Gourmet Global

For those of us who grew up in the Microwave Popcorn generation, having freshly made popcorn at home is a bit of a novelty and very rare. But in today’s economy, finding ways to save money is on everybody’s mind, and the cost of a bag of popping corn is several dollars cheaper than a box of microwave popcorn and you can season it yourself and lower salt and lower fat ways, that appeal to your unique culinary preferences.

It takes approximately 4 minutes (the microwave usually takes about 2 1/2, so not much of a difference there) and the benefits way outweigh the additional minute 1/2 - lower cost and healthier, depending on how you choose to flavor it.

In a large pot (like a Dutch oven), place 2 tablespoons oil (I use peanut oil which adds even more flavor) and 1/2 cup popping corn in the pot. Make sure the pot has a tightly closing lid and put the stove on high heat. Just let it go - just like the microwave version, as soon as the popping slows down, turn off the flame.
In order to cut the fat, instead of using melted butter, I use a seasoned salt (salt, cayenne pepper, and dried parsley).
Delicious and kids will love it - For a sweet version you can use brown sugar and cinnamon.

So travel back in time, before microwaves, and pop some fresh popcorn today!

Enjoy!!

So I had some ripe bananas and went about creating something different. I realize most of you wont have the variety of international food products located in my pantry, so use substitutions when appropriate, but the variety of flavors produced by the variety of products is one of the things that makes this stand out - I haven’t thought of a name yet for this recipes - Suggestions are welcome - Please post!!!

It is a wonderful low sugar dessert, having fruit and honey provide the sweetness, instead of processed sugar.

1/3 cup plantain flour (Caribbean)
1/3 cup manioc flour (Brazil) - aka as cassava or yuca
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup fig paste (Middle Eastern/Greek)
1/3 cup honey
14 oz. can peaches in pear juice
2 bananas, sliced
1 egg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons grated coconut (not the flaked, sweetened stuff but the dessicated freshly grated)
non fat cooking spray

Combine all dry ingredients. Whisk in egg and buttermilk. Add honey and fig paste. Add 1/2 cup pear juice (from can of peaches). Mix well - make sure there are no clumps of fig paste.

Spray a casserole dish with non stick spray. Pour half of the above mixture in casserole. Place the peaches on top and then the sliced bananas. Cover with the rest of the batter. Top with coconut. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until knife inserted comes out clean.

Serve warm!!

Substitutions - Use 1 cup all purpose flour, instead of the variety of flours.
Any flavor preserves can be used as a substitution for the fig paste (strawberry would be wonderful)

I recently joined my local Food Coop - the Park Slope Food Coop which is the largest in the country, in existence for more than 30 years. 100% member supported - the members work at the coop. With the decrease in paid labor, the coop is able to keep the prices very low - cheaper than your local supermarket and the added bonus of mostly organic products.

With the new year, many of us have made the resolution to eat better and lose weight in 2009. Shopping at the food coop is a great aid in accomplishing this by having a very large selection of organic products and especially fruits and vegetables - things like jicama, celery root, fresh tumeric and curry leaves just to mention a few.

Just because you live alone, that is no excuse not to make yourself wonderful, healthful meals that you enjoy. You do not have to be like the Diane Lane character in Must Love Dogs, eating a single chicken breast, standing up in your kitchen alone, EVERY NIGHT.

Make interesting meals for yourself and you will enjoy eating healthy meals, instead of pizza and Chinese food. This was my dinner tonight - just an idea to get you started to making delicious meals for yourself, even if you are single!!

The perimeter of the place is arranged with slices of fresh buffalo mozarella, then a dollop of fig spread and topped with slices of fresh tomato. A sprinkling of any spice blend you like and then freshly chopped tarragon (you can use any herb you like).
In the middle of the plate is a simple vegetable salad - this is what I used - but you can use any vegetables you like. This recipe serves about 4.:
1 bunch asparagus, boiled until tender but still crisp and then chopped into bite size pieces
1 small can of kernel corn
1 tomatillo, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
10 grape tomatoes, halved
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoons of unsalted sunflower seeds
2 tablespoon dried currants
Dress the salad simply with about 2 teaspoons of olive oil and the juice of 1 lime

Place a little of this salad in the middle of the plate and top with grilled chicken sausage (I used Applegate Farms organic Fire Roasted Pepper sausages made of chicken and turkey).

If you like, you can eat this with a few water crackers.

This is a wonderful low fat meal to make you enjoy your, healthy dinner!!

All the ingredients were from the Park Slope Food Coop - a coop I highly recommend if you live in the NY area!

It’s great to have a roommate to eat all of my creations - this way I get an objective opinion of my original recipes - This one he raved about so I am posting it here - although this was something I just threw together so I do not have quantities - You are going to have to use your judgement.

What is really great about this recipe is that it is very low in fat. Instead of traditional pasta sauces which have oil, the sauce is created with V-8 juice - is that original or what? - I can’t take credit for it though - I got this idea from a cookbook I was using when I was a personal chef to help a client lose weight after she had a baby.

In a large pot of salted water, boil thin spaghetti or whatever type of pasta you prefer. While this is cooking, prefer meat sauce below.

In a few tablespoons of peanut oil, saute garlic, scallions and bell pepper. Add a package of ground chicken and saute until chicken is browned and cooked through. Add 1 teaspoon of chili paste. Add 1 can of scungili (sliced conch meat), 1/2 bag of frozen spinach and 1/4 bag of frozen peas, 2 small cans of low sodium V-8 and 2 small can of spicy V-8. Bring to a boil and simmer until frozen vegetables and cooked through. Add about 1/4 cup of freshly chopped parsley Stir in cooked pasta and EAT.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics but trust me - this is a recipe that is just delisch (as Rachel Ray would say)

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics.