finally! a dinner is ready!

Oh! the aroma of the spicy beef! Now for the rice dish. I am used to this kind of mexican rice but the ingredients are different! Ok, I saute' a pinch of saffron till yellow in butter and olive oil( my substitute for annatto seed--when I lived in Wisconsin we had to massage a paste form of annatto seed to make our oleo margarine look like butter--ugh)then saute a chopped onion with seasonings (chili flakes and cumin seeds) till soft. Add brown long grain rice and saute' till milky. Pour in liquid of choice, either chicken stock or stock and water along with some oregano, garlic and salt. Boil till liquid is to the level of the rice then cover and cook at low heat for 2 or more hours.
We thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
PS.I would never do this again! The recipe is way too much trouble for a side of rice.
Here is what i normally do with my Mexican Rice: Fry the rice till it changes to translucent, add liquid to one inch above rice, cover and add chopped tomatoes, garlic, onion, halfway through cooking time which is 35-40 minutes. I do not add salt, My Mexican/American hosts taught me this when I lived with them--delicious.

All Day Spicy Stew and Mexi rice

Today the beef goes into my crockpot, along with the can of tomatoes, tomato paste beef stock and seasonings. ready set go: 8 hours on low. tonight i will make the mexi rice and have a wonderful dinner.
This morning we had steel cut oats with blueberries, creamy whole milk yogurt and honey for Chas and Maple syrup for me. So satisfying. ( had to soak the steel cut oats in warm water and fresh lemon juice overnight)
tomorrow morning we will have eggs and probably some mexi rice, if there is any left.

marinate beef in what?

today I have to marinate the beef chunks in lemon juice for tomorrow's all day stew. this is new to me: lemon juice marinade. It makes sense as far as breaking down the meat, I use vinegar all the time in marinades. We will see if it makes a difference because vinegar is much cheaper and always available.

The beef I am using is grass fed local. Frankly, I do not like the round steak cut of beef so it makes sense to cook it for a long time or bury it in a sauce. Round steak is not really be steak-like. Usually my mother would make "swiss steak" with it and although I have fond memories of the flavors of the sauce the beef wasn't very enjoyable.Anyway,I have cut it into 1" chunks, dried off the liquid and used organic lemon juice, about 1/2C, placed in container and left in the fridge(turned one time )
I have to get canned tomatoes, onions, green olives. Also checking my spices to see if there is enough coriander, alspice, chili powder (bought a package of mexican chili powder and made chili with it...awful--a real mistake) and cayenne. I am good with the spices for the Stew. For the rice i have been looking for annatto seeds to no avail, but I have the rest of the ingredients, Chicken Stock, cumin seeds, chili flakes, oregano, garlic.
For those of you reading my blog: I purchase a large bag of garlic heads and throw it into my freezer. When I need pressed garlic i remove and give the frozen cloves (still in their skin) a little time then slice off the tips and the back end then press.
see you tomorrow for the rest of the post

the lowly cabbage

I am not sure but it was the biggest cabbage ever! It was irresistable! I got it home and could hardly cut it in half! After using it for a Thai meal I turned to my Nourishing Traditions cookbook. Yes, Cabbage is good for you and can be turned into a wonderful "side". I used the slicer on my Cuisinart and followed the simple directions: rinse the shredded cabbage (6 cups) in filtered water, not shaking or spinning the cabbage, place it in heavy skillet, salt and pepper and several pats of butter on top, turn on heat, turning down when it starts to steam, cook covered 5 min or until just wilted. We had it several days in a row (because of the very large cabbage!!) with everything from our breakfast of sausage patties and eggs, grilled chicken, and burgers. Yummy and so good Ok the next post will be a whole meal from the book :)

The tome: Nourishing Traditions

Today is my introduction to cooking through this amazingly verbose but interesting cookbook/historybook.
page 452 paragraph 2 caught my attention because it states that a diet high in unfermented whole grains can lead to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss. In addition a diet say, of unfermented oats can cause GI track disturbances. The reason? Pytic acid keeps the nutrients bound in most whole grains.
There, so now you know that our adventure starts with Breakfast!
so,on the first day I did this:
1 cup of oats (rolled, steel cut) Add 1 cup warm filtered H2O and 2 T of organic lemon juice, or vinegar,Whey*. cover and leave in a warm place overnight.(now i do this in the pan will cook them in this seems logical and my friend Linda casually said it was her practice thus less mess.)
in the morning add 1 cup of boiling filtered water with 1t of sea salt to the pan and simmer for about 5 min.
Serve warm with butter or cream (which helps nutrient absorbtion) along with raw honey for Charlie, maple syrup,for me.
additions: dried nuts, ground flax, cocoanut flakes.
here is our thoughts: Delicious, easy, satisfying!
We were hooked!
*i have to admit i did make Whey: take a carton of whole, organic pasturized yogurt and using a cheese cloth and a strainer allow the yogurt to release the whey liquid for 1-4 days at room temp. store the liquid in the fridge for 6 months, and enjoy the lovely cream cheese for 1 month.
i will be back soon!