It's been way too long since my last post and I felt the need to remark on
the many touches of human kindness I have seen in so many ways since the
wake of Sandy here in Long
Island! It has not all been about long gas lines and fear of
looting. Far from it has been the reality that the haves have been
providing in so many ways to the have nots! Not because they were
looking for recognition but because the Soul within them felt the need to
provide comfort in what ever way they thought they could.
This was demonstrated by the group that went from wrecked home to wrecked
home and pulled wet sheet rock from the walls and yanked cabinets out to prep
for new beginnings. It was shown through groups that went from door to
door to providing meals for those without and clothing for those who lost all
except hope! I personally would like to thank my friends that washed the
linens that we used to try and save our home from total destruction and our grimy clothes we wore over and over (yeah they weren't pretty) while ripping out our own sheet rock & rugs.
Taking a shower at LA Fitness with my family with clean towels is now among my
top 10 best feeling moments in this lifetime! I just want to say thank you to
everyone out there that has gone out of their way to assist those in need in
the wake of this storm and I hope we all keep doing it.
I was in the middle of testing my Gourmet Detox Plan with several of my most
favorite test subjects when Sandy hit with all her might! More to come on
that!
I have not seen much in the media regarding the drinking water here in Long Island, but I advise everyone to boil any and all
water that you are using until confirmation that it is safe.
Naturally Respectful,
Cindy D
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Mammas & Pappas Cooking 101
April 28, 2012
Blogging Naturally, entry # 11
Mammas & Pappas Cooking 101
As promised, I want to share a
few things that I have learned at the Natural Gourmet Institute of Health &
Culinary Arts and how I have infused (great word, don’t you think?) them into
my own cooking for my family meals. I
like to call my style “Sensible Organic Cooking on a Dime”.
The following recipe was
developed with all of the Mammas & Pappas in mind who have limited time to
cook healthy meals for their little cubs!
I have incorporated store bought ingredients indicated by an * that if
you have the time and energy (Bless You!) you can make yourself ahead of time
to use. Please contact me if you would
like the recipes for any of those.
It is very important to me as the
Head Chef in my home that I exert the maximum effort to cook health supportive
meals that won’t break Pappas piggy bank!
So, when I buy 2 organic chickens for $20 you know I have learned ways
to stretch out their yield into 3 meals for my family of 5! I won’t get into that here for now. I will just address how to use the leftover
chicken from whatever cooking method you used and add to the following
delicious (forgive me for saying so myself!) healthy soup.
So I combined Grandma’s chicken
soup with a garlic- miso soup and added pasta and away we go! What did you say? Why is this soup so healthy? I am so glad you asked that! Short version, Grandma’s chicken stock is
chock full of nutrients, vitamins & minerals that comes from the bones of
the chicken and the vegetables (usually celery, carrots and onions) add to the
nutritional value as well. Miso is made
from fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans, with salt and kojikin
(fungus). Most Miso’s are made from
soy. However, you can go gluten and soy
free by using a chickpea miso and brown rice pasta like that shown below. So my friends who must be soy or gluten free
have no fear…just Google where you can order or buy direct chickpea miso. Fermented foods have been known to be health
supportive by many cultures for thousands of years. Miso is high in Vitamins B12, K and protein. Many believe that Miso has
the ability to detoxify the body of heavy metals and radiation caused by
numerous sources such as x-ray’s. Garlic
too has a long history of cultures using it for various remedies and use in
daily consumption for overall health.
Aside from the great taste….o.k. downside is breath, but no one said you
had to go on a first date after eating this soup!......Garlic is an antifungal
and antibiotic. So, slurp away (no
really that is a compliment in other cultures!) and enjoy Cindy D’s “Chicken
Garlic Miso Soup”!
Hey, what about us Vegan’s and
Vegetarian’s? Oh yeah, I respect
that. Please substitute the chicken
stock with vegetable stock and perhaps throw in either sautéed tofu or tempeh
in place of the leftover chicken.
Naturally Respectful,
Cindy D.
Cindy D’s Chicken Garlic Miso Soup
Procedure:
* Here are some easy peasy time
saver options and where to buy:
(Kirkland ’s Organic Chicken Stock* Trader
Joe’s Organic Brown Rice Pasta* Frozen Organic Vegetables, available in most
stores.)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Oh My Everlasting Lucy Ways: Gallette Pastry Exam
January 31, 2012
Blogging Naturally, Entry #10
Oh My Everlasting Lucy Ways
Lately I am so about truly trying to keep things short and sweet! Love that pun! I just had my pastry exam at the Natural Gourmet Instititute of Health & Culinary Arts and thought I would pass on a laugh that my classmates and I enjoyed at my expense.
Yes, my Lucille Ball ways are still shining through regardless of how I try to contain them! I must set up the scene for you to appreciate it (I hope you do anyway). We are swiftly coming to the end of our Chef’s Training Program (CTP) at the NGI and we just were given our pastry exam. We are actually given the ingredients of a Vegan pastry crust to form a hopefully attractive little French Galette. We are also given the ingredients for the apple filling that is to hopefully fit into our Galette in an attractive manner. There are no procedures given from the temperature to cook the pastry to the how to prepare the dough to cooking of the filling to finally firing in the oven.
So, with approximately 4 hours sleep the night before I went into the City via the LIRR, then a ride on my French White Scooter (who some kids at the train station told me was cool, but not my own kids). No silly, not a motorized scooter but one that is powered by my rather large legs. Just a side bar, they have gotten bigger due to where we are in the program……Baking, cakes, pies, pastries….which followed Pasta and we are now looking forward towards bread, foccacia and pizza! I am mentally moving the buttons on my chef’s jacket…because I ain’t got time to actually sew one stitch!
The recipe calls for ¾ cup whole wheat pasty flour (you know so that it is health supportive, I think in some way!) and ¾ cup all purpose flour. Well my sleepy head starts out with my 1 cup measuring cup and my ½ cup measuring cup. I proceed to start my mise en place (gather my ingredients for my preparation). I get all of my flour after waiting for some of my classmates to gather theirs, Momma taught me to be polite. I am in no rush and apparently am operating on less than full faculties. I gather the rest of my items and bring them back to my real estate (I love saying that!). Now I start racking my brain to remember the steps of the procedures. I amaze myself that I actually remember them and begin, up until the mixing and rolling of the dough, a perfect execution of my little French Galette! Ooh La La or shortly after the exam was over and grading commenced Ha Ha Ha!
When I was adding the moisture to my dough…..I could not understand why I had to keep adding and adding and adding. Truly I felt like there was something in that bowl that was drinking my water. I know that the Chef who demonstrated our first Galette said don’t worry about how much water you use “just use your instincts and add what your gut tells you to, does that make sense?” I kept working that dough and have to tell you I didn’t feel anything but raw dry flour! That’s when I realized I left out the maple syrup that was sitting to my right just begging to dive in. Still no relief, I resigned to adding a few more tablespoons of water and finally gathered my specimen into plastic and placed in the refrigerator.
Then came what I used to think was the fun part! Roll that little ball out. I did take a little notice when I put mine into the fridge it was considerably bigger than my classmates. I don’t let these little details bother me when I am finally in the zone! So out comes my dough and down goes my rolling pin. I am rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling. No kidding here, I was the last person to be rolling. It started to remind me of the blob! It totally took over my workstation and aggressively took over my classmate’s real-estate! Thank God they were done at this point. With that, all could and did take notice of my ever-growing blob! I actually snapped out of my Zen like mode and started to realize something is terribly wrong! But, the test must go on as does life.
I once again felt like that episode of Lucy with the chocolates at the factory where the conveyor belt spun by way too quickly and she compensated by hiding the chocolates on her person wherever they would fit after shoving them in her mouth to full capacity! I must cut my 9 inch circle and hope…maybe pray….yeah why not….that the grading Chef does not see the extra dough that could easily make what looks like one or two more pastries!
While my Galette is cooling and waiting to be graded a few of my classmates start discussing my abnormal rolling adventure. Shhhhhhhhhhhhh I said a judge must not be presented with preconceived notions. Please let him tell me what, if anything is wrong with my pretty little Galette. I have to say it truly looked spot on. But you know how deceiving looks can be……Chef looked at it and commented on how nice it looked…but did say that he noticed me “overworking” my dough and made notes during the test. Little did the Chef or I know for that matter what the problem actually was. Chef then tried to cut into my little beauty with a butter knife….looked more like the action of sawing at this point….after much labor the cut was made. Comments, very doughy but nice taste and texture on filling and looks appealing.
When the Galette was done being graded my classmates told me that they saw me use the 1 & the ½ cup vs. the ½ & ¼ cup for measuring the flour! Does that make sense! I laughed so hard with them that I couldn’t stand still long enough to take a good picture of the poor little butchered Galette of mine. Turns out I got a 95 on that! Thank you Chef.
I didn’t fail this exam; however I did fail to make this short! Sorry. Till next time,
Naturally Respectful,
Cindy D
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