Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

I used to work near a little 'hippie' co-op food store, and would frequently buy my lunch there. My favorite lunch was a sandwich of whole grain bread, a shmear of hummus, slice of cheese, tomato slices, mayo - and a big blob of alfalfa sprouts. At the time, I had no idea how nutritious those sprouts were, I just liked the freshness and crunch of them, and alfalfa sprouts remained a favorite addition to sandwiches.

Since then I've learned that sprouts - and microgreens - are among the most nutritious things that we can eat, and that they are very easy to grow in a home kitchen. The seeds store easily and have an amazing shelf-life, which should make them very interesting to the 'preppers' among us - fresh, highly nutritious greens, almost 'on-demand', without the need for a garden! (I recently read that the seeds can actually be frozen, to extend that long shelf life even further, which was a surprise to me; it's something I want to experiment with, and compare germination rates with unfrozen ones.)

One of the places where we purchase seeds has a guide to storing and shelf life of the various seeds:

https://sproutpeople.org/growing-sprouts/sprouting-basics/seed-storage/

About the same time that I was frequenting the hippie store for my lunches, a friend of mine became interested in the 'Fit for Life' diet/health approach, and gave me the Diamonds' first book:

http://www.amazon.com/Fit-Life-Harvey-Diamond/dp/0446553646

While I never became a devotee of the entire plan, there were lots of great recipes in the book, and one of my favorites was this, which they called:

'Award Winning Potato-Lover's Salad'

6 red-skinned new potatoes

2 T. Butter

1/2 tsp. sea salt or seasoned salt

1/4 tsp paprika

2 cups broccoli florets, chopped and steamed until just tender

4 cups head lettuce, chopped

2 cups spinach, chopped

2 cups red cabbage, finedly shredded

1 cup alfalfa sprouts

Dressing:

1 large clove garlic, minced finely or crushed

2 tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. seasoned salt

fresh ground pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1 to 2 T. mayonnaise

Place potatoes whole and unpeeled in a vegetable steamer, covered, over boiling water for 20 minutes or until almost tender.

Remove potatoes from heat and quarter or cut into 1/2 inch cubes (peeling is optional). Place in large bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan and pout over potatoes; toss well. Add sea salt and paprika, mix well, and place in one layer on a cookie sheet. Broil for 5 to 10 minutes.

Place lettuce and spinach in a large bowl, add sprouts (separated so they don't clump). Add the shredded cabbage. Cut the broccoli lengthwise into thin slivers and add to greens.

For the dressing, peel the garlic and crush or mince; place garlic in a measuring cup, add lemon or lime juice, salt, olvie oil and herbs. Whisk in mayonnaise, and whip the dressing until thick and creamy. Pout over salad and toss well.

Add the potatoes to the top of the salad and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serves 2. _________________________________________________________

The following video shows how to sprout seeds at home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKctMME_xc

(My one reservation is that I wouldn't suggest a beginner start with a seed 'mix'. We have not had the best luck with those, because of the different sizes and germination rates of the seeds in many mixes. So far, we grow one type in each jar.)

Lastly, here is a Mung Bean Sprout/Mango salad that I haven't tried yet, but which looks very good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXWFm80VOc4

[MomwithHope]

That’s too bad about your cilantro. I have way too much in the summer. I plant it next to the dill. Which I also have way too much of. Maybe something is eating it?? I figure if your soil can grow dill you should be able to grow cilantro.

[Jamestown1630]

Doesn’t the sun wilt them?

[ken5050]

Eating it? I can’t even get a seedling to poke above the soil...And I’m in the 2nd floor condo..big screened porch..so hopefully NOTHING is getting up and in..unless I invite them

[elcid1970]

Problem with cilantro is keeping it from turning black in a day’s time.

I discovered that cilantro seems to keep longer with a sliced raw onion in the ziploc.

Must have cilantro for good salsa.

[smalltownslick]

I just put it in a glass of water in the fridge, it will keep quite awhile. But it is very hard to grow - I never could until this year, and somehow some seeds got in with my petunia planters, and suddenly I had cilantro and didn’t even know it.

[smalltownslick]

I remember a restaurant with a salad bar that had radish sprouts on it! Ooh, I sure did love them. Pungent and spicy. I would love to make them, I make a lot of salad.

[ryan71]

Excellent topic! Thank you!

[libertarian27]

This might be a ‘close’ recipe.
http://www.journalnow.com/home_food/columnists/michael_hastings/homemade-hot-dog-chili-is-quick-easy/article_3b43176c-1a1b-11e5-b1f6-27009dd411d5.html
Here’s the ingredients and nutritional for the Texas Pete’s hot dog sauce...I think I’d rather go with homemade. ;) Soy crumbles? eewww....;)
https://www.nutritionix.com/texas-pete/chili-sauce-for-hot-dogs-hamburgers
And, this youtube recipe for Texas Hot Weiner sauce looks interesting, something regional around upstate NY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcynBuBMiYk&feature=iv&src_vid=LlLpxHzJg-4&annotation_id=annotation_858586

[Rodamala]

Last time we had a large family gathering I was talking to an aunt about chipped beef. She was saying how insanely easy it was to make with the storebought drief beef. The seed was planted and there the next weekend when I was home I got a flat of 6 biscuits from the day-old rack, a package of dried beef, and the next morning I made the whole batch. It was breakfast lunch and dinner... only addition the gravy needed was solved on the plate with a peppermill.

Oh... I think I was supposed to mention alfalfa sprouts here. Oops.

[Jet Jaguar]

Ping!

It’s whats for dinner.

[Rodamala]

My old roommate went to college in West Virginia, and I came to enjoy what he called "West Virginia Dogs".

Last month I was in Waterbury, CT for work and went to this hot dog place called Frankie's that had been recommended to me. On the menu was... well... guess!

I added my own mustard and onions, because that's how I like it too... oh with a pickle slice too sometimes. I just thought it funny that the world knows it as a WV dog. I suppose the world also knows "WV Pizza" includes ranch dressing for dipping!

[Twotone]

Yep, that’s it. They must have mighty muscles (or a mighty mixer) to get them mixed without more liquid. It was way past my abilities!

[Rodamala]

Tommyburger! My brother lived in LA for a spell... I had no clue how McDonald's and Burger King could possibly stay in business out there given all the other options... like Tommyburger, Foster's Freeze, Carl's Jr, and In-n-Out.

Same deal in Texas... when there is What-A-Burger available, to hell with McD's or BK!

[Rodamala]

I am one of the 50% of people that thinks “coriander weed” tastes like SOAP... but I agree, a proper salsa REQUIRES fresh cilantro.

[MomwithHope]

Thanks for the laugh - sincerely. I needed it. If you are doing pots maybe a different soil. Definitely something sandy - good drainage. Also maybe soak your seeds in a wet paper to well wrapped in plastic wrap for a day.

[Jamestown1630]

I wonder if some brands of the lemon stuff are more liquid than others. But I think I’ll take your word, and just try it your way...

I also found this “Lemon Pillow Cake” - the pic looks scrumptious:

http://www.food.com/recipe/lemon-pillow-cake-58213

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

The last time we ordered seeds, we got some Daikon radish seeds - probably different from red radish; but we’re going to start them this weekend, and I’ll let you know how they go.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

I don’t know which is better comfort food - the chipped beef on toast, or biscuits and sausage gravy ;-)

-JT

[Twotone]

Yea, that would be easy, too. As long as you don’t mind lemony blobs in your cake. :-)

[Califreak]

My BIL lives down there.

I hate going there but next time hubs wants to go maybe I’ll go.

Those burgers are nummy!