Moby's Is Open

One of the best aspects of the season is when Moby's Lobster Deck opens. This is a division of one of my all time favorite restaurants, Bahr's. This century year old famed eatery is a great place for seafood for the fall and winter.

Every meal comes with a small plate of their warm homemade Bisquick biscuits, loaded with butter. My favorite is their shrimp cocktail and Manhattan clam chowder.

Now Moby's is open with the same delicious dishes that Bahr's has.

Moby's was started by the great-grandson' of the owners. It has everything from burgers and dogs to cod sandwiches and again, my favorite Manhattan clam chowder and chilled shrimp. The last has a herb coating that just accentuates the briny flavor.

Moby's also has a wide selection of ices and ice cream. You can easily get a cone with sprinkles after polishing off a lobster or fish and chips. One of my favorites is their chocolate covered frozen banana. This is cold heaven on a stick, which you can buy plain or with sprinkles, nuts or coconut flakes. It really is the perfect  quick bite dessert.

Moby's is open. Head down to the Atlantic Highlands, Enjoy the beaches, sand and surf. Most of all though, enjoy this summer staple.

Beyond Meat The Start Of Something

The talk all this past week revolved around a simple patty. Why was is so special? Because It's Beyond Meat and not only tastes like beef but has the same texture too. Will it spark a vegan revolution? Possibly.

Beyond Meat is a far far cry from when vegan meat  products first came on the market. Thirty years ago you had to visit a health food store to get so so tasting hotdogs and burgers. Some stores , such as The Happy Carrot in River Edge, NJ made a vegan tuna salad using soy, celery and some kind of vegan mayo that was eggless. The tuna salad was passable in taste and texture but you wouldn't want to eat it every day. Vegan restaurants were scarce. Forget the fast food chains. You could order a hamburger, hold the meat at McDonald's. That was it. Slowly but surely vegan foods started to appear in supermarkets. With each decade there was improvement. Companies such as Morningstar Farms and Gardein started to pop up with a cornucopia of soy based "meats'. There was bacon that sort of tasted like the real thing, better than bacon because there was no grease to deal with. The chicken nuggets tasted like the real thing. Gardein nailed it with their hamburgers and fish fillets which taste like the real deal.

Now there is Beyond Meat. The company is not new. It has been around since 2009, started by Ethan Brown in Los Angeles, CA.It's making the news now because Mr. Brown has come up with a plant based "meat" that can easily be subbed in for actual beef. His creation, will no doubt, have Morningstar  Farms and Gardein worried, especially if more and more supermarkets and big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target carry it. Mr Brown's mission is simple . He wants people to forgo any  kind of meat to save animals , save the planet and save his fellow human beings from cancer and heart disease. A plant based diet will cut down on slaughter along with positively influencing climate change and garnering more green land. People who eat less animal protein will have lower cholesterol and less of a chance of getting certain types of cancer. The burgers are already served at Harvard and Carl's Junior. TGIFriday's  also has the Beyond Meat faux beef along with Del Taco.
What is the meat made from? There is no soy, but cellulose from bamboo along with pea protein and refined coconut oil. The red beefy color comes from beet extract along with annatto, natural food coloring that originates from the tropical plant achiote.

Ethan Brown may be the force behind the new wave of veganism. He may make us forget the real beef deal to go for his Beyond Meat. What that means is only good - a planet that is less climate challenged along with less slaughter and less disease.

Huel As Fuel

Eating right is hard. It's trying to get the least amount of calories and the most amount of nutrients plus a good dollop of flavor. What food has this? Huel protein shake. This is for the person on the go  who wants to have the proper amount of vitamin and minerals.

I had heard so much about it , I decided to give it a try. I ordered the vanilla and chocolate along with the flavor pack and shaker,

I bought the premixed vanilla and paired it with the cinnamon apple. It wasn't bad flavor-wise. Huel's drinks also come in chocolate and berry. Surprisingly it's made with pea protein along with tapioca. There's also flax seed and oat powder too along with a host of vitamins and minerals. Another plus is it's full of fiber too.

This is the chocolate that I zinged up with chocolate mint.

Huel has some neat flavor packs, from mocha to chai, and from strawberry to caramel and even chocolate.

This is the Huel shaker. It just takes two cups of the powder, some ice cubes and a cup of water. It makes for a well rounded meal with only four hundred calories. I plan on drinking it to lose some weight for shorts and bathing suit weather.

Huel right now is being sold only on line where twenty-four bottles are $89.00 but will last a month if you're careful. The bags are almost four pounds in weight and give seventeen servings per bag. It's $56.00 for it but it's the same as for a day's worth of groceries.

Huel is definitely the way to go if you want a full meal loaded with vitamins and minerals. It's an easy eat and perfect for the active days ahead. Try this delicious mix of flavor and nutrients for a boost .

Chef In The Cafeteria

School cafeteria food has always had a bad rap. The food was always borderline nutritional along with being questionable - mystery meat anyone? However one chef is changing that. Will there be healthy A worthy meals? Yes!

Amy Thomas, a well known food writer and author of Brooklyn In Love : A Delicious Memoir of Food Family, and Finding Yourself and Paris, My Sweet: A Year In The City of Light (and Dark Chocolate) interviewed Dan Giusti, the head chef of the internationally known and acclaimed Copenhagen restaurant Noma. Now his audience isn't the international glam crowd, but high school students in the Bronx. He felt a growing need to make an impact on people's lives rather than their palates. He started a company Brigaid which aims to overhaul school meals by putting professional chefs in cafeterias and replacing processed foods with wholesome cooking. Before landing in one of the city's busiest boroughs, Chef Giusti changed the way New London Connecticut students ate. He introduced them to kale Caesar salad and homemade hummus. Even though it was popular ,peanut butter and jelly was taken off the menu.This was done in order for the kids to try different dishes.It was added back on with sunflower seed butter instead.


Now he's cooking and expanding the palate of Bronx students. There have been small victories, namely in getting the kids to eat fresh fruit.The apples that were given out to meet the US Department of Agriculture were routinely tossed. Now the cafeteria staff dices up strawberries, watermelon and pineapples along with other fruits every morning. It may cost a little more to serve these but they're  worth it . Chef Giusto had to beg the federal government for the extra. Each lunch costs $3.44 where the fruit is an added cost. With the addition of staff and food, the prices is a little more than a dollar. There are streamlined models in which cafeteria staff can have a fifty-five day training program where schools are taught how to set up their own kitchens and handle food safely. They also are taught a repertoire of scratch recipes that have to pass muster with The National School Lunch Program. Chef Giusti hopes that the next generation of school chefs come from culinary schools and not just from the restaurant and food service industries.

Will this new wave in cafeteria food catch on? Hopefully it will. There 's a generation of kids who do want to try something new and something healthy. A school cafeteria might just provide them with those.

Persian Best

Persian cooking is one of the oldest in the world, yet the flavors are vibrant and fresh.It's a cuisine of color and brightness, texture and flavor. It incorporates a multitude of herbs and even flowers to create different and unique tastes.

The ultimate Persian-American chef, Samin Nosrat gave the New York Times Food section a wide array of the different dishes she grew up on.Ms Nosrat who writes regularly for The Times and Sunday magazine also has a Netflix show "Salt Fat Acid Heat" where she deconstructs cooking. She and her brothers embraced all things American yet they came home to a strictly Persian home. There were Saturday lessons in Farsi,setar music and celebrating the Persian New Year Nowruz. The biggest influence were the recipes her mother brought with them. For the article which contains a cross section of the best of their recipes Ms. Nosrat relied on family recipes along consulting with Iranian cooks .(Iranian and Persian can be interchangeable although there are differences). Ms. Nosrat's family comes from the northern part where herbs are a mainstay. They're treated like a vegetable which explains the huge amounts in the recipes. One kuku sabzi -  a Persian herb frittata - has a pound of cilantro and Italian parsley . A yogurt dish has a wide variety of parsley , dill, tarragon and basil.

This is my favorite issue . I was excited to see the recipes and plan on making a few.The first on my list is the kuku sabzi.It's an interesting mix of herbs with eggs, butter and even baking soda.Some ingredients such as barberries ,I'll have to get through Amazon. There are also leeks and fenugreek added. The greens are cooked first , cooled and then added to egg mix. Another must cook is the polo ba tahdig ,a giant rice cake - which comes with some fun instructions. Ms. Nosrat writes on flipping it by first gathering up your courage and praising your ancestors.A dish for a cool Spring night is the khoresh-e ghormeh which is a Persian herb bean and lamb stew.Of course it has a pound of cilantro and Italian parsley but also has a pound and a half of lamb shoulder along with turmeric and kidney beans. It is a lengthy cook, taking three hours . Ms. Nosrat also gives us a chicken stew that's sweetened with both pomegranate juice and molasses.Ground walnuts are also added. As a side there is mast-o khiar a Persian cucumber and herb yogurt that  is a mix of herbs,raisins, and dried rose petals.

Persian cooking is must have experience for any home or professional chef. It is a whirl of colors and flavors, textures and tastes. Make some of these amazing recipes now.

The Essential Oil Diet

Can the addition of essential oils help in losing weight? According to one couple they can.Infusions of peppermint and grapefruit along with a balanced diet, clean lifestyle and prayer can aid in not only shedding pounds but in creating a better life? Is it true ? Or just hokum?

Chiropractor and aromatherapist Dr. Eric Zielinski  and his wife Sabrina Ann Zielinski , who's a health coach and group fitness instructor have written The Essential Oils Diet (Harmony Books 2019) , a follow up to their The Healing Power Of Essential Oils. What are essential oils? The best definition is a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and have the characteristic fragrance of the plant or source of the extraction. They're easy to make. Simply use olive oil or avocado oil and spiking it peppermint or grapefruit extract. The book is more than just making essential oils and creating diet dishes. The Zielinskis feel that everyone should follow their lifestyle - which to be  honest - can be obnoxious at times.I like their advice on the eight essential healthy habits and how they delve into the use of everyday pesticides and chemicals. However I do have an issue with some of their suggestions.They suggest bringing your own food to a restaurant and having the chef cook it for you. I'm sorry but I can't see the chain restaurants doing that. It may work with smaller family owned eateries. Another bone of contention is their advice on staying humble while Mrs. Zielinski writes about prepping for the Mrs Georgia pageant. There's also a part about dropping friends who don't follow a healthy lifestyle. That was also grating.

First and foremost this is a cookbook.That part has some excellent advice and ideas.Mrs. Zielinski or Mama Z as she wants to be called has an extensive list of healthy family must haves. There is everything from gluten free flour to green tea powder.Another plus is the fridge and freezer makeover with helpful suggestions.Butter can be replaced by coconut oil while nitrate free turkey bacon can replace the regular kind.The recipes are not really grouped. Instead there are headings with the appropriate recipes underneath. There are not only lunch and dinner recipes such as avocado (!) egg salad and Mama 's spaghetti with meat sauce. The book doesn't really feature long lists of recipes which would be a tad more beneficial. The lunches are either salads or soup with a pasta or falafel thrown in while dinners are lasagna or spaghetti. Kale salad is there too, for a summertime dinner along with a bok choy super stir fry. I would have liked to have seen more roasts or some kind of ancient grain mail course. The breakfasts are mostly shakes and smoothies with a waffle recipe thrown in. There are a surprisingly large number of dessert recipes from homemade ice creams and brownies to whipped cream and even confectioner's sugar.

Should you buy The Essential Oils Diet? I would say yes for some of the advice. Take from it what you find necessary to your lifestyle. It can help in creating a better diet  - which is what we all need.

Spins On Salads

It's time to rethink salads and sides now that it's barbecue and picnic season. Liven them up with different spins that complement not only the ingredients but the main course. Get bold and daring with non -traditional flavors that will add zing to an outdoor meal.

One of the most classic barbecue salads is cole slaw. This centuries old dish is usually shredded cabbage with a good dollop of mayo mixed with oil and vinegar. More adventurous home chefs toss in a handful of raisins or carrot slivers for color and sweetness.Forget those. A better - and less cloying recipe is subbing in the mayo with a tangy French or apple cider vinegar based vinaigrette. Either one brings out the cabbage's musky green flavor and keeps the crunch. Another idea is giving it an Asian flavor with the addition of super crunchy water chestnuts  and a dressing that features soy sauce, chopped scallions and ginger.Macaroni salad always makes an appearance even though it's not that popular. It's an easy make, Just boil elbow macaroni  cool and add   what else - mayo. A more preferred recipe is tricolore rotelli with wheat, tomato and spinach pasta is cooked and then cooled. I would ditch the mayo and use a dressing of olive oil, dried oregano and rosemary. Spike it up with cut up bits of salami , cut up black olives and grape or cherry tomatoes.It's a great side for steaks and hamburgers and you could add leftover cubed fillets to it for a next day  lunch or supper.

Potato salad is another gloppy salad that sometimes gets drowned in mayo. The best bet is add other ingredients to give it more complexity. Add some sliced hard boiled eggs and celery for color and flavor. Another idea to zing it up by mixing the mayo with sour cream and adding chives and crumbled bacon. Think a variation of a baked potato for a hot summer's night. Use about three fourths cup of sour cream or even Greek yogurt to half a cup of mayo.Olive oil , too, works for a potato salad. It gives the salad more body and allows you to add such herbs as rosemary and oregano for a Sicilian style one. How to really change up potato salad? Roast the potatoes instead of boiling them. Preheat the oven at 375 degrees Farenheit and roast for about forty-five minutes until the potatoes are tender. Let cool for fifteen minutes before cutting and adding to the salad bowl. They work well with either mayo or olive oil. Add some scallions for color and bacon for crunch. Really change up the recipe with sweet potatoes. Their sweetness is offset by adding such savory ingredients as garlic and hot salt. Mayo may be too much so sub in Greek yogurt or sour cream mixed with a simple vinaigrette.
Salads are a mainstay for any summer barbecue or picnic. Liven them up with some changes. It'll make for an exciting meal and a turn from the usual boring side dishes of cole slaws and salads.