Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Recipe of the Week: Pasta Carbonara

Whenever I get bacon, I feel a need to eat it immediately. Because I am only one person, I have to make sure not to let the open package go bad. That would be tragic! Of course, there are breakfast foods and BLTs to eat, but I thought it would be interesting to try something new. Hence, here is my attempt at Pasta Carbonara. I found this recipe by doing a simple google search.

Pasta Carbonara
1/4 lb. bacon
1 stick (1/4 lb.) butter
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. wine vinegar
1 lb. pasta - I used whole wheat angel hair pasta, my go to pasta
2 eggs, whipped
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan

Cut bacon into little pieces and cook in butter.

In a saucepan heat milk, and add the bacon and butter, add the vinegar, which will turn the milk to cheese.

Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce cooks smooth. I added frozen peas to the sauce.

Cook the pasta. Drain and return to pan. Immediately throw in the eggs, the bacon sauce and cheese. Toss and serve.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pasta Carbonara contains many of my favorite foods in one dish! Bacon, pasta, eggs... It did feel a little weird to put eggs in the pasta, but I got over it. It was pretty good. Not great, but decent. It was a little dry. I'm willing to try another recipe for Pasta Carbonara in the future.

Sorry, no picture. :(

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Recipe of the week: Crock Pot Curry Lentil Soup

I recently tried out a new recipe in my crock pot. One more step to becoming a crock pot culinary master!

4 cups hot water
1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 large onion , chopped
1 celery ribs, chopped
1 cup dry lentils
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
4 teaspoons curry powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

Stir and cook for 8 hours. Removes bay leaves before eating.

The curry is not very strong in this dish. But, it provides a nice contrast with the tomatoes. I recommend adding the salt. It's a bit bland without it.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Menu Plan Whatever day it is: Week of March 16


Oops! No menu yesterday. Not to worry, I have one today. This week I am all about cheeses with chopped vegetables in them. They're so great! I love a good bagel with vegetable cream cheese. And today I found the same in a solid cheese, which I ate with apples and whole grain crackers for a tasty treat. For the rest of my menu, please see below.


Monday
Breakfast: Sausage and Potatoes
Lunch: Mac & Cheese
Dinner: Out with friends, I had some fancy pepperoni pizza.

Tuesday
I didn't really have breakfast today. Instead:
Lunch: Leftover Mac & Cheese
Snack: Cheese, Apples & Whole Grain Crackers
Dinner: Salad with Chicken, Cranberries and Walnuts

Wednesday
Breakfast: Not for Sissys Eggs
Lunch: PB& J Sandwich, Salad
Dinner: Pasta with Bacon & Peas

Thursday
Breakfast: Smoothie and Half a Bagel with Veggie Cream Cheese
Lunch: Salad with Tuna and Veggies
Dinner: Salad with Chicken, Cranberries and Walnuts

Friday
Breakfast: Eggs
Lunch: Bagel Sandwich with Veggie Cream Cheese and Chicken
Dinner: Pasta with Bacon & Peas

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Recipe of the week: Gluten Free Tex Mex Mosaic Salad

Last weekend we had a gluten free potluck at our zen center. We did this because we had a visiting zen priest who has Celiac Disease, a disorder in which a toxic reaction is caused by eating foods containing gluten. Potlucks allow the members of this zen community to share food and community with each other for an afternoon. Making accommodations for our visitor was a welcome to our community.

Gluten is found in a lot of food. It is a wheat/rye/barley protein used in pastas and breads. Typical food for potlucks tend to include pasta, bread and desserts containing gluten. So, in my search for a gluten free dish for the potluck I came across this blog. And I found this tasty little dish.

Tex Mex Mosaic Salad
1 (14.5 oz.) can of black beans, drained
1 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or most of a 14.5 oz can)
1-1/2 cups steamed edamame
2 cups corn kernels

Dressing:
2 Tbsp. minced cilantro
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. hot pepper sauce (or to taste)
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix beans, corn and tomatoes in a bowl. Combine dressing ingredients and pour over the mixture.

Sorry, I do not have a picture. There's one on the blog link I've attached to the dish name. That's pretty much what it looked like for me too.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Treatment of food industry workers

It’s time to get serious, Accidental Epicure readers. I blog a lot about the happy side of food, whether recipes or shared experiences of food with friends. But, I think it’s super important, when we eat the food we are fortunate enough to enjoy, to be mindful of where the food has come from and how it got to our plates. Therefore this post focuses on some recent news and current conditions of workers in the food industry.

I was listening to WNYC, an affiliate station for NPR here in NYC, yesterday. One of my favorite shows on the station, the Brian Lehrer Show, had two guests who talked about slavery of farm workers in Florida. It piqued my interest and inspired me to write a post about where our food comes from. If you’ve read/seen Fast Food Nation, or have read up on the treatment of food industry workers, many who are undocumented immigrants working to send money back to their families at home, than this may not be much of a surprise. Even so, it’s a disgusting way to treat people and no one should ever have to endure slavery in any form.

At the most superficial level you can see what is happening. Companies hire undocumented workers for less money, no benefits and no protections because the workers won’t complain due to fear of deportation. Although the conditions are horrific, immigrant workers still come because they can make more money than if they were to stay in their native country. It’s a sad case when companies and people exploit this scenario with no respect for human life. Luckily there are organized groups taking a stand against this.

You may be asking what this has to do with you. You (hopefully) are not the one running the company or enslaving workers. But, the companies guilty of these crimes do not work in a vacuum. Please consider the following things:

-These kinds of systems function because of our demand for the products, whether direct or indirect. If we, in large numbers, boycott these foods, we no longer support the abusive practices and companies will have to change their ways or go out of business.

-Fast food restaurants and chain stores provide mass consumption of produce and meat. They do this to provide a service to the crap load of people who eat fast food. If you get the fast food industry to change their practices, it makes a HUGE affect on the food industry.

-When foods are out of season in our region we have to get them from elsewhere. We cannot support our local farms and must branch out to areas where these foods are common. This allows for large conglomerate companies to exploit workers in the areas where the food is. Since there is high demand, they need a lot of (cheap) help.

So it’s not so simple then. We are not outside of the boundaries of an abusive system. The system needs us to work. The most basic way we can help to prevent slavery of food industry workers is to be knowledgeable about where our food comes from. Simply do not buy food from companies who support this. Tell your friends to boycott them as well.

As far as grocery stores refusing to purchase produce from the tomato growers mentioned on the radio show, Whole Foods is the only one who has done so. We all know that Whole Foods is a bit expensive. The reason why your food is so cheap may have something to do with the small amount the company pays its workers. Times are hard but does that give us license to support the abuse of other human beings? If you must have something cheaper, many areas have local co-ops and farmers markets. If your area does not, maybe something needs to be done about that. These things will only come with demand.

We are responsible for the treatment of the people who pick and prepare our food. We can easily ignore this, because we are distanced from it. But by doing so, we are only allowing it to happen. The companies will not change unless there is an incentive to do it. There will be no rush of conscience. Justice may be brought to a company, but another one will do the same thing in its place. This is a capitalist system and therefore companies change policies based on what brings them business. We are their business, so we need to affect change with what we purchase and use in our daily lives.

I’ve really only touched on the tip of the iceberg with this post. I encourage you to continue researching and paying attention to this. Once you allow yourself to see what’s going on, it becomes much harder to ignore. You will not believe what you see!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Recipe of the week: Not for sissies eggs

I love breakfast! Eggs are one of my top 5 foods in the world. So here is one of my favorite breakfast dishes that is a real treat in the morning (or afternoon or dinner for that matter).

Not for sissies eggs

Heat up store bought french fries in the oven as directed.
Prepare 2-3 sausage (or soy sausage if you prefer) links as directed. Chop into small pieces.

Add the cooked fries and sausage, chopped onions, and ripped up pieces of half a bagel into a bowl with 2 beaten eggs. Pour into a heated skillet and sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese. Cook as you normally would scrambled eggs.

Add ground pepper, if desired.




Depending on my apetite in the morning, as well as what I have planned in the afternoon, I may have a small glass o' smoothie with it. Here is my favorite concoction (not too orginal, but tasty).

1 small container fat free vanilla yogurt
1/2 banana, sliced
2-3 strawberries, sliced (sometimes I use a few berries from a frozen berry mix instead)
1/4 cup orange juice

Blend and enjoy!



Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Eating healthy while on a budget

Yesterday there was an article in the New York Times about eating on a budget. May I bring your attention to the section about potatoes? That's right, Jane Brody agrees that potatoes can be an affordable and nutritious addition to dishes. She also recommends beans, cabbage and fruit.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Menu Plan Monday: Week of March 2

Is it March already? Why did we get 7 inches of snow here in Brooklyn? Didn't mother nature get the memo that spring is on it's way? To inspire spring to come I've decided to add a few meals that I tend to eat more in the spring time. Hopefully this will be enough to fool my body into thinking it is spring already. I wonder if it will have the same effect on mother nature. Probably not. She's been fickle recently, doing whatever she wants to.

Monday
Breakfast: Not for Sissies Scrambled Eggs
Lunch: PB & J Sandwich
Dinner: Tuna Wrap

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Quinoa Salad
Dinner: Chicken and Veggie Pasta with Olive Oil and Parmesan

Wednesday
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: PB & J Sandwich
Dinner: Stir Fry

Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Avocado, Tomato and Sprouts Sandwich
Dinner: Leftover Pasta

Friday
Breakfast: PB Toast (Pre-Workout) & Smoothie (Post-Workout)
Lunch: Leftover Stir Fry
Dinner: Lentil Soup & Salad

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Food of the Week: Potatoes

For this week's food of the week I've decided to break down some misconceptions about a food that has gotten a bad rap in recent years. Carbohydrates have sadly become the food to avoid or reduce in our diets. But, as you can see in my last post, carbs can play an integral part in eating on a budget. While there are very unhealthy carbs, this doesn't mean that all are bad. So, here it comes, the food of the week is potatoes.


  • Very good source of Vitamin C, which we all know is good for the immune system.
  • Good source of Potassium, Copper, Manganese and dietary fiber. Help to prevent cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems and some cancers.
  • Good source of Vitamin B6, which is good for the nervous system, helping us sleep, manage stress and be less depressed.
  • Low in calories.

Drawbacks:
  • Many of the ways we tend to eat potatoes (ie french fries, potato chips, etc) are loaded with fat.
  • Potatoes are abundant and therefore budget friendly.
Ways to eat potatoes:
  • I got this idea from a Tibetan restaurant here in NYC. Sauté small chunks of potatoes with greens and chicken in soy sauce. Flavor with garlic and ginger.
  • A favorite for brunch, sauté cut up potatoes with onions, green peppers and garlic.
  • Mashed potatoes! Possibly the best food in the world!
Little known facts:
So don't you fret, little darlings! Eat potatoes and be happy!