A Good Old Fashioned Celery Soup

What do you do with a bunch of celery? Use it in salad? or as a crunchy snack. However it's winter and that calls for soup. I decided to try an update of my Mom's recipe.

Unfortunately I didn't have it. Mine is a mashup of improvising on a recipe I found on The Daring Gourmet blog. I varied it and add whatever I could remember of the family recipe.
It starts with celery which I had in abundance from making lobster salad with the lobster balls I made last Monday.

I sliced the stalks and the heart into chunks the way my Mom did.

It was sauteed in organic butter (I know I shouldn't have this on a cirrhosis diet. but I felt it would add a rich flavor to the potage)

Half went in, (about  a quarter cup)

A third of a cup of a flour was added to create a roux with the celery. This thickens it. The Daring Gourmet called for a whole onion and garlic to also be sauteed. I nixed these and added a heaping tablespoon of onion powder by McCormick.

I let all this cook down for about ten minutes before adding an entire container of vegetable stock.

This is Acme's Signature line and it's a rich broth. Then it was Almond Coconut milk

And three cups of Almond Breeze's almond coconut blend. 

It was cooked down for another ten minutes as another dash of onion powder was added for more flavor and an extra three teaspoons of flour was added to thicken it. I didn't add salt but freshly ground pepper for more flavoring and bite.

It was a delicious hot bowl. The celery chunks cooked down for still crunchy on the inside , soft on the outside texture. There was also a lovely buttery aftertaste and a smoothness to the soup.

This celery soup, a mashup of recipes, is the perfect dish for a cold February night. Make it for dinner to ward off the chill. It's lovely and green, a reminder of Spring and summer to come.

The Cirrhosis Diet

The liver is one of the most important digestive organs humans have. Yet it can be damaged, thanks to bad eating and that means a special diet. The cirrhosis diet can help and can even prevent liver damage.

I am interested in this because i may have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This is a the onset of cirrhosis and untreated  can lead to liver cancer or liver disease. It can be stopped or slowed down. The liver won't return to normal but the disease won't progress. How did this happen? Eating way too much sugar and fried foods along with an addictive passion to fast foods.I had been diagnosed seven years ago by a doctor who had a very cavalier attitude towards it. I did try to stave it off for years , taking milk thistle which helps every day.I plan on taking it up again and recommend others with CDL chronic liver disease to do the same. Dandelion also helps. Both can be bought at GNC  chain store around the country. I will also be cutting out fried foods  along with ones heavy in salt and sugar. It's no more cookies and candy - which were my downfalls. Soda and fruit juices are definitely out. In fact they cause more liver damage than alcohol. White grains such as refined flour and white rice are also off the table -literally. Potassium rich foods like bananas and cod should be nixed. Potassium contributes to liver disease so avoid other foods such as peas and sweet potatoes too.

What will I be able to eat? Luckily my favorites - cruciferous veggies are on the list. That means I can have them and Brussels sprouts with a small amount of butter. Other veggies include another favorite Brussels sprouts and avocados. Spinach is another must eat green that can help the liver. Have it in a salad  with olive oil and lemon. No vinegar because it's toxic to the organ.Tomatoes are a must eat and and a must drink. Tomato juice makes a great snack, especially if it's jazzed up with turmeric. If you have CLD please add this amazing spice to your spice rack. It can retard the disease thanks to its' anti-inflammatory properties.Ginger is another spice perfect in helping this disease. It, too has anti-inflammatory properties, namely proteins that help in reducing scar tissue. You can also make a ginger tea by slicing up the fresh root and boiling it. Keep in mind that it's also good for stomach aches and colds too. As for drinks it will be coffee, flavored seltzer and green tea. It will be hard to give up fruit juice and soda but this is something I have to do. To be honest in a few months I'll wonder why I even drank them at all.It'll be the same thing for all those bad foods too. I'll look at them and wonder what i saw in eating them.

I do not look forward to this diagnosis.I do look forward to healing myself with good foods and good beverages. Hopefully I can take myself back to what it was.

A Political Hot Dish

Food and politics bring like minded people together. Nothing is more like that than voter house parties that are  popping up all over Iowa.Hot dishes and candidates are becoming part of their diets these days.

Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about this interesting tradition in yesterday's New York Times Food section.It works in one candidate's favor . Amy Klobuchar is well familiar with a variation of this, the Minnesota church gathering and a dish specific to the state - the hot dish. This is a mix of protein, starch and vegetables held together with a creamy sauce baked until it bubbles. It helped conserve meat a century ago during World War One and helped feed families during the Depression. Nowadays it's topped with Tater Tots and/or mixed with rice. Hot dishes offer working parents an inexpensive way to get an easily made  dinner on the table after a long work day. Ms. Klobuchar 's Taconite Tater Tot Hot Dish, named for a rock mined in the Iron Range, located in northeastern Minnesota. Hers is a mix of chicken and ground beef with onion, typical ingredients yet she zings it up with the addition of cheddar jack cheese. Some found it too spicy, others liked it.

It's not the first time hot dish made political news. Disgraced pol, Al Franken created a hot dish competition as a way of uniting the state's congressional delegation. Not surprisingly Senator Klobuchar won. In 2017 an unusual dish won, thanks to Representative  Democrat Colin Peterson. His dish , A Right To Bear Arms had bear (!) meat in it!!!!Representative Betty McCollom, also a Democrat created the Asian inspired Hot Dish A-Hmong Friends that had cabbage and ground beef topped with fried egg roll wrappers. She paid homage to the large Hmong population from China, Laos and Vietnam who made up her district. Controversial Ilhan Omar made a hot dish full of chickpeas , chutney and , of course, Tater Tots. It's called Moga-Hot-Dishu and was inspired by a Minnesota blogger's samosa chaatdish. For something closer to the Midwestern heart there was Republican Jim Haggedorn, Ms Klobuchar's close competition, who created Make'n Bacon Great Again. His hot fish had two pounds of bacon and a pound of sausage mixed with eggs and cheddar. Hot dish can be made fancy as "What's Eating America" host and Senator Klobuchar friend Andrew Zimmer can attest. He has created fancy versions with turkey legs and veloute. He does go back to a more humble recipes of green beans, turkey, beef and Tater Tots.

The Minnesota Hot Dish not only unites families but also Iowa voters too. This hearty dish can help soothe tensions and create long time allies. It's also a good dish to serve on a winter's night too.

A Pop Of Tradition

Everyone is always proud of their heritage, including their culinary one. What better way to celebrate and enlighten the community  than with a restaurant highlighting different recipes and ingredients. It's happening - but with pop up eateries in dining rooms, formal and not so formal across the New York City area.It's a way of getting the flavor out there but without the high operating costs.

Regular contributor Amelia Nierenberg wrote about this growing trend in today's New York Times Food section.Home chefs literally - from all backgrounds are discovering their culinary roots and sharing them for a price. It's a fun way to connect with other of the same background along with introducing others to new dishes and tastes. These are happening in not just dining rooms  but also in dorm rooms and even barns. It's not a new phenomena. They have roots in 20th Century supper clubs, the food trucks where where laborers bought their lunches and homes where civil rights leaders were fed. The Great Recession of 2008 closed many restaurants, leaving their chefs turning to pop ups to remain solvent.This new breed is charging for them, however the pop ups are not money makers. Most advertise on Instagram and and sell tickets on line. The food offered reflect  different heritages. There is Trinidadian and Cambodian, Columbian and African-American cuisines. There is also pop up restaurants  featuring the foods of Congo and Venezuela.

Some chefs such as Leigh-Ann Martin went to Trinidad, not just to escape the New York winters but also reconnect with her Trinidadian culinary history. She also visited other islands such as Grenada and Barbados, bringing their recipes to her Union City, New Jersey apartment.From there she created Table For Four, an $85 dining experience.One dinner was beach side themed, with fruit sellers and even soccer games. On a closer to home theme, Omar Tate creates an American meal with six courses with a nod to Philadelphia where he was raised and North Carolina. There was one dish, chicken croquettes with rose hip jelly which is what black caterers and chefs served to their white clients. For a more exotic fare there is Stephanie Bonnin's Le Tropi in Brooklyn. A trained chef, she recently drew on flavors from Colombian's Pacific Coast. There was shrimp with encocado, a coconut sauce. Cambodian food is made at the pop up Kreung run by mother and daughter Kim Eng Mann and  Chincayriya Un in Rhode Island and the Catskills. Linda A. Sebisaho brings her native Congolese cooking in Linda A.Cooks where there are such dishes as chikwangue, a fermented cassava paste along with sakasaka,a stew made from the cassava leaves that also has catfish and grilled goat.  For those who love Venezuelan cuisine, then book a small table at Mercedes Golip's pop up where you can get ham stuffed bread and tamales.

Pop up restaurants are a great way of introducing your heritage to the community. It brings chefs closer to their past and sets their futures. They also bring good and different cuisines to food lovers all over.

A Pescatarian Life

People are eschewing red meat in large quantities, preferring healthier and more sustainable eating habits.The problem is that they still crave the occasional burger or filet. There can be an alternative - an in between the carnivore and herbivore diets. It's pescatarianism -  a diet heavily relying on fish.

Pescatarian diets may be the best bet for those transitioning from meat eater to plant eater. It's actually more healthful than a vegan or vegetarian diet. It has all the good green stuff  like veggies but also the much needed omega-3 fatty acids that come from salmon, mackerel, herring, and fresh tuna. Adding more fish means lower risks of heart attacks, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Keep in mind that a pescatarian does have some risks.You will have to either take iron supplements or increase your intake of spinach and broccoli, veggies high in iron. Also consider eating more low sugar cereals which are also fortified with it.Another risk that may concern some is the threat of mercury. It's damaging to the central nervous system so eat no more than four helpings of oily fish a week. Stay away from swordfish and marlin because they contain the highest levels of the substance. Luckily tuna and shrimp have the lowest. As for shellfish, yes pescatarians can have all the "good" seafood like crab, shrimp and lobster. These are usually served with just lemon or cocktail sauce for dairy adverse eaters. Also another thing to keep in mind is that a fish only diet can be expensive, especially if you live a ways inland.

What dishes can pescatarians try? Grilled salmon is always delicious and there are so many different recipes out there. Try it pan fried with just salt and pepper or a squeeze of lemon. You could also add some grated ginger, sliced scallions and soy sauce. This would be a great dinner with rice and shredded cabbage salad. Salmon is also a great sheet pan ingredient. It's good roasted with asparagus and fingerling potatoes. Try it with peppers, tomatoes and eggplant in a kind of ratatouille base.Cod is another fish that's versatile and can be made a variety of different ways. Many love it battered and deep fried but you can also make it healthier with air frying. It just has to be well seasoned, namely with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Just spray the fillets with olive oil for moistness and to get them crisp without battering.. Of course pescatarians can treat themselves to the lush seafood - the crustaceans. Lobster fra diablo is a delicious treat and perfect for a holiday meal. It's a spicy blend of the lobster meat, fennel, garlic and red pepper flakes blended with tomatoes and tomato paste. It's served over spaghetti or angel hair pasta. Another luxe dinner is shrimp scampi. This garlic rich dish is usually made with butter but there are plant based butters, especially Miyokos' (sold at Target) that you can use to cook the shrimp.

A pescatarian life can be a good one. You may be giving up one type of protein but eating another. It's a healthy and delicious transition from meat eating to a kind of vegetarianism.

Lobster Balls Finally

The lobster balls I had planned to make for Christmas Eve finally got cooked today.

They had been in the freezer for six weeks (they came a week before the holiday). I had to steam defrost them in the microwave for six minutes before cooking them in the air fryer.

It was adding water to them and then putting a paper towel over them to steam them.

Afterwards it was then creating a sauce to match the Priano  garlic flavored risotto I bought at Aldi's

These were a quick cook of about fifteen minutes.

The lobster balls were a bit more elaborate. I flavored them in a bath of olive oil, and this trio

,garlic salt, onion powder and dried oregano.

The hard part comes next.  Setting a time and temp on the air crisper. The recipes for tofu balls really didn't help. There were literally none for lobster tofu balls. I set it for 350 degrees.

Setting at 400 might have been too much.  As for the time. first it was eight minutes, checking it 

then another ten minutes.

This was the final product.

I thought the balls would be crispy and brown. They did have a crispy exterior but a soft lobster like interior. The flavorings I added were subtle and the balls worked with the risotto. It would have been the perfect Christmas Eve, or New Year's Eve dinner.  The lobster and the rice were the perfect pairing. There are a lot of leftover lobster balls (and risotto) but I'm chilling these and turning them into a tasty cold salad for tomorrow's dinner.

I may decide to make the lobster and rice for a non traditional Easter dinner. They're really an elegant duo and balance each other. I will be buying the lobster balls again from Vegan Essentials for other dishes too.

A Summer Cake In Winter

Everyone craves summery flavors in the winter. It's no difference with desserts. There's always a craving for something light in a season full of heavy flavors and weighty ingredients. For a friend's birthday I thought I'd go mid summer in the middle of mid winter.

It starts with a light cake. I used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist. I liked their Perfectly Moist chocolate cake so much I tried their classic white. What I didn't know that it was an angel food cake that only used egg whites.

The yolks will be used in a ham scramble tomorrow. The result is a light  fluffy angel food cake.

The icing should be just as light and fluffy. I went to my favorite frosting go to site, Two Sisters Crafting. They have a wide variety of different buttercream recipes from vanilla to peanut butter. I love their peppermint one however that's better with a chocolate cake. I decided to try their lemon one, light and summery with this cake.

It is a labor intensive one though. It's made with only three ingredients

Here are two

  

I used Acme's Organic butter and their lemons. The recipe called for a 1/4 cup of lemon juice which is about the juice of one lemon.

Keep in mind that the seeds have to be sieved out.

Then five cups of confectioner's sugar is added. Only do one cup at a time, then mix, one cup then mix.

To add to the zinginess the sisters also add a teaspoon of lemon zest. This required using the two lemons.

The finished frosting spread on very thickly which is perfect for a buttercream.  I plan on using this one for the frosting on my Easter lambs.

                                           It also holds candles well too. As for the flavors, the tart lemon drop flavor works well with the airy angel food cake taste. It really was the perfect marriage of frosting and cake.

There's nothing like a taste of midsummer in midwinter. This cake is the perfect solution to those wanting a lemony light flavor to remind them of summer picnics and tea parties.Make it and be instantly transported to warm sunny days.