Sick Day Cuisine

This is the time of year when we're laid low by some cruddy little bug.It not only means feeling lousy but also not feeling hungry.Worst yet, everyone tells us we should be filling up on just soup and crackers.While this is indeed, good advice ,it's also means a boring cuisine.Luckily there are other alternatives that are just as light, yet filling. One of the best staples to have, not only when you're sick ,but year round is plain white or brown rice.It's easy to fix and substantial to eat.To give it more flavor,toss in a cube of any kind of bouillon.It sort of makes it like an instant risotto.For more taste melt a tablespoon or two of butter over it and vigorously blend in.Mashed potatoes can also be used as a transition food as you're feeling better.Again have bowl of it with butter blended in or, if you're feeling more peckish, added warmed roast beef or turkey gravy over it.Dry sandwiches are a great way of getting your stomach back into it's normal routine.Think turkey or chicken breast on dry toast.If you do want something to moisten it , stick with butter spread on the bread.Mayo and other condiments may be too harsh yet. Wanting snacks is a sure sign you're feeling better.Again ,as with meals go slow.Don't jump into anything too wild.Popcorn may look bland however it could irritate your stomach.Stick with crackers such as Saltines and have them with either butter or jelly for a sweeter snack.Pretzels are also good.They're not fried and there's nothing greasy or intense about their flavor. If you want sweet and natural, try sliced bananas ,although if you have a cold then think citrus.Nothing soothes a sore throat better than chilled orange slices. Plain cookies like shortbreads or plain wafers are another good treat.If you really crave cake, stick with a plain slice of poundcake, as opposed to one laden with overly rich frosting The same goes for cupcakes and icing heavy cookies.Stay away from frothy lattes too.Stick with a simple hot cocoa or herbal tea with honey if you want a hot drink. Feeling sick is nasty.Feeling sick and hungry even worse.Yet it's a good sign you're feeling better.Eat foods that won't bother your stomach and give it some variety.

Quick Hearty Meals

After a hard ,busy day it's difficult to come up with a satisfying and nutritious meal.Sometimes you just have to cheat.What can be done is a mix of convenience and quick thinking along with quick cooking.A hearty dinner can be made and in just minutes. One of the best food stuffs to have in your kitchen is a chunky kind of soup.Both Campbell's and Progresso have these in a variety of different flavors.There's everything from Manhattan clam to pot roast to pasta e fragile and chicken dumplings.What you can do to add to these is put a cup of cooked rice or even orzo at the bottom of the soup bowl.Another idea is to serve a veggie rich salad with the soup .Add broccoli, peppers along with sliced onions and grape tomatoes .Finish with hot crusty rolls or a toasted baguette and it's a hot meal.Another idea is a quick chili using only chop meat , onion, tomato sauce and a dash of chili powder. cook and serve over polenta.Speaking of polenta, you can easily cook that up and mix in both Fontina cheese and butter.If you can't find Fontina then think about using Parmesan instead. A hot sandwich is both filling and easy to make.One of the simplest and the best is grilled cheese.You can use thick slabs of challah with a sharp cheddar.This can be turned into that diner classic,the happy waitress.Add thick,chunky slices of tomatoes along with bacon before you add the cheese.A croque monsieur , the French bistro variation, is another quick dinner that's both tasty and satisfying. Usually made with one slice of ham , you can layer it on thick for a heartier version. Those standards, hot roast beef and hot turkey are easy to make up, especially when you get the meat sliced at your grocery's deli counter.Use jarred gravy and put it all on Kaiser rolls.Serve with a side of canned veggies ,like green beans or succotash. It is hard to come with both a quick and nutritious meal.Cheat a little.Use ingredients that are already prepared and mix them with easy to make sides or bases.It's give you a dinner that's both healthy and hearty.

Wacky Foods Wanna BIte?

If you think your love of ketchup and peanut butter sandwiches is a bit off , think again. There are some pretty wild and bizarre foods out there that could make you either cringe or be curious .It's amazing what some people around the world eat. Then again our Twinkies and Cheetohs may seem strange to some too.

One of the oddest I've seen is the loofahs on display at Stop & Shop. Westerners use it for a skin slougher ,while some Chinese use it as a vital ingredient in meals. It essentially is a kind of zucchini when it's green (it becomes an exfoliant when it's dried out) and made into a garlicky stir fry.Another Asian plant ,the durian is eaten despite its' disgusting smell.It can either be compared to rotting flesh or dirty socks. Most hotels have banned it from its' kitchens because of the horrendous odor, yet it's popular in home cooking. Even worse is casu marzu from southern Italy. Translated it;'s means rotting cheese  and it;s crawling with live fly larvae.These little suckers give the cheese its' unique taste and it is an acquired one.

Many think rattle snake meat is right up there with wacky foods. Yet it could possibly be the tamest compared to what's on plates around the world. Norwegians love their lutefisk, a strange concoction of lye(!!!) and cod. We have the Vikings to thank for the  fish soaked in a combination of rainwater and birch ash.It's then reconstituted with a week of several soakings until it's safe to eat again. Lutefisk is usually a Christmas treat but there are lutefisk festivals here in the US as well. Hopefully there are no escamoles festivals in Mexico , celebrating - what else- ant caviar. Yup, they look like cannelini beans but are in fact giant black ant eggs.They have consistency of cottage cheese and supposedly have a nice buttery flavor.

No matter where you go in the world, there's bound to be some wacky food. One foodie's lutefisk is another 's casu marzu. Some are cringe worthy to us. Some have that special yum factor no matter how gross they are to other people around the world..

Add A Class Of Spice

Everyone suffers from some type of mid winter blahs.Even our cooking suffers.Maybe it's time to liven things up with cooking classes.It's a great way of improving or learning a new technique along with meeting new people.Best of all most classes welcome groups of families and friends. As with anything nowadays the best way of finding a class or school is to search the Internet.Surprisingly you don't have to live in a big city like New York or Chicago or LA, to take interesting classes and work with master chefs.Many small towns actually have some very good schools.Also local colleges sometimes have a culinary division too.If you feel a four or six week course may be too intense or time consuming then sign up for a one night, two hour course.Part of the curriculum may have a friend's night where you go with your friends and learn how to make fun dishes like chili or spaghetti.After wine or Corona is brought out and everyone shares their creations with old friends and new cooking chums.Also some classes are kid friendly and it's a great way to let your Tweens try great recipes or just have fun. Once you've picked out the school, look through the classes offered.If you've always want to make meringues and vole vents, then definitely sign up for the pastry courses.Not only will you learn how to create the perfect Chou dough but you'll be shown the various creams and ganaches for fillings along with learning how to glaze and blow torch.Many schools offer classes in tools too.One such school has special courses in just knives and how to usevthem.This is a valuable course and can not only improve your prep skills but also ensures an accident free kitchen in the future.Of course many home chefs just takes courses to get a chance to learn new cuisines as well.This is here you can learn the art of French cooking or the intricate cooking styles of Asian cuisine.The best part of taking a foreign cuisine class?The food.You can end the hour with steak au poivre or wontons.Depending on different class requirements, you may have to supply your own apron ,oven mitts, whisks and/or rolling pins. S Sometimes the best way to beat the winter doldrums is taking a fun and exciting cooking class.It's not only a great way to shake off the blues but to improve your culinary skills.Not only that, you'll learn valuable lessons.

Stews With Veggie Boost

Chilly days call for stews. Yet many would forgo this perfect dish despite the fact that it is both warming and nutritious.Why? Because it's usually weighed down by over cooked ,well stewed meat .There is a solution.Let the veggies used shine.It creates a better and healthier version. Mark Bittman of The New York Times Dining section wrote about this in his Flexitarian column yesterday. Although not quite a vegetarian dish , the amount of meat used is greatly reduced. It makes for a better dinner with a fresher , less fattier flavor.Another plus is that semi meatless stews are also less expensive to make.You can also match the amount of meat with beans which are another good source of protein.Also to make up for the flavor think about adding more herbs and spices too.They'll add zing to another usually bland or sometimes tasteless stew.If you still want either a chicken or beefy flavor, then create the base with bouillon cubes and water. Mr. Bittman offers up three good and completely different recipes. There's a gingery chicken stew where the star is - is, what else, Ginger.He uses one chicken thigh per person, really enough for a dinner along with radishes, and golden winter squash for color.There is also lime and soy added,creating enough of a flavor burst that eclipses the lack of any more chicken.Ribollita is another vegetable heavy melange.Traditional ones require prosciutto and you can add it if you want, however try it with cannelloni beans along with kale for both vitamins and proteins.Mr.Bittman throws in a fish stew , but it's not a seafood heavy bouillabaisse.His requires only equal amounts of squid and shrimp with a few anchovy filets thrown in for brine.Yet these aren't the stars though.It's the chickpeas ,spinach and tomato that are the heavy hitters.Olives are also added for more body and flavor. Make a meat light stew for a new take on an old classic.It's a great way of livening up a usually blaNd dish.Let the veggies shine here , and so will the meal.

Norwegian Wood

Scandanavian cuisine has always taken some getting used to as well as some ribbing over the years.Yet this ancient way of cooking and spicing is taken on a new form.Call it Nouveau Nordic .It's creating a stir in New York and getting palates excited again for this northernmost of European foods. Jeff Gordonier explored this as well as experimented with it in his column in today's New York Times Dining section.New Nordic, as it's known, has been around since the early part of this century.It sparked with the famed Marcus Samuelsson bringing a fusion of Ethiopean and Swedish cuisine to Harlem. Rene Redzepi came out of Denmark, bursting with new spins and old ideas such as curing ,foraging pickling and plating. Now, more than a handful of chefs from all over the Scandanavian arc are opening up restaurants throughout the city and its' boroughs.Most eateries are relying on the strong flavors of sea and land.As with Viking cuisine of a millennia ago, the flavors center around twigs, berries,roots, weeds, bark ,hay, grass along with kelp, fish soil and a kind of barrel fermented funk. That said , these add to the dishes ,making them customer favorites. What are these imported chefs creating? At Brooklyn based Luksus,Daniel Burns (who is really not Scandanavian,and has also cut his culinary teeth at The Fat Pig in London,England) gives us aebleskiver, a fritter made with duck confit and mushroom.Another chef, Swedish born Fredrik Berselius relied on his upbringing of foraging to influence his style.His most famous dish is a milk sorbet ,with a forest medley of spruce, yarrow and wild berries. another popular dish, known and loved by all Scandanavians is blood pudding.This is a sausage made with dried blood and filler, such rye and oats and then flavored with onions and molasses.It's a hard sell be cause it's not as popular here as it is in most of Europe.Skal offers a more friendlier charred broccoli, easily made at home too.This is breaded florets ,charred and then brushed with aoili sauce. NouvelleNordic is gaining its fair share of foodie fans.It is reflects the old with new ideas.Together it brings a new form of Scandanavian cuisine to New York Palates.

Dr. Bialik's Vegan Diet

Turning vegan is not always easy.For one thing some of our favorite foods are made with meat, dairy and eggs.Another headache is that sometimes it just isn't flavorful or appealing.Luckily Dr. Mayim Bialik has come out with a new cookbook with a huge variety of all sorts of vegan dishes and advice. This is a great book( and I'm not writing this because I'm a huge Big Bang Theory fan and love her character Amy Farrah Fowler). .What really stands out is the advice given by Dr.Bialik and her coauthor ,Dr.Jay Gordon. I like what Dr. Gordon has to say about going from cow's to soy ,almond or rice milk. add it to regular milk until you develop a taste for it.Other good points are breakdowns of dairy and eggs and why we should never eat them.Luckily the recipes have good sub INS . The cookbook also has an excellent list of what ingredients , and tools to have. having these makes for an easier transition into vegan cooking. It is published by Da Capo Press and can be bought on Amazon. Dr Bialik breaks the recipes down into different sections,from breakfast to sides to main meals.She also has a section on breads ,unusual for a vegan cookbook.She also has classic dishes like a true dairy less baked Mac and cheese made with Daiya cheese and even pasta salads.I am definitely trying her Thai pasta which reminds me of a lo mien along with dilled chick pea burger.The book also has my favorite snacks ,kale and Brussels sprout chips .These are super easy to make and are perfect for novices .Dr Bialik includes desserts too and these are great.There are cookies from oatmeal to a dense chocolate kind along with a have to make chocolate peanut butter pie.Dr. Bialik also includes recipes reflecting her Eastern European Jewish background with latkes and tzimmes. Veganism is not an easy lifestyle , especially after a lifetime of eating bad.The first step towards it is buying Dr ?Bialik's book.It's a step in the right direction.