A Breakfast

February 8, 2024February 9, 2024 bgibson135

This is a satisfying breakfast that is easy to prepare. Use a small skillet on the stove-top and put some bacon grease & some other oil (grapeseed, olive, avocado) in the pan. Slice the casing and remove it from the mush and press the mush down onto the skillet. If desired, slice some onion and put it in the pan with the liver mush. Depending upon how hot the pan is, the mush may begin to form a fine burnt (not to taste) skin that sticks to the skillet but can be scraped up. *Freddy’s hamburgers have a similar skin around the edge of their burgers.

Paint some oil on the surfaces of a waffle iron, and put a couple of slices of polenta on the hot iron surface and close the lid, and press it down and leave it to heat through. **Without the oil, the polenta may stick to some of the waffle iron surface when you try to remove them.

Prepare an egg (maybe two) in a bowl, with S&P, and various spices (marjoram, celery seed, dulse, garlic powder). Put a little oil & water in the egg mixture and beat with a spoon. Put a little oil in the microwave onion cooker, to keep the egg from sticking to the bottom of the plastic container. Cook the egg for perhaps 30 seconds and then add shredded cheese(s), and then finish cooking the egg. A minute or a minute & a half is usually sufficient to melt the cheese and cook the egg thoroughly.

When the egg is cooked, you can just flip the container upside down and slap it on a plate. The oils should cause the egg to release without a problem. ***Without the oil, some of the egg may stick to the bottom of the plastic egg cooker. You now have a perfectly formed & cooked egg, in a round flat shape that you could also put on an English muffin. Add some sliced deli ham and you have an Egg McGibson.

Without an English muffin, open the waffle iron and using a fork, remove the two polenta waffle cakes to your plate. ****You choose whether you want polenta or other bread with this breakfast.

Scrape the liver pudding & onion from the pan making sure to get the burnt bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet.

Add some small grape tomatoes. Slicing the tomatoes will allow you to add salt to the halves/quarters.

[NOTE 02/08/24]: I’ve mentioned cooking this breakfast elsewhere but I’m not sure I’ve ever stated the brand of “liver pudding”. This is “Pender’s Pudding” and I originally bought some at Pate’s Farmers Market (across town, in Fayetteville). But, I have since realized that there are other grocers that sell this. I think I bought some in the Carlie C’s and here is the simple process I used to figure it out.

Note that the file name of the image of the Pender’s Pudding was showing as January 22, 2024 at 11:12 am. I went to my Google Timeline and pulled up that date. Timeline wasn’t sure of where I was visiting at that specific time, but the outlined path made it clear, to me, that I was in the Carlie C’s IGA at that shopping center. *Not sure if I just saw it there, or actually bought it there, but I know the last time I bought it, I didn’t drive across town to Pate’s.

You may also notice that the Pender’s Pudding is vacuum packed, but once the seal is broken you don’t have an endless shelf life in your refrigerator. I know from experience that some has gone bad and had to be thrown out, or almost gone bad (beginning to get a slimy texture to the casing). So, this last time, after I sliced the plastic package open, I cut a slice of liver pudding for breakfast, but I cut the remaining into breakfast portions and put each in an individual re-sealable sandwich wrapper and put these in my freezer. I figure I can take one out a day or so in advance to thaw and hopefully won’t waste the rest.

The problem with this or any meat is that you don’t want to eat it every morning until it is all gone. And, when you rotate through waffles & bacon, oatmeal, eggs & bacon, fried apples & bacon, etc., you might not finish off the liver pudding before almost three weeks (too long, unless you freeze some of it). I do eat a lot of bacon, but it is packaged in 12 oz. sealed packages, and when I open one of these, I slice the bacon in half and then put all of it in a plastic container for my fridge. *I use the re-usable plastic containers that I have bought deli meats from Hillshire Farms in. They have clear plastic bottoms and a red see-through top. The Hillshire Farms advertising is meant to be easily removed from the red plastic top. It is a flat cardboard sheet that is attached to the red plastic top by a few daps of sticky glue. Just pull off the cardboard sheet, and roll the glue up into a ball & throw away. Depending upon where & how much you pay for the Hillshire Farms Deli Meat, it may or may not be cost effective to get these re-usable plastic tubs.

***I haven’t bought deli meat (honey turkey, honey ham, black forest ham, pastrami, corned beef) in quite a while. Actually since I started paying attention to my weight & Bgl, I realized that I didn’t need a deli meat sliced, to go on a bunch of bread. Now, I might buy some pastrami with the intention of making my Pastrami Rachels at home, but this would be an intentional act, knowing I was going to use more bread, buttered & toasted with melted Swiss cheese than usual. A “splurge” eating event. As might be going up to Greensboro to “Sticks n Stones” for their Margarita Pizza (jalapenos extra). Or perhaps going across town to Pharaoh’s Legacy to have their Lamb Gyro, with a Greek Salad. And this reminds me that I haven’t been up to Maguro’s for their lunch special (all the rice, I like but don’t need) in quite a while. At one time I was going weekly up to Southern Pines to eat at Maguro’s.

Also, the one “fast food” place that I had continued, Post-COVID to visit, Taco Bell, I haven’t been to in maybe a month now. I ate there every week, buying a Beef Burrito Supreme, a Bean Burrito & a Crunchy Taco, but sometimes leaving either the bean burrito or the crunchy taco out. I think the last time I stopped at Taco Bell, I only bought one item and don’t recall if it was the Burrito Supreme or the Crunchy Taco. You see, I can and do make/choose other items at home to go with this Mexican Meal. Homemade salsa, with roasted poblano & jalapeno peppers, some cumin & cayenne & Agave Nectar. Some chopped sweet onion, or maybe an avocado cut up. And some sour cream.

I’ve got an opened bag (probably gone stale by now) of Tortilla Chips on my dining table that may have been there a couple of months. I ate a few with some homemade salsa, and then they just haven’t fit into my current eating pattern since. You have a certain amount of calories in a day, but you also have to get all the nutritional value in that same day, so you can’t eat a whole bag of Tortilla Chips and then eat all the other stuff you need nutritionally for that day. **I tried 1 tortilla chip tonight, and they were still crisp & edible.

My Fitness Pal has helped me schedule and plan ahead the foods/meals that I am going to eat. The total calorie intake might not be exact for a certain day, but with a certain margin of error, they are close enough. So, I am eating with two main goals in mind. #1 is to keep my Blood Glucose Level down, and the 2nd is to cut calories to bring my weight down. I know that my Bgl will become more maintainable as my weight decreases.

I haven’t been able to decrease my weight (after having lost a little more than 10 lbs. in couple months period) below 250 lbs. and today was 252.6. I’ve also had a problem with keeping my Bgl down because I wasn’t able to get my Trulicity refilled when needed and eventually switched (maybe just for 30 days) to Rybelsus. But during those couple of weeks what had been averaging around 135 resting Bgl, had kicked back up above 150 Bgl. I’m still not happy with it, and after reading some of the side effects of Rybelsus, I want to return to Trulicity, if possible.

[end NOTE]

I’ve said there are two versions of the Sesmark Rice Thin Crackers and one of the packages is about twice the size of the other, and for about the same price. I know I can get the single channel package at Harris Teeter, where I first bought them. I don’t recall the other store where I bought the four (or 3) channel package, but will be looking because I didn’t notice too much difference between the two crackers.

Grit Cakes…

April 4, 2022December 13, 2023 bgibson135

I bought a small bag of grits and ran most of them through my chopper to give them a finer consistency. I then used 1 cup of grits and started off with 2 cups of water. I had to add extra water, stirring to keep most of them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. After they were done (to taste), I poured the cooked grits into a 9 in. glass pie plate and put some plastic wrap over the top and put this in the refrigerator. Went to lunch and several hours later started the oven Broil at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Put a little margarine around the edge of the pie plate at the edge of the grits. Then, switched to Bake for about 7 minutes. There was just a little browning (very little), and a fine film of grits formed across the surface. I cut these into pie shapes, put most in a Tupperware storage container and put them in the refrigerator. **The baked grits did not stick to the glass pie plate, and there was just a small amount of moisture in one isolated location on the bottom of the plate.

I had a small amount of Creamed Spinach which I reheated. I had more of my stewed tomatoes (cold), which are like the tomato chutney that the Blue Willow Inn provides for meals. *The tomato chutney (sweet) as excellent with the Fried Green Tomatoes (savory).

I had no meat or gravy, but the grit cake, creamed spinach and the tomato chutney made a delicious meal… I even heated another grit cake with a little margarine on top, but had finished off the spinach and tomatoes. The little bit of spinach & tomato remaining in the bottom of the bowl flavored the grit cake well.

I haven’t had Polenta in a long while, but do like it, and this was my attempt to make a Polenta-like cake from cheap grits. *I’m sure the grit cakes will go well with the Round Bone Lamb Chops and a little of the gravy from the lamb. Glazed carrots, tomato chutney, creamed spinach, steamed cabbage or asparagus.

Actually, I just recalled that my first introduction to a Polenta cake was probably at “Trillium, a Bistro” in Asheville, NC several years ago. It would have been with the Alligator Sausage, and with Andouille Sausage… or with a Lentil soup.

NOTE: Add jalapenos, and or cheese to the grit cakes for alternate flavorings.

In my googling, I came across several articles regarding using a waffle iron with polenta (or could also be used to make a waffled grit cake). I was cleaning my bedroom closet and found my waffle iron.

[04/10/22]: My first attempt at using a waffle iron with the grit cake polenta went okay. I brushed oil on the waffle plates, top and bottom. I then cut triangles (and other shapes) of the grit cake mixture and placed them in each of the four plate sections, closed the lid and waited. There was steam coming from the plate and eventually, the waffle iron light turned green, the signal that the waffle should be ready. Not sure how the waffle iron measures doneness… is it the moisture content of the waffle mixture, and how would you measure that? The temperature?

But, when I opened the waffle iron, the grit cake was still un-browned, but it was a good grit cake that went well with the mushroom gravy I had prepared. *Think I’ll try fixing a few more grit cake waffles, and then brown them in the oven, with cheese on top, just before eating them.

[04/11/22]: Turned out really well! I had some left-over steak, mushroom gravy, glazed carrots (with Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup {has a maple flavor}), tomato chutney {what I am now calling my pot stewed tomato & onion concoction}, and I put some of the 6 Cheese Italian Blend shredded cheese on a couple of the small grit cake waffle sections, and put it under Broil HI for several minutes. The cheese browns nicely. These turned out really well, and grit cake (or polenta) soaks up the gravy and other juice flavors.

Before and after adding the mushroom gravy and the tomato chutney.

Curried Apple Soup

September 23, 2009October 4, 2022 bgibson135

granny_smith_apples — Granny Smith Apples

Apparently, “Trillium a Bistro” is no more in Asheville, NC. It has been several years since I made one of my Spring jaunts to visit Asheville stopping at Trillium, visiting the Grove Arcade to purchase a special balsamic vinegar, and then on to the Farmer’s Market for assorted cheeses, fingerling potatoes and a hand or two of ramps.

swansons_chicken_stock — Swanson’s Chicken Broth

I probably visited Trillium early in it’s history, when Leisa Payne was still developing her creative chef juices there, before leaving. Okay, okay, I don’t know her at all. I may have caught a glimpse of

dodge&trillium-location — Dodge RAM 1500 & Old Trillium Location

her sticking her head out from the probably small kitchen, talking to the wait staff. But, without her knowing it, she provided my table with a recurring joy. Curried Apple Soup.

I remember the soup, with chicken, as having a deep redness. Something which I have never approached. I have developed a bright orange color, and the flavor satisfies my memory, but I’m not sure I have ever come near to how Leisa prepared this soup.

The soup is delicious both hot or cold. Adding a dollop of sour cream is a nice touch. *Thinking just now, a sprig of some type of fresh mint might top it off nicely.

Here is how I remember the recipe that I have used repeatedly. I normally do not add chicken.

— A couple of Granny Smith apples cored, peeled, and a large dice.

— A couple of carrots diced.

— A stalk of celery diced.

— Half a medium onion diced.

— Small can of peeled diced tomatoes.

— Curry paste (Patak’s to taste, about a table spoon. )

— A sprinkle of Mace (too much will make the soup bitter)

— A small amount of ground Cloves (not too much)

— Some flour mixed with water and the curry paste to thicken the soup

— A couple of cans of chicken stock (use vegetable stock for vegetarian version, add extra water if ingredients are too dry)

— Several teaspoons of sugar or brown sugar (sweeten to taste)

In a 2 quart sauce pan, add a little oil when you start to saute the apples, onion, celery and carrots. After they start to become aromatic, add the curry paste/water/flour mixture and stir in. Before it gets too dry and starts to burn, add the chicken stock and then the tomatoes, sugar and other spices. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a light simmer and cover for about 20 minutes until the apples & carrots have softened.

pataks_curry_paste — Patak’s Hot Curry Paste

Now, here is why it doesn’t matter how well you dice and chop in the beginning (as long as all the bits are tender at the end): Pull out your stick blender (you should have one of these) and pull the pot off the fire and start blending the soup in the pot. Be careful so that the hot liquid does not slurp or splash over the edge and burn you, or make a mess. But, just keep blending until there are no chunks in the soup (carrots may hold on to the very end) and it is a beautiful smooth orange color.

I’ll admit to having a sweet tooth, so I may add way too much sugar. I may also add way too much curry. But, the end result is a soup… hot or cold that gives a bite, but the burn quickly goes away. This is not like a pepper hot which lingers on the tongue.

ADDENDUM [01/06/22]: I’ve always remembered this soup as being a darker red color and have never been able to have it turn out that way. I was just looking at some images of curried soups and noted a few with a dark red color. One of them had Smoked Paprika as an ingredient. Now, I don’t remember a Paprika flavor to the soup, but it might have had it, and I do know that some Chorizo & Garbanzo Bean Soup that I have made did have a dark, almost ruby red color due to the large amount of Smoked Paprika that I added to the recipe. It may be worth a try to add either Paprika or Smoked Paprika to this soup.

The above is not the Curried Apple Soup, but the color that I want the finished soup to look like.

NOTE [10/02/22]: I was going another way with a recipe today… I saw a pumpkin & lentil recipe online. I thought I had a can of pumpkin, but either did not have it, or could not find it. I did see a can of yams (sweet potatoes). These were largely chopped, but well cooked.

I added onion and then the yams. I added smoked paprika, turmeric, curry powder & paste, S&P. I added red lentils. I added some ground coriander, and ginger, mace & cloves. I added a couple of small tomatoes and a stalk of celery chopped. I then realized I was going more toward the Curried Apple Soup, and chopped up Granny Smith apple. I let this all cook down for about 20 minutes. I added some Equal sweetener, and a little Agave Nectar.

I then pulled out my stick blender attachment and blended this all down. It looked like the Curried Apple soup, but perhaps just a little thicker. Tastes much like the Curried Apple soup, and the smoked paprika nor the lentils overpower or ruin this Curried Apple & Yam Soup.

NOTE [10/04/22}: I think it was yesterday, that I was sitting in my easy chair and happened to look over at the shelving where I put my special flavorings and condiments section, and my eye fell on a can of “Pumpkin Puree – 365”. *The 365 brand is from Whole Foods. I think I would normally have this in my kitchen cubbard with the other canned veggies, probably right next to the can of yams that I used for the soup.