hummingbirdkiss

I would love to share this!! nothing very exotic just down home cooking and really inexpensive good pie! Muslim Bean pie is around here a lot mostly in the city in Soul Food type places...I used to get it at this great Muslim Fish and Chips joint near my work ...I kept trying to make it for the longest time (ate a lot of pie because they would not give me the exact recipe! I finally realized it was more nutmeg less cinnamon and just like pumpkin pie with beans in place of the pumpkin) anyway it is a good easy and reliable pie kind of like sweet potato but beany! I hope you like it! here is my version of the one I used to eat ..they taste exactly the same except I like the heavy cream vs canned milk ... in the blender or food processor put the following (this make three shallow or two deep dish pies and they keep really well) 2 cups packed cooked navy beans 1 stick melted unsalted butter 1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg 1/2 tsp fresh grated cinnamon 1 1/2 cups sugar 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla (I used the scrapings of one vanilla bean) 1.5 cup of cream or a can of evap milk 2 tble AP flour 1/2 tsp salt (more or less) blend everything up well until smooth and creamy then pour in a unbaked pie shell bake at 375 for 15 min then reduce to 350 for about 30 or until a toothpick comes out clean top with minted whipped cream

at the Richmond Night Market http://www.findfamilyfun.com/richmond-night-market.htm there is usually a man there making dragon beard candy it is fun to watch him make it and he packages it nicely so you can take it home

Muslim Bean pie pics not great ... but it is a very good pie!

I have not had the chance to read all the way through this rhubarb thread and hope I am not repeating when I offer my favorite spring and early summer dish! I have eaten stuffed vine leaves in rhubarb since I was a kid and had no idea people made them any other way ..Right now in my garden my grape leaves are bursting and I almost get more excited about their potential use than my actual grapes! and go figure my rhubarb hill is producing like crazy..the garden works in mysterious ways!!!! ..so it is time to take down my big pot and get some stuffed vine leaves going ... If you have not tried stuffed vine leaves steamed with rhubarb ..here is my very easy recipe as an offering to a very delicious meal!!! I am not sure where this actually came from I have been given recipes for the stuffing and over the years just put this one together that we like best ...but it is like meatloaf make it like you like it!!! Stuffed Vine leaves with rhubarb 1.5 lb ground lamb (or chicken, beef, goat, pork .or even a veggie filling by just using some tabouli or cooked rice and lentils ..with extra seasonings) whatever you like actually) 2/3 cup of basmati rice uncooked but rinsed 4 cloves garlic minced 1.5 tsp fresh ground allspice berries 1/2 tsp fresh ground cinnamon (you can add more I just prefer less) 1/2 cup pine nuts 1 handful fresh mint leaves minced 1 handful fresh parsley minced 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp Kosher salt 2 tsp fresh cracked pepper (fine cracked) 1 heaping tsp of crushed red hot chile pepper (not traditional but really good in there) 1/4 cup good olive oil (especially if the lamb is really lean) mix everything together well dice about 4 or so cups of rhubarb (I just use as much as I think I can get in and around the stuffed vine leaves) and set aside either jarred (I have never used these so am not sure if you have to rinse them or not?) or fresh grape leaves I use fresh and just toss about 50 leaves into a a pot of boiling salted water turn off the heat and let them sit for just a few moments then rinse them lay them out on a towel to dry a bit while I cut away the touch veins in the leaves then roll up the filling inside the leaves like short cigar or tiny burrito stack into a steamer that has about a cup of the diced rhubarb on the bottom then as you are stacking them in toss more of the rhubarb around the stuffed leaves then top with the remaining rhubarb before closing the steamer I do not have a special "steaming" device and use either a colander that fits in the pot of water with a lid.. that has some marbles tossed in (so I can hear if the water runs out) with a lid ...or if making a double batch my Chinese bamboo steamer as well Steam for about 45 min to an hour taste one at the 45 min level and see if they are done serve ( at room temp is best I think) with the rhubarb on top of the vine leaves ... other things I do with rhubarb -make very good wine -make rhubarb lamonade (just simmer rhubarb...then press the juice through a strainer into your favorite lemonade for the pinkest tastiest drink!) add a shot of white rum to make a wonderful cocktail -eat it raw as I pick it -add it to beef stew -make a sauce of mashed fresh cooked rhubarb and serve like applesauce with pork -chutney -all types of desserts pies, crisps and my coworkers fav rhubarb with ginger cobbler -used it instead of tamarind in SE Asian Curries when I did not have tamarind ... -cold soups .. I will stop now I adore rhubarb!!!

I only use the orange flower water with the strawberries .had not even thought about it but I bet you could use it in other flavoris.....I am so thrilled with this combo I use orange flower water in several strawberry dishes

I am 49 damn it and still a HUGE fat tortilla smeared with Adams chunky peanut butter, a nicely ripe banana and a chocolate bar roll it up like a burritto and toast the whole thing in a pan of butter sprinkle with fresh ground cinnamon/sugar and a Coke

as far as I know there is a lot of love in Jewish food My father is an AshKePhart (aka Ashkenazi and Sephardic) and loves all the foods of both his mother and father's culture... he will eat well prepared "Jewish" food over any other... both my grandmother and grandfather were deeply in love..ran off together to Montreal.. both passionate and fantastic cooks ...created the most fantastic meals of my childhood memories ...fusion Jewish! garlic and ginger in the matzo ball soup ok that said ..he is a Jew and loves Jewish foods! Eats them most of the time I am half Jewish and eat them about half as much as he does ... and my kids ..sadly do know how to prepare our families dishes for sure but only eat them when we gather

I had a horrible time with rice for many years..I can cook just about anything but rice kept causing me issue! I have worked my way through three rice cookers cheap to expensive and hated them all ... pots pans ..I could not get it right ..Iit would ruin my meal and my mood when I had this perfect dish and a messy glob of crappy rice to serve with it (more often it went in the trash and I would serve tortillas with my curries or whatever ) one day my girlfriend came over and took matters in hand ..she showed me a couple of great techniques for differing kinds of rice...(we ate a lot of rice that day!) one on one is the best way to learn rice ..(but since we can not do that I hope my note here is clear enough for you to have your own success) and then bought me a cast aluminium pan from a Mexican Market....it looks kind of like a Dutch oven mine is a 2 quart size approx but they have various sizes (like Susy says I agree if you make a little use a smaller pan) this is a very inexpensive item to buy less than $10 (I think mine was more like $7) I( wish I could post a pic but i have yet to figure that out) it makes good rice period ...any rice ..short ...long ...medium...my rice icomes out perfectly! this pan is used for nothing else but rice making ...I have even made Persian Chello in it and it made the crust on the bottom better than any other pan that I have used! Now if you don't want to buy this pot you can still use this method in any pot that is the right size and has a tight fitting lid heat pan over med high toss a little oil or butter in the pan add say 2 cups of long grain rice Mahatma is fine (now you can reduce this and use a small pot as Susy said) saute the rice just until it turns opague when this happens turn the heat up to high and right away (before you actually toast the rice) dump in one cup at a time four cups of cold tap water. stir the entire thing very gently then bring it to a hard boil .. boil the rice uncovered until allmost all the water is absorbed stir once in a while but with a very gentle hand just to loosen it when you see the grains of rice poking through the water and it is almost all absorbed turn your burner to the lowest setting ..simmer is good....and cover the pot (if you dont have a tight lid put a small hand towel over the pot and put the lid on that and let it sit on simmer for 15 min turn the burner off ...leaving the lid on ..do not open it at all yet and let it sit for another 15 min before removing the lid and fluffing your perfect rice good luck! hope this helps! and you have my empathy!!!! as easy as rice seems..it can be a bugger to get right in my opinion but once you do it is second nature! Oh final note! you can freeze cooked rice! I do this all the time when I have some left over ..then I can add it to soup, make rice pudding or fried rice when I need it ...I also make rice fritters out if it ...

thanks Rocky!

split one down the middle and stick it in your sugar bin and shake it around well ... to make vanilla scented sugar... then use it for baking, in coffee or tea ..anyplace you would normally use sugar

this is a wonderful recipe thank you

I am taking friends for (weekday) Dim Sum and shopping downtown ..it has been a few months since I have gone and wondered if there was anything new and exciting I needed to know? bump!

I love this thread thanks for starting it!!! I need to eat really well for breakfast because sometimes I get so swamped at work I dont eat again until I get home after my shift... just by the fact I am on this board at all means eating is VERY important to me ...besides no one likes a cranky nurse... not even the cranky nurse! I have worked on getting veggies into my morning for a while so if I am repeating someone else's suggestions I apologize my breakfast rule of thumb in the order of my priority is 1. it must taste really good and fresh 2. most nutrition I can cram into a quick/easy breakfast ( includes at least two servings of vegetable and 1 of fruit with lots of fat and protein for good measure) 3. contains as little added sugar as possible Some of my routine breakfasts include (and really are modified almost every time I make them depending on the season and what I have in the fridge) 1.use veggies as the "bread of a breakfast sandwich" such as -sliced jicama rounds with Adams chunky peanut butter and bacon or even jelly sandwiched between - scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese stuffed inside a sliced in half hollowed out red pepper -blt in a lettuce wrap -very thin sliced zucchini , daikon, or jicama rolled up with cream cheese and ham or lox or/and minced olives or capers or just cream cheese 2. Vegetable smoothies -My base for smoothies for two giant ones is usually 2 servings of raw vegetable of choice 1 serving of frozen fruits of choice 1 or 2 raw eggs 1/2 cup half and half or milk, sweetener to taste ...you can use sugar, maple syrup, honey or artificial sweeteners (I think mixing cyclamate with splenda is the best combo if you want to avoid all added sugar and use a chemical!) or no sweetener at all as I do often. Last of all a pinch of salt goes a long way for texture and taste of a smoothie and some spices/extracts to match the flavor of the mix you go with. Some suggestions -fresh cooked beets with raspberries and vanilla -zucchini with peaches and ginger -cauliflower (cooked or raw) with mangos vanilla, cardamom and honey -carrots (cooked or raw) with pineapple -cucumber with star fruit (fresh not frozen toss some crushed ice in instead) rosewater and coconut milk instead of the milk or it will curdle -pumpkin (cooked) with a banana cinnamon and maple syrup 3. pancakes.. I make pancakes out of whatever last nights vegetables are just add egg and some breadcrumbs to a mashed or grated veggie that will hold together and cook like a pancake hope this helps and again I am sorry if I repeated what someone else said

I made a Margarita cookie once it was a lime cookie (regular roll out sugar cookie dough with fresh lime juice and some grated zest) ..cut them in the shape of a margarita glass ...then the glaze had a hint of orange "triple sec" and few tbles of good tequilla in it ...topped the cookies with a tiny sprinkle of coarse salt on the glaze at the edge of the top of the glass (I hope this is understandable) and voila a margarita cookie.with plenty of tequilla flavor...it was a really good! cookie and people had fun eating them! hope this helps?

I cook my mangos in a tble shaved fresh ginger ..a good squeeze of fresh lime juice and sugar and then leaving them chunky just add them to a good vanilla bean flavored vanilla ice cream recipe (mine is just half and half vanilla beans and sugar warmed together well and chilled before churning) sounds like I need to go look for some mangos thanks for this thread!

Sawgies (you know the RI Wieners! sp?) simmered with drained sauerkraut and a good beer or even better but on the same line a kind of goulash with cubed pork shoulder sliced onions ...sauerkraut..1/4 cup sweet paprika.... 1/4 cup caraway seeds and a good beer simmered all day long served with a nice crusty heavy bread ..yummmm more wintery than a spring dish but very good served with sour cream on top! I add lager to curries and vindaloo any spicy stews are made better with beer I use beer as a rinse for my hair (whoops not food but it makes it very shiny!!!) any BBQ sauce is good with a bottle of beer simmered down into it Welch rarebit the old fashioned way very yummy and often overlooked as a wonderful treat for kids!!! my kids loved it "Mexican style" with chopped green chiles in it and veggies like jicama and red pepper for dipping (healthy after school snack!) my husband just loves beer and chocolate .. when I make brownies he will always go and look for a beer to drink with them! ...so one time as a presumed joke I used a dark beer in a chocolate cake ..even put a splash of beer in the chocolate fudge frosting ..he just loved the cake!!! I did too when I took a bite I was so surprised at how good the whole thing went together! go figure my joke backfired into a wonderful cake! it is good in chicken soup actually or any soup as long as it is not a bitter beer ... I have tossed it in my brine for fried chicken that was very good and used it in the batter for fried fish or tempura (replaced half the liquid for the batter with beer) beer pancakes or waffles have a kind of "nutty" flavor but use a light hand or it is not appealing at all maybe 1/2 cup to the entire mix... (If I repeated anyone's answers I am sorry not enough coffee this morning)

guacamole!

this is a dumb question but really I dont know ...are these the ones that hook to the sink and have a butcher block on top and roll around? I have not seen one in years (but really have not looked) and would love to buy one for my boys as a gift ..(thank you so much for starting this thread!)..we are housesitting for them and went over to check on the animals yesterday ..... they really have not figured out that dishes do not wash themselves even when sitting forever the food does not just go away!!! (go figure huh?) ..currently have every surface covered with dirty dishes and are using paper plates by the stack of them flowing out of the trash can (who are these boys and who raised them I wonder???) my husband made me leave with cleaning the kitchen and taking out the trash...even though I was hysterical about this!!! he said "do not enable them!!!" ..so I am thinking a portable dishwasher is the next gift ..

I have a very retro 60's ish (vintage) artist smock that has huge pockets and is covered with psychedelic mushrooms ...that is for company because my company loves it! and it has held up perfectly for all these years!!! On a daily basis however and since I am also a messy cook and would not have any clothing at all if I did not do something! ... my husbands shirts work well summer cooking I dive into the Tshirts ...and during the winter I use his flannel shirts ... he is very tall and has a large build and I am pretty small woman so I get great coverage..have potholders and a bar towel all in one with these! He on the other hand does not see the same multi purpose practicality I see in wearing his clothing to do my cooking/baking in..will (still after all these years!!!) walk by me...stop and stare at me in disbelief and mumble something like "gotta get a lock for my drawers!!!"

I love my Mexican butcher! he is so wonderful and will cut about anything I want whenever I want it! not to mention his carne asada is to die for!!! I have tried for ages to figure out what he puts in it but one thing I can not pin point...anyway for $3/lb for premarinated perfectly cut meat ready for a flash grill ...well I can not complain! the nicest thing about this butcher is he believes in pork having fat! I am so offended by "the other white meat" and its lack of flavor and texture that I only buy my pork at Asian or Hispanic markets anymore ...sometimes lean is NOT better in my opinion!

hmmm mine crisped up and stayed that way... are yours a nice dark golden brown? if not you could try baking longer I think I baked mine around 12-15 min but can not remember I know I went over a little on the timing also I put a spoonfull of dough down on the sheet and then just pushed it down with back of the spoon ..you should not have to push them down too much ...the cookies spread out a lot on thier own into really thin crispy cookies...I under estimated how far they would spread and the first batch became a giant single cookie! did yours spread a lot? try less flour if they didn't maybe?

my husband is from Racine ..and lived on lake Michigan spring, summer, fall and ice fishing in the winter.....after prodding him for "Wisconsin" style way of preparing fish and him looking at me like "what on earth do you mean by that? " he said "just dip it in corn meal or seasoned flour and deep or pan fry it the only other option he knew of was to "smoke it" period.....perch to walleye he said where he grew up.. when anyone caught fresh fish they soaked it in milk (yes to get all the fish flavor out of it) dipped it in breading of some kind and fried it ..or brined and popped it in the smoker ... smoking and frying the two most "Wisconsin" ways of eating fish he knew of

I make enchiladas and we sit on the floor in front drinking beer

I am an original wheat germ mama! I have been seriously shopping in "Health food" stores from the time I was 12 ...currently am 49... so that is a lot of years!!! as a kid I used to catch the bus downtown ...while walking around I always had to go to this wonderful .. very dusty...patchouli smelling hippy run health food store that sold sunflower seeds, nuts, pumpkin seeds, dried fruits, wheat germ, carob chips...all in packages that could fit in the pocket of this city dwellers farmer jeans..(Trail mix for my urban hiking!) . .besides this "healthy" stuff they had a significant amt of crapfood wrapped up as "healthy" even way back then!...Tiger Bars for one thing were never anything but a candy bar with a vitamin tossed in! ..halvah was sold wrapped up like a nutritious bar .sesame candy..carob bars ..chips ..granted they were all made and marketed even then to make you think something loaded with sugar, salt or fat..and made with "whole" ingredients along with a vitamin pill ...somehow are ever so much better for you than a Snickers! ...Snickers have nuts btw! honestly the only thing I see that is different in the healthfood stores of then and now ...is then they were small mostly people run shops ..now they are a huge flashy industry of giant grocery/vitamin stores how come if we have bigger flashier "health" food stores were are not a healthier bunch of people after all this time?

I make this every year and have a fantastic recipe on a piece of paper some place that I have been looking for for 3 weeks now!!! I should know this recipe by heart! .. ..I promise I will post it for you when I find it ..I have a TON of rhubarb right now and have been wanting to make some as well ... rhubarb makes a wonderful chutney when combined with lots of fresh ginger and this recipe has a lot in it ...