corn (v)

One of my favorite foods ia also one of the  most consumed in America: Corn.  The summer before I moved to Ohio, I ate fire roasted Michigan sweet corn on the cob on a daily basis.  I would wrap corn on the cob in foil with a little olive oil salt & pepper and throw it on the fire pit and forget about it for an hour or so.  At some point I switched to using olive oil and old bay, which is my standby now! 
Before I started throwing the corn in the fire I would boil it on the stove like my mom used to do.  I feel like I could never get it right, or keep it consistent!  I used to eat boiled corn on the cob with umeboshi plum paste, and it's still one of my favorite corn on the cob seasoning.  Plum paste is extremely salty, it's a Japanese food.

Here are some of my favorite corn recipes:

Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob

Corn on the cob, cleaned
olive oil
salt & pepper
foil

Since I don't have an outdoor fire pit anymore, I now roast corn in the same manner in my oven.  I wrap it and season it the same, and throw it in the oven at 350 for maybe 40 minutes.  You might have to experiment to find out how long is good for you.  I will eat corn on the cob raw, so I'm n ot picky about cooking it perfectly.  Even if it goes too long, it's still delicious!


Corn Butter

This is an amazing butter-like spread.  It's almost magical.  This works perfectly on toast and is so butter like you will probably be amazed that it's made from corn!

Mix together in a saucepan
3/4 cup water
4 Tbs. fine yellow cornmeal
Cook over medium stirring constantly until thick.
Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes & put in food processor or blender.
Add:
3/4 cup silken tofu, drained
1/4 cup water
3/4 tsp. salt
Blend until smooth and pour into a container with a lid and stick it in the fridge.  It will firm up after being chilled, and actually melts on hot food.
The corn butter only keeps for about a week.


Corn Fritters

2 cups corn kernels (canned or thawed frozen corn works great)
Blend in the food processor until chopped.
Add 2 Tbs water + 2 tsp. cornstarch or arrowroot
2 Tbs. flour
1 Tbs. milk or milk substitute
salt & pepper
Blend until mixed.
Heat oil in a skillet and drop the fritters in by spoonfuls.  Fry on each side until golden and crispy, and drain well.  Sprinkle with old bay or salt.


How to make Popcorn on the stove

No microwave, no air popper, I make mine in a pot on the stove.

Get a pot with a lid.  Pour about 1 Tbs. oil into the pot and add popcorn kernels to cover the bottom of the pan.  Put the top on and turn on the heat.  Listen.  Once the first kernel pops. start shaking the pan back and forth on the burner until the popping escalates, once it starts going crazy, turnt he heat off but keep shaking until all the popping stops.  Pour into a serving bowl and the rest is up to you!

Hummus (v)

I love that you can get pre-packaged hummus at pretty much any grocery store, but if you can make it yourself, do it.  Chick peas are only 79 cents a can, and homemade hummus beats the pants off of the grocery store stuff any day.  It is a staple in my fridge all summer long.  It makes a great light and easy meal, not to mention it's healthy and cheap to make!  I always use tahini that has been roasted, so be sure to look for that kind, and if you can find it, get it.  The brand I use is called Joyva and comes in an orange and white can.  Unroasted tahini is fine, but the flavor is a lot different!  I make hummus constantly throughout the summer.  Don't limit yourself to chick peas, other beans make great hummus dips too!

this is the good stuff

Hummus

In a food processor combine and blend well:

1 can chick peas, drained

juice of 1 lemon

1 Tbs. olive oil

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 tsp. salt

1 clove garlic

Blend until creamy and well combined.  You may need to add a little water to help blend.
Transfer toa serving dish and top with a splash of olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika.

This is the basic recipe.  I always add something to this, cumin, black pepper, oregano; but my favorite addition is a jar of roasted red peppers, drained.  You can also add a jar of artichoke hearts or chopped black olives.  Possibilities are limitless, really. 

Lemonade, two ways (v)

Nothing can satisfy the quench of real lemonade.

Classic Lemonade

Make a simple syrup: 3/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup hot water
Combine with:
4 cups water
1 cup fresh lemon juice
Stir well and chill, serve over ice.
Add crushed raspberries strawberries or blueberries.



Agave Lemonade

Combine:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup agave syrup
3 cups water
Stir well and chill, serve over ice.
Who knew a cactus could be so sweet?!

Give limes a chance! 

Use fresh lime juice in place of the lemon juice using either recipe for refreshing limeade.

Mac & Cheese

In our house, there were two kinds.  The good kind and theirs.  These were in addition to the late night standby, the boxed stuff with the cheese powder mix; but when we made real mac and cheese, we had to make two kinds to satisfy the four of us.

Mom & I liked the good kind.  Elbow noodles cooked to perfection with real, sharp, hand grated cheddar cheese.  Theirs, my sister and my father,  was the classic southern creamy velveeta and elbow noodles.  Both are delish, but I still choose the good kind when I want mac & cheese.  Mom taught me how to make it, and I've never measured any ingredients.  It's just one of those dishes that you make by throwing the stuff in the pot and letting it all melt.  This is how I do it:

Mac & Cheese, The good kind

Cook and drain enough elbow noodles to satisfy.  While the noodles are hot, add shredded sharp cheddar cheese, a pat of butter and a little milk.  Cook and stir until the cheese melts.  Stir in about 1 Tbs. sugar.  This is what makes this mac & cheese magical.  Once the cheese is completely melted and incorporated, transfer to serving dishes and top woth freshly ground black pepper.

Comfort food.

Waffles (v)

I will choose a waffle over a pancake any day.  Eventually, I will write an entire cookbook on waffles alone.  I'm a freak about them.  This morning, I made some plain waffle batter.  I made one plain waffle.  Then I made one strawberry, one blueberry, and two coconut waffles.  I figured it was time to share the basic waffle recipe.  You can add whatever you want to this recipe.  It's super easy and delicious.  Waffles are always a dinner option for me.  I got my waffle iron for 5 bucks at a garage sale in Kalamazoo.  Best 5 bucks I've spent in a long time!

breakfast, lunch, dinner, whenever.

Waffles

In a large bowl, stir together:

1 1/4 cups flour

2 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

In another bowl, mix well:

2 Tbs. oil

1 1/4 cup water

OR

1/2 cup milk or soymilk or almond milk or whatever + 3/4 cup water (You can even use yogurt!)

Mix the wet ingredients into the drys and mix only until ingredients are blended.  You want a somewhat lumpy batter.  Stirring too much makes the batter tough.

Bake in a preheated and well oiled waffle iron.

I always add something to the batter.  This morning, I added 3 Tbs. cornmeal & 1/4 cup oatmeal.  I added a little extra water to make up for the added dry ingredients.

For coconut waffles, all I did was add about 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut to the batter.  I wanted there to be a prominent coconut flavor, so I added about a Tbs. or two of coconut rum and stirred it in.  The waffles not only smelled amazing as they were baking, and they tasted like a slice of sweet southern coconut cake,  Next time I will add vanilla.  I'll post the official recipe when I perfect it!

That's the great thing about this recipe, you can add whatever you want.  Like pizza, nothing is truly off the list for waffle ingredients.  I have made savory vegetable and cheese waffles before, and I have thrown just about everything edible in a waffle before with good end results!  Have fun experimenting!

Waffles freeze very well and are magical when reheated in the toaster or the broiler.  Just be sure to wrap them well so they won't get freezer burn, if they last that long in the freezer!

*this recipe makes yum pancakes too.  Silver dollar size turn out the best!

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Fried Plantains (v)

I first had fried plantains atr my sister's house one Christmas.  Her husband is Cuban, so I called her one day for the how-to on fried plaintains.  I bought 5 big green plantains at the store so I was excited to cook them; until I talked to my sister.  She said they have to be ripe, so they went immediately into a brown paper bag under the kitchen sink.  For two weeks! Waiting for them to ripen is the hardest part of this recipe.  Finally, my plantains are ripe so it's time to cook them.  I'm going to first just fry them in their pure state, tomorrow I'm going to make a proper meal out of them with a bed of steaming hot quinoa and a spicy black bean and mango sauce.  For now, here's how:

before & yum

Fried Plantains

Get ripe plantains, or do as I did; buy the green ones and put them in a brown paper bag to ripen.  This can take up to two weeks.  Mine did, but it was worth the wait because they are good and sweet and perfectly ripe.  I let them get brown, but not too brown. 

I peeled mine and cut them in half and set them into the hot oiled cast iron pan.
Let them brown completely on one side.

Flip over and press down into the pan.  You want to flatten it out a little but not too much.  I used my spatula at first, but the bottom of my glass measuring cup worked better.

Let brown on that side too.
Transfer to a plate with paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

And now, the possibilites are endless!
= Yum.

Ok, so I made the plaintains, ate two and put the rest in the fridge.  Yesterday, I made a big pot of quinoa, my favorite grain, and I made a black bean sauce to go with the plantains.  Here's how I did it:

Fried Plantains with Black Bean Sauce

Sautee in olive oil, one onion, chopped, and one poblano pepper, chopped, one clove of garlic, minced.  Once the onion and pepper starts to look good and yummy, add about a teaspoon of cumin seeds, some salt and pepper.  You can make this spicy by adding cayenne or jalapenos, my sauce was a little milder than i wanted it.  Next time I'm using a jalapeno!  So, this is the sofrito!  Sautee for a few min longer and remove from the heat.  In a small saucepan, put in a can of black beans, add all the liquid in the can too.  Simmer until hot, then stir in the sofrito.  Heat through.  Add salt and pepper as needed.
To reheat the plantains, I put them in a hot skillet and put a lid on it.  Flipped them over and heated them gently until they were hot all the way through.
Put a big pile of quinoa on the plate, arrange the plantains, and top with the beans.  I also added fresh chopped mango and cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.  Next time I'll make a fresh mango salsa, like a pico, with raw onion, tomato, mango and lime.
So yum!