Healthy recipe #1

So, maybe it was a coincidence that three days after my boyfriend, RJ signed on for a life insurance policy, his coworker suddenly passed at the age of 38.  I may be a scientist, but I still believe that there are signs.  They can be as subtle as a breeze caressing your cheek or as slap-you-in-the-face blatant as your coworker dying just as you are planning for your own hopefully distant demise.  So, in addition to our daily workout regimen (which was brought on by the sign of the ‘L’ sticker on my jeans), we’re going to start eating healthy, vegetable-laden meals until we turn 60, after which we’ll indulge to our hearts content and be able to die happily.  Possibly with a twenty-piece chicken mcnuggets in one hand and a guinness in the other.  Until then, here is healthy dish #1, chicken and quinoa.  Thankfully, garlic, chili peppers, and cinnamon have been deemed ‘healthy’.  

Live long thyme chicken and spinach over spicy quinoa

- ½ white onion, diced; another ½ diced for quinoa

this is what i mean by 'heap' of spinach.

- ½ green pepper, diced

-1 pack thinly sliced chicken breast, sliced in chunks

-3 cups+ white wine

-2 sprigs of thyme, stripped

-2T Worcestershire

-6 cloves garlic, chopped

-heap of fresh spinach, washed

-salt and cracked black pepper

-red chili powder

-3 cups quinoa

-4 whole dried chili peppers

-6 cups mushroom stock

-1t cinnamon

-1T cumin

-olive oil

see the spirals!?

Follow directions on package of quinoa for washing/ soaking steps.  In a pot on the stove or a rice cooker, set up mushroom stock, ½ diced s!?onion, whole chilis, cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper for 3 cups of quinoa.  For the stove, let stock with seasonings come to a boil and then add quinoa, cover and cook until you can see little spirals in the grains.  For a rice cooker, add everything and push the start button.  While this is cooking, coat olive oil in a high-lipped pan on med heat and chop your onion while it heats up.  Add the onion to the pan and stir, sprinkle with thyme.  Take a moment to smell the thyme.  Mmmm. It smells good.  Chop up the green pepper and stir that in, too.  Slice up the chicken into bite-sized pieces.  Move your veg over to one side of the pan and slide the chicken chunks onto the other side.  Sprinkle chicken with salt (lightly!), pepper and chili powder, let brown on one side and flip over each bit with tongs (not your veg spoon).  Add in the Worcestershire and let the chicken cook through.  Add wine and stir together the chicken and veg.  Let the wine cook down while you chop your garlic and ready the spinach.  When the liquid reaches about ½ volume, add spinach and garlic and stir in to wilt.  Remove from heat as soon as the spinach wilts.  Cracked black pepper to taste.  Within a few minutes, your quinoa will be ready.  Serve chicken over quinoa, or mix it all together.  You won’t even know that you’re eating healthy food! Serves 2-3.

PS.  If you have any cooked quinoa leftover, spread it out on a sheet pan, cover with parchment and/or cling film, and refrigerate.  Tomorrow I’ll post the recipe for quinoa cakes! 
8JRYSBT4KF6T

wheat and german rye bread

Okay kiddies! A lot of people that I've talked to since I started this blog have said that they can't get away from recipes and they end up making the same thing over and over because it takes too much to find and execute a new recipe, and moreover, to buy ingredients for one specific meal.  For me, the key is to stock the fridge and pantry with the basics and then play around with the ingredients in different combination.  Take a simple sofrito:  sauteed onions, peppers and tomato sauce.  If you add beef, chicken or pork and a few other friends, you get ropa vieja (see recipe below).  Add some red wine and mushrooms and pour over a grilled chicken breast and top with parmigiana.  Or add cooked cubed potatoes, sour cream, saffron, and a little flour for a dish called giso.  Must haves:  onions, green peppers, tomato sauce, meat, wine, rice, pasta, and a variety of herbs and spices.  Make the most with the least amount of ingredients.  For those of you still chained to recipes, I'll report full recipes of these later, but right now, we're focusing on the versatility of bread.  WHY, you ask? Because the easier it is, the more you'll make it, and the better you'll get at it.  Being comfortable and flexible with ingredients is an important lesson, best taught with foods with few ingredients. 

Like for a change up on white bread (see recipe below), I use the same recipe, replacing 1/2 cup of the white flour for wheat flour, add a little more honey.  THAT'S IT!!  Rye bread isn't so bad, either.  The procedure is the same as for the white mountain bread (below) with a few more ingredients:

German Rye Bread

- 1 pack Rapid Rise Yeast

- 1/4 cup hot water (~120F)

- 3/4 cup warm milk (~70F)

- 1 Tablespoon sugar

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 cup molasses

- 1 Tablespoon butter

- 1 cup rye flour

- 1 1/2 cup bread flour

- 2 shakes of caraway seeds (optional)

truffle shuffle!

The wicked empire is expanding! We are in the process of starting an online truffle company (the chocolates, not the mushrooms) called wicked sweets! I'm working out the flavors and designs now, and we should be ready to start shipping out soon.  I will keep you posted on our progress! Right now we have two types: gnarly and extra gnarly.  I am having a personal dilemma, though.  There are two schools of thought on truffles: smooth and pretty or ugly and classical.  On the one hand, I am a truffle snob and believe that truffles should look like their mushroom namesake.  On the other hand, I want to make wicked artistic patterns and themes, so the question is: to whom am I catering? I'll end up doing both to satisfy myself, but drop a line and tell me which style YOU prefer. 

rock my socks!

This is my new favorite website!!!

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

The CFE site has recipes, tutorials, book recommendations, and a food blog- all written in the language of science! The recipes are a great basis for anyone, from the seasoned chef to the curious newbie.  The CFE recipe for tiramisu is ALMOST like my own family recipe, too! They did some research into the origins of tiramisu and found the supposed original recipe, proving once and for all that RAW EGGS ARE NOT AN INGREDIENT, a point I have promoted for many a year. From tidbits about pasteurization and the breakdown of proteins to an introduction to cooking sous vide, this site is definitely bookmarkable.    

And now, pictures of my kitties... just because.

 

stanley with his ebola plush. he lurves that thing.

  

this is carlos. he was not stretching in this picture. just laying this way. for like 30 minutes.