Carrots, Carrots, Carrots

Never thought I’d be so happy to see a carrot.

For some reason, I don’t recall, I, recently, grated one carrot. I don’t usually grate carrots.

But, I had been gathering carrot recipes and one, a carrot relish, required grated carrot.

But, instead of making the relish, I added half of the grated carrot to a can of salmon (drained) with a tablespoon of mayo and a bit of lime juice and made a salmon salad which I used to make a few mini sandwiches.

 

Then, I got the bright idea, let’s try using the remaining grated carrot in my version of Jack Monroe’s Carrot Cake Overnight Oats.

 

When I first made her recipe, I fell in love with overnight oats. But, where I live now, I can’t find canned carrots, a necessary ingredient in his recipe. I had tried sliced and cooked carrots but could not achieve the same taste.

When I used the grated carrot in a batch of "Carrot Cake Overnight Oats", the result was just about right.

So, now I have ribboned or made curls, and grated another carrot and some of the recipes I hope to try are:

 

(Weird, my pictures came out too red.)

Carrot relish

Carrot cookies

Vegetable Skewers

And for the umpteenth time, maybe I will try Jack’s infamous Carrot, Cumin & Kidney Bean Burgers, with modifications of course.

 

Plus, there's more I want to do with a carrot, like:

 

Use curls, or diced or sliced carrots with sliced apples and cucumbers for a fresh salad.
Add carrot slices to DIY Pickles.
Add diced or grated carrot to macaroni salad.

Cut thinly sliced/julienned carrot, add to a bowl of raisins, almonds, and yogurt for a tasty salad.
Add oil and honey to a dish of carrot curls as a side salad.
Try making a Mug O'Carrot cake.

#Anti-Inflammatory-friendly

Microwave: Mug O'Spinach Frittata (Anti-Inflammatory)

Ok, Now, I have to search for Anti-Inflammatory recipes.

 

Here's my first attempt.

 

Microwave: Mug O’Spinach Frittata

(Anti-Inflammatory)
(Adapted from: Spinach-Tomato Frittata https://www.consumerreports.org/cooking-baking/anti-inflammatory-diet-recipes/)

 

 

Pre-Preparation:

 

1 Tomato Bouillon

1 Cup Water

 

In one cup of water, add Tomato bouillon, microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir until bouillon has dissolved.

Ingredients:

1 Dollop Veg oil
1 Grind Black Pepper opt
1 Tspn Onion Flakes
1/2 a Small Dessert Bowl Frozen Spinach
1 egg
1 Tspn Milk
1 TBspn Parm
1 TBspn Tomato Bouillon
Topping: Sprinkle with Thyme

 

Process:

 

Add oil to Mug.

Add Ground Black Pepper.

Add Onion Flakes.

Add Frozen Spinach.

Microwave on high for 30 seconds.

Stir ingredients thoroughly.

Return to microwave, cook on high for about 1 minute.

Add egg, milk, Parmesan cheese, tomato bouillon.

Stir, whip and mix ingredients vigorously.

Cover mug with a saucer.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

When cooked, use a fork to loosen egg mixture from sides of mug.

Tip contents onto plate.

Slice cooked mixture.

Sprinkle with Thyme.

 

 

Then, there are the dirty dishes :-) and the remaining Tomato bouillon for later use. Decided to freeze leftover tomato bouillon in an ice cube tray.

 

 

 

I added too much spinach but it was still tasty.

 

Note: I am not a dietitian, nutritionist etc.

I just try to eat as healthy as I can. Many of my recipes are GERD-friendly and now I am focusing on Anti-inflammatory-friendly recipes.

I do use a bit of dairy products which are on the GERD and Anti-inflammatory Do Not Eat lists.

 

#Anti-Inflammatory-friendly

Stovetop: Mixed Vegetables with Spices

Mixed Vegetables with Spices
(Adapted from: Coliflor con especias BollyFood by Marie-Laure Tombini p12)

I love India, Bollywood and Bollywood movies. So when I found this little cookbook, BollyFood, I was overjoyed. But, as with most recipes, I never have all the right ingredients. So, I tried my Use What You Have method. Also, I reduced the quantity from 4 persons to one.


Pre-Preparation:

Microwave a cup of frozen mixed vegetables on high for 2 minutes.


Ingredients:

1 Cup Frozen mixed vegetables, cooked
1-2 Dollops Vegetable oil
1/2 Tspn Onion flakes
1/2 Tspn Yellow Mustard
1/2 Tspn Curry powder
1/2 Tspn Ginger powder
1 Tspn Cilantro, dry
1/2 Tspn Cardamon
2 Dashes of Paprika
2-3 Tspns Canned salsa


Process:

In a skillet, add oil and the spices.
Stir well.
Simmer and mix well.
Add Salsa.
Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Stir often.
Add mixed vegetables (cooked).
Stir and mix vegetables with spice mixture.
Simmer for a few minutes to heat contents throughout.
Spoon skillet contents into a serving dish.

Note: this was a spicy dish, so it is not GERD-friendly.

Microwave: Mug O'Vegetable Timbale

 

 At times, trying the Use What You Have method of "cooking" gets great results.

 

Believe it or not, this recipe stems from my attempt to make "Chicken Timbale" from:

 

Cook Book of Left-Overs

UCA

P54/60 physical page no.

"Chicken or Turkey Timbale with or without Mushroom Sauce

 

"When no more slices can be cut from a cooked chicken or turkey, take the bits of meat near the bones, chop fine, and to two cups of such meat allow one cup of soft, white bread-crumbs and one- half cup of hot milk. Mix the crumbs and hot milk together, then add the chopped meat and yolks of two eggs. Season with one teaspoonful of salt and one - quarter teaspoonful of pepper. Beat the whites slightly—they must not be frothy —and mix them well in. Turn the mixture into a buttered pan or mold, cover with a greased paper, and steam; or set in pan of hot water and cook in moderate oven about one hour. Carefully unmold on a hot platter, and serve with or with- out mushroom sauce (see page 69)."

 Until I found the recipe Chicken Timbale, which is similar to a bread pudding, in The Cookbook of Leftovers, I never realized how flexible a bread pudding recipe could be. There are so many variations you can make to a bread pudding recipe.

This recipe is a marriage of a Mug O'Frittata and a bread pudding.

Plus, this recipe includes sources for grain, vegetables, diary, and protein.

 

 

Mug O'Vegetable Timbale
(Adapted from: Chicken Timbale, The Cookbook of Leftovers, published by Harper & Brothers, p60)

eBook available on Project Gutenberg

 

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1-3 Drops Hot sauce

A Dash of Ground black pepper.

1-2 TBspns Pickle Juice (Optional)

A Dollop Milk

1 Egg

2 TBspns Canned mixed vegetables

1 TBspn Canned mushrooms (Optional)

1 Slice of multi-grain bread, torn into tiny pieces.

1 slice of Turkey lunchmeat, torn into pieces (Optional)

Optional Sauce: 1/8 Cup Mushroom soup mixed with a bit of hot sauce and ground black pepper.

 

For Toast Topping:

1 Slice Toast, multi-grain.

Mayo

 

 

Process:

Add a dab of oil to mug.

Swirl oil to coat bottom and sides.

Add hot sauce.

Add ground black pepper. 

Microwave mug and contents for 10 seconds.

Add pickle juice.

Add milk.

Add egg.

Stir and whip ingredients thoroughly and rigorously.

Add vegetables and mushrooms.

Add bread pieces.

Stir to make sure bread is soaked in liquid.

Add turkey pieces (Optional)

Stir and mix ingredients thoroughly.

Place mug in microwave.

Use a saucer as a cover.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Check to see if liquid has been cooked off.

If not, microwave for 30-45 seconds more.

Remove.

Use a knife to separate mixture from the side of the mug.

Tip mixture onto a plate.

Heat mushroom sauce in separate bowl.

Pour over mixture.

 

Variation Toast Topping:

Place toast on plate.

Coat toast with a bit of mayo.

Spread some of the mixture over toast.

 

With or without the toast, this is a substantial meal.

 

Updated 1/16/21, text added, process changed, picture added.

 

Guest Recipe: Mom's Potato Casserole

While Mom can not join us for the holidays, she is with us in spirit.

 

 This is one of her recipes we love. 

 

Mom's Potato Casserole

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed

1/2 c. melted oleo

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp, dried onion

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pt. sour cream

2 c. grated cheddar cheese

 

Process:

Mix potatoes, oleo, salt, pepper, minced onion, soup, sour cream and grated cheese together.

Spoon into a 2 quart or 9 x 13 x2 inch buttered casserole.

In a skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter and stir in crushed corn flakes. Spread on top of casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

 

Utterly Putterly - New Use for Insulated Beverage Container

It is the simple things in life that can make you happy.

I like cucumbers. I especially like to pickle them. But, occasionally, I'll keep one cucumber to make snacks and salads. But, one drawback is cucumbers don't keep long and you can't freeze them.

While I try storing them in the vegetable bin, it just seems they go bad too quickly.

On 5/28/20, I got a big beautiful cucumber (.415/kg, 43.50 / 18.05).

After a day or two, I made a small cucumber salad and some snacks.

Now, here I was with 3/4s of a cucumber I wanted to save for more snacks, salads or pickles. Could I find a way to make it last longer?

So, on 5/31/20, while I was washing dishes, I washed out a insulated souvenir beverage container. I sighed. Like many souvenir mugs or beverage containers, I did not often use this container. Do I give it away? No use keeping things you don't use.

Hmmm, would this hold the remaining cucumber? Would it help keep the cucumber fresh longer? Let's try it.

It works. So far, so good, been eating fresh cucumber snacks for two more days, now, and the remaining cucumber is still fresh.

I love the fact the container is compact and does not take up too much space in the frig.

Hotplate: Scallop Squash Slices and Cheese

I've made this before but I did it wrong.

This time the dish was much better.


Scallop Squash Slices and Cheese

Ingredients:

1 Scallop Squash, washed
1 Pot about 1/4 full of water
1 dash of hot sauce
Ground black pepper
Mozzarella cheese (or other cheese)

Process:

Cut the squash in half. remove seeds, if desired.
Cut each half into thin slices.
Place slices in pot of water.
Add a dash of hot sauce.
Stir.
Bring to a boil.
Simmer about 15 minutes until squash is soft.
Drain squash.
Place squash into a microwave dish.
Sprinkle mozarella cheese or chunks over squash, be generous.
Sprinkle mixture with ground black pepper (Optional).
Microwave on high for about 30 seconds to melt cheese.

This was so good, I ate the whole thing.

I need to make this recipe more often. It is delicious and healthy.

#GERD-friendly

 

Microwave: Glazed Carrots

Pulled from Sunday Cooking Marathon Recipes

Glazed Carrots Recipe

Adapted from: http://lilluna.com/brown-sugar-glazed-carrots/

Ingredients:

1 16oz bag of baby carrots

1/2 cup water

A dollop of olive oil

1/2 tbspn sugar

S/P to taste

Process:

Add ingredients to a microwave casserole dish with a cover.

Mix well.

Cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes.

Hotplate: 12 Step Ratatouille

It was some leftover frozen squash and chayote that made me want to make a Ratatouille and it turned into an adventure.

As usual, I researched Ratatouille recipes. I found several. Some had ingredients I did not recognize. Others seemed complicated, then others were similar but SimplyRecipes's recipe while it had a lot of steps seemed straightforward.

Typically, I never have all the ingredients and have to get inventive.

The original recipe called for 1 pound of this or that. What was that?

I have a minimum amount of kitchen devices, so, no scale. So, I used a measurement conversion site (Source: Calculator-Coverter) and 1 pound was about 2 cups. The recipe was designed for 6-8 servings; I cut it in half since it's usually just me.

It turns out using 1/2 of some of the items equals one cup, or I used the whole vegetable. 

Caution: Careful using links, I am not sure they are all safe.

Hotplate: 12 Step Ratatouille
(Adapted from: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/dads_ratatouille/)


Ingredients:

1/2 medium-large white onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, diced

1/2 Zucchini, diced

1 Chayote, chopped
1 Patty pan Squash, chopped

1/2 Green bell pepper, diced
1/2 Red bell pepper, diced

1 Medium eggplant, chopped

Olive oil for cooking

1/2 heaping Teaspoon dry Rosemary

1 heaping Teaspoon dry Thyme

1 cube tomato bouillon

4 dashes of red pepper sauce

1 Cup Canned tomatoes, diced

Salt (optional)

Equipment:

1 medium-large pot

1 skillet

1 sharp knife for slicing, dicing and chopping

1 slotted spoon

1 colander

1 cutting board

1 cup
2 teaspoons

1 serving dish or storage container 


Process:

You will be preparing and sauteing each vegetable separately.

Sauté means: to fry (food, such as small pieces of meat or vegetables) in a small amount of fat until golden, (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

You may need to add extra oil to the skillet as you go. Also sautéing time will vary. General times are 5-15 minutes.

1. Dice onion and garlic.

2. Add oil to skillet, sauté onions and garlic.
Chop zucchini while onions and garlic are sautéing.

Remove onions and garlic from skillet with a slotted spoon, add to large pot.

3. Sauté zucchini. 
Chop patty pan and chayote squash while zucchini is sautéing. (I used my frozen leftover patty pat squash and chayote.)
Remove zucchini from skillet, add to pot.

4. Sauté squash.
Dice bell peppers and chop eggplant while squash is sautéing.
Remove squash from skillet, add to pot.

5. Sauté bell peppers, and eggplant. Remove from skillet, add to pot.

6. Put bouillon cube into 1 cup water.

7. Crush Rosemary and Thyme in your palm and add to pot. Add red pepper sauce and bouillon to pot. Stir well.

8. Heat mixture to boiling, lower to simmer, cook for 30 minutes.

9. Pour mixture into a colander and quickly place the pot underneath the colander to catch the juices. Let the juices drain. Stir to get the juices to continue to drain. Pour juices into the skillet. Pour the mixture back into the pot.

10. Cook juices until it is reduced to a glaze. Cook on medium-high. This can take 15-30 minutes or more. It goes faster on high.

Note: I use a hotplate and the various temperatures are difficult to achieve.

11. Chop tomatoes. Add tomatoes to vegetable mixture in pot. Stir well.

12. Return juice glaze to pot. Stir well. Heat mixture until tomatoes are warm.

Serve Ratatouille warm.

OMG, This is wonderful. I don't think I have ever made a recipe with so many ingredients or steps.

My addition of chayote and patty pan squash did not alter the taste.

Yummmmm!

I like this recipe even though it involves many steps and ingredients. I like cutting the individual vegetables and then sautéing them. Each step gave me time to prepare the next vegetable and clean up as needed but it took me hours to complete. So, this will be a Sunday cooking marathon dish.

In addition, I had very little food waste.

While writing this blog, I did a little research into squash and learned Zucchini and Chayote are a type of squash and the squash I buy is a scallop or patty pan squash. This has opened my eyes, I never knew there were so many varieties of squash.



Zucchini Squash

 

(Source: https://www.burpee.com/vegetables/squash/squash-burpees-best-hybrid-prod003504.html)

Chayote Squash

(Source: https://www.plattershare.com/)

Scallop/Patty Pan Squash

 

(Source: https://weirdvegetables.blogspot.mx/search?q=chayote)

Other Sources:

Foodofy.com
http://www.foodofy.com/how-to-identify-squash-different-squash-types-you-didnt-know-about.html

Wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucurbita

University of Illinois Extension
https://extension.illinois.edu/veggies/ssquash.cfm

Microwave: Baked Potato Salad

Microwave: Baked Potato Salad



 Ingredients:

5 medium to large white potatoes, peeled
1 cup plain yogurt
1 TBspn mayo
1/2 red onion, diced
1 Medium slice, Mozzarella cheese, diced
1/2 Cup Imitation Bacon bits
Ground black pepper to taste
A palmful of dry parsley, crushed
A few dashes of Parmesan cheese
Garnish: a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved (Optional)



Process:

Place potatoes in microwaveable dish.
Pierce with fork. Cook on high for six minutes or more until cooked.
Let potatoes cool before dicing.
Add diced potatoes to large bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients, except garnish.
Mix and stir well until potatoes are coated.
Cover bowl, place in frig to cool.
Add garnish to individual servings.

I usually don´t add salt to my recipes but I just thought, maybe I should make sure I offer a salt shaker to guests.

 

Also, Lucy likes it. Lucy is a friend who is brave enough to try some of my recipes. This is the first recipe she has liked :-)

Microwave: Stuffed Chayote Recipe

I have really wanted to use more Chayote in my cooking.

Chayote is a zucchini-like Mexican vegetable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote

(Image source: Wikipedia, By Prathyush Thomas - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40701354)

Also, I was intrigued by the Stuffed Chayote Recipes I had seen, for example: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/special-stuffed-chayte-squash.

All I did was:

Boil the whole chayote in water for about 15 minutes.
This made it semi-soft. When the chayote cooled, I sliced the chayote in half, length wise.

Then, I used a spoon to scoop out the center of each half.
I saved the pulp in a separate container.

Then I gathered a can of mushrooms, salsa, and carrots & peas.
Got some leftover onion out of the frig and diced a small amount.
Got some bread crumbs out of the freezer.
Got the imitation bacon bits out of the cupboard.

I mixed a full spoonful from each of the cans of mushrooms, salsa, and carrots & peas with the pulp I saved.
Added a good dollop of bacon bits.
Stirred the whole mixture together.

I added spoonfuls of the mixture to each half of the chayote.
Topped the mixture off with diced onions and bread crumbs.
Microwaved for about five minutes on high.

I liked it. It reminded me of my mom's stuffed zucchini.

Microwave: Instant Imitation Colcannon

I don't pretend this recipe resembles the true Irish dish: Colcannon.

Below are steps to make one generous serving.

Instant Imitation Colcannon


Ingredients:

5 full tablespoons instant mashed potatoes
Hot water as needed
2 dollops of milk
1 Tspn butter
3 full TBspns sauerkraut
1Tspn Onion powder
1 Tspn Garlic powder
2 Tspns Veggie Bacon Bits
1-2 Tspns Horseradish sauce
2 Dashes Paprika
Ground black pepper
S/P to taste


Process:

Add instant potatoes to bowl.
Add a bit of hot water, stir.
Add enough hot water to make the potato flakes thicken, stir.
Add milk, stir thoroughly.
If too thick, add more milk.
If too thin, add more instant potatoes.
Stir.
Add butter. Stir.
Add sauerkraut.
Add onion and garlic powders
Add horseradish sauce.
Add bacon bits.
Add ground black pepper and paprika.
Stir to mix ingredients thoroughly.
S/P to taste.


Some Colcannon Recipe Sources:
http://www.europeancuisines.com/Three-Irish-Colcannon-Recipes
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/colcannon/

Updated: 4/21/20

Experiments with Brussels Sprouts - Skillet Seared Brussels Sprouts and More

I go to my blog's recipes when I cook because I can't remember all the ingredients or processes.

In addition, I continue to look for healthy recipes using available vegetables that keep longer than lettuce and can be frozen. Brussels Sprouts is one of those vegetables.

Shortly after purchase, I blanched a batch of brussels sprouts and froze them. Blanching, to my understanding, means you boil water than add the prepared vegetable and cook for a short amount of time, so the vegetable is softened but not fully cooked.

Sources for "How to" Blanch Vegetables

TheKitchn
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-blanch-vegetables-home-108570

eHow
http://www.ehow.com/how_13887_blanch-vegetables.html

Note: I did not use a gallon of water. I filled a medium sized saucepan 3/4 full of water and added a dash of salt. Nor did I use an ice bath. I rinsed the vegetables in bottled water. Then, placed them in a container and froze them.


When I started this dish, I did not take notes because I thought it would be a failure. But, when it turned out pretty tasty, I decided to post it in general terms.

Skillet Seared Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:
10 Blanched, defrosted brussels sprouts
olive oil for skillet
1 garlic clove, diced
balsamic vinegar

Process:
Cut each brussels sprouts head into pieces.
Add oil to skillet.
Add garlic.
Add brussels sprouts pieces.
Cook at medium-high.
The idea is to sear (slightly burn) the brussels sprouts pieces, some pieces will burn more than others as they cook.
Stir frequently.
Cook for a several minutes.

Transfer half of the cooked pieces to a bowl. Refrigerate the rest.
Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar.

I have several other ideas for make a brussels sprouts recipes.

Look for updates.