Very Very Peri-Peri

One of the hottest food trends right now is peri-peri chicken. This spicy mix, originating in Brazil is taking over the world.Now America has fallen in love with this fiery flavor, thanks to Nando. Unfortunately this chain restaurant is only in the Washington D.C. and Chicago areas. Luckily I can get the sauce and their spice infused mayo and have my own peri-peri experience.

For those not familiar with the flavor, stick with the medium. What I love about it is the vinegar tang at the end. The ingredients that Nando's uses is Peri-Peri or African bird's eye chili from Mozambique. It's blended with onion, lemon, garlic, oil and salt.

 The hot is also an eye opener. I would suggest trying the garlic on a variety of meat - not just chicken. Zing up hamburgers and veggie burgers as Nando's does. I liked the medium hot as a dip for my nuggets, but it was also good bringing interest to an updated Piedmontese rice salad.

This was a veggie mix of cauliflower and broccoli rice blended with vegan mayo, carrots and peas. It was tasty but needed a bit of fire. Just a very small portion (half a teaspoon) did it. The fire and tang brought out the flavors and gave this traditional salad a much needed kick.

If you don't have a Nando's by you, go out and buy one of their sauces.The sauces will give fire and fun to any food. Try them for a different , delicious spin.

Summer Stock Up

No one ever really thinks as the summer as a time to stock up. It's mostly the season for fresh fruit and vegetables it does pay to stock up now that  we're heading into hurricane season and tornadoes are making unlikely appearances on the East Coast. Every home should have some kind of kitchen  food emergency kit.

Usually during bad storms, areas are evacuated and families are relocated to school gyms and even hotels and motels unaffected by the weather. However there are a few hardy sorts that refuse to leave, heading to their basements. Either that or they return home a day or two after evacuations. Unfortunately there's usually no water, gas or electricity. One of the most important items to have is water - lots of it. Try to get two or three twenty-four or thirty-two packs of bottled water. (Just be careful. Some grocery stores do impose limits on how much you can buy).You can also purchase the gallon containers of water too.  Remember to also include a few bottles for pets too and for bathing if the situation is dire. Other liquids to have are baby formula and milk for the older kids. Buy juice boxes as well, for something to have with meals. What about coffee and tea? Could you use your grill to heat up water for them? If you have the gas and the charcoal, yes. They may be the fortification you'll need to deal with damage assessment and clean up.

As for other foods, think canned or dried. Canned beans can be eaten straight out of the can. Mix them together for the ultimate protein boost. You can also do the same for canned veggies too. Keep in mind that canned tomatoes are the most healthiest. Green beans and corn are also right up there. If you're still craving protein, then eat tinned  tuna and salmon along with mackerel. Tuna is versatile so it can be turned into a salad with tomatoes and green beans. You can also crumble crackers on it to make it more filling. Beef jerky is another recommended meat while you're waiting for power to come on again. One of the best is Krave because it's branched out into pork and turkey along with having such flavors as chili lime and cracked peppercorn. Peanut butter is another must have. Spread it on crackers if bread is heard to come by. Any baked goods may be hard to come by during this time. Stick with crackers such as Ritz or Saltines and use that instead of bread. As for breakfasts granola bars and trail mix can work until you're able to get milk for cereal (although you can just eat it dry, washed down  with water).

This is the time to stock up. Summer weather is just as unpredictable as the rest of the year. Be prepared and food ready when  hurricanes and tornadoes make a warm weather visit.

The Crock Pot In Summer

Should you employ cold weather cooking methods and techniques during the dogs days of summer?In most instances the answer would be no. However there is the crock pot. It actually is a blessing during these steamy days.

I discovered this over the weekend when I  used mine to make homemade sauce. I don't create elaborate sauces when the temps rise. Salsa crudo, made with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil is more apt for a summer meal of spaghetti or penne. Yet it does make sense to use a crock pot during the hottest times of the year. There's no standing by a hot stove , stirring sauce in an even hotter pot. It's just adding the ingredients and adjusting the temps for a long or short cook. it was perfect. it was just check every hour with a quick stir and taste and then go on to other things. The sauce was perfect and a nice treat after  jarred sauces on pasta. Can you make other summer time recipes in a crock pot or even an Insta Pot? Yes ! The one recipe I'd love to try is ratatouille. This can be made either on a stove top or even baked in an oven. I've had both and they're both delicious. A crock pot version. Now , that's intriguing. It's all about the layering, as it is with the oven kind.There are the same ingredients except with the puzzling addition of sugar. I would just add honey, as I do with the sauce and chili.

Of course you really can't make hot dogs and burgers in a  crock pot but you can make a chili sauce that would work well with both. It's taking tomato sauce and brown sugar and slow cooking it with vinegar and allspice. There's also the addition of ground beef ( you can make a vegan version for soy dogs. Just use Gardein's soy crumbles) and cayenne to spike it.Remember crock pots are great for making soups. Think a summer one when barbecue becomes tiresome. Add the  bounty of the season such as zucchini, fresh corn,along with fresh tomatoes and bell peppers, onions and eggplant. The base is vegetable stock which can be home made or from those Ox Eye bouillon cubes. Your crock pot can also help with all those tomatoes your garden has been yielding up. Use it to make home made sauce for the fall and winter dinners ahead. Vary it with some fresh picked basil. Also use the tomatoes for fresh made tomato soup. The crock pot is ideal for it. You'll have a perfectly cooked soup while you sit in the sun with a cool drink.

Use your crock pot during these hot days. It provides hot meals while letting you enjoy a few laps in the pool or an afternoon sunning. This is the way summer cooking should be  no sweat literally.

A Beautifully Curated Cookbook

Once in a great while a beautifully crafted cookbook gets published.Rustic ,Joyful Food: My Heart's Table (Sourcebooks Publishing 2019) is one of those books. It is chock full of good recipes and stunning photographs of the various dishes. It may have humble and homey recipes but it is really a shining gem every home chef should have in their library.

The chef behind the book is Danielle Kartes,a food stylist and  former restaurant owner created this beautifully written and photographed book. It would make a lovely hostess gift, especially for home chefs who enjoy cooking and collecting cookbook. The photographs are stylish and are true pieces of art, bringing to mind the works of Rembrandt and Monet. Of course there are the usual introductory chapter on pantry staples which is a great boon for new home chefs, starting out on their own. Chef Kartes calls them building block and they are the basics that should be in every kitchen. Another plus is at the end of the book where there is a section for simple basic like simple syrup and fresh whipped cream. I like this chapter because the recipes can be used in other recipes in the books or my own. She has a sun dried tomato pesto one, perfect on slices of toasted Italian bread. There are several easy vinaigrette recipes such as the refreshing strawberry basil one and the sweetly zesty signature citrus dressing. Her from scratch salted toffee sauce would be great layer in  homemade ice cream cake or poured over a slice of homemade butter pound cake. The other chapters are divided in appetizers, main courses, soups and sides and ends with sweets.

The recipes are down to earth , with no fancy ingredients that require trips to fancy specialty shops.Some of the appetizers listed can be used for the main course.One is a rosemary and bacon flatbread that takes store bought flat bread topped with bacon and mozzarella.There is also a how to on assembling a cheeseboard, incorporating both sweet and savory components. Chef Kartes also includes popular hot dips such as a creamy artichoke and spinach one and pico de gallo. The soup section has the classic tomato soup, the perfect lunch or dinner on both hot and cold days.Another highlight is her French onion topped off with a mix of Havarti and Parmesan cheeses. The main dishes are pure comfort foods.A good dish , especially on a cool rainy summer day, is the classic chili with grass fed beef and tomatillos. Serve it with her garlic and cheddar cornbread.Quiche lovers will enjoy the caramelized leek and bacon tart, rich with twelve (!) eggs. For sides there is the parchment  paper vegetables and  brown butter carrots. The sweets section features such treats as homemade graham crackers and the unique chocolate white chocolate chip cookies. She even includes  popsicle and almond bark recipes too. I love that she includes a chapter on drinks There are boozy ice cream floats along with healthy blackberry mint water.

Rustic Joyful Food - My Heart's Table is an absolute gem of a cookbook. Buy this book, not only for the mouth watering recipes but for the beautifully curated pictures.  They are true artistry , food not only for the body but for the soul as well.

The Eat Live Thrive Diet

It is a Herculean task  once we hit a certain age . Women, especially,  have a tough time once they hit their forties and fifties. Don't despair. There is a new diet and lifestyle that help with nutrition going to the body and the soul. It's time to get on the eat,live thrive diet.

Danna Demetre and Robyn Thomson wrote about it in their new book Eat Live Thrive Diet : A Lifestyle Plan to Rev Up Your Midlife Metabolism (Waterbrook Publishing 2019). Once a woman hits menopause, it's incredibly hard to lose weight. She also gives up. This book offers a solution in which she'll not only feel better physically but also spiritually.  The authors have gone through the diet and philosophy themselves. Ms. Demetre is in her mid-sixites while Ms. Thomson is a decade younger. Both have had backgrounds in mentoring and as coaches . They know what works. There are chapters devoted to the three kinds of diets women, along with men can try. What is interesting is how they show going about to find out the diet that works for an individual. It's sort of like an allergy test, with all sorts of foods being tasted and tested. The reaction is recorded and that food is eliminated. Then there are three diets or levels a reader can go on.  Level One is just ridding oneself of all sugars and grains. Level Two is much more intense with even potatoes and beans. Level Three is even more strict. Both Ms. Demetre and Ms. Thomson take it one step further with body brushing, where you brush your body with a hair brush to stimulate your blood flow and eliminate toxins. Level Three also requires participants to practice box breathing as well.

This book also has a spiritual side and Bible verses are seen quite often. It will give dieters a better and more positive outlook on their bodies and self image. Another religious facet is fasting which I've tried to do when I read the book. It's a good way of purifying the body and allowing the digestive system to take a break. There is also a chapter on sleep which is vital in losing weight., Again I've tried a few of Ms. Demetre's and Ms Thomson's suggestions for a good, restful night. There is a chapter on exercise, but again this is not a heavy duty regimen. It's tailored to individual and takes into consideration age and body type. Of course this is also a recipe book and there are a variety of different dishes for the different levels.There is even a chapter on salad dressing which they recommend bringing to restaurants.Breakfast recipes are grain free. Most are power smoothies, designed to take you to lunch.There are pumpkin spice pancakes made with coconut flour and sweetened with pure monk fruit extract. The main course  recipes are hearty and can even be served at a dinner party. They all are delicious from the roasted free range chicken with rosemary , chives and garlic to easy baked salmon over spinach. Even the kids will like the turkey taco wraps and slow cook chili. There are treats too, such as sorbets, cakes and cookies, along with muffins that can be easily made.Dieters will appreciate the inclusion of a chocolate truffle and chocolate bliss squares. Even mocktails are including for healthful imbibing.

Eat Live Thrive  Diet: A Lifestyle Plan To Rev Up Your Midlife Metabolism is a definite must have for those wanting to lose weight.The entire program will ensure not only healthy eating but healthy living. Embrace the philosophy for a better life.

True Blue Bouillabaisse

One of the French Riviera 's most defining dishes is bouillabaisse. This thick fish stew defines what the flavor of Mediterranean  cooking is all about - a cornucopia of seafood mingled with a vast garden of herbs and spices. Where to get this amazing dish? Marseille - where cooking and eating the soup like stew originates.

Elaine Sciolino, a sometimes contributor to the New York Times Food section wrote about bouillabaisse in yesterday Food section. she had the lucky chance to enjoy the sun and sand of the area along with finding the perfect bowl.Ms Sciolino may have been the only one craving the dish. Very few Marseillaises eat the famed soup at restaurants. If they do, it's usually at home, from a family recipe.They would rather have either  pizza from food trucks or go to the city's North African restaurants for couscous.It is one of the area's earliest dishes, originating from the Greeks who colonized Marseille in 600 BC.  The recipe stems from kakavia and evolved from a supposed
 dish of the gods (Venus , the Roman goddess of love turned it into a sleeping potion for  her husband , Vulcan, while she dallied with her lover, Mars) . Local fisherman embraced it, adding the plentiful rockfish to the recipe. Their descendants turn up their noses at it. Bouillabaisse , they have discerned , is only for tourists. There's a rumor throughout France that the recipe has gone the way of coq au vin or blanquette de veau, traditional mid 20th Century dishes.Ms . Sciolino admits that finding it was somewhat of a quest.

Even though bouillabaisse has been served since the 18th Century, it is hard to find a restaurant that serves a good one.The port area makes up mediocre ones for tourists while the fancier and known eatery Le Petit Nice, creates a deconstructed  one, thanks to its' famed chef Gerald Passedat. Ms. Sciolino headed to the small resort community Carry-le-Rouet twenty miles northwest of Vieux Port. Since it requires expensive ingredients and is difficult to make you have to order it two days in advance. The chef,  Christophe Thullier prepared his the classic way. His stock was from tiny and gutted rockfish along with tomatoes, fennel, a mix of spices, olive oil and water. It's boiled for twenty minutes until it's thickened and then strained through a sieve. At the same time five types of rockfish is marinated for five hours in a blend of white wine,  and olive oil. Thyme, rosemary, saffron, paprika are added along with a  lot of garlic and more saffron.The fish is thrown into the broth at the last minute. The broth , however was served first , with slices of crusty and toasted French bread. The fish is served secondly and mixed with the broth. The soup is opaque and gritty, with the fish settling at the bowl's bottom.Still, it's worth the trip. Can it be made at home? Yes, but it may not be same as what's made in the south of France.

If you want to get the real bouillabaisse, then head to Marseille. It is worth the trip,not just for that, but the other recipes Provence has  to offer. The lure is strong , like the aroma of a good soup.

A Vegan Approach To Butchery

A vegan surrounded by meat? Sounds strange yet that's what's happening with a new generation of butchers. Vegans know more about the meat industries and its' many cruelties, then any old school meat man or woman. They can actually bring a kinder, gentler approach to how meat is.

Melissa Clark,who writes A Good Appetite column in the Wednesday New York Times food section , wrote about vegan or ethical butchers in today's food section. They want to revolutionize the current US food system. Their shops sell meat from animals bred on grassland and pasture, with an emphasis on animal well being, environmental conservation and less wasteful  whole animal butchery. This is a complete turn around from the industrial like factory farming. It has constantly been criticized for its' overuse of antibiotics,, waste and inhumane treatment of animals. The outcry has been strong, however, and some butchers are changing their practices. Yet, it is not enough, according to the more ethical ones.The system needs to be re-evaluated and redesigned.How did it all start?Namely with Michael Pollan, the writer (and brother  and son of Tracy and Corky Pollan). His  2002 article in the New York Times magazine exposed the abuse of factory farmed beef cattle and his subsequent 2006 book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.

One question the book raised was can a person kill an animal for food. This struck a chord with many people, including vegans and vegetarians. They had wanted to change the horrible factory farming system. For one ethical butcher, Janice Schindler, the introduction to her new profession was a live  Thanksgiving turkey at a "Kill Your Own Turkey Dinner "event at a local farm.  The "process" started with putting it in a poultry cone, a roll of metal or sturdy plastic that looking like a giant decorating nozzle. The position relaxes the animal, allowing the butcher to cut the an artery. It stuns and then they bleed. She then spent the day at the eviscerating table. Many vegan butchers that Ms Clark interviewed had similar epiphanies. That this form of butchery is not as  "gruesome" and can help the planet.It regenerates large swaths of grassland, although not all studies show improved carbon sequestration on the land. Two other problems are vitriol from fellow vegans and the price of ethical meat is considerably pricey.What's recommended is on the last , don't buy that much  of it and eat more plant based foods.

Ethical butchery may replace the mass produced inhumane way of cutting meat. Will it help the planet? Possibly? Will it make consumers more aware of what's a better way of buying chicken and beef? Absolutely.