Tastes Like Food

If you’re like me, and you like to eat vegetables but sometimes you can’t get through them quickly enough before they get mushy, some modified storage techniques will extend your veggies lives in the fridge.

Here is what I do with some delicate vegetables:

• Cilantro - Put cilantro stems down in a mug with water, wrap a plastic produce bag around the outside. If you get the cilantro fresh, it could last for 2 weeks.
• Cucumber - Wrap the cucumber (either whole or in progress) in paper towel, then put it in a plastice produce bag or in a sealed tupperware. One of the more delicate veggies, this will probably only keep for a week.
• Mixed baby lettuce - Place a 1/2 paper towel on the bottom of one of the plastic storage containers the baby lettuce comes in from the store, or your own tupperware. Put the lettuce on top, make sure the leaves are loose. Put the other half paper towel on top, and seal the container.

You can also make some hearty vegetables last longer too!

• Cabbage - Wrap cabbage head in paper towel, then put in a plastic produce bag or in a sealed tupperware. This will keep the cabbage, including cut wedges, good (no brown spots!) for atleast 3 weeks.

If you try any of these at home, you can also use a clean lint-free dish cloth instead of a paper towel.

Kabobs are great summertime grillin’ food. They’re hard to mess up, but some things will make the grilling a little easier…

Tips for making the best kabobs:

1. Soak wooden kabob skewers in water for 2 or more hours. Plan ahead!
2. Cut your pieces of meat the same size, and go for a little on the smaller side.
3. Toss your meat and veggies in olive oil (and some pepper & spices if you like). They’ll be less likely to stick to the grill or char too much.
4. Leave 2-3″ inches at the end of each skewer. Veggies and meat will be less likely to slide off as they’re being cooked.
5. Don’t jam your ingredients too tightly on the skewer. With a little space between the pieces, the kabobs will cook better.
6. Some vegetables are better than others. Onion and peppers work well when combined on a skewer with meat.
7. And lastly, if you’re a bacon eater: wrapping bacon around chunks of turkey, beef or chicken always makes for a tastier kabob!

What my kabobs look like, as they’re fist placed on the grill:

It will be hard for your dairy + wheat loving friends to believe these yummy cookies are dairy-free, wheat-free and reduced fat. So there is no need to tell — unless they say they’re on a diet, then you can use those words to talk them into eating one (tee hee).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sifted spelt flour (white)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup oil (I use olive oil)
• 2 tbs Earth Balance (This is the best butter substitute. It tastes and acts very similar to regular butter. You can also use real butter if you like)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup agave nectar or honey
• 1 tbs rice milk (or other milk of your choice)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 generous cup semisweet chocolate chips (dairy-free)

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, beat on medium until well blended: oil, butter, sugar, egg, honey/agave, milk, vanilla.
3. Stir the oats and chocolate chips into the liquid batter.
4. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes so the oats can absorb some of the moisture.
5. Stir in the flour mixture. The dough will be soft, but should hold it’s shape (see picture below). If the dough isn’t super sticky and won’t hold it’s shape, stir in a little more flour 1 tsp at a time.
6. Drop by heaping measured teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Use either well-greased baking sheets, or parchment paper.
7. Bake 1 sheet at a time at 350° for approximately 8 minutes. Cookies will be tinged with brown on the edges and very slightly soft to the touch in the center.
8. After cooling on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes, transfer cookies to a baking rack to cool.

Makes about 3 dozen 2.5″ inch soft and chewy cookies. Adapted from the Joy of Cooking to be dairy-free, wheat-free and corn-free (no corn syrup or canola oil).

When you have the right consistency, the dough will holds its shape. These are dropped onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

So you’re probably firing up the grill a lot this summer. While you’re cooking your main dish, I recommend giving any extra space on the grill to a tasty potato. It’s easy, and it’s tastier than baked because the flavor is cooked in. (And way healthier than the potato chips or french fries you might usually have with your grilled food.)

Ingredients:

• potatoes
• onion
• olive oil (or butter, if that’s your thing)
• balsamic vinegar (optional, but recommended if you go the olive oil route)
• salt & pepper

Preparation:

1. Peel and quarter the potatoes. (They’ll cook way faster in chunks, rather than a whole potato, plus it makes it easier to share.)
2. Reassemble the potato on a piece of foil.
3. Insert onion slices between the potato parts.
4. Splash with olive oil and a tiny bit of vinegar. Or insert a pat of butter in the center of the potato.
5. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over the potatoes.
6. Wrap in foil and put on the grill.

They usually take about 25-30 minutes, which is usually longer than burgers or other grillables. So get them on first! If you’re not sure if they’re cooked, pierce them with a fork. If the fork goes in easily, they’re ready.

Grilled halibut topped with homemade herb vinaigrette

Herb Vinaigrette:

Combine these ingredients and mix thoroughly. The vinaigrette will keep for a week in the refrigerator. In addition to serving with grilled halibut, you can also use the vinaigrette on salads, steamed vegetables, or as a dipping oil for fresh bread.

• 2/3 cup olive oil (use the best quality you have, I used 1/3 cup lemon infused, 1/3 cup extra virgin)
• juice of 1/2 large lemon
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinaigrette
• 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tsp brown mustard
• 1-2 tbs fresh herbs (I used about 1 tbs fresh chives minced, and 1 tbs fresh basil minced. You can use any fresh herb that sounds good to you.)
• dash of salt
• splash of honey

Grilled Halibut:

1. Buy one or more steaks 1″ or thicker
2. Clean your grill grate, then rub with oil (I used olive oil)
3. Rinse and pat dry the halibut steaks
4. Rub each side of the steak with olive oil and fresh lemon juice
5. Grill the steaks on mediumish heat, about 5 minutes on each side (if the steaks are thicker than 1″ add a little time)
6. Serve topped lightly with the vinaigrette

Stranahan’s is an award-winning small-batch Colorado whiskey, distilled here in Denver. I got a tour of how they make it happen by a friend who works there (Spicy Haggis, who I haven’t convinced to write for this blog yet, but he does comment from time to time!)

Here’s a snap from my tour. This is Stranahan’s custom-made copper still.

If you like whiskey and you haven’t tasted Stranahan’s yet, you’ve gotta check it out. You can also schedule your own tour and learn more about the process via the Stranahan’s web site.

I love ginger root, but sometimes even my usual method of prolonging it’s life expectancy by wrapping it in a paper towel and then putting it in a plastic bag doesn’t extend it’s viability long enough, and it gets gross.

Discussing this dilemma, my man said he’d heard somehow or another that putting it in vodka would keep it good to go for a while. I was skeptical, but was willing to try it.

So we tried it. And it works! The ginger isn’t quite as flavorful as it once was, but close and it tastes like ginger (not vodka). And it works great, even over a period of a few months.

Another good reason to have vodka on hand!

Note: I do recommend doing this with a glass container not plastic. Who knows what sort of weird chemical combination would result from vodka+plastic over long periods of time!

I am a huge coleslaw fan. But I like my coleslaw light and fresh, not drowning with creamy mayo. I like to taste the vegetables. And I like colorful food, like pale green set off by bright orange carrots, and dark green parsley. Plus, coleslaw is great because it’s base is the anti-cancer cruciferous vegetable cabbage. (Seriously, look up cruciferous vegetables benefits on Google.) So here’s one coleslaw mainstay I like to make…

Ingredients (all measurements are approximate, use your intuition):

• 3-4 cups green cabbage (shredded)
• optional: 1 cup purple cabbage (Purple cabbage has a much stronger flavor than green.)
  
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 cup parsley
• scant 1/4 cup mayo (Hain’s safflower mayo is dairy-free)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp brown mustard
• 1/2 tsp honey
• salt

Very thinly slice the cabbage, then chop the thin slices. Do the same for the carrots. Finely chop the parsley. Put all the sauces & spices in the bowl with the veggies and mix thoroughly. This coleslaw will last for several days.

One of our favorite summer time entrees is this Ginger Tamari Salmon poached in a foil packet on the grill. The foil keeps all the flavors. We were lucky to learn about this recipe from our friend Earth in Boulder.

Preparation is very easy!

Ingredients:

• salmon (either fresh or previously frozen)
• tamari
• ginger root

Preparation:

1. Put your salmon filets on a large sheet of foil.
2. Make a few tiny slices in the salmon filets.
3. Fill slices with crushed ginger (a garlic press is the best for this, you’ll need some arm strength!) Use about a 1 inch x 1 inch chunk of fresh ginger root.
4. Splash liberally with tamari sauce (about 3-4 tablespoons) and let the tamari that rolls off the salmon stay in the bottom of the foil.
5. Fold up the foil, so it’s a small pocket around the salmon (not air tight).
6. Cook on a medium grill about 12-15 minutes.

Note: Fresh salmon is certainly the tastiest. But high quality frozen salmon is a very good option. We buy Orca Bay Wild Alaskan Salmon.

A couple of weeks ago, my man and I took a little trip to the Savory Spice Shop on Platte Street here in Denver. What a treat! So, in our trip we bought some fun flavors, including the “Family Style Fajita Mix” which we tested out tonight.

We marinated strips of steak in a bowl with 2 tbs of the spice mix dissolved in a cup of beef broth, juice from half of a lime and some olive oil. Then we pan seared the steak, with some red peppers and onions. This medley we combined with rice, mango salsa, and cilantro to make a tasty fajita. I’m calling these “Nouveau Fajitas” because we used brown rice, sirloin steak (I think you usually use lower-class meat for fajitas), and the mango salsa. We weren’t positive on why the spice is called Family Style – maybe because the portion in the mix bag is large to season lots of meat… or could be because it’s only mildly spicy and friendly for families (wink).