Knife and Fork

Brown Rice with Tagine Spice, Dried Apricots, and Slivered Almonds

In my not-so-humble opinion, a rice cooker is one of the world's greatest foodie inventions. It's great for just making steamed rice . . . but oh, it does so much more! Put in rice, liquid (water, broth, coconut milk), other ingredients, put in the correct settings . . . and walk away. It does all the work, and holds the cooked product on "warm" until you need it.

What, I ask you, could be better?

Here's a recipe I recently made up, and actually had the presence of mind to input into my Living Cookbook software. Enjoy.

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	Brown Rice with tagine spice, dried apricots, and slivered almonds 1.5 cups brown rice 1 can light coconut milk 1 tbsp tagine spice 12 each dried apricots .5 oz slivered almonds 1 This recipe requires a rice cooker. 2 Combine all ingredients in a 'fuzzy logic' rice cooker that has a brown rice setting. Make sure you know how many 'rice cooker' cups 1.5 cups of rice is, for your rice cooker. Add water, if necessary, to get the fluid level up to the correct line for brown rice. 3 Set rice cooker to 'brown rice' setting, turn on, and cook until done. After the rice is done, fluff with rice paddle, and serve. Servings: 5 Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 serving Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Amount Per Serving Calories 332.48 Calories From Fat 74.35 % Daily Value Total Fat 8.64g 13% Saturated Fat 4.47g 22% Cholesterol 0.00mg 0% Sodium 26.25mg 1% Potassium 395.35mg 11% Carbohydrates 57.20g 19% Dietary Fiber 4.21g 16% Protein 5.78g 11% Vitamin A 1229.03IU 24% Vitamin C 0.55mg 0% Calcium 33.38mg 3% Iron 4.77mg 26% Vitamin E 1.40IU 4% Thiamin 0.23mg 15% Riboflavin 0.10mg 5% Niacin 3.48mg 17% Vitamin B6 0.32mg 15% Folate 15.59µg 3% Pantothenic Acid 0.97mg 9% Phosphorus 222.31mg 22% Magnesium 98.26mg 24% Zinc 1.39mg 9% Created using The Living Cookbook recipe management software. Visit www.livingcookbook.com for more great recipes.

Debbie’s Lentil, Chana Dal, and Red Rice Soup

This is a great crockpot soup that I adapted, rather heavily, from someone else's recipe (that is, I changed nearly every ingredient). It cooks nicely overnight, in about 8 hours, and makes 10 cups. One cup is a nice pre-meal course; 2 cups is an entire meal that really stays with you.

If you can't find red rice, you may substitute brown rice. Chana dal is commonly found in Indian grocery stores, and at Whole Foods. It looks like yellow split peas, but actually is quite different. It's wonderfully low on the glycemic index.

Likewise, garam masala (a spice mixture) is available from Indian groceries, or you may find recipes on the Web to mix your own.

Sometimes I vary the recipe by using diced ham or prosciutto, rather than bacon. (Sometimes I use pork bacon.) Also, I occasionally use different spice mixtures, such as Moroccan.

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Debbie’s Lentil, Chana Dal, and Red Rice Soup
Makes 10 cups
Crockpot recipe

1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
½ cup lentils
½ cup chana dal
½ cup Bhutanese red rice
2 carrots, cleaned and thin sliced
2 celery stalks, washed and thin sliced
8 oz turkey bacon, chopped and fried crisp
64 oz Pacific Organic Low Sodium chicken broth
2 tsp garam masala
minced garlic, to taste (fresh or dried)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Saute onion in olive oil until soft and slightly browned. Put in crockpot. Add to pot: lentils, chana dal, rice, carrots, celery, turkey bacon, broth and garam masala. Add salt, if desired (I add NoSalt, a potassium salt, to keep the recipe low sodium.)

Cook on low heat for 6 - 8 hours.

Nutrition info (calculated from ingredients):
Per cup:

Calories 156
Fat gm 4
Chol gm 20
Sodium gm 229
Carb gm 21
Fiber gm 4
Sugar gm 3
Protein gm 11
Vit A % 215
Vit C % 3
Calc % 1
Iron % 10

Sodium content varies with ingredients. I use low-sodium broth; using regular will up the sodium content, as will the use of regular salt. Likewise, the meat that you use will affect the saltiness of the soup.

Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

Every once in a great while, I actually fix breakfast - meaning something other than melting cheese on bread, fixing a bowl of oatmeal, etc. I had nearly a quart of buttermilk left over from last week's dinner party, so I decided to do some "google cooking" - I searched for a recipe using buttermilk and oats. What I found was a yummy-sounding recipe from the Wolfe Manor Inn Bed and Breakfast, Ashland, Oregon. (Sounds like someplace I need to visit.) I didn't make the citrus sauce, and I halved the recipe to make it more manageable for two. (And I still had leftovers.) Give this a try. It's yummy. Note for WWers: one pancake is 5 points. But! If you make the recipe with olive or canola oil, one pancake also gives you your 2 tsp of healthy oils for the day (and in a most delightful way). * * * * * Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes Wolfe Manor Inn Bed and Breakfast, Ashland, Oregon - Specialty Recipe 5/8 cup old fashioned (rolled) oats 1 cup buttermilk 1 each egg 1/2 cup flour 1.5 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 cup vegetable oil 3/8 cup chopped pecans 1 In a medium bowl, stir together oatmeal and buttermilk until well coated. Stir in egg until blended. Stir in flour, sugar, salt, leavenings, oil, and pecans. Preheat a lightly greased griddle or large skillet, preferably non-stick. When hot, drop batter by 1/4-cup measure. Immediately reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until bubbles appear around edges and bottom is golden. Turn and cook until cooked through. 2 For variety, add sliced bananas or fresh blueberries or peeled and cored thinly sliced apples to the pancakes after pouring the batter on the griddle. Good served with citrus syrup and whipped cream with a sprinkle of fresh grated nutmeg. Servings: 6 Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 serving Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Amount Per Serving Calories 203.60 Calories From Fat 101.21 % Daily Value Total Fat 11.75g 18% Saturated Fat 1.38g 6% Cholesterol 38.09mg 12% Sodium 296.69mg 12% Potassium 143.55mg 4% Carbohydrates 19.95g 6% Dietary Fiber 1.89g 7% Protein 5.54g 11% Vitamin A 82.49IU 1% Vitamin C 0.48mg 0% Calcium 85.53mg 8% Iron 1.22mg 6% Vitamin E 1.44IU 4% Thiamin 0.21mg 14% Riboflavin 0.18mg 10% Niacin 0.80mg 3% Vitamin B6 0.06mg 2% Folate 26.47µg 6% Vitamin B12 0.18µg 2% Pantothenic Acid 0.44mg 4% Phosphorus 132.08mg 13% Magnesium 29.22mg 7% Zinc 0.94mg 6% Recipe Source Author: Wolfe Manor Inn B&B Web page: http://www.virtualcities.com/ons/or/m/orm42011.htm Created using The Living Cookbook recipe management software. Visit www.livingcookbook.com for more great recipes.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today would have been my Mom's 89th birthday. I used to send her flowers, every year.

Happy birthday, Mom . . . I love you and think about you often.

A really, really good reason not to take Alli . . .

How many creative ways can you say, "poop in your pants?" Give a watch:

Miracle diet pill! (with teeny-tiny side effect)

This is for Leptopril, which is very iffy in my book, but the spot IS hilarious . . .

alli Poopy Pants TV Spot

36 Hours in Baltimore

. . .hmm. Never been there. Oh, wait . . . it's one of my very favorite cities, not to mention one that I own real estate in.

Seriously, though -- NYTimes' "36 Hours In . . ." this week is all about Big B.

"BALTIMORE is sometimes the forgotten middle child among attention-getting Eastern cities like Washington and New York. But a civic revival, which began with the harbor's makeover 27 years ago, has given out-of-towners reason to visit. Yes, there are wonderful seafood restaurants, Colonial history, quaint waterfronts and other tourist-ready attractions. But Baltimore's renaissance has also cultivated cool restaurants with innovative cuisine, independent theaters that showcase emerging talent and galleries that specialize in contemporary art. In other words, Baltimore is all grown up, but it's still a big city with a small-town feel."

Read more here.

As for the Times' food recommendations . . .

Obrycki's for crabs is pretty predictable, I guess. They are OK; they are near the Inner Harbor, and therefore accessible by tourists (in theory, anyway). But I prefer Mo's Seafood, especially the one on Eastern Avenue, east of Greektown. I also love G&M restaurant's "cat head" crabcakes. (Yep. They are that big.) But believe it or not, my favorite cakes are the premade, but as-yet-uncooked patties, from Eddies of Roland Park. Ooh, do they ever broil up deliciously, in your very own oven. (Yeah, I know, hard to do in your room at the Baltimore Hyatt.)

I'm really surprised the Times totally left out Federal Hill, except for Cross Street Market. Some of the best restaurants -- and one of my three favorite breakfast joints -- are down there. Blue Moon Cafe for breakfast?? Guys, you can do much better. (Though they do serve Bluebird Coffee, whose roastery is just steps from our Baltimore digs.) I would, instead, recomend Miss Shirley's, Spoons (in the aforementioned Federal Hill), also recently joined by Dangerously Delicious), and Greg's Bagels, in Belvedere Square.

'Course, to get to any of these, you have to leave the Inner Harbor. It's getting to be a joke, really -- travel guides and articles mention Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and maybe a couple of other things close by, but not much else. C'mon! There's waaay more to Baltimore than the Inner Harbor, and I'm kinda surprised that the NYTimes mentioned Baltimore's "cool restaurants with innovative cuisine," but didn't point the reader toward any of the neighborhoods where those may be found. Sure, Pazo and Charleston are near the I.H. (and they strangely go unmentioned by the  Times), But Cindy Wolf's other restaurant, Petit Louis, is in Roland Park. Taste is up York Road near the Senator Theatre. Bicycle is in Federal Hill. Salt is in Butchers Hill. Helen's Garden is in Canton.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Baltimore really is a city with a small-town feel . . . but to get that feel, you have to go to Hampden, or to Greektown. Or to Pigtown. Highlandtown. Brewer's Hill. Mount Washington.

Ya gotta go outside the Harbor, hon.

Really, Now . . .

I can understand why most businesses were closed this morning, it being Easter and all.

All I wanted this morning was a really good bagel. We first went to Greg's Bagels, in Belvedere Square. It was closed . . . but so was all the rest of the Square. I can understand that. No big deal.

But why on earth was Goldberg's Bagels closed? Geez. Oh, must have been for Passover. I thought it was over. (What does an Episcopalian know, anyway?)

We gave up, and went to Wegmans. They were open, and their scones are most excellent, especially when fresh! (We usually buy them for later consumption.)

Oh, well . . . next week, Greg's or Goldberg's, for sure! :-)

BTW - Einstein's was open this morning . . . but I wanted REAL bagels . . .

Debbie's Chicken, Sausage, Apricot and Olive Stew

	Another new recipe from my kitchen. It's based on a recipe called "Chicken Legs with Apricot and Olives," but of course, I had to mangle it beyond all recognition. The nutritional info is reasonably correct, but the sodium is off, as I could not find lower sodium chicken broth in the database. And, as noted, certain items were just not linked . . . the NoSalt, for example (a really tasty salt substitute). Or, the ingredients I added to the database (sausage and chana dal) did not have vitamin and mineral info. But, I'm guessing that you are not all that focused on how much zinc is in the recipe, right? * * * * * Debbie's Chicken, Sausage, Apricot and Olive Stew 3 oz dried apricots 1/4 cup dried lentils 1 can chickpeas 1/4 cup chana dal 1.75 lbs boneless chicken breasts, sliced 4 each Aidell chicken apple sausages 2 cups lower sodium chicken broth 1 each Curls from the rind of an orange 1/2 cup white wine 2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup mixed olives, pitted and sliced 1 tbsp dried basil 1/4 tsp cracked pepper, or to taste 1/2 tsp NoSalt, or to taste 2 tbsp cornstarch 1 Using a tool for making citrus rind curls, remove the rind from one orange. Discard the orange, or use the juice from and add to crockpot. (May make the orange flavor a bit too overpowering, though.) 2 Slice each sausage into eighths. Slice chicken breasts as desired, either in half or in 1/2" strips. 3 Add everything to the crockpot, stirring thoroughly. 4 Cook for 6 hours. I cook the first 2 hours on high, the remainder on low. 5 Before serving, add 2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons water, to thicken the stew. 6 Serve with rice, bread or couscous. Servings: 8 Nutrition Facts Serving size: 1 serving Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. The following ingredients were not linked to the ingredient database and were not included in the nutrition information: Curls from the rind of an orange NoSalt, or to taste Amount Per Serving Calories 380.60 Calories From Fat 27.83 % Daily Value Total Fat 10.36g 15% Saturated Fat 2.76g 13% Cholesterol 96.12mg 32% Sodium 808.69mg 33% Potassium 643.49mg 18% Carbohydrates 32.35g 10% Dietary Fiber 5.72g 22% Protein 37.02g 74% Vitamin A 892.29IU 17% Vitamin C 7.55mg 12% Calcium 65.28mg 6% Iron 3.26mg 18% Vitamin E 0.33IU 1% Thiamin 0.12mg 7% Riboflavin 0.16mg 9% Niacin 12.53mg 62% Vitamin B6 0.86mg 43% Folate 69.35µg 17% Vitamin B12 0.44µg 7% Pantothenic Acid 1.18mg 11% Phosphorus 305.95mg 30% Magnesium 60.25mg 15% Zinc 1.77mg 11% Created using The Living Cookbook recipe management software. Visit www.livingcookbook.com for more great recipes.

They're Not THAT Good . . .

G&M Cafeteria crabcakes are pretty special. But they really shouldn't lead to this:

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Man charged in bloody fight at carryout

By Andrea F. Siegel

Sun reporter

Originally published March 1, 2007

In the end, neither Jeffrey Rites nor Keith Anthony Rantin Jr. got any of G&M Restaurant and Lounge's famous crab cakes for lunch.

In a scuffle over who was next in line at the Linthicum Heights carryout, Rites was stabbed. Then Rantin was charged. And today, a jury will be asked to sort through the messy saga.

More here . . .

Ice and Sleet

Well, we finally got a winter storm here in the Midatlantic.

But it wasn't snow. It was sleet. Five inches of sleet, to be exact.

In Virginia and Southern Maryland, they had freezing rain -- heavily bowing the trees, and bringing down power lines. We had one of those back in 1999, and I was afraid we might have one of those again. We were one of the lucky ones then . . . our power stayed on, but much of Montgomery County was dark. (And the lines at the assorted neighborhood Starbucks' were HUGE . . .)

This may look like snow, but believe me: this is sleet --

 

After the sleet storm, we had overnight wind. All of the ice clinging to tree branches came down. It made quite a pile of shards:

Some of it even looked like broken beer bottles (clear ones) --

 

We are getting some melt this weekend (but not fast enough for my taste) --

My stone bunny doesn't look too happy, does he?

Looks like I timed my knee surgery rather perfectly; no biking for me right now, knee or no.