Category Archives: Food

The 12 menu items you might not want to eat at Chipotle

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This past week Chipotle voluntarily listed on their website all the Genetically Modified Organisms that they serve at their restaurant. Of the 24 items on Chipotle’s menu 12 of them are GMO. I am torn about how I feel about this voluntary admittance of the use of GMO’s on Chipotles part. On the one hand, they are being honest and forthright. Chipotle, as far as I know, has been committed to providing customers with healthy, delicious food that is sourced locally, and that is organic and free range when possible. The admittance of the use of GMO ingredients by Chipotle is inline with the way the company has chosen to run its business, with a conscious effort to keep customers informed of how their meal got to the table. If only all fast food chains were as socially conscious! On the other hand, I am a bit put off that Chipotle is using GMO ingredients at all. Will this stop me from supporting Chipotle…probably not. My hope is that by releasing this list of GMO ingredients that Chipotle is on the road to eliminating GMO’s from their menu altogether. The truth is that we need more companies like Chipotle to set this kind of standard for us. Chipotle is doing what our government, and The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has refused to do, which is to label these GMO ingredients. It’s not Chipotle’s fault that these GMO ingredients are in our food supply.  That fault lies with our elected officials and the FDA. Both have continually put Corporations like Monsanto before the health and safety of the American public. Currently 62 Countries have mandatory GMO labeling laws, however the United States and Canada do not. That means many of the foods you currently eat, (about 80% of the food supply in North America), are probably genetically engineered, and you probably have no idea which ones are. Well the good news is that if you eat at Chipotle you will. The below is a list of the 12 items on their menu that have been genetically engineered. You can choose to leave these items off of your plate the next time you eat at Chipotle, or better still ask Chipotle to stop serving these genetically modified menu items altogether.

The list of GMO foods on Chipotle’s Menu
Barbacoa 
Chicken
Steak
Chipotle Honey Vinaigrette 
Fajita vegetables ( bell peppers, onion)
Brown Rice
White Rice
Tortilla flour for Burritos
Tortilla’s for corn chips
Tortilla’s soft corn tacos
Tortilla taco size flour
Tortilla’s tacos


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Grilled flank steak with Chimichurri sauce

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Summer is here which means a lot of grilling at our house. Steaks tend to get boring and I’m alway looking for ways to jazz them up a bit. Enter Chimichurri sauce. It’s a Brazilian condiment, and when it’s made properly it can turn the most mundane dish into something truly spectacular! I love chimichurri on a nice peice of toasted crusty french bread. Chimichurri is also fabulous on grilled chicken, or baked fish. I’m also told that chimichurri is great on eggs, I don’t like eggs, but I bet I would with chimichurri on them. Chimichurri is so versatile I can’t imagine that there is a meat that it doesn’t go well with.

Here’s what you need:
1 lb of skirt steak
3 cloves of garlic pasted
Sea salt

Here’s what you need for the Chimichurri sauce:
2 cups of fresh parsley
1 cup of fresh cilantro
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon of red chili pepper flakes
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1//2 cup of olive oil
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
Sea salt to taste

Directions: rub the pasted garlic on both sides of the skirt steak, season with sea salt, black pepper and grill for 3-5 minutes on each side.

Place all of the ingredients for the Chimichurri in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve on top of grilled steak.

Now how easy was that? Chimichurri is so delicious and it makes everything taste better. What are you going to have with this sauce?

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Pure Maple Cream

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Maple Cream / Maple Butter

It’s nearing Father’s Day and one of my gifts for my husband is to finally fulfill his desire to have maple cream, also known as maple butter, on his toast. He loves maple cream, and always speaks of the time he spent in Vermont very fondly. Whenever he speaks of Vermont, there always comes a point in the conversation in which he talks about maple cream, and every single time that he speaks of maple cream, his eyes gleam. It’s almost like witnessing him sitting in a cafe tasting the maple cream for the very first time. Before today, I  have never had maple cream. So up to this point I didn’t really get this infatuation he had with maple cream. On an ingredient scale, maple cream is easy to make, it only requires one ingredient, maple syrup. However, making maple cream requires some effort, it is definitely not a lazy girl activity. This however is a special occasion, and my husband deserves all the effort, and some, that I put into making this maple cream for him. He is an amazing father, extremely hands on, and he ADORES our daughter. I wish that every child could be loved by their dad as much as my husband loves our daughter. She is definitely lucky to have him as her dad. Making this maple cream is the least I could do for him. To be fair, I actually thought that it would be much harder to make this maple cream than it actually was. Just stir at a steady pace and you should be fine. This requires about 30-40 minutes of constant stirring, so just prepare yourself.

Here’s what you need:
3 cups of Grade A Maple Syrup

Equipment
A wet/dry thermometer or candy thermometer

Directions:
Prepare an ice bath by placing a medium size sauce pan into a large bowl of ice:

In another sauce pan add 3 Cups of maple syrup:

 

Over medium heat allow the syrup to boil undisturbed until the temperature reaches 235 degrees Fahrenheit, I went over a degree because I was trying to take a picture for the blog;-)

Boil for 1 more minute just to make sure that the liquid has indeed reached that temperature, then turn off the heat, and pour the hot syrup into the clean sauce pan in the ice bath. Allow it to cool until the temperature reaches 100 degrees.

Remove the pot  from the ice bath and begin stirring:

As you stir the color will begin to change and the liquid will begin to thicken it turned this color after about 15 minutes of stirring:

Once the maple syrup looses its glossy sheen and it starts to look like tahini, or has the texture of peanut butter stop stirring. It took about 40 minutes. Pour into a clean storage container:

Spread this mixture on biscuits, toast, pancakes, waffles, or whatever your heart desires, and enjoy!

What are your fondest memories of your dad?
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Tofu fried chicken–It tastes just like Chicken!!!

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Tofu Fried Chicken

I am a southern girl through and through. My family is from Louisiana, and a Sunday dinner that did not involve fried chicken was not a Sunday dinner at our house. When I decided several years ago that I would switch to a more healthy diet, I eliminated fried chicken from my diet all together. The problem with that was that I really missed it! Enter this recipe for Tofu fried chicken. The saying, “it tastes just like chicken,” is spot on here! Not only does this tofu fried chicken taste just like chicken, but it smells just like fried chicken when you are cooking it too! Vegetarians, Vegan’s, and carnivores alike will love this! Your kiddies will love this tofu fried chicken too! Use cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes, and these become the perfect healthy alternative to fried chicken nuggets. I say fried chicken, but the truth is that this is a very shallow fry. You really only need enough oil to coat the bottom of your pan. After a lot of trial and error with this recipe, I learned that the best results come by freezing the tofu. The texture of the tofu becomes more meat like, and it is a lot easier to expel all of the excess water in the tofu after it has been frozen and defrosted. The more water the tofu has in it, the harder it is to get a crispy crust on the “fried chicken.” It is possible, but it takes much longer than I want to be in the kitchen. Freezing the tofu and defrosting it on the day you want to cook it saves you about 20 minutes of cooking time with this dish.  I slice the tofu before i freeze it, which makes it easier to press out the excess water. I also use nutritional yeast, which you can find at Whole Foods, a health food store, at this Link on Amazon, or at your local vitamin shop since it is a nutritional supplement. I also use Garlic Gomasio, which is simply sesame seeds, garlic powder, and sea salt in one bottle. If you have these ingredients separately then just use 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt, and you’ll have a home made Gomasio.

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Ingredients:
1/4 cup of Garlic  Gomasio and 2 additional teaspoons set aside
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast add more if you need to
3-4 Tablespoons of a low sodium soy sauce
1 lbs of extra firm tofu (sliced, frozen in a ziplock bag and then defrosted)
4-5 Tablespoons of grape seed oil or another high temperature oil (canola, safflower) for frying.

Directions for expelling excess water from the tofu:
After the tofu is defrosted, drain the liquid from the bag. Then place each slice of tofu between paper towels and press out all of the remaining water. Be careful not to press too hard, the tofu breaks easily.

Directions:
Set up a work station, with a plate for each of the ingredients(except the oil). After you have removed the excess water from the tofu. Dredge the tofu slices through each plate, beginning with the soy sauce, then the nutritional yeast, and finally the Gomasio.

Be careful not to let the tofu soak in the soy sauce. You just want to coat both sides of the tofu with the soy sauce, don’t leave it to soak otherwise you’ll have one salty piece of fake chicken. Repeat this process until you’ve coated all the tofu.

In a skillet heat your oil. Add in the 2 teaspoons of Gomasio. once the seeds begin to pop add in your tofu. IMPORTANT: make sure that your oil is hot before you put your tofu in, otherwise you’ll have a grease laden piece of fake chicken.

Cook until both sides are brown and crispy, should only take 3-4 minutes. Place onto paper towels to remove excess oil, serve and enjoy!

Do you have any Tofu recipes? What’s your favorite tofu recipe?
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Lamb Patties with a Garlic and Mint Yogurt Sauce

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Ground lamb patties are what I call quick fixings in my house. They take 20 minutes from start to finish. I love the fresh herbs in this recipe, particularly the fresh mint. It goes so well with the lamb. Nutritionist Justice De La Torre gave me the recipe for these lamb patties, and they have become a staple in our house.  I hope these lamb patties will become a staple in your house as well. The best part about these lamb patties is that people who try them just assume they’re beef. These lamb patties are a great way to introduce lamb to your little ones.

Here’s what you need:
1 lbs of ground lamb
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves, chopped
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/4 cup of finely chopped onion
Sea salt to taste
Mint and garlic yogurt sauce:
1 cup of plain Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 fresh mint chopped
2 cloves do fresh garlic pasted

Directions for yogurt sauce:
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Refrigerate until you’re ready to use it.

Directions for lamb patties:
Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well.

  Form patties, and place in skillet on medium heat.

Cook for 4 minutes on each side, remove, serve with yogurt sauce and enjoy!
 What’s your favorite lamb dish?
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Crab fried rice

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When I was pregnant I had one major craving which I just could not satiate. That was a craving for crab fried rice! If you’ve never tried crab fried rice, then you’ve been missing out my friend. I should say that it’s not the easiest menu item to find. In fact, when I was pregnant is was impossible for me to find. Every day for six months I woke up and told my husband that I wanted crab fried rice. I literally was obsessed with having it. It was like my brain was stuck on having crab fried rice. I never did have the chance to indulge in my craving for crab fried rice, because the one restaurant that I knew of that had it went out of business.  I wanted to indulge that craving today by making my own crab fried rice.  My grocer was all out of lump crab meat, but he did have crab legs, so I purchased those to make this recipe.  I’m not an expert on making crab legs, but I have a good friend who gave me her technique, you can find that here.  I must say that after making it Gina’s way, I will never go back to buying lump crab meat again.  Fried rice is so easy to make, I normally make it with left over rice.  Today, I made a quick cook brown rice in my rice maker. From start to finish, this takes 20 minutes!

Here’s what you need
2 cups of rice
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup of green onion or chives
3 Tablespoons of oil
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1Teaspoon of Fish sauce
Soy sauce to taste
2 eggs scrambled and set aside

Directions:
Heat the oil in a pan–wok preferably–add in the garlic, and let brown, add egg, immediately toss in the rice.

 Add the Fish sauce. Add in the crab meat, cilantro, green onion, mix well.

Drizzle lightly with soy sauce, (not to much), and enjoy!
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How to cook Steamed crab legs

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I am ashamed to admit it, but, I have never cooked, or steamed, crab in my entire life. What’s worse is that my family is from Louisiana, so cooking crab, is, and has been a major event in my life…or it should have been.  Every year, on New Year’s Day my mom pulls out her biggest pot and makes a seafood gumbo, crab legs and all. My grandmother did the same, and her mother and grandmother did too. My point is that cooking crab legs is a tradition in my family, and everyone in my family knows how to do it, except me. In my defense, I’m not a fan of gumbo, and never have been. I would venture to say, that I hate it really. My mom will probably kill me for saying that out loud–it is akin to blasphemy in her house.  Today I was forced to buy crab legs for a crab fried rice that I’m making. My grocer was all out of lump crab meat, so I was stuck. I could either try my hand at making crab meat from scratch, or not have any fried rice. Needless to say the desire to have crab fried rice won out.  After leaving the grocer, I called one of my best friends, Gina Hayakawa, she is an expert at making and steaming crab. She gave me her recipe, and I’m going to share it with you.  Let me just say, now that I’ve made crab this way, there is no way, I’m going back to buying lump crab meat at the market! This crab is so good that I almost didn’t have enough left over to put in my fried rice. After you make this–IF you have any left over–try using the crab meat to make my crab fried rice, or my crab cakes, or my crab taco’s.

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Regina Hayakawa’s Steamed Crab Leg Recipe:
Here’s what you need:
1-2lbs do crab legs
1/4 cup of rice vinegar
2 cloves of garlic whole
3 cups of water

Equipment:
Steamer

Directions:
Place the water, garlic, and rice vinegar in a pot and bring to a boil

Place your crab in the steamer, and place on top of the pan with the boiling water, and cover.

Let steam for 7-10 minutes and it’s done. What is one thing that you have shied away from cooking and why?
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Parmesan Chicken with Caesar Roasted Romaine

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Parmesan chicken is one of my favorite meals. This particular Parmesan chicken recipe is so easy to make, and it’s paired perfectly with roasted romaine. It is like eating a Caesar salad, but kicked up a few notches! This particular Parmesan chicken recipe speaks to my inner lazy girl, because it’s a one pot wonder! You read it right, everything cooks in one pan, and in 20 minutes! It doesn’t get better than that! If you’ve never tried roasted romain, then you’re in for a treat with this recipe. Romaine takes on a rich, warm, and soulful texture when you roast it. Everyone who tries this, always mistakes the romaine for a sturdier green, like a kale, or collard…without the bitterness of course.  Most Parmesan chicken recipes include bread crumbs, this one does not, so it’s gluten free. If you want to add bread crumbs then be my guest, just swap out 1/2 a cup of the cheese with 1/2 cup of either Panko, or bread crumbs. 
Here is what you need
1 lbs of  skinless, boneless chicken (4 breast or 5-6 chicken thighs)
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup of grated Percorino or Asiago cheese
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 garlic cloves, chopped, divided
2 large hearts of romaine, halved lengthwise
4 anchovy fillets packed in oil, drained, chopped
1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Season chicken with salt and pepper; place on prepared sheet.

Combine cheese, 2 Tbsp. oil, parsley, and 1 garlic clove in a medium bowl.

Pat mixture onto breasts.

 Roast chicken until crumbs begin to turn golden, about 10 minutes.

Drizzle romaine with 1 Tbsp. oil and sprinkle with remaining 1 chopped garlic clove. Season with salt and pepper. Remove sheet from oven; place romaine around chicken.

 Roast until chicken is cooked through and lettuce is browned at edges, about 5 minutes.

Divide among plates. Top lettuce with anchovies; garnish with lemon wedges for squeezing over. Enjoy! 

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Memorable Lamb Kabob’s with Rosemary and Garlic

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It’s Memorial Day weekend, which probably means that most of us will be firing up the grill in preparation for a barbecue. I, for one, love to barbecue! Not just because it means that my husband will be doing most of the cooking, (although, it is a nice benefit.), but because it’s a great way to change up our diet with something smokey, and tangy! Who doesn’t love a nice grilled rib with tons of barbecue sauce on it?  Barbecuing is also a great way to spend time with friends and family. Some of my most sacred memories are housed around barbecue’s with family! At my house we like to mix it up a bit and grill lamb instead of beef, chicken, or pork. Beef, chicken, and pork have their place at our barbecue’s, ( Lemon, Garlic, & Thyme Chicken Kabobs), but every now and again, we love to grill lamb.  These lamb kabobs are perfect for a lazy barbecue, they don’t take a long time to marinate or cook on the grill, from start to finish these are done in 20 minutes!

Here’s what you need:
1.5-2 lbs of lamb loin chops, taken off the bone and cubed
3 cloves of garlic pasted
Sea salt
Juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon of Rosemary
1 Tablespoon of olive oil

Directions:
Season the lamb generously with sea salt:

Add the garlic, olive oil, rosemary,and lemon juice to the lamb, and mix well:
Add lamb to metal skewers, or to wooden skewers that have been soaked in water:

Grill for 2-3 minutes on a hot grill, and enjoy!  What is your favorite meat to grill?

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Homemade lavender infused vanilla bean ice cream

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I am the Queen of kitchen gadgets! If they make it, then there is a 85 percent chance that I have it in my kitchen. As a matter of fact, I have so many kitchen gadgets that I placed a self imposed stop on buying any more kitchen gadget’s. As useful as kitchen gadgets are, I just don’t have any more room to store these things. I was doing pretty well with my self imposed moratorium, until Sunday! I have been trying to figure out what to buy with a gift card that I’ve had for months. For the life of me, I just could not make up my mind about what to buy! As I was perusing the humongous aisles in Costco on Sunday, it hit me! Why not an ice cream maker? When I placed the rather large ice cream maker into our cart, my husband said, “Sweetie why don’t you buy something for yourself with your  gift card? I can buy this for us.” I looked at him and smiled. I love my husband, and in moments like these, I love him even more, but I shook my head and said, ” think about who you’re talking to, it’s ME, an ice cream maker IS personal to me!” He thought about it, laughed and said, ” I guess it is!” As we walked out of the store,  I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to make first with my ice cream maker. I love, love, love lavender ice cream, but it’s near impossible to find in the grocery store. Lavender is not a typical ice cream flavor, I’ve only had it a couple of times in my life, and every time that I’ve had it, I wanted more… it is delish!!!  You can leave out the lavender in this recipe if it’s not your thing, and you’ll still have the best vanilla bean ice cream that you’ve ever tasted. I used eggs and made a custard, this makes the ice cream really creamy and rich. You cannot get this level of creaminess without making the custard, so do it! You will not be disappointed, I promise! I used maple syrup to sweeten this, but you can use your sweetener of choice. Don’t worry if you don’t own an ice cream maker you can still make this. You’ll just need some..well a lot of arm power! By the way, I am happy that I have an ice cream maker, but storing this thing is going to be a real problem!
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Ingredients:
8 egg yolks
3/4 cups of maple syrup or sweetener of your choice
1 vanilla bean split down the middle
2-3 Tablespoons of lavender dried
1 1/2 cups of whole milk
2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Equipment
Ice cream maker
Or
1 quart size Ziploc bag
1  one gallon Ziploc bag
2 1/2 cups of ice
1/2 cup of salt

Directions:

In a medium bowl, beat together the yolks, and your sweetener of choice. You can beat by hand using a whisk, or use a hand mixer. Beat until thoroughly smooth and creamy. (A couple of minutes by hand.) If you’re using maple syrup, or agave, the mixture comes together quite quickly.
 

 

Put 1 cup of the cream,  all of the milk, lavender, and salt into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the beans with the tip of a small knife, and place into the pan; add the pod too. Heat the mixture until just before it starts to simmer (DO NOT LET IT SIMMER). Remove mixture from heat and let it steep for 5 minutes.
Strain the hot mixture, reserving the milk and discarding lavender andvanilla bean pod.
 
 

Add half of the hot mixture to the egg-yolk mixture, and whisk until blended. Be careful when adding the hot mixture to the egg mixture, go slowly you don’t want scrambled eggs.  Stir this mixture into remaining hot mixture in the sauce pan, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. or wooden fork in my case.

 

 

Remove from heat, and immediately stir in the remaining cream. Let the mixture cool for  at least 30 minutes.  If you want all the flavors to meld, let it cool to room temperature, then place in an air tight container, and refrigerate for 8 hours, or overnight, as I did. Once the cream has cooled sufficiently, freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.


If you don’t have an ice cream maker, then place 1 cup of your cooled mixture into one of the 1 quart zip lock bag and seal it. It is very important that the cream mixture is cold when using this method, so try to let it cool for at least 3 hours before trying this method. Next pour the ice and salt into the 1 gallon ziplock bag. Place the bag with the cream mixture into the bag with ice and salt and seal. Make sure neither bag has any excess air. Now here comes the work. Shake the bag until the mixture becomes solid, at least 5-10 minutes, serve and enjoy!

Here is a really cute way to do this in an old coffee can. Your kids can do this, and save you a lot of arm work…that or just run out and buy an  ice cream maker, but, then, like me, you’ll have to find some where to store it.

 

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