Happy New Year! Traditional Southern New Year's Dinner, Vegetarian Style

It is supposed to mean good luck and prosperity for the year. The southern tradition of greens and black eyed peas. let's try and make it a little healthier for you. These recipes are adapted from several authors and made vegetarian by emaxhealth.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hoppin’ John
½ pound dry Blackeye peas
4 cups water
¼ pound vegetarian Italian “sausage”
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
½ cup green pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 packet Sazon Goya seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
Hot pepper sauce to taste
3 cups water
1 cup long-grain rice (can use brown rice for more fiber)
Sort and wash beans. In a 6 to 8 quart pot, soak beans in 4 cups water. Do not drain. Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook sausage with olive oil until heated through. Add onion, pepper, and celery; cook until tender. Add mixture to beans in pot. Stir in remaining ingredients except for the rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until beans are tender. Add more hot water if necessary. Beans should have about 2 cups of liquid when they are tender. Stir in rice and simmer covered 20 to 25 minutes or until rice is tender. Serves 4 to 6.
Recipe adapted from Goya Foods Inc.
Heart Smart Collard Greens
1 pound fresh collard greens, chopped
14 ounces vegetable broth
1 ½ cups water
3 tablespoons Extra Virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon sugar
Bring broth, water, olive oil, salt, and pepper to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add the greens and sugar; bring to a boil again. Cover pot and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes or until desired tenderness.
Recipe adapted from Nature’s Greens, a product of Walter P Rawl & Sons.
Vegan Cornbread
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup sifted flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
4 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar, (Sugar in the Raw brand)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 to 1 1/4 cup plain low-fat soy milk or rice milk
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the canola oil in a 10- or 12-inch cast-iron skillet and heat the skillet in the oven until the oil is hot (about 10 minutes). Remove from the oven and swirl around so that the oil coats the skillet bottom and sides; set aside. Or while the oil is heating, you can work really fast to mix the corn bread before the oil starts to smoke or gets too hot.
Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large measuring cup or bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the applesauce and milk (if using rice milk, start with 1 cup). Use a fine-mesh strainer to sift the dry ingredients into the wet mix. Carefully add the heated oil from the skillet; the mixture will bubble a bit. Mix well.
Pour the warm batter into the hot, oiled skillet and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve warm. Makes 8 servings.
Recipe from Levita Mondie-Sapp, printed in the Washington Post 10/10/2007


Traditional Southern New Year's Dinner, Vegetarian Style

Food & Dining: Freezer Guide

If you are ever wondering how to wrap that chicken breast or if you can freeze eggs, take a look at this handy guide from the Washington Post's food section.


Food & Dining: Freezer Guide (washingtonpost.com)

Manhandled Meat. Uhmmm..Get Your Minds Out of the Gutter. It's a Recall

Another beef recall. Make sure and check what you have at home.
National Steak and Poultry began a voluntary recall of 248,000 pounds of beef products marketed under its name as well as under names that include Carino's Boneless Beef and Moe's Beef Steak.

A consumer hotline at the company carries a recorded message noting "this is the first recall in our company's nearly 30-year history."

Oklahoma Company Recalls Beef in 6 States - Sphere News

Safety of food at airports spotty - USATODAY.com

Who can say this is a big surprise? Make sure you carry a thermometer with you to check the temperature of the sandwich you buy at the airport.

Safety of food at airports spotty - USATODAY.com

Chocolate Wars Heat Up As Cadbury Faces Takeover Bid From Hershey

It is always wonderful to see the rally when trying to save a life. Here's to Cadbury.

Contained in the article by Caitlyn Kelly:

Kraft’s bid for Cadbury has got Britons’ knickers in a twist. It’s as though someone from their side of the pond had decided to re-make KFC or New York bagels or whatever beloved, all-American food icon works best for you. Chocolate, for many Britons, is one of the major food groups. Read the rest of battle here.

Lake Clifton greenhouse project harvests 1st crops -- baltimoresun.com

This story should inspire us all. We always want to grow this and grow that.  It is beneficial to your health overall, not to mention the Zen feeling you get from gardening.

Lake Clifton greenhouse project harvests 1st crops -- baltimoresun.com

Secret Tamale Stash

If you share this with my husband, it's curtains for you. When I was first married, I couldn't wait for my husband to leave for work so I could listen for the tamale lady pushing her cart down the street.

He was so sure I would become sick from eating the different street foods. No matter, I did it anyway. While the neighborhood I lived in at that time was less than desirable and nicer streets and fancier homes came with our upgrade, I miss the street food sold in my old neighborhood.

In an homage to my dear tamale lady, I made my own from a recipe right on the package of Maseca for Tamales by Azteca Milling. I swapped the lard for vegetable shortening, and the pork for chicken.  If you have the chance to pick up a package of this

tamale flour, go mad.

Click here for the Christmas Tamale recipe.

Foods Advertised to Children on TV Remain Nutritionally Poor, Despite Industry Pledge

A new study by Children Now reveals the failure of the food and beverage industry’s “Better-for-You” initiative to achieve promised improvements in the nutritional quality of foods advertised to children. Read the rest here:Foods Advertised to Children on TV Remain Nutritionally Poor, Despite Industry Pledge

THE NIBBLE Gourmet Food Gifts, Specialty Food, Mail Order, Online Gift Webzine

Take a look at this website, if you want to be chock full of tidbits.

Gourmet Food Magazine Website: THE NIBBLE Gourmet Food Gifts, Specialty Food, Mail Order, Online Gift Webzine

Gravy Recipe, How to Make Gravy | Simply Recipes

This recipe is from the absolute best of recipe sites, Simply Recipes.
Elise Bauer runs the site and is magnificent.


How to Make Gravy from Scratch

Here are two basic ways of making gravy from roast drippings, one using corn starch, the other using flour. In each case, you start with the roast drippings. You may have much more drippings than you need for the amount of gravy you want to make. You can follow this guideline - for each cup of gravy you would like to make, start with a tablespoon of drippings. So, if you want to make 2 cups of gravy, drain all but 2 tablespoons of fat and drippings from the roasting pan (set aside for future use). These instructions will be for the end result of 2 cups of gravy, but you can easily divide or multiply to adjust for how much gravy you want to make.

Method

Making Gravy with Corn Starch
1 Remove the roast from the pan. Place pan on stove on medium high heat. Pour off all but 2 Tbsp of the drippings in the pan.
2 Dissolve 2 Tbsp of corn starch in the minimum amount of water needed to make a thin paste - about 1/4 cup. Pour into pan with drippings and use a wire whisk or spatula (as pictured) to blend into the drippings

3 Stir with a wire whisk until the gravy begins to thicken. As it thickens, slowly add water, stock, milk, or cream, or some combination to the pan. Alternate stirring and adding liquid, maintaining the consistency you want, for several minutes (about 5). You will probably add about 2 cups of liquid all together. Taking into consideration the evaporation that is occurring while you are cooking, you will end up with about 2 cups of gravy. Season with salt (we use Vege-Sal).


Making Gravy with Flour
1 Remove the roast from the pan. Place pan on stove on medium high heat. Pour off all but 2 Tbsp of the drippings in the pan.
2 Into the 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pan stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir with a wire whisk until the flour has thickened and the gravy is smooth. Continue to cook slowly to brown the flour, and stir constantly.
3 Slowly add back some of the previously removed drippings (remove some of the fat beforehand if there is a lot of fat). In addition, add either water, milk, stock, or cream to the gravy, enough to make 2 cups. Season the gravy with salt and pepper and herbs.

20 Ways to Feed Your Family for $100 a Week

20 Ways to Feed Your Family for $100 a Week

An International Tour of Holiday Cookie Recipes

Check out more recipes from Lehigh Valley Live

An International Tour of Holiday Cookie Recipes

Lebkuchen Spice Spritz 

2/3 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons vanilla
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In large mixer bowl, combine sugar, butter, egg, salt, spices and vanilla. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture is light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed, 2 to 3 minutes. If dough is too soft, cover and refrigerate until firm enough to form cookies, 30 to 45 minutes. Place dough in cookie press. Form desired shapes 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. For glaze, in small bowl stir together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle or pipe over warm cookies.

Recipe courtesy of Christmas-cookies.com/recipes

The Facts About Soy :: Soy Myths & Facts

The Facts About Soy :: Soy Myths & Facts



Check out this website for information on soy and soy products. You'll be surprised.