Pan Fried Stir Fry

I really don't know nothin' bout cookin' Asian food.

In fact I don't know nothin' bout cookin' most food - but I wing it and get lucky pretty often.

My friend JoAnn (yes this post is for you dear!) and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture).  We split one full veggie share and we each get our own fruit share.  Neither of us has ever done a CSA.  So far it's been fun - and adventurous and new and fresh and cool.  So far, we have eaten a mountain of lettuce!  It's really awesome to be trying this with a friend.  Today JoAnn gave me some funny looks when I told her to take her share of certain CSA items and I instead came home with all of the beets and all of the swiss chard.  We also got a bunch of stuff I'd never eaten: fennel, radicchio, escarole.  AND... I had never cooked my own beets.

Because we are trying so many new things, I often suggest to JoAnn things that she can try to cook with the items that are new to us.  Today, I came home and experimented with all the food we got and tasted everything and decided I would make some sort of an Asian inspired dish.  Now, as I said before, I don't know nothin' bout cookin' Asian food - and that is the truth!

But, I do know that I like fresh veggies and I do know that I like pan fried (crispy) noodles.  So I decided to do that.  Here is what I came up with and it was REALLY - seriously like I was some kinda cooking pro - REALLY good.  Give it a try JoAnn - I think you have all the ingredients!

Oh yeah, did I mention that I had the beet greens because I roasted my own beets?  I put the beets in a little foil packet with some olive oil and put them in the toaster oven at 375F and then promptly forgot about them for 40 mins which as it turned out was the perfect amount of roasting time.  When I took them out of the foil and ran them under cold water, the skins came right off.  I then sliced them up and stored them in the fridge to add to salads - YUM.

Once the noodles are almost crisped enough, I toss all the separate veggies (and shrimp) back into the pan and let them warm and blend together on medium heat for just a bit.  At that time, I dump in any sauce I have made for the dish.

Now, when it comes to the sauce, you can simply buy a sauce you like at an Asian market but I usually make my own.  I have no idea what I'm doing when I make it - I simply take every Asian inspired ingredient from my fridge and mix them til it tastes right to me.  Today I used: ginger/garlic paste, chili sauce (Siracha would work here as well), sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, peanut sauce and a bit of brown sugar.  I just kept mixing until it tasted the way I wanted it to.  So - good luck.  Mine was delish by the way.

As soon as I add the sauce and give it all a stir, I turn off the heat and get ready to serve.

Put some crispy noodles on the plate and top with the veggie/sauce mixture.  Whether you eat it with a fork or chop sticks, ENJOY!

How Do You Porridge?

Porridge - what do you think of when you hear that word?  For me it means any hot, cooked grain cereal that one would eat - probably for breakfast.  Tho. I think porridge can be farina, cream of wheat, grits, oatmeal, etc...

My favorite porridge is oatmeal and I make something of a science of preparing myself a healthy and filling bowl of the stuff.  Here's what I do:

1.  Start with some healthy old fashioned rolled oats.  I prefer not to use the little packages of oats and not to use quick cooking oats and not to use flavored or pre-sweetened oats.  In the USA, I try to eat as much organic food as possible since giant chemical lobbies like the evil Monsanto company are allowed to put all kinds of crap in our food AND not even label it as such.  So, I use these organic oats:

2.  Measure out the amount of oats you wish to use.  In the USA our measurements are in volume rather than weight.  Just use any small cup, it doesn't even have to be a measurement cup and dump it in the pot.  Typically I use about 1/3 cup of oats, today I used 1/2 cup of oats since I just came back from a 5K run and didn't have breakfast before I went, I'm now really hungry!

3.  Using the same cup you used to measure the oats, fill it twice with water and add that to the oats in your pot.

4.  Cook the oats on medium heat until they are no longer watery or shiny.

5.  While the oats are cooking prepare the extras.  I love all the extras in my oatmeal.  I typically use whatever I have on hand.  Today it was 1/2 a banana.  I cut it up and put it in the bowl before the oatmeal.

6.  Then the berries (warning - in the USA use organic berries ONLY - non-organic berries are loaded with pesticides) which today were raspberries (my favorite berry) and strawberries.  I like to put half the berries under the oatmeal and the other half on top.

7.  When the oats finish their cooking, I dump them atop the bananas and berries.

8.  Then I put little clumps of Earth Balance (aka my butter) in the oatmeal.

9.  I chopped a few dates and added them.

10.  The rest of the berries were added to the top.

11.  The whole thing was finished with raw sliced almond and pecans.

Note:  I love a bit of brown sugar sprinkled on my oatmeal but since Jan 1 I am making a healthy attempt not to eat sugar or any added sweetener and also no white flour.

Ta dah!  This is one big, giant bowl of oatmeal!

AND... I managed to eat the whole thing.  Hopefully that will keep me full for a while.

Here are some more ideas for items to add to your oatmeal or porridge:

Raisins (aka sultanas), apples, walnuts, coconut, maple syrup, craisins, blueberries, blackberries, jam

How do you porridge?

A Little Dunk'll Dukkah

WHAT?  Just playing around with the concept of A Little Dunk will Do Ya!

Dunk is what I wanted to do - dunk with whole wheat bread in yummy stuff that is.

So, a few years ago I stopped eating added sugar and white flour.  Then for a while, I just tried to eat LESS sugar and white flour.  But it worked best when I was eating NONE.  My body doesn't need added sugar or white flour, so I'd rather feed it other things.  Plus, when I removed just these two ingredients from my diet, I lost weight, gained energy, improved my running, lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol, etc... It was ALL GOOD!

And then, I started letting lots of little sugary sweets and snacks and cookies and ice cream sneak back in.  Apparently I don't do well in moderating my desserts - it's all or nothin'

I LOVE chocolate, my son works at a bakery and bakes the yummiest things that he brings me home to sample, I get sweets cravings after every meal - so it works better if I JUST DON'T GO THERE, except on very special occasions.

That said, I do eat bread and crackers and pasta and rice but ONLY if they are of the 100% whole wheat or brown variety.  I prefer organic and non-genetically modified as well.  Because I choose to eat this way, I find just about NOTHING to buy in the regular grocery and do most of my shopping at Trader Joes, Whole Foods and the farmer's market. (TJs store brand products and Whole Food's 365 brand products do NOT contain genetically modified ingredients and their dairy products don't contain BGH - so I shop more easily at these locations).

Last week I was just craving some crusty bread to dunk in something sinfully oily.  I know - I can't believe I wanted that rather than sweets but I did.  I scored a baguette of 100% whole wheat with no added sweeteners at Whole Foods (Trader Joes only has white baguettes and that needs to change!)  So I came home with my crusty loaf and did this:

One Bowl with a slosh of oil dumped in.

A spoonful of Dukkah - yum, spicy and nutty.

A twist of salt and pepper (LOVE how well the TJs grinders work).

and later, a fresh clove of garlic minced and thrown in - tho. I did that after the first few dunks and after the photos too.

Now don't get me wrong... I could have simply finished the entire 2-foot long baguette - but I did not.  But I will admit to eating about 6" worth of the darn thing.  Boy was it yummy.  Give it a try!