Author: ladypbwiggins

I used To HATE Cooking!

by ladypbwiggins

So what changed? Know one understands like my family but these cooking experiments are beginning to be fun. Today I made a sweet potato and hot pepper soup for lunch. It is a recipe I saw on P. Allen Smith’s television show. It was quick, easy and tasty. Sweet Potato Soup

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Sweet Potato and Hot Pepper Soup, Grilled Catfish and Oat Bread

I know my plating isn’t pretty but at the time I just wanted to eat it. It was very good. Remember you are dealing with someone who is just beginning to look beyond getting the food on the plate. So give me a break. I need to watch more Food Network TV or YouTube for that. (Big Smile)

The Last Element

by ladypbwiggins

I just love Chipotle’s Sofritas bowl. When my husband was in rehab it was the nearest reasonably healthy choice to the facility. That is where our relationship began.I could eat it almost everyday but my budget won’t allow it.I decided try making my own. The beans, corn, rice, cheese and lettuce with salsa was easy. But how do I make sofritas? I knew they used tofu and I thought how they cooked it was what made it Sofritas.  While browsing through my Vitamix  cookbook I discovered a recipe for sofritas. It was a sauce. Who knew? I marinated the crumbled tofu in the sofritas sauce and then cooked it in a slightly oiled saucepan. It tasted good but did not have the expected texture. My only thought was, I didn’t blend it long enough. All of the veggies used were fresh so it lacked a specific taste I was looking for.  So my next attempt will use roasted peppers.I will also grill the sliced tofu. If that doesn’t work, I will try tempeh.

I will continue to experiment until I get the taste I am have in my taste memory.

My Garden Beginnings

by ladypbwiggins

I have been thinking of beginning my own organic container garden but I just kept putting it off. I am not a natural garden interest type person. I just like the fresh produce. One day I was standing in my favorite organic market looking at the cost of vine ripen organic tomatoes and thought if I had started my garden by now I would have my own. I then moved to the yellow bell peppers and the cost of those were ridiculous.

That’s it. I am starting this garden I declared inside.

I bought organic soil and fertilizer after conferring with a successful gardener friend. I proceeded to the plant section to discover that they sold organic seeds but not organic seedlings. I googled organic nurseries in my area and found one very close to my home. I thought they only sold landscape vegetation. I discovered they sold non-GMO organic vegetable plants.

Inside myself again I screamed “Yes!”

I bought yellow onions, green onions, jalapeno pepper, green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and tomato plants. I spent approximately 15.00 for a sustainable supply of veggies.

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The other thing I did to insure some of these plants had a chance at survival was to purchase a self-watering container. It holds two gallons of water and the plants drink as they need it. The tomato and jalapeno plants are in a conventional pot. I pray I don’t kill it. My thumb is real light green.

 20160217_151024                                            It has begun.20160217_151013

To My Tortilla Making New Friends

by ladypbwiggins

You will be my new friends if you help me with my homemade tortillas. My daughter-in-law and I spent some time together making our first homemade tortilla. It was really a funny experience. She had broken her glasses and couldn’t read the instructions and I had injured my hand an couldn’t manipulate the dough. We jokingly called this time, the Blind and Maimed Hour. Nevertheless, we made the tortillas. They tasted good and fulfilled the purpose but we were not satisfied. We used the instructions on the Masa Harina bag. It was simply the flour and water. The tortilla press I own did not make them flat enough so we used a rolling pin. Then we placed them on the grill where they didn’t hold together when folded. (We were making tacos)

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So to my new friends, how do I keep them moist and held together? If I get this right, I may almost never buy tortillas again. It was really easy. I like easy and quick.

What is this?

by ladypbwiggins

20160115_131340 (2)What is this?

It’s a little jar of successful goodness!

For weeks I had been thinking about the ease or dis-ease of making my own condiments. I watched those chefs on the Food Network make sauces and it didn’t look so hard. I quickly followed that thought with, “You are not a professional chef and you don’t even like to cook.” I chickened out and bought the organic ketchup from my favorite store, The Organic Roots.  The desire to make my own resurfaced as I thumbed through the Daniel Plan Cookbook. Lo and behold there it was: a homemade ketchup recipe. I have had this book for  months and I didn’t notice the recipe. So here is my version

The recipe called for 1 cup of sun-dried tomatoes. I didn’t have enough so I used organic tomato paste and organic Roma tomatoes. All ingredients are certified organic unless otherwise stated.

6 Roma tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of agave  (I didn’t have raw honey)

1 teaspoon of sea salt

I threw all ingredients in the Vitamix. Blended on high until smooth.

It’s homemade ketchup.

One more thing off the grocery list except in emergencies.

Note. The consistency is thicker than the ketchup in the store. It was also sweeter. It didn’t hve that tangy taste. Store in the refrigerator. There are no preservatives. I plan to make it again and use the sun-dried tomatoes and add a little onion and garlic. I’ll let you know what happens.

 

Catching UP

by ladypbwiggins

So far behind.

My laboratory experiments stacking up.

Documents I need to read.

Clothes I need to wash, car too

Rooms I need to clean

Groceries to purchase

Meals to prepare

Research for Outreach Center

Making plans, making plans

Rest

When will I ever CATCH UP.

(You all should be laughing now because I know I just described your life, too!)

See, I forgot categories and such.

Back In the Lab 2

by ladypbwiggins

If you are like me, long blog posts sometimes get to be tedious. That’s why I broke Friday’s laboratory experiments into several parts. Continuing.

Country-Style White Loaves
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I tried to find the link for this recipe but there was only links to the book. It is The Art of Cooking Recipes and Techniques(The Cooking Club). The basic elements were all purpose flour (white), yeast, sugar, butter, milk and water. Those who know me personally, this recipe is healthy sacrilege. I must tell you I paid the price. I believe it was the source of gastrointestinal disturbances and inflammation pain in my joints. The reason I used these ingredients was because I bought the flour for Christmas desserts that we did not make. I decided to use it up and then replace it with oat flour or gluten-free flour. It was okay. Heavy like my great-grandmother’s.

Homemade Ketchup20160115_131340

This recipe is found in The Daniel Plan Cookbook. I used this recipe but I didn’t have enough sun dried tomatoes. Once again I substituted. I used ripe Roma tomatoes. I guess we are so used to the store bought kind that the sweetness was a little much. I don’t know if the tomatoes and honey combination was the source. I will use it and make the next batch with the sun dried tomatoes as instructed. I also checked the ingredients on the organic ketchup I had bought before. It contained more spices. Maybe I will add some of these spices on the batch after that. Continuing to experiment until I get the taste we want.  Ketchup

 

Vitamix Minestrone Soup

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I’ve wanted to try making minestrone soup for a while. I found a recipe that appeared to be similar to The Olive Gardens’ Ministrone. Before I had a chance to try it, I discovered a recipe in my Vitamix cookbook.  I tried it with a few changes. I used black beans instead of kidney beans and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. I guess I blended it a little longer than necessary because my soup looked creamier than theirs. However, it tasted good. My husband and I decided mine would make a good spaghetti sauce. Here is the link for the recipe. It is worth a try. It is a tasty, quickly made soup. Vitamix Ministrone.

Some adjusting and changes will be made to better suit our needs and lifestyle.

Happy Experimenting.

Back In The Lab

by ladypbwiggins

On Friday January 15, 2015, I finally re-entered my my lab (kitchen). I have cooked meals but after the holidays I just was not interested in doing any “new recipe” cooking. I awaken quite early but I did not enter the lab until about 6:30 AM. I put the coffee on and moved into action.

The first order of business was to prepare for breakfast before my husband joined the conscious world.

20151026_091752Turkey Sausage I seasoned the ground turkey so that the sausage seasoning would have time to penetrate. This time I made more to freeze for future breakfasts.

 

Oatmeal and Dried Fruit Muffins 

I didn’t particularly care for bran muffins until I made these. Usually, I experience20160115_122020d very dry muffins. The black strap molasses and unsweetened applesauce make them quite tasty and moist. In stead of purchased applesauce, I put a fresh apple and a little water in my Vitamix and let it rip. The recipe is in Dr.Steven Masley’s 30 days Heart Tune-Up.
I cannot publish the recipe because of copyright laws. I would recommend purchasing the book, especially if you have heart problems. There is a lot of good information for heart health and many tasty recipes.

Mini Potato Corn Meal Cakes

Have you ever had boxed potatoes flakes and didn’t know what to do with them. I never used them and now that I am trying to prepare fresh, unprocessed foods I was at a lost. I didn’t want to throw them away. They were a blessed and appreciated gift in a Thanksgiving basket. While having my first cup of coffee, I noticed a recipe on the box that was interesting. It was Mini Potato Corn Meal Cakes. Why not, I said to me. I followed the recipe and it yielded more than I needed for that morning’s breakfast.You got it. I froze the rest. Here is the recipe with my real time changes.

2 cups Idaho Spuds Classic Mashed Potatoes

1/3 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne or chipotle pepper

2 cups milk

2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed  (I didn’t use)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

3 green onions  (I used yellow onions)

Combine potato flakes, cornmeal, garlic salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Stir milk, corn kernels, cheese and green onions.Let stand for 2 minutes.

Scoop into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Flatten into 1/2 inch thick patties. (I skipped this. I went straight to the skillet.)

Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.

Place patties in a single layer in pan. Brown [patties about 4 minutes per side, spraying with additional cooking spray as needed. Repeat with remaining patties.

Serve warm garnished with a dollop of sour cream and green onions or shredded cheese. (I skipped this. It would defeat my healthy plan.)

My husband said the cakes were good. My omissions did not affect the taste.  Next time I will use fresh potatoes.

This is getting to be pretty long so I will put the other recipes in another blog.  Friday was a busy day.

Happy Experimenting.

 

Reflective Inventory

by ladypbwiggins

A few days ago my son asked me what was the purpose of my blog; why was it “random thoughts.” I told him that I had thoughts about many different things, so I didn’t want to be limited to one train of thought. He then said, “Oh, it’s just your journal.” That stung. Was it the characterization or maybe his perceived tone? Nevertheless, he made me take inventory and that required reflective thought.

From that process I solidified the purpose and structure of this blog. It may not be very marketable but I hope it will be fun or at least memorable. I want to be free to dabble in poetry and storytelling. I want to share insights from my personal bible studies. Who knows I might do a series of teachings on a subject. I want to share information regrading mental health and my rich culture.

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Out of darkness , light.

I want to share

spontaneous images like seeing a double rainbow or light shooting from a dark cloud. I even want to share a new experiment in my laboratory (kitchen).

Yes these are the kinds of things I want to share.

Now, I know what I want to accomplish with this blog. I want to

  1. Inform
  2. Provoke thought
  3. Inspire and encourage
  4. Challenge
  5. Learn from others
  6. Engage in conversation with people who have different backgrounds and experiences.

It will still be Random thoughts.

It will still be My journal.