June the twooth

I'm still very disappointed in the amount of new recipes I have been able to try over the last week or so.  Work has been crazy busy this week.

Writing that makes me think that all I'm doing is making excuses.  Eating unhealthy food is very easy.  Never enough time to do it right so most people take the easy way out and eat junk.  My junk intake has been much lower during this quest, but by healthy eating standards, it is still lower than I would like.

Vegetarians sure do need to be committed to pull it off.  Not only for themselves, but if you live or hang out with people that aren't vegetarians then they need to help you out.  We snagged a pizza from Mama Roni's today.  Normally we would have just grabbed a pepperoni and ripped it to shreds. Today, we had to make it a veggie.... It was still the best pizza in town (in my humble opinion), but I felt bad that the meat eaters had to go out of their way for me.

I really dig Mama Roni's Pizza.  In all honesty, I know the owners, I think they are great people and I like their pies.  Back in the franchise taco days, we were interested in doing some delivery.  I needed some advise and I didn't know where to turn.  I decided to call my favorite pizza place and ask for help.  That's right, I did love the food before I knew them.  They invited me to come down and check out their operations.  They had no clue who I was or what I was doing, but they still offered to help me out.  In the middle of a crazy day, they sat down with me and answered every question I had.  They didn't need to give me the time of day, and  I wouldn't have been offended if they told me to shove it.  That is what you call good people.  Funny how the little things make a huge impact.  I didn't intend to use this blog as a platform for advertising, and that wasn't the intent of my story. Today just reminded me of a few things... I work with some really good people that go out of their way to help a guy out.  I also have the good fortune to be in the same business with some really good people that go out of their way to help a guy out.

Back to the food.

I was chatting with a customer about superfoods today.  Those foods that are just flat out so good for you that you should eat them every chance you get.  The top ten on most lists are

yogurt
eggs
nuts
kiwi
quinoa
beans (black are best)
salmon
broccoli
sweet potatoes
berries

Take salmon off the list and you have a veggie paradise.  Everything on that list also tastes great so they are all a slam dunk.  Some other lists have great foods I think should be included too.  I would toss these into a master list of amazing foods.

avocado (but you already knew that)
hot peppers (duh)
barley ;)
horseradish
cabbage
spinach (or dark leafy greens)
onions (red, white, yellow, shallots, and garlic)
spices like cinnamon, pepper, oregano, ginger and mustard
nuts
chocolate (the darker the better)

Sure, your personal tastes could kick one or two things off that list, but the vast majority of great foods taste great too.  A few years ago, my wife and I decided that every time we go to the store we will always just grab some random fruit or veggie while we are there. Want it or not, we just made better food available.  Fun times are had with fruit.

Bottom line, eat all of those any chance you get.


More to come next time.


Cheers

May 30th and 31st

I'm more than half way done with my 30 day run on a vegetarian diet.  I haven't had a chance to do anything great in the kitchen.  My last two days have really just been filled with whatever food I can grab.  Unless something really changes, I won't have any chance of getting what I want out of this.  Even though my 30 day veggie quest will run out, I will keep working on vegetarian food after I'm done.  I have just been too busy to give this as much time as I want to give.  

I don't really have any great food experiences over the last few days, but I did want to share some recipes.  Before I hit some recipes, let me give you a quick run down of what I ate.

Breakfast was simply some egg and potato burritos at Matador.  I flat out love the Maple Jalapeno hot sauce.  Vegetarian or not, that stuff rocks.  I'm sorry to pimp out our stuff, but that sauce is great.  I just can't get enough of it.  I really like the breakfast sausage TVP from Harmony Foods.  You can get it at Vitamin Cottage, Sunflower and Whole Foods.  There may be some other stores in the Fort, but I know these guys have it.  If you want a breakfast meat sub, then that is the winner.

I made a few enchiladas over the last few days.  I'm a huge fan of an avocado and cheese enchilada.  A customer recommended that to me a while back, and I'm glad I tried it.  The standard cheese and onion enchilada works just fine too, but I find myself looking for more.  Rice & cheese, beans & cheese and even a grilled veggie & cheese enchilada rank higher than just cheese & onions.

Avocado and sweet potatoes have been my best friends over the last few days.  In the back of my mind, I know they are great foods that are really good for me, so I eat the crap out of them.  I'm sorry to mention Matador food again, but since we have so many sauces, I can have something totally different every day.

I'm loving summer.  This is fresh fruit season and I can just grab great fruit everywhere.

Now for some recipes.  I'm not going to give out any Maty recipes here, but I will toss out some great stuff I have tried.  After all, I have a business to run here.  If I told you all of our secrets, there would be no need for you to give us your money.  ;)

This is an enchilada sauce from Alton Brown.  That dude is a  food king.

• 2 dried chipotle chiles, stems and seeds removed, diced
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds, freshly ground
• 2 cups veggie broth
• 3 cups tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

I always have a can of chipotle in adobo.  I sub out the dried chiles for a few of those.  Just toss everything in a blender, give it a spin, then off to a sauce pan.  Let it simmer for 10 minutes.  Bingo.

Make your own soft corn tortillas.

You can buy this little guy at just about any kitchen store on the planet. It is under $20. 

1 cup of corn flour (masa harina)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

You simply can't get any easier than that.  Fresh, simple, and no additives or preservative.  It is also a ton of fun for the kids.


My favorite guacamole

• 3 avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 medium onion, diced ( I like a red onion)
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced

 Just toss everything into a bowl and mash the crap out of it.  I love to zest the lime and add that to the mix.  There isn't anything wrong with tossing a jalapeno or habanero into the recipe. 


I will toss out some more recipes soon.  Give these a try and let me know what you think.

May 28th and 29th

Well, I'm just a little past the half way point.  It is looking like I'm running out of time.  I have way too many ideas and things I want to try before my veggie quest is done.

I don't feel any different, I don't think there are any changes in me mentally or physically.  Some of the guys at Matador think I'm a little cranky because I can't eat pork.  Meh.... It's not really a challenge any longer.

My "weekend" had a little too much yard work and not quite enough cooking.  The yard is looking great, so I'm not complaining.  Anyhow, for lunches, I took the easy way out.  Tofurkey sandwiches.

This little fellow is a grilled cheese tofurkey mess of love.  I started off by frying up the tofurkey slices in some olive oil.  A little butter on the bread then I built the masterpiece.  Bread, Swiss cheese, tofurkey, pickles, American cheese, tofurkey, Swiss Cheese, tofurkey, American cheese, bread.  Layer upon layer of love.  A side of potato salad and a few extra pickles and I was a happy camper.

I gobbled up a spicy "chicken" boca burger for lunch today.

I fried it on a flat top in a touch of olive oil, a tasty slice of melted Swiss cheese and some more of Grandma's pickles.  It was great.  A side of BBQ chips and some potato salad made things complete.

Sorry there wasn't anything more exciting on the menu this weekend.  My plan was to try out all of the 'store bought' stuff right away then try and work some magic to jazz it up.  I was hoping that once I had a good feel for what was available then I could get the creative juices flowing.  This little veggie plan may take more time than I thought.  I don't really plan on staying vegetarian for more than my 30 days, but I think I may need to keep trying new stuff once my tour of veggie land is over.

 More to come tomorrow.

13 days in the books (May 27th update)

It is BBQ time!

Burgers were on the menu today.  I made a TVP patty using some Bush's Baked Beans, onion powder, garlic and some salt & pepper.  I pan fried both sides of the patty in olive oil to give it some texture.  Then I pulled it out of the pan mashed it all into a big ball.  That redistributed the crispy texture all through the patty.  I smashed it back flat and cooked it the rest of the way on the grill with burgers for the rest of the family. 

I topped it off with Swiss cheese and a big pile of mushrooms.

I also added a few tomato slices, some red onion and a touch of mustard.  That was a damn fine burger. 

Vegetarian style baked beans are better than the regular ones.... I don't see any need for that giant chunk of fat in there anyway.  It doesn't add any flavor.  I never just eat straight beans out of the can.  I always jazz them up.  Usually, I add about a tablespoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of hot sauce (or two), salt, pepper and garlic.  Everyone always wrecks the beans when I cook them that way.  My mom likes to add a touch of A1 steak sauce to the pan. 

I always mess with store bought stuff.  Canned corn, bakes beans, green beans, BBQ  sauce, peas, or whatever.  It doesn't matter what it is, I add something.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  You can buy the cheap store brand stuff and make it taste great with just a few pinches of this or that.  

The mushrooms were just good old button shrooms.  I cooked them in a broth of soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, a touch of honey and pepper.  Normally I just cook them down until they are tender.  Today, I guess my timing was off and I didn't cook them fully.  Sometimes mistakes turn out to be winning ideas.  I loved the texture with a little bit of snap to them. 

More grilling on the menu tomorrow. 

May 26 (day 12)

I'm not having any problems staying vegetarian, but every once in a while, I feel my hand reach out for some meat....

I had a tasty Matador breakfast burrito this morning.  I really like the Harmony Valley Foods TVP sausage.  With some of our maple jalapeno hot sauce, I almost forget it is vegetarian.  However, the smell of bacon drives me nuts.  It was torture walking past the hot table today. 

A little potato and bean taco for lunch.  Nothing fancy.

For dinner, my lovely wife picked up a pizza.  Thai Pie hold the chicken.  Not too shabby. 

All in all, nothing too exciting on my menu today.  I did get a chance to have some great conversations with some of my favorite customers today.  Great food talk and I learned lots of good stuff.  I gotta say that chatting with the Cruz Clan on Friday night was great too, but they are always great. That is why I love the restaurant business......  The peeps.

I have to go off on a little rant here, but follow with me for a second.  It drives me nuts when people say they "don't want any guacamole because they don't want the fat."  The first few times I heard customers say that, I tried to explain why they were wrong.  I could tell people didn't want to hear it.  Fat has a bad name and people aren't willing to listen to a pro-fat argument. I have given up trying to explain this years ago, but now that we are all here talking about food I think it is time to give it another run. 

Avocados do have lots of fat, but it is good fat.  Not all fats are created equal.  Plant fats, like those found in avocados, are the holy grail of fats.  To make things simple, basically, there are two types of fat, saturated and unsaturated.  Saturated fats come from animals, unsaturated comes from plants.  Yea, there are exceptions and science can run you in circles here, but to keep it simple lets just follow this.  Saturated fat raises your cholesterol.  Unsaturated fat lowers your cholesterol.   Animal fat bad, plant fat good.

When in comes to cholesterol, there are two types of that too.  LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) or good cholesterol.  Avocado had a pile of unsaturated fat and boosts your good (HDL) cholesterol.  Long story short, eat an avocado and you will lower your cholesterol. When you lower your cholesterol, you get to live longer. Those ugly little pear shaped buggers are really good for you.  They taste great and they soak up cholesterol.  Think of it as a hangover cure for a meat bender.

Bottom line, just remember... eat an avocado, live longer.   If you don't like the taste of avocado, then cover it up.  Make it swim in ranch. The ranch/guac mix may be the best duo in the food world.  Even if you cover up the taste of the avocado, you are still getting the benefits of the green goddess. 

My advise, add avocado to everything.

Here is a link to my second favorite guacamole recipe.  (Matador is the best)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/guacamole-recipe/index.html

 I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.  Be safe, remember our vets, share good food.  Cheers

 

May 25th (Day 11)

I had a fun food day today.  I didn't really learn anything new, but I did get a chance to practice what I should have been doing all along.

For breakfast, I took the Harmony Valley Foods Sausage Product and tossed it into a taco.  I pan fried it with some soybean oil and a cooks best friends.... salt and pepper.

It was fantastic. I promise that I'm not doing this to promote our Matador products, but that Maple Jalapeno hot sauce is friggin amazing.  My taco was made with the sausage TVP, potato, a dribble of refried beans, cheese, lettuce, a drizzle of ranch and a double dose of Maple Jalapeno hot sauce.  That may have been the best thing I have had so far.  It doesn't matter what I would have had for the rest of the day, I was perfectly happy.

For a late lunch, I whipped up a burrito with some more TVP.  This time, I grilled it up on the flat top with a generous portion of BBQ sauce.  Finally, the texture I have been looking for.  Something I should have known since the beginning.  The sugar in the BBQ sauce made a nice crispy texture on the ground beef substitute.  The TVP I used was just a plain, unseasoned product from Harmony Valley Foods. 

TVP + Salt & pepper + BBQ sauce = Love. 

I tossed that BBQ meat sub into a trampoline sized tortilla.  Spanish rice, potatoes, pinto beans, cheese, pico de gallo, habanero sauce, a bit of sour cream, and one jalapeno slice.  At the last second, I decided to throw it on a plate and drench it with green chili. (yes, the Matador green chili is vegetarian)  That, my friends, was culinary enlightenment. 

I could have had eaten a rotten shoe for dinner and still have had a great food day.  


Friday, at Matad.  busy, so I didn't really have any dinner.  After we closed, the last thing I wanted to do was think about food, so my late night snack was my favorite filler of all time.... celery and carrots.  Raw, dirty and crunchy. 

Day 10... 1/3rd of the way done.

I didn't get as much cooking time as I wanted today.  It's hard to play when customers keep wanting food. That is a fantastic problem to have and there is no way I'm complaining about customers, but I can't wait for my weekend so I can cook for a few days.

Our Sysco Foods rep dropped off a sweet little treat today (Thanks G).  A big ol' bag of TVP was waiting for me when I got to work today.  This particular product was produced by Custom Blending. They are located just a bit north of Fossil Ridge HS.  They produce the Harmony Valley line of goodies.  You can get more dirt on their website.

http://www.harmonyvalleyfoods.com/

Anyhow, the restaurant product they make is a plain TVP.  I took that TVP and cooked it just like we cook our ground beef in the restaurant.  I flat out love our ground beef.  Ground beef taco meat isn't very sexy, but a hard shell taco changes my day every single time I grub one down.  I guess my expectations were a little bit too high.  The big lesson of the day is simple.  A meat substitute needs far more flavor than regular meat.  While cooking, I kept tasting and adding our dry rub until I was happy with the flavor.  I was never really happy with the texture, but that just leads to the next lesson of the day.

I gave a sample of the meat to a pair of our favorite customers (who vegetarian knowledge is amazing). They suggested I use a sauce rather than a dry rub to season the TVP.  That will be on the list for tomorrow.  I feel rather stupid on that one.... I should have been thinking that road the entire time.  Rather than use oil to cook texture onto the TVP, I should have been trying to use a sauce that I could caramelize onto the TVP.  Texture is still the missing link and I have been hesitant to use too much oil.  Actually, I'm an idiot for not trying to caramelize a sauce.... texture and flavor.  Two birds, one stone and no fat.  I should kick my own butt.  

Proof that I really needed to totally jump into this.  If I would have just tried a few things here and there I probably wouldn't have given anything enough thought to do it right.  I would have never had the customer/friend feedback along the way if I didn't go all in.

I sure am glad I decided to make this little adventure public so I could learn from everyone else who already knew what they were doing.

Just for kicks, I pressed a handful of the TVP into a little patty and dropped it into the deep fat fryer.  Bingo!

Everything is better when it is fried. 

I didn't get a chance to try the sausage TVP this morning and I can't wait until tomorrow so I can build a beautiful breakfast burrito. 

Man, I miss our chorizo.  My hat is off to Polidori Sausage of Denver.  They make the best sausage on the planet. 


More to come tomorrow.