No time to cook today but I'm planning on eating a frozen banana so I thought I'd write something up related to that.
Since I like eating kind of healthy--gotta try to keep a girlish figure somehow--and since ice cream is full of fat and popsicles have pretty much no nutritional value I like sticking fruit into the freezer to snack on. (Sorbet bars are fantastic but less cost-efficient.) Not all fruit works in the freezer though, obviously.
Fruits not to freeze:
-Anything filled with seeds. Who wants to keep running into seeds in the middle of snacking on some nice, crunchy, frozen watermelon? Nobody. Same goes for oranges.
-Fruits that crunch when fresh. Apples, pears (even very ripe ones), etc
-Unpeeled fruit. I found out the hard way that bananas are a lot harder to peel when the peel is frozen. Peel it first and wrap it in foil. Go ahead and cut melon off the rind too and stick it in a freezer bag.
Fruits that freeze well:
-Bananas (peeled first), grapes, blueberries, and melon. (If you want watermelon buy a seedless one.) However, frozen melon is really mushy if it thaws, so don't stick it in your lunchbox. The other ones will be fine if they thaw.
A cheap, healthier substitute for popsicles:
When I was little my mom had some little plastic popsicle molds with re-useable sticks for pouring juice into. You can probably still find those at the grocery store. Pineapple juice was my favorite.
You can also pour juice into regular ice cube trays. It's tougher to hold if you don't have a stick, but it has the advantage of looking really fancy if you put them into drinks like regular ice. Ginger ale with bright red cranapple ice cubes looks really neat and tastes pretty good as they melt.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Lower-Latitude Noodles (and a quick intro)
A quick intro: My name is Sarah, I grew up in Austin, and I generally like my food spicy. The ingredients I always have in my cabinets are garlic (fresh and powdered), red pepper flakes, cayenne, limes, cilantro, serrano peppers, comino (cumin), and olive oil. I don't measure or time stuff very carefully when I cook and I'm pretty sure I'd have died from salmonella by this point if I cooked meat. I hate doing dishes so I do one pot meals whenever possible. In other words, if you're lazy, cheap, and have better things to do than spend an entire afternoon prepping a meal but don't like eating out of a can you're gonna like my blog, even if you're an omnivore.
I'll start with a really simple recipe for my first post.
I made this up when my fridge was running a little empty since all this stuff's in my kitchen all the time. I call it Lower-Latitude Noodles because all the seasonings are stuff I keep on hand for Mexican food but the rice noodles and peanuts make it kind of Asian.
Prep time: 1 min
Cooking time: about 5 mins
Ingredients:
Rice noodles (a bowlful of cooked noodles)
Chili Powder (1/2 tbsp)
Garlic powder (2 tsp)
Cilantro (3 or 4 sprigs)
Lime juice (1 tbsp/ half a lime)
Peanuts (handful)
1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Chop up the cilantro. Add it, the chilli powder, garlic, lime juice, and peanuts to the noodles. Stir and eat.
Tips:
NEVER use dried cilantro; it tastes like nothing. Fresh cilantro is cheap and spending 30 seconds to chop it is well worth the time.
Juicing a lime: Roll it on its side with a little bit of pressure to soften it and make it easier to juice. Stick a fork in it and rotate to break up the insides. It's a lot faster and gets more juice out than just squeezing with your hand.
I'll start with a really simple recipe for my first post.
I made this up when my fridge was running a little empty since all this stuff's in my kitchen all the time. I call it Lower-Latitude Noodles because all the seasonings are stuff I keep on hand for Mexican food but the rice noodles and peanuts make it kind of Asian.
Prep time: 1 min
Cooking time: about 5 mins
Ingredients:
Rice noodles (a bowlful of cooked noodles)
Chili Powder (1/2 tbsp)
Garlic powder (2 tsp)
Cilantro (3 or 4 sprigs)
Lime juice (1 tbsp/ half a lime)
Peanuts (handful)
1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Chop up the cilantro. Add it, the chilli powder, garlic, lime juice, and peanuts to the noodles. Stir and eat.
Tips:
NEVER use dried cilantro; it tastes like nothing. Fresh cilantro is cheap and spending 30 seconds to chop it is well worth the time.
Juicing a lime: Roll it on its side with a little bit of pressure to soften it and make it easier to juice. Stick a fork in it and rotate to break up the insides. It's a lot faster and gets more juice out than just squeezing with your hand.
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