Category Archives: A to Z Challenge 2015

A to Z Challenge 2015, Vegetables & Salads

Love My Leeks

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I have a long relationship with leeks. Must be that Celtic passion thing I have going because I’ve always loved leeks in my potato soup. So naturally when I stopped eating potatoes, I simply added leeks to my cauliflower soup and my casseroles and other dishes. They bring a mild onion taste that is uniquely their own. Usually, I use them as a complementary flavor to a dish, although you can eat leeks as the focal point in the dish. I recall reading that Saint David, in Welsh Dewi Sant, was said to have eaten only leeks during fasts. Okay, I don’t like them that much, but they are a great addition to many dishes from soups and stews to vegetable dishes.

Although the white bulb part is usually the big attraction for cooks, the green portion of the leek is also edible and cooks up very well. I cut up from two-thirds to three-quarters of the leeks when I clean and chop them.They do need to be cleaned very well though as those long leaves tend to hide soil within them. Once I cut them up, I run them under water in a colander and swish them around to make sure the dirt is off. They can then be put in plastic bags and kept in the crisper of the refrigerator for several weeks or frozen for three or more months.

History

Since they look like an over-sized scallion (green onion), it’s no surprise that they’re related to onions, garlic, scallions and shallots. Leeks can be traced back in culinary history for thousands of years. Believed to originate in Asia, there is evidence for them all over the Middle East and Europe. The ancient Greeks and Romans used them extensively and the latter most likely introduced them to Great Britain where they thrived. Leeks took hold with the Welsh and eventually became the national symbol of Wales. Folklore records that the aforementioned Dewi Sant encourage Welsh warriors to wear leeks in their caps to make it easy to identify their comrades during a battle against the Saxons that proved successful for the Welsh.

Recipes

leeks-a-z

Here are a few recipes from Skinny Girl that use leeks:

Cennin gyda Thomato a Bacwn – Leeks with Tomatoes and Bacon
Smashed Turnips with Leeks
Asparagus Leek Cauli-risotto
Creamy Cock-a-Leekie Soup
Spring Time Pasta

Nutrition information for 124 grams (a little over 1 cup sliced)
Calories: 38 Fat: 0 Net Carbs: 8 g Protein: 1 g
Information for this article was gleaned from World’s Healthiest Foods,   Wikipedia, and Specialty Produce

Top photo from Wiki Commons, used with permission – “13-08-31-wien-redaktionstreffen-EuT-by-Bi-frie-031” by Bi-frie (talk) – Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons –

 

A to Z Challenge 2015

Kooky Kohlrabi is Great!

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Kohlrabi is one of my favorite vegetables. I didn’t “discover” it until a few years ago when one of my friends in France mentioned it to me as a potato alternative. As luck would have it, my local grocery had some in stock so I tried it. Whenever I’m looking for an option to replace potatoes in a recipe, I try it two or three ways I would cook a potato, the first being to fry it. Kohlrabi handled this marvelously, frying up nicely into a tasty plank that doesn’t taste like potato, but still gives you an excellent fried vegetable with sandwiches. It also handled the roast and boil test as well as being a great sliced vegetable in salads.

America is just now finding kohlrabi, it seems, although it’s been here since the early 1800’s. I mostly hear that people have cut it thinly or shredded it and used it in their salads or that they’ve used the leaves and thrown the bulb away or fed it to farm animals . But it is so much more. I love to mix it with cauliflower and celery root and make mashed veggies with it that can replace mashed potatoes. They don’t taste like mashed potatoes, but they have such a wonderful flavor that I don’t even care.  As a side dish on its own, cooked with butter and seasonings, it is delicious. I cannot rave enough about this vegetable!

History

This is a relatively new vegetable that originated in Germany. The name is German for cabbage (kohl) and turnip (rabi). Indeed, the vegetable comes from the same root family as cabbage, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts —  the wild mustard plant. Prior to about 500 years ago, there was no record or indication of either kohlrabi or Brussels sprouts. They appear to be cultivated varieties of the root stock. What is unusual about kohlrabi is that the vegetable grows into a round tuber on the stalk with long stalks of leaves coming out it. It’s almost like having a root above ground. While it looks odd, its flavor is similar to its cousin broccoli’s stalk, but milder in flavor. The leaves are also edible, although by the time the bulb reaches 3 inches or more in diameter, the leaves get a little tough. They can be cooked and used as you would turnip or mustard greens.

There are several varieties of kohlrabi, the green variety being seen most often. There is also a purple variety. I have grown some of each in my garden and I notice the purple variety tends to be more elongated. They like cool weather though and thus far, I haven’t gotten them to maturity before summer sets in.

The vegetable needs to be peeled as there are two layers of tough skin and fiber that are not edible. I find it easiest to parboil them for about three minutes, cool them down, then a paring knife removes these layers quickly.  I really urge you to try kohlrabi, raw or cooked, and enjoy this marvelous-tasting vegetable.

Recipes

kohlrabi-comp

 

Here’s a few recipes from Skinny Girl that use or feature kohlrabi:

Spicy Chicken Kohlrabi Curry
Hungarian Style Kohlrabi Rolls
Kohlrabi and Ham Casserole
Irish Style Celery and Kohlrabi
Broccoli with Mornay Sauce

Nutrition information for 1 cup (135 g) kohlrabi
Calories: 36.5 Fat: 0.1 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 2.3 g

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not.  If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted.

References for this article include Wikipedia, Specialty Produce,  Kohlrabi and Brussels Sprouts Are European

Photos taken by R. Averett, copyright Skinny Girl Bistro

A to Z Challenge 2015, Appetizers

Join In on Jicama

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Oddly, even though I grew up adjacent to Mexico and thrived on Mexican food, jicama was something I really didn’t encounter. Not even when I moved to Southern California.  I didn’t “discover” it until about ten years ago when I spotted the odd-looking root in the grocery and decided to try it. What I found was an unusual vegetable that has a crisp, clean flavor and a bit of sweetness. It reminded me of an apple in texture and in crunch.

Most frequently, jicama seems to be cut into small sticks or grated and put into salads and slaws, where it does an admirable job. It can also be cooked, baked, boiled or fried. One of the interesting characteristics is that it doesn’t get soft. It keeps the crispness, which makes it great for a dipping chip, even if you fry it. It adds a bit of crunch to a stew while substituting for a higher carb’d vegetable.

Cultivated South of the Border

Pronounced hee-ca-ma, it is also called yambean, although it is not a yam. Jicama is native to Mexico and South America. It is part of the legume family and grows a vine in tropical and semi-tropical climates. The edible jicama root is a globular shape and has been referred to as Mexican turnip, although the flavor is nothing like a turnip, or Mexican water chestnut, which it resembles in crunch. Other names for it are bengkoang, sengkwang and yacon. The flavor suggest that it would also be good in Asian food as a water chestnut substitute. It is grown in Asia and in other tropical and semi-tropical areas, including Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Nutrition Info per 100g (about3.5 oz)
Calories: 38 Fat: 0.19 g Net Carbs: 3.8 g Protein: 0.72 g

Jicama, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways:

  • Peeled and cut into sticks as a snack.
  • Cut into rounds and fried as a dipper instead of potato chips.
  • Chopped and added to stir-fry.
  • Shredded and added to salad.
  • Cut into sticks and Tampura battered and fried.
  • Sliced and spread with peanut butter and sugar free jam.
  • Sliced and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar substitute.
  • Sliced and roasted, then topped with cheese and bacon.
  • Sliced and sprinkled with lime juice and a bit of chili powder.
  • Cut into cubes and mixed with strawberries and blueberries in a fruit salad.
  • Or mixed with cantaloupe and honeydew melon in a fruit salad.

There are more ways than I can count to use this versatile vegetable.   If you have other ways you’d like to share, let me know.

Here are two ways to use jicama from this site:

Root Vegetable Fries (on the Celeraic page, go to the bottom)
Sizzlin’ Hot Snacks (toward the bottom, snack options with  beets, daikon and jicama)

And here’s a new recipe for jicama for this entry:

Cinnamon Battered Jicama Sticks

12 Jicama sticks, about 3 to 4” long, 1/2 inch cubed
1/4 cup Low Carb Flour
1 Egg
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground Cardamom
2 tablespoons Sugar Substitute
1/4 cup sugar free Raspberry Jam or preferred flavor
Coconut Oil

Mix the flour, egg, baking powder, sugar substitute and spices together to make a batter.

Heat enough coconut oil in a small pan to bring it to about 1/2 inch. Reduce to a medium heat.

Dip a jicama sticks into the batter, then carefully slide into the pan of oil. Cook about three at a time until golden brown, then turn over to cook the other side to golden brown or spoon the oil over the top while cooking to brown the top. This only takes a couple of minutes. Remove to paper towels to drain. Spread with sugar free raspberry or other jam of choice.

Makes 12 snacks.

Nutrition info per snack
   Calories:16 Fat: 0.7 g Net Carbs: 2.0 g Protein: 0.8 g

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not.  If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted.

This article used the following for reference: Specialty Produce, Nutrition and You,  Natural Society Newsletter

Top photo from WikiCommons, used with permission – By Wicki (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

A to Z Challenge 2015, Beef, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Iceberg is Ideal for Salads

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Really, it is. Oh, sure, there are those that criticize, saying that it lacks in any real nutritional value and maybe there is truth to that. But Iceberg Lettuce has a clean, refreshing taste and keeps pretty well in your refrigerator for at least a week, which some other lettuces don’t do as well. Although it’s low in nutrition, it is only a little below Romaine lettuce, which is my other favorite lettuce. The Iceberg lettuce is largely water, but it has a sweet, clean taste where some of the other, more nutritious lettuces, can be a bit bitter and not as refreshing. The ideal, in my opinion, is a mix of the lettuces for variety.

Iceberg lettuce is the one you find most frequently in restaurant salads. The lettuce is also great on sandwiches or for making lettuce wraps because of its nicely cupped, large leaves. It is the primary lettuce used in the United States.

Lettuce Origins

All lettuces trace back to the Mediterranean area where lettuce was first cultivated for its leaves in ancient Egypt, with evidence of that dating to about 2680 BC. Originally, it was grown for the oil produced from its seeds. The Egyptians considered it the sacred plant of Min, their god of reproduction. The cultivated variety appeared to be about 30 inches tall and resembled a larger version of the modern romaine lettuce. The Egyptians passed the seeds along to the Greeks, who then shared with Romans and more varieties were developed. Writings by Joachim Camerarius in 1586 described the three basic varieties of modern lettuce, which are loose leaf, romaine and head lettuce, such as iceberg and butter.

Christopher Columbus brought the lettuce to America in the late 15th century. Meanwhile, more varieties were being developed in Europe. Many of these are still grown in gardens today. I grew a mixture of lettuce a couple of years ago, but pulling leaf by leaf didn’t seem very rewarding. I grew a butter lettuce last summer and that was good, but you only get one head per plant, although after I harvested it, the plant did continue to produce leaves. In the late 19th century, documentation indicates between 65 and 140 distinct varieties.

Because lettuce has a relatively short life span once it is harvested, it didn’t expand into wide spread use until the 1900’s when packing, storage and shipping technology improved. To ship the fresh vegetable long distances,in the 1920’s, crisp head lettuce was shipped in train cars, filled with crushed ice to keep the lettuce chilled. The crisp head lettuce shipped this way came to be known as iceberg lettuce since the ice resembled icebergs. Incidentally, prior to the advent of ice-making facilities, ice used to be harvested in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Donner lake and brought down by train to Sacramento for shipping fresh produce. In the 1950’s vacuum cooling revolutionized the industry. This allowed the lettuce to be cooled and packed in the field, which kept it fresher to market.

Lettuce Uses

Around 50 AD, the Romans cooked and served lettuce with an oil and vinegar dressing, although they sometimes ate them raw. Between 81 and 96 AD, the lettuce salad prior to a meal became a tradition. In China, salads were made primarily from cooked vegetables and the lettuce was worked into all kinds of dishes from wraps to stir-frys and in other meat dishes along the way. Now days, we use lettuce in salads, wraps, sandwiches, and other ways and occasionally still cook it.

Personally, I haven’t tried cooking iceberg lettuce, although some of the loose-leaf varieties seem like they would go well in a skillet of greens. However, I did find a recipe from OceanMist for Fire Charred Iceberg Salad. This just might tempt me to try it. If you do it first, report back, please.

Nutrition Information for iceberg lettuce – 1 cup
Calories:10 Fat: 0 g Net Carbs: 1 g Protein: 1 g

Here are a couple of my quick and easy recipes for lettuce cups, which are really great for a low carb lifestyle.

Taco Lettuce Cups

4 large leaves Iceberg or Butter lettuce
1/2 lb Ground Beef
1/4 lb Chorizo
1 tablespoon Taco Seasoning
1/4 cup Pico de Gallo
1/2 cup chopped Baby Corn
2 tablespoons Black Beans
1/4 cup Butternut or Acorn Squash, cubed
1/4 cup Salsa
1/2 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1 small Avocado

Precook squash in the microwave or in a suacepan with a little water until it is fork tender. Cut into samller pieces.

Cook ground beef and chorizo in a skillet until lightly browned. Add taco seasoning, squash and a little water to make a moist filling. Stir in the baby corn and beans. Cook about three to five minutes to heat the corn and beans.

Put the lettuce leaf on a salad plate, spoon 1/4 of the ground meat on it, then top with Pico de Gallo and 1 tablespoon of Salsa. Add about two tablespoons of jack cheese over the top, and crown with slices of avocado. Fold the lettuce over and serve with sour cream.

Makes 4 tacos.

Nutrition Info per taco:
Calories: 424.8 Fat: 33.3 g Net Carbs:6.1 g Protein: 22.3 g

All comments relevant to my posts are welcome. SPAM is not.  If the post has nothing to do with my site content, it will not be posted.

Information for this article was helped by these pages:  Wikipedia, About Health, Livestrong.com and Oceanmist.com

All photos are by R. Averett, Copyright Skinny Girl Bistro

A to Z Challenge 2015

Horseradish Is Hot!

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No horsing around here; Horseradish has kick!

I admit that I am not a horseradish fan, not in any form. It does add hot flavor to dressings and I am fine with the spicy dipping sauce that many restaurants use with fried onions and jalapeno poppers, because they aren’t spicy enough on their own. But eat it with my prime rib? No, thanks! I know a lot of people do like it, PK being one of them. We usually have a jar of it in the ‘fridge and I generally ignore it, so don’t look for any great horseradish recipes on this site.

Having said that, here’s a little background information on this culinary hot flash. First off, horseradish is in the mustard family— now I’m very fond of mustard— but it is the less desirable cousin, in my opinion. That family line includes kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, wasabi and other radishes. Horseradish is well-endowed with isothoicyanate, which when combined with air and saliva, produce the hot taste.

Going back to 1500 B.C., the Egyptians knew about it and used it, although it’s not clear if it was for eating or other purposes. The Greeks used it to treat lower back pain as well as an aphrodisiac. (How did that work?) The English name of horseradish may have come about because of a mispronunciation of the German name meerrettich, which means sea radish, and with the meer becoming mare, which in turn changed to horseradish. By the 1600’s, the horseradish had spread across Europe, Scandinavia and made it to England. The English grew it at their inns and coach stations in order to make a pungent cordial to revive weary travelers and to serve with dinner.

From England, the root made the inevitable journey to the Americas where the growing of it firmly took hold in the Northeast and it even grew wild around Boston. By the mid-19th century, farmers in the mid-west had begin cultivating it in the fertile soil near the Mississippi River in Illinois.  This area is still a hotbed of horseradish production with Collinsville , Illinois holding an International Horseradish Festival annually.

Making the root into Horseradish Sauce

Once the root is harvested, it’s sold to manufacturers who have machines to grate the roots, which releases the oils that make it unique. Then the ground-up root is neutralized with vinegar and additional spices and other ingredients, such as sugar, cream or oil may be added. I do see horseradish roots in the produce department now and then, so it is possible to grate and make your own. Be warned though, this is worse than peeling onions. For more instructions on it, here’s a recipe from a horseradish-friendly site, Serious Eats.

Feeling Adventurous?  Here’s a recipe from My Recipes.com for Peach Horseradish Maple Syrup.  That actually doesn’t sound too bad.  I may have to revise my view on horseradish a bit, although I’m sure you could make this with mustard also.

Nutrition Information for 100 g (about 3.5 oz.) Horseradish.
Calories: 48 Fat:0.69 g Net Carbs: 8.0 g Protein: 1.18 g

 

The following web sites provided the information for this article: Horseradish.org,  Wikipedia, and J.R. Kelly – The Horseradish House 

Top photo from Wikimedia, use with permission – “Kren Verkauf” by Anna reg – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons