Healthy Fast Food Part One

In reality, fast food is probably the most healthy kind since when we cook quickly, we tend not to overcook and destroy nutrients.

The fast food found at your local burger joint has nothing to do with the kind of fast food I'm describing.

Tonight, I found myself alone with a small head of bok choy, an onion, and a few broccoli heads. A scavenging trip to the freezer revealed a tiny bag of lean steak that we had cut up and frozen "for stirfry".

Yes!

I browned the meat first in sesame oil with a chopped garlic clove and the onion. This was set aside for a few minutes.

I whacked up the veggies. Since it was dinner for one ... me, I left the pieces nice and big ... none of this dainty bite size nonsense for FC.

Once the veggies had been around the wok a few times, I added the meat back in. This was all tossed around together and then a half cup of sauce that consisted of Teriyaki sauce, tabasco, vinegar,wine, and a little cornstarch went in.

At that point, the heat is turned off and everything gets folded and flipflopped until it's all coated with the thickened sauce glaze.



Then you eat it.

Prep time under 30 minutes.

Cajun Pasta With Stir-fried Fresh Green Beans

It was one of those nights where I needed something good, fast, and fresh. I had arrived home first (as usual) and it was, therefore, my job to make supper happen.

The fridge was looking pretty bare ... the freezer even worse.
There was an almost empty bag of frozen chicken breasts, ... but not enough for my crew. Three breast quarters was close, but a little skimpy for 4 people, one of whom would be arriving after 4 hours of football practice in the August sun.
He could eat 3 of those quarters without pausing to breathe.

Frustrated, but vowing NOT to run into town ... 20 mile round trip, ... I pressed on. Down in the bottom of the freezer were 2 lonely Cajun Boudin Sausage links.

NOW I had a plan.

I browned the cut up chicken and sausage in some EVO and seasoned it with a Cajun blackening mix plus some Tony CaChere seasoning. After it was nicely browned, I tossed in some chopped garlic and splashed some wine into the pan to bring the goodie off the pan bottom and make a sauce.

A dollop of lite sour cream went in next, followed by a can of chicken broth.

In the meantime, I had boiled some rotini and this was dumped into the cast iron pan with the chicken-sausage mixture and stirred around to thoroughly coat it all.
At this point, the heat was turned way down and the mixture rested.

While the pasta dish was resting, I took these beautiful fresh green beans snapped off the stems and stir-fried them in a little sesame oil. I let a few sit to get some searing and when they were almost done, I added a little Teriyaki sauce and whisked them all around in it.

They came off the heat at that point and it was eatin' time.

It all vanished pretty fast so I would say the verdict was a thumbs up.

A Pot Of Texas Red

Here's the recipe.
Kitchen stained and faded ... typed on a real Smith Corona typewriter in the early '80's.

And here's the chili ...





I have had this recipe for real, Texas Red chili since the early '80's. I don't remember now if I found it in the newspaper or a magazine like Southern Living, but I do remember that it had won the Texas State Chili Cook Off the year before.


I fell in love with it the first time I made it. It was so different from the home-made chili I grew up with. That was very tasty, but so different as to almost be a separate dish, ... which it is I guess.





Duh.


In reality, there are beaucoup types of chili out there, but at the time I came across this recipe as a new college graduate, I had never entertained the idea that chili could wear so many different faces.

I was chili ignorant to be sure.


Looking back, I should have known there were other chili tribes , since I grew up eating both Mom's thin broth chili and the thick and spicy Key's Chili from Key's Chili Parlor in downtown Jacksonville.

The tasty chili Mom made with hamburger meat and kidney beans,was soupier ... no where near as thick as this Texas stuff with it's stew beef chunks and no beans.

No beans ... ahem ...

Well, that's where the Texans and I differ. I like a few in my chili, but never, ever kidney beans. I always use pintos, and not too many ... I want to hit a few once in awhile, but this is NOT a pot of beans.

It's chili.

Give this recipe a whirl and see if you agree.

Brownie Pillows

We made these "Brownie Pillows" the day the Southern Living Magazine arrived with the recipe on the throw-a-way cover.

They were delicious!

I posted about them on my primary blog, Pure Florida, but I saved the recipe for Pure Florida Food.

Of course, after you eat a cookie this big with a brownie stuffed inside it, you are gonna be too lazy to type up the recipe, so I just photographed it.

Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup and Greens

Simple Fair.

Microwave Corn On The Cob

So, I'm sure I'm the last one on the planet to realize this, but you can microwave corn on the cob in the husk and it's very good.

I had a hamburger ready to eat ( mustard, pickle, and onion) when I remembered the ears of corn in the fridge. No time to boil water, so I turned to the microwave oven.

I snapped off the long stalk end, snipped off the silk and scraggily leaves and tossed an ear in for an experimental 3 minutes and it came out amazing.

Of course that may be because it was Pure Florida corn from Zellwood.

Chicken Pilau Recipe

This is real Minorcan style St. Augustine chicken pilau from a real St. Augustine Minorcan ...


me.

Blueberry Man Cake

Cake so simple, a man can make it.

Balance?

Confession: I love a good hot dog.

The best one I ever had was in Seattle at a bayside stand called Frankfurters back in 1982. I'm not sure if it was the cool Pacific mist, my cute traveling companion, the actual cooking method, or a combination of the three, but that was the tastiest hot dog ever.

These days I limit hot dogs to rare treats. I'm a sucker for the hot dogs at Sam's and have been known to schedule a shopping trip there to coincide with lunch time.

That said, I probably eat no more than 10 hotdogs in a year's time.

Self discipline.

When I do enjoy one at home, I try and balance out the plate with some healthy goodies to counteract all the negative aspects of a tube steak.

It may or may not equal out, but I do enjoy the hot dog more.

Cooking Collards

Collard greens have to be one of the healthiest foods we eat.

From the University Of Illinois:
"Collards are fibrous, tough, mild-flavored greens that require long cooking. Hiding under the green chlorophyll pigment is an excellent source of beta carotene and some vitamin C and calcium. The darker the leaf the more beta carotene provided. Like broccoli and cabbage, the antioxidants and phytochemicals in collards may help to reduce the risk of some forms of cancer and heart disease. Collards contain very small amounts of fat and sodium. "
Nutrition Facts (1/2 cup cooked collard greens)
Calories 56

Protein 1 gram

Dietary fiber 2.9 grams

Carbohydrates 2.5 mg

Calcium 74 mg

Vitamin A 2,109 IU

Vitamin C 9 mg

They are also one of the easiest side dishes to make requiring little more than the ability to boil water. The basic process for cooking collard greens is to wash the greens carefully, removing all traces of dirt and sand. Tear the greens into bite size pieces. In a large pot, bring a small amount of water to boil. The amount of water depends on the amount of greens you want to cook, but generally, use as little as you can get away with.

In Florida and the rest of the south, we like to season almost everything with bacon or salt pork, especially greens. Having grown up in that tradition, collards just don't taste right to me unless they've been seasoned with some kind of cured pork. These days, I use the leanest ham I can find so that I still get that good smoky ham flavor, but without all the fat of good ol'fashioned bacon.

If you're using ham or bacon, you should cook it a little before adding the water, and then follow that with the greens. Salt and pepper to taste.

Collards are very fibrous and need to cook just long enough to become tender. This only takes 15- 20 minutes, but in my opinion, they'll taste even better if they get a chance to sit and soak in the "pot likker" for a while, so start them early.

Collards ... what could be easier, or better for you?