Broccoli, onions, black olives, fresh Roma tomato, tarragon, basil, garlic, pepper jack cheese

I love a good omelet but I’m not good at making them. What I can do tho is make a killer stovetop frittata.
(1) First I basically make a stirfry of all my fave veggies. For me that’s onion, red pepper strips, halved brocolli florets, mushrooms, scallions. Fill the bottom of the pan with them, it will cook down by half. Cook til golden.
(2) pour *egg mixture to cover the vegs.
(3) lower the heat (for me it’s medium low)
(4) after 5 mins, top with fresh tomato and strips of cheese, cover and let it all melt
(5) serve alone or inside a grilled soft taco with sour cream and lettuce

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Za’atar is a flavorful condiment to sprinkle over soups, salads, hummus, roasted vegetables, olive oil for bread dipping and croutons.
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp cumin seeds, freshly ground
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, freshly ground
1 tbsp sumac
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon red chili flakes if you like heat

What I like about making the adobo and sazon seasoning mixes myself is I can control the sodium. I use less because I typically add soy sauce.  Some add chili powder to these, some add cayenne pepper. Here is a Cuban version and a Puerto Rican version. Both yummy!
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I learned something today. I love kung pao chicken. I always avoided eating the little red chilies in it thinking they would be too hot for me. Yet I like the numbing sensation. So today I learned it’s two different foods. I was researching make a spicy sauce for some bland chicken I cooked last night and that’s when I read about the difference between the Szechuan peppercorns and the dried red chilies. They said the peppercorns are not hot but they do have the mouth numbing quality. A friend said he usually grinds them and uses them in any dish he’d like to give more heat and a slightly floral flavor. They aren’t hot as much as they have a somewhat punchy and mildly fruity flavor and they give that mouth numbing effect.

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This is the sauce. Use half for marinade.
1. Simmer sauce until thick
2. Brown chicken fast in wok with the ginger, scallions, garlic and red chilies.
3.  Then add a chopped red pepper, half a chopped onion and half a chopped zucchini.
4. Then add sauce and 1 small can of diced water chestnuts and a handful of unsalted dry-roasted peanuts.
5.  Before serving, drizzle with 1 tsp sesame oil (don’t cook sesame oil, add it before serving)    Continue reading →

For this recipe, you’ll use the packet of 15 bean soup mix but you will NOT use the seasoning packet. I like a highly flavored soup but I don’t care for all the sodium contained in the seasoning packets. I’ve learned it’s just as easy to make my own (link here for Homemade Cajun Spice Mix. You’ll notice the cajun spices are also the recipe for homemade chili powder.

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Mix and store in an airtight container. Prepare a day ahead of time for best flavor development. Note: this is also the recipe for homemade chili powder.

YIELD: About 3/4 cup

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Crispy Okra Pie

Mmmmm, sounds yummy, right? You’d be surprised. The way I usually make okra is CRISPY LOW FAT OVEN FRIED OKRA  where I take thawed out, cut frozen okra and dip it into beaten egg then into breadcrumbs and bake in a 400 degree oven 12-15 minutes in a metal pan sprayed with olive oil Pam. I spray the tops with more Pam so they’ll brown.  This time I tried something different. Again, I had a 12 oz bag of frozen cut okra that I took out 6 oz of it to thaw. I made a

LOW FAT VEGETARIAN OKRA PIE (think cheesy bread without the heavy crust)

First, saute in olive oil one big chopped onion along with 2 chopped celery stalks, few chopped garlic cloves if you have them. Once they are golden they’ll add great flavor to this dish.

Put the sauteed onions, celery and garlic into a large mixing bowl with the thawed okra along with 1/2 tp each salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and 1/4 tsp each crushed fennel seed, basil, tarragon, curry powder along with one beaten egg.    Continue reading →

My fave way to use dashi is in miso soup, add 1 tbsp yellow miso to one cup dashi

A recipe for dashi can be as simple as water and kelp, but adding bonito makes the dashi more complex and complete. In Japanese cuisine, all roads lead back to dashi, the base stock made from dried kelp (seaweed) and dried fish. Even in a sushi class with Morimoto , he demoed the proper preparation of dashi well before he broached the topic of fish. Perusing through a Japanese cookbook, you reach the same conclusion: without dashi, most of the recipes could not be executed.   Continue reading →