Hoppin' John Salad

Made something completely different from my normal cooking: a variation on a Hoppin' John Salad. The original recipe can be found on the USA Rice Federation recipe pages: Hot Hoppin' John Salad. This variation is slanted toward my preferences; however, since I'm not a big fan of beans, peas or other legumes, and cabbage is not one of my favorite vegetables (I can eat it raw, but find the taste to strong when cooked) I'm giving myself points for even trying this recipe. I'm trying to expand my horizons so I decided to give it a whirl.

ec's Hot Hoppin' John Salad 
May be used as a main dish (6 servings) or a side dish (8 servings)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups   rice, cooked
3 oz   thick sliced bacon, minced
6 oz   ham minced
1/2 cup   onion, red, finely chopped
1 tablespoon   minced garlic
1/2 cup   carrots, shredded
1/2 cup   celery, sliced
1 teaspoon   hot pepper sauce
1 can   black-eyed peas, 15 oz
1/2 teaspoon   black pepper
1/4 teaspoon   salt
4 cups   cabbages, finely shredded

Instructions:
Cook rice per package directions and set aside.

Cut bacon into 2-inch pieces and put in bowl of food processor, pulse 4 or 5 times. add a couple ounces of the ham to the bowl and pulse 3 or 4 times, repeat with remaining ham. Bacon/ham mixture should be well blended. Put in 10-inch sauce pan on low heat, cover, stirring occasionally until mixture starts to brown.

Add onion, garlic and carrots to ham mixture. Continue to stir until onion and carrots start to soften.

Stir in celery, hot sauce, black-eyed peas (drain can first), rice, salt and pepper. Heat through, stirring frequently.

Serve on bed of cabbage.

Servings: 8 side salads or 6 main dish servings

Nutrition Facts 
Nutrition (per serving): 267.6 calories; 30% calories from fat; 9.0g total fat; 86.5mg cholesterol; 1432.9mg sodium; 602.9mg potassium; 22.5g carbohydrates; 3.0g fiber; 4.4g sugar; 23.4g protein.

Recipe Type: Main Dish, Salad, Side Dish

Recipe Source: USA Rice Federation

I liked it. It was very flavorful and not overpowered by any of the ingredients. The sodium and fat content is high, that'd be from the bacon and ham. Fiber is good and the sugar isn't too bad. On the whole I'd give this a 4-star rating (out of 5).

Pot Roast

I made a pot roast last night (Thursday). I bought the stuff for it Wednesday on my way home from work planning on throwing it into the slow cooker before going to bed. I wasn't feeling very good Wednesday and by the time I got home it was after 9 and since I had to leave for work in 12 hours I decided to leave it until after work Thursday. Felt worse Thursday morning, but somehow got myself into work. Worked for three hours and had to leave. Tried to read when I got home but headache was too bad and so I went to sleep simply because being unconscious seemed the simplest solution. When I woke up I decided I'd better get the pot roast going or put the roast in the freezer. The thought also occurred to me that a pot roast in a slow cooker was about the easiest thing I could actually cook. Except for bacon and eggs, which to be honest didn't appeal to my stomach.

I put 8 oz carrots, 8 oz celery, 1 lb cubed Yukon potatoes, 6 oz shallots, 3 lbs beef roast (browned), 1 (10 3/4  oz) can cream of mushroom with roasted garlic condensed soup and 1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce into my slow cooker. Why shallots instead of onions? I'd never used them before and was curious of how they'd work.

I had some raw veggies (carrots and celery I had on hand for some reason) and saltines for dinner. I then read for awhile and wondered what time it was. I expected it to be something like 1am, but it was only coming onto 9pm. I was too tired and groggy to do much and too rested to go back to sleep. What to do What to do...

Hmm, isn't this what the internet was invented for? I decided to surf for a while. I also worked on my Lunch reference page for "The critter @ home". Look for the Lunch Time link under pages. After a couple of hours I was ready for bed.

This morning I opened the slow-cooker and divided the pot roast and veggies into a couple of storage containers and put it in the fridge. I did try a small bowl and it tasted great! The roast itself is falling apart and the veggies were flavorful. I'll have more for lunch; here at home since I have today off.

A day off, mostly wasted since I'm still sick. Why can I made myself work (usually) when I'm sick, but on my day off I'm lucky if I can force myself from the bed to the recliner? There are a dozen things I should do today and I know I'll be luck to get just a couple of them done.

Black Bean Brownies Version 2

Made the Black Bean Brownies again yesterday. Changed the recipe a little in an attempt to make them less crumbly. The changes were mostly successful and the ones that weren't didn't hurt anything. The brownies were less crumbly and were moist and more melt in your mouth than chewy. They were not especially more chocolaty or sweeter. The peanut butter also was not especially evident, I could smell it more than taste it. All in all, I'd raise it about 1/2 point.

ec's Flourless (Black Bean) Brownies Version 2
Tags: Desserts, Snacks, Beans, Bake, Low Sugar
No flour and no sugar but still tasty.

Ingredients
15 ounce can Black beans
3 large Eggs
1/2 cup Butter melted
1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
2 tablespoon Torani Sugar Free Classic Caramel Syrup optional
1/2 cup Simply Jif peanut butter or your favorite peanut butter
1 cup Splenda
1/2 cup Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/8 teaspoon Salt
Cooking spray

Instructions
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Spray a 9" baking pan or one of them new-fangled brownie pans.
Put dry ingredients into a bowl and stir a little to mix.
Place the black beans, eggs, melted butter, vanilla extract, caramel syrup and peanut butter into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse a few times to start blending. Add about a quarter of the cocoa powder, Splenda, salt, and baking powder to the bowl, pulsing a couple of times before adding more, blend until smooth.

Bake the brownies for 30 to 40 minutes, or until they are set in the center. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Yield: 16 Servings

Version 2 change history: added 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used Simply Jif - 1/2 the sodium and 2/3rds the sugar), increased the Splenda from 3/4 cup to 1 cup, increased the cocoa from 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup, removed the walnuts (I'm just not that fond of walnuts baked into things. I love them straight from the package) and added 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. Also added 2 tablespoons Torani Sugar Free Classic Caramel Syrup at the last minute, just because I've been looking for some way to use it up.

BigOven -- Easy to use recipe organizer for Windows

On the Techie side of life!

Most of my recent entries, of which there are more than usual, have been about food. I think it's time for a post about something technological. Samsung has just recently announced it's Samsung Galaxy Tab. This is a 7-inch tablet with the android operating system. The first real competitor to the iPad. In the coming year there will undoubtedly be a flood of tablets hitting the market. Many of these will use the Android operating system although there will be other operating systems as well. Samsung is looking to grab a chunk of the market as it will be releasing the Galaxy Tab through all of the top wireless providers in the USA as well as providers in Asia, Europe and elsewhere. The sad thing is many people will be getting tablets who have no idea what it is they are really getting.

What amazes me is the shear number of people who are getting Android phones who don't 'get' them. I mean they have an android phone but don't understand why (other than it's the newest, shiniest bobble in the store). I hear them bragging about "Apps? I don't need any apps. I just use it to make calls and sometimes message my kids/grandkids/chums/whoever" In that case why get a smartphone? I remember a few years ago, I had a lady in her late 40s or early 50s (in other words my age). She listed all of the things she didn't want in a phone: the web, email, messaging. This is another thing I don't understand, instead of listing what they want most people list what they don't want, very negative. Anyway, after listing everything she didn't want she said, "Can you show me the Blackberry's?" When I pointed out that they were everything she'd just said she didn't want she replied, "but aren't they the best phone there is?" The only thing I could say was no, they may be the best wireless device for some people if they want the web, email and messaging, but they aren't the best phone if you just mean making calls. 


I hear this type of comment a lot and it always makes me think of the used car salesman's proverbial little old lady who only used her Bugatti Veyron to drive half a mile to church on Sundays.

I have the original Motorola Droid, finally with Froyo and Flash.  I could easily live without it. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I have it and I use it and certain apps on it daily, but I'm not dependent on it. Okay, I might get the shakes if I have to go without my RSS feeds for a while, but I'd adjust. I might miss some shows without my TV Show Listings, but as my dad used to say they'll be on as reruns next summer. If I traveled more there are many more features I'd use and be glad to have. But even people who seem to understand what they're getting better still show little understanding of what to expect from the new smartphones. They set them to check for email, Twitter and Facebook updates every few minutes and wonder why their battery doesn't last several days like their old flip phone. They play games for hours and then explain that they hardly ever use the phone. They never close running apps and download the silliest most useless apps in the Market and ones which for some reason require constant access to their location, messaging, calls and other personal data when all they are is a wallpaper changer or some such trivial app.

This seems to be a rant which I really didn't intend so I think I'd better end it now and come back when I'm in a better mood or something. But since I've gone this far my biggest complaint about Android phone users is that they can't be bothered to understand that they have  to know their Google account info. The carriers cannot be responsible for their personal info. 

Well, maybe I'd better get something to eat, it's been about 7 hours, and then some sleep and maybe I'll be in a better frame of mind.

Homemade Brownies

Last week I made Pillsbury's Sugar-Free Chocolate Fudge Brownies. It made me want more! This week I decided to try to make some brownies from scratch. While browsing the web for sugar-free brownie recipes I stumbled across a couple of different recipes for Black Bean Brownies. The idea intrigued me so I made up my own recipe using Splenda instead of sugar. I think the recipe still needs some work, but it was good. It just needs to be a little more cohesive. I expect that if I'd made it with sugar, or even Splenda Sugar Blend, it would have had more cohesion. Next time I make it I think I'll add another 1/4 cup of Splenda and another egg (to give it more of that cohesion). I hope. Recipe link for ec's Flourless (Black Bean) Brownies.

From Public

ec's Flourless (Black Bean) Brownies

Lunching with Mr Bento episode 02

This is my second entry about Mr Bento and the lunches I put through him. My first one was the entry: Today's Lunch with Mr Bento posted September 9th.

First, who or what is Mr Bento? Made by Zojirushi, the Mr. Bento Stainless Lunch Jar (SL-JAE14) consists of a stainless steel, vacuum insulated, outer container with 4 microwaveable inner bowls, included is a forked spoon with snap-on cover and a zippered carrying bag. The size of the various inner containers are: Main Bowl 15.2 oz., Large Side Bowl 10.1 oz., Small Side Bowl 6.8 oz., Soup Bowl 9.5 oz. The company offers several lunch jars with this one being the largest. You can see how some people use it in the the Flickr group: Mr. Bento. I've added a Flickr Slideshow at the bottom of this page to make it easier for you.

My second Mr Bento lunch this month (Monday, September 13th) consisted of Blackened Chicken Strips on Pasta with Cajun Sauce from the BigOven recipe site. Apple sauce, the end of last week's Brownies, and some Blue Bunny No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Ice Cream Vanilla. I put the ice cream in Mr Bento's soup bowl and yes it does stay frozen. Well, it takes a little preparation and forethought but it can be done.

The Blackened Chicken on Pasta was good. Not 5-star but a solid 3.5. I may at some future time play with the recipe a little to make it more suited to my personal preferences. As mentioned above I found it on the BigOven recipe site. I mention this because recently, most of the recipes I've found really interesting I've found on TasteSpotting. This is sort of a best of the best food blogs site. Members of TasteSpotting submit images/links from around the web and the submissions are reviewed and the best served up complete with the most delicious images.  Everything there looks great, even the things I know I wouldn't like. I've added a Feed roll at the bottom of the column to the right for those of you who'd like to see the most recent additions to TasteSpotting's site.

Today's Lunch with Mr Bento

This morning I broke out my Mr Bento and, for lunch, filled it with left-over Curried Ground Turkey and Potatoes, apple sauce and a brownie from Pillsbury's Sugar-Free Brownie mix. As food photography goes this isn't a great picture, but it is what it is.

If you're wondering how I got a round brownie I used two 4" springform pans and then put the rest of the batter in a loaf pan. I purchased the 4" pans mostly to use when cooking for my Mr Bento. In addition to the usual baked goods I've used them for meatloaf which fits nicely into the two larger containers in the Mr Bento.

    

Tried a New Recipe Last Night

As I've mentioned I'm addicted to RSS feeds. Right now I'm subscribed to around 80 feeds about food and cooking. One of these feeds is Simply Recipes, their recipe Curried Ground Turkey with Potatoes caught my eye a couple of days ago. I made it last night, ate a small bowl and I have to say it is good. I used to know a lady who made great curries. She didn't use any recipe, usually she just looked at what she had on hand and made it up as she went. I can't do that, at least not with curry.

I'm writing this during my lunch, which is left over curry! I let a co-worker try it and she did NOT like it, but she'd never had curry before.

Hmm, have to call around and see if anyone wants to go the Great Indian Restaurant. I haven't been there for a while and could use a fix of their Chicken Tikka Masala.

Opps!

For some reason my last couple of posts were forwarded onto Facebook!
This is a test post to see if it shows up there too.

Blog fog smog log snog gog and magog there’s rhyme but no reason for this entry…

I know there is a word for this concept; I just couldn't find it quickly. The concept is that gods are created and maintained by human belief in them. The more humans who believe in a particular god the more powerful that god is and as human belief wanes so does that god’s powers. This idea popped into my head the other day in relation to celebrities.

What if an actor became ‘locked’ into the age of the character they were playing in a television show? Carrying the idea even further, what if they became more and more like the character? Since many viewers have difficulty separating the actor from the role the idea of millions of viewers projecting the image of the character back onto the actor is not unreasonable. This could even happen years after the program ended. With reruns and entire TV series on DVD it’s possible that the ‘critical mass’ of belief may not be reached until years later, restoring the actor to the age of their maximum popularity.

If Twilight Zone were still around I think this would make a great episode. If you’re a writer please feel free to use this idea at no charge, but if you would acknowledge my contribution it’d tickle me pink.

Reflecting on and off...

I've been thinking about a lot of things recently. I need a new job. The current one is fine except I'm on my feet all day and it's getting just a little too painful lately. It's also getting too repetitive. I'm finding that I'm letting myself slide on what I already know and not as enthusiastic as I once was to learn the new stuff.

It's been almost two years since I bought my house and I'm still not done doing all the things I want to to it, of course I probably never will be, that's one of the things with owning a house. I do need to get the walks done before winter.

I want to blog, mostly about books and movies and food, but also about my house and how and what I do to make it more HOME than house. Oh, a couple of ideas for organizing your home:

• An over the door pocket organizer (usually used for shoes) is great on the inside of a pantry door or maybe even a kitchen door. It is great for holding can openers and other tools or pouches of various mixes (Kool Aid, salad dressing, et cetera), bags of nuts, chocolate chips and other food items in bags or small boxes. Get one with clear pockets so you can see the contents.

• It the same vein a hanging jewelry organizer is good for keeping small computer/electronic or even personal items sorted and organized. Everything from headphones, flash drives, accessories for cameras and cell phones to tools, spare parts & cords, rolls of film, lens filters, et cetera.

Since I got my Motorola Droid I've become addicted to RSS feeds, at the moment I'm subscribed to over 200. Mostly about Android powered devices, Books & Reading, Food & Cooking, Entertainment (TV & Movies) Archaeology and Space. Oh and also Cryptozoology & UFOlogy (sorry, guilty pleasure).

Well, I need to get some sleep so I'll stop for now.