Kung Hei Fat Choi

The Year of The Rat. Hmmm... in lieu of eating an actual rat, I decided on this meal. I based it off a few different recipes I found online... and included 8 wedges of orange, because oranges are lucky (or at least traditional) and 8 is lucky... the lettuce represents money, and therefore wealth in the new year. We shared a platter instead of having a whole fish or whole chicken... which represent family unity and togetherness.

Sautéed Shrimp and Oysters

½ pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 pint shucked oysters
Coconut oil
2 tablespoons ginger, julienne
1 carrot, julienne
2 tablespoons white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, in 2” pieces
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons tamari
1 teaspoon fish sauce

Bring 4 cups water in large saucepan to boil. Plunge oysters and shrimp into boiling water. Cook 10 to 15 seconds, until edges begin to curl. Remove with slotted spoon and drain.

Blend cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Stir in tamari and fish sauce. Set aside.

In a hot wok coated with oil, add the ginger and fry until golden brown. Add the carrot and stir-fry until soft. Add the shrimp and wine. Then oysters, green onions, and garlic. Stir-fry for 30 seconds then add the reserved sauce. Remove from heat once sauce thickens.

Serve in bowls of butter lettuce.

We also had curried noodles, with the noodles very purposefully unbroken and uncut. Cutting them cuts one's fortune. Wouldn't want to do that.

Bon temps roulez!

As in... "Laissez le bon temps roulez" Let the good times roll!

Lunch was chicken salad, with yummy little radish microgreens atop a leaf of romaine. Sounds so snooty bistro-ish. It was really good.


But then there was the Cajun feasting to plan for... we decided to finally take the leap and go to Exotic Meats to find something interesting for the jambalaya. We found LOTS of strange and interesting meats. We went with a rather tame choice... gator. But, fear not, the trip was not wasted. The Grill Geek had me leave the store so he could select my next Iron Chef Mom ingredient. Yikes! And, by the way, that will be delayed until the weekend. Wednesday is the Little Guy's birthday.



So.... sausage and gator jambalaya... pretty straightforward, really. We had the Grill Geek grill the gator, hoping that was the best way to prepare it. Then we put it in the pot of jambalaya for about 10 minutes, to meld. It was chewy.... but tasty, like a combination of chicken and dark-meat pork. We served it atop my best attempt so far at dairy-free "creamy" grits.


Creamy Grits (without actual cream)

2 cups water

1 cup chicken stock

¾ cup quick grits

1 cup hazelnut milk

¼ cup coconut cream/milk

2 tablespoons bacon fat (subbing for 4 T butter)

Salt, pepper, and a touch of Spanish paprika

Bring water to a boil. Add grits, stirring with a wooden spoon. When grits thicken, add the rest of the ingredients. Return to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Simmer for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4-6 servings.

Roast Chicken

I'm late posting again... and hopefully there will be more today, since it's Mardi Gras. I'm not Catholic, so I have no reason to feast-before-famine today. But I won't let that little fact get in my way!

Last night I roasted a proper roasting chicken. Finally. I couldn't find real roasting chickens "down here" in my somewhat-new-still city. The little bitty birds at the grocery store were no more than 4 pounds... skinny little things that barely stretched for two meals. Today's chicken, from Whole Foods, was over 6 pounds. And that really makes a difference! The addition of age... the chicken simply being alive longer, in order to grow larger... gives a depth of flavor as well.

I attempted to butterfly it, to reduce the cooking time, since I started on dinner late.

I don't have kitchen shears (yet), so this didn't work well. And it still took forever to roast. But it was worth it, when it was finally done. We had braised winter greens (delivered by that Greenling service) and dinner rolls (using the famous GF Noah's bread mix that really is a great all-purpose recipe) for appetizers while we waited for the chicken to be done. The bones then spent the night simmering in my stock pot.

Coupon Rant, The Sixth

This week's rant comes through a thick fog of snotty-headedness. And crankiness about said snot. I hate being sick.

First... Pillsbury Simple Bake... for the incredibly lazy and unconcerned out there. "Pan included, ready to bake." Oh. My. Gods. How... I mean... but... really... are instant-brownies too hard?? Is measuring water, oil, and cracking an egg too much? Is that relegated to the realm of "baking" now? What's next? Someone to place the brownie in your mouth for you?? The pan is included... and then, I guess, thrown away. Because we don't generate enough trash as it is. We need to throw away a cardboard box, some plastic wrap, and then some sort of of oven-safe disposable pan?!?! Aaaaaaaaack! If you are somewhere with an oven, you likely have a sink as well. Wash a fucking dish.
Duncan Hines is doing it, too. Apparently there's a good market for it. Pillsbury has a better coupon, though. Stuff like this makes me hate my fellow humans.

And I thought January was the Official Weight Loss Month, as that's generally when every commercial and print-ad reminds us that we got fat over the holidays. But... it's February, and the ads are still all about heart health, low-fat crap, Nutri-System, and eat-more-veggies. I guess because so many of us are fat, we need more bombardment to get us to drop the pan of oven-ready brownies and grab a carrot stick. Now even Ty Pennington is in on the act. He's telling me to "Start a healthy habit today! Walk. Eat heart healthy foods. Ask your doctor if an aspirin regimen may be right for you." Bayer aspirin ad. Yeah. Good advice Ty, and you're qualified to give it because... um... let's see... ok, I give up. A few pages before the Bayer ad, I saw one for various "healthy" Campbell's products, with Toni Braxton's face plastered nearby, part of that red dress campaign... but it's actually relevant because apparently she survived heart disease. There's some sort of connection. I'm not finding any sort of connection with Ty Pennington. He had an appendectomy fairly recently, according to Wikipedia... but... um... he's not a doctor, and I doubt he ever even played one on TV. He's a carpenter, so if he wants to advertise headache medicine, or how Bayer really helps with the muscle aches after a hard day remodeling, well... that'd make sense. But since his similarities with Jesus end at the career choice, I think he should keep his medical advice to himself.

And, finally... today's WTF? Not really rant-worthy, just have to ask what they were thinking, or drinking, when they came up with the ad campaign: Irish Spring... been around forever, we all know what it is, and I guess maybe that's why they felt the need to jolt us out of our comfort zone.
"Smell like you're worth exploring."

Um...

And, what's coming out of the bottle? A rocky stream and some green hills. I think they're mixing their metaphor.

Brussels Sprouts?

I never thought I'd like Brussels sprouts.

But, I got a bag of them in my local produce delivery box... and they looked innocent enough... and I just happened to find a recipe for them on Simply Recipes (one of my favorite food blogs.) So, I gave 'em a try. And I like them! Heck, I think even Mikey would like these.
I followed the recipe closely, except I used bacon fat and refined coconut oil (doesn't smell/taste coconutty) instead of butter. Since I can't have butter. And I'm still really bitter about that. But, bacony goodness almost made up for it. Oh, and she mentions Meyer lemons... if you ever have the chance, grab as many as you can. They are awesome! I got one of those in my local box, too, and it tastes exactly like lemon meringue... so sweet and lovely.

The rest of dinner was tasty, as well. A salad with sliced white radishes (local) and baby turnips (local and surprisingly delicious) and meatloaf. Once again, I followed her recipe pretty closely. Except I put salsa in it, instead of ketchup. But, trusting her judgment, I went ahead and put ketchup on top... and reconfirmed my absolute hatred of the condiment. Blech. I really don't like ketchup.

Magic Soup (More Sick Food)

Everything In The Fridge Soup... just so happens to also be very healthy and immune-supporting. We're finally feeling human again, like there's a light at the end of the snotty, hacking tunnel. My appetite returned, along with my will to live, so I wanted more than a bowl of broth for lunch. But still wanted some broth, with all it's magical goodness. So I made this... whatever it is.



I started with half an onion, diced/minced... cut up small, whatever. I sizzled it in some bacon fat (for flavor) and coconut oil (for immune-boosting lauric acid). Then I tossed in 3 cloves of chopped garlic, about a teaspoon of cumin, half that of coriander, and maybe a quarter teaspoon of ancho chili powder. When those were ready, I dumped in about a cup of diced canned tomatoes, with their juice, 2 cups of chicken broth, and then the leftovers. I had about half a cup of the black beans/corn Thing from Iron Chef Mom night, and about as much plain black beans. I also had about half a cup of leftover taco meat. Once that was all warmed, I tossed in a small bunch of cilantro, chopped up, and some extra salt. And.. um... some Fritos, for the crunch.

Sick food

Stir-fry. It's easy. It's what's for dinner.
I've got a really bad cold... and had a head (? Bunch? Glob? What's it called?) of bok choy to use, thanks to the Greenling delivery yesterday. So... I sliced up some chicken breast earlier in the day (while it was still partially-frozen, which makes it much easier to cut) and tossed some stuff into the ziploc bag it was already in. Voila... a marinade. Tamari sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, and cayenne. Then at dinner time I sliced up the bok choy, an onion, and 4 cloves of garlic... stir-fried everything in coconut oil, added some chicken broth and more ginger. Then thickened the sauce a bit with cornstarch. It's kinda like stir-fried chicken soup... which is just what I need right now.