New recipe

I haven't blogged in awhile, been too busy gardening and other stuff. But I thought I would share this recipe.

I started with this

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/braised-chicken-thighs

I didn't want to make it with peppers, and otherwise it looked a little too plain. So I substituted about 3/4 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb for the peppers, and also 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika for the paprika. I used Castellano olives, which are brined green olives that are very fruity. I cut them off the pits and chopped them coarsely. For tomatoes, I always use these because they have no added salt and are very ripe and good quality. I also added a bit more water because I was using about 3 1/2 lbs of chicken. I thickened the sauce at the end with a little cornstarch in water and served it on a bed of whole-wheat pasta topped with braised chard. It was delicious.

Ramen

This weekend, I will be making ingredients for ramen from scratch - namely, a good ramen stock, and cha siu. This is all part of my Tampopo-like search for the perfect bowl of ramen. Perhaps I will photoblog!

Rhubarb buttermilk cake or muffins

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 to 1 1/2 cup finely diced rhubarb

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the flour and brown sugar. Using a pastry knife, cut in butter until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal. In a small bowl, mix the baking powder through salt. Beat the egg and buttermilk together in another small bowl. Add the diced rhubarb to the flour mixture, and stir until blended. Sprinkle the spice and baking powder mixture over the top and mix. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the rhubarb, flour, and spice mixture, and stir just until blended (do not over mix, or the batter will not rise).

Transfer batter to a glass pie dish sprayed with nonstick coating, or if you prefer to greased muffin tins (makes about 12 larger muffins). Bake cake 40-50 minutes, muffins 18-22 minutes, until slightly browned and done.

Note: You can use slices of this cake, or the muffins, just like homemade shortcake. Cut each slice into two horizontally, place pieces side by side, cut side up, in a dish, and top with sliced fresh strawberries and whipped cream. It is yummy!

yum!

I got a soup recipe off the internet, but it wasn't quite right. I made a couple of changes, and am reposting the altered recipe here. It's very tasty.

Sisters Soup

1 - large onion, chopped
1 to 3 chipotles in adobo sauce, seeded and finely chopped
3 to 3-1/2 lb butternut squash, cleaned, peeled, and cut into 1/2" cubes
1 - yellow crookneck or straightneck squash, cut into quarters lengthwise and cut into 1/2" chunks
1 - zucchini, cut similarly
2 - 14 oz cans northern beans, rinsed
1 - 14 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn
3-4 tsp Better Than Bullion Vegetable Base
3 Tblsp cilantro, chopped
1 to 2 tsp cumin
1 to 2 tsp oregano
juice of 1/2 lime

In a very large pot, add a few teaspoons of olive oil, and soften the onion over medium heat. Add the chipotles and squash, and stir to mix. Add the beans and tomatoes, then nearly fill the pot with water. Add the corn, cumin, oregano, and cilantro, and turn heat to high. Bring just to boiling, then turn down heat to simmer. Add bullion a teaspoon at a time, mixing and tasting after each. Simmer 20-30 minutes, until edges of butternut squash start to erode a bit (this will thicken the soup a little as well). Squeeze in lime juice and stir.

Serve hot in bowls, topped (if desired) with shredded Monterey Jack and tortilla chips, or cilantro and a wedge of lime.

Tasty chili

I was promising a good vegan chili recipe. This recipe was from my mom's Betty Crocker Cookbook she got when she first got married; I have modified it very slightly.

1 large onion, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped into ~1" x 1" pieces
2 cans diced tomatoes (14 oz)
3 cans dark kidney beans (14 oz), rinsed and drained
dash paprika
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, or to taste
dash salt

Soften onion in scant olive oil over medium heat. Add peppers and spices, stir and cook about 5-10 minutes more, until both onion and peppers are softened. Add tomatoes, and cook about 10 minutes. Add beans and simmer for about 1/2 hour, checking seasoning and adding water if needed. Serve hot with cornbread.

This approximately doubles the original recipe, but uses an extra can of beans to substitute for the pound of ground beef that the original called for. You can try it with beef if you want; or add reconstituted TVP along with the tomatoes if you wish.

parrot update

As far as the domestic front goes, Aziza is doing a lot better, though she still needs to put on some weight. I am covering her at night, and trying to figure out a schedule so that she only gets 10 hours of sunlight per day. On the 23rd, she gets another x-ray to see if her respiratory infection has resolved.

The other birds are good. Kianga has been cracking me up, exclaiming "woo!" at oh-so-appropriate moments. We are 3/5 done with the yearly project of dismantling and scrubbing down the birds' cages, toys and perches; the remaining two will be done as the weekend weather cooperates (it is no fun spraying bird shit on a cold day, let me tell you).

As has been usual now for the last 6 months, the birds have been eating well. Every morning and afternoon, they get several tablespoons of a mixture on top of a bed of Roudybush pellets. The mixture is bird bread, bean mix, chopped fruit, and a few teaspoons of Harrison's mash, all mixed together. The bird bread is a low-cal corn bread that includes edamame, corn, chopped spinach and diced peeled yam, sometimes with blueberries added. The bean mix is a dry chili mix purchased from the bulk section, soaked overnight and then cooked with split peas, brown rice, raisins, and date pieces. We crumble a piece of bird bread into a container, add a few spoons of bean mix, pop that in the microwave to warm it, add the mash and a few spoons of fruit, then mix it all up before dishing it out on top of the pellets. And yes, some of them actually even eat the pellets too. They also get Nutriberries (though not for long, as the vet has discouraged this, so I'm using up the last container), corn on the cob, and occasionally, some of what we're eating (cooked pasta or veggies). The fruit can include apples, oranges, kiwi, mango, papaya or grapes, depending on what is in season. I'm going to have the best fed parrots evah. The best thing is how excited the get when they are waiting to be fed, and the happy munching sounds that ensue.

mmmmmm.

I have to admit, I have a fondness for smelly cheeses. I got it from my great-grandmother, back when the only thing available locally was a fairly innocuous imitation Limburger marketed by Borden. How things have changed with the global economy. I often buy exotic soft cheeses in the gourmet section of my local supermarket, just to try them. There are cheeses from all over the world, the real thing, not just domestic impersonations of them.