Archive | August, 2011

The Shape of Foods Helps Specific Organs?? O yes they do…

25 Aug

I received a few times a “chain email” telling me the importance of certain foods for certain organs based on how their shape resembles the organ they’re supposed to help.

My natural medicine doctor always tells us… “Let your food be your medicine. Health starts with what you eat.” And this Teleological Nutritional Targeting, or as it was once known as Law of Similarities, is right alongside the same path as what our doctor always says. Let’s eat more naturally to create a healthier, better future. We’re the creators of our own destiny and that includes what we eat…

I was intrigued by the visual impact of how much the food and the organ shape resembles. I am sure each fruit/vegetable has many more benefits than just the ones to the organs they resemble, but I found it so curious I wanted to share with all you…

CARROTS – EYES

When you cut a carrot crosswise, the insides resemble the iris and pupil of the eye. The Vitamin A in carrots help protect the cornea and promotes good blood flow inside the eyes. Carrots also protect your night vision and prevent macular degeneration and cataracts.

I guess the tale we used to hear that Bugs Bunny had great eyesight is actually true and not so tall after all.

Here are a few carrot recipes to try soon:

Orange’d Roasted Carrots

Vanilla Maple Carrots

Undercover Carrot Mac and Cheese

Carrot Cupcakes

Carrot Burfi

My Vegetarian Inspiration…

22 Aug

The other day in Serious Eats there was a Talk thread started asking about who were your inspiration in the kitchen, besides any celebrity chef from TV.

My mind immediately went to the Yoga Center where I was introduced to vegetarianism and vegetarian cooking all-together. I still remember, way before I became vegetarian, eating for the first time a ver specific “pincho” and being afraid for other vegetarians there because these people were serving a pincho made from “fried pork”. Little did I know I was actually eating a fried gluten pincho…

That was the beginning for me… vegetarian cooking is indeed DELICIOUS, if you know how to make delicious food. I have learned through the years that vegetarian cooking is just as simple as any other type of cuisine. If you flavor your food well… food, vegeterian or not, will taste delicious too.

And five people have been instrumental in guiding me and inspiring me most in the vegetarian cooking world – Carmen, Angie, Mili, Rosani and Tania. These five YOGUIS have been my mentors in the kitchen. They have taught me recipes, techniques, ingredients and most of all being confident when you cook. Knowing your food will turn out as good as it will, guided by the sacred hand of the Supreme Being.

Carmen is second from the left, to her right is Angie, and at the far right is Tania.

Angie was my first cooking teacher. I entered a cooking workshop at the insistence of my mom. She was vegetarian already and wanted me to learn how to make vegetarian food as well. Angie taught me about tofu, veggie dogs, making BBQ sauce from scratch, about reading labels to avoid unwanted ingredients. She taught me that carmine comes from an insect and that animal rennet comes from baby calves. I love she allows people to cook as they feel more comfortable in the kitchen.

Carmen has taught me to make many of the very Puerto Rican dishes I know…  Arroz con Gandules, Arroz con Dulce, Pasteles, and the sancocho we eat every time after a spiritual retreat, etc. Her Bread Pudding is the same recipe I baked and sold to many, many people when I was baking and cooking my way around San Juan while building my own marketing consulting business.

sancocho

I cooked on Mili’s Saturday cooking team for many, many years. For some reason, I am no longer in that team… but she taught me you can make fritters out of any “vianda” possible. She loves making her Eggplant Sandwich Stacks… even thouvgh she just calls them sandwicitos.  We have made cabagge rolls filled with a “pasteles” filling countless, countless times. I wish I had paid more attention whenever she made “dulce de papaya” because I would love to share that with you guys. She taught me how to make gomasio… and I’ll put that on my TO BLOG list to make it soon for you. It’s delicious over salads…

Rosani is the resident BEST BAKER at the Yoga Center… I’m sorry for any other baker at the center who reads this, but its true!!! She rocks cakes… and her apprentice Manolo is on a great path too. I would not eat a cake at the Center if it’s not made by Rosani or her protégé Manolo. Rosani has taught me to make Sopa Paraguaya, about making pizzas, her carrot burfi recipe, making gluten-free onion rings, about using xanthan gum in salad dressings, about using carob… she’s my gluten-free girl and constantly recommends me the best gluten-free products at the market.

Onions Rings - Rosani

Rosani making Onion Rings...

And last but definitely never least Tania… Tania is a food lover just like me. She’s dominican and she makes THE BEST mangú you have ever tasted. Tania and I share recipes constantly. She’s the author of the Tostón Sandwich, she brought with her from Paraguay the Eggplant Milanese recipe, she told us about The Pulguero and how to purchase the best produce for less. She’s a fan of my risottos, my minestrone soup and my pasta dishes… and also loves our Stuffed Mushrooms – all of them.  And she can pick out the dish I made in any Vegetarian Cooking Festival… always!!!

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I just wanted to give them a round of appaluse and a great public GRACIAS from the bottom of my heart. May we continue to inspire, teach, educate and delight each other with our vegetarian creations in the kitchen!!!

Hari Om!!

Almond Milk from Scratch

19 Aug

Yes… Madelyn, lover all things dairy and cheese, has been put on a dairy-free diet for at least 30 days. :(

And maybe you’ve found yourself in the same predicament… where most of your go-to recipes have some sort of cheese or dairy component, right?? It’s a way for us vegetarians to get some protein, no???

Nuts, and particular, ALMONDS are a great way to get some protein in you… and you usually think of adding nuts to your diet in a salad or as a garnish for a main dish or a dessert. But what about making milk out of it??? You see alternative dairy products in all major supermarkets now. But have u ever attempted to make it on your own???

It’s easier than you think…

ALMOND MILK FROM SCRATCH

About 1 cup of almonds
Water

Yep… that’s all you need. And some tools you already have in your kitchen anyways.

Start by soaking the almonds in some filtered water. I like to soak the almonds for about 1 hour to take off the skin. This is certainly not necessary, but I like my almond milk to be WHITE, just like regular cow’s milk is. After I peel the skins, I re-soak again in more filtered water. This can be from 3-4 hours to overnight. But if you will not do it in 3-4 hours, I recommend placing the soaking almonds in the fridge to prevent fermentation.

 

 

 

Gather all your equipment, just as if you were making a sesame seed horchata - a large pot with a fine sieve, a bowl to collect the ground almonds after they’ve been blended once.

  1. Place some of the almonds in the large container of your Magic Bullet or blender. Fill almost to the top with filtered water. Here I show you how much water I use.
  3. Process for a few minutes in 30 second intervals to puree the seeds as much as possible.
  4. Drain the milky almond pureed water over the sieve. Use a large spoon to move the slush around, but you don’t need to press extremely hard to release all the liquid. If you do, you’ll only push a lot of sediment into the finished “milk”. So there’s no need to use extra muscle for this. Allow gravity and a slight firm hand to do its job.
  6. Save the leftover almond slush in a bowl for re-processing. Repeat with all the never-processed almonds in the same way as before. I usually divide the original almonds into 3.   After processing all the almonds once, reprocess in the exact same way, diving it into batches, but this time after passing it through the sieve, just discard the leftover almond meal.
  7. Transfer to a bottle where you can serve the almond milk from.
  8. Chill before serving.

The almond milk will separate when standing in the fridge… but just mix well before serving.

If you want to drink the almond milk by itself… I would add about ½ cup of honey and would strain it again thru the finest sieve you can find. Almond meal is way finer than sesame seeds and there’s much more sediment than when making an horchata. Use a clean fine cotton cloth or even a coffee filter we call “media” to strain as much sediment as possible.

This is an excellent source of calcium and is great to drink by itself, in oatmeals, other hot cereals and smoothies.

Peach Cherry Fruit Salad

17 Aug

I told you about my case of peaches and case of cherries… I also told you about my Peach and Cherry Crisp dessert that rocked my friend Walter’s world.

And, what about when you have no time to bake something? You create a fruit salad…

I discovered the wonders of ricotta cheese for breakfast already… you can use it as a base underneath some berries, you can layer it in between fruit and granola in a parfait, but you could also TOP some fruit as if it were yogurt or whipped cream.

PEACH AND CHERRY FRUIT SALAD

1 peach, peeled and cut into pieces
About 6 cherries, washed and pitted
One large dollop of ricotta cheese
About 1 tbs of raw turbinado sugar
  1. Now we just assemble… in the prettiest bowl you can find place the cut fruit and top with the dollop of ricotta.
  2. Sprinkle with raw sugar to sweeten the cheese and create a bit of sauce from the juices the fruit exude.

Wouldn’t this serve as a very pretty idea for a brunch or romantic breakfast??? Any other ideas on how to combine fruit and ricotta cheese???

Guacamole Agrandado

15 Aug

We’re in avocado season… and there’s no way I can eat a whole avocado in slices in one sitting. Unless… It’s converted into guacamole!!!!!

My new thing with guacamole… eating it with BBQ potato chips instead of tortilla chips!!! These are the genius ideas one comes up in serendipity – when a natural doctor tells you to stay away from corn for a whole month.

And where does the “agrandado” comes from?? Agrandado in Spanish means “supersized”, like the combos in fast foods joints. We recently went to a Mexican restaurant and we wanted a small batch of pica de gallo and there were 2 options – regular and “agrandado”. I immediately though the agrandado version was simply… more quantity. But nooooooo… Agrandado meant it has pieces of queso fresco inside.

So for my sister’s recent visit, I decided to make my guacamole even BIGGER and BETTER with pieces of queso blanco del país inside… making it a Guacamole Agrandado!!!!

GUACAMOLE AGRANDADO

1 avocado, cut into small pieces
½ large tomato, peeled and finely diced
¼ medium onion, finely diced
The juice of 1 criollo lemon or lime
A drizzle of olive oil – about 1 tbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup of pieces of Queso Blanco del País or Mexican Queso Fresco or a mild Feta
2 tbs of fresh parsley (optional)
  1. Mix everything in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Let it stand in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors meld together.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

12 Aug

My sister came for a quickie visit to Puerto Rico… And to make things easier on her and my BIL, we decided to cook up some appetizer-type food and tell everyone if they wanted to see baby Ale, all they needed to do was to stop by my mom’s house.

I didn’t want to cook something and have it re-heated… I though stuffed mushrooms would be perfect because I could stuff them at home and cook them in batches as people would visit and decided they wanted something to nibble on.

The idea worked out perfectly because I did way too many… and we ended up dividing the leftovers between my mom and I for lunch the next day. Great make ahead idea…

 

 

GOAT CHEESE STUFFED MUSHROOMS

1 large package of white stuffing mushrooms
1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated on a microplane
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped in small pieces – make sure they’re made without sulfites as a preservative
1/4 cup of vegetable broth
½ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, organic preferably- divided
½ cup crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup of loosely-packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
  1. Clean the mushrooms well using a damp paper towel. Remove the stems and chop them into small pieces and set aside. Reserve the caps for later use.
  2. In a small saucepan, heat the vegetable broth to a simmer and add the sundried tomatoes. Turn off the stove and let the tomatoes just sit in the hot broth for a few minutes to help them reconstitute a bit.
  3. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, pour a little olive oil and sauté the onions, garlic and the mushrooms stems you already chopped. Cook until the mushrooms are browned. Season with the thyme, stripping the leaves from the stems, salt and pepper. Allow the mixture to cook some more to evaporate a bit, about 5 more minutes. Remove from pan into a bowl and allow cooling a bit.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together the cooled mushroom stem/onion mixture with the sun-dried tomatoes, breadcrumbs, goat cheese, ½ the parmesan cheese, and chopped fresh parsley. Drizzle some olive oil if you see the mix a bit dry… but chances are it’s not.
  5. Preheat oven to 425F.
  6. In a large baking dish drizzled with a bit of olive oil, place all the mushrooms stuffed with the mixture we just made. Don’t push the stuffing too much into the mushrooms cavity, but do heap any additional stuffing generously on top of mushrooms. No need to discard or leave any stuffing for future use.
  7. Take the extra parmesan we saved and add a small mound on top of each mushrooms. I usually drizzle a bit of olive oil and sprinkle some additional salt and pepper to season the mushrooms themselves.
  8. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the mushrooms looked cooked and cheese on top is golden brown.

Serve immediately…

Peach Cherry Crisp

9 Aug

I raided Costco the other day and bought a whole case of peaches… and a case of cherries. All, just for myself. Well, I did share some with my mom when she came over to visit, but before she came over I was puzzled on what would I do with a case of peaches all for me.

I have made already this plum and blueberry crisp… so I tried the same concept with peaches and cherries to see if it would work. The results??? It DID!!!!

When I asked a bunch of you on FaceBook what should I make with these peaches, Adriana recommended a peach pecan something… that gave me the idea to add pecans to the crisp topping. A hit!!!

 

PEACH CHERRY CRISP

2 medium peaches, peeled and cut into pieces
About 14 cherries, pitted and cut into pieces
3 tsps cornstarch
¼ cup raw sugar
The juice of ¼ lemon
Pinch of ground cinnamon
 
For the crisp topping
¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup rolled oats
3 tbs butter
¼ cup raw sugar
2 handfuls of pecans… about ¼ cup
Butter Spray
  1. In a glass baking dish, sprayed with butter spray, add the cut fruit. Add the cornstarch, sugar, lemon zest and juice and finally the cinnamon. Stir well to combine.
  2. Pre—heat oven to 350F.
  3. In the bowl of a food processor combine the crisp topping ingredients – flour, oats, butter, sugar and pecans. Pulse a few times for all the ingredients to combine and form a sand-like consistency. If you want to make this crisp gluten-free or even dairy free, just follow the instructions for the crisp topping I use here. It’ll work all the same.
  4. Place crisp topping over the fruits in the glass dish. You can be generous.
  5. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes, until the topping is golden and you see the fruit juices starting to bubble a bit. If you would like to avoid spills in your oven or toaster over, place the glass dish over a sheet pan to catch any drippings.

I did this the other night for a dinner with my friend Walter… he is not into sweets and he had seconds. I hope that meant it tasted awesome!!!!

Papaya Mango Fruit Cup

8 Aug

Here’s the fruit cup… redefined. Ever since I finished my July 4th retreat I’ve been on a fruit thing. I have always mentioned you how I need and want to eat more fruits, but I am sometimes lazy. I’m getting over the laziness now. I am trying to have 3-4 fresh fruits on hand to eat as breakfast or a a snack while watching TV. Costco helps because I need to buy fruit in bulk and makes me eat fruit every day, several times a day before they spoil on me…

My favorite fruit salads are made from acidic and sub-acidic fruits… citrus, berries, kiwis, pineapple, grapes, peaches, plums, etc. I have made two of these Acid Fruit Salads for you already… But I also sometimes enjoy a sweet fruit combination – Papaya and Mango.

Papaya and Mango are both very soothing fruits to your system. They’re perfect when you’re feeling under the weather stomach-wise. I like this combination when finishing my days of fasting.

PAPAYA AND MANGO FRUIT CUP

Papaya, cut into small pieces, about ¼ of a small papaya
Mango, cut into small pieces
Hanfdul of raisins
Drizzle of Honey or Agave Nectar
Sliced almonds, optional but highly recommended

You determine how much is enough for your appetite…is I never measure, as you already know. This is more assembling the components than a recipe, really.

  1. Mix all the fruits together in a bowl. Drizzle with a bit of honey to add a tad of sweetness.
  2. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. I didn’t have any the other day, but I wanted to share this with all of you…

 

What’s your favorite fruit salad combination? Please share yours…

Fried Cheese

5 Aug

I laughed super hard last week when I was watching some recorded Rocco’s Dinner Party episodes I had on TIVO. In one of the dinner parties, the chefs were presented with a variety of cheeses from around the world… or maybe just France, can’t remember. Well, they needed to pick and serve a cheese course with their suggested party menus.

Rocco was impressed… shall I say very impressed with a FRIED CHEESE bite he was served by one of the chefs. So impressed, he still was bragging about it yesterday during a Twitter thing we had where the viewers/fans can ask him all sorts of questions directly. I laughed all over again yesterday because I replied to him that fried cheese is wonderful… and I knew I had this “recipe”, if we could call it that, in my Pending To Post file. So… let’s Post it along…

I told you about Queso del País… so this is what you do it – you FRY it!!!

Queso Blanco is mild in flavor because it contains still water, or better said, the whey. But as soon as you fry it, the water evaporates, the flavors concentrate and it becomes a salty, delicious bite that can be enjoyed alone as an appetizer or to complement a variety of recipes…

FRIED CHEESE

There’s not a lot of science involved in the frying of Queso Blanco… but here are my pointers:

  • Use a non-stick skillet preferably.
  • You can fry it dry or you can use a bit of canola oil spray. I do not find it makes that much of a difference.
  • For some reason I have not figured out, my fried cheeses always deflate… but when you order fried cheese at a restaurant as an appetizer or at a party, they’re always breaded and still square. Maybe they freeze them before frying to hold their shape… I do not know because I have not tried it. But, the flavor is there even if the shape changes. And I do not think you need to bread it to get a nice color/presentation either…
  1. Just cut your pieces of cheese and place in a medium-hot skillet. The cheese will start of ooze some water/whey… let it. Leave it there for about 4-5 minutes until the cheese starts to get a brown, caramelized color.
  2. Flip over and brown the other side. It’ll take less time because most of the water in the cheese has evaporated already.

 

 

Enjoy it in various ways:

Today I am enjoying it with corn tortilla chips…

You could also place a few slices of fried cheese inside a tostón sandwich. Actually that’s the original way I was taught to make it and eat it. The tofu solution came afterwards when we had to go dairy-free for a while.

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It’s the best topping for Mangú… a Dominican dish made from mashed boiled plantains with lots of onions. I will have to make that one for you sometime soon.

Also, you can add pieces to some stewed peas and convert this to a Guiso Ananda or Mattar Paneer, an Indian dish made with paneer.

Any other ways you like to eat fried cheese??? Any other ways you like to eat it??? Please share all in the COMMENTS section… we love to hear from you.

Puerto Rican Cheese / Queso del País

4 Aug

Every country has their signature white young cheese… Mexico has Queso Fresco… Greece has Mild Feta… Italy has Ricotta Salata… India has Paneer… I am sure there are many other examples out there. Here in Puerto Rico, we have Queso Blanco or what we also call affectiously – Queso del País… meaning made here, in THIS COUNTRY.

I love Queso Blanco… it’s a white, hence the BLANCO in the name, mild and almost bland cheese. The most famous brand is Indulac, whose factory is very close to where I grew up in Hato Rey, a section of San Juan. But most Quesos Blancos are made by smaller producers and many times sold on the side of the street when you go outside the Metro Area.

 

 

A few weeks ago I took a trip to Camuy, on the Northwest side of the Island, and had the chance to buy some great Queso Blanco made right there in Camuy. The Nortwest part of Puerto Rico is well known for its dairy farms and its milk… so it’s no wonder they make great cheese too.

My granddad was from Isabela, very close to Camuy and his favorite was Quesito de Hoja – sold wrapped in folds of paper, hence the name too. Unfortunately, I have not bought Queso de Hoja lately because for some reason they’re adding artificial colorants and the moment I read FD&C on a label, I longer need to continue reading and I leave the cheese right where I took it.

 

Now that you know about Puerto Rican Queso del País… I will share a few recipes where you can enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong… this cheese can be fully enjoyed right out of the package – with a slice of guava paste or on the side of a dulce de papaya. But there are a few other ways you can also enjoy this delicious cheese… let’s explore them next.

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