Four Foods For Friday on Thursday

I can’t believe I missed last week’s FFFF!!! I like the meme and really wanted to be consistent. Gosh… where did last Friday GO?! It must have been a crazy week, with the kids, school, and dreaming about hotels in florida…. boy, I’d love a vacation right about now….

Well, I’m playing catch up. I’m making up for last week’s today; and I hope to get in tomorrow’s for Friday, after all. Val hasn’t yet posted the questions, so I’m not sure when I’ll get this week’s done. For now, I intend to have some fun.

Here’s this week’s questions.

1. How do you make mashed potatoes?
2. What do you wash pots and pans with?
3. Name something red in your refrigerator right now.
4. Do you prefer to use boullion cubes or the boullion powder mix?

1. Shame on me. I make them from the BOX!!! Gah! My hubs likes freshly mashed potatoes, and I used to cook them that way. But life is hectic and I don’t have the muscles I used to. So.. if he wants homemade potatoes, he can mash them himself. Too much work.

2. I wash my pots and pan with my hands. WAAAH! I wanna dishwasher!

3. Red Onion. Yum. I love them but they don’t love me.

4. I don’t use bouillon. I was never a big bouillon user; I always preferred liquid stock. Bouillon is kind of salty, and I’m not much for salty foods. I used to buy them in cubed form, just in case, but quit because the cubes would just melt in my cupboards.

I enjoyed last week’s meme! I think I will have fun for this week, too. Thanks for a nice meme, Val.

Would You Eat Genetically Modified Foods?

Well, if you live in the United States, I’ve heard that a LOT of the fod is genetically modified. I don’t know why they want to tinker, tinker, tinker with foods in that way. I mean– tinker with the stupid bugs! I heard there was some project long ago that would make mosquitoes sterile and therefore would wipe out the mosquito population. Now THAT’s a worthy project, I think. But please leave my beef and my corn on the cob alone. Sheesh. I hate Monsanto.

ANYWAY… some of the foods on the shelves are genetically modified. This was news to me. I thought such foods had to be labeled? I guess not, unless some new law was passed recently (those LSAT prep courses would have come in handy for times like these). I found an interesting post at WebEcoist. Check these out.

It says that the Japanese invented a double-sized grape, called a Graisin (giant raisin). I think it looks really weird. I have never seen one of these. Looks like a grape twin or something.

Here’s a tangelo– these I have seen. But I don’t like tangerines OR grapefruits, and therefore have never had one.

This is REALLY funky– a lemato. I don’t like tomatoes nor lemons, either. I’m really not a picky eater, really! It’s just that all the foods they are modifying I happen not to like. I can’t complain!

How about you? Are you aware of the genetically-modified foods in your diet? Would you stop eating them if you knew what they were? I know I would!

Basic Baked Chicken for a Wintry Day

We saw snow fly for the second day in a row. Flurries were pretty intense for about 5 minutes. It was as lovely, but the first couple of snows are always lovely. After that, it’s either “ho hum,” or “OH NO!”

Anyway, a chilly, damp day like this is a perfect day for baking chicken. Chicken permeates the damp air and gives us something to look forward to. Plus, the day just FEELS warmer with the smell of baking poultry in the air. When I don’t feel like cooking, but I want some winter’s day comfort food, here’s what I do: Line a heavy duty pan with aluminum foil (to help cut some of the greasy cleanup– remember, it’s a lazy day today). Place chicken pieces in the pan, skin side up. Yes, this is a fatty recipe! I did say it was comfort food. You won’t be needing any hgh supplement to grow here, not with this eating.

So place your chicken skin side up. I usually buy VERY cheap chicken on sale, and freeze it for days like these. I don’t thaw it out very much before cooking, either– I simply allo the chicken to cook all day long.

Slice one large onion and place the slices on top of the chicken. Grab some basil, oregano, parsley, and paprika, and sprinkle generously over everything.

Now, wrap up the pan with more aluminum foil. Place in an oven set at 400 degree F for about 2 hours. After that, remove the foil, turn down the heat to 350, and bake for another 2 hours. At the cooking halfway time when I remove the foil, I usually throw in a dozen potatoes for baking.

The house smells so good. Yummmmm. I usually serve this dish with some green veggies. And that’s it! It’s a marvelous meal, and the kids seem to love it.

Edamame: Cool Beans!

I’ve heard about the bean edamame (eh-dah-MAH-meh) for quite some time. I spotted it in the frozen section of the grocery store, and decided to check it out. It’s actually quite good! I wouldn’t say it’s the most amazing thing since chocolate bars, but it’s not too bad. The best part about the stuff is how it makes me FEEL. Wow, I feel like I could leap tall buildings or plan complicated orlando vacations after eating this stuff! And it fills me up quickly, too, so that I eat less of the starchy stuff.

OK, I’m getting ahead of myself. If you have not yet met edamame, let me introduce you. It’s a soybean. GET BACK HERE! IT’s not THAT BAD, REALLY!! Let me explain.

So it’s a soybean, but it’s a NICE soybean. It’s not pasty or bitter like the “regular” kind of soybean. Edamame is very popular in Asian countries, especially Japan, where the kids actually SNACK on this stuff! It’s extremely nutritious, and has a smooth, mild, slightly nutty flavor. It’s usually shelled and boiled for a few minutes, then eaten plain with salt. I usually eat about 1/4 cup (yes, I am eating it regularly!) a day, before a meal. WOW! I just feel so good after eating them, so healthy. The protein must go straight to my cells, because my energy perks, my thoughts lift, and I am not hungry after eating them.

Here’s the nutritional breakdown of these little green wonders, in 1/2 cup serving sizes:

# 120 calories
# 9 grams fiber
# 2.5 grams fat
# 1.5 grams polyunsaturated fat (0.3 grams plant omega-3 fatty acids)
# 0.5 gram monounsaturated fat
# 11 grams protein
# 13 grams carbohydrate
# 15 mg sodium
# 10% of the Daily Value for vitamin C
# 10% Daily Value for iron
# 8% Daily Value for vitamin A
# 4% Daily Value for calcium

It’s becoming more popular in the United States because it is so nutritional. Health benefits are said to be to lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar (so it is promoted to diabetics), and help fight off cancerous cells.

I like it best plain.I’ve had it heated and eaten with dinner (potatoes, brussels sprouts, etc), but I actually prefer it as finger food, cold. After boiling and cooling, I sprinkle a little salt on it, and eat it with cheese and crackers, or a light snack. They are really good! The texture is smooth and the beans are slightly crunchy but not pasty like other legumes can be.

You can also toss the cooked beans into soups or salads, casseroles or stews, anything! It’s best not to overcook, because the bean will lose it’s sweetness and firmness that make it so appealing. I’m hoping this bean catches on as a snack for the American consumer. I so dislike our culture’s emphasis on chips, pretzels, and sodas as snacks. No wonder our society has so many health problems. I love edamame!

« Previous Page