One of the greatest joys to be garnered from exploring new kinds of diets is that by removing certain options from play, fascinating new combinations will emerge.

Here is a really fun and interesting and delicious completely Macrobiotic recipe from the out-of-print book Macrobiotic Desserts by Sandra Lynn Shuman.  (I have a hand-me-down-photocopy of the manuscript).

Enjoy:

BAKED JUICY APPLE RICE SQUARES

• 1 cup short grain brown rice
• 4 cups waters
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 2 cups firmly packed dried apples
• 3 1/3 cups apple juice
• 1/2 tsp. arrowroot
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 cup almonds

Directions:

Wash rice.  Combine rice in a pot with water and salt.  Cover and start cooking on a low flame, gradually increasing heat from low to high.  When water starts to boil, reduce heat to a medium low flame and cook until the water has been absorbed and the rice is creamy.

Place apples and 3 cups of the apple juice in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and simmer until the apples are very soft, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Then dilute arrowroot in remaining 1/3 cup of apple juice along with the cinnamon and nutmeg; add to the apples.  Cook 5 minutes more, stirring often.

Add apple mixture to cooked rice and mix well.  Place in an oiled baking dish approximately 10 1/4″ x 2″.  With a very sharp knife, thinly slice the almonds and sprinkle them on top of the rice.

In a preheated 350º oven, bake it on the lower shelf for 30 minutes.

Let it sit at room temperature for at least 2 1/2 hours before serving.


Painting used in this article is “Apples and Rice Bowl” by Timothy Jones

Tags: apple juice, apple mixture, baking dish, boil, cinnamon, cup almonds, dessert, desserts, diet, dishes, grains, low flame, Macrobiotic, macrobiotic recipe, Macrobiotics, medium saucepan, mixture, nutmeg, out of print book, place apples, pot with water, recipe, room temperature, salt 2, sandra lynn, sea salt, sharp knife, short grain brown rice, tsp cinnamon, wash rice, water and salt

Author: Barbecue Smoker Recipe Man

It amazes me how many great chefs can cook fantastic dishes yet fail to be able to write recipes in a clear and concise way that makes for easy reading and understanding. Many could do with working in manufacturing industry for a number of weeks and learn the skill involved in preparing a bill of materials for a product because in this way they would get to understand how certain ingredients can be grouped together to make a “sub assembly” before the preparation into the final assembly.

Some top chefs have mastered this of course and they truly produce excellent food, freshly prepared and in a short space of time. It simply boils down to storing the food in it’s sub assembly state until you’re ready to serve then throw everything together and give it a blast.

Tags: barbecue s, boil, dishes, free, great chefs, how to write a recipe, manufacturing industry, marinate, professional chef, recipe

By fooddiva

Tonight on the dinner agenda I decided to pull together a little dish of comfort that was a favorite my mom would make me growing up.  It’s quick and rather easy, and a delicious dish that leaves leftovers that are JUST as enticing!

CHICKEN VEGETABLE LO-MEIN

What I used:

• Organic Boneless, Skinless Chicken breast from Trader Joe’ s (chop into bits or slices)
• Organic thin Spaghetti
• Water Chestnuts
• 1 package of frozen stir fry veggies
• soy sauce
• Brown Chinese Sauce (Hoisin, oyster etc.)
• sesame oil
• Fresh Garlic(chopped)
• Fresh Ginger(chopped)
• sesame seeds

Directions:

• wet your Wok (or deep skillet) with the sesame oil
• add the chopped ginger and garlic until you start to smell the aroma.
• wet the mixture with a splash of soy sauce and Brown Sauce.
• add the chicken and stir until the chicken is cooked

(While your preparing this part make sure you are starting to cook your thin pasta)


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Tags: asian cuisine, chicken lo mein, chicken lo mein recipe, chinese food recipes, garlic, ginger recipe, lo mein

There is something about that sweet southern Louisiana style: the smell, the music, the vibe, the welcome you get from a smiling unfamiliar face as you walk down the street.

While visiting in Toronto this past summer I was lucky enough to visit a local treasure – a colorful little restaurant on Markham Street in Mirvish Village called “Southern Accent.”  Shortly after my stay in Toronto, I had the opportunity to visit Louisiana itself and dive into the hidden jewels of the decadent and authentic tastes that define Louisiana cooking. I was so taken by the distinct smells and deliciously potent flavors they add to evoke the unmistakable Louisiana flair.

I decided to take a few recipes I had found most exquisite to share from the Southern Accent cookbook.  Great for any dinner gathering where you want your guests leaving with a party in their mouths and a memory to definitely come back for more.

No matter where you are, this is going to add some heat and spice to your evening.

Let’s kick it off with a naughty beverage: no successful dinner party is complete without a key libation.  For this segment I choose Southern Accent’s delicious and unique:

Cajun Martini

You will need to make it in 2 parts…the first part being preparing the Cajun Vodka or Gin so prepare in advance!

What you need:

(Part 1)

Japalpeno Vodka or Gin

• 4-5 Jalapeno peppers
• 1 Bottle of vodka or Gin

Directions:

1. Put 4-5 jalapenos, seeded and sliced, into a bottle of vodka or gin and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 48 hours before serving.
2. After one week, if you haven’t used the vodka or gin remove the peppers

This is also an amazing thing to pour over a plate of a dozen raw oysters on the half-shell – a trick learned at Southern Accent – Ed.

(Part 2)

THE MARTINI

what you need:

• 2oz chilled Cajun vodka or gin (60ml)
• speck of vermouth
• olives or lemon with a twist

Directions:

1. Swirl vermouth in a chilled glass and discard
2. Pour Cajun vodka or gin over lots of ice into a cocktail shaker and immediately strain into a rock glass for “on the rocks,” or a martini glass for “straight up”.
3. Garnish as desired and drink while still cold.

(Party beads optional)

OK now that we have our beverages let’s get to the main course:

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Tags: authentic tastes, boil, cajun food, cajun martini, celebrations, cookbook, Dinner Party, eggs, flavors, garlic, garnish, gin, half shell, hidden jewels, jalapeno peppers, jambalaya, libation, Louisiana, louisiana cooking, louisiana style, marinate, martini, odyssey, olives, raw oysters, recipe, southern accent, southern louisiana, speck, staples, unfamiliar face, vermouth, vodka

“We want you to get lost.” said Tim Magill, designer of Mall of America, as quoted by Douglass Rushkoff in the second chapter titled “Atmospherics” from his book Coercion: Why We Listen to What “They” Say.

Rushkoff goes on to examine the transformation of the outdoor open-air market to the mall: a closed pseudo community designed to entrap the consumer into finding comfort in purchasing items to satisfy their needs.  This is the science of Atmospherics:

[With the rise of Atmospherics] retailers no longer pretended they were simply selling their products in the best possible light.  They were doing more than just associating their wares with a desirable lifestyle.  They were creating atmospheres that triggered an emotional need: to be part of a world that was different from everyday reality…Salespeople were no longer focusing on the attributes of the product but of the customers.

– Rushkoff pg. 73

If this is now a de-facto standard in operating procedure for all retail in America, the grocery store is among the most advanced in this marketing science.  Not only does the supermarket continually strive to understand what you want and why, but it works on increasingly tuned parameters to make you choose what you want.

The December 2008 Christmas issue of The Economist featured an article that shines a light on current developments in learning about and informing your decisions from the moment you step into a grocery store.

The article begins:

It may have occurred to you, during the course of a dismal trawl round a supermarket indistinguishable from every other supermarket you have ever been into, to wonder why they are all the same. The answer is more sinister than depressing. It is not because the companies that operate them lack imagination. It is because they are all versed in the science of persuading people to buy things—a science that, thanks to technological advances, is beginning to unlock the innermost secrets of the consumer’s mind.

– “The Science of Shopping: The way the brain buys”: The Economist – December 18th 2008

As we move towards the RDIF paradigm, we are seeing very advanced techniques for surveying how people make decisions in the grocery aisle.  Some techniques are as simple as baking goods from frozen dough onsite to elicit an olfactory response, to companies like VideoMining that automates the process of face recognition by way of security cameras in the store to Path Intelligence from Britain working with MIT that plots the positions of cellular handsets as they transmit to cellular networks in order to measure a consumer’s “dwell time.”

When one adds this to the story-based marketing employed by companies like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s (Michael Pollan – The Omnivore’s Dilemma) wherein grocery items have small anecdotal tales of the family-based pastoral farms whence they came, and that Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are both multi-billion dollar companies, it becomes questionable whether we are really deciding what is best for us, or whether the positioning of the foods, from top shelf to bottom, left or right, categorized or not, has anything to do with what we bring home in our hemp-cloth shopping bags.

Tags: atmospheres, attributes, choices, christmas issue, coercion, current developments, desirable lifestyle, economist, emotional need, everyday reality, grocery aisle, grocery store, magill, mall of america, marketing science, possible light, rushkoff, salespeople, supermarket, wares