How To Cook Blackened Redfish With Grilled Peppers And Rice

My grandfather taught me to fish in the “tobacco pond” on his North Carolina farm. Later I taught myself to fish in the mosquito laden coves, Intracoastal waterway, and on the creaking ocean piers of Florida. Those sun washed days of waiting for the rod tip to twitch and bend produced plenty of fish but I never ate any. I'm a fish-o-phobe. Love catching them, hate eating them.
My son, Brett, and his friend took a fishing trip in Florida last week and returned with some fresh redfish. When I think of redfish I immediately think of blackened redfish made famous by Paul Prudhomme. That begs a question: If you blacken redfish (aka red drum) are you supposed to redden black drum?
I took this opportunity to try out a recipe or two from a book I will be reviewing soon, 1001 Best Grilling Recipes by Rick Browne. I took the blackening seasoning from one recipe for salmon and matched it with his Grilled Peppers & Rice.
Blackened Redfish with Grilled Peppers & Rice
4 ea redfish fillets
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp parsley, fresh chopped
4 Tbsp butter
1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 2” wide strips
2 medium onions, cliced into ½ inch slices
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 ½ cup cooked long grain rice
½ cup cooked wild rice
¼ cup fresh basil
1.5 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp parsley, fresh chopped
¼ cup roasted red bell pepper
½ tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Start your rice at the same time you fire up the coal for your grill for a direct heat cook at 350f.Mix the salt, pepper, cayenne, oregano, garlic and thyme for the fish seasoning.
Brush the onion slices and peppers with oil and grill 3-4 minutes per side, until the veggies have char marks and are tender.Mix these veggies with the rice, basil, lemon juice, parsley, red bell pepper, salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm.Now put a cast iron skillet or griddle plate on the grill. I was using a Craycort castiron grate so I was able to just switch out one of the grates for a griddle insert. Whatever you use, you want to get it preheated HOT. Real friggin' HOT (technical culinary term)! Place the butter and parsley in a tiny sauce pan.

Provencal Sandwich Recipe

This is a sandwich inspired by the ingredients left-over from the Cheesy Lasagna I made with Natalia the other day…
I discovered Provençal Mushrooms during my trip to Montevideo, Uruguay. I visited for work to shoot a TV commercial there and let me tell you… Uruguay is not a place too welcoming of vegetarians. Just like Argentina, Uruguayan cuisine is filled with “parrilladas” and meat, meat and meat everywhere… what’s a vegetarian girl to do??
These provençal mushrooms were in the menu of El Palenque, one of the most famous restaurants in Viejo Montevideo, next to the Mercado del Puerto. I had them with French fries and the combination of the garlic sauce, parsley, lemon juice was exquisite. I like it so much I went again to the same restaurant to eat the same thing a few times… not out of necessity, but out of gluttony.
When I saw the left-over spinach and sliced mushrooms I decided to combine them into a neat little sandwich inspired by those awesome mushrooms in Uruguay… perfect for a Sunday lunch at the beach.PROVENCAL SANDWICH
¼ cup of defrosted spinach, squeezed dry
2 button mushrooms, sliced
1 scallion
1 small garlic clove, made into a paste with some salt
¼ cubannelle pepper, cut into strips
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped medium
The juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
2 oz of goat cheese
Handful of organic arugula leaves, washed and dried
Olive oil
1 whole-wheat demi baguette
1. In a small skillet over medium heat, pour about 1 tbs of olive oil and sauté the scallion and the peppers. Add the garlic paste and stir to combine to avoid the garlic to burn.
2. After a few minutes when the peppers have softened, add the mushrooms. Move them around a few times to make sure they cook on both sides and absorb the seasoning. Add a little drizzle of more oil if you find the pan is too dry.
3. When the mushrooms have acquired some color, add the spinach and parsley to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and add the lemon juice. Cook for just a few minutes and turn off the stove. Let the residual heat of the pan finish cooking the filling.
4. Now, cut the demi baguette into two halves and scoop out some of the soft dough inside to make some room for the filling. Drizzle with some olive oil and toast in a toaster oven to your desired crispiness.
5. Spread both sides with goat cheese. Transfer the filling to the bottom bread. Drizzle with a bit extra olive oil. Place the arugula leaves and then cover with the top bread.

How To Cook Oatmeal Crusted Haddock With Dhal?

Today we have a recipe for you that makes a great finger food for older babies coping well with texture – and makes a delicious meal for mummy and daddy too!

It’s also perfect for those doing baby led weaning.

This dish is a family favourite in our household. Not only is it packed with nutrients (whole grain oatmeal, protein- and calcium-rich lentils, mineral-rich fish etc etc!) it’s also EASY to make and tastes absolutely wonderful.

If you can’t get hold of haddock, you can use another white fish (cod, pollock, grouper, mahi mahi… we’ve made this with whatever white fish we’ve had available, with equally yummy results!).

1/4 cup lentils olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 to 1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground coriander

We sometimes use red lentils to make dhal because they go very mushy – but for this recipe we used brown. They don’t break down as much and have a little more texture – our little ones enjoy picking them up and eating them individually once they’ve developed their ‘pincer grip’!

Heat a little oil in a small saucepan and gently cook the onion for 3 minutes, then add the garlic and ginger.
Cook for 3 minutes more.
Add the spices and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
Pour in 3/4 cup of the water and add the lentils.
Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover.
Cook gently for around 30 to 45 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Check the pot often and add more of the water if the mixture appears too dry.

Stir Fry Chicken With Hot Chilli

Chinese have a saying that people living in Chongqing is not afraid of spicy taste.So this dish is a famous dish in Chongqing Province.The real method of this dish is to be more chili than chicken.All in pursuit of fun is search for chicken in the chili.Of course,if you don’t like spicy you will put some less chili.
Ingredients:
Chicken
Wild pepper(1 tbsp of)
Dry chili(1 cup of)
Sesame(2 tbsp of)
Ginger
Green onion
Garlic
Marinades:
2 tbsp of Chinese rice wine
2 tbsp of light soy sauce
2 tbsp of starch
2 tsp of salt
Seasoning:
2 cup of oil
1 tsp of essence of chicken
1.5 tsp of sugar
Methods:
1.Clean chicken and cut it into pieces.Put the cutted chicken in the marinade and mix them about 30 minutes.
2.Slice ginger,garlic and green onion.Cut dry chili from the incision in the middle.
3.Deep fried the cutted chicken until its seemed golden then drain oil.
4.Heat up with 3 tbsp of oil in the pot and fried ginger,garlic,dry chili and wild pepper until fragrant.
5.Add in chicken and fried until well done.
6.Pour in all seasoning and green onion ,go on cook about 2 minutes then last pour in sesame,dish off.
Attention:
When you fried dry chili,wild pepper and chicken ,you should use low heat. Otherwise they coked.

Yangzhou Morning Tea Is A Good Choice For Those Who Have Lots Of Free Time

The Huaiyang-style cuisine is ranked as the top of all eight famous Chinese cuisine styles, with pastry and snacks being the key components. The cuisine is best known for its long history, elaborateness, diversity and good taste. It is a custom for Yangzhou people to have morning tea in teahouses, which is part of Yangzhou culture and also an indication of rich Chinese food culture.                                  
The typical eight snacks of Yangzhou morning tea include Crab Yolk Bun (Xiehuang bao), Huaiyang Bun (Huaiyang bao), Three-Dice Bun (Sanding bao), Red Bean Paste Bun (Xisha bao), Dried Vegetable Bun (Gancai bao), Crab Yolk Bun in Small Steamer (Xiehuang Xiaolongbao) and Glutinous Rice Shaomai (Nuomi Shaomai, a traditional Chinese dumpling). The Crab Yolk Bun is the best of all snacks. It’s stuffed with pork, crab meat and yolk. Thus, both the freshness of crab yolk and the tenderness of pork are added to the bun. And Three-Dice Bun is a famous snack in Yangzhou. Its filling includes chicken dices, pork dices and bamboo shoot dices, hence the name of “Three-Dice Bun”. The bun stands out due to the perfect dough fermentation and fine stuffing.
Yangzhou morning tea is a good choice for those who have lots of free time. It’s great fun to spend some time by sitting in a tea house, drinking tea, chatting and sampling the delicious snacks. The perfect combination of gourmet food and leisurely life is where the cultural charm of Yangzhou morning tea lies.
The snacks of Yangzhou morning tea are widely known across China. The famed Buddhist master Jianzhen brought lots of sesame cakes, steamed cakes, thin cakes, fried dough twists and cream cakes etc as food on his way to Japan. The pastry and snacks in the Huaiyang-style cuisine have become a key style in the pastry food industry of China, with a widespread influence in areas like Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Beijing and Sichuan etc.In the past decade or so, with the increasingly frequent catering exchanges between China and other countries, Huaiyang-style pastry and snacks begin to enjoy fame in the world, as the well-known Fuchun Teahouse has set up an outlet in Japan and quick-frozen Yangzhou buns have been exported in batches to areas like southeast Asia and Japan, where they are well received.

Sweet And Sour Tofu With Vegetables

You've ever had a sweet and sour dish at a Chinese restaurant and wondered how they made it, this recipe is for you! Sweet and Sour Tofu with Vegetables is an easy to prepare recipe that will have your family thinking you picked up Chinese take-out! Serve over prepared rice. If you like sweet and sour tofu, you might also want to try this recipe for sweet and sour tempeh.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup vegetable broth
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 14 oz package of firm or extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 1 inch cubes
Preparation:
In a large bowl, mix together the cornstarch and vegetable broth, then add the vinegar, sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, ginger and cayenne pepper until well mixed. Set aside.
In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the garlic, onion, and carrots in vegetable oil about 5 minutes, until carrots begin to soften. Add the pepper and mushrooms and stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the vegetable broth mix to the veggies and cook until mixture thickens, about 5-7 minutes. Add tofu and allow to cook at least 5 more minutes. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Dumpling Is A Sort Of Traditional Food In China

Dumpling, or "Boiled Dumpling", is a sort of traditional food in China. It originated in the Southern and Northern Period and has a history of over 400 years. Many customs regarding eating dumpling have been prevailing in China since ancient times, for example, eating dumpling at the New Year's Eve and on the midwinter day; eating dumpling is prevalent in many regions in North China during the festivals or on family-reunion occasions.
With unique fabricating craftwork, dumplings are usually made by poaching stuffed flour peels. Flour peels are prepared by means of five working procedures: dough mixing, dough rolling, filling mixing and stuffing. Dough mixing is usually done by using cold water and the well-mixed dough is then rolled to dumpling peels which are thick in the center and thin in the rim; filling is usually made of pork, beef, mutton, or egg and various vegetables; stuffing is done to form various shapes of dumplings such as roundness, flatness and crescent. Dumplings are prepared after poaching them in boiler until they float on the surface. In addition, dumpling peels can be made of steamed dough, short paste or rice flour; the filling can be made of meat or vegetables with sweet or salted savor; and cooking methods also include steaming, baking in pan, frying or deep frying.
Chinese families are accustomed to making dumplings with the participation of all family members. Some of them are responsible for mixing dough, some for rolling dough, and others for stuffing. They would like to have a chat while making dumplings, presenting a happy and harmonious atmosphere as well as intense atmosphere of festivals and reunion. Accordingly, dumplings are both food and a cultural tradition in the eyes of Chinese.

Steamed Rice Wth Pineapple

Pineapple is a fruit, rich in many nutrients. It’s sweet and sour taste,so children and women like to eat this.Cook this for your friend is a wonderful thing.Pineapple contains a proteolytic enzyme bromelain, which breaks down protein. Pineapple juice can thus be used as a marinade and tenderizer for meat. The enzymes in pineapples can interfere with the preparation of some foods, such as jelly or other gelatin-based desserts. The bromelain breaks down in the canning process, thus canned pineapple can generally be used with gelatin. These enzymes can be hazardous to someone suffering from certain protein deficiencies or disorders, such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Pineapples should also not be consumed by those with Hemophilia or by those with kidney or liver disease, as it may reduce the time taken to coagulate a consumer’s blood.
Consumers of pineapple have claimed that pineapple has benefits for some intestinal disorders; others claim that it helps to induce childbirth when a baby is overdue.Pineapple is a good source of manganese (91 %DV in a 1 cup serving), as well as containing significant amounts of Vitamin C (94 %DV in a 1 cup serving) and Vitamin B1 (8 %DV in a 1 cup serving).
Ingredients:
Pineapple 1300g
Glutinous rice 200g
Seasoning:
1/3 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of honey
Methods:
1.Steep all glurinous rice in the water for one day.
2.Clean pineapple and cut into two parts then remove pulp
.3.Juice half of pineapple pulp,chop other half of pineapple pulp.
4.Pick soaked rice in the pulp juice and mix them with chopped pulp.(stuffing)
5.Fill pineapple skin with stuffing, fully assembled in two parts.
6.Steam it at least 50 minutes,dish off.

Hard-Boiled Eggs

Eggs are probably the cheapest source of protein around, and quite a complete meal in itself. There are many ways of cooking it and hard-boiled is one of them. Once in awhile, I do find myself having a couple of hard-boiled eggs lying around which can be a wee bit difficult just to consume them in plain form (apart from dipping them into dark soya sauce or making egg sandwiches filling). So, one good way of cooking them would be to make an appetizing dish like this Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs.
Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs is one of those recipes which you can cook in small amounts for one or two meals or big amounts enough to feed a party. There are essentially 3 parts to cooking this dish and you can do them separately at your own convenience. Firstly, you need to make the perfect hard-boiled eggs using eggs which are a couple of days old. Fresh eggs are more difficult to get rid of the shell as the egg membrane tends to stick to the egg white. You will also need to prepare the chilli paste or sambal by pounding them or using a blender. I prefer pounding as I prefer the sambal paste slightly “rough”. And finally, the cooking process which does not take all that long.
This easy Sambal Tamarind Hard-Boiled Eggs recipe is appetizing because it uses tamarind juice to give it a slightly tangy taste to the otherwise flat chilli base. The liberal use of onions gives it a natural sweetness though sugar is also used. If you can find cili boh (chilli paste), that will save a bit of time for you. Otherwise, blend red chilli (seeded) with the rest of the ingredients. Experiment by yourself especially on the amount of chilli, tamarind and sugar to use. If you are looking for an easy or simple sambal hard-boiled eggs recipe or wondering how to cook sambal eggs, try this.

How To Coking BBQ

A food can be tasty only if we know the best way of cooking. We use different kinds of ingredients to make our food delicious but if it is not properly cooked then it loses its taste. In earlier days, charcoal was used to cook BBQ but nowadays gas can be used to cook it easily and tasty. It is also safe while cooking. The biggest benefit of using gas is, its use is cleaner because due to charcoal, there is smoke of cooking place. It also requires less space and less time for cooking as compare with charcoal. While cooking on gas, we can increase or decrease the flame of gas like if you feel the smell of food charring then you can decrease its flame and if you want to cook soon then you can increase. But nothing like this, in the use of charcoal. Using gas, we can cook meat properly because it gives more precise control over the temperature of cooking the meat properly.The utensils, which are used for cooking on gas, are much easier to clean. But if these utensils are used on charcoal then those are very difficult to clean. A gas barbeque grill uses lava rocks. These rocks looks like charcoal but the only difference between charcoal and lava rocks is; lave rocks can be used again and again but charcoal can’t be reused. For using it in a right way, you can search about instructions which we have to be followed while cooking. According to instructions, these rocks can be cleaned or replaced when they look dirty or break up. Every time whenever you use these rocks, just cleans it properly because sometimes old accumulations of deposits catch the fire soon or combine with water and other substances to produce corrosive chemicals. It can contaminate the food.Before any purchase, firstly you should notice the gas which is used for cooking BBQ. Many larger barbeques have wheels so that whole unit can be moved easily. Follow the whole instructions carefully so that you can cook the barbecue safely and easily.

Eating Fat Won't Make You Fat Any More Than Eating Money Will Make You Rich

If you stuff enough cold, hard cash down your gullet, your belly will probably stick out like an overfed oil exec. Same with fat. Fat keeps us full, and healthy fats like those found in seafood and many plants help protect against heart disease. But most of us are eating way, way too much of the wrong kinds—and getting fatter in return.
Yeah, I know it's hard to keep it all straight: good fats, bad fats, indifferent fats, fats that just got out of rehab . . . nutrition is confusing. One day we're told to eat margarine, the next we're told to eat butter. Well, let's simplify it: Here are the only three rules of fat you need to know:
1. If it's a trans fat (look for "partially hydrogenated oil" on the label), then don't eat it. Period. This manmade substance has been linked to a variety of health issues, in particular heart disease.
2. If it comes from the ocean or from open fields (fish, game, free-range animals, or plants), it's good for you. From tuna to avocado to nuts to venison, this is unsaturated fat—the heart-healthy stuff.
3. Everything else—dairy fat and most of the meat we encounter—is just about a wash. In other words, in limited amounts these fats (saturated fats) won't hurt you, but there are healthier things to eat. Don't overdo it. (Opt for low-fat and lean varieties when possible.)
The problem comes when food manufacturers start adding copious quantities of corpulence to foods that ought to be relatively good for us. Fat has 9 calories per gram—versus just 4 per gram for protein and carbohydrates. That means fat grams do more than double the dietary damage.
Here, I'm calling out some of the biggest fat offenders in the restaurant industry, compliments of the forthcoming new Eat This, Not That! 2012. Every meal on this page contains more than 100 grams of fat. That's a minimum of 900 calories of fat in one meal. To be clear, there's nothing remotely healthy here. Stay extra vigilant with these fatty offenders and you'll keep yourself on the smart path to a slim belly.

Chinese food

Chinese food is a general name of various localities and various ethnic dishes. It has a long history and unique features. It is the crystallization of thousands of development of the Chinese cuisine and enjoys the reputation all over the world. Chinese cooking is one important part of Chinese culture. And it's also known as the Chinese food culture. It's one of the world's three major cuisine (Chinese food, French food, Turkish food).

Chinese food culture has always been emphasizing the concerning on color, smell and taste of food. This characteristics can also be summed as refined, delicate and emotion. This is a standard for a course, and is also a standard for a table of dishes. All these reflect the unique cultural heritage that exist in the quality of food, the aesthetic experience , emotional activity and social function during the process of eating activity, and they also reflect the close relationship between food culture and Chinese excellent traditional culture.

Color refers to the color of dishes; it is an organic mix of raw materials and seasoning color. It also a symbol of refine, it is a general summary of the intrinsic quality of Chinese food culture and this sense as a cultural spirit permeates and carries through the entire process of eating and drinking. The choice of materials, cooking and even the eating environment all reflect the refined characteristic of Chinese food.   

Smell refers to the aroma of dishes, including aroma of air and bone. It also reflects the aesthetic characteristics of Chinese food culture. The main reason that why Chinese food enjoys its reputation all over the world lies in its delicacy. This delicacy refers to the perfect unity of the form and content of eating and drinking and the aesthetic pleasure and enjoyment it brings to people. The delicacy of Chinese food not only relies on its taste, but also reflects on its form, color, appliances, even the color of the clothes that servers wear. From see, we can see that delicacy as a basic meaning of Chinese food culture, it the charm of Chinese diet and it goes through each process of eating and drinking.Taste refers to the mouth feel of the dishes. It's the soul of dishes. And it's the production of organic mixing of ingredient, seasoning and different cooking skills. In China, eating is actually a medium of emotional communication between people; it is a kind of spectacular social events.

Easy Chinese Recipe for Pork Dumpling Soup

You'll find a couple of local dishes in Bee Yinn Low's Easy Chinese Recipes (Tuttle Publishing, $24.95). This is because Low lives in Irvine and eats Chinese food all over California as well as in Asia. The L.A.-area recipes are shrimp and yellow chive dumplings, modeled on a dish at Dumpling 10053 in El Monte. The other is pork dumpling soup, which Low says she researched by eating "countless servings" at Sam Woo.

Born into a Chinese family in Penang, Malaysia, Low puts a lifetime of experience into judging Chinese food, and she is harsh when necessary. "The orange chicken served in the United States often looks like a gloppy mess," she writes. Egg drop soup is as bad or worse. "To be brutally honest--I have never tasted a really decent egg drop soup in the Chinese restaurants here in the United States." They are "goopy" and "MSG-laden," she complains.

You can, of course, learn to make "decent" egg drop soup (copied from a restaurant in Shanghai) and excellent orange chicken from her book. The theme is "easy," but Low offers an intriguing range of Chinese food, not just pared-down, simple dishes for beginners. It's subtitled "Family Favorites from Dim Sum to Kung Pao."

If you hang out in the San Gabriel Valley, you've probably eaten plenty of clams with black bean sauce, honey walnut shrimp, salt and pepper squid, pot stickers, Yangzhou fried rice and boba tea.

With Low's book, you can make these and also produce your own chili oil, Sichuan peppercorn oil, Chinese BBQ sauce and even dumpling wrappers. Low herself took the photos that accompany each dish.

Low jumped from a business career to food, launching the popular blog RasaMalaysia.com. Although she talks about eating in such places as Shanghai and Beijing, she is by no means Asia-centric. A hole-in-the-wall in Salt Lake City produces her favorite beef chow fun.

PORK DUMPLING SOUP
From Easy Chinese Recipes

Makes 12 to 20 dumplings

Dumplings
1 small wood ear mushroom
6 ounces ground pork
4 ounces shelled and deveined raw shrimp, cut into small pieces
2 peeled fresh or canned water chestnuts, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
1 1/2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine or sherry
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 dashes white pepper
1 pack store-bought siu kow or wonton wrappers
4 cups water

Soup
1 3/4 cups homemade chicken stock or 1 (14-ounce) can store-bought chicken broth
1 cup water
3 dashes white pepper
Salt
1 green onion, trimmed and cut into small rounds

1. To make the filling, soak the wood ear mushroom in warm water for about 15 minutes. Cut it into thin strips. Combine the wood ear mushroom, pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, green onion, oil, rice wine, sesame oil, chicken powder, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Chill for 30 minutes.

2. To assemble the dumplings, place a wrapper on your palm and and spoon on about 1 tablespoon filling. Do not overfill. Dip your index finger into a small bowl of water and circle around the outer edges of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper over and press the edges with your thumb and index finger to ensure that the dumpling is sealed tightly and there is no leakage.

3. Repeat for the remaining wrappers and filling.

4. Place the dumplings on a floured surface or baking sheet. Cover them with a damp kitchen towel to prevent drying. Bring the 4 cups water to a boil in a pot. Gently transfer the wrapped dumplings to the boiling water and boil until they float to the top, about 2 to 3 minutes. If necessary, boil in more than 1 batch.

5. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon, drain the excess water, and cover them to prevent drying.

6. Make the soup by bringing the chicken broth and 1 cup water to a boil in a pot. Add the white pepper and salt to taste.

7. Place 3 to 4 dumplings in each soup bowl, add some of the soup to the bowl and garnish with green onion rounds. Serve immediately.

Reduce your frequent hunger pangs -- Awesome Eggs

If you want to curb your infrequent hunger pangs, its better to have eggs for breakfast, that curbs on reducing hunger at the same time decreases calorie consumption at lunch and throughout the day, as per a new study.

It was seen that people who had taken eggs in their breakfast consumed fewer calories when offered an unlimited lunch buffet in comparison when they ate a carbohydrate-rich bagel diet for breakfast that had the same amount of calories.

This research is basically an extension of the earlier studies that stated that eating eggs for breakfast as part of a reduced-calorie diet helped in case of overweight dieters lose 65 percent more weight and feel more energetic when compared to people who tend to eat a carbohydrate rich diet.

Dr. Maria Luz Fernandez, study author and professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Connecticut stated: "There is a growing body of evidence that supports the importance of high-quality protein in the diet for overall health and in particular the importance of protein at the breakfast meal. We examined two typical American breakfasts, and the participants'' self-reported appetite ratings reveal that a protein-rich breakfast helps keep hunger at bay."

Another dietician and nutrition consultant, Helenbeth Reynolds adds that high-quality protein breakfast like eggs aids in fullness and thus curbing the temptation to add calories. She further stated that egg constitutes of only 70 units of calories and in addition to this it comes with high-quality protein and added nutrients.

Studies have shown that those with higher levels of choline have a corresponding lower level of inflammation (20%! Chronic inflammation=disease=early death). What is sad is that they estimate some 90% of Americans are deficient of choline! Eggs are  great for your eyes as well, with hard hitters like zeaxanthin and lutein, that help protect against macular degeneration and cataracts. Although spinach is considered a great source of lutein, egg yolks are more bioavailable source. Examine your yolks to determine optimum levels. The deeper the yellow/orange color the more lutein and zeaxanthin and the more eye protection. What about cholesterol and heart health? persistent egg eaters actually demonstrate improved blood lipid levels and have a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (oops I guess that diffuses that excuse not to eat them!). You don’t want to eat any old egg, though. Don’t reach for those filmy-light-colored yolky eggs. Step away and go for the pasture-raised. Like most things the factory farmed chicken just doesn’t measure up to it’s more natural counterpart. The greatness of pasture-raised (chickens aren’t considered grass-fed because they’ll eat anything, they’re especially fond of bugs):

1.can contain as much as 10 times the omega-3 concentration
2.   2/3 more vitamin A
3.7 times more beta carotene
4.more folic acid and vitamin B
5.30 times more vitamin E
6.3-6 times more vitamin D (eggs are one of the few dietary sources of this vital fat-soluble vitamin, that again most Americans don’t get enough of)

Still think that eggs are boring? I don’t see how anything so wonderful and beneficial could ever be boring, non-the-less tune in tomorrow for some recipes. For more on our egg-loving fat burner weight loss programs head over to our website at bodychange.net cause I’m off to enjoy some eggs in grass-fed butter (yum)!

Get to Learn about African Food Culture

As many of you know, as one intrigued by all things hospitality, food and culture related, I had been working some extra hours in a new local authentic Nigerian restaurant.  I took on this gig because I wanted to study exactly what modern, NY-style African hospitality is.   Would anything change drastically from what I learned at home?    As a Nigerian-American born, raised and residing in Brooklyn, NY I wasn’t quite sure that the dining culture I knew of was relevant enough to provide great service at this institution that prides itself on being “authentic”.  So I decided to do a little reflecting and comparisons.

Here’s what I do remember of my childhood dining:

1)  Our typical traditional meal was pounded yam and soup (mostly ogbono w/ okra and egusi).

2)  We always ate together.   Rarely did my parents eat alone.  The more the merrier.  My Mom and Dad ate from the same plate.  Sometimes it was my whole family eating from one plate.  They would always ask us to wash our hands and join them at the table.  Us, meaning my sister and I, who were both born in America.  My brother, who was born in Nigeria, ironically didn’t take a liking to traditional Nigerian food!

3) Hands are the best utensils!  Pounded yam or any fufu (pounded starch with the consistency of a really dense mashed potato) were eaten with the hands.  You break of a small peice of fufu with your fingertips.  Use your fingertips to form a ball (about the size of a small gumball) and dip it in the soup using your fingers to scoop up some sauce.  To me pounded yam is the African cousin to Italian gnocchi!

4) Before eating always serve your parents (especially Dad, major respect necessary as patriarch of the family) a bowl of warm water to wash hands and a beverage to drink.  And by noooo means serve it with your left hand.  Please.  You will get an earful about disrespect.

5) When handing parents (especially Dad for same reason as above) a beverage and/or bowl of water to wash hands, tell them “Thank you”.  Yes, you read that right.  When giving something to your parents, don’t wait for them to thank you.  You say “Thank you” to them to which they respond, “Thank God”.   If they make the mistake of  thanking you by no means respond “You’re welcome”  which would then remind them you shouldn’t be thanked or be accepting the thanks as your own in the first place.   This exchange was also done before the meal after a blessing is said.  The children must make thier rounds around the table saying “Thank You” to all the elders (including older siblings) around before eating.  As the youngest in the family I was always annoyed by this tradition!!  Especially when I was hungry! lol

6)  When eating with my parents, it was a sign of affection for them to pick out an appetizing morsel of meat from the soup bowl and offer it to the children.  Usually they would do this with the stockfish, which I’m assuming its because its the most…I’m not sure actually…precious?? lol  Stockfish is a peice of dried fish that is rehydrated to make stews or soups but still maintain a chewy texture and a unique flavor.

Hmm, that’s about all I can remember for now.  But of all the “complexities” of traditional African dining, one thing remains prevalent: Eating time is family time, its a time to commune, to express love and to bring cultural traditions to the American table.

Now, as an adult, I watch my 3 year old nephew, Zephaniah, sit down on his grandparents table during Sunday dinner, eating from a platter of egusi soup and pounded yam with Grandpa and Grandma looking and watching lovingly and happily.  Thrilled and at awe that even their grandson, despite having never been to his homeland of Nigeria, can taste the intensity of Nigerian food that is missing from say “mac n cheese”.   Grandma makes little pounded yam balls for him.  He take a ball, dips it in the flavorful egusi sauce, and puts the delightful morsel in his mouth…he hardly skips a beat, except perhaps to share one of his dazzling smiles to show his approval of Grandma’s execution of his favorite meal!  Makes my heart swoon.

This  led me to the conclusion that African food, made with love, is the original, feel good ”comfort food” and according to the smile on my nephew’s face, that has never changed!

Of Spam and Velveeta

If I had to point at one area of the food media world that illustrates my point regarding its elitism and deafness against common food, I would cast my finger in the way of those two veritable juggernauts of the corporate food world - Spam and Velveeta.
Each of these foods is a key ingredient in a regional American cuisine (Spam in Hawaiian food, and Velveeta in Tex-Mex). Without them, said cuisines would look vastly different and would result in something markedly different. Yet if one were to take a sampling of various food writers and editors, both of these products would not fare particularly well, either being, at best, dismissed, and, at worst, used as an example of the ineffectiveness of corporations to produce food of substance.

Let's address the last argument for a moment. Can corporations produce foods of substance, of quality? Both terms - substance and quality - are subjective terms, so let's open it up to subjective answers. In my own life, I've enjoyed everything from Oreos and Snickers bars, to Thai chili paste and canned tomatoes, each produced by a company incorporated somewhere in the world. Many of these companies sell from tens of thousands to millions of consumers. At some point in those numbers, I have to acknowledge that not all of that is marketing. At some point, people are buying these products because they like the stuff, regardless of whether it's a jar of mayonnaise to a loaf of cheese substitute. And while I can't stand some of the stuff being purchased out there in bulk (i.e. Kraft Singles), I cannot make the leap to say that my taste in food is superior to anyone else's. Different? Yes. Better? Ehhhhhhh...

So if we can agree that there is some measure of value in the mass produced food out there, why do many of us dismiss it? Is it because it is less healthy? Mmm. There are many "high-end" foods that have their own health issues (I'm looking at you, cheese and charcuterie). Is it because its often produced in less than ethical ways? In some instances, yes. But really? Are we that concerned with how Velveeta is made?

What I think the issue comes down to is a combination ubiquity, lack of cost, and the fact that its produced by a corporation. We food folk love our food to be new and exotic. Often we equate a food's "exoticness" with its rarity. If there were such a thing as artisinal cheese loaf, or hand made canned ham, these products would look a bit different to us.

But there's not. If there's one thing that Spam and Velveeta ain't is exotic. We can literally walk into any grocery store in the United States, and be assured of finding both, for a cost less than a ticket to a movie. This ubiquity makes it easy for us to think "Velveeta? Feh. Spam? Disgusting!"
The question for me is now, "Should we disregard foods simply because of their ubiquity?" Of course not. Even less so for foods, such as Spam and Velveeta, that define specific cuisines.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying you need to like the taste of Spam or Velveeta. What I am saying is don't disregard the importance and value of these foods to groups of people who use and (presumably) like the stuff. Hawaiian Cuisine and Tex-Mex have an inherent value to our American culture. It's important to recognize both the cuisines, and aspects of the cuisines that make them possible.

Grass Fed Beef tastes how to feel

After a dinner over steak on Friday night, the conversation turned to the difference in taste between Grass Fed and Grain Fed cattle. This was brought on by the waitress telling us of the delights of eating "hop fed" beef, an idea that many of us at the dinner table found silly.

There is much to be said for the value of grass fed cattle. Grass is a low-starch, high-protein fibrous food, in contrast to carbohydrate-rich, low-fiber corn and soybeans. When animals are 100% grass-fed, their meat is not only lower in saturated fats but also slightly higher in omega-3 fatty acids.
Also important to note is the fact that, unlike feed lot cattle, raised on grain and stuck in a small cubicle for much of its life, those who advocate for grass fed cattle also tend to let their cattle go out to the field and graze. The result? Muscles that are grown naturally, rather than artificially induced growth done through the use of hormones.

Let's set aside the ethics of the practice, and focus on the resulting taste of each practice. Let's presume that the quality of rotational grazing is high. as is the breed of cattle for the grass fed beef. For the grain fed, the cattle would have to been bred for its lifestyle. Also, let's compare one of the pinnacle cuts - prime rib.

The major difference, from what I can tell, comes from the additional levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which can impart everything from a nutty, buttery flavor, to gamey, to even some reports of a fish-like taste. Let's not discount the texture of the cut of beef either. Cattle that is mobile may result in beef that is denser, and tougher to chew.

Ultimately, my guess is that the flavor of grass fed beef comes down to the quality of care given given to the cattle by the rancher. What makes feedlot cattle such benefit to those in the beef industry is its resulting consistency of product. There's profit to be had when beef tastes the same in Arizona as it does in Oregon, even if that taste is mediocre at best.

Grass Fed cattle, it seem, enters several new variables to taste that must be accounted for in some way or another. And if the rancher chooses to ignore one of them, the resulting taste of beef may be less than ideal to a consumer.

What to Expect When Taxing Soda

Mark Bittman, he of the How to Cook Everything series of books and resident food pundit at the New York Times, wrote yesterday of the benefits of taxing soda and subsidizing vegetables.

...the food industry appears incapable of marketing healthier foods. And whether its leaders are confused or just stalling doesn?t matter, because the fixes are not really their problem. Their mission is not public health but profit, so they?ll continue to sell the health-damaging food that?s most profitable, until the market or another force skews things otherwise. That ?other force? should be the federal government, fulfilling its role as an agent of the public good and establishing a bold national fix.
Rather than subsidizing the production of unhealthful foods, we should turn the tables and tax things like soda, French fries, doughnuts and hyperprocessed snacks. The resulting income should be earmarked for a program that encourages a sound diet for Americans by making healthy food more affordable and widely available.

It's a great idea and one state governments have been floating around for a while now. In fact, here in the state of Washington, Passed a few laws doing exactly that.
So what happened? I-1107 happened. Here's what I wrote last October:

When the American Beverage Association heard that Washington state was now taxing soda pop, they leapt into action. It is reported that they had spent an estimated $1 million gathering petition signatures for the July 2, 2010 statewide deadline to help put this initiative on the ballot.
Since that time they have donated an astounding $16,727,750 to fight these taxes. The have created false and misleading advertisements, saying things such as:
1)Taxing food and beverages is just plain wrong. It hurts middle-income families, seniors and other people who are already struggling to make ends meet during difficult economic times.
2)Taxing thousands of common food and beverage products sets a dangerous precedent. If we don?t repeal these tax hikes now and send a clear message, the politicians will think they can get away with raising taxes on other grocery products in the future.
If we were to tax foods of substance, let's call it nutritious food, then it might be wrong. But the state of Washington took care to define these taxable items in such a way that made it clear that the newly taxed items were foods that added nothing of substance to our diet. We don't need bottled water, we don't need candy bars. At no point did the conversation come up that was along the lines of "Hey, let's tax apples." That simply did not happen.
As far as the "sets a dangerous precedent" line, let me point out that alcohol has been taxed here for quite some time. Taxing soda or chocolate bars is not taking us into a scary new "tax every consumable" world.
The American Beverage Association knows this. But here's the thing. They don't want you to associate Pepsi and Coke with Budweiser and Miller. What they want is for you to associate the products that they are lobbying for with chicken, fish, and bread. They want you to believe that every item in a grocery store inhabits a sacred area, and once entered, it means that the product is inherently good for us.

The result of the initiative? The voters rejected the taxes that the State Legislature had tried to instill upon the the makers of soda. It wasn't even close. Those voting to reject the tax had,522,658 votes, and 60.44% of the electorate. Those voting to retain the tax had 996,761 votes and only 39.56% of the electorate.
The ABA came in, spent $16.5 million dollars (and, fun fact, they were the primary funder of this initiative, by far. The next donor only gave $100), outspending the supporters of the tax by a ratio of 54 to 1.
Or, to put it in more stark terms, the soda industry didn't like being taxed, came in to the state of Washington, and essentially bought an election by lying and misrepresenting the facts of the soda taxation.
The result? The state of Washington is out $352 million dollars over the next five years. And, as predicted, we are having problems paying for education, police forces, and elderly care.
So, yes, by all means. Let's tax soda and candy. But know this - we're going to be in a hell of a fight.

Dozen Eggs is indeed a very good enjoy

Jane Black, a food writer over at The Atlantic, discusses a recent run in with a farmer who was selling eggs at $8 per dozen.

My first instinct was that the egg guy was gouging people, like me, who have enthusiastically embraced efforts to build an alternative to our industrial food system. But it turns out that's what it costs him to produce his eggs. The farm, Grazin' Angus Acres, follows the gold standard of environmental practices: each morning, the chickens are fed organic grain, then moved to fresh pasture in a specially made chicken mobile. Owner Dan Gibson says the process is so labor-intensive that bringing down the price would be near impossible?and he's not interested in trying. "At eight dollars a dozen, you pay 67 cents an egg," he told me. "If your priorities are in the right place, that's a bargain."

The problem, as the $8/dozen eggs tell us is that, if a farmer does everything in their power to ensure caring, sustainable practices, the cost for production becomes enormous. But what do we get in return for this cost? Tom Philpott, over at Mother Jones, spells it out:

Meanwhile, at my local Walmart in Boone, North Carolina, a dozen eggs will set you back just $1.18. Those 10-cent eggs, of course, are produced in vast, fetid factories, sucking in huge amounts of environmentally ruinous corn and concentrating much more manure than can properly be absorbed into surrounding farmland.

What we get is farmland (that we never see) that is sustainable, a product (which is consumed almost immediately) that tastes marginally better, and the positive feelings of supporting a local farmer (who we barely know, if we know them at all) and not supporting factory- produced eggs (whose factories we also have never seen).


There's quite a bit of abstraction in the benefit of purchasing those eggs.As we sit in our restaurants and visit our farmers markets, the first rule of consumerism is as follows - when seeing two alike products whose only difference appears to be cost, people, collectively, will always migrate towards the cheaper one. People, when it comes to their food purchases, tend to stay within their cash-on-hand budget (meaning, most people don't go into debt for grocery purchases). $8 per dozen eggs falls squarely into the luxury department. For people working to a budget, convincing them of the value of the $8/dozen eggs is asking too much. Value has to come with tangible benefits to the consumer. I admit, the argument is a bit black and white here, although not much. While most supermarkets don't sell $8/dozen eggs, they do sell anywhere between three to ten different types of eggs in their stores. Variations of cage-free, grain-fed, and hormone-free eggs all dot the shelves, each at a different cost point. And none of these types of eggs have diminished the demand for the $1.18 per dozen eggs.

Now, take this example for eggs, and expand upon it. Because this same dilemma of abstract benefit versus tangible value is being played out with milk, pork, beef, bread, tomatoes, soy beans, corn, and so-on and so-on. If we believe that good food (defined here as better tasting, less cruel to the animals, and more sustainable to the environment) is to be made available to all, rather than just the privileged, then we have to make the benefits of such purchases tangible to the consumers. More often than not, that means reducing their costs, or, more likely, remove the government subsidies and increase the financial penalties for unethical business practices that would increase the costs of cheap food. Because, more than any other lesson I have learned in the food industry, I have learned this: cheap food comes at a cost. It's just that the cost is just another abstraction for too many of us.

Prohibition Is Our Best Food

As the above video discusses, we're at a point where talking about "The Great Experiment" is in vogue, and running parallels between the 1920's alcohol ban and today's ban on marijuana. This is all well and good, as it leads (and has led) to discourse about personal freedoms, personal responsibility, and how they relate to our role as citizens. This is a conversation that needs to happen, as those who profit off of prohibition often do far more damage to our cultural fabric than those who overindulge.


The thing to remember when talking about Prohibition, whether we are talking about alcohol or marijuana, is that they are both policies, and both are reactive results of political pressures instituted prior to when the policy was implemented. Prohibition of alcohol has a long history, one that has generations of discussion and influence before it's implementation in 1920.

The Prohibition of alcohol was helped primarily by two movements in the 1800's. One, we have the women learning to use their collective voice for political purposes. Here, temperance was thought to be a way to keep men less lazy and less angry and violent.


Secondly, there was an anti-immigrant sentiment. Immigrants often congregated in taverns and saloons, where folks who didn't know anyone in their new land could meet people from the old country, network, gain work, and eventually create political machines both small and large. There were many in the Temperance movement who, afraid of change or non-WASPs, figured out that the best way from keeping immigrants from organizing was shut down the places where the newly arrived could meet.

Sure, sure, there are those who honestly felt that the word of God was the primary reason to justify the temperance movement, and undoubtedly there were plenty of "true believers". And there were many of those from Churches (both Protestant and Catholic) who felt that government had no business codifying morality. But mostly? Mostly there were ulterior motives in the movement, ones that many a politician exploited for their own benefit.


In fact, World War I provided political cover for the Dry party, when those of German heritage (and who happened to own breweries and saloons) had their patriotism brought into question. A vote for drinking was a vote for the Kaiser, and the temperance movement soon had their biggest victory by appealing to nothing more equating drinking with supporting the enemy.


So yes, exploring the Prohibition era is important, as it gives, primarily, an excellent lesson in economics. But the era before Prohibition is just as important, as it shows that many of those involved in the movement weren't doing so out of a sense of moral obligation, but that of political power.

Vegan Ratatouille is very healthy in this world

After I saw the movie Ratatouille, I imagined that one day I myself would cook up the French dish in my own kitchen. Well the day has arrived and gone and the Ratatouille was interesting…but good! Most Ratatouille recipes are baked, however I chose to pan cook all my veggies…I was hungry and couldn’t wait!

Fresh herbs liven this dish up. As I said above that you can really mix and match the vegetables you like with seasonings you may prefer. I found it to be rather delicious and easy to make. Next time I will try baking it and find an eggplant to go with the rest of the dish. This can be served for lunch or dinner and the leftovers are just as yummy as the day before! Send me your favorite Ratatouille Recipe so we can compare!

 You can really mix and match vegetables until you get the combination you prefer. I didn’t have the traditional eggplant so I substituted with portabella mushrooms and the taste was delicious but of course everything wasn’t as beautifully colored as most Ratatouille recipes. I served this vegetable melody over rice that was cooked with turmeric, to add a flavor to the rice and a nice color to the dish! What is also great about this Ratatouille recipe is that it is vegetarian & vegan! Yay for Vegan Recipes!

In a large pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cover for 5-minutes. Add bell pepper, garlic, salt and pepper, and combine. Cook covered for 10-minutes. Stir in squash, tomatoes, mushrooms, and thyme. Cook for until vegetables are tender, about 20-minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot with rice.

The Better and faster food for you

It has certainly been a while since I wrote my last article on delicious:days, usually you only get to see my views on the world – and the places Nicky and I travel to – through my travel photography. This is Oliver, Nicky’s better other half, the guy with the stained T, keeping the engine of the blog humming.

With Nicky’s packed schedule the next days, I took the extraordinary opportunity and quickly hijacked all editor panes, crafting a little travel report of our recent trip to Dubai. A short, yet delightful adventure in the Arabic world, with all its idiosyncrasies and things that got lost in translation.

Dubai. Bigger. Better. Faster. A city full of superlatives, but also contrasts. Despite it’s financial situation a few years back, the city seems to be getting back on track, including new investments on various levels. Literally so. Just this month, At.Mosphere the highest-altitude restaurant, opened its doors on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa. Directly vis-à-vis the Dubai Mall with its ridiculous amount of 1200 stores spread across 4 levels – huge damage potential guaranteed. Watch out!

Getting around in Dubai is sort of easy, finding your destination a bit more challenging. The transportation of choice clearly is the taxi, provided you know exactly where you’re going, preferably including your destination’s vicinity. And don’t be mislead to believe that Google maps will give you that information just like that, many of the POI’s we had pin point down were off the mark or even showed up in wrong parts of the city. Be sure to double, better yet, triple check directions and addresses, in particular for smaller, less touristy spots. And apply some common sense, where we didn’t.

Once you’re in a cab a couple of things can happen. The overly talkative, your-brother-from-another-mother type driver who assures you that he is YOUR man – an hour notice is all it takes and he’ll be there for you. He’s rambling non stop, the meter is off and by now we’ve made the second completely pointless U-turn and it’s not exactly a scenic route either. Oh well, it was our first ride, he got us, we paid 3 times the actual price, but arrived at last. The next day, believe it or not, we accidentally (odds??) got in the same cab yet again, needless to say we had a little chat with “our man”. Other cab experiences included a flat tire while going 70 inner city. I’m positive that the driver has experienced worse, he was in a Zen like mode when it happened. Inshallah.

The Basta Art Café is a wonderful place to start your day. Located in-midst the Bastakia on Al Fahidi St., near Dubai Museum, it offers a cozy garden courtyard and good mix of local and European breakfast/brunch dishes. A scent of incense reminds you where you are, should the environment capture your senses. Opposed to information found elsewhere, they do accept credit cards. Check out the artwork, too!

Connnecting Bur Dubai and Deira, the Abra station (Old Souk) is merely a stone throw away, a nice stroll alongside the Creek. The 5 minute Abra ride to the Deira side (Spice Souk station) is fun but way too short, I could have easily gone back and forth several times if we weren’t slightly pressed for time. Start in the morning, skip the spice souk for now and instead head straight to the fish souk (near Shindagha Tunnel/bus station) for the catch of the day (~15 min walk).

You’ll love the souks. Nicky and I could care less about the gold souk, but the fish, fruit & vegetable as well as spice souk are absolutely worth a visit. The abundance of fresh fish is amazing, the market dynamics fun to watch. The vendors are very friendly, yet much less intrusive than the ones at the spice market and will -once they spot your camera- launch an instant party. To the side of the fish area you’ll find a closed meat section with all kinds of interesting cuts and bigger, more intact pieces – if you know what I mean. Things you usually don’t get to see at your butcher next door. Not for the faint of heart, but quite impressive nevertheless.

Russell Stover Can Also For Your Love

Russell Stover has epitomized Americana for as long as I can remember. They’re a safe and unassuming brand. Their boxed chocolates are dependably sweet and bland but have a nice flair for dependable and fresh holiday themed chocolate novelties.

I was a little surprised when I saw these new Russell Stover Day of the Dead Skeletons at the drug store.

They have two varieties, one chocolate covered caramel and one chocolate covered marshmallow - but what’s interesting about them is the South of the Border design on the package (bilingual as well).

I’ll start with the Russell Stover Caramel Covered in Milk Chocolate (Caramelo Cubierto en el Chocolate con Leche).

They’re large skeleton shaped caramel planks covered in milk chocolate, the package features a brightly clad skeleton. There are at least three different designs per confection. For the Caramel I chose this lady skeleton wearing a red blouse with poofy sleeves, a green full skirt, a yellow yat with dingleberries and holding maracas. It’s quite a sight, especially when designed with bright flat colors and accents of purple, orange and silver foil.

The pieces are large, about twice the size as the regular Pumpkin products they make. The Caramel was 2.5 ounces and about 4.5 inches long.

The design of the actual candy is not quite as impressive as the package. In fact, once I pulled it out of the wrapper, you could have easily convinced me this was a Halloween Saguaro Cactus. But shape aside, it’s a really lovely piece of candy. The chocolate is nicely tempered, it’s shiny and had very few scuffs and no leaks. The ripples were also nice to look at and gave a feeling that this was a piece of candy made by people.

The caramel is soft, but not runny. The bite is easy and the caramel has a good pull but not a lot of chew to it. It’s smooth and has a lot of toffee notes and very little grain. The milk chocolate is sweet and has a lot of dairy notes though not much going on other than that.

It’s a lot of candy - I couldn’t eat more than a third in one sitting, so it’s not an easy piece to have a little and then put it away.

It’s not an innovative piece, they make a similar product for Easter, but it’s fresh and I really loved the package.

The Russell Stover Marshmallow Covered in Milk Chocolate (Malvavisco Cubierto en el Chocolate con Leche) has an equally vibrant package design. I chose a skeleton wearing a sombrero and bright poncho beating on a magenta and yellow drum.

This piece is only 2.25 ounces, missing a quarter of an ounce because the marshmallow is so fluffy, but probably about 50% thicker than the Caramel version.

The shape is similarly blocky and poorly defined, but still has glossy rippled milk chocolate enrobing.

Russell Stovers "Day of the Dead" Chocolate Covered Marshmallow

Cedar Plank-Grilled Salmon with Avocado-Orange Salsa Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 (15 x 6 1/2 x 3/8-inch) cedar grilling plank
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons Cointreau (orange-flavored liqueur)
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 6 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
• 1 cup orange sections (about 2 oranges)
• 3/4 cup diced peeled avocado (about 1)
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Preparation

• Immerse and soak the plank in water 1 hour; drain.
• Prepare grill.
• Combine syrup, Cointreau, and rind in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 3 minutes). Cool 5 minutes. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper over fish; brush fish with syrup mixture.
• Place plank on grill rack, and grill for 3 minutes or until lightly charred. Carefully turn plank over, and place fish on charred side of plank. Cover and grill for 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.
• Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, orange sections, avocado, orange juice, onion, bell pepper, chives, and lime juice in a medium bowl; serve with fish.

I love It

In the last couple weeks I’ve been on a huge Salmon kick. Specifically Wild Caught Salmon. I first saw a recipe on Joanne’s blog for Sweet Chipotle Glazed Salmon, I couldn’t wait to make it. Unfortunately, do to bad planning, the can of chipotles in adobo I thought I had in my lazy suzan was not there. So I improvised. Have you guys had Red Pepper Jelly? I wrote about it a couple weeks ago, but its pretty much the best thing in the world. So I made Red Pepper Jelly glazed Salmon and it was delicious. I served this along side sweetened quinoa with golden raisins and a tablespoon or two of the Jelly and spicy Kale Chips.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Red Pepper Jelly
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 (6-7 oz) wild Atlantic salmon fillets
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450. Mix jam, vinegar, and cumin in the bowl. Season glaze to taste with salt. Coat a small rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Arrange salmon and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Spread glaze over each fillet and cook for about 10 minutes.
I mean how quick and easy is that? Then the next night I made a recipe inspired by Cara’s site for Mango Habernero Salmon. Only I made Mango Jalapeno Salsa. And it was insanely spicy. But I loved it!

Crispy Prosciutto Cooking

Crab linguine with crispy sage and prosciutto
Crispy prosciutto
In a frying pan, lay your slices of prosciutto ham and fry. You’ll find the ham releasing its own oil but use a spatula to flatten it, which helps it to release even more oil. Transfer the crispy prosciutto onto kitchen paper to remove any excess oil.

Crab linguini
1 tin of white crab meat in brine, drained and lightly rinsed
½ onion, sliced thinly into strips
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

The essential ingredients

1 large red chilli, finely chopped (deseed it if you don’t want it with a kick)
1/3 cup white wine (I used a sauvignon blanc)
180 grams linguine (or enough for 2)
1 small knob of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
A generous pinch of salt
Juice of ½ lemon
The brand of linguine I use normally takes about 12 minutes to become al dente so once my pasta goes into the pot, I start on cooking the crab.

Only takes a few seconds to fry

In a saucepan, melt your butter and olive oil and on a low heat, sweat off the onions. I slow cook the onions to keep it from taking on much colour. It normally takes about 6-8 minutes before it turns translucent and starts browning just on the edges.
Add your garlic and turn up the heat a little. Fry off your garlic gently and then add the red chillies and keep frying gently for another minute or so.
Add the crab meat to the frypan but fry it gently, I like trying to keep the crab in bigger chunks.

Crab meat cooking gently in white wine and lemon juice

Add the white wine and then the lemon juice and sprinkle a generous pinch of salt. Season with more salt (but remember the prosciutto will also be salty) and some finely ground black pepper.
At this time once your pasta is cooked, drain the pasta and toss it into your crab sauce. Mix thoroughly.
To serve, place 1-2 slices of crispy prosciutto on top of your crab linguine. Place 4-5 fried sage leaves on top and drizzle 1 teaspoon of the sage oil over your pasta.
Serve with a glass of your favourite white wine.

Creamy Steak and Mushroom Soup

I know what some of you may be thinking, Des it is summer why on earth are you sharing a soup recipe with us? I have a perfectly good explanation: summer weather in the Pacific Northwest can just plain suck sometimes.

Imagine with me for a minute that you spend an entire Saturday outside enjoying an 80 degree day. You lay in the sun, have a picnic and take a long walk. You get to thinking, perhaps a little naively, “This weather is great! Tomorrow I am going to have myself a BBQ. I am going to cook a delicious steak with sauteed onions and mushrooms. Oh an maybe a baked potato too. And I am going to do it all outside on the grill and then soak up the sun as I savor the meal on my patio.”  You go to bed dreaming about how wonderful your steak is going to be. Then in the wee hours of what was to be your beautiful, sunny Sunday, you wake up to the sound of rain, lots of rain. Suddenly your dream of that delicious steak went straight out the window and landed in the huge puddle of mid-summer rain next to your grill.

The above scenario is exactly what happened to me yesterday. While I could’ve let the gloomy, soggy weather get me down, I chose not to. I was going to enjoy my steak darnit. I’d just have to prepare it a different way. Instead of cooking it all on the grill, I put everything, the steak, the onions, the mushrooms and the potato into a large pot and made a tummy warming, creamy soup that was ready just as the thunder rolled in.
Serves 4-6
You will need:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 1/4 pound round steak
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 cups sliced crimini mushrooms (about 6 large mushrooms)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 medium russet potatoes, diced
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (remove leaves from stems then chop)
• kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Cut the steak in half. Cook 1 half in the pot until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. Cook remaining half of steak until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to same plate and set aside to rest.
2. In the same pot, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, the onion and the garlic. Cook 5 minutes or until browned. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle flour over the mushroom mixture. Cook 1 minute.
4. Pour in beef, vegetable broth and Worcestershire sauce. Scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and add potatoes.
5. Cut steak into bite size pieces. Return steak and any juices from the plate to the pot. Simmer soup for 30 minutes. Potatoes should be soft.
6. Slowly stir 3 tablespoons of soup broth into the half and half to temper it. Slowly stir tempered half and half into the soup. Cook for about 10 more minutes.
7. Stir in fresh tarragon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve.

Hopefully, many of you are enjoying hot and sunny summer weather right now, but I bet a few of you will have a couple of days where you’ll crave a warm, comforting dish in the coming months. I hope this satisfies that craving.

Follow Advice To Jettison the Bread

These restaurants were usually picked out by Roger as he was the most versed traveller of the group, (having worked for American Airlines for 30 years he spent many years on the road and was a true “road warrior”). He also was a self proclaimed Gourmand and anybody who knew him would agree.
It didn’t really matter whether we were dining in a 4 star restaraunt in Paris or a Pub in London, Roger’s advice was always the same “Jettison the Bread”. His theory was that if you filled up on bread before dinner you would miss out on some other aspect of the meal. He was right because dinners usually consisted of many courses and when we were finished, there was barely room for an after dinner drink or coffee!

This advice hold true today, I’m not suggesting that we never have bread while dining out, in fact I enjoyed some naan with dinner last night at a nice Indian restaurant while dining out with my wife and daughter. What I am suggesting is that if you are trying to lose weight, or if you dine out frequently, then this is sound advice.
The other part of this philosophy is that you can also save calories by cutting out the amount of bread you eat on a regular basis.
Use smaller bread or bagel thins for your sandwich. This helps reduce the amount of carbs you eat. And of course always try to go for whole grain bread. The added fiber will help you eat healthier as well as give you a “fuller feeling” But of course, if you are indeed trying to lose weight, then I suggest your follow Roger’s advice and Jettison the Bread!

Yogurt Help You Lose Weight

Yogurt has been frequently mentioned in talks concerning obesity, weight loss, and other health and wellness concerns. Does it really help in losing weight? How much of a yogurt does a person need to consume to start losing weight? Is it really a good part of a healthy diet?
According to an April 2009 study in the journal “Obesity Research” by M.B. Zemel of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, greater fat loss has been observed when a diet high in calcium-rich dairy foods was consumed compared to a low-calcium diet or a diet supplemented with calcium in vitamin form. The following year, the “International Journal of Obesity” published a study by Zemel that links similar weight loss results specifically to the consumption of yogurt daily.

In general, yogurt has several types which can be consumed depending on the diet a person follows. Low-fat or fat-free yogurts are usually the best option for people trying to lose weight. For children, yogurts can be served during snack time or as part of their regular meals. They can be served plain or with sprinkles of nuts or fruits so children are more enticed to eat them. The nutritional benefits of yogurt in children included the development of stronger bones and improved digestive tract. Yogurts are excellent source of calcium and are high in protein which both help in maintaining a healthy body and a minimum weight.
Another reason for parents to encourage kids to eat yogurt is that it boosts their immune system, keeping the kids away from any infectious diseases and other illnesses. Parents in particular can control the eating habit of their kids by being selective with their grocery products. Additionally, parents should be a good role model by eating healthy foods themselves and engaging in regular exercise. This way, kids’ perspective of a healthy lifestyle will be positively influenced. Yogurts can now be found in fresh healthy vending machines in some schools nationwide.