Food Shopping

Who knew that one could have so much fun food foraging, I mean going to the grocery store? Anthony and I had come to the conclusion that all we really lacked for this week's food supply was oatmeal, fruits and vegetables. I hurried off to the store while he watched baby Shastya.

When I got to the store I decided not to buy anything that I had bought on my last trip to the store. I wanted to try some new items, maybe some things that were a little unusual to us. Publix did not disappoint.

I perused the cases of produce making sure to miss the organic case because I did not want to pay extra for my food. Moving on, one particular case had a lot of interesting, beautiful roots, greens, and vegetables in it. I began bagging up some of these. After bagging a large bulbous something, I turned to the produce professional and asked,"By the way, what is this?" He said it was fennel, and that it had a licorice flavor and some other flavor but I forget what he said. He said I can find a bunch of great recipes for it online. I smiled, and said that's what I was planning to do. It's kind of hard to find recipes for an item if you don't know what the item is called, if you don't know what to type into the search engine.

Then, I moved on to find some chicken. I became distracted as I was passing through the seafood department. I saw a rack of crawfish. I started snickering. "Those are great," I thought. Into my cart they went, as I turned my cart, and trudged forward with glee. These would make a great Valentine's dinner being red, exotic, and all. I couldn't help but laughing thinking of what Anthony's reaction would be when I brought these frozen critters home.

When I got to the check-out, the cashier and bagger and I small-talked about food. The bagger asked what I was going to make with the pretty purple cabbage. I said I had no clue, that I was going to google it. She said her grandmother made the best purple cabbage with egg noodles! I said that I had seen a similar recipe on Pinterest, and that maybe I would make that with my pretty purple cabbage! I asked the two girls if they liked to cook. They said no, that they didn't like following directions! I laughed. I told them I don't like following directions either. I just look at recipes but then do whatever! Kind of ironic, I had a cart full of gourmet items and I was saying I don't like to cook from a recipe.

On the way out to my car the bagger asked if I liked cabbage. I said yes, that I had grown up in Pennsylvania, and that they eat a lot of cabbage up in Pennsylvania Dutch country. She said her family was from PA too.

I'm still wondering what one of the items is that I brought home. I ripped off a leaf and ate it. It tasted good. Food can be such an adventure.

Shari's Sexy Seductive Swirly Snacks

So exciting, I made these chocolate swirl rolls without referring to a recipe for the dough, the filling, the oven temperature, or the timer setting! A most superb new combination, my own creation. We had some old grapes in the fridge and some dried plums that had been in the cabinet forever. I thought it was time to use them up. I wanted to use them up in epic fashion. I did. My fruit filling was fabulously succulent and delectable, the perfect match for my quintessentially dramatic chocolate swirl rolls.

Shari's Sexy Seductive Swirly Snacks:

Dough:

3 Tsp Granulated Sugar

1 Tsp Yeast

1 Cup Warm Water

2 1/3 Cups Flour

1/3 Cup Cocoa

1 Tsp Salt

Filling:

1/2 Cup Old Red Grapes

1/2 Cup Dried Plums

1/2 Cup Almonds

1/3 Cup Molasses

1. Combine first three ingredients for dough in bread machine canister and mix. Add flour, cocoa, and salt. Turn on dough setting.

2. Put grapes, dried plums, and almonds in a blender and chop.

3. Roll out dough. Spread filling mix on top of dough. Drizzle the molasses over the filling and dough.

4. Cut into 12 chocolate swirl rolls with a serrated knife.

5. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Fried Bologna Subwich

Anthony likes hot sandwiches so I made him one from the food supply we had on hand. I am avoiding saturated fat so I ate leftover green tea & lime rice for supper. Sawing the sub roll open with a serrated knife reminded me of my days as a sandwich chef at Tony's Little Italy in Huntsville, AL.

Fried Bologna Subwich:

1 Wheat Sub

2 Pieces Bologna

2 Pieces Yellow American Cheese

1 Piece of Romaine Lettuce

1 Tb Bacon Ranch

Green Tea & Lime Rice Bowls

So I may have decided on this flavor profile after Robert Irvine tweeted a link to one of his website posts on healthy substitutes for common foods and seasonings. I thought of using green tea as a seasoning and was looking forward to trying it with rice. The lime was an afterthought. 

I did google "can you eat green tea leaves" before I tried making green tea & lime rice bowls. The first article I read was from the world's healthiest foods. The answer is yes.  Then, after my curiosity peaked while reading that article when I came across the word "astringency," I googled "astringent" and read a write up about astringents on Wikipedia. What I read there made me pause and think about how much green tea & lime rice I should consume at a time since I am currently a breastfeeding mother.

Well, I made the specialty rice. After doing so, out of curiosity I googled "greentea rice" being pretty sure I was not the only one making it. It seems any time I think I'm trying something new there are pics of it all over Google Images. Sure enough, I checked, and everyone's making it! As Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." However, nobody that I know has ever made green tea rice that I am aware of. An alternate name for this post could be "Sour Rice." It was that far out, but not bad, not bad.

Green Tea & Lime Rice Bowls:

Rice:

1 Cup Rice

2 Cups Water

2 Tb Green Tea Leaves

Add-ins:

1/2 Can Sweet Corn

1/2 Can Sweet Peas

1 Lime

1. Bring rice, water, and green tea leaves to a boil. Turn to low heat. Cover and cook 15 minutes.

2. While rice is cooking, pour corn and peas in skillet. Cut the lime in half. Squeeze lime juice over vegetables then stir.

3. Combine rice with add-ins in the skillet.

Midnight Snack

Anthony was hungry and wanted a delicious snack so I decided to make no bake cookies. I googled no bake cookies and Food Network's Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies was the first recipe that popped up. I clicked on it, and liked it, so I cooked it. I only agreed to make such a sugary fat-laden snack for Anthony on one condition, which he thought of himself, that is that he take the cookies to his labmates. Anthony and I both know that I do not need these cookies sitting around the house.

Dill Dumplings With Vegetable Filling

Anthony and I love Asian dumplings. We ate them often when we were in China. The past few times I've made dumplings here in the States I just used ground beef instead of ground pork since beef was all I found at the store. This time, I wanted to make a lighter version so I used only vegetables, no meat. I added some dill to the dough for a little extra flavor. They were delicious. I had them hot and served on the table when Anthony got home from school. He said he felt like a king!

Dill Dumplings With Vegetable Filling:

1 Cup Water

2 3/4 Cups Flour

1 Tb Oil

2 Tsp. Dried Dill

1 Finely Chopped Green Bell Pepper

1 Finely Chopped Onion

1 Tsp. Minced Garlic

1 1/2 Tb Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 Tb Soy Sauce

1. The vegetable filling can be chopped and mixed ahead of time and left in the fridge.

2. Dump first four ingredients in bread machine. Put on dough cycle. Take out after maybe half an hour. Roll dough out with rolling pin. Use a cup to cut out the rounds for dumplings.

3. Fill dumplings. Seal. Drop in boiling water and cook for eight minutes or until done.