Spice Rack

Ellen had a great find at the Thrift store this week.  She found little spice bottles and a rack all for $11.  We hung it in the kitchen a few days ago after she emptied all our spices into the new jars and labeled them.  Now no more hunting for the right spice they are right there.  God bless and happy eating.

Spice rack

Falafel Wraps.

It’s been a few days.  Nothing blog worthy eaten for a while till last night.  Ellen made falafel wraps.  We had them in cake form fried along with diced raw beats, carrots, green onions, lettuce and green Goddess dressing that she made fresh from the herbs we have in the herb pot.  Along with that we had spinach balls baked in the oven. All of which was home made.  It was so good.  I ate 2 wraps and about 4 of the spinach balls and was stuffed.  That was my meal.  Hope you all enjoyed reading about it and again if you want any of the recipes just email me and I will be happy to send it out to you.  God bless, thank you and happy eating.

Greens, Greens and more Greens

Alright here is the last for the night.  This is tonights all vegan dinner. We had Carmalized apples and turnips, Sauted turnip greens and Lettuce wraps with hoisin-mustard tofu.  The last was the better of the 3.  To be honest there are so many things in the dish that I did not pay attention to what Ellen was putting in but if you want to know I would be happy to email you how to make them.  I did eat enough to fill myself but like most Asian food I will be hungry an hour from now. God bless, thank you for reading and happy eating.

Now that's a turnip

Just pulled these out of our garden. Ellen is going to cook them since she thinks they are to hot raw. They do have a little kick but I like some spice. That's it for today unless we find a huge radish.

Wedding Dinner

Had a great day today at my cousins wedding.  Great weather, family, friends and good food.  I got to have one thing that I never had a chance to have before.  Suckling pig.  I asked for an ear and some skin.  The ear was very crunchy and tasted like the best pork rind I have ever had.  The skin was also crisp and tasted very good.  Here are a few shots of the other food that we had. Salad, rock fish, redskin mashed potatoes, veggies on a stick grilled, roll and the ear and skin.

Foods Bizarre Foods

In the past I had a few foods that I was not able to blog about so I thought why not now.  Some of these may seem very strange and gross to many of you but I always wanted to try them and living in the area that I do they are not offered in any of the restaurants’.  So the best way to have them is to make them myself.  So I set out and made them.

The first is cow tongue (pictures 1 and 2).  I cooked this in a slow cooker with onions for about 6 hours.  After cooking I skinned, sliced it and then served it (to only myself much to my dismay) 3 different ways.  BBQ, plane with horse radish and one with just mayo.  It tasted much like roast beef with a more greasy flavor.

Second is Rocky Mt. oysters aka bull balls. (Pictures 3-5).  I got these fresh from a local farm thanks a church member. Thanks Nick.  Not knowing how to fix these I looked them up on the internet and went to work.  I started by skinning them.  After skinning I was left with just the inner tissue which was very soft almost like brains.  I sliced them in thin strips, soaked them in some milk and a beaten egg. I found out later that they slice better if they are frozen and then cut.   From there I put them in a bag of bread crumbs, salt and pepper.  I had the pan heating on the oven with some olive oil and dropped them in till they were brown.  They tasted great with the texture of fried oysters.

The third is Twice baked potatoes with crab meat (Picture 6).  I baked the potatoes first till they were done.  Taking them out and letting the cool just a little I sliced and gutted them of the meat and left the skin intact.  I mixed in crab claw meat some cheddar cheese and  old bay.  I then restuffed the shells and toped them with more cheddar cheese and old bay, placed them back in the oven at 350 till the tops were brown and the cheese was melted. There are a few other dishes that I will hold off till later but for now these will do.  I hope you all enjoy the dishes and will if given a chance try to either cook or order one of these dishes.  I told Ellen my goal is to have this blog get around in the net community and maybe some day I will be known for it.  To be able to drop my name and get to go back and see how the meals are made before I eat them.  I know this is just a dream but we all have them don’t we? So If you are reading this and enjoy it pass it along for others that I can not reach.  God bless you all, thank you and happy eating.

Cow tongue cooking

Tongue 3 different ways

Bull Balls

Bull ball skinned

Bull ball fried

Twice baked crab Potatoes

Cafe Del Sol

We ate out over the weekend at http://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-del-sol-waynesboro.  I had the BBQ chicken personal pizza topped with onions.  Would have rather had them caramelized  first but it was still good.  We also ordered an appetizer of crostini.  This was very good. I would recommend this restaurant to everyone.  Great service and really good food.  All were pleased that was with my party.

Garden Veggie or tree fruit?

Is it an apple? Is it a radish?  Well it if you said radish you would be right.  I pulled this huge radish out of our garden this evening.  I took a bite of it and it was very hot.  One of the hottest I have ever had.  They are great in a salad or just to have something to snack on that is not sweet or bad for you.  I know this is not really a food that I made or bought but it is still something that is refreshing.  Visit your local fruit and veggie stands this summer and keep the money local.  You will be surprised on how good healthy with most of them not treating them with chemicals. With keeping your money local you are keeping your neighbors in business and allow them to support their family.  Have a great Wednesday and God bless.

Tofu Croutons

It was salad for dinner tonight.  We did not have croutons so what did I do?  I made some.  Not out of bread but out of firm tofu.  I took the block of tofu and diced it up to cubes put them in a pan with some olive oil that had been heading with dried garlic flakes and sun dried tomatoes.  I fried them till they were brown and dry to give the crunch of a crouton.  They turned out great.  One thing I did not add was salt which some of you would want.  I do not add salt to my meals because of my heart condition and trying to maintain a low salt diet. The salad dressing will add the salt I need.  The salad also has red and yellow cherry tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, fresh radishes from the garden, broccoli, cranberries and diced carrots.  With it being just a salad you might expect to be hungry but with all the added veggies I was full.  Just go back for seconds if you are still hungry.  That's it for this blog.  Have a great weekend.