A Few FunThings

I ran across some fresh cranberry beans and garbanzo beans at our Amish market. I have never had them fresh like this before so I had to pick some up.

I have never shucked beans before either, so this was fun in small batches, I'm sure it would get old if I had to do a whole bunch.

Here is the fresh green garbanzo bean...funny to see them like this all green and fresh. Have you had them like this? How did you prepare them?

I cooked them in water until tender, and then sauteed them with shallots and some greens. What would you do?

Remember that turmeric root that I planted? It grew into a beautiful plant, and I used the leaves cooked in some dishes I made. A while back I was able to harvest some more of the roots.

I will cook with some and then plant some more again. I have it in a clay pot and planted some in the ground as well. It was fun to do, the one in the pot grew bigger than in the ground. I planted some ginger a few years back but did not harvest the ginger each year, so they come back every summer and produce some beautiful flowers and a nice green foliage near my back border. I wonder if the turmeric will come back and flower?

Next I love sweet potato fries, but when I make them at home I never deep fry anything, so when baking regular sweet potatoes they are so moist it is hard to get them crispy without frying. So I baked some Japanese sweet potato fries, seasoned nicely, they are dryer and turned out great! Of course these were in a little long, but I do like them crisp. Now I want to find the perfect dip for them, any ideas?

Finally, I picked up this herb at the farmers market last weekend. I have never seen this before, it's culantro, also known by many other names. Found in and used widely in Mexico, the Caribbean and through south Asia. It tastes similar to cilantro, but a little stronger. It is supposed to be easier to grow than cilantro, which is good because I just can't seem to grow cilantro, or parsley for that matter. It likes partial shade so I have it in a pot on my front porch. I'm excited to try it. Have you ever used this culantro before?

Kafta - Lebanese meatballs on a stick!

Since I made the Lebanese seven spice mix I just had to find something so I could use the spice in. It smelled so good with all the fresh ground spices all mixed together...I couldn't resist. So I decided to make some kafta, you know how good food on a stick is...and meatballs onre y a stick?...what could be better? :D I didn't use the grill this time, but I think next time I will. I've seen them shaped in patties, like footballs, cigars, eggs or hot dogs wrapped around the skewers...anyway you make them I am suou'll like them, so much flavor here.



Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound ground lamb (or you could use half beef)
4 green onions chopped
1 bunch parsley chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped (can you believe I ran out of garlic!.. so I used garlic chili paste instead)
a handful of mint chopped
1 tablespoon Lebanese seven spice or sometimes called mixed spice
1 tablespoon garlic-chili sauce (you can add your own heat preference or not, some like cayenne)
1 egg lightly beaten

Mix it all together (in a bowl of course) and cover and rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes to get the flavors merging all together nicely and the meatball will form easily. If using wooden skewers soak them for the same 30 minutes so they won't burn on the grill. I don't like to form the meatball too firm so it won't be too dense after cooking...just my preference.

You can grill them or make them on a, grill pan stove-top, I browned them on the grill pan first and transferred the pan to the oven and finished them off. You would grill them like you would burgers, just make sure the meat is cooked no longer pink, but try not to overcook them.


Serve with a warm pita and your favorite chutney, garlic tahini sauce or like I did a cucumber yogurt sauce...

( I almost didn't post this photo, but it was the only one with the sauce)


For the sauce I mixed some1 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cucumber shredded or chopped, 1/2 tsp dill more if using fresh, a dash of garlic powder and a squeeze of lemon juice.


They were tasty and so good hot, room temperature or cold, perfect for my bento box lunch.


Here is the bento that I made from the leftovers. I made enough to freeze the extra, but they were so good for lunches!

Pork Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

There is just something about eating meat on a stick! It is fun and casual and always tastes better eating something from a stick! The dipping sauce doesn't dampen the fun either. The other day I found some thin sliced center cut boneless pork loin chops on sale. I figured slice that thin it would be a quick meal. Then when I got them home they were extremely thin so I decided to make satay and just sliced each one in half lengthwise, I loved how easy it was to prepare the strips.

For the marinade I used a combination of several recipes that I have run across over the years.

Marinade ingredients:

1 shallot (or you can use onion)

3 cloves garlic - smashed and chopped

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon mirin (or any sweet wine you might have)

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 tablespoon chili oil

2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice

dash of paprika and chipotle chili powder (optional)


I didn't use any sugar in the marinade...just my personal preference. I just used the mirin to sweeten it just a touch. I also didn't use peppers...my husband's preference. So if you like it spicy you can add some peppers or cayenne to spice it up.

Place the meat in the marinade and let it set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours. Soak the bamboo skewers in water so they won't burn when grilling or broiling the skewers.

Run the skewers through the strips of meat weaving in and out. Place on a broil pan, and broil for 3 minutes per side, until done.

I don't have a gas grill so I figured it would be better to broil them, instead of waiting for the charcoal to be ready when they are on the grill for such a short time.

For the peanut dipping sauce you can make it several ways, but this is what I did.

Peanut dipping sauce:

1/2 cup organic natural peanut butter (homemade or store-bought)

1 small shallot chopped fine

1 clove garlic chopped fine

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/3 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon garlic chili sauce (a spicy sweet sauce) I was able to sneak in a little heat :D

fresh chopped cilantro

With a little vegetable oil or sesame oil in a sauce pan and saute shallot and garlic until soft about 4 minutes. Add peanut butter and the other ingredients and heat through. Add some fresh chopped cilantro after removed from heat just before serving.

You can adjust the liquids depending how thick you like the sauce.

Enjoy as a meal or snack.




On Mother's Day we just enjoyed the morning at Sarasota Bayfront, where we had breakfast sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather. We were back again today with my husband's brother and girlfriend that came down for a visit.

Tucker always like it because we can take him along with us when we go. Everyone treats him so nice and makes an old dog like him feel so special.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day and enjoyed it as much as I did...I know it's late. So if it's too late I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend this week!

My last post was dropped and I had a few comments that were lost as well. I might try to re-post it, but I know with the last weeks of school I am just looking forward to the summer! I'll have a lot more time to play around here!

Lamb Kabobs

I made these a little while ago but never posted it because of the photos, (they were not as dark as they looked in the photo), and they sure taste better than they look.

I only had a pound of ground lamb, because I wasn't sure if my daughter would like it or how these would turn out. All the recipes that I looked at was for 2 pounds of meat so I adjusted it for our small family. I just combined the flavors that sounded good to us...or me!

Of course you can add or subtract and adjust for the way you like it. Feel free to double the recipe. My daughter liked it until she found out that it was lamb. Then I told her she ate a lot of lamb when she was younger, and she liked it!
Ingredients:
1 pounds lean ground lamb
2-3 oz goat cheese
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
2 teaspoons green chile paste
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoons paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
skewers soaked for around 30 minutes
Directions:
1.In a large bowl, mix ingredients, you can cover and refrigerate until ready to skewer.
2.Mold handfuls of the lamb mixture, to form sausages around skewers. Make sure the meat is spread to an even thickness. Refrigerate until you are ready to grill.
3.Preheat grill for high heat.
4.Brush grate liberally with oil, and arrange kabobs on grill. Cook for 10 minutes, or until well done, turning as needed to brown evenly.

I did take three photos and here is the one that didn't make the cut even though the color was more correct.

I will definitely make these again, but the full size, 2 pounds, and invite some guests for dinner. Served with a saffron rice.

You can serve it with a dipping sauce and of course yogurt goes very well with the lamb. Here is a recipe from David Lieberman.

Mint-Parsley Yogurt Sauce:

1 cup plain yogurt (2 percent or whole is best)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and garlic in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the chopped fresh herbs and gently stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

So I thought you would like to look at something a little prettier so I would like share a few photos of our lanai and the gate to our side yard of our house...

Okay, I'm just kidding! I wish! You probably already know that this was taken at The Ca d'Zan which is John Ringling's Mansion here in Sarasota. I have many more to share if you'd like to see them!

Fun For Friday - Snacks - Carrot Zucchini Pakora (inspired by Jay)

This is a great snack, not only because it's tasty, it's healthy too, but you don't have to tell the kids that! I think it would work well in bento box lunch. I saw this snack that Jay had made on her blog Tasty Appetite. I have been seeing a lot of fritters lately and there are so many that I want to try. This one looked simple enough and healthy too, and it didn't have an egg in it. I had most of the ingredients, but I had to fine out what sooji (rawa) was. After my search as far as I could tell it was semolina or farina. I have a health food store a couple blocks away which is great for me. They sell many of their grains, seeds, nuts, herbs, spices and flour from bulk bins. Which means I can buy a cup or a handful if that's what I need. They had both farina an semolina so I got both, and picked up some chickpea flour while I was there.

Adapted from Tasty Appetite, I made just a few changes.

-2 small carrots
-1 small zucchini
-1/2 cup chickpea flour
-1 tablespoon rice flour
-2 tsp semolina or farina (you could use cornmeal)
-1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
-1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
-1/4 teaspoon celery seed
-pinch of asafetida
-sea salt and pepper to taste

After washing the vegetables, peel and shred carrots, (you can peel the zucchini if you like) and zucchini, then mix the together in a bowl. In separate bowl mix the dry ingredients, then sprinkle over the shredded vegetables, add a little water if necessary. Since the vegetable vary in sizes you can adjust the amount of flours if needed. I had it so it just stuck together and all was coated. In a pan with a little oil cook until golden. I made some into little patties, but I liked it better when you just took some in small pieces and dropped it into the pan.

They were crispy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside. The semolina added a nice texture to it, that why you could use cornmeal if that's what you have. I think this snack would work in bento lunches too. This was good on its own, but I'm sure you could find something good to dip it in.

Thanks Jay it was a lot of fun trying these. She has a lot of good things cooking over on Tasty Appetite you should check it out.

I am now finding several good ways to use the chickpea flour, since that came in a 22 oz bag instead of from a bin. I will be posting some recipes like chickpea pancakes coming up!

I have summited this to Two for Tuesday

A Few Fun things on Friday

Happy Friday! I had a little time so I thought I would play with some of my gadgets that I have. I am going to try out my egg molds! I got a set from Ann at Anncoo's Hobby and Wendy from Wendolonia. I have already tried and used my picks and rice molds, and they work great and Maranda loves the rice balls anytime, for lunch or snacks!

For the rice balls in this bento I used a rice and grain blend, that I got the idea from Sheri at Happy Little Bento. She had some red rice and white rice mixed with a few other grains. So when I found some red rice I decided to try it, especially since I've been buying several new rice and grains to try. We had this for dinner and I used the leftover for the rice balls. I really liked it, but Wade thought it needed a little more flavor...okay that's easy enough to do.

Back to the egg mold. One set was all in Japanese and I can't read that yet. The other had instructions in English too. I also checked the great directions that Maki had on her Just Hungry

blog, she also has a Just Bento blog that has a wealth of information if you want to start making bento box lunches.

First thing is to boil and peel the eggs. I hate peeling fresh eggs, they are so hard to peel! Ack!

Then place the warm peeled egg in the mold. (it looks all beat up) I placed it in warm water right before using the mold.

Okay... now I used a large egg in a large mold. I think I need an extra large egg here. These molds should work well for rice balls too, which is what Maranda wanted to use them for. Looks like this one will become egg salad!

The next mold is marked large too...but this was from the other set. A much nicer looking egg.

Close the lid and snap it shut, and put it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes.

Ta-Da!! This one worked! That was fun!

I had these cookie cutters that will also leave and impression. I found that Pubix brand wheat bread is soft enough to use for this. Usually you would have to use white bread, so this was nice.

I found this little boiled egg holder. They had a sheep too, but we don't always sit down and eat boiled eggs much so I just got one for photos. It did remind me of my childhood when we use to use egg holders.

Martha from Seaside Simplicity had once said that using ice cube trays are a good way to keep extra lemon, and key lime juice. I ran across these (on clearance of course $2). This will be perfect when our lemon tree has all those lemons I don't want to go to want it to go to waste. Also you won't have this happen to you when you get it mixed up with something else!

Then I picked up these handy storage trays half off at Michael's that work great for my food picks. The other one was for my baran (food dividers).

Best of all it fits perfect in the tiny drawer that I have for my lunch making supplies.
Ho hum...too much for you?

I think that's enough busy work for these lazy days of summer.