Buttermilk Has No Butter...

When people hear buttermilk...
They might think ah, milk with lots of creamy butter...
probably tastes good because of the butter but probably
very fattening. This couldn't be further from the truth.

There actually isn't any butter in buttermilk, per se.
Buttermilk is the liquid  that is left after the butter has 
been separated from the milk, often used for making breads. 
Sometimes buttermilk  is also made from cultured milk 
by adding a bacteria to sweet milk. Different but a 
little similar to yogurt.

Buttermilk has less fat than whole milk because the 
fat has been removed. Due to buttermilk having more 
lactic acid than even skim milk- it's often recommended for 
people with digestive problems to drink 
buttermilk rather than regular milk.

A Good Germ

Is there such a thing as a good germ?
Yes, there is. Wheat Germ.  It comes from a very small part
of the wheat kernel. It is one of the most nutritional
food items out there. Wheat germ has 23 nutrients and
is the most nutritious per ounce for any grain or vegetable.

The germ is also the part that germinates and forms into
wheat grass. a.k.a. cat grass. If you go to a smoothie bar-
many times they have power drinks/smoothies
that have the green grass.... that's wheat grass.

 

So what can you do with it? You can incorporate it into
baking cookies, making granola, adding it to your smoothies
and scooping a little into your cereal or even sprinkling a little
on top of your salads instead of croutons.

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad is good plain or as a sandwich as we all know.
Cultivate your chicken salad by adding some grapes, craisins and or almonds.

This recipe is good for about 2 sandwiches.
1/2 cup or about 1 chicken breast cooked and diced or cubed
about 1 or 2 celery stalks diced up
1/4 cup or desired amount of mayonnaise
small handful of seedless grapes green or red cut in half
a few slivers of almonds
splash of lemon juice
S & P to taste

let's face it... your going to eat it... so make it your own.
if you enjoy a little more of this or that or like something less....
modify it to your liking.

The Hobo Pack

Grilled Veggies are great especially this time of year.
Turn your grill on, swipe a lemon across the grates and grill away.
Strips of zucchini are yummy along with long strips of carrots.
Mix some grilled bell peppers in there along with a little corn and
you have a great vegetable medley.
Just toss a little olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and garlic powder/salt.
Great with burgers, dogs, chicken...

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.