And so I pulled out the my 8qt. Presto pressure cooker. My pressure cooker has received a lot of attention since I purchased it about a month ago. After ten minutes the black eyed peas were cooked and ready to be turned into a meal.
I also pulled out my mortar and pestle and proceeded to grind some spices, herbs, and finally garlic. I tossed everything into the skillet and let cook for a few minutes. I turned the heat down and then added tomato broccoli and let cook for about two more minutes. The broccoli and tomato were lightly steamed.
The meal was complete and my daughter loved how it tasted. Simple, nutritious and delicious.
The past few days I’ve been craving vegetable fried rice and so yesterday I made some.
Mortar and Pestle: Cumin, cardamom and coriander
I pulled out my mortar and pestle. In the mortar I ground cardamom, cumin, black pepper, and sea salt. I put that in a dish and then ground up some garlic and ginger.
Okra and peppers freshly picked from our garden
I grabbed peppers and okra that were picked from the garden, chopped them up and set them aside. Squash, which also came from the garden, was chopped up and set aside.
Sauteed pumpkin, garlic and onion
The onions, garlic, and ginger were added to my wok. I stirred until the onions were clear. I then added squash. After a few minutes I added brown rice, which had been cooked in my small Presto 8 qt. pressure cooker. The rice turned out fluffy and separated. Perfect steamed rice! I cooked everything for a few minutes.
Adding eggs to the vegetable fried rice
I then pushed the food to the side of the wok and added egg to the wok. One of the many things I like about a wok is you can have many things going on at the same time. I didn’t use to add egg this way, but months ago tried it out after learning about the tip from Suituapui. Thanks Arthur!
This might not look like a lot of food, but it actually is, the wok is huge and has been in my possession for over twenty years. I used it when I was in college.
Vegetable fried rice
A few minutes more and the dish was done. The last two minutes or so, I added mushrooms and carrots to the wok. I hate mushy carrots and mushrooms. How was the vegetable fried rice? I would say this turned out really nice and flavorful. My daughter and nephew had two helpings, there wasn’t too much left for me to sample. 😉
I still have a few more dishes to share but that will have to wait until another day. About an hour ago, I made “pulled” chicken in my small pressure cooker. I set the chicken breasts in a steamer basket and added three cups of liquid so I could make a nice chicken stock.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ll be going on a water fast for a few days. As I already mentioned, I’m not doing it for weight loss. I’m not overweight. I just like giving my digestive system a break now and again.
Oat groats – oatmeal with raisins and sunflower seed
Since I thought it best to be mentally prepared I’m easing into it slowly. These days most of my foods are raw or lightly steamed. The above dish was simple, oat groats with cinnamon, raw sunflower seeds and raisins. Simple but delicious. I really like oat groats it has a chewier texture than the traditional oats you find in most stores. It’s also minimally processed.
Big bowl of greens
Later in the day I’ll usually have a bowl of greens. Not only are dark leafy greens healthy they’re quite delicious too. This salad had kale, spinach, tomatoes, shredded carrots, raw sunflower seeds and walnuts. I normally don’t use dressing, but for this salad I did add some balsamic dressing. My daughter and I loved this simple salad.
What’s on the menu today? I’m not sure, but I know I’ll have some type of smoothie. We have a lot of mangoes in our house, so that will definitely be added to the drink.
She loves to eat it raw (after it’s been washed), lightly steamed, or cooked.
Saturday, the day before we made our homemade pizza, I decided to make a vegetable salad with kale being the main ingredient. She was thrilled. I chopped up some vegetables; carrots, tomatoes, onions, garlic and sweet red peppers. All the produce (with the exception of the carrots) came from our garden.
My daughter took this picture, she was proud of her veggie sub. Next time I’ll tell her to turn the open side towards the camera so people can see everything that’s included in the sub.
I put the vegetable salad into a glass storage container and put it in the refrigerator. I thought it would be perfect for a salad, snack or sandwich fixings. My daughter promptly made the above veggie sandwich. She took a picture and asked me to put it on my website. I promised her I would. Next time, I’ll tell her to open the sub or at least turn the sub so people can see all the veggies crammed between the sandwich bread.
Mommy, I want to make pizza this weekend. Can we do that? There are a few ingredients I need to purchase but after that we’ll be ready. I’ll let you do most of the pizza making this time, ok? Thanks mom!
You can start by kneading the dough! Yeah, I get to knead the dough.
We’ll have to let the dough rise before it’s rolled. This will be a perfect time for you to take a nap. Awww, Mom!
Let me demonstrate how to make the crust, then you can take over.
What do you want to put on the pizza? Is this enough cheese? Mom, you know I like a lot of cheese.
Is this better?
Mom, don’t forget to smother the cheese in the yummy tomato sauce we made.
Let’s add sliced tomatoes and mushrooms mom! Sure princess…
It’s almost ready mom!
I’m going to add a bit more sauce and some more mozzarella cheese! Then it’ll be done!
Thanks mom for helping me make the pizza. It’s delicious.
Early this morning I made a spicy broccoli dish. As with many of my dishes, they start out as one thing but turn into something else.
This was a dish that was just going to be stir fry broccoli, but as I was adding the ingredients together, I thought it might be nice to add a roux. The broccoli didn’t come from our garden, it was fairly fresh since I purchased them from our local produce store.
After the roux was thoroughly blended I added it to the skillet. It smelled lovely and tasted even better. I had a small portion. But, even though I liked it, I thought it would be much better if I introduced something sweet. Perhaps I’ll add a bit of sweet potato and some pineapple juice to the sauce to pair with the spiciness?
I had no time to do that this morning, but it’s an easy fix that I”ll take care of sometime this afternoon.
This meal is perfect served alone, or perhaps with a side order of brown rice or served over zucchini pasta!
Tok, tok, tok, was the steady rhythmic sound you could hear as stone clashed against stone…
Grinding garlic and ginger in my granite mortar and pestle
The mortar and pestle did an excellent job of turning the trapped cubes of garlic and ginger into a smooth aromatic paste.
It didn’t stop there, I scooped out the fragrant paste, rinsed and dried the heavy granite mortar bowl and filled it with dry ingredients. Once again, I vigorously pounded everything within my granite mortar and pestle. Our kitchen was filled with the heady aroma of spices and herbs as their oils were slowly released…
Preparing the dough for our samosa’s
I find preparing meals to be quite therapeutic, which might explain why we rarely go out to eat. I’ve been to many fine restaurants, but I find that I can replicate (and in many cases surpass) what I’ve had in those ritzy eating establishments.
The beauty of preparing meals at home, I control what goes into the food. Additionally I keep a clean kitchen, wash properly, so am not thinking, I hope this place is clean. Also making my own food gives me a chance to do something I truly enjoy, getting creative in the kitchen.
On the menu was samosa’s, during the day (while going about my a work activities) I spent some time thinking about what types of samosas I wanted to prepare. I finally settled on two versions; spicy potato samosa and beef samosa; vegan and non-vegan.
Samosa dough ready to be flattened
The dough was made with flour, water, oil and freshly ground cumin & sea salt.
Flattening the samosa’s with my favorite rolling pin
These were quickly and efficiently flattened out with my trusty rolling pin. This rolling pin is older than myself and was actually my aunts rolling pin. She’s the one that passed away from a brain tumor. I’ve had this pin for years and it’s my all time favorite.
Stuffed samosa ready to be covered then put into the oven for baking
The time flew by while preparing these samosas and it usually does since I have awesome company, my daughter.
I could have fried these samosas, but I didn’t since I’m not a fan of fried food. These were baked in the oven. Their aroma filled the room and much before they were ready, my daughter was clamoring for a samosa to sample. Soon, soon… I told her. Was it worth the wait? I’d like to think so, my daughter demolished two.. she ate the spicy potato samosa first and then moved onto the beef samosa. She said they both were good!
I can’t speak for the beef samosa’s but I do know my potato samosa was extremely flavorful. Because of the flour content, I rarely eat flour based products, but sometimes, I make an exception. 😉
Is this better?
