Tales of an Affair with a Food Processor

The weather in Okinawa has been horrible. I know that most of my readers have no sympathy because they're either in Buffalo or Northern Michigan, but 50 degrees is still cold. I don't care if it's snowing where you're at, I still can't go outside.

Cooped up inside once again, I decided to do something I've been aching to do for ages...

Use a food processor.

I've been aching to feel the purr of the the processor beneath my fingers that demand it to chop. I've been begging to taste the creamy dips that would come from our love.

Searching my parent's house, I found it. Covered in dust and hiding on a dark shelf, it was wanting to be used as badly as I wanted to use it. It needed love and I needed a food processor. I lovingly recovered it from its spot and placed it on the counter.

"You look beautiful in this light" I told it. It didn't reply, so I continued to romance it. "You and I are going to do beautiful things. I've been wanting to do this for so long..."

And for 30 awkward minutes, I fooled around with the food processor. As expected for your first time....... using a food processor that is, I had a hard time figuring out where things went and things were spontaneously erupting.

But it was joyous, and the result was even more joyous.

"I would love to do this again food processor. That is, if you would like to do this again with me..."

I made edamammus--hummus made with edamame. I highly recommend it. Click for the recipe.

Tasty Tuesday; Oil and Vinegar Dressing According To Jenny

Tasty Tuesday

Oh salads! Let me count the ways I can make you delicious! I am a salad person, and I always have been. I've been teased many times for being a rabbit because I ate so much lettuce. And the salad is always the first thing I grab on the table. Even now, living with a meat lover, I go out of my way to make my own personal salad.

I decided to try to make my own salad dressing. I love the taste of oil and balsamic vinegar, especially on salads. But it has to be done a certain way, otherwise all you're eating is oily lettuce, which is really no good.

So I decided to premake my salad dressing instead of pouring oil and vinegar over my salad each time I made it. It's a great pay off--I finally got to taste it 4 days after making it, and all the seasoning had soaked into the liquid, and the oil and vinegar wasn't seperated as much.

[I made a pretty small portion, and the numbers are guestimates. I really just suggest putting a teaspoon more vinegar than oil and doing the seasoning by eye]




Here's What You Need
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar/Roasted Garlic Vineagerette
dash of chili powder, garlic salt [not pictured], lemon pepper, and italian seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoon of parmesan cheese [to thicken]
Mason jar to put it in

Here's What You Do
pour all ingredients into the mason jar, screw the top on, and shake!

Now you have a delicious salad dressing! Put in fridge to chill.

You can do one of two things from here. You can either pour it straight on your salad, or you can do a little topping mix thing.

Topping Mix:
Here's What You Need
-Any salad toppings, except for croutons. I suggest tomatoes, olives, onions, and chicken/turkey

Here's What You Do
-Put your salad toppings in a seperate bowl and pour JUST a teaspoon of this dressing over it and mix. When you're ready to finish your salad, pour the mix on top of the salad. The dressing isn't too overpowering to add another dressing to. This is great for when you're making a salad for multiple people, that way they can all have their choice of salad dressing.

Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday; Deep Fried Pickles

Born in the south, crunchy and salty sour, deep fried pickles are a treat for your taste buds. It's a known fact that everything tastes better fried. Fried ice cream, fried twinkies, fried green tomatoes... But none of these can compete with the unique, oily flavor of a deep fried pickle.

I decided to do deep fried pickles for Tasty Tuesday this week because they're my favorite food. I used to have to go to an expensive restaurant in Michigan to get them, but now that I have my own kitchen, I decided to give it a whirl. However, with my schedule and inadequacy in hot oil, Don actually cooked them.

He says that he thought that spears weren't the right choice because it made it harder to bread. He suggests pickle chips. However, I am the deep fried pickle connosieur, and I say that you can't stop eating if you have a plate full of pickle chips, and that spears are best for filling you up and dipping.

My tip is that you don't eat deep fried pickles immediately after you make them or eat them. Pickles, like tomatoes, hold a lot of heat in their juices. Don't be as eager as I have on many accounts and burn your mouth!!

Note: While the pickles I used were homemade, they were not the homemade pickles that broke in the box that my grandma sent.

Here's What You'll Need:
whole pickles, pickle spears, or pickle chips [dills work better than bread and butter. I've never had a bread and butter deep fried pickle]

Egg Wash:
1 egg
I cup milk

Cornmeal Deep Fried Pickle Coating Recipe
2 cups plain Cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried Oregano
1 teaspoon dried Parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
Mix ingredients together and set aside.

OR

Flour Deep Fried Pickle Coating Recipe
3 cups Flour - this can be any type of flour including white, whole wheat or rice flour.
1 teaspoon Garlic salt or powder
1 teaspoon table seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Salt1 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper

Here's What You Do:
after you've gotten the amount of pickles you want, shake off excess juices and blot them off with a paper towel. First, dip in the egg and milk mix. Next, roll in the dry coating. Don found that you shouldn't roll the pickle in the coating, you just pile some on it, and pull it out. Set them on a plate, and once all your pickles are battered, freeze them for 30 minutes. DO IT! I was in a rush and didn't want to, but was told that if you didn't, the batter would just fall off. Don't skip this step, even if it sounds useless.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees, drop the pickles in one by one until the float and take them out. Serve with ranch dressing, it's the best that way.

Breakfast Fried Rice According To Jenny

Tasty Tuesday

Fried rice; rice, onions, peas and carrots all fried together in a wok with soy sauce. Simple, yet delicious. Fried rice has always been a popular breakfast choice in my parent's house. And I am here to tell you that nobody can make fried rice the way my mother can. No other place that serves fried rice can create the hunger-creating aroma of my mom's fried rice. No chinese fast food fried rice can even contend with the taste of homemade fried rice.

Fried rice is not one of my specialities. I've tried many times, but there seems to be a certain trick to doing it right that only people from Hawaii can seem to do. This morning, while scrounging through my very bare refigerator, I saw that I had leftover rice and decided to try my hand at it once again. It came out good, but not as good as my mothers. But then again, nobody can make it as good as hers. I stress this because I want to let you know that even if you make this recipe and it turns out good, if you want authentic fried rice, go to her.

Here's What You'll Need: [recipe made on a single serving]
2 peices of bacon
about a cup of leftover rice. [It must be leftover rice. Don't ask me why]
an egg
2 green onions or a slice of white onion [dice it]
1 tablespoon soy sauce or oyster sauce [oyster sauce is the "secret sauce" according to my neice. Fried rice does taste better with it, but soy sauce will do just fine[


Here's What You Do:
Fry the bacon first. Leave the grease in the pan and set the bacon aside. Pour the cold, leftover rice into the frying pan on medium heat and let it fry until some grains start to get a little brown on them. Add the soy sauce, and fry until the rice looks like it's soaked up most of the soy sauce. [It should look more dry than when you first put in the soy sauce] Next, add an egg. Just crack the egg, pour it over and stir the rice until the egg fries. This is not the conventional way of doing it, but it's really easy. I'm all about doing things in one frying pan. After it looks like the egg is all fried up, pour it into a bowl. Next, cut the bacon up into tiny peices and sprinkle it over. Now you have fried rice Jenny style!

Italian Rice Salad

For Father's Day, I made this rice salad. I love light italian foods! Capers, red onions, artichoke, white wine, feta, tomatoes, all that good light stuff that's in italian food. This recipe has the first three of that list, so I immediately loved it!

Here's What You'll Need:
3 cups cooked, slightly warm basmati rice [the warmth brings out the flavor of the other ingredients]
1 cup chopped red, green and/or orange sweet pepper [I used all 3]
1 6oz jar quartered marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup raisins [trust me, you'll want those in there. I was skeptical, but it gives it a good citrus taste in the occasional bite]
2 tablespoons drained capers
Organic mixed salad greens, mesclun, or torn romaine [I used salad greens]
Fresh basil leaves [this is an option that I didn't take]

Here's How You Do It!
In a large bowl, combine rice, sweet pepper, artichokes, red onion, raisins and capers. Stir vinaigrette and drizzle over rice mixture; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill. The recipe says to put the rice mixture on the salad greens, but you're going to mix it in anyways, so throw the grass in!

Now, I bought a bottle of garlic vinaigrette. If you can't find one in your local food store, or just want to make your own, the recipe gave instructions on how to make your own.

GARLIC VINAIGRETTE
Here's What You'll Need:
1/2 cup canola or sunflower oil
1/3 cup snipped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons dried dillweed.
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
2 cloves of garlic; minced

Here's What You Do!
Whisk it all together.

Now, to me, that sounds pretty hard, and not as delicious as the store bought stuff, but if you wanna try it, by all means, be my guest!
Here's the end product!