Radish Tacos and a Walk

I'm starting this post a little different. The following Radish Taco recipe is healthy, tasty, economical, and easy. Even most small groceries will have what you need to make it. Although the green onions I was able to buy at the Port Orford grocery store were a bit sad, the big beautiful radishes were great.

 For Tacos: 

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can black beans
• 6-10 radishes
• 1 bunch green onions
  
• corn tortillas.
  

For Crema: 

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp lime juice
  
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
  

You will also need a food processor and a frying pan.

Put all the ingredients for the Crema into a food processor and pulse to combine. Set aside. 

Rinse and drain the black beans, wash and dice the radishes, and slice the green onions.

Heat olive oil in fry pan over medium heat, and sauté green onions for a short while. Add radishes and continue to cook until they are tender and start to lose color.  Add beans and stir often until they are warmed through. Remove from pan and keep warm.

Clean pan, add a tiny amount of oil and warm tortillas a few at a time as required.

 

To serve, put some bean/radish mixture onto a warm tortilla, top with avocado crema, fold and eat. We find this recipe yields about 8 tacos. Enough to satisfy us without any additions or leftovers.

I know this recipe was not from my childhood; Craig says it came as a Allrecipes email. Actually we didn't eat Tacos in my parents' house, and tortillas were not available in a regular grocery store. I'm glad times have changed.

The Walk:

On Tuesday, we woke to bright sunshine peeking through the slats of the blinds. Sure enough, the slight breeze overnight had blown away the smoke and fog. I knew just where to go for a nice walk, back to Humbug Mountain State Park to try out another of its trails. This time it was the "Fern Trail".

 

It was another beautiful walk.  

Uphill to the same place as our last hike,  but easy because most of it was on the pavement of old US 101, and the altitude gain was spread over a mile instead of a quarter mile.

I guess it is called the Fern Trail because there are a lot of ferns growing there. The road cut gives them just enough light to flourish.

Instead of turning around and walking back down the 101 grade, we came down on the Amphitheater Trail, which we were on last week. A bit hard on the old knees, but so pretty it was worth it.

The trailhead parking lot is on the side of the busy highway 101, but the trail goes under through a culvert tunnel. It was so nice to get out again after so many days of hiding from the wildfire smoke.

In memory of our friend Judy Bell:

The End

 

Interesting Winter Salad

Photo from blog " What's cooking good looking "

I made a rather interesting winter salad for dinner tonight.  I got the recipe from a blog I follow called "What's cooking good looking". 

In general I am not a big fan of kale, but I do love roasted vegetables, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Craig really liked it, so I guess it will become part of our repertoire. Below is the recipe and changes I made. 

I think it would also be good with roasted baby golden beets, or any of several other vegetables.

Mustard Marinated Kale with Roasted Winter Vegetables

serves2 people

ingredients

5-6 large dinosaur kale leaves, stems removed and very finely chopped (This didn't seem like nearly enough because the leaves I had were quite small, so I used six small leaves from a bunch of dino-kale, and about the same from a bunch of curly kale.)
4-5 small "rainbow" carrots, tops removed and cleaned (I doubled this because mine looked so good.  I also cut them into thirds.)

3 shallots, sliced into wedges
3-4 Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and thinly sliced
10 or so endive leaves (I used one large endive.)
3-4 sage leaves (I used fresh, but I think dried would be OK.)
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves (packed tightly) (I used dried)
1-2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or another high-heat oil)
salt+pepper

for the mustard marinade:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or 1 tablespoon Real Lemon juice concentrate, I used two and we decided it was a bit too lemony)
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grainy mustard 

method

• Preheat the oven to 400º
• Place the carrots, shallots, Jerusalem artichokes, endive, sage, and oregano in a medium-large sized  roasting pan and toss with the grapeseed oil and salt and pepper.
• Roast in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until the vegetables have started to caramelize brown.
• While the vegetables are roasting, marinate the kale. Whisk together the ingredients for the mustard marinade until they are emulsified. Place the finely chopped kale in a large bowl and pour in ¾ of the marinade. Massage the marinade into the kale using your hands. Set aside until the vegetables are done (the longer the better, this will allow the kale to break down a bit and not be so tough).
• Allow the vegetables to cool slightly, then arrange them on top of the kale. Use the last ¼ of the dressing to drizzle over the vegetables. Season with extra salt and pepper or olive oil if you like.

I made a Trader Joe's par-baked sourdough bread and served it warm on the side.  It was filling enough that the salad and bread were a complete meal.

The source blog has many interesting recipes that fit into a healthy eating plan. If you like to try new things, take a look.

[From Craig] In case this recipe doesn't fill you up for the whole night, or any time you want a nice snack, try sour cream spinach dip with reduced fat Wheat Thin crackers. I used Trader Joe's spinach dip, but any prepared dip (or your own) should go wonderfully with these crackers, which are the ultimate rarity: a low-fat version that's better than the original.

It Looks Like Spring

But it's still pretty cold outside up here in the Mountains!  We are still enjoying evening fires and Craig says it has to get warmer before he is ready to start the "outside" work!


On the "inside" work, he has completed work on one of three bathrooms.  The other two will come after a long summer of outside jobs.  


Not much happening with the RV.  I did firm up our plans for the Crater lake trip, and made reservations at the Shingletown KOA for the week we will be down near Lassen National Park. 


 I first made a mistake in booking a one night stop over at the Burney Falls State park. I had looked at the reservation sight several times and was under the impression there were no sites big enough for the Alfa, but then I found one. Unfortunately it was a handicap site and I didn't notice that until after I had confirmed the reservation.  OOPS, I called right away, but still got stuck with a cancellation fee.  Lesson learned.  Look at everything twice when you find something to good to be true! 


 I guess we will just be driving up to Burney Falls one of the days we are at Shingletown.  We will have the Prius with us.


On the food front, I've slipped a couple of times.  I remind myself no one is perfect and building new habits that will be good for me for the rest of my life.
I just get so bummed when I hit a plateau like I have for the last week or so.


I am excited about a new dressing/dip recipe that I have been making.  I'm sure all my Vegan  friends know all about silken tofu, but it was new to me.  Silken tofu is sold in water packages next to the firm tofu in the cold case of the grocery stores. I see that it is also sold in "shelf stable" boxes which would be great to have along in the RV when you can't get to a grocery!


The following is a recipe for a very basic salad dressing.  I made half at a time because I don't like to keep things mixed in the refrigerator for very long. It is a "basic" recipe and you could easily add more or other spices or even add tomato and relish for a Thousand Island style dressing.

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• 6 ounces silken tofu (or soft tofu, drained) (comes in 
• a box)
• 
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley (I used dried)
• 
  
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Directions

1. Instructions:
2. Combine all ingredients in a blender container. Blend until well mixed.

The first time I made it we tried it as a veggie dip.  I guess we were hungry, because between Craig and I we did in a whole small head of fresh cauliflower! At that time I thought the dressing was a bit thin and would have been better as a salad dressing than as a dipping dressing.  I did save the little that was left over and used it on a salad a few days later and it was still good.

I made a second batch with the remaining tofu a few days later.  This time I added a Tablespoon of Chia seeds and put it in the refrigerator over night. The dressing became a nice thick dip!

I had never heard of Chia Seeds before last week, except for when they are spread over a funny sculpture to grow a "Cha- Cha -Cha- Chia pet!  


They are very high in fiber, 5 grams per tablespoon, and can be added to things like breads or smoothies.  If you mix them into a liquid, and let them stand for awhile, they expand into a jelly like substance with  little seeds inside.  This is what thickened the dressing.


By the way, do not mix Chia seeds, almond milk and blueberries in a blender and pour it into little cups, expecting to get a  nice "Chia pudding."  The resulting concoction is not visually pleasing. The blueberries turn gray.  

Really Good Dinner Recipe

My primary reason for trying to eat  more "healthy" meals remains to lower my cholesterol and blood glucose levels. Losing weight is of secondary importance, but I'm not kidding myself about really wanting to drop the fat!  


Last night and tonight we had a wonderfully healthy and tasty dish for dinner.  Craig urged me to share it because he says it was one of the best foods he has had in a long time.  The recipe is not a "diet" meal, but for a pasta based meal it is very healthy.  It came to me as one of the "daily dishes" I get as emails from allrecipes.com  


I'm posting the full original version below. 


The changes I made were to use whole wheat penne pasta, to add two peeled and cubed Japanese eggplant to the vegetable mix, and to use cubed Roma tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes because they were less expensive. I did not use any butter to saute the onions, but I did use the Romano cheese. I figured 1/2 cup divided by six servings is not a lot of cheese.


12 oz. of penne plus all the vegetables made a huge pot of food.  We will be eating it for a third night tomorrow, so next time I will cut the pasta to 6 oz. but still use all of the vegetables and other ingredients.


One other thought is that since I'm still in a house I had no problem with  using a large tray in the oven for roasting the veggies.  In an RV you might have to do two batches, or roast them on the grill.

No Cream Pasta Primavera

from allrecipes.com

Servings  (Help)

USMetricCalculate

Original Recipe Yield 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package penne pasta
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 red bell pepper, julienned
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 5 spears asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne pasta and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. In a bowl, toss squash, zucchini, carrot, red bell pepper, tomatoes, green beans, and asparagus with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and Italian seasoning. Arrange vegetables on the baking sheet, and roast 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until tender.
4. Heat remaining olive oil and butter in a large skillet. Stir in the onion and garlic, and cook until tender. Mix in cooked pasta, lemon zest, basil, parsley, and balsamic vinegar. Gently toss and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with roasted vegetables and sprinkle with Romano cheese to serve.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 406 | Total Fat: 15.4g | Cholesterol: 15mg

Chocolate Covered Cardboard

I found this recipe for these on the back of the Fiber One Box!


I call them Chocolate Covered Cardboard so I won't be tempted to eat more than two of them a day!


Because they need to be chilled to set, I used a couple of layers of waxed paper on top of each other.  I was trying to imagine a limited space in an RV refrigerator!  After they were set I put half in a tightly closed container well out of sight, and the rest in a container in the kitchen fridge.  In the past they would have been left out in plain sight and I would have been eating them without thinking about it!


Each cluster has 70 Calories, 18 grams Carbs, and 3 grams of Fiber.  OR  a big SIX grams of fiber in two for only 140 Calories.  Basically the fiber gives this an excellent low Glycemic Load ratio. 


They are also very SATISFYING.  Two pieces will give you a full tummy feeling and the chocolate feels like a little indulgence.  


Recipe:
12 oz. package chocolate chips.
1/2 cup reduced fat peanut butter
3  3/4 cups (1 pouch) Fiber One cereal

• Put a waxed paper sheet onto a baking tray that will fit into your fridge.  Keep the roll out.

• Melt peanut butter and chocolate chips in a large bowl in the microwave (a couple of minutes) stir after 30-45 seconds, then every 15 until it is melted and smooth.
• Stir in Fiber One, and drop by rounded teaspoons onto waxed paper.  
• Chill until set. 

Safeway also has a cheaper version of this cereal.  It is called Fiber Active, but looks and tastes just about the same.  Like cardboard! But think of the fiber.


I have also found Fiber One  to be a great base for an evening snack.  When I make a strawberry shortcake for Craig, I make mine with a cereal base instead of the Hostess cake I grew up with.  Then I put a splash of Orange juice on the cereal to soften it a bit, and top it with Strawberries and Kool Whip (Free.)  


I admit I haven't read the label on that stuff yet.  It will probably kill me, but I will die looking like I ate whipped cream! 


I'm really getting into this and am feeling GREAT!

Easy to make dounuts

This doughnut recipe was in our morning email from Allrecipe.  Since we had a tube of buttermilk biscuit dough on hand, we decided to try them. Grandma's Doughnuts

Rated: Submitted By: Tiffany H. Photo By: MENZIETO Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 20 Minutes Servings: 10 doughnuts, 10 holes

"When you're hungry for doughnuts, but don't have the time to mix a dough, try this quick and tasty treat."

INGREDIENTS:

oil for deep frying  1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough 1 cup confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). I used a medium pot and my candy thermometer.  I made three at a time.
2.	Separate out the biscuits and cut a hole in the middle of each one, like you would a doughnut. I used a length of 3/4" PVC pipe from the art room that I dipped into flour to press out the holes.  It is now part of my kitchen gear. You can get creative on this part and make different shapes. Just be sure not to make them too thick in any places, or they will not cook all the way through.
3.	Carefully slide doughnuts into hot oil.  I made the holes first and they came out very round. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain briefly on wire racks placed over baking sheets.
4.	Place the confectioners' sugar in a bowl and roll the hot doughnuts in the sugar. You could also use sugar and cinnamon or melted chocolate, or just plain. They were really easy to make, and although not quite "Crispy Creams" they were quite good. I have decided they would be great to make in the RV for my grandsons when we take them to the Rose Bowl parade in December.  Boys love doughnuts, and so do Grandmas! Good for us?  NO!  But sometimes a sugar doughnut or three is just what you want for breakfast, and these are so easy I had to share the recipe with you. RV research:  I had read somewhere that the shorter diesels had some problems with "popping" or "lurching."   I read quite a few comments on the RV forums and the advice was to just be sure you did a good test drive on the highway with any rig before you decide to buy.  Every comment from shorty owners was positive.  This does not seem to be a really big problem. The other issue I looked into was "salt air damage." Since the latest MH I've been looking into is in Monterey California, I wanted to know what kind of damage to look for.  It seems body rust might be a problem.  Also we should be sure to have the breaks and hydraulics carefully inspected for salt damage.  Good reasons to have a professional inspection done. But first I will have to see the rig in person. Hope to make that happen this week.