Eggs+Tortilla Bake

I greased a cast iron skillet and beat 6 eggs adding adobo and cajun spice. Then I found pepper jack cheese and grated it into the egg. I used seven old corn tortillas that needed a new life. I chopped them up and sprinkled them onto the egg. I added cooked chick peas and mixed it all up and baked it at 350 for 15 minutes. Delish!

Coco Granola

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/11/choco-coconut-granola/

Granola Extras

We added extras into our granola today: dried coconut flakes, cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, raisins, semisweet chocolate chips. This is good energy food.

Five Minute Rice and Veggies

We store our 3 pound bag of rice in a huge glass jar we were given as a gift for Christmas. The rubber seal on the lid of the jar smells like fresh tobacco a flavor I can detect in the cooked rice.

I pressure-cooked rice in a bowl with water and salt on the steamer tray over a small amount of water for 5 minutes. I made napa cabbage stir fry with almonds ginger garlic, olive oil, and rooster sauce. I tossed in rice and my chickpea soup so it wouldn't stick to the pan.

Delicious.

Sourdough Pretzels from King Arthur

There's nothing better than soft, chewy, warm pretzels from a street vendor — except possibly making them yourself, using this easy recipe. You can make these pretzels on a moment's notice, too: the recipe calls for sourdough starter straight from the refrigerator, no need to feed it first.
Prep
20 mins. to 50 mins.
Bake
25 mins. to 30 mins.
Total
2 hrs 35 mins. to 3 hrs 15 mins.

Yield
12 pretzels

Pretzels
3/4 cup lukewarm water*
1 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator
3 cups King Arthur Sir Lancelot Unbleached Hi-Gluten Flour* or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
2 tablespoons (1/2 ounce) non-diastatic malt powder or 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons instant yeast
*Add an additional 2 tablespoons water if using high-gluten Lancelot flour.

Topping
1 tablespoon non-diastatic malt powder or sugar
2 tablespoons water
pretzel salt
2 tablespoons melted butter, optional

Instructions
Mix and knead the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a cohesive, fairly smooth dough. It should be slightly sticky; if it seems dry, knead in an additional tablespoon or two of water.
Cover the dough and let it rest for 45 minutes. It will rise minimally. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface, fold it over a few times to gently deflate it, then divide it into 12 pieces, each weighing about 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 ounces.
Roll each piece of dough into an 18" rope. Shape each rope into a pretzel.
Dissolve the malt in the water. Brush the pretzels with the solution, and sprinkle lightly with coarse pretzel salt.
Bake the pretzels for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Note: This is correct; there's no need to let the shaped pretzels rise before baking.
Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush with melted butter, if desired.
Yield: 12 pretzels.

Hot Food in Fridge

source

Is it OK to Put Hot Food Directly Into the Fridge?

Question: Can I put hot food in the refrigerator?

Answer: It’s fine to place hot food directly in the refrigerator.

Don’t worry about overheating the fridge — as the U.S. Department of Agriculture points out, the refrigerator’s thermostat will keep it running to maintain a safe temperature of 40° F or below.

What you do need to worry about is whether the hot food will cool off quickly enough to reach a safe temperature once it’s in the refrigerator. So never put deep containers of hot food in the refrigerator — instead, place the hot food in shallow containers so it will chill quickly.

A large pot of soup or stew, for instance, should be divided into smaller portions and placed in smaller containers before being refrigerated. A large cut of meat or whole poultry should be divided into smaller pieces and wrapped separately or placed in shallow containers before refrigerating.

If you prefer, you can also quick-chill the food in an ice water bath before refrigerating it.

Either way, be sure you refrigerate the food within 2 hours of cooking it.

I LOVE OLIVES!!!

Especially in the summer!

Bok Choy and Napa Cabbage

I love all of the cabbages. Chop these up and enjoy with coleslaw, hot sauce and chick peas.

Hummus with Chilli Lime Peanuts

Make your hummus using peanut butter and lime instead of tahini and lemon. Use garlic and hot sauce. Make the beans by soaking and pressure cooking the next day for 15 minutes with a dollop of olive oil to prevent foaming and clogging the vent pipe.

Six Overripe Bananas

I will bake a whole wheat banana bred with cocoa powder in it too. Stay tuned. Yes, I bake in heat waves!

Cocoa Banana Bread

Cocoa Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds
6 tablespoons buttermilk

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
2 cups mashed bananas (4 large bananas)


Yields 1 loaf


Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside. Mix wet ingredients.

Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients.

Pour batter into prepared loaf tin. Bake at 350 F for about 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then take out and let cool completely on rack.

Free Lunch for Kids at Social Park

Woonsocket Rhode Island. Social Park has been renovated and there's now 4 basketball courts, a kids gym and water-park, picnic tables and restrooms. It's better than it ever was when the state owned it. Woonsocket is giving it constant care with a kind and friendly team of staff.
There's a free lunch program for kids on weekdays at noonish.

Spicy-Hot Peanuts!

Ingredients

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 cups unsalted peanuts
2 teaspoons chili powder
1⁄4 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
1⁄2 teaspoon garlic salt, use more if you like

Directions

In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Stir in the peanuts, chili powder, and red pepper.
Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until peanuts are warm. Drain well on paper towels.
Sprinkle garlic salt over peanuts and toss to combine. Cool completely.
May be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature.

Breakfast: Beets, Red Onions, Red Potatoes, Green Olives and Chick Peas

Crazy good.

Lime Chili and Late Night Swims

My brain switched into transmit and my tongue did too. I made peanut butter toast with Cholula and a bowl of nuts with rooster sauce. I started up my wagon after 6 months of not driving. I got every cruciferous vegetable that would fit in my car, and limechili peanuts all at PriceRite. Twice while shopping I nearly crashed my shopping cart into stack of glass vinegar bottles. Because I PULL my cart rather than PUSH it.

GOOD NEWS: park is yenta heaven. I go thru on my walks no matter where I am supposed to be headed. CENTRAL PARK of Woon. I LOVE IT.

Last night I swam in the pool at ten PM. Ann Marie was there it was our own private pool. She loves Woonsocket too.

Craving: Peanuts, Sunflower Seeds and Almonds

With rooster sauce on top!

Also peanut butter on toast with Cholula Hot Sauce.

Spicy broccoli with ginger and garlic and corn.

Some like it hot!

Summer: Ice, Seltzer and Sewing Dresses

When my mood lifts and if it is summer I start making lot of ice cubes, at least three plastic trays twice a day. I love filling up my steel super-insulated Thermos mug with ice cubes and then drinking a liter of cold seltzer through them using a colorful fat straw. The ice doesn't melt. The cold at the bottom cools off your throat fast.

I also think about sewing dresses but I never do it because I am writing, reading, swimming, walking my dog, baking, laundering, and vacuuming. Maybe someday I will sew dresses and blouses again. I have a cupboard full of fun fabric that I have collected over the years like unborn children each with it's own fantasy of what they could become. In the summer it's too hot and in the winter its too cold to use the sewing machine. Perhaps I should move my sewing machine to a better location. The Moon.

Sewing and pie crusts are the two pleasures I have not incorporated into my repertoire recently.

I know I am in 'transmit' because I keep saying WOW!
I wake up very early ready to write.
The computer seems very slow.
I am distracted and seduced by everything.
All subjects could become poems.
I love everybody and everything.

WOW!

I try to stay inside and keep my routine.
Writing is my grounding wire.

This is why I am not sewing.

Hazardous Waste

Someone has begun pouring automotive oil next to my garage. Not only is it hazardous waste but it is also a fire hazard. I am trying to catchup with whoever is doing this. I have a hunch it is the guys rebuilding cars back here. The new landlords are completely absentee and sadly full of promises yet not acting on the tenants complaints. Thankfully we have a great City in spite of the slumlords.

Save the World with a Trash Grabber and a Bucket

I went out and did the beachcomber thing across the trash-filled asphalt parking lot. I picked up the bottles cans broken glass, crushed fast food containers, tissues, a gray plastic sword with fake blood on it, freeze pop plastic, a pink plastic fire engine, and a condom using my trash pickers & grabbers.

I threw out the office chair that a man used to climb the fire escape yesterday.

The Cash Cow is a Trash Cow

Sadly the new landlord and manager of our shared parking lot doesn't believe in providing clean up, security or lights. The neighbors some of whom have lived there for 20 years complained to me about the garbage, dirty hallways, trashed parking lot, abandoned cars, broken windows, drug-dealing and more. I have tried to convey to the new owners that they need to have a watchful presence. I have caught kids smashing windows, climbing fire escapes, drug dealing, etc. They're just interested in the rent, they tell me. Sadly the CASH COW is a TRASH COW. Just another greedy slumlord.

Heavy-Duty Super insulated Thermos Mug

I have a stainless steel Thermos mug that I bought in 1995 and it still is one of my prize possessions. In summer I fill it with 8-10 cubes of ice and add my cold coffee and the ice doesn't melt, so the coffee is super delicious. I even drink beer the same way, with 8-12 ice cubes. The ice doesn't melt so the beer is truly ice-cold. The next morning the ice cubes STILL haven't melted. In the winter my house is freezing cold and I use the mug for hot coffee and it stays piping hot.

Summer Sauerkraut Sandwich

Wheat bread toasted then mustard added, sauerkraut and raw red onions, sliced green olives and spicy hot pepper Monterey Jack cheese, melted. Enjoy with a few potato chips and pickles.

Ghosts of my Ancestors

This morning I ate homemade borscht for breakfast with a dollop of Greek yogurt on top and iced coffee on the side. The ghosts of my ancestors were communing with me.

Summer Means . . .

Summer means we get to bathe in the tub.
Summer means I'm making lots of trays of ice cubes and storing them in a huge plastic bowl in the freezer.
Summer means iced coffee and fruit smoothies for breakfast.
Summer means washing the clothes before bed and hanging them on the line at 5 AM.
Summer means 10:AM is already very hot.
Summer means wearing dresses and having exposed toes.
Summer means having a cold supper.
Summer means dunking my head under the hose every 20 minutes until my clothes get mildewy.
Summer means walking around wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat.
Summer means German potato salad, coleslaw, and pasta salad and cold beets.
Summer means red onion sandwiches.

Favorite Summer Foods

Wholegrain pasta salad is a snap when you can pressure cook a pound of wholegrain ziti in 5 minutes. Lately I've been saving the leftover 3 cups of liquid from my German Potato salad and I pressure cook my pasta in that. Summer is also the season for making home made coleslaw. My secret to coleslaw is Marion Cunningham's recipe from the SUPPER BOOK and adding buttermilk and apples.

Five Minute Vegetables: Pressure-Cooked, Delicious, + Colorful

I made this for supper last night and it was so good I ate some of the cold leftovers for breakfast. The beets add their magnificent magenta color to the potatoes and carrots. It was like wearing rose-colored glasses to the table.

One large beet peeled and thinly sliced and quartered,
2 super large carrots or equivalent, chopped into coins
4 ribs of celery chopped
6 average-sized red potatoes cubed (keep skins on but cut out any blemishes)
1 small bunch of kale, rinsed and chopped into one-inch lengths

Place steamer tray in pressure cooker.
Add water to cover the bottom of the cooker (up to the tray).
Add the chopped vegetables.

Mix up a dressing to pour over the veggies before they cook:

Equal parts generic red wine vinegar and olive oil (quarter of a cup each)
Tablespoon of Guilden's prepared mustard
Tablespoon Kosher salt
Tablespoon of sugar

Mix the dressing with a fork or shake in a jar and pour over the vegetables. Steam in the pressure cooker for five minutes (start your timer as soon as it comes up to pressure). Immediately cool under cold water to release pressure. Enjoy the veggies. Their flavor gets cooked-in and is terrific hot or chilled.
Save the liquid to drink or use in soup.

Raymond Chandler

I went out the kitchen to make coffee - yards of coffee. Rich, strong, bitter, boiling hot, ruthless, depraved. The life blood of tired men.
― Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

Americans will eat anything if it is toasted and held together with a couple of toothpicks and has lettuce sticking out of the sides, preferably a little wilted.
― Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye

Variations on a Theme

Last night I added fresh kale rinsed and washed to my Presto German Potato Salad recipe and cooked it all together in my pressure cooker. It came out great and was a delicious variation.

Presto German Potato Salad

This recipe came with my first Presto Pressure cooker and I have made it for over 35 years.
Ingredients:

6 bacon strips, diced or in place of bacon I use 1/2 cup olive oil
5 pounds unpeeled medium red potatoes, cubed
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cider or red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
2-3 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley, divided (optional)
2-3 teaspoons Kosher salt
1-2 teaspoon prepared mustard (Guilden's)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Adobo seasoning (optional)

In a pressure cooker, cook bacon (or olive oil) over medium heat until crisp; drain. Add potatoes and onions. In a bowl, combine the vinegar, water, sugar, 2 tablespoons of parsley, salt, mustard and pepper; pour over potatoes.
Close cover securely; place pressure regulator on vent pipe. Bring cooker to full pressure over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. (Pressure regulator should maintain a slow steady rocking motion or release of steam; adjust heat if needed.) Remove from the heat.
Immediately cool according to manufacturer's directions until pressure is completely reduced. Just before serving, sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Refrigerate!