What Did You Eat?

WHB: Meatballs With Ginger Root And Radish Greens, For The Sensitive Stomach

After a week of eating little to no food, and what I did eat was very bland, I decided to test my stomach.    I wanted something with ginger root, as it's  a time honored remedy for an upset stomach. In truth, I wanted it more for the taste.   And I wanted it in meatballs.  Once the thought came into my head there was no going back.  So, I ground two skinless, boneless chicken thighs in the food processor, with radish greens from my garden, a little soy sauce, and ginger root.  I made five meatballs, cooked them in a skillet, ate them with profound pleasure, then waited for my stomach to protest.  It didn't. There was nary a peep out of it.

I've loved radishes all my life, but only recently began using the tops in cooking. They have a marvelous tangy bite, like horseradish, and paired nicely here with the ginger root.  And since radishes can be shockingly expensive at times, it's nice to use both the root and tops.  They are amazingly easy and quick to grow yourself, which is what I do now. 

PPN: Scallion-Chicken Noodles

I enjoy this recipe.  It's quick, simple to prepare, and delicious, with a lovely fragrance of scallions and ginger root.  Of course, not everyone likes this recipe as much me.  One friend made it, and objected to chopping an entire cup of scallions.  What?  That's not a lot of prep work.  Try making a real cobb salad someday--that's chopping worth complaining about.    I chop the scallions and grate the ginger root as the water for the pasta boils.  My only problem with this dish is sharing it with others. I want all of it myself.

This is my submission to Presto Pasta Night, which was started by the wonderful Ruth at Once Upon A Feast. Each Friday Ruth has a recap of wonderful pasta recipes from bloggers from all over the world.  So, do stop by and check it out.

Cinco De Mayo: Enchilada Stack

Happy Cinco De Mayo!  It doesn't take any urging to get me to eat Mexican recipes.  It's one of my favorite cuisines.  And on the fifth of May in California, we have marvelous parades and festivals, with delicious food, to celebrate the defeat of the French by Mexican troops in 1862. For the whole story, read this account.  I decided to make this simple recipe, which has all the same ingredients as enchiladas.  But instead of rolling the tortillas, you stack them.  I used the smaller sized 6 inch tortillas, but the larger ones work fine too. The store had beautiful blue corn and regular corn tortillas, perfect for a colorful stack. 

This is a recipe that you can fix to suit your own taste. Use chicken, beef, pork or make it vegetarian by substituting beans or sauteed vegetables for the meat. 

WHB: Spicy Chicken And Rice Flu Chaser Soup

I remembered to get a flu shot this year, then learned that I still have a 50% chance of getting it because the vaccine doesn't cover all the flu variations.  Flu is my enemy.  The side effects always lay me low for quite some time, so I live in fear that I might come down with it.  And when other people are waylaid, I truly feel sorry for them.  I just learned that Shelley and her husband are both dealing with flu (and house renovations, as well), so I decided to make a pot of Flu Chaser Soup in her honor.  Of course, I can't actually give the soup to her, but I thought of her as I ate it--and hope she gets well soon.

This marvelous soup is full of spices and herbs, but I picked ginger root as my herb of choice.  The soup was created by Marjorie Drucker, to combat the horrors of flu and colds, using garlic, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, basil, mint, and bay leaves.  The original recipe doesn't contain ginger root, but I always feel better when I eat soup with ginger root, so I added it. It helps calm the stomach and gives my mood a boost.  I added a large amount, because it seems to me that there's a ginger root crisis in this country.  It's losing it's potency and tastes almost bland to me.  Why this would be, I can't say.  I should stop complaining and grow it myself.  Because this soup is full of lovely herbs, I submit it to Weekend Herb Blogging, which was created by the fabulous Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, but is being hosted this week by Zorra at Kochtopf. Stop by her site this weekend and see her recap of the other herby recipes from bloggers around the world.

 

WHB: Vietnamese Meatballs, With Lettuce Wraps (Mint)

Yes, it's another recipe for meatballs.  Frankly, I never get tired of them and would eat them everyday, if I could.  The recipe comes from Food and Wine, for small hors d'oeuvre meatballs resting on lettuce cups, and dipped in sweet Asian chili sauce. Reading that, I immediately thought it foolish to wait until I threw a party.  So I made my meatballs bigger, placed them on red leaf lettuce, and served them for dinner.  There are many things to like about these tasty orbs.  Besides being quick to make and low in fat, they're fun to eat.  I always like wrapping food up in a crepe, tortilla, or lettuce leaf and popping it into my mouth.

The meatballs contain cilantro and mint. Cilantro haters can omit it and just use the mint, or add some basil.  I'm a great fan of mint used in savory dishes.  If you've only had it in desserts, you'll be amazed at how it adds a unique taste, different from when it's used in sweets  This recipe was made in honor of Weekend Herb Blogging, which was founded by the marvelous Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen.    WHB is being hosted this week by the lovely Anna at Anna's Cool Finds.  Stop by her blog and see a recap of all the wonderful herby recipes from bloggers around the world.
 

Presto Pasta Night: Angel Hair And Rotisserie Chicken Soup

To the person who broke into my house and stole my cellophane noodles:  Rot in hell!  They were in my pantry, earmarked for a nice stir-fried dish for today's dinner.  Maybe you're the same person who broke into another Davis home several years ago, and ate all the home owner's cheese.  (That really happened, it was on the police blotter.)  Your theft of innocent cellophane noodles kept me from making my stir-fry, but you overlooked a box of angel hair pasta in the pantry.  So, I made  a nice soup using them and the left over rotisserie  chicken I bought a few days ago.  If you ever come into my house again, my diabetic attack cat will tear your arm off.

OK, maybe I'm mistaken.  Maybe all this dieting is making me irrational.  Maybe I need some nachos, which scientific research has shown to be best for your brain. Or was it fish?

WHB: Dangerous Days, Part 2

I'm still persevering on my Dangerous Days Diet. I lost 3 pounds and now my body thinks it must prevent my imminent death from starvation by responding to the slightest food provocation.    Have you ever really noticed how many commercials feature food?   I need something filling at times like this, low calorie, and quick.  And it should take a considerable amount of time to chew, giving my brain time to get satiated, and my jaws to tire.  So, it didn't matter if the food was fabulous---I just needed to eat something healthy before I gave in to the insane voice in my mind yelling, "Go get a Double-Double In-And-Out Burger now!!!"   Thus, I was happy to discover that this dish of Chicken Salad, With Cumin Scented Carrot Riata was quite delicious, fast, and required lots of chewing.  I used a store bought rotisserie chicken, because I can control myself around them. If I bake a chicken myself, I peel all the crispy skin off and eat it, as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Not so with a store bought chicken, the skin is always forgettable.  In fact, I'm starting to lose control just thinking about a freshly roasted chicken, with crackly skin and juicy meat......

WHB: Chicken And Tomatillo Stew (Cumin)

Tomatillos had me the first time I laid eyes on them.  Who can resist their appearance, with the papery covering on each one, like a gift ready to be unwrapped?  And once unwrapped, they add a delicious  tangy taste to sauces and stews.  As soon as I saw a pile of them at the grocery store, I decided to make this stew. The original recipe calls for pork loin, but I decided to use boneless chicken thighs that I had on hand instead.  The resulting stew was delicious and comforting, improving as it aged, so it's the type of dish that can be made a day ahead and will taste better.  It's low in fat, filling, and full of healthy veggies.  It also has cumin in it, one of my favorite spices. But, we'll call it an herb this week, to qualify for Weekend Herb Blogging, created by the fabulous Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, but hosted this week by the very talented Pille at Nami Nami.  She will have a round-up of herby recipes posted on Monday, so don't forget to check out her site.

Presto Pasta Night: Recovering From The Most Dangerous Bread In The World

My last post on Tuesday featured Hi-Rise's Cornbread.  Little did I know that I would spend the following two days eating that infernal bread in as many ways as possible. I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with as many snacks as possible.  I had tomato sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, toad in the hole, and lots and lots of toast, lavishly buttered.  I told myself to stop.  I couldn't. I gained 3 pounds.  Meanwhile, as I was engaged in this orgy of eating, Tanna, who also made the very same bread, was fighting her own battle with the cornbread. Please go to her site and see pictures of what she made with the bread.  It's remarkably similar to my own path of destruction, but she possesses more self control than me, since pausing to take a picture while I was in the process of inhaling a tomato sandwich never occurred to me. 

Finally, the bread was gone, and I immediately thought of making more.  But, I pulled myself together (after weighing myself), and decided it was time to get serious. I needed to make something filling, but low calorie.  And since Presto Pasta Night was looming, it should have a modest amount of pasta.

Squirrel Chasing Food: Joe's Special

Gee, what a fun day I had. Not. I spent quite a bit of it trying to coax Taboo, the squirrel, back into her cage, after she escaped two times.  It was a real battle of wits, with me trying to act like The Horse Whisperer, thinking that a quiet, resolute manner would "speak" to her. Well, it didn't. Instead, it all degenerated into me chasing her, to no avail.  You can't catch a squirrel that doesn't want to be caught.  Finally, after almost two hours of chaos, she went into her cage for the second time.  By that time, she hated me.  I was the bad guy. But, after a couple of hours she must have realized that she needed to be on good terms with the food provider, so we're friends again.

All this activity caused me to crave protein. And I had a big bag of spinach that I needed to use before it became a big bag of slime.  I also had ground chicken and decided that a skillet full of Joe's Special would be just the thing. True, real Joe's Special requires ground beef, but I didn't care.  When you're the cook, you can make these critical decisions. I chased a squirrel. I needed a Joe's Special.  You purists can deal with it.