on them.  A good brown sauce recipe is essential.....google can help, but if it doesn't have fish or oyster sauce in it, it is crap!  If you like this dish, also look at Thai or Vietnamese omelets, you'd be amazed at how fantastic these things are.

Sushi is not that hard to make yourself.....find an approachable sushi rice recipe, get a mat and go...Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato makes an amazing roll and well rendered bacon is not that bad in calories. The first couple of times you might want to have a friend with know-how handy;  after that it should be simple.

 Cheese is not necessarily bad....and making your own mozzarella is fun.  Think pesto pizza (even better with salt and thyme seasoned chicken, in-season red grapes, caramelized onions, and mushrooms).

Fresh lemon will elevate all kinds of dishes...of course its not going to go well on a steak, use your good sense.

Peppers are your friend, get to know them.....many are not crazy hot and will add amazing depth to your food.

Substitute quinoa for rice.  It pumps up the protein content and is surprisingly similar with a beneficial nutty undertone.

Make your own stock or use bullion....unless you are on a salt restricted diet. The fat content is lower and the sodium content won't wreck your day.  Example:  seafood pot pie with store bought stock has about 4x the sodium of a properly prepared chicken  or pork bullion.  You can also get away with much less bullion than the label says.....I usually use about half.

Wow, that's a lot of information.  Let's keep in touch, and keep on me to post recipes (and with healthy recommendations).

Much Love,

3Day