Beans

Lunar New Year 2016

February 8, 2016

Lunar New Year 2016

This year, the Lunar New Year will begin on Monday, February 8. It is the biggest event of the year for Chinese people and Chinese emigrants throughout the world. Although there are various styles of celebrating the Lunar New Year, the spirit behind these celebrations is the same. The beginning of the New Year marks a time for a fresh start, so people try to clean up everything completely and tie up loose ends before the end of the previous year. On New Year’s Day, people wear new clothes. This day people also pay their respects to their ancestors, so it is a family reunion day rather than a day for dining out and partying. Families go to temples to pray for deceased family members and offer them special Near Year foods.

The symbolic color of the Lunar New Year is red. Streets and houses are decorated with red ornaments bearing the characters for happiness, prosperity, peace, and spring, among others. Chinese communities literally turn red. Kids receive money from relatives in red envelopes known as hong bao.

Lunar New Year parades attract many spectators, not only those of Chinese descent, but also people outside the Chinese community. The lion dance (not a dragon dance) is the main performance of the parade. The traditional dance is based on a Chinese myth about people successfully driving away monsters. The dance has evolved as the Chinese diaspora has spread throughout the world. There are two main versions: the northern lion dance and the southern lion dance, and the latter is seen more often in the world because more Chinese immigrants are from the southern regions of China.

Firecrackers also enhance the excitement of the parade. You may think firecrackers for the Lunar New Year are too noisy and perhaps scary, but these are meant to drive away evil spirits, so they should be scary! Many people are willing to endure that noise once a year in hopes of staying away from misfortune the rest of the year.

The Lunar New Year celebration culminates with the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar, which is the first full moon of that lunisolar year. During the event, countless lanterns are hung, decorating temples and streets at night. There are several legends associated with the festival, but the lanterns are almost always red, the color of good fortune.

Lunar New Year cuisine also differs from place to place, although there are some significant similarities. People in most regions eat something wrapped and stuffed (dumplings, spring rolls, banana leaf–or bamboo skin–wrapped sticky rice), something long (noodles), and money-like fruits (tangerines and oranges). Fillings, toppings, and sizes vary depending on the culture, but all foods symbolize good things like abundance, longevity, and prosperity. Whole fish is also symbolic main dish in most Lunar New Year celebrations.

Japanese people celebrate the first day of the New Year as well, but in a very different way. Called Setsubun, the celebration is accompanied by a special ritual of throwing beans to clean away all the evil of the former year in the lunar calendar and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits from the year to come. Roasted soybeans are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an oni (demon or ogre) mask. The throwers chant “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!” (“Get out, demons! Come on I, good luck.”)

Japanese people also customarily eat soybeans – one for each year of one’s life (if you are 25 years old, you eat 25 beans) – to usher in good luck. In some areas, people eat one bean for each year of one’s life, plus one more for good luck for the year to come (if you are 25, you eat 26 beans). Also, there are some regions where people bite into futomaki (big sushi rolls) without cutting them at all. They believe that your wish will come true if you bite into an uncut futomaki known as an echo-maki. The “roll” symbolizes “rolling good luck in,” and to bite the “uncut” roll represents not cutting this good fortune.

“Work With What You Got!”

© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2016 All Rights Reserved

Pantry & Freezer Staples

February 3, 2016

Pantry & Freezer Staples

How long do pantry and freezer staples last? Staple items are known for their long shelf life, but they don’t stay fresh forever! Use this handy list to determine how long you should keep them on hand.

Freezer

Hamburger & Stew Meats: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 3 to 4 Months

Ground Turkey, Veal, Pork, Lamb: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 3 to 4 Months

Bacon: Shelf Life: 7 Days Storage: 1 Month

Sausage (Raw From Pork, Beef, Chicken or Turkey): Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 1 to 2 Months

Fresh Steaks: Shelf Life: 3 to 5 Days Storage: 6 to 12 Months

Fresh Roasts: Shelf Life: 3 to 5 Days Storage: 4 to 12 Months

Chicken or Turkey (Whole): Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 1 Year

Chicken or Turkey (Cut Up): Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 9 Months

Lean Fish: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 6 Months

Fatty Fish: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 2 to 3 Months

Fresh Shrimp, Scallops, Crawfish, Squid: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage 3 to 6 Months

Pantry

Baking Powder: Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Keep In Dry Place In Airtight Container

Beans (Dried & Uncooked): Shelf Life: 1 Year Storage: Store In Cool & Dry Place

Chocolate (Semisweet & Unsweetened): Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Keep In Cool Place

Cocoa: Shelf Life: 1 Year Storage: Keep In Cool Place

Cornstarch: Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Store In Airtight Container

Flour (White or Whole Wheat): Shelf Life: 6 to 8 Months Storage: Store In Airtight Container or Freeze To Extend Shelf Life

Nuts (In Shell & Unopened): Shelf Life: 4 Months Storage: Freeze to Extend Shelf Life

Spices & Herbs (Ground): Shelf Life: 6 Months Storage: Store in Airtight Containers In Dry Areas Away From Sunlight & Heat. Before Using, Check Aroma – If Faint Replace.

Sugar (Brown): Shelf Life: 4 Months Storage: Store in Airtight Container

Sugar (Confectioners’): Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Store in Airtight Container

Sugar (Granulated): Shelf Life: 2 Years Storage: Store in Airtight Container

Vinegar (Unopened): Shelf Life: 2 Years

“Work With What You Got!”

© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2016 All Rights Reserved

Paleo Diet

January 18, 2016

Paleo Diet

The Paleo Diet (short for Paleolithic) is fashioned around the eating habits and available foods of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. These ancestors had to nourish themselves with the meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fats available to them in nature. With the benefit of large supermarkets, it’s easy today to mimic these foods in wider variety. Specific recommendations for eating Paleo will vary; however, the main ideas are the same: Reduce the risk of debilitating diseases and optimize health by eating whole, fresh, unprocessed foods and avoid foods that were not available prior to the advent of modern agriculture.

Research studies looking at the Paleo Diet have noted that eating a Paleo Diet for a short term improved the glucose control and lipid profiles in people with type 2 diabetes, compared to eating a diet containing low-fat dairy, moderate salt intake, whole grains, and legumes. Additional research indicates similar results may be possible in people without type 2 diabetes as well. The Paleo diet may result in higher levels of satiety (fullness) throughout the day when compared with a low-fat, low-calorie diet.

Paleo Do’s
Eat plenty of non-starchy vegetables and fruits.

Make fresh meat, poultry, fish, and seafood your primary sources calories.

Avoid highly processed meats that contain preservatives, artificial flavors, and sugar, such as some sausages, bacon, deli meats, and smoked fish products.

Consume nuts and seeds.

Use coconut oil, grass-fed butter, olive oil, avocado oil, nut and seed oils, and animal fats, such as goose fat or duck fat, for cooking and eating.

Balance the intake of acid-producing foods (meats, fish, salt, and cheese) with base-producing foods (fruits and vegetables) for optimal health.

Use sea salt to season foods, but try to decrease sodium intake in general.

Paleo Don’ts
Consume highly processed packaged foods.

Get heavy handed with the salt shaker.

Eat grains of any kinds. Quinoa, bulgur, rice, wheat, bread, pasta, etc., are all out.

Consume sugar (including honey and maple syrup), sweets, candy, or desserts.

Use artificial sweeteners, such as monk fruit extract, stevia, NutraSweet or Equal (aspartame), Splenda (sucralose), or sugar alcohols, such as xylitol, sorbitol, or maltitol.

Eat legumes, beans, peas, lentils, or soy, or foods make from soybeans.

Use canola or soybean oils or consume hydrogenated oils (trans fats).

Consume dairy, with the exception of fermented dairy or raw milk cheese on occasion.

“Work With What You Got!”

© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2016 All Rights Reserved

Bacon & Bean Soup Is Done!

October 14, 2015

Bacon & Bean Soup Is Done!

“Work With What You Got!”

© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2015 All Rights Reserved

How To Eat More Protein On A Meat-Free Diet

February 3, 2015

How To Eat More Protein On A Meat-Free Diet

If you’re new to a meat-free diet or you struggle with ways to get the protein you need here are some important tips that may help you. It really isn’t as hard as you might think.

Snack on protein rich munchies and skip the carbs. Eat roasted chickpeas, edamame, roasted peanuts, or raw nuts. Keep away from heavily salted nuts.

If you’re looking for a frozen treat then purée coconut milk, almond butter, cashew butter, honey, and cocoa powder. Freeze in an ice cream maker for a protein rich frozen treat.

Make an easy cream sauce by whisking cashew butter with vegetable stock, garlic, and minced parsley. Toss with cooked pasta.

Crumble tempeh (fermented soybean protein) into pasta sauce or soups, or wherever you might use hamburger meat.

Purée cooked black beans and add to brownies. For blondies or light colored muffins or cakes, use cooked, puréed chickpeas.

Sprout sunflower seeds and add them to salads. Just soak raw seeds overnight in water to cover. Drain and let sprout for 24 to 48 hours.

Add ground flaxseeds to muffins, waffles, breads, or cookies for a protein boast and added omega 3 fats.

Make a protein packed pudding. Purée silken tofu with cocoa powder, honey, and vanilla extract.

Use hemp or rice protein powder instead of flour to make waffles, pancakes, and baked goods. Instead of eggs, use flax as a binder.

Lentils are awesome! Eat lentils more often. They are fast cooking and easy to use. Add to soups, toss in salads, and stir in cooked rice.

Spread sandwiches and wraps with hummus instead of mayonnaise. I do this all the time. Purée hummus with roasted red peppers or chipotle peppers for an added zing.

If you can tolerate gluten, seitan (wheat protein) is a great substitute for sliced deli meat. Use it in wraps or sandwiches for an easy lunch.

“Work With What You Got!”

© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen

Constitution Week – Foods of Our Forefathers Part IV

September 20, 2013

Revolutionary War 2Constitution Week – Foods of Our Forefathers Part IV

The longer winters in New England produced a diet somewhat different from that in Virginia.  Not as many varieties of fruits and vegetables grew as in the South, and emphasis was put on those which would store well or which could be converted to something stable through drying, salting, or pickling.  The staple grain in the early days was rye, in addition to the new grain, Indian corn.  A common bread was called “Rye’ n Injun,” and was baked from a yeast dough of rye, cornmeal, and molasses.  Wheat did not grow well in the harsh climate, and the small amount of wheat flour available was used “for best,” as was the refined sugar.

Sweet potatoes and other root vegetables and cabbages were major items on the menu.  All cooking was done in cavernous fireplaces, either in kettles or on spits.  The cooking range, although invented by Count Rumford in the late 1700’s, didn’t become popular until the Civil War era.  The New England boiled dinner of corned beef, potatoes, cabbage and whatever else was available, was a natural outgrowth of fireplace cooking.  Beans baked in a pot set in the coals also fit the New England style of cooking and the available found supply. 

Although mutton had been the main meat supply in England, pigs were more attractive than sheep in the new land.  For one thing, sheep usually had only one lamb at a time, while a litter of pigs a dozen strong was not uncommon.  Also, pigs could forage for themselves at an earlier age than sheep, and thrived on the vegetation in forest and field. 

Cattle were kept largely for milk and cheese, and although they were scarce at first, they reproduced prolifically in the Northeast.  In fact, the Reverend John Cotton once remarked “milk and ministers were the only things cheap in New England.” 

In other parts of the country, settlers found more new foods and used them in new ways.  In Louisiana, for example, French settlers adapted their old world recipes to accommodate such new foods as tomatoes, okra, crayfish, red snapper, catfish and, of course, corn.  The climate was amenable to growing fruits and vegetables year ‘round, making a varied diet easy to get – even if it didn’t taste like home. 

In the Charleston and Savannah areas, rice cultivation began very early, in 1694, and soon became a major business.  Much of the rice was exported.  Oranges were also grown in the Charleston area. 

In the Southwest, the Spanish had developed a cuisine all their own, as they moved north from Mexico and Latin America.  New varieties of beans, plus the ever-present corn, were cooked with traditional Spanish spices plus something unknown in Spain – hot peppers.  With the continual warm weather were also possible, at least where water was available, and there was little emphasis on preservation.  In the more arid areas, however, variety was as limited as during winter in New England.  Beans, corn and squash were the order of the day. 

As time went on, Americans moved west, and the frontiersmen had an entirely new set of problems to meet.  Trappers and explorers traveled light, and that usually meant living primarily off the land. Many subsisted almost exclusively on meat, killing bear, venison and small game as they went.  One of Pierre LeSeur’s men wrote in his journal of consuming about 10 pounds of buffalo meat each day, plus four bowls of broth.  While buffalo meat apparently took some getting used to, this particular explorer wrote that “it made us quite fat, and none was sick.”

One “recipe” called for bear steak fried in tallow and covered with whisky – meat and drink in one meal!  Pemmican, made from dried meat, fat and berries ground together, was travelling food.  Beef and buffalo cut into strips and dried in the sun was called “jerky,” and kept well, even though it was tough chewing!

Bread was almost unknown, but occasionally a hardtack or ship biscuit could be obtained at a trading post. 

The frontiersmen, including migrating settlers, also found the edible wild plants to be helpful sources of nutrients missing from the dried and salted staples.  These included such things as dandelions, polk sprouts, sassafras, grapes and various nuts and berries.  When they found a place to stay for a season, corn could be planted by simply making a hole with a pointed stick or ax, dropping several kernels into the rich soil – and a crop would grow; plowing simply wasn’t necessary. 

To Be Continued…

 

Fruit Essentials

August 8, 2013

Fruit mosaicFruit Essentials

Have you ever come home from the market after purchasing fruit to find that you spent money for nothing?  I have plenty of times and it ticks me off every time.  Here are some Fruit Essentials that may help you have more fruit shopping success.

Did you know that many plants that are botanically fruits are not sweet?  We think of them as vegetables or non-fruits.  Avocados, beans, coconuts, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, green peppers, okra, peas, pumpkins, sugar peas, string beans and tomatoes all fall in the fruit category.  Some cookbooks make a distinction between fruit, vegetables and fruit vegetables.  Fruit vegetables are foods that are botanically fruits, but are most often prepared and served like vegetables.  These fruits are considered fruit vegetables: Aubergine, autumn squash, avocado, bitter melon, cantaloupe, chayote, chile, courgette, cucumber, eggplant, gherkin, green bean, green sweet pepper, hot pepper, marrow, muskmelon, okra, olive, pumpkin, red sweet pepper, seedless cucumber, squash, sweet pepper, tomatillo, tomato, watermelon, wax gourd, yellow sweet pepper and zucchini.

Pectin is a substance contained in some fruit which is used for making jams and jellies thicker.  High pectin fruits are apples, cranberries, currants, lemons, oranges, plums and quinces.  Low pectin fruits are bananas, cherries, grapes, mangos, peaches, pineapples and strawberries.

Low pectin fruits seem to discolor quicker than high pectin fruits ( bananas and eggplants).  Lemon juice or vinegar slows the discoloring process.  Other fruits and vegetables that discolor quickly are avocados, cauliflower, celery, cherries, figs, Jerusalem artichokes, mushrooms, nectarines, parsnips, peaches, pears, potatoes, rutabaga and yams.

Bruising:  When a fruit is bruised the cell walls break down and discoloration begins.  The process can be slowed down by refrigeration.

Cleaning:  It is important to clean our fruit and vegetables.  Rinse fruit in cold running water and scrub as needed before cooking or eating.  Soaking fruit in water for more than a few minutes can leach out water soluble vitamins.

Peeling:  The fruit skin usually contains a lot of important nutrients, but if you need to peel a thick-skinned fruit cut a small amount of the peel from the top and bottom.  Then on a cutting board cut off the peel in strips from top to bottom.  A good way to peel thin skinned fruit is to place the fruit in a bowl with boiling water and let stand for about 1 minute.  Remove and cool in an ice water bath.  You could also spear the fruit with a fork and hold over a gas flame until the skin cracks OR quarter the fruit and peel with a sharp paring knife or potato peeler.

Wax:  Oh those beautiful waxed apples that wink at us at the market.  They are beautiful because they are waxed.  I don’t know about you, but I would rather not eat wax.  Wax can be removed from the surface of fruits by washing them with a mild dishwashing soap and then thoroughly rinsing them.  This will remove most of the wax, but probably not all of it.

Purchasing Ripe:  Purchase these fruits fully ripe:  Berries, cherries, citrus, grapes and watermelon.  All of the fruits in this list, except berries, can be refrigerated without losing flavor.

Purchasing Not-So-Ripe:  Apricots, figs, melons, nectarines, peaches and plums develop more complex flavors after picking.  Store these fruits at room temperature until they are as ripe as you would like them.

Refrigeration:  You can refrigerate apples,ripe mangos and ripe pears as soon as you get them.  Do not refrigerat bananas.

Seasonal Fruit:  Winter is the season for citrus.  Fall is the season for apples and pears.  Late spring is the season for strawberries and pineapples.  Summer is perfect for blueberries, melons, peaches and plums.

Washing:  Dry fruit with paper towels or kitchen towels and then use a blow dryer on the cool setting to completely dry fruit.

Squeezing:  A microwave can be used to get more juice from citrus fruits.  Microwave citrus fruits for about 20 seconds before squeezing the fruit for juice.

 

 

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