Monday, March 18, 2013

Taking Sides - - -




Ginger and Lemon Coleslaw

One cup Green Cabbage shredded
Half Cup Red Cabbage shredded
Three Fourth cup Baby Carrots sliced
One and a half tablespoon  Lemon juice
One teaspoon  sugar
One teaspoon  vegetable oil
Three fourth tablespoon grated fresh Ginger
One eighth teaspoon  salt
One eighth teaspoon  crushed Pepper
* One tablespoon  Chopped Cilantro
* Lemon Slices to Garnish


Combine all of the ingredients except Cilantro and Lemon slices in a medium bowl.  
Mix and Toss.  Serve after fifteen minutes. Top with Cilantro only before serving. 
Garnish with Lemon slices if serving in a platter. you can save the Lemon slices for future use in tea or something else if people don't use them.
Makes four half cup servings.

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My husband said that I don't know how to make the sides that come with the fried chicken. I told him that I am working on it but Coleslaw is not a problem. He wondered if I had the ingredients for Coleslaw. I told him that I have the ingredients and then some. He said that no one can make like the one that comes with the Fried chicken, but he was willing to try my weird method. Vegetable oil being the only fat, versus cream and other fats in the other Coleslaw did not sound like Coleslaw to him. When he saw me chopping the green cabbage very fine, he asked me if I can chop the purple one ( meaning the Red Cabbage) a little thicker because it is hard to pick up very finely chopped Coleslaw with the fork. 
He actually liked it. 






Friday, March 8, 2013

Summer Food before Spring

Summer food before springtime
          Chicken Kabobs in the oven

One pound chicken breast cut into one and a half inch cubes
Half a tsp salt
Half a tsp Garlic Powder
*one eighth tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all of the ingredients except Cayenne pepper in a resealable plastic bag and shake thoroughly until the chicken cubes are coated with the salt and garlic powder. Let stand for two hours. Take two ten inch skewers and thread the chicken cubes (Kabobs). Keep the skewers with the chicken kabobs. Keep the skewers with the Kabobs over a deep baking dish and broil for ten minutes. Take the Kabobs out and brush with the cayenne pepper. The Kabobs are ready to eat. You may want to squeeze some lemon juice if you desire. I like my vegetables fresh therefore I did not add any. You may want to add Pepper and or Tomatoes like I did with the other one.


My daughter liked these a lot.
My husband was not really thrilled with these,
 " Kabobs are only of Lamb or Beef." he said.
 Therefore I tried these with a little alteration.

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Beef Kabobs in the oven
One pound boneless Beef cut into sixteen pieces
Half a tsp salt
Two tsp Olive oil
four Roma Tomatoes  quartered ( sixteen pieces)
two large green Peppers cut into eight pieces
One large Zuchinni cut into sixteen pieces
One eighth tsp Cayenne Pepper
One tsp grated lemon peel
One tsp dried basil
one tsp dried Oragano
One fourth cup fat free Italian dressing.
In a large resealable bag combine all of the ingredients and shake. This time let it sit for four hours. 
Then thread ten inch skewers with the Beef, Tomatoes, Peppers  and Zuchinni. Save the marinade in a bowl. Keep the skewers with the Kabobs over a deep baking dish and broil for fifteen minutes. Pull out the pan and brush the marinade over the Kabobs. Broil for another ten to fifteen minutes. Turn off the broiler and take out the Kabobs. Pour the rest of the marinade over the Kabobs. Bake for fifteen minutes on 350 degrees F for extra tenderness. 
These can be grilled in summer time. The cooking time will be reduced to just fifteen minutes. However the time to marinade is still four hours.

He has a choice of eating the Chicken Kabobs to his heart's desire or eat only one skewer of the Beef Kabobs.


What is closest to fried food in taste?
What would my father say? I used to go to my father with food questions because he worked in the king's kitchen from the age of fourteen. He would probably think for a few minutes and say that every dish has it's origin and is from a certain culture. I think that every dish has it's importance because of the numberof years it was served to a person or a group of people. Now a days, a certain food gets preference in our mind because of advertisement and constant reminders.
I have a huge task of competing with "ready to eat food" industry, when it comes to winning my husband's heart. 
Younger people are flexible. They will get used to healthy eating eventually.