Sauted Green Beans & Shiitake Mushrooms

Ingredients:
6 TBS (3/4 stick) butter
8 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms, (can substitute freeze dried ones)
2 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds slender green beans, trimmed
2/3 cup canned low-salt chicken broth

Procedure:
Heat your pan to medium high heat.
Toss is 3 TBS of butter and add shiitake mushrooms
and saute until it is tender. (about 5 minutes)
Add the green beans and garlic and shallots. (you can substitute onions)
After 2 or 3 minutes- pour the chicken broth in and simmer
until liquid evaporates.
Add S & P to taste.

Korean Purple Radish

While teaching cooking classes, several students have said they like to

go to H-Mart and just randomly pick a fruit or a vegetable and try it,

and if they like it... they simply buy more and find recipes for them.

What's nice about H-Mart  is that they carry many vegetables you might

not normally see in other supermarkets. 

H-Mart carries the "Korean Purple Radish"

These purple radishes are nice to eat as a snack due to the fact
they are not as spicy or strong like the way most radishes are.
They are purple on the outside and almost  tie-died  looking on the inside.
Talk about cultivating an standard white radish/daikon.

The word Daikon actually comes from two Japanese words:" 
Dai" which means- large and "kon" which means root.  

Both radishes and daikons are rich in vitamin C,
and they contain natural active enzymes 

that aid in digestion, especially of starchy foods.

Ice Cream.. Sandwich... Cake...?

Yup, ice cream sandwiches as cake.
Simply take ice cream sandwiches and layer them
into a cake pan- and spread vanilla or which ever flavor
ice cream you prefer around it and decorate it as
you would a regular cake.

If you don't need to make a full cake-
you can also take 2-3 ice cream sandwiches
(depending on how many layers you'd like)
and make a smaller cake. 
Lay 1 ice cream sandwich on the middle of some
aluminum foil (make sure the foil will be large enough
to wrap around all 2-3 ice cream sandwich plus more.)
Layer some ice cream on top of the ice cream sandwich
with a spoon or a spatula followed by your favorite topping
of oreos, m&ms, crushed nuts, etc... and of course
your 2nd ice cream sandwich and then another layer of
ice cream etc... After all your layers are done fold the aluminum
foil completely around the ice cream sandwich cake folding it
into a rectangle so the ice cream plus ice cream sandwiches
becomes one solid rectangle as it freezes up nicely together
into a nice rectangle of cold sandwiches- cake! 
When you're ready to eat it, you can slice it like you would
a cake and you have layers that were easily created with
the ice cream sandwiches.

Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise Sauce is that yellow creamy sauce often served with 

Eggs Benedict or often associated with asparagus.

When the sauce is properly made- it should be smooth and creamy and show

no signs of separation in the ingredients.  The flavor is rich and buttery with

an ever so light hint of tang from the lemon juice.

It is best served warm rather than steaming hot.

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup butter (unsalted preferred)

4 TBS boiling water

2 TBS of fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp  salt

1/4 tsp cayenne (substitute a splash of hot sauce)

Procedure:

Heat the butter until it gets hot and foamy BUT NOT browned. 

In a small bowl- whisk your egg yolks with the lemon juice, salt & 

cayenne (you can substitute a splash of hot sauce for the cayenne).

Once that is all mixed, gradually beat in the butter then water.

Take the well beaten mixture and put into the sauce pan on VERY LOW heat

until it is slightly thickened. 

Serve immediately or you can leave it in a bowl

sitting in another bowl of warm water for up to 30 minutes.

If you want to fancy it up- add some chopped parsley for a garnish.

Detox

I think one of the most commonly known
detox diets is the "Master Cleanse" otherwise known as
the Lemon Detox. It mainly consists of drinking cold water
with fresh lemon juice, 2 TBS of pure maple syrup and a dash
of cayenne. I'm not saying this detox diet doesn't work-
but it's kind of hard to do if you work, need to go places, etc...
(you need to be near a bathroom)
it also dehydrates you and can make you dizzy since your body
isn't eating food during the diet- if you're doing it correctly that is.

I've found another detox drink that allows you to eat while
dieting/detoxing. The pros are obvious and the only major con
is getting used to the taste at first. This smoothie recipe actually
cleans out & detoxes your system without having to starve yourself.
It's a great colon cleanse and really good for your digestive
system as well. You drink this smoothie preferably in the
morning but basically once a day. It detoxes your system and
you still eat while drinking this green smoothie.
You might think how can it detox your body if you're still
eating...? If you're really motivated to detoxing your body,
that usually means you are thinking about shedding some pounds,
so you will start to watch what you eat and it does
clean your system,.... literally.

The recipe below is for 2 large servings...

Ingredients & Procedures:
Blend the lettuce first with the water to break down the lettuce
followed by the other greens and then adding the fruit last.
You ultimately want to try to not have the fruit in there if you can-
but let's just say it tastes really green. If you could taste colors,
you could say this green smoothie really tastes green.

3/4 - 1 cup of cold water
3/4 (little less than the whole head) of romaine lettuce
(you can substitute any green leafy vegetable if you need to)
3 stalks of celery
1/3 bunch of cilantro (you can double the parsley if you despise cilantro)
1/3 bunch of parsley
2 apples
1 banana
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Let's Not Take WATER -

Let's not take WATER for granted.
Without getting into the technicalities and science of water-
We obviously need water for many things.

I used to buy Deer Park spring water bottles by the cases all the time.
I would have so many plastic bottles to the point of foolishness.

I came across this water bottle that is very cool.
You can get the one for hot beverages or for cold water
(non thermal) I've purchased the one for cold water and
realized how much I save on plastic water bottles being
everywhere and saving by filling up on the filtered water
from my sink. Water bottles make it easier to use if you're
taking it with you in the car, an outdoor event, to the library,
bookstore etc... You can use any bottle you'd like BUT...
if you purchase one from water.org
100% of the money you pay for the water bottle goes to
help provide safe drinking water to developing countries.

Water.org is a "U.S.-based nonprofit organization committed
to providing safe drinking water and sanitation to people
in developing countries."
-founded by Gary White and Matt Damon.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya was started from the French Quarter in New Orleans.
It was attempted by the Spanish to make "paella" in the New World.
Paella has saffron it it but due to the unavailable import costs- tomatoes
were heavily substituted and as time past, Jambalaya became the New
World paella. In Louisiana today, there are many varieties of this dish,
Creole, Red and Cajun just to name a few.
Below is a simple recipe for general Jambalaya.

I usually make chicken, shrimp and sausage Jambalaya but you
can substitute any meat or no meat or tofu even!

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
shrimp (enough for maybe 4-5 per person)
2 medium (or to your liking) sausage links
S & P (for the salt- I recommend Old Bay season salt)
oil to fry
1 onion chopped
1-2 cloves of minced garlic
half of a bell pepper (I like to mix 1/4 of a red & 1/4 of green)
if you like it very spicy-you can add diced hot peppers)
2 stalks of celery cut about 1/2 inch or so
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup long grain rice
1 can of stewed whole tomatoes
S & P (heavy on the P!)
1/4 fresh parsley or scallions
drizzles of hot sauce (to your liking)