Nut and Cheese Crackers

Ever wonder what marketers were thinking when they advertise a can of whole tomatoes as "wheat free" and "gluten free"? Well, I hope that canned tomatoes don't usually contain flour products because that would just be weird. Well, unlike traditional crackers, these don't require any flour to make. And, all the salt in the recipe is already in the cheese; so there's no added salt either. It's pretty much two main ingredients coarsely ground together (in a food prep) and maybe a salt-free spice blend added for flavor; not saying that hard cheeses or nuts aren't flavorful enough, but something mild enough to bring the entire recipe together. You know? 

Here is the recipe: 

1 c. raw pumpkin seeds 
1/2 c. asiago cheese, freshly grated 
1/2 tsp. spice blend (I used McCormick's no-salt garlic and herb) 
scant 1/8 c. water 

The directions: 

1. In a food prep large enough to accommodate 1 1/2 c., coarsely grind together pumpkin seeds, asiago cheese, and spices. It should look evenly ground but not of flour consistency. 

2. Add almost 1/8 c. water and pulse until just combined. Too much water and it won't bake properly. 

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

4. Empty mixture onto wax or parchment paper (about 8" x 10"), preferably parchment paper since it can go into the oven. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Roll out until the "cracker" is at the desired thickness. 

5. I suppose at this point you could a ravioli wheel or pizza cutter to mark the edges of the crackers; but I just break apart the enormous mass (after baking) into bite-sized pieces. 

6. Bake on a baking sheet for about 5-7 minutes or until the enough water has evaporated and the edges are of a golden brown color. Enjoy. 

This particular ratio of ingredients comes to about 1,080 calories, because... 1 oz asiago cheese = 100 calories 1/4 c. raw pumpkin seeds = 170 calories Other cheeses that work well: Parmesan Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano

Prep and cook time: 15 minutes

Rocky Road Candy

Kudos to wherever I nabbed this recipe from. It is darn simple and a workplace pleaser.

Ingredients:

2 c. dark chocolate
2 c. milk chocolate
1 c. roasted almonds
8 oz. mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Prepare an 8" x 8" baking pan by lining it with parchment paper.

2. Using a double boiler method, melt dark and milk chocolate together in a large heat-proof bowl.

3. Remove from heat and let cool (about 10 min). Stir in marshmallows and almonds.

4. Pour mixture into prepared pan. If you want a more flat surface on top, cover with parchment paper and smooth out the top so that it is even.

5. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours. Cut into 1" cubes and serve.

This version used E.Guittard chocolate wafers: 61% cacao semi-sweet and 72% cacao bittersweet.

Mmmm, tasty...

Review: Gateway Produce

Advertisements about this grocery store suggest that it offers up fresh produce from nearby farms. That is probably true, except for the imported goods that cater to the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern diets. The store also carries expired canned and packaged goods at a very discounted price. It takes some hunting through the boxes to find what you want and a careful look at the actual expiry date. Overall, prices for the seasonal fruits and vegetables are really decent for low budget consumers. The quality of the produce, however, is not at the top tier level (any regional or national chain supermarket); nor are they likely to be organically raised. But, if you're needing to raise a family or you like to buy local, this is the place to go in Vancouver, WA. Save yourself a lot of money and skip the way overpriced food at farmers' markets. You'll have to pick through the fruits, at least, for the usual blemishes, mold, and other unsightly things that come from edibles that can't be sold to the mainstream market. Sturdier vegetables and fruits have a lot less handling damage and bruises, but you still have to do your due diligence in putting the right things into your basket. On a recent visit, here's what I got for $25 (tax incl.): x3 white corn ears, fresh 4 lbs red seedless grapes 1 lb fresh strawberries 1 lb red beets 1 lb fuji apples 1 lb fresh peaches fresh ginger root 1 large green cabbage head 1 lb large white mushrooms x2 green onion bunches x2 15oz cans - Bush's Beans, original baked beans x1 28oz can - Bush's Beans, vegetarian baked beans x1 28oz can - Hunts organic tomatos x2 12oz cans - organic clam chowder soup x2 46oz bottles Juicy Juice 100% juice orange-nectarine x2 boxes - Betty Crocker pound cake mix Address (view map): 2507 NE Andresen Rd # C Vancouver, WA 98661-7359 (360) 693-6258

Review: Fong Chong Restaurant (Portland OR)

Today I was in downtown Portland near the Chinatown area for a work meeting with our ad agency. Not wanting to be stuck in worse-than-Los Angeles traffic for the ride home, I walked about in sweltering heat (like an average summer day in LA) for a few blocks in each direction from where my car was parked and picked a random a restaurant to eat at. I don't know much about Hongkong styled cuisine, but I've eaten my fair share of dim sum. The sign outside read: Hong Kong dim sum. Who could resist? Besides, a nice Indian-ish-looking couple came out of the restaurant and spontaneously pitched the restaurant to me. I guess the locals really like the place. This particular local said that he lived in HK for a few years and this place serves up authentic-tasting HK cuisine, but (he adds) that some of the beef has an off-flavor to it. Maybe 6pm was too early for dinner, especially when it was still about 100 degrees F outside. The restaurant was sparsely populated, and by that, I mean to say I was the only patron at the time. The menu reads "Fong Chong Tea House", but given the very limited varieties of tea on the menu, I think they dropped that aspect of the business. Besides, this entire metro area is about 95% caucasian. The food: If the restaurant really does serve dim sum all day, I didn't really see any while I was there. A cart that had some leftover desserts from the lunch hour sat quietly by itself near the front counter. I could see egg tarts and sesame balls on small rounded plates; but given how hot it was today. Eating deep fried or baked egg desserts that have been sitting out all afternoon.. not such a good idea. My order's portion size was good and perhaps too much for one person to eat in one sitting. I had the beef in garlic sauce. It came with a scoop of what tried to pass itself off as fried rice, BBQ pork that should have been reconstituted in a broth, a crab puff (might have been the chef's invention), and a slathering of overly sweet and spicy brown sauce with mixed vegetables. Overall, the dish was way too sweet, though probably just right for the American palate.

In my food..

• Meat - the beef was very tender and tasty, as it should be; the BBQ pork should not have been added to the dish at all and it was dry, hard, flavorless and chewy
• Sauce - typical brown sauce with soy sauce, chili sauce, corn starch, garlic, sugar
• Vegetables - green bell peppers, celery, bamboo, carrots, white onion, snow pea, white mushroom, mu erh (wood ear fungus), and zucchini (which, unfortunately was very bitter)
• Rice - had bits of egg in it, tasted entirely wrong, and someone probably stir fried it up with soy sauce several hours ago. It had the taste of salted egg coated rice. Bleh. Nobody eats salted egg in anything except in rice porridge.
• Crab puff - It's a wonton wrapper stuffed with "crab" meat and deep fried. It's an appetizer, but not terribly appetizing.
• Egg roll - who knows what's in it. I didn't touch it.

The tea: Ordinary black tea, and not a particularly quality one either. Generic. Maybe a Lipton black tea or something. I didn't get a choice about the tea, but I also wasn't charged for it either unlike other Chinese restaurants in the Portland area. Service: Only one host for the evening, which might have been fine if there had only been a few customers, but by 6:30pm several more sets of people wandered in and it took a while for me to even get my bill. The host speaks at least three languages that I could tell...Cantonese (to the kitchen staff), Mandarin to the family of six sitting to my right, and somewhat decent English to the rest of us. Surroundings: Decent. It looks like this place would have no problem accommodating the needs of a large banquet, as it could seat about 300 people in its main galley area. There might be private rooms at the back, but I wasn't feeling too adventurous at the time. Among the evening's patrons were asians, besides myself. That's at least a sign of decent food that another Chinese person would eat. That's also not saying much because there aren't a lot of restaurants to choose from, not in Old Town. Overall: I'd say, for dim sum, it might be passable to the locals who live on the west side / downtown Portland. From looking at the menu and eating here for dinner, I still cannot fathom what it really means to have Hong Kong sytled food. For eating lunch or dinner from the specials menu, I'd say skip it and go eat elsewhere. The place: Fong Chong Restaurant 301 NW 4th Ave, Portland OR 97209 (503) 228-6868

Asian Lettuce Wraps

I am passing off this dish as a "main" dish for my company's potluck lunch. It seems that a lot of would-be appetizers in Asian cuisine can be eaten en mass and then counted as a main entree. The sheer lack of a key ingredients (fermented black beans) made me buy pre-made hoisin sauce instead of making it from scratch for this recipe. This one came out tasting better than expected. This is one of those needs some assembly meals if your guests were to be serving themselves. 

There are two primary components to it: the lettuce leaf and the filling. You fold the leaf up like a pocket and eat it with the filling inside. 1 head of fresh butter lettuce leaves (or a few Romaine hearts, if butter lettuce not available) Carefully separate the leaves from the stem, wash, and pat dry. Stack leaves on a plate and set aside. 

Filling ingredients 

1 lb lean ground beef a few stalks of green onion, white part only, chopped 
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil one 8oz can of sliced water chestnuts, minced 
1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms, reconstituted, minced 
a few stalks of green onion, green part only, minced 
2 tsp sesame oil 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced 
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced 
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 
1 tbsp soy sauce 
1/3 c. hoisin sauce (optional) 
1+ tsp chili pepper sauce or 1+ tsp Tabasco sauce (depends on how much heat you want in this dish) 

Directions 

 1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat (if using olive oil, high heat if using other cooking oil), brown the ground beef and stir often so that it doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove beef to a bowl and set aside. Leave the juices in the pan, this will help keep the next set of ingredients from burning. 

 2. Add the chopped white part of the green onion and stir frequently. Add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, hoisin sauce, and hot sauce (optional) together. Stir/mix in water chestnuts, shitake mushrooms, sesame oil, and chopped green part of the green onion stalks. 

 3. Return ground beef to the skillet and mix until well combined. Remove from heat and set aside. 

 4. Assembly: Take one lettuce leaf and place it on a plate. Fill it with a few tbsp of ground beef filling. Wrap like a pocket and eat. 

 Oh, a kitchen note on the spacing between ingredient sets. You could save yourself some time and combine each set of ingredients into its own bowl. Then add the bowls of already combined ingredients to the skillet as they are fried together. I'm thinking that this would be a good filling for a Chinese meat pie or potsticker.