It’s a Miracle!

If I told you there is a single ingredient that is available to every American for mere pennies a pound that is a veritable miracle food would you believe me?

There is. Here are some of its more notable properties. It’s a vegetable. It has very high levels of Vitamin C and depending on how it is cooked, it maintains a lot of it so that it can be absorbed by your body. Vitamin C is important todevelop and maintain healthy skin, teeth and bones. It is a natural antioxidant. And because your body can’t produce vitamin C, it is important to round out your diet in fruits and vegetable full of the good stuff.  More about vitamin C can be found here.

This miracle food has also been proven to be high in iron and sulfur, to lower cholesterol and to help detoxify the liver. Because of its sulfuric properties, it is rumored to reduce stomach ulcers when eaten raw and prevent infection when applied topically to wounds. The latter application is not needed with modern medicine but it has been used ground up in poultices for hundred of years to prevent infection. The next ideas are a little more vague on true outcome, but still being investigated as a natural addition to the diet to prevent certain ailments such as Alzheimer’s and stomach, prostate, and intestinal cancers.

Every country in the world has its own variety of this vegetable. Germans and Russians like Koreans, Chinese and Japanese can’t imagine their cultures without it. Have you guessed yet what this may be? Cabbage, of course! Americans tend to shy away from this very cool vegetable, primarily due to the smell when the vegetable releases its sulfuric compounds while cooking. But sometimes we just need to get over it to enjoy something so plentiful, healthful and inexpensive.

We never grew cabbage on the farm. I first experienced cabbage in its natural environment when my husband, then fiancé, visited a friend at the family home in upstate NY.  There were acres and acres of cabbages, just like in the Cabbage Patch Doll commercials, but without the scary little baby attached. It took another ten years however before I got over the hump with the smell, and just the general ignorance of how versatile this vegetable can be. I am glad that I overcame this stumbling block. We now enjoy cabbage and its healthful properties often on an average of about two times a week.

The following is one of my most favorite recipes using cabbage.

Barbeque is NOT a verb

I’m southern girl.  Shocking, I know. Southern folk aren’t often given the culinary credit they are due.  But thankfully, that does not apply to Barbeque.  The whole world knows that Barbeque is the crown jewel of the American South.

As so very eloquently sung by Rhett & Link & the Homestead Pickers…"Barbeque is not a verb. Barbeque is not a grill. Barbeque is meat, prepared in very special way, which varies on where you go."

This has got to be one of my most favorite videos of all time.  I can’t tell you how many times I have had to share it with others in order to correct their sad misconceptions of barbeque. Sorry sir, that hibatchi is not a barbeque.

The following is my recipe for our winter pulled pork barbeque that hails from a North Carolina pallet of flavors. I specified winter because we are forced indoors here in Seattle in the fall and winter so we don’t have access to our grill.  Our Summer barbeque is plentiful and nothing at all like this.  I'm sure you'll see some in due time. 

This recipe is prepared hands free in the slow cooker, with nearly no work at all.  I really hope you enjoy it.  We do!

Stone Soup is not just a children's story...

In one of my more creative moments when the kids were little one of them asked what was for dinner, and “Stone Soup” was my reply. At this time in our lives, Jason and I lived a very meager existence and sometimes I was a bit nervous about what was going to make it to the table for dinner. That night, James, my oldest, offered up his favorite, very perfect stone for the first rendition of this dish, and then things started going into the pot.

Soup is one of the more creative dishes. Liberties abound.  Your proteins flavor it, your legumes or grains bulk it up, your herbs season it and your vegetables round it out. And the best part is - there is no recipe! Well not really. It is in fact many recipes.  You could have stone soup for a year and never repeat the same meal. It’s hearty and filling and you’ll never know it was a shoestring offering.  

I’m going to be using six beans in this Stone Soup.  I never by the mixed bean bags because they mix little itty bitty lentils with big ‘ole lima beans and the little ones turn to mush while the big ones stay hard. So I’ve just learned to do with beans that are relatively the same size.  I used dried beans and I get them from the bulk section of the grocery store. If you don’t have a bulk section, then you can get six bags of six different dried beans and keep the leftovers on hand until next time.

Time's a ticking...

The following recipe is a casserole style meal that can be frozen in advance. Dinner can be done in 30 minutes with an inital prep time of 30-40 minutes for two or three dinners.  Defrost in the fridge the morning of if you will be serving it for dinner. It's even pretty enough to send over to a sick friend's home to give her the evening off.

Chicken Noodle Bake with Vegetables and Mushrooms (Printable Recipe)

Don’t Disregard the Dizzy Chicken – Day 7

Barbequed Chicken Pizza (Printable Recipe)

Don’t Disregard the Dizzy Chicken – Day 6

Chicken Corn Chowder (Printable Recipe)

Don’t Disregard the Dizzy Chicken – Day 5

Enchilada Pie (Printable Recipe)

Makes 4-6 dinners

Don’t Disregard the Dizzy Chicken – Day 4

Because it is not authentic at all, but uses the original as inspiration, the name of my offering tonight is…

Don’t Disregard the Dizzy Chicken – Day 2

Let’s face it, I’m beat and I’ll bet you are too.  These long days at work coupled with the sun setting sooner begs for a quick and easy, but satisfying hot dinner. Let’s assume you had some of that tasty rotisserie chicken left over yesterday, if not then you’ll need another today. Pull all the meat off the bones, discarding the bones and skin.

Don’t Disregard the Dizzy Chicken – Day 1

Convenience is the most prized asset of a harried housewife.  Marketing companies know this and they will make things very, very convenient. But to what detriment?  Your wallet? Absolutely. The earth?  You bet ‘cha. Taste? Yep. So when is convenience really convenient?

I am a spice and herb addict.  I buy chopped fresh garlic in food service quantities.  Why? Because I really love the taste of garlic, but I hate the smell of it on my fingers and it’s dirt cheap and best of all, convenient.  I also like the convenience of having fresh herbs in my freezer.  I will pop basil, parsley and cilantro in the freezer if I’ve used all I’m going to use at the moment because the remainder would spoil.  The freezer stops the spoilage but creates another problem. 

Do you remember in science when you were looking at onion skin under the microscope? It looks similar to an orange segment but flat. Well, imagine that the leaves of all these fresh herbs are orange segments and when we freeze the segment, all the little follicles (which are actually just single cells filled with juice) burst because of the water expanding as it freezes. So when the orange segment defrosts it is just a mushy, unappealing globule.  The same thing happens to the herbs. 

Why do I mention this? Well for convenience, of course! Because all the properties of the fresh herb are still there, except the crisp, fresh appearance, you can have fresh herbs anytime you need them. For any recipe that you need a fresh herb that will become incorporated into the dish you can use frozen herbs. This just opened up a whole new world of availability.  You can have summer herbs in the winter! And you’re not spending your money on little things like fresh herbs every week, which can cost up to $3.00 per pack.

The second most convenient thing available to the home cooks…rotisserie chickens. These little golden, juicy, beauties are such a timesaver. They are piping hot and at $5.99 a pop ($4.99 at Costco), they are a steal too.  You can’t buy a whole chicken for that.  Chances are, you like chicken.  Americans on average eat over 84 pounds of chicken per person each year. It is so versatile.

A prepared home cook is a successful home cook

I have set aside Sunday afternoon as my shopping day. I will often make brunch for the family in order to get them all to the table, I will then print out my Shopping list (which I have attached for you) and then we will decide as a family what is for dinner each day for the next week.  It makes shopping very easy.  We do quick runs to the freezer to see what meals are already prepped, I check off on the list what is needed to complete the meals we have chosen, check off the staple items that we are low on or out of, and then I go to three places.  Costco is first, Central Market is second and the neighborhood grocery store is third. This method cuts out entirely the habit of purchasing items you don’t need.