Tomato Jam....Well....Tomato Spread

Heirloom tomatoes and diced onions. Add a little salt, a drizzle of Agave Syrup
(or any sugar substitute), any chopped herb and..................................... that's it!
All you have to do is let your diced onions sweat until golden brown, add your tomatoes
and herb (I used Rosemary) and once it has broken down- take a potato masher and mash the
tomatoes taking out the skins of the tomatoes if you'd like and then your tomato
jam is ready to be spread on any bread.  I used an Italian loaf and spread a little goat cheese
and then the tomato jam for a snack.

Back To The Roots....yo

As a kid, I didn't really enjoy mushrooms. They were kind of

squishy and they didn't taste so good.  But, like many things,

as we grow older and try things over again... we become aware,

and start to enjoy things that we might not have as a child.

I didn't enjoy sushi, Indian food and mussels to name just a few- as a kid either

but, I now enjoy these food items....  maybe too much.

(I always think it's mostly psychological anyway)

So, I came across this mushroom growing kit and reminiscing about my childhood

and having multiple veggie gardens- I thought it would be so much fun to grow

mushrooms out of the box. Yay!  So I purchased this "Back to the Roots"  mushroom

growing kit.  I followed the directions of soaking it, and spraying it and babying it... etc

and on day 7-ish.... this is what started to grow!

Inside the Oyster mushroom growing bag is coffee grinds which is kind of interesting.
Because of my excitement... I babied the mushrooms. Days later more did grow....

Unfortunately, my mushrooms only grew to this extent rather than the full opening of the box
that it was supposed to- along with the other side as a second batch- but, there must of been
something I did wrong...?  My excitement wore off quickly and I decided even though oyster
mushrooms are more expensive than regular button mushrooms- buying already grown
mushrooms are the way to go rather than the very expensive "Back to the Roots" box.
Thanks for the experience Back to the Roots and the Groupon  I got it through!

Phileo Yogurt

Phileo Yogurt,  located on  416 South Street, Philly-
serves fro-yo.  Some say frozen yogurt is a fad....  hmmm
is there such a term as long-term temporary?
hmmmm..... either way, Phileo serves many different flavors of frozen yogurt.

You walk into the brightly lit yogurt bar and once you receive your bowl-
you are free to roam and choose which 2 or 3 or 4 or 10 flavors you'd like.
Once you've decided on your flavors- you get to choose between toppings
of fresh-cut fruit, chocolate and sweet toppings including Captain Crunch
and mochi pieces just to name a few.  You pay by the weight- so in a way,
you choose your own price... sort of.  It's 49 cents per ounce.  I think you
you pay by the mood you are in....  whether you are having a bad day or a good day,
although for some- your bad day and good day portions are maybe the same!?

It was a "heavy on the toppings" kind of night!  Little mochi pieces are so good!

LCF's CheeseSteak @ Home

When you can't go into the City of Philadelphia to get a great
Cheese steak.... here, might be a way to make one at home.

I saw shaved Beef steak at Trader Joe's the other day...
and decided.... hmmm homemade cheese steak!

I chopped up one small onion, a quarter of a red bell pepper and a few stems of chives
(the chives I used... because I had them- I would say they are optional)
I let the veggies sweat in the pan and get golden brown before I threw the shaved beef slices
that I gave a quick chop to. (I prefer smaller pieces of meat for cheese steaks)

I then added a a small drizzle of soy sauce, yes soy sauce (for the salt part) and then
a heavy drizzle of Kraft's BBQ sauce.  Once the steak was cooked (cooking the meat
with the onions and peppers allows the meat to stay tender as well and not dry out.)
I then, took my toasted rolls I purchased from Wawa  www.wawa.com and lay some
slices of Velveeta yellow cheese and flipped it over in the pan on top of the steak and onions.

About a minute later, when the cheese melted, I flipped the cheesesteak over and
voila! Cheesesteak made at home. Now, I'm not comparing this home-made cheesesteak
to a Philly cheese steak- but it was pretty good though!

Toasting the rolls played a big part in the cheese steak as well! Try this at home...

when you can't go to Pat's, Geno's, Jim's or .... Bob's.  

Shrimp & Ginger Dimsum

Steamed shrimp and ginger dumplings. Yum.

I enjoy dumplings quite a bit and this pretty easy recipe

is my go-to recipe for steamed shrimp dumplings, aka dim sum.

Dim sum being the traditional Chinese dumpling.  Whereas

Mandu is the Korean word for dumpling... along with each countries

own dumpling, ie: Shu mai (Vietnamese), Tortellini or even ravioli (Italian),

Samosa (Indian),  Gyoza (Japanese), Pierogis (Polish), Momo (Nepalese),

and so many more... some say that the American dumpling is the

"Hot Pocket" www.hotpockets.com.  hmmmm  not really. 

First start off with some raw shrimp (cleaned and de-veined of course) 

and an equal amount of ground pork. (I tend to do 1/3 ground pork and 2/3 shrimp at times)

The rest of the filling is simply chopped cilantro, garlic and grated ginger.

(I usually leave the already peeled ginger in the freezer in a zip lock bag so

that it doesn't dry out and go bad as quickly as it seems to in the refrigerator)

When I grate ginger this way- it grates a lot better as well.

I toast the garlic in a pan. (This is the secret to bringing out the flavor in steamed shrimp
dumplings)   It is does make a HUGE difference in toasting the garlic and with just
mixing the garlic- untoasted.

Next, I usually use a hand blender and blend the shrimp down and then add the ground pork,

and mix into the bowl- the toasted garlic, chopped cilantro and grate in some ginger.

I go heavy on the ginger. (maybe an inch and half or so). I add a drizzle of soy sauce,

about 2 or 3 TBSP of Hoisin Sauce and a few drops if sesame oil.

I then fold them, and steam them in my bamboo steamer. 

I usually lay the dumplings on lettuce in the bamboo basket to prevent sticking.

After 7-9 minutes you will notice the dumplings getting a little more pliable and
almost translucent. That's when they are done!

Veggie Hot Dog Soup w/ PB...B

Last night's dinner was grilled PB & B.
Peanut butter and banana. It might sound a little
different if you've never tried it but it's quick, pretty tasty
and easy to make and it doesn't require too many ingredients...
especially if you haven't gone food shopping.
Melt a little butter in a pan, and place your bread with peanut butter in the pan.
Add slices of banana and then place the other piece
of bread with peanut butter on it. Once it has browned- flip it over.
As I was saying... it can't get easier or cheaper than that!

And some easy soup with that! Dice some onions, and throw it into a pot with a drizzle
of olive oil. Add your carrots and celery and chicken stock.
Lastly, pour in a small can of tomato sauce and add some sliced hot dogs along with
some garlic powder, black pepper, paprika and some chopped chives- fresh or dry.
Pour it into one of your favorite soup bowls and enjoy with or without croutons.

Autumn is here...

As the Autumn weather  is now officially here...  for us, the people
living on the East Coast of the United States. It's getting brisk and
extremely chilly for those every other morning walks before work. brrr
As we start to bring out the scarves and sweaters-
I think it will be interesting to make October a soup month!
I'm looking forward to making and enjoying some nice warm soup.
I hear soup can make people slim down a little bit as well!
You can't go wrong with that... yummy soup AND shedding the love handles.
Stay tuned for soups, soups and some more soups....!