by Anita Sands Hernandez astrology at earthlink. net
more recipes at http://home.earthlink.net/~astrology
This
is a collection of super easy-to-make foods
of super low cost that can make a jaw dropping HIT before family and guests.
These recipes will make Mr. Right think you know your way around a cocina
when you have never cooked before in your LIFE
PART I NIBBLES AND ANTIPASTO A feast has to have many acts, like a good play so BEFORE THE MEAL, scatter DIPS AND NIBBLES everywhere ON THE COFFEE TABLE, in the living room. Piping hot, just baked Crackers are used to pick them up. Small plates, forks, napkins must be served. These items are not moved to table during meal. They are left behind to be picked up by somebody so that when you return to living room they are GONE! Choose one or all of the dishes below.
PIZZA BABY’S RED PEPPERS BUY A LOT OF RED PEPPERS. THEN, STERILIZE A LOT OF JARS by boiling them in water. Meanwhile, HEAT LARGE SKILLET. Slosh in a great deal of OLIVE OIL, and FRY the red peppers, sliced into strips, along with (my version) a few minced jalapenos, a lot of green onions, black pepper and near the end, add a lot of Garlic slices. Fry peppers until slightly black around edges. SPOON into jars, cover with oil so that no pepper sticks out, PUT LIDS ON. I never put any of my homemade preserved vegetables on pantry shelf. I keep them in the fridge, give them to friends from my fridge. Especially as peppers are sweet and high in Vit C, they will get sour in a week even in fridge so give fast & give generously.
VEGAN, BOGUS EGG SALAD-INGREDIENTS; ½ cup tofu may 1 tbsp Dijon mustard ½ cup finely chopped celery, put in ¼ cup mayonnaise. 2 tbsp finely chopped scallions, NO EGGS, just 1 lb firm tofu cut into ½ " cubes, drained well. Salt, pepper, tumeric, curry powder to taste. And sweet relish. 1 tbsp. RELISH is very important. BUT MORE IMPORTANT STILL is good wallop of drops of chile sesame oil, found in Asian section, (small bottle, colorful pungent oil), and a lot of Toasted sesame seeds. You want to do a few oz. Of sesame seeds every week, keep in tea tin.1 tbsp. METHOD. Toast sesame seeds on skillet until golden, popping. Cool. Mix together, all other ingred, chill 2 hrs. Garnish wi. seeds. Serve in celery stalks, lining the stalk with it. You can use it as sandwich spread for daytime lunches in which case, add seeds into it. SO tasty and festive! NOBODY will not realize it's egg based! NO ONE, so give to folks who loathe TOFU!
GOOCHES BULGUR NUT PATE-Three cups cooked bulgur wheat. Always, leave bulgur wheat in 100 degree water for an hour long soak before cooking then discard water, cook according to package instructions. Have on hand, 4 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 small onion, chopped, 1 medium celery stalk, thinly sliced, ¼ cup chopped red bell pepper, 4 large cloves garlic, mashed, 1 tsp sea salt, 1 tsp chili powder, ¼ tsp nutmeg, ¾ tsp celery seed, 3 cups cooked bulgur wheat, 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, 2 tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro. Saute onion, celery, bell pepper garlic in oil, cool, then mash. Season, add bulgur. Mash or process until smooth. Add nuts, parsley, scallions, mix thoroughly. Garnish with parsley, paprika, lemon slices. CRACKER RECIPE at end of this section is what the guests use to eat it.
VEGIE CHOPPED CHICKEN LIVERS-(or party dip) Ground sprouted Walnuts, pecans, pre-soaked cooked then mashed lentils, no liquid; cheddar cheese, garlic, soy sauce, lemon juice all blended together. YUMMY! Serve on lettuce leaf to dip into. Makes fine Sandwich spread, too. Note: Pre-soak nuts to sprout them to inactivate phytic acid.
HUMMOUSThis is a middle eastern protein food like western types of party dip, which is inexpensive to make from scratch and hearty. HAVE ON HAND: One jar/Can TAHINI, (a kind of peanut butter only made w. sesame seeds, avail at Israeli, Iranian, Armenian, Arab grocery stores.) One large bag of dry raw garbanzo beans, onion, soy sauce, pckg untoasted sesame seeds, garlic, lemons, 1 sml. can chopped olives, cumin, curry powder, Cilantro, Chile-Sesame oil, (oriental section.) Pickle slices optional.
METHOD- SOAK beans over night. Heat 2 hrs in crock pot on LOW to destroy phytic acid in beans, then simmer 2 hrs on medium setting until soft. While beans cook, toast sesame seeds in iron skillet, stirring until they pop. Cool. Reserve most of liquid in beanpot for tomorrow’s soup, leave ½ cup remaining liquid while you mash beans into a paste. Add 1 part tahini to 5 parts beans, mashing with finely chopped onions, lemon juice, soy sauce. Add toasted sesame seeds to the bean/tahini mix, add l0 dashes of chile sesame oil, your spices, cumin, curry, lots of crushed fresh garlic, olives, cilantro and lemon juice.
SERVE BOTH these ON :HOME MADE CRACKERS, HUGE PIECES of WHOLE WHEAT WITH SESAME. METHOD: FIVE CUPS OF WHEAT FLOUR, add 1/2 cup SESAME SEEDS, SALT, few tbsps OLIVE OIL, and MIX WITH SPRING WATER until dough forms KNEAD, ROLL, lay out on a cookie sheet, BAKE. Sprinkle wi. more sesame seeds during baking. Stick them on by pulling hot tray out, brushing egg white onto the dough, while you drop the seeds as it dries instantly, then popping back in oven.
NOTE: Freeze leftover pate, hummous that your guests do not eat in plastic, not foil, as there’s acid in hummous and aluminum leaches out of foil. Later, hummous thaws good as new. Serve with fat free baked all corn chips or in sandwiches w. pickle/ lettuce/tomato. Kids will take this to school quite happily. Never know it’s good for them.
PART II ENTERING THE DINING ROOM!
WHEN
YOU MOVE TO THE TABLE all the SALADS, PICKLES & DRESSINGS PLUS HOME
MADE BREAD ARE ALREADY THERE
on the table. You don't want your
guests to arrive at a table that is not COVERED with yummy stuff! But not
ENTREES! They are the prima donnas that make the big entrance!
HOME MADE BREAD- Let pckg dry yeast rise in 1 tsp sugar, ½ cup of warm filtered or pure water no chlorine. FOR LIQUID in your bread, you can take3 cups vegie broth made by simmering vegies that U-will eat for dinner. No sulphurous veggies like cabbage or broccoli. Or use 3-4 cups milk. Scald, cool to body temp. Add ½ cup brown sugar, 1 cube butter. COOL. Throw 3-4 cups whole grain wheat/mixed w. rye flour into broth, (a little millet flour is good if U-can find) and a tsp of gluten (avail. at healthfood store) for each cup of flour. Stir so it’s very soft, then add, stir in the yeast which has proven it’s alive by getting a thick scum on it. Stir more flour into dough until it’s mushy verging on firm. Let rise in bowl in warm spot in kitchen, FOR MINIMUM OF 2 HRS, like open oven on super low. 2-hr yeast raising period is to inactivate phytic acid. When doubled in size, turn on dusted board, and knead, as you do, adding several oz. of toasted sesame seeds and salt to taste. Put on buttered floured pizza pan, or four loaf pans, set in warm place until it doubles. Bake at 375 for l0 min, to HARDEN the dough all HIGH AND FAT, then lower to 300 until brown. The first flash of tremendous oven heat is the secret of good, fat bread. Cool, Cut into 4 loaves, freeze 3 to use later.
HOMEMADE EASY TO MAKE FRESH PICKLES.
This seems like a lot of work but it’s broken up into two days & you really only do about 5 minutes at a time and once you know how to do it, it really is routine and easy. When your garden is choked with cucumber vines and they’re all getting to look like big yellow melons, you’d damn well BETTER know how to make pickles.
SHOP FOR: Pickling spices, fresh dill, salt, vinegar. Have glass jars on hand. You’ll need ceramic soup tureen or enamel 4 quart bowls to hold the first brining of pickles. It’s nice to save large glass jars and lids for about a YEAR before you start.
MAKE BRINE: There will be two brine soaks—the first in a tureen & taking 12 hours. The second in the jars themselves. So you do the first one at night, and finish the pickles next day. You will throw away that first brine and on second day, make a second brine to put in jars with the pickles. It is the same type of brine in both cases. For every quart of water, most cookbooks recommend ¼ cup coarse coarse, pickling salt. I never have the coarse kind any hand, though I should have it as I have an ice cream freezer, so I use ordinary salt and considerably less than those recipes state. I feel I get away with ¼ cup of salt to 6 quarts of brine. I am eager to lower the amounts of vinegar and salt (two unhealthy substances) to a minimum. I find this works if you PEEL the cukes. There are too many enzymes in the peel. With peels in, the pots ferment bigtime and go sour and mushy. With peels on, only huge amts of vinegar/salt can knock enzymes out. To get away with less harmful ingredients and get crisp cukes, you will peel them. We are going to add some commercial pickling spices, with your own garlic slivers, and your own dill leaves. Or you can mix mustard seeds, bay leaves, red pepper pieces, black pepper, coriander seed, white mustard seed, and celery seeds and make your own spice mix. But don’t forget to add garlic/dill later.
METHOD: Boil 6 quarts water with ¼ cup salt and ¼ cup vinegar. In last minute of the boil add your pickling spices and four fingers of chipped garlic and some dill leaves, then COOL the brine. Place this brine in a ceramic, glass or enameled metal soup tureen or some huge 4 to 6 quart receptacle. It cannot be bare metal. The acid affects metal and the metal affects brine’s color. When brine is ready, and in the tureen, not before, wash and dry pickles. Cut off ends then peel with carrot peeler. If you’re going to set anything down, set it on clean paper toweling. But best is to Slice directly into brine either in long strips or in round discs. Drop into brine, let sit overnight or 12 hours in fridge, with a round bottomed dish on top that pushes cukes under surface of the brine.
NEXT DAY, USE STERILE RINSE WATER (METHOD: BOIL 4 quarts water. COOL. TAKE YOUR PICKLES, POUR OFF the BRINE, thru a colander, Shake or towel dry then dump these PICKLES IN this clear, cold, sterile WATER. Let sit in fridge for 3 hrs.
MAKE SECOND BRINE AND COOL IT. Drain PICKLES of the rinse water with the colander then, without using fingers, arrange slices in freshly boiled, sterile glass jars, and pour more freshly cooled NEW BRINE/SPICES over them. It doesn’t have to be cold. Bathtub warm is OK. Just not hot enough to cook the cukes. You TOP OFF JARS so no air touches cukes. Cover with plastic, not foil, & rubber bands or if you have them, the jar’s lids. AND KEEP REFRIDGED because I don’t feel these are totally sterile, like the commercial kind which are boiled in both brine and the jars. A totally boiled, ‘cooked’ pickle can be kept on a shelf. These are fridge pickles, much more crisp, almost like fresh and won’t last more than a week. You will make them day before guests come, serve at your dinner party, as nibbles.
TO MAKE THEM LAST on room temperature SHELF, STERILIZE THE JARS FIRST, BOIL 2nd BRINE MIXTURE, pour over cukes, airtight seal with lids and boil jars for a while, too. Adelle Davis’ famous old, classic healthfood book "LET’S COOK IT RIGHT" says a tsp of Calcium Chloride (another kind of salt) added to the brine makes everything much more crisp, and is what commercial picklers use. This is easier than it seems. The problem is, every pickle I ever made, even if kept in fridge, went cloudy and bad in a week. I guess I just don’t have the heart to add as much salt. This is remedied by serving them all in a day or so. Then compost them as you can't toss salted food to the crows.
SALAD - THE ULTIMATE VITALITY FOOD-Wash romaine, watercress, spinach, but not head lettuce. I hear you should even put ¼ tsp bleach in water you wash it in. Leave it a few min, then rinse well. Get all dirt out of crevices. Put in colander, drain, pat dry.
DRESSING- Olive oil, lemon juice, lotta crushed garlic, fresh or dry oregano, dash Lea & Perrins Wochestshire sauce, a little dry mustard powder or honey dijon or mushy honey/dijon mustard is ok, 2 tbsp crushed avocado and many thin slices of onion, soy sauce for salt, anchovy paste if possible. It will not dominate, but adds magic. Nobody will know why dressing is so good tasting. This is a big secret. Mix in large, wooden salad bowl, put greens on top. Choose your toppings.
TOPPING- sunflower seeds, avocado slices, raisins, mushroom slices, sliced radishes, hulled pumpkin seeds (only avail. at HFS but not nearly as delicious as slighty toasted pine nuts, those rock!) Broccoli florets, radish slices, jicama or sunchoke slices, diced green onions, fresh basil, cilantro or arugula leaves --another item that rocks. FIND SEED! GROW IT! Once you do, it reseeds anually and then some! SERVE with stacks of hot, corn tortillas in a basket. Make ‘tacos’ of salad.
PART III. HOT ENTREES BROUGHT TO THE TABLE when guests are seated! Choose only one or two from list of a dozen entrees below. NOT ALL!
VEGETARIAN TOFU LOAF OR TOFU PATTIES- So delicious they blow minds! ON HAND- A LB box of tofu, firm or soft. I prefer firm. 1 cup of your CHOICE OF cooked GRAIN* (soaked first, raw for 2 hrs. at l00 degrees meaning somewhere warm so it loses phytic acid, you discard water), raw garlic, chopped onion, oil, thyme, oregano, chopped celery, powdered not whole celery seed, mushrooms, 1 cup oats, 1 cup soaked, almost sprouted or presoaked nuts: may be mixed sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, hazlenuts. Other ideas: bell pepper, cooked lentils or mashed cooked garbanzos, some tahini, Salt/pepper & vegie broth. Use a good grain from healthfood store like millet, brown rice, quinoa, and secret of all is a can of creamed corn! wow! (COOK GRAIN, or, if bulgur wheat, soak in hot water 30 min.). Grind nuts. (Almonds must be soaked overnight in water, then skinned)
METHOD-MIX your soaked GRAIN, nuts, oats, lb of tofu crumbled, w. spices, all the other ingredients until you have a burger. Saute onion, garlic, red or green peppers, stir in the other ingredients on top. Then, you add a can of creamed corn, an egg for firming if you eat eggs, and a 39c box of corn meal mix, all these aid in firming the dough. you can then shape a patty and fry or create a deep dish meatloaf, bake, last five minutes bake w. a little cheese and tomato sauce on top. I fry them as patties in oil/butter mixed, just a second til brown then oven finish for cooking thru. I always keep a big stack in fridge but seem to Freeze ¾ of slices in a single slice presentation for sandwiches. Slip a frozen burger in lunch pail inside a sandwich w. lettuce, mayo by NOON the thing is thawed for the kid or mate. NOTE: Reason we pre-soak grains, sprout nuts/seeds is to inactivate PHYTIC acid which prevents mineral assimilation
LEMON MERENGUE FISH ANOTHER MIND BLOWER is basically shepherd's pie (Ling Cod, BASS, halibut, swordfish are fine, you want a firm filet but bass is so tasty, why not?) Ingredients: 2 lemons, 3 large ling filets, onions, mushrooms, l l/2 tsp corn starch, black raisins, honey, curry powder. 7 Large potatoes for mashing. Parsley. Dash flour.
METHOD - FIRST MAKE MASHED POTATOES. If they finish too quickly, then HOLD those potatoes, mashed, READY AND HOT. But try to time them out together. Put fillets in foil, bake at 325 for l0-l5 min. You will use fish’s juices from foil to make a creamy sauce. Get all other ingredients assembled and ready so that when fish is finished, the sauce can be made in l minute and dish assembled. Melt the butter in a pan, adding mushrooms, onion, parsley, l tbsp flour, and brown slightly. Add half and half cream. To thicken more, wet down cornstarch w. water or milk, stir well, and then add to frying butter / cream mixture, stir until thick and custardy. Add juices from fish, lemon juice and rind, honey, curry powder to taste, (some like mild curry flavor). Add black raisins. Stir until the sauce is thick and yellow. Simmer, season and Mash potatoes, add butter, more cream, salt, pepper. Take a greased serving cassarole, line with the mashed potatoes, as if for Shepherd’s Pie. lay fish fillets inside, pour plenty of yellow sauce over them, then cover with more potatoes. Rub top of potatoes with more golden lemon sauce, then flame under a broiler, or in oven.
RED ENCHILADAS -Ingredients: tortillas, oil, red or black wrinkley chile pods, (l lg. bag) cumin seeds, tofu meatloaf, almonds, cilantro, olives, onions, sour cream, cheddar cheese.
This will be much easier than it reads. If you follow the text you’ll never need to read text on this again. You’ll know how to do it. Boil seeded, de-stemmed chiles 2 min. in water. Put in blender, strain thru medium mesh strainer, rubbing against wire to get every bit of pulp to come out the bottom. Discard skins. Fry oil, garlic clove, cumin seeds, black pepper for a few seconds, until onion starts to turn transparent, then throw in the red sauce. Add salt to taste. Heat tortilla over flame until soft, l0 seconds, then dip in sauce, fill with vegie meatloaf that has been sprinkled with chopped almonds, and a little cilantro. Roll closed. Line up all your enchiladas in a pan, good and wet, then throw remainder of sauce over them, also much grated cheese and olives. Bake until lightly brown. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro. (Note, we have not fried tortillas first, as in Mexico. We soften with flame. This gives a healthful enchilada and does not notably undermine flavor.) Alternatives: Lightly pat oil on tortilla, heat to soften, either on flame or in pan, then fill. Bake in oven for l0 minutes, until cheese melts.
GREEN ENCHILADAS,SALSA VERDE on enchiladas is called SWISS ENCHILADAS. ENCHILADAS SUIZAS. It is made with GREEN TOMATILLOS, CILANTRO onion, garlic AND HEAVY CREAM. Take a POUND of tomatillos, peel skin off. Quarter them, boil for 2 minutes with cleaned jalapenos. COOL slightly, mash. Put the mashed tomatillo/jalapeno into pan of sauteeing onions, garlic, any good oil like olive, peanut. SHUN canola. Why poison people? Mash some more, add chopped cilantro, salt and then turn off fire. Add heavy table cream or sour cream, until sauce fades to pale green. Use this on enchiladas and bake them, fill with chicken. Dose with more sour cream and cilantro at serving time.
BROCCOLI FRITATAThis essentially is a PUFFY EGG BATTER on a VEGETABLE, WITH TOMATO SAUCE so it’s like CHILE RELLENOS!Turns vegies into a main course. First, STEAM BROCCOLI. When it is nearly cooked, WHIP 6 EGG WHITES til stiff. Add yolks. You will get a foamy meringue batter. HEAT SKILLET WITH OLIVE OIL. Dip the broccoli florettes into whipped egg whites. It sticks if broccoli isn't wet.. DROP INTO SKILLET. FRY LIKE OMLET TURNING ONCE. COVER WITH Tomato sauce, dot with garlic jack cheese, oven finish. TOMATO MIXTURE. Heat oil, add garlic, black pepper. Blend up tomatos, drop into frying oil & onions, stir til cooked. To be refined, use coarse, large strainer to catch the seeds and skins of tomatoes, before they go into the hot oil but seeds aren't a deal breaker.
ZUCCHINI FRITTATA- l lg autumn zucchini, that has been sliced in rings and steamed but left fairly FIRM, oil, tomatoes, garlic, onion, mozzarella, half dozen eggs, flour. Fry garlic, onion in oil, drop in blended, fresh tomatoes, saute til thick. Set aside. Dredge each zuch slice in flour lightly, then dip into egg puff,(You make this by beating whites til they peak, dropping yolks in, salt/pepper to taste.) and fry lightly on both sides, arrange in teflon lined pan, or ceramic dish, Grate mozzarella or garlic jack on top, pour tomato sauce over all, bake til mozzarella browns slightly.
SERVE A FRITATA WITHHot corn tortillas. Turn tortillas several times over a gas flame until black spots start to appear. Stack on a dish with a napkin around them to hold in the steam. Someone in kitchen should do this so hostess is not leaving the table! If you have lavish amts of tomato sauce, serve the vegies on a massive bed of white basmati rice. These fritatas can be adorned with sour cream, cilantro and dotted with pomegranate seeds, onions, olives, onion slices.
FISH CROQUETTES Take several freshly caught cheap fish. Mackeral is world's cheapest but with knife, cut out the red bloody dark meat stripe, don't discard the red meat just give to a cat, RAW. Just use white meat. Chop, mince its flesh, deboning as you go. THEN GET THE FISH MEAT INTO THE BATTER which makes it a croquette. To do that, take l package of CORN bread mix for every POUND of fish meat. You will use about a POUND to feed FOUR PEOPLE. Make cornbread mix as directed to by the package. STIR THE MEAT INTO IT. COVER so cat can’t get it while you GET FLAVORINGS/ OIL READY.
In saute pan, in pool of olive oil, fry garlic, onions, black pepper corms, (COOK w. corms, then later remove the corms from oil. They give flavor but are inedible. Ground black pepper gets in your intestines, burns, not good. This tip came from auryvedic doctor. ) Add a cup of minced mushrooms, cup of minced celery, chopped bell pepper chopped water chestnuts and a huge handful of minced parsley or cilantro. This is what flavors the fish. When VEGIES are finished, THROW THEM INTO YOUR MEAT AND BATTER, stir. Now, add MORE OLIVE OIL AND BUTTER TO YOUR FRYING PAN which is still hot.
You’ve got that POUND of shredded raw fish added to batter, the vegies are stirred in, now3 you take large balls of that dough, throw onto a plate where you’ve laid a lot of whole wheat flour, dust the ‘balls’ with flour. (Granted it’s soggy and flattens easily but give it a shot) Fry balls or patties in olive oil and butter half and half ‘til litely brown. Finish in oven for 5 min. Just to make sure they’re cooked thru to the center. Serve with green salad. Leftovers? Doubtable but if so, cool, freeze in plastic twists. No more foil in any food, too toxic. Serve fresh made with dijon/honey/mayo mixture a kind of BETTER THAN TARTAR SAUCE FLAVOUR, but tartar is OK if it’s fresh made by a great corporation, not that canned stuff. Has to be in the COLD SECTION of your supermarket.
TOFU BURGERS FOR SIX
l box tofu, 10-16 oz. l tbsp soy sauce, ½ tsp onion powder, ¼ tsp garlic powder, ½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs, l lg tomato, 6 sliced, toasted BIBLE BREAD slices of bread or buns. Mash tofu, add spices and crumbs, cover and chill 15 min. Spray nonstick baking sheet with vegetable spray. Place patties on sheet, bake l0 minutes, turn, bake another l0 minutes. Serve on toasted bible bread.
CUERNEVACA MAID ZUCCHINI Fry bacon. Drain. Set aside, Using just a little of this bacon fat, fry onions, zucchini. Then add blended tomatoes, cook in this liquid. Adorn with crisp bacon. I guarantee you the maids knew nothing about cholesterol. Today I’d throw away the bacon fat, pat the pan dry, leaving just a little bacon crud on pan, OR use baco-bits. Or, that wonderful vegie sausage. Add 1 tsp vegetable oil, fry the onion/tomato mixture only, then pre steam the zukes, add at the end. Dollop of sour cream on top. More crunchy bacon pieces, real, not phony, on top too.
INDIAN VEGETABLE/TOFU CURRY.
Ingredients: eggplant, peas, tomatos, curry powder, potatoes, tofu, mushrooms, basmati rice, black mustard seed, red chile pod, l small, dried) garlic. onion. Method: steam basmati rice. While it’s cooking, cut up eggplant, then salt these slices, set aside to bleed bitterness. Dice other vegies that are good for you: carrots, broccoli. Thaw your peas or SHELL your peas. Heat oil, put in mustard seeds, red chile pod, garlic, onion, stir quickly 2 seconds, then add vegies, longest cookers like potatoes first. Eggplant must be given lengthy pre-prep, by salting, waiting ½ hr, then rinsed, and dried, added to oil after onions, garlic and spices. Add tofu & mushrooms last. When all are sauteeing but not yet cooked, add blended tomatoes, in liquid form & peas. Cover, simmer for a minute until eggplant is tender. Stir in curry powder, some honey, cook another minute. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with raisins. Grated coconut. Or serve these garnishes on side. Get Asfotida or HING at Indian store, put in a few pinches to make whole thing taste aromatic like meat.
SERVE CURRY: with plenty of side dishes holding PILE OF CHUTNEY, chopped cashews or peanuts in another dish, or almonds that have been toasted, chopped mint, cilantro, coconut, each separate. A fresh fruit, chopped fine would be nice, too, especially if it’s a hot curry. Get creative: Mint leaves marinated with fresh peaches would be exceptional.
PEAR CHUTNEY: Early in the day boil 6 grainy pears, Bartletts are perfect as they’re grainy. You want that graininess. Add l cup sugar, l/4 cup raisins, l chopped onion, l red chile, small and hot, l/3 cup vinegar, boil until mushy and thickened. Then, add l tsp pectin or jell-well powder. Simmer lightly and when it thickens, remove from fire. Cool in jars, then fridge until quite cold before serving. This recipe was duplicated from chutney served at the moviestars’ favorite IVY RESTAURANT.
ALWAYS SERVE YOGURT
RAITA WITH CURRY AS A FRESH SALAD TO COOL PALATE
RAITA
1
cup plain yogurt
¼ cup thinly sliced
scallions
2 tsp chopped parsley
2 tsp or more chopped mint
leaves, fresh from garden
2 tsp frozen OJ
pepper, dash nutmeg, 1 tsp
lemon rind
1 cup thinly sliced cucumber.
METHOD Mix, chill for 2 hrs. Sprinkle with paprika.
STUFFED VEGIES Take tomatos, zucchinis, leeks, onions, summer squash, or any other vegie which can be stuffed, hollow out and fill with almond, cheese, onion, cilantro mixture. Bake in a water filled pyrex dish or pan, covered with foil.
STUFFING MIXTURE: I usually fry onions, celery, parslely lightly, add blanched, chopped or ground up onions to this hot oil, stir one minute, throw tofu, ground blanched chopped or pulvurized almonds, into it, stir, add grated jack cheese on top. Add tomato sauce over top. Put under broiler until cheese melts. If you eat meat, here's where your ground meat can go.
CHINESE FEAST-Steam l cup rice 2 cups water. While it cooks, chop meat, tofu, celery, onions, green onions, mushrooms, broccoli florettes, and other vegies like eggplant. Heat oil in thick pan, part of it sesame oil. Add chopped garlic, then above-vegies. Stir fry. Add frozen peas, washed once, drained. Add part of a can of water chestnuts. Stir fry more. Then, drop in gravy mixture (soy sauce, broth, corn starch, stirred til no balls.) Stir until gravy thickens. *add more liquid if‘needed. Turn off fire. On flat, thick skillet, toast 4 tbsp of sesame seeds until litely browned. Drop on top of food as you serve it for max crunch.Make mustard from powder/water. Serve on side of plate. (For gourmet touch, add walnut halves to pot when you add peas. You don’t want to cook them too long. You can also toast sesame seeds and sprinkle over all.
ALSATIAN CHICKEN Litely saute a peeled, cut up chicken in clarified butter mixed with oil. (Skim butter by heating, throwing away dairy and salt that floats to top) As chicken sautes, add garlic, onion, peeled yams, parsley, green tart apples, raisins, orange rind, orange and lemon juice and prunella dolfi (or any fruity liqueur,) and a little honey. When sauted, at last moment, add pomegranate seeds, passionflower pulp or green fresh grapes, only cooking long enuf to kill enzymes in these, while still seeming raw. If you want to make this GREEK, just add lemon juice and lemon rind, huge amts, and honey and parsley, and garlic.
TANDOORI TOFU (or use chicken)-Dice ¼ of onion, process wi. ginger, garlic. Add lemon juice, oil. Stir in yogurt, coriander, cumin, tumeric, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, peppers, salt. Put chicken or tofu in bowl, pour marinade over. Cover, refrigerate 2 hrs-overnight. Slice rest of onion, put in roasting pan. Put tofu on rack. Roast at 400 until cooked. Serve w. lemon slices. White rice, cold raita salad.
PART IV. DESSERTS. Table is cleared totally, then lights go low, in come the sweets. PILE on whipped cream.
LEMON COCONUT MARZIPAN CAKE- I can never decide which cake is my favorite, lemon, coconut, or almond marzipan, so I have all three COMBINED. Is this greedy or schizophrenic? INGREDIENTS: 3 cups whole grain or unbleached flour, 2 cups Succanet sugar or real sugar, 2 cubes room temp butter, or 1 cup cold clarified butter which is called ghee, 4 or 5 eggs depending on size, a can of coconut milk, extracts, spices, nuts, If it's Xmas, add dried fruit of high quality, from healthfood store, or now the unsulphured dried cranberries, unsulph cherries, dates, figs are avail at reg. Markets.
TO START: SOAK your dried fruit in lemon juice /rind to reconstitute.
NEXT: Cream 2 cubes butter, four yolks, (reserve whites to make a meringue to help 'lift' the cake.) Sugar or Succanet to taste (actually, this IS real sugar with all the vitamins), add your extracts: coconut, almond or vanilla flavoring, plus plenty of orange & lemon zest, beat until creamy. To make a birthday type cake, I use canned or real coconut milk as liquid in the cake along w. liquid fruit is soaked in. To make a FRUITCAKE style, I use orange juice and milk as liquids.SIFT DRY INGREDIENTS. We are going to slowly add them to butter, ALTERNATING with the liquid. You need 2-3 cups sifted whole grain flour (throw away the bran) or Kamut flour but mix first with 3 tsp aluminum free baking powder. WHEN YOU put flour in, add a dose of flour followed by a dose of the liquids. You will now take the LIQUID THAT DRIED FRUIT WAS Re-CONSTITUTED IN, and add orange juice or milk or coconut milk straight out of coconut or can. Add liquid, stir a little bit, then another 1/2 cup dry ingred, then another dose of the juice/lemon/coconut milk liquids, stirring until batter feels right. For a light cake, the minimum of flour is used. If you feel it's OK at 2 cups dry ingred, quit there.
SEPARATELY, BEAT EGGWHITES TO peaks. Fold stiff whites into the cake batter, then put a lot of pecans in batter using a dusting of flour on them.THEN ADD DRIED FRUIT/NUTS: (Now, take that batter and add all dried fruit that you soaked in lemon juice several hours before but to do this, pat fruit dry, flour lightly) and fold into the batter. We used the juice they were soaked in, in the LIQUID section of the cake. BAKE: Turn into buttered, floured or paper lined pans, (cupcake best for gifts, or fruitcake tins) put in very hot oven for the initial 4 minutes. It solidifies from the heat. But this is too fast an oven to cook the thing through so then you open door slightly, turn oven down to 325, finish to deep golden brown color, turn off oven, remove gently. COOL.
FROST- with 1/2 cube butter beaten with a lot of lemon rind, then a whole box of powdered sugar added 1/3 at a time with lemon juice after each dry addition. As we want several different but clear flavors, we will put real almond paste between the layers, either the imported kind or homemade.
ALMOND PASTE: grind a 1/2 lb of blanched almonds (boiling water, one minute later peel) with some boiled sugar syrup and almond extract. The third, clear flavor is coconut. Cover entire exterior frosted cake with shredded sweetened coconut. Soak more dried pineapple in lemon juice, decorate outside of cake with these pieces.
XMAS GIFT CAKE OPTION: At Xmas I fill the same cake batter with unsulphured dried fruit, dates, raisins, dried pineapple, dried cranberries, dried natural cherries, pecans, walnuts. I bake in loaf pan, no frosting. Wrap it in cheesecloth soaked in brandy and then foil or plastic. Mail them to pals. Thrift stores have baskets, paint these w. spray paint, also METAL COOKIE CANS, CLAY cookie jars, all kinds of old stylish nostalgia things you can use for fresh baked cookies which when cool are best air tight. GOURMET COOKING Stores have bon bon papers, fluted baking cups.
RICE PUDDING- Take 2 cups leftover cooked white rice or make fresh. Cover with a qt of milk, add 3 eggs, l/4 cup sugar, vanilla, almond flavoring, cut up blanched almonds, raisins, and simmer lightly for as long as you can, hours even, but at very very low flame, until thick. The trick is a heavy bottom to the pan so it won’t scorch. Cool. Serve with whipped cream.
BAKED APPLES FILLED WITH HOMEMADE MARZIPAN-(Grind dates, walnuts, blanched almonds, lemon juice, lemon rind, coconut in blender, add almond extract.) INSERT INTO BAKED APPLES- 4 red Apples, 2 Granny Smith apples. 1 cup brown sugar, butter, 2 tsp fresh lemon juice, 2 tsp grated lemon zest, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and allspice mixed. Preheat oven to 400. Arrange cored apple halves, cut side up in baking pan, Sprinkle w. sugar. ALTERNATE: FILL THE APPLES WITH HOMEMADE MARZIPAN. (Blanch a cup of almonds by soaking in boiling water for a few minutes, Grind with powdered sugar, almond flavoring.) Pour ½ cup water into pan. Bake uncovered l0 min. Bake 20 min. Serve wi.THICK cream, poured on or whipped .
COOKIES- Cream l stick butter, ½ cup brown sugar and l egg. Add almond flavoring or vanilla, spices, pumpkin pie spice is good, and 4 tbsp of pan-toasted litely browned sesame seeds, 1 tbsp orange rind. Add 2/3rds cup brown flour or unbleached whole wheat w. a little *NON-aluminum baking powder, (only avail at HFS) salt, stir, add little liquid, (l tbsp, can be orange juice or milk) Raisins, oatmeal, dates, nuts would make them better. Bake, being careful not to burn raisins. Cool, put in jar. MUST eat these w. decaf Columbian coffee. (*note: Aluminum baking powder may give Alzheimers)
HOBO COFFEE. Grind Columbian NATURAL decaf beans as it’s night, right? If midday, use REAL COFFEE. Always buy Columbian beans, and grind. Blender works fine for this. FOLGERS and MJB is adequate stuff, better than most brands of COLUMBIAN. FOUR O’CLOCK is best brand I ever saw short of GEVALIA light brown toast which is best but hard to find. Boil sparkling water. Before it boils cover surface of slightly simmering water with all that ground coffee. When it starts to foam at the edges, turn off heat. NEVER BOIL OR EVEN SIMMER IT! POUR thru fine strainer into serving pot or cup. Save coffee grounds in a pitcher of water to use on acid loving plants.
Back to the living room,
where music is playing. The person who did all the special chores, tray
bringing, clearing, cracker baking, that second in command, now serves
MORE coffee and then does a conspicuous Exit. You are left with your guests
to fend for yourself. I have no more text at this point. I don't go there.
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Our POSTER is ANITA SANDS HERNANDEZ, Los Angeles Writer, Futurist and Astrologer. Yogi Bhajan used her for 35 years and said she was the best. Catch up with her websites TRUTHS GOV WILL HIDE & NEVER TELL YOU, also The FUTURE, WHAT'S COMIN' AT YA! & HOW TO SURVIVE the COMING GREAT DEPRESSION, and Secrets of Nature, HOLISTIC, AFFORDABLE HEALING. Also HOW TO LIVE on A NICKLE, The FRUGAL PAGE.* Anita is at astrology@earthlink.net ). Get a 15$ natal horoscope "my money/future life" reading now + copy horoscope as a Gif file graphic! done by world's smartest stargazer.
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