I’m busy making Polish paczki for our Easter dinner. I filled three with raspberry jam and the rest are getting custard!
Happy Easter, everyone!
Diary
Good Eats All Week
We have a crouton crisis in my kitchen. The new way I’m making them is so good, someone keeps sneaking them before dinner. I won’t say who, but that person has a mustache. Oh wait… that could be either one of us! 😀 Here’s what I cooked this week:
- Soft croutons
- Spinach fried rice
- Lemon blueberry loaf
- Soft oatmeal raisin cookies no butter
- Creamy chicken & broccoli pasta
- Granola bars
- Oatmeal muffins
- Cabbage soup
- Linguini with broccolini & mini squashes
- Taco salad
- Chocolate pudding
- Chicken tenders with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes & peppers
- Almond butter
- Dark chocolate cashew clusters
- No knead whole wheat bread
I have a new way to make my croutons! I bake a loaf of no knead white bread, and after it’s cooled, I slice the whole loaf into croutons and freeze them. Then… before dinner, I remove a handful, let them thaw a little, put them in a plastic bag, drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper and bake them on an ungreased pan in my toaster oven at 350 for about…. oh crap… I forgot to write down the time, but I think it’s about 15 minutes, until they are golden and crispy but still soft on the inside. I will post them soon as a new recipe with the exact time.
My husband loves these too… so much so that I caught him sneaking some before I made the salad. Busted! 😳 I now have a new plan: I count them before toasting. If I start with 16, then I put 8 on my salad and he gets the rest. If there’s only 3 left, it’s his problem. 🙂
🫑🥕🍅🥦 Better Cooked or Raw? 🫑🥕🍅🥦
Vegetables are your lifeline to good health, especially a variety of colors, both cooked and raw. But which ones are better cooked or better raw? I’ll keep it simple. Some vegetables should be cooked to get the most benefits. Some not so much. Heat destroys vitamin C but heat helps your body absorb vitamin A. What should we do? It can be confusing so here is my own take on it:
BETTER COOKED:
- Tomatoes
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Collard greens
- Swiss chard
- Broccoli – short steaming (3-4 minutes) preserves its cancer-fighting compounds
- Cabbage – easier to digest, cooking still provides some cancer fighting compounds
- Mushrooms
- Kale for mineral absorption
- Bell peppers for vitamin A
- Green beans
BETTER RAW:
- Leafy salad greens
- Bell peppers for vitamin C
- Broccoli for cancer fighting compounds (who eats raw broccoli?? 🤮)
- Cabbage – raw cabbage has more cancer fighting compounds
- Cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, etc.)
- Beets (again, who eats raw beets??)
- Kale for vitamin C
STILL GOOD EITHER WAY:
- Bell peppers
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower and other cruciferous vegetables
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Beets (cooked beets provide betacarotene and are more digestible when cooked)
Most vegetables need fat to absorb efficiently so my salads always have lots of heart healthy olive oil and sometimes avocado or nuts. I also drizzle extra olive oil on most pasta dishes. Steaming is generally the best way to cook most vegetables, retaining a lot of their nutrients. Roasting is my next choice but boiling is the least optimal way to cook any vegetable, except in soup, chili or stew where you consume the liquid.
*Several reputable sources are reporting that to gain the most benefits from cooked cruciferous vegetables, you should chop them 40 minutes before cooking to activate the beneficial enzymes. I don’t know if I’d have the time… ⏰
I hope this helps. I eat lots of vegetables in lots of colors. In fact, every meal I cook starts with what vegetables are in the fridge. Then I build the rest of the meal on that. When I serve a colorful plate of food, I ask my husband, “How beautiful are these vegetables?” He always replies, “Not as beautiful as you.” 😍❤️😍❤️😍❤️ Awwwww… (or he’s just angling for me to make brownies. 🤔)
Here’s a closing poem:
Bake them or steam them, or roast in a pan,
Eat lots of veggies, as many as you can.
Mix up the colors, you’ll benefit more,
You’ll look and feel way better than before.
If you take my advice, if you do as you should,
Your friends will all say… “Bitch, you look good!” 😀
🥑 Fat-Free? Not For Me. 🥑
“Fat-free” might sound like a good idea but fat is something not to be avoided, even if you’re trying to lose weight. Your body needs fat, particularly healthy fat so if you avoid fat altogether, your skin and hair and nails will pay the price. Worse than that, there are many reasons why healthy fat is essential in your diet.
- Some important vitamins require fat to be absorbed by your body. (vitamins A, D, E, and K)
- Your brain needs fat to function at its fullest. (Omega-3 fats from salmon, sardines & walnuts are best for the brain.)
- Consuming healthy fat helps prevent chronic inflammation, which can lead to many diseases like some cancers, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, depression, and Alzheimer’s.
- If you avoid fat, your skin will be dry, more prone to pimples & blackheads, and you’ll have more wrinkles.
All I’m saying is fat is good, but only the good kind. Here is a basic guide:
FOODS WITH UNHEALTHY FATS:
- Bacon, hot dogs, sausages, and pepperoni… you know… the things we all love! ☹️
- Ham, salami, and other deli meats.
- Cheese, especially soft cheeses like Brie. The harder the cheese, the healthier.
- Anything deep fried, batter fried or French fried. 🍟 I know. I love French fries too… but I love me more. ❤️
- Chicken wings are at the top of the bad list. Don’t eat poultry skin.
- Check ingredients in processed foods. Avoid palm oil and all partially hydrogenated oils.
FOODS WITH HEALTHY FATS:
- Olive oil 🫒
- Avocados 🥑
- Nuts, with best being walnuts, almonds, and cashews. (I have almond butter sandwiches all the time – yummy & healthy!)
- Fish, primarily fatty fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel. (Salmon sandwiches, anyone? Yes!)
It’s not hard to incorporate good fats into your meals.
- I eat salmon sandwiches and almond butter & jam sandwiches all the time.
- I cook salmon, too.
- My salad dressing is always homemade and olive oil based and I often add avocados to salads.
- I always keep containers of raw nuts in the fridge for snacking.
If you’re still not convinced, maybe my poem will help…
Fat is good. Fat is fine.
Eat healthy fat like I eat mine.
Why not give sardines a whirl?
You just might like them. You might not hurl. 🤮
Walnuts, olive oil, salmon too.
Bacon and ham? Not good for you.
Eat healthy fat, I’m saying it twice,
Or eat more bacon and roll the dice. 🥓 🎲
Lots To Eat This Week
I keep forgetting to take pictures of what I cook, usually because I’m hungry! And when I do remember, it’s a quick snapshot with my phone so the food doesn’t get cold. Here’s what I cooked this week:
- Creamy chicken & green beans with salad (recipe coming soon)
- Tapioca pudding
- No knead whole wheat bread
- Chicken tenders (not a picture worth taking 🙂) with roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and peppers
- Spaghetti with meat sauce + salad
- Dark chocolate dipped coconut macaroons
- Egg salad
- Apple pie bars
- Green fried rice made with broccoli, bok choy, and peas
- Cabbage soup with added carrots
- Leftover chicken tenders with spaghetti in olive oil & garlic + steamed broccoli
- Whole wheat crepes
- Taco salad
- Faster no knead white bread
- Croutons made with ⬆ that bread
Whenever I’m busy, which is most days, I go to my easy one pan meals like creamy chicken and green beans. I sometimes make it with broccoli and will be posting the recipe showing both versions, since broccoli cooks faster than green beans. 🥦 Also, sometimes, green beans are not worth buying. 👎 I realize my apple pie bars are a little ragged but they did taste great. My husband loves traditional apple pie (who doesn’t?) and he insists it’s just a square apple pie. He says he would like a slice of the pie and I say, “There is no apple pie, but I can give you an apple pie bar.” He says, “Okay – it’s a bar – now can I have a pie-shaped piece?” 😍
Chicken Tenders Reality Check
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Removing the tendon is easy, they say. Just grab it with a paper towel, they say. Just pull it through a fork, they say. They lie! I have never been able to remove the tendon just like that. I tried the fork thing with a paper towel. I tried the knife thing and sliding it down the tendon. Tweezers. Pliers. Scissors. Gloves. A giant fork. A serrated knife. I thought about calling 9-1-1. Hey, they should have a special phone line for chicken tenders, like they do for Thanksgiving turkeys. 🦃 Can’t remove the tendons? Just dial T-E-N-D-O-N-H-E-L-L and we will talk you off the cliff. And remind you that you are a good and capable cook. Then suggest a tendon support group to know you’re not alone. They meet every four hours. ⏰
Maybe it’s just me but I give up. I will cook them and my husband will remind me that he still loves me no matter what. ❤️ Then he’ll offer to take me out to dinner.
Even More Random Facts About Me
- At 17, I worked as a driver for an Encyclopedia Britannica salesman who lost his license after too many DUIs. I went inside with him and sat through all the sales pitches. That was more uncomfortable than being in the car alone with this guy.
- I just found a gray hair… in my nose! I shouldn’t have looked up there. 👀
- In 1991, I sang the national anthem at a Chicago White Sox game in Comiskey Park. As a Canadian, I didn’t know all the words and had to study them first. I don’t know if they applauded for me or just for the anthem. 🇺🇸
- As a standup comic playing clubs on the road in the 1980s, I worked with lots of other comics playing the circuit, all of us hoping to make it big, including Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Allen, Billy Crystal, Bob Saget, Larry Miller, and Brad Garrett. We all played clubs across the country, never knowing who would be on the bill until we got there. 🎤
- Every night right before bed, I eat a muffin, a glass of milk, and a small piece of dark chocolate. Then right to bed. I think that’s against the rules…🤔
- I was a contestant on The Match Game.
- When I was 11 years old, I ran away from home with an older girl – she was 13. We passed for 16 and we both worked as waitresses. They didn’t find us for a month and we only got caught because we shoplifted an iron for our uniforms.
- I’m not afraid of snakes. Only spiders.
- I’m not an adventurous eater. I’ve never had sushi, escargot, or blood sausage (did they HAVE to call it that?) or oysters. People eat them raw? Seriously? I won’t eat anything that might still be moving. 🤢
Lots of Comfort Foods This Week
My freezer’s getting full. I love to bake so all my breads and cookies are filling up the shelves. This way they are always fresh and we’re not tempted to eat too many sweets. When I say “we” I refer to myself, who is a person of discipline and standards… not the guy who also lives here! 😀❤️ Here’s what I cooked this week:
- Chicken pot pie + salad
- Deviled eggs
- Oatmeal muffins
- Salmon patties with rice and steamed Brussels sprouts
- Chicken noodle soup
- Granola bars
- Vegetable stir fry with cashews
- Turkey chili + salad
- No knead crusty rolls (for the chili)
- Buckwheat pancakes
- Vegetable soup
- Tortillas
- Broiled branzino with steamed potatoes and broccolini
- Chocolate pudding
- Taco salad
- Dark chocolate oatmeal cookies (just added as a new recipe!) Guess who already ate two!
Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
NEW RECIPE: This was an experiment that I didn’t think would turn out but… wow! They are so good! I make lots of oatmeal cookies and wondered why they can’t be chocolate cookies too, so I used my crispy oatmeal cookies recipe and made a couple of small adjustments and here it is. It’s a crispy… (I love all things crispy (except pudding 🙂) …a crispy oatmeal cookie that’s all chocolate too.
I score these cookies while they’re still warm so they can easily be split into two. Always trying to reduce sweets, 1/2 a cookie is plenty of dessert for me. My husband loves chocolate and as soon as he saw these scored cookies, he said, “Oh boy! Ice cream sandwiches!” I suggested he take 1/2 a cookie and break that into half again for his ice cream sandwich. He’s still laughing. 😍
I do the best I can around here but it’s an uphill battle. ❤️ Click here for the recipe.
Organic Flour? Maybe Not…
So here’s what happened. In my endless and wasted hours of research on making sourdough starter (yes, I’m still mad! 😖) I saw one comment saying that the starter might not work as well with organic whole wheat flour. So I bought a bag of regular whole wheat flour and it started going well for a few days and then failed, just like all my other sourdough fiascos. (…still mad…) But that comment made me wonder… would plain whole wheat flour work better in my no knead bread? I think it did.
My whole wheat Dutch oven bread was always delicious but never as tall and airy as the plain white bread flour version. I already had the non-organic whole wheat flour so I decided to try it. Look at the result! ⤴ It was almost double the height of my usual loaves. And look at that crackly, crispy, crust! Maybe it’s a flook, I thought… a mere coincidence. I finished the loaf and made another one with the non-organic flour. Same thing. Beautifully big and lofty. And shouldn’t your bread reflect your goals in life? Big and lofty? 👍
It’s my belief that non-organic whole wheat flour makes a better loaf of no knead bread and that’s why I’m sharing it here. I use a lot of organic products when possible, but if the lettuce is wilted and sad and looks like it’s trying to talk, saying “I know. I wouldn’t buy me either,” then I buy non-organic. It’s the same with this bread. I wouldn’t buy my old whole wheat bread at the bakery, so I am switching to non-organic flour. If my old loaf could talk, it would say, “I’ll miss you, Jenny, but I’m not here to judge. I know in my heart that relationships don’t always last. I wish you and that non-organic whole wheat whore the best.” 😲