I am back!!! The long delay was due to a few reasons. Mainly, I had an awesome friend staying with me for her Spring break. The only food I even made this week was a decent , but not my favorite, brussels sprouts dish. The rest of the time we ate at lots of different restaurants - garlic noodles at Old Spaghetti Factory, pad thai at Mai Thai, steak sandwich at Matador - you get the picture. Mai Thai was hands down the best pad thai ever and I cannot wait to go back.
Now that I am alone again, there is plenty of food I want to cook. I am looking forward to wasabi salmon and marinated tofu. Today it was time for PARSNIP FRIES (note you could also follow this recipe and make carrot fries, squash fries, sweet potato fries, etc).
I think parsnip fries are even better than potato fries and perfect for the cold rainy day we are experiencing outside. They are hearty, warm, and full of flavor. Also, they are really filling!
Are you not sure what a parsnip is? They are a root vegetable related to the carrot. At the grocery store, they look like white carrots that are larger and a bit less uniform in shape. 1/2 a cup of parsnips has 3 grams of fiber and 55 calories, with 0 grams of fat or cholesterol. They have 45 mcg of folic acid in 1/2 cup (the recommended daily amount is 400 mcg). The recommended daily intake of potassium is 470 mg and parsnips have a more half that amount in 1/2 a cup (286 mg). Basically, not only are they tasty, but they are healthy too.
Ingredients
2.5 pounds of parsnips (try to buy ones of uniform shape to make it easier to cut into fry shape)
1 clove of garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 sprigs of rosemary
cumin
salt
pepper
Directions
1) Preheat oven to 450*. Cut the parsnips into fry shapes. My method was to cut in half widthwise (so across the middle) into two pieces. Then, I cut each piece in half lengthwise and depending on the size of the parsnip, cut into two or three pieces lengthwise.
2) Dice three sprigs of rosemary. Toss the parsnips with rosemary, 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper, and 1 clove minced garlic.
3) Spread out parsnips on a cookie sheet. Lay 5 sprigs of rosemary around the cookie sheet, still in sprig form. Cook for ten minutes.
4) After ten minutes, stir the parsnips around to help them evenly cook. Cook another 10-15 minutes (I cooked for the whole 15 minutes and it was perfect).
5) Crumble the sprigs of rosemary over the parsnip fries. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, and more to taste. Add salt and pepper.
6) Devour and enjoy!
Today I tried to make Beet Foam. Why? I don't really know. I guess because I have an abundance of Soy Lethicin, which seems to be mainly useful for making foams. Hopefully I have more success with my future foaming experiments, but today's didn't work.
I don't even want to go into much detail because I have no idea what I did wrong - it was a pretty simple recipe. Maybe I will figure out the err of my ways as I try new foams. I blended 1 can of beets into a puree, added one packet of Soy Lethicin, and then used my immersion blender. You are then supposed to get glorious amounts of foam. I got nuthin'.
However, there was a happy discovery. Cut bread into fourths and top with blue cheese crumbles. Place in a 225* oven and let set for about five minutes until bread is dried out a bit and crunchy. Remove from the oven (blue cheese doesn't really melt, so don't wait for it to melt. It won't). Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and devour.
SO YUMMY. Beats the way I normally eat blue cheese- out of the container. Now I am nervous because I have an entire loaf of bread calling my name. It will take a lot of willpower to limit myself to a few slices a day.
Speaking of willpower, I also have my favorite tomatoes cooking in the oven which I can hardly keep myself from eating as they cook. Slice roma tomatoes in half, so you have two ovals (I think that is lengthwise). Use as many as you want - I love these so much I do about 10 at a time. Toss with olive oil and your favorite spices. I use salt, cumin, and some red chili flakes to make them spicy. Lay on a cookie sheet and bake at 225* for SIX HOURS. These get better over time. Start with as many as you can handle, because I always end up eating about half as they cook. Right now they have been in the oven 3 hours and I have already eaten three tomatoes. However, at 22 calories a tomato, these are an amazing snack.
I have had this Rachel Ray Cookbook (Yum-O) since high school:
The recipes all sound great, but for some reason, I never seem to make anything out of her cookbook (one reason may be the multitudes of cookbooks I have to chose from).
I wanted to find a classic chili recipe, so I figured Rachel would be a good person to start with. I chose her "Cajun Chili with Scallion Corn Cakes" recipe.
However, I should say up front I did NOT like the results the first day. I didn't start to really enjoy this chili until day two, and then something changed and the chili was delicious. So if you are planning to make it for some event (Super Bowl Sunday?) then I would suggest making it a day or two in advance.
I also made a few adjustments, so the first section of ingredients is what Rachel calls for and the second set are what I added.
See BELOW Cajun Chili recipe for Scallion Corn Cakes - these were my favorite takeaway from making this meal.
Ingredients for Cajun Chili:
Rachel's
1.5 pounds lean ground pork
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
4 shakes cayenne pepper sauce (Frank's Red Hot or Tabasco)
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 rib celery, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 bottle of beer
1 can (14oz) crushed tomatoes
handful chopped fresh cilantro
Kosher salt, to taste
Kelsey's
First of all, I think using half of a vegetable is a waste because odds are I will be eating chili for the next week and will have nothing to use the vegetables in. Also, more vegetables means healthier chili, so why not? I used the WHOLE onion, red pepper and green pepper. I could also only find a 28oz can of tomatoes, so I used all 28 ounces. I used the entire bunch of cilantro.
The only "use the whole thing" I would be careful about is the beer. I used a whole bottle of beer and it definitely had a distinct taste. Like I said above, this mellowed out after a few days. However, if you are serving immediately, definitely be cognizant of how much beer you use. Maybe just drink the leftover while you are cooking.
I also added:
Another Tablespoon chili powder
1 minced jalapeno
MUCH more Tabasco (and I don't even care for spicy things)
1 lime
half cup quinoa (note that if you don't use the slow cooker method, you will want to cook your quinoa first and then add it. My quinoa wasn't fully cooked until the morning after I used my slow cooker)
Instructions for Cajun Chili:
1) Heat a big pot over high heat (I used a deep set saucepan type pan, but a pot would work too. Use whatever you want to make the chili in). Yes, use high heat. I was scared but it worked.
2) Add your pork to the pot. Season with chili powder, cumin and cayenne sauce. I couldn't believe this is called Cajun chili and only called for four dashes of hot sauce. I added plenty more while cooking and it didn't taste hot at all. I don't even like things spicy but kept adding hot sauce. So my point is add your hot sauce to taste.
3) Brown the meat for 5 minutes.
4) Add onion, garlic, celery, bell peppers, jalapeno, and lime juice. Cook, stiring/shaking the pan, for 3 or 4 more minutes.
5) Add the beer and stir everything together, scraping the bottom to get the burned bits. Add tomatoes and cilantro, plus quinoa if using (remember, pre cook the quinoa if you are not going to use a slow cooker). Bring to a boil and season with salt.
Essentially, your chili is done here. However, I then added the whole mixture to my crockpot and let it cook overnight. I don't know the difference in taste, but it turned out great.
Rachel's Scallion Corn Cakes:
Ingredients:
1 package Jiffy corn bread mix
1 egg
Milk
2 scallions (I prefer more like 4)
Butter/vegetable spray
Instructions:
Follow the instructions on the jiffy box for making corn pancakes, but add scallions to the mix. I bunched my scallions up and used scissors to cut them right into the bowl.
Then, depending on what occasion and who you are serving, make the appropriate size scallion corn cakes. For instance, if you are serving a lot of people small servings, make small corn cakes. If this is a meal for your family, make them larger.
The way I like to eat them is the crumble them up into the chili and mix it in. However, if you master the art of pancake making, I bet you could make them look really pretty and masterfully display them on top.
Either way, I GREATLY prefer the corn cakes to corn bread. I am not sure exactly why - maybe the texture? They taste awesome and are really easy to make.
When cooking mine, I did about 3 minutes on the first side and two minutes on the other side. Be careful though...the smaller you make them, the quicker they cook and they get easier to burn.
To serve my chili, I melt in cheese, add sour cream, and crumble in a corn cake. Voila!
Last night I made myself a cabbage and chicken salad and discovered that one head of cabbage makes QUITE A BIT when sliced up. I have always loved purple cabbage, so that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, just a surprising thing. I think my mom can attest to my cabbage love -- I vaguely remember asking for my own head of purple cabbage to snack on when I was little.
Anyway, my massive amount of cabbage meant quite a bit of salad, and I should be set eating that for the next few days. Along with that, I decided to toast up some walnuts because a) I have an abundance of walnuts and b) I wanted something besides cabbage and chicken salad to eat tomorrow (even though it is fantastic). I bought a bunch of walnuts over a short period of time because I read that it was good to eat at least a few a day. I quickly forgot to make this a habit, and that is how I ended up with my stock.
I saw a recipe in Cosmo (August 2011) for jazzing up any sort of nut, and used it for inspiration. This recipe said to coat your favorite nuts in olive oil, add "pinches" of paprika, cumin, garlic powder, and salt, and toast on a baking sheet for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, stirring every 5 minutes.
I adjusted it a bit, on purpose and on accident. The accident was I keep thinking I have paprika (who doesn't have paprika) and I don't have any and keep forgetting! Therefore, these nuts were paprika-less. The on-purpose was a lack of salt, as I am trying to consume less salt. It isn't the best for you, and I put a lot of fish oil in my aforementioned salad, which has a LOT of salt.
I also didn't use any sort of "pinches." I would say I DUMPED the spices on. I put some, I put more, and then I added a little more. Adjust for what you prefer, but I think a pinch would not be enough in most circumstances. Also, if you are doing salt and garlic powder, it might be more efficient to use garlic salt?
As you toast the nuts, they get a better flavor and the spices develop. However, I think this temperature was too high and for too long (at least for walnuts). I would try toasting at 225 degrees for twenty minutes. My walnuts are a little too brown, but they should still make a great snack for the next few days.
Do you have any favorite ways to use up leftover nuts?
