Groceries Post #1

 For years I have made out a menu every week for the meals to be prepared for the upcoming week.  I scan the grocery ads first, so that I can use recipes to take advantage of what is on sale that week.   Previously I lived in a very small town which did not have a decent grocery store, so it was essential that I try to have everything needed for the next week.  To get to a decent grocery store, it was about a one hour round trip.


Now we live in a much larger town, with a somewhat decent grocery store about 10 minutes away.  Now that we are plant based, however, this grocery store is inadequate for all of our needs.  I tend to gravitate between three grocery stores now, the one that is close to our house, one that has much cheaper and better produce, and one that has those specialty items I need, (but which is quite a bit more expensive).  I wish I could get it all at one, affordable store, but that is not the case.  It would be very rare for me to go to all three grocery stores in one week.
 

It may be daunting to buy an entire week's worth of groceries in one trip, but with a good shopping list, it's not too difficult.  I list the week's menu on the back of my grocery list, and use this throughout the week.  By doing this, I avoid buying the ingredients for a recipe and then forgetting what I bought those particular ingredients for.  I have definitely done that in the past. 

Many years ago I made up my own grocery list.  My list includes categories for Dairy (really non-dairy now), Beverages, Sauces & Condiments, Cereal, Grains, & Beans, Canned Goods, Baking Supplies, Ethnic, Breads, Laundry & Kitchen Cleaners, Bathroom, Hygiene &  Meds, Paper, Plastic & Foil, Frozen Items, Miscellaneous, and the all important Produce.  When I was an omnivore, I had "Meat" listed instead of "Ethnic", and my Produce section was smaller.  It can be tailored for each family's needs.   This list seems to save me a lot of time in the grocery store.  It doesn't matter which grocery store I shop at, because the list is by my categories, not according to how the grocery store is laid out.






I always feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I have finished buying the week's groceries.  I always think it's humorous that after buying that large amount of groceries and putting them away, I am sometimes too tired to cook that night.

 

Don't Be Afraid to Substitute

I have been trying to sharpen my skills with Asian types of cooking.  I made a few dishes over the years, but I never could get the flavor profile to my satisfaction, even when following a recipe. 

In trying to find new plant based recipes, I have found that a lot of ethnic type dishes either are plant based or can easily be translated into plant based dishes. 



The more I play with the ingredients and new recipes, the happier I am with the results.  We made a dish this weekend called Spicy Ramen Noodle Bowl.  I must say that I was very pleased with the resulting dish.  I did not have a few of the ingredients listed in the recipe, and I was able to successfully substitute other ingredients and still come out with a very good dish.  In the past, it was difficult for me to make substitutions, but I am now getting enough experience with the ingredients that it is possible for me to successfully substitute ingredients to some degree. 

I was running short on sweet chili sauce, (a new ingredient to us until a few months ago).  Now we
love this ingredient and even use it sometimes for a condiment for eggrolls.  I couldn't find it in the grocery store I went to this weekend.  I mixed some leftover sweet and sour sauce with a Thai chili sauce, along with the other sauce ingredients in the recipe, and it was really good.  This would not make a good condiment, but it was fine in this recipe.  Since the sweet and sour sauce was already thick, there was no need for the cornstarch in this recipe. 

The store was out of bean sprouts, so I added broccoli to the recipe.  I couldn't find fresh basil, so I used parsley.  These two ingredient changes did not result in the exact same dish, but it was just as good. 

It is nice to know that just because I can't find a particular recipe item or don't want to run to the grocery store for that one ingredient I don't have, I can sometimes find a suitable substitute. 

Please note that the ramen noodles in the recipe are not the ramen noodle soup packages so many people ate in college.  I found these in Whole Foods.  I have tried many different kinds of Asian noodles during my experiments, and these are by far my favorite.  They are still not like the Italian pasta I love.  These noodles are a bit more fragile, and the instructions are to boil them for only four minutes.  I think they would probably fall apart if they were cooked like Italian pasta. 

SPICY RAMEN NOODLE BOWL

 For the sauce:

1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
2-3 Tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
Sweet chili sauce, 2 Tbsp
1 Tbsp cornstarch

 olive oil or coconut oil for sauteing

2-3 cups of bok choy, sugar snap peas, or combination
2 red bell peppers, chopped
4 scallions, sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and minced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ cup vegetable broth
2 cups bean sprouts
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
4 bundles from a package of ramen noodles

Mix sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large pan, start heating water for cooking the noodles.  Add a bit of salt. 

 Heat a large, heavy skillet to very hot and add 2 tsp oil.  When oil is hot, add the bok choy, sugar snap peas, bell peppers, and scallions.  Cook until barely crisp/tender.  Push those veges to the sides of the pan.  Add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes to the middle of the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add ¼ cup vegetable broth to the pan.  Add the sauce ingredients to the pan, cook and stir until slightly thickened.  Add bean sprouts to pan and stir all together.   Take off heat.  Add basil to the pan. 

Cook ramen noodles and add to the skillet. 

NOTE:  Toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top of each serving would be very good.

 

 

 

 

Late Happy New Year!

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions.  I haven't for many years, because I seem to have better luck deciding throughout the year what changes need to be made, and hopefully making those changes.  In the past, I would sit through the last quarter of the year waiting until New Year's Day to make any changes.  That was just lost time for me, not to mention that the issue would build up to a big thing, waiting for the new year to begin and make any change. 

Since we have completely changed our way of eating this year, the New Year seemed more significant to me.  As of January 1, we have been on a whole food, plant based diet for five months.  We both feel better and have lost a little weight.  We haven't really concentrated on the weight loss aspect much, because it was overwhelming enough to figure out this new path.

Although these aren't officially New Year's resolutions, (I'm a little late for that),  here are some thoughts of how I want to proceed for the coming months. 

I am ready to start working on bringing down the calories a bit.  When we first started this way of eating, I felt so much pressure just getting meals on the table.  As I have found new grains that we enjoy, new healthy recipes, and even a few vegetables that we didn't eat before, I think I am ready to go to the next phase.

One of the goals is to cut down on the amount of fat I use.  I have always tried to use as little fat as I can when sautéing or roasting in the oven.  For years I have replaced at least half the fat in baked goods to applesauce, so we are used to that.  Well, really there is not much getting used to it, since I can't usually tell the difference.

With a little more effort, I know I can bring our fat use down more.  It still confuses me when I hear "health officials" such as Dr. Oz state that we should include olive oil or coconut oil in our diet.  I remember hearing Dr. Oz say we should drink a tablespoon of olive oil every day.  I would assume that means it would be in addition to any other oil used that day in our foods.  I choose to use olive oil and coconut oil as healthier oils, but surely we should use as little as necessary to prepare our foods.  Some plant based people use little or no added fats to their diet.  I don't know if I could do that.

My main goal in the coming year is to treat myself, including my body, with the respect I deserve.
No one is as hard on me as I am on myself.  I sometimes expect way too much from myself and don't appreciate all that I accomplish.  I have been given this one life, and I plan to start making the very most of it! 

Husband's Note:  Sorry honey I know you don't like pictures of yourself.  I had to include this photo of two amazing women.  My wife Jo Ann and our wonderful daughter Ashley.

Extra Good Luck on New Year's Day

I have tried to keep up the tradition of having black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck.  It's not so much that I believe the good luck part, but I do love black eyed peas.

I have used fresh shelled black eyed peas, dried black eyed peas, frozen black eyed peas, and even
canned black eyed peas in past years.  This year I chose to use dried black eyed peas. 

That morning I cooked two pounds of dried black eyed peas.  I used half of those peas to make Caribbean Black Eyed Peas, from the Moosewood Restaurant Favorites cookbook.  I am really loving this cookbook.  The recipe is as follows:

2 Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 heaping Tbsp. peeled and grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. dried pepper flakes (pepperoncini)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
4 cups cooked black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 cup orange juice
salt
ground black pepper

Warm the oil in a large skillet or saucepan on medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook for about six minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are golden and soft.  Add the ginger, pepper flakes, thyme, and allspice and cook for five minutes.  Add the drained, cooked black eyed peas and the orange juice and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I served sautéed kale, baked sweet potato, and cornbread with the Caribbean Black Eyed Peas.

The dried pepper flakes were my own addition to the recipe.  When I read this recipe, I thought the orange juice would probably overpower the peas, but it was actually a nice, subtle orange taste.  I think if someone used prepared orange juice from the grocery store, it would be a little overpowering.  I used fresh squeezed orange juice.

Some of the oranges at our daughter's house in Austin

In fact, the reason I picked this recipe for our black eyed peas this New Year's Day was to use up some of the abundance of oranges our daughter sent home with us after Christmas Day.  She and her family are whole food, plant based people, who also love to save some money.  When oranges were on sale for 5 pounds for $1, her husband bought 150 pounds of oranges.  No, that is not a typo, and they are a family of four, with one and three year old children.  I really love their spirit. 

A couple of months ago they bought 100 pounds of bananas when they were on sale.  The person who checked them out asked if they had a pet monkey.  I just love this family.

Okay, I need to get back to the subject.
I was left with another pound of cooked black eyed peas, so that evening we made black eyed pea burritos, with avocado, caramelized onions and red peppers, some leftover sautéed diced potatoes, crisp lettuce, fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, and salsa.  I wasn't sure if we would love black eyed pea burritos, but they were great. 

I am thinking we should have great luck this year, having two black eyed pea meals on New Year's Day.  I know we had two really great meals that day.

   

Christmas Tamales

On Christmas Day, my daughter Ashley wanted to make tamales.  This was the first time either of us had tried to make them.  We used a combination of several recipes to make up the tamales. 

The tamale making process was surprising to me.  It is really quite easy, though a bit time consuming.  I will make some again and get a recipe put together.  We used "vegan butter" for the masa mixture.  We used her heavy duty, standing mixer and let it whip up the masa mixture for about 10 minutes.  It made for a light, easy to use masa.

We formed an assembly line of three people.  One person smeared the masa on to the corn husk.  The next person put the filling in the middle of the masa.  The last person rolled the corn husk over to cover the filling and tied the husk into a cute little package.  It was really nice to have a project to do together. 




We Completely made up the filling on our own.  Ashley had made a big pot of black beans that morning, so we used some of those, along with some corn from the freezer, sautéed onion and red pepper.   We made them without any heat at all, in the hopes that the one and two year old kids would eat them, and they seemed to like them just fine. 

I have read serving tamales on Christmas day is a Hispanic custom, and I can certainly understand why.  We enjoyed having a nontraditional, (to us), food to enjoy on Christmas.  Maybe this will now become traditional for our family.

Husband's Note:  Christmas is a time to be with family.  I love that my dear wife and wonderful daughter have a passion for cooking.  When the kids were growing up I have strong memories of our daughter spending many an afternoon sitting on the cabinet and watching her mom cook.  I see this as a great way to spend time with your children.  Our daughter is carrying on this tradition with her kids, and that doesn't surprise me.  Begin a tradition with your family and treasure this time.  It all goes by so fast...btw the tamales were amazing! 





   

What is that meat doing on my plate?

Someone recommended a Vietnamese restaurant in our town.  He said they have a lot of vegetarian and vegan dishes.  I looked them up on Yelp, and sure enough, most people seemed to love them.  There were warnings on Yelp that the wife/co-owner is a surly kind of a character. 

Well, we found the restaurant, and indeed the wife seated us, and she was a very serious, no-nonsense kind of a lady.   We found a section titled "Vegetarian", followed by "no meat".  That was the only explanation on the menu.  None of the dishes had a list of ingredients or any description whatsoever.
My husband ordered the vegetarian chow mein, and I ordered the vegetarian lo mein with soy.  I was really hoping it had lots of vegetables in it.

Our meals arrived, and my dish did have more vegetables than noodles in it, which I love.  However, there was a generous amount of what appeared to be some type of meat in the dish.  I picked one up and tasted it, and declared that it was indeed pork.  My husband picked one up, took it apart, smelled it, tasted it, and agreed that it was definitely pork. 

I thought maybe I left out the descriptive word "vegetarian" when I ordered, although my husband told me that I had  included that word.  I just pulled all the pieces of meat away from the rest of the dish and happily ate the remainder of the dish.  I resigned myself to the fact that I was probably eating some type of meat broth in the dish, but I could live with that. 

I excused myself for a trip to the restroom.  My husband said the woman who had served us came over to check on us.  She saw the pile of meat on my plate and asked my husband why I   didn't like the tofu.  It was tofu! 

I wish I could find out how they make that tofu.  It is vastly different from the tofu I serve at home.  Mine is in neat little cubes, and it is very obvious that what I serve at home is tofu.  We like the tofu we eat at home, but I would love to know how they make those irregular, shredded type pieces of tofu.

We are definitely going back, and I am going to make friends with this lady if it kills me.  I have an ulterior motive, but one more friend would be a beautiful thing anyway.



Husband's note:  I must confess that I looked over the "meat", and it smelled and even tasted like meat.  But the stern woman said it was tofu.  Best tasting tofu I've run across.  We'll go back and give it another try. 

I thought it was funny so before we left, I took a picture of the "meat."

What the kale?

Oh how I love kale.  I decided I am going to try to buy it every week.  It is relatively cheap, (last

week it was 99 cents per bunch, not on sale).  It also seems to be hardy enough to hold in the fridge for several days, although I usually try to use it soon.  The reason I try to use it soon is that I buy two bunches, (yes, for just two people), and with the attached stems, it takes up a lot of real estate in my fridge. 

Those two bunches of kale made enough sautéed kale for four huge servings, but would probably be enough for 6-8 regular size servings.  It takes awhile to prep it.  It has to be washed, de-stemmed, and torn into whatever size pieces you prefer.  It does not need to be spun or dried like lettuce would be, because a little bit of water on the kale actually aids in the cooking process.  My husband is an expert in prepping the kale.

I don't really have a recipe, but rather a technique that I use.  I slice 2-3 garlic cloves.  After prepping the kale, heat a very large, lidded skillet to medium high heat.  Add the garlic cloves and stir for about 30 seconds, along with 1/4 to 1 tsp. of red pepper flakes, (pepperoncini), according to your heat preference.  We probably use a little less than 1/2 tsp.  Immediately start adding kale to the skillet. 

After about a minute, start turning the kale over, to bring the garlic up so that it won't burn and also to push the kale on top, which hasn't wilted yet, to the bottom.  Keep doing this, adding kale as the kale in the pan starts to wilt.  It won't look like all of the kale will fit, but if you use a large enough skillet, it will indeed wilt down quite quickly.  Also, between flipping the kale over, I put a lid on the skillet and sometimes add about 1/8 cup of water to aid in wilting the kale. 


At some time during this process, add salt and pepper to taste.  My guess would be that I would use a little less than 1/2 tsp. of salt.  Remember that the kale is going to shrink so much, that it is easy to add too much salt.  More salt and pepper can  always be added at the end.

The ingredient I like best on the kale is a splash of red wine vinegar once it is done and the heat has been turned off.  My wild guess is that I probably start with about 1 Tbsp. of the vinegar, and then add more as I taste and adjust it.

We grew lots of kale in our garden and would pick it as baby kale.  That is even better, but the large
grocery store kale is fine.  Kale is wildly nutritious.  I am glad it became so popular, because otherwise I might have never discovered it.