Dragon Star Salad

Hello all. Its been a while since I posted, but I have been very busy lately. But spring is finally here, and the weather is soo nice. But there is one not so nice aspect. That is the lack of fruit variety. Unfortunately this is the in between season, so apples are out, but its still to early for peaches, nectarines and plums, leaving the fruit lover with very little choice. But on the bright side, more exotic, tropical fruits are beginning to be placed on the shelfs. Walking through the market yesterday I found two of my favorites and wanted to share them with you. Star fruit and Dragon fruit. I dont know how many people are familiar with either fruit, and they can look quite scary at first, but they are quite delicious. 

 (Star Fruit)

Start fruit gets its name, obviously from its shape, when sliced it looks like a star. Taste wise they are mild and juicy. The best way to describe the flavor and texture is a cross between an apple and a grape with a smooth waxy skin, very much like the skin of a grape. When choosing the fruit you want one that is a dark yellow, as that is the color when they are ripe, otherwise they can be tart. 

 (Dragon Fruit)

The second fruit, Dragon fruit, is harder to find. I used to get mine at the street vendors in china town, though in summer they could be on the expensive side. But now that my store carries them I am super happy. Like the start fruit, Dragon fruit is very juicy with lots of water so good and refreshing for a hot summer day. The out side is a vibrant pink with the tips green, while the flesh inside is white with tiny black seeds, almost like a kiwi (dont let that put you off). The taste is very very mild, almost bland, so its good in a fruit salad if you have other strong flavors. 

Since these fruits were staring at me today, I decided to make a Fruit salad for breakfast, and it was oh so delicious.

Dragon Star Salad

1 Dragon Fruit
1 Start fruit

Cut up both fruits and combine in a bowl. chill for a few hours if desired. enjoy!

Better then medicine chicken soup

What I thought was an allergy attack turned out to be a nasty cold. Being utterly miserable I decided to make the best cure all in the world. Good old fashioned Jewish chicken soup aka Jewish penicillin.  It has been proven that enzymes in the soup make you feel better, more so then some over the counter meds, so your grandma was right when ever she fed you a bowl when you were sick. So I dragged my self out of bed and made a large pot and ate some honey with lemon while I prepared the veggies. After having a nice big bowl I felt instantly better and crawled back in to bed with a fudge pop and netflix. Ice cream always helps a sore throat

This recipe has been handed down, for many generations. It has always been made the same way. Nothing but good for you natural ingredients. no chemicals or yucky stuff. This makes a lot of soup and you dont have to use all the chicken in the soup. I usaly keep some aside and make a chicken salad. 

Old Fashioned Chicken soup

1-3 pound Chicken pieces with skin depending how much soup you make
3 stalks of celery chopped
1 large onion, chopped
5 carrots chopped
6-8 cups water
salt and pepper

In a large pot place chicken pieces, and veggies and cover with water. Season liberally with salt and pepper and a dash of rosemary. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the chicken falls off the bone. The longer it cooks the more intese the flavor. Once done take out the chicken, as best you can, and remove from the bone.  Serve the soup right away with pieces of the chicken, or wait till it cool and skim off the fat then reheat and serve (I ate right away cause I couldn’t wait)

Left over chicken tacos

Hello all! It finally feels like spring. The sun is shining, there is a light breeze and only a sweater is needed. Its perfect except for the allergy attack.  Any who, I want to talk about left overs. They often get pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten and eventually get thrown away. Not being a fan of waste, I usually try to find a way to make use of them. This is easiest to do when you have left over chicken or beef from a roast the night before. If you even more ambitious, you can make stock from the caucus and freeze it to use in other recipes. There is so much you can make from the left over meat, but this is my go to recipe for lunch or when I want a quick snack. 

It cooks up in a few minutes and you should have everything on hand already. Simply add some cut up onions, and mix it together and put it on a tortilla and you got your self a meal. I use corn tortillas, you if you prefer flour go a head an use them and feel free to add other veggies.

Left over chicken tacos

Left over chicken, shredded
1/4 onion sliced
1 tsp oil
1 clove garlic minced
dash of chili powder, cumin, cayenne peper
1 or 2 tortillas depending on size (i used small 6 inch corn tortillas so used 2)

In a small pan heat oil and add garlic and cook for a few minutes till fragrant. Add sliced onion and cook till slightly softened then add your chicken and spices and cook till warmed through and remove from heat. Warm your tortillas and add the chicken to them. roll up and enjoy with a slice or avocado or sour cream!

 

The green trend continues

Maybe because its march and St, Paddy’s day is around the corner (a soda bread is on the menue soon), or i just have a love of the color green, im noticing a trend. Its still cold enough out that a good bowl of soup can warm up even the most chilliest of days, especially one that is thick and creamy and super filling.  I love all soups, but i love pureed soup most of all. I make a mean  gingered butternut squash, carrot and parsnip soup, but thats a recipe for another day.

Wanting a change, I decided to try my hand at Split pea soup. I find these types of soup easiest to make since it requires very little work. you just toss everything into a big pot and cover it with water or stock and let it cook for a few hours. I hunted around for ideas and most contained a ham bone. As mentioned before, I dont eat pork, so I decided to experiment with other spices. It was a success and I am very pleased with the results. Suffice to say I will be eating it for a few days.

 

Split pea soup

1 bag of split peas
1 onion chopped
2 carrots chopped
6-8 cups stock (chicken or veggie)
Cumin
Garlic
bay leaf
Salt
Pepper

In a large pot over high heat place the onion, carrot, and split peas and add the broth (enough to cover the peas) add the bay leaf and season with cumin, garlic and salt and pepper
Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 2 hours, or until the peas are mushy.
If you want a smooth constancy blend in a blender or with an immersion blender till smooth. Season again to taste.

*I noticed when i reheated the soup the next day it had thickened up even more in the fridge, and had to add a little bit of water to thin it out*

Its a miracle!!!!!!

Noodles make everything better, from chicken soup, to ramen, to spagetti. But if your trying to eat healthy,  carbo loading on pasta is not wise, and if your like me, cant stand the taste of whole wheat pasta you need another option. I would like to introduce you to Miracle Noodles, a.k.a Shirataki noodles. I came across these babys a few weeks ago, and decided to give them ago. All of the reviews I read were positive, and it seemed like a good option since I was not eating carbs at the time. So I whipped out the credit card and ordered the sample pack. It came with 2-3 of each of the main types: Angel hair, Fettuccini, Spinach, Pene, and Rice (rice not pictured as I ate it all)

Having tried most of  them and there are defiantly others that I like better. The angel hair, Fettuccini and rice are all really good. I have not tried the spinach yet. The pene unfortunately didn’t absorb the sauce as well and was a bit to chewy. If you  do eat these, your not going to be fooled that its not pasta, but since they are tasteless they take on the flavor of what ever you cook, as they can be substituted for any dish you use rice or noodles for . The texture is VERY similar to rice noodles and if you like those you will love these

Now why are these so good for you? (I dont want you to confuse these with the tofu shirataki noodles, these are not those.) Its simple. There is no gluten, grains, its vegetarian, vegan, salt free, sugar free and virtually carb free and calorie free. most bags have less then 1g of carbs are made from a soluble fiber, the root of the Konnyaku plant, so it fills you up*. I have added them to meat sauce and i made a really good shrimp  stir fry with the rice. If any one is looking for a healthy alternative to pasta I would highly recommend you try these.

They are simple to cook. You open the bag and drain it into a colander. There will be a smell, and that comes from the water and the bag. That is why its important that you rinse the noodles in cold water for a few minutes. Once you do that you add them to boiling water and cook them for 2-4 minutes and this gets rid of the smell completely. you then squeeze out excess moister and add to you dish. If any of you have tried it let me know how you have used them!

Happy eating!!

* as these are fiber, if you eat to much you will go to the bathroom*