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Posts Tagged ‘vegetables’

  1. Pizza and Hot Sauce

    May 29, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    Pizza, eaten with hot sauce, is delicious. 

    This is not a lengthy update, but I’m sure you’ll all be happy that I updated nonetheless.

    Also, a cantaloupe came to us today. Bapaw mentioned that I mentioned something about it, and I had no idea how he knew I was referencing cantaloupe until he told me Gigi had read the blog to him…and behold, someone gave us cantaloupe.

    I made a Totino’s pizza tonight, and Gigi, who had been sick, came in, asked if it was cooked, and then grabbed about a quarter of the pizza. I shouldn’t think it’s funny that she’s so out of it from the medicine she took, but she seemed really groggy…and she chowed down on that pizza like it was nobody’s business. I left the den to get her some tea from the kitchen, and by the time I got back and then went to check on her again, it was gone.

    But that’s okay! She probably needed to eat, like I need to eat right now.

    Tomorrow, we’ll be discussing grilling and its relatinonship to burnt offerings to the Lord. 

    Get your nosh on!

    Beaux

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  2. Spring Vegetables in the South

    May 9, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    There’s something about having tons of fresh vegetables at your disposal and eating them cooked in a variety of ways.

     

    The good people of Slocomb bring my family a lot of fresh produce that we then cook. Over the past three days, we’ve had potatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, and green beans. I’ve definitely become far more a fan of squash after discovering it tastes much better when fried with spices in a non-stick skillet.

     

    Someone told me last night via Facebook that blueberries are a good source of antioxidants and vitamins. I do like fruits but seem to end up eating vegetables more often as I prefer the more savory taste to the sweet and sour ones, but blueberries are quite nice, even if they’re technically not blue.

     

    Go get your nosh on!

     

    Beaux

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  3. Beaux’s Fried Mac’n'cheese! Hot Diggity DOG!

    April 23, 2012 by The Yum Yum

    What you need:

    • 1 box of macaroni and cheese
    • 2 squashes, chopped
    • 1/4 onion, chopped
    • 1 teaspoon EVOO
    • 1 Tablespoon of Bacon Bits
    • cheese to taste

     

    What you do:

    1. Prepare the mac and cheese according to the box instructions.
    2. Chop the squash and onions.
    3. Put both the mac and cheese and chopped veggies in the fridge for about two hours.
    4. In a non-stick skillet, saute the squash and onions in the 1 teaspoon of EVOO.
    5. Add the macaroni and cheese after sauteing for about a minute or two.
    6. Add the bacon bits.
    7. Stir around on high heat until you can see parts of the mac and cheese darkening.

     

    The result should be a glistening mac and cheese with some crispy, almost burnt parts.

     

    Feel free, of course, to use real bacon or ham or add different veggies!

     

    Now go get your nosh on!

     

    Beaux

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  4. The Continual Redemption of Corn

    October 27, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    Corn. 

    A vegetable with which I wasn’t friends for so many years, as everyone should well know by now.

    Tonight, I took a can of cream of celery soup and a can of creamed corn, mixed them together, added hot sauce, chili powder, cumin, and garlic salt to the mixture, and just WOW! The soup is amazing and goes great over crackers. (I had to sneak the carbs in somehow.) But then, I like putting crackers in almost any kind of soup that I eat. 

    Last Saturday, my parents’ church had a fish fry, so we have plates of fried catfish sitting in the fridge. The fish itself is good, but the fried part, I’m afraid, is just disgusting. I’m so tired of fried food at this point that I can’t even believe it! So maybe there really is something to the idea of eating healthy food. Naturally, I’ll undo it when I go for ice cream or something later on. Fail. 

    Ramen has also met its last with me. I thought about making ramen tonight and then decided for a more creative route. Again, taking small risks is the best thing for me to do. I’m not one of those people who thinks that he can ride across the grand canyon on his motorcycle or something.  

    Also, please forgive me if any of my sentences don’t make sense; I’m in the process of learning several different langauges actively these days, and so sometimes when I return to English, my brain decides that it still wants to use the patterns of other languages and forget how to speak and write English correctly. 

    Yesterday, I tried to respond to Veggie Table’s comment about not liking pesto, but WordPress oddly wouldn’t let me. I wanted to tell her she could actually make her own pesto with different ingredients and call it “broosto” or something. Or she could try going through the pesto ingredients and discovering what exactly she doesn’t like about it. That would be fun, I think. 

    The truth is that basil is an overpowering herb in itself, and I can imagine that one can go wrong with basil faster than with most herbs. Yes, it complements Italian food extremely well- cheese and tomatoes are best friends with basil- but too much basil will overpower any other flavor around it. I do like the fresh taste of it, though. It’s like the bully cousin of mint or something. 

    Thinking about my wraps and soups makes me want to open up a restaurant that specializes in wraps and soups.

    But I’d rather have a coffee house that specializes in wraps and soups.

    And coffee, of course.

    Maybe it’s a better idea to open up a business that has fewer items on the menu that are more “exclusive” in nature. I mean, think about it- the Goldilocks principle should apply. Offer three kinds of wraps, three kinds of soups, three kinds of cakes, and six kinds of coffee with the choice of “small” and “large.” Then you charge a lot of money for the wraps and cakes, less for the soups, and even less for the coffee. This not only keeps you from having to do too much work with making wraps and cakes, it also guarantees that the wraps and cakes will be an excellent quality and encourages people to settle for coffee. This spinach tomato wrap? Oh, yes, it will be expensive, but it will be the BEST one you’ll ever eat. Ever. You will never be able to find another spinach tomato wrap that tastes as good as the one we make here. 

    Just some musings.

    Have an egg-cellent day!

    Beaux 

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  5. Spicy Black Bean and Corn Chowder

    October 4, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    A great recipe that’s easy to make and very vegetarian in its nature. I’m on a roll with making this. Be warned: this is quite filling, a single bowl being more than enough for most people. Adding shrimp and lime juice to the mixture makes it even more delicious, though they’re optional all the way around. This recipe came about as the child of necessity: I opened the cabinet, and then I began combining random ingredients until I arrived at this conclusion. Nifty, eh?

     

    What you need:

    • 2 cans of creamed corn or whole corn, depending on your preference
    • 3 cans of black beans
    • 1 Tablespoon of cumin
    • 1 teaspoon of garlic salt OR 1 Tablespoon of freshly minced garlic
    • 1 teaspoon of chili powder
    • 1/2 stick of butter

     

    What you do:

    1. Combine ingredients in saucepan.
    2. Bring to just below a boil, then reduce to low heat, stir, and allow to cook for about half an hour, stirring occasionally.
    3. Serve with croutons, shrimp, rice, or crusty bread of some sort.

     

    Carpe Diem,

    Beaux

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  6. Surprises Inside!

    September 15, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    Pierogies called my name again last night, so I pulled Box Number 2 out of the deep freeze and popped several into the pot. Yum, yum, pierogies again, which makes it about the 10,000th time that I’ve had them and still have yet to tire of them.

    So, smiling Beaux walks over to the regular freezer (the one attached to the fridge), opens the door, and is greeted by…

    …two pieces of toast.

    All I could do was stare.

    Not only were there two pieces of toast in the freezer, they were also taking up the ONLY AVAILABLE SPACE FOR MY BOX OF PIEROGIES!!! Talk about adding insult to injury.

    I announced to the house my discovery, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery sooner than later.

    Bapaw spoke up.

    Of course. Of COURSE he did.

    Why ever would I have imagined that he wasn’t the one that had put freakin’ pieces of TOAST in the freezer?

    So I had to ask him point-blank the “why.”

    Now, you have to understand, asking Bapaw “why” can be a very dangerous thing. He may end up talking your ear off, he may end up exploding (we have short tempers), or he may end up actually telling you his reason.

    The last is by far the most dangerous response.

    And so, “why” was answered:

    “I like my crust to be hard.”

    So Bapaw likes to have hard crust on his bread, and that’s why he toasts it and spreads butter on one slice, then puts the other slice in the microwave to melt cheese on it, then takes both pieces of hot toast and puts them in the FREEZER.

    Not just in the freezer; in the freezer in the only available spot for my pierogies.

    I think at this point we can say that my constant paranoia is justifiable. I’m almost sure there are meetings held in secret to figure out exactly how difficult folks can make my life. The plan is likely called “HOW TO DRIVE HIM INSANE,” but I hate to be the one to disappoint you, you’ve already failed as I’m already insane.

    So I win.

    If I weren’t already insane, then I would be going insane from Bapaw pouring hot coffee, then beating it to death with a spoon for no apparent reason, then adding milk to cool it down, then putting it in the microwave to heat it back up after adding milk to cool it down, then beating it to death with a spoon for no apparent reason (reprise).

    Add this to the slow vengeance of people in Slocomb who are trying to crowd us out of our own home by putting vegetables here. Hickory Shade is not called “Vegetable Land.” This is not Princess Tomato and the Salad Kingdom LARP. The freezer that harbors random toast also harbors Random Vegetables that We Will Never Eat™. This year’s vegetable of choice is okra. We have so much frozen okra taking up valuable space in the freezer, and I just want to scream at the top of my lungs that we will never eat all this okra, why have we been given all this okra, why did we accept all this okra, why can’t we be normal and buy frozen food and have one or two things of okra instead of five thousand, and a whole series of other questions that will never receive a reasonable, direct, or intelligible response.

    Instead, such complaints have often been met with Bapaw’s rambling on about the Great Depression that he actually didn’t live through but seems to be a complete expert on nonetheless. To that, I’m going to respond, “Okay. If we have a breakdown in society, if we truly enter into another Great Depression, WE WILL CROSS THAT BRIDGE WHEN WE GET THERE.”

    But I’m sure even if a Great Depression happens, Bapaw will find some way to freeze his toast to have hard crusts. As for the milk, we’ll probably have to make a miniature hot-tub for one of the goats and keep her near boiling so her milk stays warm, because we’ll probably be without any electricity. Luckily, chopping firewood is a good workout and will provide us with the flames to keep the goat milk hot.

    So Bapaw, maybe you will win in even the face of the Apocalypse.

    And yes, I think by now everyone knows that Holy Poached Eggs is a testament to not do things that will evoke a rave or a rant in me, as I’ll start raving and ranting on here and turn it into an entire comedy post before you know it. Humor is the best medicine for anger and the drug of choice of the insane.

    Carpe Diem, and don’t put any toast in the freezer.

    Beaux

     

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  7. The Onyx Plate Onion Vlog: Doo Wop in the Southern Kitchen

    July 27, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    So after constantly pestering Jennifer, she’s finally made another vlog for The Onyx Plate. This vlog’s very informative, as she teaches us how to chop onions. Chopping vegetables is one of the most important, rudimentary steps in cooking, so the sooner one learns to do it and drills one’s self to perfection, the better.

    One of the cool things about the vlog is that, although Jennifer is quite a looker and would look great on camera, she has the camera right on the action, so you can see every move she makes and exactly how to do it. I guess we all have to make sacrifices for greatness! ;) Check out the video, check out her blog, and leave some love!

     

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  8. Sinfully Delicious: Shrimp and Noodles

    July 13, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    There’s an inside joke about why I call this recipe “sinfully delicious,” but I won’t expose myself here.

    What you need:

    • half a pack of your choice of noodles. I used a kind of short egg noodle.
    • a half pound of shrimp; frozen salad shrimp work well.
    • a medium-sized tomato
    • a quarter to a half of a medium-sized onion
    • a clove of garlic
    • 2 teaspoons of oregano
    • 2 teaspoons of basil
    • feta cheese or parmesan cheese
    • 3 teaspoons of pepper
    • salt and any other spices to taste

    What you do:

    1. Bring water to boil and prepare the noodles.
    2. While the noodles are boiling, heat 3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a skillet.
    3. Slice the tomato, onion, and garlic and add them to the skillet; heat on low.
    4. Add the basil, oregano, and pepper.
    5. Add frozen shrimp to the skillet and increase heat.
    6. When noodles are done, drain and add to the veggie-shrimp mixture.
    7. Cook on medium to low-medium for five to ten minutes or until most of the juices have evaporated.
    8. Remove from heat.
    9. Add cheese, stir well, and serve immediately.

    This recipe is quite similar to on that my friend Kelly made recently. Also, today, I added a squirt of lemon for extra flavor and seemed to have a problem getting the food salty enough. I’m not quite sure what happened.

    In addition, always remember that you can flavor your noodles by boiling them in a seasoned water. You can add crab boil, for instance, to the pot to season them before adding them to the main recipe. This is in fact the only real time you can add flavor to your noodles. After they’re cooked, the show’s over.

    Carpe Diem!

    Beaux


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  9. Gigi’s French Onion Soup!

    June 30, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    Okay, so Gigi has all but written every blog entry for the past three thousand entries on here, and here comes another great one. Don’t worry; tomorrow is Friday, and Earle and I will be cooking, so I’ll have a good blog to write then. In fact, after I write this blog, I’ll probably look through my cook books that I’m supposed to be using to challenge myself to find recipes.

    First, I want to say that I’ve eaten this soup for the past two or three days, and it’s been delicious each time I’ve had it. Thus, it comes with high recommendations on my part. The summer heat has done nothing to detract from having this delicious soup served hot. In fact, the day Gigi made it, the weather was rainy and blurry, a perfect contrast to the rather cheery flavor of this food.

    What you need:

    • 2 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions
    • 2 1/2 Tablespoons margarine
    • 3 cans condensed beef broth (or 6 veg bouillion cubes dissolved in 4 cups hot water)
    • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
    • French or Hard Rolls, diced and toasted
    • Parmesan Cheese (enough to top)

    What you do:

    • Cook onion in margarine until brown.
    • Add broth and worcestershire sauce.
    • Bring to boil and add salt and pepper.
    • Pour into soup bowls, float toast on top and sprinkle with cheese.
    • Place into oven in preheated broiler for a few Seconds until cheese has melted.
    • Careful removing from oven. Very hot.

    Gigi went ahead and cooked the soup in a baking dish instead of dipping it into individual bowls, but that didn’t stop the tastiness of the soup at all.

    In my case, I diluted the soup with a bit of water because it tasted too salty initially. This may not be the case for everyone; always remember that if a soup or a liquid is too concentrated, a little water or even milk can work wonders in cutting off the edge of the flavor and creating, well, more food. This also comes from a salt-lover, but maybe that’s just how the soup is supposed to taste, or maybe my body just happened to become extremely sensitive to salt lately. Who knows?

    The soup isn’t bad when it’s just warm, but it’s exceptionally delicious when hot, and so I recommend having it hot and not just warm.

    You can always add more bread and cheese to it and play around with the kinds of breads and cheeses. Also remember that since this is onion soup, any flavoring that goes well with onions will go well with it- try serving diced tomatoes or peppers as a side to it.

    What are you waiting for? This is exceptionally easy, and you should go make it right away! Carpe Diem!

    Beaux


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  10. Food: Not Just Physical!

    June 29, 2011 by The Yum Yum

    Okay, so the title isn’t implying that food doesn’t really exist or is ethereal or anything along those lines, but I do want to make a very important point in this blog. I may have already written about this before, and as always, forgive me. I don’t have the time to go back and go through every single one of my blogs to make sure that I haven’t written about something before when I start to write a new blog, and many of you may understand what I mean by that.

    So, the reality is that food is not simply a physical process for us. If you were to ask someone a question about why they eat, they would likely respond that people eat in order to give energy to the organism, to fuel it, to survive and stay alive. That’s all great and well, but that doesn’t really explain much- and that’s not why most of us eat, either.

    The fuel for the organism and body bit is absolutely accurate- to a degree. But that only explains in a very limited way why we eat at all without diving a little more deeply into why food is prepared in an artistic form, why we enjoy cooking a variety of foods, why there are so many different ways to eat the same food, which takes us to a peculiarly human dimension of things.

    Food is not just a physical phenomenon. Food is also very much so a psychological phenomenon- food has a meaning behind it, and humans are master symbol-users and symbol-inventers.

    This blog actually began while I ate a piece of Bapaw’s birthday cake, wondering in my head why, even though I know cake is loaded with sugar and carbs and all kinds of wonderful nasties for the body, I would continue eating it. The ideas comes up to me that even though we have plenty of fruit and vegetables here, I seem to choose foods that aren’t as healthy more often- not that I don’t eat tomatoes, but let’s just say I eat way more potatoes than I do tomatoes, and so the question remains as to why this is.

    Some people would try to explain it in terms of biological reactions in the brain- carbs give the body a kind of high and so on, and we become addicted to them. But I think a better answer is that the food that isn’t quite as healthy is also symbolic of comfort, of happy times, of good memories, of friends and families. Vegan food is great, of course, and I wouldn’t trade the great meals we’ve had over at Kelly’s house for anything in the world. In, fact such healthy food, when prepared correctly (as Kelly does) tastes superior to foods that aren’t nearly as healthy, though this something many would scarcely believe.

    Carbohydrates are the real culprit here. But again, they’re easy to eat- raw tomatoes are more difficult to eat, for instance, because they’re so acidic, and the harsh taste makes me recoil. The same can be said for onions and other vegetables. Perhaps they can be mixed in a certain way that would make them okay, though.

    Anyway, even if pizza or birthday cake isn’t the healthiest food world in the world, it reminds us of something- of happiness, of long-ago, of Friday nights, of something out of the ordinary. Sometimes, the converse is true- we’re reminded of just how peculiar and powerful the “ordinary” can be.

    Sometimes, too, one can have a craving for a particular food, and one can eat something else. But one is still not satisfied in having eaten a meal- one wants a particular food. This happened to me sometime a few months ago dealing with honey buns. I craved a honey bun, and no matter what I ate, my brain told me that I needed to eat a honey bun. The same held true for the Nutty Bars until I had one that was slightly melted at work, and the nasty taste of the lukewarm chocolate disturbed me so much that I swore off those evils sticks of sugary carbs for the next five-hundred years.

    The exception to this process is when I have drunk water instead of something like soda- I forced myself to have water instead of soda, and then eventually the water proved itself to be superior in quenching thirst than soda. This doesn’t always hold true, though.

    Anyway, I just thought I’d write another entry since the one earlier today wasn’t very good.

    Beaux


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