Slip Me Some Spice

Blessings Darlings!

My Mother, bless her heart, was never an inspired cook.  She was constrained by the times she was born into (born during WWI, teen during the Depression, young adult during WWII rationing) and the challenges of kashrut.  Salt, pepper, onions, and garlic were about the only seasonings she used, and she insisted that "Jews don't use gravy."

So, shall we say, as a cook I am not my Mother's daughter.  While I started slow, by high school I was experimenting with foods from health food stores (Dannon yogurt! Exotic! Yeah, I'm OLD) and started making bread from scratch.  My husband, whose Mother had a similar generational if not religious upbringing, came into my life having already broken out into Chinese cooking and always trying new foods at ethnic restaurants.

So today I'm going to share with all y'all two spices that are important in my life.  They are cumin and ginger.

GINGER

Many folks only know ginger from its role in sweet foods.  From Red Hots to pumpkin pie to gingerbread, cooks first get to know ginger in powdered form.  Big, bulbous, fibrous spicy - these attributes of ginger root make working with it directly a bit intimidating at first. It's used a lot in Chinese cooking to kick things up. 

It's easy to start by peeling about a square inch of ginger root and chopping it finely. DO NOT START BY USING A MICROPLANE GRATER ON GINGER.  Recipes call for CHOPPED ginger for a reason - microplaned it's stronger than you will expect.  Saute' it lightly in some olive oil, then add a pound of green beans and saute' them until done.  Experiment from there in other dishes later.

My 'secret' ginger use?  I use those peels from the ginger root when I make chicken stock.  They add a wonderful depth to the flavor.

I also grow ginger, but .... I'm not good at it.  I can't stop it from going dormant in winter even tho' I bring it in, and it starts up LATE in spring.  I certainly don't get enough for me to use my own much of the time!

CUMIN

You might now know it, but you've probably already met cumin before.  It's one of the ingredients in some good chili, and in some tacos.  Which, when you think about it, makes it a pretty NEW addition to actual  Mexican food, since it's a native of the middle east and India! You'll use this spice ground, rather than in the whole seed.


To me it particularly shines in middle eastern food.  Tzatziki Sauce is one of the staple sauces of my kitchen.  A simple mix of yogurt (usually Greek yogurt, tho' 'regular' yogurt is fine if you want a thinner sauce), lemon, salt, garlic, cumin, and chopped cucumber, I use it as a sauce on sandwiches (felafel, gyros), as a salad dressing, as an accent to roast lamb, etc.  

I've been failing at growing this, too.  Le sigh.

So, go forth and play with your food!  It's fun, and alchemical.

Frondly, Fern


  

Taco Recipe

Blessings, Darlings!

Dining well while broke continues.  Tonight was taco night.  But since the temperature was in the 90's, I chose to NOT fry tortillas into taco shells - we did soft tacos by just pan warming corn tortillas.

The shredded cheese was a bar of cheap cheddar from Aldi's. The tortillas were from a big package bought cheap somewhere else (Aldi's hasn't had corn tortillas at all this year!). No sour cream, but the Chubby Hubby could have used plain yogurt in its place. Tomatoes, well, I wasn't paying $2 per pound for fresh, so I used ones I had canned last year.

Taco filling was a mix of ground beef (sale priced) and black beans.

Taco Filling

1 large onion, chopped
2 green or red or yellow or orange bell peppers, chopped (I used ones I dried last year) 
2 or more cloves garlic, chopped 
1 lb ground beef
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 8 oz can tomato sauce 
1 tsp chili powder
4 tsp cumin
2 1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper
1 - 2 tsp ground coriander seed

Add a bit of oil to pan. Saute onion and pepper until onion is translucent.  Add garlic, cook about 30 seconds more.  Add and brown meat.  Drain excess fat.

Add the dry spices.  Cook them for about a minute.  Add the tomato sauce, beans, and maybe up to 1/2 cup water.  Simmer 1/2 hour.  Done!

Cheap menus

Blessings Darlings!

I was asked what my menus are for this funds-free time/cash-flow problem.  So, here you go!

Breakfasts are mostly hot cereal - oatmeal with dry milk, dry fruit, nuts or grits or cornmeal mush.

Lunches are soups, often with open face grilled cheese, and with an apple or orange.  I make a gallon or so of soup once or twice a week.  Currently we are having split pea soup.

The dinner menu is where the variability is.  Now, while we are currently working on a $40 a week budget for 3 adults and two cats, before we were on an $80 per week budget.  That allowed me to fill the freezer and pantry, and is allowing us to eat a larger variety of foods now.  I'm only buying meat for one meal in the next 3 weeks, altho' I am buying eggs and cheese.

So, our dinners for the first 3 weeks of 'middle class survival' eating are:

Shrimp Yaki Soba, using cabbage, carrots, and home-sprouted bean sprouts.

Sausages (in hot dog buns), potatoes, cole slaw.

Stew with beef (beef is leftovers from a previous dinner.)

Eggs - veggie omelets for Chubby Hubby and I, sandwich for Spawn; and fruit and home made rolls.  We'll do this once a week.

Pork Fried Rice, featuring more home sprouted bean sprouts.

Fried Chicken - we will have this 3 times - I made a lot and froze it because chicken was on a GREAT sale; home-canned corn, veggies

Pasta Carbonera, salad, veggies

Superbowl Sunday - okay, I'm buying a pound of deli meat/cheese and one tomato and making subs.  But I'll make the bread and cole slaw myself.  And pop corn, not chips.

Corned beef - I've a corned beef brisket in the freezer.  This will be at least two meals, maybe 3.

Chicken or pork stir fry - more cabbage/carrots/bean sprouts in use, rice.  Once a week.

Pasta with meat sauce, salad, veggies. Some pasta once or twice a week.

Home-made steak and cheese, because we have thin sliced raw beef in the freezer and I can make rolls.  More cole slaw with this, and potatoes.

Tacos - filling half beef and half black bean.  Taco bell has nothing on me.  I can make tacos where the filling is only 38% beef myself!

Spanish rice.

Pulled pork (we smoked a pork shoulder that was at a GREAT price recently)

Veggie Flautas

Mackerel/salmon patties/crouquettes

Pancakes

Waffles

Remember

I can do this because I have a fairly full pantry.  I've not even worked the canned ham or tuna into rotation, mostly because I think the guys will be using them for half sandwiches at lunch when we don't have cheese. Or we could use them at dinners with soups, an have peanut butter at lunch.  We have options.