Cinnamon squash and tomatoes for pasta

About two weeks ago I had a hankering for something different, some type of comfort food. I wasn't sure what I wanted. I looked around the kitchen and I could see some tomatoes left from the garden, I figured I would cook up something different with them, but I wasn't certain what. Then I recalled the butternut squash I picked up at the market a few days earlier. In in the last couple of years I have been using squash a great deal more when I cook, then I had in the past, and I have found it quite versatile as it mixes so well with many different things.

Taking stock

So it had been decided, I would start with chopping the elongated part of the butternut squash I had on hand. First I cut off the long end. Sometimes I use a vegetable peeler to peel my squash but I was feeling like using my knife yesterday, so I cut off the upper piece of the squash were there are no seeds of the bottom part for starters. Then I cut it up in slices so I ended up with little discs of squash. With the discs having a flat side it made it easy to keep them still on the cutting board and trim off the tough outer skin.

Once I had done that I sliced those discs into thin strips no more than a quarter of an inch thick, in most cases I tried to cute them thing, size has everything to do with cooking time. Once I had my squash cut up, I measured it and I found hat I had about three cups. I put this chopped up butternut squash in a bowl and liberally sprinkled it with ground cinnamon, I added a dash of cayenne or two and about a quarter teaspoon of turmeric. Then I mixed it all up so every single slice of squash was coated with a fine layer of the three magical ingredients.

That done I measured out three portions of linguine. I usually measure this long type of pasta as one serving being measured between my forefinger and thumb formed into a circle at about the size of a beer bottle cap.

I then cleaned three cloves of garlic and chopped it up as fine as I could, as it would be going in to cook with my thin pieces of squash. I threw this into my big frying pan with about a table spoon of olive oil, Cinnamon adds such an interesting taste to squash and things like pumpkin, not to mention the other spices I decided to add in as you will soon see.

Ingredients – about 350 calories per serving

Butternut squash – three cups

Cayenne pepper – to taste

Cinnamon – about a tablespoon

Garlic – three cloves

Cherry Tomatoes – quartered – three cups

Turmeric – quarter teaspoon

Cooking mediums

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon

Water – as you would for any portion of pasta

Enriching flavour

One thing I learnt many years ago that there are many spices that seem to let out their flavours when heated. Over the years I began to understand that there is an actual term for this his. It's called blooming, and usually involves a liquid medium of hot oil. What happens when you heat these spices they release their essential oils and in turn it bursts into a bouquet of flavours that you will find it hard to imagine. I also learnt that often ground spices can often be mixed with a bit of liquid and mixed into a paste before doing so but given that my squash has a bit of natural moisture in it, the cinnamon, cayenne and turmeric will nicely stick to all those pieces of squash! As the spices are bloomed and the squash lightly cooked, you end up with something that is quite magical in taste.

Later after my tomatoes were in and when everything was just about cooked I would add my more gentle spices like oregano and parsley, if you put these in two early their flavour simply disappears.

I decided that I would only cut up about three cups of tomatoes, so after each cup was filled I tried to make estimates of which size tomatoes I should pick out in order that I come to three cups of tomatoes as well. After each cup of tomatoes I would toss them in to join the pool party with the squash, and always sure to mix it all up. Once all my tomatoes were in with the squash I cooked them and mixed them on medium high heat for about 6-10 minutes more, making sure that the squash was cooked and that the tomatoes had released much of their fluids and the saucy mixture had reduced.

By the time my linguine was ready, al dente, I knew that I would have something that was a little out of the ordinary in terms of flavours and tastes, but whatever I make I eat. There is simply no reason to throw food out unless it is rotten, though if it is compostable, it goes on the compost pile and not in the garbage. Besides there hasn't been anything that I have made since the time I was in my early twenties and in university that I would consider inedible. With my linguine drained I threw it into into the frying pan tossed it with my admixture of tomatoes squash and various spices. I had cooked enough for three good servings or two very large servings, so I plated my serving and enjoyed the labours in the kitchen. I had my second part for dinner, after having returned from a bit of a walk on a miserable day – I enjoyed those leftovers reheated. 

What's in it for you?

I realized that unless I contributed some value to the recipes I think up, very often at a whim, there really would be no reason to be putting in the effort to even records these recipes, with the exception it allows me to go back to the ones I like for inspiration. Hopefully in providing the values below, you will become more informed about different foods. As you may have noticed in the past, when I introduce some type of new ingredients I try to include addition sources in order that those visiting this blog can better understand what it is they are eating.

The values below are approximations based on each ingredients included in the recipe. The last four values are estimations of my recommended daily allowance based on my own personal dietary needs, and are here only to serve as a guide.

 

Calories	343
Carbohydrates	67.9 g
Fat	6.3 g
Saturated	0.7 g
Polyunsaturated	0.8 g
Monounsaturated	3.4 g
Trans	0 g
Cholesterol	0 g
Sodium	13.6 mg
Potassium	530.9 mg
Dietary Fibre	8.4 g
Sugar(s)	9.2 g
Protein	9.8 g
Vitamin A	327 %
Vitamin C	83.2 %
Calcium	10.9 %
Iron	19.7 %

While I love to cook, I don't claim to be a chef, nor do I have an formal food preparation training or education, my personal experience of cooking for myself and friends over the years has been my teacher and has taught me the following: if you like to try new things it makes it very easy to take up cooking. You must be willing to be your own guinea pig quite often, if something doesn't work out live with it. I grew up in an environment that was void of many spices that we have available to us if we are not intimidated on trying something new.

I probably never used raw ginger in cooking until I was away from home for a few years. I even went as far as having my own batch of sourdough starter in the fridge that I would have to feed regularly and to have on hand to whip up home made cresent rolls to serve to friends who had dropped by for tea or coffee. I figure if you can read instructions, have an idea of what your own tastes are, you can cook up anything that is tasty.

Not your standard breakfast: Lentils, roasted garlic and broiled avocado

I was up before the sun this morning and I had a hankering to do something different in the kitchen. I could hear the rain beating against the window pane and I knew that I had no desire to head outside until it got a little lighter, but would have to get out and get in some exercise. This is something I have to do no matter what. I let my exercise regiment slip in the last three month and it is beginning to show. So I headed of to the kitchen, and by the time I walked down the hall, I knew I wanted something warm with garlic, and not just garlic but it would be roasted. Roasting softens up its flavour, and boy does it ever smell good.

I wanted something a little different than oatmeal but I didn't want it to take a great deal of time. Knowing that I was going to have to roast my garlic in the oven for just over half an hour, put me in a constraint that what ever I was going to make with my roasted garlic had to be ready in at about the the same time as my garlic or maybe a little sooner. I first turned on the oven to preheat it to about 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

I looked at the empty yogurt containers on the counter. Well they may have been empty of what they originally contained now they contained an assortment of different pulses-legumes, nuts, seeds and rice. After shaking a few of the containers around I knew what it would be. Yes it may seem kind of strange that I would have labels on these containers, but just by shaking them I can tell what the contain. Chickpeas and Black turtle beans sound a lot different than Lima beans or Navy beans, and plain green lentils sound different than finer du Puy lentils which also happen to be green. However, each of these does have its own cooking time, so beans were out of the question, so I settled for some green lentils of the Eston variety. There were still a few things that would make up my breakfast, but before telling you about the cooking procedures I'll let you see what it was that I cooked up.

Ingredients -Approximately 698 calories – one serving

Avocado – two small

Basil – five leaves

Garlic – five cloves

Lentils – Green Eston, 1 half a cup dry

Olive oil – Virgin light, 1 tablespoon

Water – cooking medium for lentils

I measured out half a cup and covered them with water and put them on the front burner on the stove and cranked up the heat to high. By the time the water had come to a boil I had cleaned five cloves of garlic, picked about six leaves of fresh basil from my herb pot on the counter, put them together with a bit of olive oil drizzled over them in a little contain I made from a four inch squared piece of aluminium foil, sealing all the spots so that the garlic and basic could roast in their own juices. Once my little packet was all sealed I put it in a three inch cast iron pan, and slipped it into the oven.

I slice two Haas avocados in half, removed the pit, brushed a little bit of olive oil over them and sprinkled each half with a dash of pepper. I placed the four halves of avocado with the fleshy part facing up in a six inch cast iron skillet, and before placing that skillet in the oven I raised the oven rack so that the avocados would be within about six inches of the broiler element in the oven. With about ten minutes left for the garlic to finish roasting I placed my avocado slices under the broiler and then went to tend to my lentils. They were still a little to hard for my liking but I knew that another five to seven minutes they would be just right for plating and to cool off just a bit. To be topped off with my roasted garlic and avocado slices. 

Broiled Avocado, roasted garlic and lentils. Somehow a tomato snuck on to the plate! 

Before enjoying this unusual breakfast I let the avocado cool off just enough so I could scoop the wonderful lightly peppered flesh out with a spoon to top off my lentils. The bright green looked lovely, and had I some red peppers to roast together with my garlic it would have made for a nice contrast of colours.

What's in it for you!

The values below are approximations based on each ingredients included in the recipe. The last four values are estimations of my recommended daily allowance based on my own personal dietary needs, and are here only to serve as a guide.

 

Calories	698
Carbohydrates	44 g
Fat	58 g
Saturated	8 g
Polyunsaturated	2 g
Monounsaturated	10 g
Trans	0 g
Cholesterol	0 g
Sodium	284 mg
Potassium	60 mg
Dietary Fibre	23 g
Sugar(s)	2 g
Protein	12 g
Vitamin A	8 %
Vitamin C	59 %
Calcium	11 %
Iron	23 %

Most of the times when I whip something together like I did this morning and was able to write it up quickly, was because there was simply some inspiration to try something different. Cooking should never be a task or something that you don't enjoy, you learn to embrace it and to push your comfort zone a little bit. It is only in this way that you will discover new and healthy foods.

Conjuring things up with Google for Halloween

With today being Halloween, the folks at Google got creative with today's doodle. It allows you to join a witch in her cave to brew up some potions that lead to different scenes.

Join her in her lair with her recipe book and see what you can cook up!

Select your ingredients carefully, as they will affect the outcome of your potion. 

 

I conjured up some ghosts dancing around the full moon. 

 

Have fun today, and see what you can conjure up of a more edible variety.

Apple, Potato and Egg Bake

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I realized I wanted to try a different mix of flavours. While I know russet patatoes are better for baking than white patatoes, it was the latter  which I had on hand. I had just seen a recipe for carmalized apples as a filling for crepes and I though to myself, “What would apples together with potato taste like?"

This morning I was up long before sunrise and after checking out a few things on the web, I headed to my kitchen.

I grabbed a baseball size white potato, and a slightly smaller apple, it think the are courtlands, though you could use what ever type of apple you have a fancy for. Availability will vary in different parts of the world so take that into consideration. I rinsed off the potato and cut it into thin slices less than a quarter inch thick. I cleaned the apple of its core and few dinged spots on its skin after washing it and cut it into slices as well. I took my wonderful 6 inch cast iron skillet and put on the stove with a about a table spoon of olive oil in it, and got it warmed up with the heat on medium-low, while at the same time I preheated my oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. 

The first thing to go in were the apples slices wanted them to release some of their sugars, right after that I put the potatoe slices on top and mixed in about a cup of sliced and cleaned leek. I covered it for a wile so that the leeks would get soft. This was for about two minutes and I got out my cummin, turmeric and parsley flakes. Uncovering the pan I sprinked about a third of a teaspoon of turmeric, the same for the cumin, a dash of cayenne pepper. I mixed everything up and cooked it all for another four minutes or so, ensuring that all the ingredients were covered with the mixture of spices. Doing so gave all the ingredients a bit of a start regarding both cooking, and giving a change for their flavours together with those of the spices, a bit of time to interact.

Then I removed about six slices of potato, cracked two eggs over the remainging goods in my skillet, and covered the eggs with the potatos that I had removed just a minute before. Once that was done, it went into the oven and I should be taking it out in about 15-20 mintues after it went in. [This first section was actually written while it was all in the oven!]

Once it came out of the oven and I plated it, it looked like this:

Dish is 8.5 inches across
The potato used was a bit bigger than the one pictured.

 

Half an hour later

After enjoying my breakfast of the above there are some adjustments I would clearly make to make this a bit more of a flavourful dish. The first being would be to add a second small apple for the following reason. When I took a piece of apple, leek and potatoe together on my fork and placed it in my mouth the explosion and combination of tastes was really something different and I really enjoyed it. So in short the ingredients would be as follows and could easily serve two individuals who like a smaller breakfast.

1 potato – about the size of a baseball

2 small – apples

1 cup – clean and sliced leek so you have ringlets

2 medium – eggs

Extra virgin olive oil – 1 tablespoon

1/2 teaspoon parsley

1/3 teaspoon cumin

1/3 teaspoon of turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

`

The instructions are the same as outline above while my meal was in the oven cooking. Don't be afraid to try different food combinations. Below is a table of what you get as nutritive value for what I am from now on going to call the APE Bake. The values below are approximations based on each ingredient included in the recipe. The last four values are estimations of my recommended daily allowance based on my own personal dietary needs, and are here only to serve as a guide.

Calories	691
Carbohydrates	94 g
Fat	25 g
Saturated	6 g
Polyunsaturated	3 g
Monounsaturated	13 g
Trans	0 g
Cholesterol	325 mg
Sodium	168 mg
Potassium	1861 mg
Dietary Fibre	11 g
Sugar(s)	4 g
Protein	20 g
Vitamin A	20%
Vitamin C	120%
Calcium	14%
Iron	60%

So if you have an idea of things that might go together, don't be affraid to try it. Now that I think back at my meandering mind of last night, I was going to use some cinnamon as well, as we all know how well cinnamon and apples go together! Oh well, there is always another day! This is not the first time that I have tried different combinations of types of food and have been surprised. Have a great weekend everyone! I know it is miserable outdoors but I have to get out for a walk, I will just have to dress approriately for the the weather!

A Question From a Friend

Late last week I received the following statement and question from an ex-pat friend of mine in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

"I came to the realization the other day that I need to lose some serious weight. Except for cutting out bread and beer, I'm not sure what to do. You know what resources / foods we have here. Is there any approach you'd recommend?"

The first steps

The first thing I want to address is what my friend calls resources/foods in his question to me. While he may not realize it, much of the food in Ukraine that is available is probably available to him is closer to real food than many of us have in the West have had as we have been subjugated to a great deal of processed foods over the last forty years. In fact the idea of processed foods and what was provided to the average population, in my speculation, is that many of the companies providing rations for the troops in Europe provided a great deal of food stuffs and food like products during the war effort against the Nazis. The money they were making must have been a pretty penny and when the war was concluded they needed a new market for these food stuffs. Yes, I am using the world food stuffs here on purpose because they were no longer real food.

While I never did military duty in Canada, I can't recall one of my friends in either Canada or the United States of America who did, who ever actually peeled potatoes during that part of their stint in the army. On the other hand, I had plenty of friends who served in the Soviet Army before Ukraine's Independence who understood what it was to clean potatoes for their fellow servicemen. I am not saying that serving in the Soviet Army was better, but the fact that their society was not solely motivated by profit of big conglomerates, did clearly have an effect on the quality of their food supply; and at this point in my life I would say that it was for the better.

While, I spent nearly ten years living in Ukraine and understand what is available in the stores, at its markets and in general, the decisions of selecting real food will truly depend on my friend. He will have to learn to make healthy eating choices. We have all heard that more is not necessarily better, it's the quality that counts.

If he realizes that he really does have to lose some weight as I did a year ago, I think he will have to make some sacrifices. Some of those sacrifices, unfortunately for him will be those that I also made! Bread and beer! For the most part the bread that my friend has been eating is closer to real food than most of all the foods combined that North Americans eat. It is bread which is is produced from whole wheat that has had minimal processing, and this is much better than eating “Wonder bread”! Nonetheless, while I am not a nutritionist or dietician, research does seem to suggest that bread and something that some are calling “Wheat Belly” is caused by an intake of bread and wheat based products.

Last year, I had to travel to Germany for business. It was during that period that I basically took a close to a three month vacation from a North American lifestyle, I knew that I couldn't simply diet, but needed a complete lifestyle change. When you have a hard time bending down to tie your shoe laces sitting on the edge of your bed, you realize that you really do need to change. That trip was an ideal opportunity to make a change in my life. We all have to realize that change doesn't come without some sacrifice!

Ukraine's cornucopia of options

Wherever you live has a cornucopia of options when it comes to making healthy food choices. How you make those choices does of course depend on your budget, though nonetheless, if my friend wants to loose weight then he will have to make some sacrifices for about six weeks or so. I understand his love of beer; however, in order for him to pull his system into one that recognizes what he is feeding it he will have to give up beer, and bread for some time. I did it, it didn't kill me and I know for a fact that if he is fifty pounds lighter he will be much better off if the lift/elevator decides it is on strike for a few days due to the lack of service in the country. 

I would like to tell my friend that it is worth taking a break form beer and any alcohol, I did this while living in Ukraine and I lost about 10 kg during that period. I did so for about three weeks, and in the end it made it easier for me to walk everywhere in the city, and get to my fifth-floor flat when the lift was not working. There were a few other things I abstained from, added new things to my diet that I had not been eating before. The first of these was Oatmeal in the morning, on occasion with with some dried raisins, chopped up figs, or other fruits that I had available – and never adding any type of processed sugar to it. Last year when I was in Germany I would often prepare some polenta and supplement it with some bio-yogurt and fruits.

While in Ukraine some of the other things that I ate or didn't eat were very carefully selected. These were selected by a friend of mine who practices non-traditional medicine, though I full trusted him and still do. He is a gifted individual, and if you take the time to listen to him you can gain a great deal of knowledge. 

One of the most important things I learnt from my friend was to understand the health of my stomach. What what microbes were living in there and how it effected my health. There were things I could and should not eat. One of the should not's were wheat products, though buckwheat or hrechka as we all know it in Ukraine is not related and is fine.

When it comes down to the number of different factors, the most important one that few talk about in diet or lifestyle change regimes is the most normal and one that can make sense to everyone. In order to loose weight, not only do you have to have a healthy diet that doesn't screw up your natural body functions; you must also find a way to be more active – burn more calories than you consume and the only real way doing this is to become aware of both your caloric expenditure as well as your caloric intake. It is only when the later is lesser than your expenditure of calories will you see a loss in weight. In the long run, the only way to loose weight and keep it off is a lifestyle change. That change for me came in the form of making better food choices and becoming more active.

A different mode of commitment

Clearly my friend is willing to cut out beer and bread, though it is more than that. It comes down to making selection of different foods. I am far from an expert in this realm but I do know from experience that when I am more active physically, I don't crave, what we can call -”bad foods”. Those are the ones that we prepare in bad ways, and not so much in the way they are in their raw form. My friend is on the right track, but unless you don't get out and move, things aren't going to go well for you in the long run.

He asked me for an approach that I would recommend, and this will vary from every individual though I believe that he is more or less in control of what we call our working day – very much like I am – so I will recommend the following and what I have found works for me. He will have to do a little bit of research to determine his BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate though I have sent him in the right direction with that link for understanding, but you won't have to do the calculations that is what you have a BMR calculator for. In addition to his BMR he should also know what his ideal BMI or Body Mass Index number is currently and what he should be aiming for. I still have a long way to go to reach my ideal BMI, and my goal is for that to happen sometime next spring to early summer.

Based on a great deal of reading, and self examination, I became to understand that the most important fact was caloric expenditure versus caloric in take. There is no other way for this to work in a metabolic process. After all our bodies are nothing but big chemical plants that try to process what we put into them! If we consume a great deal of empty calories that do not contribute to your body's operation, then we are clearly not heading in the right direction. In short you have to maintain the proper balance between what you are consuming, making sure that you are getting the protein, vitamins and nutrients your body needs as well as the carbohydrates needed.

Since I have practically eliminated all processed foods from my diet, there is seldom a time that I have a craving for something. I treat myself to things I like on occasion, but I make sure I don't over do it. There are plenty of tools online that can help you understand your caloric intake, when my friend or anyone else starts to understand that and really how much you really need to eat, and how much exercise you need to do in order to slowly but steadily loose weight that is when the real changes start to happen. It was my understanding of these two elements that lead me to experimenting more in the kitchen, because I realized that eating healthy food didn't mean that it couldn’t or shouldn't taste good.

Human food not fish bait

Went out for my walk this morning and it is very clear to me that autumn is definitely here to say, and what follows this season is the one many of us dread, while others make the best of winter. As I returned home I walked around the back of the house, picked some of the Swiss Chard from the garden, and a few of the yellow cherry tomatoes, one of those to items would become a part of my breakfast, which I had been thinking about during my walk. Today it would be something totally experimental, and therefore in my books fun. I wanted something warm, filling and good for me, on this what had turned into a cloudy and rainy Montreal day.

Some childhood memories

When I was young there were two uses for corn meal, one was for eating and the other was as a bait for carp fishing. Anytime I cook up Mămăligă or what the Hutsuls in the Carpathian mountains would call Banosh, conjures up some great memories of spending time with my father in the kitchen, be it because we were making breakfast together, or because I knew that we would be using that mămăligă as bait for fish, a type of fish that most of North American's simply didn't understand, nor seemed to care very little about as a food source. Somehow, there is a stigma about eating fish that are bottom feeders, though this is really selective discrimination, because while carp dos fit into this category of fish, no one seems to have a problem with eating bass, cod, halibut or sole. 

 

For anyone who has ever fished pound for pound a carp will put up one heck of a battle once hooked. Over the years that my father started fishing for carp in Canada, even before I was a twinkle in his eye, he understood that mămăligă could serve as bait for these fish. Over time the method of preparation of it as fish bait varied, from ensuring it was a gummy paste that would hold it's form around the fairly large hooks, or a combination of cooking it with cornstarch and baking it into like a one centimetre thin pancake. The later method seemed to work much better and held its form better than any of the other methods I remember us using when fishing for carp. 

 

In short mămăligă to me is what many others in the English speaking world would call polenta. The way I have developed to cooking it over the years for human consumption is much different than its preparation to be used when fishing for carp, but it might also get you hooked. Though my father's method seemed to serve its function well, because we would catch some one to two dozen carp during the fishing season, where probably just as thrilled of our mămăligă, until they realized they were hooked, as I am when cooking it now with a totally different purpose in mind.

The goods and process

Unlike banosh, I used to make while still living in Ukraine, mămăligă and polenta are both prepared on a water based liquid which could be a vegetable or other broth, or in many cases simply water. Polenta is primarily corn meal however, I like to do a few different things with it other than simply cook it up and eat it as a porridge, and that is what I did this morning.

There are plenty of different types of polenta from slow cook to quick and ready in a very short period. I happened to have just enough for an nice wholesome meal. While we haven't hit any sub freezing temperatures in Montreal yet, there is this certain dampness that is starting to permeate our lives and this being the case, I decided this morning that I would be using the oven as part of my brunch creation. I turned the oven up to 375 degrees Fahrenheit before I started the prep of all my other ingredients. Remember, timing is extremely important in the execution of any project – and this includes cooking. In doing so it would and a bit of warmth to our kitchen along with the fragrance of something that would get my olfactory glands working and ready to enjoy a meal well deserved.

The other things included here on this day are simple things, as I have posted in places, that I love simple foods that anyone can cook and not something that will break your bank.

Unlike some things that take a long time to prepare, polenta even the slow cook type can be fulling cooked in between 6-8 minutes from my experience. So today we have no long or short cook parameters. I had a lovely wholesome meal in about 35 minutes total, and I don't mind spending the time because I find preparation of food to be a healing and meditative process.

Olive oil – about a table spoon

Polenta – corn meal – 1/2 cup

Yellow onion – 1 medium - yeild about 2/3 of a cup diced

Swiss Chard stems – about 1/4 of a cup chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

Turmeric – 1/4 teaspoon or to colour and flavour

Eggs – 2 medium

Unsalted butter – about a table spoon

Cayenne pepper – just a smidgen

Basil – fresh leaves about a tablespoon when finely chopped

Before having started to cook my polenta, I diced up my onion and cut off the stems of the Swiss Chard which I had picked from the garden. In a six inch diameter cast iron skillet, I started cooking the onions in about half table spoon of olive oil, nice and slowly, they would continue to cook later together with everything else in the oven. Shortly after adding my polenta to the boiling water I added the stems of the Swiss Chard to the now softening onions. I could see how the natural dies of the chard began to effect the colour of the onions. It only took about two to three minutes to that point, once the two ingredients had somehow come together naturally, it was time to turn off their heat source.

It is such experiences that help us understand now our ancient ancestors began to understand how to colour the cloth that they had began to weave into clothing could be changed by the natural dyes in certain plants. Many of us take too much for granted in this day and age, and as a result we make big problems out of those that should not exist at all.

Just to the point before when my polenta was about half cooked I emptied the cup or so that I had with the remaining liquid into the mixture of my onions, chard and turmeric. I mixed all this up ensuring that it was all one nice mass, the polenta becoming that kind of more of an orange colour then the yellow of the turmeric. While mixing the ingredients together I added the other half table spoon of olive oil, knowing that this would be going into an oven and wanting to be able to separate it all from its cast iron baking vessel.

With my wooden spatula I carefully hollowed out two little trenches, or maybe hen holes would be a more appropriate term as I would be laying one egg into each of these. Once I broke the egg shell and place the egg and its yolk in the first hen hole, I could see how the latent heat was cooking the egg white. I repeated the process with the second egg, and then like a mother turtle covered my eggs with the polenta from around the sides of the skillet. Once I was ensured that they were covered and safe from the demons of the oven world, I placed my dollop of butter between those two little mounds and topped it off will a little cayenne pepper.

Into the oven it went! And baked for for just about 18 minutes at max. Had I wanted runny yolk eggs, 12 minutes would have been sufficient. In any case, experiment and have fun in your kitchen. Don't be afraid to try new things. New foods, new spices; something simpler in our very complicated world.

Hummus with a bit of a bite...

Yesterday as I was writing up my long story about how to use what was on hand I had a number of different types of beans cooking. The black turtle beans were to be used for dinner this evening, but the chick peas and white navy beans were going to experience a different fate.

They were both going under the rapidly spinning blades of my food processor, together with three cloves of garlic, some cold pressed virgin olive oil, and a few red hot chili peppers. Two to be exact!

And while I know all the hummus aficionado’s will lambaste me for not including tahini, I believe in using what is on hand and not running around the face of the planet to satisfy tradition. We have to remember that not everyone has the budget or access to certain products.

I had cooked up all my pulses yesterday so this morning when I got up I really wanted to get those things into a more spreadable form. While I have read people who go t the trouble to take the husks off of all these legumes using all kinds of methods, from high pressure water, to giving them all a good going over in a bath of water in order to get really smooth hummus, that is a complete waste of time, and possibly are removal of a good portion of dietary fibre we should be consuming.

The main goods...

Primarily I cooked up a cup of dry chick peas and as a cup of white navy beans the other day. I put them in separate bowls and the following morning I figured that they would complement one another in two different ways.

Take a look at this data that the World's Healthiest Foods has compiled:

Food source – 1 cup or 164 grams	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV
Chick peas Aka Garbonzo beans	Molybdenum 164%	Manganese 84.5%	Folate 70.5%	Fibre 49.8%	Tryptophan 43.7
White Navy beans	Fibre 76.4%	Folate 63.7%	Tryptophan 56.2%	Manganese 48%	Protein 29.9%

Though if you want to see just what else these two different types of beans pack, take a look for yourselves on the two different prime ingredients of my version of hummus. Over the last number of years we have been hearing a great deal about the importance of dietary fibre, so in putting together a hummus that you can use as a dip or spread on your toast in the morning you will be contributing in a positive way to your well being. Oh and yes, some other hummus aficionado will want to slaughter me for using garbanzo beans as opposed to real chick peas – apparently there is a difference, but I am certain they could never tell the difference in a finished product.

The bite...

While so many talk about the smooth texture of hummus, that is fine; though, somewhere along the line you may want to be going over the edge and and give your hummus a bit of a bite.

My way to do this was to to add nearly double the usual amount of garlic about two cloves to the pound of beans, as I never like hummus to simply taste like garlic. I can eat that raw without a problem. Though I did add two dried red hot chili peppers to the mix, to make sure it had a good bite. In this case the two different types of cooked beans come to close to two pounds, and thus I used four cloves of garlic.

While some people have some chopped parsley with their hummus I decided to do something different. Yes, you know you want to see a picture of this, but it won't happen right away, because of some technical problems I have been having lately with my phone... But I often throw things like steamed Red Swiss Chard and beet greens into dishes sometimes having interesting results as well as nutritive benefits. With what I have left in my garden at this time of year and with frosts just around the corner I will be using these for a soup in the next day or two, so none of that in today's hummus.

Under the blades

So what is it that we have here that is going under the blades to be turned into a puree of sorts? As I mentioned earlier, I will be listing long cook ingredients first. The were for the record:

Long cook ingredients

Garbanzo beans or chick peas – one cup dry

White Navy beans – one cup

As I mentioned the softness of beans will be attributed to the length of time that they cook, so take your time cooking those two types of beans. You can do them in tandem in two separate pots, or one at a time. They both have different cooking times, to soften them up, but it is all up to you. Don't be afraid to be in the kitchen and start learning about how the foods you prepare for yourself cook – time, temperature and the effect both of those have on the produce you are preparing to feed yourselves!

Once these are cooked and nice and soft, they will all fall victim to the blades of your food processor, together with the other ingredients that are not cooked at all.

Virgin olive oil (cold pressed) two table spoons

Garlic – four cloves

Dried Red Hot Chile Peppers – two whole de-stemmed

Lemon juice – one freshly squeezed

Execution

I eye ball about two table spoons into my food processor, then I drop both the garlic and the red hot chili peppers into the food processor while pulsing it. My desire is to get those two ingredients with a bit of a bite mixed in well with the oil. In turn I slowly alternatively add both type of beans trying to ensure that they become a paste. This was the first time using this particular food processor with this volume of beans, and there were a few times that I had to take the top of and push some of the surviving beans down closer to the centrifugal forces of the rapidly spinning blades. Ensuring they were torn asunder and that they became part of what we call hummus.

It was during these moments of removing the top that I would drip in some of my lemon juice, adding a bit more fluid to the mixture and lending it some viscosity. Within about ten to fifteen minutes my hummus was ready. It was time to clean up and enjoy the fruits of my labour.