*Homemade Stock. And a vamped up chop suey*

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Tuesday was my first appointment with the Acupuncturist. She told me to shy away from milk and its byproducts. (le sigh). I truly have a love of cheese, but I guess it will have to be a weekend affair from now on.
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Another thing the Doctor told me was to make sure I get my protein. The real deal, such as liver and stock. Ok. On my way home from the Doc's I picked up a couple turkey legs at the butchers (I was gonna buy some chicken but turkey looked a lot richer, so I just had to get it).
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The first thing I did at my arrival was to turn on the oven. While the legs roasted along with some garlic, baby potatoes and an onion, I prepared a side salad and chopped up more garlic and onions.
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Yum! That was good. And it was actually something I had been craving for a couple days.
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The other leg was chopped up and went straight into a pot with a couple liters of water, enough garlic and onions. A tad of salt and I let it simmer away for a few hours.
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After cooling, I removed the fat from the top and separated some for freezing. The rest of the stock, along with some of the turkey meat, went into a hearty vegetable soup, with plenty of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, carrots and thyme, and obviously, some alphabet pasta and pepper. It was quite providential, as my organism thought it would be fun to come down with the flu on the very same night.
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Thanks to that soup, I'm much better already. Not to mention that it was one of the best damn soup I have ever had (sorry Mom, but it's true). I have converted to homemade stock, for good.
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Returning from the dentist this morning (it's been a busy week), and mourning the tragus piercing I had had to remove, I was telling myself how I needed to keep on with the healthy eating. Vitamins and proteins and all that. And I still have a bit of that flu, so my resistance is definitely low.
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I'm working on that. One cup of ginger and lime tea at a time, I swear I'm working on improving my health. Ever added pineapple peel to your boiling water? Try it, it makes for an incredible tea.
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Now, back to lunch. Spinach! I bought a huge bunch of spinach at the farmers market yesterday, and for good measure, how about an egg?! Today a simple spinach omelet was not doing it for me (as much as I like omelets).
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I could make "chop suey" rice, which would be nice and easy, but plain white rice sounded boring. I wanted brown rice... but I was hungry, and it takes ages to cook.
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Recently I have rediscovered the pressure cooker. Mainly because it's the biggest and thickest pot in the house, I've been using it for boiling, frying and such... Yeah, I made the stock in it, lid open. It holds the heat beautifully.
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It also cooked the brown rice perfectly in only 15 minutes. The rice was not a bit dry, and was chewy but not overdone. Perfect! So I separated some for freezing (quite my thing these days) and kept a cup for the Chop Suey.
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Vamped Up Brown Rice Chop Suey

1 cup cooked brown rice
1 egg
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1/2 purple onion diced
1/2 large carrot diced
3 tablespoons Chinese pickled turnip
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cups washed shredded spinach
a dash of sesame seeds

In a heated pan sprinkle the sesame oil. Stir-fry the egg and add the onions and the carrot. Let brown, and add the turnips.
Throw in the soy sauce and cover for a few moments. Add the rice and stir, and finally the spinach.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

I had it with a side of Watercress and Horseradish in Soy Sauce. It was spicy and comforting, and very satisfying.
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In other words, just what the Doctor ordered.
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*quite a large sandwich, but i finish it off every time*

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Proceed into foolish mode. Enjoy.

(Vegan Advisory Notice: Do not watch following video if you are offended in any way by meat eating. Extreme carnivore gore scenes included!)


One of my favorite sandwiches in the world:

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*eating healthy take two*

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So I fell off the wagon. Real bad. And seems that if I don't get back on quickly, the consequences will be less than pleasant.
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?!!!
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Fact is that my muscles are totally screwed from not eating enough healthy foods and not getting enough rest. And life is a severe parent. So I'm missing out on my second favorite thing in the world for a week: dancing class.
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Point. And now to get enough amino acids, vitamins and minerals.

Whole wheat pasta salad. (prep time: 12 min)



Boil water.
Add a couple handfuls of whole wheat pasta.
Meanwhile, chop up two Roma tomatoes, three big garlic cloves and open a can of sardines or tuna in water.
When pasta is cooked, drain and reserve.
In a non-stick pan drizzle a little oil. Brown garlic.
Add tomatoes and Pasta.
Add fish. Continue to stir.
Add a couple tablespoons light cream, some lime zest and the juice of half a lemon.
Sprinkle with fresh thyme.
Serve with salad and grated Parmesan cheese to taste (or other).
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Eating healthy is definitely yummy.
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*"just a sandwich"?!!!"

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Not really. The Mister asks me to make this for Him every now and then.
Simple? Yup. But sometimes simple is best. Broil a couple frankfurters with a little water in a shallow pan, allow the water to dry and let it sizzle for a while. Toast the insides of a bun on the hot surface of the pan, spread with extra hot Dijon mustard and there you are.
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Personally, caramelized onions and brown mustard do the trick. But to each their own. Its a hell of a tasty sandwich.
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On another note, fresh veggies from this weeks Farmers Market:

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Aren't figs a beautiful/delicious thing?
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*(the loaf, the muffin and the bento)*

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First, the Loaf.

I used my cake "mix". Its the standard recipe I use for whatever fruit is lying around in the fridge for a while. This time there were Tangerines. Four of those ripe, juicy babes. But I'm the only one who eats them around here, so I used more fruit and less flour. And I made glaze, for the first time.
Makes 1 small loaf:

1 cup flour
1/2 sugar
2/3 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
2/3 glass skimmed milk
3 chopped up tangerines, seeds removed
1 1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon lime liquor
Combine all dry ingredients.
In another bowl, mix oil, egg, milk and liquor. Mix on high with electric mixer.
Add liquid to dry ingredients. Mix well. Be sure that there is enough liquid, the dough should be runny.
Pour into baking pan (I prefer the silicone ones) and bake for 35 to 40 min on med-low temperature.
Tangerine Glaze

1/2 cup confectionery's sugar
juice of 1 tangerine

Combine ingredients in a bowl and pour over the loaf while it is hot.

This loaf came out incredibly moist and soft. The glaze soaked into it and the texture is amazing. I'm definitely making this again, specially because I already ate a third of the loaf, its so good. I suspect the lime liquor was responsible for intensifying the citrus flavor. This recipe also turns out great for bananas, apples and mango, or any other fruit with a certain moisture to it.

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Another thing that was lying around for too long in the fridge was a big chunk of bologna. Yeah, baloney, mortadella, as you wish. There was a piece of parmesan cheese begging to be used, so I decided to make them into a chewy, cheesy Muffin.
Makes 10 medium-big muffins:

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/4 canola, 1/4 extra virgin olive oil)
2 eggs
3/4 cup skimmed milk
200 grs bologna
2 teaspoons chopped up garlic
1 cup grated parmesan
4 small sundried tomatoes - chopped
green olives - to garnish

Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, oregano and pepper flakes.
Meanwhile, sauté the bologna with the garlic in olive oil.
In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and milk.
Fold liquid into dry ingredients.
Add the bologna, the cheese and the tomatoes to the dough. Mix well.
Use an ice-cream scoop to pour the dough into lined muffin tins.
Garnish with olive.
Bake for about 15 minutes in med-low oven.
These turned out nice and cheesy. They are also a bit on the spicy side, which is a good thing. I found them to be filling, and they would go along well with a strong bitter ale and an afternoon of Scrabble with friends. The Mister gave them His thumbs up.
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Finally, my first Bento(s). Saturdays can be pretty hectic for me. There is work, then there is dance class, then there is another dance class and more work. And no time for lunch, whatsoever. But there is a little time in the morning and in the afternoon for eating at work, so I figured I would pack myself a healthy lunch and a snack to have enough energy to keep going.

I made about 4 cups of Japanese rice last night, separated enough for two Onigiri's and put the rest into the freezer. I used a mold for the Onigiri's (shame on me), and wrapped their sides in seaweed. The rest of the Bento I packed this morning before leaving for work. Took me about 30 minutes to wash and dry the salad and pack everything up nicely. All before my first sip of coffee.
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The smaller bento was supposed to be breakfast/snack. I packed a whole wheat yam muffin with raisins, two small honey sachets, half a pear in wedges and two slices of my tangerine loaf. I also took a fiber bar but it was not necessary.
I finally had "lunch" at 3 pm. There were two Umeboshi Onigiri's (one would have been enough) on a bed of lettuce, lined with thinly sliced horseradish. In the other compartment there was shredded romaine and iceberg lettuce, roma tomato sakura (although you can't really see them), diced horseradish and a small omelet filled with pickled turnips. The omelet took a minute to make in a special microwave mold. I took a sachet of soy sauce for seasoning.
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Bento's are definitely fun, and very healthy (if you make them so). So I'm glad I have a good reason to be making them every week.
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