an extinct diet making a comeback

Beau and I have been volunteering at a community supported kitchen in Berkeley to get us out of the house while neither one of us is working. I would not exactly say the work is rewarding since we mostly chop and prep food to be cooked for the next day, so we don't see the finished product, but it is good times anyway. I think the most fun part of the whole experience is meeting such diverse and interesting people! Some of the people absolutely crack me up and have me asking myself, "Am I the only normal one here? Or is it the other way around?"

Something fascinating to me about this kitchen is the food that they cook. Everything is based on the studies of Weston A. Price. If you are not familiar with this man, I only know some vague details. Weston A. Price was a dentist who noticed the decline in tooth health in America and traveled the world looking for people with healthy teeth and studying their diet to see what they do differently than what we do. Not suprisingly, the people with almost no tooth problems were indigenous tribes and small "uncivilized" cultures. I think calling these people uncivilized is really not fair since they lived modest and happy lives and had little to no disease. We are civilized and look at us! Fat, unhappy, working our whole lives and not very healthy at all. Okay, I am being a little harsh, but you get the idea. So anyway, he travels the world studying all of these diets and finds all of these fascinating parallels between the different tribes all over the world. Certain things were the same no matter where he went. Obviously, no processed foods and no abuse of sugar, they ate a lot of organ meats and not a lot of muscle meat, and fermented foods were a regular part of the diet. They ate locally because, duh, they had to; and they ate food in season. There is a lot more but I don't have the time or the memory to write it all down. If you are interested, his studies can be found at westonaprice.org and it is really worth taking the time to read; if only to get another look at nutrition and maybe rethink what you think is healthy. His ideas are dismissed by some scientists for the ridiculous reason that they can't go and "double-check" his findings since all of the indigenous tribes have been wiped out by the rest of civilization. That is why his findings are so fascinating to me though, is that he was able to see how these traditional people ate and lived before they went extinct! And if you think about it, humans are really just animals; and maybe it isn't such a good idea to have all this "civilized" stuff because we forget our basic animal needs.

I am not exactly condoning a strict Weston A. price diet. People seem to forget when they read these studies that yes, that is what the people ate, but they also had to hunt down their food and live very physically strenuous lives. We tend to be very sedentary in this day and age and we just don't require the same amount of calories and fats to survive. I doubt any of us burn enough calories to be equivalent to that of a person who is hunting his dinner then skinning and cutting and cooking it. I happen to be in the camp of, no matter what you read about diets and nutrition, as long as you are listening to your body, eating locally and seasonally (doeasn't that also equal "fresh"?) and not being a total glutten that you are probably doing just fine. No diets needed! But it is still fun to read about them. Well for people like me it is, who also read cookbooks from cover to cover and drool over cooking magazines.

If you do read Mr. Price's studies and are interested in cooking some more food along his guidelines like this place I volunteer at does, I would recommend the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. It is full of Weston A Price inspired recipes and little blurbs on health and is quite easy to follow! I have a copy and I love the fermented beverage section and some of her meat recipes, although you question them at first, are delicious!

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Liver and Onions
(gag right? But after reading some of Weston A Price you might want to become more friendly with the funky little organ meat. According to him, it holds tremendous health benefits and is recommended to eat a couple a times a week, especially for pregnant women.)

• 1 pound beef liver
• 1 cup milk
  
• 1/4 cup butter, tallow, or other fat
  
• 1 large onion, sliced into rings
• 1 cup flour, (any will do: spelt, rice, arrowroot)
  
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse liver slices under cold water, cut liver into strips, and place in a medium bowl. Cover with milk in bowl. Soak from 30 minutes to overnight - whatever you can.
   
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter or other fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Separate onion rings, and saute them in butter until soft. Remove onions, and melt remaining butter in the skillet. Season the flour with salt and pepper, and put it in a shallow dish or on a plate. Drain milk from liver, and coat slices in the flour mixture.
3. When the fat is hot, place the coated liver slices in the pan. Cook until nice and brown on the bottom - about 30 seconds. Turn, and cook on the other side until browned. Add onions, and reduce heat to medium. Cook a bit longer to taste.
   

Serve with raw sauerkraut.

One thing that is also really fun about the kitchen we volunteer in is that every time a recipe calls for fat or butter, they always use chicken fat! Sounds fattening? Well get over it, it is SO tasty and they seem to think it is also good for you and I think my shiny hair and glowing skin will agree.

1 more way to eat chicken...

The weather here is seriously playing with my emotions. Okay weather, is it summer now?! Or is this a trick to get me to fold up all my sweaters and put them away so you can turn around and rain on me again? Oh well, whatever the reason, the weather was delightfully sunny and hot today. Like a real summer! Only of course now I am use to the Bay Area weather and not the desert climate I was raised in, so the 75 degree heat felt like a sauna. All day I felt like a huge hippo and I couldn't seem to drink enough water. Which I guess is a good thing because all throughout this pregnancy I have struggled to get enough water and stay hydrated. I was never very good at the "8 glasses a day" rule and it was even tougher to drink enough for 2! But today I had no problems. But now the new problem is that I absolutely hate to eat when it is hot outside! Something about the heat makes all food except fruit and yogurt or ice cream sound heavy and unappetizing. So while I was finally drinking enough water, I was struggling to get myself to eat, and dinner was much later than normal. My appetite returned right around the time the sun was setting and it began to cool off. Unfortunately, when I made my menu plan and bought groceries it was raining, so my menu plan read: "stew, roasted chicken, etc." Not exactly hot weather food for a girl with no appetite. But I did manage to come up with something quite delicious!

The other day when Beau and I ran into a specialty European market, we had bought some fresh pasta. Sound expensive? Here is a trick: look for the "day old" pasta. They will have it someplace off to the side and it is just as good but literally 1/4 of the price! Which adds up to be about the amount for some dried cheap pasta at the store. Only this pasta happened to be handmade goat cheese and spinach raviolis. Yum! So I had a little but of the yummy pasta left that needed to be used and I also had some creamy garlic sauce that I had bought with it. Sometimes when you feel uncreative or if you are like me and can't afford millions of separate ingredients, the fresh pre-made pasta sauces are a God send at these little markets. Or of course, you can't go wrong with a simple pesto. I once advised my mom to use walnuts instead of the more expensive pine nuts in her classic pesto (you know the kind; with basil and garlic and such) and she said it turned out great! But in this case I had this creamy sauce. Not really feeling like cooking, I wanted to get a whole meal in one shabang. So I threw in a protein- chicken, (are you surprised?) and a veggie- asparagus. Asparagus is in season right now and I love it enough to eat everyday! The result was a loaded-with-goodness creamy sauce that was not too rich and creamy to be heavy and filling, served on top of fantastic little raviolis. It looked like something I would pay $20 for at a fancy Italian place, but it cost much less than that and took me about 30 minutes to make. Not too shabby! I served it with some olive bread that was cheap at Safeway and Beau and I were completely satisfied. I once read that it is very "un-European" to serve bread with pasta, which makes sense since it is a carb on top of carb, but after my very American upbringing and having been served bread at every Italian place I have ever been to, it is almost an unbreakable habit. And Beau used the bread to get every little bit of sauce on his plate.

So even though it is my personal opinion that this dinner was a little more suited for the gray and dreary weather we were getting used to, it was still very good and well worth trying! And so so easy to make, which is always a favorite of mine and of most women I know.

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Creamy Pasta with Chicken and Asparagus

ok, so this was all done in true "I don't feel like cooking" fashion, so I don't actually have a recipe. So from my memory, here it goes:

chop up 1 onion and 2 cloves of garlic. While you are at it chop up about 8 stalk of asparagus. If you don't know, you need to remove the woody end of the asparagus, it is not so yummy. You can do this by holding it at either end and bending it until it snaps. It will snap where it is suppose to. Then in a pan, saute the onion. After a minute add the garlic. (I wait to add the garlic because it burns easily.) Once soft, add the asparagus and saute until the asparagus us bright green and tender crisp. I like my vegetables to be not mushy, especially if I am adding it to pasta. Once the asparagus is cooked, add diced cooked chicken to the pan and saute just to heat the chicken through. I had cooked the chicken in the oven with salt and pepper just before preparing the rest of the meal. I only needed 1 chicken breast and it took maybe 15 minutes, but to be honest I didn't time it. Once the chicken is hot, add the sauce. I used about 1/4 cup of the creamy garlic sauce diluted with about 1 tsp of pasta water. It was the perfect amount for us but that all depends on taste. Season with salt and pepper and your sauce is done! Then add your pasta to some boiling salted water. When pasta is fresh, you know it is done when it begins to float to the surface. This should only take about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the raviolis and arrange them on the plate then spoon the chunky creamy sauce on top. If you have more money than me, top with some fresh Parmesan cheese or else just serve!

Quality vs. Quantity

There is something about The Dave Matthews Band mixed with sandalwood incense that just makes me feel good... maybe it's just me, I don't know. But anyway this blog is not intended to be about my music and scent preferences. For the last couple days I have been musing on the issue of quality vs. quantity. On average Americans spend significantly less on food than say the French or Italians. And we even make more money than the French or Italians! Why is it that the average American is willing to feed their family cheap food substitutes that are bad for your health in the name of convenience? Being that food is literally the fuel for your body, you would think that people would take a little more time to carefully plan healthful meals and provide their bodies with the best! And the thing is, it is not a hard thing to do and it can even be fun. When did cooking go from a necessary but joyful exploration of colors and flavors to a dreaded thing to be done as quickly and mindlessly as possible? And where are we spending all that other money that is not being spent on food? Can it really be so very important?

I have often found that I can easily spend my entire paycheck at specialty food stores and fruit stands. Nothing excites me more than coming home after discovering a new little grocery store and preparing a simple meal with my findings. Nothing can compare to the satisfaction you feel after taking some fresh pasta and some herbs and turning it into a healthy and beautiful lunch. Not only is it pretty to look at, but oh how tasty when it is fresh! I often refer to food magazines as my favorite "porn" and I get such a kick out of trying new flavors. Now tell me, why would you not want to spend a little more for something so delightful?

Beau and I were able to explore a really fun little market today when we were trying to think of things to do. It is called Market Hall and you can explore their website (www.markethallfoods.com) but the experience is not the same as being there in person. It is this fantastic store and when you first walk in there is a bakery and a coffee stand. Two of my favorite things so I was instantly drawn in. Then there are rows and rows of imported olive oils, salts, spices and they even carry my very favorite brand of chocolate! I was in heaven and we spent quite some time sampling cheeses and looking at jars of fancy mustard and spices. In the end we had to leave with a bar of my dark chocolate that I usually go all the way to San Fransisco to buy (it is that good!) and some fresh pasta with a little tub of creamy garlic sauce. And this is what started me thinking... I would love it if there were more little European markets like this one! But would the American public go for it? The market was certainly busy, but it was nestled in Berkeley after all which is known for being inhabited by foodies. The rest of America seems ot be less excited by expensive cheese, probably thinking it is just not worth it when you can go to Costco or the regular grocery store and buy whatever yellow cheese is on sale. And did you know that most yellow cheddar cheeses are yellow becuase they are dyed?! That just can't be good for you! Wake up America, we are eating crap!

And then the question was brought up again: quality vs. quantity? when it was time for Beau and I to go grocery shopping this afternoon. I had a basic list written down with some of the usual stuff- some meats, veggies, and a few staples like milk and cereal. So the question was, where to shop? Safeway is the obvious choice for being on a budget. And I don't usually mind shopping there, but most of our list was veggies this time and to be honest, I just can't see spending any money at all on Safeway produce! It is tasteless and even though it is cheap, why buy it if it doesn't taste good? So we decided we would go to a produce stand where the veggies are pretty cheap and get our staples at Safeway. Ok sounds good... but then we got to the meat counter and we were going to buy fish for dinner tonight. One look at the butcher counter and we were grimacing at each other. Go for the cheap stuff or spend a little more for something that looks a whole lot more fresh? We opted for fresh and ended up going to Whole Foods to buy some cod and organic milk. (I hate to be stingy but I refuse to put any dairy into my body that is not organic.) All in all the extra money for better quality adds up to be not so much more than if we had just bought everything at Safeway. I did not actually do the math, but I would say we spent maybe an extra $10.

If you have not read French Women Don't Get Fat, I really suggest that you do. I have read it numerous times along with her other books and I can often be found on her website looking for dinner ideas. It is not a "diet book" as the title implies, but really just a look at the differences between American and French culture and ways to enjoy food with a more "French" attitude. I love to read it and remind myself to slow down and really savor the art of not only eating, but living as well. I love reading about the ways French women think of food and their little "secrets" as to how they keep from getting fat while still enjoying all kinds of foods that some Americans have sworn off forever for fear of their figure. But have you noticed that while Americans are absolutely obsessed with certain foods, we are so terribly unbalanced? We swear off carbs, eat only frozen foods or even eat only cabbage soup all in the name of dieting, and we are still some of the fattest and most unhappy people in the world! We have some serious issues when it comes to food and I have my own personal theory that it is because we forgot how to cook and how to eat. As far as I am concerned, food effects everything from your sex life to your school grades and everything in between. And I am not just saying all this because I am a chef. Food is a huge part of my life and I get immense joy from it. Maybe I should have been French... So here is a challenge for you. Ditch the fast food and frozen dinners for a while and find a specialty store in your area. Spend a little more money on quality ingredients and make yourself something fabulous!

And while you are doing that, ponder this little quote I found in French Women Don't Get Fat:
"French women don't get fat because they have not allowed new attitudes and modern theories of how the body uses food to overrule centuries of experience."

The French don't let modern science get in the way of food... why do we? We deserve better than that. Modern science has its place, but they place should not be in your pantry or in your food. As far as quantity vs. quality... I'm going to stick with quality and I hope I can convince more people to do the same.

Mom's Banana Bread

Today was one of those tragically rainy days when you wish so bad it would be summertime but alas, the clouds open up and dump all over you. Then everyone says, "Oh good! We need the rain!" But all you can think of is that you would really love to wear that cute summer dress your mom bought you and your new yellow shirt looks much better without a sweater over it. Or maybe that's just me...

But even though the weather was not what I had hoped for, it did give me some time to do lazy day type things like make homemade yogurt. I know making yogurt seems like the sort of thing you only do when you have lots of time on your hands, but if you eat yogurt at all I think you should consider making your own! It is really really easy and you don't get all that icky junk that most yogurt companies put in their products to make it thicker or more sugary. Yogurt, especially plain yogurt, is really good for you if you haven't already heard. All those friendly bacterias are super good for your gut and can help you digest food and even lose weight. If you have ever read Mireille Guiliano's French Women Don't Get Fat or French Women for all the Seasons, she raves about the benefits of yogurt on your figure. She even dedicates an entire chapter to just yogurt where she not only recommends eating yogurt twice a day but gives you a simple recipe to make your own. To be honest, I never had any luck making my own yogurt until I invested in a yogurt maker. If you eat as much yogurt as I do, the maker quickly pays for itself! I think I paid about $30 for it. It comes with 7 adorable little glass jars with lids and you only need to buy milk each time you want to make another batch. It takes all of 10 minutes with the yogurt maker and the result is creamy yummy plain yogurt with no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, no sugar and best of all, it does not cost almost $1 for only 1 jar!

After my yogurt was all done and nestled into the little maker where it will sit for hours turning into yogurt, I decided it would also be a perfect day to put those over-ripe bananas to good use. I pulled out my little notebook where all my favorite recipes are written down, and right there in the middle, where the notebook naturally wants to open is a recipe for my mom's banana bread- hands down the best banana bread you have ever had! I have made it countless times throughout my life and it never fails me. Nothing says home to me like the smell of my mom's banana bread...

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Mom's Banana Bread

12 cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3-5 ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts

beat oil and sugar together. Add eggs and bananas and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients, milk and vanilla. Mix well and stir in nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cover with foil to prevent the top from burning and bake for another 30 minutes.

...

I can't wait to have fresh yogurt and banana bread for breakfast tomorrow!

Croissants on College

I dropped Beau off this morning for his second interview with a company he has been trying to get a job with. Of course this job would be more than perfect, as it would secure him a position in Southern Cali and he would have a year contract, which is a blessing in this unsure economy. I think my butterflies may be just as bad, if not worse than his, but I put on a brave face and pretended I was not afraid at all. The thing is, he has a fantastic personality and I am not afraid at all that they won't like him, but you know how these things are; you get too cocky and assume you got the job and we all know what assuming does...

So on my way home I decided to spoil myself a little bit. There is this fantastic french bakery on College Street that serves the most delightful croissants you have ever tasted. If you are in the Bay Area, or ever plan on visiting, I suggest you shimmy on down and make a morning of it. You will not regret it! The bakery is called La Farine and it is a small building but you are not in danger of walking by and missing it, because the scent of fresh bread and pastries is absolutely intoxicating and will lead you right inside. It is a perfect place if you are alone and want to do a bit of sightseeing or shopping, and even better if you have a friend or lover. I would absolutely suggest the morning bun if you have a sweet tooth like me- nothing compares to it. And of course the croissants and chocolate croissants are amazing. This is not a treat to be eaten in the car or on the go, it so much more enjoyable to get some tea or coffee and sit in the one big table in the front of the store, or even better, on the bench outside with a strangers' dog sniffing at your feet for anything you might have dropped. In the days of spring when the air is so nice anyway and you can't help but smile at everyone that walks past you, it is so hard to pass up the little flower shop on your way back to your car or the bus stop. There is also an adorable little produce stand with excellent fruit and good prices right next to that, and if you can believe it, a butcher shop with a wide variety of fresh meats that sits right next to the wine store! You can shop for your entire dinner all withing a few feet. There is a big old ugly Safeway right across the street that sort of reminds you that you are not in a quaint little village or a small European town, but don't let that bring you down. This is one little spot you will not want to miss!

chicken soup for the lazy girl's soul

I am watching You've Got Mail while my body attempts to digest an entire half a tube of Toll House cookies I made and then foolishly ate all of. Beau is away at a graduation party and I am, yet again, stuck at home because it is very unbecoming for a young pregnant lady to stay up all night at graduation parties. Not only is it unbecoming, but I am quite sure it would be impossible because I am not very good at staying up late these days.

So while I am sitting here on the couch with my fuzzy little kitty, I keep imagining how wonderful it would be to have an actual bathtub and maybe some counter space! Imagine the possibilities! I really hate having no counter space, but I suppose it just challenges me to be more creative. And when I have counter space someday and a dishwasher, along with a sink that is is bigger than 1 foot by 1 foot, I will appreciate it all the more. I love walking around William Sonoma and pretending I have a bunch of money and I am there to buy anything I want and just fill my kitchen with tons of useless and expensive gadgets. Oh the American dream...

In other news! This is a blog about food and so I do have a little bit of food stuff that has nothing to do with my tiny kitchen. I have been cooking chicken for quite a few weeks now and for some reason I have not made chicken soup yet! Until the other day when Beau wanted soup for lunch on a particularly rainy and overcast day. It was so perfectly simple and I just had to share the recipe.

First of all, the most important part of chicken soup is the broth it is cooked in. Otherwise it is just water with a few chunks of chicken and some veggies floating in it. To make a good broth, all you need is the scraps from a roasted chicken dinner. The day that I roasted a chicken, I removed all of the meat that I could from the whole chicken carcass and placed it in a crockpot. Then I used some scraps from veggies that I had chopped, like the skins and ends of onions, carrot ends and celery ends and placed those in as well. I covered it with filtered water, put on the lid and let it cook on high (but keep in mind I have a very old crockpot and even the high setting is not very high) overnight and into the middle of the next morning. There is no specific time line, just let it go for quite a while. Then you strain the broth into a mason jar using some cheesecloth and vuah-la! I was taught to skim the fat off of my broth, but have found from a kitchen I volunteer in, that in fact a hefty layer of fat, once solid after being in the fridge, can make an excellent preservative for the broth. Not just that but as they say, the flavor really is in the fat! So I leave all of the fat from the broth and it ends up floating to the surface and being about two fingers length. The broth can stay in the fridge for quite some time and can be used in all sorts of things.

Once you have such a wonderful and flavorful broth, chicken soup easily follows. All you have to do is chunk up (cut into bite size chunks) some leftover chicken breast, chop onion, celery and carrot and set it all aside. In a stockpot saute the veggies until soft and flavorful. Sprinkle with a little salt to help release the flavor. If some brown bits get stuck to the bottom of your pan as it does on my non-stick pan, this is a good thing! Add some stock to "de-glaze" the pan and you will get all that yummy stuff up and into your soup. These are called Kitchen Treasures. ;) I actually had a teacher once who loved these little bits so much that she named her personal chef business after them. But that is besides the point... after your pan is successfully de-glazed, add the rest of your broth. Then add the chicken bits, bring the soup to a boil then bring it down to a simmer. Let it simmer for a while to heat the chicken through and meld the flavors. And you are done! Season with salt and pepper and I promise you will not regret taking the time to make soup. Not that it even really took any time at all.

So there you have it! A fantastic way to use leftover chicken. Served with some homemade rustic baguette bread that Beau and I bought from this adorable little bread shop, it is the perfect lunch on a cold day. I hope you get the chance to try it. :) Oh and by the way, if you are wondering about measurements for the soup, I really just eyeball the whole thing. So just go with it and have fun!

Eat like a King, Spend like a Pauper

Eating cheap should not look like it! This week I got a little too lazy with dinners and I was really struggling with coming up with a menu plan that would feed us for cheap. Just as much as I wanted to swear off chicken forever, it truly is the cheapest thing I can make right now and one of the easiest. So I decided I just needed to make chicken a little more fancy. For only $5 you can get a pretty decent sized whole chicken at your local supermarket (mine happened to be Safeway today) and I thought roasting it would be something tasty and that I have not done in a long while. The great thing about roasted chickens is that not only do they look and smell fantastic, but how yummy is a roasted chicken?! The answer to that would be: Very yummy. There is nothing easier than quickly popping a chicken in the oven and just walking away while it roasts to perfection. There are a few things I have learned from my work as a volunteer in a community kitchen and working at the frat house.

1. Butter! Soften some butter and spread it all over the skin and under the skin to make it crispy and delicious. If you smear in some herbs with the butter then that is all the yummier. It is much easier to spread the butter if the chicken is dry
2. Dry rubs are awesome. I have one from Tyler Florence that I still use to this day and everyone always loves it. I even thought of jarring it and giving it away as Christmas gifts...
(recipe will follow)
3. If you are low on stuff to flavor your chicken with, try this... cut up an onion into quarters and slice an orange into thin rounds. stuff the cavity with the onion and slide the orange slices under the skin. Whatever orange slices are left, stuff into the cavity as well. Season the whole chicken with salt and pepper and viola! Seasoned :) The orange slices will also keep it incredibly moist.
4. Don't forget to baste, it makes all the difference
and last but not least,
5. Gravy is super easy to make so there is no excuse! If you roast a chicken you must make a gravy! Drain the chicken juices into a pot and simmer to reduce. In a different pan melt some butter (a Tbsp or 2) then add a little handful of flour and whisk to make a pasty looking little somethin-somethin. Then pour in your liquid and whisk until thick. And there you go! Add salt to taste and serve with your chicken. Sooo yummy!

Serve your chicken with some roasted potatoes and maybe a small salad on the side. All together you might spend $10 on the whole dinner. And the leftover chicken will serve as some sort of wonderful dinner tomorrow!

...

Spice Rub for Chicken

• 1 cinnamon stick, chopped in pieces
• 8 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 teaspoons cumin seed
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 11/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

in a pan, toast the cinnamon stick, cloves, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds. Grind the seeds in a spice grinder. Add the rest of the ingredients. mix well

this is enough spice for 1 chicken. You can make a lot and keep it in a mason jar. Use it as a dry rub, or for a wet rub, add the juice of 1 lemon and some olive oil until it makes a paste. I have made it with and without the brown sugar. I think it is optional and I actually like it better without. As with all cooking, experiment and make it your own!

(spice rub is adopted from Tyler Florence, Food Network Chef personality)

Za Za Nasty

If you are looking for a lovely little Italian restaurant with good pizza and that adorable little "wood burning oven" atmosphere do not go to Zza's. A small building with red brick walls on the outside and hideous green decor on the inside, I have actually been dying to try out this seemingly hole in the wall Italian place. Usually "hole in the wall" conjures images of so-so decorating and hard to find parking but excellent food. Not so with this place. This was indeed just a hole in a wall that I should have ignored.

We wouldn't have even ever ventured into this place except that sometimes, God forgive me, pregnancy makes me tired. And on such days, cooking seems entirely impossible. It was one of those days and I was absolutely going nuts over the idea of sushi. I wanted sushi SO bad, but at the last minute decided to go get a pizza with Beau to save some money. The thing was, we could hardly afford to go out at all and in the back of my mind I was feeling very guilty for not cooking. But we drove around the corner and ventured into the small place called Zza's.

What I instantly noticed was the lights were so dim you could hardly see anything at all. After a quick scan at the menu I noticed how pricey it was and hoped at least the portions would be sufficient enough to make it worth while. Unfortunately, the $3 drinks were teeny tiny, the free bread that is so popular to serve at Italian places tasted burnt on top and the pizza that we ordered was lukewarm and was the size of one of those frozen pizzas you buy at the grocery store for 99 cents. Those frozen pizzas taste better than what we ate. I was sorely disappointing and feeling even worse for making us go out in the first place. Not only had I failed to create yummy food at home but I also spent our money on what I was sure was not going to be enough to keep poor Beau satisfied. And now we had $20 less for our groceries! Ugh... So if you are in Oakland and you want good food, do stay far away from Zza's. With all of the amazing places to eat, I am surprised they are even open for business. They should be ashamed.

I give it 1 star for the very smiley service and the crayons that Beau had such a good time doodling with all over the paper tablecloth.

Super Mom

Just as the fridge was getting eerily barren and I was actually beginning to worry, I decided to put aside my pride and beg for a little money from my mom...

Of course she was more than willing to help in any small way she could and I was reminded that it is always foolish to feel afraid to ask my mother for something. She has a way of being so real about everything that she does, and I know she won't give me something if she does not have it and on the other hand, if she does have it then she will make sure I have what I need (within reason). I went out and bought groceries while Beau was taking his very last final exam at Cal University. Just before I had dropped him off we were having a conversation about our very limited account balance and what would be the best way to spend the money. He had been working really hard lately and was already exhausted even though he hadn't taken the test yet, and said he wanted a big plate of spaghetti for dinner. Beau is a very big man and when he eats he can really put food away! So in my semi-panic of thinking about our finances, I began to lecture him about eating too much when we are trying so hard to save money... well naturally as soon as he stepped out of the car and I was kicking myself all the way to the grocery store thinking, "what an awful thing to say!!!" So I made sure that when he got home from school, the last day he will ever be there, we were able to celebrate with big plates of spaghetti. And I was also able to purchase enough food for another week with only $35 out of the money my mom loaned me. I have become an absolute pro at grocery shopping for deals!

After our spaghetti dinner and Beau had left for a graduation party at the frat house, I stayed comfortably on the couch and enjoyed my alone time. I couldn't help by go back to the long phone conversation I had with my mom earlier that day when she had loaned me money and then we chatted about this and that, and I wondered why I was so lucky to have a mom that I get along with so well. See, I know everyone has to love their moms on some level, but not only do I love my mom, I actually like her! She is an amazing woman and a real inspiration to me. So I pondered on this thought and on the little growing girl inside of me and wondered if she will like me the same. What is it about my mom that makes her so fun to be around and a good mom at the same time? I came up with a few things that I think make her who she is...

My mom takes care of her family, and especially her husband. Everyone comes before she does, but you never get this sense that she feels oppressed or angry about her family-orientated lifestyle (no feminism in my house!). It seems to make her happier than anything to just be there for her family! And her kids do not come before her relationship to her man. Her and my dad having such a strong bond and being happy together showed me what love really is and gave me a solid foundation growing up. And while she was putting us first and taking care of us, she never pushed or pulled us in any particular direction. She gave us the tools, the map and the advice and let us forge our own path in whatever way we saw fit. My mom was always there to listen to my stories, help me through problems and let me vent frustrations, and I never felt that she was disappointed in me or wanted me to lead a different life. She let me have my life and she had her life... and isn't that really the way it is suppose to be?

And this leads me to the other thing that makes my mom awesome. She listened!!! Not just to me, but anyone she encounters. You never get the feeling that my mom is just waiting for her turn to speak or that she is going to try to push her opinion on you. Even if her opinion is different from yours, she always listens fully to what you are saying. Sometimes she will offer tid-bits of advice or tell you that she disagrees, but she won't push it on you like some people I have met in my life... most people really! And often times in my young life, I have found her side of the argument so compelling she didn't need to push it on me anyway; I just knew it was right. Never was there loud arguments, screaming fits or all out wars in my house because we didn't need them. You know that if you need to speak to someone then you will be heard. Everything felt fair that way.

There is so much more that makes my mom the amazing person that she is, like how she makes dinner every night even when she really doesn't feel like it, or her unwavering support and trust in me when I decided to drop out of college and lead a completely different life far away from home... but her love for her role as "wife and mother" and the way she will always listen are two things that I think I can easily adopt into my own life so that hopefully, I too can be a role model to my babies.

If you are reading this, I love you mom!!! Thank you for being a mom first and a best friend second and for always having my back no matter what. :) And just thank you for being you!

...

a cheap and easy way to make Beau's favorite spaghetti!

ingredients:
package of spaghetti
jarred sauce (we are being cheap remember!)
ground beef
pasta seasoning blend by Trader Joe's

In a pot, boil water with salt for the noodles.

In a saute pan, brown the ground beef with the pasta seasoning. Once browned completely, drain the oil by dumping the meat onto a plate lined with paper towels, then put the meat back in the pan. Add the sauce and simmer until heated through and you are sure the meat is all the way cooked.

Grab a handful of spaghetti noodles and dump in the water. Cook until it is done. Toss it all together and serve! See how easy that was? Then when you have a little more money you can add chopped fresh basil and some Parmesan cheese... but for now, he will never know the difference. :)

Looking for a healthier option if you don't feel like spaghetti yourself? Sometimes the red sauce is just too much for me right before bed! Try switching to whole wheat noodles and see if you man even notices. Then toss his noodles with the red sauce, and add blanched veggies, olive oil and some herbs to your version.

Some African Umami

Chicken Yassa and the Chicken Peppersoup were a rousing success! I followed both recipes exactly and not only were they perfectly simple but Beau loved both. The peppersoup was spicy and just the right thing while I am getting over this awful cold. Plus I have been craving spicy like crazy during these last couple months of my pregnancy!

I wish there were a way to make the peppersoup ingredients more accessible. There are not many ingredients in the soup and once you had them all it is incredibly easy to make; but even in my culturally diverse little city, Beau and I had to drive around for what seemed like forever before we found the perfect little African store that carried the right spices. In the first store, the one that advertises carrying Ethiopian, African and other ethnic foods, there was not much except a few exotic looking jarred foods and a lot of very American packaged foods. Then we tried Whole Foods in the vain hope that they would carry some exotic type spices. It was finally a little hole in the wall corner store in Chinatown that Beau knew of where we found what I needed. The teeny little store carried walls of African flours, grains, fish products and yes! Spices. It ended up being cheaper to buy the pre-packaged "peppersoup spice mix" than buying the spices separate and mixing them myself. The particular blend of spices in this mix is very unique and has an earthy smell in the bag and then something a little more hearty and delicious once it starts to cook. I would not try to substitute it with anything and even if you wanted to try I would have no idea what to recommend to you. If you want to make the soup I would definitely find a way to get your hands on these spices.

The yassa had no super exotic spices and was almost too easy to make. I marinated it overnight and then most of the day. Served over white rice, this was one of my favorite dishes I have made so far in my young culinary career! I was able to make both of these dishes with one whole chicken that cost us about $6, a bag of onions and a bag of lemons. Then of course the spices. I spent about $25 all together which was perfect! That includes beans and pork bones and other things. Unfortunately our shelves are still a little barren since my budget was super small to try to work with, but at least we have hearty and yummy dinners.

These dinners were so unique and fun to make. they had flavors that you normally would not find in my "American/family-style" cooking and I think it had something to do with Umami. Umami is something that was introduced to me in my Natural chef cooking course and I have been fascinated with it ever since. I have found a number of different definitions, but it was introduced to me as a Japanese flavor element that we are not so familiar with in the USA. It is the thing that makes a dish pull together perfectly or makes something seem perfectly done. Umami is the thing that makes you go "mmm...." Maybe it is a certain ingredient that without it the dish would just be boring, or maybe it is a certain technique in the dish that blends the ingredients perfectly. Both of these dishes had a certain something, and I am fairly certain that the something is Umami!

Every culture has their own version and awareness of Umami, but it is a borrowed Japanese word and it took the rest of the world a little whole longer to catch up and put a name on it. In fact, when a popular French chef named Auguste Escoffier used veal stock in his cooking, it created such a different and more savory taste than the usual sweet, salty, sour or bitter, that people thought the flavor did not even exist. They loved the food but thought that what they were tasting was all in their head. It seems so odd to me that people are more willing to believe that they made up something in their heads than just realize there might be a fifth flavor element... anything is possible right? But to these people, having a fifth flavor sense was like saying you invented a new color that no one has ever seen before. The Japanese are more open to the "impossible". A Japanese chemist named the flavor after drinking some dashi soup. Dashi is a seaweed soup that he recognized had a different flavor that is "simply delicious" but that he did not know how to identify. He called it Umami, which translates into "delicious" or "yummy". Cheese, tomatoes, and meats are in the same category.

I am so excited I was able to create Umami in my very own tiny kitchen with no counter space! (I am not joking, I literally had to go buy a little cutting board-topped cart at Target because I have NO counter space!) Give those two recipes a try and tell me if you taste it. :) You can find them in the "Yassa..." blog I wrote before this one.

Yassa, I'm a little poor right now

It is a beautiful Monday besides for the rain and the clouds and the horrendous sore throat I woke up with... Ok, so it isn't that beautiful at all. I have been on my little island, the couch, all day long with what I hope is the worst case of allergies I have ever had, but is more likely a cold. All this time on the couch has given me lots of time to make the important phone calls I have been putting off (like getting an ob/gyn in So Cal... ya, kind of important) and finishing my state taxes so I don't get in trouble. And it has also given me the time to sit and think about my menu for this week! I have mentioned the very tight budget I am working with to feed not only myself but also my Beau and the hungry little girly growing inside me. I don't think I mentioned though, just how tight I am talking here. To give you a little insight into my life at this point in history, I have $30 to buy groceries this week. Yes... $30. Impossible you say? Ya, you are probably right. But you do what you gotta do. I have not made that long journey to the grocery store yet and Beau will be held over with leftovers while I sip on chicken soup for today, but I have a plan and I think it just might be crazy enough to work.

My meals for this week...
Bean soup with pork broth and greens
chicken yassa
and chicken peppersoup

I know this is only three meals but like I said... $30. And the leftovers should be enough to sustain us for the other days of the week.

As for my meals, you may have noticed my interesting name for my chicken dish. No, I did not misspell or even make something up. A yassa is a traditional African dish that can be made with a variety of meats, but I chose chicken because it is cheap. It is a meat that is marinated overnight in a very strong tasting marinade with onions, then you saute the onions, brown the meat, and cook it all together in the marinade which will now turn into a sauce. You serve it over rice and have a hearty and flavorful meal! A peppersoup is also an African dish with meat and vegetables and a mix of spices that are very precise in order for it to be called a "peppersoup". Most of the ingredients for the spice mixture are very foreign and have impossible to pronounce names, but lucky for me I live in a very diverse town known for different types of ethnic cuisine and there is an African specialty store literally walking distance from my apartment. If you are not so lucky, ordering spices online is more common than you might realize and it so so worth it to buy these spices and keep them mixed up in a mason jar for all your peppersoup needs!

Peppersoup spices:
atariko
uda
gbafilo
uyayak
rigije

mix them in equal measures. (1 Tbsp of each, 1/4 cup of each... you get the idea)

These three recipes are all very simple but pack a lot of flavor and are anything but boring! So we will see if my tiny grocery list will be short enough to keep within my means and if Beau will be satisfied enough with such simple meals.

...

Bean soup with Pork Broth


ingredients
bean mixture, pre-soaked
pork bones
1 bunch kale, chopped
salt and pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp apple cider vinegar

put all of the ingredients except kale into a crock pot. cover with water about an inch over the beans. feel free to add any other spices you might like. Cover and turn to high. Let cook for a few hours (if your crock pot is old like mine is). Add kale when there is 30 minutes to an hour left of cooking. over and continue to cook until beans are done and kale is soft. Remove the bones and serve. Adjust salt if needed. (beans always need more than you think).

Chicken Yassa*

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 large onions, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
5 Tbsp peanut oil (traditional oil, but you can substitute if money is tight)
1 habanero chili
1 frying chicken cut into pieces (your butcher can do this for you or buy pieces with bones)
1/2 cup water

The night before, prepare marinade by mixing lemon juice, onions, salt pepper and oil in a bowl. Prick the chili and add to the marinade as well. Place the chicken in the marinade and let it sit overnight.
When ready to cook, preheat the broiler. Remove chicken, place pieces on the broiler rack and grill briefly on both sides until lightly browned. Set aside. Drain the onions from the marinade. Heat some oil in a pan and saute the onions until tender. Add the remaining marinade and cook until the liquid is heated through. Add the chicken and water. Stir to mix well. Lover the heat, simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

Chicken peppersoup*

3 lb chicken cut into pieces
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 cups water
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp dried bird chiles
salt to taste
4 cups chicken stock (can be made from the bones of the chicken in the last recipe)
1/4 cup peppersoup mixture (recipe above)
2 tbsp minced dried shrimp
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint

wash the chicken, rub with lemon and place in a large stock pot with the water, onion, garlic, and minced chiles. Salt to taste and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the chicken stock and spice mixture and continue to cook for an additional 30 minutes or until chicken is well cooked. Stir in shrimp and mint and continue to cook for 10 minutes. serve hot

*The last two recipes are adapted from The Africa Cookbook, Taste of a Continent by Jessica B. Harris

3 lbs of Chicken, 5 meals

I have named this blog 3 lbs of chicken after I was inspired by my dinners this past week. Being pregnant with a full time college student's baby and having recently quit my job after a back injury, I have been forced to get very creative with our meager budget.

I am a certified natural chef and I have held a couple of very challenging and interesting jobs in the culinary field. You would think that this would make cooking for me and my Beau much easier, but in fact it has proven very difficult to move away from the mindset that I need to buy copious amounts of ingredients and make everything from scratch. I have had to start from square one and re-learn how to do dinner when you are on a budget. This last week my answer was chicken.

...

I was a vegetarian for much of my teenage life and it was not until I left home at 19 to become a natural chef that I started to eat meat again. No, it was not because being a natural chef taught me that eating meat is particularly good for you... shamefully I admit that I began to eat meat out of a rebellious sort of spite for my peers. Having grown up in Southern California with a very open-minded family and town, the hard-core hippies of the Bay Area and their very opinionated viewpoints did not sit well with me and I could not stand to be in the same category as they were. Maybe I was grumpy from working full time and still having an empty fridge or maybe deep down I am just a bit of a bitch... whatever the reason, I eventually came to the conclusion that like it or not, meat is a fantastic way to fill up for cheap!

With a very large football player looking boyfriend, filling up for cheap is no easy task! Here are some of my most recent findings...

1. Figure out what meat is on sale and center all your meals around it
2. Don't be attracted to "buy one get one half off" type sales! If you only need one, then get one. If you keep buying more than you need then you end up spending more and it just sits in your fridge anyway.
3. Plan your meals carefully and only buy what you need!
4. Leftovers make great lunches
5. Know where the deals are! As much as it is a pain in the butt, it pays off to go to more than one store if you have to

So this last week, chicken was on sale! $2.99 a pound! Unfortunately it was not organic, and as much as it pained me to buy it, sometimes you do what you have to do. So I bought 3 pounds of it and out of that I got 5 whole meals!

Monday was a fantastic 3 ingredient recipe for chicken rolled with asparagus and cheese. Very yummy and got a thumbs up from the Beau. It was great that it had the veggies right there rolled into the main dish. I still shredded some romaine lettuce and topped it with tomatoes and dressing for a cheap and easy salad and we ate cantaloupe for dessert.
Tuesday I cut up the chicken and made a large chicken salad with hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, apples and a creamy Cesar dressing. The other have of the cantaloupe was the side for this one. A little light, but very yummy.
Chicken and rice with beans was for Wednesday. This particular day I did not feel like cooking so I started to make rice, tossed in some za'ataar (an African seasoning that I happen to love) and a few other spices, then opened a can of black beans and tossed in some cubed chicken. I mixed it all up and made one pot meal. Beau said this was his favorite all week! We had plenty leftover since it was so filling and he ate it for lunch the next day.
We actually went out to eat on Thursday, but I did say I had 5 meals out of this chicken and this days meal was lunch. Chicken salad sandwiches. I shredded the chicken and mixed in some spicy mustard, mayo, celery and smooshed it on whole wheat toasted bread. Top with lettuce and vuah-la!
Last but not least, my last chicken breast was shredded and mixed in with an easy Spanish rice (just boil water with cayenne, paprika, taco seasoning, salt and pepper, add rice and cook) that I served on corn tortillas with some yummy toppings like avocado and tomato.

And there you have it! For lunches we had leftovers, sandwiches or salads and snacks were fruit or ants on a log (my favorite!). All in all I think I spent about $60 for the whole week and it was done in one shopping trip and then a trip to the farmer's market when I was out of tomatoes and avocados.

Now that we are out of chicken I am planning my meals for next week and I hope it turns out to be just as cheap and easy. I don't know what it will be yet, but I am thinking pasta...

Chicken and Asparagus Rolls

2 chicken breasts
1 lb asparagus
8 slices swiss cheese
salt and pepper
flour
toothpicks

1. Preheat the oven to 350. pound the chicken breast until it is flat and the same thickness all over. season with salt and pepper
2. layer on the cheese and then the stalks of asparagus. roll and skew with toothpicks to keep it closed
3. roll the chicken in flour. heat oil in a large skillet and brown the chicken on all sides. transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked all the way through. Slice into a few pieces and discard toothpicks. serve right away