Tahini

Did you know tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds (either toasted or untoasted) . It gives a wonderful nutty flavor to Middle Eastern and Chinese dishes. It is one of the magic ingredients in hummus, a healthy combination of garbanzo beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon, spices and tahini. If you have a recipe that calls for tahini, but don’t have it on hand, substitute a bit of smooth peanut butter for a similar taste and texture. I think I will make some tomorrow!

Emergency Vegetable Soup

Since I have been on a serious diet, and still without a working kitchen (things are progressing nicely) I wanted a quick, easy, healthy meal that requires no attention and little clean up. Of course, that could be the perfect meal for any busy person. You can keep the ingredients for this on hand to use when you expect a busy day. It makes about 6 servings and gets even better sitting overnight in the refrigerator. In your crockpot, combine 1 ½ pound 1 inch cubes boneless stew beef, 2 large carrots or 6 baby carrots cleaned and roughly chopped, 2 stalks celery with leaves roughly chopped, 1 28 oz. can Italian Style Diced Tomatoes, ½ cup bottled mild salsa, 3 cups low sodium beef broth, 2 bay leaves and a bit of ground black pepper. Sprinkle 3 T cornstarch over the top and stir in until well mixed. Leave to cook for 6 to 8 hours. When you get home from work or picking up the kids, heat one 1 lb package of frozen mixed vegetables for soup in the microwave until just warmed, add to the pot and stir. Allow to cook 1/2 hour more for flavors to develop and serve. Of course you can vary this to use whatever veggies you have on hand, switch up the spices.

Sunday Febuary 10

Boy, that smells good. Cooking at home has lots of advantages. One of them is you get all the wonderful smells. Often when we get to a client’s home to cook for a party or prepare an entrée service, we will start by roasting a head of garlic to fill the home with a great smell that lets everyone know great meals are on the way. The roasted garlic is then used as an ingredient in one of our menu items or used to spread on baguette slices for a Spanish Style appetizer. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top off a head of garlic and center it in a small square of foil. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top. Loosely close the foil and bake for about 40 minutes until soft and slightly browned. Cool and squeeze out the sweet cloves for use in any recipe using garlic!

Sweet Potato Recipe

Mom’s Baked Sweet Potatoes - The contractors remodeling my kitchen pointed out a sweet potato laying on the shelf in the living room. Only in the home of a personal chef! Did you know that sweet potatoes have nearly twice the fiber of white potatoes? While they both provide potassium, the sweet potato also is rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene. So why not serve a sweet potato now and then? Here is my mom’s recipe for baked sweet potatoes. Select small to medium size nicely shaped sweet potatoes for this recipe. Scrub the potato, prick the skin with a fork and bake at 400 degrees until done, about 40 minutes. Serve with a dab of butter and cinnamon sugar to sprinkle over the top.

February 4

Cold, dark and dreary days inspire us to create a soup or a stew. I have been experimenting with a Beef and Beer crockpot stew which has been a winner so far. Beer and wine add unique flavor to food but also bring out the flavor of other ingredients in your recipes. I also like the fact that they tend to have less sodium than commercial broth or stock and so you can use them to create flavorful dishes with much less salt. While most of the alcohol cooks out of your dish, if you prefer not to add alcohol to your recipes you can achieve a similar effect with one of the non-alcoholic beer and wine products now available.