Me Chinese, Me Play Joke...

OK so that title is terrible, but it is not meant in poor taste, but merely a hearkening back to the past when jokes were...well, stupid. The real purpose behind the title is a reference to the fact that with no recipe at all I whipped up my very first batch of egg rolls, and they turned out quite well without any genetic heritage. My best friend in high school was Chinese and her mom owned a fantastic restaurant and she would make me Lo Mien just how I liked it--no vegetables at all ( I really have come a long way, haven't I? Mothers, no need to worry about your children..) I'm not sure what Cindy's mom would think of my recipe. Would she think it was some modern American fusion trying too hard? Or would she think about exchanging those stupid water chestnuts in exchange for broccoli, sugar snap peas, and tofu? (I just can't get into those darned water chestnuts, really what's the point?)

But back to the process of the egg roll composition. I saw this enticing

napa cabbage at our local coop and knew I had to have it. But a four pound cabbage at $1.29 per pound is hard to justify. I didn't buy. Over at a friends house later that night I was investigating a book entitled, "Good Morning Kim Chi" showing innumerable versions of the tasty fermented Korean condiment (not meaning to belittle it by implying it has any relationship to ketchup but to imply that the spicy concoction can, and does, go on anything). In "Good Morning Kim Chi" there are numerous recipes detailing the use of whole napa cabbages. It was destiny. Even more so when I had such an intense, practically pregnant, craving for egg rolls. Further confirmed by the fact that Mr. Sprout had inadvertently purchased egg roll wrappers at our international grocers when I had asked for spring roll wraps. That was that. I drove straight over to the coop and got that cabbage.

Cabbage, as we know, is a cruciferous vegetable. Cruciferous vegetables are like the cross they are named after, a miracle. Saving lives. A natural cure for cancer, Nappa Cabbage, sometimes known as Chinese Cabbage, is a little different than other cabbages. Slightly resembling a bok choy and romaine lettuce baby on steroids the nappa variety is pumped full of vitamins: 200 times more vitamin A than common cabbage, high in vitamin C, calcium and phosphorous, and contains notable amounts of iron, magnesium, phosphorous and vitamin B.* But more important than this is the flavor. The Chinese poet Fan Chengda of the Song Dynasty wrote that the flavor was more delectable than a lotus.

And even more important than that is the recipe..

Egg rolls!!!

1/2 a giant nappa cabbage, shredded

5 green onions, sliced

1 head of broccoli, chopped

1 portabella mushroom, sliced into thin strips

2 carrots, julienned

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 can of baby corns (couldn't resist)

2 handfuls sugar snap peas

4 NM green chilies, roasted

1 tub tofu, cut to fit egg rolls

Egg roll wraps

Braggs

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

Garlic Chili Oil

Sesame Oil

Canola Oil (For frying)

DO NOTE: You do not need to have all of these vegetables on hand. They are what I had around (minus the baby corns and cabbage) and therefore made the cut. Use your own discretion.

Begin roasting the chilies on your stove top (assuming you have a gas range...if you do not you can roast them in the oven on broil) turning frequently. Place tofu in a frying pan on medium with some sesame oil, garlic chili oil and braggs. Cook until all sides are brown and crisp. While cooking the tofu and roasting chilies chop your veggies. Throw them all into a large frying pan with mostly braggs and a little bit of sesame oil. There will be plenty of oil in frying so don't overdo it when cooking your veggies. Cook for about ten minutes until the veggies are almost done but still crisp. Begin heating the oil (I put about a 1/2" into a 10" frying pan). Place 1/4 cup of the vegetable mix with one strip of tofu in the egg roll wrap. Roll it up on the diagonal. Place in oil and fry to a golden hue. Enjoy with a sauce made of the Thai Kitchen Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce mixed with the garlic chili oil.

*This is a huge side note and will make me sound like a hippy-dippy freak but...I sort of have this notion that the body craves what it needs. I have never, ever, had a craving for nappa cabbage and have never in my life bought it, it just looked so good staring at me, practically glowing under the grocery store fluorescence. In retrospect as I review the nutrients it contains these are the some of the same nutrients one loses during menstruation. Hmmm...no wonder this hippy-dippy girl NEEDED that cabbage!

Sun Tea

One of my favorite things about the warming spring into summer days is making sun tea. I try to have it on hand at all times, chilled and ready in the fridge for the chance guest. I love friends who knock on my door unannounced; to show them my love I share my tea. Typically my sun teas have hibiscus. It makes the tea a bright pink that is reminiscent of kool-aid and is ornamentally attractive in the mid-day sun, especially after a long day in the garden. The usual blend for me is a loose green tea or yerba mate and hibiscus sweetened with stevia leaf extract.

I am not the only one to find the color of hibiscus enchanting. The history and origin of hibiscus is surprisingly hard to ascertain probably because the beautiful, enchanting flower enjoys notoriety and cultivation in almost all corners of the globe. As far as I can deduce the plant is of Asiatic descent, though not China nor Egypt or Hawaii as one might assume. Regardless of where it hails, it has been widely researched that hibiscus tea ingested on a regular basis is as effective as medications in lowering cholesterol and high blood pressure. It is also said to aid in weight loss and increase immunity (mostly due to the high proportions of vitamin C).

Stevia leaf too is of interest here: although used as a sweetener, it does not contain sugar compounds. This means that we can all enjoy it without guilt, without calories, and without spiking our blood sugar! Hallelujah! Watch out and don't use too much though, it has the tendency to taste like NutraSweet or the many array

of low to no-calorie sweeteners. Clearly it is beneficial for weight loss and diabetics but are there negative side effects? Apparently there is some controversy in the research. Some studies that just happened to have positive results were funded by Cargill, a corporation interested in creating a sugar substitute from Stevia. For instance the sweeteners "Truvia" and "PureVia" are both Stevia based no-calorie sweeteners that are being used in mainstream products. The FDA has apparently not approved Stevia for sale unless labeled as a supplement, but in the case of these Stevia based mass produced sweeteners it has issued a "no objection" declaration. Go figure.

As far as health benefits of Stevia go we can either trust the natives of Brazil and Paraguay who have been drinking it medicinally for centuries or we can look at the varied research being done here in the states. One study showed that Stevia stimulated carcinogens and could potentially cause cancer while subsequent studies have taken this one to war claiming that Stevia is an antioxidant and thereby prevents cancer. Apparently there is controversy and it is unclear as to whom the players in this are and what they stand to gain. Personally, I trust nature.

Sun Tea

1/4 cup green tea or yerba mate

1/8 cup hibiscus

2 Quart clear glass jar full of water

1 dropper full of stevia leaf extract (I use "Sweet Leaf" brand)

Combine first three ingredients and set outside at night in what will be a sunny spot. Let sit overnight and bring inside the next evening. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the Stevia. Chill in fridge and enjoy over ice with friends.

Garlic Lovers Only

Everyone knows that eating garlic wards off vampires but maybe you weren't privy to the fact that it can also repel mosquitoes? Garlic is surrounded by legends and lore purporting its miraculous healing properties: cure for acne, the common cold, the plague, high cholesterol...the list goes on. Modern science has backed some of this up in various clinical trials and studies supporting most of the alleged claims that garlic, particularly the medicinal compound "allacin", acts as a natural antibiotic and is loaded with antioxidants (which if you need a reminder, ward off cancer). As common sense would beg, you shouldn't eat too much garlic, it can mess up your digestion, potentially interact with some medications, and maybe in severe cases of over consumption, cause a state known as "friendlessness". A not-so-secret culinary ingredient that can make most mouths water and most meals a step closer to epicurean, garlic deserves our adoration. Here is a recipe I invented today with a healthy serving of raw garlic (not for the dabbler).

Red Chile Mango Salsa

1 mango, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

1 handful cilantro, chopped fine

2 teaspoons red chile powder (the stuff from NM, not cayenne)

1 tablespoon honey

1 orange, juiced

sea salt to taste

3 cloves garlic, pressed

Mix it all together and let it sit overnight or as long as you can stand. Enjoy with tortilla chips, on burritos, quesadillas or anything else you can top with mango salsa.

*On a side note I saw a movie about garlic that I highly recommend to everyone: Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers by Les Blank. I happened to see this movie at a showing at Chispas Farm here in the Albuquerque South Valley. As it turns out Chispas Farms is like a living museum for garlic, growing almost all the varietals of garlic in order to keep the heirloom seed strains vital. Lucky us in ABQ!!

**Pictures to follow when I make another batch. That one is long gone..

Home.

They say home is where the heart is, sometimes when I come home for longer than a few days and my Dad and I are at each others throats I question this statement.* There is also a nice concept of the "home cooked meal". I wonder about this statement too with the advent of the canned good, hamburger helper and even my seemingly innocent boca burger (not that I would ever eat hamburger helper, it's just an example). However there is something nice about sitting down to the table as a family. Growing up I remember we always did this, until of course my mother passed away. Then Dad was busy and family meals were sporadic at best and sometimes replaced with my favorite: TV dinners!! (I've come a long way since then.) Now the family has expanded burgeoning with a teeming tidal wave of small children most of which convert an impossible amount of energy from nutritionally inert foods like noodles and crackers, though cheese does factor in somewhere. In other words, the family meal is done in shifts, the children squirming in seats first with the adults distractedly following. You can't make the same thing for kids in our family as you make for the adults, allergies aside, their pallets are much too sensitive (as opposed to distinguished).

When I return home it is my duty as a daughter to bring my father some green chile. I forgot over Christmas and almost forgot this time rounding some up from the Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque in bulk at 5:30 AM in a moment of brilliance infrequent at dawn. Worried about the air traffic control regulations for frozen chilies but too cheap to pay to check my luggage, I decided to risk it. Unbeknownst to me you CAN take frozen food items onto the plane! (Just not floating in ice.) My Dad LOVES green chile. A rare varietal of pepper seldom found fresh outside of the southwest, and to some extent, outside of the New Mexico border. This rarity is only spicy when roasted, don't eat them raw, they taste as bland as a bell pepper but with less meat. High in vitamin C and capsaicin (releasing those happy hormones in the brain some of which contain the prefix "dope") these peppers can increase your immunity and decrease stress, excellent combo.

The following recipe is the one I like to make as my "Returning Home Cooked Meal" using a healthy dose of green and red chile it's a winner for most spice loving adults but don't ever try to foist it upon the children. For that matter don't ever foist any food item on the children, not even strawberry pancakes.

Spinach and Black Bean Enchiladas

Green Chile:

3 cloves garlic

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup flour

1 cup chopped and roasted green chile

black pepper

salt

3 cups water

Crush garlic into a saucepan with the butter on medium, saute until you smell it, then add the flour. Stir until flour is coated by butter. Add water and chile, boil, lower to simmer, add salt and pepper to taste.

Red Chile:

3 cloves garlic

1/2 stick butter or oil

1/2 cup flour

1/4-1/2 cup red chile (ground and dried)

black pepper

salt

3 cups water

Follow recipe above adding the red chile when you add the flour. Simmer both chiles for at least 20 minutes.

Enchiladas:

blue corn tortillas (preferred, but white will do)

butter for the pan

baby spinach

black beans (I use a can but of course you may cook them)

tomato (diced)

mushrooms (sliced)

black olives (sliced)

cheese (shredded, any type will do but the more Mexican style the better, like Monterrey jack)

Rub the pan with butter (use a deeper pan to eliminate overflow, size of pan depends on how many people you plan to feed), cover the bottom with tortillas, layer with spinach, mushrooms, black beans, olives, and cheese. Pour on the chile, don't hesitate: smother it. Create another layer same as above and smother with chile. Cover with tortillas layer with a bit of cheese and any remaining items to garnish (no spinach, it will burn and become crispy) cover the tortillas with chile and cook in the oven on 350 until the chile starts to bubble. (30 minutes to an hour).

*My Dad and I love to argue. It's really how we express our fondness toward each other. At times it is intellectual banter but at other less enjoyable times it is his incorrigible nature trying to rouse me and then telling me that I'm difficult--exasperating fun for all.

Lately I’ve been having an interesting predicament…I haven’t been hungry for breakfast!!!??? Yet I know, I’ve been told by my parentals, and I remember from many a school teacher that “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”--and I agree, I think breakfast is the most important meal of the day! When I don’t eat anything my blood sugar drops and I can’t think, I’m still not hungry but feel like I might swoon and need somebody to bust out the smelling salts. Not to mention I teach yoga for a living…I NEED that energy! And I have always been good about eating it.

So what can I do? Listen to my body telling me that I’m not hungry or eat something anyway. I vote for the latter. I have been eating an egg in the mornings. That’s right, a single egg. Fried over medium with the yolk still runny. I’ve tried doing toast alongside my egg for the extra carbs and calories (imagine, somebody in this modern world forcing herself to eat more carbs and calories!). It’s no use, I’m not interested in the toast. I’ve tried doing two eggs for the extra protein and calories, but it’s two too much. So this morning I tried something new: an egg on a bed of greens (now I really sound like a health nut).



It was perfect. It was like eating an egg salad holding all that mayo. I finely grated some Dublin Irish Cheddar on top and drizzled it with olive oil (for the added fat and calories). Yes I am one of those who believes that fat is good for you, gasp.) I also added braggs, nutritional yeast and some cock sauce (where would I be without my condiments) but found them unnecessary. The olive oil, salt, and freshly cracked pepper would have been perfect.

I must here confess that sometimes in the kitchen, things are not perfect. This is par for the course as most things I cook are experimental. Not everything you or I make will turn out gourmet, but we will and do try.

*I am assuming a recipe is not necessary. Just take my advice and try some fresh spring greens under your eggie sometime.

**I apologize for the font issue. They (the people who run this website that I use) have changed the settings on me and I can't figure it out, I can't even see the pictures or where they are when I am typing. CURSES.

***The photos of teas are Kombucha tea and Yerba Mate tea. I know I have promised you many posts in the past but seriously, look forward to posts on them both because I consider them, you guessed it, essential for good health.

It's Not Easy Being Green

When we talk about being green, or our carbon footprint, it is more than just buying the next hybrid car.  Being green involves lifestyle choices: what clothes to buy, where to buy them, considering how they are made, where they are made...the agonizing list continues.  In this global economy our choices are many and their effects even greater, especially when it comes to food.


I am currently reading Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle", one family's testament to green agriculture--that they could eat only what they could grow or at least buy locally. As she puts it, "This was the year we made ever attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew..."


In the first chapter in a section entitled "Oily Food" she puts into perspective the dirty truth that our seemingly innocent grocery store veggies are hiding under their waxy skins, "Americans put almost as much fossil fuels into our refrigerators as our cars...about 17% of our nation's energy use...If every US citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week..." 


Kind of shocking when put so concisely.  Other good sources for this type of information are: Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" or if you are more visually inclined, the documentaries "King Corn" and "Food Inc.". 


I'll keep you posted, more insights from Barbara as I continue reading...        

Sesame Noodles with Purple Kale and Crushed Chimayo Chile

You have waited patiently dear followers, and true to my word the promised recipe incorporating my beloved purple kale is here. Excellent, while still steaming fresh off the stove, but also just as nice when cold, the next day out of the fridge.

The Recipe:

Quinoa Spaghetti Noodles (1 Package)

Boiling Water

EVOO*

Pinch Salt

1 large Onion, slivered lengthwise

1 large Yellow Bell Pepper, slivered lengthwise

1 and 1/2 teaspoons Black Sesame Seeds

1 teaspoon Crushed Red Chimayo Pepper (like the stuff you put on Pizza)

1 bunch Purple Kale, chopped

1 Portabella Mushroom, sliced

2 tablespoons Braggs

1 tablespoon Agave Nectar

1/4 cup Tahini**

2 tablespoons Sesame Oil

1 tablespoon Garlic Chile Oil

As you may have guessed you boil the water with the salt and oil. When boiling rapidly add package of noodles.*** Agitate/stir frequently as these noodles have the tendency to stick together.

Sliver the onion and bell pepper. Put in a frying pan with the sesame seeds and crushed red pepper with what you feel is enough olive oil. Saute until the onions are clear.

Place chopped kale and portabella mushrooms in another frying pan (slightly larger than the first) with about a 1/2 inch of water for a steam saute.**** Add the braggs and agave nectar, stir frequently until the kale is completely wilted and the water has mostly boiled off.

Add all three pots and pans together into one mixing bowl. Add tahini, sesame oil and garlic chile oil to taste. May need additional braggs or tahini in order to make it creamy and salty enough.

Yum. Eat regularly.

*EVOO is an abbreviation for Extra Virgin Olive Oil that I think (embarrassingly enough) has filtered down from the fanatical Rachel Ray. I use "extra virgin" because it is unrefined, cold pressed, from the first press so therefore less processed, and no chemicals are used in the processing. This gives you a more healthful product with a more desirable taste. I will blog on the health benefits next post.

**Tahini also deserves its own post. A product of ground sesame seeds (think peanut butter made out of sesame seeds) and popular in Middle Eastern foods, I buy the unsalted version. It is awesome raw but usually more affordable and easier to obtain when roasted.

***You can use any type of noodles but I use these to curb wheat consumption and increase the nutritional value of the food. Quinoa is an ancient grain who's claim to fame is its high protein content. Cooking and tasting much like wheat noodles, and not altogether expensive, it makes a great substitute.

****I prefer the steamed saute because the nutrients that are lost during boiling or a typical steaming method are retained, there is no green (or purple in this case) water to pour off.