Writing Workshop, Merida, Mexico, June 6, 2015

No Bake -- Fruit & Yogurt Dessert

I could tell you about the melt-in-your-mouth recipe that "got away." But, I am on a roll. Three decent recipes in a row! 


No Bake -- Fruit & Yogurt Dessert

Ingredients:

1 Medium Baggie
2-3 Small Dessert Bowls (approx 8oz)
1/2 cup Blueberry or Strawberry yogurt
6 Tablespoons Whipped topping
1 cup Blueberries or Sliced Strawberries (save some for garnish)
6 Medium Sugar cookies, crushed (save some for topping)
Garnish: Blueberries or Sliced Strawberries

Process:

Place cookies in a baggies and smash into crumbs.
Set cookie crumbs aside.
Mix yogurt with whipped topping.
Add in blueberries or strawberries.
Mix well.
Garnish: Cookie crumbs and Blueberries or Sliced Strawberries

In each dessert bowl, add about 1 inch of cookie crumbs.
With a spoon, make a slight well in the center.
Save about 2-3 teaspoons of cookie crumbs for topping.

Add about 3-4 tablespoons of fruit, yogurt & topping mixture into the well of cookie crumbs.
Push down lightly, crumbs should move up along the sides a bit.
Add any remaining mixture evenly between the dessert bowls.\

Freeze for about 10 minutes.

When ready to serve, sprinkle a teaspoon of cookie crumbs on top.
Add garnish: blueberries or sliced strawberries.

Imitation Tuna Fish

Working on a second edition of Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook, has been another adventure and research always leads to more experiments, discoveries and questions.

I love Tuna Fish. (Thank you Wikipedia for image and information.)

But, I also love animals and struggle with the fact that the methods used to catch tuna fish not only contribute to overfishing and possible species extinction, but also to the death of other animals in the process.

So, I am exploring the concept of "Sustainable Seafood." In the meantime, I thought I'd try making imitation Tuna Fish.


Imitation Tuna Fish

Ingredients:

6 Tbspns cooked garbanzo beans, drained
1/8 - 1/4 Red onion, diced
1 Heaping Tbspn Mayo
1 Tbspn Pickle relish
4-5 Twists from Black Pepper grinder
4-5 Shakes Paprika
2 Slices Multi-Grain Bread, toasted

Process:

Place garbanzo beans in a bowl.
Mash well with a fork.
Add onion, may, relish and seasonings to taste.
Stir well. Mash beans some more if necessary.
Spread a tablespoon of mixture on a slice of toast.
Top with second slice.
Cut sandwich in half.

Option: add teaspoon of leftover sardine oil.

Tears of Joy over Sardine (canned) Spread

It's been a long time since I made a recipe and it turned out good on the first try. So, my reason for tears of joy.

Sardine Spread

Adapted from:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sardine_rillettes/

1 120g (4oz) Sardines, canned, in oil, drained

1.5-2 oz Cream cheese

1 Tbspn Pickled red onions, minced, from Yucatan Red Pickled Onions Recipe

     (see recipe below), or marinate onions in lemon juice for several minutes

1 Teaspoon Lime juice

4 Small 'center of palmfuls' dried Parsley

2-5 Dashes of Paprika

Ground black pepper to taste

Place drained sardines into a mixing bowl.

Add cream cheese.

With a fork, mix, mash, and stir until sardines have become soft and mixed well with cheese.

Add onions and stir.

Add lime juice.

Add parsley, crush the parsley between your palms over the mixing bowl.

Add paprika.

Season with ground black pepper to taste.

Stir well, continue to mash mixture to make it smooth and well mixed.

Serve with crackers or chips. (See how to make corn tortilla chips below.)

Red Pickled Onions

from: Yucatecan Cookbook

Adventures-Mexico

2 red onions, peeled and thinly sliced

water needed to cover in saucepan

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 tspn oregano or thyme, dry

s/p

Put onions into saucepan, add water to cover, bring to a boil, remove, drain and rinse in cold water.

Place onions into a container.

Add remaining ingredients.

Let it sit for several hours.

Can refrigerate for one week.

Corn Tortilla Chips

When you order lunch in Merida, Mexico, you usually get a stack of fresh corn tortillas.

I like flour tortillas, so I save the corn tortillas and make corn chips at home.

Basically, you place the corn tortillas on a large dinner plate in a circle.
Microwave high for 2 minutes.
Take the plate out and carefully turn the tortillas over.
Microwave the chips, again, for 2 minutes.
The chips should be crisp and dry.
Wait until they cool to break them into bite-sized pieces.

Smashwords Forum Writers Anthology 2015

Smashwords Forum (SWF) writers are planning to publish an anthology of short stories and Chapters from existing works in 2015.

The anthology will be published on Smashwords for free (but there is some discussion on pricing it at .99 and giving the money to charity.)

We are doing this to promote SWF writers. It will be used as a marketing tool by the participating authors to reach a wider audience.

But, whether we publish or not will depend on how many writers participate.

If you are a self-published author and have published on Smashwords, consider joining Smashwords Forum. You will meet a lot of talented people with lots of great ideas. You can learn from their experience about topics like: how to market your work, how to avoid various self-publishing problems, and more.

Becoming a member of SWF is free.

Rethinking Monthly Grocery Shopping and Convection/Toaster Oven Purchase Decision

I do save money by only going grocery shopping once a month. But, lately, it seems it is also causing some problems.

The biggest problem is a refrigerator and freezer that are too full. Things fall out and occasionally break.

I spend the first two weeks of the month trying to use or freeze any produce I buy. So, I am eating fresh vegetables a lot during that time. I have learned apples, carrots and cabbage keep longer than some other vegetables.

While in the last two weeks, I use more canned goods and leftovers. This has worked well, because I have little food waste. I can get: tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, onions, squash and occasionally green peppers or cabbage from nearby tiendas.

So, I will redo a balance between what produce I buy monthly and what I buy from nearby tiendas.

I decided not to buy the Convection/Toaster Oven, for one big reason, I don't have a good place to put it. I'd have to get a microwave table. Since I feel I will be moving in the near future, I don't want to lug a lot of stuff around.

Another problem is I am getting tired of all the dirty dishes, so I decided to order almuerzo (lunch) via a box lunch "servicio a domicilio" (home delivery) on Tuesdays from a nearby cafe. It will probably cost less than 60 pesos. That will give me a break and I will get a serving of vegetable soup and a salad along with the main dish.

Yum!

Found Some Great Deals at the Grocery Store

As far as I know, grocery stores in Merida don't mail out their sales flyers, you pick them up at the front of the store.

My timing, when I have gone grocery shopping in the past, has not coincided with many great sales.

But, this time, I found several items I wanted and several were on sale:

I had been looking for some dessert bowls for several weeks. They usually ran about 20+ pesos a piece. I found some glass bowls in a store like "Tuesday Morning" for about 7 pesos a piece. They have an simple apple design around the rim. Pretty good find.

Been looking for vegetarian bacon bits to add some flavor to some recipes, found some and they were on sale. Bought two jars because in Mexico if there's a product you like, you need to stock up because it may not be there, again.

Also, found large cans of Salmon, got two. I had been looking for them to be restocked for months.

Found some canned mandarin oranges, a favorite. They were on sale, got two.

Been thinking about "How to Eat Ethically", I love tuna fish but know that often they are overfished and other animals die in the process, so I was happy to find a brand of tuna fish labelled "Amigo del Delfin." Let's hope they are. The price is about the same as other brands.

Getting olives in various containers was an experiment to see which size was the best price for the amount of olives. Bag of olives: 12.50pesos (1.70g), deli olives: 26.20 ( I think the deli olives won.) But, now I have a lot of olives.

Some brands of pasta do sell "Integral" pasta, a grain pasta, but I've never given them a try, so I got two, no price difference.

Also, I found a bag of popcorn seeds. I wanted to avoid the pre-packaged, flavored kind.

Don't usually see cereal on sale. Got a box for 29.90pesos, usually about 45.99. Cereal and peanut butter remind me of my brother-in-law. He likes cereal any time of the day and eats peanut butter from the jar as a snack. Sounds good to me.